Valorant cinematic hints at Agent 8’s whereabouts

One of the great mysteries in Valorant’s lore focuses on a missing agent, a member of the Valorant Protocol team that appears to have gone missing, one way or another. Is Agent 8 a traitor?

A recent cinematic combined with clues from the game suggest that Agent 8 might have betrayed the Valorant Protocol and defected to the darker version of Earth that’s invading Valorant’s “main” universe. Is Valorant’s mysterious eighth agent secretly a villain who played turncoat on Future Earth?

Is Valorant’s Agent 8 a traitor?

In the game’s lore, the Valorant Protocol is a supernatural team that repels attacks from a mirror dimension that sends people to steal the magical material Radianite from Future Earth, the main setting for Valorant. Every agent in the game is a member of the ragtag team, as they do battle with evil versions of themselves from a ravaged earth that has lost all its Radianite.

Each of the Valorant agents has a number that designates in what order they joined the Valorant Protocol. Sage is Agent 7, Phoenix is Agent 9, but there’s a missing slot in the agent pool. This member of the Valorant Protocol is not with the team anymore, implied to have gone away somewhere for quite a while but definitely not dead. It’s possible Agent 8 retired, quit, or otherwise left the Valorant Protocol on good terms, but recent evidence suggests otherwise.

In the “Warm Up” cinematic, as Phoenix exits the training range to store his signature Frenzy, a set of lockers are visible. The lockers each have a number between one and 11, with the number 8 locker being directly adjacent to Phoenix’s. The number 8 has been mostly scrubbed or scratched from the surface of the locker, and while each of the other lockers appears to be electronically powered to unlock for each agent, the eighth locker’s screen is dead black.

This implies that not only has somebody taken the effort to deface the locker and remove the agent’s number, but they’ve also deactivated the locker. If Agent 8 was still a close friend, or otherwise be a loyal member of the Protocol, it seems unlikely that the locker would be left purposefully defaced and deactivated. If Agent 8 were wanted or expected to return, it makes little sense to completely wipe every sign of them from training rooms.

Does Neon have connections to Agent 8 in Valorant’s lore?

Recently, Valorant’s newest agent Neon has been set up as the way for the Valorant Protocol to reach the other version of Earth. Neon’s lightning powers will likely be used to power a teleporter that can send the Valorant Protocol team to the other dimension for the first time. Up until this point they have only been repelling offensives by the other realm, and it seems likely that the next map is a version of Lisbon, Portugal set on the dark version of Earth.

In the same cinematic, a map of Lisbon can be seen on the wall, and in-game voice lines suggest that the Valorant Protocol is planning a mission somewhere thanks to Neon’s abilities unlocking inter-world teleportation. Having a map of Lisbon in the training room makes sense if their next deployment is there. A player card teasing Neon shows her distinct lightning coursing in a figure-eight pattern.

Last one, for real this time.

Obvious Agent teaser is obvious.

But look closely…

AGENT 8 SHOEHORNING CONTINUES. Next Agent is definitely Agent 8. No debate, sorry.

| #VALORANT pic.twitter.com/HZZgnEQ5cf

— Annie | Cynprel (@cynprel) October 29, 2021

All of this would make sense if Agent 8 had previously betrayed the Valorant Protocol and defected to the other version of Earth. Members of the Valorant team would feel betrayed, and defacing their locker and making it inaccessible seems like a probable way for them to respond to such a betrayal.

At the same time, Neon unlocking the capability to travel between realms would also be the Valorant Protocol team’s first chance to go after their former ally. This would explain the references to the number eight on a Neon-themed card. If all of this is true, then it’s very likely that Agent 8 will be tied to the release of the next map located on the other version of Earth.