Friday 'Nite is a weekly Fortnite column in which Mark Delaney takes a closer look at current events in the wide world of Fortnite, with a special emphasis on the game's plot, characters, and lore.
The Fortnite story is an ever-changing and unpredictable adventure full of timeloops, kaiju battles, hostile invasions from Marvel baddies, and the more-than-occasional dancing banana. Epic loves to stay tight-lipped on the official plot, which leaves the community of players, writers, and YouTubers to fill in the gaps to the best of their abilities. While some of the story comes to us as merely our best guesswork, other aspects of the story are considered canon. The game's massive cast of characters is always a point of emphasis. What are their motivations? Where did they come from? How come that one looks like a tree?
In this updated feature for 2022, we're taking a fresh look at the 10 most important characters in Fortnite lore. We last published this list in November 2021, and as you can see below, there's been a lot of movement based on characters arriving on the scene, disappearing, or even dying off. We'll continue to revisit the Fortnite story and rank the most important Fortnite characters, so bookmark this page so you don't miss a story beat.
10. The Visitor (Previous rank: 4)
When The Visitor arrived, Fortnite lore changed forever.The Visitor was the first member of The Seven we met in the Fortnite storyline, way back when he crashed onto the island in a metal capsule of some sort embedded within a meteor in Chapter 1, Season 3. He quickly went to work and built a rocket, then launched it into the sky which led to Fortnite's first live lore event, Blast Off, in 2018. His intentions with the rocket remain murky at best, but one theory is that he was signaling for the rest of The Seven, so they could reach Athena and possibly take it back from IO control.
He later reappeared in Season X, bringing The Scientist with him, and was, until recently, regarded as the assumed leader of The Seven, but we've since learned that's not his job at all. These days, The Visitor is the most low-key member of The Seven, in part because he lost his voice for a long time, but The Seven remains an exclusive club, so he still makes the cut.
9. Doctor Slone (Previous rank: 2)
For Slone, the end always justifies the means.Slone has made a name for herself by being the ruthless leader of the IO--or at least the highest-ranking member we've met so far. Her ruthlessness is not in question, anyway. She first appeared in Chapter 2, Season 7, and recruited loopers (players) in fighting back against the invasion of The Last Reality. But she would later betray them when she left loopers to die in the blast zone of the bomb they helped sneak onboard the alien Mothership. Her betrayal didn't go entirely to plan though, as the cubes awakened and took over Apollo, saving some loopers, but leading to the Chapter 2 finale.
I hate to do my favorite character dirty like this, but Slone is technically dead, hence her dramatic fall in these rankings. Having been crushed by Doggus in the Chapter 3, Season 2 finale, Collision, Slone's role as the central villain of the Fortnite story seems to have come to an end. I take comfort knowing that, in all likelihood, she's very much alive--as she seems to have narrowly protected herself before Doggus' gigantic fist came down on her. I hope, nd genuinely expect, we'll see her again someday, but for now I think she'll be absent for a good while.
8. The Sisters (Previous rank: unlisted)
The Imagined and The Order are curiously named like their rival organization.The Sisters are new characters we could only speculate about the last time we did these rankings, and they debut near the middle of the pack for now. As the final two members we met from The Seven, this pair reasonably get ranked together because the twins are so inseparable in the storyline. Though they're quite unlike each other--The Imagined seems like more of a firecracker as compared to The Order, who seems to be the level-headed one, it's their individual strengths that help shape The Seven into the formidable island-protectors we know them to be.
The Imagined seems to enjoy annoying The Origin with her impulsiveness, but it's this same quick-thinking that helps the group stay strong. The Order, meanwhile, is more of an infiltrator, and has used her stealth skills to steal critical IO data before. Expect their legends to grow over the coming months in Fortnite.
7. The Origin (Previous rank: unlisted)
The Origin doesn't trust easily--ironic when you consider that he can manipulate cube energy.At the start of Chapter 3, Season 2, we finally met the true leader of The Seven. Fans once wrongly attributed this role to both The Visitor and The Foundation at different times, but it is, in fact, The Origin who got the band together. Voiced wonderfully by Rahul Kohli, The Origin's, well, origins, are still the most mysterious of all Seven members. Physically, he resembles the Cube Queen--the ousted supervillain of Chapter 2, Season 8--with a similar and confusing control of cube energy that usually seems to denote a corrupting, dark power.
Somehow, The Origin seems to have control over this energy and uses it for good, but his common ground with past evildoers certainly raises an eyebrow. The Fortnite story is built for the long haul, so it could truly be years before we learn what the story is behind his dark "magic," but in the meantime, he does seem to be a genuine, hyperfocused, albeit skeptical leader and all-around hero.
6. The Scientist (Previous rank: 5)
The Scientist created the Black Hole which swallowed Athena, the original Fortnite island.The Scientist is The Seven's comic relief--not to say he can't be serious or that he isn't incredibly intelligent and capable. It's just that he's voiced by Joel McHale, so you kind of get what you pay for. McHale infuses a lot of comedy into the Fortnite story, which tends to be otherwise centered on the world ending, and in Chapter 3, Season 3, he became a bonafide comedy duo with his super AI companion, AMIE, who happens to be in love with him. When he's not trying to friend-zone his robot buddy, The Scientist is often the one building the group's latest marvels of futuristic technology. That's why he hangs out in Synapse Station, tinkering in the garage at all hours of the day.
His rank in this latest update falls just slightly due to reasons that have less to do with him and more to do with the character next on this list.