The Bloodweaver's Peace: The Complete Saga of Xolaani

A Healer's Fall from Grace

Her story is one of tragedy, a fall from grace born from a noble, yet twisted, desire. She was a healer who sought to end all war, a savior who became a tyrant. This is the complete lore of Xolaani, the Darkin Aspect's Bane, from her divine Ascension to her world-threatening return.

The Fall of the God-Warriors

Long ago, in the golden age of the Shuriman empire, the greatest mortal heroes were raised up by the power of the Sun Disc to become the Ascended Host—immortal god-warriors tasked with defending the world. Among them were figures of legend: Aatrox, the noble general; Nasus, the scholar; and Xolaani, a gifted and beloved healer.

Their glory was not to last. When the vassal state of Icathia unleashed the horrors of the Void, the Ascended were forced into a war against an incomprehensible enemy.

Though they were victorious, the cost was immense, not just in lives, but in sanity.

"The darkin are thrice-cursed—once by the ancient enemy they faced, again by the fall of their glorious empire, and finally by the betrayal that has damned them for all eternity... Even so, the horrors of the war took a heavy toll, and those who lived to remember it were perhaps never quite as they once were."
— From The Legend of the Darkin

The final blow came with the failed Ascension of Emperor Azir, which shattered the empire and its leadership.

Without a master to serve, the traumatized, immortal god-warriors turned their ambitions against one another. They became twisted parodies of their former selves, mastering forbidden magic and carving out empires from the ruins. The mortals they terrorized gave them a new name, a whispered curse: the Darkin.

A Healer's Heresy

You can see a statue of Xolaani in the Call cinematic. Taliyah uses it to close the hole Rek'Sai emerged from at 3:08.

Amidst the chaos of the Great Darkin War, Xolaani pursued a different path. Once a healer who mended flesh, she now turned to the art of hemomancy—blood magic—to mend the world itself. Believing free will was the source of all conflict, she sought to bring about an ultimate, enforced peace by subjugating all living things to her control.

"Shurima's Ascended were doomed the moment they took up arms against the Void... Madness consumed them all. Xolaani, once a beloved and gifted healer, began using her hemomantic powers to control her brethren, and soon enough, the hatred between her and Aatrox boiled over into civil war."
— From Xolaani LoR Card 1

Her vision was not one of malice, but of misguided salvation. She saw war as a curse she could not permit and believed life was too precious not to be protected—even from itself. Unknown to her fellow Darkin, she began using her hemomancy to force them into her servitude, making their hearts beat as one with her own. This crusade for control was the true catalyst for the Great Darkin War, a conflict that, according to the Shard of Madness card, "threatened Runeterra's very existence."

Her primary adversary was Aatrox. As the former general of the Ascended Host, he valued strength and will above all else. He saw Xolaani's desire for control as the ultimate act of cowardice, a betrayal of their very nature. Their ideological clash defined the war.

The Twilight of the Gods

Despite her unique and terrifying power, Xolaani lacked the centuries of battlefield experience that hardened warriors like Aatrox and Taarosh possessed. During a climactic battle, she was nearly destroyed by Taarosh. Her end was imminent, but she was saved by the unexpected intervention of the Aspect of Twilight.

This was not an act of mercy. As told in the story Twilight of the Gods, the Aspect tricked the remaining Darkin, gathering them under a false pretense of peace before unleashing a celestial fire that severed them from their physical forms. The Aspect then taught mortal mages the art of soul-binding, allowing them to seal the essence of each Darkin within their personal weapon.

Xolaani, alongside her brethren, was imprisoned. Her very being was bound to her twin blades, the Bloodletters.

A Whisper in the Temple

For centuries, the Bloodletters were hidden away in Ionia at Mistfall, a sacred site guarded by Master Yi and his Wuju disciples.

But such power cannot remain dormant forever. The weapon's presence was discovered by the shadow warrior Kayn, who, driven by the ambitious Darkin Rhaast within his scythe, sought to claim a second weapon for himself.

Kayn's assault on the Wuju temple was a massacre. Master Yi fought valiantly, but his students were unprepared for such an onslaught.

"From the corner of his eye, Yi saw the flash of steel and heard the unmistakable thud of a lifeless body. Could it have been her? How could he have failed his pupils so utterly? They were untrained and unprepared. But he was a master of Wuju, and neither shame nor shadow would win the day."
— From Master Yi Card two

One possible ending here would be if Kayn obtains the Darkin Bloodletters in which case he is consumed by Rhaast.

Rhaast let out a triumphant howl. Years of waiting, yearning, and now... he was finally free. He lifted Xolaani's blades and put them to his tongue, savoring the taste of fresh blood. He closed his eyes in bliss, and a smile crept across his face for the first time in millennia. The reaping had begun.

In a divergent timeline. Xolaani's story continues.

In the midst of the carnage, Yi's most promising student, Jun, was pushed to the brink. Wounded, surrounded by the bodies of her friends, and desperate to save her master, she made a fatal choice. A voice, soft as summer rain, whispered in her thoughts.

"As the fighting raged on, Jun, desperate and badly wounded, turned to the voice whispering in her thoughts. 'You will never die,' it said, soft as summer rain, 'because I will never let you.'"
— From The Darkin Bloodletters

"Angry tears streamed down Jun's face as she surveyed the bodies littering the ground. She had failed them. She had failed her master. And now, only one choice remained…"
— From Momentous Choice

"As she took hold of the weapons, her humanity fled, and in its place a hateful essence filled the emptying vessel that was once the student Jun. It washed through her, over her, around her, and out into the world, stirring the slumbering Darkin."
— From Utter Devastation

Believing it was her only option, Jun took up the cursed blades. In that instant, her humanity was scoured away, her body becoming an empty vessel for the hateful essence that filled it. Xolaani was free.

The Altar's Awakening

Now inhabiting the body of Jun, Xolaani returned to her place of power in Shurima: The Altar of Blood.

This ancient temple had been maintained for centuries by her devoted followers, the Darkinthralls, who prayed for her return and eagerly awaited her control.

"The altar throbbed with life once more, shaking the sands around it with a slow and steady beat. Each of Xolaani's disciples felt the same beat deep in their heart. Every muscle, every thought, every moment... they were all hers to control."
— From Altar of Blood card text

As Xolaani began a ritual to amplify her power, her re-emergence sent shockwaves across Runeterra. Aatrox felt her awakening and knew the time had come for their final war. He rallied what remained of the Darkin, preparing to face the "Coward of Icathia" and finally find the peace of oblivion he so desperately craved.

"Even across continents, Aatrox felt her awakening. How the hatred still burned. He had already broken her statues, now he could wage a final war against the Coward of Icathia, and through destroying her, end this pitiful existence."
— From Aatrox Base Card text

Other Darkin also stirred, drawn to the conflict.

The War for Runeterra's Soul

The second Darkin War began. This time, Xolaani was far more powerful. She easily defeated Aatrox's allies, including the mighty Taarosh who had once nearly killed her. She broke their wills and enthralled them, forcing her old enemy to speak her truth.

"With newfound vigor, the great warrior Anaakca sped south through the Freljord and into Demacian lands. The outposts prepared as best they could to repel her assault, but no mere mortal would stand between Anaakca's fury and the coward who stoked it."
— From Anaakca LoR Card

"Xolaani watched on as Anaakca fell to his knees, subjugated by the very enemy he sought so desperately to destroy. Slowly, the beat of his heart rang out in unison with the others. Another heart to control. Another body to command."
— From Xolaani the Bloodweaver

The sheer scale of the conflict scarred the very land, forcing the hand of the heavens. The Aspect of Justice, Mihira, descended from Targon with a divine army, aided by her daughter, Kayle.

At the same time, the Rune Mage Ryze arrived, watching the cataclysm unfold and wrestling with a terrible question: did he have the right to use the world-ending power of the World Runes to stop it?

"Ryze crested the ridge, accompanied by Kayle's silent servant. He looked down on a land scarred by war, and caught sight of the darkin monstrosities warring below. For centuries, he had watched on as humanity veered from one catastrophe to another. What if, he thought, his efforts were futile, and Runeterra was doomed to die?"
— From Ryze Base Card

Aspect's Bane

As Ryze hesitated, Xolaani faced the divine host. Her power had grown so immense that not even an Aspect could stand against her. In a battle that shook the foundations of the world, she defeated Mihira. But she did not kill her. Instead, she claimed the Aspect of Justice as her new vessel, her power reaching an unimaginable peak. Bursting from Jun's form, she became something new and terrifying: Xolaani, Aspect's Bane. Kayle could only watch in horror as the monster wearing her mother's face turned to her.

"More. More. Even the great hero of legend Mihira could not withstand Xolaani's overwhelming strength. The earth seemed to shudder to one beat now, such was the hemomantic power growing within Xolaani. She took a moment to observe the battlefield, and wept with the joy filling her soul. Soon, this world would be united in peace. In love. In silence."
— From Xolaani, Aspect's Bane

With the power of an Aspect under her control, Xolaani was on the verge of achieving her goal. The entire world was about to be united in her silent, will-less peace.

The Rune Mage's Burden

Witnessing the fall of an Aspect, Ryze knew he could no longer stand by. His mind was made up. Runeterra and its flawed, free-willed people deserved to be saved.

"Ryze pulled himself back to the present. The mindscapes he'd visited had answered his questions, and filled him with purpose. The flaws of Runeterra's people, great as they were, should not condemn them to oblivion."
— From Ryze Evolved Card

Accepting his solemn duty, Ryze unleashed the raw, cosmic power of the World Runes. In a blinding flash of creation magic, he struck down the ascendant Darkin, ending her threat once and for all.

Thus ends the saga of Xolaani—the healer who loved life so much she sought to control it completely, becoming one of the greatest threats Runeterra has ever known.