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Unveiling the lore and character backstories of VALORANT Agents
Dive deep into First Light, the mirrorverse, Agents and all other VALORANT lore and character backstories.
VALORANT, the famed 5v5 team-based shooter by Riot Games, has quickly gained a massive following since its launch in 2020. This is partly because of the slick, tactical gameplay – and partly because of its deep, intriguing lore. The backstories let players connect more with VALORANT Agents and form a community among fans. Even casual gamers sign on again and again because of the seasonal releases of new VALORANT storylines.
The game’s popularity has skyrocketed so quickly that a global tournament was held just for VALORANT student players just three years after its launch. Indonesia took home the trophy in the 2023 Red Bull Campus Clutch finale, beating Peru.
Team Indonesia lift the Red Bull Campus Clutch 2023 trophy
© Nuri Yilmazer/Red Bull Content Pool
The game, in theory, is simple: two teams sign on, each consisting of five players, who battle it out. One team is on the attack, the other is defending a zone. But with VALORANT’s rich world-building, it’s so much more than that. Learn more below and join the worldwide phenomenon.
01
The origins of VALORANT
Almost everything in the VALORANT universe was born out of First Light. Think of First Light as a flash or electromagnetic pulse on Earth that happens sometime in the near future. It’s a pivotal event in the VALORANT narrative.
The mirrorverse
As a result of First Light, two earths were confirmed: Alpha Earth and Omega Earth. As the name suggests, they are versions of the same world. As far as gameplay is concerned, the attacking team is from Omega Earth since they are in desperate need of resources. The defending team is from Alpha Earth, keeping the radianite safe.
Radianite
In the VALORANT game story, Radianite has always existed on Earth but was discovered worldwide during First Light. It’s an extractable substance that is a sustainable source of energy. When the flash of First Light happened, a few humans reacted to the radianite, becoming Radiants with hypernatural abilities.
Kingdom Corporation
This company existed before First Light, but it now has a monopoly on radianite and is, therefore, very powerful. It manufactures almost anything, from coffee to weapons. Because it has such a giant corporate agenda, many people don’t trust Kingdom.
A juicy tidbit is that Kingdom had their hands on radianite before First Light – and may have ultimately caused the event during experimentation. K-CORP’s counterpart on Omega Earth is Kingdom Industries, which travels to other planets to mine radianite.
VALORANT Protocol and VALORANT Legion
VALORANT Protocol is a covert organisation that defends Alpha Earth from threats that have originated from First Light. These threats include its own Omega Earth counterpart, VALORANT Legion. Each organisation is made up of Agents, which are the game’s playable characters.
Scions of Hourglass
This super-secretive organisation exists on both Alpha and Omega Earth. For mysterious reasons, they try to keep radianite hush-hush by any means necessary. That includes assassinating scientists. Their prime directive is that the world isn't ready to harness the power of radianite yet.
But wait, there’s more
The game lore suggests that events like First Light happened in the past already. Armour and other artifacts date back to the Japanese Edo period. But there are also the Astral Guardians, who protect reality and space-time from collapse and may have crafted some of those artifacts. Another obscure entity in the universe is ATLAS, an Omega Earth org that wholeheartedly believes Alpha Earth poses a threat. Oh, and there’s also a Radiant War in a future timeline. Life is never boring in VALORANT.
02
Main VALORANT Agents overview
Agents are playable characters who each have their own personalities and abilities. The game offers four categories of Agents: controllers, duelists, initiators and sentinels. Controllers take care of the map, blocking off enemies. Duelists are on the offence (looking for “frags”, ie kills). Initiators start attacks and flush out opposing players, and sentinels keep the defensive lines strong. Players should pick an Agent that fits their game style and their team’s tactics.
Back in the fictional VALORANT lore, Agents join teams from across the globe with real-life home countries. There are more than 20 Agents in play, both in VALORANT Protocol and Legion.
03
Individual VALORANT Agent backstories
Jett (AKA Sunwoo Han, Wushu, Woosh and Hawk)
Yuki Tsunoda's new VALORANT Jett themed helmet design
© Mark Roe / Red Bull Content Pool
Hailing from South Korea, this radiant Agent is known for controlling the wind as an agile duelist. VP-10 (meaning, she was the 10th Agent to join VALORANT Protocol) is definitely not a people-person and prefers doing things her way. Before VP, she worked as a chef in Seoul. Her restaurant was destroyed by a massive storm that may or may not have been caused by Jett meeting her Omega Earth counterpart.
As far as her windy powers go, they can help the whole team. She can propel objects – and even herself – upward with Updraft or quickly in any direction with Tailwind. Her Blade Storm is a lethal set of throwing knives. And she can throw an airy projectile that blocks an enemy’s vision with Cloudburst.
Phoenix (AKA Jamie Adeyemi, Phnx and Apollo)
Valorant hero guide: Phoenix
© Riot Games
VP-9 is a fiery Brit. As a radiant duelist, Phoenix controls the flames. When he was a wee lad in South London, Phoenix was into theatre – possibly having burned down a performing arts school on a bad day. He can be quite reckless because his confidence knows no limit.
His Curveballs detonate and blind enemies around the corner. His Hot Hands throw a flame that scorches the ground. Similarly, Phoenix can cast a firewall with Blaze. And if he’s ever too rash, Phoenix can snap back to a previous, safe location with Run it Back.
Sage (AKA Ling Ying Wei and Thorne)
Sage goes on basically every team
© Riot Games
From the Shaanxi province in China, this radiant sentinel heals others and is a gifted geomancer, meaning she manipulates the earth. She spent her youth in a monastery, further deepening her wisdom and kindness. VP-7 is a popular team-mate for all.
Sage slows down enemies by throwing a Slow Orb, making the ground more difficult to traverse, while her Barrier Orb builds an actual wall. Her Healing Orb can heal her allies and herself, and she can resurrect a fallen friend with Resurrection.
Sova (AKA Sasha Novikov, Filin, Hunter, The man who never missed a shot)
Sova
© Riot Games
This level-headed Russian plays the role of initiator. He's not radiant but instead unleashes his unmatched archery skills with radiant technology onto enemies. Despite his moniker, Sova has missed a shot – and it haunts him to this day. Not much is known from his military background, other than it ended with a bit of a rift. Though he’s missing an eye, Sova possesses amazing scouting abilities.
VP-6’s bow skills are fatal. He can fire thunderous arrows with Shock Bolt, and a long-range, three-prong, wall-piercing attack with Hunter’s Fury. His handy Owl Drone is a controllable extension of his armour that can shoot marking darts to reveal enemy locations. And if the owl didn’t find an enemy, his Recon Bolt will by scanning the environment. There’s no hiding.
Reyna (AKA Zyanya Mondragón and Vampire)
Participants at the Nation Final of Red Bull Campus Clutch 2021 in Nigeria
© Axono Intergrated Services / Red Bull Content Pool
The 11th Agent to join VALORANT Protocol proudly comes from Mexico. Reyna is a cold-blooded duelist, radiant and harvests the souls of her victims in order to live. She believes radiants are superior to technology usage and is very anti-Kingdom. She’s built a sanctuary city for all radiants as a resistance to K-CORP’s unethical behaviour. Her sister Lucia is in a critical state, nearing death’s door every day. Saving Lucia is Reyna’s motivation.
Reyna can enter a state of frenzy with Empress, which boosts her attack power drastically. After she takes down an enemy, she can Devour their soul orbs left behind, healing her. After consuming the soul orb, she can use Dismiss to become intangible and possibly even invisible. Speaking of vision, her Leer can shoot a destructive eye that renders enemies nearsighted when they look at it.
Other Agents in the VALORANT universe
There are so many more Agents with their own special set of skills. VP-1 and VP-2, Brimstone and Viper, are founding members of VALORANT Protocol. Both are humans from the United States and the first and second-in-command. VP-3, Omen, is radiant and is known to be cynical, cheerless and dark-humoured. He’s also lost almost all of his memories, making him even more cryptic.
There’s something to be said about VALORANT’s latest addition, Clove. This immortal, radiant Scot, who was discovered by Omen, loves their mischief. VP-25 has a view of the entire battlefield, can resurrect themselves, decay enemies and even absorb their life force.
Other notable Agents include:
And on and on the list goes.
A participant at the 2023 Red Bull Campus Clutch Peru Final in Lima
© Enrique Castro Mendivil / Red Bull Content Pool
04
Connecting the Agents
As with any workplace, there are good and bad relationships between the Agents. For example, Killjoy and Reyna are definitely not friends. It’s implied that one of Killjoy’s inventions was responsible for Lucia’s harm. However, Reyna has a soft spot for Viper, who's playing a role in keeping Lucia alive.
In Killjoy’s world, VP-12 Raze has turned from a rival into a romantic partner. Raze is also close friends with Breach as they destroy Kingdom facilities together and break laws for fun. This puts them at odds with Brimstone because of VP-1’s corporate past with Kingdom.
Another intertwined relationship includes Viper and Omen. Before his transformation, Omen was ordered to assassinate Viper by the Scions of Hourglass. The attempt failed and Viper and Omen seem to have bonded over this, with Viper saving Omen. Her medicinal skills saved his life but turned him radiant. In short, there’s no list long enough to contain all the relationships that have been built over the years in VALORANT.
Future lore developments
VALORANT has been continuously updating gameplay and storylines, so there’s always something new to speculate about. Agent 08 is a main one of those. The Agent roster seems logical with the numbers (VP-1, VP-2, etc.), but slot 8 has always been empty. Developers recently shared that Agent 08 is not dead and has been on a secretive expedition. They will be added once they have returned. It would be an understatement to say that the anticipation for this Agent is high. Fan theories are numerous, including anything from an Agent being lactose intolerant to every round played being a new alternate reality.
New maps are also constantly keeping players on their toes since VALORANT is known for seeding lore within the battlefield. Then there’s the looming Radiant War. But the latest and most imminent expansion, though, must be that VALORANT has expanded from PC to PlayStation 5 and Xbox.
Map strategies and secrets for dominating VALORANT
VALORANT is an epic universe
Everyone loves a good story, especially when it comes to videogame lore. And VALORANT does secrets, character arcs, battles and wars like JRR Tolkien or George RR Martin.
When it’s time to move from the lore to the lingo, learn the terms every VALORANT player should know.
