Hi guys, here I am again with another lore theory and this time its about the latest addition to the League, Tahm Kench, the River King. One of the most curious thing with the River King is the vast amount of taunts he has against more than 50 champions for both enemies and allies. Most of the taunts for enemies are insults pertaining their stupidity, ineptitude and ignorance in an ironic form, while taunts for allies are mostly the River King trying to strike a bargain. The enemy taunts could be seen as the River King being salty because the champion refused his bargain and thus insulting them to be stupid and of course the ally taunt as bargains but some champions have only taunts if they come from an specific side namely, Akali, Anivia, Annie, Azir, Blitzcrank, Fizz, Garen, Katarina, Lee Sin and Wukong.
For the ones with enemy only taunts might be the champs who are either confirmed to have turned down the River King's bargains or Riot just don't want(or still don't know) to release the information of what they want.
But Azir is an exception because we already know what he wants, the rebirth of Shurima, yet why is the River King not striking a deal? I think because their bargain has already been made long ago, back when Azir was still a prince and back then what he wants was not the rebirth of Shurima but instead it's growth and how did the River King help Azir in his goal?
This is a piece of information Reach4TheSkylar gave during Azir's Q&A: "THe one I can answer is about Shurima being a desert. Shurima as a country or area of land I believe was always been a dry desert place. However in the olden days when Azir was still in charge of the city, his magic/power helped bring water to the cty of Shurima making it a thriving oasis in the desert."
This "power" or "magic" might be the Oasis of Dawn, the pool where Sivir was healed, where the Infinity Edge was born and where the ever flowing water of Shurima comes from and this is where the River King brought Azir, go and watch part 2 of the Shurima event and you'll see that water still flows from the center of Shurima. This pool has been the source of Shurima's prosperity back then and because of it they could cultivate the dry and arid lands and the River King brought Azir to it.
And now comes the River King's end of the bargain, he preyed on Azir's main weakness which is his pride that only he can bring prosperity to Shurima and share it to the world and all it took was just one word from his bet friend, Xerath. Azir firmly believed that his ascension would help him share their gift throughout the world but when he stepped before the disk of the sun everything was taken from him, his family, his kingdom and his country. Thus is my conclusion that the River King's taunts is not to insult him for turning down the bargain but instead bring back what he lost, to revive the despair that should've welled up inside him thousands of years ago, he is basically "reheating" the meal he should've eaten if it weren't for Azir's death.
And now thats well out of the way, lets talk about the ally only taunts which I believe would be bargains for champs that might be confirmed to have agreed with the bargain and with this one I'll list them one by one.
Garen and Katarina - This is a fairly obvious one and most of the community already knows this, they are in love with each other and what more could they want other than being together. what is not established yet is where would the River King take them but this I am sure, they would meet in a situation where one would have to kill the other and the the one who dies would lose his country, because you know its a win-win for the River King and he just promised they would see each other.
Lee Sin - we know what he wants, the return of peace in Ionia and it's freedom from the tyranny of Noxus and he yearned for it so much that he was willing to set himself on fire for a number of days without moving which lead to his blindness and of course his failure. Without the ability to see, the River King made his move and offered a bargain, he would take him to a place where the key to Ionia's salvation can be found, the Freljord. I mean come on, how and why would a blind Ionian busy with the war would be in the Freljord huh? Because just like in my previous theory, Udyr is the key to Ionia's victory against the Noxian invasion which leads to an intro that Ihave been longing for( you can skip the next paragraph if you want)
"Tiger. Turtle. Dragon. Phoenix.Long ago, all of Ionia lived in peace and harmony. Then everything changed when Noxus attacked. Only the Spirit Walker, master of all nature's spirits could stop them, but when Ionia needed him most, he vanished. A couple of years passed and my buddy Tahm Kench and I discovered the new spirit walker, an wild Freljordian named Udyr. Although his skills are great, he had a lot to learn before he was ready to save anyone. But I believe, Udyr would save Ionia."
Wukong - we all know what he wants coz he talks about it everytime, he wants to be on top, hehe I mean to be the on the top so where did the River King led him? Into the middle of an isolated forest of Ionia where a traumatized swordsman trained all day where he would be taught a nearly extinct sword art, wuju. Wukong's despair could already be guessed, either he loses his master through a duel or he loses himself from his hunger of winning against eveyone. It's kind of ironic that Wukong was the key to Yi's salvation yet Yi would be the cause of Wukong's demise.
Fizz - almost nothing could be established except that he wants to see his people again.
Anyways, thanks for the long read and please tell me your thoughts. I'll be posting another one very soon.