Will we see hero-jewish from Israel?
1 Like
We will probably not have a character explicitly stated to be Jewish. There is only 1 reference to real religion in the entirety of the game, and that is on Soldier 76’s and Reaper’s dogtags. Soldier 76 is a Catholic, while Reaper is an atheist.
17 Likes
On the one hand, advertising the religions of heroes is a can of worms.
Though I suppose it wouldn’t be that hard to do something like, for example, put a menorah in the background during a holiday-themed OW comic…
3 Likes
And also Symmetra’s Goddess skins
Edit: and mercy’s goddess skin
3 Likes
If you mean like someone who his Origin is from Israel, so Basically, The hero that I’m trying to suggest
Is from Israel, but left to a “Floating City”
(Link to his story: Here )
There is also an image of Rio’s Christ statue in one of the story trailers. Just as well, Ana wears traditional Muslim garb. Zen has practices reminiscent of Buddhism.
In general it’s only 60 years in the future. Old World religions are definitely still gonna be around.
9 Likes
What kind of significance will a jewish character provide to the story of Overwatch?
Adding a character to the story based solely on the fact that it will provide a different race/religion/sex-appeal/gender/political view is a recipe for disaster.
That’s not how you write a story.
13 Likes
Maybe not. You have to tread carefully in those waters. People get way too upset over religion.
2 Likes
Probably not, the devs have been somewhat politically neutral, the devs are also probably left leaning which would create a likely hood that they support BDS. Jewish, may be, Israeli probably not.
Jewish also isn’t inherently a religion. I have some friends who aren’t religious in anyway but are from Jewish families and still identify as Jewish. They don’t practice anything from it, but the history and culture still matter to them. So a Jewish hero shouldn’t be like the Hebrew Hammer, but more like how Soldier is a Catholic hero. It’s not front and center but informs a bit about him.
11 Likes
Interesting this is flagged, because he is not wrong. If you push a character in to fill X demographic and add nothing else, its an insult to the character, to the demographic, and to the universe as a whole. It is why they revealed Tracer was gay 2 years later, rather than introduce her as “the gay hero”.
If a character were Jewish, they would need to be introduced before their faith was revealed, like Jack or Symmetra (assuming her goddess skins are representative of her faith).
A good reveal is something like Tracer or Jack, where it just sorta shows up once, its kinda neat, and that’s about it. If you design a hero just to fill that Jewish void… You’re doing a disservice to everyone involved.
That being said, I like how Overwatch is trying to steer away from real religions as a whole. I would personally like to see more development on the Shambali, and how they function.
6 Likes
Don’t Jewish people, or the males at least, wear the Yarmulke though? It would be kind of hard to make a Jewish character with no references to their religion at all. They had to do it with Ana and her hijab.
Not necessarily, especially not in present day. Its mostly just on religious occasions.
If you look at media, there are a lot of Jewish people who are not overtly Jewish in the characters they play, or their general persona. Seinfeld, Seth Rogen, and Ben Stiller come to mind.
Ana’s religion is unknown. And even then, she doesn’t wear one in most of her appearances. Not to mention the headscarf she wears in game easily passes as a design similar to the sniper grannies from Mad Max she was inspired by: ^https://imgur.com/gallery/VTW3A
2 Likes
these days Jewish/Israeli could look like any other person,
and Israel is full of cultures and people who come from all over the world
you most the times can’t even say the difference besides sometimes you can hear The accent, but its bit rare nowadays.
and to be honest, Jewish/Israeli hero isn’t/shouldn’t a problem,
what could make him/her appear as a Jewish/Israeli is the voice-lines that he/she could say, and nothing more than that…
it could actually help build an interesting “story” or “personality” for the hero.
1 Like
They never want to include religion besides the robo fake religion, so if someone is they will never say.
Likely not worth that whole can of worms
Can they base the hero after Danny from Ninja Sex Party? Because if they can, I would give them and 11/10, best boy in game.
But on a serious note, I would find it interesting. I have been wanting them to add holiday diversity to the Winter Wonderland event.
1 Like
I’d say that’s because there’s always someone in threads like this to point out that this kind of things needs to be revealed naturaly and be organic, even though no-one ever asked for a new hero to be gay or black or jewish first and only just to check a box with no concern for their gameplay kit or lore relevence.
1 Like
As a Jew myself, if Blizzard does add a character from Israel into Overwatch I hope they just keep what they have been doing where they don’t outright say anything about religion but instead express it though skins and other cosmetics or animated shorts.
1 Like
Not necessarily.
We also wear various types of hats, Biker-bandanas, Helmets - So long it covers our horns, its ok.
3 Likes
Israel is a little bit tender subject I think. Overwatch is happening in the future so they probably don’t want to touch the whole “What happens to Syrians and Israeli people” thing.
Of course people will set aside their differences to face the common enemy of omnics.