The Story of Zed
Zed was Kusho's adopted son and Shen's childhood companion — a student of the Kinkou Order who was driven by a need to prove himself against a legacy he hadn't chosen, against a rival he had to watch be everything he wanted to be. When the Noxian invasion came and the Order's principles required restraint while Ionia died, Zed made a choice that Shen didn't: he sought power that the Order forbade, delving into the shadow techniques that had been locked away for the damage they caused their practitioners.
He killed Kusho. He founded the Order of Shadow. He built an institution that trains killers through the same methods he used to survive his own transformation — techniques that work, that produce warriors, at a cost in corruption that he has decided is worth paying. The Order of Shadow is genuinely effective at fighting Noxian occupation, which is the justification Zed uses for everything. The masters he killed, the principles he abandoned, the students he has shaped into instruments — all of it justified by the practical effectiveness of results.
He hunts Jhin, who was his prisoner once, and the fact that Jhin's release was facilitated by elements within Ionian politics that Zed should have controlled is a failure he doesn't discuss. He and Shen exist in a standoff that is essentially the argument about what Ionian defense requires made physical — Shen represents balance and restraint, Zed represents effectiveness at any price, and neither can prove the other wrong because they are fighting the same war from irreconcilable positions.