The Burden Of Ideals And Becoming You`r Best Possible Self - Inspecting The Themes Of Horizon: Forbidden

The burden of ideals and becoming you`r best possible self - Inspecting the themes of Horizon: Forbidden West

The Burden Of Ideals And Becoming You`r Best Possible Self - Inspecting The Themes Of Horizon: Forbidden

Horizon: Forbidden West continues and expands upon the world and story set in the first Horizon-game. The central thematic thread that runs trough the main story in Forbidden West, is connected to the protagonist Aloy and another major character, Beta. Both Aloy and Beta are clones of Elisabeth Sobeck, a genius scientist that spearheaded the Zero Dawn project, which brought life back to Earth after the Faro Swarm devoured the biosphere. As both characters are clones of Elisabeth, they are the inheritors of her legacy and dreams. It is this relationship to their their progenitor, that Forbidden West explores. How does it feel to be a clone of this respected scientist, that some people viewed as a saint? The game inspects Elisabeth as an ideal/hero, that some of the central characters, Aloy, Beta and Tilda, wish to either imitate or possess. Interestingly while Elisabeth indeed was a remarkable person, Forbidden West also dives deeper into her character and shows, that she too was a flawed individual like everyone else. Forbidden West also explores the possible pitfalls of following or trying to be an ideal or a hero, in a rigid fashion. How does that affect the person aspiring it, or how it affects the person`s views on others? What is the picture we paint of the person we put onto a pedestal? These are the questions that I will attempt to answer in this post.  

It began with a dream

image

A dream that Aloy recounts in the beginning of the game illustrates well, how she views Elisabeth and the relationship with her. In the dream Aloy is walking under a brilliant night sky, in a field of flowers. At the center of the field there is a tree where Aloy finds Elisabeth, inspecting her amulet. At the place where Elisabeth is sitting, a few rays of light are shining down upon her. Elisabeth wraps her amulet around Aloy and they hug warmly. Aloy explains how Elisabeth is the closest person to a mother that she never had, and that she feels whole with her. However the dream always ends the same way, the Blight corrupting everything.  

The dream communicates both verbally and visually, how Aloy views Elisabeth. The rays of light that are shinning down on Elisabeth make her look like a holy, saint-like figure. Elisabeth is a ray of hope within the darkness, but the light also illustrates how highly Aloy thinks of her. As Elisabeth wraps the globe pendant on Aloy, its symbolizes Aloy carrying Elisabeth`s legacy and dreams, the whole world on her shoulders.  Aloy seeing/portraying Elisabeth in such a high manner is not surprising, since Elisabeth Sobeck was not only a genius scientist, but a wonderful human being. Not only did she posses vast intelligence, but the emotional side of things was also important to her. That is why GAIA, the AI which governs Earth´s terraforming system, also had to care. She was supposed to be someone with emotions and an conscience. Thus this means Elisabeth is very human, and not only a calculating machine. 

However what is interesting that while the first game establishes Elisabeth as this prodigy who cared about all life, the sequel also brings up her flaws. This becomes evident during the main quest “Death`s Door”, where we see a discussion between Travis Tate and Elisabeth. Travis tries to engage Elisabeth in small, silly celebration of sorts, but she only continues to work. This prompts Travis to ask that if Elisabeth, a paragon and a near saint, had any friends or people close to her at all. 

image
image

Aloy who observes this recorded conversation tries to counter Travis´s statement by saying, that she cared about everyone. However Sylen´s interjects and says, that the path of the exceptional is one with solitude. Elisabeth`s final moments echo this statement and while she did a heroic deed, and managed to reach her home, she died alone. GAIA laments this fate.

   Keep reading

More Posts from Kreitler and Others

2 years ago

Y’know, after a certain amount of rent-lowering gunshots, it starts just being a dangerous neighborhood.

1 year ago
Made Another One
Made Another One
Made Another One
Made Another One

made another one

1 year ago

the opening for Starfield is literally what happens to Emmet in the lego movie 

The Opening For Starfield Is Literally What Happens To Emmet In The Lego Movie 
The Opening For Starfield Is Literally What Happens To Emmet In The Lego Movie 
1 year ago
Comic For An Ask Project
Comic For An Ask Project
Comic For An Ask Project
Comic For An Ask Project
Comic For An Ask Project
Comic For An Ask Project
Comic For An Ask Project
Comic For An Ask Project
Comic For An Ask Project

comic for an ask project

some thoughts about Sinclair's past between the Christmas an lcb events... i saw no one who'd talk about that it's insane!!! so i'll be the one who'll do it (in comfortable for me art form)

1 year ago

girls love her for her poor posture and pathetic demeanor

Girls Love Her For Her Poor Posture And Pathetic Demeanor
2 years ago

part of what delights me about the goncharov joke is the inconsistencies. because it’s not an actual movie, different people are imagining different versions of it. some posts claim katya dies, others claim she fakes her death and survives. some ppl say there was real passion between goncharov and katya, others say it was a loveless marriage. the outlines of the film are the same, but the details are different. i like to think that they’re all true. somehow, impossibly, everyone’s posts are accurate, even when they directly contradict each other. goncharov is large, it contains multitudes. 

2 years ago

tag yourselves, im carrots

I'm looking back at random things I was taught as a kid by various adults and media and. did nobody bother to factcheck anything? was that just not an option or

2 years ago

i hope ebony dark’ness dementia raven way, age 33, is enjoying the my chemical romance comeback and live tour,

2 years ago

Elden ring or God of war for game of the year?

Oh boy, it's a close close call. I’m gonna rant. 

In some ways, Ragnorok is an infallible game, it’s so perfect that poking holes in it seems so nit-picky that you just come off looking like a little jackass creature. I loved every second I played of it and I can't think of a better written, better performed, more charismatic experience. I've seen morons complain that the game has too many cutscenes, as if they didn't know what type of game they were buying into. I would whine about the cutscenes more if they sucked or if the game lacked actual gameplay but it most certainly does not. This game is CHOCK FULL of things to see and do, and all the flavor-text and optional dialogue is insane, on top of that, the game feels amazing to play and the move-set is sexy. When everything is going crazy, there are few games as exciting as this one. At the end of the day I can't think of a more satisfying experience, with one of the most thematically satisfying endings ever in a game.

Elden Ring on the other hand has its problems. It has a difficulty-scaling issue, it's buggy on every platform, it most certainly looks worse than Ragnorok, it has less endearing characters, and what little dialogue it has is pretty mediocre. That being said, Elden Ring is my GOTY. This game is kinda like my dream-game made real, an open world souls-like made by Hidetaka Miyazaki the legend himself - a game with the mystique of Breath of the wild without the shortcomings of content and variety. This game, in my eyes, is the single best example as to why a game should be open-world. So often in games I feel like an open world is a crutch. -- In ghost of Tsushima the open world disconnected me from the pacing and character-growth of our MC, the objectives felt so systematic and ubisoft-esque that it 'gamified' itself as you played, removing the atmosphere and experiential qualities of the experience over time - this effect can also be seen in Horizon Forbidden West, and Dying light 2. Elden Ring uses the open-world to surprise you, you learn so much, you need to be aware of your surroundings, understand the lay of the land, and find things without guidance. It does what Dark Souls did to adventure games and it removes the handrails from the experience, in this case, Elden Ring unlocks the open-world experience. As a result, there aren't many games that evoke such a CANDID experience in me. I've never had so much fun exploring a world, and I've never been so surprised by a game's sheer amount of content. I could go on and on but ultimately it removes the burdensome systems that typically plague games of this scale. I think the game has the best reward-feedback-loop ever, where every item is invaluable, versus the generic inundation of materials in other games, etc etc etc... At the end of the day, Elden Ring just another valuable lesson for the gaming industry; I feel like Fromsoft pops up and teaches the whole industry a new lesson every once in a while - like they know what people want at a fundamental level.

On paper, Ragnorok could be seen as the better overall package but as a result of it being linear, it lacks the candid experience that Elden Ring delivers in spades and I think, despite Ragnorok being one of the best-ever narratives put into a game of this caliber, Elden Ring captures what it means to be a video game better.

2 years ago
Google Doc Is Here

Google doc is here

Discord is here

(If the google doc link doesn’t work for you, try joining the discord server; it should let you in from there, or otherwise let you know if the doc is temporarily down for maintenance.

If the discord link doesn’t work, feel free to hit me up and I’ll try to connect you.)


Tags
  • imlerikh
    imlerikh liked this · 1 month ago
  • luna-sin-binario
    luna-sin-binario liked this · 2 months ago
  • hoot-hoot07
    hoot-hoot07 liked this · 3 months ago
  • givekelsiercocaine
    givekelsiercocaine liked this · 4 months ago
  • skellingtondrac
    skellingtondrac reblogged this · 8 months ago
  • kit-fell-in-a-well
    kit-fell-in-a-well liked this · 9 months ago
  • thecelestialharry
    thecelestialharry liked this · 9 months ago
  • famouslawyeroperatorgoth
    famouslawyeroperatorgoth liked this · 9 months ago
  • fangirlingbookdragon
    fangirlingbookdragon liked this · 1 year ago
  • lim-onnn
    lim-onnn liked this · 1 year ago
  • e-p-pfister
    e-p-pfister reblogged this · 1 year ago
  • seawood122
    seawood122 reblogged this · 1 year ago
  • seawood122
    seawood122 liked this · 1 year ago
  • gaymerboi6969
    gaymerboi6969 liked this · 1 year ago
  • misti-step
    misti-step liked this · 1 year ago
  • kaszumi
    kaszumi liked this · 1 year ago
  • sithlord-darthzannah
    sithlord-darthzannah liked this · 1 year ago
  • hfwyhs
    hfwyhs liked this · 1 year ago
  • zabrien
    zabrien liked this · 1 year ago
  • nekotanx1
    nekotanx1 liked this · 1 year ago
  • violetspurpleshoelace
    violetspurpleshoelace liked this · 1 year ago
  • 9tfs83
    9tfs83 liked this · 1 year ago
  • xena547
    xena547 liked this · 1 year ago
  • vancartiers
    vancartiers reblogged this · 1 year ago
  • whyh3lloth3r3
    whyh3lloth3r3 reblogged this · 1 year ago
  • aleph-sharp
    aleph-sharp liked this · 1 year ago
  • barbariangoddessofwar
    barbariangoddessofwar liked this · 1 year ago
  • dancing-daffodil
    dancing-daffodil liked this · 1 year ago
  • dolphinsaresilly
    dolphinsaresilly liked this · 1 year ago
  • blogquantumreality
    blogquantumreality liked this · 1 year ago
  • mavraani
    mavraani reblogged this · 2 years ago
  • mavraani
    mavraani liked this · 2 years ago
  • iluvfroggies
    iluvfroggies liked this · 2 years ago
  • dorie1280
    dorie1280 liked this · 2 years ago
  • hooivsss
    hooivsss liked this · 2 years ago
  • darkenedlittlecorner
    darkenedlittlecorner liked this · 2 years ago
  • triyal
    triyal liked this · 2 years ago
  • carla-andtheartofbeing
    carla-andtheartofbeing liked this · 2 years ago
  • danimator286
    danimator286 liked this · 2 years ago
  • til-low410619
    til-low410619 liked this · 2 years ago
  • seawood122
    seawood122 reblogged this · 2 years ago
  • ani-demarti31
    ani-demarti31 reblogged this · 2 years ago
  • ani-demarti31
    ani-demarti31 liked this · 2 years ago
  • bluespitfyre
    bluespitfyre reblogged this · 2 years ago
  • kiddraws12
    kiddraws12 liked this · 2 years ago
  • insideasoftuniverse
    insideasoftuniverse liked this · 2 years ago
  • one-eye-reaper55
    one-eye-reaper55 liked this · 2 years ago
  • islaenadeadyet
    islaenadeadyet liked this · 2 years ago
kreitler - the gremlin cave
the gremlin cave

77 posts

Explore Tumblr Blog
Search Through Tumblr Tags