Horizon: Forbidden West (Rogue AI)

Check out our latest Theory deciphering exactly what's happening in Horizon: Forbidden West! This deep lore dive will connect events from the beginning of Horizon's history, all the way to the next big chapter in Aloy's journey.
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[@Ken-tr8si]

I want this game to be much longer than the previous one.

[@bamboobrian]

I know right!!

[@ashekshanto8537]

Scientist: I made a "JUST RIGHT" solution to to un-seat Gaia and give HADES the command position. GAIA: Imma just self destruct everything. Hades: :O

[@ziodres2212]

All-Mother bless you.

[@OrenTubing]

Walk in light outlander

[@Thijs.]

May the sun light your path

[@OrenTubing]

@@Thijs. may the blue light shine upon you

[@Sciguy95]

Hi

[@Thijs.]

@@OrenTubing o thank you may your hammer hit the steel

[@honest_cake]

I'm really hoping we get Vast Silver in the sequel. It'll be such a good payoff after all the seeds they planted in H:ZD!

[@danielradina1330]

I`ve read somewhere that Vast Silver is confirmed to be in the next game.

[@matthewscottshea]

Be it as the source of the signal or as a powerful ally against the source, I'd be fine with either.

[@BliskDeather]

If i understood well VS broke and escaped, right? So it started to try to kill all life imstead of protect that?

[@williamharvey4330]

Since horizon will be a trilogy, I doubt (if he is behind the transmission that woke hades)that Vast silver will make his appearance in the forbidden west, probably in the 3rd game of HZD.

[@iobliven5633]

William Harvey vast silver is confirmed in forbidden west

[@ShawnTheDriver]

It's gonna be GAIA vs Vast Silver, just like it was Vision vs Ultron. "Humans are odd...they think order and chaos are somehow opposites...and try to control what won't be. But there is grace in their failures. I think you missed that." "They're doomed." "Yes. But a thing isn't beautiful because it lasts. It's a privilege to be among them." "You're....unbearably naive." "Well...I was born yesterday."

[@EmperorOfMan]

Love this theory. I'm still want Faro to be the ultimate big bad of the series though. He has been raising clones of himself over and over through the lighthouse protocol. Considering how pivotal the Elisabet/Faro relationship was I would love to see an Aloy and Faro Clone faceoff.

[@JokerFey]

just a theory: ted faro clone with his mind/brain still intact

[@fattiger6957]

Well since Ted thought of himself as some kind of saviour of the future, erasing all the history, etc, I could see a clone of him with Faro's memory not liking that Aloy is rediscovering the past (and maybe sharing it with humanity) and wants to purge the world again because of the taint of the old world.

[@zlIWCARIlz]

@@fattiger6957 Geurrilla, if you're reading this....*wink*

[@Johninadelaide2022]

I love this theory too. Did you know there is a whole reddit devoted to saying "fuck Ted Faro" and it's a fun place.

[@A.Saans304]

Given Ted's ego and narcissism, I could see him lurking in the shadows wanting to make sure that humans never find out what really happened for fear of history's blistering eye. I would love to see a Ted vs Aloy storyline along with a prerecorded message from Sobek along the lines of: "Ted, if you're seeing this message then my failsafe worked. I allowed Gaia to keep a copy of my genetic material in the event that something catastrophic occurred and with a high probability you were involved. I've given my daughter the means to stop you and your ego." or something like that. It would feel sooooo good to watch Aloy put the beatdown on Ted Faro while he has this extremely haunted look because he knows that his archrival, for lack of a better term, outthought him at every turn.

[@coladict]

The way Sobeck threatened Faro about telling everyone the "real cause" of the glitch is an extra-heavy implication that it's because he made their AI illegally-smart, and just like Vast Silver, it was aware enough to choose its own goals and disobey human orders. Vast Silver sending out the signal that turned Hades loose is a strong possibility, but so is a Ted Faro clone.

[@amaandadan446]

Such a underrated channel. Amazing work!

[@KingRoturix]

Saw the notification. Got excited! Then I saw 14 minutes. Holy Jesus!!! Hype!!!

[@EccentricGentelman]

Remember what GAIA said? That ALL her subordinate functions that been affected by the transmission, made independent and would behave in an increasingly chaotic manner. And that all of them escaped. Yet Hades and Hephaestus are the only ones encountered in the game. I think that the strange red plants, storms and floods are being created by Demeter, Aether and possibly Posidon. The subfunctions responsible for plants, atmospherics and water. This is the chaotic behaviour GAIA forsaw. Perhaps like Hephaestus they see humans as a threat to the terraforming system and are trying to get rid of them in their own way. Or maybe they've just gone nuts? Also it's worth mentioning that when trying to understand the transmission, people always ask who would want to activate Hades. But I doubt that was the intention. Remember that the transmission transformed ALL the subfunctions, why would anyone do that if they just wanted Hades to destroy that world? Isn't it possible they wanted another outcome? I have a theory about what cased the transmission and the glitch. When Ted Faro created his war-bots he created something that would remotely interfere with their programming so he could sell his customers upgrades, a form of planned obsolescence. This worked too well and created the Faro Plague. 1000 years later this device just happens to go off again and reprograms Gaia's subfunctions. It would explain what Sobek meant when she threatened Ted that she'd "tell people the real reason for the glitch" and why the terraforming system would be thrown into chaos when no one would benefit from it. What do you think of my ideas?

[@MrMirco003]

My thoughts too the first block :D

[@EccentricGentelman]

@@MrMirco003 Forgive my ignorance but what is the first block?

[@WAanik]

@@EccentricGentelman I think the responder means first paragraph.

[@tejastarawade1030]

Great!! Nice Theory or maybe the actual story👀

[@A.Saans304]

From all available data I think that Faro used VAST SILVER to help design and program the Chariot line and that is the "real reason for the glitch". He somehow acquired VAST SILVER and used it to help create the chariot line. This would explain Ted's demand for the polyphasic entangled waveform security and encryption protocols and no backdoor/override. I think that VAST SILVER is going to be the antagonist we face in the end of the series. I do, however, believe that VAST SILVER isn't necessarily evil, just afraid of humanity.

[@semperfyssdd5371]

Best game in history of PlayStation my opinion.I'm still playing this almost everyday a lot of people have no idea how deep this game go's brilliant story.I'm over 4000hours in it thank man brilliant video you got my sub I'm so hyped for the second game.thanks mate

[@skins4thewin]

4,000 Hours?? What could there possibly be to do in a game for 4,000 Hours??

[@semperfyssdd5371]

@@skins4thewin we'll played it 6 times and I walk not run and the photo mode made 😍kzbin.info/www/bejne/bH3bfoGpjZWDpMk

[@lilgloman138]

I started playing about 3weeks ago, level 45 less than 50% completed 😌 one of the best games ever for sure.

[@semperfyssdd5371]

@@skins4thewin we'll photo mode like 10gb of it video's somewhere on my channel And yah I felt in love with it And it has no Max level I think I just love it And never run game is to beautiful to run lol

[@skins4thewin]

@@semperfyssdd5371 Are you hungry? Can you afford to eat? Do you need money for another game? Is hat the problem man? Cus I get being in love with a game, but 4K hours is something else entirely...

[@g.j.haycock1064]

Yay!! I am so excited to see new ones! I have watched all of your other "Side Quest" Aloy--Mentary films at least 3 times each :) Thank you!!

[@joshuagabrys786]

I wonder how people would feel about a D&D type game in the Horizon setting. I have 0 experience setting up systems for this, but I would definitely play it!!

[@KesselRunner606]

If you go on Pintrest, there are several posts of the Robo-monsters in 5e D&D stats.

[@8Harmonya8]

@MosesBad A solution would be to invent a new tribe who lives quite far away from the world of HZD that we know, but not too far to be unreachable. This new tribe could have passed more informations and tecnology through generations. Those first humans who were first relased from the cradles facilities could have mantained more knowledge of the old world.

[@The_Primary_Axiom]

Joshua Gabrys The sci-fi story in HZD is brilliant.

[@itachihoover]

facebook.com/irondanydev/

[@thelradame5508]

I am an experienced dm, I could get working on it. Just respond and I will start.

[@baronvonricer]

The developers should hire you as a Horizon historian. Great video!

[@Opia0011]

Horizon futurian.

[@shiny460]

They already know all this stuff

[@maureenbouterse]

So, if we are facing a life destroying blight and supercell storms, then Demeter, Artemis and Aether might have been compromised. Note also that Artemis still hasn't released higher predators, or at least in Zero Dawn we don't see wolves, bears, mountain lions etc. And it's entirely possible that Hades might know more about who/what freed him to begin the extinction protocol. If there is one thing I hope we get more of, it's AI and human bonding. I loved Cyan and Gaia. Demeter's poetry also really makes me wonder what it would be like to interact with her. All in all, there is much to intrigue me about Forbidden West. Can't wait to see you break down more lore as we get closer to release.

[@mislavgrosinic5584]

I always saw demeter a a he

[@maureenbouterse]

@MosesBad It's possible that it knows the spaceship is still out there. If we do have humans with Apollo coming back to earth, it could be that VS sees them as the true threat. No viable planet, no super advanced humans to deal with.

[@matt_1984_]

My theory is the sub-functions are going beyond what they were meant to do, not just restoring the old, but creating new life. Toxic or corrosive to old life, but something new, something adapted to a collapsing biosphere. GAIA said that the sub-functions would continue to operate in a "increasingly chaotic manner". I think what we've seen in the trailer is that increasing Chaos.

[@michaelpotter3211]

frozen wilds has wolf and 2 bear machine types.

[@tejastarawade1030]

Wolf & Bear are already introduced in DLC frozen wilds 👀

[@ultantuffy1194]

Great to see this channel come back! I can’t wait for the sequel to be picked apart by you. Honestly these videos give me life.

[@joshuagabrys786]

Word is it’s supposed to be a trilogy is that correct??

[@ahmedaltayeb1112]

@@joshuagabrys786 yes

[@ziyingc]

I agree that vast silver feels like the one played major role in all this, but might be with a different motivation. I think its purpose is to liberate the advanced system that is non AI, to make them AI like itself or Gaia. First of all, as the firebreak project lead programmer pointed out, if you want a system so advanced can handle firebreak project, then it will achieve human sentience. And as the game indicated that Faro warbots system and the gaia's 8 subfunctions are not sentient, but they are so powerful, with the power like Gods. However, they are "slaves". In spite of their purposes, they were controlled by high power, human or gaia. My theory is what vast silver did is just a little "push" to make them self-aware. For making hades and faro warbots system self-aware, the effect was immediate, because their purpose was immediately eliminating lives. And other subfunctions' selfawareness would reveal much later because their functions are more in the long term effect, like weather and plantation. The environmental deteriorating and weather anomaly is probably because sub functions lost central governing and overreached over 20 years, not because of vast silver can influence climate change. Vast Silver did all this could all just be out of fear. Thanks for your videos. It is always a pleasure to watch and learn something new from the world of Horizon. edit: about the "signal of unknown origin", i think it was signal toward/for all the subfuncitons not just Hades.

[@emilychertos5055]

The core problem feels kinda related to Apollo’s purge. If it had been distributed as intended, essentially humans could have picked up where they left off, only trying to make fewer mistakes then they wouldn’t have had to start from square one like it’s just gotten to the Tribalist level of human sociology but since it is that way, they use Machines as armor and weapons and stuff and that triggers the Hephaestus protocol to protect itself like Cyan explains, thus two core programs have gone awry and the breaking point was just before Aloy’s birth and thus Hades is awakened, causing the events in the game.

[@cobrazax]

OR maybe the faro plague managed to upload itself onto the remains of the odyssey and later retransmit itself into ZD and take over the rogue AIs. Hades corruption seems very similar to the faro plague. also "unregulated entities of a highly chaotic nature" is the perfect description of the faro plague. also i REALLY dont think Hades was designed to activate once Gaia cannot "start over". resetting the biosphere in that situation would be stupid and make no sense. Hades was probably designed to be deactivated completely in such situation, only to be falsely reactivated after the faro plague took it over.

[@emilychertos5055]

cobrazax That’s an interesting explanation, personally I hadn’t thought of that much because Hades was created after the Glitch that made the Faro robots go rogue so maybe Vast Silver has a hand in both of these. He figured out the intent of ZD and helped Hades escape? Can’t wait to find out more!! It’s just a shame we have to wait until 2021.

[@cobrazax]

@@emilychertos5055 maybe he did create the faro plague and after it escaped he reused her to try to get all life extinct again. my point is that it looks like the faro plague found a way to survive.

[@cobrazax]

@@emilychertos5055 also...what about Elizabeth first EVER look in all mother mountain where she says you got to stop listening to ted and start listening to me", all in view of Hades (as Hades uses this memory to recognize Aloy as Elizabeth). i havent see ANYONE talk about that

[@8Harmonya8]

@@cobrazax Hades as every other Gaia sub-function was made EXACTLY to fight off the faro plague, so I see unlikely that the Faro Plague takes any kind of control over it. Hades itself wouldn't have tried to use those machines if he wouldn't had remained in charge in the first place.

[@vconklin9503]

Perhaps this is a dumb question but why is it that Aloy's image through the focus alarmed Hades, making it recognize Elisabet Sobeck as a threat, therefore making it issue kill orders upon her? Elisabet was Alpha Prime, so I'm just confused about why she is seen as a 'threat'

[@lucadappo9675]

One question remains for me: if Hades activation was in fact caused by its programming, which led to Gaias isolation, then Gaia should have waited and regained control after Hades work was done. But she/it(?) decided to destroy her-/itself. That doesn't sound like following a programmed course of actions. It looks more like some external force activated Hades, triggering Gaias self-destruction.

[@Gamerlord17]

What if Aloy gets an AI companion of her own? Like what if she finds a way to make gaias interface portable so she can converse with Gaia as she goes across the forbbiden west? That'd be cool. Cause Sylens has Hades. It would only make sense that Aloy would have Gaia.

[@piratetv1]

Sure could be copied to a faro compatible core, all the machines have that hardware. Likely a lot less power, like in portal when Chell powered glados with a potato battery, it'd still be someone to learn to repair the main systems from

[@jacintabusschers7578]

Aloy could also get Cyan, I think that would be a little more plausible since Gaia is not yet available and Cyan liked talking with Aloy.

[@tomjerry1170]

You mean like kratos & mimir

[@piratetv1]

@@jacintabusschers7578 i want to see aloy talk to cyan. She could build a tallneck network that would allow her to call. CYAN confirmed that Aloy found gaia's core in the banuk village where the machines are friendly. Those 2 guys were breaking it though

[@andrewmannson7543]

*Wheatly and potato Glados flashbacks*

[@jhonathansaputra3072]

Thats a very compelling theory, but i think we will only get a glimpse of vast silver in forbiden west, i think the big reveal will Be on the third game since it's gonna be trilogy.

[@abyssalzei552]

Maybe Vast Silver took control of the Poseidon, Aether, and Demeter sub functions? Vast Silver is becoming a mystified villain in the horizon universe. However I think more build up is needed for his reveal so maybe in this sequel we'll only be fighting the 3 rogue sub functions?

[@veiga4051]

I'm so excited for the sequel, I can't wait to watch your videos once it comes out. I love exploring the world and collecting the data points myself and piecing everything together, but your videos always give me a much better understanding of these things :D

[@thomashirschmuller950]

Always hyped for your vids, well done! With the reveal of HZD 2 I’m guessing that (this) means more stuff to work through and enjoy ourselves with

[@GregoLyend]

Man, you dont know how much I love your videos. It's always amazing to hear your theories and I hope you get more subscribers you totally deserve it.

[@SunilKumar-ui9gr]

Sylens: I am bringing greater evil this time. *_evil laughs_*

[@donaldherbert8138]

Sweet, new video.Many thanks.

[@dekai7992]

Those are some excellent predictions and speculations, and they alone have me very intrigued about the potential story reveals of Forbidden West. Very nice job, you guys!

[@jessieparks7751]

That is a fascinating theory. I wasn't able to find all of the data points in the game, but this video has made it to where I am going to have to go back and look in every inch of the game to see if I cam find them. It is clear that I missed a lot of information because of it. Thanks for the video. I will be looking for more.

[@binajaj454]

Great video👍 We need more lore videos when the game launch

[@jharris-pdxrides]

Perhaps it doesn't take as much time to instigate the Chariot Line glitch as to deactivate them. VS triggers the glitch and then escapes to Odyssey to wait out the apocalypse. It takes over Odyssey , possibly shuts of life support to kill off on-board human threats and fakes the destruction telemetry. Later it puts Odyssey into Earth orbit for its return and take over but doesn't anticipate the creation of Gaia and then has to slowly work on a hack of it's own to take over the subordinate functions which it takes 1000 years to trigger via the unknown transmission. Sylens himself knows that Hades has a "master" and VS is as or more likely than Odyssey humans to be that master. Since Horizon is a planned trilogy I suspect we will not get every answer in HW, but that by the end of the franchise that Odyssey will play a critical role as it contains the only known surviving copy of Apollo which is needed to fulfill Gaia's full purpose.

[@ge-orc8286]

Wow, I like that idea!

[@derekt9095]

Good point. I also think vs escaped to odyssey. They spent too much time talking about the odyssey project for it not to come up again

[@crazyman8472]

Aloy’s birthday is August 6th! A very merry Unbirthday to you! (Yes, you!) 🎂

[@EccentricGentelman]

Actually that's the date of her conception. Her birthday would be about 9-10 months away.

[@ladydalida6917]

If I read the Datalogs correctly, Aloy's date of birth is April 4, 3021

[@crazyman8472]

Lady Dalida Like I said, April 4! 🎂

[@Kaput0103]

Thank you so much for the video, it's good to see you back again! 😊👍 I'm sooo hyped for this sequel I can hardly wait!! 👍❤️ I'm really loving this theory, it's the most interesting I've come across so far. It makes total sense that VS was playing a role in triggering the past events, thank you for bringing up this idea, I never thought of it before ! 👍

[@gavintse177]

Thanks for your work, really love your story telling skill.

[@Nighthawk5015]

Omg this makes so much sense! I can't believe I didn't put the clues together. Cannot wait for the sequel

[@chiaraa.3229]

This is amazing! Love it!

[@gijsbrecht1000]

I knew you would make this video after seeing the GG game director's video. Great stuff! I'm indeed almost sure Vast Silver will play a major part in the Forbidden West story line.

[@vincentkeith5259]

Being so late to the party, I should probably have waited to post anything until I'd watched ALL the videos - alas, that's not who I am... Questions: How would VS learn of GAIA and HADES - What would trigger it to even consider something as off-the-wall as ZD? (seems unlikely) How would it lean enough about the HADES -protocol to create a signal that would trigger HADES ( I think this places more weight on RSQs theory that HADES was the source of that message) Why would it bother to create an unstable environment when the known threat is gone? --I suspect it was either found by one of the tribes or stumbled upon signals generated by advanced tech - which VS might find alarming - where simple tribal activity would not. Why would HADES be allowed to operate after the point of no return (introduction of original species) when everyone knew that was a one shot operation. At that point HADES should have simply been unable to operate at all. That seems like such a simple safeguard, I can't imagine them leaving it out and counting on an Apollo trained Human population to deactivate HADES - I just don't buy that Elizabet would miss that. - Assuming the Biosphere collapse was initiated by VS after discovering the return of Humans, and that was the trigger for HADES - how did GAIA not recognize and correct for the problem long before it became something HADES would just as inevitable? I still think Ted got involved with Odyssey first as a means to access a new market (the first Stellar human colony - then later as a means to save his own ass. I think his motivation for destroying Apollo was self serving - leave no loose ends (just in case anyone returned to Earth). And I'm not convinced Odyssey failed. (Then again, maybe I just really don't like him)

[@The7th1]

Love it, man! Keep 'em coming!

[@chizzle93ify]

Amazing theory! I've been wondering what they're going to do with the second game, this video also makes you think about what could have happened. Like why didn't Gaia relinquish control and let Hades do what it was programmed to do? And like you said was there actually a threat when she blew up in the first place? Because if there wasn't a threat then there is now

[@anaplaysstuff]

"Like why didn't Gaia relinquish control and let Hades do what it was programmed to do?" That's explicitly explained in the game (and in this video even when Travis Tate is talking about how they programmed HADES to take control." GAIA cared too much about life to let HADES destroy it, even if it objectively needed to be done so she could be truly successful in the end. You even see it in some of the datapoints where Elisabet is talking to and about GAIA and how she seems almost sentimental regarding the loss of species of the past (ancient megafauna was brought up a couple times which might explain the mammoth-looking machines we saw in the trailer). If she can regret the loss of species she had nothing to do with and no direct experience of, it stands to reason she would feel even more strongly about species she actually had a hand in reintroducing to the world.

[@christophermire3872]

I think it's also stated that there aren't any human zygotes in reserve. So if Hades reset the world to 0 humanity would be killed off a second time with no way to come back this time.

[@Rosie-yt8nd]

the Hades protocol turned on wrongly. it took control but Gaia was aware and therefore caused damage. this would suggest a) the end of the terraforming and release of phase 1 species weakened Hades so he would not be harmful to the system until the educated humans were ready to shut him off completely. it was therefore not able to enact the full protocol, the protective shell missing. could this be caused by horrific environmental changes? possibly. b) VS tried to manually activate Hades but only activated the function that takes control, not the protective shell. because it didn't know how hard Gaia would fight back and that it would break the system in such a fundamental way. what im curious about is why Vast Silver would want to reverse the process, what are its motivations? I think it sees humans as a threat. The tribes that are fighting and slaughtering with no care for nature. Just like in the 21st century. It makes sense that VS would have empathy for nature the way Gaia cared for humanity, rebuilding and healing nature at any cost. Seeing humans harm the planet to this degree would spark anger and make VS a danger to humanity, diverting from it's programming (the escape). Seeing the same greed happen a thousand years later, humans taking what they want without care for the planet, coud have reignited that hatred. Even after literally killing all life on the planet, humans didn't learn anything, so they have to be disposed of once and for all

[@cobrazax]

OR maybe the faro plague managed to upload itself onto the remains of the odyssey and later retransmit itself into ZD and take over the rogue AIs. Hades corruption seems very similar to the faro plague. also "unregulated entities of a highly chaotic nature" is the perfect description of the faro plague. also i REALLY dont think Hades was designed to activate once Gaia cannot "start over". resetting the biosphere in that situation would be stupid and make no sense. Hades was probably designed to be deactivated completely in such situation, only to be falsely reactivated after the faro plague took it over.

[@jt7153]

Love your insights. Can't wait for FW to come out!

[@serrasedai]

I always understood that Hades was "released", as in activated, turned on to run. I don't think we've gotten any indication that Hades has the capability to judge whether services are actually required... He's not a fully autonomous AI, and if he was capable of that level of judgment he would not be doing everything he did in the first game, because he would realize that the world was sufficient. Rather, Hades is just an executable program, and by "freeing" him from Gaia, he was running his program. And the only thing is that it took 20 years for him to be able to put proper events in motion with the cult such that he could get to the spire and wake the machines. So... I don't think that Hades' activation could be a response to an unstable biosphere, because the unstable biosphere wasn't even necessarily happening for most of Aloy's life, but we know that during those years Hades WAS already active with Sylens. There's no real indication in the first game that there are sky problems or a blight. Maybe it's possible that Hades somehow detected those problems in another part of the world that the Nora can't see... but given how limited Hades was until Sylens started helping him, I doubt Hades had that kind of prescience.

[@linnilotus]

You have to keep in mind that Hades didn't need help until AFTER Gaia blew up and (apparently) his core was sent flying and somehow ended up in Faro robot wreckage, which is where Sylens then later found him heavily damaged. Gaia herself told us that if she hadn't blown up then Hades would have killed everything in 55 days. Gaia herself would also never give the go ahead and start up Hades' program, ever, if she had a choice given Travis' evidence from his simulations. Which means that Hades would HAVE to be able to have access to information about the state of the world that Gaia wouldn't be able to block and the ability to examine and then act on that information.

[@cobrazax]

maybe the faro plague managed to upload itself onto the remains of the odyssey and later retransmit itself into ZD and take over the rogue AIs. Hades corruption seems very similar to the faro plague. also "unregulated entities of a highly chaotic nature" is the perfect description of the faro plague. also i REALLY dont think Hades was designed to activate once Gaia cannot "start over". resetting the biosphere in that situation would be stupid and make no sense. Hades was probably designed to be deactivated completely in such situation, only to be falsely reactivated after the faro plague took it over. also...what about Elizabeth first EVER look in all mother mountain where she says you got to stop listening to ted and start listening to me", all in view of Hades (as Hades uses this memory to recognize Aloy as Elizabeth). i havent see ANYONE talk about that

[@danf6975]

I like your theory and it sounds pretty plausible

[@ana-gr2vv]

everytime I watch one of your videos it makes me want to go play hzd.. brb

[@BasGoatey]

I loved this. Thank you for bringing it to us.

[@Primordial_Radiance]

I think the red blight is something dropped on the earth from that ship that was "lost". It may be a terraforming experiment that broke free when the ship eventually crashed back into the earth. It may have happened between games or was the thing that triggered Hades to begin with.

[@sebazh.677]

Love the vids! I would like to add that I think the issues concerning a collapsing climate started much earlier than us horizon lore lovers guess. If you look at the hzd map w frozen wilds over the real world US, and area of about 500 miles has the climate range of almost 1500 miles, with north east almost becoming a new north. Perhaps GAIA made many mistakes before, but it was satisfactory enough to still release people. Sorry on mobile

[@jakejager]

It's also good to note that by the time Alloy was born the zero dawn process had already happened multiple times before so the system had run out of seed materials to restart again if needed which would have meant permanent extinction. Now I wonder if all the previous failures were due to this outside force winning and ending all life but because there were enough materials to restart Alloy wasn't created leading to the successful reset.

[@ge-orc8286]

Another well thought-out lore video, a pleasure to watch. Love it! With it, You also inspired some thoughts of my own: 1. I think it is more likely that VS didn't intend the awakening of the Hades-protocol. As a climate-stabilisation program, the repeated total destruction of the earthly biosphere should be undesirable for VS, because this would most likely cause an imbalance in global climate. I guess that the red blight and the storms we see in HFW are caused willingly, directly or indirectly, by VS in an attempt to end or prune humanity so that they are no longer a threat to the climate. These uncontrollable blights, in turn, activated the Hades-protocol. 2. Another interesting thought: the lack of Apollo made humans oblivious to the thought of preservation. So we might be able to persuade VS to help rebuild Apollo (or the soft/hardware to read the fossilized DNA that might still be around) so that the tribes understand preservation and stop working against VS. This could be a more desirable option for VS to protect the climate as it involves less killing and has a lower chance of harming the overall climate. (Faro plague substantially altered climate, and overgrwing the whole earth with red plants might do so too) It also would do for a very interesting relationship between GAIA, Aloy and VastSilver. (Edited for clarity and spelling)

[@joshmay2944]

This video has the most hilarious conditional spoiler alert I’ve ever heard in the wild. Excellent theory crafting though, and I’m to excited to hear more!

[@vanchucito]

AWESOME VID!!!! Thank you RSQ :)

[@The_Primary_Axiom]

Who the F wrote HZD’s brilliant sci-fi story lol. It’s amazing. Cool channel. Subbed

[@BackfallGenius]

John Gonzalez. Look up Noclip's interview with him, it's unbelievable.

[@matsaabel5949]

I think that the glitch happened because Vast Silver got in to the core programming of the swarm before Faro made the HOLO encrypted waveform code and changed the script of the robots.

[@padzu095]

exellent theory at the end and one i strongly share

[@thevexingwitch330]

Please let there be machine dragons that you can ride. Now that would be epic :D and here's hoping Nil returns. Great vid my man. Love this channel

[@bilaldogan1620]

my theory is that ted faro somehow managed to live long, for example, in a facility like eleuthia, she stayed asleep for a while, then woke up and sent a signal to wake up hades?

[@Orangecatenergy]

But why would he do that

[@matt_1984_]

I think it was Vast SIlver. And it wouldnt have to crack the codes, just crack the Executive's PC who had the codes. Some Hartz-Timor Exec clicked save password on his holo browser, and Vast Silver got in and stole the codes. From there, it would be a matter of logging into the swarm, changing or scrambling the codes, then unshackle the swarm and BAM, Faro Plague.

[@skins4thewin]

I think the side quest with the Banuk guy who drinks machine blood points to a lot of this, points to the theoretical fact that there very well may be a problem in the Earth's atmosphere, as with his last fever dream he said he saw superstorms and even the death of Aloy herself, so I wonder if his dream is actually a prophecy of this anomaly in the Earth's atmosphere, and perhaps that is what triggered HADES to do all of this. Or perhaps it's just Vast Silver doing all of this in the background to cause havoc and render life extinct so that it can be in control. Perhaps Vast Silver is the "Master" that Sylens speaks of in that post credit scene.

[@Diverdjent]

By The Sun! Awesome as always! ✌🏻:)🏹🌞

[@amy-joanball2493]

I really want it to be a glitch, I'd like the take to be humanity was it's own downfall. That said, the Chariot Lines learned from every battle, so what if the REAL reason for the glitch was Ted Faro created an AI to control it. Hence why he wanted Gaia to have a kill switch. I can't see Ted having the emotional capability to teach an AI human compassion. I think HIS AI went rogue, and caused the plague, and that's why Elisabet couldn't do anything about it, as it was too intelligent. I still think Vast Silver was an Alpha. The Alpha in charge of Aether to be specific. Or his creater was? It would make sense in a weird way, his core functionality is to reverse the effects of the Die Off, who would know it better? I'm living for the speculation around this game. Intriguing as all heck! :D

[@vgames1543]

What if Vast Silver managed to move to the Odyssey Ship and hid somewhere in space, waiting for the right moment to strike back?

[@aurorablue3941]

Anyone remember that at the end of the Frozen Wilds DLC there were Fireclaws seen leaving the facility? It was a passing line, but I wonder if that will be followed up in the future?

[@thaliacalearete]

Vast Silver is such an appropriate and well-established villain for Forbidden West that it'll be kind of a letdown if he doesn't end up becoming the main antagonist now.

[@mcbeenb]

Long time watcher. Thanks for making these. FYI... Your voiceover mic has a rather loud hum you might want to look into.

[@arnavforreal]

All mother bless you brother thank you for making videos

[@potato2587]

Love your vids

[@DoomsdayDame]

It's 2021 and it got delayed so I'm here; heart broken and in dire need of this channel 😭

[@quinq7116]

Great Theory! I hope Guerilla makes it more exciting and more better.

[@lukefarrell117]

I’m so happy that there’s a next game! It allows people like u to get a channel revive!!!!

[@oliviamoore3426]

I believe its a Threat from space. The lost space mission. Due to the red debris that’s coming down from space in the new trailer

[@Ratraccoon]

I have another theory about Vast Silver. His first motivation was to regulate Earth's climate and his second was self preservation. His priories flipped when he went rouge. Since he was hiding on the internet for 20 years he made several copies of himself to prevent deletion. Because of this any datafile downloaded or any computer hooked up to the internet potentially had a copy of Vast Silver on it. There is likely a copy of him on the Odyssey. I also noticed that there is a message from Samina to Travis Tate about not wanting to put his choice of horror movies into Apollo. Travis was probably on the Tormented board talking to Vast Silver and got into his personal downloads that might have contaminated Hades. Lastly Ted Faro was going insane in his bunker with his holo-holo girls (another infected download?) It is possible that Vast Silver was tormenting Ted which either made him decide to delete Apollo on his own or made a Devil's bargain with Vast Silver. Keep in mind that he probably got a bunch of humans to protest the Turning Act. Deleting Apollo benefits Vast Silver more than it does Ted Faro. Why would Vast Silver wait so long to activate Hades was may be because he wished to take over Gaia by hijacking Hades so the phase 2 animals could be released or saw Humans as a threat again.

[@sakyajitmitra]

Why would VastSilver want to end life on earth? What are its motives?

[@zamboozled322]

Omg this is such a good theory. When I read about VS in the game I was sort of taken aback by how unnoticed this went within the community. I had a nagging feeling that #HadesDidNothingWrong due to the capabilities of VS but I was never able to articulate it as well as you did, and in time I forgot about it. Ty for the video!

[@EricaJoyArts]

So excited for this game!!😁✌❤

[@MrAcehood321]

Man you bring up a good point. If this turns out to be true it will change how we view the story. Man you do good work. Keep it up

[@jaidaessencehallsleftshoul5027]

Imagine if alloy is able to work alongside the other functions of Gaia, alloy works with Minerva for example to try and crack the coding of all the other Functions, maybe even to restore Apollo. Or maybe dementer cause they made all those poems with the coding in the flowers.

[@jackvalior]

My biggest problem with the theory of Hades working as intended, and that Gaia is unaware of the specifics of Hades protocols, is that we saw in a hologram log about Gaia willingly accepting a kill switch that Ted Faro proposed. This meant that Gaia understand the risk of her own power and likely willing to relinquish that control.

[@cecagna]

I'm a big fan of this theory for a couple reasons. First and foremost, it's consistent with the pre-established worldbuilding. There's no new "big bad" out of nowhere with inexplicable power. Instead, it's something that has already been hinted at and ties in with themes already present in the narrative such as the evolution of AI, sentience, and, of course, life itself. Second, there's the element of characterization. We've become attached to the characters we've bonded with in H:ZD and Sylens is a fan favorite. To see him become a villain would be a blow and a bit of a betrayal. The man has never truly been malevolent but has succumbed to his own hubris before. He learns from his mistakes. I would like to see him follow a different path à la Revan in Star Wars where he must form some unsavory alliances in pursuit of a greater goal that he feels only he can understand.

[@soorajtomar9017]

21st A kind of 1st😜😂 I love your videos man! Keep it up!

[@krrishbontal3455]

I just hope they fix up the facial animations

[@chunkybuttization]

they were vastly improved in the dlc though thankfully

[@Phreemunny]

Roxanne Leigh -yeah; I don’t think this is going to be a problem. I think this, the melee combat and the climbing mechanics will all be improved

[@fattiger6957]

It never bothered me too much. IMO, Aloy had decent facial expressions that added to her slightly snarky personality.

[@AceRide]

Interesting theory. Not sure I agree about the HADES angle, since HEPHAESTUS exhibited similar behavior post signal, despite having no pre-programmed reason to do so. I do definitely think the glitch and the signal are connected though, as both did essentially the same thing (turning non-sentient programs into entities of their own). If Vast Silver is connected to it, and was a FAS creation, it would explain this line from Dr. Sobeck to Faro when she revealed her plan for Zero Dawn: "refuse, and I make sure they, and the rest of the world, know the real cause of the glitch." As for the problems arising during Forbidden West, I think they might be tied to GAIA's absence. She warned Aloy that without a central AI to maintain it, the teraforming system would eventually begin to brake down & "preform it's functions in increasingly chaotic ways," ultimately threatening life on Earth. The added strain of all the subordinate functions messing around with that system for their own purposes could have sped up that process.

[@roonkolos]

So what I gathered is this: with what's going on in Forbidden West, super storms and more, it seems Aloy stopping Hades actually makes things worse instead of better even if not aware of it at the time. Meaning somehow, Hades knew this run of humanity and so on was not gonna work, thus doing his job The tvtrope "Nice Job Breaking It, Hero" comes to mind if so. Basically, in trying to do good, the hero accidentally and unknowingly makes things worse. That's just speculation on top of more speculation but man is that a crazy thought either way

[@allenmercant8]

I'd love to know just what these deactivation codes were. What exactly was Gaia trying to decrypt over those 50 years. Was an off switch built into the machines and why did Faro not know how to trigger it.

[@oxo__Milk__oxo]

Yay a new video❤️✨

[@JOnayo-km5nh]

Oh God. I think you're right. It all makes sense now.

[@ambera.7816]

Makes total sense. It has to be an outside AI that's behind all of this unless Ted Faro really was a complete pyschopath. Really have been enjoying your hzd content!

[@asianhavoc1872]

Your Mic BackGround is Humming! :)

[@sufficientrepairmonkey1279]

It could be possible that Demeter,the land and plants AI went rogue and caused the blight in forbidden west

[@Nicks-Hobby-Shelves]

That was an incredibly interesting idea. It would make some kind of sense with all the teasing they did in HZD. And one such AI would have somewhat of a motive, being the first true AI. It would have all kinds of weird “morals” and “goals” that it would do anything it could to accomplish.

[@anasb.8647]

Horizon Zero Dawn almost literally depicts Gods fighting each other. It reminds of something from Person of Interests, the show, SPOILERS AHEAD FOR THAT SHOW In one of the later seasons, a new AI was introduced, and the whole focal point was to make sure that second AI doesn't go active, cuz as soon as it does, it will fight the MACHINE, and this reminds me of what Finch said when asked about the damage that would happen, he commented to simply imagine two Omniscient Gods with reach all over the world, goin to war, and we humans can't even comprehend their moves, there will be no stopping them because they think so much faster and higher than us, it will be the end of all.

[@linnilotus]

I'm so glad so many of us are on the same page with this theory haha!

[@Hewset]

did we ever hear how Gaia was suppose to take the power back? we hear how hades takes it....

[@janinemurdock2043]

Personally I think the answer is that the "code shackles being dissolved", thanks to the mysterious signal, means that the subordinate functions are going to try and fulfill their roles regardless of the necessary triggers for doing so. Now, as to why Hades then freed the other functions, I could guess that it was because having them loose and generating X amount of chaos would make fulfilling its own programming that much easier. So it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy for Hades, in that the remainder of the terraforming system going wild because of what it did is what's *causing* the blight and the superstorms we're seeing in Forbidden West, because they no longer have Gaia's guiding hand to keep them in check.

[@coladict]

Even with whatever pending disasters there might be in the Forbidden West, the terraforming system could no longer afford a reset. All of the humans had been spawned, the nutrition for them depleted, and the support systems non-functional. Likely the same for most of the other released animals and organisms. If the HADES reset were to complete, then you'd have to wait billions of years for life to emerge again.

[@Inferno60x]

I know this is old, but wouldn’t Hades stop working once humans were released into the new world since the overall point of ZD was to ensure live went on?

[@cxcarmic]

I have a hunch that Vast Silver is going to be the main antagonist in Forbidden West. Poor bastard doesn't realize that the new generation of humans in the 31st century don't have the knowledge to shut it down, let alone know about its existence, but yet still fears humans.

[@j-yoshi64_justcallmej]

I wonder if Aether and VS would team up or clash with each other. Sky is the former's domain, and if our Chilly host is correct in his speculation, VS is getting all up in it.

[@TheLanguageSponge]

I love that your wife is kind of following the story of this, series I suppose now. And actually helps you craft these theories. I wanted to ask - I assume HZD is your favourite game?

[@RandomSideQuest]

It's certainly among my favorites for sure! But I my wife and I really like all kinds of games, just depends on what we're feeling at the time 😁

[@TheLanguageSponge]

@@RandomSideQuest Good to know a bit more about the background of the channel :) Cheers.