Overwatch has established some deep lore for a title that focuses on its PVP gameplay. Over the years, comics, timed events, and cinematics have been released to establish the world that players have come to love. With the amount of past and present conflict that Overwatch has discussed, some shocking events come up from time to time. Many stories across all media will have heroes and villains, but some of the events and the actions that take place in the game's lore can be incredibly disturbing.
With Overwatch 2 just around the corner, and its commitment to PVE alongside PVP, it is likely that fans will see more lore. But before things heat up even more between Talon and what remains of the Overwatch organization, there are some serious lore pieces that fans should consider. Many have already had major implications in the game’s universe, too.
Gerard Lacroix and Widowmaker
Sombra has hinted at a mass conspiracy already in the world of Overwatch, and the threads that connect are where fans will begin to see some of the true evil of the series. The likely responsible party, the villainous organization Talon, was already a plague in the shadows before Overwatch fell. Their actions are often heinous, as they pursue their goal of plunging the world into chaos to create a stronger world.
Before the game even takes place, they are responsible for the assassination of a member of Overwatch as well as the kidnapping and brainwashing of his wife. Gerard and Amelie Lacroix are both victims at the hands of Talon. After they kidnapped Amelie and reconditioned her, she was saved by an Overwatch team. Just two weeks after her return to some sense of normalcy, she assassinated her husband Gerard in his sleep and began her full transformation into the assassin known as Widowmaker.
Amelie went through extensive experimentation and training as her transformation was completed. Widowmaker’s heart rate was slowed, her skin took on an icy blue hue, and she became almost completely void of emotion. Aside from pride, the loving person she had been to Gerard seems to have completely faded away.
Widowmaker’s career as an assassin and an expert sniper saw her crossing paths with the heroes of Overwatch time and time again. Her missions eventually led to her identity as Amelie being discovered by Ana during a sniper duel. Captain Amari was able to hit Widowmaker’s mask in the shoot-out, but the shock of seeing her old ally’s wife left her open and vulnerable to the now merciless assassin.
Ana Faked Her Own Death
When Widowmaker shot Ana, she was presumed dead by most of the world. The round traveled through the sniper’s scope and struck her cybernetic eye, leaving her blind on that side and with a case of amnesia. Although Ana is one of the best support heroes, alongside Brigitte, her lack of care for her family and friends is what is disturbing.
While many people will deal with trauma differently, Ana chose to let the world continue to think that she was dead. Instead of reuniting with her friends or even her family, she became a vigilante. In her time, she did work to reverse the harm that Overwatch had caused in her home country of Egypt. Despite her best intentions, her relationships were left to die and she went years without letting her daughter, Pharah, know that she had survived.
Regardless of what her conscience told her, it is made clear that Pharah and Ana’s relationship, while rocky in some ways, was a close one. The mother-daughter duo came from a family of military leaders, and even if Ana disagreed with Pharah’s wish to follow in her footsteps, the decision to fake her death causes alarm. Essentially abandoning her daughter instead of addressing her concerns might not be the most violent action taken in Overwatch, but it is one of the more emotionally distressing. Hopefully, the possible changes to Ana in Overwatch 2 also include her rebuilding her relationships with friends and family.
Reaper And Genji: Stuck Between Life And Death
While the backstory of Widowmaker and Ana is disturbing, the current lives of both Genji and Reaper can also be cause for alarm. The two characters seem to exist between life and death, as both have undergone serious medical treatment for their grave injuries. As a result, both characters have also changed personality-wise, albeit in drastically different ways.
Genji’s story starts him off as the playboy son of the Shimada ninja clan, with more interest in arcade games than working with his brother and father in the family’s illegal affairs. After his father passed, the clan’s elders tasked Hanzo with reigning his younger brother in, a task that he failed. In the end, the two brothers settled their differences through a violent confrontation where Genji was left for dead. The Kanezaka Challenge earlier this year and the Hashimoto clan's hold on Hanamura could be viewed as a direct result of this fight.
In a similar manner to Widowmaker, Genji was turned into a living weapon after his battle with Hanzo. While he had suffered serious wounds, Overwatch saved him and augmented his body in exchange for help dismantling his family’s business. While he accepted the price for his augmentations, his actions as a young man, a weapon for Overwatch, and the change to his body deeply affected him as a person.
However, unlike Ana and Widowmaker, he was able to find peace in the change. Genji abandoned Overwatch, but his travels led him to Zenyatta, an Omnic monk, who set him on the path to healing. This has resulted in Genji’s redemption and will likely mean he will be more of a leader in Overwatch 2.
Reaper’s salvation, on the other hand, has done more harm than good in the Overwatch universe. While he was presumed dead after his battle with Soldier 76 and the fall of Overwatch, this was no the case. A combination of the enhancements he received as Soldier 24, Moira’s experiments on him, and her likely intervention following the organization’s collapse allowed him to survive the explosion at their headquarters.
His survival is one with a major downside, though. Reaper now exists in a constant state of agony, which he seems to use to fuel his rage and hatred. Where he was once a morally questionable force for good, he has become a merciless killer and terrorist. This brings up the question of whether he was worth saving at all. Overwatch's maps and lore have disturbing facts, but Reaper might be one of the series top-five disturbing characters.
His situation is a good example of how one’s character is more than circumstance. The edgy shotgun-wielding Reaper could use a rework in Overwatch 2, but he likely won't seek to repair his life as a character. Like Genji, he could have chosen a path of growth and peace after the tragic events that tore his friends apart, but instead he sided with the enemy. Of all the events that have happened, Reaper is one of the few characters to continue to actively pursue violence. Widowmaker’s scenario offers her no choice in the matter, but Reaper has gone all-in for no one but himself. In turn, he will likely continue to push forward with Talon’s affairs in the sequel.
Overwatch is available now on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
