VALORANT Lore – The Story So Far
At first glance, VALORANT looks like a straightforward hero shooter without much emphasis on story or lore. However, that can’t be further from the truth. VALORANT lore goes deeper than you might think, and the game has a proper story behind it. Riot Games has managed not only to captivate its audience and player base with the game but also with its compelling storytelling and extensive lore.
For most competitive players, the game’s story doesn’t matter much. But, for some of us, the lore of the game is also part of enjoying VALORANT. Most of the lore is shown to the audiences through amazing and breathtaking cinematics made by Riot Games. You can also find snippets of lore in the shooting range, and scattered throughout the many maps of the game.
In this article, we’ll go over what we currently know about the story of VALORANT.
First light – The Origin of VALORANT
In the distant future, on an alternate earth, the event that kicks off the story for VALORANT is called the First Light.
This First Light brought about incredible changes to the very DNA of numerous people. The event granted supernatural powers to certain individuals and allowed others to make extremely powerful weapons and gadgets.
Ten or so years before this event, a super rare element called Radianite was discovered. An organization by the name of Kingdom Corporation was made to mine this element and test it.
After testing, Radianite was discovered to be the safest renewable energy source on earth, and it was said to harness unlimited energy. First Light itself was an event that occurred because of something that happened with Radianate experiments; researchers were trying to make supercharged Radianite, thus kicking off First Light.
The people affected by the First Light and given powers were named “The Children of the First Light”, more commonly known as “Radiants”.
VALORANT Protocol – Protecting Humanity Against Radianite and Radiants
Radianite was an important discovery that led to a lot of technical revolutions. However, the power of Radianite could cause significant harm to humanity if it landed in the wrong hands.
The Kingdom Corporation took hold of two-thirds of the Earth’s energy distribution and made themselves seen as benevolent in helping the world. However, several citizens were concerned that the Kingdom Corporation could also use Radianite to make military weapons (such as the Spike) and did not want a single corporation to have this much power.
To combat this, VALORANT Protocol was created, and its main purpose was to protect the residents of the world from any rougue Radiants or a Radiant crisis. The leaders of this protocol are Brimstone and, to an extent, Viper and Sage.
Omega Earth
The 5v5 match in VALORANT is actually connected to the game’s lore. Two teams of similar agents fight to defuse / plant the spike. This was explained more clearly in the second cinematic for VALORANT called “Duality”.
In the cinematic, Killjoy, Viper, and Phoenix fight a mysterious enemy whilst trying to defuse the spike. In the midst of this, Phoenix confronts the enemy and it turns out to be another Phoenix. This shocking revelation proves the existence of another Earth with a similar history. This earth was later codenamed Omega Earth, while the original Earth is referred to as Alpha Earth. That’s why there can be the same agents on both teams in a VALORANT match.
The question is: why would agents from Omega Earth try to destroy Alpha Earth with Spikes? If the histories are similar, the goal of these agents should be to protect, not to destroy.
It is revealed later that the reason Omega Earth is attacking Alpha Earth is to harvest Radianite. To put it simply, Omega Earth needs Radiante to stay alive.
Radiants
Radiants are the people who have their DNA fundamentally changed by the First Light. These Radiants gained powers that brought forward a new age of human evolution. Those who didn’t become ‘superheroes’ used Radianite in other ways (such as for the creation of weapons or gadgets) to bridge the gap.
The agents that are Radiants in the VALORANT Agent Roster include:
- Reyna
- Neon
- Iso
- Phoenix
- Jett
- Yoru
- Sage
- Omen
While the other agents that rely on gadgets are:
- Viper
- Brimstone
- Deadlock
- Killjoy
- Cypher
VALORANT All Cinematics Explained
The VALORANT lore is revealed to the fans in cinematics. These cinematics come out every new episode and move the story along in a way that is easy for the audience to follow.
The first cinematic “Duelists” introduced us to Phoenix, Jett, and Spike. The cinematic followed the back-and-forth fighting between the two over the control of the Spike. The fight ends in the destruction of Venice and the creation of the VALORANT map Ascent.
“Duality” which is the second cinematic, delves more into the VALORANT lore. In the cinematic, Killjoy, Viper, and Phoenix are fighting to defuse the spike. During this, Phoenix confronts the enemy he is fighting and tries to take a look at his face, which turns out to be his doppelganger. The cinematic ends on a cliffhanger and the truth is revealed in a later cinematic.
The third and fourth cinematics aren’t that lore-heavy. The third cinematic is called “Retake” and it’s an introduction to Yoru, an agent who can manipulate space and create clones of himself. The fourth cinematic, “Warmup” shows us the HQ of VALORANT Protocol and shows us the teamwork and friendship between the agents as they try to defeat a practice robot.
The fifth cinematic “Shattered” follows Killjoy, Reyna, and Neon making their way into Omega Earth to investigate why their Omega counterparts are trying to steal Alpha Earth’s Radianite. They find out that Omega needs Radianite to help make their life support system which is required to stay alive.
“Revelation” marks the sixth cinematic in this universe. Alpha Astra and Harbour are shown seeking a location on Omega Earth where the guardians supposedly ruled and the Omega VALORANT legion goes after them as they are trespassing into their world.
The next cinematic “Unmade” showcases VALORANT’s Norwegian agent Deadlock. After getting dropped in Svalbard to investigate a secret base, Deadlock is recruited to the protocol by Sova to discuss the events of her mission.
Finally, the last cinematic that has been released so far is called “Reckoning” and it recalls the story of Omen and how he came to be the monster he is today. The cinematic focuses on the scions of the hourglass organization that Omen and Iso were a part of. Not much is yet known about this organization. Omen’s past has always been a mystery in VALORANT. Hopefully, in the later cinematics, we might get more information.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this article is only the cherry on top of the extensive lore that VALORANT possesses and will without a doubt continue to expand more and more until a satisfactory conclusion is reached. The game has been out for a while but is showing absolutely no signs of slowing down, so we don’t have any doubt that we’ll see more and more fascinating lore bits being revealed to us in the near future.
