Thank You, Valorant, For Making Killjoy and Raze Smooch

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a dedicated Valorant fan. Riot Games’ immensely popular tactical FPS shooter is painfully addicting, no thanks to its wide assortment of female player characters. But I’ve always had one complaint as a long-time fan: Where is the queer representation? Riot was rather slow to confirm any of the playable characters’ place across the LGBTQ+ spectrum, especially compared to games like Blizzard’s hero shooter Overwatch and Respawn Entertainment’s Apex Legends.

That has changed today, however, as Riot has finally confirmed one of my favorite ships in the game: Killjoy and Raze. These girls just smooched in front of 2.6 million Twitter followers.

On Sunday morning, Valorant posted a picture of Raze and Killjoy sharing a passionate kiss while at a party in Salvador, Brazil. Riot has since confirmed on Twitter that the relationship is canon, joking these two are the game’s “worst-kept secret.” Check out the image for yourself below.

In Valorant, Killjoy is a tech prodigy, a sophisticated German hacker genius that serves as the brains behind most of the playable characters’ hardware. Meanwhile, Raze is anything but high-tech. An explosives expert, all of Raze’s tech is highly improvised and DIY. The pairing makes perfect sense. When it comes to technological experts, don’t opposites attract?

Shortly after Killjoy was added into Valorant, I suspected these two agents would end up as a couple, and much of the queer side of the fandom felt the same way. The idea sprang up pretty early on after Valorant concept artist Anh Dang shared an adorable pic of Raze and Killjoy working together, filled with a pleading face emoji. The subtext was obvious, as I wrote for the Daily Dot, and Dang retweeted the image this morning after the announcement.

Prior to today’s official announcement, there were plenty of voice lines in Valorant that hinted at Raze and Killjoy being more than just friends. Killjoy, for one, would call her “freundin” (or “girlfriend” in German), reluctantly compliment Raze on improving her tech, and even give her a heartfelt “be safe” before going into battle. Raze, meanwhile, is a bit more on-the-nose. “Killjoy!” she says. “After this, you wanna do some ‘tinkering’?” Oh, how I love these two.

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For the record, my personal favorite line goes to Killjoy. After she makes the final kill on an enemy Raze, she says “Sorry, little mouse!” Brutal, but adorable.

In retrospect, it’s so funny that there were Valorant players out there who didn’t expect these two would end up together. Really, after Arcane? Hell, it probably should have been obvious to the whole fandom when Raze first said, “Killjoy, you and me until the end!”

But all that is neither here nor there. Killjoy x Raze is official, and I, for one, will be very happy to die for Raze as a Killjoy main.

(Featured image: Riot Games)