You are not right to call them fictional groups or not real groups , that ' s just wrong , but I get what you are saying . There ' s still people practicing Norse mythology , that ' s not extinct . Yes , they are not many , but they sure aren ' t extinct . Why is that not offensive ? The old Egyptian mythology is still a huge part of Egyptian culture , why isn ' t Zenyatta ' s Ra skin offensive ? Yes , I know Symmetra is Indian , that wasn ' t the point . Like I said , Kali is being worshipped today . Wouldn ' t you think that reducing Kali to a video game skin would be offensive to Kali ' s worshippers ? That was the point . And fwiw Indian ! Hindu . This is what I mean about cherrypicking though , you started out saying those that reference current or past ethnic groups have a purpose related to their characters . Now you are saying that extinct cultures or mythologies don ' t count . And you seem to think that Pharah ' s skins are the only ones that can be considered offensive . Why would Zenyatta randomly have an unrelated ethnic group ' s art as part of his armor without any sort of connection ? Or Mercy ? Even though vikings are extinct , the heritage and art are still a part of Scandinavian culture . Why does the fact that vikings don ' t exist in our world anymore mean that Mercy ' s skin isn ' t meant to be a lore hint ? I could say the exact same thing about Pharah that you are saying about Widowmaker . Pharah has skins referencing the Thunderbird because of her aerial strength and her great skills as a fighter . Also Thunderbirds were often portrayed as as having an extra head on their abdomen , just like how it looks like a head shape on Pharah ' s chest . Why do you think that other similar skins are just skins , but you think Pharah ' s skins mean something more ? Why do you think that Pharah ' s skins are the only ones that can be considered offensive ? Source on Reaper ? What is his confirmed connection to his skin ? Afaik we know that he was born in Los Angeles , and not much more about his heritage .