Medic (Team Fortress 2)

The Medic is one of the nine playable classes in Team Fortress 2. 
==Canon==
The Medic, AKA Herbert Ludwig,The Naked and the Dead, pg. 208. Image from the official TF2 Wiki. is a mad doctor from StuttgartThe Medic (official class profile). Valve. and/or Rottenberg,Two Cities update: Rottenburg. Valve, Nov. 20th, 2013. Germany, implied to be one in a long line of mad doctors from the town. His actual medical credentials are unknown; some official material questions whether he had legitimate medical training. In the "Meet the Medic" trailer,"Meet the Medic", Valve, June 23rd, 2011. Medic claims to have had a medical license which he lost after an incident in which a patient's skeleton went missing. 
Medic spends much of his time in the TF2 comics working for the Team Fortress Classic mercenaries, though he ultimately betrays them and appears to have been plotting against them all along. At one point Medic sold his soul to the Devil, and later surgically attached eight more souls to his own, giving the devil only partial ownership of his soul (a loophole he uses to trick the Devil into letting him come back to life). 
==Fandom==
Medic is a popular character in TF2 fanworks. As of January 2024, he has been tagged in over 4200 works on Archive of Our Own and over 600 works on FanFiction.Net. He often takes a supporting role in fics, sometimes (along with Engineer) acting as a vessel for exposition. 
As is the case for most of the characters of TF2, Medic has been given his fair share of fanon names over the years."TF2: What is the Medic's Real Name? (Evidence & Headcanons)". SkyminSlash, December 18th, 2016. In 2017 it was revealed via the comic "The Naked and the Dead" that his name was Mr. Ludwig; at the time it was not explicit whether this was a given name or surname, and fans had differing opinions over which it was, or even if it was both:
A sign advertising "Humboldt's Pharmacy" in the in-game map of his hometown of Rottenburg has led to some believing that his surname is Humboldt, making his full name Mr. Ludwig Humboldt. He is also sometimes given the name "Josef" (a common male German given name) or "Fritz" (taken from one of Soldier's voicelines).Soldier responses (Official TF2 Wiki). The "Dominating a Medic" section contains this voiceline. 
In December 2024, following the release of the seventh and final mainline TF2 comic, a fan posted an email from writer Jay Pinkerton stating that Medic's full name was Herbert Ludwig.MEDIC'S NAME HAS BEEN REVEALED!!! from opalcherrykitt on Reddit. This reveal was met with mixed reactions by the fanbase. 
Medic is sometimes depicted in fanworks as having a split personality of sorts; this is likely in part inspired by the "Second Opinion" cosmetic, which splits his face in two and gives him new voice lines.Second Opinion (Official TF2 Wiki). This idea has been expanded upon by the fan film Emesis Blue, in which Medic's inner struggle defines his character arc. The film's release has resulted in a wave of fanart depicting this version of Medic (named Dr. Fritz Ludwig in the film), almost all of it angsty in nature. 
As is the case with many of the mercs, Medic's characterization in various fanworks has long been a sore spot for many fans. Complaints have been made about the "woobification" of Medic, as have complaints about him being characterized as uniquely sadistic or uncaring towards his team. 
===Headcanons===
Given the Medic's relatively murky backstory, several headcanons relating to him have taken root in the fandom over the years. 
====Sexuality====
Medic is frequently headcanoned as being gay, often in conjunction with the headcanon that he and Heavy are in an intimate relationship. There is one voiceline in which Demoman brags about having sex with Medic’s wife;Demoman responses (Official TF2 Wiki); the "Dominating a Medic" section contains this voiceline. this is the only time any character references Medic having a spouse in canon (assuming that the in-game voicelines are canon), and fans are divided on whether it is proof of Medic actually being married. Naturally, some fans have created works which feature Medic's alleged wife.Comic by vesper-stardust, circa 2013. This comic features Medic's wife and directly references Demo's voiceline.
====Where was Medic During WWII?====
Given that Medic is from Germany and is implied to be at least 50 years old in 1972 by one line from the comics, some fans have speculated that Medic may have been affiliated with either the German military or Nazi Party before and/or during WWII. Many fanworks, such as the popular early longfic Respawn of the Dead, depict Medic as an ex-Nazi. Some visual fanworks draw on Nazi imagery when depicting Medic, such as the SFM Be Prepared and numerous pieces of fanart.Search results for "nazi medic tf2" on DeviantArt This query brings up several examples of Nazi!Medic art.. This trope is quite controversial within the fandom, and many authors explicitly state that the versions of Medic they write are not and were never Nazis (the “Medic Is Not A Nazi” tag has been used 18 times on AO3). 
Multiple unofficial sources have made the claim that someone who worked at or for Valve had gone on the record to say that Medic is not a Nazi.List of references (Medic), a page on the official TF2 wiki. The "Responses" section of this outdated version of the page includes the claim that Valve has stated that Medic is not a Nazi. The claim is not sourced.TV Tropes, Word of God page. This page contains an unsourced quote related to the Nazi!Medic discourse. The existence of an official source for this claim has not been verified. The claim may originate from a user on TF2chan who visited Valve's offices in 2010.Thread on TF2chan, possible origin of the "Valve says Medic was never a Nazi" claim. 
====Jewish Medic====
A headcanon that has gained some traction in recent years is that Medic is Jewish. Supporters of this headcanon sometimes point to the instrumental track ArchimedesArchimedes (Soundtrack) on the Official TF2 Wiki. (named after Medic's pet dove), which features Klezmer-style music, as evidence that Medic was intended to be read as an Ashkenazi Jew. The headcanon has found a home in many fanworks (as of January 2024 there are 21 works on AO3 which use the "Jewish Medic (Team Fortress 2)" tag), though it is not without controversy of its own, especially due to how often it is used as a direct counter to the aforementioned Nazi!Medic headcanon. 
===Pairings===
By far the most popular pairing featuring Medic is Heavy/Medic (AKA Red Oktoberfest), which is also the most popular pairing in the TF2 fandom. This ship is based on the often-close relationship of Medics and Heavys in gameplay (as a Medic can continuously heal and eventually Übercharge a Heavy while the Heavy acts as a shield for the Medic). 
Medic has been shipped with every playable character in the game, and there are currently over 50 works on AO3 alone in which Medic is shipped with himself. Other popular Medic ships include Medic/Sniper (AKA Bush Medicine) and Medic/Scout (AKA QuickFix). Medic is the most popular mercenary for self-shipping (with almost 300 works tagged Medic/Reader on AO3 and likely hundreds more across other sites). 
==Example Fanworks==
===Art===
* dolls by qqqkrolek
* Fritzzzzzz by snip-stein
* Jewish Medic truthing by king-casino
* meddicccc by sturner-artblog
* Medic by breaddildo
* Reanimator by Py-Bun
===Fic===
* Acceptable Losses by RayClubs
* Schwarzsauer by Gonturan0
===Vids===
====SFM====
* Emesis Blue; Medic is one of the protagonists of this feature-length horror film, and is the character most often used in the film's promotional material. 
* Healirious, a Saxxy Award-winning short by Malmoo
* Medic's Kritzkrieg~♪ by Avital Shtapura, featuring the parody song Medic - Kritzkrieg (My Milkshake) by Spunky Dunk
* Medic's School for Medics by A Dummie, using audio from TF2: Med School by Door Monster
* Mr. Blue Medic by Scorpio man
====Other====
* Change the Formality by Bindy Boo
* Hell by Bird
* MEDIC! THE MUSICAL, a live-action music video by Random Encounters
* Medical Maladies by PsychoSpider
* Medic answers medical questions by TheRevDC
* medic consumes a marshmallow by (uses audio from Brooklyn Nine-Nine)
===Meta===
* TF2 trope examination: nazi medic + jewish medic by scumsuck
==Resources==
* Medic on the Official TF2 Wiki
* Medic (Team Fortress 2) on AO3
* Medic works on FanFiction.Net
* medic tf2 and tf2 medic on DeviantArt
* medic tf2 and tf2 medic on Tumblr
==References==
Category:Team Fortress 2 Characters