League of Legends Ruination creations: Where were Hecarim and Kalista before their current state as Shadow Isles characters?

One of the regions in League of Legends, the Shadow Isles, is home to a handful of champions that play into the Ruination event plaguing the Rift before they shifted into the warped, tormented beings that rose from the dark magic and sorrow that spills from the territory's pores. Kalista, the Spear of Vengeance and Hecarim, the Shadow of War, fell to the corruption of the Ruination that imploded within the Blessed Isles before their transformation into the Shadow Isles.

Some were thrown into the Ruination willingly while others embraced the damnation and reveled in its cruel potential. Hecarim and Kalista both dwelled close to one another under the vengeful thumb of their king, both lying on opposite sides of the Ruination and its leading events. All of the anguish cast over the land spread through Viego's acts of desperation and rage over the death of his queen.

Kalista and Hecarim's lives prior to Viego's fall into Ruination

Kalista

As niece of King Viego, she served as a general under his command with strict morals that favored loyalty over any other driving force before the Ruination began. She protected her king from his many enemies, killing off the assassins sent to eliminate him, and securing Viego's lineage until the blade that ended it all sliced the queen and caused her to fall ill.

After countless efforts of the best surgeons and medical advisors, the queen's ailment couldn't be halted. Viego, in distress, found no other option than to send Kalista out into the world to find a cure for the poison slowly killing Queen Isolde. Kalista rode out with Hecarim of the Iron Order to a place called Helia in the Blessed Isles where rumors spread about the inhabitants and how they knew the secret to eternal life.

Kalista's pure intentions gave the beings who guarded the mist a reason to let her pass and convince the city elders to aid her, but she returned to Veigo too late as the king's path to Ruination cemented. She landed home with an artifact that could grant her safe passage back to Helia after learning that the queen had already passed away from the poison, acting as the spark for the Ruination to come.

Kalista's uncle fell into madness, and she eventually led him to the Blessed Isles in hopes for him to seek closure. However, Viego was met by the guardians and then commanded Kalista to steer through them against the promise she made to the people of Helia. When she refused, she called for Hecarim to stand with her, but he betrayed her and skewered her with a spear, damning her to the shadowy being she is today after Viego caused the Ruination.

Hecarim

On the back of his warhorse, Hecarim won many battles for his king as a lieutenant in Viego's army. Eventually, the Iron Order saw great potential in him as well as a brewing hunger for glory that could lead to darkness in his heart. After learning that he would never lead the Iron Order, Hecarim erupted into an outrage, angered that his power would stop there.

The commander who prevented his reign of the Iron Order found himself isolated and in dire need of help in the next war they surged into. Hecarim, seeing the opportunity before him, chose the path of darkness and left his commander for dead. The other knights, with no other choice, recognized Hecarim as the new commander as his traitorous act fell unnoticed, sending him towards the chain of events that led up to the Ruination.

When he returned, Queen Isolde lay victim to the assassins that sought after the king, and that's when he met Kalista, as she ventured out to find the cure to the poison. She told him that the Iron Order must remain home to protect the king. The Iron Order, led by a bloodthirsty Hecarim, ransacked the neighboring villages and killed hundreds along the way to enforce the new law.

As Kalista returned and Isolde died, Hecarim furthered his warmongering by convincing the general to lead Viego and the army to the Blessed Isles to seek peace for the king. Things turned sour when the fleet of ships arrived when the guardians of the Isles refused to let them pass. Kalista stood by her promise and asked Hecarim to stand with her as well, but he sided with war and anger as he drove a spear through her back, allowing them to pass as the Ruination started.

The blasting force from Helia to protect the Blessed Isles sent forth a massive wave of mist that dragged every creature into the depths of its blackness. Hecarim attempted to resist Ruination as the last standing being, but he was taken by the shadows and morphed into the centaur he appears as today.