- Talon Overwatch Guide - September 20, 2022
- Reaper Overwatch Guide - May 10, 2022
- Reinhardt Overwatch Guide - April 20, 2022
Overwatch is a game well known for its impressive lore and narrative, with iconic three-dimensional characters loved by all fans. The villains of the world are no exception, and in this Talon Overwatch Guide, I will delve into the intrigue of the game’s famed antagonists.
The game is packed with exciting PvE (player vs. environment) missions during events such as the annual Spring Archives missions, and with PvE becoming a central focus of Overwatch 2, knowing the ins and outs of the Overwatch world is key to understanding these events.
In my time playing Overwatch over the years, I have certainly found that the Talon members have far more interesting lore, funny voice lines, and enjoyable abilities and ultimates than other characters in the game!
What Is Talon?
A Brief Background
Talon is a terrorist organization that forms the main antagonists of Overwatch, with its main goal being to cause conflict as they believe it makes humanity stronger. They have been operating for almost as long as Overwatch under the guise of a mercenary group in Europe, enabling them to recruit unaware members and profit from the Omnic Crisis and their planned conflicts, including smuggling, trafficking, and assassinating.
Because of the amount of violence caused by Talon, Overwatch worked to put an end to them, an operation that had Gérard Lacroix at the front – a name you will perhaps recognize as Widowmaker’s ex-husband.
In retaliation, Talon worked to kill off members of Overwatch and during a classified Blackwatch mission (Overwatch’s black ops division), succeeded in killing the corrupt businessman that Overwatch was hoping to interrogate. They failed in killing any members of Overwatch, only injuring Lacroix.
The Rise of Doomfist
It was after this that Doomfist, previously known as Akande Ogundimu, joined Talon. As he climbed through the ranks of Talon, the organization started to crumble. Doomfist transformed Talon to align with his own goal of starting a war, and Overwatch started to increase attempts to put an end to their terrorism.
A short time later, through Overwatch’s interrogation of Talon accountant Maximilien, Doomfist was captured by Overwatch in Singapore, and the new leader of Talon returned the organization to its profit-driven roots. It was also during this time that Gabriel Reyes, who would later become known as Reaper, began to doubt Overwatch through Doomfist’s persuasion – a conversation that became a driving factor for Reyes to eventually join Talon.
Talon was also the creator of beloved Overwatch hero Widowmaker. The group had hoped to assassinate her husband, Gerard Lacroix, but failed on numerous occasions, and so instead opted to torture Widowmaker, then known as Amélie Lacroix. She was brainwashed by Talon and successfully killed Gerard just two weeks after Overwatch rescued her.
Sigma, who was added to Overwatch as one of the last few heroes in the first game’s lifespan, joined Talon a year after Overwatch fell apart, initially oblivious to the fact that he was being used for his knowledge by the organization.
In-game, Talon continues to operate as one of the main hostile groups and Overwatch’s main adversary. Presently, the number of operatives they have under their name is unknown. Still, players are hoping to see more Talon PvE action in the upcoming Overwatch 2, especially given Soldier: 76 is actively seeking Reyes out alongside Ana.
Which Characters Are Part of Talon?
Widowmaker
Widowmaker, everyone’s favorite cold-hearted sniper, did not join Talon by choice. Instead, she was subjected to reconditioning by the organization after being kidnapped. She is now Talon’s ruthless assassin, an emotionless husk of the former person she used to be and instead a living weapon.
During her time at Talon, Widowmaker has taken part in multiple extraction and assassination missions, with most of them succeeding. Her shots failing have often happened due to other Talon members or their targets being alerted to their presence rather than her missing.
A lot of Widowmaker’s backstory is unknown, much of it speculation, but fans are eager to see more of the purple-skinned killer as her lore seems incredibly interesting. Some have theorized that her conditioning is slowly wearing off, given she visited her husband’s grave. They speculate that soon her loyalty to Talon will disappear, which could be an exciting plot twist in Overwatch 2.
Widowmaker is my favorite character, and having her switch sides to become a good guy would be a monumental plot twist that I would be eager to see play out!
Sombra
Sombra is Talon’s resident hacker, having joined through invitation. Much like Widowmaker, not much is known about Sombra. Even her character release was revealed through an ARG, the rest of her lore being gradually shown in character interactions and shorts.
Sombra’s loyalty to Talon has come into question many times. Reaper makes it clear he is keeping an eye on her (in the ‘Masquerade’ comic), and it is thought that she is simply using Talon to reach her own goals, a common issue within the organization.
Her main goal of finding out who controls the world sometimes aligns with Talon’s aspirations, and so with the more PvE/lore-focused Overwatch 2, we may see Sombra pulling strings within Talon or even joining Overwatch to achieve her goals.
Whatever happens with Sombra, her being with Talon makes them extraordinarily powerful. Her hacking abilities mean she can just about blackmail anyone, including powerful Russian woman Katya Volskaya, the CEO of Volskaya Industries, who despite Talon’s orders to kill her, kept her alive.
Reaper
Reaper’s reasoning for joining Talon is heavily debated. While he was undoubtedly influenced by Doomfist during conversations with him, the actual motive remains unknown as Reaper’s lore has been tweaked as new heroes were added.
One theory is that he only joined to rescue Widowmaker because of his friendship with Gerard (explained in the ‘Retribution’ comic) and that he wants to bring Talon down. When Reaper is involved with Talon operations, they typically fail, perhaps evidencing that he hopes to destroy Talon.
This may also go hand-in-hand with Reaper’s undying hatred for Overwatch – some fans have suggested that he blames Overwatch for not protecting their own, allowing Widowmaker’s brainwashing and murder of her husband.
Another theory is that he joined simply because he hates Overwatch, and Talon is his best option to put an end to them. Much of Reaper’s lore makes his disdain clear – the incident at Overwatch’s HQ in Switzerland made him feel betrayed, and it was also the cause of his wraith from abilities that he has described as a curse on numerous occasions.
In official Overwatch lore, it has been stated that agents trying to find Reaper have confirmed a pattern detected in his movements and appearances, and they all appear to point to him tracking down and killing Overwatch agents.
There is, however, no confirmation on this front, and there is no evidence present within any Overwatch material that he has killed Overwatch members. Regardless of Reaper’s official motive, in his time at Talon, it is clear he has gained noticeable influence within the organization, now sitting on the council. Whenever Talon is mentioned, it isn’t long before Reaper’s name follows.
Moira
Moira is Talon’s geneticist and the woman who saved Reaper and, by extension, created Reaper, giving him his wraith abilities. Moira had been removed from Blackwatch, Overwatch’s black ops division that Reaper had also been part of, for her immoral experiments.
She prioritized science rather than morality. When Blackwatch was revealed after a Talon attack on Overwatch, Moira’s involvement with Overwatch was denied completely, and she was immediately shunned. Moira believed Overwatch was also preventing the progress of scientific advancement, furthering her dislike for them even without her removal from Overwatch.
Much like other Talon members, Moira joined for her own agenda, having little regard for Talon’s goals of worldwide domination. Talon gave her the funding she needed in exchange for her scientific knowledge and enabled her to continue her controversial work.
Doomfist became a patron of her work, with his personal belief that advancing humanity is essential, aligning well with Moira’s desire to advance human evolution. Because of her impressive work, Moira now sits on Talon’s inner council.
Doomfist
Doomfist serves as Talon’s leader and operates the organization on the basis that conflict strengthens humanity. Doomfist joined Talon from his old employer, Akinjide Adeyemi, who hired him as a mercenary after Doomfist’s martial arts career was cut short because of his arm. His knowledge and guile allowed him to progress through the ranks quickly, and in Doomfist’s quest for power, he killed Adeyemi to take on his role within Talon.
With his progression, however, Talon started to see cracks within its hierarchy, slowing Doomfist’s goal of creating a worldwide conflict.
After a failed mission, Doomfist was imprisoned, yet he continued to orchestrate any Talon member who was loyal to him, causing a rift between them and those who followed the new Talon leader. It was not long before Doomfist escaped from prison thanks to a Talon operation and immediately got rid of the new leader, taking power for himself and worsening the internal conflict.
Sigma
Similar to Moira, Sigma is another Talon agent obsessed with science and progression. Filling the ‘mad scientist trope, Sigma’s experiments caused him to lose his mind, and he was kept locked away in a government facility.
Of course, after hearing of a talented scientist looked down on by society, Talon immediately got to work to extract him from the facility, wanting to use his abilities to achieve their world conflict goals.
He continued to work on his experiments, inching further towards his life goal of controlling gravity, taking advantage of the resources Talon granted him. Sigma was unaware that Talon was secretly using his experiments for personal gain, something that may appear in Overwatch 2, given Talon’s eventual downfall seems to be inevitable.
Criminal Dealings
It is no secret that Talon deals exclusively in crime; after all, their main goal is to sow the seeds of conflict for personal gain. Specializing in assassinations and kidnappings, each Talon member has a core role to play in the organization, and since joining, most have gained an unfortunately long list of crimes.
The only two Talon agents who have presently not committed any crimes within Talon are Moira and Sigma. Moira is immoral and deeply controversial in her experiments, but from what we know, she has never taken part in a mission and is used for her scientific knowledge, much like Sigma.
Assassinations
Tekharta Mondatta
Widowmaker’s proudest kill was Tekhartha Mondatta, the leader of a group of omnics at a King’s Row speech – an event that Tracer was also at. After a brief fight between the two, Widowmaker was able to make the shot mid-air and kill Mondatta, much to Tracer’s dismay, as well as incapacitate Tracer on her way out.
Katya Volskaya
There has only ever been one shot that Widowmaker missed, which was Katya Volskaya, when the alarm sounded and alerted Katya, enabling her to swiftly escape.
This mission was a failure due to Sombra’s lack of loyalty to Talon – she wanted Volskaya as an ally for her own personal gain, and so she was the one who set off the system to save Volskaya from being assassinated. Unbeknownst to the rest of the agents on this mission, Sombra successfully blackmailed Volskaya into working with her and told everyone that the mission had unfortunately failed as Volskaya had escaped.
Vialli
Vialli was Doomfist’s main contender for leadership of Talon, having divided loyalty within the organization during Doomfist’s time in prison. On this mission, Widowmaker proved her loyalty to Doomfist as Talon’s leader by assassinating agents who followed Vialli alongside Reaper and other agents. Doomfist himself was the one to kill Vialli by throwing him from a bridge, quashing any questioning of his authority once and for all.
Retrieval of Dr. Siebren de Kuiper
Sombra’s first major Talon mission was the retrieval of Dr. Siebren de Kuiper, a mission orchestrated by Doomfist while he was still imprisoned.
She isolated the base Kuiper was at from the world by hacking into its system and switching off all communications. It was also during this mission that Reaper was responsible for murdering dozens of guards, and finally embraced his full criminality; any belief that he was doing good disappeared entirely.
Numbani Attacks
After escaping from prison with Reaper’s help, Doomfist orchestrated multiple attacks, including retrieving his gauntlet from Numbani and defeating a group of robots, as well as fighting Orisa at the Numbani Heritage Museum.
In these attacks, he had hoped to rally people to join his cause; however, after his failed attack in Unity Plaza, where he could only manage to kill one hostage, Numbani returned to peace. Doomfist seems to prefer having Talon agents do his bidding rather than getting his hands dirty, but it is clear he is not afraid to get the job done himself should it come to it.
FAQs
Question: Will we see more of Talon in Overwatch 2?
Answer: With Blizzard’s many announcements and promises that Overwatch 2 will have a heavy PvE/lore focus, it is extremely likely we will see more of Talon in the upcoming game, and with so much ambiguity and mystery surrounding the agents, it is hoped we will witness many conflicts between Talon and Overwatch. Fans are eager to see more interaction between the two organizations, as well as plenty more comics and shorts packed full of lore and uncovering the missing pieces of the stories behind Talon members.
Soldier: 76 and Reaper are also on the hunt for each other, making it likely that their conflict will drive the two factions headfirst into each other.
Question: How important is Talon to Overwatch?
Answer: Talon serves as Overwatch’s main adversary, making it crucial to a lot of the conflict we see within the game, as well as the creation of some of the fans’ favorite characters like Reaper. Previous seasonal events have centered around Talon, including Retribution and Storm Rising, one which showcases members Moira and Reaper in Blackwatch before they joined Talon, and the other centering around mysterious member Maximilien, with us needing to capture him during the mission.
Talon is also a central focus in some of the shorts and comics, and it is clear that they are often Overwatch’s main issue. Without Talon in the game, much of the lore that fans are so fond of simply would not exist, and there would be no, at times, a morally gray adversary that proves to be a wonderfully interesting aspect of Overwatch.
Question: Is Talon entirely evil?
Answer: Talon, at its core, is a terrorist organization. They want only to cause conflict and will use any means possible to reach their goals, including murder. Because of this, Talon as a whole is absolutely evil; however, if we look at agents as individuals, then the answer is not so simple. Sigma, for example, I would say is not evil, instead, he has massively misplaced ambitions that have driven him mad.
Moira appears to be more immoral and uncaring than pure evil, and Widowmaker’s evil is due to reconditioning that is not her fault. Doomfist, Reaper, and Sombra are likely the evilest Talon agents – while they may believe they are in the right as they pursue their goals, the damage and chaos they leave in their wake are unjustified.