The Sentinels of Light event in League of Legends will soon be finished, but the music involved will remain a part of Riot Games' catalog. The music that has headlined the event will receive a standalone release titled Echoes of Light. The soundtrack will feature many of the songs heard during the event, as well as the themes of some of the bigger characters featured in the universe's latest conflict.
Officially starting on July 8th, 2021, the Sentinels of Light event was perhaps Riot's most ambitious attempt at telling a story in-game so far. The story beats were largely delivered via the game's client, with players unlocking new chapters in the story by fulfilling the "goals" of the Sentinels team. Each member of the team had a different way to gain the points necessary to unlock new chapters. For example, the newest champion Akshan gave players bonus points for winning games. Once enough points were collected, the next chapter in the story would be told via an in-client visual novel cutscene.
Riot Games helped further the tension of the conflict via its efforts with the soundtrack. The songs that accompany League of Legends' ruination and subsequent confrontation with the man behind it all required a lot of time and collaboration to get just right. Screen Rant got the chance to interview some of the senior composers behind the event to dig into what made its soundtrack so special. Kole Hicks, Brendon Williams, and Michael Pitman talked in detail about the development of the soundtrack and some of the secrets that have yet to be found within it.
When did you first start working on and developing the musical storyline and connections for the event?
Kole: The larger musical storyline and connections for the entire event started to take shape around the winter of last year. Some initial musical thoughts started prior to then, but around that time we were really solidifying the sound of a few different important pieces of music. All of which helped inform three important motifs found in the Season Start Ruination cinematic: Music Box melody, Motif used for both Ruination/Sentinels, and the Sentinel Melody. These were carried and evolved throughout the musical journey of the entire event.
A lot of the story beats surrounding Sentinels of Light started with the release of Viego. Was he your team’s “starting point” when it came to creating music for the event, or did you find yourselves looking to start from a different point?
Kole: Yes, kind of. I think the musical starting point for the whole event was Isolde and Viego. I had seen some very early concept artwork on a piece of Viego and Isolde. Immediately the imagery and art style of this piece made me think of a dream-like sequence; dancing perhaps to a Waltz of some kind. However, it felt a bit more personal, so I wondered what this piece could sound like if played on a music box. I started punching holes into the music box paper I had at my desk to create a melody and, while the theme didn’t stay exactly note for note the same, it certainly influenced what would eventually become the music box melody we hear in Viego’s Theme and used throughout music written for the event.
What would you say your biggest challenge was when it came to intertwining motifs for champions/cinematics/themes at the heart of the Sentinels of Light?
Kole: One of the biggest challenges was finding a way to connect the musical ideas in a way that accomplished two main goals: Authentically representing that champion (versus feeling like a variation on a motif used in another Champion Theme) and sometimes connecting the ideas in a way that isn’t immediately obvious. Hopefully it wouldn’t be so difficult that it’s impossible to find/hear the connection, but when someone does hear the connection, it should then become quite clear that the themes are connected to each other. This is how we approached the middle section of Gwen’s theme, which (when played in reverse) plays back the music box melody we hear in Viego’s theme.
Michael: I wouldn't say it was so much a challenge with the intertwining of motifs, as that presents the wonderful opportunity to express established well-loved motifs in a different style, which is always a fun thing to do. I'd say the challenge was more finding the right sound that represented the Sentinels as a collective themselves, needing both a sound steeped in history and lore, but one that captured the uniqueness of their weaponry also.
Brendon: The biggest challenge was that there were a number of different compositions that were being worked on simultaneously, by different people, yet still had to be clearly connected. For example, Mike and Rich were working on the Sentinels Theme using melodies written by Kole, while I was working on the score for Before Dawn. Since we had to work on those at the same time, the "sound" of the Sentinels hadn't been fully established yet. By the time each of these had been concluded, we'd all influenced the sound of each other's compositions to a certain extent, especially for anything Sentinels related!
How closely do you work with the gameplay and art teams when it comes to creating music for champions?
Kole: It’s very important to have early discussions with various people on each team in regards to a Champion’s personality, the way they play in-game, etc. I certainly get inspired by the story of a Champion and their concept art, but something I also like doing is asking the whole team if they have 3 keywords that help describe how they understand that champion. Each little variation in the answers gives a bit more insight into the unique aspects that help this Champion stand out from others. Also, the keywords that overlap and are mentioned multiple times tend to resonate strongly enough that I find they make up the core of that Champion. So, when writing music, I try to take all of this into consideration; finding ways to musically represent the core of that Champion while also highlighting some unique elements.
A few clever League fans have been finding Easter eggs in several champion themes. For example, the vocals in Gwen’s theme become the melody of Viego’s theme when played in reverse. Are there more connections like this that haven’t been found?
Kole: At the time of this interview being released players may have already found these additional Easter eggs, but just in case, I’ll point out a few things without spoiling the details! In the Absolution Cinematic, the music box is used throughout the piece. We hear it play multiple times; however is it the same at the end as we hear at the beginning? Furthermore, in our song “I’ll Find a Way” there are multiple musical ideas/motifs that subtly make their way into the song. Some are perhaps a bit more obvious than others, but when listening to the first time we hear the lyric “I will find a way” does that perhaps sound like a slight variation on a motif we’ve heard since the Season Start Ruination cinematic?
Brendon: For Akshan's theme – I noticed that quite a few people caught one of the Sentinels of Light references. However, there are two other spots that directly quote the Sentinels theme that I haven't noticed anyone point out yet! And, of course, there are even more thematic references and easter eggs in the music for the cinematics, which most people probably haven't fully picked up on because of all of the beautiful visuals, sound effects, and dialogue that are all happening simultaneously.
What was your favorite part of working on the Sentinels of Light event?
Kole: Definitely the collaboration. With all of the developers at Riot, my colleagues on the music team, TELLE on “I’ll Find a Way,” all the musicians at the studio… everyone! This was a huge collaborative team effort and working with everyone was my favorite part.
Michael: For me personally, one thing that really got me super enthusiastic about this, was the variety and depth of the characters that would be announced in the Sentinels of Light. I just thought the whole concept itself plus how the artwork was executed just made creating the music so much fun. We knew we could explore a music palette that was a little different from traditional LoL choices, which was equal parts scary and fun!
Brendon: My favorite part was getting to work more collaboratively with the other composers here at Riot – sharing melodies, chord progressions, synth sounds, and more. We usually work on our own separate projects, so it was nice to get to directly bounce musical ideas with one another and influence each others' music directly!
What is your personal favorite piece you worked on for the event and why?
Kole: I don’t know if I have a favorite single piece of music I worked on for the event, because they all were fun and meant something different to me; but I certainly have some favorite memories. Writing that initial melody on the music box and then figuring out how to not only connect that to Viego, but subtly connect it to Gwen’s theme was a good challenge I enjoyed. Even though it wasn’t all that long ago, I also really enjoyed our Orchestral session for Absolution and working with TELLE on “I’ll Find a Way.”
Michael: The Sentinel theme itself. Again, it was very tricky trying to find the right approach for the Sentinels of Light sound palette, but once we started to find a balance between traditional Orchestral instrumentation and modern synth lead instrumentation and try to combine the two sympathetically, a Sentinels "vibe" started emerging and it became a really satisfying piece to be working on.
Brendon: It's hard to pick between "Before Dawn" and "Akshan's Theme", but I think I'll have to go with Akshan! Mainly because of all of the unique instruments I got to record for his theme, many of which I'd never written for before, let alone recorded live musicians of this caliber. Some of the instruments we recorded included sarangi, tabla, various frame drums, string drum, bowed dulcimer, bouzouki, Indian banjo, hammered dulcimer, and sitar. There were a lot of others as well that didn't make it into the final theme!