Pulling up a list of relevant quotes with timestamps for future reference (all italics represent emphasis as said by the speaker):
1. “She was recruited by Gabriel Reyes to be a member of Blackwatch. And uh, during that time she had relationships with the Blackwatch crew – McCree, Genji – they all have their own sort of likes and dislikes for each other. Reyes wanted someone could help advise him on, uh, some matters of genetics that he was, uh, interested in, shall we say.” – Michael Chu, 3:47 (https://youtu.be/HsJU3PEk9JY?t=227)
2. “In the present day, Moira has allied herself with Talon now that Overwatch is gone. When you think about Moira’s goals, figuring out these building blocks of human evolution, and her need to like push forward science at any cost, that really meshes well with the goal of Talon – and so she has found new patrons, like Doomfist.” – Michael Chu, 4:20 (eyyyyyyy) (https://youtu.be/HsJU3PEk9JY?t=260)
3. “Currently, in addition to her duties as a scientist for Talon, Moira was also invited by the Ministers of Oasis to become their Minister of Genetics, and so she is basically leading up their genetic research at the city – and this [referring to her Oasis skin] is what she’d wear when she’s over there.” – Michael Chu, 11:12 (https://youtu.be/HsJU3PEk9JY?t=672) (I KNEW shady stuff was going down in Oasis).
4. Geoff Goodman: “It [Her Fade ability] has some similarities to Reaper’s wraith form…uh which is…it’s funny how that works out.” Michael Chu: “You know, we obviously – there’s a…there’s a close relationship between Moira and Reyes-slash-Reaper, and I think one of the fun things we were able to do is to sort of hint at some of those things in her, uh, abilities.” Geoff Goodman: “She’s helping Reaper out and is like, ‘You know, I think I could make this better, I have an idea.’” Michael Chu: “Professional relationship.” Geoff Goodman: “Ahaha, yes…good call.” Michael Chu: “You know what I’m talking about.” [Whole panel laughs] – Time: 14:49 (https://youtu.be/HsJU3PEk9JY?t=889)
Moira: The name Moira is a given name of Greek origin, deriving from μοῖρα, meaning “destiny, share, fate”.
I’ve already seen people asking me when my essay is going to happen and I need to be completely honest with you guys:
This has been one of the most stressful weeks of my life in a very long time. I do not have the energy – physical or emotional – to write a full essay at this moment. I have, however, already seen people making mistakes on where Moira stands in the lore, and I want to clarify some of those:
Timeline: Moira was only a part of Blackwatch for less than a full year – its final year (aka, the final year of Overwatch).
In Moira’s Origin story, we see Moira testing on Gabriel Reyes. There is a look of fear, of terror in his eyes as smoke rises from his body… The very smoke that will drift off his skin non-stop in the future as he becomes “Reaper”
Gabe came to Moira in search of power…in search of gaining an advantage. As a previous subject to the Super Soldier Enhancement program, he was already powerful…but not quite as powerful as Jack Morrison, Overwatch’s “poster child.”
Moira, desperate to advance her technology at any cost, knew this would happen. While unsure of how her technology would react with the Super Soldier Enhancement, she did not tell Gabe everything. She would not just give him an advantage.
She would make him into an advantage.
Why Gabe?
Experimenting on Gabe would allow Moira to understand her technology better, as the only trials she’d conducted had been on animals, such as rabbits.
Did Moira test on herself? She was ready to…yet experimenting with death had no returns. Fearful for her own sake, she tested on Gabe to get a better grasp of her technology, so she could perfect it.
This led to Gabriel Reyes losing his form, possibly even dying. He went to Mercy to be healed, to be saved.
Yet Gabriel Reyes could not be saved. Instead, he became Reaper and was born anew with a passionate hatred for Overwatch, the very organization that pushed him to become what he was.
With the experiments on Gabriel complete, Moira finally gained a better understanding of her work. Seeing Reaper consume health from others, she learned how to perfect her own abilities to heal into a more concentrated stream while dealing damage.
With Reaper’s teleportation and drift, she learned how to concentrate her powers enough to allow her fade ability.
Moira used Gabe to advance herself.
And with Gabriel Reyes’s death and birth as Reaper, Moira was able to become who she was;
“…But there were others in the shadows, searching for ways to circumvent their rules. Freed from my shackles, the pace of our research hastened. Together, we delved deeper into those areas forbidden by law. By morality. And by fear.”
Little theory here! I could be wrong though, so keep that in mind. I think that Gabriel may have wanted the Soldier Enhancement Program for Blackwatch/Overwatch. It would 100% help them. So, he went to Moira- the Blackwatch support. We already know Moira is shady. She isn’t a good guy here, no matter which way you look at it.
Her peers didn’t like her ethical shortcomings, which leads us to be that she may have experimented on omnics and humans and used possibly harmful methods. For example, she could have unwillingly tested on people and omnics (especially omnics since they are considered to be ‘below’ by some people) and used possibly illegal drugs and shit like that.
Anyway, I think Gabe possibly went to her and asked her to help reverse engineer the SEP so he could get ahold of it and use it on other agents. If not that, maybe he wanted to remove it’s hold on him. Moira could have done just that- but did a bit extra without Gabe’s consent.
You see here that she is eager, while he is obviously confused. This is just before he starts to get his little reaper wisps. He isn’t happy. This isn’t what he wanted. If it was an accident, wouldn’t Moira be more concerned?
Further more, Moira is in the same costume as Mercy but her “halo” is broken and she has horns which could represent being evil. Also, as you know Moira is Irish. In Irish folklore, they have a feminine creature called a Banshee that can predict and bring death. They typically look like this.
If you notice, the hand Moira has on Gabe’s shoulder sort of looks like this. Seeing she is Irish and has made Gabe into Reaper, I think this whole banshee ties help solidify what she did was on purpose and intended.
Now, as for Mercy and Gabe’s hostility towards her? Maybe she had promised to help and tried to, but only made things worse. It isn’t exactly clear but he is hostile towards her and puts her to blame for some of it. It is confirmed though from the video that Moira did do this to Gabe, and this entire post is just a back up to solidify it and try to give a motive.
Stop talking and start doing: My Fallout Shelter for my Tumblr blog 