Valorant
| Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Valorant |
| Abbreviation(s): | val, valo |
| Creator: | Riot Games |
| Date(s): | June 2, 2020 – present |
| Medium: | Video game |
| Country of Origin: | |
| External Links: | Official Site, Official Twitter, Official Instagram |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Stub: This is a total braindump! Feel free to rearrange and sort things out. |
Valorant is a free-to-play first-person shooter developed and published by Riot Games.
Canon
Although there are debates about what is canon, the fandom mostly decides that anything released by Riot Games (regardless of whether it is in-game) can be considered canonical to the universe of Valorant. This includes Twitter takeovers and the cinematics on YouTube. Canon purists may say that the only material considered canon is anything that was put in the Valorant itself, whether through character voice lines and interactions or through material in The Range.
Valorant consists of Episodes and Acts, with each Episode consisting of three Acts. Episodes are as followed:
- IGNITION
- FORMATION
- REFLECTION
- DISRUPTION
- DIMENSION
- REVELATION
Cinematics
The cinematics for Valorant include every agent and map trailer alongside every Episode cinematic.
The Fandom
Fandom History
Riot Games is generally pretty accepting on fanworks and of the fandom for Valorant, something that is also true for their other huge game, League of Legends. They do not shy away from involving fans in promotions for the game. On June 23, 2021, they released a thread on Twitter where they "collaborated with some very talented cosplayers to help bring a few of our Agents to life" to celebrate the first year of Valorant being out. They also collaborated with a cosplayer for Neon's release, tweeting a photoshoot of a Neon cosplayer on January 7, 2022, around a week before Neon was to be released in Valorant.
Size
Valorant has a large community but a much smaller fandom by comparison. As of May 15, 2023, there are 3,043 works on Archive of Our Own.
Shipping
As of May 15, 2023, the most popular ships on Archive of Our Own are:
- Reyna/Sage (280 works)
- Phoenix/Yoru (280 works)
- Killjoy/Raze (279 works)
- Killjoy/Viper (222 works)
- Fade/Neon (190 works)
- Chamber/Yoru (187 works)
- Cypher/Omen (183 works)
- Cypher/Sova (155 works)
- Jett/Sage (131 works)
- Jett/Phoenix (107 works)
Out of the top 10 relationships, only one (the last one, Jett/Phoenix) is a m/f relationship. Also, the top three ships have approximately the same number of fanworks with them tagged. Fade/Neon is notable for being so popular as their agents are two of the newest in the canon. Additionally, femslash is a large part of the fandom. Four of the five most popular ships are f/f.
Canon Influence
One of the most notable ways fandom has influenced the game is through the Widejoy player card and subsequent meme. In the Episode 3 Act II Battle Pass, there was a card called Rainfall. For some reason, this card was glitched so it would display a stretched-out image of Killjoy during some loading menus. The developers announced that they were going to patch it out, which caused outrage in the community. After the announcement #SaveWidejoy became a trending hashtag on Twitter. However, the developers wanted to commemorate the glitch still, so there were two free cards in the Episode 4 Act II Battle Pass that showed Killjoy reading a petition to #SAVEWIDEJOY. These cards included a picture of Widejoy, and you can see Widejoy in the loading menu if you have one of the cards equipped.[1] In the same battle pass was a spray entitled #SAVEWIDEJOY, which has Raze spraypainting a Widejoy. Then, for April's Fool 2022, Riot Games uploaded a trailer for a new game mode entitled "Widejoy Mode", where Killjoy's model would become wide in the game.
Cypher is one of the more beloved characters in the fandom due to how often the cinematics and trailers shaft him, most recently with the license plate of a card in the Gekko trailer being "DEDCYPR" (Dead Cypher). As a result, for April's Fool 2023, Riot Games uploaded a trailer for a new game mode entitled "Cypher's Revenge Game Mode", where Cypher can finally get revenge for being dead in all the cinematics.
Characters and Pairings
As of May 15, 2023, there are 21 agents in Valorant, all of whom are part of the Valorant Protocol. Two more are scheduled to be released in 2023, and there is also three scrapped agents. Agent 8 is also currently not in the game.
In order of their agent number, the agents are:
- Brimstone
- Viper
- Omen
- Killjoy
- Cypher
- Sova
- Sage
- Agent 8
- Phoenix
- Jett
- Reyna
- Raze
- Breach
- Skye
- Yoru
- Astra
- KAY/O
- Chamber
- Neon
- Fade
- Harbor
- Gekko
There is only one canonical pairing in Valorant: Killjoy/Raze, canonically known as Nanobomb. They were made canonical during a social media takeover in December 2022. The second to last part of the takeover was an illustration by snatti89 of Raze and Killjoy kissing, posted without a caption on the official Twitter on December 11, 2022. The same illustration was posted on the official Instagram.. Less than half an hour after the illustration was posted on Twitter, the creative director of Valorant, David Nottingham, retweeted the illustration with the word "Canonical". A few hours after the illustration was posted on Twitter, the official Valorant Twitter account tweeted "nanobomb". A month later, in Patch 6.01, there was an update to The Range that included an email from Viper to Brimstone regarding internal policy changes regarding the Protocol's anti-fraternization policy. The email does not reference Killjoy and Raze by name, but this update came shortly after the illustration was posted.
However, even before Nanobomb was made canon, many fans already considered it canon because of how heavily hinted it was.
Creatures
There are several creatures in Valorant who have become incredibly prevalent in the fandom, especially in fanart. The most notable is Wingman, one of Gekko's creatures. However, there are other creatures like tactibears, penguins, and rabbits which make a lot of appearances in sprays, cards, maps, etc. Some of the agents, most notably Neon, also have plushies.
Tropes
Fan Activities & Works
Video Games
- Valorant but in Minecraft is a common recreation of the game
Fanfiction
Fanart
- Do you think like...Killjoy and Raze work on stuff together...!🥺 by AnhDang
- need them to be friends so bad by l0verseyes
- gekko is cool but wingman has my heart by honestlyitsjustsam
- I will always find you, Like it's written in the stars. ✨ by niagaragrape
- bf got me to play valo .... SO VALO WOMEN by teangeri
- Pixel Valorant by gas13
Videos
- Sage just plant the spike by sadgeu
- Working on a little fanmade anime opening for VALORANT :) Hope everyone enjoys :D by emikoyaki
Music
Cosplays
External Links
- Official site
- Official Twitter
- Official Instagram
- Valorant on Archive of Our Own
- Valorant Fandom Wiki
- Valorant Lore Fandom Wiki
- Valorant subreddit
References
- ^ "The Beloved Widejoy Player Card Returns in the New Valorant Battle Pass." ONE Esports, 1 Mar. 2022, www.oneesports.gg/valorant/widejoy-valorant-battle-pass/.