Arcane features two thrillers of seasons, and League of Legends fans who follow the game's lore wonder whether Arcane is canon. Considering everything that happened in Arcane, many viewers took a deeper dive into LoL's lore to discover more details.

I also fit this description since I started reading up on League lore after watching the show. As I looked to learn more and cross-reference events, I questioned whether Arcane was canon to LoL since the Netflix series took its fair share of initiatives.

Is Arcane Fully Canon?

Yes, Arcane is the "official" lore of League of Legends. The main reason behind this answer is that LoL's lore is a bit of a mess, and Riot wants to set the narrative with Arcane. Legacy League fans may remember when the game had proper development, but the storytelling fell back in priority over the years.

Before Arcane, most pieces of lore in LoL lacked when it came to follow-up, so the show emerged as a second chance for Riot to get everything in order.

Arcane starts true to LoL's origin as the backstories of champions like Vi, Caitlyn, and Viktor feature bits of pre-existing lore. However, the show takes the initiative while telling the stories of Piltover and Zaun since some key characters tied to these locations never appeared during Arcane season one or two.

In a 2023 post on X (formerly Twitter,) Riot Games' executive producer, Riot Brightmoon, clarified that while Arcane and League share the same canon, there are inconsistencies between the show and previously established lore. Riot plans to address these discrepancies over time. This suggests that League's existing lore could serve as inspiration for showmakers and creatives at Riot. As a result, Arcane and feature shows can be considered as Riot's way of establishing an "official" lore, which won't be plagued by loose ends and information gaps.

Is Arcane True To The Lore?

Yes, Arcane is true to LoL's pre-existing lore, but it also differs based on creative decisions to polish the overall storytelling experience. For the longest time, League of Legends' lore suffered from incomplete storylines, which weren't revisited for years. This was because Riot often prioritized gameplay over stories, so lore came second while developing the game.

While LoL fans did their best to piece together all pieces of lore bits over the years, there were always missing answers, and Arcana aims to fix that.

Since Riot considers producing more shows like Arcane, the developer wants to use this opportunity to finally have an easy-to-follow lore experience.