Valorant Agent Lore Omen: A Phantom of a Memory
When Valorant released back in 2020, Omen quickly caught the attention of the community. After all, the brooding mysterious character archetype has always been a fan-favorite, irrespective of the franchise or media. On top of that, Omen's ability kit made it an important part of many team compositions – after all, who doesn't want a character with a cross-map smoking ability, blind, as well as short and long teleportation?
This article is not about Omen's abilities though, and I also won't be discussing his changes over the years and impact on meta. Rather, we will be diving deep into the murky depths of Valorant's ever-expanding universe and character lore to try and bring out what we currently know about the beloved "Phantom of a Memory."
It must be mentioned that Riot Games has not revealed the entire backstory of its Agents right from the get-go. Instead, information has arrived and pieced together in a drip-feed fashion through cinematic videos, voice lines, Agent cards, emails, and voice recordings found in Brimstone's office.
We will provide a concise summary of everything we know about the Valorant Agent within the in-game timeline.
Exploring Omen's Agent Lore in Valorant
Who is Omen?
Nicknamed "Ghost," Omen was an assassin employed by the Scions of Hourglass. He had quite a few aliases, including Fred and John, but his real name hasn't been revealed. He was described as the organization's most talented asset and was tasked to kill Sabine Callas, a.k.a Viper, as part of the 'Shrouded Step' directive to stop the rediscovery of Radianite and the public learning about it.
The attempt wasn't successful with Viper being able to thwart it, splaying chemicals on his face and trapping Omen in a chamber. Once he started breaking the glass pane to escape, she flooded the chamber with energy that ripped Omen apart, likely resulting in him being in this state.
Losing all sense of his earlier self and the memories preceding the accident, Omen ends up playing an integral part in the founding of the Valorant Protocol, alongside Brimstone (the team's leader) and Viper (the second-in-command).
"I am the beginning. I am the end."
This is when we first meet Omen in Valorant, where describes himself as "a Phantom of a Memory" and that he has no clue about the events that led him to become this wraith-like being wrapped in bandages and covered by a shawl.
His voice interactions, Agent-specific or otherwise, showcase his fascination with life and death, his relation with others like Viper and Sage, and obscure hints regarding the past. He seeks to kill his Omega counterpart, hoping to assimilate the memories and knowledge to remember himself.
In Viper's voice line with an ally Omen, she calls him "Joh-" and "Fre-," referring to his many aliases. Furthermore, Omen enlisted Cypher's help to learn about his past but the Moroccan intelligence is awaiting his payment before sharing any.
With Fade's dossier on Omen, we learn more:
"First Light was not kind to you, John. Or was it Fred? Everywhere I look, a new alias. Marcus. Yohan. Dimitri. But no true name. Do you even know who you were? From what I found at Point Light, I suspect not. What sort of person has no name? Not an honest one. You are a monster now; perhaps you were a monster before. If you succeed in finding your answer, I hope you don’t regret it."
An interesting thing to note here is Fade classifies Omen as a Radiant but with an asterisk. Even Skye mentions when Omen teleports, she sometimes loses him. It is speculated that his status might be different than normal Radiants.
Also Read: Valorant Agent tier list
A Monster Now, A Monster Before
Valorant finally revisited and expanded on Omen's backstory with the hourglass symbol appearing while the Protocol was investigating the disappearance of Project Landfall's leadership. The insignia triggers Omen who tries to unlock his memories with the help of Fade and Sage but his efforts are in vain.
Meanwhile, Iso joins the team and later on, reveals that he was sent undercover to infiltrate the Valorant Protocol by the Scions of Hourglass to eliminate Omen. Supported by the now-defected Iso, Sova, and Cypher, Omen singlehandedly attacks the Scions' base in Jakarta where the boss currently resides.
Having dispatched all the soldiers in the building, he finds the boss and asks what the 'Shrouded Step' directive is about. The boss captures Omen in a machine emanating energy that begins to rip the Valorant Agent apart.
The Scions of Hourglass boss then continues to tell what the directive was, which sparks Omen to remember the aforementioned assassination attempt and the accident that led to his current condition. Sova destroys the machine that is keeping Omen trapped.
Once freed, he leaps at the boss, crashing through the window and freefalling. Mid-air, Omen lets go and teleports himself to safety, watching his adversary crash to his likely death. With the burden of the information that he learned regarding his past profession and final mission, Omen chooses to take voluntary leave from the Valorant Protocol.
A voice recording addressed to Brimstone further reflects the same when Omen says:
"She [referring to Viper] knew who I was this whole time! She knew so much more than me, why didn't she tell me?! Why couldn't she help?! Does she think that I'm some kind of monst-! I will speak with her... soon... but now, I... I need... more time. Brimstone... just know this: I am not my past."
As a side note, the same patch also introduces a voice recording from Viper to Brimstone where she notes that she didn't tell Omen about his past to keep him contained and protected. But now that he has begun to piece together things, she found him unpredictable. She concludes by urging Brimstone to keep an eye on him.
Cypher later tracks him to a library in Edinburgh where Omen was after a Scion of Hourglass journal. In his voicemail to Brimstone, Cypher notes that there was "a disturbance near the library" and that Omen reached out to let him know of someone (Clove) who the Protocol leader would want to meet. The disturbance likely refers to a skirmish between Omen and Hourglass soldiers, where Clove helped the former.
Omen handovers both the journal and Clove to Deadlock.
The document leads to Sør-Jan, Jan Mayen (Abyss) which is a secret Scion base called the Elder Grotto. Omen is a part of the strike team there but is devasted to learn that the personnel files in the base were damaged. He is later part of the Seoul strike team that went to encounter Vyse, being the one to catch her off-guard and offering to talk.
The latest update is that Omen has returned to the Valorant Protocol with Neon noticing the Agent at the headquarters. He is also looking forward to interacting with Viper for the first time after whatever happened in Jakarta.
While we now have a clearer understanding of the event that led to Omen becoming, well, Omen, there's plenty more that's yet to be uncovered. We know nothing about who he was before other than his job as an assassin. The community would surely like to know more about his current state, past relationship with Sage, and, of course, his knitting prowess and the octopus.
Well, for now, this is all the Valorant Agent Lore that we know about Omen. The Valorant Protocol's current emphasis on the Scions of Hourglass does suggest that the creative team will further explore the Controller's narrative, but only time will tell. Rest assured, if I hear more about him, I will be quick to update this piece.