Is Widowmakers brainwashing failing? How does this new map tie into Talons activity at Illios?
And what other hints and easter eggs about Widowmakers current activities, her past and
possibly her future can we uncover!
One of the first things I want to look at is the statue outside. Many people claimed
this was likely Eve, judging by the apple in her hand but this is most likely not the
case.
Eve is generally depicted as entirely naked, this is more likely to be Aphrodite, the greek
goddess who is generally depicted with loose fitting material around her waist. This idea
is supported by other greek statues around the property.
Aphrodite also has ties to apples, one of which is particularly interesting.
In the story of the Judgement of Paris the mortal human Paris must choose which goddess
to give a golden apple to.
He must decide who is the fairest out of Hera, Athena and Aphrodite and in the end he chooses
Aphrodite.
Now what's super interesting about this is that Hera and Athena are the 2 statues on
the Ruins stage of the Illios map, and we know Talon have been active there. Could Widowmaker
have stolen an entire statue from the site?! We actually talked about how this statue was
missing when we did a video looking at some of the lore on the map,
If Widowmaker ‘chose’ Aphrodite’s statue, much in the same way Paris chose the goddess,
could that be foreshadowing Widowmakers future? Because in the tale of Paris his decision
eventually led to the Trojan war!
Also with Mercy’s new skin it certainly feels like the Overwatch Dev’s have Greek
mythology on the mind.
One of the most obvious bits of lore is found of her laptop, located on a table next to
her rifle the screen displays an email written in french, which when translated to english
tells us that she has made a reservation to be picked up by a limousine and taken to the
airport before boarding a flight to Monaco.
This is clearly a reference to the Doomfist comic, where Doomfist and Widow visit Monaco
to discuss dealing with the Talon Omnic Maximilian.
What is interesting however is the boarding pass for the flight to Monaco.
Its made out to a Danielle Guillard. Now we were told by Jeff in the developer update
that Guillard is Widowmakers maiden name, from before she married, and that's also where
the map gets its name from, this was almost certainly her family home.
Presumably the ticket is for Widowmaker to use, so maybe Danielle is simply an alias
she uses to avoid detection, she is a wanted criminal after all, but could there be more
to it? Could Danielle have been a family member, a sister or mother? Whose identity Widowmaker
now uses?
Or if we wanted to go really crazy, what about if Danielle is an actual person who was also
on the flight with Widowmaker? Perhaps a younger sibling who Widow must now look after? That
might explain why she is now using what is presumably her family home as a base of operations.
There’s nothing to back that idea up and its super unlikely, but Widowmaker returning
to her family home is in itself very interesting.
Widowmaker was brainwashed by Talon, to a point where she would feel no remorse or emotions
and become a human weapon, but back at christmas time we saw Widowmaker visiting her dead husband's
grave, the man she killed many years before. Now shes returned to what was presumably her
childhood home, and we can see a picture of her and her late husband on a bookshelf near
her other belongings, it seems like she’s certainly feeling something in regards to
her past, so could the brainwashing be failing and Widowmaker is having to come to terms
with the murder of her husband and countless others?
Another interesting element of the map is the coat of arms hanging in the dining hall.
It does actually provide some information about Widowmakers family.
The Crown above it symbolises being a Count, and then this is supported by the purple colouring.
The Stars and Flowers are a little harder to decipher. Flowers in this context generally
imply Hope and so far I’ve been unable to find reference to this particular style of
star but it does bare a similarity to the Star of Bethlehem, interestingly there is
also a white flower that bears that name which symbolises meanings of Purity, Innocence,
Truth and Honesty.
Perhaps these symbols are just random, but maybe the idea is to show how great of a contrast
there is between Widowmaker today and the woman she used to be.
Back to the table with the laptop for a moment as we have a couple more things to explore.
Under a newspaper we can see 2 folders. On the closed one we can see the first letters
of a word, S O, meaning this is almost certainly looking at Sombra, so perhaps Widowmaker is
looking into her extracurricular activities the same way Reaper is.
The open folder is the same one from the Temple of Anubis map about the character Shrike,
who we know to be Ana so it seems Widowmaker is possibly looking to finish the job she
started when she took Ana’s eye.
Another interesting element from around the map is that renovations seem to be happening
as we can see painting tools and crates all around the building. Could Widowmaker have
only recently arrived at the home and is now looking to bring it back to grandeur?
Much of the property seems to have aged well, it doesn’t look like it's been abandoned
for too long, or maybe the renovations are quite far along and Widow has been having
work done on the property for a while.
The effort to restore her childhood home could also add some support to the theory of her
returning emotions and connection to her past, or maybe she just wants a nice house to go
back to after a busy day killing people.
Lastly there is a Black Widow located in the Dining room, I dont think there is any hidden
meaning here but its a cool easter egg nonetheless!
So what do you think about our theories on the lore on Overwatch’s latest map? I think
the statue thing is fascinating and if you have any thoughts about some meaning we missed
in that coat of arms I would be happy to hear it!
As always this is James for Curse saying thanks for watching, and enjoy the game!