Retcons

Being a fictional world that's gone through numerous developers with different visions of the Realm, Paladins is no stranger to **Retcons and Changes** of previously established information, which also includes **Plot Holes and Inconsistencies**. This page is meant to catalogue the currently known retcons that notably deviate from what seems to have been the original intent, as well as plot holes and inconsistencies.

## List of Retcons and Changes

### Alpha Lore

Early in the game's life, small lore bios were added to the official Paladins website for most characters (aside from Buck) which can be read here. These bios were removed fairly quickly however, and are no longer considered canon to the current lore.

### Golden Age of Peace Length

It was originally established in the "A Realm Divided" lore cinematic that the Golden Age of peace lasted for multiple centuries, which was backed up by many different cinematics and character bios, such as the lore of Jenos\*, the Warders\*, and the Stagalla\* to name a few.

However, it was eventually stated that it's only been around a single century since the Magistrate formed and peace was established, before it was later officially stated in one of Rei's influencer teasers as well. It was said the reason for this change was that about a year or two prior, the developers went over the timeline to get a better rough estimate of years and durations in the hopes of providing better structure going forward.

Either way, many cinematics and character bios relating to this information are currently inaccurate, or now described a bit too over the top.

### Fernando's Sexuality

Fernando was among the first champions in the game, and for many years, appeared as a flamboyant flirt who enjoyed nothing more than hitting on the numerous female champions, which naturally led everyone to assume he was straight, as nothing suggested otherwise. With the introduction of the modern lore though, Fernando's story stayed largely similar to his retconned alpha lore; someone with no official training, but took up the mantle of knighthood when the knight he served met an untimely fate, with Fernando wanting no one to uncover his secret. Naturally, everyone assumed this "secret" was the fact that Fernando had no official training and wasn't actually a knight.

However, not long after, it was said that Fernando is actually gay. Expectedly, people didn't take this reveal well due to nothing prior suggesting Fernando was gay. Though it was later explained that Fernando took up the identity of the knight he served and is pretending to be him, including his personality, it's hard to imagine Fernando was intended to be gay from the beginning, making this a definite retcon.

### Mal'Damba

There are two regarding him. The first of which many love to point to is Mal'Damba being changed into a Ska'drin. Initially his race wasn't commented on and was simply generally assumed to be human by default, and it wasn't until many years later that he was explicitly confirmed to be a ska'drin. While many still refuse to accept this as they believe this came out of nowhere and was randomly said for no reason, this was actually hinted at prior to the confirmation. However, despite this, when Talus was introduced, the ska'drin were described as a "new race we're introducing to the Realm", with no references about hidden playable ska'drin or Mal'Damba being made at all, classifying this as a retcon.

The second retcon is related, and regards Mal'Damba's skin color. Originally, Mal'Damba was mentioned as being black, but years later Mal'Damba wasn't included in the year's Black History Month post, with it being said that while he's darker skinned, he's not black. Funnily enough, this was the same time and place Mal'Damba was revealed to be a ska'drin.

### Talus' Age

The subject of Talus' age has been surprisingly confusing. When Talus launched, it was originally mentioned that he's a "young kid", however years later, in response to a question regarding Maeve's age, it was said that every champion is of adult age, which would include Talus. Later still, someone else asked about Maeve's age once more, where the same developer said that every "human / near human" is of adult age, which would still seemingly include Talus. In both of these cases, Talus was never specified on. Later, it was said that Talus is supposed to be an adult, despite his young appearance and more childish personality, which is obviously notably odd due to Vatu and Mal'Damba, the other currently playable ska'drin, both being much more mature in appearance and personality.

### The Entity Androxus Killed

While Androxus' title and original lore claimed he slayed an actual goddess, this slowly shifted. Initially, Androxus' first modern bio kept the entity being an actual goddess, though left the resolution of the encounter vague. This changed once again with Androxus' current bio following The Damned Frontier update, which changed things to heavily imply the entity wasn't a goddess, only pretending to be one. It was eventually revealed that the entity was actually one from the Abyss, which was indeed pretending to be a goddess. Whether or not Androxus still slayed the entity though, remains unclear.

### Drogoz's Race

During Drogoz's reveal, he was referred to as a dragon, only for him to later be stated to be a wyrin much later, with it being said that wyrins aren't dragons, but aren't completely unrelated. Either way, Drogoz's race was clearly retconned.

### The Ones in Control of Dredge, Furia, and Seris

The topic regarding who or what is in control of these three characters is a rather complicated one. Let's go over each character one by one.

- Dredge is one of the more explicit cases in regards to retcons. The Dark Tides lore cinematic implies Judd himself was resurrected as an agent of the Abyss, which was further supported by his voice pack, with the general pirate demeanor, way of speaking, and several voice lines, such as mentioning the pirate legend of Judd Roberts (▶️) and another line implying Judd and the Kraken are two separate entities (▶️). There is also the matter of the Kraken being present on Dredge's weapon, as well as in Marauder's Port.

However despite all this, it was eventually said that Judd more or less isn't actually a part of Dredge. Naturally, this has led to much confusion regarding the previously mentioned points, most notably why an Abyssal Lord would act like a pirate and talk as though it were Judd himself.

- Moving on to Furia, it was originally assumed Sarah was the one entirely in control, with her bio mentioning her being "saved", the locket on her weapon which she looks at sadly during a weapon inspect, and finally, her voicelines towards Seris (▶️▶️) which are expectedly depressing. Though an early teaser did point to the idea that Furia wasn't Sarah, but instead a Pyre Entity of that name; despite this, it was still commonly assumed Furia was Sarah due to the previously mentioned details.

Years later, the Sands of Myth Battle Pass released, and with it, the new Tiberius skin had some rather notable lines (▶️▶️) that pointed to the idea that Furia, was in fact, a Pyre Entity in control; though being a non-canon skin, this wasn't taken as anything more but a possible hint to future lore. Eventually though, that lore came, with it being said that Sarah technically doesn't exist anymore, and that the Pyre generally takes a particular aspect of a person and cranks it up to 11, with Furia herself being described as a "Sarah-flavored embodiment of fury", with the Sarah bits obviously seeming to be her memories of Abby.

While this would seem to indicate that the Pyre Entity is the one in control, it was later mentioned that Furia and Seris are more of completely new entities and aren't just Sarah and Abby being possessed by a Pyre / Abyssal entity. This would instead seem to suggest that Sarah and Furia merged, resulting in both of them technically no longer existing, as they merged into a singular entity.

- Finally, onto Seris, though she's largely been consistent in this regard (aside from one small detail), she'll be covered for the sake of explaining each character related to the Abyss and Pyre possessions. Seris' bio implies she's the Abyssal Entity within, saying she's "a being from beyond the void". The Rise of Furia lore cinematic would also point to this idea, with the next line of Seris' bio "Seris has taken the name of the city she completely destroyed upon first setting foot in the world of the living" matching up with the cinematic, with this line, as well as one of Furia's teasers pointing to the idea that the Abyssal dragon from the cinematic is the one called Seris. This is further backed up by dev statements, as well as supported by Tomb Keeper Tiberius (▶️) unlike Furia.

However, with Rise of Furia, came the event and alongside it, the Abyssal Lord Drogoz skin, which was destroyed by Furia in the event's ending cutscene. While it hasn't been outright stated, the description for the event from the update's patch notes reads "Relive the day the city of Seris was destroyed and thousands of souls were cast into the Abyss.", with another dev statement implying the event is canon, which when coupled with the skin's strong resemblance to the Abyssal dragon from the cinematic, plus all the other previously mentioned information, points to the idea that Abyssal Lord Drogoz is meant to be a stand-in for Seris' original dragon form. This is where that minor inconsistency comes in; Abyssal Lord Drogoz is portrayed as a typical demonic monster, while Seris is far more calm and collected, and with the implication they're intended to be the same individual, naturally this leads to an obvious problem.

However, it was later mentioned that Seris and Furia are more of completely new entities and aren't just Abby and Sarah being possessed by an Abyssal / Pyre entity. This would seem to suggest that Abby and Seris merged, resulting in both of them technically no longer existing, as they merged into a singular entity with a new personality.

### Lian

There are two notable supposed retcons relating to Lian. The first of these involves how when she was revealed, it was said she was the sole heir and took over House Aico after her father, while her in-game bio released later seems to suggest this was retconned, as it instead mentions how she required a ploy to set herself up as the legitimate heir, with no mention of her father whatsoever. While this could be explained that Lian was only the sole heir *after* her ploy, it seems likely this is a retcon due to nothing of a ploy or illegitimacy being implied during her reveal.

It was also said during Lian's reveal, that she isn't evil, but just does what she believes is necessary to achieve her goals, with those being to represent her house and to restore what she feels is the house's, and her own, rightful place. Of course, later Ascension Peak would be put under siege when Jenos refused to join House Aico, which granted, may have not been Lian's plan. Beyond that, Vora and Yagorath both claim Lian's only in pursuit of personal power, not caring about her house much, with it supposedly only being a facade. (▶️▶️) (▶️) On top of that, there's the discrimination against the Ska'drin that occurred when Lian took over the Magistrate, something that should be within her power to attempt and stop if it truly bothered her.

### Resistance Members

Originally, Grover, Makoa, and Moji were all stated or implied to be neutral in the war, simply wanting it to end, however, Moji was shown with the group in the Dark Tides lore cinematic, while the End Times story mentions Grover and Makoa having joined the group. It was later mention that Moji isn't with the Resistance, but is more neutral (though her presence in the cinematic still has yet to be explained), while no explanations have been given regarding Grover or Makoa.

### Lost Future Vora

It was originally stated that Atlas lost his arm to a future version of Vora, one who became far more corrupted after being transformed by the Darkness for several decades. However, it was later said this future Vora wasn't actually the same person as the Vora we play as, but a different individual altogether that became who we would call Vora. This individual being called Vora is odd though, as it was explicitly said prior that Vora is the actual name of the character we play as and not something like Furia or Seris where a different entity took control of their bodies. Nonetheless, it's clearly a retcon.

### Jenos' Reason to Return

Jenos' bio states he returned and joined the battle for "some arcane purpose that only he understands", yet the only fight he was ever involved in was the battle of Ascension Peak (which was started against him) and the battle at Bazaar. Meanwhile the "arcane purpose that only he understands" turned out to be quite understandable, having been told of the Darkness by Io and coming back to stop it, which he himself directly mentions in the End Times story.

### Village of Seris

The type of location Seris was has been incredibly inconsistent, with it being referred to as something different nearly every single time it's been mentioned. In Seris' bio and the Rise of Furia patch notes, it's said to be a city, in the Rise of Furia lore cinematic and event update page, it's referred to as a village, while Corvus' teaser trailer refers to it as a town.

### Vulpins

It was originally stated that vulpins are a generally secluded species that keep to themselves, with Pip singled out as an anomaly for being the only one that expressed interest in leaving Brightmarsh. Despite this, years later the Trials of the Realm description for Brightmarsh claimed the map is actually abandoned as a result of the rest of the vulpins supposedly leaving rather abruptly for the sake of serving as medics for the Magistrate and Resistance in the Crystal War, rather than keeping to themselves as originally mentioned.

### Dragon's Call Skins

Skins from the Dragon's Call event were once implied to be canon, with Aurora Furia, Dragonborn Moji, and Outlaw Sha Lin all appearing in the Dark Tides lore cinematic, while Overlord Khan was mentioned in the Paladins 1.4 Update Show (timestamp 51:40) as being a past version of Khan in an older version of his armor, with his personality cranked up to 11.

However, it has been said the developers wished they hadn't said those things regarding the skins, though they weren't explicitly deconfirmed. Despite this, the fact that Furia, Moji, and Sha Lin have all appeared in the lore following this event in their default appearances seems to imply the skins have been quietly decanonized. However, this doesn't address Overlord Khan, and it was later said that Dragonborn Moji in particular was "theoretically lore", which could imply it, as well as Aurora and Outlaw, are now intended to be "What-If" skins, though this too hasn't been confirmed. It does seem at the very least, due to the champions appearing since Dark Tides in their default appearances, that the skins' presence in the Dark Tides cinematic is no longer canon.

## List of Plot Holes and Inconsistencies

While it's easy to come up with a headcanon to explain these inconsistencies, no official explanation has been given regarding them, thus leaving them as nothing but plot holes and inconsistencies. General plot holes, such as a lack of much information, as well as most new characters appearing out of absolutely nowhere won't be covered, as that would make this page *absurdly* long. Some of the previously mentioned retcons also apply here.

### The Magistrate Being Evil / The Resistance Being Good

Little is more inconsistent in the lore than the treatment of the Magistrate. To put it simply, the Magistrate is not and was never intended to be the bad guys or evil, as has been mentioned several times.

However, there seems to be some internal disagreement about this, whether it be from some developers not knowing the lore or just not agreeing with the choices made, despite the Magistrate not being intended as the villains and occasionally receiving some good statements, the Magistrate equally, if not more so, receives far more content that makes them seem like villains.

For example, in the A Realm Divided lore cinematic, the Resistance is largely portrayed as the heroes, with no one doubting them, the cinematic ending on asking the viewer to join them in their fight for peace, and the only questionable things they're shown doing being weaponizing crystals and having Terminus attack people. The Magistrate however, isn't so lucky, for starters, the change in scenery when the group takes over, shifting from a bright blue room filled with a cheering crowd, to a dark blood red room with everyone orderly sitting at desks while Karne ominously stands above them, guarded by two hooded figures. This is followed by Karne "snarling" that crystals weren't meant to be wielded by "commoners", Tyra and other characters distrusting the group for no apparent reason, with no one opposing the Resistance in the same way, as mentioned. There's also soldiers breaking into homes to retrieve crystals, Ash killing Terminus, and of course, the previously mentioned ending of the cinematic being largely focused on the Resistance.

Despite it being claimed the conflict is supposed to be gray, this poor start was followed by much more bad press for the Magistrate, such as the character bios of many champions describing the group in a tyrannical and villainous light, Merrymaker Maeve having a line that reinforced the idea (▶️), Cosmic Titan Terminus being generally opposed to the group, a moment from the End Times story where Imani's eager to work with the Resistance, while becoming instantly enraged at the thought of the Magistrate having summoned her, one of Io's teasers mentioning the Magistrate coming to find shards of the moon in a villainous manner (which the Resistance was also shown doing in the End Times story ironically), Corvus in general, who constantly messes up and often causes massive loss of life, as well as a notable scene from Atlas' trailer, which showed him holding someone by the front of their shirt as he stood before the Darkness, and finally, the A Conflict Reignited lore cinematic, which once again shows the Magistrate in a bad light with soldiers harassing some Ska'drin citizens, which the New Resistance heroically stands up to.

Of course, during all this, the Magistrate has received some content that presents them in a better light, such as it being mentioned that Karne has done a lot and worked incredibly hard to create a peaceful Realm, which his decision of banning crystals being due to him fighting for the peace of the Realm, not for some selfish purpose. Corvus as well, despite his constant mistakes, has been mentioned that he wholeheartedly believes in his goal of bringing peace to the Realm, with one of the major reasons he fights so hard being because he wishes the stop the constant slaughter of innocent men and women in the Crystal War. Many of the previously mentioned character bios that painted the Magistrate in a villainous light have also mostly been toned down, with the few that remain being mentioned as merely those characters' own personal opinions.

However, as you can no doubt tell, the negative attention the Magistrate's received far outweighs the positive and led to an even bigger exaggeration of their supposed evil by many in the community. It's not known why this is still such a huge problem if the conflict has been intended to be gray from the very start, but one can only assume there's some form of internal conflict regarding this issue.

At the end of the day, despite this, as mentioned, the Magistrate isn't evil, while the Resistance isn't purely good either. The Misconceptions page contains a section debunking common statements regarding the Magistrate being bad and the Resistance being heroes, with the less than positive actions of the Resistance also being covered.

### Ascension Peak

The Siege of Ascension Peak was originally framed in both lore cinematic and official site that Lian intended to recruit Jenos into the Magistrate to win the Crystal War, with it also being portrayed as though the entire event ended up becoming a huge battle between the Magistrate and Resistance. However, nearly every mention of the event following it would instead treat it as though it was only House Aico present and with them only wishing for Jenos to join House Aico, not the Magistrate. Additionally, while not during every mention as the previous inconsistency, as mentioned, originally, the Resistance was portrayed as having gotten involved and helped Jenos, yet the End Times story instead treats the event as a minor occurrence that Jenos dealt with by himself and without much trouble. This also naturally begs the question on why Jenos is associating with the Resistance for no apparent reason.

### Azaan's Arrival

There are two regarding Azaan.

First, it's been explained that the only reason Azaan came down to the Realm was because the Abyss' influence was growing stronger due to Raum's summoning, with Azaan being the one tasked with keeping the Realm free from the Abyss' influence; however, this raises several questions. For starters, this naturally leads one to wonder why he didn't appear sooner, as Dredge had been present in the Realm for quite some time, yet Azaan and the Pyre never did anything about it. Additionally, aside from Dredge, Raum has been implied to have been summoned a year prior to when Azaan appeared, and with Raum having been temporarily halted by Tiberius and everyone focusing on defeating Yagorath, leads one to wonder why it took Azaan over a year to appear and at a time when the Abyss seemingly wasn't doing much of note.

Secondly, Azaan's bio and other statements regarding him mention he didn't actually arrive to stop the Abyss himself, but to warn the inhabitants of the Realm to deal with it or he would do so himself without caring for collateral damage. Despite this, Azaan ended up fighting the Abyss himself anyway, battling Raum and Dredge in several of his cards, leaving his warning rather pointless.

### Aesthetic of the Realm

As one can quite obviously tell just by looking at most aspects of Paladins' world, the Realm is a largely medieval setting, with some more advanced pieces of technology being available with the use of crystals, such as the various guns used by champions, Ruckus' mining suit, and the rough tanks used by the Magistrate, though despite this, are all still styled to fit the more medieval aesthetic of the Realm. For Ruckus specifically, one of the main reasons he received his visual rework was because his design didn't fit into the lore.

As time has gone on though, this aesthetic has been pushed further and further, with Saati completely throwing it out the window, with her default appearance resembling that of the Street Style skins, while her weapon looks incredibly modern as opposed to the more stylized and old-fashioned look given to most other characters and their weapons. Her cards make this issue even more noticeable, perhaps most notable of these being her card Steel Coin Purse, which shows her leaping out of an exploding building while riding a *literal modern-day motorcycle*; a rather jarring occurrence for a world that largely still operates with horse and carriages.

Additionally, Saati's other cards show more modern-day occurrences as well, such as a regular casino in Bullet Hopper, while Saati herself is dressed in a rather modern fancy outfit, with the characters around her being dressed in modern day suits; this same thing occurring in Aggressive Tip and Reinforced Standee as well. What makes the suits even more noticeable of an issue, is the fact that an unused asset for the Street Style loading frame initially featured *Karne wearing a suit*, making it extremely clear this is exclusive to the Street Style setting and isn't how the Realm itself looks or functions.

### Cassie's Crossbow Origin

Even back in the game's alpha lore, Cassie's bow / crossbow was mentioned as belonging to her father. This has been mentioned in every single one of Cassie's in-game bios, yet despite this, for some reason, Cassie's crossbow can be seen on a table in the Resistance's base in the A Realm Divided lore cinematic, with this being prior to Cassie joining the group later in the same video.

### Character Knowledge

Character interactions such as kill taunts, death lines, and spawn chatter are generally considered to not be 100% canon due to the nature of gameplay (characters fighting alongside others they hate, respawning, being limited to in-game abilities and maps, etc.), yet the information contained in these lines are generally considered canon, such as VII's real name not actually being VII as an example. Most of these in-game lines are generally supported by canon, with characters mostly only referring to others they personally know or say things about the character that could be determined during a fight, such as Lillith being annoyed with Khan for what happened during her trailer, or thinking Ying's illusions are meaningless.

However, some character interactions don't always follow this logic, with some of them featuring characters interacting and saying things unlikely if not impossible for them to know, with many examples being present in Vora's voice pack, where see seemingly knows a lot about a number of characters she realistically is unlikely to have ever met, such as Buck, Corvus, Koga, Sha Lin and more. The most notable example of this is Atlas, which Vora somehow knows that Lex warned him of her in the future, something Vora couldn't have known, as Atlas is unlikely to have told her something like this, and Vora isn't from the future, while no one else aside from Atlas is from the future.

### Crystal Discovery

The A Realm Divided lore cinematic states that crystals are a new discovery, yet earlier in the same video, Karne can be seen using magic with a large crystal on his staff a century prior.

### Dragons and Warders

Originally, dragons ruled the Realm long ago, with it not being until a wise mage learned their secrets and became the first Warder, the first to command a dragon. While this seems to imply the Warders took control of the dragons against their will and forced them away, it was eventually explained that a Warder's ability to control dragons stems from the dragon's own willingness to trust and listen to the Warder in question; if one attempts to use Warder gauntlets to command a dragon while lacking these qualities, the summoned dragon will violently attack and likely kill the user.

However, with this explanation on how Warders work, it naturally raises the question of how exactly the first Warders managed to earn such trust in tyrannical dragons and successfully lead them to being almost a non-issue in the modern day.

### Furia's Hair

In the Rise of Furia lore cinematic, Sarah can be seen having already attached Abby's hair to her own prior to entering the Pyre church, yet despite that, it was later stated that the hair is attached with Pyre magic.

### Io's True Form

In some of Io's cards such as Full Moon, Moonwalk, and Restored Faith, Luna is depicted as not wearing a collar and possessing two tails, with this eventually being explicitly revealed to be Io's true form prior to the shattering. However, in Io's teaser trailer, Luna as she appears in-game is shown on the moon prior to the shattering instead, with only one tail and a collar.

### Karne Stepping Down

The A Conflict Reignited lore cinematic notably marked Karne stepping down as Grand Magister, passing the position to Lian, however, the entire event only caused numerous questions. To begin with, it's never explained why exactly Karne believed he had failed; though it appears to be due to failing to stop Yagorath without Azaan's help, this doesn't make much sense, as Karne has both been mentioned to have worked incredibly hard for the past century to make the Realm peaceful, and also demonstrated stubbornness alongside Valera throughout the Crystal War, neither of the two seemingly attempting to try and reach a middle ground; with this all making Karne stepping down feel incredibly out of character.

Additionally, Karne's choice to replace him, Lian, equally makes little sense. It's been mentioned several times that Lian isn't exactly the best when it comes to listening to and working with the Magistrate, with them notably going against Karne with the Siege of Ascension Peak, which Karne wasn't pleased about. It makes little sense Karne would choose to make someone he knows is unloyal, prone to violence, and only acts for their own self interest the new Grand Magister, especially with how much Karne has worked for the sake of peace.

### Kinessa's Rifle

It's fairly common knowledge that Kinessa originally wielded a different weapon (that being the Buster Rifle), but said weapon was replaced with its current design, likely to better fit the fantasy-themed world. However, for some reason it randomly reappeared being used by Kinessa in Saati's card Steady Predictions. It's assumed this was most likely an error rather than a retcon, but unless the artwork is changed, Kinessa's old weapon was randomly made canon once again.

### Koga's Revenge

There are two regarding Koga's Revenge.

To begin with, Koga's bio mentions how he's searching for the one that betrayed him by spreading the lies that Zhin believed and led to Koga being exiled, while Koga's voice lines with Zhin similarly indicate that Koga doesn't blame Zhin and isn't aiming to attack him. Despite that, when Koga did break into the Thousand Hands Guild in his lore cinematic, he tore his way past everyone in order to attack Zhin himself, despite the fact the previous information clearly indicates he has no ill will towards Zhin.

Secondly, in the A Conflict Reignited lore cinematic, Zhin and Koga are seen fighting together on the same side, despite nothing ever being mentioned about the two having made up.

### Lack of Development in the Realm

For the longest time, history prior to the unofficially named Dragon Scourge around a century or so ago was few and far between, with most of it additionally being rather vague. Originally, the most ancient events were the forging of the sword used by Tiberius, and the shattering of the moon, the former being at least a millennia in the past, the latter being several centuries.

However, with the release of Kasumi, one of her teasers implied she had become a ghost eons ago, which was further supported by every appearance of the moon in her various card artwork being unshattered. The state of civilization seen in her cards appears to be very similar to the setting shown throughout more modern depictions of the Realm, and with this being set eons in the past naturally raises two questions that were never answered: why are there huge gaps in history, and why has the Realm made so little progress and remained stuck in a largely medieval world?

### Magic Availability

It's been said that one of the reasons the Resistance were so opposed to the Magistrate banning crystals was due to regular citizens apparently not having their own sources of power. This does seem to be backed up by how uncommon magic is, even among the playable characters, as most champions that can utilize magic are often connected to otherworldly forces. Despite this, with the existence of magic that doesn't seem connected to being granted power by another force, such as Runic Magic and Alchemy, as well as characters such as Ying seemingly utilizing magic by themselves; it naturally raises the question of why exactly magic is so uncommon and why among those that can use these abilities, it's so uncommon for it to not be related to a higher power granting the abilities.

### Makoa's Anchor

Makoa's iconic anchor has been stated to have originated from Dredge's ship. This is odd though, as the ancient statue of Makoa depicted in Antediluvian shows him already wielding an anchor, despite it being highly likely this statue was constructed before Judd was even born.

### Map Reworks

The exact canonicity regarding different versions of maps has never been made clear or commented on, which is extremely odd due to the old versions of many maps appearing in card artwork or teasers, and is made even stranger by some of these maps being crumbling ancient ruins, which are highly unlikely to have been redecorated in-universe. Maps included in this are Frog Isle, Serpent Beach, Jaguar Falls, Frozen Guard, Stone Keep, Trade District, and Magistrate's Archives.

The first three are the most confusing of the bunch due to them being the ancient ruin maps, and the fact they're still ancient ruins in their reworks disproves the idea that someone renovated them for some reason. Stone Keep and Trade District could potentially be explained to be the Magistrate rebuilding due to the massive damage Yagorath caused, however, this raises the question why they didn't renovate sooner considering the old versions of both maps had some damage to them. While one may assume Frozen Guard could potentially also be the result of rebuilding, the reworked version of the map was seen in Yagorath's teaser trailer as she rampaged in the Lost Future, easily disproving it.

Magistrate's Archives, meanwhile, is its own whole issue. At first, the map had little lore beyond some cameos showing the location as being where Maeve obtained her coat, as well as another that hinted at a connection to Evie and / or Elementals, though the latter was never expanded on whatsoever.

However, the map's redesign in the Darkness and Dragons update notably changed the map, transforming it into Corvus' own personal study. In the same update though, Corvus was exiled from the Magistrate due to his involvement with Raum, no longer allowing him to use the archives, as shown explicitly in VII's teaser trailer.

While one would logically assume this means either the old version of the map is no longer canon or was retconned into having been remodeled long ago, this assumption would be challenged some time later by Yagorath's Raze and Burn card, which oddly showed her rampaging specifically in the old version of the map, which seems incredibly unlikely due to Corvus having summoned Raum before Vora released Yagorath, as mentioned here, further implied here by everyone focusing on Yagorath instead of Raum, and implied more by Yagorath's teaser trailer and The Great Worm card showing Corvus and Viktor confronting Yagorath. Everything considered, it appears impossible for Yagorath to have ever been in the old version of the Archives. The only logical explanation is that the old version of the Archives is a completely separate building from the original, one with the exact same layout, however, as mentioned, map reworks have never been commented on regarding lore and remains unnecessarily confusing.

### Stone Keep and Trade District

Stone Keep being visible on the old version of Trade District is arguably the most well-known map cameo / easter egg. However, when an official map of the Realm was released showing where all the maps were located in relation to each other, Stone Keep and Trade District were oddly placed rather far apart from each other; this was made more noticeable due to another two maps, Splitstone Quarry and Foreman's Rise, being placed right next to each other due to Splitstone being visible from Foreman's.

This and the upcoming visual rework for Stone Keep led most to believe that the cameo wasn't canon anymore and the two maps weren't right next to each other, which seemed to a correct assumption due to Trade District not being seen anywhere from the new Stone Keep. However, Trade District itself would eventually receive a visual rework of its own, and despite both the new and old versions of the map not being visible from the new Stone Keep, the reworked version of Stone Keep would be visible from the new version of Trade District.

### Resistance Members

The Resistance is largely composed of characters that wish to see crystals be free for anyone to use, or people that simply hate the Magistrate. However, there are some characters in the group that either have no apparent reason for joining, or the fact they're with the group makes little sense. In regards to the latter, Grover, Makoa, and Moji's bios all mention how they just want the war to end and stop the current threat to the Realm, which one would logically take to mean they're opposed to both the Magistrate and Resistance, yet despite that, Grover and Makoa would oddly join the group in the End Times story, while Moji was seen with the group in the Dark Tides lore cinematic; though it was later said Moji's more neutral, however nothing has been said regarding Grover and Makoa.

In regards to the former, Buck, Evie, and Koga all notably lack clear motivation for joining the group, as all have no apparent interest in crystals, let alone them being free, and none have a notable hatred of the Magistrate. It's possible Buck could only be helping the Resistance due to Jenos similarly deciding to fight the Darkness alongside them, though it raises the question on why Buck specifically joined the group, rather than just fight alongside them as Jenos did. Evie has been mentioned as being power hungry, potentially pointing to the possibility she only joined the group to obtain power in the crystals they collect. Finally, Koga has been mentioned to be hunted by both the Magistrate and Thousand Hands, which could indicate the only reason he joined was to have a place to rest, though at the same time, it seems questionable the Magistrate wouldn't be attacking the Resistance constantly, while also being questionable the Thousand Hands wouldn't know where the Reistance's base is or wouldn't be willing to attack it.

### Imani's Travels

In Imani's own teaser trailer and the End Times story, Imani attacks Dredge at Marauder's Port before traveling to the Resistance's base, having found traces of them around the Warder's Beacon. While it was eventually explained years later that Imani had tracked her gauntlets with the usage of crystals and a magic book, it was never explained what exact tracers of the Resistance she had found at Warder's Watch or how she even knew it was from the group at all. It was additionally never explained how Imani managed to travel across the Realm to these different locations, especially Marauder's, as it's a small island in the middle of the ocean, while Imani has never been shown with a boat.

### Magistrate and Peace Disturbances

As mentioned here and here, Karne has worked incredibly hard to create a peaceful Realm, which is why he clashes with Valera, as she fights for the freedom of the Realm, while he fights for its peace. However, this raises questions regarding why certain champions are seemingly allowed to roam free and do as they please when they're clearly notable threats to public safety. Aside from Androxus, who Lex has been mentioned in his bio and shown here to be hunting down, as well as Koga briefly being hunted, and Caspian only being mentioned as wanted by the Magistrate, the characters one would logically expect the Magistrate to deal with includes Bomb King, mentioned to fly into an explosive rage at the drop of a hat, causing people to knowingly keep their distance, Betty La Bomba, a warlord that wishes to take over the Realm and has committed war crimes in the past, Drogoz, who flies through the Realm violently attacking people for their gold, Kinessa, Maeve, and Saati, all bounty hunters, Mal'Damba, who was sent into the war to lay waste to any who would stand before Wekono, and the Thousand Hands Guild at large, what with being a massive criminal empire.

### Outer Tribunal

There are two regarding the Outer Tribunal.

The first regards the original Paladins. In VII's bio, it's mentioned the Outer Tribunal formed to combat the constant threats to the Realm, however this leads to confusion as the original Paladins were created for the exact same reason. If the Outer Tribunal was created first, the question of why didn't the Paladins join their group instead of creating an entirely new one? The Outer Tribunal being created afterwards though, leads to even more questions; if the Tribunal was created after, not only does it beg the question of why it was even created at all, as the original Paladins had disbanded specifically because there were no longer any threats. At the same time, if the Tribunal was created just in case new threats arose, one wonders why the original Paladins didn't just stay together in the event that happened?

The second inconsistency regards VII. His bio highlights many aspects of his character as unique and notable traits, however everything mentioned were already traits shared by every other judge in the Outer Tribunal. To begin with, his bio mentions how the group needed someone "unburdened by the trappings of mercy", yet Lex's bio states the Outer Tribunal is already made up of merciless judges, which Lex himself demonstrates after nearly killing Androxus with no hesitation. VII's bio also highlights the fact that he's an executioner, yet as shown previously with Lex, as well as mentioned here, Tribunal judges are granted authority by the Magistrate to deliver justice as they deem appropriate, which clearly includes killing if need be. Finally, his bio also mentions that he "undertakes missions that would break most men", however yet again, as mentioned in both Lex's bio and loading screen tips, battling supernatural horrors and anomalies is par for the course with Tribunal judges, and with VII having never fought any Abyssal entities or supernatural horrors that we know of thus far, ironically makes him one of the least impressive judges. Additionally, VII's design is also inconsistent with the design to be expected from the Outer Tribunal judges, with him even completely lacking any form of symbol that remotely resembles the group's logo.

### Shattered Moon

The Paladins moon being shattered has been a long standing feature of the Paladins world, even prior to the introduction of the modern lore, with the moon being visibly shattered in old maps and teasers. However, this hasn't always been consistent, with the moon noticeably being depicted normally in Zhin's splash art, Rei's card, Midnight Stroll, and Caspian's teaser trailer. Zhin's splash art was acknowledged as an error, though never ended up being fixed, while the latter two were never commented on whatsoever.

### Ska'drin Treatment

The Ska'drin have been treated with extreme discrimination for a long time, causing nearly all of them to hide their Skad'rin features in fear. Yet despite that, in the A Conflict Reignited lore cinematic, the discrimination is suddenly focused on, leading to the creation of the New Resistance, however, the cinematic doesn't actually mention that anything regarding the Ska'drin's treatment has changed or gotten worse, leading one to wonder why some characters are suddenly standing against it now out of nowhere.

### Vatu in Public

As has been heavily emphasized in Vatu's various teasers and mentioned several times elsewhere, Vatu is a legendary figure that many aren't sure if he's actually real; largely just being a ghost story. Despite this, Vatu doesn't seem to put much effort into actual staying hidden at points. Notably in his own trailer, Vora finds and attacks him, with it later being mentioned she was looking for him specifically because he might get in her and Yagorath's way, though this naturally leads to questions on why Vora decided to go after someone she may not even know actually exists over other more confirmable targets, as well as how she managed to find him at all. Additionally, Vatu's bio mentions how his mode of operation is generally to attack from the shadows in such a way his attacks seem like complete freak accidents, yet the A Conflict Reignited lore cinematic shows him publicly presenting himself while Ska'drins are being attacked, as well as later against the New Magistrate, which naturally would lead to many individuals learning that he is infact real.

**Directions**Anti-Abyss  •  Anti-Darkness  •  Nature Protectors  •  Neutral
**Groups** Bomb Kingdom  •  Deepwerks  •  Eternal Pyre  •  Followers of Io  •  House Aico  •  House Arturos  •  Outer Tribunal  •  Paladins (Former)  •  Red River Orcs  •  Sentinels  •  Shadow Tribunal  •  Summer Court  •  Tau-Kor Monastery  •  Thousand Hands Guild  •  Warders  •  Unknown Groups
**Noteworthy Items / Forces**Crystals  •  Magic  •  Souls  •  Warder's Key  •  Warder's Relic
**Notable Positions**Abyssal Lord  •  Border Lord  •  Grand Magister  •  Pyre Lord
**The Realm**Abyss  •  Aico Tundra  •  Crosswind Hold  •  The Eight Oceans  •  Enchanted Forest  •  Greenwood  •  Lunar Coast  •  Seris (Village)  •  Temple Isles  •  Trade Row  •  Warder's Watch
**Races**Abyssal Creature  •  Animal  •  Construct  •  Darkness  •  Dragon  •  Deities  •  Dwarf  •  Elemental  •  Elf  •  Faerie  •  Goblin  •  Human  •  Leipori  •  Orc  •  Pyre Creature  •  Ska'drin  •  Spirit  •  Stagalla  •  Tigron  •  Transformed  •  Undead  •  Vulpin  •  Wyrin
**Complete Timeline**Complete Timeline  •  Paladins Chronicles
**Story Arcs**Crystal Arc  •  Darkness Arc  •  Ska'drin Arc
**Time Periods**The Ancient Age  •  The Age of the Paladins  •  The Golden Age  •  The Age of Resistance  •  The Lost Future
**Notable Events**Dragon Scourge  •  Goblin Scourges  •  Golden Age  •  Crystal War  •  Koga's Revenge  •  Destruction of Seris  •  Battle of Ascension Peak  •  Warders Return  •  The Fight of the Shattered Desert  •  Shattered Goddess' Return  •  The Summoning of Raum  •  The Darkness Released  •  Shift of Power
**Other**NPCs  •  Updated Bios  •  Alternate Realities  •  Canon Skins  •  Statues  •  Legends  •  Misconceptions  •  **Retcons**  •  Character Feats  •  Alpha Lore

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/basicnoir/status/1589989285553659905
2. ↑ *Rise of Furia* Lore Cinematic, YouTube
3. ↑ Patch Preview Open Beta 55, YouTube
4. ↑ *A Realm Divided* Lore Cinematic, YouTube
5. ↑ File:Unused Street Style Art Asset.jpg
6. ↑ Alyssa Herman on ArtStation
7. ↑ Imani#Current\_Official\_Bio
8. ↑ Paladins 2.02 Patch Notes and Megathread, Reddit
9. ↑ Dark Tides Lore Cinematic
10. ↑ File:Aicothechampion.PNG
11. ↑ File:Magistrate VS Resistance Morality.png
12. ↑ PaladinsGame on Twitter
13. ↑ File:Reworkjaguarfallsmapcameos.png
14. ↑ Fanning the Flames
15. ↑ Magistrate's Might
16. ↑ Deadly Pursuit
17. ↑ File:Frozenguardcameo.PNG
18. ↑ Collateral Damage
19. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZdrMmMMDNI
20. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuUX6cakDT0
21. ↑ Vicious Circle
22. ↑ Air Supremacy
23. ↑ https://paladins.com/news/dev-blog-magistrates-archives-map-update-behind-the-scenes
24. ↑ https://youtu.be/i0XvL15bcG4?t=2853
26. ↑ https://youtu.be/68yer1Y86gg?t=2770
27. ↑ File:Tip\_Ska'drin\_Hiding.png