WMG / Saints Row: The Third

Destroying Syndicate Tower is the canonical choice in "The Belgian Problem"

In Saints Row IV, when Zinyak is bringing up a hologram of Steelport, Syndicate Tower is missing. What likely happened is that a few months after the events of Saints Row The Third Mayor Burt Reynolds (under the advice of the Saints) had the empty husk of the former Syndicate Tower (the bomb the Saints made was only intended to destroy what was in the Tower, not the Tower itself) imploded and permanently removed from Steelport.

Taking Killbane's mask is the canonical choice in "Murderbrawl XXXI"

In Saints Row IV, in The White Crib you can find a bust with Killbane's mask on it. Now, since Saints Row IV takes place after the "Save Shaundi" ending, this is the only way for The Boss to have gotten Killbane's mask.

Phillipe Loren was a benefactor in Julius' betrayal of the original Saints.

Saints Row: The Third was All Just a Dream

Let's go through this:

• Burt Reynolds, the Boss' hero, is mayor
• Shaundi's change in voice, personality and attitude
• The extremely high-tech equipment used
• All the unrealistic elements
• The Deckers. Just..the Deckers
• Gives an excuse to bring back Johnny

** The Deckers are part of the fourth game, specifically Matt now works with the Saints. Shaundi having changed is also going to be addressed, with the way she is in the third game meeting her past self from the second.

Dex is the leader of the STAG (Special Anti Tactical Gang) in Saints Row 3

This is more of a Wild Mass Hope, I Really hate Dex at the moment, since he attempted to kill Julius and Boss.Another thing that supports this theory is that Boss at the end of Corporate Warfare vows to track Dex down when he flees to another city, the city that Dex is hiding in could be Steelport.

• Jossed. Cyrus Temple is the leader of S.T.A.G. Dex never appears in the entire game. If it makes you feel better, though, he shows up in Saints Row: Gat Out of Hell, apparently ending up in, yes, you guessed it, Hell, right after Zinyak blew Earth up.

S.T.A.G. is a State Sec military group that was set-up to counter gang activity.

Come on, what other kind of organization would have laser-armed VTOLs? The directors have pretty much confirmed this anyways. Furthermore, This Troper predicts that the next step of tropedom will continue into Saints Row 4. In SR2 it was a MegaCorp, SR3 is a State Sec, so logically SR4 will have a N.G.O. Superpower as one of the enemies.

• Jossed. The official trailer says S.T.A.G. is a PMC.
  • Apparently the Joss was Jossed. Congress enacts S.T.A.G. through the S.T.A.G. Initiative.

Kinzie Kensington will turn out to be an Expy of Harleen Quinzel

More of a WMG until more details come out but basically switch Arkaham Asylum psychiatrist treating The Joker with F.B.I. Agent investigating the Saints and they seem to be very similar.

• Turns out she joins up because the Deckers got her kicked out the F.B.I.
• If anything, she's more like Barbara Gordon.

Donnie will be in the Deckers.

Think about it. The Decker's gang color? Blue. Their choice of vehicles? Tuners and speed bikes.

• Then again, after the last two games, he probably wants to stay as far away from the boss as humanly possible.
  • Which would make it all the more hilarious when he does that by moving to a completely different city, only for the Saints to show up and ruin his life again!

Gat will survive I'm Free - Free Falling

It will seem like he died and he won't appear until the final mission set where he will show up, in perfect health, to save The Boss from a bad case of Cutscene Incompetence. The Boss' response? Either "I fucking knew it!" or "It's about fucking time".

• Afraid not. He stays dead, both endings.
• And... back to square one since Gat was resurrected in Saints Row 4 for one last hurrah.

Near the start of the mission Deckers.Die

Kinzie didn't make the Boss' avatar a toilet or sex toy by accident. She's being passive aggressive over Boss' sarcastic "Great plan Kinzie" at the start of the mission.

Oleg Kirlov is the grandson or great-grandson of Heavy Weapons Guy.

They're both massive bald Russian men who wield miniguns and frequently take down enemies with their bare hands. Furthermore, they're both quite intelligent; Heavy Weapons Guy has a Ph.D in Russian literature, while Oleg is the only one who understands Kinzie's Techno Babble and regularly plays chess against Pierce. Furthermore, they're both completely crazy: Heavy Weapons Guy is a Blood Knight who treats his guns like women, while Oleg thinks nothing of tackling an in-flight VTOL jet fighter to serve as just a distraction. The Heavy wore either red or blue, while Oleg wears purple. The only big differences are that Oleg is much faster and more relaxed in disposition. The fact the player character can be voiced by The Medic also makes this theory more amusing, in this troper's opinion.

• Since Oleg says to have served in the KGB, and is definately past middle age (but holding up well), it's either the son of Heavy, or Heavy himself. After all, what about those life extenders?

Phillipe Loren is the Spy.

Oh for CRYING OUT LOUD, why didn't ANYBODY see this already?!?! They're both chain-smokers, they're both snappy dressers, they both like knives, and they're both French (Belgian!! Whatever.). There's also a reasonable age-gap (give or take the life extending machines) to show the Spy of The '60s become Phillipe 20 Minutes into the Future. Phillipe's gang is even colored RED, (while a supporting gang is colored BLUE), and that their main source of income is weapons-dealing: something he may have done with the fall of RED, BLU, and Mann Co. Assuming cloning IS a part of TF2, then the Brute cloners were probably a hastily rigged substitute until they worked out the kinks.

In 'Gangstas In Space' that isn't Killbane at the end.

It's an actor playing him.

• More precise it's Oleg, explaining Killbane's heavier more brutish walk and size. Also we have both Shaundi and Pierce in it playing themselves and Kinzie as the voice of mission control. Viola is most likely too uninterested in the movie and Zimos has to keep up his business. Leaving Oleg as only other Saint who might have an interest in playing a role in the movie and who is better than him at portraying Killbane as brutish super scientist?
• Possibly an actor. It doesn't sound like Killbane when it's revealed it's a movie, but then again it doesn't sound like Oleg either. And while both have massive frames Killbane has a different build to Oleg.
  • On the other hand the Boss fight is essentially a Brute fight, complete with the same quick time survival actions and as My Name is Cyrus Temple shoved, plastic surgery is rather easy and completely reversible in the world of Saints Row. Than again it might someone entire.
• It's more likely to be an actor than not. If you're doing the movie shoot, that means that you let Killbane escape. He has no reason to come back to Steelport considering all that you've done to him (not to mention Angel would likely still want him dead even if The Boss forgave him). The Killbane at the shoot seems too friendly. The only evidence that would suggest Killbane is playing himself in the movie is the news report not mentioning an actor playing Killbane. Killbane is obsessed with his name, ego, and legacy, especially considering the speech he gives The Boss in the more dramatic and serious ending. Playing as himself in a cheesy Recycled In SPACE movie after his defeat (and possible unmasking, depending on player actions) at Murderbrawl XXXI is unlikely good for that as it portrays himself as a washed-up has-been. And unlike the serious ending, the silly ending has the Saints rise to fame due to STAG and not Killbane, so he can't even be a legendary villain to famous heroes (ala Elan's father in The Order of the Stick).
• Maybe the announced DLC Gangsta In Space will shine more on that.

Before the start of Saints Row 3, The Syndicate captured and replaced Gat and Shaundi with clones

Basing this on two different steps:
-Personality wise, Shaundi is completely different. She stopped smoking Pot, doesn't appear to want to sleep around much, and has lost her Fun Personified personality. Its possible that the Shaundi clone once got high during her impersonation, blabbed about her clone status, and while everyone thought it was just mindless babble, she realized that she needs to be careful to keep her identity, and stopped smoking pot. Because of the stress from going cold turkey, she became bitchier which lead to her new personality and clothing style. The reason she wanted to hunt them down so much was that they were supposed to allow her to return instead of her escape with the Boss, which caused her to believe Loren had abandoned her and killed the Gat clone, whom she was close to on the grounds they were both secret clones.
-SR3 Gat being a clone is a theory many have had, but the fact he Got killed by The Morning Star thugs offscreen when in the previous game he took on the ENTIRE Stillwater police force and won is enough to prove this isn't the same Gat. There's also the fact that the Zombie Gat homie runs around like an idiot hitting things with his bare hands instead of using his brain and picking up a gun (like other zombie homies in previous games), similar to the Oleg clones, along with the fact the zombie Gat lacks any visible gunshot wounds, implying it died of some other cause. In the second mission, when Gat dies it was actually them shooting the radio to make it sound like he died, before then tossing him out of the plane since he had outlived his usefulness later, where he landed near the area that soon became home to those zombies, resulting in him rising, covered in blood from his landing.

The entire third game was an in-universe film

Its a common fan-theory and in all fairness, best way to explain so many bad decisions and ideas in the plot. Pierce wrote the script, its why he gets more respect this time around and Shaundi acts so mean and unlikable this time. Love the game, but the plot is so weak. A DLC pack or even Saints Row 4 will be about the film's financier, Ultor, deciding they want the money they spent making it back, resulting in the Saints having to fight them off again.

Shaundi stopped smoking pot...

...and started doing coke when the Saints got rich and famous. Consider how relaxed and chill she was in SR2, to how strung-out and stressed she is in SR3.

• Or she stopped smoking pot period. Heck, aside from drinking, they didn't use any drugs while on the job this time around. Also, it's likely she just grew out of her "college drop out stoner phase", the game is set some years since the last one after all.
• Here's my take on it. She had a bad spring break in Steelport, and if she and Zimos are in your party it's suggested she was used as a prostitute. We don't know what Shaundi might have been like before SR2 but maybe the experience reduced her to a sleeping around crackhead. Then the Boss shows up, recruits her, and forces her to take a level in badass to stop the gangs. After that Shaundi gets cleaned up.

Josh Birk plays Johnny Gat in Gangsta in Space

Somebody's got to play him.

• It does sound like Birk's voice actor if you listen closely.

  • Really? It sounded a lot like Daniel Dae Kim, and I'm sure it was him voicing him there as well.

  • I was wondering where he might have been, given how deliberately narmtastic the film is.

Dex will become the President of the United States

• If The Third's bad ending is the canon, then this could be a great set up for the 4th game. Especially with Steelport becoming it's own country run by the saints.
• Surprisingly close - The Boss will be.

Female Latin Boss is the true Boss character

• She makes a lot of references to the first and second games. And she is the only returning voice in The Third.
  • What about the second male voice, or Urban/black voice? They return. I'd assume the true one is the default one, since they're, you know, default. And, Troy Baker is refereed to in the credits as 'Default boss' while the other voices are given names like 'Male 2/Male 3/Female Default/Female 2/Female 3.
  • I just went through the voice files again and I am certain they're different. The second male voice you pointed out is Robin Atkin Downes rather than Charles Shaughnessy, Troy Baker is The Other Darrin for Nolan North, and I looked up Kenn Michael (the black voice in the second game) and can't find him listed for The Third.
  • I recently beat the game again, and from memory, here are the voice credits as they were in Saints Row The Third's end credits:
  Default: Troy Baker
  Male 2: Kenn Michaels
  Male 3: Robin Atkin Downes
  Female 1: Laura Bailey
  Female 2: Tara Platt
  Female 3: Rebecca Sanabria
  Zombie: Steve Blum
  • Just checked the credits and Kenn Michael\s does do one of the voices in both games. He sounds different. The female Latin voice you're thinking of and I'm referring to belongs to Rebecca Sanabria. So we could argue that either of them could be the proper main character. Take it as whether you played male or female?

We'll still be seeing The Syndicate in the upcoming games/DLC

• Loren said that the Syndicate was a multinational organization, and I doubt that an organization that spans possibly around the world would die out that quickly.
  • Or he just meant it's made up by people of different nationalities. The Morningstar members are from all over Europe, the Deckers are all British and the Luchadores, except Killbane and Angel are said to be Mexicans.
  • If that is actually what he meant, he would have said multiracial. It's also heavily implied that the Syndicate is a global organization.

A future DLC could be about how Shaundi, Viola, and Burt Reynolds survived

• Either saved by a cloned Johnny Gat no less or Birk, after the latter had taken a level in badass... or having become his vampire character.
  • Kinzie seems to believe Vampires are real, maybe Birk get bitten by a real vampire?

Johnny Gat died because he was suffering from Badass Decay

• Think about it. After SR2 there was no reason to engage in combat. The Saints were paying off the cops, who were lead by ex-Saint Troy. Ultor has partnered with the Saints. There were no other rival gangs. The Boss has mellowed. The Saints were clean-cut celebrities, and Johnny was forced to drive around in the GatMobile giving inspirational speeches to kids in schools. This went on for years, it's fairly obvious the guy was a little burned out. He was also captured without any weapons, and went up against a criminal overlord and countless armed guards by himself. Even then, it took a stab wound, a criminal overlord, several armed guards, and a distraction before he could finally be taken down.

Johnny Gat knew he was going to die.

• With Aisha dead and his friends having become sellouts, slowly but surely abandoning the gang lifestyle - his last remaining joy in the world - in favor of branching out into more legit business ventures just to make more money, Gat figured that holding off an entire gang on his own to buy some time for his friends to escape from an airplane would be a good way (and perhaps his last great opportunity) to go out in a blaze of glory.
  • Gat sold his likeness for Gangsters in Space, something even the sellout Boss is upset about. Make of that what you will.

Phillipe Loren will turn out to be the Big Bad of Saints Row 3

• Or rather, a clone. As extensive as his Brute-cloning operation was, it wouldn't be surprising if he had a backup plan in the case of his untimely demise. Also, based on the title of one of the future DLC packs, clones will appear as a plot point.
  • Jossed.

Shaundi's Ex in Steelport is Professor Genki

One of the loading screens features Professor Genki sitting down and watching television in what looks like Shaundi's Ex's Apartment. Considering all the people Shaundi's been with...

Shaundi's personality in the Third is her true personality.

After mystery Steelport adventures, she started using drugs and sex as a coping mechanism to deal with her anger issues and possible depression, which is where she is in 2. After getting kidnapped by Veteran Child, she gets Nailedtothe Wagon by Boss and the Saints (which explains her increased competence in the rest of the Samedi missions) and is slowly forced to detox over the years between 2 and the Third. This results in a return to her original state, albeit aggravated by the general crappiness of the Saints' Row world and the supposed death of Johnny Gat. In the fourth game, she'll have finished her detox and potentially gone to therapy and mellowed out again.

The cannon ending is the one where Shaundi dies.

Since the Saints Row games have not so far bothered with with any saved game import feature, there will likely only be one canonical ending Saints Row 4 can incorporate and this will be the independent Steelport ending.

• First, this is the only ending where the fates of Killbane and Cyrus are resolved. Additionally, this is the only way the foreshadowing of the Daedalus pays off. Basic storytelling 101 demands these things happen.
• Second, the games traditionally never end on a happy note.
• Thirdly and most importantly, just before the plot diverges based on player choice, the Boss, as part of the completion of his game-long storyarc, declares to Pierce that he no longer wants the Saints to be sellouts and rejects his film script. This makes it extremely unlikely he would canonically ever appear in Gangstas in Space.
  • The Gangstas in Space DLC would suggest otherwise, unless it's non-canon.
• Shaundi and Viola appear in artwork for Saints Row IV, so it appears they canonically lived.

Both endings of the 3rd game are canon to an extent

The Boss chooses to save Shaundi, which results in STAG being forced to withdraw from Steelport. Before Cyrus walks away, he tells the Saints that he will not hesitate to attack if the Saints misbehave, regardless of public opinion. While Killbane got away, he can not run forever, and eventually the Saints track him down and eliminate him. Sometime later, the Saints are celebrating their victory, when STAG attacks with the Daedalus. Cyrus used Killbane's death as an excuse for the attack, much like he used Jessica's death as an excuse for STAG's occupation of Steelport. Naturally the Boss destroys the Daedalus and kills Cyrus, and the Saints set out to build a new empire for the next game. ** Basically the good ending where Shaundi Viola and Burt Fucking Reynolds live, and instead of Steelport becoming a state sec Boss become President.

The Save Shaundi/Gangstas in Space ending is a recurring dream that the Protagonist has.

After killing Killbane and letting Shaundi and Viola die. His mind created this outcome to escape the guilt of letting so many of his friends die. Think about how he faces off with Kia and he asserts that the Saints never leave anyone behind. Kia starts listing all the people who have died and the Protagonist just tells her to shut up. Think about how surreal everything becomes from there. He saves the day with farts in a jar and STAG is called off forever. Then the completed gang, including Johnny Gat (or at least an expy) happily produce a campy space movie together where the Protagonist shouts things like, "I'll never betray my friends!" It's all the absurdity in the game kicked up a notch.

Angel has lost a little... more than his mask.

Even writing off his training regime for the boss as just some manner of testosterone poisoned lucha madness ("a fucking tiger?!"), Angel seems to have a very warped view of how the world works. This mostly comes out when he suggests de-masking Killbane over killing him outright. He's so lost in his luchadore-centric world that he think taking his mask will destroy him. Instead, even just beating WITHOUT taking his mask drives him to launch a city-wide war. Surely Killbane's old partner would know him well enough to know where they'd land between "shamed to death" and "start wars".

• It's possible he was always like this. His name is Angel de la Muerte, or Angel of Death. That's almost certainly a stage name but everybody calls him that, even people who should know and would use his real name like his former partner Killbane. He's also supposed to be in hiding but that name is very identifiable, yet he uses it anyway. He may have legally changed his name or simply assumed it as his identity, either of which would show an obsession with Lucha culture that even Killbane doesn't share.

Killbane has Feet of Clay.

• His only victory against Angel de la Muerte is believed to have involved cheating, and your initial objective during Murderbrawl XIII is simply to stop his cohorts from distracting the referee. The only reason he manages to throw Angel out of the ring, forcing The Boss to step in is because Angel is out of practice.
• When you fight him in the darker path of Three Way, the whole thing is done via Quick Time Event - and, though I might be wrong, it seems to be one with little to no chance of failure.
• The only time we actually see him, personally, kill someone is when he snaps the neck of a girl who's much smaller and more slender than him.

This all adds up to a man who is, admittedly, quite strong - but nowhere near as strong as he'd have you believe.

Eliza Dushku swapped roles with the voice actress for Batman: Year One.

• Look at Catwoman in the movie. Then look at Shaundi in the game. Explains a lot.

The "Concerned in Steelport" assassination client is Gat.

• All of the assassination missions have a picture of the client's face and the client's name. However, one recurring client has their face hidden in shadow, and is simply named "Concerned in Steelport." It is never revealed who this mysterious figure is. This unknown man could be Johnny Gat, who feigned his death and adopted a new identity in order to break all ties with the Saints. He still wants to help his former companions, which is why he is an assassination client. One of his targets is just an extremely incompetent pizza delivery boy, suggesting that he still has his sociopathic tendencies.

Kia is Aisha's sister.

This may sound crazy, but bear with me: during her Motive Rant against the Boss in her final battle, she claims that the Boss does nothing but let their friends die on them: however, her knowledge seems oddly specific on how she directly calls out the lieutenants by name. True, Aisha was a famous pop-start, and Johnny Gat's death was spammed all over the news in The Third, but Lin and Carlos were killed off in Saints Row 1 and Saints Row 2, and didn't come close to achieving the notoriety of the current Saints. This means that Kia knew about them from the founding days of the Third Street Saints. Now, why does this lead to her being Aisha's sister? Well, in one of the first missions of the game, you're tasked with saving Aisha's sister (who is The Unnamed) from being forced to be a Vice Kings Sex Slave. She was Put on a Bus afterwards, and probably would've been the last we would've seen of her, except one of the possible conversations with Kia while impersonating Cyrus Temple implies she loved Aisha's music, and that Aisha's murder was what drove her to law enforcement. On top of this Freudian Excuse for wanting the Boss dead, Kia sounds a LOT like Aisha, doesn't it?

Zimos, his work and sexual slavery

Warning, this might be stating the obvious. Zimos is stated to be a pimp, but he's portrayed in a very sympathetic manner, which has made me think about his business. I'm almost certain, without explicitly knowing, that prostitution is legal in the Steelport, maybe even USA, of the game. My theory: The women working for Zimos, do so for their own free will, either because they like the job or because they can't get a better job, and they'd prefer it to being unemployed. He allows his employees to unionize, so they most likely get a decent part of the cut from the money they make, and working for Zimos allows them to get more money, because the man has contacts. I also guess that they can walk away from the job without trouble, and if there's a client they refuse to serve, they're free to do so. In short, as close to a regular job as sex trade can possibly be. The title "pimp" simply sounds good to Zimos.

Saints Row The Third is set in the same universe as Archer.

Because, Burt Fucking Reynolds.