The DUALITY cinematic[1] was released during the VCT Reykjavik Grand Finals[2], becoming the third major cinematic to be released. It was made by Axis Studios[3].
Synopsis[]
DUALITY is the third VALORANT cinematic to release, and takes place exactly one day after the events of DUELISTS[4]. It is set on the streets of Rabat, Morocco, more specifically Bind's B Site. It is canonically the first time that Agents team up and fight together, as opposed to the Solo Missions that were taken earlier
This cinematic consolidates the Mirrorverse into the VALORANT canon, as Phoenix is faced with his mirror counterpart, Ω-Phoenix, while Killjoy improvises a Defuser for a Spike planted by Ω-Phoenix.
Plot[]
News Reels[]
The cinematic begins with a series of news reels reporting on the events of the DUELISTS cinematic, which took place one day prior to DUALITY[4]. These reels are from various sources around the world, and they discuss how Venice rose 300 meters into the air, and the involvement of Radianite, Kingdom and Radiants.
B Long Chase[]
The cinematic transitions to a laptop displaying the news screens being shot in the crossfire of a mysterious pursuer chasing Killjoy. Killjoy runs with her turret to Bind B Site and takes cover behind some Radianite boxes. The VLT/R zooms into frame and hovers above B Site while Viper asks Killjoy if she located the Spike. The camera pans over to the spike, with Killjoy's turret shooting at the pursuer.
Viper and Phoenix arrive[]
Viper and Phoenix's colours on the VLT/R
Viper and Phoenix arrive in a VULTURE, which has red and green lights on the bottom that possibly indicate that Viper and Phoenix are present. The two Agents jump out of the aircraft in a slow motion shot, then it flies up and out of the way of any danger. Viper and Phoenix proceed to meet up with Killjoy.
Spike Analysis[]
Killjoy hands a device that is analysing the Spike to Viper while Phoenix covers for them. Killjoy shows a prototype Defuser, and Viper mentions that a Radi-Core is required to power it. Killjoy's turret is suddenly destroyed, and, in response, Phoenix goes to chase after the attacker despite Viper's warnings.
Ω-Phoenix Reveal[]
Phoenix chases the attacker back down B Long and blocks him off with a wall of fire, causing the attacker to get thrown backwards. Phoenix tells the attacker to surrender, and he obeys, showing that he is actually a doppelgänger of Phoenix. Knowing that α-Phoenix would be shocked to see a double of himself, Ω-Phoenix takes advantage of the situation and prepares to use his own fire against α-Phoenix.
Viper saves α-Phoenix[]
Before Ω-Phoenix can hurt α-Phoenix, Viper comes in and scares him off with a Bucky. Ω-Phoenix retreats through α-Phoenix's fire wall, while α-Phoenix expresses his surprise. Suddenly, a surge comes from the Spike, alarming Viper and Phoenix and causing them to return to Killjoy.
Failed Defusal Attempt[]
Killjoy is shown to have dismantled her turret and affixes a Radi-Core from it onto the Defuser. She attempts to defuse the spike as it begins beeping at an increasing rate, however, the defuser fails, causing Killjoy to curse in German. Viper then tells Killjoy that the Radi-Core must be superheated for the defuser to work.
Successful Defusal[]
Phoenix grabs the Radi-Core and heats it with his Radiant abilities. The Radi-Core turns an orange colour and the Radianite inside becomes unstable. Killjoy fits the Radi-Core back onto the defuser and successfully defuses the spike with little time before detonation.
Leaving Bind[]
Phoenix and Killjoy partake in some banter before the team packs the spike away and boards the VLT/R. Phoenix expresses his startlement at seeing his Omega counterpart, asking why they want Alpha Earth's Radianite. Viper replies saying that she and Brimstone will explain the whole situation to Phoenix.
Omega Regrouping[]
Ω-Phoenix returns to Omega Earth through a rectangular portal, conveying his concern over the loss to Ω-Jett. Jett shows her anger at Phoenix for failing the mission, to which he says that he did not anticipate multiple opponents. Ω-Viper says that the VALORANT LEGION will also begin fighting using full strike teams as the camera zooms out to show Omega Jett, Phoenix, Yoru, Cypher and Viper gearing up to fight against Alpha.
Mirrorverse[]
The cinematic transitions to display Earth from space, against a backdrop of the Sun. The Earth seemingly 'duplicates' to show another Earth which looks slightly different in terms of population and environment, and has chromatic aberration along its edges. The cinematic ends with the VALORANT Logo also duplicating to show another with similar effects.
Lore Breakdown[]
Title Card[]
The cinematic begins with a title card saying 'Duality; An Origin Story'. Three strings of letters are visible at the bottom of this title card: 'VLRNT', which stands for VALORANT, 'MRCC', which stands for 'Morocco' and 'MMXLIX', which is Roman numerals for 2049, most likely referring to the year the cinematic takes place. On the left and right sides of the title card, 'PHNX', which stands for Phoenix, can be seen. The left side is flipped upside down, referring to the Mirrorverse, or parallel universes.
News Reels[]
The news sources are comprised of various fictional sources from around the world, including 7N News and 24/7 News from Britain, N News from Korea and Oranews from Italy.
The times shown on the broadcasts do not correspond with each other. 7N News displays a time of 7:52pm Pacific Time (corresponding to 4:52am the next day in Morrocco) while N News displays 6:58pm Korean Standard Time (corresponding to 9:58am on the same day in Morrocco). From this, it can be concluded that either: none of the broadcasts are live, both N News and 7N News are not live or only 7N is not live (as 4:52am is too early for the setting of the cinematic, but 9:58am is not).
7N News[]
The 7N News broadcast shows Venice suspended in the air after the end of DUELISTS.
The captions at the bottom of the broadcast read:
'Shocking footage from an iconic city.'
'Historic city under attack?'
'K/SEC onsite with humanitarian efforts.'
K/SEC is a Kingdom organisation whose full name is likely 'Kingdom Security'.
N News[]
Next N News is shown with the reporter saying 'The ground has exploded into the air.' while a floating Venice is shown. The footer headline shows 'The disaster broke out in the city, local residents "I saw the radiant Agents immediately after the explosion."'.
N News shows the same footage of Venice with a reporter voiceover saying that 'The ground has exploded into the air'.
The footers read:
'The disaster broke out in the city, local residents say "I saw the radiant Agents immediately after the explosion."'
Oranews[]
The Oranews reporter says 'It is floating 300 metres above the ground' while a full shot of Venice is shown.
The footers read:
'Under attack'
'Citizens evacuated.'
'The energy source is running out, millions in the dark.'
'Where are the local authorities?'
24/7 News[]
24/7 News' reporter says 'Radianite may have been involved'. The broadcast displays a large piece of unrefined Radianite with Radianite lightning coming off of it floating in a contained facility. This is reminiscent of the large piece of radianite seen on Bind, which has less of a uniform shape but is stored in a similar manner.
The footers read:
'Huge Radianite spike detected during the event.'
'10 years after First Light, new questions arise.'
'Were warning signs ignored?'
7N News (2)[]
The cinematic switches back to the 7N News broadcast, whose reporter says 'Kingdom, whose radianite power program accounts for more than three quarters of the world's energy production, have denied any connection to this disaster.' The broadcast shows Kingdom headquarters and some Kingdom scientists working with a Radi-Core.
The footers read:
'IREA considering shuttering energy reactors worldwide.' It is not known who IREA is.
'Statement from Kingdom claims that Radianite is beyond safe.'
'Energy stocks tumble.'
'KNG sees largest single-day drop in company's history.' with KNG referring to Kingdom stocks.
'Kingdom CEO un-' The broadcast cuts off before this caption can fully roll onto screen, however it likely says 'Kingdom CEO under fire.
24/7 News (2)[]
The 24/7 News broadcast comes back up, with the reporter saying 'Anyone with information on the two unidentified Radiants spotted at the scene is being asked to come forward.'
The two Radiants mentioned are α-Phoenix and Ω-Jett, both shown in the DUELISTS cinematic. The shot shows multiple pictures taken of Phoenix and Jett, with both of them having a 'Wanted' status.
The footers read:
'Mystery around the identity of suspects deepens.'
'Evidence suggests powers beyond any previously reported.'
'Are radiants a new kind of threat.'
'Other flashpoints being-' This headline cut off by beginning of the next scene.
Briefing about the Spike[]
Killjoy shows Viper a tablet with information about the spike that shows three things: the left side showing where the spike is on the map, the middle showing a detailed image of the spike and the right showing a graph with the words 'GEFAHR' (German, danger) and 'Radianite Ebenum' (Latin, darkness). Viper states "It's stealing radianite from the environment." and hands the tablet back to Killjoy while asking how to stop the spike. After Killjoy replies, Viper says that she'll need a 'Radi-Core' to power the heat signal.
Spike being defused[]
To defuse the Spike, Killjoy has deconstructed her turret bot to get the Radi-Core power source inside for use in the defuser. The defuser fails, however, and Killjoy states that it does not have enough power. Viper says that "It needs to be super-heated", and Phoenix takes the Radi-Core and heats it up with his flame abilities. The material inside the Radi-Core seems to melt and go unstable, however after reattaching it to the defuser, the spike begins to be defused as it interacts with the environment around it and steals from the radianite crates. The team defuses the spike just before it detonates, and Killjoy lightens the air by saying "I honestly didn't expect that to work".
Boarding the jet home[]
The next scene shows Killjoy packing the defused spike into a case, and Viper telling Brimstone "Site secure, we're coming home". Phoenix asks if that is 'The Big Man', referring to Brimstone, and says to Viper to tell him to give answers next time, referring other Phoenix he encountered. Killjoy does not understand it and says they 'crushed it', to which Viper replies "Phoenix got a look in the mirror". Phoenix asks how the other Agents look like them, and why they are trying to steal their radianite. As they enter the plane, Viper tells Phoenix they will fill him in after talking to Brimstone, and the Agents leave in a VALORANT PROTOCOL V/TOL, with the code 'V-03' on its side. This is supposedly the end of the main cinematic.
Mirror Agents meeting up[]
Ω-Phoenix returns back to his home, and talks to Ω-Jett from the DUELISTS cinematic. Jett, enraged, tells Ω-Phoenix was the one who screwed up. The two get into a small argument, and Phoenix says "You serious? You had it easy, Jett! You know they're bringing whole teams now, right?". Ω-Viper butts in, saying "Then so will we", as she emerges from the shadows with Cypher and Yoru. During this scene, dim reflections can be seen of the Omega Agents, such as Cypher's back on the right of the screen. This is to signify that the audience is watching the Agents on the 'Mirror' Earth.
Earth looking duplicated[]
After the scene with the Mirror Omega , the camera rises and a transition leads to a picture of Earth from space. The Earth seems to look duplicated, with some slight changes to the lights and the biomes of the continents. Omega Earth also has chromatic aberration along its edges to signify that it is the duplicate. The camera zooms into a light between the two Earths and the cinematic ends.
Notes[]
- A frame during the news reels showed two Kingdom scientists who look very similar to Phoenix and Killjoy. These people have been confirmed not to be Phoenix and Killjoy, but rather unrelated scientists who have similar appearances[5].
- Chromatic aberration is often used to signify objects or people from Omega Earth, such as with Ω-Phoenix and even Ω-Earth itself. It is likely non-canon, however, and is only used to help the audience differentiate between Alpha and Omega Earth.
- The '7' in the log for 7N News resembles the VALORANT PROTOCOL's logo rotated 90° anticlockwise. This may mean that the PROTOCOL has ties to 7N News, or it may simply be an easter egg
References[]
- ↑ DUALITY // Official Lore Cinematic - VALORANT Go
- ↑ DUALITY airs at VCT Reykjavik Grand Finals timestamp Go
- ↑ Axis Studios' page on DUALITY Go
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 David Nottingham mentioning that DUALITY takes place one day after DUELISTS (must join VALORANT Lore // Art Discord server).Go
- ↑ David Nottingham confirming that the scientists are not Phoenix and Killjoy (must join the VALORANT Lore // Art discord)Go