cringe but not free

- i find it really curious that deadlock is a ståljeger - a STEEL hunter - who calls her teammates "SISTERS", while sova is a hunter, a BROTHER of STEEL and string. like. why is there such a sudden connection between them?? which is not discussed at all in the canon?? (is this a coincidence? how could this have happened by accident, omg??)

- i like to think that sova was the one who helped deadlock get used to her prosthetic arm. sova isn’t just the person who rescued her, to whom she is grateful for saving her life, giving her a chance to keep fighting, he’s also someone who knows perfectly well what it’s like to lose the most precious part of yourself, to have to relearn what you were once unrivalled at. he lost his eye, his sight, his pride. he's no longer the brilliant marksman his comrades once admired. she lost her arm, her ability to hold and control the weapon (she noted that it took her some time to get used to the prosthetic and adjust it to suit her needs). such a prosthetic is truly a good thing, a very handy tool in combat. but it’s not the same. it’s a replacement. she is no longer the person she used to be. breach has prosthetics too, so in most cases she definitely turns to him (or also killjoy) for help, but breach hasn’t lost his arms, he never had them in the first place. whereas sova was exactly in her shoes once. so, yes, i like to headcanon that she had her first protocol trainings with him. perhaps he gave her advices on how to cope with her loss and get back to her old self. i’m not sure she was ready to listen to him in the early days (i reckon she was in a fragile state before the events at sunset and it was only afterwards that she was able to come to terms with everything, let it go and find the strength to open up to her new companions), but as time went on, she began to trust him and was thankful for his support

- despite her "iron lady" image, deadlock is actually a very caring person. she genuinely looks out for her colleagues, praises them, keeps an eye on their safety and gives loads of useful advices on duty and combat. our norwegian steel huntress is actually quite a sweetheart! <3 i think it's cute that she and sova both share this "cold on the outside, warm on the inside" attitude. they’ve got the most bitch resting faces in the protocol, but they’re actually big silly softies <33

- as they’re both people with a military background, i think they often talk about their past with each other. it’s one thing to work with somebody who used to live a civilian life before protocol, but quite another to work with someone who was just like you, someone who shares your way of life on every level (brim’s also always hanging out with them :D he definitely enjoys reminiscing too) they often gather together and share different stories from their time in the service, exchange experiences and tactics and sometimes on the missions they speak in their own military slang, which guys like gekko or clove don't understand at all, haha

- their little icebox voicelines are so cute! i can just imagine them (and breach along with them) getting excited about missions in all sorts of cold places and always volunteering first (while someone like astra or cypher look at them and their delight with horror)

2. it's funny for me to think that harbor has some kind of a friendly beef with sova because of his choice of combat weapon, sjjajajja

like this moment from harbor's presentation video, where my guy is like "oh, what a cool team with a bunch of cool dudes with cool guns i have" and sova be like "trickshot, any angle, scanning ahead"

3. skye heard sova calling their team a "pack" and she seemed to like it! my skyesova friendship crumbs <3

with a fact that skye is an actual leader of an actual pack, i think they both should have some cringe obsession with animal metaphors :DD furry besti- AHEM

4. probably everyone knows that all agents have meaningful names. byrne (brimstone's surname) means "descendant of the raven", in the theme of "ragged ravens", his former team, adeyemi (phoenix's surname) means "the crown suits/befits me", the crown is a prominent symbol of his design, and so on, and so on

i really like the meaning of sova's name:

aleksandr means "defender of men", "protector of mankind", "warrior" - what is the most important for sova? protecting his people and his earth, of course

novikov most likely comes from "newcomer" or "new man", buuut i found another very interesting meaning. in old russian the word "novik" meant "new recruit" or "young warrior who had recently entered service" or even specifically "young nobleman who has been enlisted in military service for the first time" - sova is one of the few agents in the protocol who actually has a military background

a promising young warrior, defender of his people. that describes him perfectly. such a beautiful and fitting name!

btw, here's another fact. actually, we don't know his full name! i don't know if this was intentional or if the developers just messed up, but sova must have a patronymic. if he doesn't have one, we have two options: again either the developers fucked up and forgot about it (although, for example, gekko and neon seem to have full names in the tradition of their peoples... why sova doesn't??) or sova has issues with his father and he officially rejected his patronymic (a rare thing to happen). the second option is very unlikely, but it sounds like an interesting headcanon

tbh, i actually think he's bald, but i just really didn't want to draw it. shame on me, actually, shame on me

thooo!! it would be hella funny if cypher would be like finn from adventure time with his hair, ajajajajjaja

by the way, it's funny that both of his call signs (sova and filin) are related to owls. on one hand, it seems to me that with the current development of his character, these creatures are becoming less and less suitable for him. yes, owls are excellent hunters, cold-blooded and deadly, but they are also associated with intelligence, wisdom and insight, and lately this guy has been doing nothing but losing his temper, allowing rage to envelop him and cloud his judgement. he proudly celebrates his bloodthirstiness and lethality, anticipating the punishment of his enemies, their defeat and pain, in the smallest details, moreover. we see him from different angles, a loyal follower, a team leader, a smart, brutal fighter, but all this doesn't really fit with what owls symbolise in most cultures

although, on the other hand, in slavic beliefs, owls are associated not only with wisdom, but also with darkness, grief, loneliness, misfortune, bad news and bad omens, signs of imminent death. these are not the main-main themes, but it seems that all of this resonates with him as a character much more than 'symbol of wisdom', lol. at least with omega sova

wouldn't that mean that the whole damn world knows about cypher? the whole world! of course, he only revealed one of his many masks to them, but isn't that already a huge sacrifice on his part? a man who always hides in the shadows, who keeps his secrets like the apple of his eye, at the cost of his comfort and his very life, whose greatest fear is to expose himself, has given up his anonymity, all for the sake of saving his earth

it's... such a brave and noble thing for him to do, isn't it? even if everything that is known about cypher is a lie, even if amir el amari himself is still safely buried under layers of deception and trickery, even if he hates what he had to do with all his soul, he still allowed this to happen. when the legion became public knowledge, he surely had a chance to leave to protect his secrets, but he didn't

although saving the earth is hardly the only reason for this act and certainly not the most important one. each cypher had their own reasons for joining valorant, primarily related to their personal interests, but it warms my heart to think that helping his dying home played a part in him overcoming his fears and stepping out into the light

by the way, speaking about how they are viewed from the outside, it's such a curious concept: they are heroes for their world, so cypher is not a criminal and a killer, but a symbol of hope. knowing that their heroic acts partially consist of attacking and robbing someone else's home, i would like to say that this fits interestingly with his character, but that's not entirely true. cypher never had a habit of pretending to be someone he wasn't. he hides behind lies rather than creates a new, pure image for himself. and he has never been ashamed of the dark deeds he does (but in the case of a couple of other agents, the irony of this situation is truly mesmerising)