Overwatch 2’s 41st hero, Juno, is playable this weekend for a limited time, and fans have already unearthed a surprising bit of lore about the purple-haired space cadet healer and Mei.
Overwatch is filled with voice lines that flesh out lore from its myriad of maps as well as relationships between heroes and villains. It’s just not every character’s death throw voice line would reveal a possible familial tie. Apparently, eliminating Mei as Juno triggers a voice-over exchange in which the Martian hero says, “Sorry, Auntie!” in response to Mei’s dying gasp.
This tidbit of gameplay lore is significant not only in that it might confirm the hero shooter’s fourth familial tie among its heroes, but it also seems to debunk a key fan theory about Juno’s identity.
AUNTIE?! pic.twitter.com/LYlwwoVNCu
— Hazelet (@HazeletOW) July 19, 2024
Juno and Jiayi
Late last year, a r/Overwatch thread theorized that Juno—then known as Space Ranger—was a woman named Jiayi. According to the thread’s original poster, Mei had a new voice line that would trigger while at Lijiang Control Center, where she would reminisce over a friend named Jiaya, who she went to grad school with.
Seeing as how this voice line cropped up a month prior to Juno’s reveal at Blizzcon 2023, fans quickly began theorizing that Jiayi was the government name for Juno. At the time, the theory seemed solid, considering Lijiang is the location of Overwatch 2’s in-universe Chinese space station, and Juno’s whole gimmick is that she’s an astronaut hailing from Mars.
This theory took on new life a day before Juno’s limited-time release when X/Twitter user Pampurins posited that Jiayi could actually be the name of Juno’s mother. Pampurin’s revised theory sounds like it's right on the money thanks to the newly discovered voice line interaction.
JUNO ELIM LINE ON MEI!
“(gasp) Sorry Auntie!” pic.twitter.com/UQz6656LiU
— Shroomiiee (@mushroomiiee) July 19, 2024
While the voice line appears to be considered hard proof that the two are aunt and niece, there’s also a high probability that it is also just a term of endearment, seeing as how the word aunt is commonly used to address older women. IGN has reached out to Blizzard for comment. Regardless, players will likely get an earful of the special voice line interaction during Juno’s weekend of play before her full release comes Season 12 on August 20.
Isaiah Colbert is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow them on Twitter @ShinEyeZehUhh.
