Widowmaker/Mercy

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Pairing
Pairing: Amélie Lacroix/Dr. Angela Ziegler
Alternative name(s): Mercymaker
Gender category: Femslash, f/f
Fandom: Overwatch
Canonical?: non canon
Prevalence: moderately common
Archives:
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Widowmaker/Mercy is a femslash pairing in the Overwatch fandom between Amélie Lacroix and Angela Ziegler.

Canon

Widowmaker is a French sniper and assassin working for Talon. She was kidnapped and brainwashed into being a sleeper agent, who then murdered her own husband, Gérard Lacroix. She returned to Talon afterwards and was trained and physiology altered to be the perfect emotionless killer that has been working for them ever since. Her civilian name is Amélie Lacroix (née Guillard) and she is 33 years old in the current timeline.[1]

Mercy is a 37-year old doctor and field medic from Switzerland and goes by the civilian name of Dr. Angela Ziegler. Due to her past and current affiliation with Overwatch, she is working against Talon and thus against Widowmaker.[2]

It is not known whether Widowmaker and Mercy have met in the canon lore. It is possible but unconfirmed that they have known each other through Gérard Lacroix, Widowmaker's ex-husband, who was an agent in old Overwatch. With Tracer, one of Overwatch's current agents, witnessing Widowmaker's assassination of Shambali leader Mondatta[3], it is also likely that Overwatch and by extension Mercy are aware of her operations within Talon.

Fandom

The oldest available fanfic of Widowmaker/Mercy on AO3 was published on 15 May 2016.[4] Given the lack of canon substance, the ship's growth remained moderate so that it was considered a Rare pair for a long time. This pairing can also be considered a rival to shippers who would rather see Mercy and Widowmaker in other relationships, most notably in the two femslash flagship pairings of Overwatch that are Pharah/Mercy and Widowmaker/Tracer. While this ship thus struggles to reach the mainstream popularity of others, it has however grown to be an established niche pairing within the Overwatch femslash community.

As of 25 Oct 2018, the Widowmaker/Mercy tag on AO3 listed 313 published works.[5] Among femslash Overwatch pairings it is thus moderately successful. It falls behind big pairings such as Pharah/Mercy (2169 works) and Widowmaker/Tracer (1149 works) but has overtaken other established ships such as Zarya/Mei (278 works) and Symmetra/Sombra (258 works).

Despite the lack of canon material to work with, there are several factors that contribute to the ship's popularity:

  • In the game Widowmaker has several voice lines that are exclusively directed at a friendly Mercy. The most popular ones are "You must like me." when Widowmaker is being damage-boosted and "You must really like me." when she is being resurrected.[6] Those lines are said in a very flirtatious manner that has gained the interest of many shippers. Among Widowmaker/Mercy shippers, they remain trademark phrases and are a foundation to headcanons of the usual emotionless Widowmaker acting flirty and charming around a flustered Mercy.
  • As a caring, supportive medic and as a ruthless assassin they represent life and death. Mercy can resurrect allies whereas Widowmaker can kill them with a single shot. This Ying and Yang contrast is a staple trope of shippers in all fandoms.
  • Likewise, it is a common trope that Mercy could help Widowmaker recovering from Talon's brainwashing and returning to a normal life.
  • In the game's competitive meta they have strong synergies with each other. Mercy can use Widowmaker's sniper positions to fly back to safety and heal or damage-boost her as needed. If Widowmaker is killed, this happens usually in remote locations so that Mercy can resurrect her easily without risking her own life. A deadly hero with a high killing potential like Widowmaker thus becomes even more threatening with a Mercy and can be extremely hard to kill.[7]
  • This ship is also of interest to fans who like seeing two more feminine women together, as opposed to other pairings that usually have one "strong" and one "soft" type.

Further popular headcanons:

  • Widowmaker and Mercy knowing each other during the times of old Overwatch before Amélie was brainwashed. They are often portrayed as friends or as lovers even, while the matter of Amélie being married to Gérard can be handled in different ways. This can lead to Angst fanfics that have Amélie either cheat on Gérard or break Angela's heart over her unwillingness to leave Gérard for her. Other solutions include an AU in which Gérard does not exist.
  • Mercy as a doctor helping Widowmaker to break free from Talon and to recover from her brainwashing while also helping her to cope with the guilt of her past deeds.
  • A reformed Widowmaker helping Overwatch after leaving Talon or an AU where she was never with Talon and went to work with Overwatch/Blackwatch instead.
  • Based on their in-game Halloween event skins Widowmaker is also often portrayed as a vampire and Mercy respectively as a witch in a medieval setting.
  • Smut and adult themes are popular between the two attractive and mature women. As of 29 Oct 2018, over 41% of their works on AO3 were tagged as mature or explicit.[8]

Notable Fan works

Fanfiction

Examples of Angela and Amélie knowing each other while Amélie was still married

Examples of Mercy helping Widowmaker recover from Talon

Examples of Widowmaker working with Overwatch

Examples of Vampire/Witch AUs

Examples of smut fanfics

Fanart

Fanbooks

  • Instict, an explicit 25-page comic by danjiddg, sold as a PDF in English or as a physical copy in Chinese
  • Closer, a Chinese fanbook with fanfics by 滬Alfen and illustrations by danjiddg and ckenjo
  • The War, a collaboration with different fanarts and Chinese fanfics
  • Drink, a fanart collaboration between international artists that was sold at a Japanese convention. An English release is in the works.

Archives & Communities

References

  1. ^ PlayOverwatch: Widowmaker's story
  2. ^ PlayOverwatch: Mercy's story
  3. ^ Overwatch animated short movie: Alive
  4. ^ Archive of Our Own: Cold by Desdimonda
  5. ^ Archive of Our Own: Works tagged as Widowmaker/Mercy
  6. ^ Widowmaker: In-Game Quotes
  7. ^ How Mercy enables Widowmaker in the game's competitive meta
  8. ^ [1]
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