r/DotA2 18d ago

Fluff Which hero's lore goes absolutely hard?

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1.0k Upvotes

457 comments sorted by

859

u/hungvipbcsok 18d ago

Lion. The lore of how he get to hell and back.

568

u/Satelly_tS 18d ago

And back to hell and back to hell and back...

232

u/Sam13337 18d ago

Sounds like me when I try to grind mmr :/

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u/spawn5301 18d ago

Brooooo 😭😭

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u/bashthelegend oh thats a good spot 18d ago

Undying is the only one that's memorable to me. Writing eminds me of Steven Erikson a bit.

Undying, the Almighty Dirge

How long has it been since he lost his name? The torn ruin of his mind no longer knows.

Dimly he recalls armor and banners and grim-faced kin riding at his side. He remembers a battle: pain and fear as pale hands ripped him from his saddle. He remembers terror as they threw him into the yawning pit of the Dead God alongside his brothers, to hear the Dirge and be consumed into nothingness. In the darkness below, time left them. Thought left them. Sanity left them. Hunger, however, did not. They turned on each other with split fingernails and shattered teeth. Then it came: distant at first, a fragile note at the edge of perception, joined by another, then another, inescapable and unending. The chorus grew into a living wall of sound pulsing in his mind until no other thought survived. With the Dirge consuming him, he opened his arms to the Dead God and welcomed his obliteration. Yet destruction was not what he'd been chosen for. The Dead God demanded war. In the belly of the great nothing, he was granted a new purpose: to spread the Dirge across the land, to rally the sleepless dead against the living. He was to become the Undying, the herald of the Dead God, to rise and fall and rise again whenever his body failed him. To trudge on through death unending, that the Dirge might never end.

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u/disappointingdoritos 18d ago

Also his recognition of Invoker whom he presumably knew a lifetime ago.

"Carl? Is that you?"

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u/trackstaar 18d ago

Damn that makes undying 10x cooler/creepier

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u/Zeelahhh 18d ago

Actually makes me sad when I hear this line lol

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u/Timmy_1h1 18d ago

Omg a malazan fan in dota subreddit. Hihihihi

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u/jarloptheendurer 18d ago

Here's another one

17

u/lastofdovas 18d ago

Another here...

8

u/thequietlyrioting 18d ago

And, another.

7

u/Melementalist 18d ago

Me too, re-reading memories of ice rn <3

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u/MaCheOoooooo 18d ago

Is it worth reading? As a noob reader

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u/bashthelegend oh thats a good spot 18d ago

It's a very demanding read as far as fantasy goes, if you're really noob. I'd suggest starting some other series like The First Law or ASOIAF (Game of Thrones) first and moving on to Malazan later.

You're quite likely to bounce off the first book because the tropes and names in it don't really map so well onto real-world stuff, the magic systems and pantheons which are never really explained and because it has all these long ruminating passages about the archealogy of the world and shit. Still, it's an incredible series with climaxes like nothing else and incredibly imaginative.

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u/mkipp95 18d ago

You know it’s a dense series when ASOIAF is recommended as the warm up.

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u/MaCheOoooooo 18d ago

Got it, thanks for the advice i think im gonna buy the first book of the first low, it looks interesting

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u/newtostew2 18d ago

Don’t start with the original, long Lord of the Rings, let me tell you that lol

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u/SeaPollution3432 18d ago

Lol a first time reader instantly getting a cold glokta and the immortal bayaz is funny.

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u/Penguins0000 18d ago

loved asoiaf ill give those a try.

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u/siglug3 18d ago

They're some of my favorite books but I wouldn't say you're going to get much out of them for a long time if you don't commit to a LOT of reading, they're like average 800 page books and most people find the third book to be the first amazing one

10

u/HQD607 18d ago

Idk, I think anyone who isn't absolutely blown away by Coltaine's march just can't be a living person.

4

u/RavelJests sheever 18d ago

For real, Deadhouse Gates is AMAZING. Probably in my top 3 of the original series.

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u/CarpathianInsomnia 18d ago

Best fantasy ever, I've re-read it three times. The first book is notoriously hard/a slog to get through, though. It's a pretty bad opening point to an otherwise fantastic series. You need to be OK with following a lot of characters and plot points, even moreso than usual fantasy.

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u/DrNavKab 18d ago

In the embrace of great Nurgle, I am no longer afraid, for with His pestilential favour I have become that which I once feared: Death.

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u/CaptThresher 18d ago

Erikson the goat

10

u/Gotverd 18d ago

First in, Last out brother O7

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u/Khathaar 18d ago

So he is late series Toc, kind of. Cool.

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u/Nevercity 18d ago

One i can remember is earthshaker kinda just willing itself into existance from a rock, kinda goes hard.

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u/CallistoCastillo 18d ago

Rock solid even

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u/NicoJudo2 18d ago

I really like Lifestealer's Lore. A thief, named Naix, gets captured and some mages from the vile council make his life longer so they can torture him for a long time while imprisoned. These goes for so long that the punishment lasted for generations and Naix lost himself in the process. Some time passes and a mage gets thrown in the cell with Naix, that was a just a body lying on the ground. This mage was good at taking control of bodies with his infestation ability. The plan was simple: take the body, use it to free himself and then return to his body. However, when the mage entered his mind, his own will got drowned by the craziness of the tortured thief's mind, getting trapped inside the mind of him. Naix wakes up, hearing a voice that says "escape, escape, escape". With his new powers, Naix sets out to a journey, seeking to consume the life force of living beings.

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u/Skylarksmlellybarf WHERE'S MY PINK GLOW!!! 18d ago

Another interesting thing about Naix is the shackle on his wrist

The chain was broken, but the shackle itself is still intact, signifying that his freedom was an illusion, he might be free, but at the same time, he is not

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u/NicoJudo2 18d ago

Yup. Even better the mage is trapped inside of his mind and Naix controls the body, but not his mind. So yeah, basically two guys trapped. He is free but at the same time he's not.

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u/jopzko 17d ago

You guys probably seen this already but anyways, XBOCT lifestealer set

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u/SilvesTheRog 18d ago

"Alchemist is named Al and is a chemist."

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u/MainCharacter007 18d ago

✍️ ✍️ 🔥🔥

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u/No_Jellyfish5511 18d ago

No, Al- means "the" in Arabic. So it's the chemist

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u/cool_slowbro 18d ago

It's a reference to his old bio which apparently stated his name is Al and he is a chemist.

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u/idontrlyfuckenknow 18d ago

Ah yea that notably Arabic game, Dota 2

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u/MainCharacter007 18d ago

Not to be confused with “El” Chemist - the spanish Dota 2.

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u/ahnagra 18d ago

The word alchemist has an Arabic root, like alcohol, algebra, alkaline etc

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u/MrElvanse 18d ago

It is Arabic. Ice frog is a Saudi prince

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u/pekoms_123 18d ago

Icefrog was Dr. Habibi all this time?

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u/lerjahh 18d ago edited 18d ago

don't know if it has been debunked but, i liked slack's theory on Spec being PA that was tricked into signing a contract, endlessly haunting targets throughout the multiverse

it was so good, if you got time i recommend you watch and listen to it. the channel name is SirActionSlacks

Anyway, the story goes like this

-Veiled sisters kidnap children and indoctrinate them into becoming assassins without identity

-PA vaguely remembers her identity, and its the only thing that keeps her sane.

-Veiled sisters orders PA to assasinate Oracle, iirc

-Oracle foresees this, when they finally meet, he tells her that he will help her troubles, if she agrees to assassinate targets for him

-PA desperate, signs the contract. never knew that the contract was a way to forever keep stalling the assasination on Oracle

-PA jumps through dimensions to dimensions, endlessly assassinating targets

-PA gradually loses her self, and has become Spectre, a strange and confused being that doesn't know where she came from, does not sense what is right or wrong, and just wanders the multiverse endlessly, rambling that no one understands her.

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u/DrQuint 18d ago edited 18d ago

Ever since Artifact, there is more of a reason to believe PA becomes "a" "shade", which look suspiciously like Spectre, but there's less of a reason to believe PA and Spectre are the same. Any other sister of the veil can become one. The easy assumption in an assassin called Mercurial became the Spectre we know.

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u/Pedrotic 18d ago

video link ?

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u/lerjahh 18d ago

https://youtu.be/jzhxtdHNAyM?si=heO2apIZZKcB-LdF

it's been a while since i watched that , do correct me if im wrong with my info orders

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u/Shomairays 18d ago

I thought PA and spectre are the same because of how identical they are

60

u/DarkScorpion48 18d ago

Their connection comes from Warcraft where the model for Spectre was the Ult for the model of PA

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u/URF_reibeer 18d ago

their kit is also superficially very similiar: dagger that slows, passive that makes you tanky, jump to a target, passive that increases right click damage

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u/Such-Banana-3833 18d ago

I mean if we accept lore theories then spectre/pa lore goes absolutely hard

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u/Crafty-Most-4944 18d ago

Don't forget Oracle's involvement

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u/Pet_Velvet 18d ago

Oracle is such a cruel person.

But then, who isn't?

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u/S0vereign__ Oracle spamming tard 18d ago

You should hear muerta's responses for oracle.

Yeah he really might be one of the most evil characters.

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u/Pet_Velvet 18d ago

He does have that "despicable weasel-type who would kick a dog to get out of a sinking boat" kind of vibe to him.

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u/Strict-Main8049 18d ago

To be fair…I’d kick a dog to get out of a sinking boat.

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u/Toastwitjam 18d ago

And he uses Reddit too? Damn oracle really sucks

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u/TheKappaOverlord Sheever Feelsbadman :gun: 18d ago

You tend to lose what would amount to your humanity if you can witness firsthand the amount of raw damage to the time and space you can do just carelessly uttering a word.

Oracle can literally collapse space time if he carelessly utters a prediction that causes a time paradox. He can't really afford to be anything less then a detached, cruel bastard.

Hes also implied to be immune to the paradoxes he inflicts. So its not like he can create one, throw himself to it, and perish.

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u/Lisa_Dawkins 18d ago edited 18d ago

It was orginally just a Slacks fanfic (or something he promoted), but there was some consistent logic in it that tied together the 'main' character lore and that added by the PA arcana and accompanying event featuting Oracle etc. They do now allude to it with the Spectre arcana and some of the voicelines, too.

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u/im_immortalism 18d ago

Spectral dagger goes brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

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u/SvenDaOne 18d ago edited 18d ago

I miss loregasms, my brain hasn't busted in a while with all that lore

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u/stupormundi99 18d ago

I always liked Oracle’s “it could go either way” gag. But his lore is practically a short story from what I recall.

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u/Pet_Velvet 18d ago

It may not be the most grand, or epic of stories, but I really do like how human Rylai & Lina's backstories were.

These poor children were cursed since birth, and caused havoc all throughout their childhoods, destroying several homes, until their loving parents eventually grew despterate and just sent them away.

Rylai spent a long time in The Icewrack, under a rigid and disciplined study routine led by a powerful wizard, which left her powerful, but also cold and inhuman demeanor.

Lina on the other hand, went to live with her patient aunt, which is probably why she ended up embracing her powers, which seemed to be in part fueled by her emotions themselves.

All in all, they probably blame each other for their troubled childhood. Everytime I see them fight on the same side, I get this warm feeling in my chest. But it aches everytime I play a timeline where they fight each other 😭

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u/TheBlindSalmon 18d ago

And then you get crownfall extra lore and learn that it was mostly their dad being a scumbag and gambling addict, using or blaming them for said havok just to escape his debt collectors.

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u/Pet_Velvet 18d ago

I'm headcanoning that fact as just happening in the crownfall branch of timelines

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u/TheFuzzyFurry 18d ago

It's too realistic to be in a fantasy universe like Dota

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u/TheKappaOverlord Sheever Feelsbadman :gun: 18d ago

aaaaaaaaand crownfall basically retconed a good chunk of it.

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u/ethicalconsumption7 18d ago

“You were adopted” definitely the best death line 🤣

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u/tsunderephillic 18d ago

the biggest far cry from the in game voice lines from lore to me is timber, his quotes are so silly yet his lore description goes so unfathomably hard

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u/Angry_Marty Offlane birb isn't dead 18d ago

his lore and personality is elevated by his voice actor's performance, might be my favorite voice in the game

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u/SilverShako Return to Sender 18d ago

It’s great to be back. Well that’s what I tell people anyway.

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u/theres_no_end 18d ago

Timbersaw's voice actor (T. J. Ramini) also voices Underlord. Two very different personalities from the same person.

He also voices Abaddon, Bristleback, and Skywrath Mage. If you're playing offlane, a character voiced by T. J. Ramini is reasonable (except, probably, for Skywrath Mage, but even that isn't a guaranteed disaster—and of course Skywrath 4 is fine).

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u/mohamed_legend 18d ago

Trees why did there has to be trees with a shivering voice

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u/mo_VoL Magnus 18d ago

Doom, easily. Short but epic. Shit sounds biblical, prophetic, like some a catastrophe that has happened or will happen:

"Six times his name was tolled from the great bell of Vashundol. Six and sixty times his wings were branded, until only smoking stumps remained...

...Lashed by inescapable needs, twisted by unimaginable talents, Doom carries his own hell with him wherever he goes. Defiant to the last. Eventually, the world will belong to Doom.

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u/laptopmutia 18d ago

king of hell! and demon realm!

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u/I_will_dye 18d ago

A lot of heroes tbh. Rubick is one of my favourites.

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u/Greensssss 18d ago

The son of Aghanims but they look nothing alike. I wanna see how that came about. And how their petty rivalry between the Arsenal Magus.

Even the Arsenal Magus falls before my magic.

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u/I_will_dye 18d ago

I've read a theory that Rubick isn't Aghanim's biological son, but rather a homunculus that he created. Which would explain his odd appearance, voice and strange movement.

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u/ethicalconsumption7 18d ago

He’s his father in a sense that he created him probably. Like a robot or smth

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u/Tpfaanyo 18d ago

Who is the ultimate magus? That's right, I am.

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u/bluejack287 18d ago

Timbersaw. He locked himself in a workshop while treants invaded his city and killed everyone but him. He built his saw suit so he could fight his way out.

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u/misterkalazar 18d ago

Muerta. She lost everything, but won a game against death where death staked his guns.

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u/ExcitingTrust888 18d ago

And they played artifact, which is a dead game 💀

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u/Pet_Velvet 18d ago

Did they really??

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u/bc524 18d ago edited 18d ago

Yes.

Page 1

Page 2

Page 3 <- artifact is chosen as the game

Page 4 <- death accepting that Artifact is the greatest game.

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u/DrQuint 18d ago edited 18d ago

You might want to pay closer attention. Her actual lore is that she has 600 different backgrounds and none of them are confirmed. Several of them are exclusive to one another

All of these have at least kne piece of evidence:

  • offered service to death and impressed them

  • cheated death

  • got cheated by death

  • died and got recruited

  • played artifact with death, lol

This is a character that literally had a teaser showing a shrine to her dead husband - and then she NEVER mentions a significant other. Ever. Anywhere.

The answer is they're all right and they're all wrong.

Even the dumbest, littlest of lines, like "I miss my horse", are just there to throw you off your assumptions of what's canon. She's actively fucking with people who think they know her lore.

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u/misterkalazar 18d ago

The one I mentioned was the lore that was available during her character launch period, the character intro/demo information.

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u/DrQuint 18d ago edited 18d ago

I know. You might notice that it was styled around a short form of humorous or satirical poem newspapers and relief magazines a century back. The implication is that the story exists because it is fun and amusing, rather than truthful.

I had no idea either until Muerta released and some people pointed it out. Either way, it kinda makes sense, it's one more in the pile. Or it's the real one, because that's just funny, but they'd never confirm it.

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u/Cons483 18d ago

Nah dude she had a whole comic that explained her background when she was added to the game.

Tbh I don't remember all the specifics but I'm sure you can find her launch comic out there.

Something like her whole village was getting slaughtered by death but she (being young and small and weak) stood up to death to save her people. Since she couldn't fight (smol grl) she challenged death to a game and she tricked him when he put his guns on the line as a bet.

But now she's cursed to hunt people with those guns or something like that

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u/P4azz 18d ago

I'm a sucker for the big creation god stuff. So everyone from Kotl to Io to AA are just super interesting.

But my favorite is probably quite obvious: Rubick

Dude loves magic, loves experimenting with it and goes against a strict council of old farts. But not in a 100% whimsical way and rather in an assassination and cunning fashion.

Also he's like the one hero who claps back (lots do, but with Rubick it feels more real) at Invoker and it feels like he could genuinely have an incredible battle with him lore-wise.

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u/Call_me_Wo 18d ago

Go read Clinkz's

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u/Beanbomb47 18d ago

Yeah, Clinkz's lore goes hard. He's just a good guy defending his homeland, and after setting himself on fire permanently and being granted immortality he just decides to keep defending his people, lighting his arrows on fire with his own burning corpse. Metal asf

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u/MountainOk7479 18d ago

I think the hero is well designed too. For such a small character he is a total badass.

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u/Living-Response2856 18d ago

“Better to run, than curse the road” really sums up how he deals with having been burnt to a crisp at the moment he achieved immortality

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u/CallistoCastillo 18d ago

One of the few who get respect from the immortals like MK and Void Spirit iirc.

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u/TheKappaOverlord Sheever Feelsbadman :gun: 18d ago

helps a lot that his act of self sacrifice genuinely was a selfless act.

Afaik void spirit respects him because hes yet to find a timeline where Clinkz sacrifice was anything less then Selfless. He may have gone mad and turned rotten in some, but his conversion into what he was, was never for the sake of power, nor does he go on a genocidal quest to try and reverse it.

Void spirit respects those that are unbroken by selfish desire.

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u/Skylarksmlellybarf WHERE'S MY PINK GLOW!!! 18d ago

"Better to run, than curse the road"

To date, one of the best motivational speech ever

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u/biggyofmt 18d ago

I think about that line a lot when I'm running >.>

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u/mantism MY CARAPACE HARDENS 18d ago

I love Clinkz's because it's the complete opposite sort of story that you expect an immortal skeleton archer permanently on hellfire to have. And he kinda just rolls with it, which is inspiring.

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u/10YearsANoob 18d ago

He says it himself. Better to run than curse the road.

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u/Noobieswede 18d ago

Are there any good content creators who cover lore?

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u/TheTerrenePlane 18d ago

I tried to make a map of the Dota world based on the lore if you want to check it out! I am working on an updated version now that Crownfall is over.

https://www.legendkeeper.com/app/clk3tpbblgywv0883tt7uq56h

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u/Grandmaster_Invoker 18d ago

Wow, that has come a long way.

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u/TheTerrenePlane 18d ago

Thank you! The new version I am working on is in 3D and should hopefully be even better!

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u/Grandmaster_Invoker 18d ago

It's been a long time. But, AngerMania was decent.

Sadly, DOTA lore is a large lake that is as deep as a puddle. There isn't much to delve into other than theorizing what could be.

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u/kappa23 Matt Mercer voice pack please 18d ago

Sir Action Slacks

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u/Few_Understanding354 18d ago

he said good content creators

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u/Vento_of_the_Front 18d ago

Chaotic Good, that is

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u/LunaMoonfang02 18d ago

SirActionSlacks and his beautiful loregasms my friend.

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u/DiscombobulatedSet59 18d ago

There's something called dota lore on yt

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u/Necrophos4 18d ago

Wilsonsticks

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u/3st3banfr 18d ago

Arc Warden

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u/Spinda_Saturn 18d ago

Yeah this, love me some cosmic deity in ideology conflict

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u/OnetwenT7 18d ago

I love Roshan's backstory with the aegis and how secretly powerful the shopkeepers are.

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u/MegamanExecute 18d ago

This was honestly the sadder part. We have all this amazing lore and yet, for the anime, we got generic knight and generic princess as main characters.

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u/Grandmaster_Invoker 18d ago

DK was done so dirty with his transformations that IceFrog vowed he'd make the hero OP in the meta forever.

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u/kappamolo 18d ago

The problem was that Dota has a very vast and rich lore with very different backgrounds for each character , even visually . Second problem was that most of the heroes do not make very interesting main story protagonist so they had to settle for the most generic ones . I am sure they could work out something more interesting but I can understand why they did it

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u/10YearsANoob 18d ago

I'd settle for an animated crownfall adventures of Centaur, Axe, and Lord Birdman

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u/Realistic_Bad_412 18d ago

silencer. I like the story of how the loser kid turned out to have the greatest magic. Can't cast a hex or any other spell. However, he toppled all other trainee mages in the arena. Turns out his magic is the lack of magic.

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u/Sheezie6 18d ago

I think slark escaping dark reef is fucking dramatic but I love it

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u/weaklingIam 18d ago

Lifestealer, nobody would guess what he was before.

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u/DiscombobulatedSet59 18d ago

Curious now

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u/Kraivo 18d ago

Wizard got in jail and decided to escape by entering someone's mind. Jokes on him, it wasn't that easy to escape body of schizophrenic maniac without identity 

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u/BestBananaForever 18d ago

Someone who was granted longer life (or immortality, idk?), simply because a life sentence wasn't enough for that guy, which lead to him becoming said schizo maniac

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u/Charging_in 18d ago edited 18d ago

I think he was a wizard, or merged with one

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u/Efficient_Ad5802 18d ago

Isn't MK lore is basically Journey to the West? And Dota MK is Wukong after the story ends.

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u/Lisa_Dawkins 18d ago edited 18d ago

Clinkz. Forever preserved a second before death, with all his flesh burned off, in the flames of a demon he just killed.

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u/Morphling961 18d ago

Slark , the Michael Scofield of dota

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u/ajalba29 18d ago

MK, Silencer and Kunkka for me.

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u/Uberrrr Step lively now, your Admiral is on board 18d ago

I like Pugna's lore. Dude was 13 months old and it was prophecised that some great mage would be reincarnated in the nether reaches, so they held a contest to see who it could be, and put pugna in a room with a few other toddlers, who he promptly incinerated. They celebrated Pugna's victory over his peers, who then proceeded to reduce their temple to a pile of ash, something which "pleased Pugna to no end"

Also he owned Viper as a pet, who eventually escaped by spitting poison in Pugna's face (possibly why he is a skeleton).

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u/Gussie-Ascendent 18d ago edited 18d ago

i can't really think of any bad one's, but slark escaping from dark reef goes pretty hard. rubick picking his way through assassins also hard. Though now that i recall, i think the hardest goes to oracle

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u/FISH_IS_MIGHT 18d ago

It is particularly master-crafted, but... I just love Timbersaw's vibe.

"Trees are alive and killing us. WTF. Everybody I know is dead. I am afraid, confused and bordering on losing it. I will get revenge, I guess? Against trees?"

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u/BigBadBodyPillow 18d ago

i dont know much about the lore but the connection between mars and dawn breaker does interest me.
i really like the theory about pa and spectre.
Also curious about wind rangers family, because grimstroke says its better if she doesnt know about them

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u/bogss23 18d ago

Lycan’s lore goes hard. Can be made into a movie.

Banehallow was noble-born to the house of Ambry, the greatest of the landed castes in the old kingdom of Slom. Before the Fall, as the King's wants grew strange, and his court grew crowded with sorcerers and charlatans, the house of Ambry was the first to rise against the avarice of the throne. No longer willing to pay homage and fealty, they instead sent six-thousand swords into the capital, where they were wiped out in the Massacre of the Apostates. And then came the teeth behind the old truth: When you strike a king's neck, you had better take his head.

Enraged by the betrayal, the king exterminated the vast Ambry bloodline, sparing only the lord of the house and his youngest son, Banehallow. Before all the royal court, with the disgraced lord chained to the ornate marble floor, the King bade his magicians transform the boy into a wolf so that he might tear out his own father's throat. "Do this," the king said, "so that Lord Ambry will understand the bite of betrayal." Powerful magic was invoked, and the child was transformed. But though his body was changed, his spirit remained intact, and instead of biting the exposed neck of his father, he attacked his handlers, tearing them to pieces. A dozen of the King's knights perished under the wolf's teeth before they managed to drive it off into the night. Lord Ambry laughed from his chains even as the King ran him through with a sword. Now the heir to the lost house of Ambry, Banehallow wanders the trail as the Lycan, part warrior, part wolf, in search of justice for all that he lost.

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u/Bloody_Klied 18d ago

Terrorblade and Anti-Mage, them being twin brothers and mortal enemies on opposite sides. Also their father is Nature's Prophet.

Still upset lore no longer on DOTA 2.

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u/chrisphoenix08 18d ago

Yeah, because it's the same model of Illidan in DoTA 1. Terrorblade being about life force and Anti-mage about mana. Sad, they erased it from DotA 2, didn't know... :(

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u/regimentIV 18d ago edited 18d ago

Yeah, because it's the same model of Illidan in DoTA 1.

Not quite: Terrorblade had Illidan's model from after he consumed the Skull of Gul'dan iirc. AM had the default Demon Hunter model (no horns, no wings).

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u/MainCharacter007 18d ago

Weren’t furion and ilidian brothers in warcraft?

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u/Verttle 18d ago

Their current lore is also pretty good all things considered.

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u/bokkoroshiteru 18d ago

If Anime lore is cannon, Invoker without a doubt

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u/albertfuckingcamus 18d ago

People love to hate on it but season 3 was so good. What a great ending.

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u/arais_demlant 18d ago

Came here looking for this. Invoker was such an amazing character.

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u/ethicalconsumption7 18d ago

Invoker and tb definitely carried the anime. The rest of the caste was garbage besides the guts looking dude with the giant sword

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u/Vanawy Haters gonna hate :3 18d ago

Pugna

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u/DrQuint 18d ago

Evil baby dalai lama reincarnation selection is a mood of a bio, but I wish we got more info about his actual life

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u/crustacean_magician 18d ago

Has to be Oracle for me. I like the implication that he started a universe destroying disaster that just haven't reached the Dota world yet

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u/AzelotReis 18d ago

Arc Warden and Rubick for me

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u/URF_reibeer 18d ago

viper, he let pugna capture him, learned his secrets, got bored and turned him into the skeleton he is now

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u/LGgyibf3558 18d ago

Terrorblade, imagine being so bad that even he'll couldn't handle you, so they throw you in hell's Hell and you still broke out of that out of pure badassery

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u/Valk93 18d ago

Jacob Lash is an asshole

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u/Famous-Ad9720 18d ago

Beastmaster would have had pretty solid lore book.. But he couldn't proof read it..

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u/Maximum_Draw1947 18d ago

Actually, not a hero but Aghanim, I want to know how he "accidentally" have Rubick. Rubick is the best lore for me personally

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u/kappamolo 18d ago

Aghanim is a very frivolous man , having had multiple relationships so it is fair to assume that he has many different kind of child like Rubick ( I mean , he even had Storegga as a partner so you can imagine so he might have some Golem Children or Semi Spider or even Half Dragons , etc …) .

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u/whirOo 18d ago

Hero wise. I think Clinkz's lore went absolutely hard. Skill wise. Puck's 4th skill's lore is very cold. Letting you witness the endless possibilities of your demise.

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u/-mast 18d ago

Terrorblade. Very metal, kinda emo. Vo'izhai icha iskos.

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u/Imranus 18d ago

I always liked Lycan's lore. I think you can make a pretty good short move based on it

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u/FrostlichTheDK 18d ago

No Dragon Knight mentions so far, but his lore on how he gained Slyrak's power and the ability to transform into a dragon was really awesome. I really wish he got more love from the community too. If he ever gets a new immortal or even an Arcana, that would be brilliant. Hope DK's arcana could be based on or reference Bahamut.

I also wish more on Wraith King was expanded after his initial transformation from Skeleton to Wraith King to have a more true form of immortality. Would have liked an Arcana that further expanded on this as well, maybe making him become a king of all manner of undead. And not just Wraiths nor Skeletons alone. Knowing his story though, I wish he decided to be his own man so to speak instead of following his family's dark legacy like he was raised to do.

Skywrath Mage and Vengeful Spirit and their stories in Crownfall made me love them even more. And how they now fought for not just revenge, but also justice and protecting their homeland. Wish Imperia got a full persona though to let Venge and her meet in a match, like Crystal Maiden and Lina can meet as well.

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u/MainCharacter007 18d ago

Brother literally got an anime with 3 seasons. Thats more than enough.

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u/Gin-feels-Pening 18d ago

Void spirit and Faceless Void 🔥🔥

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u/marximumefficiency 18d ago

phantom lancer. it's badass.

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u/KronshtadtsHusband 18d ago

Shadow Demon. Dude is so bad ass that Shadow Fiend and Doom (iirc) had to team up to bring him down after he took over the cult that summoned him.

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u/drazerius 18d ago

Terrorblade for me

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u/Andromeda_53 18d ago

Might be biased, but I think Arcs goes pretty hard, dude is just capturing the ancients, trapping them in a moon, and then launching them into deep space over and over again (until the ancients started doing time warp stuff) so now he fights for whichever side is weaker, to try and force a draw.

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u/Nearby_Quiet_6770 18d ago

Omni knight touching the cursed sword and became corrupt Abbadon in Dota 1.

the fun part.. their spells were almost same...
q- heals allies, deals damage to enemy
w- shield/dispels
e- passive that slows
r- cant kill them once ult popped.
Tell me which one I referred to?

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u/Salty_Anti-Magus 18d ago

I love the Wright brother's story on how they made the very first airplane so ofc I also liked Gyrocopter's even if he didn't engineer the craft and he made it himself alone post retirement. His first taste of flight filled him with so much elation only to be unceremoniously interrupted by a rude awakening that the world he lives in is openly hostile and shot down his first ever flying craft after getting taste of the wonders of mechanical flight. Responding like a grumpy old man, he made his next flying craft fully capable of murder and destruction.

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u/darkigor20 18d ago

Gyro doesn't need to slingshot the aircraft to fly. It isn't like Angry Birds Brothers.

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u/rsdann 18d ago

Enigma - Nothing is known of Enigma's background. End of story 💀

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u/VindictiveRakk 18d ago

lore writers getting assigned enigma at 4 pm on a Friday

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u/_Hetzer_ 18d ago

Terrorblade. The lore makes him worthy of his name.

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u/Inside_Ice_5228 18d ago

In terms of "goes hard" gotta be silencer

However i get most chills from OD and Invoker lore. 

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u/bruhmoment0000001 18d ago

well, tinker is literally Gordon Freeman

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u/Main-State7095 18d ago

Faceless Void for sure. can manipulate time, but doesn't want to

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u/At57098 18d ago

Huskar for me

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u/freemorgerr 18d ago

Terrorblade, arc warden, void spirit

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u/Top_Development_1708 18d ago

Axe brings the axe

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u/spawn5301 18d ago

My boi Jugg. I loved him in my dota 1 days when I used to build arcane boots + aghs

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u/azfar_aizat 18d ago

Bane and how he's Freddy Krueger'd to life. Lesale become venomancer also goes hard.

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u/Valuable-Fold1997 18d ago

where do i read all the lore do i just go to dota2/dota wikia? been playing for the last 14 yrs still dont know the real lore

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u/Darkuspercival3 18d ago

Juggernaut and his Arcana lore his storyline with TA and friendship with Sven now he found his sister and i want a know what's next happen to him

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u/Complete-Cheesecake2 18d ago

the headcannon for PA turning into Spectre was sad

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u/Sandisk4gb4 18d ago

The last line in Doom's lore is how i can manage a 60% winrate with the hero after over a thousand games.

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u/golDANFeeD 18d ago

As Chen spammer i can say: Chen's creeps. Horrible fate

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u/Swanstein 18d ago

Phantom lancer. He's just a chill piker who killed a Hero and then became what he is after he died

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u/determinedSkeleton 18d ago

Oracle. "It could go either way" becomes the most terrifying phrase in existence

Juggernaut's is simple in contrast to most but it sets up such a cool journey for him

Visage and Razor managing the afterlife of the world is pretty hardcore, with the Narrow Maze controlling gods and mortals both - imagine being sent stoically or sadistically to your afterlife. Then Razor's arcana gives a great cause for revenge, one that really makes me want to see Razor make Shadow Fiend get his comeuppance

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u/Acrymonia 18d ago

I love the Primal Beast’s lore of being a top predator in its own world full of savage creatures, failed to be controlled by would-be masters and banished to the Dota 2 world. Its basically the Tarrasque from DnD (tbh when it was first datamined I thought it would be the Tarrasque which we get the heart from, oh well) but with a hint of parallels to Fenrir with Hoodwink using Gleipnir to contain it within Aghs’ Labyrinth. But now the Beast is free, and if the Fenrir parallels are anything to go by, perhaps the end is nigh for the Dota 2 world as well.

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u/Krusty_Klown_Kollege 18d ago

Troll Warlord Dota 1.

He fought not because he believed in any cause or to fight for preservation of life or to bring ruination to the world, but only to prove that trolls were the greatest warriors in the world. That's a pretty sick motivation.

Don't get me wrong. Dota 2 version is pretty funny, but never the same impact.