Moira’s Christmas card is portraying a night sky speckled with stars and adorned with the words “Merry Christmas” in golden letters. The writing is neat and readable.
Dear Angela,
To say I was surprised upon reading your letter would be an understatement. But it does not follow that the surprise is unwelcome. I was very touched by your words and have read them many times. Perhaps I have also had one too many, but I found I needed courage to write this.
Now that you so bravely admit it, I can do the same. You have often been in my thoughts. Far too often I find myself wondering what you are doing. Are you working? What are you working on? I hope you do not mean to leave science behind, now that you have joined with Overwatch, that would be a great loss. For all of us.
I do indeed plan on working Christmas eve. I am however worried Sombra does not intend to let me work. I fear I might have to join in their festivities.
No. The thought of meeting you in battle is not a pleasant one. I do not cherish it. So perhaps we could meet somewhere else? Perhaps some agreement could be reached. If you wish we could discuss it over a bottle of wine. Perhaps at New Years eve? I have no other engagements that day.
I wish you a pleasant Christmas and I dare hope to hear from you again.
We don’t know exactly -what- Reaper’s condition is, but it’s likely to be unpleasant at best. It’s heavily implied that his body is in a constant cycle of decay and regeneration - essentially he’s permanently stuck in the process of dying and being revived. And even though he’s able to control the fact that his body dematerialises from time to time, it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to say that he’d be feeling more like a ghost than a man, a shade from beyond the grave. He might very well be in constant pain, although we don’t have any direct clues that point towards it, but even if he isn’t in physical agony, we can’t overlook the damage that everything he’s been through has done to his mental health.
No wonder he’s so pissed off all the time.
If we put aside the idea of Reaper as Darth Edgelord for a moment, there are a lot of clues that point towards how he sees himself. The most obvious one is the way his attire is styled after the classic image of Death as the reaper of souls - even his Mariachi and El Blanco skins follow this theme with their calavera masks. He’s incapable of dying, dissolves into ‘shadow’ at will, and expresses a hunger to kill that goes beyond mere psychopathy. And then there’s his voicelines. All teenage angst and Hot Topic jokes aside, they might well be an indication of how Reaper truly sees himself. “I am Death.” “This is my curse.” I don’t think Reaper considers himself a living thing anymore, whatever the scientifical facts might be.
As for pleasures of the flesh - if he still has any interest in them (and provided he’s still physically capable of experiencing them), it’s likely to be very, very low on the list of his priorities. Reaper is clearly driven by a near-compulsive need for vengeance - for a real or imagined slight, we don’t know. In his own words: “Revenge is the only thing left for me.” The most positive we get to see him is when he lands a successful kill, or when he’s voted best player of a match, and he comments with a dry “Finally some recognition.” While I wouldn’t rule out the possibility entirely, I’d say it’s very unlikely that Reaper would engage in gland-to-gland combat, unless it somehow served his quest for vengeance, or if it particularly stroked his ego, seeing as how ‘recognition’ is so important to him. Or if someone managed to bring out whatever is left of Gabriel Reyes in him.
Finally, I’m not even sure that in-universe, Reaper is aware that Jack Morrison lives. Noone seems to have connected him to Soldier: 76 so far. I’d argue that if he found out, Reaper isn’t so much interested in haunting Morrison as putting several bullets into his head - the quicker the better.
Blizzard has created a universe rich in lore and history, with characters that might seem stereotypical/generic at first (which I don’t necessarily agree with - I’d argue they’re more like affectionate parodies/homages, but I won’t go into that here), but when given a more thorough look, turn out to be more interesting than one would assume from a first glance.
Because of their well fleshed-out history, the characters of Overwatch have many intriguing connections and relate to each other in a variety of ways, but none have caught my attention as much as the enigmatic assassin Reaper (Gabriel Reyes) and the doctor-turned-guardian-angel Mercy (Angela Ziegler).
Let’s have a look at what we know about these two, their history, and the clues towards their relationship that Blizzard has sprinkled throughout the lore and game - and in particular, about what happened to turn Gabriel Reyes into Reaper, and how Mercy might have been involved in it.
What do we know so far?
Gabriel Reyes, aka Reaper
Prior to the Omnic Crisis, Gabriel Reyes served in the United States military, where he achieved veteran status and was highly respected. At some point he met John ‘Jack’ Morrison, a fellow soldier, and the two became friends. Subsequently, in the midst of the Omnic Crisis, they joined Overwatch together, and Reyes was given leadership of the group, with Morrison as his second in command.
Overwatch was successful in ending the Omnic Crisis and found itself launched into the public spotlight, basking in world-wide acclaim. Morrison, who had played a key role in shaping the group, was given the position of strike commander, acting as the first, official commanding officer of Overwatch and the organisation’s public face. Reyes was passed over for the promotion and sidelined into leading Blackwatch, a cover ops division of Overwatch which operates under the radar and beyond the reach of red tape. A rift started growing between the two former friends, as Reyes felt his accomplishments and leadership of Overwatch during the Omnic Crisis were overlooked in favour of Morrison’s popularity and charisma.
As time went on, Overwatch came under fire from a series of shocking allegations accusing the organisation of negligence, corruption and mismanagement, weapons proliferation, human rights abuses, and more. Protests broke out as more and more people began losing trust in Overwatch and its agents. Ultimately, Overwatch met its end through a combination of the accusations that tainted the organization’s reputation, and the tragic events that lead to an explosion that destroyed Overwatch’s Swiss headquarters and claimed the lives of both Reyes and Morrison.
The UN has steadfastly maintained that there was no foul play behind this event. However, according to an ‘anonymous source’, the conflict between Reyes and Morrison had led to a civil war within Overwatch itself, one that culminated in a battle inside the Swiss base. During a UN committee, Dr. Angela Ziegler stated: “After Morrison’s promotion to strike commander, his relationship with Reyes changed. The tension became more pronounced as time went on. I tried to mend things. We all did. Sometimes when the closest bonds break, all you can do is pray you stay out of the cross fire.”
Reyes eventually resurfaced as a volatile mercenary known as “Reaper”, although his identity and motives remain unknown in-universe. Now a ruthless and remorseless killer, he has been responsible for terrorist attacks throughout the world, and has fought in many armed conflicts, showing no loyalty to any cause or organization. Survivors describe him as ‘a black shadow ghosting unscathed through the most hellish battlefields’. The few bodies recovered of his victims are pale, empty husks drained of life, their cells showing signs of intense degradation. It’s speculated that Reaper is a byproduct of failed genetic alteration which force his cells to simultaneously decay and regenerate at a hyper-accelerated rate.
Those attempting to track his movements have begun to see a pattern in his appearances. They believe that Reaper is hunting former Overwatch agents and systematically eliminating them.
Angela Ziegler, aka Mercy
Dr. Ziegler rose to become the head of surgery at a prominent Swiss hospital before pioneering a breakthrough in the field of applied nanobiology that radically improved the treatment of life-threatening illnesses and injuries. It was this expertise that attracted the attention of Overwatch.
Due to her parents’ lives being taken in war, Ziegler was opposed to the organisation’s militaristic approach to keeping global peace. Ultimately, she recognized that Overwatch offered her the opportunity to save lives on a much larger scale. As Overwatch’s head of medical research, Angela sought to leverage her work for healing in frontline crises. One of her many accomplishments during her time with Overwatch was saving the life of Genji Shimada, after he was attacked by his brother over a clan dispute and left for death.
Despite her contributions to Overwatch, she was often at odds with her superiors and the organisation’s overarching aims. When the group was faced with a series of allegations, Ziegler was interrogated in the hearings conducted by the United Nations. In light of the fight between Overwatch members John Morrison and Gabriel Reyes, Ziegler admitted that the outcome had been inevitable. They had drifted further and further apart ever since Morrison had been chosen over Reyes for the position of strike commander, and that rift had widened despite her efforts.
When Overwatch dissolved, Ziegler dedicated herself to helping those affected by war. Though she spends most of her time caring for the broken and dispossessed in crisis areas around the world, Dr. Ziegler can be counted on to don her Valkyrie suit whenever innocents are imperiled, hoping to make a more peaceful world. Ziegler’s current base of operations is Zürich, Switzerland.
In-game
In addition to what we know from the lore Blizzard has given us, Reaper and Mercy have a couple of very interesting interactions in the game.
Mercy: What happened to you?! Reaper: You should know, Doc.
Mercy: This is not what I intended for you, Reyes. Reaper: You knew exactly what you were doing.
Reaper (on killing Mercy): Don’t forget - you’re the one responsible for this.
On top of that, Reaper has a few voicelines that implicate death is rather less permanent for him than for most.
Reaper (on entering game): Back from the grave.
Reaper (on respawning): The grave cannot hold me.
Speculation
Overwatch’s headquarters were located in Switzerland, Ziegler herself is Swiss and she still operates from her home country. It’s not much of a stretch to assume that she was in Switzerland at the time of Reyes and Morrison’s showdown, perhaps even on location at the Overwatch base, and would have been an immediate responder after the blast.
Reaper himself implies that he has returned from the grave, and continues to do so. The short “Recall” seems to confirm this; after Reaper is electrocuted by Winston, he dissipates into smoke, and is later seen to reform, seemingly none the worse for wear.
While Mercy’s in-game ability to resurrect her fallen comrades on the fly is likely not canon, it most likely -is- a reference to her life-saving abilities as a doctor. She saved Genji when his life was hanging from a thread, is a pioneer in nanobiology, and as the head of Overwatch’s medical research she has likely been involved in many experimental projects.
What if on finding Reyes’ lifeless body (Morrison’s was never recovered according to official sources), Dr. Ziegler took it on herself to try some of the more experimental procedures she’d been developing in an attempt to restore life to her friend? Seeing as she’s well-versed in the field of nanobiology, she could well have tried infusing Reyes’ body with nanobots in an attempt to repair the extensive damage done to it, before trying to resuscitate him.
And it worked. Whether Ziegler was aware of Reyes being returned to life, or thought her last-ditch experiment failed and mourned his death (imagine Reyes literally waking up in his grave after having been buried *shudder*) - at some point she met Reaper, recognised him as Reyes, and expressed shock at what happened to him. Reaper, for his part, seems to know that Ziegler is responsible for his current condition, and believes that she intentionally turned him into what he is. But Ziegler clearly did not know the side-effects of whatever she did Reyes, nor did she anticipate them (this is not what I intended for you). The procedure was entirely experimental, and she went through with it without knowing what the consequences would be for Reyes if she managed to bring him back.
This could give us a base as well to further speculate on what exactly Reaper’s condition is. He’s able to become discorporeal and travel in this state, as well as teleport from one spot to another. When he ‘dies’, he dissolves into a shadowy sort of smoke, and is seen to reform from the same smoke/shadow later. Combine this with Ziegler’s expertise in nanobiology and in-lore speculation of Reaper’s condition being a result of ‘genetic alteration which force his cells to simultaneously decay and regenerate at a hyper-accelerated rate’, and you have a man being kept artificially alive by nano technology, perhaps nanobots, that allow him to control his individual cells, transforming his body from a solid to a gaseous state and back again. This would essentially render him immortal, as the nanobots would simply reform his body every time it sustains lethal damage, breaking it apart to build it up again. As for the reports of the bodies of his victims being pale, empty husks drained of life, their cells showing signs of intense degradation; this could be a result of the nanotechnology that sustains Reaper harvesting energy from the dead cells of those he kills, in order to be able to continue their work.
Reaper’s condition is obviously not very pleasant - rather than thanking Mercy for saving him, he blames her for turning him into what he is. It might even be possible that he is compelled to kill in order to keep harvesting energy for the nanobots sustaining him, or that his current state has altered his personality, turning him from one of Overwatch’s most respected agents - jealous and feeling slighted, yes, unpleasant in how he deals with his frustrations, but still one of the world’s heroes - into an international terrorist who leaves havoc and death in his wake wherever he’s sighted.
It’s clear that there is plenty of tension between Reaper and Mercy, and plenty of potential for their stories to stay intertwined. They were friends, once, worked and fought together despite their differences in ideology. Angela Ziegler cared enough for Gabriel Reyes to spare no expense at trying to revive him, even though she likely had no idea if her attempts would be successful. And the spite in Reaper’s comments towards Mercy in the game might well be an indication of a broken bond of trust, rather than mere hatred towards the person responsible for becoming what he is. They seem oddly personal, as if Reaper sees Mercy’s actions as a betrayal, rather than mere incompetence. Whatever the case may be, their relationship is plenty intriguing, and I hope we find out more about what happened with these two in the past.
While there were a lot of details that I really liked about the original design for Dragoon Mercy, I could not get past the face-mask. It ruined the silhouette of her head, and after a friend of mine sent a screenshot of a model edit to me, I felt compelled to create an illustration depicting how I would have preferred her headwear to have been designed.
