Valorant Lore Story Sova Explained

Every game in existence has its lore and story. Be it Genshin Impact, or Riot Games’ tactical shooter Valorant. You’d expect that an FPS game won’t have its story, but Valorant with David Nottingham and the Riot Games crew made Valorant lore a banger.

Each agent has their own story in the game. And coming in with his Recon Bolt defeating the enemies with his Shock Bolt ability is the Valorant agent Sova. His mysterious lore has baffled players for some time now, so let’s take a look at the lore story Sova Valorant!

Some basic Valorant lore: there exists a resource called Radianite that got into our world through rifts in the sky. Their first appearance of Radianite is called the First Light event. Radianite gave every agent powers to use any ability. The Kingdom corporation uses Radianite for inhumane experiments and to power 3/4 of the world’s energy supply. There’s also the VALORANT Protocol consisting of every agent that defeats the enemies that use Radianite for evil purposes. One of the enemies is a parallel world called Mirror Earth that’s running out of Radianite, so they come to our world to steal it with the spike. With that out of the way, let’s see Sova’s lore.

Where is Sova from?

Sova is an agent that comes from Russia. From his voice lines to his agent name, everything connects to his Russian ethnicity. Sova translated from Russian to English means owl, which also alludes to Sova’s Owl Drone ability.

Sova is an Initiator, and players love him for his incredible scouting abilities. While Sova tracks with the Recon Bolt ability, he can use the Hunters Fury ultimate ability to deal heavy damage to the nearby enemies behind walls. The ruthless efficiency he has with his bow in team composition in the game is immeasurable, but something that players often forget is the lore and backstory of Sova.

What is Sova’s Backstory?

It seems like Sova grew up in the cold weather of Russia, which he loves shown from an Icebox voice line. Sova trained to be the best noble hunter there is. When the First Light event happened, rifts started to appear throughout Earth and Sova mentions that he used to travel through them: "Don't be afraid. I've gone through rifts before.". This is evident from his contract player card. While on his rift travels, Sova met his Mirror Earth counterpart, but he spared his life: "Sova, I spared you when we first met. I can't let you go again.". Although this is considered a mistake on Sova’s part, it seems like Sova still doesn’t want to kill him.

Sova has one family member we know of, his grandmother which he refers to as babushka in his voice lines, and we’ve seen her in Sova’s agent takeover. His soul seems to be noble and perfect from the very first Valorant episode, but no agent in Valorant’s lore is perfect…

What is Sova's Real Name Valorant?

From the agent Fade’s dossiers that Riot Games gave us, we learned more about our dear Sova. Sova’s real name is Sasha Novikov. The dossier continues forward explaining how Sova’s training alluded to never missing a shot, and in his homeland, he went by the name of Filin, Brother of Steel and String. Sova’s legacy was to never miss a shot and be perfect, but this legacy was broken. Sova has missed a shot, and players theorize that he missed his shot when he met his Mirror counterpart Sova.

When Sova misses his next shot, that is when his legacy will be over. His biggest fear is missing that shot when it matters the most, especially when it’s for his fellow agents in the game. The Recon Bolt won’t do anything in that situation. But why does Sova join the VALORANT Protocol?

Sova Joins the VALORANT Protocol

To help out Earth from the evident Mirror Earth crisis, Sova joins the VALORANT Protocol as Agent 6. He gives them intel with his abilities, such as the Recon Bolt. He has a higher status in the protocol and is friends with most of the agents. From a Brimstone voice line, we know that Sova lost one of his eyes for the protocol’s sake: "Sova, you look after yourself. You already lost an eye for us. One's enough.". He even pushes himself more as seen from this voice mail left by Viper to Brimstone, being concerned about Sova. So it looks like Sova’s so stressed about his legacy and nobility that he goes as far as losing an eye from his enemies.

One agent that Sova hates especially is Cypher. This is due to the fact that they’re both polar opposites. While Sova is noble and holds his legacy, Cypher is a trickster and he unveils secrets without a second doubt, holding them for a price. But aside from Sova’s lore in the game, what’s next for him?

What’s next for Sova in the Valorant Lore and Story?

Riot Games definitely plans more on Sova’s lore. Sova missing the most important shot would probably be the next centerpiece in his lore. While you’re waiting for that, you should visit the Valorant Lore Hub for more juicy stories about our agents!