The love stories of the Dota 2 universe

It’s the day of unicorns and rainbows, it’s the day of love - it is Valentine’s Day! While we celebrate this beautiful occasion, we mustn't forget, the Dota 2 guys also have their love lives. Behind the masks of the heroes that are constantly on the battlefield, behind all those armors and clashing swords - we have many love stories.

While not all heroes have romantic interests, quite a number of them have interesting affairs. So let's start with one of the oddest couples of Dota 2..

The mischievous Sun Wukong has history with Broodmother, who is also known as Black Arachnia. It's not clear whether they actually had a real relationship, but according to the voicelines, there definitely was something.

One of the voicelines say, "Would it kill you to walk around like how we first met?"

And another says, "Let's just get through this Arachnia," which indicates that their relationship probably didn't end on good terms.

In one of the Dota 2 comics, we also see Monkey King's encounter with Arachnia. When asked if she's "one of his exes" he merely said, "long story."

The Monkey King is also very flirtatious with heroes like Lina, Crystal Maiden, and Luna. One of his lines is, "Hey Lina, after we win can I buy you a drink?"

One of the most famous love stories in Dota 2 is of Skywrath Mage and Vengeful Spirit. Both of them resided in the capital of Skywrath's race, the Ghastly Eyrie. Dragonus the Skywrath Mage is a high mage at the capital who is childhood friends with Vengeful Spirit, also known as Shendelzare. He secretly loved her but it's unbeknown to Shendelzare.

Before her Vengeful form, she was once a Skywrath and she was first in succession to the throne - until her younger sister betrayed her. The younger sister crafted up a plan to assassinate Shendelzare and she managed to escape but at the cost of losing her wings. Feeling humiliated without her wings, she surrendered her broken body for an imperishable form of spirit energy that is driven by vengeance.

Meanwhile, Skywrath Mage was too focused on his studies and when he found out about the brewing evil plan, it was too late to stop. And Shendelzare, who has transformed into the Vengeful Spirit, assumed he was involved in the coup and despises him. According to the lore, "He clings to his post, believing it to be the best hope of one day restoring his true love to her rightful place."

Until today, Skywrath Mage's love for her remains buried in secrecy.

In a lot of his voicelines, Skywrath Mage talks about his love for the Vengeful Spirit. One of them says, "My secret love dies with you."

In the mega patch 7.33 trailer, Valve also showcased a unique relationship between Vengeful Spirit and Skywrath Mage. As Vengeful Spirit destroys Radiant's Ancient, Skywrath looks at her in grief before continuing to destroy Dire's Ancient.

Yurnero, the Juggernaut once had a romantic relationship with Lanaya, the Templar Assassin. They broke up, however, and Lanaya is unsatisfied. From the voicelines, Juggernaut shows that he moved on although he still mourns over Lanaya. In Dota Underlords, his voiceline said that "it's just business."

Templar Assassin wants a future with Yurnero and thus, she attempts to make him jealous or foresee what could've been them. Pangolier even says, "I know the games you play Lanaya..but I do not think Yurnero is capable of jealousy."

Valora, the Dawnbreaker, was once in a relationship with Mars, back when the god was Ares. They conquered the Continuum together for centuries but would then break up for unknown reasons. From the voicelines, Mars reminisces about his time together with Dawnbreaker, calling her Valor. But in contrast, Dawbreaker does not acknowledge Mars as someone she has been with, likely due to memory loss.

As an ally, Mars say lines like "Where does the time go, my dear? You've been away too long...". As enemies, Mars can be caught saying lines like"After all I've done for you!"

Dawnbreaker, on the other hand, responds with "Whoever you think I am Mars... I'm not. I think" She also says "Ares? My apologies. You look very much like someone I once knew."

There are also plenty of subtler love stories in the Dota 2 universe.

Rylai the Crystal Maiden has a crush on Sven, always showing interest in the hero. She can be caught asking, "Has anyone seen Sven around?"

Kaldr, the Ancient Apparition has a crush on the Crystal Maiden. In one of Monkey King's voicelines, he says, "Listen ghost, if you're ever gonna ask the Crystal Maiden out on that date, you better start working on those ice puns."

Slark admires Naga Siren and her sweet singing voice. He says, "Don't listen to the critics, Naga, I love your voice."

Wraith King is interested in the Queen of Pain. He says, "I would that you had joined me as my queen." Zeus flirts with Medusa and even tried to catch Hoodwink's attention, but was rejected. Meepo has declared his love for redheads and Keeper of the Light flirts with any girl he sees.

These are the love stories of the Dota 2 universe. While they're not exactly positive, perhaps we can finally understand the vile anger they bring to the battlefield.

Stay tuned to Esports.gg for more Dota 2 features!