In the history of League there exists a champion that has been shrouded in mystery for many years. Be it cameos in many different skins or maps or even login screens he has been ever present, lurking and waiting to take the League of Legends by storm when he finally makes himself known. His name is Urf the Manatee. Of course, Riot Games would have you believe such a champion does not exist, but the evidence is there so let us take a closer look at what we know.

The first important thing to know is that Urf is dead. A very strange place to start but it is important to get this out of the way before we can explain why he would still be around. One of the first pieces of evidence that we have for his demise is in the form of Urf the Manatee skin for Warwick. While it makes sense that Warwick might kill the poor manatee out of jealousy and then wear his corpse as an outfit, there are two problems with this theory. First it seems unlikely the Riot would condone the idea of one champion killing another and wearing him as a suit. With all of the controversy Riot has had over the years with things like cigars and the removal of them I find it hard to believe that such a horrible thing would be left in the game. The second problem I have with it is it assumes that Warwick could even kill Urf. I find this much harder to believe considering how all powerful Urf is said to be. Realistically I suppose it is possible that Warwick gathered a bunch of people to try to take down the mythical manatee, but a much more believable explanation for the skin is Warwick is just an avid cosplayer. Considering Warwick has another skin he cosplays in (cosplaying as a grandmother) it makes sense that this Urf outfit is the product of hard work and dedication instead of murder.

There is however much more evidence to suggest his demise. One other piece of evidence is in the old butcher Urgot splash art in which you can see a sign in the background that says “manatee ½ off”. Of course, this is even weaker evidence than the Warwick splash art, because of course it doesn’t make sense that Urf would be defeated so easily, but even if the first was a fake that doesn’t necessarily mean this second one is. This is the trick, Urgot is selling that manatee as if it were Urf, but it is in fact an unrelated manatee. Of course Urgot would only charge half price because he is worried people will catch on to his scheme. With all of this evidence, may be Urf really is still alive?

Unfortunately that is not the case. The final piece of evidence is indisputable. Urf has a grave and has been seen as a ghost. Whether he met his demise as at the hands of Urgot or Warwick is irrelevant (though I am inclined to disbelieve it). Urf died as his grave and ghost were visible in the Harrowing skin for summoner’s rift. His death however is the stuff of legends. Seeing that he has a ghost, this must mean that he died with regrets. One can only assume that he perished in a glorious battle to save all of Runeterra but was defeated at the same time as his foe. The tragic manatee had many more foes though. Stricken with grief over dying before he could defeat everyone he set out to he became a ghost.

This is where things get even more convoluted. Urf could return to the rift as a ghost to continue his fight. We have seen many champions from the shadow isles that deal in souls and spirits. Perhaps it isn’t so much of a stretch to believe that Urf could return to the rift as the strongest spook. I’m sure many of the shadow isle champions would be willing to give him a hand considering what a powerful ally Urf would make. Or perhaps he would return as a spirit in a different way. In the Spirit Guard Udyr skin we see another cameo for Urf in Udyr’s joke. While further solidifying Urf as dead, this does bring up the possibility that Urf’s spirit could be channeled into another champion to give them immense strength. Going even further with that, he could even posses another manatee and become reborn completely. This could be why we see evidence of him still around and living in things like Forecast Janna’s Howling Gale and Pool Party Zac’s recall animation.

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To ask the question again “Will Urf Return?” the answer is undoubtedly yes, but the form is still undecided. He could return as a shambling manatee corpse, as a spoopy ghost or even reincarnated as another manatee. The possibilities for this legendary god of Runeterra are endless and one day I am sure we will find the answer. While many monuments and legends are made in his honor such as Ultra Rapid Fire mode and other such things, he will always be remembered for who he was: Urf, the Manatee.

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