Salvation brings Demacia into the spotlight, but questions linger in the shadows.
The League of Legends (LoL) yearly opening cinematic is something fans always look forward to, especially because it usually sets the tone for the entire year. In recent years, these cinematics moved away from standalone short stories and instead began focusing on a shared theme, a region, and a single overarching narrative.
This year, that story continues with Demacia taking centre stage in a music video featuring an original track, Salvation (ft. Forts). With the narrative set to unfold throughout the season, we’re breaking down the details we’ve noticed, the characters who appear, and what these scenes could mean for the future of Runeterra.
What happened before the events surrounding Salvation?
Before we dive into the details, let’s have a quick review of what happened over the past year.
After the events of Arcane, LeBlanc sought to test the limits of mortal and demonic power, both to see if a mortal could wield a darkin weapon and confront a demon, and to determine whether even powerful entities like Mordekaiser could be defeated should he ever return to Runeterra. Using this knowledge, she released Atakhan, a demon merged with Katash-Li, and orchestrated events in Ionia to draw Xin Zhao into the conflict, setting up the demonic incursion and the challenges at the Temple of Twilight.
Xin Zhao, sent back to Ionia by King Jarvan III to restore peace, encountered Yunara and learned about the Wild Blooms and the history of the Darkin. The Temple of Twilight, where Zaahen was sealed, shifted into the physical realm due to the disturbance caused by Atakhan, forcing Yunara to leave her post as Zaahen’s guardian. This allowed LeBlanc to manipulate Xin Zhao into retrieving the darkin weapon, creating the conditions for a confrontation with Atakhan while testing mortal resilience against the Darkin and evaluating whether demons could be undone.
In the Twilight’s End climax, Xin Zhao and Yunara battled the demons. When Atakhan threatened to merge with Zaahen, Xin Zhao took up the darkin glaive, and his soul was absorbed into Zaahen. Xin Zhao died in the process, and his body became Zaahen’s vessel. With Xin Zhao’s body as Zaahen’s host, Zaahen defeated Atakhan and emerged as a new Darkin walking Runeterra as an ally. The story concluded with LeBlanc confirming that even powerful demons could be undone, ensuring she could face threats like Mordekaiser and setting the stage for her future plans against Swain and ongoing Noxian plots.
The story picks up from these events, and in Salvation, there were four main points of focus in the lore for Demacia.
Shyvana and Quinn fight another dragon
One of the main story battles in the cinematic was that of Shyvana facing another dragon. There are two possibilities as to what this scene refers to.
For those who aren’t familiar with older League of Legends lore, Shyvana’s story included a battle against her mother, Yvva, who attacked part of the city of Demacia after tracking Shyvana down. In the end, Shyvana was able to kill her mother with the help of Jarvan IV.
In the cinematic, the dragon arrives and sets ablaze the settlements where Shyvana is. Shyvana appears and faces off against the dragon.
At first glance, this seems to line up with the cinematic, with Quinn replacing Jarvan IV in this series of events. Quinn, who appears in a LoL cinematic for the first time, aids Shyvana by distracting the dragon with her bird, Valor, and her crossbow.
However, the dragon Shyvana was fighting looked a lot like the Elder Dragon, both in appearance and horn structure. The issue is that the Elder Dragon only attacks when deeply angered, and we don’t know what would have provoked it, judging by this cinematic alone. Many others have also pointed out in the YouTube comments that the Elder Dragon would be far more massive.
Their portion of the cinematic ends with Shyvana and Quinn barely escaping the dragon, with Shyvana seemingly injured. For now, it feels more plausible that it’s Yvva they were fighting, with her still being alive, meaning the part where Shyvana defeats her with Jarvan IV’s help could still happen later.
What it really is, we’ve yet to know, once the rest of the season continues to unfold.
Sona defends the city against Nocturne’s attack
Another scene shows an attack on what appears to be settlements close to Morgana’s hidden sanctuary, given that we see the ruins of her statue there. Here, Nocturne attempts to take over the city, but instead of Lux, it’s Sona who uses her powers to protect the people and push Nocturne back.
Fun fact: in one of the frames where Sona is surrounded by light, there’s an easter egg — a ward placed right behind her. This makes sense, because it’s the only way people could actually “see” what’s going on where Sona and the ward are. Of course, this ward is probably just an easter egg and doesn’t really help with actual vision.
Noxus attempts to assassinate Garen
Another major scene in the cinematic shows Garen training with soldiers in the forest before they’re attacked by assassins. We don’t see Katarina here, but based on the glowing red magic that restrains Garen for a moment, as well as the uniforms of the attackers, this appears to be an attack from Noxus.
Some might attribute the power trapping Garen to LeBlanc, however the colour is glowing red and feels more consistent with Swain’s magic. On top of that, the shape of the assassins’ armour and helmets resembles Swain’s ravens. Why was Garen being targeted? There are plenty of theories, but one plausible explanation is that this was a ploy to distract Garen from protecting the current Demacian ruler.
Yunara flees Nocturne’s nightmares and hands Xin Zhao’s weapon to Jarvan IV
The biggest plot twist of the cinematic was the rider fleeing Nocturne’s nightmares through the forest: Yunara. This directly connects the 2026 Season opener to the 2025 storyline. With Xin Zhao dead and Zaahen now inhabiting his body, Yunara takes his weapon and rides to Demacia to deliver the news to Jarvan IV.
The scene seems simple, but for those familiar with Demacia’s relationships, something feels off. Jarvan IV and Xin Zhao were incredibly close, practically family, yet his reaction to receiving the broken weapon feels far too calm. There’s even a frame where he appears to show a small smile, which would be uncharacteristic for someone who has just lost such a close companion.
So, is this really Jarvan IV, or is it someone else pretending to be him? Or did the cinematic simply fail to convey the appropriate emotion? Some in the YouTube comments believe this version of Jarvan IV could be LeBlanc, once again manipulating events across Runeterra.
Since this is only the beginning of the season, we’ll have to wait and see. There’s still a lot to unpack in Salvation, but if Season 2025 taught us anything, it’s that every event is tied to another in some way.
And while we’re left with plenty of unanswered questions, Salvation sets the stage for the next major events that will stir Runeterra once again.
