#aloy you goddamn clown

[theartofloss]

Aloy when she's hurt: 😤💪🏻

Aloy when Talanah is hurt: 🥺🤡

[foibles-fables]

[HFW] "The Burning Blooms" and "Need to Know"

(...otherwise known as "What the Hell Was That?")

Hey all--here with a critical analysis/breakdown of Talanah's quests in Horizon Forbidden West. In-depth spoilers for both of these quests (also, in being careful, the prerequisite main quests --up to "Cradle of Echoes") lie behind the cut. This post might get long because I have many, many thoughts.

Yes, in y'all knowing me, it's very clear that this is not the ending I had in mind. BUT, I want to preface that with the assurance that I would have quietly eaten crow re: this particular narrative angle, had it not been so--well--balls-out bonkers poorly-done and nearly insulting as a Talanah fan. I might be a ship clown, but damn, I still have eyes and a brain and memory. I know I'm not the only one displeased with the choices made here, and I feel like they're a symptom of an issue with HFW's approach to storytelling up to this point in the narrative.

Here's a breakdown of my objective criticisms of how this quest line was handled.

I'm so glad the important part of Talanah's story the writers wanted to develop further for us is [checks notes] actually all about a man. Not, like, the Lodge. Not changing societal structures. Not protecting people from Apex machines. Not raising the next generation of hunters. Not striving for greater purpose amidst the feeling of restlessness. Not potentially helping to stop the end of the world again (more on this later). Nah. She's in the Forbidden West exclusively to find Amadis, from whom she never heard back after the comics, BECAUSE HE SIMPLY DID NOT WRITE TO HER, before she can go back to doing some of that apparently much-less-important stuff (which she claims to be So Very Over).

Folks. Who was that and what have they done with Talanah. The characterization issues abound. This was not the Talanah we met in HZD--she barely even sounded like herself. She was...arrogant, and rude, and snippy with everyone (Aloy included), and never even asks Aloy once how she is or what she's dealing with--when, come on, you know she would have. Nearly every line she spoke revolved around Amadis (including idle lines) and absolutely nothing besides. I just...it's unfathomable to me. This is not the woman who overcame patriarchal persecution and harassment and ridicule to attain one of the most esteemed positions in the Sundom--not for personal gain, but to restore rightful honor and to be a positive force for change. And this is not the compassionate and understanding friend whose answer to Aloy, when asked about fighting by her side, is, "Where else would I be?"

I spent the entirety of both quests with this look on my face:

The writing of the quests was just--sorry folks, flat-out strike-down bad. The meat of the quest was, in its essence, a complete rehash of the comics. All of the dialogue wheels just...retold the comics. So why both 1) release the comics and 2) include it in the game? They didn't need to do both. The dialogue between everyone was cringeworthy--even the things that normally would've had me going [eyes emoji] had me wincing. And don't even get me started on that lukewarm as all hell ending, with the contrived Nessa reveal and subsequent shutdown. Everyone lost this game--Aloy, Talanah, Amadis, and Milu (ESPECIALLY Milu, my god) alike. Everybody's character ends up completely stagnant at the end. There's no forward movement for anyone. The hug was the very goddamn definition of a Pyrrhic victory, to the point where I don't even want to think about it. (More on the epilogue scene later, stay tuned.)

In honesty, this all ties directly into a nagging issue I'm having the with the specific writing of HFW as a whole. So far, for me, it seems very inelegant and heavy-handed when compared to HZD's writing. The constant nail-on-the-head reminders of Aloy's aloneness, repeated verbatim by everyone she meets (and Travis's "haven't you ever had a friend?!") are starting to become drinking game material. Which is exactly what we wanted, but could've done well with a bit more subtlety.

Therein lies the root of it. There's this impression that Talanah was shifted into an "empty vessel" sort of character, thrown into this storyline for the purposes of, once again, highlighting Aloy's abject aloneness. The fact that it can follow nearly directly on the heels of the Zo and Varl reveal (which, adorable, but also a symptom of the issue) backs up this idea. But Talanah is decidedly not an empty vessel, at all. She was an underutilized but strongly-characterized member of the first game's cast, and seeing this weird shift was like being hit by a tidal wave. Totally immersion-breaking to me.

It's not just her, too. The other returning companions are kind of being flanderized--Erend as a goofy guy who yells about reading being dumb and forging and sports and beer, and Varl as an eager puppy dog. Not to mention the issue that's been around since HZD, of female characters getting backseated to the guys (for reasons I can spare for another post). I'm loving Zo and Alva and Beta so far, so I'm hoping that the particularly shoddy handling of Talanah doesn't tip HFW into this territory too.

Also, apart from the unnecessary Amadis fixation, I will loudly and clearly criticize the fact that the end of these quests was the end (or at least, very much seems to be the end, where I stand now) of Talanah's involvement. There's no way Aloy wouldn't ask her to stay and join the base after, again, being left off directionless like that (much like Kotallo). And there's no way Talanah--who, in the comic, claimed to be hungry for a greater purpose--would turn it down. Talanah (as we knew her in the first game) would have so much to offer for development as the game continues, including (and none of which have to do with Amadis):

The fact that her new Thrush is a Utaru whose homeland is dying

The fact that she's seen and dealt with these new Apex machines which are causing a major threat to Everyone

Her connection with Varl and Erend (and their collective connection with Aloy) from the Alight battle--come on, Alight Gang!

A member of the Carja tribe on our team, leading to a more compelling storyline with Regalla, and also:

It would be so interesting to see her interact with Zo at the base re: Zo's background with the Red Raids

If you want to use her to highlight Aloy's aloneness, it could have been done much more believably and elegantly by using her mentor relationship with Milu instead.

She is in a unique position to understand and ravel out the burden of expectation that comes with filling a parent's shoes and wearing their name and title, which is essentially Aloy's entire arc here.

Everything--the tone of the comic, all of her heavy inclusion in advertisement (since day one, but then stopping at the story trailer release)--points to the fact that she should've played a much bigger role in the game. And in honesty? It's possible that, at one point, she did. The folks in the base talk about her as if she is. She's included in that "Companions" conversation section between her quests. I'm not sure what the issue would be--development, voice availability, the fact that the base itself is a little bloated as it stands in-game--but man. It doesn't make sense that she wouldn't. Just seems bizarre to me that she just says: peace out, Aloy, I'm kinda melancholy, I need to rest here--and leans against a balcony in Barren Light for the next however-long. That gal has a thing for leaning and balconies and leaning against balconies, man.

Hence my incoming thought about the final scene, with that stilted-ass conversation and the hug (which was me personally winning but losing but winning but losing). It reads almost as a consolation scene for the player, as though her role was supposed to expand but got short-stopped for some reason.

We just. Could've had so much more. We deserved much more from her character. And it wouldn’t even have to come from trying to scrape together a more complicated narrative. The answers and justifications for so many different angles of her involvement are right there, but. Choices were made, and as a Talanah fan first and foremost I'm sorely disappointed.

At least we got Milu out of the deal. She is an absolute gem and I would protect her with my life. Talk to her at Barren Light for a good time. One of the one and a half good things that came from this quest line.

And oh, yeah! She’s optional again, too!

Always open to kind discussion about this. Thanks for listening to me rant for like, ten paragraphs about my favorite character getting ganked by the sequel. Not trying to step on any toes here, I'm just suffering from a harshed vibe. I'm super doing my best not to let this color the rest of my HFW experience, but it's rough when it's your blorbo.