Hammond and Winston, friends or enemies?

Story Discussion
#1

They have a lot of voice lines in Overwatch 2 that imply that Hammond resents Winston for leaving him behind on Horizon. But sprays and prior lore indicates that they were close friends on Horizon.

Canonically speaking, I think both of them still don’t know the other is alive, but if they do meet up in the PvE … it’s probably safe to assume that Hammond will be bitter.

My question is, do you think they will eventually become friends again if the Junkers somehow get involved with Overwatch? What’s your opinion on how their story should be handled?

#2

my take on it, is when the whole colony was falling apart, winston made the rash decision to get out as soon as he could. and thus he left hammond behind, for who knows how long, could of been days, months or even years. but as for what will happen, I would think hammond would still be anger, would he do anything?..probably not, since a. winston would be with his team and the hamster istead suicidal, and I doubt the queen would just go ham on overwatch people for no good reason, since that might mean horrible things for junkertown as a whole.

#3

in many vocal lines I have seen that the hamster does not exactly have a lack of self-centeredness. Winston probably respects Hammond for his intelligence developed in the lunar colony, but they probably have very different behaviors in interacting with others. Winston is friendly, hammond is quite grumpy.

I think that if the opportunity arises, hammond could take advantage of Winston’s resources, unless his ego and his abilities are involved. I see him more loyal to the queen than to the gorilla, so … simple mercenary like Ashe and junkers.

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#4

Winston and Hammond seemed to once be friends as young juveniles.

But in the end, Winston left, and didn’t seem to consider bringing Hammond. And the hamster still feels a grudge on it. Hell, he even landed in the WORST place on Earth, and thrived off of it and the Junker culture.

Let’s not forget that he ultimately aided in the Horizon rebellion, freeing the specimens that led to the likely total genocide of scientists on the moon.

After a decision like that, morality went downhill for Hammond.

Winston may still want to be friends, but his hasty retreat without considering his former friend likely further drifted the two apart. Hammond has a grudge on Winston because of this.

Now the REAL question, is how much worse will things get if one of those other apes return to Earth as well?

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#5

i doubt they would do much, i mean…unless they come down in power armor and with gravity hammers, they are still just…animals, smart animals but… weapons don’t care for your intelligence

#6

I doubt the moon apes are a threat to Earth, but I’m certain they’d want to hunt down the two specimens that left them to die out on the Moon.

#7

Them being enemies is a retcon, and a weird one at that. I can only assume it has something to do with the campaign. They mentioned how they struggled to find a place for certain characters and Ball was mentioned by name. Having him seek out Winston for revenge after seeing him in the news post-zero hour isn’t a terrible way to get him in. Though really, he doesn’t need to be involved at all. Not every character needs to be involved.

#8

Hammond hitched a ride on Winstons escape pod and while Winston doesn’t know Hammond is alive, Hammond could assume that Winston landed safely with his escape pod and is alive. He at least knows he made it out of Horizon and I don’t see why he should assume that Winston’s pod crashed.
Now is Hammond mad at Winston? Idk. Hammond seems like an opportunist with just doing the best out of whatever happens. While he could hold a grudge that Winston didn’t ask him directly to join and he attached him self secretly to his pod without Winston knowing, I feel like Hammond is not that kind of hamster, he’s too forward looking and positive for that. Why did Winston not ask his friend? Idk. Maybe it went all too fast and he didn’t get the chance. Winston however seems like the last monkey to forget his friends.
So here is what I think:
-Blizz decided to make Winston and Hammond friends in Lunar because they were both supposed to be likable and non-evil heroes that came from the same place
-The writers then decided to make Hammond escape Lunar by attaching himself to Winstons pod in order to put focus on Balls kit and explain where the Wrecking Ball came from
-The fact that Winston could’ve asked Hammond was either forgotten or ignored due to the fact that making Balls lore was already hard enough

Those my thoughts on all of this and I definitely hope Winston and Hammond will stay or become friends again. I just loved playing old Winston Hammond Dive.