Nilah in League of Legends: Upcoming melee botlaner to use an Urumi, a weapon of Indian origin

Nilah, the upcoming League of Legends champion, was introduced this week, with Riot Games giving gamers their first glimpse at the character's gameplay.

Based on the snatches of gameplay, fans figured out that the melee bot laner uses water-based skills and a "water whip" to attack adversaries close and far. But the idea was speculative since the entire scope of the champion's abilities was still unclear to the League of Legends community.

Nila's character draws inspiration from an ancient South Indian community (Screengrab via Legue of Legends trailer)

Some facts about the champion were reported to have leaked ahead of time to give fans a better understanding of what Nilah can do. However, it looks like the leaks were not totally accurate, at least based on this gameplay teaser.

League lore aficionados noticed that Nilah's leg looked similar to what Yasuo’s armor. Thus, it could be possible that she came over to Bilgewater from the same area as Yasuo did and her weapon is not just a water-whip, but a water-whip-sword.

Nilah's name and attire also has Indian vibes to it, considering she's donning a saree. Thus, it was evident that her weapon must be an ancient Indian sword. In a Reddit post today, Riot's Lead Gameplay Producer Ryan 'Reav3' Mireles confirmed that Nilah’s weapon is an Urumi, a historic South-Indian whip sword.

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Upcoming League of Legends champion Nilah draws weapon inspiration from ancient South India

Nilah with her Urumi at Summoner's Rift (Screengrab via Legue of Legends trailer)

Urumi is an Indian sword with a flexible, whip-like blade that originated in modern-day Kerala. It's said to have been around since the Sangam period. It's treated like a steel whip, and one needs to know how to use it like a sword. Considering the level of difficulty, in Indian martial systems like Kalaripayattu, the urumi is always taught last.

The weapon is also known as chuttuval in Kerala, derived from the Malayalam words for "coiling" or "spinning" (chuttu) and "sword" (val). Surulkatti, Surulval, and Surulpattakatti are Tamil names for Urumi. Nilah's appearance too resembles that of a South Indian girl possessing immense power and strength.

Nilah is supposedly an Urumi-master, the most position position in ancient Soith Indian martial Art Kalaripayattu (Screengrab via Legue of Legends trailer)

Redditor and League of Legends regular McPuffins88 considers Nilah's "whip" to be a pretty neat historic weapon. According to him:

"Just watched the champ trailer and she's clearly coded to be Indian. When I saw her weapon, the first thing I thought was that it's an urumi. Kind of like a sword/steel whip, it's an Indian weapon utilized like a flail that can wrap over shields - usually single to multi-bladed. It's just cool to see Riot incorporating cultural history into their new champions."

Nilah appears to be a lot of fun to play with and, as a non-traditional bot-laner, she could offer a new dynamic to the bottom lane. It's exciting to see Riot Games trying new things with champions like Zeri and Renata Glasc. Suffice to say, Nilah's expectations are sky-high as well.

Nilah's official release date is yet to be announced by Riot. However, she is expected to arrive in LoL Patch 12.13 or LoL Patch 12.14. The League of Legends community also thinks she'll get a Star Guardian skin when she officially steps on to the Summoner's Rift.

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