Agent 8 is one of Valorant's greatest mysteries, which still seems far from being solved. However, there is a shadow of a chance that we'll get to learn a lot more about his true identity in Episode 4, which pretty much means the first half of 2022. What made us think that way?
Valorant's lore is full of mysteries, and Agent 8 is one of them. We currently have as many as 18 playable Agents in the game, and none of them is officially listed as "Agent 8". Every time a new Agent comes out, the community is like, "is this the famous Agent 8 yet?", although the answer from Riot for almost 2 years now is "well, maybe next time". And it's not likely that the Valorant producers have forgotten that the number 8 exists and are just going with the flow – we already know there must be some good lore behind it, and the official Episode 4 trailer reinforces this belief.
But this trailer isn't the only Agent 8 hint we got from Riot recently; the new Battle Pass (actually one of its rewards) may also be telling us much more than it seems.
Agent 8: Identity
Until recently, we knew absolutely nothing about Agent 8, which all changed with the official Episode 4 trailer release, specifically with the moment where Phoenix walks up to the lockers.
As you can see, the locker that should belong to the most mysterious character in Valorant has a scratched number and is disabled, which means that Agent 8 is not a part of the PROTOCOL anymore. Aside from the fact that we have confirmation that Agent 8 once existed, it's also essential that Riot is showing us this now, right at the beginning of a new Episode. A large part of the community suggests that since the locker is disabled, it probably means that Agent 8 is dead, and we won't see him again in lore. And this is where "Player Card 48" from the latest Battle Pass comes in.
Agent 8: Player Card 48
It has become a tradition that the Player Card 48 of the latest Battle Pass would announce the next Agent or Map. However, on the current Player Card 48, there is only Sage who seems to be using one of her abilities and that doesn't actually tell us much. Or does it actually tell us quite a lot? So, if we assume that Agent 8 is dead and combine it with the graphic showing Sage bringing someone back to life, it makes for an exciting theory about Agent 8.
A big part of the community thinks that Agent 8 will be the typical antagonist or deserter of PROTOCOL, but honestly, that seems too boring looking at how much Riot delays to show him (plus, it doesn't match with Player Card 48). So, what's our theory? We've come up with three:
- Agent 8 is dead, but he will have the ability that will be needed to perform some mission by PROTOCOL, and therefore Sage will try to bring him back to life.
- He will be revived by Sage from Mirror Earth and will fight against PROTOCOL.
- We'll get another healer Agent who will be Sage's main rival (just as Neon is Jett's rival) and will return to PROTOCOL after many years.
What are your theories? Be sure to let us know on our Discord, and let's overthink it a little!