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Home › Valorant Lore and Story › Duelists
The Story Cinematic analysis

DUELISTS

The prologue. A chase through Venice that lays down, without ever explaining it, everything the lore will rest on afterwards.

This is the launch cinematic of Valorant, the prologue to the Valorant lore.

THE CONTEXT OF VALORANT

At this stage, we do not know a great deal. The video is mainly there to set the scene of the story of Valorant.

Venice, recognizable from the very first shots

From the opening seconds of the video, Venice, in Italy, is easy to recognize, thanks above all to the Santa Maria della Salute basilica and the Grand Canal of Venice.

Two characters with supernatural abilitiesFirst Radiants

The two characters in the video, Jett and Phoenix, are gifted with supernatural abilities: Jett has extraordinary mobility, while Phoenix commands fire.

The mission of PhoenixThe Spike

The mission of Phoenix is to intercept a package, which here means keeping Jett from planting the Spike.

A third voice off screen

A third voice, never shown on screen, talks with Phoenix. I assume it is Viper, but that remains uncertain.

The duel and the cunning of Jett

Jett shows a great deal of cunning, and manages to outwit Phoenix in a duel.

A whole section of the city levitatingTurning point

After rising from his ashes, Phoenix is caught off guard as he watches part of the city levitate, the sign of an obvious distortion. We are facing a phenomenon that cannot be explained. Did Jett manage to plant the Spike? Is that what set off the levitation? The stretch of Venice floating in mid-air matches Ascent, one of the maps in the game.

TIME AND PLACE

The plot unfolds in Venice, but we have very few clues about the exact period. Our only leads are technological:

An earpiece Phoenix seems to be talking with a command center, most likely through an earpiece.
A blinking object The bag of Jett holds an object that blinks.
A holographic sight The weapon of Phoenix, conventional though it looks with its standard magazine, is fitted with a holographic sight.

It is mainly that holographic sight that gives us a marker in time. That said, with no other clue to back the idea up, the plot most likely sits either in the 21st century or at the very start of the 22nd.

READINGS AND SYMBOLS

Interpretation

The symbolism of Phoenix and Jett

In mythology, the phoenix is a bird reborn from its own ashes, a symbol of the cycle of life, death and rebirth. In Valorant, the way Phoenix is able to “put himself back together” echoes that myth. On the other side, the name “Jett” calls up speed and agility, and her abilities in the game reinforce that idea. The two of them, as opposed as their playstyles are, stand for two essential facets of any competitive team: raw force and adaptability.

The importance of Venice

Venice, a historic city, is known for its architecture, its canals and its cultural heritage. But it is also a byword for mystery, with its hidden alleyways and its carnival masks. That atmosphere of mystery could well mirror the complex and unpredictable world of Valorant. On top of that, Venice being a city “on the water”, it could stand for how precarious the situation is in Valorant, where everything can tip over at any moment.

The levitation phenomenon

In a great many fictional universes, levitation is often tied to a powerful source of energy or to a break in the laws of nature. In the case of Valorant, it could point to a power or a technology that goes beyond human understanding. That levitation can also be read as a disruption of reality, a sign that the agents operate in a world where the usual rules do not always apply.