Leodia

"Fair Diana, cast away thy blade. I do not wish to end thee so."

LeoDia is the femslash ship between Leona and Diana from the League of Legends fandom.

Canon


The champions were - initially - intertwined as friends who later became enemies. In the short story "Ascend With Me" it is revealed that, in fact, there were more things behind their relationship. Without confirmation whether Leona and Diana are necessarily lesbians at first, reality cannot be changed: they formed lol's first canonized (and sapphic) LGBTQIA+ couple.

The Radiant Dawn bears the Aspect of the Sun, who since childhood was described in her official biography as a great devotee, a girl on the rise and full of faith and willpower. Inhabitant of Mount Targon, she worships the holy sun along with the Solari. Intertwined with Diana's life, Leona found her purpose in the Solari teachings and wanted her friend to have the same experience. In her biography we have the knowledge of how Leona came to carry the Aspect of the Sun; following Diana to the top of Mount Targon, both were chosen to possess the power of the Aspects.

With views different from what they believed, Leona and Diana went into combat, which ended with Diana fleeing and Leona facing a massacre at the Solari base - at the hands of the Mockery of the Moon. Unlike Leona, the Scorn of the Moon did not share the same stubborn devotion and faith to the Solari religion. Diana was an orphan child, curious and who did not accept traditions and absolute rules without knowing why. Diana saw several gaps in the Solari narrative and had doubts that, instead of being remedied, were repressed. With the discovery that the sun and moon were not enemies, Diana was seen as a heretic, an outcast. Seeking answers at the top of Mount Targon, Diana became aware of the Lunari. Followed by Leona, Diana was taken by the Aspect of the Moon.

Diana, ecstatic with her discovery, wanted a new future. The receptacle of the Aspect of the Sun, on the other hand, just wanted to return to the Solari. With their differences, they fought.

After these events, Diana went to the Solari confronting them and was eventually judged - as throughout her life - as heretic. Taken by an anger, magnified by the Aspect within her, she lost control and created an explosion that left several elders and Solari guards dead.

This year, Riot Games released a new short story starring the two called Ascend with Me. The story goes back to the past of Diana and Leona as apprentices of the Solari, using the format of a diary and notes to report several days and interactions between them, in addition to contextualizing the plot. Here, we see a little of the youth of the two, focusing on their approach, although it also adds more information to their biographies.

Firstly, a missive presents the idea of a winter festival, aiming to demonstrate its value to the Goddess of the Sun through dance and music. But the plot soon establishes Diana's situation through one of her tutors, who rebukes her for openly questioning a Priestess. An excerpt from the teen character's diary shows her displeasure as she portrays her thoughts and questions, reflecting on the injustice of being punished for asking questions. From the beginning it is clear that the young woman is not against the goddess she should worship, but believes that faith should be found through these issues, seeking to create a close and intimate relationship through her. All her attempts are judged and punished, however, which leads to a growing frustration on Diana's part. At the same time, the plot reinforces the way the Solari society does not accept any kind of thought that escapes the established, with even classes on debates not presenting any real argument. Any question, however innocent, is hardly seen by the Priestess, for the Solari argue that there is only one correct path, based on pre-established ancient traditions.

It soon becomes clear that even before interacting directly, the two girls did not stop noticing. Diana acknowledges Leona's talent for oratory as well as her attempt to argue. Above all, however, she notes that the other apprentice does not speak of the night (called by them the Darkness) as something evil, just dark and different from the day. Leona's seriousness and commitment are also evident from the beginning. While the future champion of the Moon is inquisitive and rebellious, the character is obedient, full of respect and very dedicated to her faith. This leads her to be very well accepted by her superiors and companions, establishing how the two are opposed from the beginning.

This, however, does not stop them from getting closer. Even though Diana's arguments are criticized and she is punished for them, Leona recognizes her ability to ground them as well as deconstruct what is said by others. Because of this, she asks the girl for help to practice, getting a rather harsh response at first. Being excluded and despised, always being punished for seeking knowledge rather than accepting ready-made truths, the future chosen of the Moon does not expect the request to be sincere. She doesn't believe that someone like Leona would come to her for help, and wonders if it's just a joke in bad taste.

Still, she decides to take a chance, agreeing to help her classmate. The two start to communicate through notes and letters, preventing them from being seen together. This, in part, is something Diana decides to do herself, not wanting the only one brave enough to seek help from the most excluded person in the temple to suffer because of it. Even though Leona is considered a prodigy and would not be punished in any way, someone who has suffered from isolation and contempt understands how painful it can be. So she chooses to keep this communication at a distance, while she is happy to finally have someone to talk to. The two quickly become closer, and approximately ten days later, the text shows that Leona is worried about finding a way to invite her new friend to accompany her to the Festival. Their friendship forms quickly, but it soon becomes evident that their interest goes beyond that. In detail and description, the affection they nurture for one another is shown, from the way the Solari prodigy admires her classmate to the way Diana faces severe punishment but doesn't regret disobeying her instructor for an opportunity to speak with the other girl directly.

The attitudes of the young questioner serve once again to demonstrate the extremism of the tribe that supposedly welcomed her, but does not hesitate to severely punish any idea that escapes a little to that established by them. The character is sentenced to stay under the sun for three whole days, without shadow or water, as punishment for her supposedly subversive ideas, when all she had done was to suggest that the Sun would not be the only source of light in existence.

In turn, this treatment makes Diana more resentful, causing her to move away from the Solari. In her diary, she is spiteful against everyone but her only friend, and still believes leona wouldn't want anything to do with her after that. Thus, she decides not to participate in the festivities, seeking to do something on her own. It is clear how much she considers her colleague, and that her interest in her goes beyond the friendship that the two have built. In Leona, she found someone who values her, who shows kindness that no one else directs to her. Above all, the two show that their bond is deep, because together they can be themselves without the concern for perfection or suitability that they need to act towards others.

This relationship ends up being shaken by a disagreement between the two. While the Sun's chosen one planned to invite her friend to be her companion at the Festival, Diana reveals that she does not intend to go. This ends up leading to a fight when Leona asks why, and her colleague understands everything wrong, believing that in the end the student prodigy had only approached her to try to convince her about the religion of the Solari. The situation leads to the two being punished, in addition to making Leona see everything as a rejection.

Soon the situation is clarified when both realize what they had misunderstood. While Diana realizes that it was an invitation and that her colleague really wanted to be with her, Leona understands that the other girl's reaction is not a rejection of her, but rather a result of the severe punishment she had suffered.

They meet alone for the first time on the night of the Festival, when the moon's chosen one avoids the celebration to seek a higher part of the mountain, where she can be alone. Followed by Leona, the two apologized for the misunderstanding, finally going head-to-head and talking directly with no one else around. Instead of returning immediately, they sit together, admiring the night sky. After a long time together, Diana asks if she would like to return to the festival and dance with her. It is at this point that the romantic involvement of the two is confirmed, when Leona replies that "not yet", before kissing her.

Fanon
At first, this pairing was a very popular fan ship in the fandom with many fanarts. They're two of Riot's oldest champions, and League of Legends has undergone a series of lore reboots, but the stories for the duo have long hinted that something may be going between them. As far as we knew, Diana slaughtered some of the Solari's elders after becoming The Moon Aspect, and Leona (The Sun's Aspect) is determined to retrieve her. Many people were attrached to their relationship and hatred to eachother because of that. In a new story celebrating Pride Month, Riot decided to make both of them canon, consequently making the popularity of the pair even higher.

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Trivia

 * They have some canon interactions in the game.
 * If Leona kills an Enemy Diana, she says "In another life, I... I'm so sorry, Diana."
 * If playing agaisn't a enemy Diana, Leona says "You'll pay for your heresy, Diana!"
 * They share alot of moveset names. Diana's "The moon also rises." references Leona's "The sun always rises."
 * Diana's "Chosen of the moon" references Leona's "Chosen of the sun"
 * Diana and Leona share the quote "Twilight fades" together.
 * While the idea of Diana being a lesbian was not noted through release, Riot has indirectly asserted this by confirming Diana as part of the LGBTQIA+ community. Same goes for Leona.
 * During Valentines Day, they were one of the ships that had a skin sale in the brazilian server.
 * During 2021 pride, it was released a hand fan for the new Diana and Leona lore.