League of Legends’s blue-haired, black-eyed Poro is full of memories.

In October 2016, my friend and I attended a League of Legends game. Years later, I still feel lucky because that year was my first year of contact with League of Legends, and the same year of semi-finals at Rockefeller Center in New York. I vaguely remember that when I went out that day, it was a very windy day, and the air was floating with the unique smell of autumn. After an hour-long train ride, we entered the center and saw many people, some of them dressed in fancy cosplay costumes. 

When I entered the hall, I saw my favorite, Katarina. With whom my friend encouraged me to take a photo of her. I walked over to her, shrugged, and asked “Hi, I think your costume is gorgeous. Can I take a picture with you?” She turned her head and smiled and said, “Of course it’s okay, thank you for loving my costume.” I nodded thank you and walked away. In the venue, I found that the scene was more shocking and magnificent than the live broadcast when we reached our seats. I sat down and marveled at the sight. Three giant screens broadcasted the game’s countdown and the teams’ information. In the center of the stage were two long curved tables with expensive-looking consoles on top. On the right front of the stage, there was a platform where I saw three commentators who were busy sorting out the information in their hands. They were all chatting with each other and exchanging players’ information. 

After a while, I looked at the big screen and found that the game still had fifteen minutes to start, so we decided to go shopping. We walked to the front of a store, and at that moment, I saw a light blue, fluffy, round creature. I fixed my eyes and saw it turned out to be a small Poro toy. As soon as I saw it, I knew that this lovely creature was going home with me that night. I spent about 35 dollars to buy this fluffy creature. I took it with me, after watching five hours of the game, and took it back home on the subway at 1 o’clock in the morning.

The reason why I chose this toy as my personal artifact is simple but also very special. This Poro toy not only represents my favorite game and subculture. It also shows my personality. In the eyes of many players, this fluffy creature is just a follower behind Barum. But for me, I like more than Poro’s appearance. More is the spirit embodied in it, as Riot describes it in the introduction of Poro.

“Born out of love, blinded by glee,

Innocent, pure, magic and free,

Faithful, trusting; often naïve,

Soft, furry; their hearts hold a key.” 

— The Origins of Poros, Riot Development Article 

To others, Poro is just an ordinary fluffy toy that plays an unobtrusive role inside the game. To me, Poro is a mysterious, magical, and courageous creature. Although it always stays behind Barum’s giant shield, even though it is minimal, one Poro will unite with other Poros whenever they encounter danger, but when facing any difficulties, Poro always smiles. My Poro doll reminds me of this spirit every time I look at it. This is also the spirit that I have been learning from Poro: face any challenges with courage and a good attitude. Poro’s perseverance and unyielding spirit is also the original intention carried by the League of Legends community. They hope that through these small fluffy creatures, players can know that they are not alone in the fight because there are supportive teammates. This is not just a game for one person, but people from different places, countries, and even different cultures. They gather together out of the same passion. It is because of this spirit and love that this special game has been with me, unfaded, for more than five years. 

Self-Reflection

The genre of my essay is a narrative essay in which I tell the reader the story behind my artifact and what it means to me, and how it relates to me and my subculture. My essay is characterized by detailed descriptions of scenes and objects. The reason why I chose to write about this topic is simple: I wanted to share my story and let more people know about my subculture and my personality. At the same time, I feel that spreading this subculture, which is very special to me. It allows readers to get a taste of this subculture through my articles, so they can become interested in it and want to learn more about it. I think the potential audience for this essay is anyone who has as many different subcultures as I do or those who have not yet found the right subculture for them, or maybe it’s people who share the same interests as me. By writing this essay, I hope to give them some advice on how they can learn about my subculture and get them interested in it. In this essay, I use a mild and normal context. The medium I use is simply my language, and I hope that my description of the scenes in my essay will help to bring the reader into my essay. I hope that my descriptions of the scenes in my essays will serve to bring the readers into my essays, to make them feel like they are there, to let them follow the rhythm of my essays, and to slowly settle into my essays.