Neekolee

Neekolee is the femslash ship between Nidalee and Neeko from the League of Legends fandom.

Canon
Neeko was born into a vastaya tribe in Ixtal, isolated in the Shurima region and closed to the outside world, as the Oovi-Kat (name of the members of this clan, the last of their kind) hid from danger and, clearly, of a possible extinction; therefore, most of the individuals of this race were discreet, unlike our Curious Chameleon, who explored, every day, her village and the island where she lived since her birth.

Her tribe's peaceful days, however, ended quickly when a threat from the east attacked everyone and everything on the island. Fortunately, Neeko managed to escape this threat (which she had no idea what it could be) by managing to transform into a bird that passed close to her at that moment. Finally, after some days, Neeko managed to find a possible new destination where she can rest: the city of Harelport, as she had found a cargo ship bound for that city. Connecting her sho'ma again, she was able to hide in the vessel in the ship until she reached the land. Back in Harelport, before she could disappear into the crowd and flee away, Krete, a sailor on the spot, ended up spotting the chameleon and trying to communicate with her. However, due to her tribe's original language and the existence of her sho'ma, Neeko reciprocated the conversation by imitating Krete's face and expression. This action ended up generating disgust and rejection on the part of the sailor, which made the chameleon flee the scene of fear of intense negative thoughts. A short time later, in the middle of the inner forest of the continent, but close to the city of Harelport, she found a tribe of very agile wild cats, and this is how Neeko's relationship with Nidalee began, as Nida accepted the chameleon into her group (which had another form at the time), although she didn't stay due to the panther's commitments to her tribe.

Nidalee introduced herself to the group and they ended up accepting her into their tribe, imagining that Neeko was, in fact, a wildcat like them. Nidalee wanted to find other beings of her kind, and that is how she met the charismatic chameleon Neeko. The two were inseparable, and that went on for a long time. Nidalee loved being the chameleon's guide, so much so that together they explored and discovered new places, but Neeko decided to follow her own destiny, far from the lands of the mainland of Shurima. Months after wandering with Nidalee's tribe through the forest, Neeko decided that she would build her own village and that she would accept any races and beings that shared her idea of ​​peace and harmony. Under the influence of her sho'ma—and, consequently, of the spirit of the Oovi-Kat who spoke to her in her dreams—Neeko continued her journey without the company of Nidalee, the girl she had developed a very deep feeling, since she felt in her a strong but unknown bond to the ancient vastaya tribe; this lonely journey would have been different if Nidalee had accepted the chameleon's invitation to join her, but Neeko had to chose to follow her dream while Nidalee had responsibilities towards her group. To this day, Neeko is dreaming of encountering Nidalee again, since she had amazing memories with the time she had spend with her friend, as demonstrated by her voiceline when she interacts with Nidalee.

Quotes
"Woo! Powerful! Like jungle cat Nidalee! Ah... I miss her."

- Neeko when moving with Buff

"Nidalee! Weird seeing you here. Neeko misses you."

- Neeko when first encoutering Nidalee

"No, Rengar! Be nice and sweet like Nidalee!"

- Neeko when first encoutering Rengar

"Love takes as many shapes as you do, Neeko."

- Nidalee when first encountering Neeko

"Neeko... My world feels empty, without you."

- Nidalee after killing an enemy Neeko.

"The story told in the lyrics revolves around Neeko & Nidalee and is meant to depict the feelings Neeko experiences when she’s with Nidalee … The verses are descriptive of what Neeko has found in Nidalee that she couldn’t find anywhere else: her home … As the track ends the fire goes out and Neeko goes on her next adventure but they are always connected in spirit, ‘near or far’"

- Legends of Runeterra’s Instagram, on the song Shine On

Fanon
is a decently popular ship within the League of Legends fandom. It started to gain a lot of attention since Neeko's release and the lore update of Nidalee that directly mentions her connection with her. With the information that Neeko is heavily implied to be a lesbian, confirmed by one of her writers and since she likes female champions more than male champions, as demonstrated by when she transforms into a female champion she seems to hit on them, Nidalee quickly became known as a potential love interest to Neeko, based on the lore and voicelines between them. On Ao3, there are currently 16 works.

Recently, in Legends of Runeterra 2023's new champion visual update, Nidalee and Neeko were featured as the two focused champions in this event, capturing the fan's attention and speculating new ideas on whether this pairing and dynamic will become canon soon.

Fandom

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Trivia

 * During Valentines Day, they were one of the ships that had a skin sale in the Brazilian server. This might also be the origin of the ship name.
 * The artist of the Neeko and Nidalee card back refers to it as “Neekolee” on their Artstation