Lucky Street Fighter fans were able to enjoy the Street Fighter 6 beta for a few days, and there is a lot of information that’s been divulged. We know that the character creator allows you to create avatars that are horrible abominations against mankind. We know that there are minigames, like the addictive Bull Run, that you can play against others. More importantly, though, we have information about new characters that allow us to look into the story of Street Fighter 6.
And there’s a lot to look at.
We can start first with the non-playable character Eternity, an obvious homage to The Fifth Element’s Ruby Rhod.
We get to know a bit about the host of Channel Eternity through their introduction in the Battle Hub. Eternity is a flamboyant character who enjoys fighting and watching others play Street Fighter. They’re also something of a fourth-wall breaking character, not only welcoming you to the Battle Hub, but also appearing as a spectator in the Macho Ring stage along with Street Fighter I character, Retsu.
Eternity is something of an enigma at this stage. Outwardly, they’re very friendly and love being the center of attention while showing off the features of the game. The most obvious thing about Eternity is their fashion sense, both masculine and feminine at the same time and making heavy use of pink and blue. This is a character who is somewhere on the LGBTQ+ spectrum, and the pink and blue motif seems to imply that Eternity is either non-binary or bisexual (the bisexual flag utilizes the same blue and pink shades as Eternity’s outfit).
However, there’s something else that’s been gnawing at me that has to do with Eternity’s outfit. Eternity wears a prominent crystal pattern, making it their official symbol.
I found this interesting for one reason. While not the exact same shape as Eternity’s, there are crystals found in certain characters’ designs that lead me to believe that Eternity belongs to a certain group.
The idea that Eternity belongs to the Illuminati would not be off the mark. Crystal motif aside, Considering that Eternity came out of nowhere to be a front-and-center influencer who is one of the most prominent faces in SF6, it’s likely they were helped along by an outside force. This could be Gill.
Or, as some people have pointed out to me, they could also have been guided by G, who has a strong influence and following on the Internet. However, to be fair, there isn’t a whole lot there to say for sure that Eternity is a follower of G or Gill, but with the evidence we do have, I’m leaning towards the idea that Eternity is a part of the Illuminati. One other thing stands out to me: Gill’s concept of the Gate of Harmony. What strikes me is that Harmony and Eternity go hand-in-hand for Gill, as he wants to bring an everlasting utopia to the world just as the Illuminati’s forebears wanted. In other words, an Eternity of Harmony.
Of course, while we continue to guess Eternity’s allegiances, there is one other character we can speculate on who is in the same boat. Marisa is just as mysterious as Eternity for the time being considering we know next to nothing about her. We know she’s a muscle-bound woman who could potentially be a grappler that’s as large as Zangief, making her the first playable female character in Street Fighter history to be that huge. However, she could also be considerably smaller than we think and retain the Street Fighter tradition of very small female characters who could beat much larger men without breaking a sweat.
While her physique is still a mystery, like Eternity, there are hints that Marisa could be a villain. This was revealed recently in an audio leak featuring the voice of a prominent esports commentator. Out of respect for the commentator, I will not be posting a link to the audio files here. However, I will inform you that the audio revealed the moves for the characters that have not been revealed, including Marisa, and what was there was staggering.
Marisa’s look is, overall, inspired by Roman gladiators.
As it turns out, her moves are inspired by Roman mythology and culture: Goddess of the Hunt, Tartarus, Javelin of Marisa, etc. The thing is we already know one character who has a similar theme: Urien. Spartan Bomb, Jupiter Thunder (aka Temporal Thunder), Chariot Tackle, and Aegis Reflector are all taken from Roman culture as well (the word “aegis” is a loan word from Greek that the Romans adopted, and considering they shared many of the same gods and myths, albeit under different names, “aegis” also counts as Roman). So, there is a common theme between Marisa and Urien that implies that Marisa is Illuminati.
There is one other thing that could solidify this, however. In the first Street Fighter 6 trailer, we see a panorama of Metro City, including a sign that repeats, word for word, Gill’s speech from Yun’s Street Fighter III ending. The sign in front of his?
This could be a subtle clue by the developers that Marisa is part of the Illuminati, working for Gill or Urien as a devoted follower.
Speaking of followers, Lily was revealed in the audio leak to be a follower of T. Hawk and a member of his tribe, the Thunderfoot. While it was interesting to hear that she borrowed her moves from him, lorewise, her leak didn’t disclose very much, so it’s nearly impossible to deduce anything about Lily’s story for now.
JP’s leak, on the other hand, revealed a LOT. It’s revealed that JP “has a gift for deception and manipulating from the shadows.” More so, several of his moves are named after Eastern European deities, including Stribog, Chernobog, and Torbalan. Stribog is primarily known as a god of wealth, Chernobog is associated with both bad luck and the Christian devil, and Torbalan is a bogeyman who kidnaps children and takes them away in a sack.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stribog
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobog_and_Belobog
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sack_Man
It also appears that he has the ability to set traps for his opponents, prohibit them from using moves, and send them to another dimension with his powers. In other words, JP is just as scary as G at this point, and he may only be a sub-boss!
So, what can we assume about JP with the information we have now? JP, like G, works from the shadows and specializes in deception. He has connections with dark forces that assist him when he needs it. They provided him with the wealth befitting of a nobleman, and he used it to become a terrifying despot who could be seen as the Devil himself. There’s also the matter of naming one of his attacks after a figure who kidnaps people.
From all of this, it appears that JP made a deal with the Devil for the power and wealth he has now, and is subservient to demonic forces. If we believe that G is the devil and can grant Faustian wishes, we can conclude that JP is working for G as part of an agreement. And what does JP give to G in return? His soul? His subservience? Perhaps, but if his Torbalan move is any indication, it’s more than just his soul he provides to G – he kidnaps people and gives them to G to transform into Qs, dead or alive.
Essentially, JP appears to be a body harvester for G. His ability to move people into another dimension tells us that G may have the power to travel to this other dimension as well, collecting the unfortunate victims who wind up there.
And JP continues to do this because he is rewarded handsomely for it. In other words, JP is driven purely by greed.
There is one final thing to consider. JP’s full name appears to be Johann Papovich, and even this is full of meaning. Johann is the German equivalent of the name John, both derived from the Hebrew name Yochanan, which can be translated as “God is gracious”. This connects JP to his worshipping of dark gods who grant him his wealth and power. As for his surname, Papovich, it is a derivative of the name Popovich, which in Eastern European languages is taken to mean “son of a priest”.
With his formal wear and manner of speaking, doesn’t G look and sound like a preacher?
Street Fighter Game Lore Theories 