Tear Jerker / Horizon Forbidden West

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

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In General

• Aloy mentions that the reason there are no other GAIA backups is because Ted Faro destroyed them all. Apparently destroying APOLLO wasn't enough, he also threatened the terraforming system as a whole out of nothing but his own guilt and pride.
• While Aloy has never been happy about the way the Nora treated her as a child, in the first game she at least identified herself as Aloy of the Nora and defended them whenever someone expressed racist attitudes. In this game, Aloy seems to have completely disowned the tribe she was born into, only mentioning them rarely and always with some disdain. While it's hard to blame her considering she was outcast from birth, it's still sad to see how little Aloy thinks of the culture she was raised in her entire life.

Main Story

Prologue

• Aloy's recurring dream near the start of the game. It's goes to show, even though Aloy prefers to be on her own, the loneliness and grief is eating away at her.
  Aloy: And every night, I have the same dream. I'm walking under a brilliant night sky, through a field of flowers. And when I arrive at the center...I see you, Elisabet. Waiting for me. Even though you've been dead for a thousand years... You're the closest thing I've ever had to a mother. And for a moment, I feel whole. But it never lasts. I'm always left alone.
• Aloy finally finds the last GAIA backup that Far Zenith stole... only to find out it was a Trojan Horse logic bomb left behind by Travis Tate. She collapses against the wall when she realizes this. She has been constantly searching for six months and she's exhausted all her options.

Act I

• When Aloy catches up with Erend at Barren Light, she asks about his sister’s funeral. Erend’s usual fire and brashness melts and he just seems to slump over and get lost in the memories. Even after getting justice for her and the six months between the games, the big guy still can’t think about his sister without going through grief all over again.
  • There's a pretty good reason why Erend is so upset at Aloy leaving without a goodbye and it isn't just because she was being rude. It's because Ersa had done the same thing, left without telling anyone and ended up dead. Aloy probably hadn't meant to recreate that scenario, but she did and it likely must have salted old wounds.
• Throughout the first section of the game, Aloy continuously tries to push away her friends, feeling that the burden of saving the world is only for her to bear and that she can't let herself get distracted at all. She constantly holds herself to impossible standards and to Elisabet's legacy.
• Aloy nearly dies after she is severely injured and nearly drowns after trying to escape the HADES Proving Lab. In her dying haze she mistakes Varl as Rost and calls out to him. Varl later tells her that she kept muttering Rost's name. Although Aloy doesn't show it on the outside, it's very clear she misses her foster father a lot, but won't let herself grieve because of her mission.
  • After Aloy wakes up from being comatose for two days after nearly dying, the first thing she does is force herself to her feet to continue the mission, dismissing Varl's attempts to get her to rest despite being in obvious pain. It's heartbreaking seeing the normally indomitable Aloy struggle to even walk.
• MINERVA's plight. She's trapped inside the Tau facility computers, unable to do much of anything in the face of the impending worldwide disaster because her only purpose was to crack the encrypted Faro Swarm control interface. The intonation of her speech makes her sound like she's suicidal. She starts off trying to tell Aloy to go away, but eventually she readily offers her sentience up as sacrifice once Aloy convinces her that GAIA can be restored by this.
  MINERVA: Misery... will cease?
  • The other subfunctions: POSEIDEN, DEMETER, and AETHER all share similar sentiments. They all want to go back to their 'mother', GAIA.
  • Along with finding MINERVA, your other task in entering the Tau facility is to figure out what happened to Fa, one of the Utaru's Land-Gods—that is, benevolent machines who help feed them by plowing the fields. We're told in advance that the Land-Gods enter the cauldron periodically and come out looking like new, obviously being repaired by the facility. But Fa has been gone for much longer than expected, and the Utaru are worried about this. As it turns out, HEPHAESTUS has basically kidnapped Fa and converted it into a Grimhorn, the Ravager to the normal Plowhorns' Sawtooth, and Fa is the requisite boss fight at the end of the cauldron, much to Zo's horror. You're forced to kill the Land-God, which is given appropriate solemnity when it's over. You'll wish you could comfort Zo, tell her that it wasn't Fa anymore or that you had no choice, maybe that Fa is in a better place now.
• During the search for Demeter,the facility was used to test a potential weapon that would stop the Faro Plague's biomass conversion systems. Alva, a member of a tribe who venerated the Old ones, is forced to get a glimpse of how the World ended. She is trying to find information her gods on how to save her people, and you can hear the desperation and horror of this revelation.
  Alva: I don't want to know this! This is not why I'm here. I need the wisdom of my Ancestors to help save my people! Not forbidden knowledge of their sins!

Act II

• As disturbing as the Faro's Tomb questline was, it does have some sad moments:
  • Most of the audio logs in Thebes are from Kanya Somptow, the daughter of Ted's doctor. In the first, she's mourning the death of Grigori Fasbach, a spiritual guru Ted brought with him, and lamenting how no one is telling her anything. This continues as she befriends Brianna, one of Ted's retinue, only for her to turn up dead just after she told Kanya that Grigori had learned about the death of the Alphas, leading her to realize that Faro is somehow killing them for finding out too much. Finally, she confronts her father and learns that he had put "off-switches" into the heads of everyone in the bunker. Their final audio log is taken just before this teenage girl and her father decide to commit suicide. Faro later finds them in Somptow's office holding hands.
  • While Ted Faro certainly got what he deserved, living as what is presumably a fleshy blobby mess of cancerous mutated flesh for a thousand years, it is sort of pitiful to take a step back and realise how far this man had spiraled to end up with this as his fate.
• Beta, the clone of Elisabet Far Zenith brought with them, remains pessimistic and terrified even after she's brought to the base. Aloy, Varl and GAIA (the latter two off-screen) keep trying to coax her into having hope, but she continues to fear being captured and locked away in a lonely room again. Aloy eventually loses her patience with her and the two get into an argument.
  Beta: Leave me alone! You don't understand!
  Aloy: You're right, I don't understand. We have the same genes. The same mind. The same heart. So why can't you find the strength to do what has to be done?! Like Elisabet would?
  Beta: Don't you think I've thought about that?! I don't know what piece of Elisabet I'm missing. I don't know what you have that I don't. I looked through all the data from your Focus. You were raised as an outcast. Shunned and isolated, just like me. So what's the difference?! What's my defect?
  • This last line adds another layer to Beta's grief. She's not accusing Aloy of overshadowing her or having some special privilege, she believes she's the one that's wrong. Beta believes it's her own fault for not measuring up to Aloy or Elisabet.
• The following moment where Aloy stops to think about why Beta is so different makes her come to the realization that Beta doesn't have a defect, rather Aloy has a piece Beta doesn't have: Rost's parental love and life lessons. Beta argues Rost wasn't a good parent, but Aloy reassures that Rost was great in his own way, and his lessons made Aloy who she is, not Elisabet alone.
  Aloy: Beta, look... It's not a piece of Elisabet. The difference is... I had him. Rost.
  Beta: *exasperated* He raised you, trained you, but he was never warm or loving... The day he died, the day he gave you that charm, he was going to abandon you.
  Aloy: He wanted me to embrace the tribe, but then he gave his life for mine. He loved me in his own way... And that was enough.
  Beta: *sad* What did it feel like?
  Aloy: It was like... having a strength that was always there... That's still there. Even now, I hear him in my head when things get bad. “When it looks impossible, look deeper. And then fight like you can win.”
• Before Gemini, Beta makes Aloy promise that she would kill her if things go south. Aloy seems reluctant, but eventually makes that promise. It seems especially harsh considering that these two are just warming up to each other and becoming proper siblings.
  • And turns out, Aloy can't kill Beta. She just couldn't kill her sister.
• Varl's death, especially after he'd found love with Zo and learning more about the world. He will never be able to educate the Nora like he wanted. He wouldn't be able to take Zo to meet his mother and tribe. He won't have a chance to meet his child. And to rub salt in the wound, his last moments alive was watching Aloy get severely injured and fighting an indestructible Zenith. His last moments alive was that he had failed.
  • Erend thinking that he had lost both Varl and Aloy after finding the former's body and the latter disappearing into thin air. He's still torn about Ersa's death and had come to see Varl and Aloy like siblings. Their deaths would have been devastating to him.
  • Aloy regrets never thanking Varl for never giving up on her, despite her attempts to push him away. Although Zo assures her that Varl had known, Aloy looks absolutely grief-stricken, sounding like she was about to cry (but of course she won't let herself do that).
    • Upon scanning Varl's Focus in Aloy's room a second time, it's clear that Aloy blames herself for what happened in Gemini, believing that she didn't try and work hard enough. Aloy is already a chronic workaholic, Varl's death will just reinforce this behavior. Scanning it again later, Aloy talks about how his loss hurts and that the pain will probably never go away.
    Aloy: I failed Varl at Gemini. I should've pushed harder. I should've done more. I'd give anything to have him back.
    • When Alva asks Aloy how she's dealing with Varl's death, she simply says that she tries not to think about it. It had taken so much convincing and character development for Aloy to acknowledge and properly grieve Rost's death (a little bit anyway). Now she's returned to repressing her grief and it's back to square one. Doesn't help that Varl was the one who told her to be more open.
    • Just like how Aloy can visit Rost's grave in Zero Dawn, you can now do the same with Varl's grave. Aloy can 'Sit with Varl' as long as the player wants, but to leave they must press the button prompt called 'Farewell'.
    • If you visit the GEMINI Cauldron again before the final mission:
    Aloy: We were so close. Rost, Varl...gone. And I couldn't stop it.

Act III

• While Tilda put Aloy in a position where she had no choice but to fight back (less she and GAIA get taken to Outer Space against her will, leaving Earth doomed), Aloy looked pretty remorseful over having to kill her in the end. Aloy never trusted her, but it seemed like some part of her wanted to.

  Aloy: (sadly) Why couldn't you just let me choose?

  • Prior to the fight, Tilda callously dismisses Beta as an inferior copy of Elisabet Sobeck, especially in comparison to Aloy, who she views as the best possible version of her, thus confirming that she abandoned her and their sessions on the Data channel due to Beta not measuring up to her standards. Beta looks away with a pained look on her face upon hearing that.
• There are two versions of 'In the Flood', the one that plays near the beginning of the game and the credits version, and both have a rather somber tone to them. The first version seems to describe Aloy's struggle and the loneliness that comes with it. The second version is a more bittersweet version that seems to be a lament of Varl's friendship and death, about how he had strived to help Aloy despite it all and the child he never got to meet. The song also seems be about Aloy's continued struggle despite the loss and loneliness ensuing his death and/or Beta/Aloy trying to hold themselves up to Aloy/Elisabet respectfully.

Sidequests

• When Aloy goes to investigate why the tunnel the Oseram were using collapsed, inside the building she finds a survivor. Aloy can head over to check if she's okay, but it's clear that she isn't going to make it and uses her final moments to give Aloy details about what had happened. In the end, she's just happy not to die alone and Aloy holds her hand until she peacefully passes away.
• After going through the fighting pits, you finally get to meet the much hyped 'The Enduring.' What Aloy finds is an old woman hermit named Azurekka. When she asks her why she lives alone, the answer is that she's lived long enough to see everyone she ever cared about die. Her squad, her children, her grandchildren. Being around other people brings back memories and for her that's nothing but pain.
• The quest "In the Fog" involves Aloy searching for an elderly Tenakth man who appears to be suffering from a combination of Alzheimer's and PTSD, reliving an ambush that killed his comrades many years ago. Aloy has to be the one to look for him, because he injured his daughter when she tried to get him to return home. On top of the sadness inherent in all of that, we also learn that mental health issues among the Social Darwinist Tenakth often result in death, and that the effects of aging are poorly understood because until Hekarro's reign few lived long enough to experience its effects.
• In the quest The Deluge, Aloy comes across a Tenakth settlement known as 'Bleeding Mark'. It turns out, a horrific mudslide has occurred and has devastated the entire village. Aloy meets Natikka, who is able to direct Aloy to the other survivors. There is one she is looking for, a man named Kentokk, her squad leader whom she had a disagreement with. Aloy manages to find him and rescue him, but it turns out it's too late and he dies in Natikka's arms, despite their best efforts.
  • Aloy becomes noticeably emotionally invested in saving Kentokk. She tries to encourage him to stay alive and to return to Natikka. There are obvious parallels between the two and Aloy's relationship with Rost (Aloy even quotes Rost in one of the dialogues). She hadn't been able to stop Rost's death and might have been subconsciously trying to make it up by saving Kentokk and reuniting him with Natikka. Aloy looks devastated when he dies, giving a rather personal condolence to Natikka. At the end, she even abruptly tries to leave at the end of Natikka's conversation without saying anything. Considering that Aloy actively avoids thinking about Rost, this is just another somber reminder for her.
    • Hits even harder if you had chosen the aggressive option the last time Aloy speaks with Rost in Zero Dawn; the situation just becomes uncanny.
• The quest "The Twilight Path" in the game's first act focuses on Aloy trying to help a group of Shadow Carja refugees. It's clear that the group is on their last legs, but they're holding on for their leader, a Sun-Priest named Savohar, to receive a vision of their new home. While their second-in-command, Lokasha, initially appears calm and convinced that Savohar will come soon, but concerned prodding from Aloy shows that she's barely keeping it together for the sake of the other refugees. When Aloy goes to check up on Savohar, he's at death's door (later dying when Aloy is retrieving something the refugees can use to buy much-needed supplies) but refuses to even drink after three days without water, believing that his ordeal is a test of faith.
  • This quest does a lot to inform Aloy's aversion towards tribal religion, especially when you consider how much she has personally suffered because of it.

Datapoints

• Just like in the first game, there are datapoints scattered across the world, many of them left by the doomed people fighting in Operation Enduring Victory to give Zero Dawn the time it needed. This game has less focus overall on the bleakness of living through the Faro Plague but some of those datapoints bring it back.
• A strategic assessment that's about as bad as is possible.
  So that's it. We're the last days of the last day. I swear to God, sir... I'm no coward but I'd pack my bags and head for the hills if there were anywhere left to go.
• One soldier, reflecting on their oncoming death, wishes they'd paid more attention to their mother's interest in genealogy and tries to describe their family tree and their place in it. The datapoint is corrupted and cuts off a few names in.
• A bored, despairing soldier finds a moment of joy digging up an old game system and gloats over the younger people in the squad turning to her "ancient wisdom" and losing to "granny". Then you remember, much of Enduring Victory was basically conscripts, everyone who could hold a gun.
• There are several datapoints in the Base, left by someone Zero Dawn-adjacent who tweaked the blueprints to add in secret passages in memory of his son. Initially he kept the plans secret from the rest of the team, not out of any dislike for them but because he expected they all had family in Elysium while he hadn't even been able to bury his child. Then, remembering August's generosity to his friends, he told them after all and they left audio files for the future to find. "So, to whoever finds this place... this was us."
  • One of them commemorates a spouse or close relative who fought in Enduring Victory in the belief that if they bought time for Zero Dawn, it would be worth it.
    "But if you're listening to this... then they were right. It was worth it. Their name was Liana Jenson, 9th Civilian Guard Brigade for Operation Enduring Victory. And they were so, so brave."
  • One doesn't know what he wants to say to the future so instead he thanks his now-gone parents for teaching him to care about others and try to pay it forwards, ending with "We'll be together again soon."
  • One mentions that she gave up her allotted space in Elysium to make sure three people - including her sister and her sister's newborn baby - got in. Presumably she took euthanasia upon completion of the project. Her datapoint ends with being unsure if Zero Dawn will work, but if it does, she wants the people of the future to do better than the people of her time.
  • One's a very cheerful note left by the eight-year-old daughter of one of the team. She's halfway looking forwards to Elysium, as going underground to evade the bad robots is something her favorite animal, the fox, would do. What makes it, and the above where a baby is brought in, sad is partly that they'd represent some of the last of humanity, growing up in a bunker with no generations coming after them. And partly because when Aloy asks GAIA about Elysium, she's told that the signal to it was cut off quite suddenly, long before its planned end. GAIA doesn't know, but it seems likely it was discovered by the Swarm.
• DEMETER's interest in poetry is unfortunately downplayed now - there are Metal Flowers in this game too, but they don't come with poems. However, there are four datapoints in Seeds of the Earth that are clearly its doing, and in those is Lord Byron's poem Darkness - which seems excruciatingly relevant to the end of the Old Ones.

Burning Shores

• Seyka really got the short end of the stick. She puts everything on the line for the sake of her people, especially her sister. However, by donning a Focus, she is deemed a traitor and ostracized by her community. By the end, she admits that she's not sure if she still has a place among the Quen anymore.
• Poor Gildun. Not only does he get stuck inside a ruin once again, but you discover his recently deceased partner betrayed him and stole the looking glass Gildun inherited from his mother. At the end of his Relic Quest, he tearfully admits that his own mother couldn't stand him, and that he fears his going to be forever alone.

Other

• There's a small, beautiful island off the far west coast where Aloy can't draw her weapons. Climbing the island, she finds a memorial with a note, which she reads aloud during a cutscene while watching the setting sun: "Here, we remember our friend, with a view as calming as his voice, on stone as strong as his spirit. He was not just our rock, he was our oak, sturdy and stoic. Whose presence brought us comfort and whose branches touched us all. Rest In Peace." She remarks that it sounds like whoever it was, he was truly missed. The island is an Easter Egg by the developers as a tribute to Patrick Munnik, Guerilla Games' lead producer, who passed away at 44 in 2019, during the development of Forbidden West.