Picking Widowmaker in Overwatch is a risky move that often draws groans from fellow teammates. Along with Torbjorn, Widowmaker is a character that is often selected when an Overwatch team is tilted and someone is trying to throw the match. However, Widowmaker can be one of the deadliest characters in the hands of someone that knows how to use her properly, with her sniper rifle dealing significant damage and able to pick off most of the other heroes on the roster in a single shot.
While she may not be as popular as some of the other Damage heroes in Overwatch, Widowmaker does have some of the most interesting lore in the game, and has a fascinating development history as well. For those curious about some of the most interesting tidbits about Widowmaker's lore and development, here are five weird facts about the character.
5 5. She Was One of the First Characters Made for the Game
With the addition of tank hero Sigma, Overwatch's roster of playable characters has grown to 31. Widowmaker has the distinction of being one of the very first characters made for Overwatch, alongside Reaper and Tracer. Widowmaker's design was based on a class called Longshot that Blizzard was working on for its canceled Titan MMO, and she was reportedly one of the easiest characters to animate. It's likely that work already done on the Longshot class and the ease that Blizzard had animating Widowmaker played a role in her becoming one of the first characters actually added to the hero-shooter.
4 4. She Was A Ballet Dancer
Prior to her life as a deadly assassin for the Talon terrorist organization, Widowmaker was a ballet dancer named Amelie Guillard who lived in Paris, France. Widowmaker wasn't just any ballet dancer, though; she was actually quite famous for her work. Widowmaker honed her ballet skills at her family home of Chateau Guillard, itself located in southeastern France. Blizzard would turn Widowmaker's Chateau Guillard home into one of the Deathmatch maps for Overwatch's Arcade mode, and it's filled with references to her past life.
3 3. She Killed Her Own Husband
Out of all the Overwatch hero backstories, Widowmaker's is by far one of the most tragic. Working as an innocent ballet dancer, Widowmaker fell in love and married a man named Gerard Lacroix, an agent for Overwatch. The Talon terrorist organization made numerous attempts to assassinate Lacroix, but couldn't seem to get the job done. Eventually, it decided to kidnap his wife instead, who was far more vulnerable than her husband. Talon essentially brainwashed Widowmaker into becoming a sleeper agent assassin for the organization, teaching her to hide this fact when she was eventually saved by Overwatch. Widowmaker went home with Lacroix, but killed her husband in his sleep and returned to Talon to become one of the organization's most successful assassins. It's unclear just how much of her past Widowmaker remembers, but she does seem to have some longing for her dead husband, as she was seen putting a rose on his grave at Christmas.
2 2. Her Heart Rate is Extremely Slow
After Widowmaker killed her husband and returned to Talon, the intensity of her training increased significantly. This included procedures designed to make her an even more efficient assassin, including one that successfully slowed her heart rate. A side effect from her slowed heart rate turned Widowmaker's skin blue, which explains why she looks the way she does in the game.
1 1. She Shot Out Ana's Eye
When Widowmaker disappeared, Overwatch assumed that she had either been killed or kidnapped by Talon. So it came as a shock to healer-sniper Ana when the Talon sniper she was fighting against turned out to be none other than her old friend Amelie Guillard. Ana hesitated, and Widowmaker took the opportunity to fire back. Her shot burst through Ana's scope and destroyed her cybernetic eye. Ana's wounds weren't fatal, but she took the opportunity to fake her death and go into hiding.
Widowmaker is arguably one of the most important characters in all of Overwatch lore, having been featured prominently in more than one animated short and playing a direct role in the ongoing events in the game's universe. In the future, it's quite likely that Blizzard will expand even further on Widowmaker's lore, but for now, these are five of the weirdest and most interesting facts about Overwatch's resident sniper.
Overwatch is out now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Source: Overwatch Wiki