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AlthoughValorantis strictly an online multiplayer tactical shooter, there is quite a bit of lore for you to dive into. Each of the agents has their own unique backstory that details why they’re fighting and their relationships with other agents.
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One major event in Valorant’s lore that is easily missed is theRadiant War. This massive battle caused plenty of damage around the world and countless lives were lost. We dive into everything we know about the Radiant War, and how this event impacts how you view many of the agents.
A Visitor From The Future
Any knowledge surrounding the Radiant War is thanks toKAY/O. This robot Agent is an anomaly among the roster in thatit’s actually from the future. In KAY/O’s alternate future, the Radiant War was a bloody conflict between theRadiants and humans.
Radiants are people who wereimpacted by Radianite,receivingspecial abilitiesthat differ in type and form. We’ll cover Radianite shortly.
It’s unknown when exactly the Radiant War began, but speculatively it’s at least200 years in the future. KAY/O’s agent trailer shows the robot going back in time to try and prevent the war from occurring. In the present time,Radiants and humans live in harmony, but that period of peace might not last very long.
While we’re unsure of what prompted the war in KAY/O’s future, we do know thatReyna would become the leader of the Radiants. She was likely responsible for instigating the war because of her extreme pride in being a Radiant and her disdain toward humans, but we can’t say for sure.
Radianite And The Role Of Kingdom
You may be wondering how is it possible for agents like Reyna to still be alive during the Radiant War if it takes place hundreds of years in the future. For that answer,we look toKingdom.
This corporation is a massive money-making conglomerate thatgained power through its research of Radianite. Not much is known about Radianite, other than it’s a substance that wasextracted from mines and provided a clean source of energy. ThinkShinraand Mako, orWakandaand Vibranium for parallels.
Prolonged exposure to Radianite is believed to have caused individuals todevelop supernatural abilities. Because of Kingdom’s involvement with Radianite, we can speculate that the corporation may havediscovered new ways to extend the lifespan of humans.
An event known asFirst Lightoccurred around ten years before the incident in Venice. This event essentiallybrought Radianite to both Alpha and Omega Earths.
Another possibility is the Radiant War may not have started 200 years in the future, but that it has simply lasted that long. In this scenario, Kingdom still manages toachieve groundbreaking advancements in technologyby studying the Radianite, but something prompts Reyna into declaring war against the humans.
Regardless of how the war starts, the outcome for Kingdom appears grim.We see the corporation’s logo destroyedin KAY/O’s alternate future, so even this giant conglomerate wasn’t immune to falling in the war.
Clues In KAY/O’s Voice Lines
Agents usea variety of voice linesthroughout a Valorant match, and while some poke a bit of fun at one another, there’s awealth of knowledgethat can be extracted from them. Many of KAY/O’s voice lines provide hints as towhich Agents sided with the Radiants or humans.
From his voice lines, we can determine thatBrimstone, Sova, Raze, and Killjoymost likely fought for the humans, whileReyna, Sage, Jett, Skye, and Astrafought for the Radiants.
KAY/O displays extreme loyalty and respect toward Brimstone and tells him how this is hissecond chance and he won’t fail him again, implying that Brimstone died in the war.
When a match begins, KAY/O often says,“Humans allied with Radiants. What a strange world.”This voice line indicates that when KAY/O was built in the future, the Radiant Warhad already begun, so he isn’t familiar with this time of peace.
For now,KAY/O’s presencemight be enough for the world to avoid the Radiant War — or his time-traveling could have sped up the inevitable catastrophic event.
