Pharah

Pharah
Overwatch character
Pharah's appearance in Overwatch
First game	Overwatch (2016)
Created by	Geoff Goodman[1]
Designed by	Justin Thavirat[1]
Voiced by	Jen Cohn[2]
In-universe information
Class	Damage
Nationality	Egyptian

Pharah, real name Fareeha Amari, is a character who first appears in the 2016 video game Overwatch, a Blizzard Entertainment-developed first-person shooter. Voiced by Jen Cohn, she is an Egyptian woman trying to follow in her mother's footsteps, enlisting in a military unit and helping to defend her local community, going by the call sign "Pharah". She later joins the restored peace-keeping force Overwatch alongside her mother and childhood friend. In a 2023 short story by Blizzard, the character was revealed to be a lesbian.

She was one of the first characters added to Overwatch during its development, after complications arose when trying to implement a different character. Conceived by Geoff Goodman as a male character with a rocket launcher and a Jetpack, the character was originally named "Rocket Dude" and went through multiple iterations and names during development, before Blizzard decided to make the character female instead, utilizing a design by Justin Thavirat as a guide to develop her look.

Video game media and academic writers have mixed feelings on Pharah's characterization, with the portrayal of her various ethnic backgrounds and representation of women being considerably discussed. Depicted as half-Egyptian and half-Indigenous Canadian, some have viewed Pharah's portrayal through a white voice actress and Indigenous-themed skins in-game as unfavorable. Blizzard's lack of development in the way of Pharah's official narrative elements has also been lamented, while many fan-generated depictions of the character have emerged and been discussed by various media outlets.