A recently-datamined League of Legends emote dubbed “Spirit of the Hearth” has given players what appears to be an accidental first look at the next champion to join the massive League roster.
The emote, first shared on X (formerly Twitter) on May 14, depicts a mysterious new spectacled character writing in a notepad with a feathered quill. This character, which is marked as “AURORA” in the leaked League files, is all rugged up in winter gear and has long brown platted hair. Her appearance on an upcoming emote suggests she will soon be a playable champion.
The early Aurora theories have been helped on by several clues. The first is that the /r/AuroraMains subreddit has already been created but is hidden; Riot usually prepares for champ releases by creating these character-specific forums ahead of time. The second relates to a teaser shared in January. In that tease—which depicts a Runeterra mage’s workspace—players have already spotted Aurora’s notebook and several brand markings which also appear on her emote appearance.
This all but confirms that Aurora will be the Vastayan mid-range mage teased by Riot developers right before the 2024 League season began. Her biggest selling point, as shared by the League designers at the time, was that she’ll have “a natural ability to see what others think is not there.”
While some League players have been discussing the upcoming Vastayan debutant as a mid laner, it’s actually more likely she will land in the top lane first. The confusion seems to have come from “mid-range” being misread as mid lane—an easy mistake to make considering nearly every mage in the MOBA’s history enters the roster designed to be played in the Summoner’s Rift central role.
The best news from this emote leak is that Aurora must be quite close to complete if Riot is already loading up tertiary elements. There’s no confirmed release date for the mid-range Vastayan mage just yet, but that should change in the next few weeks as the League developers wrap things up.
Riot has yet to comment on any of these datamined leaks and will likely stay quiet on everything Aurora until the champ’s official plans begin.
Update May 14, 7.19pm CT, by Isaac McIntyre: Added more details on Aurora’s expected release date and the original Vastayan mage teaser image.
