Both entries in Guerrilla Games' Horizon franchise have larger-than-life antagonists. The 2017 original Horizon Zero Dawn sees protagonist Aloy try to stop HADES, a rogue AI that uses the disaffected "Shadow Carja" faction as a means to its apocalyptic end. Horizon Forbidden West pits Aloy against the Far Zeniths, a group of old-world humans now imbued with immortality who seemingly wish to recreate the AI GAIA in order to terraform the planet for their own benefit.
When considering the most despicable characters in the series, many will turn to Ted Faro: founder and CEO of Faro Automated Solutions (FAS). Though Faro was heralded as one of humanity's saviors for helping reverse the effects of climate change, his technology ended the world. Even worse, Faro committed murder and other duplicitous acts to destroy evidence of FAS' involvement; even destroying APOLLO, GAIA's archive of all old-world human culture and knowledge. While these actions are unconscionable, in the long-term Faro may have helped Aloy and her friends be better prepared for the worst. Spoilers for Horizon Forbidden West ahead.
The Life of Ted Faro
Faro was born in Salt Lake City, Utah in 2013, going on to study at the University of California, Berkeley in the 2030s. He dropped out and started FAS, which saw some success with devices like the Focus before hiring on Elisabet Sobeck - who spearheaded "green robot" projects. Meanwhile, Faro spread his influence further by investing in things like Project Firebreak; which helped quell volcanic activity beneath Yellowstone National Park where Aloy later meets the project's AI super-intelligence CYAN.
However, Faro was not content. He pivoted FAS to military contracts, which led to Sobeck quitting; she would go on to create the environmental-focused Miriam Technologies. FAS developed a Chariot line of machines capable of self-replicating through biomatter conversion - a technology developed at the Greenhouse facility Aloy explores in Horizon Forbidden West. These three Chariot machines; Scarabs (Corrupters), Khopeshes (Deathbringers), and Horuses (Metal Devils); were a big success.
However, their power was too catastrophic. In the 2060s, a swarm of Chariot machines lost control, and even FAS was unable to decrypt their remote access protocols. As the so-called Faro Plague began to spread and absorb all life, Sobeck determined that humanity was doomed. She used Faro's funding to start Project Zero Dawn, which would accumulate the necessary resources to reseed the world under the guidance of GAIA; an AI capable of emotional considerations. Operation Enduring Victory brought the military and civilians into the fight against the Faro Plague, ultimately buying time for Project Zero Dawn.
As mentioned, Faro interrupted the course of Zero Dawn. Using his secret Omega Clearance, Faro wiped out all copies of the APOLLO database under the guise of protecting future humans from learning the dangerous knowledge which led to the end of the world. He also killed Project Zero Dawn's Alphas, those in-charge of developing each individual sub-function for GAIA, before sheltering in his San Francisco bunker named Thebes. He attempted to make himself live forever, expecting to help guide future humans, but wound up mutating due to his treatments over the millennia. Having killed the other survivors in Thebes, Faro was left to become a monstrosity in the time before Aloy arrives.
Horizon Zero Dawn's New State of Nature
Because of APOLLO's destruction, when humanity does emerge into the revitalized Earth it lacks any kind of formal education that would have been provided by the database. This leads to the tribal divisions seen across Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West, with some tribes like the Nora afraid of technology and old-world ruins, meanwhile the Quen embrace Focuses to try and figure out the "Legacy" of those left behind.
GAIA keeps the environment stable for a time, but a mysterious signal tries to activate HADES' failsafe meant to wipe out non-viable biospheres. The AI eradicates herself to prevent the world from being consumed in a second Faro Plague, but this leads to sub-functions like HEPHAESTUS running amok. Aloy is born to try and fix GAIA, and her journey leads to the discovery of Faro's past deeds. She despises the man for it, and the iteration of GAIA that Aloy helps create says Faro was "impulsive," "narcissistic," and "unstable."
The Far Zeniths and Nemesis Bring a Kernel of Truth to Ted Faro's Ideas
Horizon Forbidden West eventually reveals it wasn't the Far Zeniths who sent the signal to reactivate HADES. This group consists of the richest and most powerful people from old Earth, who decided to start a new colony in the distant Sirius system. They succeeded, and became actual eternal beings through genetic tampering similar to what Faro attempted. Yet this wasn't enough, so the Far Zeniths experimented with creating digital consciousnesses they could transfer to any form they chose. After this idea was abandoned, those personalities coalesced into Nemesis: a more unhinged, sentient AI with only the drive to kills its creators - who were using a stop at Earth to create their own GAIA that could terraform new planets.
Guerrilla Games makes it clear that both Faro and the Far Zeniths suffered similar fates in-part because of their cold, isolating reliance on technology. Though it's hard to excuse Faro's actions, his point about wanting to keep the future of humanity in a blissful ignorance has some merit. Terrible atrocities are still caused by new factions like the Carja and Tenakth, but with metal-tipped spears rather than the kind of futuristic tech seen in the Far Zenith arsenal.
That said, it's a tragedy to think of all human knowledge and culture being wiped out thanks to the whims of an egomaniacal narcissist. Luckily the Far Zenith venture was given a beta version of APOLLO by Elisabet Sobeck, which Aloy and her friends are able to retrieve at the end of Horizon Forbidden West. Since they could absorb and appreciate how humanity fell before gaining access to this knowledge, the APOLLO database should help in their fight against Nemesis rather than being used for evil. Assuming Aloy can keep GAIA out of the wrong hands, it will be interesting to see whether Guerilla addresses this in the inevitable third Horizon game.
Horizon Forbidden West is available now on PS4 and PS5.
