He shouldn’t have to considering the context. Not everything needs to be written in word for word. Just like how we were never explictly told magic isn’t real. Because we don’t need to be. Overwatch is a:
Science Fiction universe
Set in our world in the future
Based on Firm Science
Where every ability shown in the lore with 2 exceptions have been given an explicit scientific explanation
Those two exceptions are the same thing (Shimada Dragons)
Those two exceptions behave similarily to existing technologies that are given scientific justification.
Jeff was asked how Discord orb works in the canon, Jeff replies some abilities exist just for gameplay and are not supported by the lore.
Is not an accurate interpretation of his words.
there’s isn’t an explain lore reason on how it exists
i don’t think shimada’s dragons are similar to hard light at all. besides being blue and piercing through barriers (which symmetra’s orbs don’t do anymore)
and also
if we never actually told that magic doesn’t exist, then it isn’t guaranteed that it doesn’t exist. its possible that maybe the dragons are made of ki or spirit energy. yeah there isn’t anything like it (except maybe transcendence) but its never been decomfirmed.
that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist in lore at all. just that they don’t really need/have a reason, and you could argue than none of zenyattas ability really makes sense. his transcendence hasn’t been explained, and alot of his voicelines are people asking “how do your orbs heal people?” and him saying “lol wouldn’t you like to know” other charactes in canon don’t know how he works at all. and since zenyatta hasn’t had a major appearance showing off his abilitys, we can’t really think of a scientific reason for any of his abilites to exist (since even other characters in overwatch can’t figure about how his abilitys work)
honestly i’m tired of arguing. its clearly none of us want to change our minds, and we both have different interpretations on “non-canon until proven canon” and “lore vs gameplay” and honestly you can think what you want to think, idc, i just think that a ability not have lore reasons doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist at all but if you think that it means it doesn’t exist at all, then thats just as valid. i’m just tired of arguing
Ana’s rifle & grenade are referred to as a “biotic” rifle which purely means that they affect the body, this can obviously occur in a number of ways - despite it’s original basis in Mercy’s research into “biotic technology”.
Moira’s grasp & orbs are also purely referred to as “biotic” & have resulted from her own research.
These all suggest that each hero applies the technology in slightly different ways, especially given their administration methods.
Ana & Moira both seem to use a form of chemical (in liquid & gaseous forms respectively) to administer healing. Both of these could use particulate or nano-particulate matter.
Nano boost itself most likely does use nano-machines to improve the body’s capabilities - a la Metal Gear Solid.
Moira’s healing could even extend from her paper that dealt with “altering DNA at a cellular level” & isn’t her actually healing, but influencing the body’s reactions to repair wounds etc.
Mercy’s beam seems to manifest as a kind of light energy, which would make her form of healing closer to “nano” in particulate size - possibly even utilising sub-atomic particles to transmit energy that “somehow” heals people.
If Resurrect were to be canon - I’d wager you have to start playing with further unknowns like “life energy” or lifespan.
In this case, I’d say Mercy would have to have halted her ageing process in order to gift this “life energy” to recently deceased people & bring them back from death. If not, it would result in her giving existing life energy / lifespan to these people & sacrificing it from herself.
This brings up similarities to Zenyatta’s views on healing (not well understood, yet yields results) & Mercy/Moira’s ethical disputes; & can actually give her character some depth & personal nuance…but hey ho.
Lucio’s healing aura has some application to real life, I think. The transmission of sound waves (or other wave-forms) through the body can be used to produce certain effects. They say that a cat’s purr is designed to help humans’ bodies heal wounds, for instance.
Speed boost could also maybe be the influence of sound waves loosening the muscles in the body so as to increase their usability - making you move faster & more easily.
His Sound Barrier also makes sense as applying a vibration to the air surrounding his allies that prevents attacks from reaching them (displayed / manifested as “shield health”.)
Brigitte is also quite likely to use nano-machines in her repair pack, being an engineer rather than a scientist. These nano-machines could also apply themselves to her allies’ layers of skin while also repairing their wounds, therefore applying “armour”.
I’d imagine that Rally utilises some kind of technology similar to hard-light in order to coat allies in a protective layer. This also contributes to Brigitte’s understanding & awe of Symmetra’s skill with hard-light.
Inspire…unsure. Released biotic gas? Or kinetic energy transferred to heat energy than can then be converted to biotic healing energy? That one sorta breaks down if you think too hard about it xD or it just doesn’t really work lore-wise.
It could if they go kinda “soft magic” on it & have the user’s will actually affect such things. For instance, Inspire heals based on Brigitte’s force of will, or her “inspiration” & is something she doesn’t have the most direct control over.
On a similar note, I’ve wondered for a while if Lucio’s father’s tech only works because it’s playing Lucio’s music (or works best/certain ways using it)…to suggest something about the power of music & the soul behind it.
It’s not scientific at all, but it being the case is something we could totally see in Overwatch at some point. It’s not magic; it’s un-explainable, in-world observable results of “science”.
You could always make it relevant to the frequencies that Lucio uses in his music & they just happen to correlate perfectly with the functionality of his father’s tech…so as to keep the connection personal, while giving it some scientific basis.
& the whole point of Zen’s healing is that we may never actually know how it works. It just does, & for him, that is more than enough - in his eyes, it is possibly even better to just know that it works, rather than understanding how.
Despite this, Omnic energy could well be an actual thing in itself; & in that case I imagine it is wireless energy siphoned directly from the Iris, which in this case would be some form of a singularity (comprised of consciousnesses, information or purely energy).
It could even be a kind of access to universal vacuum energy, somehow xD.
As for how it heals people? No idea! xD
What’s funny is that Moira and Ana both used means that stemmed from Mercy’s research. Moira “stole” her work and Ana had her’s made against Mercy’s wishes, so Mercy is literally the start of it all.
There was an interview with Jeff I think. And they asked how zens orbs worked. He replied with something like. Not everything has to make sense in the lore. Some things are just for gameplay.
Edit. I read it a long time ago and can’t find it so take it as a grain of salt
i still doubt discord orb isn’t canon, just because it doesn’t currently have an lore explantion doesn’t mean it can’t ever. i mean discord orb is much easier to explain then hanzo’s and genji’s spirit dragons (which don’t have a canon explantion either)
Well like they did explicitly say that zen cant heal literally with his orb nor is discord canon. in reality he’s just a level 20 bard who uses dissonant whispers and vicious mockery to kill.
Lucio is more along the fine line of well, it could be a 1:1 equivalency or they could decide, nah, it isnt. but the thread is about Moira + ana + mercy, and those three all heal canonically. And I’m still mad the person with the life steal mechanic didnt get a vampire skin. It’s right there.
they said that some abilites were just made for the gameplay and not lore reasons. they never said that they couldn’t have lore reasons in the future. and i honestly i find it hard to believe that discord orb is too unrealistic to be canon when the shimada bros summon dragons out of their tattoos.
Also like if persay discord WASN"T canon for some reason then what CAN zenyatta do? because transcendence is alot more spiritual then discorb and harmony orb, is that not canon? can zenyatta do anything? is zenyatta even canon? i think it makes much more sense if zenyatta could do all his moves in lore, but there just wasn’t an explanation given. because zenyatta has voice lines with mercy saying “Mercy: i don’t understand how your healing works. Zenyatta: I don’t understand your healing either, we must all have faith” and even though those lines aren’t “canon” those are still canonically what those characters would say if they met.
i think it would make alot more sense if zenyatta’s abilites were canon but didn’t have any explained reasons in-universe BECAUSE zenyatta is a mysterious character. his character is a robot that has spiritcal knowledge so it make sense for him to have abilites that are unexplainable. just saying “nah those aren’t canon he just makes fun of people” makes a much weaker character and zenyatta not really usable in lore.
Realistically we all have to agree that its hard to make zenyatta any weaker in canon than he already is considering how very little we actually know about him. He’s overdue for like. Actual lore.
The balls themselves might not be canon but they did essentially say that the best in universe equivalent would be him pointing out the enemies flaws and weaknesses, less about making fun of them, more about undermining them from their core. Discord as an ability might not exist but it doesn’t mean that his specialty isnt knowing the darkness in ones heart.
i don’t see why the orbs shouldn;t be canon. they easily be explained by something like “his orbs release energy that attacks the enemies mind/soul” or whatever “his orb allows him to telepathic read the opponents mind” or whatever . and i don’t see how he can ever have a cinematic if none abiltes are canon. i honesly hope it was a misunderstanding or they ret-con it cause zenyatta has no lore and they keep taking away the little he has.
His Orb of Discord and Orb of Harmony were confirmed to not be canon; I was referring to the actual orbs he wears around his neck, which were said to contain omnic energy in one of the visual guides.
His orbs are canon, handcrafted in the monastery and serve as means to channel omnic energy and they can be unleashed in peaceful or destructive ways.
Transcendence is canon when you consider so far every ultimate ability of a hero has been canon in the cinematics. Transcendence is where Zenyatta uses all of his 9 orbs to amplify healing energy and enters a heightened state of existence.
Voicelines indicate Zenyatta has healing abilities, in two different voicelines. One is where he says he channels the power of the spirit. (aka Iris)
Zenyatta’s orbs have no other healing capabilities than Orb of harmony, yet it is stated they can be unleashed in peaceful ways too. No, orb abilities doesn’t mean transcendence.
Harmony is basically watered down transcendence, it makes zero sense to have his mala power up his transcendence to make big heals (you can see them glow brightly with energy around him), but incapable of smaller heals individually.
Therefore the logical conclusion is that his orbs are canon, but they had not yet established a proper lore reasoning behind how they work, since the character is so underdeveloped lore wise. If it has been stated anywhere that they are somehow non canon, it is being retconned. But his abilities certainly exist.
If you found this by watching the twitter answers by Jeff Kaplan - that Jewia linked fiew post above - then it’s not said that it’s non canon.
The question was about Zenyatta’s orbs, but he switch right away to Reaper’s soulglobes (that are gone now, they probably already have his rework on the way with Moira and Retribution) and all his argumentation is about Reaper, not Zen.
