jessejackreyes:

My favorite exchange in Junkenstein’s revenge

Soldier: What drives a man to such madness?

Archer: To be tested… and to fail

The reason I really like this little exchange is because it is a very succinct and powerful encapsulation of Hanzo’s character. It is also something that a lot of people miss when writing him. It is not the fact that he killed his brother that is the problem, not really. That night he was tested, a test of his character, and when it mattered the most he failed. He made the wrong choice and it killed Genji and destroyed him.

That is why Genji not being dead doesn’t matter. The depths of his shame come from his personal failure and do not abate because his attempts to kill Genji failed by pure luck. He is still the person that chose to kill his brother, that failed this test.

The crux of his character is this personal failure and what it means to him, how he reacts to it and eventually to Genji.