Reinhardt is a German soldier and one of the best heroes in Overwatch. He’s also a tank, which means he’s supposed to be the main guy you attack when you’re playing offense in a game. But there’s a problem: Reinhardt doesn’t speak German. In fact, he only speaks English.

Why? Because it makes him more relatable to players all over the world.

“We thought of Reinhardt as a character who had been around forever,” Overwatch lead writer Michael Chu told Polygon during an interview at BlizzCon last year. “He was fighting in World War II alongside Winston and other heroes of Overwatch.”

Chu said that it made sense for Reinhardt to have been around during both World Wars — but that it didn’t make sense for him to speak German now when so many other characters don’t speak their native language either.

“There’s no real reason why our hero should be speaking German except for the fact that he wears a big helmet and we wanted him to feel like an old guy,” Chu said. “But if you think about it, this is a character who grew up in Germany and came from another country [to fight] against Nazis.”

Last modified: November 21, 2022