Reading the Katarina comic helped me understand why he and Katarina could fall for each other as at their cores I think they’re very similar people. Both believe wholeheartedly and exemplify the ideals of their nation. For Garen that would be loyalty, and duty, while for Katarina it would be living for oneself. Additionally both generally ignore the pitfalls of their particular nation, Garen naturally being the genocide and bigotry of Demacia, while for Katarina its the imperialism and child-soldiers of Noxus. Granted, I’m fairly certain that if they ever did become more of a thing in more stories that they would end up in a Batman-Catwoman dynamic where neither is willing to compromise their lifestyle to be fully with the other, especially if Garen found out that Katarina killed Jarvan III.

@user-cq1cw8xz7f

8 ай бұрын

And one day they run away into the sunset to build a new life together in an unknown land❤

@tka7886

8 ай бұрын

​@@user-cq1cw8xz7fngl thats very likely who knows maybe they both realise their nations suck and love is more important...yes its cringy but still has a chance of happening lmao

@randommemer5802

8 ай бұрын

Kata killed the third Jarvan? Really?

@insheepsclothing5574

8 ай бұрын

Wait, wasn't it Sylas or one of the renegade mages that killed J3 in the Lux comics? It's been a while since I read it.

@rubiconprime1429

8 ай бұрын

@@insheepsclothing5574 no, Sylas was planning on doing it, but when he entered the King’s chambers, J3 was already dead, much to Sylas’ annoyance. The Katarina comic shows her stabbing J3 in the back before escaping

I remember this old short story where Garen outsmarted an old witch, so I guess hes not that stupid. In this story he was actually quite clever.

@hamdepaf6686

8 ай бұрын

yea, too few people know "the Soldier and the Hag" story. It is the only story that actually explores him as a character. I mean I have my own opinions about recent Demacia lore, but for the sanity of everyone here including me, I will not write a essay below this video on how I dislike every writing decision that was made for the Demacian lore since the release of Sylas and why Sylas just doesn't work for the role he is supposed to fill. I will say however, that since than, Garen has not been looked as anything more than "funny Demacia screaming man... and also Lux brother I guess". Like I genuinely believe Garen to be a complex character, just the stories that he did get to shine as one are 1 pretty unknown and 2 not even cannon content that was never released. Basically Garen has this problem than many people, even a lot of the writers that use him in their stories, only really see him as this meme personality that the community projected on him due to his simple gameplay.

im a garen main, hes just extremely satisfying to play despite how simple he is. nothing beats the big bass sword

@thenumber24

8 ай бұрын

he

@NOCKGAMES

8 ай бұрын

​@@thenumber24 man

@Sahn_Uzal_

8 ай бұрын

yea, same here

@worminaround

8 ай бұрын

Garen is so basic it's fantastic

@Aganie.

5 ай бұрын

Alright, cave troll

12:14 If they do make Demacian Swain, I hope they give him a petricite arm and his ult would make him look similar to Kayle.

@Miraihi

8 ай бұрын

Probably he'd wear the mageseeker half mask too.

you should've read his color story and novel for this. they are two of the rare occasions where his plot doesn't revolve around lux. he is very well written in these stories and they convinced me that his lore is actually quite good! his interactions in lor are also very funny, but i don't think that they're canon since the katarina comic.

@Jose-vz2bn

4 ай бұрын

don't mind this guy he's that person that says every hero is boring lol

@venus4561

4 ай бұрын

@@Jose-vz2bn i can't blame him haha garen needs an asu, he doesn't even look demacian in game 😔

Wild Garen has some of the most story’s in league yet he’s one the most boring

I think it’s not impossible for Garen to think his ultimate isn’t magic at all, like ‘’This isn’t magic, it’s Demacian spirit! It’s totally different!’’.

@dankmemes8254

8 ай бұрын

It is lady of justice blessings 0 magic at all

@odintakerprime6595

8 ай бұрын

"Surely calling down the power of a god isn't considered magic at all, nope. I refuse to believe that it is."

@davidschleim1404

8 ай бұрын

@@odintakerprime6595 yeah man totally different no magic involved

@workingclassdoge5303

8 ай бұрын

Black templar Garen

Garen definetly is certainly not dumb. His color story and the entire novella cover that pretty well. Mageseeker unfortunately treated him like a dumb musclehead but the game kinda stinks story-wise so that's par for the course.

@x-nimator9997

8 ай бұрын

How does mageseeker sucks? considering it did a solid job developing sylas and doing great stuffs with morgana

@eugenioderevell3826

8 ай бұрын

​@@x-nimator9997its to mages what schiundlers list is to jews, revenge p0rn

@boredhuman6512

8 ай бұрын

​@@x-nimator9997at the cost of all other demacian characters having maybe 8 lines to express themselves... Jarvan gets multiple short stories and a part in the lux comics to express just how revenge and grief is clouding his morals meanwhile mageseeker makes him overcome that in the most bare minimum lines

@reno9821

8 ай бұрын

@@x-nimator9997 It developed pretty much just Sylas, and even that was done in a really shallow and cartoony way imo. He would've been better as a villain but Riot chickened out of that with Demacia's lore. The other demacian champs also ended up looking really poorly, if they were included at all, besides Morgana who was just okay.

@Underworlder5

8 ай бұрын

@@reno9821 might have been fan reception. there are quite a few people who are willing to overlook sylas' flaws because he is the only one actually doing something about the mage genocide. though honestly, if you are being oppressed because your oppressors think you are dangerous, the last thing you want to do is prove their point

I actually think his story could be very interesting if they ever developed his lore further. Right now there's no personality, but seeing him, the representation of Demacian ethics and morals, struggling with his very human morals and desires and love for people who go against his ethos as a soldier in the form of his mage sister and a Noxian lover would be very interesting. For what we saw in Mageseeker, he could either fall further under Demacian values and actively reject his humanity, or he would have to confront the most disgusting side of himself and his nation, and I honestly think he could go either way.

@brosam_

8 ай бұрын

Y'know, if you look at his God King skin and how it acts/interacts, it shows what Garen could become if he falls even deeper into his Demacian soldier values and ethos while actively rejecting everything else

I think my favorite interpretation of Garen is that, while he definitely is a bit of a dumb himbo, he is NOT simple-minded, but instead CHOOSES to see things in a simple way. Garen seems to take a lot of pride and joy in being the blade of Demacia, captain of her Dauntless Vanguard, and inspiring hero of the people with a loving family and a really cool girlfriend. The problem is that this ideal life he lives in requires that he ignore some VERY EVIDENT problems with literally every aspect of his life that forces a level of complexity or moral greyness into it. - His sister is a mage, and his uncle is the head of the Mageseekers. Meaning he is dutybound on several levels to turn her in if it came out that he knew. - His girlfriend is clearly some kind of foreign spy or soldier, and it would not take much work to figure out that she is Noxian, which makes it so much more of a problem. Her KILLING THE KING is just the cherry on top at that point. - His best friend - the crown prince - is trying to deal with the mage uprising while at the same time dating a dragon. My personal interpretation of Garen is that he is not dumb or ignorant to all of these waving red flags in his life, but in order to preserve this idyllic dream that he places so much stock in, he willingly turns a blind eye than face the discomfort and potential tragedy that comes with it. - Whenever Garen is talking with Lux, it is made fairly evident that the both of them are circling around the main point at the heart of their conflict, instead masking it as "familial responsibilities" with Lux shirking her training and duties as a Crownsguard. - During his chats with Jarvan about the uprising, it came off to me like Garent was hoping that moving the topic to Shyvanna would in some way help him come up with a solution to the Lux situation. After all, if Jarvan could date a fully magical creature, then surely Lux could be allowed to throw a few sparkles without being shot at. Additionally, he also makes the big point that the Seekers are clearly in this for the blood more than the justice, and that even if they are a necessary evil, it is impressively hard to stomach that look of glee when they catch the scent of prey. The Katarina relationship is the one thing here that I don't have much to go on yet, since current lore is showing its beginnings, while the rest of the franchise treats it like the most obvious open secret in the world, to the point where even Tahm Kench is cool playing wingman and arranging dinner plans. I find it utterly hilarious, and Katarina's exchange with Tiana in Runeterra is the cherry on top. Honestly, the two deserve each other.

Am I the only who understands the complexity of this marvelous champion? This champion isnt boring, YOU'RE BORING!

@davidschleim1404

8 ай бұрын

he literally had the wow moment after deleting kayn and still doesnt love garen, unbelievable

"Garen joined the military at the age of 12, which is a bit young" Adeptus Astardes: Wdym by that?

@Significantharrassment

8 ай бұрын

Demacia are the Blueberry's and you cannot change my mind

@TheSwordofTheMorning1

8 ай бұрын

Cadians training since birth: Only 12?

@otterfire4712

8 ай бұрын

Guts:

@thundergaming155

8 ай бұрын

@@Significantharrassment so demacia are the ultrasmurfs of leauge?

@Significantharrassment

8 ай бұрын

@@otterfire4712 Bro not everything is bout Guts man, the grim dark isn't just Berserker, and even so, whatever Warhammer got going isn't comparable with Berserk

Just thought of this for the Demacia Swain skin. Petricite arm and bird. Like the petricite constructs from LoR. All of his magic abilities could be light instead of the dark red like his default to match with the petricite too. His ult just has him pull out some wings like Galio to make it fit.

"MAGES!" garen when magic

Bilgewater Swain already exists! Underrated skin imo. I'd love to see more skins along that theme.

gotta love how both the Galio and Garen reviews are basically just Nicky saying „filthy magessss!“ every 20 seconds

Garen still to this day looks like he comes from Stormwind rather than Demacia

Can't wait for the gnar gameplay !

By the Rock Hag story we can assume he knows something's up but is in complete denial; he feels the weight of those memories

For the region swao idea, you could do something like "mage-seeker swain or leblanc

From reading his lore and the comics, I don't think Garen is dumb. He just act like how his family expect him to act but he actually smarter than most people think which is a good way to hide one intention and make people underestimate him. Why act smart when it is smarter to act dumb and he has nothing to show off?

That wide garen fan art was the coolest hands down.

Ah, my favorite content. I can get through another month.

4:48 wholesome top lane chat though 🥺🥺

Oh I’m glad I wasn’t the only one poisoned by Skooch Jeopardy Garen

Garen has some really funny memes related to the bush

I desperately want someone to make a fan edit of all the times Nickyboi calls someone a dim goon

I still remember the cheesy old Sunfire Cape stack on Garen

personally, where garen shines best is accessibility. MOBAs have a huge learning curve, and so having such a simple champion can be helpful with learning the game properly

talking about garen is like describing what water tastes like

I just tried typing out how great of a character Garen is but it was too long. In short, Garen is an extremly upright person. Even going as far as to show respect to his enemies wherever appropriate. He sets rules upon himself, separate from his Demacian duty, and follows them without fail. He knows what kind of burden his morality has on his mental state and his way of viewing the world, but he will not ignore any of these problems and chooses to continue deliberating over them. He even goes as far as entrusting certain tasks to his sister while knowing that she can only solve them with magic, because it is the correct judgment. All in all, while some people may find it boring, his simple character and his moral values give way to a complex internal struggle that he does not allow others to see or even know that he has. Y'all should read the short story "The Soldier and The Hag" and give his novella a read. The story called "For Demacia" shows the "boring" side of Garen the entire time until the end, where he has a conversation with Lux giving a brief explanation as to why he does what he does.

So in conclusion: Big strong man, big man swing sword

Region swap cahmpions ideas? Nicky don't forget Garen has a pirate one for bildgewater, and gives him a pretty neat sword :>

It was interesting to see BDS Adam pull out Garen during play-ins for Worlds

i think this video is on the wrong playlist

I know the best garen skin that they could ever do, casino garen where his Q has a jackpot sound effect his E is a roller wheel and his ult is a seven of spades

can you do a skin review of true damage or project> thx for the content

If garen had a favourite ice cream flavour it would be vanilla

2:55 relatable

2:55 Barrier, Flash, and a Kill, can't get a more valuable early kill

Idk if it's still this way but I remember when I first joined league like 10 years ago they gave u Garen, Ashe, and Lux as your first 3 owned champs. For that, he's great. Babys first fighter

"Not a pro play pick" You must not know the GODS.

i thought it was graves, truly a sad day

Demacia Swain is blessed by kayle and has a radiant hand

You need to basic soldier archetype! Hes not my favorite but he blends in the pool of champions that we have. hes neither better or worse then a couple of champs hes just in the middle and thats all you need from him tbh

Garen: First Shield did a pretty good job of giving him a touch more personality.

"garen is a buff dude with a sword, you can only do so many things with him" Dude garen is one of THE champions that you can easily slap any themed skin on him and would work.

ya love hextexh swain

If Lewis the Gator is the CLUB sandwich of league champions, Garen is raw dough

region swapped swain does actually exist; hextech swain, complete with a robot arm

Adam "GODS"

as an ex garen main i have to disagree i think adding the crit and attack speed scaling was the worst change garen was fun as a tank i don't wanna play weird adc garen i like tank garen and they took it away from me

I think Garen is the most perfect simple champion in League. I improved at macro so much with him. His waveclear and snowball potential is so satisfying.

JUSTICE

GAREN !!! DEMACIAAAAAA SPIN TO WIN BOYYYYY !!!

Garen: Spin to win. 😂

I think that's why every LoL Animation just for the meme make Garen just scream Demacia, like that was actually a language xD

FaMiLy MuRdEr! >:) -NickiBoi, 2023

Did ya'll know that Armor of the Fifth Age Teric and Neon Strike Vi are part of the Demacia Vice "skin line?" Well, now you do, for some reason

I think that Garen could be made interesting. They just need to focus on his internal struggle of "I believe very much in the Demacian system of beliefs that mages are all bad, but my sister is a mage and she isn't bad I like my sister, I don't want to see her die for being a mage". That's the interesting part of Garen, that's the part I want to see expanded upon.

@schaakakon9473

8 ай бұрын

I find that part of Garen to be boring, imo. Because its soo expected and a standard trope. Demacia and the mage bigotry is an interesting idea but it was implemented very poorly. We have no reason to empathize with the Mage Seekers or at the minimum even understand their ideals. We all know mages are normal people so it is up to the writers to show us why the mage hate is justified, to which as far as I've seen never happens. The worst we see is a young mage having a happy little accident and then Demacia gets raging hate boners. If stories around Demacia were told with characters like Veigar, Annie and Karthus (also things like the Rune Wars) constantly being a threat to Demacia and people in day to day life are suffering from the magic fallout, then yes thats at least a compelling reason why someone would hate magic and mages. And obviously its doubly stupid when you think about Runeterra and how highly magical everyone is in that universe. We the readers all know that racism is bad. So then we have Garen who is slowly thinking "Maybe.. Maybe racism is bad..?" and he only comes to this conclusion because his sister is a mage (to which the implication of his character if one of his family members wasnt a mage). I think Garen could be spiced up a bit but I'd rather they just discard the whole Mage Seeker thing or at least go back to it and make it make sense.

@aneonfoxtribute

8 ай бұрын

@@schaakakon9473 "We all know mages are normal people so it is up to the writers to show us why the mage hate is justified, to which as far as I've seen never happens" I disagree with this bit, because there is no justification. It's just bullshit created by a system that was burned at one point and then the bigotry stuck around even though it's demonstrably untrue. That being said, it could be done better. The book series Wheel of Time has the exact same thing done better, for instance.

As a Garen one trick, who has played him since season 1, I agree with you on everything you've said. His most important lore moment was when he accepted Lux for what she is, and stood by her when his whole life told him to stand with his country. Outside of that one moment he's just a simple guy, a soldier following orders, and a magnet for us players who wield our one braincell for the glory of Demacia!

weirdly enough when i think league i think of garen even people that don't know league know his design.

I think a bi-yearly vs event with region swap skins would be epic. Each time it comes around focus on opposing regions and have them face off based on player missions. Imagine a Demacian Katarina, Darius, and Draven vs Noxian Garen, Lux, and Jarvan

this champ needs a full VGU the only thing he can do is run you down and try to oneshot you

My favorite part about Garen is to always pick him into range champs top, go with predator and build letahlity. They can run, but they won't escaoe.

Not many remember the darkest chapter of league's history, but never will make me forget old Garen full AP, it was hilariously stupid how it could work

I don't think I could sum up Garen any better than just... 5/10, just complete middle of the road

@imarock8763

8 ай бұрын

Hes basic i dont think hes meant to be anything more, wich is a shame becuase i think he could be more! if they just stopped putting him in lux's shadow

12:15 Noxus Garen would be just Darius. Imagine Garen, but red and black and wielding an axe. It would be pretty funny, NGL.

you buying attack speed boots then suddenly having merc boots made my doubt my own eyes.

Demacia Swain could have a petricite and when he ults he gets like galio or kayle wings. And his visual fx for his abilities could just be swapped into like blue and gold colors. Maybe change the eye ( W) into like just a magical burst or something. It'd be really fun to have a series of what if lore skins where you talk about champs in what if situations. Like if garen was noxian or if shen had become the shadow ninja and Zed was the eye of twilight . What if aatrox never became a darkin etc.

@Underworlder5

8 ай бұрын

darkin are basically corrupted ascended, and the ascended resemble animals, specifically egyptian gods. wonder what aatrox would look like. on that note, what would the ascended look like as darkin?

@countdanculagaming362

8 ай бұрын

@@Underworlder5 I know they are corrupted ascended. I just mean like pre-corruption or if he never got corrupted at all. I'd always assume he'd resemble Horus. But he doesn't really have a bird like head so with his horns I'd always though maybe he was bat or dragon like

You know what if no one backs up garen I'll back up garen, his novella was pretty nice, I like his moral dilemma with his sister being a mage, I am upset mageseeker was the way it is and spedran all the characters other than sylas. Maybe he isn't the most interesting but I like him.

When teemo vid coming out

8:10 I dont understand how magic works in Runeterra but I can understand the difference between the random mages and being blessed by a Goddess directly with power. If anyone knows more about the magic system and exactly what Demacia is agaisnt if not magic in particular I would like to know.

@MaxwellV8

8 ай бұрын

If i recall correctly Demacia was founded in a petrified forest by refugees from the rune wars, the wood of said forest is the main component of petricite. Necrit for sure has some videos about that.

The real problem with Garen is how a garen main rush at you at mach 5, ults you, deals 1,700 true dmaage and then type gg ez like they did any effort to do anything. xD

no matter how boring garen is, people still talk about him till this day lmao, love it. Also, I thought you knew stuff about lore, but I guess not for every champion because he definitely isn't a simply a dumb himbo lmfao.

Garen only has two skins, default and god king. nothing beats god-king's taunts

After Mageseeker I kinda hate Garen. It's one thing for him to be a big dumb brick. But his dumbness means he's also an active participant in attempted genocide. Right hand man to Jarvan 'the Genocider' IV.

I think Rogue Admiral is an underrated Garen skin

Ok

Doesn’t Garen already have a region swap skin? I’m pretty sure that’s the case

A dark themed skin is what really garen still lacks up today, the ashen knight skin line woulda fitted him a lot last year had not sylas been the one chosen

Sad you didn't talk about Garen novella

Funny for this to come out when Garen is OP mid

A way to "justify" Garen ult would be... Make it something legendary, but yet "acceptable". Make it religious, make it people in Demacia seeing that and go "oh, this is a symbol of justice, this is a sign of gods" and see anything BUT that and "MAGIC USER!! ATTACK IT!!"

Yone went heartsteel because he is in heartsteel

BEYBLADE!

12:05 Isnt noxian garen just darius with a sword

4:30 him being a bit dumb is probably the best outcome here. You want a more serious Garen, there's GodKing Garen. That would be the one who would execute his own sister without letting family get in the way

Old Garen's model is more demacian than the new one 💀

Garen is the goat

Garen basically has that generic World of Warcraft human vibe to him. Down to him never shutting up about his Kingdom.

I mean, Garen is the ryu of league. But very Stoic, usually focused, can be placed in almost every place without issue. He’s just…Garen. He’s simple, and in a game with over 165 characters nothing is wrong with that

I like to think Garen isn’t dumb as people play him up to be. He is blindly loyal to Demacia and so has lead to him being naive and ignorant is a better way to say it then just being “dumb”.

So no one’s commenting on Ezreal at 1:03 in chat? 😂

Of all the stat sticks in League, Gary is the stat stickiest.

"his last skin was mecha kingdoms" bro forgot about mythmaker and battle academia

garen is definitely one of the champions of all time

Gnar soon

The only interesting things about Garen are all the ways he's a gigantic hypocrite 😅

Garen 🥱🥱🥱