The reason why tf2 medic loves doves so much is much more sadder and wholesome than you think...
let me explain...
Did you know archimedes wasn't actually medic's first dove? He had like 3 doves before that... 2 female and 1 male. The females are named loipa and hanakapo, the male one is called makoi. They were like friends... they're named after the 3 baby angels of the Aluna goddess, who was the original indigenous bavarian predecessor of the greek/roman aphrodite.
Medic was from the last surviving indigenous bavarian tribe who sadly got effected by the Austrian ethnic cleansing law... he loves doves and pigeons so much, he worshipped them because medic and his family were pretty loyal to their indigenous roots, especially medic, because it's part of his traditions...especially after they died in a fire when he was only 5...
Because of the death of his biological parents, he loves doves, appreciates them, and he even worships them, more than before... that's why he doesn't eat poultry, beef, eggs, and even alcohol...
After medic was kidnapped by the Austrian government, got punched by a nazi, and lost his medical license, he finally escaped with heavy, who returned him home, medic found an injured newborn baby dove who was crying in front of his dead mother, he told him that an evil austrian pope killed his mom, kidnapped him, and he forced him to fly in a nazi couple's wedding despite him being too young to fly... medic cried, and he rescued the baby dove, and ran away from the angry nazi couple... along with that, he rescued over 1000 newborn doves from a burning dove orphanage ran by an old man, thankfully both the doves and the old man are ok, but sadly, medic cried... because the newborn doves reminded him of his 5 out of 20 dead adoptive children that died in his arms, they died because of the drugs that the Soviets gave them, which gave them some weird diseases, thankfully the rest weren't affected, and they left their adoptive gay fathers who took care of them for over 20 years...
Fun fact, 2 of the children that medic and heavy adopted in 1942 from the gulag were Olivia mann's biological parents, both were of Belarusian and Ukrainian (her mom was Ukrainian, and her dad was Belarusian) heritage, which means medic and heavy are olivia man's adoptive gay grandfathers!!! Sadly, her biological parents (2 of medic and heavy's adoptive children) were killed by the robots during the mvm timeline...
Medic took them to the vets with heavy, the vet said they're all ok, and he said that there's 505 male doves, and 505 female doves, along with that, he vaccinated them, and he knew that medic was poor, so he did it for free, even though heavy is rich, he felt bad for his poor and homeless husband...
Medic literally cried a lot when classic heavy killed archimedes, thankfully medic saved him by using a healing syringe with sniper's donated blood to revive him, archimedes is happy that medic revived him... that scene made my eyes water like crazy because of how heartbreaking it was...
Also, heavy and medic literally named archimedes "archimedes" because of the dying orphaned redhead kid that they met while being locked in the gulag in 1942, he was a young greek boy named "Lukas "archimedes" spartekus", he sadly died of a drug-related disease in front of them because of the Soviets, medic especially loved that kid, and he wanted to adopt him... medic saw him drawing a cute scribble of him and medic of him while they were locked in the same room, which made medic cry. He also met him because medic gave that little boy a piece of milk soaked bread slices because he was hungry and he felt bad for him, despite medic being mute... medic was like a mother to him... despite them meeting each other for only 5 hours until his death, they had such a sweet, wholesome, and even heartbreaking bonding... medic hugged lukas, until he coughed, and passed out while blood came out of his mouth. Medic hugged him with tears in his eyes, and he put his drawing on the wall in heavy's house.
So for short, medic's love for doves and pigeons is rooted in his indigenous culture, his childhood, his trauma, and even his love for doves... he loves doves because they remind him of his 5 dead adoptive children that died in his arms, and the dead little boy that he bonded with for 5 hours, until his death.
Medic not only loves doves for being cute, but he also loves them for cultural, religious, wholesome, and heartbreaking reasons...
Anyways, here's a sketch of medic at age 4, cuddling his first dove, her name is loipa!!!
Pretty cute, isn't it?
And no, loving a rescue bird like a child isn't unhinged, in fact it's wholesome...
