Fortnite: 5 Facts About The Paradigm You Should Know

Introduced in Chapter 1 — Season 9 of Fortnite, The Paradigm was revealed as  one of the most important characters in the game’s history, but was abandoned shortly after. Now, her story continues as part of Fortnite’s main faction of heroes, The Seven, with the fallout of her past actions and conflicts with other members of the group finally being shown.

As with most characters in Fortnite’s story, the actor portraying Paradigm is yet to be officially confirmed, as her first performance happened relatively recently in the Chapter 3 — Season 2 live event “Collision”. Speculation ran wild in the weeks following Paradigm’s first words, with possible casting options even including Brie Larson. Far before she had any scripted dialogue, Paradigm was a silent character developed in the classic Fortnite way of leaving hints behind.

Here are five facts about Fortnite’s Paradigm, one of the game’s most mysterious characters.

 

1. She Is Not Singularity

When she was first released as Chapter 1 — Season 9’s secret skin in the Battle Pass, Singularity was a mysterious person who used the power from the center of Fortnite Island, The Zero Point, to help recover what had been lost from the previous season’s volcano eruption. Coming out of the Vault where the Zero Point rested were big cables made by her, which allowed places like Tilted Towers and Retail Row to get back on their feet with clean and modern energy.

In Chapter 1 — Season X, a skin called “The Paradigm” was released into the Item Shop as a member of the Seven, and players quickly noticed she has identical features to Singularity’s suit. For years, the possibility of them being the same character was speculated, as it was not confirmed yet heavily implied. Years later, in a video promoting crossover comics, Epic Games’ Donald Mustard teased Singularity’s many names when asked what character was more important to the story than the community realized, with the answer being her. Yet even after all of these factors coming together, the writer of Fortnite’s crossover comics, Christos Gage, finally provided a definitive answer — they are not the same.

Now, after ups and downs, Paradigm has finally settled into her role as a returning member of the Seven, with Singularity left behind as a character. There are many possibilities as to who Singularity is, but no speculation is needed to confirm she will be important moving on.

 

2. She Comes From A Utopia

After years of not exploring the past of members of the Seven, the Fortnite + Marvel: Zero War comic series has given some insight into their backgrounds. One small yet important piece of dialogue reveals that Paradigm’s home world is technologically advanced, something that allowed her to help engineer and pilot the Mecha Team Leader in battle.

Many of Fortnite’s characters cannot remember their past, due to the mind-erasing nature of the game’s Loop. Everyone brought into the battle loses their soul, only regaining it after winning a match by beating everyone else. The Seven have all been inside of the Loop at least once, and have escaped — regaining any powers they might have had, such as The Foundation’s super strength.

The choice of whether they can return to their home world depends on if they can access and calibrate the Zero Point, and that’s something Paradigm might have done after she won her first fight, allowing her to reconnect with the advancements of her planet and reignite her passion for technology. Her expertise with the Zero Point’s advanced energy and how the Seven have protected it for thousands of years shows how intelligent and resourceful she is, making her a worthy addition to any faction she works with, even if her time with the IO was short.

Chapter 3 — Season 3’s NPC Collection Book describes Paradigm as someone with an interest for tinkering and building new technology, which when compared to other members of the Seven, is similar to the Scientist.

Paradigm and Scientist are the only two of the group to share an edit style on their skins, a white coloration of their usual armor, which alongside this similarity in their background could imply a larger friendship throughout the years.

 

3. She Built The Mecha

During Chapter 1 — Season 9, the other members of the Seven left Paradigm alone on the island to protect the Zero Point. Their rivals, the Imagined Order (IO), noticed a monster named The Devourer crawling out of a nearby iceberg, hungry for the Zero Point’s infinite energy. The IO’s plan was to let it die by absorbing that endless power while also letting the Island and its inhabitants get destroyed in the process, something Paradigm didn’t approve of. She suggested they should support her let her support Singularity in building and piloting athe Mecha Team Leader, a giant robot filled with missiles from head to toe. They agreed, only because the Devourer might have posed a threat to the Zero Point itself instead of just dying.

The Mecha Team Leader used small amounts of the Zero Point’s energy to power itself, making every punch slightly more punchier. In the fight against the iceberg monster, Paradigm ends up cracking the Zero Point open for a bit more of that power to make sure she wins the fight for good.

After defeating the Devourer — and losing an arm of the Mecha in the process — Paradigm headed straight to the Ice Moon orbiting the island with a suspicion that there might be more monsters, as the iceberg that contained the one she just defeated was a piece from the moon itself. However, she was wrong, and ended up crashing the Mecha on the moon due to the harsh weather conditions. Her suit’s AI puts her in deep sleep until she can recover, for a very long time.

 

4. She Slept Through Chapter 2

With Paradigm in hibernation, some members of the Seven became worried about her whereabouts, while others thought she had simply betrayed them for the IO instead of knowing the full details about what led her to that decision. The Scientist and The Imagined led searches for her during the start of Chapter 3, as her unconscious mind sent messages to the island in hopes of rescue. The Imagined united the Seven in favor of the Paradigm, and the Scientist prepared for her arrival, only for it not to come — until later.

Players constantly speculated about the Seven during Chapter 2, as not only were they not showing up, but the other members were yet to be revealed, too. Chapter 3 reveals they were on the flipside of the island all along, planning their future moves against the IO — which were all about to come into play. The IO’s plan for a doomsday machine to end the Devourer and the island with it were stalled by Paradigm, but were now ready for another go. The Seven repaired Paradigm’s Mecha, destroyed the IO’s presence on the island, and saved its inhabitants yet again.

The second issue of the Zero War comic series revealed that the Mecha shielded Paradigm from the weather, and the suit’s AI kept her alive, to the surprise of the Seven’s leader, The Foundation. He immediately threatens to execute her over abandoning the group, when in reality they were the ones that had abandoned the island. Paradigm stayed and was the only reason things did not go the other way, but it was revealed she had delayed the inevitable.

 

5. She Is A Pilot

Not only is she talented with technology, being one of the only ones capable of helping the IO build the Mecha, but Paradigm was also the only one able to pilot it. The second time the Mecha is used, players were able to pilot it alongside her as members of the Weapons Team, getting a glimpse at the hard work required to save reality time and time again.

With the Zero War comics slowly revealing more about Paradigm’s expertise and past, it’s likely more of that talent will be revealed, especially with her being fully reintegrated into the Seven as a full-time member. Without the need to have others constantly convincing people of her worth, the Paradigm’s potential to be one of the core aspects of Fortnite’s story for years to come is a major possibility, as the building blocks are already there to make a truly memorable character.

Fortnite is free-to-play on PC via the Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X | S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Android.

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