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Overwatch Lore Thread || Cannon or Canon?

D

duckroll

Member
Ferrio said:
He also rejects Widowmaker even though it'd be an easy out to restore his empire.

Widowmaker: Talon could restore your family's empire.
Hanzo: But at what cost.

My take is that he isn't bad, he just doesn't think he's earned redemption.
Click to expand...

Doctor Doom and Magneto would reject any offer to join Hydra too. :)
 
P

PSqueak

Banned
Dennis said:
How can you have meaningful lore in a multiplayer arena shooter?

Random people running around shooting each other over and over again with no lore consequences.

We need a Single Player Campaign - The Lore Gold Standard.
Click to expand...

Or at the very least, multiplayer events that tie into the lore and advance the story, like League of Legends sometime does
 
D

Data West

coaches in the WNBA
Nirolak said:
I don't think Hanzo is meant to be a villain unless we consider characters like Marvel's Hawkeye to be villains.
Click to expand...

He's a villain if you consider Zartan a villain. Which he is.
He greets Genji with 'You will never amount to anything' wants to build a crime empire. Zenyatta talks about sensing a great rage inside of him.

Just because he's not Talon doesn't mean he's not a villain. He's just not a mustache twiling Cobra Commander type like Reaper. He's a selfish, arrogant, power-hungry opportunist. He rejects the help of others because he looks down on them, Overwatch or Talon
 
P

Poodlestrike

Banned
Okay, so, in light of the in-game dialogue between Pharah and Ana, I'm... uh, a lot more confused. Seems to be a pretty decent relationship after all.

I don't think Blizzard is bringing their top-shelf consistency game to this thing, people.
 
M

maouvin

Member
Poodlestrike said:
Okay, so, in light of the in-game dialogue between Pharah and Ana, I'm... uh, a lot more confused. Seems to be a pretty decent relationship after all.

I don't think Blizzard is bringing their top-shelf consistency game to this thing, people.
Click to expand...

I believe these are all the conversations where Pharah talks about her mother:


  • Winston: Your mother was a hero to me. To all of us. Pharah: You probably knew her better than me.
  • Mercy: Your mother always wanted you to follow in her footsteps. Pharah: She did? Funny, she never mentioned that to me.
  • Soldier-76: Your mother would have been proud of you. Pharah: You didn't know my mother very well then.

Both Phara's and Ana's background tell that Ana wanted her daughter to follow a different way from her. We always took that Ana strongly disapproved Phara's ambitions, but maybe this disagreement was treated on an non-hostile, no-hard-feelings way, so Phara's responses reflect what she always heard from her mother, while Ana, while finding it better to Pharah to stay away from her life, couldn't hide from her teammates an inner satisfaction on the prospect to see her child do what she dreamt for.

I was positively suprised that Ana/Phara's lines didn't go the obvious resentful route most were expecting tbh.
 
P

Poodlestrike

Banned
maouvin said:
I believe these are all the conversations where Pharah talks about her mother:


  • Winston: Your mother was a hero to me. To all of us. Pharah: You probably knew her better than me.
  • Mercy: Your mother always wanted you to follow in her footsteps. Pharah: She did? Funny, she never mentioned that to me.
  • Soldier-76: Your mother would have been proud of you. Pharah: You didn't know my mother very well then.

Both Phara's and Ana's background tell that Ana wanted her daughter to follow a different way from her. We always took that Ana strongly disapproved Phara's ambitions, but maybe this disagreement was treated on an non-hostile, no-hard-feelings way, so Phara's responses reflect what she always heard from her mother, while Ana, while finding it better to Pharah to stay away from her life, couldn't hide from her teammates an inner satisfaction on the prospect to see her child do what she dreamt for.

I was positively suprised that Ana/Phara's lines didn't go the obvious resentful route most were expecting tbh.
Click to expand...

The tone of those lines is pretty harsh, though. Especially that last one, but the other two are fairly biting as well. I didn't get the sense that she was, at least on the surface, longing for her mothers' affection, more that she actively resented not getting the support she felt she deserved.

Mind you, giving them a functional mother-daughter relationship isn't the worst thing in the world, but it does present a dramatically different tone.
 
R

ramyeon

Member
maouvin said:
I believe these are all the conversations where Pharah talks about her mother:


  • Winston: Your mother was a hero to me. To all of us. Pharah: You probably knew her better than me.
  • Mercy: Your mother always wanted you to follow in her footsteps. Pharah: She did? Funny, she never mentioned that to me.
  • Soldier-76: Your mother would have been proud of you. Pharah: You didn't know my mother very well then.

Both Phara's and Ana's background tell that Ana wanted her daughter to follow a different way from her. We always took that Ana strongly disapproved Phara's ambitions, but maybe this disagreement was treated on an non-hostile, no-hard-feelings way, so Phara's responses reflect what she always heard from her mother, while Ana, while finding it better to Pharah to stay away from her life, couldn't hide from her teammates an inner satisfaction on the prospect to see her child do what she dreamt for.

I was positively suprised that Ana/Phara's lines didn't go the obvious resentful route most were expecting tbh.
Click to expand...
Pretty much. I think it lines up fine and I don't see any issues with consistency. Just didn't go the route people had expected and that's only a positive in this case imo.
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Maybe I misunderstood Hanzo's lore on the website, but it ends with this: https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/heroes/hanzo/

"Now, Hanzo travels the world, perfecting his skills as a warrior, attempting to restore his honor and put the ghosts of his past to rest."

This struck me as the standard Metzen redemption arc character who has already hit the redemption arc phase.

If "his honor" is actually "his criminal empire", and "put the ghosts of his past to rest" meant "murder Genji again", then I could see the villain argument, but I took it to mean "join new-Overwatch and be a hero".
 
D

duckroll

Member
I don't think anyone is arguing that he is not on track for a redemption arc and might be a hero by Overwatch 2, when they revamp stuff. But he's still a villain now! He's somewhat like Arthus circa Frozen Throne!
 
Zomba13

Zomba13

Member
Nirolak said:
Maybe I misunderstood Hanzo's lore on the website, but it ends with this: https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/heroes/hanzo/

"Now, Hanzo travels the world, perfecting his skills as a warrior, attempting to restore his honor and put the ghosts of his past to rest."

This struck me as the standard Metzen redemption arc character who has already hit the redemption arc phase.

If "his honor" is actually "his criminal empire", and "put the ghosts of his past to rest" meant "murder Genji again", then I could see the villain argument, but I took it to mean "join new-Overwatch and be a hero".
Click to expand...

I actually took it as that is what it is. To him that is honourable and just. He's the head of the family and Genji is a dishonourable guy who has cheated death and his rightful punishment and so must be put to rest again while he restores the criminal empire to its former glory. He had a chance to forgive Genji and put redeem himself by joining new-Overwatch but instead doubled down on thinking he's in the right.
 
N

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
duckroll said:
I don't think anyone is arguing that he is not on track for a redemption arc and might be a hero by Overwatch 2, when they revamp stuff. But he's still a villain now! He's somewhat like Arthus circa Frozen Throne!
Click to expand...

You don't view him as Illidan instead?

Illidan:
- Corrupted more so by listening to the orders of his queen and relationship troubles instead of mental corruption by demons and/or old gods. Mind, it's Warcraft, so he does of course use lots of demon powers.
- Has ongoing rivalry with brother, who he wronged.
- Was more of a freewheeling villain than one tied to a specific faction, even if he ended up with various factions at times.
- Went around fighting and killing other villains even when he was a villain.
- Has ongoing redemption arc.

Arthas on the other hand was more just Ner'zhul's puppet and eventually written entirely out of the picture.
 
D

Data West

coaches in the WNBA
Nirolak said:
You don't view him as Illidan instead?

Illidan:
- Corrupted more so by listening to the orders of his queen and relationship troubles instead of mental corruption by demons and/or old gods. Mind, it's Warcraft, so he does of course use lots of demon powers.
- Has ongoing rivalry with brother, who he wronged.
- Was more of a freewheeling villain than one tied to a specific faction, even if he ended up with various factions at times.
- Went around fighting and killing other villains even when he was a villain.
- Has ongoing redemption arc.

Arthas on the other hand was more just Ner'zhul's puppet and eventually written entirely out of the picture.
Click to expand...

I mean, Illidan would just further the point that he's a villain. Illidan is a villain. He's a villain fighting other villains, but he's still a villain.

He wanted no one's help and shunned outsiders from him due to his rash decisions. Most definitely a villain, just not as evil as an Arthas or Archimonde or Gul'Dan. Which is what Hanzo is. Hanzo isn't kick puppies and smack babies like Reaper. He's holier than thou, I know what's best for you, you can't do this I'll do it kind of villain. Acting selfishly as he does so under the guide that he's being a hero.

and towards the end, Illidan didn't want redemption. He wanted to be left alone. He became obsessed with destroying the Legion above all else and lost even his followers into the Outlands as a result. His redemption kind of fizzled into deeper plunges of villainy.
And the Legion writing for Illidan isn't a very positive route to look at
and is certainly not the Illidan that most people will think of.
 
SargerusBR

SargerusBR

I love Pokken!
Nirolak said:
Maybe I misunderstood Hanzo's lore on the website, but it ends with this: https://playoverwatch.com/en-us/heroes/hanzo/

"Now, Hanzo travels the world, perfecting his skills as a warrior, attempting to restore his honor and put the ghosts of his past to rest."

This struck me as the standard Metzen redemption arc character who has already hit the redemption arc phase.

If "his honor" is actually "his criminal empire", and "put the ghosts of his past to rest" meant "murder Genji again", then I could see the villain argument, but I took it to mean "join new-Overwatch and be a hero".
Click to expand...

Dragons suggests he's in peace with Genji so ''murder him'' again is not going to happen IMO
 
O

Orochinagis

Member
Funny dialogue with Mei and Mercy

Mei asks Mercy how she is still the same physically after all this time, Mercy ask Mei the same about her kinda avoiding the question.

If you keep mercy close to mei after a while a second dialogue triggers, Mercy ask mei how she was able to stay the same after all these years, mei replies she is still young due cryostatis but dont recommend it to anyone else
 
W

Wanderer5

Member
I found one of the Ana interaction to be a bit interesting where Ana makes a comment about Widowmaker's husband being a fool to had liked Widowmaker, and then Widowmaker kind of snaps back that Ana didn't know anything about him.

I ended up reading about Widowmaker aka Amélie Lacroix's history again and it is more sad than I remembered heh. Was the wife of a overwatch agent (that was spearheading operations against Talon) who she would then get brainwashed and killing her husband before becoming the living weapon she is today with little emotion. I guess with that interaction with Ana, there might be a bit of Amélie in her still.
 
K

keuja

Member
Wanderer5 said:
I found one of the Ana interaction to be a bit interesting where Ana makes a comment about Widowmaker's husband being a fool to had liked Widowmaker, and then Widowmaker kind of snaps back that Ana didn't know anything about him.

I ended up reading about Widowmaker aka Amélie Lacroix's history again and it is more sad than I remembered heh. Was the wife of a overwatch agent (that was spearheading operations against Talon) who she would then get brainwashed and killing her husband before becoming the living weapon she is today with little emotion. I guess with that interaction with Ana, there might be a bit of Amélie in her still.
Click to expand...

I hope we get to play Gerard someday.
A guy who spearheaded the fight against Talon and who could only be killed through his wife must have been pretty badass.
 
P

Paltros

Member
SargerusBR said:
Dragons suggests he's in peace with Genji so ''murder him'' again is not going to happen IMO
Click to expand...
He has plenty of openly hostile lines towards Genji in the game, when Dragons came out I was actually confused why he was acting so mournful in the first place.
 
T

The Omega Man

Member
New Comic hitting today

It seems to cover the encounter of Ana with Widowmaker

"Overwatch #7 - Ana" sees Ana encounter a shooter who matches her impressive skills while protecting her team, and CBR has the exclusive look at the cover and an interior page from the comic, written by animation veteran/Blizzard writer Andrew Robinson and illustrated by "Adventures of Supergirl" artist Bengal.
Click to expand...

Se12yZZ.jpg
 
K

Kor of Memory

Member
It's already out, I just read it. Didn't care for it as much. Didn't feel like it gave me anything I didn't already pick up from her video.
 
S

Sawneeks

Banned
Kalentan said:
OVRW-HC-FC-FNL.jpg


100 Page Dark Horse Comic coming 2017!
Click to expand...

More info for those curious.

Next, Dark Horse will publish a 100-page Overwatch graphic novel in April 2017. While neither the title nor the creative team have been revealed yet, the publisher did confirm that this book will tell the story of the original Overwatch strike team.

Finally, Dark Horse will follow up that release with The Art of Overwatch, an oversized hardcover featuring previously unseen concept art and illustrations. This book will be released in Summer 2017.

Look for more details about these projects to be revealed at Blizzard's "Behind the Scenes of Overwatch's Newest Hero" panel, which will be held at SDCC at 6:30pm on Thursday, July 21 in Room 6A.
Click to expand...

Looks like we will be getting more info tomorrow at SDCC.
 
K

Kouichi

Member
Aw damn that looks awesome. The former Overwatch team and their downfall is the most interesting part of the lore for me. Can't wait to learn more.
 
K

Kalentan

Member
maouvin said:
Go on...

edit: oh yeah, the cover. Liao might be the OW programmer who built/developed Athena.
Click to expand...

Is it possible Liao may have had an omnic fight for them? That's the impression I get from the cover but who knows... Well, assuming it's Liao. Maybe the organic Liao dies during the conflict and the omnic takes up their name and continues the fight on.
 
M

maouvin

Member
Kalentan said:
Is it possible Liao may have had an omnic fight for them? That's the impression I get from the cover but who knows... Well, assuming it's Liao. Maybe the organic Liao dies during the conflict and the omnic takes up their name and continues the fight on.
Click to expand...

Liao could be an expert programmer/hacker that, just like the big omnic that attacked South Korea and took control of their non-tripulated mechs, managed to take control of a few omnics (like the big robot on the left) and had a "personnal" omnic (the little one on front). Who knows aye?

I really hope Blizz talks about Liao before the comic.

And I just noticed but Torb is so round on that cover, lol.
 
K

Kalentan

Member
I-hate-u said:
Damn, just realized in the last comic panel that Ana, Reyes and Jack = westernized version of Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto.
Click to expand...

lol. That's kind of funny.

Also I really liked that one! I actually felt like the story was progressing.

Edit: Added Legacy and Old Soldiers to the comic section.
 
S

Sawneeks

Banned
maouvin said:
Sorry for the double post, but bringing this here too:
Click to expand...

Well, that's that. Glad to have full confirmation that Sombra =/= Ana, I knew some people were still holding onto that idea.

I hope we get to see Reaper without his mask one day. Ana was left legit SHOOK after that and she doesn't seem to type to be shocked easily.
 
T

The_Kid

Member
Crossposting from the main thread, but this is my impression from the panel today at SDCC.


------

Interesting stuff from the Overwatch panel. They went a lot into the design, talked about the graphic novel (April with digital this fall), the Ana set of comics out, how Ana got up on that ledge in the short, how they wanted to do an older woman character for awhile.

There was a lot of artwork, and some inspiration art (old women from Mad Max were heavy apparently). I took some photos.

https://twitter.com/streaksfox/statu...0587026440192M


https://twitter.com/streaksfox/statu...13252837990400

And yes they have spreadsheets for characters ages at different times. For Torbjorn in the Ana group shot he was drawn with his arm not torn off originally.

And the Reinhardt VA gave shouting commentary throughout.
----------

Also who is Leau, Leaw? Because they talked about the group shot for Ana and it isn't him despite fan speculation.
 
M

maouvin

Member
The_Kid said:
Crossposting from the main thread, but this is my impression from the panel today at SDCC.


------

Interesting stuff from the Overwatch panel. They went a lot into the design, talked about the graphic novel (April with digital this fall), the Ana set of comics out, how Ana got up on that ledge in the short, how they wanted to do an older woman character for awhile.

There was a lot of artwork, and some inspiration art (old women from Mad Max were heavy apparently). I took some photos.

https://twitter.com/streaksfox/statu...0587026440192M


https://twitter.com/streaksfox/statu...13252837990400

And yes they have spreadsheets for characters ages at different times. For Torbjorn in the Ana group shot he was drawn with his arm not torn off originally.

And the Reinhardt VA gave shouting commentary throughout.
----------

Also who is Leau, Leaw? Because they talked about the group shot for Ana and it isn't him despite fan speculation.
Click to expand...

Liao is the sixth member of the first/original OW strike team. That's all we know.
Now we're speculating Liao is the one on the cover for the upcoming Dark Horse comic:

OVRW-HC-FC-FNL.jpg
Click to expand...

And thanks for the impressions!

edit: your twitter links are broken
 
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