#kindred builder

“Tell me again, little Lamb, which things are ours to take?”

“All things, dear Wolf.”

Separate, but never parted, Kindred represents the twin essences of death. Lamb’s bow offers a swift release from the mortal realm for those who accept their fate. Wolf hunts down those who run from their end, delivering violent finality within his crushing jaws. Though interpretations of Kindred’s nature vary across Runeterra, every mortal must choose the true face of their death.

Kindred is the white embrace of nothingness and the gnashing of teeth in the dark. Shepherd and the butcher, poet and the primitive, they are one and both. When caught on the edge of life, louder than any trumpeting horn, it is the hammering pulse at one’s throat that calls Kindred to their hunt. Stand and greet Lamb’s silvered bow and her arrows will lay you down swiftly. If you refuse her, Wolf will join you for his merry hunt, where every chase runs to its brutal end.

For as long as its people have known death, Kindred has stalked Valoran. When the final moment comes, it is said a true Demacian will turn to Lamb, taking the arrow, while through the shadowed streets of Noxus, Wolf leads the hunt. In the snows of the Freljord, before going off to fight, some warbands “kiss the Wolf,” vowing to honor his chase with the blood of their enemies. After each Harrowing, the town of Bilgewater gathers to celebrate its survivors and honor those granted a true death by Lamb and Wolf.

Denying Kindred is to deny the natural order of things. There are but a wretched few who have eluded these hunters. This perverse escape is no sanctuary, for it only holds a waking nightmare. Kindred waits for those locked in the undeath of the Shadow Isles, for they know all will eventually fall to Lamb’s bow or Wolf’s teeth.

Karthus actively rips people away from the fate that should be Kindred. His actions are an abomination to them. Kindred think resurrection is a bad idea. Also, you are guaranteed that Wolf will be coming for you at the end of your newly borrowed time.

Based off that, the Kindred do not approve of the undead or those who seek to escape their due death. Champions that fall under that include Ekko, Karthus, Thresh, Azir, Dr. Mundo, Hecarim, Kalista, Mordekaiser, Sion, Yorick, Urgot and Zilean,  They refer to Ekko as having countless ‘almost-lives’, meaning they are aware of the split timestreams but do not count those as ‘real’. This also implies that instead of there being alternate universes in which they exist and reap, there is only one universe and all the other potential universes are might-have-beens of this one.

Kindred are omnipresent. As an entity, they do not follow normal rules that apply to us beings of space and time. They are not omnipotent but they certainly know a lot about more than they let on.  Kindred remembers the end of every being. 

The use of the word ‘remembers’ implies that they have a non-linear timeline. They remember the future the same way that we remember the past; as a set thing, immutable and inevitable. They are everywhere at once and while they don’t know everything, what they do know is everyone’s name and everyone’s death. They know LeBlanc is only pretending to be immortal and is in actuality a succession of women passing on their magic. They know the bargain that Elise has struck and when she will die. They know of the war on Morgana and Kayle’s planet, because they take the dead there as well.  They know but they do not tell. Such knowledge is only to be shared with each other. Do not ask the Kindred when you will die and how. They will not answer.

Everyone that dies has a direct interaction with Kindred. Some get to meet them earlier, others only at the moment of death.

It's important to note that any true "escapes" from Kindred are essentially more like pauses. Death comes for all things.

Kindred can interact with non-dying people as shown in A Good Death. The most logical assumption is that Kindred chose to show themselves to those whose lives were heavily touched by death or had a very narrow escape.  Beings from the Shadow Isles, specifically those that should have died/had their stories end, have met the Kindred during the moment of their ‘death’ or transformation. The Kindred were not pleased and most likely reminded the Shadow Isles denizens that eventually, the Kindred would come for them. Even if the person considers themselves immortal, they will one day die.  Just as one day, the Kindred will die too when there is nothing left to reap.

Kindred was a unique grim reaper, spoken about in whispered tones by those who narrowly avoided death, and seen by all in life’s last moments. To help clarify what made the characters distinct, we took a look at what a Lamb’s death looks like in comparison to a Wolf’s. To accept Lamb is to rejoice in life and depart in serenity. To run from Wolf means a violent and terrifying end.

Lamb knew much about the world, but felt very little, whereas Wolf felt everything, but lacked in the knowledge department. We loved the idea that these two never fought over kills, or were ever at odds, because, in the end, the Lamb and the Wolf are two parts of one whole.

We don’t even see Kindred as physical characters in the world. So far as anyone in Valoran knows, Kindred is just a fairytale, a way for some Runeterran cultures to rationalize or personify the mystery of life and death. As for whether they're actually real? Well, that's for the dead to know.