clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

The new League of Legends comic Katarina is packed with lore revelations

A prequel to the Riot Forge game Mageseeker

Legends of Runeterra - Katarina level 2 card art, showing the red-headed assassin grinning as she unleashes a storm of knives upon her attackers. Image: Riot Games
Cass Marshall is a news writer focusing on gaming and culture coverage, taking a particular interest in the human stories of the wild world of online games.

It’s surprisingly easy to miss the newest League of Legends comic, especially since it has an answer to one of the oldest mysteries in the entire game. The comic is published on Webtoon instead of the official Riot Universe site, and it dives into one of the game’s original champions.

Katarina Du Couteau is an assassin from Noxus, a brutal expansionist empire with an internal system of cutthroat meritocracy. She helped the current Grand General of Noxus pull off a coup, and now she works as an extremely in-demand assassin. Katarina explores what the champion is up to during the mage rebellion of Demacia, and finally introduces her father.

General Du Couteau and his mysterious absence is a mystery that predates League’s lore retcon and restart of 2014, and yet managed to survive that great lore purge. Cassiopeia and Katarina, two League champions, are his biological daughters. Talon, the third champion in House Du Couteau, was adopted from the streets. Du Couteau was a demanding, abusive father who expected the best from his kids, and voice lines in the game implied Katarina murdered him and hid the crime.

Katarina is some of the most in-depth lore we’ve gotten on Talon and Katarina yet, and it makes both characters surprisingly likeable. The champions chat about dear old dad, his legacy, and the current political situation in Noxus. Things get complicated, and Katarina is dispatched to Demacia — which is a metaphorical powder keg about to explode with a mage rebellion.

Katarina is a sequel to the upcoming Riot Forge game Mageseeker: A League of Legends Story which follows the struggle of rebellion leader Sylas. The series hasn’t concluded yet, so there’s likely more surprises in store before the conclusion of Katarina and release of Mageseeker on April 18.

The next level of puzzles.

Take a break from your day by playing a puzzle or two! We’ve got SpellTower, Typeshift, crosswords, and more.