There are new emotes on the test server that quite strongly suggest that Twisted Fate and Graves are a couple.
There are almost 160 different heroes in League of Legends. Over time, Riot wanted to diversify their origins, character, and motivations more and more. Lore becomes more interesting, deeper and often touches on more serious topics. As you can easily guess, the character’s relationships are also developed, which are becoming more and more explicit.
Riot has decided to explicitly mention some relationships or sexual orientation of individual champions.
The latest storm in the gaming community is just about that. As you know, Pride Month and the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia are approaching. On this occasion, themed cosmetic accessories were released, among which there are… Twisted Fate and Graves.
Graves and Twisted Fate are a couple?
According to many League of Legends players, Riot has officially confirmed another same-sex couple from League of Legends. A lot has changed in the game over the last few years. Until recently, there was no character who canonically represented LGBT+.
Today, the creators openly inform players that Caitlyn and Vi have a romantic relationship, Diana and Leona have been in love with each other in the past, and Neeko simply prefers women. As it is easy to see – there are no men on this list, which, according to some, was a bit sad. It turns out that the big moment has come to confirm another fan pair that has garnered many followers (and fanarts) over the years – Graves and Twisted Fate.
In the beginning, it is worth explaining why this topic appeared in the community. The whole storm was caused by the publication of emotes and icons for Pride Month 2022 on the test server. Every year Riot prepares cosmetic accessories with the LGBT+ theme, including icons with the colors of individual flags. A year ago, the artwork of Diana and Leona was among the emotes for this occasion. Soon after, an official short story was released, which ends with a kiss of the protagonists.
This year, cosmetic accessories for Pride Month 2022 are as follows:
As you can see, in addition to the rainbow theme, among the graphics you can find as many as two emotes depicting Twisted Fate and Graves. It would not be particularly surprising, because as you know – the two often appear together in different places because they have known and cooperated for years. Everything changes when the graphics are given the right context and attached to Pride Month or the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia (May 17).
- ALSO – League of Legends Twisted Fate will receive a VFX update. What does the refreshed hero look like?
Some players are probably wondering where the idea that Graves and Twisted Fate could be a couple came from? Those who have been fans of the duo for years have noticed many clues that could indicate this, although it must be admitted that Riot has never directly confirmed it.
In 2020, one of Riot’s employees, Devon “Runaan” Giehl (named after Runaan’s Hurricane) confirmed that in the original version of the story, Graves and Twisted Fate were to be a couple.
The Rioter mentioned in several entries on Twitter that the idea for the lore of two was to present them as a married couple or a pair of lovers. However, she didn’t focus on describing this vision as her posts were about work problems. The fans, however, quickly caught this little detail.
It can be said here that the old plans for the lore and what did not finally come out into the game do not really matter. After all, this isn’t the first time Riot has changed the concept. For example, in an early draft of the design, Xayah and Rakan were a pair of vampires, which doesn’t mean they are still vampires. In the case of Graves and Twisted Fate, however, it wasn’t just designs.
In the current lore you can read that:
[Twisted Fate] During one of the games he met a man named Malcolm Graves. Seeing him as a soul mate, he decided to join forces with him.
Over the years, the two have collaborated. They showed up everywhere together and were inseparable. However, at one point something went wrong, and Graves felt that TF was simply taking advantage of him. The protagonist stopped trusting his friend and the characters remained in conflict until the short story Bilgewater: Burning Tides was published. In the second act, the heroes finally talk to each other and bring up topics that have hurt them in recent years. According to many fans, the lines are suspenseful and give the impression that there is more to Malcolm and Tobias. It was this story that made some parts of the LoL community think more seriously about the two as a relationship, and certainly a relationship in which both parties are afraid to admit that a friend is more important to them than they thought.
Another argument that appears in conversations with fans of Graves and Twisted Fate is that the first of them in his legendary skin – Sentinel – refers to his friend during the death animation.
Also in Legends of Runeterra, there is a little flavor related to it. Vi accosts Graves, asking him where his “better half” has gone. The heroine of the card game repeatedly made statements with subtext, and once it became loud about the fact that she even tried to flirt with Miss Fortune.
As you might expect, the whole situation with emotes on PBE caused a huge stir on the Internet – a moment after the graphics were published on Reddit or Twitter, a storm broke out. Famous people from the League of Legends community, such as the creator of the SkinSpotlights channel, commented on this topic:
Hopefully this means Graves + TF will get a short story just like Leona + Diana did last year.
Rioter Thomas “Hylia” Randby is proud to announce that he has been working on one of Graves and TF’s emotes and is very excited about it. Hylia is known for supporting the LGBT+ community and raising topics related to it.
It is worth mentioning Devon Giehl once again. Since the reveal of the new Graves and TF emotes, ex-Rioter has been posting fanarts practically all the time that portray the two in a romantic way. In a commentary on the new content on the PBE, she wrote:
i feel so powerful and vindicated i could just ascend
basking in it. just absolutely rolling around in my nourished green fields
Of course, these are just a few examples. As always, in such situations, there were also people who were outraged that Riot re-mixes older heroes in the plot to adapt them to current trends.
It is worth remembering that introducing new stories or curiosities about champions does not affect their design in the game and the overall idea. Graves and Twisted Fate are still lovable robbers who like to get into trouble.