But she calls him 47 throughout Freelancer. I don’t think it’s so much that 47 is now a codename, but rather, if my theory that this is their first job after joining back up again is true, Diana might be hesitating a bit with the familiarity she normally has with him. The last time they were on a job together, she had him thinking she was trying to kill him and was betraying him over killing her parents. While we know she forgave him, I’m betting some of that was real, and they both know it, and 47 probably doesn’t like that twice now he got too familiar with Diana and she reduced him to helplessness at the hands of his enemies. Calling him “Agent” might just be a sign of respect that she’s trying to earn his trust again, rather than assuming she still has it, and that she can just call him by his name again so casually as if nothing had happened.
EDIT: Also, she does call him 47 at the beginning of the introductory video for the target briefing, so make of that what you will for either theory.
Gameplay and Story Segregation. As the audience, it just makes it easier to follow the conversations in the game mode; 47 is a name we’re all used to, so it’s going to make it easier to sympathise with both of them.
I feel like your “first job” theory is trying to find reasoning and inferences where there isn’t any. Both Diana and him trust each other as he understood why she did what she did in “Untouchable” (something Dream Sequence Grey and Diana explains to him). I don’t think there’s any animosity between the two (if that were true, they wouldn’t be working freelance together!), and they keep themselves apart for both their sakes, rather than because of any kind of trust issues. Agent and handler and all that.
Again, she almost never says “Agent” exclusively without the 47 suffix anywhere else in the same context, and I feel like that’s a very big clue to their current relationship.
No…no it doesn’t. It sounds what two professionals would say to one another if they were partners and one of them didn’t have a name yet, or didn’t want it to be said, that’s not in any way distant.
He calls him “recruit” in the training missions because they don’t know his name yet! They knew very little about one another back then, so it makes sense she’d call him a Trainee or Initiate.
Accusing me of stonewalling while you yourself deliberately tried to weave an intricate theory that borders on “Fan Wank” to use the TV Tropes vernacular, is honestly pretty destructive, and not all that helpful to the conversation.
I’m allowed to have an opinion. And my opinion, contrary to yours it seems, is based on what the game has explicitly told us or heavily implied about their relationship in the game. Nothing I said was unreasonable to suggest; I was literally retelling the story beats to you. That’s in no way ignorance of your view or opinion, and I still respect it, even if I disagree. If anything, That’s the game telling you you’re wrong, but when I highlight that, you decide to ignore it.
My “theory” on their relationship is based on a very clear implication on the language used by Diana. That’s inference based on her usual pattern of speech, and when she changed from that, it became very notable for reasons I already laid out. Even her tone in “Agent” is not distant or mocking as @Mini said, it comes off as a kind of “go get-em tiger!” kind of vibe, to the point it’s almost a term of endearment between the two. I feel like their relationship evolving to be more professional is a reasonable conclusion to come to, considering the other missions’ language consistency for Diana.
Heisey, Please stop trying to pick fights. Tackle the argument, not the person making it.
EDIT: I’ve re-edited this to make my point a bit clearer.
That was not what I meant. I just wanted to make the comparison that calling him “agent” sounds just as “anonymous” as when she called him “initiate”. Simply from an emotional level.
I’m not sure what you’re trying to refer to here but I’m not following? Are you not forgetting it was actually Diana that chose the name 47 for him during that cutscene at the ICA Facility? I know it has already been pointed out by @Heisenberg and others, but she clearly refers to him as 47 during ‘The Drop’ mission briefing, throughout the mission and as you’re making the way to the exit after killing Alexious Laskaridis, so the referring to him as ‘Agent’ sporadically is just Diana’s choice of wording.
Like we’ve discussed, at this point in the timeline, Diana and 47 are in joint partnership as Freelance operatives and any animosity (not that there was any) would have been resolved after they defeated the Constant.
This literally doesn’t make any sense when Diana is literally referring to him as 47 throughout the mission gameplay and during ‘The Drop’ mission briefing? Like @Heisenberg has pointed out to you, Diana refers to him as 47 throughout Freelancer as well, so I really don’t know where your theory is going? Not to mention this mission is post H3, so it’s around the time Diana and 47 are Freelance operatives.
My personal take on the “It’s been a long time, Agent 47.” “That’s not who I am anymore.” dialogue at the beginning of the A New Deal cutscene is that he means to say he’s no longer Agent 47.
He stopped being that when he exposed the ICA in Chongqing (“You really okay with this? It’s who you’ve been for so long.” “Maybe it’s time for a change.”); and when Diana ‘set him free’ in Necessary Evil, she chose to say “Goodbye, Agent.” as her last words to him. The emphasis she put on Agent sounded … I don’t know, mocking? to me when I first heard it, but in hindsight, after watching A New Deal, I think she chose her words to express that she’s not saying goodbye to him as a person, but to the unhealthy dynamic they had when she had so much power over him. “I thought it was what you needed, but people aren’t meant to be controlled.”
I get that “47 chose a new name for himself in their year apart” is a popular headcanon/fan theory, but it’s one I don’t subscribe to.
Just to be clear, I’m not saying “I’m right, you’re all wrong” lol. Just my interpretation of the material we were presented.
I’ll even offer a sort of middle ground between the two theories. 47 says that “Agent 47” is not his name anymore, and I’ve always taken that to mean only that the agent aspect meant he was working as a tool for someone. Since he’s not, and had been on his own for this last year as just himself (aside from possibly the Dartmoor Garden Show), he simply means that he’s just 47 now. So, taking my theory of this being their first job since joining up again, and Dribbleondo’s theory of the emphasis on agent having a special meaning, it could be that Diana is saying he’s back to being who he is again, an agent, only now just her agent. Since he said that’s not who he was anymore because the old agreement was over with the loss of the ICA, their new arrangement, their new two-person agency, now has him as a agent again. So they’re beginning again, and she’s calling him agent to acknowledge the significance of that.
As I said in my original comment, I chalked that up to Gameplay and story segregation; I.E, using the name “47” is something the audience is familiar with, making it easier to get involved in their conversation. It’s possible IOI didn’t know how to handle the situation yet until now.
Sidenote: The Original post got flagged as “Off-topic”…and yet I can’t really see how it’s off-topic for the most part. It’s discussing theories and lore of Diana and 47 in this mission, and is in direct response to someone else as a rebuttal.
I sense some false flags being planted to cover the comment up because they didn’t like what they wanted to read. Which is very petty to do.
I got the same feeling, though I chalked that up to as some double-speak (given Diana was surrounded by Edwards’ lackeys); insulting him while trying to help him.
Diana also calls him 47 in the briefing video for The Drop. The briefings aren’t gameplay, they’re story.
Yes, a lot of their conversation/her speech leading up to and in Necessary Evil was coded to avoid detection. Like “One last tango, 47” which could both be interpreted as a literal last tango on this very dance floor, and as code for “one last enemy ahead”
I more saw that as Diana using 47 as a codename for him in this new mission, rather than his actual name (which I swear I’ve said like, three times now =/).
That said, there is the argument to be made that 47’s name never changed and Diana is just being formal, moreso than usual.
Yeah sorry, I didn’t have any coffee yet and my brain is not braining. I thought you only said this regarding her calling him 47 in the mission proper.
I feel like she is a bit more formal in the H3 ETs. In Dubai, when we enter the mission for The Ascensionist, she calls him “Agent 47”, which I’m pretty sure she hasn’t done in WoA since she gave him his name in the prologue. At least I can’t remember her ever not just calling him 47 throughout the trilogy.
I couldn’t have put this better myself. There was even a thread sometime ago, which I think I created, which discussed that cutscene at the end of Hitman III when 47 was talking to Diana on the way to the cabin. Most people agree with your take and 47 was referring to the ‘Agent’ aspect of his name. It’s kind of obvious he’s just referred to as 47 now like we’ve seen in Freelancer and The Drop.
I think this is kind of obviously the case. Like we’ve said, she refers to him as 47 in Freelancer and during the mission briefing and gameplay for the Drop (post Hitman III).
“Have a good trip 47” is stated by Diana more commonly when he exits the Safehouse, so why use that in a secluded Safehouse area if that wasn’t his name? Also, when giving Diana is giving him his mission briefing for ‘The Drop’, she states “Good Evening 47”, so he will be either located at his Safehouse or a secluded area. Why wouldn’t she use a new name then if they were talking privately?
Before he says “Gameplay and Story Segregation” again, be aware that GPSS is only meant to be fallen back on as an explanation when there are no other reasonable or viable explanations provided within the context of the subject under discussion, or an inconsistency with the characters that are the subject of analysis. Since a viable and reasonable explanation has been provided to explain this, GPSS is itself not a viable explanation to fall back on to explain this supposed inconsistency.
I think the only explanation that is needed, is that Diana is referring to him as 47 because that is and will always be his name. Like you pointed out the ‘Agent’ aspect of his name was dropped when he exposed the ICA.
Precisely my point, and likely the reason for the emphasis on the word agent at the beginning of The Drop: it signifies that he’s officially back as one, starting now.