Fan theories that will change how you see your favorite games part 2

As you well know, fan theories are the powerhouse of the video game communities. We love talking about our favorite games and adding our own perspective to their narrative always makes great conversation.

Also, nothing beats the feeling of vindication when your fan theory turns out to be accurate. So here we are again, in the continuation of part 1 of the fan theories article, discussing some of the famous fan theories about our favorite games.

League of Legends

League has some… interesting history with its lore. Wiped and rebuilt a couple of times, League lore is finally finding its footing, with the help of Arcane. We used to try to figure out if Jinx and Vi were really sisters, now we have a much deeper and more complex lore to talk about. So the theories I will talk about here are mostly about Arcane, because they are very hard to stay away from when talking about League of Legends lore. Here be spoilers, in case you haven’t watched the show.

Vander is Warwick

By far the most popular theory about Arcane regarding the League itself is Vander’s identity. Vander is an ex-gangster who left his old life to protect his family, namely Vi and Jinx. He’s the de facto leader of the Undercity and is respected by everyone with a common sense there. After being captured by Silco and experimented on by Singed, he’s shown to become something of a monster before passing out. At the end of the series, we see Singed with a captured subject in his lab, resembling Vander.

Warwick seems to be constantly pumped by Singed’s green formula. (Image: Riot Games)

In League’s lore and in-game voice lines, Warwick is known to have forgotten his past life due to being experimented on by Singed. At times, he remembers bits and pieces of his previous life where he was an ex-gangster who tried to live a decent life after stepping away from the criminal life. He also remembers the screams of a little girl, implied to be Powder right before he passes out due to the amount of Shimmer in his body. Warwick also has an in-game dialogue where he lashes out at Vi for abandoning Zaun. He’s also implied to be the person who taught Vi how to punch, which is revealed to be Vander in Arcane. Vander becoming Warwick would make the second season of Arcane even more complex than the first.

Mordekaiser is three Yordles on top of each other in a suit of armor

Okay, this is not a theory I believe to be true, but it’s one I want to believe. We all know how powerful, dangerous, and quirky Yordles can be. I wouldn’t put it past them to just stack on top of each other, pick up a mace and make heavy metal references all day just to mess with everyone.

He’s Using Everything in his power to hide the fact that he’s three Yordles inside. (Image: Riot Games)

This theory might have been debunked with the Mordekaiser rework, mostly because we can now see the inside of his chest armor to be empty. Then again, there’s also a Yordle that can become invisible and is known to be an evil overlord that’s trying to make everyone’s life a living hell. You just know Teemo is the middle Yordle of those three.

Mel Medarda is LeBlanc

Mel Medarda is a show-only character from Arcane who seems to be very interested in Jayce. She’s from Noxus, and during a large portion of the series, she’s quite obviously manipulating Jayce into working towards her own endgame. She seems to have an agenda of her own, which would make sense if she’s LeBlanc, the leader of the Black Rose.

LeBlanc is known for her illusions, among her other magical abilities. She can look and be like anyone, manipulating events behind the scenes while posing as someone else. She’s known to support Jericho Swain, paving the way for him to become Grand General. Pushing Jayce into making Hextech weapons might be a part of LeBlanc's plan to empower Noxus against Demacia in the coming war.

Lying is, like, 95% of what LeBlanc does. (Image: Riot Games)

Mel’s mother showing up and flashbacks to her childhood could potentially debunk this theory, but LeBlanc is known to mimic other people perfectly. So while it would cheapen Mel’s character arc, LeBlanc setting the stage from behind the scenes would be a great reveal for a character that’s titled “the Deceiver.” It might also be relevant to Mel’s brother crossing the wrong man, potentially pointing towards Darius. The Medarda family doesn’t seem to have much to be afraid of, so someone who killed Mama Medarda’s son and getting away with it means they’re a force to be feared in Noxus.

This theory can be debunked by the fact that Mel Medarda is too established a character to be revealed as someone else entirely. Also, if Mel were to be revealed as LeBlanc, a series as articulate and detail-oriented as Arcane would definitely leave at least a clue about the reveal. Instead, we get more backstory about Mel, which further establishes her character. She, however, might end up having to deal with or join LeBlanc if her brother’s killer turns out to be Swain or Darius. Either way, Mel might be the reason LeBlanc makes an appearance in Arcane, much to the joy of all five of us LeBlanc mains.

Mass Effect

We’re stepping a bit out of the esports zone here but bear with me. It’s going to be worth it.

Mass Effect is an all-time great series with amazing characters and a spectacular sci-fi story. Throughout three games, Mass Effect has built up this incredible lore about multiple alien civilizations and how they interact with each other. As we follow Commander Shepard (I happened to play as the male version, so I’ll refer to the character as “him”) through his journey from accidentally finding an alien beacon on Eden Prime to personally facing the universe-ending threat itself, the looming presence of the Reapers is always there.

Saving the galaxy is not a journey you set forth on alone. (Image: EA)

As the story with Shepard versus the Reapers came to a conclusion, fans were mostly disappointed. The different endings the finale offered to the entire series were a bit too similar, implying the players’ choices throughout the trilogy meant very little in the end. Disgruntled fans were quick to develop a theory that makes the final stretch of Mass Effect 3 much more complex and interesting than its original ending. If you’ve been a fan of the series, you have surely heard this name before.

The Indoctrination Theory

The Reapers are the main antagonists in the Mass Effect series. They are a civilization of ancient, highly-advanced, sentient starships. They claim to have no beginning and no end, pointing out they are incomprehensibly old. They hibernate in the dark space, waking up to “harvest” all organic life from the galaxy, approximately every 50,000 years. It’s a cycle that’s been going on for an unknown amount of time. As luck would have it, one of these cycles coincides with Shepard’s time in the big leagues.

The Reapers very quickly recognize Shepard as a great leader and consider him a threat to their cycle of extinction. The Reapers are correct in their assessment as Shepard proves to be incredibly resilient, killing one of the prominent Reapers and even coming back from certain death. Throughout the Mass Effect Trilogy, the Reapers are shown to have the power to dominate an organic being’s mind completely and change their personality to act according to their own agenda. This is called the Indoctrination, and it’s as a key plot device during the first game.

Harbinger making a last stand before—allegedly—attempting to Indoctrinate Shepard. (Image: EA)

The Indoctrination Theory suggests that during the final charge towards the Reapers on Earth, the Reaper named Harbinger attempted to Indoctrinate Shepard as a last-ditch effort. Everything that happens after that is in Shepard’s mind. Admiral Anderson represents his human side, a father-like figure to Shepard, and Harbinger’s attempts on his mind are represented by the Illusive Man. The Illusive Man tries to convince Shepard to give up the fight and embrace the Reapers for absolute control over them. At the same time, Anderson actively points out the Indoctrination taking over the Illusive Man.

After Shepard manages to move past this conflict, he’s presented with three choices: to destroy the Reapers, to embrace and control them, and to synthesize a new lifeform by combining the synthetics and organics into a new, unique DNA. According to the theory, these choices are also happening in Shepard’s mind. Shepard’s comment towards the embrace option is “so the Illusive Man was right all along,” which implies choosing that option is what the Reapers want.

Everything Shepard learns during the final sequence seems to convince him to not pick the “destroy the Reapers” route. He’s told that there are much better and viable solutions that will end up with Shepard changing his mind about destroying the Reapers. Interestingly enough, when he contemplates the option to destroy the Reapers, he sees a vision of Anderson -his human side- shooting the mechanism to trigger the destruction of the Reapers.

Reapers are endless, both in age and in numbers. (Image: EA)

What moves this theory forward is the part most players were also disgruntled with. All three choices end up playing the same cutscene, just with different colors. Red for destroy, blue for control, and green for synthesis. There’s only one exception to this: a cutscene that plays after you choose the destroy option. It shows—just for a moment—that Commander Shepard is alive under the wreckage of the final charge, implying he resisted the Indoctrination of Harbinger by choosing to destroy the Reapers.

This theory is considered vital because it makes the final moments of the trilogy much more complex and nuanced, compared to having just three different colored cutscenes. The problem with the original ending is that it basically throws away all the choices you made throughout the trilogy and wants you to pick one of the colors. The Indoctrination Theory adds much more weight to your choices during the confrontation with the Illusive Man and makes your final choice much more meaningful in terms of storytelling.

Bioware debunked this theory multiple times but is still a strong contender for best video game fan theories of all time due to having a layered and meaningful structure. It looks at the whole ending from a different perspective and actually works for the most part, so you can consider it your “headcanon” if you’re invested in it.

Pokémon

You know you can’t talk about video game theories without mentioning Pokémon. The Pokémon world seems to be simple enough at first glance, but since the first game came out decades ago, people have been discovering small details that point towards easter eggs and some horrifying stories in the background.

Post-war Pokémon world

One of the most famous theories about the Pokémon world is that a great war happened right before our big adventure. That’s why there are barely any adults around, and almost all of them are female. The men went to fight in the war, and none of them returned. This theory is further solidified by the fact that a character in the game—Lt. Surge—mentions his Pokémon have saved his life during the war by zapping the enemies.

Lt. Surge, still dropping bombs even after the war ended. (Image: The Pokémon Company)

Another theory that runs parallel to the post-war theory points out the fact that there are only master Pokémon trainers and novice trainers in the world. The theory claims that this is because Pokémon also served—and presumably died—in the aforementioned war, which caused all catching and training Pokémon activities to halt during wartime. The masters are the trainers who started their career before the war, and the novices are the ones who started after it ended.

Red killed Blue’s Raticate

Sorry for the grim tone, but Pokémon itself is a colorful and joyful adventure, so the theories mostly point towards the dark details in the darkest corners of these games.

Red and Blue are some of the most famous, legendary rivals out there. Interpreted as Ash and Gary for the TV show, Pokémon’s original protagonist and antagonist are arguably the most iconic rival duo out there. This theory shines a light on a disturbing fact about their rivalry.

Raticate attacking. Alive, for now. (Image: The Pokémon Company)

In the game Pokémon Red, Red fights against Blue on a ship while leaving Vermillion City. Blue has a Raticate in his roster, which Red defeats. After the fight ends, Red goes on with his adventure, only to run into Blue again in Lavender Town. This time, though, the setting is a bit unorthodox. The rivals face up at the Pokémon memorial building in Lavender Town, where people visit their dead Pokémon. Blue asks Red if they had a Pokémon of theirs die before, to which Red is speechless. Blue proceeds to challenge Red and is revealed to have five Pokémon instead of six this time. The missing Pokémon is the Raticate we defeated in the previous encounter.

Now Blue might have just traded Raticate or released it for a stronger Pokémon. But the fact that he now has five instead of six implies an unexpected loss. Coupled with the fact that Blue is at the Pokémon Memorial and talks about having a Pokémon die on them strongly points towards the Raticate’s death. Did we, as Red, kill the poor Raticate, or did it survive us but then die of another cause? We’ll never know. What we know is the fact that Raticate will live on in our conscience.

Conclusion

Fan theories push narratives to their limit to reveal our interpretation of stories and maybe a little bit about ourselves, too. Of course, some theories are very much out there, claiming incredible connections between characters and events, but that is also the beauty of the fan theories.

You know what theory is 100% confirmed and a solid fact, though? It’s the fact that G-Loot is here to help you get more out of your games. You can even get your conspiracy-loving buddies together and create your own esports team.

What do you think about these fan theories? Do you think Shepard was Indoctrinated or do you think the leader of the Reapers decided to just reveal itself to present Shepard with the option to destroy them all? Do you think Teemo is just a cute little Yordle? Join the conversation on Discord to discuss your theories about your favorite games, and how to get better at them.

Header image by Emily Morter