Legends Never Die

They are Eternal

My storytelling apprenticeship continues. The algorithm offers me such a wide range of content that there are niches I didn’t even know existed. Many themes fail to arouse my interest but the storytellers’ talent often makes me stay until the end.

A precious power that I must continue to work on. In the midst of my wanderings, I came across a video of stories about League of Legends.

Ah, League of Legends! 

It’s been over a decade since I played this game. This video hit me with a heavy dose of nostalgia. A time when life seemed lighter. Where responsibility didn’t exist. A time when I could afford to play all night long with my friends.

(If your child plays video games at a frantic pace, all is not lost, he could become a writer. (lol) )

League is a hard game to classify. Extremely fun, and addictive, but if you have anger management problems, this game can damage your soul. It’s the perfect game to play with (real) friends. Not with “acquaintances”. It’ll reveal enmities in broad daylight.

But League isn’t just a game. It’s now an acclaimed TV series. Also numerous songs. If there’s one studio that’s grown beyond the world of video games, it’s Riot Games. 

Every year, they release a song dedicated to “The Worlds”. The competition brings together the world’s best teams. The Super Bowl of e-sports.

The most famous is the one released in 2014: Warriors, a collaboration with Imagine Dragons. But that’s not the one I want to talk about today.

Comfortably seated in front of my documentary, I rediscovered the 2017 Worlds song. An intro and a calm voice. A first sentence

“Legends never die.”

Then a little further on.

“They become a part of you.”

You don’t know why, but certain words resonate deeply with you. As if words had the power to bring out buried emotions. Like passwords activating access to areas of your brain.

I instantly thought of all the people I’d lost. Too soon. Too quickly. Among them, a dear friend with whom I spent evenings playing.

He had a great influence on me. If I am what I am, if I write what I write, it’s because he was what he was. Years after he left us. He lives on. Through all the people he influenced. Sometimes appearing at the end of my pen.

Wherever you are, the years pile up but I don’t forget you. The pain has eased but the scar won’t heal. Life without you has lost a shade of color.

It made me think of two things.

One: every human being is a unique treasure. There are 8 billion of us and no two are alike. When one leaves, humanity loses one of its diamonds.

The second is about our legacy. Still an abstract concept for me. I don’t know what legacy I want to leave. 

Perhaps when the years have flown by, when all I’ll have left is white hairs in my beard, I’ll feel the need to bequeath all this accumulated knowledge.

But is this the best way to leave a legacy?

Isn’t the best legacy just to live the life you want to live? So when others are inspired by your memory, they only find inspiration in your actions.

When I think of the heroes who inspired me, it wasn’t their books but their actions that changed everything. Words are fine, but if they’re not accompanied by acts of valor, what are they worth?

No heavier than a ton of wind.

My friend left no writings, no philosophy. He left memories. His way of behaving. And yet, of all those who left, he left me the most.

Do we even leave a legacy because we want to leave a legacy? 
Did Socrates and Marcus Aurelius want to leave something behind?

The former never wrote anything. Everything we know about him has been reported by others. If he wanted to leave a mark, he would have written down thoughts to make them eternal.

Marcus Aurelius. His writings were not intended for publication. They were “thoughts for himself”. They were personal reflections intended as a personal philosophy. It wasn’t supposed to help all those souls for more than twenty centuries.

Maybe you don’t have to want to leave a legacy to leave one. Maybe you just have to be busy living your best life to become eternal. 

So it’s true: Legends never die. 

Even when the light of their star has faded.
They continue to bless us with their light. 

Their influence never ends.
They become part of history. 
They become eternal.