Thresh

Their story, step by step

1. Step 1

   A resentful warden

   Erlok Grael was born to pig farmers on the Blessed Isles and dreamed of more. He studied to join the Fellowship of Light but was disliked as arrogant. At his Choosing ceremony every noble student got a master except him, and he was sent to the Wardens of Thresholds as a minor vault assistant, an insult he swore never to forget.

2. Step 2

   Murder and theft

   After many years underground he grew bitter and cruel. He killed Head Warden Rastofir and later, when caught stealing artifacts, kidnapped Warden-Prefect Maksim, tortured him and framed him. He was promoted to take Maksim's place and gained wider access to the vault.

3. Step 3

   The Well of Ages

   Grael found a tome revealing the Well of Ages beneath the Scintillant Tower. To open it he coerced the young mage Ryze into helping. He then arranged to deal with Princess Kalista of Camavor, hoping to gain a court position under King Viego.

4. Step 4

   The Ruination

   Grael persuaded Viego that the Well could revive Queen Isolde and guided him through the Isles, killing every custodian in the way. He planned to betray Viego but paused out of curiosity to watch Isolde submerged. She rose as a maddened wraith and impaled Viego, and the resulting explosion destroyed the Blessed Isles and Grael with them.

5. Step 5

   The Chain Warden

   The corrupted Well remade him as a wraith of chains and bone, and he took the name Thresh. He began trapping souls in a lantern to torture them, the first being Elder Bartek, who had sent him to the vaults. Later he captured Senna's soul and taunted her husband Lucian, until Lucian shot open the lantern. Thresh decided to let them win for now.

6. Step 6

   Unbound

   Thresh conspired with Gangplank to wake Viego, then siphoned the extra Black Mist to become unbound and free to leave the Shadow Isles. In Hegby in Noxus he killed those who tormented a waiter named Bort, freed him from a curse and made him driver of his carriage of trapped souls.

Turning points

• Was humiliated at the Choosing and sent to the vaults
• Led Viego to the Well, triggering the Ruination
• Imprisoned Senna's soul, then lost her to Lucian
• Became unbound by taking Black Mist from Viego's revival

Where their story stands now

Thresh roams Runeterra with a ghostly carriage, still hostile to Lucian and Senna and out of favour with Viego. He has promised the Sentinels a soul they escaped with and means to catch them. What he ultimately wants beyond tormenting souls is unclear.

Who they are tied to

• Karthus →A wraith who sees death as a beginning and not an end.
• Lucian →A Sentinel of Light who hunts undead wraiths with twin pistols.
• Senna →A Sentinel of Light who turns the Black Mist against itself to free trapped souls.

Where this fits in the story

1. Shadow Isles · step 1

   The Blessed Isles

   Before the Ruination the Blessed Isles were a center of learning and magic, with a city called Helia and the sacred Waters of Life.

2. Shadow Isles · step 2

   Viego and Isolde

   Viego took his dead wife's body to the Waters of Life. She came back as a wraith of shadow and rage, and her anguished magic clashed with his enchanted blade, causing the blast that destroyed the kingdom.

3. Shadow Isles · step 3

   The Black Mist and the ruined

   The Mist turned the islands into a cursed place. Thresh embraced undeath, Hecarim was fused with his steed and enslaved to the Mist, and Kalista, his betrayed general, became a spirit of vengeance.

4. Shadow Isles · step 4

   The Harrowing

   Every so often the Black Mist spreads beyond the isles, letting weakened spirits manifest and hunt the living. Bilgewater is a frequent target.

Read the full story of Shadow Isles