Morgana, the Fallen

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/morgana_originalloading_3.jpg

"I am bound, but I will not break."

^{Morgana, the Fallen Angel (Pre-ASU)}

Voiced by:
Rebecca Schweitzer (English/Pre-VGU)
Erica Lindbeck (English/Current)
Ana Jiménez (European Spanish)
Laura Torres (Mexican Spanish/Pre-VGU)
Betzabé Jara (Mexican Spanish/Current)
Ami Koshimizu (Japanese)
Marisa Leal (Brazilian Portuguese)
Min-Jeong Kim (Korean)
Irina Kireev (Russian)
Appears in: The Mageseeker,Legends of Runeterra

"Only those you love can break your heart."

Conflicted between her celestial and mortal natures, Morgana bound her wings to embrace humanity, and inflicts her pain and bitterness upon the dishonest and the corrupt. She rejects laws and traditions she believes are unjust, and fights for truth from the shadows of Demacia—even as others seek to repress it—by casting shields and chains of dark fire. More than anything else, Morgana truly believes that even the banished and outcast may one day rise again.

Morgana is a Catcher champion who protects allies from harm while binding enemies in place, slowly wittling them down while healing herself from the punishment she inflicts.

Her passive, Soul Siphon, drains the soul of Morgana's foes, healing her by a percentage of the damage dealt by her abilities to enemy champions, large minions and monsters.
Her first ability, Dark Binding, sends out a shadowy projectile of black magic in a target direction, damaging and immobilizing the first enemy it hits for a few seconds.
Her second ability, Tormented Shadow, curses the ground at a target location for a few seconds, creating a zone of shadows that continuously damages enemies inside based on their missing health. The ability's cooldown is reduced whenever Soul Siphon heals Morgana.
With her third ability, Black Shield, Morgana protects a nearby allied champion with a shield of darkness that blocks magic damage and grants the target immunity from crowd control effects while the shield holds.
With her ultimate ability, Soul Shackles, Morgana binds herself to all nearby enemy champions with dark chains, damaging and slowing them for a few seconds and increasing her movement speed towards them. If the targets don't run away from Morgana quickly enough, they'll take bonus damage and be briefly stunned.

Morgana's alternate skins include Exiled Morgana, Sinful Succulence Morgana, Blade Mistress Morgana, Blackthorn Morgana, Ghost Bride Morgana, Victorious Morgana, Lunar Wraith Morgana, Bewitching Morgana, Majestic Empress Morgana, Coven Morgana, Dawnbringer Morgana, Prestige Bewitching Morgana, Star Nemesis Morgana, Snow Moon Morgana, and Porcelain Morgana. Wild Rift exclusively includes NOVA Morgana.

In season 1 of Teamfight Tactics, Morgana is a Tier 3 Demon Sorcerer. Her ability, Soul Shackles, has her fire chains to all nearby enemies, damaging and slowing them. If chains remain unbroken for a few seconds, she'll damage her targets again and stun them. She was removed in season 2. In season 4, she returned as a Tier 4 Enlightened Dazzler using her Majestic Empress skin. Her new ability, Hallowed Ground, creates a zone around her target that deals magic damage over time and reduces the magic resistance of enemies in the area; Morgana also heals for a percentage of the damage dealt by the ability. In the Festival of Beasts mid-set update, her class was changed to Syphoner due to the removal of the Dazzler class. Her ability was also tweaked to no longer reduce enemy magic resistance or heal Morgana based on the damage dealt, instead reducing the attack damage of affect enemies by 40% as the Dazzler trait bonus would have done. In season 5, she uses her Coven Morgana skin as a Tier 3 Coven Nightbringer Mystic, and returns to using Soul Shackles as her ability. She was removed along with the Coven origin in the Dawn of Heroes mid-set update, returning in season 6's Neon Nights mid-set update using her Blade Mistress Morgana skin as a Tier 3 Syndicate Enchanter. Soul Shackles returns as her ability again, though in this iteration Morgana also gains a shield while tethered enemies take damage periodically while the shield holds. Tethered enemies are also only stunned if the shield lasts its entire duration without being destroyed; if it does get destroyed prematurely, Morgana instead restores a flat amount of mana. She was removed in season 7, returning in season 8's Glitched Out!! mid-set update using her Star Nemesis Morgana skin as a Tier 3 Threat. Her Dark Binding ability passively applies a percent armor and magic resist shred to any enemy she damages for a few seconds. On activation, she fires bindings that deal magic damage and stun the two closest enemies for a few seconds. She was removed in season 9, returning in season 11 using her Snow Moon Morgana skin as a Tier 4 Ghostly Sage. Her ability, The Tempest's Torment, creates a blizzard in a fixed pattern around a random enemy, dealing periodic magic damage over a few seconds and Chilling their attack speed of enemies in the area.

In Legends of Runeterra, Morgana is a 5-mana 3/4 dual Targon and Demacia Champion that Curses an enemy unit with Shackles twice (a 2-mana Curse that is added to the enemy's hand, and renders the target Immobile for as long as it is in their hand; multiple instances of Shackles on the same unit stack, increasing its cost, and it can be played for its mana cost at Focus speed to get rid of the Curse). When you've targeted units 10+ times she levels up, gaining +1/+1, and when she attacks, she applies Shackles to the strongest enemy unit that isn't already Cursed with Shackles and then casts Soul Shackles, dealing 3 damage to all Cursed enemies and 2 damage to the enemy Nexus. Her Champion Spell is Morgana's Dark Binding (3-mana Targon Fast spell that stuns a unit and Curses it with Shackles).

open/close all folders

A-L

Accidental Murder: Morgana tried to fend off Ronas, Kayle's overly zealous follower, when he came to harm her and her followers, only to kill him as a result. This resulted in the cataclysmic duel between the two sisters.
Kayle’s most ardent disciple, Ronas, came to arrest Morgana herself. Attempting to protect her penitent followers, she shackled him with dark flame until he fell to the floor, dead.
The Fallen
Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Compared to her prior lore, the new Morg is a much more sympathetic and remorseful individual who's still reeling from her father's death and her destructive falling out with her twin. Her in-game lines are especially dripping with angst.
"My wings are heavy, but not as heavy as my heart."
Adaptational Heroism: Prior to retcons, Morgana was a very blatant villain that challenged the more straightforward, heroic Kayle. She had more nuanced aspects, but they were All There in the Manual. Along with receiving a much more sympathetic and down-to-earth backstory, Morg is now firmly an Anti-Hero in the modern lore, retaining some of her ruthlessness from old League, but aimed in a more noble cause of helping humans seek redemption for their sins.
Adaptational Sympathy: The original Morgana was most defined by her burning need to kill Kayle, with any sympathetic elements being framed as an aside to her character. Nowadays, Morg lean is a more heroic and good-hearted individual, being someone that believes in redemption and the potential goodness of humanity. This also shapes her new dynamic with her twin Kayle; while they're still at odds, there's a more potent tragedy to their relationship and an implied desire to make amends rather than continue their battle. Kayle herself is also much more conflicted, which makes Morgana's compassionate side stand out further.
Adaptational Villainy: While heroic in canon lore, a lot of her skins make her out to be a more unambiguously villainous character. Shoutouts to Exiled, Ghost Bride, Lunar Wraith, Star Guardian, and Coven.
The Ageless: She and Kayle have retained their youthful looks for centuries.
Ambiguously Evil: Her Majestic Empress incarnation. While Riven's skin describes her as a tyrant who overthrew the old world order, Morgana's skin only describes her displeasure at Irelia stealing Talon's powers and her single-minded desire to return them to him.
Anti-Hero: Morgana ranges from Pragmatic Hero to Unscrupulous Hero thanks to her belief in Pay Evil unto Evil as a lifestyle. She'll torture someone, but never with the intent to torture them for torture's sake; The Mageseeker shows this off a lot more when she holds back her help toward Sylas despite acknowledging the mage rebellion's cause as righteous, citing that Sylas is selfishly motivated. It's only when Leilani dies and Sylas begins to change his ways that Morgana offers her help.
Anti-Magic: Black Shield can completely deny enemy damage and crowd control, providing both Morg and her allies a powerful defensive tool.
Armor-Piercing Question: When their father Kilam was mortally wounded in the carnage unleashed by the first battle between Morgana and Kayle, Morgana abandoned the battle to cradle him as he died, and furiously asked a dumbstruck Kayle whether her crusade to "smite the wicked" included their father as punishment for his "crime" of taking them from their distant and neglectful mother. Unable to find an answer, Kayle simply flew away.
Art Evolution: She received a massive facelift in 2019 alongside Kayle's full VGU, rebuilding her model, VFX, splash art, voiceover, etc. from scratch. Unlike her sister's, Morgana's core mechanics had held up well over time and were left largely unchanged, making it just a visual upgrade.
Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other:
- Usually Kayle and Morgana have bitter dialogue towards each other. However, if a Kayle saves a Morgana from near death during a match, there is the chance of hearing a line where Kayle yells Morgana's name in concern, while Morgana expresses surprise.
- Her reaction to Kayle dying in LoR is a lot more distraught than she normally sounds, even referring to Kayle by familial terms.
  "SISTER!!"
Badass Boast:
"I know what my enemies feel. They are right to be afraid."
Barrier Warrior: Black Shield is a barrier of dark magic she can cast on herself or allies that absorbs magic damage and negates enemy CC, while her other abilities damage and disable enemies.
Beehive Barrier: Black Shield has a distinct hexagon pattern across its surface.
Big Good: In The Mageseeker. As the Veiled Lady, Morgana wishes for the anti-mage persecution to end and for her homeland of Demacia to return to a state of balance between the mages and non-mages. She aids Sylas towards achieving that goal, refusing to lend him her power until he's willing to work for the betterment of mages rather than going on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge with them. The only thing preventing her from going to Demacia herself and whipping it into shape is her fear that if she acts openly, Kayle will return and their conflict will continue.
Boring, but Practical: Much of her kit boils down to "land your snare, throw down the AOE, shield allies who really need it, and ult when enemies are bunched up and need to be stopped," with nothing mechanically intensive or even that visually flashy. That doesn't mean it isn't extremely effective. When she and Kayle got their reworks, Kayle got the full VGU, but for Morgana, the devs happily announced that they changed virtually nothing about her kit because she didn't need it^note.
Bully Hunter: In her color story, Morg uses her magic to put an abusive priest in his place, forcing him to recognize his sins in order to repent.
Cain and Abel: She's bitter enemies with her twin sister Kayle, and has lines acknowledging that the ones you love can hurt you the most.
"I shall battle my heartless twin once more."
"My shadow outruns my sister's light."
Chainmail Bikini: Pre-VGU. she wore an armored bikini with a huge cleavage-focus. She's still pretty revealing now, but before, her proportions and outfit were much more exaggerated. Due to legacy, this trait is retained on some skins that existed before her VGU, particularly Bewitching and Blackthorn Morgana.
Chain Pain: Chains are a key motif for her design and used to visually signify her abilities. This is taken even further by Soul Shackles which locks foes in place with actual chains.
Characterization Marches On: When she was first introduced to the game, she was just a straightforward "evil" Fallen Angel against Kayle, but was brought closer to "gray" following their shared VGU. While her sister represents a stoic, heartless pursuit of a divine form of justice, Morgana was conversely recharacterized around an emotional approach to redemption, turning her into more of a Warrior Therapist who is closer to earth in empathizing with humans, but still does so with very harsh magics.
Character Narrator: She's the one narrating the cutscnes in The Mageseeker.
The Chessmaster: In The Mageseeker, Morgana really shows just how cunning she is. It's made clear that Morgana has been planning out the way she'll try to end the oppression of mages for quite some time, only hiding in the woods because if she openly intervened, Kayle would take notice and deliver a much more lethal intervention. When Sylas shows up, she's already got a secret plan ready to curb it, but she chooses to table that since she suspects she can make Sylas a less selfish person through keeping tabs on him and the others. When Leilani dies and the rebellion is at its Darkest Hour, Morgana wastes no time in contacting Sylas again and making him receptive. She then uses Sylas to deliver the truth about Demacia's past for the people, since she can't do it herself.
Commonality Connection: She felt empathy for the mages rejected by Demacia, spending time with them in her youth.
Knowing what it was to be a refugee, she wandered the wilds, talking to wayward mages and others cast out for the dangers they might bring.
The Fallen
Costume Evolution: Her original look was a somewhat indescript long skirt and bra which didn't communicate much of a character. Her updated look in 2019 is a more comfortable and elegant gown that emphasizes her being down-to-earth and one with humanity. Her wings also have visible chains over them now to mark her as The Fettered.
Cruel to Be Kind: In her color story, she torments an abusive priest in front of his pupil who begs Morgana to stop. She responds through this exchange:
"‘Stop, please stop!’ the student cried. ‘Please, punish me in his place. He has suffered enough!’
“‘You defend him, even now,’ said the Veiled One. ‘The wretch has much to learn ere death's mercy lays claim. He alone must feel the pain he caused so he may never hurt another. You came here seeking understanding—its burden is now yours to bear.’
Daddy's Girl: She was much more close to her father than Kayle was, and resented her mother for leaving him. His death as a result of her duel with Kayle has left her grieving centuries later.
At home, she felt her father’s heartbreak at leaving Mihira behind, and grew bitter at her mother for causing such pain.
The Fallen
Damage Over Time: Her only spell that instantly applies damage is her Dark Binding. If she can land it, though, her Tormented Shadow and Soul Shackles are free to lay on even more pain for several seconds, healing her at the same time.
Dark and Troubled Past: She and Kayle were born amidst the Rune Wars, and grew up with just their father looking after them, as their mother had disappeared amidst the battles taking place all over Runeterra. After receiving their powers, the twins began drifting apart as their ideals and senses of duty began to differ greatly. Then tragedy ensued when Morgana accidentally killed Kayle's follower (who tried to murder the former and her followers), that lead to violent riot in a city, resulting in a clash between the two sisters that destroyed the land around them, killing their father in the process. Out of grief and pain, Morgana would seclude herself from the rest of the world, coming out from time to time to assist humanity when needed, but also continuing to hold onto the pain and anger for her sister.
Dark Is Not Evil: Despite being "The Fallen", having a pretty wicked-looking appearance and wielding dark flames, Morgana is sympathetic and has genuinely noble intentions driven by emotion and empathy towards humans. She's mostly "evil" only in the sense that she directly opposes Kayle's form of objective celestial righteousness, which isn't portrayed as necessarily in the wrong either.
"Do not conflate darkness with evil."
Deadpan Snarker: While she does have her serious moments, Morgana is noticeably sassier than her more composed and stoic sister.
Kayle: (casting Celestial Blessing on Morgana) Flame purifies!
Morgana: Oh, am I "pure" now, sister?

Kayle: (casting Intervention on Morgana) "I am your salvation!"
Morgana: "Oh spare me!"
Defector from Decadence: In her previous lore, Morgana rebelled against the rulers of her realm for what she perceived as tyranny, an action that brought her into conflict with her own sister. While this has long been retconned, some elements persist in Morgana's modern lore, such as her rejection of her aspect heritage.
Early-Bird Cameo: Of a sort. Ever since Demacia's lore updates in 2017, a being known as "The Veiled Lady" was introduced into Demacia's mythos as a being of worship, directly alluded to in a few short stories. With her 2019 lore update, Morgana was confirmed to have been the basis for this figure.
Easter Egg: If you're snared by Morgana's Dark Binding and for whatever reason decide to look up the debuff text, you'll notice it reads "This unit is unable to move. Lasts for roughly 3 years.◊"^note
Emotions vs. Stoicism: Part of her conflict with Kayle, with Morgana taking the Emotions side. She heavily believes in moral complexity and the potential for redemption, and is almost aggressively idealistic in terms of how much she's willing to help those she determines deserve it. This sharply contrasts with Kayle, whose worldview encourages her to be more defining and exact, seeing rationalization as an inefficient waste.
Evil Brunette Twin: "Evil" is a strong word, but despite being twins, Morgana has dark purple hair in contrast to Kayle's white-cyan hair.
Evil Sorceress: Very much Played Straight in her original lore, being an angelic being that gave into dark magic to topple her own people, and many of her skins reinforce the imagery by tapping into other kinds of fiendish-looking sorceress variants. Her modernized lore however is a subversion; she looks evil, but her power is of divine origin just like her sister's, and Morgana is a much more sympathetic and moral individual than she was prior to retcons.
Extremely Protective Child: Growing up with just her father looking after her, Morgana was very close to him, and hated seeing him in harm or pain. When Kilam was attacked by raiders, Morgana straight-up disintegrated them with magic.
Kilam found himself surrounded as the fighting spread. In that moment, Morgana rushed to shield him, burning his attackers to ash.
The Fallen
Fallen Angel: Despite not actually technically being an angel, she has the imagery down pat, choosing to walk among the mortals and standing in direct opposition to her sister's worldview. She was a more straightforward case prior to retcons.
Kayle: Why have we wings, sister, if not to fly?
Morgana: Why do we have feet, if not to tread upon the soil?
Famed In-Story: Downplayed. Morgana's legend has been largely overshadowed by Kayle's, but while she doesn't have the widespread veneration of her sister, she's still remembered by some Demacians by her dark outbursts and belief in personal redemption as "The Veiled One". Oddly enough, she’s also known by a few in the present day as the mysterious sorceress in the outlying Demacian woods, but nobody seems to make the connection that these two figures are one and the same.
Fatal Flaw: Hers according to her writers is her inability to let go of past mistakes. While Morgana is an ultimately very idealistic and empathetic character, pain is such a huge driving force in her motivation that she believes true atonement and understanding can only be achieved through eye-for-an-eye suffering, and that to deny pain is to deny your humanity. She also still holds a centuries-long embittered grudge against Kayle due to her and her opposing ideology leading up to their family breaking apart.
Foil: There is a lot you can analyze by comparing and contrasting Morgana with her twin sister, Kayle. Visually, while Morgana is a magic-user associated with dark purples, designed more in line with a Fallen Angel or Lady of Black Magic archetype, Kayle is a sword-wielding warrior adorned in gold and whites, evocative of angels and valkyries. Personality-wise, where Morgana is emotion-based, openly rational, and rejects her mother, the Aspect of Justice, and notions of following in her footsteps in favor of helping the mortals, Kayle is stoic, impartial, and seeks to fulfill her divine duty serving her mother's cause by punishing wrongdoers. In gameplay, Morgana is a Simple, yet Awesome catcher who specializes in locking down opponents and preventing the same fate for her allies, while Kayle is an offensive Combat Medic whose DPS scales to incredibly high degrees as the game goes on.
Freakiness Shame: Subverted; she resents her wings because they represent a power she no longer enjoys. She was unable to cut them off, so she binds them and pretends they aren't there.
Glacier Waif: Morgana looks tiny and frail, and lacks and kind of mobility tools (low movement speed and no positioning abilities) but unlike Glass Cannon nuker mages, she deals more consistent damage over a short period of time, but it really hurts if she can get her hands on you for that long. Not only that, but can take a massive amount of damage and still fare quite well. Between her ability to drain life with any of her spells, a long ranged area effect spell that kills lane minions from a distance, her immunity to disables when her shield is up and her two separate disables, ganking her or forcing out of her lane is surprisingly difficult.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: The purple kind, showing how powerful and otherworldly she is.
Godzilla Threshold: Morgana greatly resents her celestial power and willfully limits herself as to what she can do with them. Casting Soul Shackles is a demonstration of her breaking those limits, visually symbolized by her wings coming unbound.
"Look what you made me do!"
Good Is Not Soft:
- While she's not as much of an unforgiving Knight Templar as her sister, Morgana still isn't afraid to use really intense means to help people redeem themselves. In "Prayer to a Crumbling Shrine", she resorts to full-on magic torture on an abuser to make them repent.
- The Mageseeker shows that if Morgana sees an opportunity to redeem someone, she won't hesitate even if it comes at a cost. Seeing Sylas' strength, spirit and charisma but also his selfishness, Morgana refuses the mage rebellion her help and lets them suffer, ultimately only choosing to intervene after Leilani dies and the rebellion is on the verge of falling apart.
Green Thumb: Blackthorn replaces her chains with thorny vines.
Happy Flashback: Occasionally she and Kayle will recall on happier times from their childhood.
Morgana: "Remember strolling together in the woods, when we were girls?"
Kayle: "Hmph. You never had any fear..."
Morgana: "Funny, I remember it differently."
Hero with Bad Publicity: Morgana was Winged Protector of Demacia with Kayle, but unlike her sister who is worshipped as a goddess, she is barely remembered apart from some cultists who worship her as the Veiled One.
“Don’t like her?” Aunt Peria said, amused. “You are not the only one. She is not the most beloved. But she knows all about revenge.”
Prayer to a Crumbling Shrine
Hot Witch: She's got traces of this in her main look; an elegant, beautiful, and mysterious woman mastered in dark magics and with a firm but empathetic morality. Then of course, Bewitching Morgana goes fully on board with the concept.
Identical Twin ID Tag: Aside from their drastically different outfits and hair color, she and Kayle both share the same improbably spiky hairstyle (each one spiking the opposite direction). Hilariously, while Morgana chides Kayle for keeping hers styled the same way for centuries, Kayle claims Morgana's copying her.
Implacable Man: Of a unique sort. She may be immobile and not the tankiest of champions, but the sheer amount of disables, anti-crowd-control, and sustain makes dislodging her from lane with anything sans a secured death or her simply choosing to leave surprisingly difficult. Go ahead, do whatever you think will work — it's just not gonna happen.
Lady of Black Magic: Wields powerful black magic and has a feminine design, making a striking contrast to her sister, Kayle. Said magic is actually the same celestial power granted to Kayle from their mother, though Morgana's manifests much differently due to her rejecting her celestial heritage. Gameplay-wise, she combines supportive and offensive capabilities as a support champ with hints of battle mage-esque damage potential.
Leg Focus: In her very original model, Morgana's dress constantly covered up her legs (which with some models are straight-up nonexistent), but with her 2019 visual update, her dress gained a slit, giving more opportunities to show them off.
Lethal Chef: If the splash art for her Sinful Succulence skin is anything to go by, she kinda sucks at baking. Funnily enough, in the now non-canon Journal of Justice, she actually was a very competent baker.
Life Drain: Notable for having innate Spell Vamp, healing her every time her abilities damage monsters, minions or champions, which goes a long way in surviving in lane.
Lighter and Softer: Her current lore paints her in a much nicer light than her old lore did, emphasizing her compassion and giving her a strong belief in redemption she didn't previously possess.
Love Hurts: One of the downsides to her heavily emotion-based thinking. She's very bitter at what Kayle did to their family, and she advises others to be wary of the pain love can bring.
"To love is to be bound."
"Betrayal never comes from your enemies."
"Only those you love, can break your heart."
Loves Me Not: Exactly who she's referring to is unknown, but her joke animation has her do this with a flower, which fittingly enough has a 50% change of ending with "he loves me" or "loves me not".

M-Z

Mark of Shame: She sees her wings as these, a cruel reminder of the power that tore her family apart, not helped by how her attempts to cut them off have failed, resigning to simply binding them in chains.
"Wings bound and feet earthly tethered, I move against the false promises of order and justice."
Mercury's Wings: Two of her six wings (the smallest pair) are high on her shoulders and carried to frame her head, giving this effect.
Misery Builds Character:
- Morgana's form of justice and redemption is built around understanding suffering and growing from it, usually manifesting as subjecting wrongdoers to the pain they inflict on others.
- In The Mageseeker, Morgana uses a particularly cold form of this to teach Sylas a lesson about his selfishness. She refuses to aid the mage rebellion despite admitting she has a fully laid-out plan to, which ultimately drags out the war and leads to Leilani's death, but once Sylas learns said lesson Morgana is more than amenable to give Sylas everything he asks for and help end the persecution of mages
Missing Mom: Neither Kayle nor Morgana's backstories make clear what happened to their mother that resulted in them receiving her powers. Morg doesn't feel as strongly for her as Kayle does.
Morality Chain: Despite their apparent antagonism, Morgana actually serves as one for Kayle. During their reign in Demacia, despite purporting the values of absolute, impartial justice, Kayle was willing to fudge those terms to allow her sister to rehabilitate the guilty (it wasn't until one of her judicators took matters into his own hands that things went completely wrong). In the present day, while Kayle seeks to break free of the humanity she sees as a massive hindrance for her divine duty, it still sounds that deep down, she still cares for her sister, but also finding her continued presence among humanity annoying.
Morality-Guided Attack: The theme of her kit. She makes others feel the pain of their wrongs, and has a snare to hold them in place if they try to run from it. While Kayle is trying to destroy evildoers, Morgana is trying to make them repent.
Ms. Fanservice: Pre-VGU, she had breasts larger than her head and wore an armored bikini top. Post-VGU, her breasts are still ample, if smaller than before, and her dress shows off her cleavage and her legs. Some of her skins serve as this as well, particularly Bewitching Morgana.
Noblewoman's Laugh: She does the traditional gesture for her laugh emote, but the laugh itself is more restrained than expected.
Non-Indicative Name: Her Black Shield ability is... blue on the target. Presumably it's short for "Black Magic Shield".
No-Sell: A target with Black Shield on them is completely immune to any and all crowd control thrown their way for the spell's duration.
Not the Intended Use: Primarily she's a support or midlaner, but playing her in the jungle has been an occasional fringe strategy, taking advantage of her innate healing from damaging monsters, wide area of effect, and crowd control making for surprisingly decent ganks. Riot eventually leaned into the strategy in patch 11.8 and gave her bonus damage against neutral monsters, which shot up her jungle clear speed to the point that she ended up becoming one of the most powerful and contested jungle picks, even professionally. She's since been dialed back and/or outclassed by stronger junglers.
Our Angels Are Different: Kayle and Morgana aren't actually angels, post-VGU at least. Prior to their 2019 relaunch, they were indeed literal angels, or rather a natural race of Winged Humanoids with an obsession with enforcing order and destroying evil, rather than divine servants of any kind of god. But Riot since moved away from this due to cultural connotations that clashed with the setting/story progression, but are heavily evocative of them, with Morgana in particular bringing to mind Lucifer who was cast out of heaven for rebelling against heaven, though with a decidely more heroic twist.
Palette Swap: Exiled Morgana used to be a very simple red color scheme for her base look, but was updated to have a unique model and design.
Pay Evil unto Evil: She's not above inflicting pain if she feels it's best way for the unrepentant to recognize their wrongdoings. In her color story, she uses her dark fire magic to teach a Sadist Teacher a lesson, forcing him "to endure all the shame, suffering, and loneliness he had inflicted on his pupils," though it does end up resulting in him changing for the better.
For an instant, the Cleric’s heart stopped, as a great weight he had never known constricted his very soul. He fell to his knees, fixed in place by bitter torment, as shadowed flames licked his flesh.
Prayer to a Crumbling Shrine
Perfection Is Impossible: As a rejection of Kayle's principles, Morgana doesn't bother seeking perfection, believing it's people's flaws and conflicts that make them who they are, and true strength comes from striving to be the best self while accepting those shortcomings.
"True grace is beautiful in its imperfection, honest in its emotion, freed by its own frailty."
Pointy Ears: It's a little unclear why she has them considering her sister doesn't, but they still serve her Lady of Black Magic image very well.
Power Gives You Wings: Played with: recalling or casting Soul Shackles causes her tied-back wings to come unbound and show their full size.
Pre Ass Kicking One Liner:
"I know how it feels to fall. So will you."
Prefers Going Barefoot: Her bare feet serve to reinforce her desire to walk the earth and be one with humanity.
"Why do we have feet if not to tread upon the soil."
"To walk barefoot, skin to soil, is true grace."
Purple Is Powerful: She has a purple color scheme and is pretty mysterious and powerful with her Fallen Angel vibe and dark magics.
Really 700 Years Old: She and her sister have been around since the origins of Demacia, making them centuries old.
The Resenter: Even hundreds years later, she still hasn't forgiven Kayle for her role in killing their father and continues to act hostile towards her twin. She has more lines devoted to sass and anger at Kayle than expressing actual affection. On some level however, she does want to make amends, but neither of them have mustered the capacity to forgive each other yet.
Retcon: Prior to her 2019 relaunch, Morgana and her sister were literal angels of a heavenly plane separate from Runeterra, but was exiled and fell after challenging the angelic order as tyrants, locked in a war with Kayle for thousands of years as a result. Following the update, both of them were brought much closer to earth, exploring their mortal origins and better detailing her exact relationship with Kayle.
Running Gag: She shares in one with Kayle, both seeing yordles as inexplicable beings that, for whatever reason, confuses the hell out of them.
(encountering a yordle champion) "Did someone send you here as a joke, yordle? Did Kayle send you?"
Satanic Archetype: A mild case in that while she doesn't visually resemble the general archetype, nor is she a fundamentally bad person, she did choose to rebel against and fall from her divine heritage and responsibilities. The parallel is more obvious when she's put next to Kayle, who's more evocative of Archangel Michael. Pre-Retcon, she was even closer to the archetype, being a literal Fallen Angel who rebelled against heaven.
Self-Harm: In the wake of her duel with Kayle which resulted in their father's death, she tried to sever her own wings in grief and self-hatred, eventually deciding to bind them instead.
Morgana’s wings became an inescapable reminder of her pain. She tried to cut them from her flesh, but could find no blade strong enough. Instead, she bound them with iron chains, resolving instead to walk the world of mortals.
The Fallen
Semi-Divine: Neither Kayle or Morgana have properly become one with the Aspect of Justice, but were merely born by it. They each inherited a share of heavenly power, but they are explicitly half-mortal human, half-celestial beings. Because of their unique origins and status, they also have much greater free will as opposed to other Aspects, whose situations are described as two minds merged in a single body.
Sibling Rivalry: Despite their violent and tragic relationship, around half of their in-game interactions come across as back-and-forth bickering between... well, sisters.
Morgana: (casting a Black Shield on an ally Kayle) Shielded from yourself!
Kayle: I'll ignore that.
Sibling Yin-Yang: While Kayle runs off a heavily black-and-white worldview and sees emotion as a hinderance against proper judgement and punishment, Morgana is far more empathetic towards individuals and sees their capacity for redemption, opting instead to aid them.
Simple, yet Awesome: Morgana's kit isn't mechanically very impressive; flat spell-vamp, a slow-moving rooting skillshot, an AoE damage-over-time spell, a magic shield that blocks crowd-control, and an AoE binding stun. This doesn't make her any less practical, and she's been consistently seen to be a pretty fair and balanced support despite her kit being relatively unchanged since beta.
A Sinister Clue: Most of Morgana's casting animations has her use (or with her basic attacks, start off with) her left hand, suggesting that it's her dominant hand. This neatly parallels with how Kayle is righthanded (itself a deliberate change from her pre-VGU design, who was lefthanded), tying in with the spirit of this archetype, that Kayle is just and righteous, while Morgana is dark and wicked.
Solitary Sorceress: After "falling", Morgana has spent her time hiding out in the outlying wilds of Demacia. She's actually known by a fair share of rural Demacians and seen as an archetypal "witch in the woods," occasionally sought out to help solve their interpersonal problems.
Story-Breaker Power: Morgana has been lingering in the forests of Demacia and could singlehandedly resolve the mages' oppression not only by showing them the truth about how Demacia was founded as a refuge for mages to live with common people, but is also powerful enough to just bring the mageseekers down directly. However, she's sidelined by the simple fact that publicly exposing herself would bring Kayle down on Demacia and incur countless casualties she doesn't want.
Strange Minds Think Alike: She and her sister are just as flabbergasted by the nature of yordles.
Kayle: Are yordles small children?
Morgana: Or large... squirrels?
Supernormal Bindings: Morgana's magic literally tether's beings with the weight of their sins, and is visualized with a chain motif, something much more apparent when she busts out Soul Shackles.
Supreme Chef: Unlike what her appropriate skin suggests, the Journal of Justice claims her baking is excellent and she vaguely alludes to enjoying it (while swearing about her sister in the same breath, natch).
She's the original sugary sin, the dark diva of confectionary cunning, the fallen angel of fantastic flavor. Her terrifying treats will trap you in your seat. Let's give a Culinary Masters welcome to Morgana!
Sinful Succulence
Sympathy for the Devil: Morgana sees the potential in mortals to be able to atone for their crimes, much to Kayle's dismay.
Technicolor Fire: Like Kayle, she can conjure her own divine flames. Though Morgana's are purple, emphasizing her rejection of the Aspect of Justice's principles.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Still bitter at Kayle for their horrendous past, Morgana's expectedly not happy if she has to team up with her again. Tragically, however, while Kayle wants nothing to do with Morgana, the same can't be said for vice versa.
Kayle: Today, it looks like we must put our animosity aside.
Morgana: We've never been enemies, sister.
Kayle: How beautiful your mind must be, to think such things.
Morgana: How tragic yours, to believe them.
Third-Party Peacekeeper: Morg sought to help mortals solve their conflicts, sometimes resorting to more drastic measures if dealing with a malicious party.
Those with disputes they could not solve themselves would come to her for final judgment, to seek wisdom, absolution—and occasionally, punishment. But they did so with caution, for it was also known that her lessons could be severe.
Prayer to a Crumbling Shrine
To Be Lawful or Goodinvoked: Most of Morgana's personal conflict, leaning more towards the "good" side. Rather than latching onto the laws of Demacia like her sister Kayle, Morgana is more empathetic to those they instinctively distrust, caring more about the reasons for why people would turn to crime over the crime itself, and believes redemption is a possibility (she also dislikes those who do wicked actions and get off scot-free by technically following the law for this reason). Unfortunately, this made her dangerously naive in the eyes of Kayle's order.
Tomboy and Girly Girl: Compared to Kayle, she's a more girly girl — Morgana exclusively uses spells and wears, y'know, that outfit.
The Fettered: She willfully bound her wings to be more human.
Trickster Mentor: In The Mageseeker, this is Morgana's primary role. She refuses her help to Sylas on the basis that he's selfish and needs to improve himself as a person while never quite explaining her reasoning, leaving Sylas on his path to vengeance until Leilani dies, at which point Morgana contacts him again knowing he'll be receptive to the lesson she's going to teach him.
Villains Out Shopping: Tragically no longer canon, but according to the Journal of Justice, she ran a chain of bakeries called "Sinful Succulence", hence her namesake skin.
Wangst: Invoked. She keeps her pain fresh and sharp despite the centuries and inflicts it on others as their penance. This is in contrast to her sister Kayle, who does her best to feel nothing at all.
Senna: All this time, Morgana, and you still haven't learned to let go.
Warrior Therapist: Morgana approaches combat in-game like she's consoling her opponents on their sins, with her abilities themed around her motif of pain and redemption.
"Embrace your mistakes!"
"Revel! You are alive!"
"Avoid pain, suffer more!"
Wight in a Wedding Dress: Ghost Bride Morgana, which is explicitly based on the various La Llorona legends.
Willfully Weak: She openly rejects her semi-divine status and power, choosing to walk among mortals, even binding her wings to appear more human (which she would cut off were there blades strong enough to do so). In addition, The Mageseeker reveals that she hasn't been exercising her full power to end the oppression of mages because she knows that exposing herself to Demacia would call down Kayle, and that's a good way to get a lot of people killed very quickly.
"I did not fall from grace. I leapt."
Winged Humanoid: She has three sets of wings, indicative of her magical status. She's not a fan of them, hence why she keeps them bound by chains.
You Will Not Evade Me: Morgana is one of League's premier controllers, having an incredible aptitude for locking enemies down. Dark Binding alone gives her a ton of team utility, lasting longer than many other roots and also dealing hefty damage. Soul Shackles goes even further, potenitally providing a teamwide stun on the enemy, but with much more execution required to pull it off.

Characters / League of Legends: Morgana

Morgana, the Fallen

Previous

Index

Next

Characters / League of Legends: Morgana

Edit Locked

Morgana, the Fallen

Previous

Index

Next