An analysis of Overwatch 2’s new hero and his implications with the world and other characters.
Overwatch 2’s most recent update for season 2 went live a few days ago on December 6th, and with it, we finally got the long-awaited release of the new tank hero, Ramattra. Ramattra comes out with pretty interesting qualities and design in terms of his power, colour scheme, architecture, and overall motivations. For this article, I want to focus not only on Ramattra, but also on one of the heroes released with Overwatch’s original roster, Zenyatta.
In this article, I will write about Ramattra’s story while complementing it with Overwatch’s world and Zenyatta’s own story. With this, I’ll analyze the dichotomy of both omnics with the same spiritual, monk background turned to completely opposite sides; Zenyatta went for the side of peace, while Ramattra went for the side of violence.
In Overwatch, omnics are AI machines created by humanity in order to bolster work, manufacturing, and create a sustainable global economy. In the context of Overwatch’s lore and story, omnics and humans are both reasoning creatures. They both express feelings, emotions, and neither of them is (or better said, should be) on a morally higher level than the other. Even though omnics are sentient beings, they are still machines in the way that they can be hacked, reprogrammed, and taken control of by outside factors. This is what happened to omnics when a god AI named Anubis went rogue and took control over them, launching a catastrophic war against humanity known as the Omnic Crisis, which led to the murder of millions.
Humanity counterattacked the omnics, each country armed themselves and individually warred against the machines that now threatened their survival. Through the recognition of a certain number of individuals’ greatness and heroism, the United Nations created Overwatch, a small and secretive international armed group that dedicated itself to fight the omnic threat. With the creation of Overwatch and with the continued efforts of the different countries at war, humanity managed to defeat the omnics, quarantine Anubis, and ultimately endure, although with severe casualties and economical damage from which they had to recover in the upcoming years.
After the end of the Omnic Crisis, humankind’s hatred of omnics only continued to intensify. Even though omnics simply tried to move on after the conflict, they were repudiated and hated everywhere. With the years, these tensions only continued to increase.
Amongst the omnics, a group of monks seeking spiritual enlightenment was formed. Led by Tekhartha Mondatta, the Shambali abandoned their programmed tasks and formed their own monastery in the Himalayas in Nepal. Throughout their spiritual journey and pondering on their existence, the Shambali monks reached the conclusion that they were not mere artificial intelligence robots, but rather sentient beings with a soul, and as such, they deepened their purpose on the earth. Led by Mondatta, the Shambali monks spread their word through the world, trying to reconcile themselves with humans after the wounds left from the Omnic Crisis, sharing their beliefs with other omnics and advocating equality–for humans and omnics alike.
Two important heroes both formed part of the Shambali monastery, Zenyatta and Ramattra. Both Zenyatta and Ramattra disagreed with the Shambali’s approach to reconciliation. Zenyatta believed that true reconciliation would only be achieved by close, personal connections and interactions with humans. Because of this, he decided to follow his own path and help those who needed it, human and omnic alike. Ramattra had different plans.
When the Omnic Crisis started, Anubis created a series of robots called Ravagers which were specifically designed to attack humanity and lead omnics. Ramattra was one of these machines. After the Omnic Crisis, Ramattra found peace and harmony by joining the Shambali, and tried to make amends and share this peace with humanity. But given the hatred and discrimination that omnics still suffered from humanity, Ramattra had had enough. Tired of watching his people suffer, being killed and destroyed on a whim, he took matters into his own hands.
With the need to protect his kind by whatever means necessary, Ramattra advanced, freeing omnics and fighting for and with them. Throughout his journey, he was joined by three other omnics: Lanet, Zera and Nameless. With them, he founded the extremist omnic liberation group, Null Sector. After a failed uprising in King's Row–a neighbourhood in London, England where omnics were subject to the harshest conditions–along with the death of Lanet who was killed in the attack, Ramattra only grew more extreme. While Mondatta’s beliefs of peace and equality gained popularity, Ramattra saw them as treason towards omnics and started to push liberation and conflict to omnics–even if they didn’t want it, causing Zera and Nameless to abandon Null Sector and leave Ramattra alone. After this, Ramattra’s hatred and extremist ideals only grew more severe, while he continued with his disdain for humans and his need to protect omnics no matter the cost.
On the other end, Zenyatta travelled the world in order to help anyone in need who crossed his path, supporting those who needed it to find enlightenment and a calmer, more peaceful sense of self and understanding.
With these two characters, Overwatch manages to portray a very interesting juxtaposition of beliefs. Two beings that experienced almost the same conditions and that were raised on injustice, discrimination, and hatred. Ramattra and Zenyatta conversed and understood both their opinions and thoughts on the situation faced by omnics throughout the world and yet, both of them decided to follow completely different paths.
While Zenyatta followed a path of peace, Ramattra decided that the only way omnics could have a place on Earth with humans was through force and violence. Even so, both Zenyatta and Ramattra still think fondly of each other. Having formed a brother-like bond in their time at the Shambali, Zenyatta and Ramattra are still very close to each other, even though they’ve ceased all contact.
This is also exemplified in Overwatch’s heroes’ interactions between Ramattra and Zenyatta. As their pregame interactions go:
Zenyatta: “There is a new sadness in you, brother.”
Ramattra: “No, I’ve simply grown tired of pretending I am content.”
Zenyatta: “Perhaps I can share your burden?”
Ramattra: “You already do.”
This interaction showcases Zenyatta’s distress for Ramattra’s mission, as he believes the path he follows to be a sad one. While Ramattra explains that he’s simply grown tired of pretending everything’s alright, Zenyatta still offers to share the burden with him. Although in Ramattra’s belief of omnics as a collective, he thinks that Zenyatta is already suffering with him just by being an omnic, hated and mistreated like the rest.
Another interaction goes:
Ramattra: “Do you remember when we sat up at night… counting stars?”
Zenyatta: “Yes, we wondered how many other omnics were doing the same.”
Ramattra: “Yes. Well, I’ve learned that too few of them look up at all…”
Here, Ramattra still fondly remembers those nights back at the temple that he and Zenyatta spent together, wondering how many more omnics were staring at the stars as they were. While Zenyatta shares the illusion, Ramattra grounds it by explaining how little of them actually have anything to look up to.
In other interactions, such as the elimination interactions that occur when eliminating a hero of the enemy team, he can be apologetic. For example, when eliminating Orisa (another omnic character in the game), he says “I truly had no quarrel with you. I’m sorry.” When eliminating Zenyatta, apart from apologizing, he also has a line that reads: “and now, Mondatta’s lessons have betrayed you too.” With these interactions, Ramattra showcases a deeply troubled and complex character. While his methods are questionable and he still seeks change through the use of violence and destruction, he is still understanding and comprehensive of others. Some of his interactions with human characters such as Baptise, as well as his own story show that even though he has a hatred of humans, he does not hate any individuals and is still willing to cooperate with humans that cooperate with him and do not pose a threat to him or his people.
With the addition of Ramattra to the Overwatch roster, Blizzard showcases an engaging, interesting and deep web of conflict. Connected to one of their original heroes, Zenyatta, and to the world that they have built, Ramattra adds depth with a fascinating story of pragmatism, sacrifice,and vengeance; all of them built on inner conflicts of racism, discrimination, and hatred.
Most Overwatck characters, even its antagonists have always been built with a certain tint of understandability and roundness. Widowmaker doesn’t feel because she was manipulated and experimented on, still showing sorrow for the loss of her husband by her own hands. In Reaper’s loneliness and suffering, he has shown some interest in his previous family, as a broken man that lost everything due to his own actions.
Ramattra is no different. While his methods are problematic and definitely questionable, and while he seeks an omnic revolution through the use of force and violence, to create an uprising against humanity, he doesn’t act on an unfounded hatred. Ramattra seeks the survival of his people, and in the way he has seen his kind mistreated, killed, he reached the conclusion that the only way in which he’ll be able to achieve the survival of his people is to go against those who threaten it, no matter the cost.
The way Ramattra is written, and the way his character fits into Overwatch’s story poses the question of how far is too far when fighting for the liberation of one’s kind. In Ramattra’s own radicalism lies a story of injustice and prejudice. While Ramattra decided to follow a path away from diplomacy and understanding, his foundation is built on an understandable conflict, a comprehensible need to survive.
Ramattra was first shown at the end of Overwatch’s archive event Overwatch Storm Rising back in 2019. It wasn’t until December of 2022 that he was announced as the next hero being introduced for Season 2 of Overwatch 2. While Overwatch 2’s merits mechanically and gameplay-wise are a different conversation, narratively-wise, the character Ramattra is one of the most interesting and captivating heroes ever released. His character received a good amount of excitement and interest from players, both when he was announced as well as when he was released, with players wanting to know more and more about him.
As Overwatch continues and new heroes are released, Ramattra is one of the examples of what makes Overwatch not only a fun game to play, but an interesting one, with a vast world of engaging characters and stories. Hopefully in the future more is known about Ramattra, the omnics, and overall, more interesting characters and stories are added to the game.