What happened to Widowmaker?

What did Talon actually do to her when they first kidnapped her? It isn’t just simple “brainwashing”, it sounded like they did some messed up stuff!

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We don’t know the details, and since the game is rated T, I don’t think we ever will.

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Talon operatives kidnapped her and subjected her to an intense program of neural reconditioning. They broke her will, suppressed her personality, and reprogrammed her as a sleeper agent

Judging by the serious physiological changes, Amelie underwent at least some serious (possibly painful) medical procedures, and neuro reconditioning most likely implies a certain psychological technique that allowed them to drive certain ideas and a model of behavior into her mind.

Amelie Lacroix was a ballet dancer, not a soldier. I think that one abduction by terrorists will be enough to intimidate her. It is unlikely that serious torture was required here, but everything is possible and we do not know the character of Amelie before the abduction.

I do not think that Blizzard will dive into this difficult topic, although perhaps it can be explored in future short stories or novels.

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She’s more or less a zombie because of what they did, right down to her heart beating so slowly that the lack of blood circulation turned her skin blue/purple.

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Widowmaker is in the status “close to die”. She can’t show much emotions cause if she would, her heart won’t keep up with blood and she will die.
Moira just want to fix it, able her to show emotions. Widowmaker is already naturally by time deprogrammed, almost herself. Visting Gérard’s grave, thinking about him, discussing with Ana about him, arguing with Reaper about Sombra show it. Amélie is okay with her present time. She doesn’t deny her dear past, unlike Reaper. Her wish is to reverse time for her Gérard but she knows it’s not possible.
But it’s just how I see her situation.
It’s possible her OW2 skin will be less blue, more normal.

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What? Moira doesn’t want to fix Widowmaker - she was probably the one responsible for altering her physiology in the first place.

Widowmaker isn’t “okay” with her current situation at all.

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That’s your speculation. You don’t have anything to prove your statement, nor I.
We are on the same speculation page but on different sides.
Goodbye.

I agree with this stuff, but I don’t agree with the “wish to reverse time” or Moira helping “her to show emotions.” I do think that she has made peace with who she is in the present, but I don’t think Moira or Talon cares to do anything about her personality. Her current personality demeanor is useful.

Alright then, what is your speculation based on? What evidence has there been that Moira is trying to fix Widowmaker, or that Widowmaker is okay with the way things are?

Moira is trying to stabilize Reaper’s life status, why she can’t help Widowmaker?
Experiment done on Widowmaker only made her body more effective in snipering, not have will and do whatever they want. Snipering can be only done by training. She’s not robot, not cyborg to be so programmed. That is logic while even there’s no evidence what her experiments exactly are.

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I would say the biggest difference between the two is, Reaper dying makes him less useful, while Widowmaker having her personality repressed makes her more useful.

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We have the same evidence.
Moira’s doings on Widowmaker is vague.
Widowmaker’s personality isn’t vague.

Their interactions kind’ve imply otherwise.

There’s one where Moira asks Widowmaker how she feels and Widow responds by saying “I can’t feel, that’s the point isn’t it?” showing that Moira is if anything trying to prevent her from feeling normal

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No. You don’t have answer. The convesation gives only more questions.

[Moira] How are you feeling, Lacroix?
[Widowmake] I don’t feel. That’s the point, isn’t it?

Moira can think about Widowmaker as labrat or friend. Moira didn’t answer if it’s the point. Widowmaker’s personality is clear. You hear her little emotions, her personality in every conversation.

[Reaper] Why am I being subjected to this agony?
[Moira] No need to thank me, I only saved your life.

[Moira] Your body seems to be adapting well to the changes, Gabriel.
[Reaper] You call this “well”?

[Moira] Your condition seems relatively stable.
[Reaper] No one’s accused me of that in a long time.

Reaper’s anger may or may not comes only from his agony. We can’t be sure.
Moira behaves like friend to him however if Reaper is angry at her for what she done him, her friend voice is irony.

But they’ve known eachother since before they where “bad guys” and she saved his life, there’s no reason for her to care about Amelie outside of keeping her as just Widowmaker. Also it’s her job to keep Reaper alive and if she fails then for all she knows Talon will have her killed

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Do not forget that not all in-game interactions are canon. Some show only what characters theoretically would say to each other when meeting.

In current canon, Moira and Widow have not worked together even once. Moira spends her time in the Oasis, and the Widow is not even a member of the Council, in which they could (theoretically) meet.

It seems to me that this replica from Moira is nothing more than a light scientific curiosity. It does not describe any specific medical examination, or routine examinations of Widow perfomed by Moira, any facts (as she, for example, recalls to Reaper that she saved his life).

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True. It wasn’t a simple brainwashing and nullifying her emotions. She was just a ballet dancer but she can’t just turn into a deadly assassin by just getting brainwashed. But i’m sure Moira is behind this since she is a scientist and she works for talon.
Welp. From what i’ve seen about the “brainwashing” stuff, the details are too gruesome to be shown.

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Yeah, isn’t there an interaction where Moira is like “How are you feeling my dear?” and Widowmaker answers “I don’t feel, isn’t that the point?” This could be interpreted in different ways, but it seems to me that whatever Moira did to her had the purpose of getting rid of Amélie’s emotions.

It could also be Moira genuinely asking how she is feeling after what she knows Talon did to Amélie, which goes against the initial point.

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Given what we know about Moira’s character, especially in the context of the rest of her interactions with the cast, this is incredibly unlikely.

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There’s nothing “simple” about brainwashing.

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