Lack of Pharah in Mercy short story disappoints me

Story Discussion
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The lead writer said that the characters personalities and their relationships are purposefully based on their gameplay aspects. This is a practice in storytelling as a way to better ground your character. It’s almost a law in video game storytelling, and overwatch is no exception to that.

You can see this in most of relationships depicted in the lore. Brigitte is close to Rein and their abilities in game compliment each other. The same goes to Soldier and Ana, Ana and Rein, Roadhog and Junkrat, Genji and Zenyatta. You also have aspect of rival characters being counters to each other in the game. Ana and Widow, Tracer and Widow, Genji and Hanzo, Soldier and Reaper, Moira and Mercy, McCree and Reaper, Doomfist and Winston, Tracer, Genji.

It goes to a point that they even added voice lines to indicate some of these relationships as to indicate a gameplay combo. For example: Ana has never interacted with Genji in the lore, but more than 1 year later after she was added to the game, they gave them a voice interaction as if they knew each other well.

Pharah is the only character they’ve been purposefully avoiding any type of lore that is related to that. Pharah’s character identity is almost inseparable from Mercy’s, in both gameplay and development(Pharah’s name used to be Mercy). But in this new story we see they obviously circumvent any type of relation this two character might have. They’ve doing this for years now.

Egypt, more specifically, the place where the Anubis facility is(Giza), is one of the places that is most mentioned in the present lore. We had Doomfist and the Omnic leader there during Storm Rising, Mercy was said to be going there too after the mission. Sombra mentions Helix, and was probably there during Old Soldiers helping Reaper(she was mentioned). Ana lives there and met Soldier that was hunting bad guys. Moira in mentioned in Bastet( and I guess Valkyrie too). Baptiste is said to be going there after his short story.

The last we got about Pharah was the mention about Ana’s letter to her. You know the thing that Ana talks about in her origin video from 2016.

I find it funny that people use the defense that “It’s Mercy’s story”, “Pharah has nothing to do with her”. But none of you said anything when the Bastet short story came out and it was as much about Soldier as it was about Ana. New characters were introduced in Baptiste short story and nobody complained about them taking away his importance.

The Temple of Anubis is Pharah’s map. Imagine if you had multiple stories taking place in Junkertown but it was about Moira and no mention of Junkrat or Roadhog? Wouldn’t it be weird? Pharah is the security chief responsible for the facility in Giza. They mention Helix, it’s soldiers, the temple, the Raptora suits, but not mention Pharah. Like people said before me, Ana could have made a short mention like: “The Raptoras are being deployed, watch for Fareeha.”; “If you see my daughter, please make sure she is ok.”; “If you see Fareeha is in trouble, warn me.” Them not mentioning Pharah was just because they wanted to avoid any connections between her and Mercy, simple as that.

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I said in general sense. Jack, Ana and Gabriel were her bosses since she joined Overwatch 17 years ago in age 20. She worked in Overwatch 12 years.

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As a fellow Pharah fan who also feels she has been pretty underrepresented in the lore, I understand your disappointment. I made a similar post bemoaning her absence in the story like… five seconds after I finished it lol. You’d think a story set in Cairo, right in front of the Temple of Anubis where Pharah has been stationed before, would care to at least mention her in passing, right? A lot of heroes are tied to certain locations, and this was set right in her front yard. And to everyone saying “would you rather have her get her own short story than make a brief, unimpactful cameo in someone else’s?” Well yes, of course, I think every fan of a character wants them to get the spotlight. But why does it have to be an “either/or” thing? She could make a brief cameo and still get her own story. So I understand why you’re upset she did not even get that.

Everyone here saying this is Mercy’s story, told from her perspective, and therefore she probably would not be thinking of her boss’ daughter that she met once 20 years ago, isn’t wrong. They were probably never close, and Mercy might not even know that Fareeha is “Pharah,” one of the Helix captains.

Now, it leaves me to wonder how long Pharah has been stationed at Temple of Anubis - she was last there in November 2076 (Mission Statement). Mercy has been in Cairo for the past two years. She is certainly familiar enough with Helix’s presence to understand they are mercenaries and can call the Raptora suits by name. It is also interesting to note that all the Helix soldiers are using the blue Raptora model now - when before it was stated Pharah was testing it out as a prototype, indicating the passage of time. So it’s been some time since Mission Statement. Even if while… doing her rounds or so around ToA, Pharah might not even recognize Dr. Ziegler outside of her Valkyrie suit (or she might have, but never had the chance to say anything, or maybe didn’t think Mercy would want to see her?) It could also be that Pharah is currently on duty somewhere else (as disappointing and somewhat contrived as that seems…)

Either way, even though this story was so conveniently written in first person and therefore limiting who Mercy would recognize (even if Pharah was present), we should at least take two victories from this: More lore set in Cairo/near Anubis as of late is increasing Pharah’s chances of getting her own thing some day - be it a short story or a mission in OW2 or (not holding my breath though) a cinematic, and they’re probably, certainly, saving it all for her own story that will be all about her (and maybe Ana by proxy). She needs her OWN story, and I cannot stress enough how excited I am to hear it. Right now so many things about her are a total mystery. We don’t know how exactly she felt when she discovered Ana was alive. We don’t know her own thoughts and feelings on the state of Egypt, only Ana’s, but not hers as someone who’s working with an international company that might compromise her time and ability to help put. We don’t know how she feels about the questionable methods of the company she works for (Helix), or whether she is even aware of them? A lot of it is still in the dark. Personally, I want to see her expressed feelings about Overwatch coming back. Will she be excited? Conflicted? Is she angry at Overwatch at all for messing up her country and leaving her mother “to die?” I mean, her voicelines don’t make it seem so, but maybe there’s another dimension there we haven’t seen. If she ever does get a chance to join new Overwatch, will she want to leave Helix right away? It’s all a mystery, but at least we know they left all of that out so far because it’s something they’re not ready to tell, but will eventually. And when they do, I hope they do her justice (heh, see what I did there…)

And for the love of the gods if Pharah does get a short story I hope Alyssa Wong writes it (fingers crossed) I LOVE her writing style so much…

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To me Fareeha needs action, be main/secondary character more than just be in the background/referencing her somewhere else. Just as you said. I totally support your statement.

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Just because they’re not friends now doesn’t mean they’ll never be friends, or at the very least work together. I know you don’t have faith in the writing team, but think longer term. There’s no way they won’t eventually team up.

For what reason would you mention Junkrat and Roadhog in a Moira story at Junkertown? Just for the hell of it? At best, they’d get an indirect mention from me. While I do have sympathy for Pharah fans, mentioning Pharah in Mercy’s story serves no purpose. Every other character in this story is closely related to her past in Overwatch and her decision to return. The only purpose mentioning Pharah would serve is to remind us that Pharah exists and is Ana’s daughter, which we don’t need a reminder of.

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Long term? It has been 3, going to 4 years. What more do they need to get their story going beside the characters at the same place, fighting at the same time, against the same enemy?
Oh!I get it. We need another time skip, so that the ow timeline can span 100 years, instead of just around 35 :crazy_face:
I’m not a betting person, but if I was, I would bet that Pharah is going team up with Baptiste or Echo(hell, even Sombra) before we get to see if the most iconic game combo in lore. (Is damage boost even canon? We see it in the ow2 gameplay trailer, so my guess it is.)

That was just an hyperbolic statement to introduce my point.

At this point we know more about what Pharah’s character didn’t become, then what to expect. This is why their fans wanted some clues about and it was the prefect time to palnt some seeds.

We would get to know if Pharah was in danger, or maybe a confirmation that Ana was watching out for her in the shadows. We also would know if Ana’s reason(or should I say, “lack of reason” because it doesn’t makes sense), to join Soldier’s side again was because of her daughter rejection.

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I mean in terms of Mercy and Pharah’s relationship. They don’t have to start out as friends. They could even start out disliking each other.

Which would be fine. Why rush things? Pharah and Mercy are not two halves of a whole and there’s no need to rush to get them fighting together.

“A” time, yes potentially. The “perfect” time? Not so much.

But even that is telling us more about Ana than Pharah, and it would only be done for the sake of mentioning Pharah by name.

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Pharah’s character is not inseparable from Mercy’s. Like, at all. I don’t know where you pulled this from.

It’s weird how many Pharah fans really want her character to revolve around Mercy.

Who am I kidding? It’s very obvious why you guys want that to happen. But everything in canon so far says the opposite.

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Gameplay is not important, otherwise we’d see Zarya and Hanzo working together, or Ana and Genji, or any other game combo. Heroes with gameplay synergy often have nothing to do with each other lorewise.

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As much as I do agree that a story focusing on Mercy doesn’t need to spend paragraphs talking about Pharah, I also agree that it would have been a good opportunity to start bringing her into the main plot. I wasn’t expecting Valkyrie to establish that Mercy and Pharah are bff’s and have tea together every other day, but it sure would have been nice to get some sort of an update on Pharah (which could have been given through Ana or even a random Helix soldier).

I really don’t think it’s too much to ask for to get an update on a character that has had no lore since 2016. Mercy name dropped a list of characters, I don’t see why Ana couldn’t have mentioned Pharah without this somehow becoming all about Pharah. They easily could have set up whatever fabled lore update they have planned for Pharah as a teaser with just a few sentences.

OW needs to start being more efficient with their story telling. Missed opportunities to include characters means frustrated fans as well as a slower progression of the story (assuming they really do intend to feature everybody). Given the setting of Valkyrie and Ana’s appearance, Pharah could have easily been mentioned in a way that didn’t overshadow Mercy or seem out of left field. Heck Pharah herself could have made an appearance without it detracting from the focus on Mercy, but for some reason people want to believe this is impossible and beyond the capabilities of all OW writers (I’ve already established I don’t think Chu is the best writer on that team).

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Asking for a quick character mention in a story isn’t asking for them to rush the story. It’s them that wait a long time to push any content and then info dump us. The Pharah comic or D.va’s animated short are exemples of how rushed the overwatch “character development” is.

There is a better time than the 2 characters at the same place, at the same time fighting for the same thing, against the same enemy?

It would could elucidate more about Pharah’s present. Like I said in that other topic: was Pharah amongst the helix soldiers that were cornered? Would Ana, Soldier or Mercy presence bother Pharah in the battlefield?

Did you finish the paragraph? Because it doesn’t look like it.

I don’t want Pharah’s character to revolve around Mercy. I want the game and the lore to follow the principles the writers and developers set themselve to do.

What’s up with these generalizations, it’s not “you guys” that wrote that, I did.

What is obvious that I want to happen? Not these “guys” that you are talking about. Because I don’t claim to speak for any othe Pharah fan beyond myself.

The opposite is true, gameplay is important to the lore, not only for overwatch but for any good game with a story.

You can look up any of the developers interviews when they talk about how they create a character. The lead writer even specifically answer a question about at the GDC panel.

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Vacation at Sam’s in Canada, Ana’s letter in Cairo, Talon attacking Helix - I see there they are building up foundation for Fareeha’s story.
These 3 are good examples of continuation of Valkyrie.

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Going to also throw out the idea that actually, a sort of confrontation between Pharah and Mercy would serve both characters. Mercy’s distate for Helix and those types of organizations could have been further developed through some sort of flash back where she comes across adult Pharah working for Helix and she expresses her disappointment/disapproval. Cue argument about their philosophies on justice and what not. This would have given us an update on Pharah and created tension/conlict between both of the characters, setting up an interesting dynamic to start from once Pharah also joins Overwatch and they’re forced to work together. If this sounds like a fan fiction, well, I’m not the one that decided Mercy has been living where Pharah works for the past two years and is a pacifist that hates Helix and what they stand for while Pharah is all ra ra justice and works for Helix. The seeds are there for a great bregudging colleagues to friends arc, and ignoring it would be a shame.

Mercy and Pharah can have a very interesting dynamic and story. First off, yes, the fact that they synergize so well sets them up to be a really effective duo in the lore. It would be a waste to never have them fight side by side in the cinematics/cut scenes given the awesome action sequences that could give us. Second, having Pharah and Mercy start out as reluctant colleagues like I described above could set up an arc where they have to learn to work together and trust each other (eventually becoming friends?).

Notice how at no point I’ve mentioned romance. Pharah and Mercy can interact in ways that have nothing to do with romance and can have a dynamic arc together that doesn’t end with them flying off into the sunset as lovers. Denying that and implying that there’s no reason for the characters to interact or eventually become close is shutting the door to some potentially really cool action scenes and character moments. Listen, Mercy is not going to end up with anybody that’s not Genji. Let her have cool moments and arcs with other characters too.

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I can see that happening in an Overwatch 2 mission: Newverwatch goes to help Helix agents in Cairo and Mercy expresses her opinions on Helix’s methods (“Is such artillery really necessary?”), and she and Pharah have some banter on their different views. It’d be kinda funny knowing that Mercy is disgruntled with Ana, and has a similar attitude towards Pharah too

Also it should be noted Mercy seems able to understand some people are just “doing their job” - she’s more than happy being friends with Genji, knowing he used to work with the black ops division and has assassinated lots of people… I’m sure she could be friends with a soldier like Pharah someday too

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Hopefully this. Pharah gets zero lore since after her comic in 2016, also a minor appearance in Reflections comic.

Same for me. She might not be aware till the event happened in Valkyrie, since civilian casualties were caused by the crossfire between Talon & Helix, although Helix would blame everything on Talon as they were attackers while Helix were defenders. Even Jack said “Collateral damage is an unavoidable part of war.’’

In Pharah’s comic (Mission statement), she started as a character who mattered the mission objective more than lives, including herself. Her captain was killed in action. She had a clear opportunity to stop Anubis but she chose to save her squad mate instead. Back to events happened to Valkyrie, Pharah might not like how many innocent lives were cost or ignored as Helix cared more about defending the Anubis.

Helix Security might be tasked to stop Overwatch as Overwatch was considered illegal & dangerous by the governments around the world, while Helix served as the current world peacekeeping force. That could lead to Pharah’s dilemma: either serve Helix and arrest Overwatch members or abandon Helix and join the new Overwatch. Who knows, there might be other good people who’re part of Helix just like Pharah…

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Now that is something I’d love to see. Imagine having a mission where you actually fight Pharah and other Helix soldiers.

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Overwatch wouldn’t want to fight them as both share the common enemy: Talon.

Talon did more damage to Helix, while Overwatch did none. Not just the Anubis attack, a lot of Helix soldiers were killed when Reaper broke Doomfist out of prison.

Pharah might leave Helix and join the new Overwatch when she found out Helix eventually became an organization that cared about protecting governments’ interests more than civilians. Just like Mercy left Overwatch because it’s too militaristic in her goals, Baptiste left Talon as its nature changed where his participated missions involved civilian casualties, brutality & assassinations.

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True, but you raised a good point that Helix soldiers might be sent to apprehend new Overwatch because technically it’s still illegal, and precisely because Helix cares more about protecting government interests they would follow those orders. In that case, Pharah could be introduced when/if she goes against Helix’s instructions and instead helps the new Overwatch team evade capture, joining Overwatch.

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There is so much more interesting possibilities with Pharah’s lore without her being some weird subplot addition to a story where she had nothing to do with.

I’ll just had that Helix, got some subventions from the UN - and with the recent incidents it’s not looking great for Helix.

So there is so many good possibilities, can’t wait to have more Pharah lore (but Zen first please!)

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Not looking good for Helix indeed, I feel that’s kinda like SHIELD was infiltrated by HYDRA in MCU movie.