Why/How is Phar-Mercy a thing?

Story Discussion
1

No clickbait or anything, just a legitimate question.

The only real reason I can see how this pair came to be is of how the two function together in the game. Mercy can damage-boost Pharah, and since they can both fly, they’re a bit untouchable if your team doesn’t have a hit-scan.

But, apparently, this snowballed into a shipping war of how Pharah and Mercy are a “couple”. I mean, it’s hilarious at a comedic value, but when they try to adamantly defend it, I just don’t see the logic.

For example, Mercy and Pharah never really interact with one another other than the occasional dialogue interaction. And none of those interactions sound very intimate. I mean there is one, but the shippers just take that out of context and use it as a point. You also have to consider the age gap between these two. Pharah is 31, while Mercy is 37. While age might not be a criteria of relationships, but given how isolated these two are in lore, I really don’t understand how this pair came to be.

Honestly, if Mercy is meant to have a relationship, the most likely candidate is Genji. (If the writers don’t screw up Mercy’s preferences. Please Blizzard, at least make Mercy straight please.) These two go way back as far as I’m concerned. Mercy rebuilt Genji, and their interactions seem to be out of genuine concern rather than what I can describe as out-of-context concern. Even in that 3-year-old Christmas comic, Genji sent a letter to Mercy, who did read it! These little hints are what I can prove for a potential relationship between them.

Just be cause of a simple game mechanic, they are just using it so it becomes fact in law. I don’t understand.

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2

That’s literally it. They have in-game synergy, and are two attractive women, so people ship them. It makes as little sense as just about every other popular ship.

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3

Its just because of the game mechanic. 99% of interhero shipping is mostly baseless anyways, go look at all the Mei/Zarya or Mei/Junkrat stuff.

The only one that has any ground is Mercy/Genji, based on:

  • Valentines Chocolate voicelines

  • Reflections

And that’s also very little. But if a ship has anything less than that… There is no story explanation for why it exists.

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4

I’ve never ready figured out any lore related reasoning for this ship like I have for the other popular ships.

Reaper76 has the two characters close for years.

Mchanzo has two characters with a redemption arc/parallels in their backstories.

Anahardt has that lovely voiceline suggesting affection between the two, which makes sense in the context of all their interactions.

Gency has Mercy saving Genji’s life, them staying in contact after overwatch disbands, and valentines interactions.

Can’t really think of context for Pharah and Mercy in the lore, I think it’s really just based on the combo in game.

5

That has even less reason for existing. They’ve never met, their interactions are not positive (Hanzo insults McCree) and any parallels they have are flimsy at best. Sure they’re both looking for redemption, but they’re going about it in completely different ways.

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6

This ship exists because when McCree was added, him and Hanzo were the only attractive “young” male humans. The others were all:

  • Girls (Tracer, Widow, Pharah, Mercy, Sym, Zarya)

  • Old Men (Reinhardt, Torbjorn)

  • Robots (Zenyatta, Bastion)

  • Winston

  • Reaper (also an old man, but people didn’t know until Soldier 76 came out 4 months after McCree).

The next one was Lucio, who came out 5 months after McCree did. There is no reason for McHanzo to exist other than just, there being no better alternative.

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I disagree, I find their parallels pretty on point, even more so now that Ashe was added into McCree’s backstory.

And well yeah, Hanzo insults McCree, but let’s face it, Hanzo pretty much insults everyone. McCree on the other hand has a elimination specific voice line for Hanzo that’s a compliment. But I really don’t find their interactions as a basis for the ship regardless because they haven’t met, though it’s probably safe to assume they will eventually meet, and it’s in relation to that OWL spray.

I get Mchanzo leaves a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths because of how cringey and awful the shipping community is, but I think it makes people overlook what a great duo they’d make in the field, romance aside, we get a small taste of it during junkenstien, but I’m still hoping for that McCree/Hanzo/Zarya/Sombra team up.

8

How does Ashe make McCree’s backstory of being a teenage criminal given a second chance by a paramilitary organization match better with Hanzo’s backstory of being the heir to a criminal empire who was being groomed for leadership and was forced to kill his brother? I fail to see any parallels outside of “they’re both criminals”.

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9

Yeah it’s unfortunate a ship between them started out like that (most do honestly) but it shouldn’t dismiss the lore potential they have now.

I never said Mchanzo started from a lore perspective, I just mentioned I understand why they’d be shipped lore-wise.

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There is none. The parallels you have outlined above are… Not really parallels. Hanzo has more in common with Ashe than he does with McCree, in terms of personality and background.

They have never met, there is no indication they ever will, and their interactions with each other are just McCree admiring his sharp shooting, while Hanzo ridicules McCree for having an unrefined taste. There is very little, if any, basis towards this ship existing from a lore perspective.

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11

They just both have the basis of “making a life changing choice, betraying someone close to them by making it, and starting a new life” of course the details aren’t exactly the same, but it can be viewed as similar. I’m not trying to prove Mchanzo as Canon, I just enjoy the two characters and the small similarities that can be found in their lore, and I can see it as a reason why someone would ship them.

12

I’ve explained my view on their parallels before in a story discussion thread where someone was curious about the ship, but I don’t really feel like digging through my replies to avoid typing it out again and I don’t think anyone in the thread cares about it either, and it doesn’t have anything to do with the OP either. I just mentioned that I can see a reason in the lore for them, and several other ships, but not for Pharah/Mercy.

13

I don’t ship anyone in overwatch (I just consume as much content of my favorite characters that I can get), but with little analysis it became pretty obvious to me why people ship pharmercy.

During a panel the lead writer explained that it is important that each character personality reflect their gameplay, so for the fans to combine this heroes in a relationship is just an extension of their intended synergic design.

Their combo isn’t all there is to it, their lore match too. Both characters want to help people, but each of them do it in their particular way. Pharah is doing so by upholding her family legacy, she comes from a lineage of decorated military officers. However, that also generated a divide between her and Ana, so for Pharah to fulfill her dream she had to go against her mother’s will. Mercy is an orphan, so she doesn’t have family legacy to uphold, but the death of her family was what motivated her to pursue medicine and help people to avoid the fate her family had. Also the character themes of mercy and justice are closely connected, because there isn’t justice without mercy.

If you want to talk about voice interactions Mercy’s character is shown to have great respect towards Pharah, meanwhile the last one sounds casual and relaxed in her voicelines.

The development of these characters also is very connected. In an interview the game director said that Pharah’s original name was Mercy, but after they changed it. He said common mistake during internal testing was that they would pick Pharah when asked to pick Mercy. Other thing that happened was the first reaction people had to announcement of the Mercy changes, fans were saying how OP pharmercy would become.

If you look at their design you will see the concern about making these heroes similar, but easily distinguishable, since both of them have wings and the ability to fly. They gave Pharah sharp angles and a more bulky armor to match her offensive role. Mercy has more soft curves and delicate frame to go with her healer theme. Also, if you look their default skin Pharah’s color pallet is predominant blue, while Mercy’s has orange details, which is the complementary color to blue.

To summarize, their characters compliment each other in a gameplay, lore and design.

Pharah is 32.

They are not isolated at all. According to the Recall animated short and the Bastet short story, they are geographically really close to each other. Also, they share most of their close circle of friends, like McCree and the Lindholms.

14

wow, I’ve never seen this panel, but that’s a really good explanation for it.

I’ve never seen their lore analyzed like this either, it’s really amazing what connections you can find between two characters from their lore/overall themes.

15

Blizz at least wants them to be close friends and not just acquaintances, they give Mercy lines like "Keep the skies clear for me :slight_smile: " and Pharah got a voiceline to say “the skies are clear~!”

16

I agree with most of your words, pharmacy has nothing to do with the lore. But how is not straight screwed up?

17

People will look for any old reason to pair two characters together, especially if they’re LGBT. I didn’t mind at all until I saw how toxic some of those people were when Michael Chu was supporting Genji and Mercy instead a few years back. Nobody should be so invested in their fanfiction that they freak out when it doesn’t come to fruition.

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18

This ^^^^ It really makes it hard to enjoy any aspect of shipping when there’s people who rage over the fact that the story they made up in their head isn’t what’s being published.

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19

That’s what I’m saying

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Only a little insensitive