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Valorant's world-building has been on a slow burn but has produced exciting new plots every time Riot revealed a sliver of it. David Nottingham, the Creative Director, had promised "a distinct and cohesive universe" and the newly released Act 2, of Episode 4 has beautifully furthered the story they have been telling.
The overarching narrative of the game has been revealed in bits and pieces over Agent additions and patch updates. Riot has been imaginative in both the way they are shaping up their lore and in how they present it to players.
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Episode 4 Act 2 marks a vast amount of data revealed through dossiers on six of the Agents in the Protocol, all thanks to the Blackmailer.
Brimstone, Viper, Omen, Sage, Raze, and Chamber get their pasts revealed by dossiers left across various maps in Valorant
Riot has revealed information regarding Agents and plotlines a number of times through voicemails and emails found in Brimstone's office at the Range. These essentially provide the players with a deeper insight into the motivation of the said characters and the actions they are performing.
This time around, players are met with a number of dossiers that can be found in various locations across Valorant's maps. When interacted with, they provide information that the Blackmailer has compiled on six of the Agents - Brimstone, Viper, Sage, Raze, Chamber, and Omen - with possibly more being released before this Episode ends.
Brimstone [Dossier location - Ascent]
The leader of the Valorant Protocol has his name revealed as Liam Byrne. He was reportedly part of the Special Forces and the Blackmailer notes that he was a fierce fighter who would have done anything for his fellow soldiers.
"And yet, despite all your best efforts, you watched Tariq Porter die. What did Sumaira say when you told her?"
It has long been known that Brimstone lost someone close to war, as can be seen in a player card. One explanation of the Die For You video was based on this aspect of his lore and connected the woman to the person who died (Tariq Porter).
The Blackmailer wonders if Brimstone knows what he is doing and if he is making the same mistakes and leading his team to the slaughter. Given that the death of a compatriot weighs heavily on his shoulders, this is a personal jibe at his grief and trauma.
Viper [Dossier location - Bind]
Previously known as Sabine Callas, Viper was a highly regarded scientist with a number of accolades in her cabinet, including being "the youngest recipient of the R. Francis Prize, winner of the Denton Outstanding Innovation Award, and the first Chief Scientific Officer on Kingdoms Board of Advisors." The latter is a point of interest.
The Blackmailer contends that a certain incident led to her completely overhauling herself - becoming cold, distant, and isolated as she searched for vengeance. This particular incident is not yet specified, although there are some guesses, including the accident that resulted in Omen.
Viper's dossier concludes with a vague taunt wondering if anything of who she was remains within her rage fuelled mind. Similar to Brimstone's file, this also pokes at someone being driven by grief and trauma. Given the anger that resides within Viper, that may not have been a clever move on the Blackmailer's part.
Sage [Dossier location - Icebox]
The dossier reveals Sage's previous name as Ling Ying Wei, with the moniker The Balm of Shaanxi. It is also mentioned that she was associated with a monastery where she was taught the concept of balance, action and reaction - something anyone who has noticed the interaction between Sage and Omen would know.
The dossier doubles down on these notions and asks if "a life saved does not mean a life taken." Omen asks Sage, "The life you give, have you ever wondered where it's taken form?"
The notion of balance in the Valorant universe is evident, even Astra accepts her cosmic duty of maintaining the equilibrium. Thus, Sage's powers disrupting the very equation of life and death leads to interesting questions. Where does she draw her powers from? Does her reviving her teammate kill someone elsewhere?
"Or is the thought of it too much? That with every selfless act, your toll keeps climbing? Yes. Ignorance is safer."
Raze [Dossier location - Breeze]
Valorant's colorful resident bombardier was earlier called Tayane Alves and used to spray paint art on the streets of her beloved city, Bahia. The Blackmailer notes that the abandoned Kingdom plot in her city remains splashed with paint, as if a testament to her victories.
They wonder what will become of the city now that Raze has been away from Bahia for too long. It mentions that Kingdom is like a weed, and it will choke out the city when Raze is indisposed.
It will be interesting to see if Bahia is later added as a playable map in Valorant. With the hints gathered from here, one can expect a tired city with splashes of paint hiding under layers of dust and pain.
Chamber [Dossier location - Fracture]
The French deadshot is identified as Vincent Fabron by the dossier as it wonders where Chamber found his start before Kingdom Defense. But even the Blackmailer has not yet figured out what intentions drive Chamber.
"Your ends allude me, but this is not aimless ambition. Whatever your goal, you believe it necessary. It is, perhaps, the one truth you hold sacred."
The dossier simply wonders what will happen if Chamber's plan goes awry, for then he will be tagged as a villain and will have to face judgment. The Blackmailer concludes with a simple question, "Can you live with that forever?"
Omen [Dossier location - Split]
Even the Blackmailer is not sure what Omen's name was prior to what became of him. It simply states [Redacted] and they go onto state:
"First Light was not kind to you, John. Or was it Fred? Everywhere I look, a new alias. Marcus. Yohan. Dimitri. But no true name. Do you even know who you were? From what I found at Point Light, I suspect not."
The Blackmailer ends the note by stating that they hope Omen does not regret the answers once he finds them. Omen's position within Valorant's lore is shrouded in darkness and mystery. He is intricately tied to the backstories of Viper and Sage, where the former asked the latter to save Omen.
Sage's botched attempt at that has supposedly resulted in Omen's split into a disoriented state. For better or worse, Omen seems deeply tied to the over-arching narrative of Valorant and even the Agent himself says:
"I am the beginning, I am the end."
The dossiers reveal information regarding the Agents' backstories and important events that had played a role in shaping the world of Valorant. Players will be eager to learn what Point Light is or know more about the incident that changed Viper's life.
One of the most common aspects of the stories here is the fact that most of the Agents of Valorant Protocol are burdened with a sense of guilt from some unresolved trauma of great significance in their past. They are driven by that, and this can lead to them contributing to a bigger conflict without intending to.
The presence of a Blackmailer in Valorant was revealed when a mail was found on Brimstone's laptop which threatened him by saying that if he was found involved in the taking of someone, the Blackmailer would reveal the secrets of Valorant out of the darkness. Sova and Cypher attempted to trace this back, but in vain.
With the dropping of the dossiers, Valorant players will be glued to find out more about their favorite Agents but also the identity of the Blackmailer and what their end-goal is. If the person behind these threats is not someone entirely unknown or is not a new Agent, it could potentially be someone from the Valorant Protocol.
The prime guess for any such nuisance will fall onto Chamber, given his proclivity to cause ordered chaos and his penchant for making shady deals. But another educated guess will be the mysterious intel gathering Moroccan Agent, Cypher.
With almost nothing known about his past and his stated background in technology and information gathering, he may as well be the Blackmailer in Valorant. It is known that he lost most of his family earlier and has a love of chess.
Another fact pointing to Cypher's involvement in the same is that now the home screen of Valorant - which was earlier showing four Agents as Neon tried to power the bridge - also shows Cypher and the Blackmailer's symbol predominantly.
As of now, this is nothing but mere speculation - but one never knows with Riot and what they have in store for Valorant.
