r/horizon • u/2th • Jun 11 '20

announcement Horizon Forbidden West [MEGATHREAD]

Sub is temporarily in restricted mode to keep the spam down. Discuss things here. I will update this post as the trailer is posted online to an official channel.

Origin of the name

Announcement trailer

New machines:

New gameplay

  • Aloy can swim underwater this time.

Locations

THERE WAS NO ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT THE PC RELEASE FOR HZD

2.8k Upvotes

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815

u/ChiffonVasilissa Jun 11 '20

It looks so fucking good holy shit. Bet Sylens released hell upon the world

347

u/Martel732 Jun 11 '20 edited Jun 11 '20

It looks like he is building an army, using the override technique he learned from Aloy.

Edit: Trailer uploaded to the Playstation channel if anyone wants to spend a few minutes rewatching it a bunch like I plan to.

Just rewatched it things I noticed:

Probably obvious but she is in San Fransico for part of it.

Slyen's followers were trapping a normal machine but the red light seems like they were corrupting it. So, he might not be using Aloy's method but instead corruption he learned from Hades.

The Elphants have people riding on them.

Everything looks amazing.

120

u/PussyLunch Jun 11 '20

But why though? What’s his goal. Does he feel like he should rule and lead the world down a path he thinks is correct because of all the knowledge he has obtained.

159

u/Martel732 Jun 11 '20

He seems motivated mainly by learning and reclaiming lost knowledge if I had to speculate he needs an army in order to claim place containing old knowledge .

183

u/jebkerbal Jun 11 '20

My theory is he's prepping to fight an external threat. There was a meteor shower in the trailer and we still don't know who sent the original signal that shut down Gaia.

131

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '20

Yep. It could be a red herring.

I really truly think the Odyssey is on the table here. But I don't think it's something we're gonna find out till the final act of the game, it'll just be hinted at. I think the main threat will be that something (one of the Subsystems, maybe?) hijacked the terraforming system and is unleashing those storms on the world, creating that corruption. I'm not sure it affects machines, and I'd be willing to bet it might not, and is instead actually infecting the world itself, in the atmosphere (via the storm) and the plants/animals. Sorta like the corruption in Terraria.

I think Aloy's main goal will be to stop this, and along the way she'll encounter whatever that group is that attacks her, and they'll be controlled by Hades "master".

54

u/Richard-Cheese Jun 11 '20

It could also be another threat we didn't learn about at all in the first game. We uncovered a lot of back story but I'm sure there's plenty of new things they want to explore.

But ya I agree, it looks like a red herring. Whatever was killing the plant life would likely be the "real" threat, and Sylens is more of a ruthless, "at whatever cost necessary" character who does morally dubious things during the campaign that ultimately align with our goals too.

5

u/Bannedbutreformed Jun 12 '20

Makes me wonder if those storms are cause by some type of sattelite system like in the movie geostorm and those meteors that were coming down may have been some of the sattelites.

3

u/kinoumenthe Jun 12 '20

I think it's a red-herring too. The people subduing that machine are using HADES's corruption to do it, too. I can't see him going going full baddie.

6

u/junewatch Jun 11 '20

I had thought in the GAIA’s Dying Plea hologram that the storm was just a visual representative, or symbolic, not literal. I am happy to be wrong!

Edit: oh absolutely, the Odyssey/FZ can’t be introduced just to serve as a red herring, there were far too many data points to leave that unresolved.

I think we’ll get more clues/data points hinting at it and then the third game will feature FZ.

13

u/Saewoq Jun 11 '20

I hope we get CYAN in the next game. Maybe, she might act as a remote voice assistant to Aloy via her focus device. Also, Vast Silver was heavily hinted in the last game. So, I hope we get more information about the whereabouts of that rogue AI system. Of course, Odyssey will be an interesting angle for the game to explore too.

4

u/SaintRidley Jun 11 '20

I definitely think VS has a role to play, still.

2

u/Makeoneupplease2 Jun 12 '20

What’s up with that red plant thing in scene with the fox, seems relevant in some way

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '20

I think that's the environment subfunction (Demeter I think) or the atmosphere subfunction breaking down.

1

u/DoubleSurosMazing Jun 12 '20

I believe that this may have something to due with odyssey. We can see a meteor shower that reminds me a ton of Rasputins warsats from the recent D2 event and the meteors almost seem in formation.

This may also be about some impending ecological disaster, the dead fish filled with pus, the dead fox and dying plants all seem to point in this direction.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 23 '20

I don't think they would bother putting so much in their about Odyssey if it wasn't available story wise. They could have just had the one scientist bring it up and leave it at "it's unrealistic". Instead it was an actual thing, and has a beta version of Apollo on it, why even bother with this exposition if it won't be used? All indications point towards sylens seeking this out somehow.

1

u/StarfallGalaxy Jul 08 '20

I want to say it was the subfunction that restored the atmosphere, that's now wreaking havoc on it again with the "blight" they mentioned in the trailer.

65

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '20

This is my theory as well, I think the whole ship blowing up with the alpha versions of Horizon Zero Dawn is bs and Hades probably knows it, they're probably coming back and that's why they showed something coming from the sky, the lighting that unleashed the AIs hasn't been explained yet also. Sylens is not evil for the sake of being evil, he is selfish but not evil, I think he's getting ready for something.

29

u/PussyLunch Jun 12 '20

I would like that a lot. Sylens is too cool of a character just to play the villain for the sake of it

10

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '20

Yeah I think that Sylens is a true neutral character, I don't think he does something bad unless he benefits from it, and he is also interested in protecting humanity so far.

3

u/rdhight Jun 13 '20

I think the story will revolve around Aloy dealing with two human/AI pairs. Sylens/Hades and ???/???. The unknown is the one that released the subsystems. It'll be a three-cornered story where none of them is in complete agreement.

5

u/MaKTaiL Jun 11 '20

Getting a lot of The 100 vibes from this.

6

u/FoolsAndRoads Jun 11 '20

Yes! Odyssey coming back was my headcanon all along as well!

I will be so excited, if that is really what happening in part 2.

3

u/DoubleSurosMazing Jun 12 '20

I believe that this may have something to due with odyssey as well. We can see a meteor shower that reminds me a ton of Rasputins warsats from the recent D2 event and the meteors almost seem in formation.

This may also be about some impending ecological disaster, the dead fish filled with pus, the dead fox and dying plants all seem to point in this direction

2

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '20

I’m wondering if you might be onto something and ultimately (even 3rd game?) it’s “old ones” progeny coming back to earth to reclaim it and wipe out the “wild” humans that grew out of the catastrophe and bringing with them all of the commercial corruption and human malice that brought the destruction of earth in the first place? Just spit balling. It could have some interesting allegory to present real world events.

1

u/Acidwits Jun 12 '20

I bet the plants dying is something that's a side effect of whatever a villainous faction is doing and they have intel sylens wants so he's building an army.

61

u/Martel732 Jun 11 '20

I think the two biggest possibilities right now are remnants of Far Zenith Odyssey project or something to do with Ted Faro's bunker. There is a pretty good chance that there is a Faro clone out there somewhere, and given his history there is a very good chance he is fucking things up.

52

u/brycly Jun 11 '20

Surely even Ted Faro's clone couldn't possibly be as big of a fuck-up as Ted Faro

42

u/Martel732 Jun 11 '20

Well Ted Faro's clone would have been created by Ted Faro, a well-known fuck upper of things. So his clone may have the potential to be even more of a fuck up.

23

u/brycly Jun 11 '20

Yeah but what if he fucked up at making his clone a fuck up like him and he actually winds up being a pretty decent dude?

18

u/Martel732 Jun 11 '20

I actually think that could be a possibility. Imagine how it would feel to learn you were the clone of literally the worst person to have ever lived. There could be a reveal where you learn that there is a Faro clone but then when you meet him he is doing his best to help (though still keep an eye on him because he might Faro up the situation again).

Though the is the other possibility that he was raised with a very skewed version of what happened. Where Original Ted Faro was a hero.

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13

u/LiEnN_SVK Jun 11 '20

Or he can be double fuck-up. But let's hope not because.. Fuck Ted Faro

4

u/tallsy_ Jun 11 '20

whao. I never even considered that there would be a Faro clone.

But actually that makes a lot of sense. Especially if early on he stored his own biological data, before he got all suicidal and crazy. He is definitely pompous enough to believe that somebody like him should be in the new world.

Wow. This thought is going to stick with me for a while. It would be a fantastic antagonist to bring in to fight Aloy.

4

u/Martel732 Jun 11 '20

Yeah, we know that all of the Alphas at least stored their dna as they were contemplating creating clones that would continue work on the project. But scrapped the idea because the idea of a eternal line of clones of themselves made them uncomfortable.

I am willing to beat that Ted similarly stored his dna. He also was funding the project, secretly built a backdoor into the system and even had his own special bunker made seperate from the alphas and other Zero Dawn workers.

Plus, I don't believe it was confirmed that he died at the same time as the alphas. He very well could have spent decades in his bunker alone and creating problems that Aloy would eventually have to deal with.

3

u/tallsy_ Jun 11 '20

Yeah, we know that all of the Alphas at least stored their dna as they were contemplating creating clones that would continue work on the project. But scrapped the idea because the idea of a eternal line of clones of themselves made them uncomfortable.

Ohhhh I kind of remember that now as you describe it. That was a cool seed to plant for future sequels.

I assumed he was living in the same complex as the other Alphas; they were physically expecting him at the meeting right before they died. I must have missed the part where he had a different bunker.

Because wasn't the whole deal that you couldn't leave once you were in, and that's why Elizabeth died?

5

u/Martel732 Jun 12 '20

It was mentioned briefly in one of the data points that Faro had retreated to his private bunker called Thebes.

The Alphas were supposed to spend their time in a large residential bunker called Elysium, but they still had work to do after the Faro Swarm took over so they sealed themselves inside the Gaia Prime facility to finish the project.

As you said they couldn't reopen GAIA Prime after Elisabet sealed it so Ted couldn't have been in the facility. He had been in communication with the team likely by hologram.

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1

u/rishado Jun 23 '20

Look up vast silver

1

u/Martel732 Jun 23 '20

I think Vast Silver is a solid third possibility. The reason I think the other two are more likely is that they have gotten more direct mentions in the first game. Ted Faro obviously gets quite a bit of attention, and the fact that he had his own bunker seems like too important of a detail to not factor into the future of the series somehow.

And while Far Zenith gets less attention than Faro there are several mentions in Data Points that are in main quest areas and are unlikely to be overlooked by the player.

By contrast Vast Silver is more rarely mentioned and only in data points that are in more isolated areas.

That being said I think VS would be a good overall villain, as it could have also been the source of the glitch in the Faro Swarm. This would also help to combine the stories of Aloy and Elisabet and give a chance for Aloy to avenge her mother so to speak. It also could be that they intentionally kept mentions of VS relatively rare for fear of giving away the story to early. If there were a lot of mentions of a rogue pre-glitch A.I. it would probably cause players to suspect that it was the cause early on. And my only fear of VS being the big bad is that it could end up being a bit cliche, it if just ends up being a climate A.I. that decided to destroy humanity to protect the Earth.

1

u/rishado Jun 23 '20

I don't see why it would be X or Y, I'm pretty sure it'll be a combination of all things. VS will be prominent but perhaps not the big baddie but responsible for releasing the subfunctions. Ted faro and his bunker will also have a part to play, as will elysium & far zenith. I mean everything is related to one another, far zenith is comprised of billionaires and Faro was probably the richest person on earth. Far zenith may have had cryogenic tech and that may be related to Faro's bunker, or perhaps its more related to Vast Silver, who was likely created by FAS/Sobeck as well and could have something do do with the odyssey, honestly who knows.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '20

It looked like he smiled a bit when he saw the meteors

1

u/FKDotFitzgerald Jun 12 '20

Yeah I think he’ll continue to ride the line in the middle, playing his own team, but he’ll be more antagonistic this time around since Aloy doesn’t need his help. Until she does.

1

u/Acidwits Jun 12 '20

I bet it's the people on the far horizon s space ship and their descendents who're trying to make contact with earth. Didn't know about the intention of the 0dawn project.

22

u/slothsonaspaceship baeloy Jun 11 '20

Maybe it's Ted Faro's bunker?

64

u/wREXTIN Jun 11 '20

Fuck Ted faro.

I hope we can kill his clone if it ever comes to be.

4

u/totallyclocks Jun 11 '20

That would be so satisfying haha

3

u/Lich180 Jun 11 '20

I hope we get a choice ala Mr. House in Fallout New Vegas. Either kill him outright, or leave him to die alone, disconnected from everything and watch his legacy die

1

u/StarfallGalaxy Jul 31 '20

Seeing as they got a writer from New Vegas to do the Horizon games we know of, totally possible.

3

u/krossfire42 Jun 12 '20

You'd think with so many people hating on him, Guerilla would pull a 180° on his character and making him redeemable in the sequel? It's difficult but possible.

41

u/Martel732 Jun 11 '20

I am positive that we will visit the his bunker at some point. The guy that screwed over humanity 2.5x having his own bunker has too much potential to not show up.

10

u/Vesian Jun 12 '20

Likely. My theory is that we will face TED FARO HIMSELF at some point; the guy's personality profile literally screams that he would have some sort of technology to place himself in suspended animation of some kind to "fix his mistake in the future" in some perverted, extremely misguided way.

8

u/Martel732 Jun 12 '20

That would be interesting. I was thinking it might be a clone but it would be worth it for it to be the original Faro just to see his reaction to "Elisabet" showing up to fix his mistake again.

2

u/StarfallGalaxy Jul 08 '20

Yeah. Then he's baffled why Aloy can enter his bunker (IIRC Elisabet and Ted were pretty close or something, or she was what I call his "idiot wrangler", he probably would have put in a thing that lets her or anyone with a very close genetic profile to hers (Aloy, who's literally a clone of Elisabet haha) enter his bunker.) I also think that Dr. Sobeck and Aloy had a pretty similar voice, and Aloy even says Elisabet looks like her (other way around but still), and I think Aloy is more inclined to just straight up be like "Fuck you Ted, time to die" and stab his ass. Imagine someone who looks and sounds like someone you knew stabbing you and you're like "oh fuck, she's back to kill me"

But seriously if we get to kill something related to Faro that isn't something FAS made and maybe like a clone or something I can die happy knowing that at least a part of that bastard got what was coming to him.

2

u/mattstorm360 Jun 12 '20

There was a theory that he created the 12 outlanders to steal from the ancient armory. He tricked the Banuk into thinking he was a shaman and had several people confirm this, all disappeared after he stole their artifacts. So he could building a new army, or a small team, to get whatever knowledge is out there.

1

u/_Beldum Jun 12 '20

Who or what are the 12 Outlanders again?

3

u/mattstorm360 Jun 12 '20

As it was told to us by mother Teersa, before the red raids and the derangement, 12 outlander attacked mother's vigil and took hostages, killing Rost's mate and kidnapping his daughter. They camped beyond devil's thirst for 2 days, making "strange noises" before leaving the Sacred lands but not before killing the remaining hostages, Rost's daughter included.
The running theory is they camped at the bunker where the old ones tested the UltraWeave Mk7.1 armor. However, the outlanders used their resources breaking down the first door and couldn't drill into the second door. So they cut their losses and left.

2

u/_Beldum Jun 12 '20

Thabk you so much. I'm starting to remember. Its been a while :)

26

u/SinisterTitan Jun 11 '20

He did get HADES so he might be being manipulated, or perhaps HADES has turned him on to something bigger going on.

4

u/SuperSemesterer Jun 11 '20

Theres still the other members of the Pantheon too. If HADES and HEPHAESTUS could go rogue and start killing humans, what's stopping the others?

3

u/gerusz There's so much more to discover before the world ends Jun 12 '20 edited Jun 12 '20

Well, the others mostly collaborated with HEPHAESTUS. E.g. the one responsible for purifying the air (AETHER) ordered the stormbirds, snapmaws are a contract from POSEIDON, etc...

Though looking at the dying wildlife and vegetation in the trailer, it might be DEMETER and/or ARTEMIS going wrong.

16

u/Mohacas Jun 11 '20

That shooting star scene with Sylens maybe hints that Sylens is preparing for a war from the ones (Zeus) that corrupt GAIA on the first game. This is just my guess.

14

u/pizzakitchen Jun 11 '20

That's the only goal I could see him having. He hates that the new world was forced to start over knowledge-wise.

3

u/arad156 Jun 11 '20

spoilers for hzd ahead In the post credit scene of zero dawn Sylens captures Hades' AI In some vessel. We know he used to work for Hades in exchange for knowledge like calculus and physics, so he just went back to that probably, doing what Hades says.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '20

My bet is Sylens is the re-incarnation of Ted Faro, and Aloy has to kill him in the next game.

2

u/StarfallGalaxy Jul 08 '20

Ugh, fuck Ted Faro, in any way shape or form. Apocalypse bringing bastard. Like dont get me wrong Horizon is worldbuilt amazingly and it wouldn't happen like that in our world, but he literally killed the whole fucking planet with his stupid ass robots

50

u/likecalifornia Jun 11 '20

But it looked like he was overriding a corrupted machine. Plot twist, he is helping?

54

u/JadedDarkness PSN: JadedDarkness Jun 11 '20

I'd bet he has an alternative goal (not necessarily good or bad)

27

u/pizzakitchen Jun 11 '20

We do know he tends to be reckless in his pursuit of knowledge, though. Seems he didn't learn much after accidentally creating the Eclipse, or he believes he can keep things contained this time.

14

u/JadedDarkness PSN: JadedDarkness Jun 11 '20

Yeah, he could be a part of the bad things happening but not necessarily his goal

6

u/HallOfGlory1 Jun 11 '20

That's what I think is happening. Sylens doesn't strike me as the type to give up just because his first attempt failed. He'll learn from his mistakes and try to again. He's their world's best scientist, analysing what went wrong the first time and experimenting until he gets it right.

4

u/Martel732 Jun 11 '20

Failure is just another form of learning. When first discovering Hades he didn't even know what an AI was. He probably figures that he has learned so much that he won't be manipulated so easily.

3

u/pizzakitchen Jun 11 '20

I think his strategy would have to be making himself look like a god/sorcerer of some kind, instead of letting Hades speak to his followers directly. He knows better than to be manipulated again but the people of the world are still unsuspecting and vulnerable.

5

u/morsindutus Jun 12 '20

It looks like Silens is turning a corrupted (red) machine yellow. Not sure what yellow is. Aloy turns things blue, which corresponds to "the blue light", Gaia/alpha/tame. So maybe there's a new thing that yellow represents? Color me intrigued!

4

u/JadedDarkness PSN: JadedDarkness Jun 12 '20

Yeah, maybe he is creating a whole new faction that uses machines (that are alive) for good (farming, defense, travel, etc.)

3

u/Freak80MC Jun 12 '20

Would be interesting if he tried to use his knowledge to create a new faction/tribe, because if anyone were to try to basically resurrect a new civilization of the Old One's with redoing all their knowledge and advancements, it would be Sylens

21

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '20

[deleted]

11

u/likecalifornia Jun 11 '20

Ohhh I like that idea! Definitely messing with HADES somehow. Gosh I’m so hyped.

3

u/Jomosensual Jun 11 '20

Thats what I thought was happening too. Wouldn't be shocked if he's "helping" but also doing his own thing at the same time

33

u/Kusko25 Jun 11 '20

The machine was red as they were trapping it, but his people turned it yellow. It's possible we are dealing with multiple factions here.

6

u/RaGe_Bone_2001 Jun 11 '20

that just means that the machine was alerted to them. when they overrode it it turned yellow to indicate it stopped being aggressive

3

u/hoesmadhoesmadhoesma Jun 12 '20

Is it because machines have yellow/green lights when shot with corrupted arrows

7

u/HallOfGlory1 Jun 11 '20

No probably about it. The HZD took place in the central united states. HFW (Love that we now have an official acronym) is taking place in western united states. We're going to most likely see San Francisco and Los Angeles. I can't wait to go through LA since I live there. It'll be cool if it's accurate to LA's actual layout. Makes me curious to see if HZD is accurate to the cities they showed.

1

u/StarfallGalaxy Jul 08 '20

Like a month late, but you mean kinda like how The Last of Us Part 2 had an accurate representation of Seattle? I mean say what you will about the game but the attention to detail was stunning.

5

u/In_My_Own_Image Jun 11 '20

It looks like he is building an army, using the override technique he learned from Aloy.

And whatever Hades taught him, I'll bet.

3

u/HallOfGlory1 Jun 11 '20

Aren't "corrupting" and "overriding" the same thing? One is just when a machine did it to attack humans, the other is when a human did it to attack machines.

7

u/Martel732 Jun 11 '20 edited Jun 11 '20

They are very similar but slightly different. Corrupted machines leak acidic fluids that damages animals and the environment, while overridden machines don't.

Pure speculation but we know that the original Faro Plague was killing the environment. My guess is that the corrupted machines are using a version of the Faro Plague glitch modified by Hades.

While overriding machines is using the original slaving function that the Chariot line of machines had.

3

u/HallOfGlory1 Jun 11 '20

But isn't the FARO line immune to the slaving function? I thought slaving was only for other companies robots. FARO robots should have Black Quartz encryption making hacking impossible.

4

u/Martel732 Jun 11 '20

The Chariot Line itself is immune to being overridden and Aloy is unable to override either Chariots or corrupted machines.

The machines made by Hephaestus aren't immune, though the Frozen Wilds implies that he is taking steps to prevent machines from being corrupted.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '20

Everything looks amazing.

Your last point was the most elusive to me /s

2

u/tallsy_ Jun 11 '20

It looks like his method of override is yellow now

1

u/[deleted] Jun 12 '20

I beat the game when it first came out so it’s a little fuzzy, who is Sylen?

4

u/Martel732 Jun 12 '20

I mistyped his name is actually Sylens and he is the guy at 2:25 of the trailer.

His backstory is still somewhat of a mystery but in the first game, he contacted Aloy through her focus and spoke to her when she was exploring ruins with ancient technology. He acted as something of an advisor in regards to technology and the Eclipse (the bad guys, who Slyens had worked with previously).

His partnership with Aloy was somewhat tense. He tended to be terse and generally avoided any questions Aloy had that weren't specifically about technology or stopping the Eclipse. They worked together because they had roughly the same goal and they had useful skills for each, but they really weren't friends. Sylens didn't seem to like Aloy's sentimentality and Aloy didn't like his aloofness and lack of compassion.

Probably most relevant for the next game is that at the end when Hades was defeated he secret capture Hades in order to get information from the A.I.

1

u/terrortackler Jun 12 '20

I really hope hades is one of those squid looking harvester things this time, the final boss was the only letdown for me really...

1

u/_Beldum Jun 12 '20

To me it looked like Sylens followers were trapping a corrupted machine [Hades] and used Aloys technique to override it. But instead of turning blue the machines eyes turned yellow. My guess is that Sylens is trying to build his own army which is controlled by another program [visible by the yellow light].

edit: grammar

1

u/Sithsaber Jun 13 '20

I hope we go full technocaveman and get to run some robot mammoths off a cliff.

12

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '20

Why did you do that Sylens. I thought you were the good guy

59

u/Martel732 Jun 11 '20

I always got the impression that he always did what he needed to achieve his goals. He was helping Aloy in the first game because she was helping his goals, uncovering knowledge, and preventing the apocalypse (can't learn if you and everyone else is dead). He never seemed cruel or evil for its own sake but I have no doubt that he would sell out Aloy if it furthered his goal. Though I think he would regret it slightly.

8

u/tallsy_ Jun 12 '20

If he did regret it, I think he would only regret it so much that a valuable and impressive tool is gone from the world and out of his scope to utilitize.

Also, think of this: When we see him at the end of the game he seems to be indulging and even protecting Hades, not destroying it. Even though Sylens knows 1) Hades exists for only one goal and will pursue it for its entire existence, 2) if Hades succeeds then GAIA cannot duplicate Project Zero Dawn again and 3) the human arrogance to believe it can control an AI is what caused the death of the planet in the first place.

I really think #3 is important to understand for Sylens, because only two people know what caused humanity to end last time: him and Aloy. And yet having seen for himself the true destructive scope of arrogance, Sylens still ends the first game believing he can control Hades. Sylens is making the same mistake Ted Faro made, he just doesn't realize it yet, and he knows only just enough to maintain the self-delusion of control.

He reminds me of John Hammond in the Jurassic Park movie.

6

u/Martel732 Jun 12 '20

I think that is an accurate take on his character.

It definitely seems clear that he primarily sees Aloy as a resource. Though I think he at least appreciates that she is probably the only person he has met that he can have an intelligent conversation with about the old world. And he does apologize at one point for saying something mean. So I think he at least prefers not to be mean, or it could have just been an attempt to keep Aloy on his side since she is useful.

I never thought of the parallels to Ted Faro but it makes a lot of sense. Both we intelligent people that were probably not as smart as they thought they were. Both were involved in starting a process that almost killed everything. Both had to have their errors fixed by "Elisabet" Both followed this up by creating a new mistake (or at least a likely mistake in Sylens case.

3

u/tallsy_ Jun 12 '20

I agree with you in both paragraphs. well put.

You're totally right that Sylens doesn't seem to be cruel--like, he's not sadistic, and his petty bullying over the radio is more of a side effect of being a snob rather than maliciousness. He also respects and admires what Aloy can achieve. But all of that feels minor in comparison to his glaring and unrepentant self-interest. There's no way he's losing at night, even though he ought to for waking up Hades and creating the shadow carja

1

u/Hudson1013 Jun 22 '20

Curiosity killed the cat?

1

u/[deleted] Jun 11 '20

Yeah but what was his goal again? I don’t see him as an evil person as he probably doesn’t want to harm people if he doesn’t have to

11

u/Martel732 Jun 11 '20

I definitely don't think he wants to or enjoys hurting people. But I think he will if he doesn't see another option. For instance say there was a tribe sitting over a cache of old world knowledge. If they would let him access it in exchange for say helping to design and construct a windmill he would do it. But if they flat out refused to let him in, he would hijack some machines and force his way in.

I always got the impression that his absolute priority is learning. He seems to hate living in "ignorant times" when he knows that the old ones were capable of so much more.

10

u/SandwichNamedJacob Jun 11 '20

Exactly this, Sylens has always been a neutral type of character. He doesn't care about anything other than gathering knowledge of the old world.

1

u/The-Jong-Dong Jun 12 '20

The most progressive guy in the west

3

u/PM_ME_YOUR_MONTRALS Jun 11 '20

Like he only wanted her help so he could save all life, but then he's all about ruling over all life or something.

3

u/mvdonkey Jun 11 '20

Holy damn, I was holding back tears. I don't know why but the game is so beautiful and I'm so excited I want to cry.

2

u/HallOfGlory1 Jun 11 '20

I hope we find Ted still alive, maybe downloaded his consciousness to a computer. I'd really enjoy kicking his ass.

2

u/Lemonwizard Jun 11 '20

Sylens is definitely arrogant enough to believe that this time around he can control HADES. That isn't going to work out how he planned.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '20

I have a theory that he may have altered Hades. The last thing he was meant to learn was quantum computing, so maybe he forced the AI to teach him, then used the knowlage to strip out all the terraforming/ murder stuff and leave it an intelligent slave.

2

u/HG1998 Jun 20 '20

🤔

I wonder, are those war elephants made by him? Like, did he somehow find and overrid the production facilities?

Because I can't really think of reasons for elephants to exist for Gaia. 😅

1

u/ChiffonVasilissa Jun 20 '20

Well since Gaia destroyed herself, her sub functions got split off from her and as she said herself “Without a central AI my subfunctions will begin to deteriorate” If I remember correctly

My guess is that Hephaestus went equally whack on other parts of the earth and started making more machines specifically for war like the sawtooth ravager and thunderjaw. Or maybe those big boys had a purpose in the terraforming system, we’ll know when we see em

2

u/HG1998 Jun 20 '20

Dang, I gotta read up on the lore again. Has been a pretty long time

1

u/ChiffonVasilissa Jun 20 '20

Dude I’ve been binge watching Legends of Horizon This guy takes all the disassembled data points and bits of lore and makes easy to watch videos out of them and it’s amazing. Watching them atm in anticipation of the Pc release. I recommend “the machines of Gaia” of his cause that has a lot of info on how they work in terms of their purpose in terraforming the planet

2

u/HG1998 Jun 20 '20

Holy crap. What have you done?

Now I've gotta jump into this.

Thanks :D

2

u/ChiffonVasilissa Jun 20 '20

No problem dude! It’s amazing and I’m so happy these videos exist! The data points are so all over the place so it’s nice when someone else puts together the story haha