Earlier this week, Blizzard unveiled the first new hero coming to Overwatch – Ana Amari. She’s the mother of the rocket launcher wielding Pharah, and she will take up a support role (with her handy sniper rifle and other cool abilities) when she’s added to the game sometime in the near future. Hooray, put those tinfoil hats away! After months of speculation, we finally have our reveal. There’s clearly nothing more to see here!
Except, there is. You see, a friend of mine brought it to my attention that Ana is in fact not Sombra – a character I’ve written about before, and a persona that many people thought she would be. I did actually wonder why Blizzard made no mention of that word or title in their announcement post, or on Ana’s bio, or in her origin story.
Something’s definitely missing, which got me wondering. Consider the following teasers…
The snap of the character selection screen and the rifle scope fit’s Ana perfectly. The character on the right, despite having a robot-like face, is one of her alternate skins.
The image on the left however, is the one I find most interesting. It shows a character, Ana by the looks of things, on Dorado. Why is she there, in Mexico, when she is of Egyptian origin? It just seems a bit odd.
I did some digging, and found the following image taken on the Mexican map. I saw it a little while ago, and paid it little attention. After seeing it now though, damn, just take a look…
The caption “Quien es Sombra?” is Spanish for “Who is Sombra?”. That’s not what caught my attention this time around. Take a closer look at the picture…
That hood, the dark cloak, and those hands and legs… that is definitely not Ana! The legs and hands in particular, though pixelated, look awfully robotic. Is Sombra an Omnic? Or is she (and yes, she is definitely a she – I’ll remind you why later) a human with cybernetic augments?
After more digging, I came across a very interesting article over on Eurogamer. It turns out Ana’s origin story had some interesting clues regarding Sombra. Hardcore Overwatch fans spotted the following codes…
To cut a long story short, the codes were processed using a XOR cipher and a constant of 23 to reveal a repeating Spanish phrase that translated to, “she who has the information, has the power”. The last two bits of numbers on each code, when processed, come out as ‘SOMB’ and ‘RA’. Gee, I wonder what that could mean?
The fact that the constant used to make sense of all this, being 23, is also interesting. Why? Simple – because Sombra, if released after Ana, will be the 23rd character added to the Overwatch roster.
Sombra, many suspect, will be an evil character. The reasoning for this assumption is pretty straight forward. A direct quote from Reaper says “ where is Sombra when you need her?” (see, she’s definitely female). Reaper is bad, so er… yeah, you get the picture. On top of this, Sombra in English (it’s a Spanish word too by the way) translates to “shadow”. I don’t know about you, but in my books, shadows are basically never associated with anything good.
Jinkies, this is all rather fascinating! It looks like Overwatch is due for another character for sure, and a lot sooner than many expected I think. When Sombra will release though, or rather, when she will be unveiled, remains to be seen. Could she be announced at San Diego Comic Con?
I’m not entirely sure. All I know is that about a month ago, Overwatch’s Game Director Jeff Kaplan said that people should start wondering who Sombra is. Well Jeff, you have my undivided attention. Please tell me more!
Last Updated: July 14, 2016
Admiral Chief [Cloak Engaged]
July 14, 2016 at 07:45
PHA REE AH
Hargrim
July 14, 2016 at 08:29
Pharah, it’s her code name
Her real name is Fareeha
hairyknees
July 14, 2016 at 08:38
This ^ I did update yesterday’s article 😛
Kromas GG
July 14, 2016 at 08:53
Finally someone actually gets it. I was in a competative match with someone correcting everyone else about her name. Then I just started playing D.va and started shouting Hana is back everytime I respawned. 😛
Deceased
July 14, 2016 at 10:05
You go girl!!!
Kromas GG
July 14, 2016 at 10:49
Still better than spamming LoL over and over again while playing Dva.
D.Va
July 14, 2016 at 12:34
Heyyyy they have a teleporter!
Kromas GG
July 14, 2016 at 13:01
“Nerf This!”
5 Kills
“Is this easymode?”
Not that people die to her ulti anymore (hope this patch helps out a bit).
Admiral Chief [Cloak Engaged]
July 14, 2016 at 09:44
I know, just teasing with the true name 😉
Admiral Chief [Cloak Engaged]
July 14, 2016 at 07:46
PORRADETECTIVE!
Kromas GG
July 14, 2016 at 07:46
Sombra is in the anna video btw.
Kromas GG
July 14, 2016 at 07:47
The Anna story video.
Tarisma
July 14, 2016 at 07:50
She is? Is she one of the original team?
Kromas GG
July 14, 2016 at 08:51
Yep. However it is based on fairly well documented speculation but speculation none the less. Then again same guy speculated Sombra was not Anna and that Anna was a sbiper so I am enclined to believe it.
Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0
July 14, 2016 at 07:51
http://i.imgur.com/7qNTrHN.gif?noredirect
hairyknees
July 14, 2016 at 08:48
Goddammit my image disappeared for some reason 😛 you mean this one? http://i0.wp.com/www.lazygamer.net/images/2016/07/New-Overwatch-heroes.jpg?resize=820%2C338
Kromas GG
July 14, 2016 at 08:48
Sombra on the right yeah.
hairyknees
July 14, 2016 at 08:31
The lady on the right? I think so too, but there’s nothing that gives solid confirmation (not yet anyways).
Kromas GG
July 14, 2016 at 08:48
This was explained in a very detailed post after the video dropped. We sorta know that that she was on the original team. We also have many clues from Dorado and based on her ethinicity she may very well be Sombra.
VampyreSquirrel
July 14, 2016 at 08:45
Cloak, Mexican (?) roots, a name that means Shadow… I think Reaper can start saying “Daddy comes” instead of “Death comes”
D.Va
July 14, 2016 at 12:38
Sombra must’ve had it worst compared to widowmaker and reaper they did mentioned her legs are cybernetic she must have loss some of her body parts or been tortured by Talon to make her turn to be a villain if that is the case.
Izzatuw
July 14, 2016 at 15:32
“I don’t know about you, but in my books, shadows are basically never associated with anything good.”
I believe you owe a certain hedge hog an apology
Izzatuw
July 14, 2016 at 15:37
How much tenacity do OW heroes have >_>
A direct shot to the eye only made Ana lose an eye instead of ya know, killing her. Genji from what we understand basically gets the Jetstream Sam treatment and still has the capacity to live. Reaper and Soldier somehow survive a blast that destroys an entire base. Now Sombra has is suspected to be a cyborg or an omnic???
hairyknees
July 20, 2016 at 08:43
HEROES NEVER DIE? 😛