Is Kai'Sa Kassadin’s Daughter?

In the League of Legends universe, the depth of a champion’s personality and their historic interactions with other champions belonging to the same universe is what defines their image in the player’s mind.

There is no official confirmation that Kai’Sa is the daughter of Kassadin. However, various voice lines and references in the lore make a strong case for this to be the likely scenario.

Such an example is of Kai’Sa, an ever-popular character not just in the League of Legends universe, but also in the Riot Music universe. Today we will take a look at the relationship between two such characters; Kai’Sa and Kassadin.

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Kai’Sa, Daughter of The Void:

Kai’Sa is believed by many fans to be the daughter of Kassadin. This does not come without basis. Kassadin’s alias is “The Void Walker” while Kai’Sa is known as “Daughter of The Void”. This heavily implies that Kai’Sa is the daughter of the ONLY other person who managed to survive The Void, Kassadin. We will learn more about this fact later.

Both of these characters belong to the same region (i.e: “The Void”), similar to other characters in the league universe that belong to the same regions and are connected to each other in some way or another.

Background of Kai’Sa and Kassadin:

Kassadin is said to have lived in the same village as Kai’Sa. The events unfolded by Kai’Sa as a child lead to the swallowing of this entire village by The Void. And this event is what set in motion the quest of Kassadin to take revenge against The Void. The simple reason behind this quest for vengeance was the loss of his wife and child to The Void. He, besides Kai’Sa, is the only human to have survived The Void from this village.

Kai’Sa on the other hand, was 10 years old when she released sacrificial goats into a Void-linked canyon, causing an earthquake. This earthquake would then lead to The Void swallowing the entirety of her village, killing every single soul in the process except her. She remained in The Void since her childhood, for 10 whole years.

Finding herself combined with a Void Symbiote in her new habitat, Kai’Sa survived the harsh conditions of The Void because of her suit which gave her various powers, and her sheer willpower through which she adopted the Voidborn’s way of predation. She had to learn the ways of being a deadly hunter to survive and tackle the threats she faced. Her willingness to go through every hardship thrown at her in The Void, lead her to become the self she currently is.

Kai’Sa’s Relation To Kassadin Hinted In The Voice Lines:

In League of Legends, various relationships between characters are hinted at in the voice lines. These interactions are the most solid, but unofficial, proof we have of Kassadin being Kai’Sa’s father. There are various voice lines used by Kai’Sa when she encounters Kassadin on the rift, whether her own team or the enemy team. These include the following:

“Huh, memories of my father come at the strangest moments.”
“Reunions can be so bittersweet.”
“Could it.. be true?”
“It smells like home here.”
“Father?”

The rest of the lines are pretty clear in their context that Kai’Sa feels a faint feeling of familial warmth when she sees Kassadin, and that he reminds her of her father. But the third line, “Could it.. be true?”, is a reference to the conversation that takes place between Bel’Veth and Kai’Sa. We’ll get right into that in the next section.

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Bel’Veth’s Discourse With Kai’Sa:

It is also worth mentioning that with the release of Bel’Veth, the (currently)latest champion introduced to League of Legends, a hint of this relationship was also revealed. In the short story named “Pinwheel”, written by Jared Rosen, we see a long but sour discourse taking place between Kai’Sa and Bel’Veth. During this discourse, at one point Bel’Veth mentions that the only two humans to ever survive The Void were Kai’Sa and her father.

This leads Kai’Sa bewildered, who finds it hard to believe that her father not only survived being engulfed by The Void 10 years ago, but he is still alive. She is, however, not aware that it is Kassadin.

Bel’Veth’s voice lines also seem to confirm this. Upon killing Kassadin on the rift, she seems to say the following line:

“As stubborn and brave as your daughter, and now so am I.”

This is also a reference to the discourse between Kai’Sa and Bel’Veth mentioned earlier, where Kai’Sa threatens to kill Bel’Veth despite Bel’Veth claiming that she can not betray her against her will. The entire short story can be read here.

Kassadin in The Music Skin Line Universe:

On September 27, 2020; Michael Yichao posted a new issue of the K/DA Comic. This episode mainly focused on Kai’Sa’s journey of discovering dancing and joining the K/DA group. However, the first half of the comic does contain multiple mentions of Kai’Sa’s father and we see him taking her to different places (In what she described as a “Nomadic life”) which eventually lead to Kai’Sa discovering dancing as a haven from all her troubles.

In the tweet, Michael Yichao mentions that this human father figure that we see in the comic is in fact “Kassadad”. This is enough confirmation that in the K/DA Music Universe, Kassadin appears as Kai’Sa’s father. It might be a decision made by Riot Music because of how popular the theory about Kassadin being Kai’Sa’s father is among the fans of this universe. The tweet and the comic can be read here.

Conclusion:

While there has been no official confirmation of the Father/Daughter relationship between Kassadin and Kai’Sa by Riot Games themselves, various voice lines in the game and dialogue in the lore (as described above) more or less establish this connection. The K/DA comic also seems to hint at this relationship in a completely different universe.

In the end, it is up to the reader to decide what they want to believe in, as the universe of League of Legends is ever-expanding. What are your thoughts on this matter? Do you think these hints are enough for us to reach a conclusion, or is it still a stretch until it gets confirmed formally?

For those of you who are always curious, check out this article: Who is Doran?