IOI’s Hitman 3 has been out since Jan. 20, 2021. and critics seem to agree that it’s a satisfying conclusion to the World of Assassination Trilogy. While the main draw in Hitman 3 is once again the elaborate sandbox-style levels full of death traps, Hitman 3 also emphasizes the story, challenging Agent 47 and his longtime handler Diana Burnwood in ways they’ve never been challenged before. 47 and Diana are the central relationship in the series, and they’ve worked together since the first game, 2000’s Hitman: Codename 47. That’s why it’s so shocking when she appears to betray him in Hitman 3. But her “betrayal” follows logically from earlier events in the trilogy, and the Hitman franchise overall.
[WARNING: Spoilers for Hitman 3 below]
During Hitman 3, Arthur Edwards/The Constant tells Diana that a young Agent 47 was made to kill her parents with a car bomb. Then, after the “Mendoza” mission, Diana suddenly doses 47 with a neurotoxin that knocks him out. It appears that learning 47’s secret has caused her to turn her back on him and side with The Constant and Providence, the shadowy organization that wants to impose a new world order. But then, 47 wakes up on a train in the Carpathian Mountains, which is also The Constant’s base. He kills The Constant (or not) and the game ends.
Diana’s actions seem shocking in the moment, and even 47 falls for her ruse temporarily. Although it winds up being a success, the plan might also seem reckless. Handing your best asset over to the enemy is rarely a good idea, after all. But given how The Constant operates, it was the only way to get 47 close enough for the kill, and given her larger history with 47, Diana had good reason to believe her scheme would work, even if the hitman himself was in the dark.
Diana Knows The Constant’s Fatal Flaw
![Hitman 3: Why Diana [SPOILER] Agent 47](https://static1.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/hitman-3-diana-knocks-out-47.jpg)
Diana understands The Constant. He’s a master manipulator, but he’s arrogant. They first met in Hitman (2016), when The Constant approached Diana with an offer: if she and 47 helped him and Providence hunt down the Shadow Client, he would provide information on 47’s past and the death of Diana’s parents. In Hitman 2, Diana and 47 find out the Shadow Client is Lucas Grey. Grey convinces them to turn on Providence, and they capture The Constant shortly after. The Constant reveals the names of Providence’s three Partners, and 47 and Grey spend the Dubai and Dartmoor missions in Hitman 3 eliminating them.
But The Constant was playing them. At the beginning of Hitman 3, he easily escapes their custody and resumes control of Providence. He allowed himself to be captured only so 47 and Diana would do his dirty work and eliminate his Providence rivals, and also so he could plant the seeds that would lead to Diana’s betrayal of 47. Immediately after The Constant escapes, his next move is to try to recruit Diana to join Providence, dangling the possibility of her becoming the next Constant. All he wants is for her to hand over her 47.
The Constant is satisfied that he’s manipulated her into betraying her best friend, and Diana uses that against him. Her scheme is essentially the same one The Constant pulled on her and 47: allowing himself to be captured to get closer to the enemy. The Constant believes he so thoroughly fooled them that he never considers the possibility they could fool him – not even when they use the same trick.
Even 47 falls for Diana’s scheme before realizing her true intentions, but based on an earlier game in the Hitman franchise, Diana had good reason to know that 47 would come through for her even if she didn’t tell him the full story. In Hitman: Blood Money in 2006, she and 47 pulled essentially the same trick to wipe out the leadership of the Franchise, drugging 47 and handing him over only for him to wake up and wipe out everyone. Since The Constant is so familiar with 47 and Diana’s careers before Hitman 3, he probably should have seen it coming.
