IYI GECELER - Fade's Reveal Trailer

İYİ GECELER - Fade Agent Trailer

"İYİ GECELER - Fade Agent Trailer" was released on April 24, 2022 to serve as an introduction to the VALORANT PROTOCOL's 20th Agent, namely Fade. The trailer features the song "Karanlığın" by HELIN and ARB4, and depicts the events of the Sting Mission through a showcase of the Agent's fears.

## Synopsis

This trailer serves as an official introduction for Fade, depicting the events of the Sting Mission with which VALORANT PROTOCOL aims to capture the blackmailer who had been threatening them for a long time. The mission backfires when Fade makes the unexpecting VALORANT PROTOCOL Agents— Sova, Neon, Chamber, Cypher, KAY/O, and Breach— face their darkest fears.

Prior to the release of the trailer, an Audio Log titled 'Sting' was present in Cypher's Office, which relayed the events of the mission where Fade was captured in full. The cinematic is heavily on the audio drama, showing the various Agents experiencing their fears as the mission progresses in a 'Nightmare Sequence'.

Each of the Nightmares is a short clip showcasing one Agent, while Fade whispers a Turkish word or phrase in the background - often insulting or hurting them, each compounding their pain in some terrible way.

## Plot

The trailer starts off with an aerial view of the urban landscape of Istanbul. The sun is setting, with the city bathed in an orange glow, as the VLT/R swoops into view. We hear Cypher's voice, telling his fellow Agents that he's managed to find a signal on the Blackmailer's whereabouts and that she seems to be headed East.

After the VLT/R arrives at the location of the signal (an old, abandoned-looking warehouse with a broken roof), Sova asks Neon for confirmation of the target visual. After confirming that she sees the warehouse, Neon departs the VLT/R by Sova's orders for the ground team to "Collapse and converge on Sector 4".

After sliding down on a cable released from the VLT/R, Neon lands on the ground successfully, and begins running towards the entrance of the warehouse - assumedly to get into position before the fighting starts. Right as she passes through the entrance, the scene changes, and the Nightmare sequence ensues.

### Nightmare Sequence

The first nightmare we see visualized is Neon's — as she was running, she suddenly finds herself in the middle of a beach, likely the one in her hometown of Taguig, Philippines. Her running is interrupted by the dark smog below her feet that restrain her movements.

As Neon tries to fight against the nightmare's hold, she gets even more incapacitated by it, collapsing to the ground while crying out in agony. At this point, Fade whispers "*Kararsız*" ('Unstable'). Her panic begins to surge and sparks crackle around her fingers as her powers are inadvertently summoned. The Nightmare ends zoomed on her face, as her eyes turn completely blue.

Then the trailer focuses on Cypher as he's bound to a chair, in what looks like a typical interrogation room, with the word "*Gözcü*" ('Watcher') echoing in the background. As he's trying to fight the nightmare's restraint, visualized by the black smog on his wrists, Cypher is comes face-to-face with multiple cameras observing him. Uncomfortable by the attention, Cypher tries to back away from the cameras, but to no avail— another nightmare manifests behind his back: from inside the smokes, Fade's hands come up, forcibly trying to remove Cypher's mask to reveal his identity to the world.

We then see a picturesque image of two Chamber's shaking hands: a visual representation of the secret deal made between α-Chamber and Ω-Chamber. Fade whispers "*Yalancı*" (Liar), in reference to how Chamber lied about this deal and his involvement in Fracture to the PROTOCOL. Slowly, the crystal-like frame starts to crack and shatter right in the middle. After the frame is destroyed, the two Chamber's seem to be looking around in surprise while multiple images of Fade with an ominous, red gaze surround them.

The next visualization of fear we see is Breach's, with Fade's word of choice being "*Kaçak*" ('Fugitive', or 'Runaway'). Breach seems to be in confinement behind prison bars as he repeatedly shakes the metal frame, trying to break free. He's unable to break through, causing him to slam his fist against the wall in rage. However, as the punch lands, glowing cracks form on his metal arms, with them breaking apart completely. As he's not powerful enough to escape, Breach can only continue punching the walls of his confinement, unable to ever break free.

Right afterwards, we switch to KAY/O's nightmare. He is alone, in a desolate and mostly empty landscape, tinted blood-red - a callback to the 'Radiant War' segment of his reveal trailer. In his arms lies Brimstone, deceased. Worsening the pain of the loss, Fade whispers "*Yüz Karası*" ("Disgrace'). KAY/O's face is completely blank as he turns around, and takes slow steps towards a structure in the distance (largely hidden due to the haze). Black-colored wisps leak out of his mechanical body with each footfall.

Then, we see Sova trying to aim his bow in the dark. Suddenly, though, he loses his vision in his only intact eye and is left to defend himself in the darkness - Fade's whisper is, fittingly, "*Kör*" ('Blind'). Despite being completely blind, Sova is able to shoot a Recon Bolt through the darkness, which reveals Fade's silhouette in an ominous red pulse emerging from the shadows.

### Conclusion

We hear Fade muttering "I've seen your darkest fears..." as the nightmare-inducing smoke dissipates by her will and reveals her face. As the smoke dissipates, we see the VALORANT PROTOCOL Agents regaining consciousness, looking dumbfounded after the nightmare Fade had induced upon them. The peace doesn't last for long, though— after calling the nightmare back into her hands, she summons Prowler, charging it forward to the VALORANT PROTOCOL Agents after finishing her daring sentence: "...mine would eat them alive." The video ends with VALORANT PROTOCOL Agents trying to defend themselves from the onslaught of Prowler's attacks, sounding audibly shaken and in distress.

## Lore

With the inclusion of "The Sting" Mission Audio Log that released in 23rd May 2022, we learn the details of the rest of the mission, of how the VALORANT PROTOCOL was able to capture Fade in the end.

Before the release of Fade's Agent Trailer, the official VALORANT Twitter account had posted short, animated images of the VALORANT PROTOCOL Agents (Neon, Chamber, Cypher, Breach, KAY/O, and Sova) surrounded by visualization of their fears as teasers, so the Agents to star in this trailer (and the trailer's possible contents) was already known by the audience.

As we see the visualization of the Agents' fears in this trailer, we hear Fade whispering various adjectives in Turkish, effectively taunting the Agents with their worst fears, just like she had done with the Agent Dossiers.

### Neon's Fear

Neon's fear in this trailer, as supported by her Agent Dossier, seems to be the fear of not being able control her volatile powers. As she points out in the Patch 4.03 Voicemail, even with the limiters on, she can power a "whole city block" with ease; and without the Surge Protector on her back restraining her, Neon's powers possess catastrophic qualities. In her Agent trailer, Fade taunts her to be "Kararsız" (English: Unstable), as Neon lacks much needed "control" over her powers. In her dossier, Fade claims that "control" is "The gift so many yearn to give [to Neon]," and is also "The one thing that [she'll] never have."

### Cypher's Fear

Cypher's fear seems to be his face getting exposed. In his dossier, Fade claims that Cypher hides his face even from the people closest to him (his wife Nora and his child) because it's simply "too risky". Fade uses his ways of spying against him in the trailer, using various cameras that he utilizes to spy on the enemy to make him uncomfortable. As if it's not enough, Fade also taunts him with her words, mockingly calling him "Gözcü" (English: Watcher, Lookout), as he's reputable to be the eyes of VALORANT PROTOCOL in their missions, guiding the team with his precious intel.

### Chamber's Fear

Chamber's fear is theorized to be the exposal of his secret agreement between α-Chamber and Ω-Chamber. While the details of this agreement aren't exactly disclosed, we know that it's related to the destruction of the LRC at Fracture and that Chamber hides this deal from his fellow VALORANT PROTOCOL Agents in fear of judgment. In the video, we hear Fade calling him "Yalancı" (English: Liar), possibly implying that Chamber has lied about the truth about the Fracture Incident and his involvement to the people around him, for he is afraid of being seen as the "villain".

### Breach's Fear

Breach's fear, compared to other Agents' fears, seems to be a rather simple and straightforward one: imprisonment. As we see in his Agent Dossier, Breach is reputable to come from a family of criminals. As his family were punished for their crimes, though, Breach is pitied by the judge because he is a congenital amputee, and isn't sentenced to imprisonment like the rest of his family. Afterwards, perhaps because of his pride, Breach doesn't receive the pity well, and commits various crimes to prove himself as a noticeable member of his criminal family. This later on backfires and Breach has to "disappear" because his crimes became "impossible to ignore", and manifests a fear of imprisonment in him. For this reason, Fade taunts Breach by calling him "Kaçak" (English: Fugitive) in the video.

The breaking of Breach's arms is also an important metaphor. Those arms are the pride of his life, self-made creations that enable him to live his life of notoriety and crime despite his disability - indeed, not only live it, but *excel* at it. Without them, he is right back to being the pitiable kid excluded from his 'great' family because he was disabled.

### KAY/O's Fear

KAY/O's fear seems to circulate around the Radiant War, the main reason he came from an alternate timeline to join the VALORANT PROTOCOL. Although its catalyst is unknown, this event is theorized to be a war between Radiants and and normal humans, which Reyna assumes the leading role of. In this war, KAY/O is known to have lost his dear friend Brimstone, which he absolutely regrets, and constantly blames himself for not being able to protect his friend. In the video, Fade calls KAY/O "Yüz Karası" (English: Disappointment), effectively reflecting his feelings of being a "disappointment", for he was unable to protect Brimstone and prevent his death.

### Sova's Fear

Like Breach's fear, Sova's fear is a simple one: going blind. As he only has one intact eye he can see with, he possesses a prominent fear of losing that one and becoming completely blind in the end. To taunt him, Fade is heard to be calling him "Kör" (English: Blind) in the video. As we learn from Sova's Agent Dossier, the fear of going blind might also be related to his legacy of being "the man who never missed a shot".

## Notes

* İYİ GECELER was originally intended to be a full cinematic, not just an Agent trailer, but this couldn't be achieved due to a lack of budget and time. To make up for this, the audio of the cinematic was released in Cypher's Office as an in-game playable Audio Log instead.
* In the Audio Log for the mission, Cypher caught onto Fade's as she was moving, and the team watched as she entered the warehouse before acting. In the trailer, she was shown already inside, lying in wait for her attackers.
* The 'Nazar motif is seen repeatedly in the trailer, implying that Fade uses it is a sort of personal symbol. This aligns with its representation in Fade's clothing, and in her Agent Takeover.

## References

1. ↑ "The Sting" Mission Audio Log Go
2. ↑ VALORANT Twitter Account's Neon Post Go
3. ↑ VALORANT Twitter Account's Chamber Post Go
4. ↑ VALORANT Twitter Account's Cypher Post Go
5. ↑ VALORANT Twitter Account's Breach Post Go
6. ↑ VALORANT Twitter Account's KAY/O Post Go
7. ↑ VALORANT Twitter Account's Sova Post Go
8. ↑ Kingdom Archives' Page for Patch 4.03 Voicemails Go
9. ↑ Some of the history behind the Trailer and the 'Sting' Audio Log - Discord QnA with Creative Director, Riot KingKut Go