@@regi6186 I didn't miss it, I just didn't think it was worth commenting on. Zoe stole a key from him, ostensibly, and the keys are somehow connected to the "ten kings" and "first of ten" bit. How having the key stolen affects him (if at all), we don't know. His writer said on Twitter that a ring of keys can be compared to the shape of a crown, so there's some kind of Demon Deep Lore thing going on there, and as I say in the video, down that way lies madness, so I don't want to bother speculating on it. Anyway, it didn't matter to his character design, or to his character lore at the moment, so I left it out.
Normal Fiddlesticks dance: A metaphor of the lore relationship between the puppet and Fiddlesticks itself Surprise Party Fiddlesticks dance: “Music makes you lose control. Music makes you lose control”
You know, since Fiddlesticks can only say the final words of someone or recite some traumatic event, it implies that someone's last words before dying were fiddlesticks. Hate to be that guy
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't he pick up the name Fiddlesticks because that was the last word of the mage who summoned him? I feel like I heard that somewhere.
The idea of someone saying "fiddlesticks" as a genuine response to being killed is hilarious. That's like seeing a car going to run you over and you just sigh and say "well that's a shame"
I’d argue that fiddlesticks’ design came from trial and error (in the lore at least). Fiddlesticks tried things out until they worked and he just went on with them. Kinda like how evolution doesn’t know what features to create, but when a feature works , it stays.
super small correction: evolution won't keep things that work, it keeps things that don't harm too much. for instance we still have muscles that try to turn our ears towards sounds. they are too weak to actually do anything. people that can wiggle their ears i believe even use different muscles. but since they don't do any harm (don't cost too much energy, don't get in the way of anything, don't course (enough) deaths) they stay.
@@vinx.909evolution does indeed keep things that "just work". Just like it keeps things that we don't necessarily need nowadays. A good example of the "it just works" side is how humans windpipes to bring air into our lungs and is conveniently placed right next to our food hole. Is it the best place to intake air through the same mouth we use to eat? Probably not, but it works. So it stuck around. Evolution is weird like that.
@@JH-gu4hj our air and food holes being connected the way they are results in thousands of people choking to death each year. that's not working, that's something that's harmful, just not harmful enough on a population level to change. evolution continues with that which helps, but it gets rid of things that harm. snakes evolved away their limbs are they got in the way of their new way of moving, Emu's didn't. they still have arms. not arms they can actually use, they can't even truly move them, but they have them, ending with a claw and everything. so why did the snake lose it's arms but the emu didn't? because the snakes limbs got in the way, the emu's didn't. they don't get in the way and don't cost enough resources to be significantly harmful on a population level.
@@vinx.909 Even smaller correction: It keeps things that don't harm (reproduction) to much. The biggest example is the Babirussa, it's tusks spiral so long that it literally squewers its brain, but they reproduce before it happens so it's the norm now.
I think it would be cool for future skins of Fiddle to be his other forms he took on in different societies, not just farmland. It would better justify his lore.
A Targon skin where he's broken shrine pieces, cards, and skeletal bits. A Ionia skin where he's wearing a Noxian helmet, wrapped in vines and traditional Ionian plants.
They were planning on doing something like that for Kindred, with their forms from regions throughout Runeterra. They obviously didn’t complete this, but Spirit Blossom is Ionia’s.
I feel like the lack of in-universe skins for Fiddlesticks is a huge missed opportunity. If the scarecrow is canonically only the body it uses in the Demacian Hinterlands then what does its Noxian body look like? What about its Bilgewater body made from broken oars and tatter sails? Where's the Ionian body made from the charred and twisted remains of one of the magic trees those people are always on about? Can you even imagine what Fiddlesticks would have to do to be The Scariest Thing Around in a place as inherently dark and scary as Zaun?!
Imagine if the scariest thing one could be in zaun is something eerily innocent looking? In a place where everything is dark twisted and dangerous looking, how upsetting and confusing might some clean and welcoming look?
@@theartistswings9810 Definitely terrifying, you'd immediately feel something is off about something put together so well without appearing Piltovian or Zaunite, like it came out of nowhere, and when you think about dismantling it or taking it to sell it, since it's something rare... You know how it goes.
I disagree with the "too well designed" argument. Fiddlesticks has always been, which means he has had thousands, millions, billions of years to "learn" what is most efficient when it comes to being scary, the same way that a tree has "learned" how to spread its leaves to catch more sunlight. Nature has really efficient designs and we often take inspiration from it to build our own creations.
@@anti-mate407 not exactly, If the unicorn is just a horse with a huge horn, than that would be inefficient. Angler fish have to ensure they have a meal or they won’t survive so they have to catch their meal first try, and Giraffes have meals that are needed to be reached up high.
@@thegameghoul3442 Why would a horse with a horn be inefficient? Also, I mean, unicorns are real - they're just rhinos and/or oryx misrepresented to the Europeans who couldn't describe them any other way.
@@henriquebandeiradiaz1755 if TBSkyen was a card in LoR: interactions: Ashe: that's right. I'm still here and I'm not getting updated fucker. TBSkyen: oh COME ON!
“An old Targonian legend speaks of how a child of twilight stole the only joy from a ragged, whispering horror” Surprise Party Fiddlesticks, speaking to the childlike Zoe, Aspect of TWILIGHT; “Nice key ya got there, twilight. Didn’t steal it from anyone…DANGEROUS, did ya?”
One thing I think you overlooked when talking about how he looks "too well designed" is that Fiddle isn't quite mindless. I think animalistic would better describe it. It CAN understand things about the world, it just doesn't YET. What it does probably know is that it needs to scare people as much as possible, while not being so terrifying that nothing will get close to it. It needs to look somewhat human. That's why it looks somewhat humanoid, while also being ragged at the same time.
Though why is he evil? I mean why does he do what he does, which is killing. If he is just an animal, all of his scaring, killing and luring is no different than what a lion does to feed himself. An animal has no concept of good and evil, it just do what he needs to in order to survive. Problem is I can't understand if fiddle feeds on those he kills, becauss otherwise he would be indeed killing for fun, meaning that he indeed has a concept of good and evil and is thus superior to an animal in terms of intellect.
@@blackkohi Well then Fiddle likely isn't "evil". He's just a dangerous force. Although if all he needs is the fear to feed off of, then maybe there's more to its intellect. Perhaps it kills people because it knows that rumors of a monster going around killing are more scary then rumors of a monster going around and scaring you and leaving, like some discount SCP-2006.
@@blackkohi well he is a demon, not an animal. He is not a neutral entity like an animal, that only kills to survive, we know from the lore of other demons that they, even if instinctively, wish to grow more powerful. The OP made the comparison that he's reasoning is animalistic in the sense that he does think, but not in the same way as humans or other more evolved demons (eve or noc) YET.
@@pedrocoelhovillela3146 That's what I'm trying to understand. His intelligence compared to humans and his actual reason for killing. Because his murders seems kinda "erratic", he seems to be attacking just about anything he crosses.
@@blackkohi it seems like he kills just to invoke fear. I think he's supposed to be referencing things like Cthulhu with his "old as the universe and impossible to understand" motif.
@@KDelta-5 Moderation is the key (as the VA points out in his video quite a bit). If you notice that it's straining your throat, take a break - as always when it comes to talking a lot. If it feels uncomfortable, stop. Only use the voice in small bursts, not for an entire DnD session as a DM. Drink a lot of water/tea/liquids.
@@doomdoot6731 I was actually asked to do this in a Dnd game once and couple weeks back. Let me say yes it hurts but the sense it can bring to a monster like character is amazing. On the note of hurting your throat don't forget to take a breath this shit can also give you a headace if you do lines too fast.
I wonder if Riot is just going to flat out reboot Nocturne into something totally different when his rework arrives since Fiddlesticks seems to just be better than him in the "scary" department...
Perhaps he will be driven onto a more psychological horror type. A nightmare can be scary if you have to face a massive spider but it gets terrifying when you see someone slowly choke someone/something incapable of protecting itself like a small dog or a child. (actual NIGHTMARE stuff)
Nocturne wasnt fear, but nightmare. It's not exactly the same, one can be caused from another. I think new Nocturne will be more on dreams/illusion thing from what little we have now.
@@besset3807 we don't even know what Shaco is atm with his Current lore state. So unless we actually get a good update on him you can better leave him out
The thing I absolutely LOVE about the Demonic Manuscript is that after months of back and forth discourse and dozens of videos by people trying to figure out what it means, Yone gets released and the entire community slaps their forehead and collectively shouts "WE WERE READING IT UPSIDE DOWN????"
Basically riot released a demonic manuscript, a page of the demon hierarchy. It’s full of little Easter eggs, little hints that the community was trying to figure out. Yone was the champion released a couple months after the manuscript. After the community had theorized a very different version of the manuscript than the one Yone reveals. Basically it’s funny that everyone thought they figured it out, then Yone comes out and we realize how much we didn’t know. Really clever way of teasing a champion and created quite a fun Easter egg thing.
Everyone thought it worked like an evolutionary tree, with Fiddlesticks acting like a common ancestor that spawned more specialized demons. Instead, Demons start off as unique individuals and become more like Fiddlesticks the older and stronger they get.
"For a demon with no theory of mind..." *Fiddlesticks, reclined in an easy chair perusing a psychology textbook with a pair of spectacles: Raises what might be a middle finger before returning to its self-education*
This has to of been one of the most empassioned and chilling readings of this colour story I've ever heard. Thank you for doing justice to the stories that are done right.
13:00 this is a really great point. The thing that we call "Fiddlesticks" isn't a character, from a storytelling perspective, because a character wants something, and they can want something different from what they used to want. But he doesn't have to be. Fiddlesticks presents interesting possibilities for storytelling, but they're not his stories. And that's okay.
I love the way Fiddlesticks elongates during some animations, like certain melees and the dance. To me that's not that the puppet is compressed in some way, but I think that's Fiddlesticks using its shadows to give the puppet extra length. In the game it just looks like the model stretches, but what I think is really going on is that the puppet actually breaks, and instead of pulling it back together Fiddlesticks is stretching itself to make sure it can still complete whatever action it's trying to do. Then it recedes and the puppet resumes its normal shape. Also, I really love that Fiddlestick's ult is more than an expression of power; it's just him dropping the act. Instead of upholding the image of something scary, Fiddlesticks literally breaks free of his own puppet and you see him for what he really is: pure, absolute fear. Nothing can be more terrifying than watching this primal, ancient Demon unleash itself in the most feral way possible with the sole intention of ripping you and everyone around you apart, and there is nothing you can do to stop it.
It sounds super dorky, but I remember talking fan character shop with a friend and I brought up reworked Fiddlesticks and kinda wondered aloud "Wonder what it'd say to our characters?" and that lead to a fun discussion. You learn a lot about characters when you face them with what they most fear!
He reminded me lot of the mechanical monstrosity that is antagonist of "9." That thing was terrifying and the similarities too that and Fidelsticks are so strong there is no doubt that creature clearly inspired he resigned. Even Fidelstick's ultimate is similar to how the monster moves at the end of the movie.
Yes! I wish 9 had been more popular so many wonderful robotic monstrosities came from that film, all creatively made through post apocalyptic scrap and bone.
@@julianpradarodriguez7336 integer means a number that does not have a decimal on it. Every other champion in the game has a base health that is a whole number. Fiddlesticks’s base health is 580.4
You said it's mouth seemed like a sadistically designed bear trap. Soooo, remember Kled, and how he throws a bear trap on a rope to fight enemies. Yeah, I think I know where he got his mouth. It even has the same skinny-ish design. And now I'm just imagining the hilarity of Kled, the yordle who fears nothing, meeting fiddlesticks, the fear demon. Like, imagine fiddlesticks being attracted to fear like sharks are to blood, and when he meets Kled, he just tries to constantly attack Skarll, but since he's an Immortal yet perpetually afraid lizard, fiddlesticks keeps attacking and failing to kill it while Kled is chasing fiddlesticks demanding him to "get off mah property". That would be hilarious to see
Their auras cancel eachother out. Skarl is so cowardly that Fiddlesticks always knows it is there, but Kled is such a fearless crackhead that Fiddlesticks would avoid him at all costs.
@@ravnemagne9598 thing is if by chance that fiddlesticks attempt to "scare" kled , kled would be absolutely F'd beyond belief its not that fiddlesticks avoid kled it's just that kled is so fearless and crazy that fiddlestick simply is blind to such an existence since y'know fiddlesticks is attracted to fear, but yeah all in all it's a situation whether will they meet? Or will they not either way no one wins if fiddle wins we lose our lovable scamp if kled somehow entrails a fear protection bubble that repulses fiddle then we'd lose the funny situation in with which a fiddle chasing skaarl, and with which kled chasing a fiddle.
"I would be fascinated to see fiddlesticks going up against garen or sylas and take on what terrible deep dark fears they have within them." He kinda does. After all fiddlesticks mimicks the sounds of his victims and past encounters and uses this to invoke the image his victims fear the most. Sylas, someone who wants to protect mages by all cost, once went up against a Magehunter named Vannis while protecting a young mage and her father. By accident, Sylas ends up killing ... the Father and the young mage. A memory that hunts him to this day. When Fiddlesticks encounters Sylas, he says: "Vannis... Don't hurt her..." Garen, a symbol of Demacia and everything demacia stands for, including their despite for mages. How terrifying would it be, if his own family had begotten a mage ... like his sister? What if Lux ... was a mage ... Not just any mage, but the mage responsible for Sylas breaking out of prison. When fiddlesticks encounters Garen, he says: "Garen... Brother... Please don't hate me..."
I play Fiddlesticks quite often now, and a small detail that I just noticed in the ultimate's animation while watching this is how the cage opens up as Fiddlesticks dives forward. Almost like a second, larger mouth ready to clamp down on whoever it's diving at, while the demon soul looks and acts sort of like an eyeball in the last few frames before the crow storm is summoned. I love watching your videos because they give me new things to appreciate about the characters, both story and personality-wise. They've actually helped me connect more to the ones that I pick as my mains for each role.
I think giving Fiddlesticks a personality so that he can become more of a "character" will kind of defeat the "fear of the unknown" vibe to him/it. I think giving him characterization won't add all that much and will be very unnecessary, especially since he's already so perfect imo.
Making it a character would take away the whole "It can't be reasoned with" and "it's just a mindless thing that only feels the desire to consume" because characters by definition aren't those things.
@@Nyghtking I'd say you're both wrong, Evelynn, Tahm Kench, they have character and personality...doesn't mean you could reason with them for the most part As for whether Fiddlesticks is 'mindless' that's hard to say, it's so alien and otherworldly, that it's more akin to a Lovecraftian eldritch being than anything else, so it's hard to say how intelligent it really is or isn't.
You can definitely give a character like Fiddlesticks a personality. But that only works in a long form narrative medium with carefully and meticulously established stakes, plot and appropriate gravitas. None of which is what LoL specializes in at all
I think that the best personality kida thing you could give Fiddlesticks would be something akin to Pennywise (kinda like what we got in suprise party skin) where he is the ultimate predator that purposefully makes you as scared as possible before closing in for the kill.
I honestly love the "It has no undersanding of the world it inhabits" part of it's charaterization, because it not only reinforces how uttelry alien it is to our concept of "being", but also solidifies that you cannot reason with it, you cannot control it, you cannot appease it, no matter what you do it will only ever percieve you as one singular thing: *Prey.*
That moment when you realized that they might be setting up the ultimate event of a lifetime, and it started with the civil war and Fiddlesticks’ rework. Imagine an event where players have to choose a side to this war, and as they play, it adds points to the sides. It seems like a normal event and nothing really as new, but then after a couple of weeks to months, they change it to the end of the world event, where because everyone was focused in the war event, no one noticed the world around Runeterra as Fiddlesticks has grown in power and locating his key from the child of Twilight, Zoe, and now the event changes slightly, everyone is still in their side of the war, but now the actual event is trying to stop Fiddlesticks while fighting the opposite side (and players themselves can choose to not fight each other and focus on Fiddle) before he enacts his plan (which can be either releasing all 9 of his other skins or releasing all 9 of his siblings).
Looking at his death animation, it doesn't feel like it dies. It feels like it renders the puppet forfeit, and forces it to rip the rib cage open so that it can escape.
Oh yeah, i almost forgot that Skyen never got to do a "Whats the deal" with Fiddlesticks and Volibear. Hope you have time to breathe with all the content this month Skyen, including the weekly Dark Souls that you have to edit.
In my opinion, I like the new lore for Fiddlesticks better personally. It actually sounds like an old folklore creature that makes you uncomfortable. Especially with how Sky read it in this video, that made the article so much more... *shudders* gross and scary.
27:15 It's also worth to mention that his jaws don't move always like that. Especially in the Scarecrow form, where he makes this "scream" move. If you see that on the edge of your vision, you will most likely snap back and look at it, only to see a perfectly standing still scarecrow, questioning your sanity on what you just imagined. But what will you be? Terrified.
I love how the puppet "Tongue" is not actually one and is just the tentacle/arm of the demon re-adjusting the head for any animation it takes. Like the Joke or his ult. Fucking love my homeboy fiddle.
Random Trivia: Back in the ye olde lore, the Tempest Flats were an area located at the foothills between the Shuriman Desert and Mount Gargnatua (what Targon used to be called), so the story of the Witch that created the wicked Scarecrow could be translated into the modern lore as a Targonian folk tale, with the Scarecrow being Fiddlesticks (of course), and the Witch being Zoe (or maybe a previous host for the Aspect of Twilight), considering that she's ancient, tied to Targon, a Lunari (thus hated by the ruling Solari) and is responsible for stealing one of Fiddle's keys.
I freaking loved your video, nice amout of serious and well-explained lore with some adequate jokes and humor, 37mins and 51 secs and I was totally into everything for every sec of it
Ok but this might be common knowledge now but the demonology is a reference to what each of the "demons" in league stand for. Kench is greed, Evelyn is lust, fiddlesticks is fear, raum is secrets(raum is the demon swain uses) etc. The "azakana" on the bottom are a group of demons that yone (who wasn't out at the time) always talks about who're demons that feed on emotions as a whole like anxiety, doubt, anger etc.
They should take nocturne in the direction of a different kind of fear Rather than primal fear the more paranoia of fear He could become invisible on the trail of darkness you leave behind for example You know he is there but you cant see him His ult is the perfect example of what defines nocturne The moment his ult goes off everyone is afraid, not just for their lives but for their teammates as well and the total uncertainty it brings People who are together huddle together People flee to their tower regardless of whether nocturne is nearby Because they dont know what will happen
This actually makes me think that Nocturne's ultimate should create a bunch of speaking voices, like normal speaking voices or loud whispers. One of the biggest counters to Nocturne's ultimate is in game comms, his ult makes you unable to see or target your teammates if you aren't close to them. He should offer auditory feedback to disrupt comms while his darkness is up.
30:00 for those who don't know what he's talking about is a phenomenon called uncanny valley. It's one of the most important parts of both animation and visual effects. What it is is when something has passed the realm of being cartoonish and is trying to be accurate to real life but doesn't quite accomplish it. When this happens the human mind almost always notices because we've spent our whole lives looking at reality so the moment we see something that doesn't quite look real it sets off triggers in our mind saying essentially this isn't what you think it is. One place interestingly enough where you can see this phenomenon in effect is in poor wirework in low budget action movies.
Imagine if Fiddlesticks decided to go on a binge and did that by ending the world. I would imagine it can do so, ancient characters in League tend to be stronger the older they are. Hell, it probably might start feeding on the Watchers' fear of light.
Warwick and Fiddlesticks are the two best reworks riot has done. With them both being horror like champs, cause can argue that Warwick isn't I guess, I have high hopes for Nocture.
What I love about the new fiddlesticks is that he vaguely embodies Noxian tech. Something not understood but very well feared by Demacian farmers. And it gets this look with a bear trap for a mouth, a saw as a shoulder, a scythe, etc. All things famers know. Fiddle is the image of a Noxian tech monster as imagined by a farmer. He is several levels deep with his design and I thought I couldn't love his rework more than I did already.
Gets teleported to Runeterra, walking a lone road I quickly find myself surrounded by bandits as all hope is lost. I look down as I realize my end, In my last moments I realize. "My fate may be sealed, but I can make yours a lot worse." Looking up at the bandits and muttering under my breath "Fiddlesticks."
I think this is the video that made me want to subscribe. I don’t know why, but it helped me realize how fascinating Fiddlesticks is and hearing Skyen gush over the animation just fills me with joy. Why? I have no idea. I guess since I get very excited and enthusiastic about stuff that I enjoy, I appreciate seeing other people being enthusiastic about stuff that they like. Also, thanks for getting me into LOL lore Skyen.
fiddlesticks is generally regarded to having the best rework so far from riot. and before him was warwick which many say was incredible as well so its nice to see that they still make great reworks
On the "too-well-designed" point: Does a honey bee mimic know what it is impersonating? What about moths? Do they know the motivs on their wings look like big eyes to predators? Or does it even know that, if it sits perfectly still, it won't get eaten?
"fun" fact: things like shaking or sudden movements are connected with demons are, at least in part, because demons were blamed for things like epileptic attacks.
Honestly, seeing my OG main get the rework he deserved was so satisfying. Also, on a note about Nocturne: Nocturne is a Demon of Nightmares. It is the terror that strikes when you are sleeping, and can only very rarely affect you when you are awake. Whereas Fiddlesticks is the embodiment of the fear of the world, all the things that do exist and can very much hurt you, Nocturne is the fear of the impossible made tangible. I'd love to see them rework him to incorporate the 'Impossible' aspect. His Ult already does a decent job, seeing as it could be interpreted as the nightmare following you into the waking hour, though it definitely needs a visual update to represent it.
I actually started playing a creepy scarecrow based Warforged in DND 5e. After 10 mins of playing him somebody said: "Do you play League?" I have never played League. He then told me i had basically made Fiddlesticks. Yes, yes i had.
I like talking with a freind about character designs adn, when we talked about Nocturne and Fiddlesticks, we talked about the fear they are suppoused to evoke. My conclusion is that, while fear is one of the mightiest emotions, Fiddle and Nocturne deliver different flavors of it. Nocturne is the classic fear of the night and darkness. The sensation of being alone, or rather, not beign alone in the middle on the night. Fiddlestick is the "Bump in the Night" fear. More characteristic of rural settlements, it is the fear that evoke being in the middle of the wilderness. Picture this: Living in a small town in the middle of the usa, at 20 miles minimum from the next civilized spot and surrounded by wilderness: Forests, Swamps, Mountains, Lakes... Every piece looming over the small town as if saying "you are just one landslide from oblivion" and, in the middle on the night, you hear it: a noise. An unnatural noise for something to do, then, you have a quick question to answer: "Do I go check out that noise?" Will you step out of the comfort of the bed, or rather, the illusion of safety of that small room to face your fears? Will you shed the light upon the darkness not fully prepared for what you might encounter? Will you stand upon the Bump in the Night? No, you just soothe yourself to sleep, coming with the less live-threatening explanation, while praying for that thing to let you live to see the light of dawn once more.
Btw, that animation effect with the dangling jaw is called a "jigglebone." Or at least that's what it's called in the Source engine. Not sure if it's industry-wide terminology.
The fact that 13:39 is one of the spot recognized as "most replayed" just shows that we're all mean and enjoy watching Skyen suffer..... that being said, it IS very funny
I don't play LoL but I like their style. I love the "primordial demon" concept Fiddlesticks has going on. And the First of Ten line is really chilling. I hope the other 10 are equally ambiguous as it, because if the other 10 are like Tahm Kench and Evelyn then Fiddlesticks would be like the "dumb one" of the bunch because he does not understand things. What other things as old as the emotion of fear I wonder.
I feel like the intentional raggedness of Fiddlestick's puppet/form, that it's _really_ convenient it has all these attributes and traits that just so happen to freak people the hell out, just brings the whole thing into uncanny valley territory really fast. You start wondering if this thing is actually just a mindless demonic-ish creature with little to no brain... Or if it has some kind of _sentience_ and that it knows *exactly* what it's doing. You tell me which is the most terrifying.
thanks for the warning about the jumps care I'm subbing because that's very kind if nothing else for people who dislike them a lot. Fiddles little diddy mentioning he's first of ten is pretty compelling lore wise. Like what's he the harbinger of? There must be some kind of primal ancient beings who Runeterra can only describe as demons but defy all the rules of them and more are on the way. Or I really hope they are, like god knows if Riot will pay that off but hey LoR is gonna need Fiddles themed monsters if they make him in game so maybe they will there.
Basically, Fiddlesticks is whatever you might get from one of those AI "art" image generation tools if you typed in the word fear. Incoherent messes and amalgamations of whatever the AI thinks might fit that definition entirely included.
The more I listen to this voice, the more nostalgic it becomes for me... I remember as a child, listening to a “bob the builder” tale on my CD player, that told the story of how two characters from bob the builder got shut in, and lost in a mine. As a child, that story was absolutely terrifying, and as a soon to be adult, this voice makes me remember that terrifying feeling. It really adds to the experience!
I feel like it's worth noting that fiddlesticks took a very humanoid form because it can also hit that uncanny Valley that fills you with dread. And then terror when the vaguely human thing runs at you in a very non human way.
I love that you talk for so long about him not having to prepare for movement, and then you perfectly show the 8 frames of him preparing for the movement. perfect
This narration by you taught me something more about showing the emotions of the story itself. I'll definitely improve my storytelling just from hearing this.
I have to say the first part sounded like a audiobook I would listen to, and the jumpscare at the end of the reading almost got me keep up the good work
I picture Fiddlesticks as a sort of monster/force that hunts its prey by making it fear, and at the peak, it feasts. It's animalistic from its core, simple in a way, but you won't be able to make sense of it
Not sure who but someone said that fiddlestick's skins are different puppets for different regions of runeterra. If riot confirmed this fiddle will have the most amount of canon skins
I think fiddlesticks design doesnt undermine its lore because from the lore itself its said that it can feel everyones fear and make it bigger and bigger meaning it has some understanding available to it from the minds of his victims, like it says lines to tragic characters that struggle with their pasts (annie yasuo etc) making it plausible that it did make that form itself and isnt just a mistake in the designers part, even if this isnt fully correct simple trial and error would make it work just like khazix evolves to his surroundings an ancient demon with access to its victims thoughts should be able to do so too even while lacking the understanding of what its doing
I was told by some of my friends that most of the skins he has are actually forms he takes on depending on witch part of runeterra and if you look at his skins you can match almost all of the to place in a runeterra that also connects with his story
As a super avid horror fan, I absolutely love the Fiddlesticks rework. I love that he's not right, but if you arent paying attention he is just right enough-. Your video really made me feel a little validated. He's so GOOD of a horrific thing that I would love to see him in like a Dead by Daylight collab or even with his own horror movie/show like Arcane. he's what I want in a horror movie/game. I love that you pointed out all his creepy ass animations so in detail. he's probably my favorite character to play against cause he's taught me to pay FAR closer attention to my map and wards
Fiddlesticks might have taken on his current form after some time. Perhaps the demon, feeding on fear, rearranged itself over and over until it found what squeezes the most fear out of his prey. A shambling mess of scrap and cloth, built like a malformed human, familiar enough to mistake in your periphery, but alien enough that the sight of this jagged metal monstrosity is enough to traumatize someone for the rest of their life, however short that may be.
I think Fiddlesticks design is like evolution, I think it just pieces everything together and replicates what worked best in the past. Almost like a mimic.
One thing I'll say about his good design undermining fiddlesticks not understanding the world, is that it doesn't put it together knowing that this is how it works, its rather led by its instincts that sense how to make it scarier. Like keeping it from putting the cage on its arm, where the fear of it resembling a ribcage would be lost. It doesn't UNDERSTAND how it works or why it's scary. It simply DOES the scary and KNOWS how to keep itself from undermining its fear. Like trying to do a 180 head turn, but its hood not going with it, so they don't even notice its head turned.
The part where you talked about his Ultimate and were like: I wanna go there I wanna go there, thats where I thought: "Damn, you would be amazing as the voice of some greedy evil entity."
I think Fiddlesticks knows what humans or scarecrows look like, but it doesnt understand WHY they look like that. He sees eyes, arms, teeth, legs, etc but his understanding of their purpose is only what can be directly observed. When he sees a human, they probably try to attack him, probably with a weapon. His understanding of arms is that they are weapons, so he grabbed the closest approximations he could find for arms. Legs are used for running, so some long, thin poles should do just fine. A human mouth has rows of sharp objects, and a bear trap, to fiddlesticks, is exactly that. There are eyes on faces, which clearly have some sort of purpose, but what it is isnt known, so a hole with a dim red light is the best estimate. Notice Fiddlesticks doesnt have a nose. You can't tell what a nose is for just by observing a terrified person, so perhaps he either doesnt realize it's there, or sees it as some kind of accessory. I think his scarecrow look isnt an attempt by him to look like a scarecrow, but rather that he cant tell the difference between a real human and a scarecrow. It could also be just because he just grabbed random parts to get a close approximation of what he was trying to imitate, which is essentially what a scarecrow is. His voice further supports this. He's able to mimic things he hears, but its wrong. He doesnt know how voices work, so he makes his best attempt and what comes out is a raspy, breathless, wail that is saying human words but is not a human voice. Fiddlesticks is essentially what would happen if you put someone in a pitch black room surrounded by objects, and made them guess what the objects are and how they work without being able to see them. The cage on his chest is likely his approximation of a ribcage, and the demon is his "heart". He can tell that by stabbing a persons heart, they die, so that must be their actual essence. Its protected by a hard, cage-like object, so of course he tries to mimic it. I'd argue he wasnt intending to look scary, in fact, he probably thought he looked exactly like a human, but of course his estimation was flawed and he actually turned out to be a mangled mess of scrap and junk that looks vaguely humanoid, but is so far away from "human" that the mere sight of it strikes fear in those that encounter it. As a demon of fear, Fiddlesticks has no reason to alter his shape, because it yields what he was initially after anyway. I believe he initially tried to blend in to his surroundings, so he could get close to his prey without resistance, but he soon learned that any resistance these pathetic creatures put forth is worthless. So he abandoned the idea of blending in for a direct approach, since theres no risk if he is discovered. In fact it's what he wants, because it generates fear. Hes very similar to void creatures I think. Resembling what they seek to destroy but not fully understanding it. The difference being that the void is essentially a legion of intelligence. They have many things working for them and can collect data on the universe much more effectively than a lone, primordial demon can. A major difference here though is that the void came willingly. As far as we can tell, fiddlesticks is forced to be on runeterra, so his disguise is much more improvised and rushed, combine that with the fact that he exists more as a force than as a sentient creature, his limited understanding of the universe prevents him from being able to properly observe it.
Fiddlesticks being part of the very first batch of characters and having so many different conflicting versions of his lore fits so very well in a meta sense
Fidelstick for me is a great use of lovecraftian horror he's everywhere he's everything and not understanded by humanity in runaterra he is just him and thats why he is the best character for me
On the whole topic of Fiddles design, I'm fairly certain it's because the Fiddlesticks we have in game, is the one from the short story, i.e. the creature that stalked Goldweald. Like how default Udyr is how Udyr looks at the "end" of his current lore, same as GP.
There's an editing error at 17:55 or so, an image missing that should have been there. Dammit :(
Could you perhaps link to the image you wanted to insert?
We still love you, lol.
also there's probably an error at 13:39, pretty sure that was supposed to be a 30 minute segment about demonology
I think the only thing that you missed about Fiddlesticks covering his lore, is his connection with Zoe. Other than that, stellar video.
@@regi6186 I didn't miss it, I just didn't think it was worth commenting on. Zoe stole a key from him, ostensibly, and the keys are somehow connected to the "ten kings" and "first of ten" bit. How having the key stolen affects him (if at all), we don't know.
His writer said on Twitter that a ring of keys can be compared to the shape of a crown, so there's some kind of Demon Deep Lore thing going on there, and as I say in the video, down that way lies madness, so I don't want to bother speculating on it. Anyway, it didn't matter to his character design, or to his character lore at the moment, so I left it out.
@@TBSkyen Ah, I see. Thanks! Also, that was one heck of a fast reply. I'm impressed
Normal Fiddlesticks dance: A metaphor of the lore relationship between the puppet and Fiddlesticks itself
Surprise Party Fiddlesticks dance: “Music makes you lose control. Music makes you lose control”
LETS FO
HEY
A man has fell into the river in Lego city.
@@ThefifthBishopofGord wtf hahaha
@@ThefifthBishopofGord HEY
You know, since Fiddlesticks can only say the final words of someone or recite some traumatic event, it implies that someone's last words before dying were fiddlesticks. Hate to be that guy
Or that someone's tramatic event involved the word fiddle sticks
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't he pick up the name Fiddlesticks because that was the last word of the mage who summoned him? I feel like I heard that somewhere.
@Clu Rosencrans Shiver me timbers
Well, Riot couldn't just name him "....fuck-", for several reasons
The idea of someone saying "fiddlesticks" as a genuine response to being killed is hilarious. That's like seeing a car going to run you over and you just sigh and say "well that's a shame"
I’d argue that fiddlesticks’ design came from trial and error (in the lore at least). Fiddlesticks tried things out until they worked and he just went on with them. Kinda like how evolution doesn’t know what features to create, but when a feature works , it stays.
super small correction: evolution won't keep things that work, it keeps things that don't harm too much.
for instance we still have muscles that try to turn our ears towards sounds. they are too weak to actually do anything. people that can wiggle their ears i believe even use different muscles. but since they don't do any harm (don't cost too much energy, don't get in the way of anything, don't course (enough) deaths) they stay.
@@vinx.909evolution does indeed keep things that "just work". Just like it keeps things that we don't necessarily need nowadays.
A good example of the "it just works" side is how humans windpipes to bring air into our lungs and is conveniently placed right next to our food hole. Is it the best place to intake air through the same mouth we use to eat? Probably not, but it works. So it stuck around.
Evolution is weird like that.
@@JH-gu4hj our air and food holes being connected the way they are results in thousands of people choking to death each year. that's not working, that's something that's harmful, just not harmful enough on a population level to change.
evolution continues with that which helps, but it gets rid of things that harm. snakes evolved away their limbs are they got in the way of their new way of moving, Emu's didn't. they still have arms. not arms they can actually use, they can't even truly move them, but they have them, ending with a claw and everything. so why did the snake lose it's arms but the emu didn't? because the snakes limbs got in the way, the emu's didn't. they don't get in the way and don't cost enough resources to be significantly harmful on a population level.
@@vinx.909 Even smaller correction: It keeps things that don't harm (reproduction) to much.
The biggest example is the Babirussa, it's tusks spiral so long that it literally squewers its brain, but they reproduce before it happens so it's the norm now.
Is fiddlesticks one of the first 40 champs? Then that would mean that he was literally made in the "first screams of creation"
Yes, he was one of the first 40 champions.
the First Screams of the Devs coding LoL
@@riykin first screams of balance team
AAAAAY, that's lore accurate
@@riykin The first painful, painful screams of what would later become a mess of spaghetti code
Fun Fact: The voice actor for Fiddlesticks also voiced Funtime Freddy from FNAF Sister Location and Music Man from Ultimate Custom Night
also the main bad guy from Jojo prt5
@@fourthousandhammers3493 That's Golden Wind, right?
More importantly, hes the voice of Overhaul in My Hero
Huh, I didn't even knew those games had voice acting
@@Icagel0 The later games had voice acting
I think it would be cool for future skins of Fiddle to be his other forms he took on in different societies, not just farmland. It would better justify his lore.
His skins is pretty much that, He has Bildgewater, Noxus, Shurima and other skins that have similarities to the style of other regions
A Targon skin where he's broken shrine pieces, cards, and skeletal bits. A Ionia skin where he's wearing a Noxian helmet, wrapped in vines and traditional Ionian plants.
They were planning on doing something like that for Kindred, with their forms from regions throughout Runeterra. They obviously didn’t complete this, but Spirit Blossom is Ionia’s.
@@nunuandwillump1107 Yes he even has a british skin, what's scarier than that?
I want to see his Zaun form
I feel like the lack of in-universe skins for Fiddlesticks is a huge missed opportunity. If the scarecrow is canonically only the body it uses in the Demacian Hinterlands then what does its Noxian body look like? What about its Bilgewater body made from broken oars and tatter sails? Where's the Ionian body made from the charred and twisted remains of one of the magic trees those people are always on about? Can you even imagine what Fiddlesticks would have to do to be The Scariest Thing Around in a place as inherently dark and scary as Zaun?!
Imagine if the scariest thing one could be in zaun is something eerily innocent looking? In a place where everything is dark twisted and dangerous looking, how upsetting and confusing might some clean and welcoming look?
@@theartistswings9810 Definitely terrifying, you'd immediately feel something is off about something put together so well without appearing Piltovian or Zaunite, like it came out of nowhere, and when you think about dismantling it or taking it to sell it, since it's something rare... You know how it goes.
Bro zaunite fiddlesticks would literally just be a police officer its not that hard
Shiver me timbers fiddle is bilgewater fiddles
@@rick30521 Like a clockwork Manequin/Doll. Well dressed, smooth and shiny, but with something sinister about it.
I disagree with the "too well designed" argument. Fiddlesticks has always been, which means he has had thousands, millions, billions of years to "learn" what is most efficient when it comes to being scary, the same way that a tree has "learned" how to spread its leaves to catch more sunlight.
Nature has really efficient designs and we often take inspiration from it to build our own creations.
Like the Angler fish. Wtf is that?
@@KentzHodiono unicorns are more believable then anglers and giraffes
@@anti-mate407 not exactly, If the unicorn is just a horse with a huge horn, than that would be inefficient. Angler fish have to ensure they have a meal or they won’t survive so they have to catch their meal first try, and Giraffes have meals that are needed to be reached up high.
@@thegameghoul3442 Why would a horse with a horn be inefficient? Also, I mean, unicorns are real - they're just rhinos and/or oryx misrepresented to the Europeans who couldn't describe them any other way.
@@anti-mate407 than*
what Fiddlesticks says when he sees Skyen:
*wHAt'S... tHE... DEaL......... mUSt... MakE....... nEw cHamPiONs.......*
*wHY... bOoB....... PLaAAATE??????....*
UPDate... KAI'Sa's... vISUalS
@@henriquebandeiradiaz1755 if TBSkyen was a card in LoR: interactions:
Ashe: that's right. I'm still here and I'm not getting updated fucker.
TBSkyen: oh COME ON!
SnaaaaAAkE ........eAtER......
*JaNnA....NAKeD*
“An old Targonian legend speaks of how a child of twilight stole the only joy from a ragged, whispering horror”
Surprise Party Fiddlesticks, speaking to the childlike Zoe, Aspect of TWILIGHT; “Nice key ya got there, twilight. Didn’t steal it from anyone…DANGEROUS, did ya?”
@The average teenage girl. المراهقة العادية hopefully they release more of the demon kin of fiddlesticks and hopefully expand fiddles' lore
Something about Bard and "The Outer Circle" thing.
@The average teenage girl. المراهقة العادية It may be the key to his cage. his physical form.
she even annoyed fiddlesticks
OH MY GOD
Lore fiddlesticks: Demonic creature that will kill on sight
Fiddlesitcks in game: *get's slapped once and exploades*
Ah true fiddlestick, didn't give the the time to be slapped back!
Fiddlesticks in game: gets deleted by a hoola hoop dwarf
Fiddlesticks ult: *S U C C*
The funny thing is, like all truly terrifying horror movie monsters, he is never truly dead.
Makes sense to me. He’s an ambush predator made ramshackle of farm tools.
One thing I think you overlooked when talking about how he looks "too well designed" is that Fiddle isn't quite mindless. I think animalistic would better describe it. It CAN understand things about the world, it just doesn't YET. What it does probably know is that it needs to scare people as much as possible, while not being so terrifying that nothing will get close to it. It needs to look somewhat human. That's why it looks somewhat humanoid, while also being ragged at the same time.
Though why is he evil? I mean why does he do what he does, which is killing. If he is just an animal, all of his scaring, killing and luring is no different than what a lion does to feed himself. An animal has no concept of good and evil, it just do what he needs to in order to survive. Problem is I can't understand if fiddle feeds on those he kills, becauss otherwise he would be indeed killing for fun, meaning that he indeed has a concept of good and evil and is thus superior to an animal in terms of intellect.
@@blackkohi Well then Fiddle likely isn't "evil". He's just a dangerous force. Although if all he needs is the fear to feed off of, then maybe there's more to its intellect. Perhaps it kills people because it knows that rumors of a monster going around killing are more scary then rumors of a monster going around and scaring you and leaving, like some discount SCP-2006.
@@blackkohi well he is a demon, not an animal. He is not a neutral entity like an animal, that only kills to survive, we know from the lore of other demons that they, even if instinctively, wish to grow more powerful. The OP made the comparison that he's reasoning is animalistic in the sense that he does think, but not in the same way as humans or other more evolved demons (eve or noc) YET.
@@pedrocoelhovillela3146 That's what I'm trying to understand. His intelligence compared to humans and his actual reason for killing. Because his murders seems kinda "erratic", he seems to be attacking just about anything he crosses.
@@blackkohi it seems like he kills just to invoke fear. I think he's supposed to be referencing things like Cthulhu with his "old as the universe and impossible to understand" motif.
the voice actor made an entire video on how he did the voice of Fiddle sticks if anybody wants to do it as well
Thank you sir. I appreciate this offering of SAUCE
If anybody wants to get a sore throat trying to imitate Fiddle's voice*
@@KDelta-5 Moderation is the key (as the VA points out in his video quite a bit). If you notice that it's straining your throat, take a break - as always when it comes to talking a lot. If it feels uncomfortable, stop. Only use the voice in small bursts, not for an entire DnD session as a DM. Drink a lot of water/tea/liquids.
@@doomdoot6731 I was actually asked to do this in a Dnd game once and couple weeks back. Let me say yes it hurts but the sense it can bring to a monster like character is amazing. On the note of hurting your throat don't forget to take a breath this shit can also give you a headace if you do lines too fast.
can you please send a link to the video?
I wonder if Riot is just going to flat out reboot Nocturne into something totally different when his rework arrives since Fiddlesticks seems to just be better than him in the "scary" department...
Perhaps he will be driven onto a more psychological horror type. A nightmare can be scary if you have to face a massive spider but it gets terrifying when you see someone slowly choke someone/something incapable of protecting itself like a small dog or a child. (actual NIGHTMARE stuff)
Nocturne wasnt fear, but nightmare. It's not exactly the same, one can be caused from another. I think new Nocturne will be more on dreams/illusion thing from what little we have now.
I think he either gonna be a shadow spirit in Ionia or in Shadow Isles or maybe a new type of demon.
Shaco being left out of the. Trio
@@besset3807 we don't even know what Shaco is atm with his Current lore state. So unless we actually get a good update on him you can better leave him out
The thing I absolutely LOVE about the Demonic Manuscript is that after months of back and forth discourse and dozens of videos by people trying to figure out what it means, Yone gets released and the entire community slaps their forehead and collectively shouts "WE WERE READING IT UPSIDE DOWN????"
Not well versed in the lore and the wiki is unhelpful so could you explain?
Basically riot released a demonic manuscript, a page of the demon hierarchy. It’s full of little Easter eggs, little hints that the community was trying to figure out. Yone was the champion released a couple months after the manuscript. After the community had theorized a very different version of the manuscript than the one Yone reveals. Basically it’s funny that everyone thought they figured it out, then Yone comes out and we realize how much we didn’t know. Really clever way of teasing a champion and created quite a fun Easter egg thing.
Everyone thought it worked like an evolutionary tree, with Fiddlesticks acting like a common ancestor that spawned more specialized demons. Instead, Demons start off as unique individuals and become more like Fiddlesticks the older and stronger they get.
"For a demon with no theory of mind..."
*Fiddlesticks, reclined in an easy chair perusing a psychology textbook with a pair of spectacles: Raises what might be a middle finger before returning to its self-education*
Skyen : Finally I am catching up to speed, it's just Fiddlesticks and Volibear.
Riot: Are you sure about that ?
"Throws 2 new champions "
And like 5 different in lore skins
@@LIAuNXeNON And NOW a canon 10 minute anime/CGI-fusion cinematic
@@Lanoom Just waiting for the 10 hour animation breakedown XD
This has to of been one of the most empassioned and chilling readings of this colour story I've ever heard. Thank you for doing justice to the stories that are done right.
Thanks for listening! :)
13:00 this is a really great point. The thing that we call "Fiddlesticks" isn't a character, from a storytelling perspective, because a character wants something, and they can want something different from what they used to want.
But he doesn't have to be. Fiddlesticks presents interesting possibilities for storytelling, but they're not his stories. And that's okay.
I'd love an ultimate fiddlesticks skin which changes to one of the various fiddlesticks variants in the lore every time you respawn.
Nah cuz I'm simply too good and I go flawless every game. I'm challenger btw.
I love the way Fiddlesticks elongates during some animations, like certain melees and the dance. To me that's not that the puppet is compressed in some way, but I think that's Fiddlesticks using its shadows to give the puppet extra length. In the game it just looks like the model stretches, but what I think is really going on is that the puppet actually breaks, and instead of pulling it back together Fiddlesticks is stretching itself to make sure it can still complete whatever action it's trying to do. Then it recedes and the puppet resumes its normal shape.
Also, I really love that Fiddlestick's ult is more than an expression of power; it's just him dropping the act. Instead of upholding the image of something scary, Fiddlesticks literally breaks free of his own puppet and you see him for what he really is: pure, absolute fear. Nothing can be more terrifying than watching this primal, ancient Demon unleash itself in the most feral way possible with the sole intention of ripping you and everyone around you apart, and there is nothing you can do to stop it.
It sounds super dorky, but I remember talking fan character shop with a friend and I brought up reworked Fiddlesticks and kinda wondered aloud "Wonder what it'd say to our characters?" and that lead to a fun discussion.
You learn a lot about characters when you face them with what they most fear!
He reminded me lot of the mechanical monstrosity that is antagonist of "9." That thing was terrifying and the similarities too that and Fidelsticks are so strong there is no doubt that creature clearly inspired he resigned. Even Fidelstick's ultimate is similar to how the monster moves at the end of the movie.
I adore that movie beyond words.
Yes! I wish 9 had been more popular so many wonderful robotic monstrosities came from that film, all creatively made through post apocalyptic scrap and bone.
@@GreaterGrievobeast55 post apocaliptic scrap and bone is peak aesthetic
Fun fact about fiddlesticks, he’s the only champion with a non-integer value for his health.
What does that mean?
@@julianpradarodriguez7336 integer means a number that does not have a decimal on it. Every other champion in the game has a base health that is a whole number. Fiddlesticks’s base health is 580.4
Absolute horror.
@@matthewcolosi7606 4
@@matthewcolosi7606 What's the significance of that?
You said it's mouth seemed like a sadistically designed bear trap. Soooo, remember Kled, and how he throws a bear trap on a rope to fight enemies. Yeah, I think I know where he got his mouth. It even has the same skinny-ish design.
And now I'm just imagining the hilarity of Kled, the yordle who fears nothing, meeting fiddlesticks, the fear demon. Like, imagine fiddlesticks being attracted to fear like sharks are to blood, and when he meets Kled, he just tries to constantly attack Skarll, but since he's an Immortal yet perpetually afraid lizard, fiddlesticks keeps attacking and failing to kill it while Kled is chasing fiddlesticks demanding him to "get off mah property". That would be hilarious to see
Thats why no one is occupying the lands between Demacia and Noxus
Their auras cancel eachother out. Skarl is so cowardly that Fiddlesticks always knows it is there, but Kled is such a fearless crackhead that Fiddlesticks would avoid him at all costs.
@@ravnemagne9598 thing is if by chance that fiddlesticks attempt to "scare" kled , kled would be absolutely F'd beyond belief its not that fiddlesticks avoid kled it's just that kled is so fearless and crazy that fiddlestick simply is blind to such an existence since y'know fiddlesticks is attracted to fear, but yeah all in all it's a situation whether will they meet? Or will they not either way no one wins if fiddle wins we lose our lovable scamp if kled somehow entrails a fear protection bubble that repulses fiddle then we'd lose the funny situation in with which a fiddle chasing skaarl, and with which kled chasing a fiddle.
"I would be fascinated to see fiddlesticks going up against garen or sylas and take on what terrible deep dark fears they have within them."
He kinda does. After all fiddlesticks mimicks the sounds of his victims and past encounters and uses this to invoke the image his victims fear the most.
Sylas, someone who wants to protect mages by all cost, once went up against a Magehunter named Vannis while protecting a young mage and her father.
By accident, Sylas ends up killing ... the Father and the young mage. A memory that hunts him to this day.
When Fiddlesticks encounters Sylas, he says: "Vannis... Don't hurt her..."
Garen, a symbol of Demacia and everything demacia stands for, including their despite for mages. How terrifying would it be, if his own family had begotten a mage ... like his sister?
What if Lux ... was a mage ... Not just any mage, but the mage responsible for Sylas breaking out of prison.
When fiddlesticks encounters Garen, he says: "Garen... Brother... Please don't hate me..."
I play Fiddlesticks quite often now, and a small detail that I just noticed in the ultimate's animation while watching this is how the cage opens up as Fiddlesticks dives forward. Almost like a second, larger mouth ready to clamp down on whoever it's diving at, while the demon soul looks and acts sort of like an eyeball in the last few frames before the crow storm is summoned. I love watching your videos because they give me new things to appreciate about the characters, both story and personality-wise. They've actually helped me connect more to the ones that I pick as my mains for each role.
I think giving Fiddlesticks a personality so that he can become more of a "character" will kind of defeat the "fear of the unknown" vibe to him/it.
I think giving him characterization won't add all that much and will be very unnecessary, especially since he's already so perfect imo.
Making it a character would take away the whole "It can't be reasoned with" and "it's just a mindless thing that only feels the desire to consume" because characters by definition aren't those things.
@@Nyghtking I'd say you're both wrong, Evelynn, Tahm Kench, they have character and personality...doesn't mean you could reason with them for the most part
As for whether Fiddlesticks is 'mindless' that's hard to say, it's so alien and otherworldly, that it's more akin to a Lovecraftian eldritch being than anything else, so it's hard to say how intelligent it really is or isn't.
You can definitely give a character like Fiddlesticks a personality. But that only works in a long form narrative medium with carefully and meticulously established stakes, plot and appropriate gravitas. None of which is what LoL specializes in at all
I think that the best personality kida thing you could give Fiddlesticks would be something akin to Pennywise (kinda like what we got in suprise party skin) where he is the ultimate predator that purposefully makes you as scared as possible before closing in for the kill.
I honestly love the "It has no undersanding of the world it inhabits" part of it's charaterization, because it not only reinforces how uttelry alien it is to our concept of "being", but also solidifies that you cannot reason with it, you cannot control it, you cannot appease it, no matter what you do it will only ever percieve you as one singular thing: *Prey.*
That moment when you realized that they might be setting up the ultimate event of a lifetime, and it started with the civil war and Fiddlesticks’ rework. Imagine an event where players have to choose a side to this war, and as they play, it adds points to the sides. It seems like a normal event and nothing really as new, but then after a couple of weeks to months, they change it to the end of the world event, where because everyone was focused in the war event, no one noticed the world around Runeterra as Fiddlesticks has grown in power and locating his key from the child of Twilight, Zoe, and now the event changes slightly, everyone is still in their side of the war, but now the actual event is trying to stop Fiddlesticks while fighting the opposite side (and players themselves can choose to not fight each other and focus on Fiddle) before he enacts his plan (which can be either releasing all 9 of his other skins or releasing all 9 of his siblings).
Wouldn’t surprise me if the league MMO’s first endboss is fiddlesticks
Looking at his death animation, it doesn't feel like it dies. It feels like it renders the puppet forfeit, and forces it to rip the rib cage open so that it can escape.
He did not stutter at the word "rural" in the narrated inrto, I am so proud!!!
Wuwul.....FAAAAAAK
Wu..Wuwu..Wurul.. RU RUL
Oh yeah, i almost forgot that Skyen never got to do a "Whats the deal" with Fiddlesticks and Volibear. Hope you have time to breathe with all the content this month Skyen, including the weekly Dark Souls that you have to edit.
In my opinion, I like the new lore for Fiddlesticks better personally. It actually sounds like an old folklore creature that makes you uncomfortable. Especially with how Sky read it in this video, that made the article so much more... *shudders* gross and scary.
27:15 It's also worth to mention that his jaws don't move always like that. Especially in the Scarecrow form, where he makes this "scream" move. If you see that on the edge of your vision, you will most likely snap back and look at it, only to see a perfectly standing still scarecrow, questioning your sanity on what you just imagined.
But what will you be? Terrified.
I'd think the pointy, hinged jaw was simply an animal trap. Completely normal object to find on a farm.
I don’t play League (and probably never will) but Fiddlesticks is by far my favourite character in every aspect; from design, to voice, and lore.
I love how the puppet "Tongue" is not actually one and is just the tentacle/arm of the demon re-adjusting the head for any animation it takes. Like the Joke or his ult. Fucking love my homeboy fiddle.
Random Trivia: Back in the ye olde lore, the Tempest Flats were an area located at the foothills between the Shuriman Desert and Mount Gargnatua (what Targon used to be called), so the story of the Witch that created the wicked Scarecrow could be translated into the modern lore as a Targonian folk tale, with the Scarecrow being Fiddlesticks (of course), and the Witch being Zoe (or maybe a previous host for the Aspect of Twilight), considering that she's ancient, tied to Targon, a Lunari (thus hated by the ruling Solari) and is responsible for stealing one of Fiddle's keys.
When are we getting a "What's the deal with Rats" video, where you review the superb design of rats
Obviously on april 1st Next year
@@LIAuNXeNON But this is the year of the rat
@@Dragonzzilla m8 rats are every where no matter the year
He already did that. Its titled "whats the deal with teemo"
I freaking loved your video, nice amout of serious and well-explained lore with some adequate jokes and humor, 37mins and 51 secs and I was totally into everything for every sec of it
Glad you enjoyed it!
I'm not a LoL player but I love these character breakdowns. the design and animation analysis are wonderful to watch
oh my god skyne the intro was fantastic! im not even all the way through the video but oh my god its so good! Amazing job man :D
Glad you liked it!!
Ok but this might be common knowledge now but the demonology is a reference to what each of the "demons" in league stand for. Kench is greed, Evelyn is lust, fiddlesticks is fear, raum is secrets(raum is the demon swain uses) etc. The "azakana" on the bottom are a group of demons that yone (who wasn't out at the time) always talks about who're demons that feed on emotions as a whole like anxiety, doubt, anger etc.
The introduction was the beeeeeeest.
But best part is demonology
They should take nocturne in the direction of a different kind of fear
Rather than primal fear the more paranoia of fear
He could become invisible on the trail of darkness you leave behind for example
You know he is there but you cant see him
His ult is the perfect example of what defines nocturne
The moment his ult goes off everyone is afraid, not just for their lives but for their teammates as well and the total uncertainty it brings
People who are together huddle together
People flee to their tower regardless of whether nocturne is nearby
Because they dont know what will happen
This actually makes me think that Nocturne's ultimate should create a bunch of speaking voices, like normal speaking voices or loud whispers.
One of the biggest counters to Nocturne's ultimate is in game comms, his ult makes you unable to see or target your teammates if you aren't close to them.
He should offer auditory feedback to disrupt comms while his darkness is up.
30:00 for those who don't know what he's talking about is a phenomenon called uncanny valley. It's one of the most important parts of both animation and visual effects. What it is is when something has passed the realm of being cartoonish and is trying to be accurate to real life but doesn't quite accomplish it. When this happens the human mind almost always notices because we've spent our whole lives looking at reality so the moment we see something that doesn't quite look real it sets off triggers in our mind saying essentially this isn't what you think it is. One place interestingly enough where you can see this phenomenon in effect is in poor wirework in low budget action movies.
Imagine if Fiddlesticks decided to go on a binge and did that by ending the world. I would imagine it can do so, ancient characters in League tend to be stronger the older they are. Hell, it probably might start feeding on the Watchers' fear of light.
Warwick and Fiddlesticks are the two best reworks riot has done. With them both being horror like champs, cause can argue that Warwick isn't I guess, I have high hopes for Nocture.
TB: " And I will not play riots sick games any longer-"
Video: Ad Break
What I love about the new fiddlesticks is that he vaguely embodies Noxian tech. Something not understood but very well feared by Demacian farmers. And it gets this look with a bear trap for a mouth, a saw as a shoulder, a scythe, etc. All things famers know. Fiddle is the image of a Noxian tech monster as imagined by a farmer. He is several levels deep with his design and I thought I couldn't love his rework more than I did already.
Excellent work on that introduction.
Thank you kindly!
Gets teleported to Runeterra, walking a lone road I quickly find myself surrounded by bandits as all hope is lost. I look down as I realize my end, In my last moments I realize. "My fate may be sealed, but I can make yours a lot worse." Looking up at the bandits and muttering under my breath "Fiddlesticks."
I think this is the video that made me want to subscribe. I don’t know why, but it helped me realize how fascinating Fiddlesticks is and hearing Skyen gush over the animation just fills me with joy. Why? I have no idea. I guess since I get very excited and enthusiastic about stuff that I enjoy, I appreciate seeing other people being enthusiastic about stuff that they like. Also, thanks for getting me into LOL lore Skyen.
fiddlesticks is generally regarded to having the best rework so far from riot. and before him was warwick which many say was incredible as well so its nice to see that they still make great reworks
I love how you describe the windup animation for his ultimate ability at 31:35. It just sounded so funny
On the "too-well-designed" point:
Does a honey bee mimic know what it is impersonating? What about moths? Do they know the motivs on their wings look like big eyes to predators? Or does it even know that, if it sits perfectly still, it won't get eaten?
"fun" fact: things like shaking or sudden movements are connected with demons are, at least in part, because demons were blamed for things like epileptic attacks.
Honestly, seeing my OG main get the rework he deserved was so satisfying.
Also, on a note about Nocturne:
Nocturne is a Demon of Nightmares. It is the terror that strikes when you are sleeping, and can only very rarely affect you when you are awake. Whereas Fiddlesticks is the embodiment of the fear of the world, all the things that do exist and can very much hurt you, Nocturne is the fear of the impossible made tangible. I'd love to see them rework him to incorporate the 'Impossible' aspect. His Ult already does a decent job, seeing as it could be interpreted as the nightmare following you into the waking hour, though it definitely needs a visual update to represent it.
I actually started playing a creepy scarecrow based Warforged in DND 5e. After 10 mins of playing him somebody said: "Do you play League?" I have never played League. He then told me i had basically made Fiddlesticks. Yes, yes i had.
I like talking with a freind about character designs adn, when we talked about Nocturne and Fiddlesticks, we talked about the fear they are suppoused to evoke.
My conclusion is that, while fear is one of the mightiest emotions, Fiddle and Nocturne deliver different flavors of it.
Nocturne is the classic fear of the night and darkness. The sensation of being alone, or rather, not beign alone in the middle on the night.
Fiddlestick is the "Bump in the Night" fear. More characteristic of rural settlements, it is the fear that evoke being in the middle of the wilderness. Picture this: Living in a small town in the middle of the usa, at 20 miles minimum from the next civilized spot and surrounded by wilderness: Forests, Swamps, Mountains, Lakes... Every piece looming over the small town as if saying "you are just one landslide from oblivion" and, in the middle on the night, you hear it: a noise. An unnatural noise for something to do, then, you have a quick question to answer: "Do I go check out that noise?"
Will you step out of the comfort of the bed, or rather, the illusion of safety of that small room to face your fears? Will you shed the light upon the darkness not fully prepared for what you might encounter? Will you stand upon the Bump in the Night?
No, you just soothe yourself to sleep, coming with the less live-threatening explanation, while praying for that thing to let you live to see the light of dawn once more.
That is a disturbingly great interpretation of these two
Fiddlesticks: an ancient primal force of FEAR
Tahm Kench: that stupid voice in your head tempting you to go for more
Evelynn: post nut clarity
Btw, that animation effect with the dangling jaw is called a "jigglebone." Or at least that's what it's called in the Source engine. Not sure if it's industry-wide terminology.
there is something I love about fiddle's dance animation is that you can see that it's the demon who controls the puppet, the rib cage is empty
The fact that 13:39 is one of the spot recognized as "most replayed" just shows that we're all mean and enjoy watching Skyen suffer..... that being said, it IS very funny
I don't play LoL but I like their style.
I love the "primordial demon" concept Fiddlesticks has going on. And the First of Ten line is really chilling.
I hope the other 10 are equally ambiguous as it, because if the other 10 are like Tahm Kench and Evelyn then Fiddlesticks would be like the "dumb one" of the bunch because he does not understand things.
What other things as old as the emotion of fear I wonder.
I feel like the intentional raggedness of Fiddlestick's puppet/form, that it's _really_ convenient it has all these attributes and traits that just so happen to freak people the hell out, just brings the whole thing into uncanny valley territory really fast. You start wondering if this thing is actually just a mindless demonic-ish creature with little to no brain... Or if it has some kind of _sentience_ and that it knows *exactly* what it's doing.
You tell me which is the most terrifying.
thanks for the warning about the jumps care I'm subbing because that's very kind if nothing else for people who dislike them a lot.
Fiddles little diddy mentioning he's first of ten is pretty compelling lore wise. Like what's he the harbinger of? There must be some kind of primal ancient beings who Runeterra can only describe as demons but defy all the rules of them and more are on the way. Or I really hope they are, like god knows if Riot will pay that off but hey LoR is gonna need Fiddles themed monsters if they make him in game so maybe they will there.
That intor was sickass.
Kinda reminds me of The Magnus Archives in some moments. Great voice acting.
Basically, Fiddlesticks is whatever you might get from one of those AI "art" image generation tools if you typed in the word fear.
Incoherent messes and amalgamations of whatever the AI thinks might fit that definition entirely included.
The more I listen to this voice, the more nostalgic it becomes for me...
I remember as a child, listening to a “bob the builder” tale on my CD player, that told the story of how two characters from bob the builder got shut in, and lost in a mine.
As a child, that story was absolutely terrifying, and as a soon to be adult, this voice makes me remember that terrifying feeling.
It really adds to the experience!
I feel like it's worth noting that fiddlesticks took a very humanoid form because it can also hit that uncanny Valley that fills you with dread. And then terror when the vaguely human thing runs at you in a very non human way.
I love that you talk for so long about him not having to prepare for movement, and then you perfectly show the 8 frames of him preparing for the movement. perfect
I've lost track if how many dozens of times I've watched this for the intro alone.
This narration by you taught me something more about showing the emotions of the story itself. I'll definitely improve my storytelling just from hearing this.
"There is a jump scare and loud noises in this video." My deaf ass turns the volume up to max to hear what his first lines of dialog are
I have to say the first part sounded like a audiobook I would listen to, and the jumpscare at the end of the reading almost got me keep up the good work
I picture Fiddlesticks as a sort of monster/force that hunts its prey by making it fear, and at the peak, it feasts. It's animalistic from its core, simple in a way, but you won't be able to make sense of it
This. This is what I needed to listen to at 2 am after a 10 hour shift. No sarcasm. Only wonderful chills. Thank you TB.
Not sure who but someone said that fiddlestick's skins are different puppets for different regions of runeterra. If riot confirmed this fiddle will have the most amount of canon skins
I think fiddlesticks design doesnt undermine its lore because from the lore itself its said that it can feel everyones fear and make it bigger and bigger meaning it has some understanding available to it from the minds of his victims, like it says lines to tragic characters that struggle with their pasts (annie yasuo etc) making it plausible that it did make that form itself and isnt just a mistake in the designers part, even if this isnt fully correct simple trial and error would make it work just like khazix evolves to his surroundings an ancient demon with access to its victims thoughts should be able to do so too even while lacking the understanding of what its doing
I was told by some of my friends that most of the skins he has are actually forms he takes on depending on witch part of runeterra and if you look at his skins you can match almost all of the to place in a runeterra that also connects with his story
As a super avid horror fan, I absolutely love the Fiddlesticks rework. I love that he's not right, but if you arent paying attention he is just right enough-. Your video really made me feel a little validated. He's so GOOD of a horrific thing that I would love to see him in like a Dead by Daylight collab or even with his own horror movie/show like Arcane. he's what I want in a horror movie/game. I love that you pointed out all his creepy ass animations so in detail. he's probably my favorite character to play against cause he's taught me to pay FAR closer attention to my map and wards
jumpscare is at about 3:54 btw
thank you i was really trying to find a comment that said the time stamp so i could be ready
Fiddlesticks might have taken on his current form after some time. Perhaps the demon, feeding on fear, rearranged itself over and over until it found what squeezes the most fear out of his prey. A shambling mess of scrap and cloth, built like a malformed human, familiar enough to mistake in your periphery, but alien enough that the sight of this jagged metal monstrosity is enough to traumatize someone for the rest of their life, however short that may be.
Also I'm pretty sure his "mouth" is just a two-layered beartrap, minus the actual triggering mechanism.
Yeah, I had Fiddle a while ago in my series of lore readthroughs (in German though). His story was really, really good.
I think Fiddlesticks design is like evolution, I think it just pieces everything together and replicates what worked best in the past. Almost like a mimic.
That transition into the voice at the end of the opening segment was actually terrifying
When I heard "rural", I had an involuntary chuckle. Good job pronuncing it.
One thing I'll say about his good design undermining fiddlesticks not understanding the world, is that it doesn't put it together knowing that this is how it works, its rather led by its instincts that sense how to make it scarier. Like keeping it from putting the cage on its arm, where the fear of it resembling a ribcage would be lost. It doesn't UNDERSTAND how it works or why it's scary. It simply DOES the scary and KNOWS how to keep itself from undermining its fear. Like trying to do a 180 head turn, but its hood not going with it, so they don't even notice its head turned.
The time has come again to dig up that delightful animatic! Skyen's nemesis is back xD
You should review the Sisterhood series from Lol. It's interesting
I have so much work already. I try to get around to everything I can.
The part where you talked about his Ultimate and were like: I wanna go there I wanna go there, thats where I thought: "Damn, you would be amazing as the voice of some greedy evil entity."
Fiddlesticks was voiced by the same guy that said, “No Gregory, I am not ok… Dumbass”
I think Fiddlesticks knows what humans or scarecrows look like, but it doesnt understand WHY they look like that. He sees eyes, arms, teeth, legs, etc but his understanding of their purpose is only what can be directly observed. When he sees a human, they probably try to attack him, probably with a weapon. His understanding of arms is that they are weapons, so he grabbed the closest approximations he could find for arms. Legs are used for running, so some long, thin poles should do just fine. A human mouth has rows of sharp objects, and a bear trap, to fiddlesticks, is exactly that. There are eyes on faces, which clearly have some sort of purpose, but what it is isnt known, so a hole with a dim red light is the best estimate. Notice Fiddlesticks doesnt have a nose. You can't tell what a nose is for just by observing a terrified person, so perhaps he either doesnt realize it's there, or sees it as some kind of accessory.
I think his scarecrow look isnt an attempt by him to look like a scarecrow, but rather that he cant tell the difference between a real human and a scarecrow. It could also be just because he just grabbed random parts to get a close approximation of what he was trying to imitate, which is essentially what a scarecrow is. His voice further supports this. He's able to mimic things he hears, but its wrong. He doesnt know how voices work, so he makes his best attempt and what comes out is a raspy, breathless, wail that is saying human words but is not a human voice.
Fiddlesticks is essentially what would happen if you put someone in a pitch black room surrounded by objects, and made them guess what the objects are and how they work without being able to see them. The cage on his chest is likely his approximation of a ribcage, and the demon is his "heart". He can tell that by stabbing a persons heart, they die, so that must be their actual essence. Its protected by a hard, cage-like object, so of course he tries to mimic it.
I'd argue he wasnt intending to look scary, in fact, he probably thought he looked exactly like a human, but of course his estimation was flawed and he actually turned out to be a mangled mess of scrap and junk that looks vaguely humanoid, but is so far away from "human" that the mere sight of it strikes fear in those that encounter it. As a demon of fear, Fiddlesticks has no reason to alter his shape, because it yields what he was initially after anyway.
I believe he initially tried to blend in to his surroundings, so he could get close to his prey without resistance, but he soon learned that any resistance these pathetic creatures put forth is worthless. So he abandoned the idea of blending in for a direct approach, since theres no risk if he is discovered. In fact it's what he wants, because it generates fear.
Hes very similar to void creatures I think. Resembling what they seek to destroy but not fully understanding it. The difference being that the void is essentially a legion of intelligence. They have many things working for them and can collect data on the universe much more effectively than a lone, primordial demon can. A major difference here though is that the void came willingly. As far as we can tell, fiddlesticks is forced to be on runeterra, so his disguise is much more improvised and rushed, combine that with the fact that he exists more as a force than as a sentient creature, his limited understanding of the universe prevents him from being able to properly observe it.
Fiddlesticks being part of the very first batch of characters and having so many different conflicting versions of his lore fits so very well in a meta sense
15:56 I didn’t realize up until now that Fiddlesticks has a literal ribcage and shoulder-blade.
Fidelstick for me is a great use of lovecraftian horror he's everywhere he's everything and not understanded by humanity in runaterra he is just him and thats why he is the best character for me
Beautifully redesigned, downright Lovecraftian.
On the whole topic of Fiddles design, I'm fairly certain it's because the Fiddlesticks we have in game, is the one from the short story, i.e. the creature that stalked Goldweald.
Like how default Udyr is how Udyr looks at the "end" of his current lore, same as GP.