Is Arcane Canon? How Riot Games’ TV Show Retcons League of Legends Lore

Riot Games’ Netflix series ‘Arcane’ has become a massive hit but League of Legends fans are left wondering if the stories in the show are canon. All of what was shown in the nine episodes of Arcane is indeed canon but Riot Games took the liberty to retcon some of its existing lore which you will find in cinematics, comics, or in the official lore entries. There are some stark differences in Arcane compared to the official lore, especially in Viktor’s origin story.

Arcane is canon in the Runeterra universe but it does revise League of Legends’ lore

While the Runeterra universe has been developed via League of Legends for over a decade, fans got a closer look into the origin stories of some of its oldest characters for the first time ever.

According to the official lore, Viktor worked with Piltover’s best and brightest minds which includes Jayce. The two were equally matched in intellect, but where “Viktor was methodical, logical, and thorough, Jayce was flamboyant and arrogant. The two worked together frequently, but never truly became friends.” Often, the two would butt heads over their perceptions of intuition versus logic in the process of invention, but a level of mutual respect developed between each other.

That was completely retconned in Arcane with Jayce and Viktor treating each other like brothers. Differences may arise between both the inventors and we could see Arcane’s lore fall in line with what was established by League of Legends. In the lore, Viktor operated on himself and turned himself into a machine while in Arcane, the Hexcore took over a part of Viktor’s body through experimentation.

Despite the differences, Arcane’s storylines are canon in the Runeterra universe and the series can be seen with revisions to Viktor’s origin story. Both Jayce and Viktor share the common goal of the betterment of humankind. Unlike Jayce, Viktor wants to better humankind by taking advantage of technological innovations while distancing humans from their emotional impulses. He sees flesh as a weakness and begins to see technology as an evolution of man through experimentation on his own body.

Is Arcane canon in the League of Legends universe?

Wild Rift and Teamfight Tactics are extensions of the League of Legends universe and do not deviate from the lore. Legends of Runeterra on the other hand is similar to Marvel’s “What If” comic series which highlights how key moments in Marvel Comics’ history would have unfolded if key moments in its history did not occur. Arcane on the other hand is completely canon and everything shown in the show can be seen as new additions to the existing lore.