Overwatch 2: Sojourn's Origins Explained
The "Overwatch" franchise might seem like it doesn't focus much on the story to the casual observer. Most players who drop into the game experience it without learning much about the events that led to the Overwatch organization's founding or the reason they fight. Many will simply get into a lobby, choose a character, and immediately drop into an arena where the bullets start flying.
While "Overwatch 2" plans to eventually offer a campaign that may help orient fans with the lore, no one's entirely sure when it will make its way to the game. Despite this, the "Overwatch" franchise has a fairly complex backstory that is rich with detail hidden in materials outside the game. Most of the backstory for the "Overwatch" franchise is told through animated shorts, comic books, and sources that Blizzard has distributed elsewhere. These explain the history of the Overwatch organization, how it was founded to guard humanity against rogue AI called Omnics, and how it all but vanished after group infighting tarnished the organization's reputation.
Sometimes these materials focus on overarching plot points for the story as a whole, but they more often focus on the development of individual characters. For example, through one of these animated shorts, players learned the origins of the newest character in "Overwatch 2," Sojourn.
Sojourn was there during the Omnic Crisis
The official "Overwatch" YouTube channel has posted a video titled "Sojourn Origin Story" that introduces Acting Commander Vivian Chase, AKA Sojourn. It is set during a meeting of the International Justice Commission, where she is asked questions about her affiliation with Overwatch, allowing the character to introduce herself and explain how she became a team member.
"My unit of the Canadian Special Forces teamed up with Overwatch during the Omnic Crisis," she said. "Jack Morrison and I worked well together, and after the war, he reached out." When asked what duties she performed, Sojourn explained that sometimes she led operations in the field and other times she commanded them, but that her primary concern was to ensure that everyone made it back safely. She closed by stating, "it was the honor of a lifetime serving with Overwatch, but you can love a thing with your whole heart and still know it's time to say goodbye. Even the best journeys end, but a new one is right around the corner and you never know where that road is going to take you." This dialogue seems to offer a bit of background for Sojourn while explaining why she wasn't a member of the in-game roster until now.
Sojourn already knows a lot of the characters
So, where does Sojourn fit in the larger "Overwatch" narrative? Knowing that her Canadian Special Forces unit worked with Overwatch during the Omnic Crisis tells fans that she first started interacting with the team roughly 30 years before the first game's events. She also mentioned working with Jack Morrison, one of Overwatch's original leaders, alongside Gabriel Reyes. This would have been before the events that led to the group's split, where Reyes became the antagonistic mercenary Reaper, and Morrison became the jaded vigilante Soldier: 76.
It's unclear precisely at what point Sojourn joined Overwatch, other than it was after the war. It's also unclear when she chose to leave. However, the trailer specifically shows her leading operations with Tracer, Mercy, Genji, and Winston, so fans can deduce a rough timeline based on when these characters' time on the team would overlap. It will be interesting to learn how Sojourn's relationship with these characters has held up, especially now that some of them, like Morrison, have changed so much. Fans interested in filling in the gaps may have to wait until the "Overwatch 2" campaign is available or for Blizzard to release more animated shorts.
For now, the story of "Overwatch" stealthily continues out-of-game with the addition of one of the franchise's newest characters.