Think Fortnite is just a fun game where you drop into an island, find guns, and try to win over another 99 players? Well, it’s not quite that. Fortnite is a story-heavy game with tons of details, characters and plotlines. Or at least if you ask those particularly invested in Fortnite lore it is.
For most, Fortnite is a fairly casual game. Its many crossovers through Fortnite’s all seasons make it a bit hard to actually pin any story down beyond the personal narrative for your quest in each game. If you want to try and get into the Fortnite storyline though, there is actually a lot to learn.
Over all five Chapters to date, Epic has been developing a storyline that explains why we’re dropping into the island, other universes, and who all of the Fortnite characters are.
Source: GGrecon
Chapter 5 Lore
Fortnite Chapter 5 relaunched us into a brand-new island. Even compared to past Chapter resets though, it had a big change on the Fortnite lore. Behind the scenes, a major staffing change was happening. Donald Mustard stepped back from Fortnite, having been a driving force behind the story. This time we got a fresh take on the lore. Our ongoing story was gone and instead, we had something much simpler.
Season 1
At the start of the season, it’s revealed that Peely has been kidnapped. Jonesy, his best friend, sets out on a path of vengeance to get him back. For most of the season that was it.
Source: Epic Games
Later, we finally got some new story quests. These told the story of Jonesy taking down the various boss characters in the game and rescuing Peely.
The next stage for Fortnite lore was the Pandora’s Box event. Ancient powers are rising up from the ground and have dropped a box releasing all of the world’s evils. Setting the stage for Season 2, which has been a bit bigger for Fortnite lore.
Source: Epic Games
Season 2 Chapter 5 Fortnite Lore
The next full season of Fortnite launched with a bit more weight for the story. The gods have left Pandora’s box and taken over the island! We can take them down to grab mythic. Maybe the most important plot line though has been told a bit quieter.
Midas Returns
In the Underworld, players could find a cell belonging to a familiar character. Midas. The mastermind behind early Chapter 2 died, in a trailer. However, since the Underworld is currently on the Fortnite map, death isn’t as permanent as it used to be.
In the spring event, Midas broke out of hell. He’s returned and started putting together a plan to finally flee the map! It’s had a full story quest going on involving tons of unique dialogue from NPCs. It’s exciting to see lore take a bigger role in Fortnite again.
Source: Epic Games
Season 2 Concludes With Clash of the Gods
Now we’re moving towards the end of the season, we’ve seen even more Lore drops Story quests have had us investigate the various gods that are currently populating the Fortnite map. This has culminated in a huge storm across the Mount Olympus POI.
Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 3
Source: Epic
In many ways, Fortnite Lore in Chapter 5 Season 3 was very similar to the seasons before. We got a new Big Bad at the end of the Battle Pass, who was doing vaguely evil things all season. Before being defeated in a mini-event by a new boss to be our bad guy for the next season.
Okay, so broad strokes we’ve had the exact same story all Chapter. This time it was a little different though. Doctor Doom appeared and seized the power of the gods from the season before. After dispatching Megalo Don, he was able to take over the island fully. Setting the stage for Chapter 5 Season 4.
Chapter 5 Season 4 Fortnite Lore
Source: Epic
At the halfway point of Fortnite C5 S4, the lore is in an interesting place. We’ve got the island occupied by Doctor Doom and his henchmen. However, Hope and other Fortnite NPCs are organizing resistance efforts. We’re sure this will eventually result in his defeat, just like the story for the last three chapters has played out.
Also ticking along though is our return to Chapter 2. On a remote island of the map, we’re beginning to see teases, with portraits of POIs and objects from Chapter 2 washing up. As we head towards the end of the season this could finally mean a bit of a change for the Fortnite lore this Chapter.
Doom is Defeated in New Fortnite Event
Source: Epic
Recently we had a big step forward for Fortnite lore with a new event. Chapter 5 Season 4 has had a mini-event take place a month before it ended.
After Doctor Doom took over the island, he’s been largely absent. However, in this little event we got to see the man himself. He appeared on the island, now enormous. We were treated to a minor cutscene, where we saw some of the key characters from the season take their shots at Doom.
Ultimately, it came down to the players to take him out though. Doom got a giant health bar that every game shared. After the live event was over, we didn’t know how long it would take to defeat him. It was surprisingly quick in the end. With Doom being taken out after about half an hour in-game!
Is Doom finally defeated then? No. He simply rifted away. Although, that was the end of him. Despite saying he’d be back, we never heard from him again. The end of the season saw a Snoop Dogg concert in Times Square, and we were on the Chapter 2 map again.
Source: Epic
Chapter 5 Remix and Chapter 6 Fortnite Lore
As we move between Fortnite chapters, a lot of players might be expecting a major lore drop! Although, they could be disappointed.
Going into Remix, we received very little information about what exactly had happened. We got an event that was pretty much just a real-world live stream, no lore reason given for going back in time at first. A bit of an unceremonious end to Chapter 5. Although, it appears Hope’s story is continuing in future Fortnite lore with Chapter 6.
Through audio logs on the island, we can glean that it has something to do with Hope’s art. Which turns into reality, or predicts the future. We’re back in an altered version of Chapter 2, with timeline changes from all the previous time travel in Fortnite.
Source: Epic
We don’t know exactly how we’ll be traveling to Chapter 6. We’ll have to wait until the Fortnite live event to find that out. However, it seems for once we’re just actually traveling to a new island. Rather than being transported or the island lipping as in the past.
Has Fortnite Lore Been Reset in This Chapter?
In Chapter 5, Fortnite lore has definitely gotten simpler. It’s a basic story about Jonesy rescuing his friend, a giant banana. Nothing too complicated like the old plotlines with the Foundation or the Seven. Is it a complete reset though?
It doesn’t seem like it. While the plot has been simplified significantly, it’s still based on established characters. Peely and Jonesy’s friendship is a long running part of the plotline, popping up in a lot of the cutscenes. The entire season of Jonesy searching for him is based on this. While we’re not continuing the larger ongoing plot, threads like this show any part of it could come back in the future.
Going even further in Season 2 of Chapter 5, Midas has returned. Since ehe’s in the Underworld we can assume his little Shark incident still happened. It definitely seems like we’re still in a. continuation of Fortnite lore, not a reboot. Although, it’s a continuation that’s a bit less interested in the past seasons’ lingering plot threads.
Fortnite Lore
Fortnite lore has been running since roughly Season 3. It involved a group of Factions attempting to gain control of the Zero Point and effect ‘the Loop’. That’s the term in the Fortnite storyline that explains why we’re constantly rebooting into games, the gameplay loop. Rather than write it off as an in-game mechanic not to be considered in lore, Epic has actually made the circular nature of gameplay into the story.
Lore roughly starts with the creation of the island by the Zero Point, essentially a Big Bang for Fortnite. (Not the Big Bang, which reset the lore for Chapter 5)
The next major development is Geno discovering the Zero Point and creating the Imagined Order, or IO, to try and control the Zero Point to reshape reality. The IO uses the Zero Point to travel around different realities too, after Agent Jones first enters it. This is why Jonesy makes up such a large percentage of skins among any male or all female characters in Fortnite!
The Loop
The next major concept for Fortnite lore is the loop. This is something the IO enforces on the island. It’s a 22-minute time loop that traps everyone on the island to prevent them from fighting back. Essentially, it’s the lore reasoning behind the circular games in Fortnite, including the storm. The IO’s experiments in dropping others into the Loop even explain how so many crossovers come into the game. At various points groups and figures have tried to stop them, including Jonsey.
While that’s the main plotline, the Fortnite lore has gone on a lot of different tangents over the years. There’s the Cubes, Cube Queen Ice King, and the Foundation with the Rock as its leader. There’s been a lot of lore and different storylines. That’s roughly the background behind the Fortnite games and its lore though. Along the way one island gets destroyed, and a new one is made, that island flips over to reveal a new Island, then gets smashed up and rearranged as another new one. Those end-of-chapter events are flashy but it’s difficult to keep track of just how the island works when you consider the different ways that we’ve gotten new maps.
Fortnite Lore in C4
In terms of lore before the recent changes, we had a big of an intense tangent. Kado Thorne stole Mythics from past Loops and stashed them in his hideouts. Players tried to heist them all back, but Kado’s fierce vampire form kept them at bay. Eventually, it was decided that the real prize was something more than Mythics.
Fortnite Lore in C4 S4 has gotten even more complicated with the reveal of a time machine. Kado not only has a ton of Mythic weapons but apparently a machine capable of traveling in time. Nolan Chance and his crew are attempting to steal it. After succeeding, they eventually took us back to Chapter 1 for Fortnite OG.
Does Fortnite Have a Coherent Storyline?
That’s the basics for Fortnite lore. It’s obviously not something you have to worry about for Fortnite esports when you’re trying to get into the FNCS, but the storyline does pop up fairly frequently in questlines and the end of Chapter events. The lore is definitely in the game, but does it actually matter for players?
It isn’t the biggest part of the game, especially in Chapter 5. You can basically ignore it if you want to. Epic also plays it a little loose and regularly just moves on without really addressing what happened before. If you want to really get deep into lore though, you’ll find the game actually does have some coherent storylines. Even on a character-to-character basis, like Midas dominating events for a while, getting killed off in a promotional video, and then coming back as a Zombie in the item shop.
One fun storyline that’s been going on for Chapters now is Peely’s lethally bad luck. He’s been made into a smoothy, dropped into lava, frozen in carbonite, killed by a Hadouken, abducted by aliens, crashed a truck, and flattened. The most recent season saw him get kidnapped. Somewhere along the way, he became a secret agent too! If you want to pay attention, the different ways of storytelling in Fortnite can lead to loads of these fun little storylines over the seasons.