Introduction to lore

There are multiple aspects that are essential to understanding the VALORANT universe and the community surrounding it, and this page aims to explain them to facilitate the use of the wiki. If you were looking for an introduction to VALORANT's universe, head here.

## VALORANT as a game

VALORANT is a 5v5 tactical first-person shooter made by Riot Games that incorporates a set of characters with unique abilities into standard gameplay. It has various gamemodes, the majority of which follow a round system, that allow for greater diversity in the ways the game can be played.

## The concept of "lore"

Many pieces of fictional media create a world in which a story can take place. The characters, places and organizations that exist in that story and the history behind each of them are what constitute the term "lore".
 In the case of VALORANT, the lore consists of the elements that surround the core gameplay of the game, the shooter aspect.
### Storytelling

There are several storytelling mediums that the VALORANT team put to use in order to convey the various aspects of VALORANT's lore. This is done to offer a dynamic environment in which the fans are constantly involved.

#### Agents

One of the most prominent tools to transmit lore to the fans are the Agents. The voicelines and the interactions found within them display the personality of each Agent, their relationship with other members of the PROTOCOL and their past experiences.

The playercards found in the contract of each Agent, at tier 9, also offer a look into their backstory, displaying them in a variety of situations.

#### Maps

The maps in VALORANT are filled with details that when put together create a story. This medium, known as environmental storytelling, creates an engaging system for lore crafting through the hints spread throughout the map.

This is not sufficient at times, as some pieces of the story are to complex to be conveyed through hints. This is remedied by using Agent voicelines, a more explicit medium.

#### Battlepasses

The battlepasses introduced with every Act add a new set of playercards. Some select cards among these will contain lore relevant content, portrayed in a similar way as those in Agent contracts.

#### Teasers

There is a common medium among Agents, maps and battlepasses, and that is the teasers. Appearing in playercards, in-game events and social media posts, teasers create an opportunity to build the existing VALORANT universe while introducing new elements into it.

### Gameplay first

Something to keep in mind in the context of VALORANT is that the main focus of the game is not to tell a story but to create a balanced ecosystem in both maps and Agents. This means that lore is adapted to satisfy the necessity of balance, which isn't always possible. Not everything presented by the gameplay is perfectly representative of the lore.

Some instances of this situation are:
* Agent abilities that are less powerful than their story counterparts
* Inexact map scenery and layout
* Character design: height, sounds, etc.

These asynchronicities are necessary to prevent unfair advantages.
Other VALORANT media, such as teasers and cinematics, offer a less restrictive environment in which ideas can be represented to a fuller extent and thus are truer to the lore.

### Skins

The vast majority of the cosmetics in-game are not canon. This includes most Skinlines and the gunbuddies/playercards/titles/sprays associated with them, be they be obtained from the Store or the Battlepass.

Only the following skins are confirmed to be Canon:

* The Kingdom Skins (from Episode 1: Act 1)
* The K-Tac Skins (from Episode 3: Act 1)
* The Tier-9 Agent Contract skins
* The Recon Skins

## Canon vs Non-Canon

The concept of canonicity is very common in fictional media. An element is considered canon when it is factual in the context of the lore, which is to say that it was provided by official VALORANT content that has been intentionally released.

In contrast, non-canon elements are those that are not representative of the lore. An element is labeled as non-canon if it falls into one of these categories:
* It exists solely in fanfiction, in which case it is also referred to as "headcanon"
* Official sources have said that it is not part of the game's universe
* It is a case of "gameplay first" (see above)

### Theories and speculations

One of the attractive aspects of lore is the community that exists behind theories. A theory is a reasoned conclusion backed up by canon facts. In some instances, the facts behind a theory are so overwhelming that it becomes an accepted truth: highly likely but not canon due to a lack of confirmation.

Speculations are very similar to theories in that they both originate from the fans, but the main difference is that speculations have little to no footing in canonical facts, relaying instead of the creativity of the person or people who create it.

While both theories and speculation are key tools for creating a community and understanding the lore, it is often preferable to avoid basing theories on top of other theories.

### Retconned content

Canon information can be removed from the lore by the developers as the story continues. This phenomenon is known as "retconning" and is common when introducing new content into a fictional universe. There are several instances of retcons in the VALORANT universe.

For example, in the *DUELISTS* cinematic, a date on the bottom of the opening scene states that it takes place sometime in 2049. However, the devs later stated that that that is no longer canon, as they wish to refrain from going with concrete dates, and prefer to use 'near future' instead. While the 'true' date of the cinematic's events are *probably* still around 2049, we can no longer say we have any proof for that, since it is now **retconned**.

### Outdated content

Similar events often take place much more regularly, on a much smaller scale, when popular theories and speculation are proven wrong and replaced with new facts. New information added in the game's regular content updates can often change what the community had assumed to be 'true' until then, and turn it on its head.

Because of this, it is very important to ensure that your sources of information are up-to-date, as it is very possible that older sources contain information that is outdated and no longer valid.

This problem is faced most starkly by sources that try to recap all of VALORANT's lore in a single large collection, such as old reddit posts or YouTube videos. No matter how detailed and well-explained the information they provide may be, if some time has passed since they were made (with 'some time' being as recent as one or two months ago), they probably contain information that is retconned or incorrect.

Because of this, your best bet when trying to learn Lore is usually not to watch a three-hour-long YouTube video claiming to 'explain everything', or go combing through Dev AmA sessions made over a year ago, but instead to simply be present in an active community that is dedicated to Lore. At the very least, you can ensure that your sources are made by such an active community (such as ours!), and are regularly updated to stay on top of new information.