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By now League of Legends fans are already aware of two upcoming champions in Summoner's Rift: "The Sentinel of Light" and "The Gloomy Yordle."
As confirmed by Riot, Sentinel of Light will be the 156th champion on the League of Legends roster, while nothing much has been revealed about the gloomy mage champion to date. However, some players and lore masters like Necrit believe they have connected all the dots to infer the name and lore of the Gloomy Mage.
According to fans, the long-discussed Gloomy Yordle is none but Norra, the Yordle Enchantress from the Bandle city outlands, who also happens to be Yuumi's master.
A recent teaser from Riot also suggests that a Ruination event might be heading to the Summoner's Rift anytime soon, and with Norra being deeply entwined with Runeterra's Ruination Lore, it might be a fit for the jigsaw.
Can "The Gloomy Yordle" Norra be the 157th champion to hit the League of Legends roster?
Who is Norra?
From Yuumi's League of Legends biography, it can be found that Norra was a Yordle enchantress from Bandle city who possessed a Book of Thresholds. This book allowed her to instantly travel to any place depicted in its pages.
Norra spent her time exploring places across the material and spirit realm, collecting strange objects like broken cups, shards of colored glass and fabric with funny stitching.
So how can Norra be connected to Riot's upcoming Yordle champion?
According to League of Legends lore, in all her adventures, Norra was accompanied by Yuumi, the cat, who always protected her. One day, while Yuumi returned from hunting, she was shocked to discover that Norra had disappeared, leaving behind her Book of Thresholds.
Some of the pages in the book were torn out by Norra, clearly depicting the fact that she wanted to keep her destination a secret. She intentionally destroyed the portal through which she traveled, hinting at the fact that Norra did not like being bothered.
This characteristic feature of Norra strongly aligns with Ryan "Reav3" Mireles' description of the new "Gloomy Mage." According to Reav3, who also happens to be Riot's lead producer of the champions' team:
"So after we pass through the new skirmisher, the next champion after that is a gloomy new artillery mage who would prefer it if we just didn't bother her at all. I mean I don't blame her. These days there are so many skillshots, dashes, and hyperactivity around Summoner's Rift. Either way, as tiring as all these champions can be shooting skillshots everywhere, it sure beats being back in that happy-go-lucky Bandle City. She would choose anything over that colorful, horrible, bright place."
The place where Norra traveled to could very well be the dangerous Shadow Isles, as she might have been tired with the "happy-go-lucky" Bandle City.
Did Norra travel to the Shadow Isles?
With the last major League of Legends Item update back in January, most of the added and updated items are now very much aligned to the in-game lore. The epic item "Lost Chapter" carried the symbol of the Shadow Isles which was changed to a simpler design, keeping the symbol intact.
This clearly indicates that the Lost Chapter will have an important role to play in the upcoming League of Legends journey. The item's visual might also represent pages torn off by Norra from her Book of Thresholds, which could be a portal to the Shadow Isles.
Norra might soon show up in League of Legends, in the form of a Ruined Yordle
A previously revealed League of Legends teaser also showed the ruined dark-green mist making its way to Bandle City through a Yordle portal. This could also be a pathway for it to travel and engulf other Runeterran regions like Demacia, Shurima, Freijlord and Ionia, some of which have already been teased by Riot.
This also hints at a theory that Norra decided to tear the pages of her book to save the Bandle Cite from Ruination. However, the whole thing is sheer speculation, and Riot is yet to drop elaborative details on League of Legends' champion number 157.
