Vora

Cameos

Vora appears in the following content:

• Cinematics and Trailers
  • Vatu's Teaser Trailer
  • Yagorath's Teaser Trailer*

• Cards
  • Dreadful Compact - Yagorath Card
  • No One Escapes - Atlas Card*^[13][12]
  • Tactical Fire - Octavia Card

• Avatars
  • A-Vora-Ble*
  • Life and Death
  • Vora

• Sprays
  • Give Me a V!*
  • Paladins' 3rd Birthday

• Other
  • Atlas Splash Art*^[21][12]
  • Yagorath Splash Art
  • Corrupted / Frozen Moon Io Splash Art
  • Cuddly Yagorath Splash Art*
  • Cuddly Yagorath Skin*
  • Vora Splash - Mousepad Design

Notable Characters that appear in Vora's own content includes:

• Cinematics and Trailers
  • Atlas, Lex, and Yagorath - Vora's Teaser Trailer*

• Cards
  • Io - False Idol and New Purpose*

• Other
  • Yagorath - Vora's Voice Pack*

References

• The line "Not with a bang, but a whimper." (▶️) is a reference to the poem The Hollow Men.
  • The line "There is no such thing as justice, this is how the world goes." (▶️) may also be a reference to the poem.
• The joke "Apparently Karne's son almost managed to cause armageddon in my stead; now that is funny. *laughs*" (▶️) is a reference to how Corvus was responsible for unleashing the Darkness in Atlas' timeline.^[22]

Promotion

• In an effort to promote Vora, Paladins artist Thunderbrush would change his profile picture and banner on Twitter a number of times prior to Vora's reveal. The first change came on July 1st, 2020, where his profile picture was changed to this image, which would later be revealed as an edited version of Vora's default splash art, while Thunderbrush would change his banner to this image at the same time, which would later be revealed to be the background of an alternate unused splash art of Vora's.^[23]
  • Following this, Thunderbrush would share an art piece related to the Battle Pass of the time, Radiant Stars, which featured a mysterious figure in the background, later revealed to be Galactic Conqueror Vora.^[24]
  • On September 18th, 2020, Thunderbrush would change his profile picture and banner once more. His profile picture would be changed to this image, which would later be revealed to be an alternate unused splash art for Vora's Seal Guardian skin.^[25] His banner, meanwhile, would be changed to this image, which is the background for this unused splash art.
• Another separate effort was also being made to promote Vora prior to her reveal. From September 21st to the 24th of 2020, packages were sent to several influencers in the Paladins community. These included metrobirdman on the 21st, I_Dodge_Bulletz on the 22nd, Jay Flare on the 23rd, and finally, KamiGG on the 24th. Each received a satchel containing a sample of the Darkness,^[26] as well as a torn piece of paper. On one side of each, was the portion of a larger map, while the other side contained a unique written message.
  • metrobirdman's package can be seen here. The piece of the map he was sent can be seen here, while the letter he received can be viewed here. This is the only package to be addressed from "the son of a legendary judge."
  • The letter reads as follows: "Blow the horn of Arturos. The forest will call upon the alliances of the past."
  • Arturos was the name of Cassie's father in the alpha lore of the game. It's not known if this is still the case.
    • I_Dodge_Bulletz package can be seen here. The piece of the map he was sent can be seen here, while the letter he received can be viewed here.
    • The letter reads as follows: "Rally your army back home before the Magistrate runs out of time."
      • Jay Flare's package can be seen here. The piece of the map he was sent can be seen here, while the letter he received can be viewed here.
      • The letter reads as follows: "I know you wish to prove your throne. Stoke your mines and look towards our future."
        • KamiGG's package can be seen here. The piece of the map he was sent can be seen here, while the letter he received can be viewed here.
        • The letter reads as follows: "Ask yourself how you want history to remember you and your guild."
          • When brought together, the complete map appears. A higher quality version with more information was later released, as can be seen here.
• Vora's standard teasers can be seen here:
  • (Teaser 1) "When I was young, I believed in everything they told me. I believed that from the sky you looked over us and loved us all... even when you weren't yourself. I believed in you."
  • (Teaser 2) "I swore an allegiance. I would protect your seal. I will keep our world at peace, keep the darkness at bay, and protect us all. Just as you would protect us. I still believed in you."
  • (Teaser 3) "But the world didn't believe in anything. Everything grew dark and then somehow even darker. As every day passed and you denied us your light, innocents all died amongst the righteous crusades. I believed..."
  • (Teaser 4) "I've forsaken you, in our darkest hours. Surrounded by the bodies of my brothers and sisters, I found a new god. I whispered into the darkness and they whispered back. I believe in me now."
  • (Teaser 5) "When we are done with the Realm, no one will ever need saving, ever again. I will see to it myself."

Concepts

• The first versions of Vora were concepted around the time of Rise of Furia, with her being brainstormed as releasing in 2019, showing more monstrous designs.^[27][28]
  • Other early designs can be seen here.^[29]
  • To be more specific regarding release, Vora was initially planned to release much earlier than she did,^[30] around the time of Atlas and Io, but she ended up pushed back due to resource reasons.^[31] AOC member Hyu claims she was specifically meant to release following Atlas.^[32]
• Though she was initially more monstrous in appearance, it was decided to split this side of Vora away into a "spin-off" champion, which became Yagorath, supposedly so Vora could shine more as a character.^[33] Initially, the idea was that Vora would eventually transform into Yagorath herself. Additionally, Vora was designed from the start as a villain, with her tragic backstory being added later.^[34]
  • According to AOC member Hyu,^[35] another reason Vora's design changed was supposedly due to the developers wishing to make Vora more low profile looking due to her being changed from a Damage champion into a Flank.
  • Additionally, Paladins Artist ThunderBrush originally claimed that Vora's design was changed due to the AOC of the time finding her original design "too scary".^[36] However, AOC member Hyu denied this, claiming the AOC was all for the original direction and that it was the developers themselves who decided on changing it.^[35] Much later, ThunderBrush eventually claimed that this was true and that his original tweet from before had been auto-corrected. He additionally said that the development team in general wasn't fond of the more monstrous design, with himself being one of the few that was.^[37]
• AOC member Hyu additionally claimed the original plan was for the more monstrous Vora to have a connected splash art with Atlas,File:AoC Vora and Atlas Splash Arts.png</ref> similarly to how Soul Eater Jenos and Demon Slayer Zhin appear in each other's splash arts. The specific design of Vora that was intended to appear can be seen here.^[38]
  • This also implies Vora was originally intended to be from the future.
• As mentioned, Vora was originally being made as a Damage character, only for her to essentially have her role swapped with Tiberius (who was originally envisioned as a Flank).^[39] AOC member Hyu claims Vora had different abilities as a Damage.^[40] Additionally, Vora was originally intended to transform into a more spider-like appearance when using her ultimate.^[41][38]
• Vora went through many different gameplay concepts. One of the first ideas involved her a parasite that would attach to an enemy's head and allow her to control them, however, this was quickly decided to be a bad fit for gameplay.^[42]
• Another concept saw Vora attaching to walls like a spider, then turning invisible and waiting for someone to pass by. She would then reappear and assassinate them with a pounce. However, this concept was also determined to be a bad fit for gameplay, both due to dying from an invisible assassin suddenly appearing behind you being incredibly frustrating, as well as Vora potentially accomplishing absolutely nothing if no one were to pass by.^[43][38]
  • In two lines Vora states "All good things to those who wait." (▶️ ▶️); which are remnants from this concept.^[44]
  • This concept^[45] may have been the design intended for this gameplay concept. While this design shows Vora with dual scythes, similarly to a figure in the background of Ska'drin and Scorned Ash's splash art, the figure isn't meant to be any version of Vora, the resemblance being an unintentional accident.^[46] In reality, this figure was a ska'drin version of Maeve.^[47]
• Additional ability concepts show other unused concepts and abilities, such as Vora's tendril coming directly out of her arm, her various ranged abilities launching actual pieces of the Darkness, an unused ability where she'd attack with a sudden spike attack from the ground, and another unused ability where her tendril hair would burrow underground before bursting back out in a different location to attack enemies.^[48]
  • Concept sketch for the Vora design featured in these concepts can be seen here.^[48]
  • What seems to be a slightly later version of this design can additionally be seen here.^[49]
• One of the original concepts for Vora's ultimate involved her transforming into a "sort of land-shark monster form", allowing her to eat enemies.^[50]
• As Vora's abilities were finalized, Dark Siphon and Obliteration went back and forth on which should be her right click ability. Obliteration ultimately won out due to feedback regarding ease of access to a close-range emergency damage immunity.^[51]
• A seemingly later concept saw Vora wielding an extendable sword.^[52]
• Numerous other early designs also exist, showing many different potential designs for her as the final design began to take form.^[53]
• As Vora's design neared the final version, the differences become less and less extreme, such as her scythe originally having eyes.^[48]
• Vora herself meanwhile, had almost reached her own final design. At first, her colors were more highly saturated, but was soon darkened. Additionally, Vora almost had pigtails, but this was changed for the final ponytail.^[54][55][48]
• In general, the timeline of Vora's designs progressed in roughly the following order: first, second, third, fourth, and fifth, before being followed by her final design.^[56] Though keep in mind this doesn't cover every revealed concept, (the rest of which can be seen here), with this design likely being her actual first, while this design was likely concepted alongside the third, and this design likely being concepted at some point following the second concept once a scythe was fully settled on.
• Originally, Vora was intended to be more emotionless, but her voice actress added in a sassy confidence that the developers enjoyed and decided to keep.^[57]
• Vora's spawn chatter line with Io (▶️) was originally intended to be different, but it had to be changed.^[58]
• Vora was originally planned to launch with a fully corrupted skin, which would've been available for direct purchase, presumably with the standard price of 800 .^[55][59]
• Concept art for several of Vora's cards shows a number of differences from the final product.^[5] Notable changes include:
  • A Broken Path had several unused concepts, including Vora exchanging a friendly wave with another individual, praying with several others, having a priest pick her out of a lineup, and generally showing her far more at peace.
  • A Dance with Fate originally featured Vora attacking someone.
  • Deadly Dance originally featured Vora attacking in a few different manners.
  • Elegant Paring originally featured her about to attack with her scythe, rather than having just thrown it.
  • New Purpose was originally zoomed further out and featured a more scared looking Io, who was also seemingly physically present, while Vora held something in her hands.

Other

• Vora is one of the few champions to have received an Announcer Pack.
• Vora and Yagorath had their voice packs recorded at the same time.^[60]
• Vora's kill taunts have an 8% chance of occurring, though this was later changed to 10%.^[61][62]
• The only reason Vora has so many kill taunts is because the developer who wrote her voice pack "just felt like writing a lot of kill taunts".^[63]
• Vora originally only had two long introduction lines (▶️ ▶️), but after complaints that Vora talked too much, three other shorter lines (▶️ ▶️ ▶️) were added to her possible introductions. This change was also applied to her Seal Guardian voice pack as well.
  • One of these shorter lines ("All good things to those who wait." (▶️)) was eventually removed due to Yagorath being in the game.^[64]
• Originally, Vora had additional kill taunts for two unique champions that were cut and intended to follow Yagorath. These champions were not Octavia and Vatu, but unique characters.^[65] These cut champions were later revealed / implied to be Karne and Valera.^[66]
  • The lines would've involved Vora further complaining about the Magistrate and Resistance, and also been along the lines of Vora accusing the two of fooling themselves into thinking they're righteous.
• Vora is the only default character to directly mention both Karne and Valera by name. Karne twice (▶️ ▶️), and Valera once (▶️). She shares these traits with Corvus (mentions Karne), and Overlord Khan (mentions both Karne and Valera).
• Vora's teaser trailer is notable for the positioning of characters being rather inconsistent, such as when Atlas shoots at Vora, the direction his shot comes from doesn't match his actual location, coupled with the fact he logically shouldn't have even been able to see her. Another example includes how in the actual trailer towards the end, Atlas and Lex are standing close together looking around for Vora before eventually opening fire on nothing, shooting towards the walls before Vora slips by. These inconsistencies were eventually brought to light when a early blocked out version of the trailer was released, showing that originally, Vora was meant to land closer to Atlas' position, while Atlas himself wasn't in the exact same location either. For the latter, it's revealed the originally, Atlas and Lex were meant to run away from Vora, eventually opening fire as she caught up to them before slipping past and attacking them as she does in the actual trailer.^[67]
• Vora's sound effects apparently incorporate the usage of chicken salad and macaroni.^[68]
• An early unfinished version of Vora's avatar was mistakenly used on the official site before eventually being replaced with the finished icon. The avatar can be seen here, with it just being an image of her in-game model.
• The card Unified in Purpose features the artwork of Io's card Full Moon as the background.
• For one of Vora's initial teasers, an alternate version of the card What May Come was used, which had Vora removed.
• The icon for the Talent Unyielding Pressure, the icon for Tendril, and the artwork for the card Otherworldly Tether all feature the same artwork of Vora.
• Vora originally had a different unused splash art, however, it was changed due to better wanting to differentiate Vora's pre-corrupted and corrupted forms.^[69]
• The mark under Vora's eye is still present on her golden skin.
• Saati's hairstyle was modeled after the hair of one of Vora's early concepts.^[70]