Fortnite chops down fan-favorite NPC Bushranger

Bushranger, the fan-favorite Fortnite NPC (and inspiration for the skin in the locker o’ goodies Brie Larson curated this spring) appears to be dead. At least, that’s the only logical assumption I can form when a visit to the area where he used to roam now shows a freshly dug grave with some flowers sprouting up from the soil.

In case you didn’t get the point, the game “plays peaceful music when you are nearby.” Fans are holding out hope that this is actually a baby’s grave (yes, really).

Last week, Fortnite added a legendary quest in which players found and marked alien eggs to help out Bushranger, who was (rather optimistically) caring for a dangerous extraterrestrial infant. “What could go wrong?” the game’s Twitter manager mused, rhetorically. Well, how about death?

As one would expect, fans are very sad:

Some are holding out hope that Bushranger is simply missing, because when Fortnite NPCs are removed from the game, that typically does not happen in the middle of a season. So perhaps that grave is for the baby. Or maybe it is for Bushranger, killed by his adopted progeny, or those cruelly bent on thwarting Bushranger’s vision for intergalactic peace.

Of course, those who still bought the Bushranger skin can still romp around in his purple ghillie getup (or three other colors; they’re 1,200 credits each). Otherwise, Bushranger is dead today at the senseless age of two.