#erend x avad

[auntie-coagulant]

Avad’s voice is a humorous rumble at his shoulder, and a mug of cider appears at Erend’s elbow as if by magic. Later, he will blame exhaustion for what comes out of his mouth next.

“I could kiss you right now, Your Radiance.”

Kotallo chokes, and Avad goes very still. Erend freezes, his face forge-hot and glowing.

“Is this a Carja tradition, trading kisses for ale?” Kotallo asks slyly, eyes glinting with mischief. “Or is it an Oseram custom?” 

[hartlesshart]

wordsmith @zerodawnkitewalker crayon user @hartlesshart

[busybee217]

For the longest time I’ve only shipped Aloy with Erend but after playing a few hours of Horizon Forbidden West I really ship her with a lot of these characters. I hope for third game they take a page out of mass effect’s book & allow the player to chose their romantic partner. (or not at all cuz some people don’t want romance in their game) it would give me a reason to play the game over and over just to see the different options. 💕🫡

[alexadark13]

Let's start my fanart about Horizon forbidden west))

[steelsartcorner]

Art Practice of The Day: Meme Time

(so like. Avad totally did Ersa’s carja noblewoman makeup before the escape right? I mean it’s not super likely that she did it ….)

bonus oblivious Erend telling this totally hilarious, whacky, and definitely platonic story about his king and sister to Aloy

[foibles-fables]

Horizon Public Service Announcement! About a week ago, a handful of us put our heads together and opened an all-ships Horizon server. Our goal is supportive vibes, fandom unity, and just-plain good times!

If you want to come hang out with some truly chill and creative people--whether you're a multishipper, love raving enthusiastically about your OTP, or are a rare pare connoisseur--this is the place for you! We've got some really fun events planned, and we'd love to have you.

[hauntedtacocalzoneshepherd]

People are saying Aloy should have been with Erend, Avad or Kotallo. None of them make sense to me.Before the DLC I could picture Aloy with Erend but now that I know what a crushing Aloy looks like there is no way.Don't get me wrong Aloy loves about all three of these guys but there's a difference between loving someone and being in love with someone.I've never seen Aloy act this way before.Honestly I don't even remember her being nervous.Avad would never work because my dude is too desperate and also dude calm down your girlfriend just died grieve for a while before going for another damn.And with Kotallo I don't even know what ppl saw but I don't ship them.Up until now Aloy never had a relationship with anyone that could end up being romantic except Seyka.People need to acknowledge that and move on.Maybe we'll get more choices and scenes with other people.But in my mind Seyka and Aloy are perfect for each other.

[nerd-artist]

I’m sorry Avad

Ereloy week day 3: Angst with a happy ending

[retrowhatever]

All the Horizon Fanfic Stats You Never Knew You Needed

So I did some data analysis. More graphs and lots of rambling below the cut.

I love graphs. And spreadsheets. And making my hobbies unnecessarily complicated. So obviously once I discovered that there's an unofficial ao3 api, I had to learn a new programming language so I could throw some math at my Horizon hyperfixation and make some graphs about fanfics. This post is the result of that rabbit hole, I hope you enjoy it!

Before we get started, I want to make one thing explicitly clear: this post is a celebration. It's a celebration of fanfic, authors, and the fandom in general. If you have something mean to say about a ship, a writer, or a fic, this ain't the place. I made these graphs and wrote this post as a love letter to a game I'm obsessed with and the incredible people who make the fan content that is my main form of sustenance these days lol, so let's keep the discussion positive.

One last thing: I generated these graphs from data that I pulled on Aug 4, 2022. Anything published after that won't be reflected here. Alright, here we go! Let's see some graphs!

Fanfic by Length

The first thing I wondered is what the average length of fic was. I did not include any fics below 100 words, assuming they were either art or placeholders, neither of which provide any useful information regarding number of words.

I defined the categories as follows:

Ficlet - less than 2000 words

Short Story - 2K-10K words

Novella - 10K-50K words

Novel - 50K-100K works

Behemoth (pun fully intended) - 100K+ words

Obviously, there's some blurriness at the category edges, but it's pretty clear most fics tend to be relatively short. I'm genuinely surprised by how many huge, sprawling works there are though - I definitely expected there to be a single-digit number of behemoth fics. Mad props to the folks writing those monstrosities for the rest of us to enjoy!

Fanfic by # of Chapters

This graph kind of underscores the point about most fics being relatively short. There are almost twice as many single chapter fics than all other fics put together.

A thing I think is relatively unique to fanfic as a medium though, is that a fair number of those single chapter fics are novella or even novel length. You're not often going to find a book at a bookstore that's tens of thousands of words and has no chapter divisions, but that's not unusual in fanfic.

Fanfic by Author

Okay, the first thing you need to understand about this graph is the following numbers:

1

2.6

Those are the median and mean fics published per author in the Horizon fandom, respectively. In case you slept through your stats class, what that means is most fanfic writers have written one or two Horizon fanfics. Now go back and look at the graph.

...yeah. We as fanfic lovers owe a lot to these folks. Most of them are on tumblr, so even if you don't have an ao3 account (same, babe, same) you have no excuse not to go show them some love!

Serie11 is @valaloy

SoupAndChaos is @soupandchaos

mythicait is @mythicaitt

DragonRose35 I couldn't find a tumblr for

Kittleskittle is @kittleskittle

VidalsQueen is @sun-and-shadow-aloy

NorthernGhost is @thatsgonnabeanogho

sunspot (unavoidedcrisis) is @sunspott

januarys I couldn't find a tumblr for

foibles_fables is @foibles-fables

unstable_grad I couldn't find a tumblr for

Pikapeppa is @pikapeppa

YoGrossDude is @yogrossdude

bioluminesce is @owlswatch

wandereringray is @wandereringray

escafiils is @chloefraazers

Fanfic by Rating

Okay, now things are getting spicy! First of all, if I'd had to guess the most popular rating, it probably wouldn't have been Teen. But, given how popular the "fluff" tag is (foreshadowing for the tag graph later in this post), I guess it shouldn't be that surprising.

Secondly, I'm clearly not the only one who struggles to understand what exactly the Mature rating is for, considering it's the least-used rating by a fair margin.

Fanfic by Ship

The most popular ships, colour-coded based on orientation. From left to right: mlm, straight, wlw, poly, machines(?????), unknown

I want to reiterate here that I made this post to celebrate the awesome Horizon fandom, so if you're thinking of using this graph to argue that one ship is better/more correct than another... just don't, k? Good.

I also combined similar tags, so if someone used all three of the tags "Aloy/Erend", "Aloy/Erend (Horizon: Zero Dawn)", and "Aloy (Horizon: Zero Dawn)/Erend (Horizon: Zero Dawn)" for the same fic, that's actually going to count as three fics in the Aloy/Erend column. I'll probably end up redoing this graph eventually with a less naive counting algorithm, but for now this is what we've got.

Now that we've got methodology out of the way, let's talk about some cool things this graph shows!

First, Kotaloy shippers obviously have a lot of things to say. Unlike the other five most popular ships, Aloy/Kotallo is the only one involving a character that wasn't in the first game. And it's the second most popular ship! Y'all are rabid and I love it.

Second, of the wlw ships, the second and third most popular ships involve a character from the DLC and a character who dies immediately after you meet her, respectively. You guys are out here making meals from crumbs and I am impressed. Also, though, why don't Petra and Vanasha get more love??? I'm unsurprised that Talanah and her favourite Thrush are the #1 ship, but I (a clueless straight, to be fair) loved both Petra and Vanasha and definitely expected to see more fic involving them.

Third, I love the variety here. This graph only includes ships with at least 10 fics, and there are so many different ships represented! There were tons more that had 5-10 fics too, and it honestly made me so happy to see that there were multiple fic options for almost any pairing in the game.

Fanfic by Tag

Y'all. Look at all the fluff. People always joke about making their blorbos go through it in their fanfic, but like. There is SO MUCH FLUFF. We all really just looked at these characters and went "well, they deserve nice things for a change", huh? I also love how popular canon divergence is - anecdotally, I usually see that tag on fics that are like "well, what if that shitty thing didn't happen?"

That's not to say it's all sunshine and rainbows. The next two most popular tropes are "angst" and "hurt/comfort", and as an enthusiastic consumer of both, I'm not surprised. But again, anecdotally I see a fair number of fics tagged with one or both of those and a "fluff" tag.

Going back to the ratings graph, where we learned that the most popular fic rating is Teen & Up, it shouldn't be surprising that both "First Kiss" and "First Time" are more popular tags than any of the more explicit sex ones. Also, given that Aloy grew up an outcast, I think the popularity of those tags speaks to how fun it is for both writers and readers to delve into what that means for her when it comes to sex and relationships.

Finally, the most-used content warning tags will surprise exactly no one, I think. Canon-typical violence (because duh), PTSD (growing up a literal outcast before finding out you're a clone made by an AI so you can save the entire world from extinction will do that to ya, not to mention all the shit Aloy's friends/lovers have been through in their own lives), and canonical character death (glares at GEMINI) are all pretty obvious choices.

Conclusion

Because I have zero impulse control, I'm already working on a part two for this post, where I will address such pressing questions as "Which ship has the most verbose authors?" and "Who's the gayest Horizon character?" as well as recklessly use the powers vested in me by the math and algorithm gods to find some hidden gem fics that you might not have read yet.

In the meantime, I would love to hear some more opinions on these graphs! I've commented on some of the things I found interesting, but there's lots more to address here, so feel free to reblog this post or snag any graph you find interesting to use in a post of your own. I only ask that you tag me if you do - because I want to read what you have to say!!

Also, if there's any stats or questions about Horizon fanfic that you're particularly curious about, let me know. I'm limited by the information available on ao3, but I will do my best to find you answers and include them in the next post.

Lastly, one final reminder that we're here to celebrate the awesomeness of Horizon fanfic, the fanfic authors, and the fandom in general. I will humbly accept all constructive criticism about my (somewhat questionable) statistical methods and data interpretation, but ask that you keep comments about ships, tags, authors, etc positive and productive. Remember these are real people creating free content for the rest of us, and don't yuck someone else's yum.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you found this half as interesting as I did!

[horizon-of-fel]

Ao3 Fanfics

With the encouragement of a few friends, I have decided to start posting here on Tumblr my Ao3 Horizon fandom stories that I write. I'm fairly new to these parts, so please let me know if you see any way I can improve how I put these up. I also would love to hear from you guys so feel free to send me any Asks or messages!

My Works

Stories in Progress:

Road to Mainspring - Aloy/Erend In the weeks after the Battle of the Alight, Aloy is recruited to escort Dervahl to Mainspring with Erend Vanguardsman - a journey neither of them expected to go the way it did. Set after Zero Dawn, before Forbidden West. Rating: Mature/Explicit (for eventual smut)

Blood and Sandstone - Aloy AU re: Carja Red Raids An alternate narrative following the 'what if' of Aloy being kidnapped during the Red Raids for the Sun Ring instead of living her life peacefully in the Embrace, and what her life might've been like during that time. Features: Ersa, Erend (eventual Ereloy), Rost, Helis, Avad, Jiran and so many others... Rating: Mature/Explicit (for dark themes, violence, eventual smut)

Echoes of Enduring Hearts - Aloy/Avad Aloy and Avad navigate a complicated relationship before and after the events of Horizon: Forbidden West. Rating: Teen and Up (for now, who knows, will update if it changes)

Completed Stories and One-Shots:

A Breath of Fresh Air - Aloy/Kotallo (maybe completed, tbd) Set just before heading to the mission to the GEMINI cauldron. Kotallo notices Aloy getting antsy being cooped up in the base as they wait for Beta to prepare herself for the merge and finish the 'rig', so he invites her for an outdoor excursion. Rating: Teen and Up

Embers of the Past - Aloy/Erend Prompt for two minutes Oseramtober 2023 - "Ember" Aloy takes a friend's advice for some downtime and ends up coming face to face with a messy part of her and Erend's past. Will they be able to finally move past it or will it burn everything they'd built to embers and ash? Rating: Teen and Up

[thereluctantherosrose]

Horizon Zero Dawn/Forbidden West: Alvad Doodle Comp

Sooooo *cough* ya I'm back at my Alvad antics cuz I love them sm and they both deserve so much love.

Was playing FW the other day and just like thinking about like the different convos happening in game. Like Aloy seeing how really alone Elizabet was even though there were people around her that loved her, she kept pushing them away. I mean, look at just how loyal Tate was to her, he had multiple opportunities to betray her, but he didn't. He remained loyal. And despite how cold Liz could be, he never stopped believing in her vision, and in her. Aloy sees that she is following a similar pattern by pushing away her friends.

When she sees Zo and Varl together, I saw some people thinking that Aloy was jealous because she wanted Varl, but I moreso interpreted it as she is realizing how much she has become isolated by her own actions and how much she wishes she had that sort of close and deep connection with someone. You can also see it when she is speaking to Talanah about Amadis. Of course she is happy for her friends and such, But it is making her reflect on the mistakes she has made and the repeating pattern that Elizabet started years ago.

She isn't invulnerable, and that's so very evident in her first encounter with the Far Zenith. Up until now, she has been up against people (Shadow Carja) that were on a similar playing field in which Aloy had the advantage.

But now you have these new intelligent beings with technology way beyond her comprehension, and she realizes just how vulnerable she is. She can no longer do this alone.

A quote from Game of Thrones comes to mind actually " The lone wolf may die, but the pack survives". The Nora may have made her an outcast at first, but now she is the one who is making herself an outcast now. But it doesn't need to be. Her friends understand that she is worried about them, but it's their choice to follow her and risk their lives. Why should Aloy be the only one having to make sacrifices? They are equally as worried for her safety. She isn't just a tool to be used and disposed of, which she has been treating herself as such. And I believe Forbidden West really does open up her eyes to this, and truly thinking about "the after" that she has been avoiding thinking about. She is only a young 20 year old woman who does want a normal life for herself, Beta and her friends, and that is an even stronger motivator than she even originally had.

And this is where romance can truly happen. She wasn't in the right mindset before, and had almost closed herself off from any possibility of human connection because she only had that one goal in mind and only put the burden of it all on her shoulders alone. Through this self discovery journey in FW, she really sees how much she wants connection, and one of those connection may end up being Romance.

Sorry about my ramblings hahaha anyways. I really hope that Aloy can have the love she deserves, and if that ends up being Avad, i will be super super happy, because I think they really complement each other like the Sun and Moon @flamehairedsiren 😉 hehe (btw check out her Sun and Moon Alvad fic. I swear I've read it 1000000 times lmfao 😆) Both Avad and Aloy have been through so much deserve good things ;; 💖 (Also *pushes Beta and Erend together* you two kiss too lmfao)

[goldenstoriesfromgoldenhearts]

Now hear me out here.

Ereloy fic where Erend is in a band, Avad is a successful solo artist and is dating Aloy (unsure about her profession, solo artist could work but I also see her in a band and maybe Avad is trying to convince her to go solo? Unsure. It’s obvious to everyone and their mother that Avad is just (unconsciously) using Aloy to fill the Ersa shaped hole in his heart.

And as someone who loves Aloy for who she is and loved Ersa, Erend performs (or in canon writes) “Figure you out” By VoilÀ

Which leads to Aloy realizing some things, having a discussion with Avad where they part on good terms and then Erend and her happily being together.

I dunno I just think it’d be neat. Is there a fic like this out there? Maybe (if there is plz link) if not, I feel like that’d be an interesting fic idea

[chronic-ghost]

Bright like a halo of light in an endless night, the Twilight Shrike stood as a holy pillar, effervescent and brilliant, a promise against shadows and the fall of evil.

Some of the villagers had fallen to their knees in praise. Others clasped their hands together and whispered in fervent prayer. Some were crying, warbling the same word over and over.

Twilight Shrike. Twilight Shrike. Twilight Shrike.

Title: The Twilight Shrike (AO3)

Summary: With Helis’ ultimate plot still a mystery, and Eclipse camps sweeping across the land like a disease, Aloy finds herself lost and frustrated. When a Carja noble requests her aid in a political situation where Avad must remain impartial, Aloy agrees to fight back against corrupted machines ravaging the Northern Carja territory. But when a mythical figure of Carja legend appears, Aloy realizes this mission may have left her compromised in ways she could never have imagined.

Pairing: Aloy/Avad

Warnings: Language, in-universe depictions of violence, mentions of PTSD, angst, non-graphic sexual situations

Word count: 4754/????

After sitting on this for a while, I’m so glad to finally be posting! This one is for @luthien-under-bough​ and @stormikins​ - you both have been so insanely supportive and encouraging. I could not have gotten this far without you! 🥰

[minnophee-writes]

Little Miracle

This is from my old fic blog but I am posting it here because I think it's still a cute headcannon between Aloy and Varl.

Fandom: Horizon: Zero Dawn

Pairings: Aloy x Varl

Warnings: Mentions of pregnancy

Word count: 590 words

It had been a few years since Aloy had defeated the Eclipse and HADES

Life had moved on and everything was going well for everyone.

Aloy had caught the eyes of many, such as Avad, Nil, Erend, Teb, Talanah, just to name a few.

 But Aloy found comfort and companionship with Varl, he had managed to capture her heart with his soft eyes and sweet smiles.

Varl had been by her side, through her darkest times, even when Aloy blamed herself for Vala's death, claiming she could've done more to save her and the others. 

He accepted her, all of her because even with her flaws Aloy was still perfect to him.

Years had gone and they had only gotten closer, wanted to start a family, to feel like they deserved a chance at a normal life and children.

The first few times of trying to get pregnant were unsuccessful but Varl encouraged Aloy, they wouldn't give up.

It wasn't until weeks later, Varl had gone on a hunting trip with a few other Nora Brave that Aloy started feeling sick and nauseous, throwing up, being fatigued a lot, her breasts swelling and feeling more tender than before. Aloy had a feeling but still wanted to make sure and saught for a healer.

Tears welled up in her eyes when it was confirmed later that she was, in fact, pregnant with her first child.

Aloy's excitement then turned to nervousness with how to tell Varl when he came back. How do I tell him? Aloy thought to herself while sitting on their shared bed.

A day had passed and Varl would return home along with the other Nora Brave, the second he walked through the door he was tackled into a bear hug by Aloy.

Varl noticed her fidgeting and nervousness and thought something was wrong, but really Aloy was thinking of a way to bring up her pregnancy. 

"Aloy, what's wrong? Is something bothering you?" Varl had to ask, he was worried about Aloy.

Aloy shook her head and smiled brightly at her love, excited that he will become a father, that they'd both be parents in 9 months.

"No, Varl, nothing's wrong. Only that a miracle happened while you were gone and I've been waiting to tell you the good news."

Varl stood there confused, wondering what "miracle" could've happened while he was hunting.

Aloy grasped his hand and led him into one of the spare rooms they had in the house, and in the room were carvings of what looked to be children's toys.

Varl was still confused for a second before his mind suddenly clicked. With a shout he wrapped his arms around Aloy, spinning her around in his arms while laughing with joy. 

When Aloy's feet touched the ground again Varl had smothered her face with kisses, pure happiness shone within them as they did in her's.

Varl's hands gently touched Aloy's stomach, already able to see her grow round with their child, their child that they will both cherish, spoil and love with all their heart and souls. 

The two lovers then set to work on making the baby's room, though Varl didn't let Aloy do much of the heavy lifting, saying that too much stress and strain wasn't good for her and the baby.

Life as they knew it was about to open a new chapter for them, gifting them a child and making them parents. It was like GAIA was watching them and saw their struggles before giving them their little miracle.

[justahorizonsideblog]

Sims List & Households:

Households in World:

Sobecks: Aloy, Beta, Elisabet

Love interests: Talanah, Regalla, Petra, Varga, Ikrie

HFW Base Crew: Varl, Zo, Kotallo, Alva, Erend, Sylens, Gaia, Tilda

HFW & Love Interests Fam: Sona, Vala, Rost, Burgrend, Ersa

Old Ones: Travis Tate, Charles Ronson, Samina Ebadji, Patrick Brochard-Klein, Margo Shĕn

Banuk - Aratak's Werak: Aratak, Ourea, Cyan, Sekuli, Naltuk

Banuk: Tulemak, Tatai, Urkai, Inatut, Laulai, Aluki, Enjuk

Carja: Avad, Fashav, Marad, Vanasha, Uthid, Nil

Nora: Teersa, Lansra, Jezza, Grata, Nakoa, Yan, Bast, Teb

Oseram: Delah, Boomer, Beladga, Jorgriz, Stemmur, Morlund, Abadund

Quen: Bohai, Harriem, Kristia

Tenakth - Leadership: Hekerro, Atekka, Dekka, Yarra, Jetakka, Drakka, Tekotteh, Gerrah

Tenakth: Ivvira, Sokorra, Penttoh, Jekkah, Wekatta, Rokko

Utaru: Fane, Milu, Yef, Jaxx, Korreh

The Bad Guys: Ted Faro, Helis, Dervahl, Ceo, Gerard Bieri, Erik Visser, Nemisis

The Sorta Bad Guys: Hades, Hephaestus, Resh, Ulvund

Households in My Households: (May add later to world)

Carja - Extras: Janeva, Queen Nasadi, Itamen, Three-Toe Huadiv, Amadis, Namman

Nora - Extras: Karst, Solai

Oseram - Extras: Olin, Enasha, Olin's Son, Milduf, Gildun

To Murder (or not?): Miriam, Jiran, Fashav's Mother, Nakoa's Father, Kadaman

~

Relationships: Planned (to play out ingame)

Aloy × Talanah (Planned)

Beta x Regalla (Planned)

Elisabet x Petra (Planned)

Varga x Ikrie (Planned)

Morlund x Abadund (Planned)

Penttoh x Rokko (Planned)

Relationships: Undecided

Avad x Ersa or Avad x Amadis (Maybe)

Cyan x Gaia or Cyan x Ourea (Maybe)

Relationships: Set Up (In CAS)

Varl x Zo (Engaged)

Vanasha x Uthid (Engaged)

Beladga x Jorgriz (Engaged)

Queen Nasadi x Jiran (Married)

Olin x Enasha (Married)

~

Notes:

Total Sims: 110 (Added Kadaman)

Time: 51 Hours

Households: 20

Households: I was gonna mod the game so I could have more then 8 sims in a household till I realized that required me remembering to not go into CAS so I had to reorganize because I cannot be trusted. The house holds are a bit lop sided because I wanted their to be a theme to their togetherness.

Charcaters Selected: I bascially choose charcaters I liked, were iconic, or I thought would be interesting to interact. I started with a list of 133 then slimmed it down to like 80... then slowly increased to 109. To be fair the 7 were very easy to do cause I could do what I want (AI’s, Parents, etc.). The outfits were the hardest part and after like sim 60ish I gave up doing unqiue outfits for all events so I focused on their main outfit and pruning the random clothing the game gave them. I wanted to fill a world with Horizon sims so that's why I went Ham.

Family Connection: Every family connection is correct except Rost and Aloy but I might use MCCC to correct that. Thats’ why I had to make Jiran, Fashav's Mother, Nakoa's Father because you can’t just make cousins/aunts/etc. in CAS. I made Miriam because I planned to murder her along with others to make a more interesting family tree instead of the blank image till I felt bad. I also made Stemmur Morlund’s dad..... cause I could (I recogize its not canon but he seems like a adopted dad kinda thing).

Relationships: I like rare ships and Beta x Regalla has been on my mind since I saw a post hinting at that. The planned stuff is also not fully set in stone though because I do love almost every ship, just some are more my favs (The gay ships mostly).

Future: I gonna start posting all the Sims and the CC I used in a few days along with the houses I have been making (so far I have made 10 out of 16 houses over 98ish hours).