If Hammond Isn't The New 'Overwatch' Character Why Were Those Gorillas On The Moon?

On Monday night, Overwatch agents finally got their first look at what actually happened to the Horizon Lunar Colony: the moon base where Winston was raised. Before the reveal, Overwatch lore historians knew the colony was made by Lucheng Interstellar, the same company that made the control center on Lijiang Tower, and that the company had been conducting experiments on gorillas. Eventually, they got tired of being guinea pigs and took the base over themselves. In the chaos, Dr. Harold Winston, the caretaker and namesake of Overwatch’s tesla cannon-touting tank, was murdered.

According to the emails, this is what went down: some of the gorillas started to act up, so the scientists were forced to put them in their rooms. “It seems clear that these reactions are a result of their genetic therapy- and possibly just life here on the colony,” Nevsky, presumably one of the scientists, emailed Dr. Winston. Suddenly, something goes wrong at airlock E-35 in the observatory, and the base loses contact with the rest of the world. The base still looks to be intact, with gorillas and scientists still alive.

For the first time since Overwatch debuted, more information is starting to slip out about what happened on the moon. Fans are already dissecting each piece of information, looking through each loose thread to make connections that are -- most likely -- not even there. After I got my hopes up about Doomfist being the next Overwatch hero, I’ve learned to curb my expectations around these teases. But that doesn’t mean I can’t speculate like everyone else:

Hammond Is The Next Hero?

In the second email, there’s mention of a weird noise coming from the ventilation system “throughout the colony.” In a later email, Zhang, also presumed to be a scientist, worries about Hammond, a tinier gorilla who’s escaped from his cage for over a week. In the final screenshot, that shows everyone that’s currently still on the Lunar Colony after the uprising, we see two names that are MIA: Winston, who we know is busy spending time trying to rebuild Overwatch, and Hammond.

Why would Blizzard mention Hammond if he wasn’t going to be the next hero? Now, here’s where I got to slam the breaks on this investigation. Overwatch fans tend to be a bit… fanatical when it comes to conspiracy theories. Fans dig through every line of code, dissect every picture and look for clues where there really aren’t any. Blizzard learned from the Sombra ARG that fans don’t like to spend months looking for clues with little payoff, so why would they do it again?

The radio frequency listed on the final image is too high for normal human beings without a satellite to access. If Blizzard was really stepping their ARG game up, they could be broadcasting an actual location using radio navigation.

I view Hammond as a red herring, a clue that Blizzard dangles obviously in front of our faces to distract us from something epic coming. It could be a new lunar colony map, with zero-gravity jump pads, or a new cinematic showing Overwatch’s version of Planet Of The Apes.

What do you think happened on the moon? Tell us in the comments.