History Characters / HorizonZeroDawnTheBaseTeam

** [[spoiler:Sylens]] is an unrepentent NominalHero. but short of Beta he's the most familiar with old world technology]].

** [[spoiler: Kotallo]] is a Tenakth Marshal.
** Beta [[spoiler:was created by Far Zenith before defecting from them.]]
** [[spoiler: Alva]] is a Diviner of the Quen tribe from across the pacific.
** [[spoiler: Sylens]] is a Banuk shaman, though other Banuk familiar with him [[MysteriousPast question if he's really one of them]].

** Kotallo is a stoic Tenakth Marshal who lost his arm early in the events of the ''Forbidden West'' - something that within a tribe which values physical capability would see him shunned, but which leads him to being the Base's tactical expert.
** Alva is a quirky historian from the Quen tribe who is curious about Old World technology.

** [[spoiler:Sylens is an unrepentent NominalHero. but short of Beta he's the most familiar with old world technology]].

'''Since 'The Base' is a mid-game feature of ''Videogame/HorizonForbiddenWest'', all spoilers pertaining to ''Videogame/HorizonZeroDawn'' should be considered {{Late Arrival Spoiler}}s by this point, and are thus unmarked.'''

'''Even the presence of some names on this list of characters can be considered spoilers. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.'''

** Kotallo is a Tenakth Marshal.
** Sylens is a Banuk shaman, though other Banuk familiar with him [[MysteriousPast question if he's really one of them]].
** Alva is a Diviner of the Quen tribe from across the pacific.

[[folder:Kotallo]]

[[folder:The Diviner (spoiler for the ''Forbidden West'' DEMETER midgame)]]
!! Alva
!!!'''Voiced by''': Alison Jaye (English)
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hfw_alva.jpg]]
A Quen Diviner that accompanies the expedition across the Great Sea to the forbidden west in the hopes of finding information that will help heal the Quen homeland. She runs into Aloy as Aloy searches for DEMETER in the Greenhouse, initially recognizing her as Elizabeth Sobeck of [[AncestorVeneration Quen religion]], but quickly coming to realize that Aloy isn't her progenitor.

* BadassAdorable: An endearingly excitable historian who's capable fighting on the battlefield with her arrows.
* BelligerentSexualTension: How her relationship with her lover Federa began, since they were rival Diviners, even saying she "hated her guts" at first.
--> '''Alva''': And there's a fine line between hate and love.
* BigSisterInstinct: She originally accompanied the Quen expedition in order to find a cure to the Red Blight, in particular because her younger sister was starving and emaciated from it when she left for San Francisco.
* BlueBlood: Diviners are basically upper-class Quen. They are treated like Quen nobility.
* BrokenPedestal:
** Alva comes to realize that the Ancestors, who include people like Ted Faro and [[spoiler:Erik Visser]], are not as heroic as her people had believed.
** She also seems to have some resentment towards her own culture, particularly the Overseers, lamenting how they suppress knowledge they consider "forbidden", and even mentions that they might not allow her to keep the newer Focus Aloy gives her.
* EndearinglyDorky: She's extremely socially awkward and prone to putting her foot in her mouth as a result of her excessive enthusiasm about Aloy, GAIA, and the Old Ones. Most of team finds this adorable. One of her character animations at base in the archive room is a giddy excited hop-in-place, presumably after she uncovers some new interesting tidbit in the archive.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Upon second viewing, her treatment of Aloy when they first meet is this. [[spoiler:It's clear that she immediately recognises Aloy as being Elisabet's reincarnation, but unlike the other Quen, she doesn't hang that title and reputation on Aloy and instead treats her like her own person, not letting awe and reverence get in the way]]. As a result, Alva quickly establishes a genuine friendship with Aloy and becomes one of her closest friends, and her genuine interest in the Truth supercedes any Quen preconceptions she may have.
* GuileHero: She is very quick-witted and able to come up with stories on the spot. She manages to save Aloy twice; one from the Quen by insisting she's Elisabet Sobeck herself (a "living ancestor," specifically) and the other from Ceo for similar reasons.
* IChooseToStay: Implied, despite wanting to see her family again she decides to stick around with Aloy instead of going back to her homeland. [[spoiler:Though part of the reason she stays is to help Aloy find a way to fight Nemesis when it arrives.]]
* IWillWaitForYou: She and Federa, her lover, promise to wait for each other until Alva comes back from her expedition. Meeting Aloy complicates with that [[spoiler:plus finding out about the severity of Nemesis' existence]], however.
* InkSuitActor: Shares the face with her voice actress, Alison Jaye.
* LipstickLesbian: The feminine Alva mentions in a conversation she's in a relationship with another female Diviner, Federa.
* MinoredInAssKicking: Despite being a researcher of high station and Quen protocol requiring such personnel to be well-escorted, Alva is more than capable of holding her own in a fight. Aloy even remarks that Alva is tougher than she looks.
* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: She shares her name with [[UsefulNotes/ThomasEdison Alva Edison]], more commonly known today as "Thomas". Not suprising if given the Quen's access to Old World Databases.
* NiceGirl: She has a very bubbly and friendly personality and gets along well with Aloy and the others fairly quickly.
* TheSmartGirl: She's one of the few characters of the franchise to already know how to use a Focus, even though the Focus she uses prior to meeting Aloy is an old model. Once she uses a current one, she's a fish to water. Her proficiency with a Focus and knowledge regarding the Old Ones means that she and Aloy form a very unique friendship, contrasting with her other friends where their limited Old Ones knowledge is a frequent communication barrier.
* StrongerThanTheyLook: Aloy says this verbatim while defending Alva from Kotallo's suspicion. She may be a historian, but considering how dangerous their first meeting was and she's just as capable as her other companions, Aloy's got a point.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Beta (WalkingSpoiler for ''Forbidden West'')]]
!! Beta
!!!'''Voiced by''': Creator/AshlyBurch (English)
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/beta_hfw.png]]
%%[[caption-width-right:350:some caption text]]
A second clone of Elisabet Sobeck, named Beta, born upon the Far Zenith ship as it traveled to Earth and made for the express purposes of interacting with the gene-locked GAIA terraforming systems to remove the various AI sub-functions of GAIA for Far Zenith's use.
----

[[folder:The Banuk (Spoilers for ''Forbidden West'''s Endgame))]]
!! Sylens
[[Characters/HorizonZeroDawnSylens See his tropes on his own page here]].

** [[spoiler:Beta]] is [[spoiler:another clone of Elizabeth Sobeck, created by Far Zenith]], but while the team takes a while to come around to the fact that there are [[spoiler: two 'Aloys']] running around, once they do, absolutely no one treats Beta as anything less than a person. In fact, the source of [[spoiler:Beta's]] CloneAngst is because she (and Aloy) feel she isn't living up to [[spoiler:Elizabeth's]] example, not that she - somehow - is not her own person.

** Aloy is a clone of Elizabeth Sobek, but between the difference in age between Sobek when she died and Aloy in the present, most don't consider that they're practically genetically identical, instead viewing Sobek as Aloy's mother (even if the concept that Aloy is indirectly descended from the Old Ones takes some getting used to).
** [[spoiler:Beta]] is [[spoiler:another clone of Elizabeth Sobek, created by Far Zenith]], but while the team takes a while to come around to the fact that there are [[spoiler: two 'Aloys']] running around, once they do, absolutely no one treats Beta as anything less than a person. In fact, the source of [[spoiler:Beta's]] CloneAngst is because she (and Aloy) feel she isn't living up to [[spoiler:Elizabeth's]] example, not that she - somehow - is not her own person.

As the Faro Swarm devoured the Earth, GAIA was envisioned by Elizabeth Sobek to be the hope of humanity, a means by which the Faro Swarm could be defeated, their destruction undone, and then the biosphere and life on Earth, including humanity, restored.

She succeeded, and - after a few false starts - managed to re-create a stable biosphere that had been around for centuries by the time the Extinction Signal seperated her from her subfunctions - reasoning that HADES would take over the terraforming system and erase the biosphere, she self-destructed after causing a cradle facility to produce a clone of her creator, Elizabeth Sobek, with the hope that she would eventually manage to reboot the terraforming system free of the Extinction Signal's influence, setting the events of the series in motion with the 'birth' of Aloy.

** To start with: Her entire existence is because Elisabeth Sobek wanted to give humanity hope that even after the eradication of the entire biosphere, ''something'' would come after them.

A Quen Diviner that accompanies the expedition across the Great Sea to the forbidden west in the hopes of finding information that will help heal the Quen homeland. She runs into Aloy as Aloy searches for DEMETER in the Greenhouse, initially recognizing her as Elizabeth Sobek of [[AncestorVeneration Quen religion]], but quickly coming to realize that Aloy isn't her progenitor.

To this end, Project Zero Dawn spent the remaining time of the Old One's civilisation to create GAIA, and the subfunctions that would aid her in this task, after which they hid in bunkers and let GAIA outlive them while she worked on gaining the deactivation codes necessary to deactivate the Faro Swarm.

** [[spoiler:Beta]] is [[spoiler:another clone of Elizabeth Sobek, created by Far Zenith]], but while the team takes a while to come around to the fact that there are [[spoiler two 'Aloys']] running around, once they do, absolutely no one treats Beta as anything less than a person. In fact, the source of [[spoiler:Beta's]] CloneAngst is because she (and Aloy) feel she isn't living up to [[spoiler:Elizabeth's]] example, not that she - somehow - is not her own person.

* TheChosenMany: While Aloy is TheChosenOne by nature of being cloned from Elizabeth Sobeck, thus having her genetics and allowing her access to the gene-locked vaults of Zero Dawn, by the ''Forbidden West'' she is eventually convinced by the stubbornness of her friends and comrades that this is not something she can do on her own. As a result, she begins to induct said friends into the workings of the Old World. She, [[spoiler: or her sister, Beta]], is still needed, physically, to enter Zero Dawn facilities, but the others absolutely pull their weight

** [[spoiler: Beta]] is [[spoiler: another clone of Elizabeth Sobek, created by Far Zenith]], but while the team takes a while to come around to the fact that there are [[spoiler two 'Aloys']] running around, once they do, absolutely no one treats Beta as anything less than a person. In fact, the source of [[spoiler: Betas]] CloneAngst is because she (and Aloy) feel she isn't living up to [[spoiler: Elizabeth's]] example, not that she - somehow - is not her own person.

* FamilyOfChoice: [[ZigZaggedTrope To a greater or lesser extent]]. There's ''no'' doubt that they all, [[spoiler: Sylens [[HazyFeelTurn possibly]] excluded]], care about each other - but whether it is as more than friends depend on the the people in question. The two solid familial ties is between Aloy and [[spoiler: Beta]], who consider each other [[spoiler: sisters]], while Zo and Varl have a romantic relationship [[spoiler: that would have grown into a familial one if Varl had survived GEMINI]].

* AssimilationPlot: GAIA wants to bring all of her subordinate functions back to herself in ''Forbidden West''. This is treated as far more benevolent than most plots of the type, as GAIA's goal is to help humans and revive the race. Even further, the subordinate AI were never meant to be sapient, [[spoiler: and only HEPHAESTUS has no interest in going back]]:
** MINERVA [[spoiler: considers it a mercy to go back to GAIA, clearly having been miserable since her severence]].
** AETHER, DEMETER, and POSEIDON are having trouble on their own [[spoiler: because they require GAIA to put their goals into context, as without her they only understand their own goals and can't consider anything else, leaving the LandSeaSky trio in competition with each other when they should be cooperating]].
** Even more, integration with GAIA finally allows [[spoiler: ARTEMIS to complete her task and APOLLO would be able to begin his once the corruption from Far Zenith is corrected]].
** HADES [[spoiler: is the only one of the subfunctions that is never assimilated back. By the time GAIA is rebooted, HADES is DeaderThanDead, with no copies of it left in the world. Even then, GAIA makes it quite clear that she has ''no'' intention of resetting this biosphere, and HADES as such, has [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness Outlived Its Usefulness]]]]

* PosthumousCharacter: GAIA destroyed herself 20 years before the events of ''Zero Dawn'', to stop HADES from usurping her and destroying all life on Earth. [[spoiler: She's ultimately revived by Aloy, but only because she and Sylens were able to find the only backup Faro couldn't destroy, as Latopolis was shielded and isolated from all outside signals]].

** This is Averted come ''Forbidden West'' where GAIA [[spoiler: becomes a central part of The Base Team, and is - in fact - the one to suggest making repair-facility Tau into their base in the first place]].

* In ''Zero Dawn'' GAIA only appears in less than 5 logs, and is seen talking in only one cutscene. Yet as Aloy's creator and the one who gives her the instructions to disable HADES, her role for the story is immense. That's without even counting how she's essentially recreated the world and her creation is the driving force of the backstory the game is named after.
* This is Averted come ''Forbidden West'' where GAIA [[spoiler: becomes a central part of The Base Team, and is - in fact - the one to suggest making repair-facility Tau into their base in the first place]].

!! Aloy, Despite the Nora.

* TheChosenMany: While Aloy is TheChosenOne by nature of being cloned from Elizabeth Sobeck, thus having her genetics and allowing her access to the gene-locked vaults of Zero Dawn, by the ''Forbidden West'' she is eventually convinced by the stubbornness of her friends and comrades that this is not something she can do on her own. As a result, she begins to induct said friends into the workings of the Old World - she, [[spoiler: or her sister, Beta]], is still needed, physically, to enter Zero Dawn facilities, but the others absolutely pull their weight

[[Characters/HorizonZeroDawnAloy See here.]]

Varl's stubbornness means he is the one to finally get it through to Aloy that she cannot save the world on her own, and that she needs allies to face the looming threats. As such, he's directly responsible for the Base Team existing in the first place, and takes it upon himself [[TheHeart to be the social glue of the group]] to make up for Aloy's... [[SociallyAwkwardHerolacking skills]] in that department.

[[folder:Alva (Spoiler for the ''Forbidden West'' DEMETER midgame)]]

[[folder:Sylens]]
[[Characters/HorizonZeroDawnSylens See here]].

[[folder:[[spoiler:Alva]] (Spoiler for the ''Forbidden West'' DEMETER midgame)]]

[[folder:[[spoiler:Beta]] (WalkingSpoiler for ''Forbidden West'')]]

[[folder:[[spoiler:Sylens]] (spoiler for the ''Forbidden West'' End-game)]]

[[folder: [[spoiler:Sylens]] (spoiler for the ''Forbidden West'' End-game)]]

'''Since 'The Base' is a mid-game feature of ''Videogame/HorizonForbiddenWest'', all spoilers pertaining to ''Videogame/HorizonZeroDawn'' should be considered {{Late Arrival Spoiler}}s by this point, and are thus unmarked. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.'''

[[folder:Alva]]

[[folder:Beta (WalkingSpoiler for ''Forbidden West'')]]

[[folder:Sylens]]

A Quen Diviner that accompanies the expedition across the Great Sea to the forbidden west in the hopes of finding information that will help heal the Quen homeland. She runs into Aloy as Aloy searches for DEMETER in the Greenhouse, initially recognizing her as Elizabeth Sobek of [[AncestorWorship Quen religion]], but quickly coming to realize that Aloy isn't her progenitor.

[[folder:Erend Vanguardsman]]
!!!'''Voiced by''': John Hopkins (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Alexander Noskov (Russian)[[/note]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/erend.png]]
Erend is amongst the first non-Nora that Aloy meets on her journey, introducing the concepts of the wider world to her. He's intially the second-in-command of sun-king Avad's PretoreanGuard, but during the events of ''Zero Dawn'', his sister is captured and killed, forcing him to step up to the plate, standing alongside Aloy and her other allies in the battle for Meridian.

He reappears during Forbidden West, and is TheBigGuy of the base team, his strength, endurance, and mighty hammer providing invaluable force to the Base Team while he learns to understand the world as Aloy sees it.

[[folder:Varl]]
!!!'''Voiced by''': John Macmillan (English)[[note]]'''Other Languages''':Alexander Tsoi (Russian)[[/note]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/varl.png]]
Varl is a brave around Aloy's age, initially introduced as Warchief Sona's son, going through the same Proving as Aloy. Throughout the events of ''Zero Dawn'', Varl proves to be one of the Nora most amicable both to change in general, and Aloy specifically, ultimately aiding her in the battle for Meridian. When Aloy unceremoneously leaves the celebrations intended for her, Varl decides to track her down, following after her for six months until the start of the ''Forbidden West''.

Varl's stubbornness means he is the one to finally get it through to Aloy that she cannot save the world on her own, and that she needs allies to face the looming threats. As such, he's directly responsible for the Base Team existing in the first place, and takes it upon himself [[TheHeart to be the social glue of the group]] to make up for Aloy's... [[SociallyAkwardHero lacking skills]] in that department.

* AmazonChaser: He is one of several characters that shows an interest in Aloy, largely because of rather than in spite of her combat skills. In ''Forbidden West'' he starts a relationship with Zo, an Utaru woman who's notable for being one of the few members of her otherwise peaceful tribe who has a past as an active militant, having lead a guerilla resistance against the Carja during the Red Raids & even joined in along with the Tenakth on their assault of the Carja fortress of Barren Light.
* AscendedExtra: A relatively minor character in the first game who's important for one early questline, then disappears until the endgame. Come the second game, he's a major character and one of Aloy's companions.
* BattleCouple: He starts a relationship with Zo in ''Forbidden West'' and the two fight side-by-side while going with Aloy to retrieve MINERVA.
* BigBrotherInstinct: He loves his little sister Vala and in the first game wants to avenge her death caused by Helis and the Eclipse.
* TheCatCameBack: He spent the sixth months between ''Zero Dawn'' and ''Forbidden West'' tracking Aloy down to help her. Even after she repeatedly sneaks off on him because she believes she needs to save the world herself, he keeps catching up with her because he knows she can't do everything herself. It's his persistence which helps Aloy become more receptive to receiving help from her friends and sharing her knowledge and responsibilities with the Base Team.
* CharacterDevelopment: Through his interactions with Aloy, Varl gets over the Nora's isolationism and fear of technology and learns how big the world really is once he learns how to use a Focus. He also gets over his disdain towards foreigners, befriending Erend and Kotallo, admonishing Aloy to respect other tribes' customs, and falling in love with Zo.
* DeadpanSnarker: By ''Forbidden West'', he's comfortable enough around Aloy to readily snark back at her quips.
* {{Determinator}}: He's spent the six months between ''Zero Dawn'' and ''Forbidden West'' tracking down Aloy to help her on her quest even though he has neither a Focus or the ability to override machines which helps her navigate Old World facilities. He still manages to catch up to her and when she slips away because she believes she needs to save the world on her own, he catches up with her to keep helping her anyway.
* DueToTheDead: [[spoiler:Zo erects a grave for him facing both Plainsong and the Nora Sacred Land. In keeping with the Utaru's tradition, she buries him with seeds so that new life can grow in his place, even picking seeds from the flowers his sister would decorate her spear with. Aloy can visit his grave and talk to him about recent events similar to how she could do the same thing with Rost's grave in the first game.]]
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler:While it doesn't prevent Beta's capture, Varl does everything in his power to protect her from Erik. He even pulls the same trick Aloy did during her fight against Erik, using his bow and arrow to shoot a heavy piece of machinery down on top of him. When that doesn't work, he fights Erik using his spear, never faltering in trying to protect his friends.]]
* FirstFriend: Beta considers him to be the first friend she's ever had, given that he keeps making the effort to connect with her when she joins and the team and Far Zenith had her raised by machines for her entire life.
* GodBeforeDogma:
** He argues that the tribe won't be harmed for breaking taboo to pursue the Eclipse, because All-Mother would want them to get revenge.
** In the finale, he notices that everyone's kowtowing to Aloy is making her uncomfortable, and tells them to stop (the bowing, that is. He still insists they can call Aloy "the Anointed", because at that point religious awe is an understandable reaction to all the impossible deeds they've just seen her do).
* GoodCannotComprehendEvil: [[spoiler:After meeting Beta and getting to know her in ''Forbidden West'', he cannot wrap his head around how the Zeniths could create a person and then treat them as just a slave or tool. That they did this fuels his animosity towards the Zeniths.]]
* TheHeart: He's the emotional core of Aloy's group in ''Forbidden West'', getting along well with everyone & being the most empathetic towards [[spoiler:Beta]]. He also gets Aloy to rely on her friends and open up more emotionally instead of keeping all her feelings bottled up.
* HeroicSacrifice: In ''Forbidden West'', [[spoiler:he dies defending Beta against Erik, who shrugs off everything he does with a taunting attitude before giving him a NeckLift and impaling him through the heart. Zo later reveals that he did end up leaving her [[SomeoneToRememberHimBy a child]] from their time together and his death fuels Aloy and Zo's [[ItsPersonalWithTheDragon vengeful showdown with Erik]] during the final battle]].
* HotBlooded: Regardless of his calm demeanour, he is ''constantly'' making reckless decisions re: leaving the gate Sona ordered him to defend, suggesting they break Nora doctrine to pursue the Eclipse, and supporting the highly dangerous stealth mission that Aloy suggests.
* JustFriends: He's notable for being the ''only'' one out of the many characters who had an obvious crush on Aloy in ''Zero Dawn'' to be unambigulously over it come ''Forbidden West'', being comfortable with her as a good friend while moving on into a romantic relationship with Zo.
* TheLancer: He effectively becomes Aloy's number 2 in her squad later on in ''Forbidden West'', initially having the most understanding of what they're dealing with after her, and helping to ease the others into it.
* ManlyFacialHair: In ''Forbidden West'' he appears with a small beard on his face after catching up with Aloy in the prologue, having not have a lot of time to shave whilst tracking her down over six months after she abruptly left Meridian on the night of the celebratory party after defeating HADES. Aloy... isn't really fond of the look.
-->'''Varl:''' Don't worry, it's not permanent.\\
'''Aloy:''' Good.\\
'''Varl:''' [[SarcasmMode Sorry my whiskers offend you, Anointed]].
* MidSeasonUpgrade: He acquires a Focus at the start of the second game.
* NiceGuy: Varl's friendly and helpful from the moment he's introduced. In ''Forbidden West'', [[spoiler:he frequently checks up on Beta to see how she's doing]].
* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: He's one of the best Braves in the tribe and is not afraid to get himself involved in a fight.
* ReligiousBruiser: He fights fearlessly to protect the All-Mother, yet he's reluctant to go in there when Aloy offers him the opportunity. It's implied he values his beliefs more than knowing everything (especially since Aloy is still visibly shaken from her discovery of what it holds).
** This is toned down in ''Forbidden West'' where he eventually seems to come to accept that the Nora's beliefs are inaccurate as he learns more about the Old World through use of his own focus. It's still present to some extent in that unlike Aloy, who can be easily frustrated & impatient with the beliefs of the tribes, Varl remains respectful of them.
* SacrificialLion: [[spoiler:He is killed defending Aloy and Beta in ''Forbidden West'', changing the tone of the game and prompting the main plot's DarkestHour.]]
* SeekerArchetype: After Aloy introduces him to the truth of the world, he becomes insatiable.
* SomeoneToRememberHimBy: [[spoiler:Zo reveals that's she's pregnant shortly after his death.]]
* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Varl replaces his sister Vala, who was killed by the Eclipse, and befriends Aloy. He's humbler and less openly friendly than his sister, but less reserved, formal, and harsh than his mother.
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Like Sona he's deeply uncomfortable in the finale [[spoiler:being so far from everything he knows and around such foreign people]], he's just less intense about it and can apply more perspective.
** He's largely gotten over it in ''Forbidden West'', which establishes that he's become good friends with Erend since the battle, and is fairly comfortable with other tribes he encounters, forming a romantic relationship with the Utaru Zo, and being eager to learn about Tenakth culture from Kotallo.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Zo]]
!!!'''Voiced by''': Creator/EricaLuttrell (English)
[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hfw_zo.jpg]]
Zo is an Utaru gravesinger, and the first member of the Utaru Tribe that Aloy properly meets in the ''Forbidden West'' story. She helps nurse Aloy back to health after things go wrong, and quickly proves herself willing to go beyond her tribes traditions to help save the world - even at the cost the faith that she holds dear.
----

A Diviner that accompanies the Quen expedition.

Sona's son and a Brave.

'''Since 'The Base' is a feature of ''Videogame/HorizonForbiddenWest'', all spoilers pertaining to ''Videogame/HorizonZeroDawn'' should be considered {{Late Arrival Spoiler}}s by this point, and are thus unmarked. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.'''

[[folder:Erend]]

Second-in-command of Avad's Vanguard and Ersa's younger brother.

A Gravesinger, and the first member of the Utaru Tribe that Aloy properly meets in the ''Forbidden West'' story. She helps nurse Aloy back to health after things go wrong.

A Tenakth Marshal whom Aloy first encounters at the Embassy. They are properly introduced later in the game when Aloy needs to work with him in order to fulfill Hekaro's wishes so that she can get her hands on AETHER.

GAIA is the the goal of project Zero Dawn, an artificial intelligence created by Elisabet Sobeck and the Zero Dawn team.

As the Faro Swarm devoured the Earth, her task was to outlast the human species and even the biosphere of Earth itself, only to finally defeat the Faro Swarm, and then oversee the restoration of Earth and the revival of the human race, thus providing hope that the Faro Swarm would not be the end of life on Earth.

* FriendToAllLivingThings: Was specifically designed to love and delight in living things due to her function. Elisabet did this because she believed that GAIA would not fight as hard for life if she didn't have some skin in the game herself. [[spoiler:This love for life even extends to her enemies. While she recognizes Far Zenith as a threat that must be dealt with, she nevertheless displays reluctance to use lethal force against them.]]

* MoralityChain: The main GAIA AI acts as one to her subordinate functions.

Artificial intelligence created by Elisabet Sobeck to oversee the restoration of Earth and the revival of the human race.

* AssimilationPlot: GAIA wants to bring all of her subordinate functions back to herself in ''Forbidden West''. This is treated as far more benevolent than most plots of the type, as GAIA's goal is to help humans and revive the race. Even further, the subordinate AI were never meant to be sentient: MINERVA considers it a mercy to go back to GAIA; plus AETHER, DEMETER, and POSEIDON are having trouble on their own because they require GAIA to put their goals into context, as they only understand their own goals and can't consider anything else. Even more, integration with GAIA allows ARTEMIS to complete her task and APOLLO would be able to begin his once the corruption from Far Zenith is corrected.

'''Since 'The Base' is a feature of Videogame/HorizonForbiddenWest, all spoilers pertaining to Videogame/HorizonZeroDawn should be considered {{Late Arrival Spoiler}}s by this point, and are thus unmarked. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.'''

** Aloy is an Outcast-turned-Nora Seeker who felt ''only'' she could save the world.
** Varl is a Nora Brave who wants to make sure his friend doesn't run off on her own.
** Erend is an Oseram with low self-esteem and often compares himself negatively to his friends.
** Zo is one of the few members of the peaceful Utaru tribe to be able to fight.
** Kotallo is a stoic Tenakth Marshal who lost his arm early in the second game.

** [[spoiler:Sylens is a jackass. And also unfortunately the most familiar with old world technology]].
* TheChosenMany: While Aloy is TheChosenOne by nature of being cloned from Elizabeth Sobeck, thus having her genetics and allowing her access to the gene-locked vaults of Zero Dawn, by the ''Forbidden West'' she is eventually convinced by the stubbornness of her friends and comrades that this is not something she can do on her own. As a result, she begins to induct said friends into the workings of the Old World - she, [[spoiler: or her sister, Beta]], is still needed, physically, to enter Zero Dawn facilities, but the others absolutely pull their weight

* MentalFusion: [[TropesAreFlexible Of a sort]]: Because of the foci they all wear, it is rare for one of them to not be aware of what the others have experienced as they are capable of viewing events they weren't present for. Combine this with the ability to transfer information and knowledge across a space that those without foci cannot see, and it occasionally looks to an outsider like they are all sharing their thoughts with each other.

'''Since 'The Base' is a feature of Videogame/HorizonForbiddenWest, all spoilers pertaining to Videogame/HorizonZeroDawn should be considered {{Late Arrival Spoiler}}s by this point, and are thus unmarked. YouHaveBeenWarned.'''

** Aloy and Varl both originate with the Nora, though Aloy distanced herself from them and is arguably closer to the Old Ones.

** Sylens is a Banuk shaman, though other Banuk familiar with him question if he's really one of them.
** Alva is a Diviner of the Quen tribe.

* OrderReborn: Downplayed but Gaia does talk about how the base was where 'new alphas' were meant to direct the later steps of the terraforming project. In working with Aloy, they essentially take over the mission of the original Zero Dawn project and its intended recipients.

** Aloy is an Outcast-turned-Nora Seeker who felt she could save the world by herself.

* DeityOfHumanOrigin: In a manner of speaking. [[spoiler:GAIA is the creation of Elisabet Sobeck and her team, and being as she is a sentient being who has the ability to shape the world and create life, she serves all the necessary functions of a god]].
* DeusEstMachina: [[spoiler:She's basically a creator goddess. An AI creator goddess made by man]].

* FertilityGod: While GAIA as a whole was created for this [[spoiler:basically an A.I. tasked with recreating an entire biosphere after a global extinction event]], the specific functions that helped nurture life in the new world were DEMETER, which recreated plant life; ARTEMIS which recreated certain animal life; and ELEUTHIA, which [[spoiler:created human beings and gave them a very limited early education]].

* FlingALightIntoTheFuture: [[spoiler:She specifically cloned Aloy from Elisabet Sobeck's DNA to stop HADES from eradicating all life from the Earth, and in the possible hopes of bringing back all of her subordinate functions, and one day herself]].

* PosthumousCharacter: [[spoiler:GAIA destroyed herself 20 years before the events of ''Zero Dawn'', to stop HADES from usurping her and destroying all life on Earth. She's ultimately revived by Aloy, but only because she and Sylens were able to find the only backup Faro couldn't destroy, as Latopolis was shielded and isolated from all outside signals.]]

* SmallRoleBigImpact: GAIA only appears in less than 5 logs, and is seen talking in only one cutscene. [[spoiler:Yet as Aloy's creator and the one who gives her the instructions to disable HADES, her role for the story is immense. That's without even counting how she's essentially recreated the world and her creation is the driving force of the backstory the game is named after]].
* ThatMakesMeFeelAngry: She tends to vocally express the emotions she's feeling, in particular describing the loss of megafaunal species from the Quaternary Extinction Event as "unaccountably sad". It makes sense, given her [[MachineMonotone voice]] doesn't leave much room to emote with, and the instances she's seen doing this are when she's still young and in the process of developing her personality. She's more emotive by the time [[spoiler:of her destruction, where she shows distress at the idea that her contingency with Aloy might have failed]].

* TheAlcoholic: Drinking is a huge part of Oseram culture, but it also [[DrowningMySorrows appears to be Erend's main coping mechanism]].

* AmazonChaser: From their very first conversation he displays obvious interest in Aloy, all but outright saying that he could take her away from all this. Aloy is too focused on her own goals to respond much. [[spoiler:Before the final battle Varl notes the looks he keeps giving her, and Erend's men make fun of him for it]]. Erend for his part admits that he's grateful that Aloy even allows him a minute of her time, clearly seeing her as way out of his league.

* CharacterDevelopment: He comes to respect Aloy over the course of their encounters, freely admitting that he initially saw himself as a big shot but came to realise he was lucky to get a minute of her time. The investigations into his sister's death also help him get out from under her shadow, and better grow into a good successor to her as Captain of Sun-King Avad's [[PraetorianGuard Vang]][[CadreOfForeignBodyguards uard]].

* DefiantCaptive: In the ''Forbidden West'' trailer, raiders enslave Erend and slaughter his subordinates. He remains vocally insistent that his friends will come for him (even as saltwater enters his wounds!) and mutters that his torturers wouldn't be so smug if they weren't the only ones with weapons.

** [[spoiler:He succumbs to this after his sister's death in ''Zero Dawn'', but drops it when he learns there is a way to find her killers.]]

* FirstGuyWins: Sort of. [[spoiler:Aloy's interactions with Erend have a degree of subtext beneath them, and in the last scene of ''Forbidden West'' they have their arms around each other. It's left to player interpretation [[SequelHook (for now)]] as to whether they're PlatonicLifePartners or if it's the start of a romantic relationship.]]
* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: Erend is consistently regarded as less competent than his sister, even by himself, and seems content to play second fiddle to her so he can brawl, drink and shrug away responsibility. [[spoiler:When she dies, Ersa essentially tells him he'll have to shape up without her, and he takes it to heart.]]

[[folder:Beta (SPOILERS)]]

** After HEPHAESTUS is released back into the cauldron network, Beta is the one who stays behind in the base and helps GAIA use the capabilities of the other subordinate functions to stabilize the biosphere long-term. [[RepeatedForEmphasis This]] bears repeating: Beta, with the help of GAIA, is capable of cobbling together a solution to a problem which otherwise ''required'' a borderline-AI specifically made to think up creative solutions to problems.

* TheSmartGuy: To the new Alphas, with whom she shares her polymathic education and intel on Far Zenith.