A woman named Stephanie Dorris accused Riot Games of an uncanny resemblance between her and Seraphine heroine from League of Legends, which Riot recently denied.
Dorris took to Twitter to explain her side of the story. She previously dated a Riot employee a while back in 2019, and the two had a light-heartened joke about creating in-game content about Dorris. After talking for three months and meeting in-person twice, things ended for them.
"My problem with Seraphine is much more personal. My problem with her is that I think she's based on me. And not without a pretty good reason," she tweeted.
A Laundry List of Striking Resemblance
In a lengthy post on Medium, Dorris brings out a laundry list of the striking resemblance-from her hair and eye color, face shape, name, drawings, cat, and even her origins.
Dorris claims that the resemblance has been 'troubling and damaging to her,' especially how Seraphine is such a polarizing and controversial character and impacting her personal life. Since her release sometime this year, she hasn't been enjoying the game and felt "grossed out" about it.
The employee, who goes under the name of 'John,' blatantly suggested an awkward 'e-girl' character for Ahri to a coworker inspired by Dorris. He sometimes invited Dorris to the Riot HQ in Los Angeles.
Dorris has hired a lawyer and is "seriously considering" legal actions. If things are going down to the courthouse, both parties could go on-and-on in a lengthy law battle.
Riot Games Statement
Riot Games has recently released a statement, calling Dorris's claim baseless and meritless. The latest League of Legends champion is not based on a real-life woman, although the similarities are documented vividly. As Riot stated, the aforementioned employee had left the company a year ago and had nothing to do with character design.
Speaking to Inven Global, a Riot spokesperson claimed that the devs "independently created" Seraphine.
Riot Games has reached out to Dorris's attorney and invited the latter to cross-check facts with the prosecutor. The game developer company is set to wait for an official response.
Another claim that supports Riot's statement comes from the character's designer himself. Jeevun Sidhu, who previously worked on Camille and Kai'Sa, tweeted on October 29 that he took inspiration from his partner.
Dorris reacted to the newfound evidence. She states that although she does not believe the heroine is not 100 percent based on her, she stands still with her claim and the similarities remain true.
"For people are posting the dev/wife as definitive "proof" the character isn't based off me: I don't think she's 100% based on me, Stephanie, alone," she tweeted.
League of Legends is available on PC.
