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Christian Linke: Music is a really powerful tool.
We use this for Freljord to capture the identity, the compelling history and some kind of feel of the whole territory.
This icy tundra and this icy place where growing up and living is a really, really difficult thing.
The coolest part about being a composer at Riot Games is that every single day I can just walk through the rows of the art department.
There's so much inspiration for everything.
It instantly gives you this desire to create something that picks this up and is as unique and as compelling as these visuals.
So I called up Alex Temple and Sebastien Najand from Hollywood scoring and we sat down and started to develop this idea of Freljord's music.
Alex Temple: The music of the Freljord map is built on this steady march rhythm
that we feel has a weight that really helps you feel like you're in the middle of a battle.
Christian Linke: We felt like the very typical orchestral elements and instruments
don't fully give us the best idea of what Freljord can be like.
Imagine that you're usually, you have, hmmm...
You only have axes and swords and shields in your hands, and in your free time between slaughtering everyone,
you found this tree and you play on it.
We tried to think a little more outside of the box and come up with our own ideas for what the instruments from that place should sound like.
For example a Nyckelharpa, which is a really old traditional instrument from Sweden.
It's a bowed stringed instrument, but its keyed,
so it has this very, very unique tone to itself that actually sounds a little icy when you listen to it on a zone.
Paul Allman: I think this instrument talks to your soul, and when it hits certain notes you actually feel it inside.
Christian Linke: The Viola da Gamba is some kind of the medieval version of the Cello, and it also has a rougher tone.
It doesn't sound as developed.
The Freljord tribes are lead by the three sisters - Ashe, Sejuani and Lissandra - and having female vocals made a lot of sense to us.
So we had an Irish singer here.
Sebastien Najand: We went for a non-classical type of voice.
The type of voice that is better suited to convey the rugged and raw characteristics of Freljord.
Christian Linke: We also brought on Lisa Thorn, who is a graphic designer at Riot Games, and who sang the Diana piece.
And she was kind enough to lend us her voice here again.
The moment when we were done, and we threw all these different instruments and sounds together, it just clicks.
You're just standing there and you're just like, “Oh My God”.
Thomas Vu: Our hope is that over the next few months, and years, that we can start to unveil more and more of our world.
And give you guys a taste of the depth and the stories and the visual exploration that we've been doing in the last few years,
in a way that will expose more of the League of Legends universe.