Even thoughOverwatchdoes not have a traditional story or campaign, it has been able to develop characters such as Genji and Zenyatta through in-game interactions and animated shorts and comics. The first of these backstories focused on one character and gave their origin story or established their connection to theOverwatchteam. However, as the game and characters grew, many of the stories connected different characters, many of whom fans might not think are related at all.
Two characters whoOverwatchfans may not know are deeply connected arethe cybernetic ninja Genjiand the Omnic monk Zenyatta. If players choose to listen carefully to in-game dialogue as well as look into character descriptions created by developers, they will find that Zenyatta is not only considered to be Genji’s master but has also done a great deal to save Genji from his own internal struggles.
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Genji’s Origin Story
MostOverwatchfans are aware thatGenji and Hanzo are relatedand both were raised by their father, the master of the Shimada Clan. The two brothers trained to be fierce warriors, Hanzo became a deadly bowman, while Genji adopted the way of the ninja. However, when their father died and Genji refused to take up new responsibilities in the clan, a fed-up and frustrated Hanzo chose to fight his younger brother and almost killed Genji.
After the brothers dueled, Hanzo assumed he killed his brother, but the Overwatch team was able to find and resuscitate Genji thanks to the medical expertise of Dr. Angela Ziegler, otherwise known as Mercy. The only way the team was able to save Genji was by augmenting him with cybernetics, essentially leaving Genji to be half man and half machine. The team sawGenji’s skillsand newly cybernetically enhance body as an asset and recruited him to become part of the Overwatch team. However, Genji was constantly battling with himself to accept his new body and eventually abandoned Overwatch in an attempt to find himself once again.
Zenyatta’s Backstory
The Overwatch team was originally established as an attempt to defeat a sentient group of robots known as the Omnics. This war was dubbedthe Omnic Crisisand was eventually thwarted by humanity, but many Omnics still remained but chose to either stay neutral in the fights or fight with the humans. One of these Omnics is Zenyatta, a peaceful monk who chose to follow the path of spiritual enlightenment in the Himalayan Mountains.
Led by a robot called Tekhartha Mondatta, these monks practiced spiritual harmony between humans and robots and eventually become worldwide icons of peace. However, Zenyatta disagreed with the idea of dogmatic teachings, preferring interpersonal connections as a way to create peace. Due to this difference in ideology,Zenyatta chose to leave the monasteryand follow his own path.
How Zenyatta and Genji Became Master and Pupil
Once Genji left Overwatch, he wandered the world searching for inner peace and self-acceptance. It was during this journey that Genji met Zenyatta, who had just begun his own journey in an attempt to bring peace to the world through personal engagement. Zenyatta was committed to teaching Genji, but the stubborn ninja was reluctant to follow the teachings of an Omnic Monk who could never understandGenji’s human side. However, Zenyatta was much wiser than he seemed and persistently cared for Genji until he eventually accepted Zenyatta as his master and listened to the monk’s teaching.
The two were almost destined to meet, as Zenyatta was able to ease Genji’s mind about his dual existence as both a man and a machine, and Genji soon accepted his new body and finally found peace throughZenyatta’s teachings. Even after finding inner peace, Genji still refers to Zenyatta as his master, the in-game dialogue reflects the close relationship between the two. Some of the conversations between Zenyatta and Genji even discuss Genji’s relationship with his brother, implying Zenyatta is still attempting to help Genji and make peace within the world.
Overwatchis out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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