League of Legends' new champion Gnar teased by Riot

gnar

A fearsome new League of Legends Champion known as Gnar has broken free from an icy tomb, but who—or what—is it?

Gnar was a happy... whatever he is, going by the primitively illustrated League of Legends Champion preview page . But then something bad happened, and his family was torn asunder! This left Gnar extraordinarily miffed—and then he was entombed in ice! That last bit really comes out of nowhere, but the Gnar teaser released today has a semi-happy ending: Gnar makes his escape, which is good, but comes out looking like an enraged were-gremlin with murderous intent, which is probably somewhat less so.

It's not much to go on but at this point, it's all we've got. There's plenty of discussion underway on the League of Legends forums , however, one bit of which notes that this may have been "foreseen": In September 2012, the user Lunarwind posted a " Champion suggestion " for "Gnar, The Snowmass Sorrow."

"This 'cute' yordle is one that enjoys living in cold areas and learnt to master the power of cold and ice, like nunu," the description states. "Unlike nunu, Gnar focuses on area denial and crowd control in some extent." It also contains a hand-drawn image of a red-mittened Gnar that's considerably less threatening than the one being teased today.

It's impossible to say what the connection between the two is, if any, without knowing what the "new" Gnar brings to the table in the way of abilities, but it's hard to imagine that the original suggestion didn't at least inspire the design. We'll let you know when we know; in the meantime, thoughts?

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.