Some Overwatch fans are pretty sure they’ve figured out what the next hero will be based on an short lore post that dropped yesterday, as well as some promotional images floating through the internet.




Yesterday, Blizzard dropped a new bit of lore relating to a new character, Efi Oladele, an eleven year-old inventor from Numbani. The interview certainly seems to be teasing something—the unnamed interviewer asked Efi what she’ll be doing with her grant money and she says, “Oh… I have an idea…”

But according to some fans, that’s basically enough information to glean exactly who the new hero would be. It’s not an adult Efi, who lead Overwatch writer Michael Chu has confirmed is definitely eleven in present day Overwatch, but instead her as of yet unannounced robot, Anchora, which is a spider shaped tank.


A spider shaped robot has appeared twice before, so this speculation isn’t entirely baseless. It’s appeared once in Sombra’s origin story video, pretty clearly in the lower left hand corner, connected to an image of Doomfist’s gauntlet.

This spider tank also appeared in promotional images in the background of panels during Blizzcon. In this panel, you can see it in the upper right hand corner at about 11:25.


This image reappeared today during Blizzard’s DICE Summit presentation.


Some fans also point to a 4Chan post that correctly predicted the Year of the Rooster event for the Lunar New Year. This post also said that the next hero would be a tank named Anchora, with a West African accent. YouTuber Hammeh is quick to point out that this might not be the most reliable source.

According to Hammeh, the 4Chan post also said to expect New Year’s skins for Genji and Hanzo and that the Year of the Rooster event would not be a major event, just skins. On the other hand, Hammeh points out that the lore of Numbani, a city with mech and human coexistence, lends some credence to the theory. So far the only concrete link the spider robot design has to lore is through the Sombra short, where it’s connected to Doomfist, a character from Numbani. While some fans are excited for the prospect of Doomfist being the new hero, Jeff Kaplan has said that the new hero “is not who you think it is,” which he repeated today at their DICE Summit presentation. So why not an eleven year old and her spider robot?


It’s always interesting to watch fans try to untangle new information from even the tiniest bits of new lore. The theories about Anchora are pretty fascinating regardless of whether or not they turn out to real. In any case, Efi Oladele is a fun addition to the overall Overwatch story, and it’ll be cool to see how she fits in as more is revealed.