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Azir aka Dusty may not be a good guy but he is really trying to get along with his greatest granddaughter.

So for Azir to become a good guy, he needs to learn the power of friendship.

Only a few minutes in, but if Azir just told Xerath about his plan, they would have been one of the coolest allied duos in League of Legends lore.

From LoR, we have: Azir to Sivir: "Power beyond measure! Am I cool now ?" And Dusty to Ekko: "Your emperor has learned of Poros." Meanwhile, Azir to Taliyah: "What are a few lives to an Empire ?" I love Azir as a character.

Azir is not a good person as a consequence of being raised the way he was, but he is very clearly capable of becoming one. As was seen with him saving Sivir, he can put his arrogance and ambition aside, but immediately Ascending set him right back into his old habits. He is at the very least getting better, original Azir would've murdered that child on the spot, while new Azir did have the humility to let a child lecture him for his stupidity. His actions are misguided, but he is not irredeemable, and if Riot did the unthinkable and actually progressed the Shurima plotline I think he would truly improve.

I would want the story to emphasize that Azir doesn't have to risk anyone's life to combat Xerath. Should Azir attempt it, he could oppose Xerath's army with an army of sand soldiers so that he could protect the people of Shurima from having to fight in a senseless war of Ascended. He could show the people of Shurima that they mean more to him than his own life. And then when confronted with Xerath himself, then he could do what you said he did. Would also be scenic as hell to have citizens of Shurima fleeing the battle as Azir battles back Xerath's hordes alone. But I'm a sucker for last stands.

I think you could easily maintain Xerath's role as a villain by making the ascension process the point of his corruption, rather than his wish for freedom. If instead of "his just wanted freedom so much that he went insane" it was something more along the lines of "he could only survive the burning disaster of the sun disc because of his singular desire to utterly destroy the shackles that held him and so many others for so long, that by the time the destruction had run its course, the desire to destroy was all that was left." he could still be overtly villainous because his core motivation would no longer be "slavery bad, you guys."

Azir was the one champ that got me interested in the league of legends lore, thanks to his design and fun playstyle, and despite all his faults, and mistakes I just want to see him become better, and achieve true peace in Shurima, it should be the oasis of the world. And the cinematics with Shurima coming back to life get me excited to see what will happen next

If one where to search in some places, bird furries are usually categorized as "Avian".

"His fundamentalist belief in his own divine right" (Azir fortnite dancing)

Your story about Azir redeeming himself as a hero legit made me start to tear up- and fiction hardly ever makes me cry. Good job man! **sniffle**

If you want to talk about dyes and history for an hour or two, I'd also be up for that.

I really like Azir as a character, he is fun. I LOVE HIS BIG BOOMING VOICE and how is he like a grampa trying his best to understand his kids. I really hope they take him in the direction of REDEMPTION because he is a really fun character that I want to see succeed. I want him to BECOME the hero he thinks that he is. I want more stories of his struggles to the path to a hero. I don't want his empire to continue to rise as one of tyranny. I want him to be a kind emperor.

Xerath approves of this. And that Xerath's dance though lmao

One thing that actually comes to mind: IS there a human/avian face? Is he seeing out of the jeweled eyes in his helmet, or from the shadows beneath? We see nothing of him that isn't wrapped in cloth and metal, so it could very well be that there's NOTHING underneath--just a soul, the Ascension's energy, and the sands that he can now command. Just a thought.

HOW MANY HEXTECHS DOES THIS ONE COST?

I’ve been running a D&D campaign set in Runeterra and heavily focused on Shurima and I have to say your character analysis was similar to where my headspace was in characterizing Azir, and you pose a really interesting end-game for him and Xerath. A lovely video as always.

Between Zerath and Sylas, Riot doesn't have a good track record of showing sympathy to the oppressed.

Asmr of TBSkyen narrating Azir being sorry for being an idiot secretive emperor to Xerath is my new religion

Agree completely on your Xerath take. He is my favorite Riot character and his Lore treats him like an unreasonable villain instead of the complex and fascinating character he is. I know there are worse Champs that need more work, but a visual and lore update would be nice for my blue energy friend.

You know, you just made me think of something. A lot of people seem to struggle with the idea that you can like a character who is a bad person that does bad things. This leads to people insisting that the character is absolutely a good person (despite the evidence). Or it leads to people who recognize that the character is a bad person and claiming that those who like said bad person character must surely also be bad people in real life. I don't get why this keeps happening. You can like morally bad characters for whatever reason and still acknowledge that they're bad people.

This is why I love Azir story, every person can take something from it. Azir is an Emperor, his position by definition is morally dubious, he has to balance his ambition, ambition of the empire and good of his people. He is the protagonist, not a hero. While I agree that Azir should have told Xerath his plan, about abolishing slavery right the moment of his ascension makes no sense in strategic, realmbuilding and political department. Let me be clear slavery is scum and I find notion of "owning" a person vomit inducing, but I can understand why Azir didn't fulfill his promise. If he did, his empire plunges into civil war, milions die, neighbouring countries would like a piece (also hello there Void) and even if he wins he now rules a realm devastated by possibly Ascended level conflict. So yeah his position is shit no matter what he does. But painting Xerath as the bad guy for not wanting to be a slave is comicaly bad on Riot's part. But maybe the story is written by like a chronicler who would really not want to insult his God-Emperor, so he writes his image better and making Xerath the villain.

This was such an amazing video, tysm! I didn't realize how complex my Favorite character actually was, and now knowing that, it's so exciting to me the sheer potential he has for character development. I know that it'll never happen, but it's just so fun imagining a comic or collection of short stories where Azir goes around Shurima and has more small experiences that teach him a moral lesson, show him a new perspective, or appreciate something he'd never noticed and little by little become maybe not a Good person, but a slightly better one. Azir is honest to god my absolute favorite character in the game and in general just from design, lore, themes, and now potential growth. Along with the entire Shuriman cast, I'd just love to see any story development that may, or probably may not come in the future.

I thought you did amazing with Lissandra's analysis but I think you may have outdone yourself with this one, Skyen. These character analysis videos have to be some of my favorites on KZfaq. You explain their stories so well and I simply can't wait for you to do more.

After the touching little story of Azir hugging Xerath, I now need your fan fiction. Also a way to make him fight frontline with his soldiers. I will feed much trying to make this dream real.

This may be a little different from the type of things you would normally do on your channel but I think it would be really neat to see you make a video sorting every league of legends champion into their respective alignment according to the Dungeons and Dragons alignment chart (Lawful to Chaotic, Good to Evil). Thanks for reading.

All this talk of what makes a king makes me really want to go back and rewatch Fate/Zero. The episode where the three kings met to peacefully talk philosophy about what makes a leader. Imagine, King Arthur, Alexander the Great, and Gilgamesh debating over what makes a ruler over booze. That is what this all reminds me of.

WHERE CAN WE FIND THIS FANFICTION?! I'd love to read fan-content that expands the World of Runeterra storylines by artists/writers that know the core concept of their characters.

Dude. The earnestness with which you dive into these characters is SO refreshing. Thank you for your efforts. P.S.- your guess at Azir’s speech during his taunt was flawless.

Moral of the story is that to prevent your terrible leaders from comiting crimes against humanity you must throw your drink at them

"look what my foolishness did to shurima. Look what it did to YOU! Do not become the fool that i was!" I- Skyen, give, skyen pls

it definitely is unfortunate how much riot likes to “both sides” the idea of coups in corrupt nations that would theoretically lead to better living situations in a realistic setting, there is absolutely no need to make people like xerath (slave who wants freedom) or sylas (persecuted mage whose been very obviously taken advantage of and has every reason to be upset) into antagonists of their respective situations, what is the point of making demacia a society which targets particular qualities in its people out of irrational fear but then make the revolutionary a violent one? always feels like writers misunderstand particular ideologies when it comes to revolution stuff, like in legend of korra where they similarly make the progressive characters who actually have realistic grievances with society into ‘the baddies’ by making them do things that would be uncharacteristic of someone in their position. always feels like questionable writing and annoys me that they need to be all centrist when it comes to literal slavery or unnecessary persecution.

after name dropping him multiple times i want it even more... What's the deal with Aurelion Sol? PLEASE?

"The last time Azir had made promises to the people of shurima, it had cost them their lives" Taliyah is my hope for Shurima

about slave, I think you misunderstand something, real live emperors/kings didn't think of their slaves as part of their people and by extension I don't think Azir does so either, I'm willing to believe that he thinks they will be become his people when frees them from slavery (as long as there are no consequences directed at him)

Considering the birth of the Darkin and how the fall of Shurima leads to it, it stands to reason that Azir holding the reigns of power was more than a little necessary at the time. Whether he should rule Shurima in the current day and age is another conversation.

i really enjoyed your explanation of azir, and that you were able to call out the hierarchy of a slave lord with a slave revolting without trying to make zerath sound unreasonable for doing so.

Azir and Swain demonstrate nicely how charisma can be a very dangerous trait in a ruler. Even though we clearly see them do very bad things we can't help but like them due to the sheer charisma they have and thus we ignore the bad things and focus on and inflate the good things that they have done.

would kill to be able to drop azir in that garden with rider, archer and saber during fate zero. make for some interesting discussion, given i don't think his is a perspective they really had.

Excellent as always! I didn't know that short story in the book. Wow, Azir.

That lore speculation at the end was so good

I find it kinda interesting that his attack/command animation resonates with the manner of some kings, and how his gameplay works with that. Outside of Azir's force of will, he has little power of his own. His damage is strong when he's commanding, but on his own it's piddly little lasers and *a dash with which to run away* (yes it can be used to engage, but it's used more as an escape). He had charisma to lead, and he's almost entirely reliant upon that.

You kept mentioning his feathery body, do we actually know for sure he is at all organic? I'd find it interesting if he was made of sand or just a metal shell held together by Magic just like his brother, since you know.. he did kind die. Idk seems like a fun reveal later on.

Cannot deny that xerath has the best dance animation in the game

A shuriman Civil War could, and probably would, have ment more death and suffering, also for the slaves of those who rebeled as they would have to support a war economy and would be worked 10 times harder. And that's not mentioning the thousands, maybe millions who would die painfully and horribly. I agree that Azir should have told Xerath, but you make his motivation sound selfish when a civil war is something he'd likely win, cause the God wariors, but it would sacrefice to many innocent lives

Really glad you added these future segments, they feel like a more natural denouement into the parting thoughts.

since xerath is the new champion in legends of runeterra I REALLY hope we get to see more than just the big evil guy he's made out to be in game.

I AM HERE TO DEFEND AZIR AS A PERSON AS I AM PERSONALLY INVOLVED WITH HIM *marching drums*

*DROP THE FANFICTION SKYEN.*

I am gonna need a link to that fanfic... like I did a little gasp when Azir dived and it was a hug. Tell us stories Skyen we want them.

I really appreciate the nod to Swain being an almost certain step up from Le'Blanc puppets and Mordekaiser. I acknowledge and respect your efforts to dissuade people from unambiguously supporting Swain, but I feel like within context the story gets more muddled.

A thing to remember with Azir is that he is 3000 YEARS OLD alot of concepts and ways of thinking are going to be extremely difficult for him to understand like republics as they were likly not around during his time. I think ur over all future for azir is good but would be better if azir showed slow growth to his character as other characters/events/interactions show him to be a better ruler/person i.e he learns how effective deplomency can be and though that he learns to care/consider the interests of others to maintain his alliances eventually he learns of new political systems and ways of thinking and how the world has changed around since his time then he does change his empire to a republic but he may instead he may do what the british did with there monarchy instead of abducating his throne

So I can already see a bit of confusion about the statement that All Kings Are Bastards, and while I am not Skyen, I believe our opinions are similar enough that explaining my opinion will also explain his. Kings, as a rule, generally obtained their office through either force of arms (or the threat thereof) or heredity, not the consent of the people. There are a few elective monarchs in history that I know of, but all of those I know about were elected by an upper class of nobles, meaning that not even the few elective monarchs can truly be said to be chosen by the people. Kings generally keep their office through either violence or the threat thereof, like most states. Ergo, the actual moral character of the king in question is entirely irrelevant to the question of whether or not they are a bastard, it's only a question of how much of a bastard they are. Even the nicest kings still propagate a system designed to elevate few at the cost of the many, so even the nicest kings are, at best, 'not as bad as they could have been'. A real 'good king' would be king for just as long as it takes to either dismantle the office of kingship or, at least, reduce it to a ceremonial figurehead with no actual political power. But, like he said, this is fantasy, so the fantasy definition of 'good king' is generally just 'a nice person who rules justly', which most LoL kings do not meet. As towards the actual video, it is good. Like I said in the chat Riot has this weird problem with having rebel characters who they decry as too violent for their own good, even though they all are only rebels because other people were committing violence to them first and all the rebels want to do is to stop it.

I liked this take on a character a lot, man :D dont be afraid of comments if it produces gems like the xerath rant! Juicy aggressive passion about stuff in a voice is my drug fam

Give me the fanfiction!!

Man that future story you made really got me, hit me right in the feels

Didn't you say Xerath also killed a newborn and the old empress ? Sounds to me like he definitely planned to kill more than just 1 person on his path to freedom

On the note of Xerath, I feel like they went the centrist route because they wanted him to still be a villain, and to be fair, he does suit the villain role. But they could have easily made him a villain without going the centrist route. Make it so the guilt of causing the Shuriman apocalypse led to his start of darkness as he had to justify the accident to satisfy his guilty conscience, or that the thousands of years in the dark that drove Renekton mad also drove him mad. There's tonnes of ways.

By the interactions in Legends of Runeterra we can see even more his "Shurima before all" mentality: he's regaining back the empire's former glory while trying to get along with the present; even with all that new power Shurima has remained behind with the rest of Runeterra, for esample his interactions with Ekko where he's taking lessons in modern technology, being him from the most advanced region, (and for some reason it seems like Poro's didn't leave the Freljord and spread everywhere already 3000 years ago) so that he, the Emperor, the one that "makes" Shurima, can advance at the same time with his nation.

Please give us the full uncut history of purple fabric dye!

I love his interactions with sivir in Legends of Runeterra

Your version of azir's story is so fucking good man

That Xerath rant near the end was just too perfect. That gave me a good laugh.

In Azir's story i see many parallels to Urza of magic the gathering. A man with a great obsession to whom all else is secondary (Thran technology and the threat of Phyrexia) whose narrow mindedness creates great discord with his brother (also once a slave) ultimately leading to great cataclysm and destruction, as well as his ascension to a status not unlike a demigod. After this, he tries to learn, here and there, but ultimately it's never enough, only repeating the mistakes of his past, hanging onto his obsessions and leaving tragedy in his wake.

I wouldn’t say Azir is really “Evil” but I wouldn’t exactly say he is a good person either. He’s much more complex than either of those terms from my view. He does heinous things not because he’s malicious but because it’s just how he thinks he’s supposed to act and behave. He has good intentions with his plans but hurts those around him in the process. And he’s much more open to having his mind changed from literally burning a village down as opposed to someone like Swain who would absolutely have no moral issues with doing so. If we were talking about alignment charts, I would definitely think Azir would be somewhere on the neutral cross.

Everyone is talking about Azir's possible redemption but no one talks about Xerath possible redemption, which is probably more deserved and interesting, due to bias

I am loving this video! You did an awesome job analyzing one of my favorite nun-void characters and you did it in an amazing and passionate way! Please make more videos like this :) Tho I really wish for more void lore from riot... I think they can do amazing horror or self-discovery (İmagine Vel'koz realizing there will be nothing left to learn when watchers finally destroy the reality) type stories with voidborn

Fun fact: "Bird Furries" are called either Featheries or Avians.

When Skyen started talking about Azir's pose I was like "Oh yea it's a powerful pose full of confidence because he's puffing his chest out so much" and then Skyen mentioned those things which means that I'm slowly learning character designs by watching What's the deal with... making me more and more powerful with each second so that one day I too may become sick looking birb with the ability to win every sand castle competiotion in za warudo.

It either kills you or makes you a Furry. Omigod, I was not ready for that line.

When is the full purple dye rant dropping? Real soon, I hope.

"Is there a special word for bird furries?" Yes, there is - Avian

Every time I see azir, i remember the video of the azir hiding among the chicks in the jungle and a Lee sin i believe passing by without noticing.

Amazing prediction and amazing video as always and if you ever write this fanfic SEND IT TO ME I WILL READ IT . But I think your forgetting a minor detai. The explosion xerath caused killed azirs wife and children (even if by accident. And no that doesn't count as a wife steal ) so I am not entirely sure if he will forgive him entriely I mean he could take responsibility for it maybe he knows that they died because of him not telling xerath so he knows that he like that failed he's entire family Am just saying this part from the arisen short story and the most heartbreaking at least to me Also azir being a dorky grandfather with sivir is one of the best thing lor gave to us and I feel like it added a lot more to his chareter

"Riot needs to fix this shit-" *sunscreen ad starts* "To protect you from the sun's rays-" Huh, topical.

I really hope Riot takes your advice and your concept on how to further his lore. The way Riot has treated Demacia's story of literal genocide, the imperialism and tyranny of Swain in Noxus, and late stage capitalism in Piltover and Zaun has left me with little trust that Riot will actually handle these issues as they should be handled. You know, condemning genocide, tyranny, slavery and whatever the fuck you call what's going on in Zaun/Piltover.

i find it fascinating that most good stories involving "good" and "heroic" kings usually involve that kingdom falling apart. that fundamentally, Azir doing the right thing would most likely mark the end of Shurima anyway. The most notable example being King Arthur, whose kingdom slowly fell to ruin mainly due to human nature being the chaotic thing it is. Monarchies, good or bad, can never last. Their sovereignty will dwindle as time progresses until they are royalty in name only.

Definitely glad to see you tackle one of my favorite characters. I have some conflicts and biases with a few of your opinions mainly as a Monarchist. But ultimately this is still a great video and I appreciate the detail you put in these.

Well i am really down for this fan fiction of yours. A fan fiction from you would be great plus its about shurima which is my favourite region and azir is my main.

dude, your tangents are the best; love them, really nice video thanks

Can we get the directors cut where the mollusk part wasnt cut

tbh i find funny that the only good king / emperor is qiyana parents and trey only exist so that she have something like a antagonist force angainst her in the region

In a way veigar and azir are pomar opposites, veigar goes good things, but wants to be evil while azir has good intentions but does horrible acts

Redemption and reconciliation is exactly what I want for Azir's character arc. Acknowledging he wasn't a good person, wants to be a good person, and do what is necessary to change for the better.

16:49 Wow! The celestial are so much playing Starcraft that the Voidborns looks like the Zergs.

Amazing grey morality and complexity written for a character from a videogame. I hope this story gets animated like Arcane

28:17 can't help but think of that "our battle will be legendary!" kung fu panda scene with Tai Lung and its clenched fist.

"Better than the alternative tyrant", honestly Swain reminds me too much of Lord Vetinari and they both fit that to a T.

Falcon Emperor would be a kickass band name.

"What makes a good king?" is a very interesting question with a lackluster answer in the video. A supposed good king from your pov is someone who would do the "right" thing regardless of the cost, which in my opinion is nothing short of a pushover or self-righteous idealist who disregards all other factors just to inflate his own ego even further. Assuming a "good king" is someone who would put the needs of his people first (because thats what most of the media i have consumed agrees on), what really counts as "his people"? if commoners and nobles count then the king would need to strike a balance between those classes to a point where there wont be enough discord for a clash (referring to some kind of civil war) which will most likely not allow him to free the slaves, because freeing the slaves will be a direct way to attack the nobles' wealth and consequentially their power since slaves were considered property in shurima, and if he does it anyways disregarding that then the only thing he achieves would be a clash between the nobles and the king, which would result in more death and suffering regardless of which side wins. Azir's idea of conquest has 2 possible sides that i thought of and i'll go through both of them: 1. Azir wants to conquer new land to trade it to the nobles in exchange for the slaves' freedom, basically "buying" their freedom from the nobles so they won't be disatisfied by their "property" being taken, instead being more akin to a trade, which would also result in the slaves having land to live on, creating jobs for them since people are going to be needed by the nobles who will receive said lands, so they dont just get sent out after being freed to overpopulate the already existing land and just continue suffering there, spreading illness and increasing the crime rates. ( this would obviously take a fair amount of time to work so he wouldnt be freeing the slaves like a supposed "good king" would and instead would look like something "selfish" by the video's standards.) This is the best solution i could come up with in a couple minutes from what Azir said but its not perfect and i probably overlooked some stuff. 2. Azir wants to conquer new land in order to show his power and use his ascension to rule with an iron fist(at least on the nobles) so he can free the slaves without any resistance from the nobles, which would only achieve an eventual revolt. We've seen plenty of examples in reality of how tyrannical rulers end up if they force the people into submission, there WILL be an eventual revolt, regardless of whether it is realistic for them to win or not, because fighting against impossible odds is in my opinion a part of human nature. This would only serve to hurt the people more, which is not what a supposed "good king" would want. "Villifying" xerath for wanting freedom is somewhat of a weird point to make, because you are arguing that putting your freedom over the lives of an entire empire would not be a "bad" thing to do. (quotation marks because bad is an extremely subjective word) Personally i don't think that doing what xerath did was bad because as people are selfish, they would(me included) do the same regardless of what other people's lives they would take/ruin. Assuming saving more people is better than saving 1 then xerath's action are terrible and evil, so seeing him as a "villain" would be an objective point of view from history's perspective. I know its a character analysis and not a socio-political analysis of Shurima but i just wanted to throw it out there, also if azir DID talk to xerath about his plans the catastrophe would probably not have happened and it IS mainly azir's ego and lack of communication that ruined the empire so your inital point is still very accurate, the video was a great analysis of his character. :D

For his attack animation, I love how much Azir anchors himself on his Flapole/Staff. It's such a "digging in your heels" kinda vibe and keeps him more immobile and rooted than a feather bird theme would suggest at first glance. Also thank you so much for actually talking in depth and with a clear stance about the heavy baggage any King, Emperor or the Like will always bring with them^^

WHEN THE EMPEROR COMMANDS, THE LAND OBEYS! Yaknow, I really like your "fanfics", I guess they can be called - this one and especially the rewriting Seraphine one made me excited for a story that doesn't exist lmao

When the Future part started, I was super invested and was wondering, man I need some good fanfiction of this if riot doesn't move this story forwards soon. And now am really hoping you finish that fic 👀

I would actually love a full rant about Tyrian Purple

i luv ur reviews, t b skyen thank u 😩💛✨

One thing i like specifically abt azir in legends of runeterra is that he never refers to himself as doing something, it's pretty much always "the order is given", "the empire calls". He doesn't seem to fully associate himself with his own actions, because he thinks it's the philosophical and grand "for the greater good" that even the bible references and has been used as a pivotal plot point in so many stories, where the greater good is sometimes a genuine real good thing, and some (much better) times it's a moral dilema, usually personal, but can also be a group/population dilema, and I LOVE IT SO MUCH I COULD TALK ABOUT IT FOR HOURS

I want that 1 hour discussion of dyes.

keep up the great work love this vid

“Azir, we don’t need a emperor anymore. We’ve been chill for years without one.” “NONONO. You’re wrong and I’m going to tell you HOW you’re wrong.”