League of Legends has one of the longest and most complex esports histories of any title. Esports journalist Thorin has been a consistent figure in the game’s competitive scene for over a decade, and Los Ratones player Rekkles similarly has a competitive history dating back to 2012. Thorin’s recent exposé video is stirring conversation in the esports community, and key figures, including pro players and industry members, are speaking out. Here’s everything we know.
Martin “Rekkles” Larson is a professional League of Legends player who has cemented a legacy as one of the best and most popular bot lane players in the Western scene. He stood out almost immediately back in 2012 and was signed to Fnatic’s roster before he was old enough to play in the professional circuit.
He is currently a member of Caedrel’s League of Legends team Los Ratones, which rose to fame for strong performance in the EU LoL circuit and streaming its scrims live. Rekkles, who mains bot support, previously played for G2 Esports, Fnatic and Karmine Corp. He has participated in three World Championships and many LEC tournaments. Rekkles has over 1.1 million followers on Twitch at twitch.tv/rekkles.
Related Article: Caedrel Says Los Ratones Could Beat Some LEC Teams
Thorin is a self-described ‘esports historian’ and journalist with over 245,000 followers on YouTube at youtube.com/@Thooorin. He is well-known for his commentary and analysis on a variety of games, including Counter-Strike and League of Legends.
Thorin’s poor opinion of Rekkles has never been a secret. During his League of Legends coverage career, he has consistently covered European League events and competitive standings. Rekkles, who has participated in many LEC and EU LCS events, has often popped up in his discussions. Throughout 2023, when Rekkles was playing for Fnatic and later T1’s Esports Academy team, Thorin frequently spoke online about his poor in-game performance. The statements mainly stayed within the professional realm until May 28 2023, when Thorin made a mysterious post on X.com:
There are a gang of industry people know Rekkles diva stories. They don’t keep them private out of love; like with TSM they know if you say anything a legion of morons will descend on your social media.
I just don’t care.
— Thorin (@Thorin) May 28, 2023
Thorin’s statement alleged that “a gang of industry people know Rekkles diva stories” and closed with a concise sentence, saying “I just don’t care.”
On June 6 2023, Thorin made another post recapping a discussion with another League of Legends personality where he reiterated that “Rekkles is a bad teammate and nobody wanted him” and mentioned he was “glad he was cancelled.”
Rekkles and Nemesis are rats so the branding checks out.
— Thorin (@Thorin) November 15, 2024
When Caedrel revealed Los Ratones’ roster in late 2024, Thorin commented on November 15 stating “Rekkles and Nemesis are rats so the branding checks out.”
Rekkles is one of the most famous names in the history of Western esports, but you don’t know him like the people who were around him.
This is the shared testimony of players, coaches and organisation figures around Rekkles from 2012-2023. pic.twitter.com/gFKiPzkpeU
— Thorin (@Thorin) February 4, 2025
On February 4 2024, Thorin took his Rekkles commentary to the next level by teasing an upcoming exposé video “years in the making” that would ‘unveil one of esports’ hidden villains.’ The video would contain “the shared testimony of players, coaches and organisation figures around Rekkles from 2012-2023.” As Rekkles is currently 28 years old, this means the video’s allegations begin when Rekkles was 15.
Thorin posted this video to his YouTube channel on February 5, 2025, with the title “Rekkles Is a Narcissistic Diva and a Terrible Team-Mate.” The video, which is over 1 hour and 47 minutes long, contains a host of allegations about Rekkles’ behavior in-game and outside the arena. Most of these assertions are from anonymous sources. Some highlights include allegations that Rekkles refuses to play certain Champions and has harmed his teams’ relationships with Riot Games.
Thorin also claims Rekkles has been late to important G2 Esports and Karmine Corp events and that his tilting has caused his teams to lose important matches. He alleges Rekkles would “gaslight” teammates so he could control what Champions they picked, and also claims Rekkles was “part of the reason Striker left Karmine Corp” to coach Team BDS, referencing an article where Striker commented that Rekkles “has been called out on his behavior several times […] people understand that he is problematic.”
Much of the video focuses on Rekkles’ personality. Thorin makes comments about Rekkles’ appearance including frequent hairstyle changes and tattoos. He also speculates about Rekkles’ social life, claiming he ‘doesn’t have many friends’ and that his ‘image is everything to him’. At the video’s 15-minute mark, Thorin even questions why Rekkles has a Varus tattoo on his back when he “has told many times in his career that he hates the Champion”.
Before Thorin’s video released, Rekkles briefly spoke about it to his Twitch stream audience. He stated, “I’ve had people come and go with their bad feelings towards me, but Thorin has always had it from day one til now. So I would expect this video to be painting me in the worst way possible.” He continued, saying “I do not know what is in it, I’m not going to watch the trailer, I’m not going to watch the video” and “I have been dreading this day since I heard about this video […] it is what it is, I can’t do much.”
The Los Ratones support has been vocal about his experiences with mental health in the past. Rekkles has commented on his struggles with depression and anxiety, and also revealed in a discussion with Caedrel that he had been diagnosed with autism. He closed his stream by explaining “I have extreme anxiety right now, to the point that I cannot speak.” Rekkles also announced he would not be attending Los Ratones’ scrim later that day, which Caedrel subbed for him in. The team’s public scrims are hugely popular, often breaking 200,000 views each. This performance, however, was the team’s worst yet, and they had a 1 and 4 loss after facing disorganization and tilting during the mix-up.
Since Rekkles’ stream on February 5 2025, he has not commented on the situation on X.com or Twitch.
Mental problems aint a joke, its a thing u will never understand if You never experienced it Yourself (hopefully You wont), something like psychodelic trip. As a former Rekkles teammate, who cares how someone behaves on his worst days as long as he delivers when he has to.
— selfmade (@selfmade_LoL) February 6, 2025
Thorin’s video skyrocketed to 263,000 views in just three days. While it remains at only 2,800 likes, the video currently has over 18,000 dislikes (a 6x ratio). The video’s comments are also largely negative, and most of them defend Rekkles. YouTube citizen @sevencit wrote to Thorin, “starting beef with a 15yo and holding it for 10 years is WILD, you’re a certified freak.” Another commenter, @patriklindqvist1598, said, “Harassing a pro player for a decade that suffers from depression. How mature.”
Some of Rekkles’ former teammates and acquainted industry professionals have also publicly defended him. Former teammate Bwipo mentioned on stream that he’d reached out to Rekkles to offer support, and said “I do not want to speak on it… because I think simply weaponizing someone’s humanity against them is folly.” Bwipo continued, saying he had judged Rekkles in the past for “what made him different” but called him “one of the most genuine, kind and upstanding people I’ve ever been able to work with in my life.”
Broxah also said, “I know Rekkles better than most people in esports […] there’s no way creating a video with the mere intention of destroying him is reasonable in any way, shape or form. He’s not perfect […] he always gave it his all. […] Why are you talking to some randoms who think they know him, just to pull back stuff that happened 5-10 years ago, just to make him sad and miserable?
Fellow League of Legends Athlete @selfmade_LoL also posted in support of Rekkles, and LEC referee @katsaurus mentioned that Rekkles “was always positive” and “polite” while her “one interaction with Thorin was a rude, sexist remark he made to me years ago.”
My personal experience while working with Rekkles was always positive. He was very attentive, humble and polite in the way he chose to speak to me and others
My one interaction with Thorin was a rude, sexist remark he made to me years ago
I think that sums them up nicely ✌🏻 pic.twitter.com/ur2TgauZxb
— Val 🌺 (@katsaurus) February 5, 2025
Caedrel and the Los Ratones have not made an official statement on the video at time of writing. When asked about the situation while streaming, Nemesis commented that Thorin “really does remind me of one of those 70-year-old grandpas that watch football and rage in front of the TV.”
Much of the community has mentioned that Thorin’s comments about Rekkles’ personality fail to take his autism diagnosis, which can make interacting with others difficult and cause overstimulation, into account. Internet denizens are wondering if Thorin can provide sources for his allegations, and many observe that the video’s allegations date back to when Rekkles was a teenager.
Thorin has since released a follow-up video titled “The Rekkles Retrospective” where he includes a compilation of his commentary about Rekkles throughout the years. The video sits at about 300 likes. Thorin is active on X.com as of February 8, 2025, but has not made further statements.
