Valuing has been dropping lore beats regarding Sage’s ongoing crystallization for some time now, as the radiant gradually succumbs to her affliction. For the most part, it’s been confined to data logs and voice memos in-game, but now Riot Games has upped the ante by sharing one of said narrative bites to its socials page. There have been rumors of a potential Sage rework circulating, and while I’m still not convinced by them, it feels like something big is coming.
In the snippet shared online, we can see Deadlock reciting an email sent to Brimstone back in Valorant patch 12.07. “Commander, the longer we avoid the truth, the harder it gets,” she says. “There may come a time when revival is no longer an option for us. So I’ll ask the question that must be asked: how do we tell them?”
It’s clear that Deadlock is lamenting the possibility that Sage will pretty much get the Han Solo treatment, as her death-defying radiant powers continue to take their toll. The Valorant agent speaks to the team having to become reacquainted with the fear of death, which sounds anything but good. In the lore, the Sage of the alternate Omega Earth is currently being kept in a stasis tank, as her body has all but crystallized. Will our version of the Sentinel meet the same fate?
I’ve previously delved into the evidence, and at this point Riot could go in two very different directions. The studio can either resolve the crisis via cinematics and in-game storytelling, or we may see Sage undergo some sort of gameplay transformation. Riot loves a reveal at the end of its LAN events, and with VCT Masters London currently underway, the timing of this doesn’t feel coincidental. One commenter responds, “do not touch her Riot” in all caps, prompting a mute emoji in response from the studio – I’m stressed.
Alternatively, if I’m to cover all bases, the studio may have simply given Deadlock her Evangelion Shinji chair moment for a bit of social content. That said, at this point there is far too much smoke for there not to be fire, and I’m confident we’ll see some major narrative development in the FPS game sooner, rather than later.
