Aurora is the newest League of Legends champion to join the rift. Not only is she going to be a new Vastaya, but Riot have also been working on her for almost 7-years now. Her previous kit and ideas were recycled into other champions like Sylas, Lillia and the Spirit Blossom event we all loved.
But enough of that, we're going to talk about her aesthetic, her look and what Riot thought of when they decided to design her, because let's be real she is a brand-new Vastaya, and when leaks revealed she'd be a bunny, some players were hoping for some more fur, right? So, what was Riot thinking designing her?
League of Legends: Aurora's Look
Since Aurora has been in development (though with noticeable breaks) for so long, Riot has a lot of different concepts for this unique Vastaya mage. There were ideas of turning her into a danger who creartes stories out of smoke, a mage who creates magic, and there was even a time she was supposed to be someone who summons spirits to do the work for her.
While her kit was being explored, she gained different looks and feels, but the bunny-theme was something that stuck around.
According to Riot Kindlejack, the concept artist of Aurora, when they were designing her, the bunny look was what stuck out to must.
In my very first piece of concept art I had made years ago, I had a spread of ideas and peoplekept pointing to one in particular [...] The image in particular was of a bunny-eared girl with a face hiddenin shadow. And, beingRuneterra, this meant she was Vastaya.
While most Vastaya are from Ionia, Riot decided they wanted to explore a tribe that had moved away from their original home and decided to make a new region their home in Runeterra. That is how the Bryni came to be.
When trying to figure out her unique ‘Vastayan marking’ I really liked the idea of heavyfrecklescoalescing into patterns. Much like freckles, they carry over onto other parts of her body—mainly hershoulders andthighs. The similarity to freckles seemed like an excellent addition to her ginger hair, a naturalnod to her Freljordian home.
While Aurora might not have a complete "animal" look, she does share significant rabbit and bunny features, with Kindlejack explaining that they tried to make sure to her bunny feet right, as well as her tail and ears.
Maybe in the future we will be getting more animal-like Vastay like Rengar again, but this time we are getting an adorable and unique bunny Vastaya – the first prey Vastaya on Summoner's Rift.