Jhin is a meticulous criminal psychopath who believes murder is art. Once an 
Ionian prisoner, but freed by shadowy elements within Ionia's ruling council, the serial killer now works as their cabal's assassin. Using his 
gun as his paintbrush, Jhin creates works of artistic brutality, horrifying victims and onlookers. He gains a cruel pleasure from putting on his gruesome theater, making him the ideal choice to send the most powerful of messages: terror.
 | "Art requires a certain... cruelty." — Jhin |
 |
Background[]
Early life[]
Jhin is assumed to have spent most of his life into early 20's on the Ionian province of Zhyun. Not much is known about his family life, except for his father's martial arts school. His father's career was snuffed out by the success of Wuju.
Jhin had been slaughtering farmsteads and scores of travelers for an unknown period of time before he was persued by 
Master Kusho, 
Usan, and 
Shen. He began his work in the ages spanning from 19-21, working primarily with knives. For a little more than four years, the three men pursued Jhin and were far from the first to have hunted him down. In the final stages of the three men's investigation, they discover that he is a mere stagehand working for Zhyun's traveling theatre and opera houses under the name, "Khada Jhin". This is not his real name, the real one remains a mystery.
Events leading to imprisonment[]
Master Kusho, Zed, and Shen followed Jhin's movements to Jyom Pass on the Ghajan river. Zed chased Jhin down only to get knocked out by the handle of his blade. Jhin captured the young acolyte and tied him to a chair looking out towards the dock. Before Zed wakes up, Jhin takes the amulet off his neck. Zed wakes up to Jhin chiding him to look up, saying that he'll want to see Yevnai before she dies. Jhin goes on about how boring and symmetrycal Yevnai's face is in contrast to the situation which was "glorious" . Zed begins to cry at seeing Yevnai on the dock before her "final moments". After Jhin goes on about the tragic connections between Yevnai, Shen and Usan, the captive Zed begs for Jhin to not harm her, admitting that they were following him and noting that Yevnai, "didn't do anything". After saying he'll do anything, Jhin asks about the amulet that he took from Zed. Zed then concedes that it is a symbol of the Kinkou and that the amulet allows them to find him. Shen, presumably having found Zed, punches through the wall and pins Jhin's neck to the wall. Zed declares that the whole thing was a set-up, that he was the bait, and takes Jhin's 4th knife, lunging at the man to kill him. Master Kusho appears in the nick of time, saving Khada Jhin's life.[1] Kusho believes that because Jhin is not a real demon, he should be locked away at the monestary prison in Tuula.
Khada Jhin was sentenced to life in the Tuula monestary prison. Jhin revealed as little about himself as possible during his many years there. The monks that guarded him said he was a "bright student". He excelled at a myriad of subjects, mostly in the arts, (i.e. smithing, poetry, and dance). Despite this, they could find nothing to cure him of his morbid fascinations. During his time in jail, the Noxian invasion began, and it is due to Ionia's instability during this time that his patrons funded him and released him from jail to terrorize the citizens of Ionia into action.
Release from Prison[]
Jhin, post-Tuula, is freely roaming, bound only by his patrons. Those weaponizing Jhin include: the Kashuri Armories, as their weapons are relatively moderized for Ionia. Supposedly Jhin has also done performances for the Navori Brotherhood, Noxus, and most recently Zaun. Zed, when faced with Jhin's sniper rifle for the first time remarked that it was a "foreigners weapon". He has been described at this point in his life as both an assassin and an instrument of terror.[2]
Post-Imprisonment[]
Jhin was released some time after the war with Noxus. The timeline of his actions right after his release from prison is unclear, but he eventually sends a messenger out to Zed. She, the messenger, rows a small boat (with one of Jhin's lanterns on it!) out to the Kwol Tavern where she finds Master Zed and delivers him a message about a "rich man" wanting to meet him in the village north of the Thonx outskirts; she gives Zed a blade attuned to his spirit wrapped in a red cloth which was the "rich man's" supposed thank-you-gift.[3] Jhin kills four people before the Order of Shadow arrive: two unidentified people, the messenger, and the woman whose leg was amputated by Zed and Kusho 16 years prior. This time span makes Jhin about 38 to 39 years old currently.
Appearance[]
Jhin is a tall, slender, pale-skinned man. He has black hair and brown eyes (he is seen only using one, however his eyes are perfectly fine, he covers one because he enjoys the lack of depth during his "performances").
His most noticeable feature is his theater mask that he wears constantly when performing as Khada Jhin. It is implied that he has an average face that allows him to easily blend in when in a crowd. Typically, he wears a large white cloak as well as elegant Ionian attire. He refers to his attire as his "finery" and at times uses the middle half of his gun as a cane to announce his presence and to rhythmically tap on the ground.[4]
Personality[]
Despite his theatrics during murders, much of his day-to-day personality is reserved and quiet; it's not very memorable which he takes advantage of with his performances. Within the ranks of the Navori Brotherhood, the few that know him consider him a weirdo.[1] His inner voice is one of attentiveness, almost to the point of obsession, like when he cleans the stock of his gun. When interacting with the people around him, he seems to analyze their attributes. The man is internally self-deprecating, as it is mentioned that "normally, [his appearance] elicited pangs of self-conscious loathing". When it comes to his performances, he's willing to take risks which makes sense due to his psychopathy. He's also notably grandiose, carrying himself with an air of haughtiness.
Abilities[]
- Calligrapher: Talented in artistic writing.
- Musician: A talented musician, particularly with the Runeterran equivalent of a violin and piano.
- Painting: A talented painter, particularly with oil based paints.
- Singing: Jhin shows some talent with singing. Often than not, he could be heard humming tunes during his work.
- Smith: All of the weapons he uses were designed by him. The Kashuri armories reverse engineered Piltovan and Zaunite technology with the addition of Ionian spirit magic.
Whisper: Although he did not craft the gun himself, he did influence its design and he does craft his own magic-infused bullets.[2] The gun itself, is already magical due to being Hextech.- Mass Accelerator: The device Jhin carries on his shoulder is a Hextech-powered mass accelerator that in turns powers and loads Whisper when it's fully assembled.[5][6]
- Serial Killer: Infamous murderer, Jhin is well known for his elaborate kills. Using his specialized weapons, he is able to morph his victims into gruesome and warped artistic displays of his own design and madness.
Relations[]
Akali[]
Akali tracked Jhin down to 
Piltover-
Zaun and was captured by him, but was later saved with the help of Shen and Zed.
Hwei[]
Even with their creative differences, the virtuoso could recognize that Hwei had been reluctant to push his own artistic potential in front of others. Jhin then encouraged the boy to challenge himself, enabling Hwei to unleash decades of suppressed emotions within his art.
Kusho[]
As the main reason for his imprisonment, Jhin holds some resentment towards the Kinkou master. However, after Kusho fakes his death with the help of Zed and becoming the leader of the Navori Brotherhood, Kusho unleashed Jhin to terrorize and get control of Ionia. Jhin knows the truth about the circumstance of Kusho's "death" and could have revealed to Shen if he had wanted to but didn't as he realized Zed was going after Kusho.
Shen & Zed[]
Jhin has some resentment towards Shen and Zed for catching him and imprisoning him. During each of his encounters with both Shen and Zed, he would leave a trail of gruesome deaths behind him, which would forever change the two ninjas. After he was released, Jhin would force Zed and Shen to work together so he might kill them both for catching him years before. He attacked Zed, Kayn and their order, killing some of the members.
Sona[]
Jhin has some interest in killing Sona for being a very famous 
Ionian artist who is taking the spotlight away from his 'performances'.
Read More
Biography
Starring Champion
Mentioned Champion
Alternate Universes
Trivia[]
- His stagename Khada Jhin means "Golden Excellence". As revealed in a "Did you Know" message, Khada Jhin is just a stage name, and Jhin's real name remains unknown.
- Jhin derives from Mandarin 金 jīn [t͡ɕin˥] "gold"[7] < Old Chinese *kəm "metal < copper, bronze".[8]
- In Chinese localization, his name is written 烬~燼 jìn [t͡ɕin˥˩][9] "ashes < remnants", from Old Chinese *dzins < Sino-Tibetan *dzin[10] (also, dzinʔ > 盡~尽 jìn "to end, to exhaust"[11]).
- Khada references the real-life Khata scarf, from Tibetan ཁ་བཏགས kha-btags.
- His release story was originally named "Golden Excellence" before being changed into "The Man with the Steel Cane".
- Jhin derives from Mandarin 金 jīn [t͡ɕin˥] "gold"[7] < Old Chinese *kəm "metal < copper, bronze".[8]
- Jhin shows traits consistent with obsessive-compulsive disorder focused on the number four.
- The tally marks engraved on Whisper might be referencing this notation.
- One of his innates is Death in 4 Acts.
- When he 'performs' in any given nation he makes a number people 'beautiful and perfect'. That number is always a multiple of four.
- In Chinese and Sino-Xenic pronunciations, 四 "four" sounds like 死 "death" (albeit with different tones, except in toneless Japanese & Korean), leading to avoidance, though unhistorical. Examples:
- Middle Chinese: *siɪH 四 vs. *siɪX 死;
- Mandarin: sì [sz̩˥˩] 四 vs. sǐ [sz̩˨˩˦] 死;[12]
- Vietnamese: tứ [tɯ˧˥] 四 vs. tử [tɯ˨˩˦] 死;
- Japanese: shi [ɕiꜜ] 四 & 死;
- Korean: sa [sa] 四 & 死.
- Middle Chinese: *siɪH 四 vs. *siɪX 死;
- Whisper can hold up to four bullets/fire up to four times before Jhin having to reload, with the fourth shot being the deadliest.
- Dancing Grenade can bounce up to four times.
- Deadly Flourish marks a target for four seconds.
- Captive Audience reveals units for four seconds.
- Curtain Call can fire up to four shots, with the fourth being the deadliest.
- During his joke Jhin drops Whisper and it fires all four bullets.
- Other references related to number 4 include:
- Triggering The Collector Death and Taxes will cause the damage indicator to display as "4444" instead of "999", which is four number four.
- The word "Jhin" has 4 letters.
- The "J-H-I-N" letter combination creates an italic "4" on QWERTY keyboards.
- As of patch V13.5 Jhin's price on the shop has been changed to 4444 Blue Essence.
- Jhin's Whisper has another innate named Every Moment Matters which grants him bonus ATK equal to 4%-44% at base modifier.
- Jhin's fourth shot crits structures at 44% reduced damage.
- Triggering
- The tally marks engraved on
- Mind of the Virtuoso depicts how 'artistic' Jhin sees his 'performances'.
- The rose that appears in game is one of the many things he sees when killing someone.[13]
- It has been confirmed by a Rioter that his bullets shapes his victims flesh into his choosing or make it move as well as other effects. This was later reflected in Zed comic series.
- Jhin appears to be ambidextrous (he fires regular Whisper with his left hand but when fully assembled he fires with his right one.
- Underneath the mask Jhin has a fully functional face, and without his usual outfit he doesn't stand out in a crowd.
- Jhin's face was orginally supposed to be revealed in Zed comics, but the idea was scrapped. However, the concept art for his supposed canon face has been accidentally posted.[14]
- His favorite food is dumplings.[15]
- Outside of the Ionian government, the Shadow Order, the Kinkou Order and a few related people, other Ionians do not know that the Golden Demon was actually a man, and believe that Master Kusho has slain the monster.
- Jhin is around 38 to 39 years old, 4 years older than Zed.[16][17]
- After the events of Zed: Issue 6, he is likely in prison again.
Change log[]
| Character blurb | |
|---|---|
| 15 April 2020 (During V10.8) | Added. |
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Zed comic issue #2:https://universe.leagueoflegends.com/en_US/comic/zed/issue-2/8/
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Jhin Q&A
- ↑ Zed: Issue 1
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Man with the Steel Cane (Jhin's color story)
- ↑ Jhin's shoulder 1
- ↑ Jhin's shoulder 2
- ↑ https://nexus.leagueoflegends.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Jhin_Namestorm_exvj79ng3h59rqlp70n8.pdf
- ↑ Schuessler, A. The ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese, p. 315
- ↑ http://wwg.com/league-of-legends/2017/04/25/check-out-the-translation-of-chinese-league-of-legends-champion-/
- ↑ http://stedt.berkeley.edu/~stedt-cgi/rootcanal.pl/etymon/614
- ↑ Schuessler, p. 316
- ↑ Schuessler, A. p. 478
- ↑ Jhin Q&A
- ↑ Unmasked Jhin concept art
- ↑ Jhin Q&A
- ↑ Jhin Q&A
- ↑ WAAAARGHbobo on Jhin's Age
