League of Legends fans are making gorgeous fan art for an unexpected Spirit Blossom ship

Shipping is fun, and League of Legends offers a veritable armada of potential ships to sail. The roster has over 160 champions, some of whom are canonically together, while others have plenty of in-universe justification for ships. Then, there’s the just-for-fun ships, the combinations of champions that haven’t happened to meet yet and may never meet. But once in a while, these long-shot ships pay off, and fans get to enjoy a feast of vindication.

Take Sett and Aphelios. Sett is a yakuza-style criminal who runs an Ionian fighting ring, and Aphelios is a silent moon assassin from Mount Targon who channels the spiritual power of his twin sister Alune to summon mystical weapons and slay sun warriors. Despite being from different walks of life, they’ve become a popular ship. The Spirit Blossom skin voice lines seem to add some credence to that; Spirit Blossom Sett tells Spirit Blossom Aphelios: “Hey, we still on for tonight, mooncake? I’ve got a... Oh. Hey, Alune.”

This is enough confirmation of the ship for fans, who have started creating beautiful fan art of the duo.

Sett and Aphelios are an odd couple from the start, but it makes sense that fans would combine them. Sett’s a big dude with unexpected emotional depth; he loves his mom and would never want to upset her. Aphelios is quiet and tormented, dealing with the oppression of his people and the expectations of his role. What if Sett left the greed and brutality of the fighting pit behind to help the assassin? What if Aphelios could find happiness and fulfillment in this big strong guy? What if the two of them kissed on the Summoner’s Rift? Haha! Just kidding.

...Unless?

The Spirit Blossom skins aren’t canon per se; they represent Ionian myth, with champions taking the role of spirits navigating the journey of death. So mainline Sett and Aphelios don’t match, necessarily, but the pair is viable enough to link up in a skin line. When you ship an improbable ship, you take the wins where you can.

The Spirit Blossom skin line released during the build up to Worlds, the massive end-of-year tournament with all of the top teams in the competitive League of Legends circuit. Riot just released a new music video with an anthem by Lil Nas X, and the developer is preparing to release new champion K’Sante, the Pride of Nazumah.