Ah yes, Agent 08... what happened to Agent 08?
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Lore
All of the Agents in-game have an ID number, corresponding to the order in which they joined. Brimstone and Viper are VP-01 and VP-02 respectively, being the first two members; Fade, being the 20th Agent, is VP-20; and so on for the rest of the Agents.
At launch, the in-game roster included Agents from VP-01 (Brimstone) to VP-13 (Breach), with Agents #4, #8, and #11 being missing. In the Acts immediately following Launch, VP-11 (Reyna) and VP-04 (Killjoy) were added to the game, but after that all new Agents were numbered 14 and up.
The conspicuous (and seemingly intentional) absence of the PROTOCOL's 8th Agent in the game's roster has given rise to much curiosity and speculation within the community, seeking to answer why they were never added. Due to a lack of a formal name, the community has taken to referring to them as 'Agent 8', and they have become a subject of constant mystery and speculation, as well as the butt of many jokes.
3rd June AMA hint
Over time, the Dev team has dropped various hints about Agent 8. Currently, there are two main things known about them:
- They are not dead (yet).
- They have 'gone' somewhere, and will be added once they return.
The basis of these two statements is from a comment made by Joe Killeen (aka Riot ParmCheesy), VALORANT's Narrative Lead, in an AMA session on the r/VALORANT subreddit on 3rd June, 2021. When asked when Agent 8 would be added to the game, Joe replied that it would be "as soon as they 'get back' ", not specifying what they would be returning from.
As is wont to occur when so little information is provided, the community has developed many theories (which are in equal parts thought-provoking and amusingly absurd) to explain this. Popular theories include having been exiled from the PROTOCOL due to misconduct, having quit the PROTOCOL and moved on in life, having gone on a long vacation, being kidnapped and held hostage by Omega Earth, and having deserted over to Omega Earth's side.
With barely any information known about A8, it is difficult to know if any of these are true or false, and the Dev Team stubbornly refuses to give out any straight answers. It has also become common practice to humorously label all new information as a definite teaser for Agent 8, as a joke about how convoluted and long-winded the hints towards them have been.
WARM UP cinematic hint
After a long stretch of silence about A8 following their mention in the AMA on 3rd June, a clue towards their past was handed at the start of Episode 4, in the WARM UP cinematic. Visible for only a few seconds, we saw Agent 8's locker in the VPHQ commons, nestled along the wall along with all the others.
WARM UP cinematic, 0:12
WARM UP cinematic, 2:31
While the locker wouldn't have been much on its own beyond a light mention that Agent 8 existed in the VALORANT Universe, the state that it is in gives the mundane object much more importance. Unlike all the other lockers it sits beside, A8's locker has had its number scratched off, and its display blacked out.
The relevance of this is not fully clear, but it does give important context to Agent 8's history and departure from the PROTOCOL. Importantly, it clarifies that A8's 'leaving' was a lot more than simply 'heading off on a vacation'. That their identity has been scratched out, that an attempt has been made to erase away their history within the PROTOCOL, implies that their separation had a much more serious context.
Prominent theories about this suggest that Agent 8 was shunned out of the PROTOCOL, forced to leave in disgrace, after some disagreement or dispute erupted between them. Whatever the case, the VP definitely felt the need to remove all traces of their presence in the organization after they left. Once again, due to the absence of notable information to go on here, it is difficult to claim anything as definitively true or false.
REVELATION cinematic hint
Almost a year after WARM UP was released, another drop of information about Agent 8 was provided in the REVELATION cinematic, where we saw a glimpse of the VALORANT Legion's HQ during the sequence showcasing Ω-Omen and Ω-Sage.
When Sage was opening her locker, we got a few scenes showing the rest of the lockers in the VLHQ common room. She opened the Locker numbered '10', but on a closer look the ones before it read '09' and '07', with no room for one dedicated to Agent 8 in between (this also implies that the recruitment order was different on Omega than on Alpha, since Sage was the 7th Agent recruited by the Protocol).
The meaning of this isn't clear. It is possible that there was an Agent 8 in Legion at some point, although their absence of a locker indicates that (just as with the Protocol) they are no longer an Agent.
Clove Voiceline
"So are we gonna talk about the empty locker back at base? The one with the scratched out 08? Anyone? No one? Okay...".[1]
Clove notes the scratched out 08 locker seen during the WARM UP cinematic in one of their voicelines, indicating that little to no information about Agent 08 is provided to newer, lower-ranked members of the VALORANT Protocol.
Relationships
Unknown
Cards
None
Voicelines
Find all of Agent 08's voicelines here
Notes
The message prior to its removal
- The comment containing the question answered by Riot ParmCheesy has since been removed by a moderator. However, its context (and, importantly, its answer) still remain valid.
Sources
- Agent 08's agent page Go
- Riot ParmCheesy's comment on Agent 8, from an AMA session with the Narrative Team organized on 3rd June, 2021 Go
- The lockers in the VPHQ, seen in the WARM UP cinematic at 0:12 Go and 2:31 Go