[GameSpot] - Fortnite Impostors Mode Is A Lore Goldmine, But Is It Canon?

[343iBot]

Fortnite is certified sus this week with the introduction of its new Impostors mode, which aims to take on Among Us. The limited-time mode (LTM) is quickly gaining traction among the millions who play Fortnite every week, and it's not just because it offers a more polished take on the game's fanmade LTM from Christmas last year, The Spy Within. Players are dissecting the new map and its lore items scattered within the confines of this new social deduction mode, and it seems Epic may be using the mode to fill in some holes in the island's backstory.

Most prominent among us these findings is the suggestion of how things like loot chests and supply drops are made. The entirety of the Impostors map, The Bridge, is an underground IO headquarters. One prominent Fortnite influencer, @FortTory, was first to share video of the map's factory, where chests, drops, and even the game's mascot-like Loot Llamas are produced on a never-ending cycle to apparently be strewn about the island further down the production line.

The Factory of the IO.
this is how the Chests, Llamas and Supply Drops are made.... pic.twitter.com/jsCQNNoeNO

— FortTory - Fortnite Leaks & News (@FortTory) August 17, 2021

Also spotted by FortTory is a locked drawer in Agent Jones' (Jonesy) room. Sticky notes demand others leave Jones his privacy, and unfortunately, players have no choice but to do so, for now at least. There appears to be no way to open the drawer and rummage through its contents.

I really want to open it now....
''this is located in John Jones his room'' pic.twitter.com/sw2jS9kZyN

— FortTory - Fortnite Leaks & News (@FortTory) August 17, 2021

Another startling revelation can be found in The Visitor CSI room, on a corkboard decked out in classic red strings linking several mysterious characters and clues together like a detective in a crime drama. The contents of the board seem to suggest that one previously seen character, The Prisoner, is a part of The Seven, a group of masked superhero-types whose relationship to the island is fed to the community one narrative morsel at a time.

These notes can be found in the Visitor CSI room at the IO.
The Paradigm, The Visitor, The Scientist and The Prisoner...?
Has The Prisoner been one of the Seven all along?
It remains a question since the person who made the Notes isn't 100% certain themselves looking at the '?' pic.twitter.com/tw0h2kehe1

— FortTory - Fortnite Leaks & News (@FortTory) August 17, 2021

In the Fortnite storyline, The Prisoner was kept locked away in Polar Peak during Chapter 1, Season 8, imprisoned by the Ice King. When the region melted, he escaped and built the volcano which burned down Retail Row and Tilted Towers. Since then, he's never been seen on the island, and players have often wondered who he was and why he was a prisoner--most of all, where has he gone?

According to this corkboard, he may be a member of The Seven, a group whose identities the community can't even fill in with enough characters to have their collective name make sense yet. Even then, whoever crafted this corkboard theory is apparently unsure if their suspicion is valid or off the mark. The Seven is arguably Fortnite's longest-running main story mystery, and Impostors mode may be giving us new clues as to its importance.

Epic doesn't mind blending canon and non-canon on occasion, and that may be what we're seeing inside The Bridge in Impostors mode. The reason for that comes from another FortTory find: There are two Zero Points outside the mode's map. To find them, FortTory had to tweak with the free camera, so it's possible Epic doesn't consider these assets canon and developers have placed them there for their own complicated game dev reasons.

Then there's the fact that the Zero Point is meant to be on the alien Mothership right now anyway, so why is even one there? As FortTory pointed out to me, the island map shown inside The Bridge is the Season 6 map. That may imply Impostors mode takes place as a prequel to the alien attack on Apollo, or it may be that we're reading into things too much. But can you blame us when Donald Mustard and company love tweeting teases and vague hints sometimes months in advance?

In an Instagram post by Donald Mustard, a Wonder Woman prop can be seen in the back
Donald is known for teasing upcoming events/collabs by placing things in his background, however keep in mind this could be just random
Thanks to @Jeds_Z for noticing! pic.twitter.com/BYOTxzTYKE

— Ako | Fortnite News  (@FNChiefAko) April 15, 2021

Season 7 Endgame

Perhaps the biggest revelation of the week comes from further datamining and theory-crafting efforts by FortTory, and though it doesn't pertain to Impostors mode directly, it does involve the Imagined Order's grand plans for the alien war.

As IO boss, Doctor Slone has been losing ground all season long to the alien invaders, so her counterattacks have come mostly in the form of subterfuge and guerrilla warfare, impotent to take the aliens on in an all-out war. FortTory suggested an endgame for Season 7 that makes complete sense: Slone's "countermeasure" we've been hearing about for weeks is a bomb, and she's going to let the formidable aliens put it on their Mothership themselves.

It all makes sense.
So the next POI to be abducted will most likely be Corny Complex. What is the IO, Dr Slone, building there underground?
Thats right, The CounterMeasure Bomb!
The Mothership will abduct the POI with the bomb included. pic.twitter.com/eBPtGBtJxL

— FortTory - Fortnite Leaks & News (@FortTory) August 17, 2021

We know from past datamining reveals that the three locations that would be abducted by aliens this season are Slurpy Swamp, Coral Castle, and Corny Complex. Slurpy Swamp has already been left barren by those efforts, and Coral Castle is currently being abducted as I write this. That leaves only Corny Complex, which also happens to be the main IO command center this season, as evidenced by the elaborate underground bunker.

According to FortTory, it's there where she is building the countermeasure bomb, and it's there where the Mothership will target its tractor beam next, only this time, Doctor Slone will let them take it. Because along with the tractors, hay bales, and chickens, so too will the bomb be abducted right into enemy territory like a Trojan Horse--and once it's onboard the Mothership: ka-boom.

Everything we know about the season from both a narrative and meta sense points to this theory being correct, which means the start of Fortnite Season 8 and its rumored horror theme may come as the result of a massive detonation and Mothership crash-landing. We'll be here for the fireworks. Make sure to stay up to date along with us by finishing the Week 11 challenges and perusing the 17.40 patch notes.

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