Vallory's Identity and Use in Story
One theory about Vallory being thrown around a lot is that she's Sasha and Fiona's mum, because she keeps the picture of them. However, I have yet to see anybody mention the fact that she's very likely August's mother. August works for her, and Tommy (the dude with weird lips who August has killed in Zer0 Sum) makes a point about knowing August's family personally. Along with some audio files, this points to Vallory not having anything to do with Sasha or Fiona. I suppose it's still possible, what with her possible connection to Felix and all in the old photo, but that would also mean there was some incest goin' on with August and Sasha. Ew.
As for her potential use in the story: no clue. She could replace Vasquez as an antagonist fairly soon, from the looks of Episode 3's picture. Or, alternatively, she could end up as a third party altogether. Thoughts, comments, ideas?
Comments
I actually doubt she's related to any of them. I figured she was the woman in the old photo with Felix. Fiona and Sasha had no idea who she was, which meant she was with Felix before he took them in. And since Felix wasn't technically related to Fiona and Sasha, I don't think she'd have any blood ties with them either. However, knowing Felix (and them being part of the deal she was cut out of) would probably be enough to get her interested in their photo.
August also seems unlikely to be related to her, since he talks so harshly about her and how they kept her in the dark, which seems like a bad thing to do to your mother. I think there was also audio of August talking about how Vallory could kill them. Again, terrible family dynamics, if that were the case.
I've personally never bought the whole "she's Fiona and Sasha's mother" thing (just that she was a former fling of Felix's) - but I hadn't thought of her being August's mum...
He only ever refers to her as Vallory, but let's be honest, if my mother was a mob boss and I worked for her I'd probably not refer to her as 'Mum' in company, either!
You're right about August and Vallory having a horrible relationship, assuming they are related. It could explain why he refers to her as "Vallory" or "my boss" rather than "mom" or something. It might be a bit of a stretch, but it's Pandora, crazy things happen all the time. My main evidence is a line from Sasha about how Vallory hates her because of her relationship with her son. I suppose that line could be about someone other than August, but he's the only person from the outside that we really know about. Alternatively, maybe August really was Vallory's son during the first build of the game, but their relationships have been changed in the final product. Maybe she's not related to anybody anymore, aside from Felix. I'd say that idea's equally likely, now that I think about it. Hopefully we'll find out for sure next episode, because it's really bugging me. xD
Okay so I just went through some of the audio and you're absolutely right. Sasha says:
I think I just bought into your August theory.
Ditto! The bit at the end, with the photo on the mirror, seems to be where the theory comes from. But I took it as more of an "alright, Felix is out of the picture; let's focus on taking out these two, now."
I never thought about her being August's mother until she accuses him of "sassing" her in episode 3 and they proceed to argue about whether or not it was actually sass. That definitely made me wonder! It's not the first time someone in the BL universe has called their parent by their first name or referred to them as their boss (Angel).
She does literally call him son when they argue there, unless she's like me and calls everyone son.
Ooh! I was laughing too hard and must have missed it! It could have been just a condescending thing that older people do, but I think it would be really awesome if they did end up being mother/son.
She's 100% his mother.
If you tell her everything is August's fault at the beginning she reveals she's his mother (and serves him a rather brutal punishment).
I chose that option the second time round specifically to see if she'd mention it.
Same. I wanted to see Vallory scold her kid.
I didn't get that August and Vallory are related until it came up in a conversation but I trust in TftB to throw in some incest hah or at least make a joke about it.
Ooh! I gotta go back and try that one.
If Vallory turns out to be Sasha's mother, then August getting obsessed with her just got creepier.