Settphelios

SettPhelios is the slash ship between Sett and Aphelios from the League of Legends fandom.

League of Legends
Sett and Aphelios were both released next to each other. Aphelios was released back in December 11, 2019 while Sett was released in January 14, 2020 in the versions V9.24 and V10.1, respectively.

They never interacted and for the most part didn't have any sort of connection in any type of published media, since Sett is the leader of Ionia’s growing criminal underworld and Aphelios is from Mount Targon, two completely different and distant nations. However, the fact both were released back to back was enough to keep the attention in the minds of the community for people to think about what they would be like as a couple.

Growing up in the fighting arenas in Noxus, Sett (full name Settrigh) gained some fame with each opponent he knocked down with his punches. In a short time, he went from a mere fighter to the very "boss" of the precinct. Sett has a huge anger inside him, such hatred came from his father, who abandoned him and his mother since he didn't want to get involved with a vastaya. Since he was half human and half vastaya, Sett was bullied in his childhood for being different from other children and, consequently, got into countless fights, always arriving injured at his house. The maternal love that the champion had for his mother was what managed to put him on the "right path". Determined that he would give his mother a decent future, the young man began to do what he did best: fight. As a true showman and with an unnatural strength due to the vastaya nature, Sett became a true boss and made several new enemies.

A driving point in their stories has both something to do with a family member. Aphelios with his sister, and Sett with his mother. The pressure and the burden of his responsabilities were too heavy for Aphelios who gave his all in his training. Feeling these emotions, he developed a strong bond with Alune, making him ignore other friendships in the process aswell. Fans believe Sett could be a great addition to Aphelio's relationships, since he could remove some pressure of his responsabilities and be someone he could be vulnerable with. Same goes for Sett.

Their dynamic comes in their contrast in personality and some of their similarities in their respective stories, since Sett is big, loud and vacuous while Aphelios is more quiet, serious and generally fits more into the silent monk assassin archetype.

In the Spirit Blossom Alternate Universe, Sett and Aphelios are in a relationship, with Sett affectionately calling Aphelios by the nickname Mooncake.

Fanon
Despite never interacting, Settphelios became one of the most popular ships in the community, as evidenced by the great amount of fanart and fanfiction that exists about them. On AO3, it's the most written ship for both characters.

The ship gained some attention from Riot in some way, since they shared some fan content and made Aphelios appear in the splash art of Sett's Firecracker skin, similary how Zed appeared in Withered Rose Syndra's skin, speculated to be a response or a reference to the community for both ships, this speculation later being proved to be truth with the reveal of their Spirit Blossom skins. The nickname used by Spirit Blossom Sett to refer to Spirit Blossom Aphelios, "Mooncake", comes from the ship's fandom, where shippers would often have Sett call Aphelios as Mooncake in fanart and fanfics.

A lot of Settphel fans believe they will probably meet in the main canon in the future because of those speculated ship teases, while others might enjoy the ship as a crackship still.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

ART
 * Sett x Aphelios tag on TikTok
 * Sett x Aphelios tag on TikTok

TUMBLR

TWITTER

Trivia

 * During Valentines Day, they were one of the ships that had a skin sale in the brazilian server.
 * The official League of Legends LATAM youtube channel, in the update video of 12.2, showed some of the community's fanart of the patch. Some fan arts of Settphelios were shown, and the host said they were "the ship of the year" and that "history books will tell they were great friends".
 * During 2021 pride month, the official League of Legends twitter page retweeted some fan art of Sett and Aphelios, alongside other ships.
 * During the release of the new Heartache and Heartthrob skins, the official League of Legends twitter page retweeted some fan art of Sett and Aphelios in Heartache and Heartthrob skins.
 * In the Cupcakes 4 Heartaches metagame, a menu board saying that "Cupcakes + Mooncakes" are available to be purchased is a reference to Arcane Vi calling  Arcane Caitlyn "Cupcake" and  Spirit Blossom Sett calling  Spirit Blossom Aphelios "Mooncake" which implies both  Aphelios and  Sett are in a relationship in that universe as well.