#46. Petra

Lore

The Darkheart

"Brynn has gone too far this time. She pulled this 'Petra' out of Terminus. We should not allow anyone from that interdimensional sinkhole near Valhalla. Especially not a troublemaker like her."

- Heimdall to Odin


"What's up, NERDS! Who's ready to get their butts kicked?"

- Petra, entering Valhalla for the first time.

As the story goes...

To most, Terminus is a dystopian prison realm where frighteningly violent and dangerous undesirables are banished. To Petra, Terminus is home.

Born in the chaotic nexus dimension that contains Terminus, Petra was as wild and ungovernable as her native world. While a young street urchin, Petra bought and sold anything forbidden - stim packs, mana potions, mayochup. She would fight anyone in any way - at sixteen she took over her street gang by defeating the previous boss in what can only be described as flying laser death chess. By eighteen her gang, the Incarnates, ran the Raptor Pits and the Cyborg Rings. And at nineteen, the Incarnates won a turf war that gave them control of a Darkheart quarry that would change Petra's life forever.

Before Terminus was a prison, it was a mine - the only source in the multiverse of the cryptic ore called Darkheart. The power and danger of Darkheart was so great the gods folded Terminus into its own dimension and declared it eternally bound just to quarantine the ore. Darkheart became the ultimate cosmic contraband.

Some say Petra was infected by Darkheart, others say she unlocked its power. Whatever the truth, she has brought that mythic ore and the strength it imbues to Valhalla. In Valhalla, Petra is quarrelsome, violent, brooding, unruly, and very well-liked. Her orb sparring matches with Thor draw huge crowds and huge fines for property damage - both of which the two ignore.

Connections

• (No mentions of Petra in other legends' lore pages have yet been found)

Context

Petra's beta name was "Rage Fighter." Rather fitting, don't you think? The name is no accident, though. "Petra" is the feminine form of the name "Peter," which comes from the Greek word "petros," which means "stone" or "rock." This is a perfect name for a woman who possesses the power of a corrupting rocky substance: the Darkheart! Her lore is almost centered around her relationship with Darkheart.

At long last, we have some significant lore surrounding both Darkheart and Terminus! Until now, both of these things have been referenced only in passing in the forms of various cosmetic items. There are a number of Darkheart legend and weapon skins, and even a Darkheart podium! Each of these featured a blackish stone substance with a glowing, malevolent magenta core, with no other clues apart from hints that this substance corrupts and is evil. As for Terminus, that was first mentioned as the theme of Patch 3.35: Escape from Terminus. Four cosmetic items that released at once: Shin Sekai Koji, Mythic Hero Val, Prizefighter Cross, and the Loki's Grasp KO effect. All we knew then was that it was a "timeless vault" in which Loki was keeping legends trapped before they reach Valhalla. Thanks to Petra, the initial mysteries of the nature of Darkheart and terminus have both been cracked wide open.

As soon as Petra was revealed on June 25, 2019, players started to draw comparisons between her design and Mitsuki Bakugo from My Hero Academia. Fans have also made comparisons with Dragon Ball Z (Spirit Bomb, anyone?). It is very likely that these, and other similar sources, informed Petra's final design.

Why orb and gauntlets? Gauntlets shows that Petra is clearly a fist fighter. Her "orb" looks to be a piece of Darkheart core. If that's the source of her raw power, why wouldn't it be her weapon?