The citizens of the war-plagued Runeterra manage to find love despite the constant threat to their peace. Aside from Rakan and Xayah, there are a lot more couples in the game that you probably didn’t know about if you haven’t been following the lore updates that Riot Games has been releasing. Let’s discover some of the LoL couples in the world of Runeterra that have (or had) romantic relationships with each other.
The Top 5 LoL Couples in Runeterra
There are many couples in the League of Legends universe but you probably know about most of them. Let’s not include Rakan and Xayah on this list as we all probably know everything about their relationship anyway. Instead, let’s focus on some LoL couples that some League of Legends fans might not have known about since the game doesn’t give their romance stories as much focus as our Vastayan favorites.
We’ll be focusing mostly on LoL couples whose relationships have been canonically confirmed by Riot Games’ story writers. Even though the community ships a lot of the champions together, a lot of those couples haven’t really been confirmed as being in a relationship. There are some champions who fell in love with other champions but most of them are one-sided. Let’s take time to appreciate the couples who have given us great pieces of lore.
5. Graves & Twisted Fate
Graves & Twisted Fate are the latest additions to the LoL couples roster with Riot Games confirming their relationship. This sparked one of the most controversial debates among the League of Legends community as their relationship was dropped suddenly without any buildup or development being made to slowly showcase that they had any relationship at all. However, Riot Games justified this by stating that not all relationships need to be overly romantic or flirty in nature.
We included this over Twisted Fate’s extremely short relationship with Evelynn as we think that the nature of their status as a couple is unique. The two are basically work-wives in the sense that their intimacy stems from the fact that they are committed to their work as partners. They place their lives at the hands of the other which has probably sparked their relationship. While it might not feel like your usual couple status, it might make sense at its core.
4. Ashe & Tryndamere
Ashe & Tryndamere are probably one of the most popular LoL couples in the League of Legends universe as they were the very first champions to be confirmed to be in a relationship. These champions are married to each other albeit that it was a political marriage. Ashe married Tryndamere so that she could have access to the strength of Tryndamere’s tribe and be able to progress her ambitions in the Freljord.
The most interesting part about Ashe & Tryndamere’s relationship status is that it was based around the fact that this was a direct reference to the real-life married of one of the game’s creators – Marc “Tryndamere” Merill – and his wife Ashley. Newer League of Legends fans may not know about this fact so we decided to include it so as to give more depth to the story behind this relationship other than being a simple marriage of convenience.
3. Gangplank & Illaoi
Gangplank and Illaoi came as a surprise for a lot of League of Legends fans. Their status as being in a relationship came out in the Ruined King: A League of Legends Story game released by Riot Forge. Although the game indicates that they had long broken up, Illaoi admitted that she had fallen in love with Gangplank before he became obsessed with his authority. It’s difficult to say if Gangplank felt the same way.
It came as a surprise to fans that this happened as the only thing that linked these two together was the fact that they both lived in Bilgewater. However, its introduction did not feel unnatural because the story was well-written and the explanation justified its existence. It was fairly funny that these two muscle-heads were in a relationship because you can just imagine how… physical they must have gotten with each other.
2. Diana & Leona
Diana & Leona have been one of the community’s favorite ships for the longest time and Riot Games entertained this by keeping their forbidden love as a central part of their lore. However, Riot Games never gave any confirmation for the relationship of these characters so they could never be considered a couple. It was only until the Rise with Me story where the two shared a romantic kiss that it was finally confirmed that the two did become lovers.
Their relationship in the modern era of Runeterra is extremely complicated with the two not only being from different tribes that have extremely exclusive faiths, but they are also proud warriors that will do anything to protect their beliefs. Right now, Riot Games is developing a story where the two might end up overcoming such a large barrier to reignite the love that they felt toward each other before they became protectors of their tribes.
1. Katarina & Garen
Katarina & Garen’s relationship was finally confirmed in the Legends of Runeterra TCG where Riot Games stated had storylines that were completely canon to the current Runeterra universe. In the game, their relationship has been depicted as a type of forbidden love but in a much more comedic way. The two are currently seeing each other in secret but feign trying to kill each other whenever they meet on the battlefield.
Being both high-ranking soldiers of Demacia and Noxus respectively, it is completely impossible for them to be in a public relationship with each other without being branded a traitor of their kingdoms. However, they still find a way to see each other and go on dates and such without anyone suspecting a thing. Unfortunately for Garen, her super-strict aunt (who is also the head of a prestigious family) found out that the shining star of Demacia is dating a Noxian. How will he ever overcome these challenges?
