Rainbow 6: Who is the leader And Why is it called 'Rainbow Six'?

Rainbow Six Siege is one of the biggest competitive shooters out there at the moment.

The latest entry in the Rainbow Six series has been going strong for over five years now and is well into the eighteenth season: Operation Shadow Legacy.

However, you might be wondering... Why is it called "Rainbow Six" Siege. Who is Rainbow Six and why is it important?

What Is Rainbow Six Siege?

Rainbow Six Siege is a tactical, team-based shooter that takes the fight online and steps away from the single-player roots of the Rainbow Six series.

Like a lot of online, live-service titles, Rainbow Six Siege does have an ongoing narrative to accompany its' otherwise-random multiplayer madness.

READ MORE: Rainbow Six Quarantine: Release Date, Gameplay, Next-Gen, and More

Operation Shadow Legacy is one of the latest narrative instalments of Rainbow Six Siege and brings Splinter Cell's Sam Fisher into the mix as another agent willing to help Team Rainbow in their pursuit of the enemy.

Who Is "Six"?

In Siege, Six is the mysterious figure behind the re-activation of the Rainbow Program and is integral to the storyline laid out.

Angela Bassett currently portrays Six, the director of Team Rainbow, in Rainbow Six Siege.

She is also known for her work as Queen Ramonda in the MCU's Black Panther, Lynn Jacobs in Olympus Has Fallen and London Has Fallen... And around 93 other acting credits.

What Does "Rainbow" Mean?

Team Rainbow's name comes from the multi-national nature of the organisation.

Despite being funded mainly by the United States and the CIA, canonically anyway, Team Rainbow features Operators from a wide array of nations.

For example, Dokkabei is South Korean, Goyo is Mexican, and the newest Operater Aruni is from Thailand.

Tom Clancy's Novel Influences

Now we know who Six is, but where did she come from?

Rainbow Six Siege, and all other Tom Clancy titles, are all based on the works of Tom Clancy.

In the original Rainbow Six novel follows the story of CIA Operative John Clark and his formation of a multi-national counter-terrorist unit known as Team Rainbow.

READ MORE: Rainbow Six Siege Next-Gen: Everything You Need To Know

As the Commander of Team Rainbow, Clark becomes known by his code-name: Rainbow Six.

Rainbow Six Siege might have moved along from the original plotline laid out in the 1998 novel, but the key themes and ideas are still present.

Rainbow Six is the leader of Team Rainbow and offers their namesake to the now-iconic video game series.