Lore of Horizon Forbidden West: Sylens Master Plan 

Rest in Peace Lance Riddick, the man behind the voice of Sylens, died today at the age of 60. Horizon sequels won't be the same without your amazing performance.

This is what I love most about Sylens. He is secretive, but hasn't yet ever lied to us. You can never stop questioning Sylens' motive, and right when you think that he is the enemy, he turns out to be your greatest ally. However, he still could turn out to be the main Antagonist of the whole thing. You just never know.

I just know that I will be sorely disappointed it Sylens ends up being the real villain. I like him as an antihero. I feel that Sylens and Aloy's goals are the same, he's just more ruthless/callous about it. He's got access to Apollo now and he knows the mystery of how this world came to be through Zero Dawn so you'd think he would be satisfied. That said, I would totally bet money he's not done betraying Aloy at least once more. Just please don't make him a villain Guerilla. At least not at the end. We still don't know his full origin.

In the post-game conversation between Aloy and Sylens at the base she asks him if he found anything that could be used against Nemesis and he answers by saying he picked up a thread that may lead to a greater tapestry. I can’t wait to see how this may unfold!

i Think we can all agree that Sylens is know a master on AI torture. Being able to break HADES, squeese it like a lemon, taking all to the last single drop and left the empty carcase to rot....well, thats some skill you would want to see being applied on NEMESIS

Anyone that's familiar with Warhammer 40K, Sylens is basically Ahzek Ahriman. Anyway, I think what actually happened is that Sylens looked at the group of them and realized Aloy was (unintentionally) rebuilding a group of Alphas. For example, Zo/Eleuthia, Varl/Hades, Talana/Artemis. . . and Sylens/Apollo. I think he saw a new possible future, with new opportunities, that caused him to stay on Earth.

Sylens will now make 2 contingency plans. One with the use of Aloy unaware. Another without Aloy in the equation. With that knowledge as the prize for Sylens. We just might have to battle Sylens like a boss puzzle then one on one.

Seems likely Sylens would want Digital Transcendence. At first in HFW I thought he would manipulate the Quin but nope. He didn't care about them at all. Great Video

I think there’s a chance Sylens’s motivations are actually a certain flavour of wholesome. He’s probably read up on psychology, and he’d know how unpleasant and detrimental a life lived entirely alone would be. Maybe he realised that even eternal life wouldn’t be worth it without human interaction, so he’s willing to help Aloy out because even if it doesn’t work he doesn’t have a better option.

This game does not get the recognition it deserved. I loved the story wholeheartadily, gorgeous graphics, improved compat and ..aaa i could spend like 500 hours in it if i would not be busy. To me this is the Game of The Year. Great vid bud, i really enjoy his character, so intricate.

Maybe Sylens hopes to give Nemesis the same treatment as Hades received: to learn from the most advanced entity we know of. Perhaps it will be he's downfall since Nemesis so much more than Hades ever was.

My heart grieves for the family today, and the community tomorrow. Your voice, your talent, and your commitment to the craft are unmistakable, unimpeachable and irreplaceable. Rest in peace Lance Reddick..

Yeah, I think this is bang on the money. You could see the wheels turning when Sylens was up on the launch tower, weighing up his options, and the only reason he'd have for coming back down was the existence of a better offer. After HZD I figured digital transcendence would be the ultimate destination of the franchise (though I originally thought it'd be Ted who was revealed as having gone for it), so yeah, I think it absolutely tracks that this will be the end goal for Sylens.

I guess the logical question next is what will Sylens do with total neural transcendence? How will he use his newfound ability to gain ultimate knowledge at light speed? Will he help Earth and humanity heal or will he destroy Earth after gaining all information about it? Then what’s next? Going planet to planet absorbing all their information and then decimating them? Sort of like a body-less Brainiac from Justice League Unlimited?

On this sacred day of then of the college football regular season, after a long wait, we’ve been blessed with another Horizon character lore and analysis. All praise the RU-vid alert notification.

Thanks for posting more Lore! Sylens decision to stay happens right after he sees Beta and Alloy's embrace. Even the camera position behind him is foreshadowing...Beta is the key to whatever unfolds in Part 3 as he does try to achieve Transcendence.

Probably best conceived character of Horizon franchise , increadibly well written as anti-hero and voice acting of Lance Reddick is very very good , best since I have heard voice acting David Keith as Admiral Anderson in Mass Effect series , really fitting to Sylens character like a glove.

I don't believe Tilda is dead, as we only say her hand/arm outside of Spector prime after she was defeated. I do believe she and Sylens have something up their sleeves to either contain or control Nemesis.

Sylens is a master manipulater and user person. He still needs Aloy or Beta. So whatever his plans are I think he's going to try and manipulate and take advantage of Beta. Beta is young and hasn't been shown much kindness. She will probably be easily manipulated. Aloy will probably be protective of her and will probably have to save her. Or their new sisterly bond will be tested. Maybe sylens will try and get Beta to turn on Aloy. Sylens has already shown us the kind of person he has. I have a really hard time believing he had a change of heart also.

His ultimate goal is the pursuit of knowledge. His life is worth the risk. He gives the opportunity to face nemesis a higher pay-off than if he ran to save himself.

5:51 Technically, the apollo database is still in orbit, so there's no reason not to go to odyssey and bring her back. Or access it remotely.

Calling it now, Sylens is nemesis. Or a vessel for nemesis. And now it’s learning that maybe humanity is worth keeping

always happy to see a new video of yours! no one covers hfw like you do :)

Ugh!!! I’ve been needing some content!! I need you to keep me sane in my post Horizon depression😩😩 But I definitely agree!! Knowing someone like Sylens, it could be as simple as “If Nemesis destroys us all, I won’t be around to learn any new knowledge” though I’m sure it’s deeper than that. I just don’t feel like he had a “sudden change of heart” 💁🏾‍♀️

Geesh! Sylens is like the Shockwave of Horizon. For clarification, I'm referring to the version of Shockwave from Transformers: Prime. 🤖

Good summary! I love your videos about the lore of Horizon. Sylens clearly has his own goals, he is egomaniacal and he is obsessed with knowledge. Nevertheless, he is not fundamentally evil and also wants to fight the threat. That's what I find incredibly exciting. Finally, a character who is not clearly good or evil. He doesn't think black or white, he thinks gray. To achieve his goals he has no scruples. But he still has a conscience. In the end he decides to stay and look for a solution for the time being. But I can imagine that he will escape in part 3, when he sees no chance to win against Nemesis. In my opinion there is no need for a super villain. We have several threats that are related to each other. There is no need for a string puller. I hope they don't make Sylens that in the end.

Sylens is one of the most interesting characters, love the video

So glad to see you back to making lore again! I've _needed_ your lore videos to digest the story - collecting the data points for one topic at a time, I'm sure takes an insane amount of time, but please know it was so helpful for understanding the story. Been really missing your videos! ❤️

I hope the final battle with nemesis is a battle with a Titan. Everything is set up for it to happen. We know everything on how to beat one.

So happy you are making speculative lore videos again, everything you do is great but these are my favorite!!

Great Video, Keep up the great work Radom Side Quest, looking forward to seeing the next of your 10 out of 10 videos.

I totally love your lore videos. Super simple to understand and follow. You also put a lot of detail and it shows. I can't wait for the next video!

tbh adding even more ulterior motives for Sylens after Forbidden West is going too far. They already stretched him far enough in this one as a tertiary antagonist behind the Zeniths and Regalla and at this point if he still fails to understand the point, then he wouldn’t have walked back. He had the opportunity to leave Earth forever to further his own selfish ambitions and yet chose to stay by Aloy’s side. She had convinced him that Elisabet’s sentiment was crucial to GAIA’s development, she proved her own more moral and compassionate plan to defeat the Zeniths were consequentially superior to his own and upon seeing Aloy with her sister and her friends it’s right in front of his face what any of it is really for in the first place. For his character to develop, he needs to reach the point of rational compassion, coming to the logical conclusion that Aloy’s approach is far better than his uncaring individualism. It would actually be a betrayal of his character to fail at the next hurdle.

So glad you made a video about Sylens, he is my favorite character, I love this type of scheming, wise character that always can always outwit the protagonist You are my favorite Horizon youtuber, so glad to see you giving him attention

Was any dialogue recorded from Lance Reddick for part 3? He is just...irreplaceable in the biggest sense of the word. Rip to a master craftsman.

Knowledge is power. After Sylens little trick at the end of Zero Dawn, I made note not to trust him. To me, he's like, "Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer." As I can see, Sylens doesn't have friends. Just mutual counter-part who has the same interest. And I'm fearing maybe Nemesis activates the Horus. One last Hail Mary to wipe out the Far Zeniths before reaching Earth.

It could be on a first instinct leaving seems like a logical choice. But, then he realized he can leave on the ship at anytime he feels like. In addition, he would have defeated the Far Zeniths without Aloy, even though they were suppose to be far superior to them, and the main reason the Far Zenith failed way because Nemesis had access to all knowledge available to the Far Zeniths (passwords and such), if he happened to hear Tidal tell Aloy about that. It's at least worth staying a few months and coming up with a strategy before giving up. When it's clear Nemesis will not lose, it will probably still be possible to leave Earth without much of a trace.

Its criminal how little your videos get watched

I think Sylens stayed because he knows that nemesis's only mission is to eradicate the far zenith which is already done by Aloy. And there isn't any actual goal for nemesis now. So when nemesis arrives on earth, Sylens is probably planning to capture it to gain its knowledge just like he did with Hades. And Nemesis has more knowledge about the old world than Hades.

While the he would never quite be the same, I hope that the character of Sylens does not die with Lance Riddick. Lance did an incredible job acting as Sylens, but I hope he is replaced so we can see Sylen's arc conclude.

Thanks for postin’, and keep questin’. 😎

What a great character, i will miss him, and so will i miss the awesome person that played him. Rip sylens

Thank you for your thoughts. It got me thinking, about the redemption of Darth Vader in Star Wars. Are we building up to the redemption of Sylens ? It would be an interesting story arc as a juxtaposition to your transcending theory.

Aloy just stated the flaw in his thinking. " well so much for learning from mistakes". Without Aloy, he won't make many more discoveries without realizing this. On another subject, only Aloy and Beta can command the subfunctions. He was only leaving if Aloy came along

Very interesting theory, let's wait and see. I think it will be worth it to look into the base transformation from discovery till end game- all relevant NPCs and Aloy bring many items and have many branching dialogue. Perhaps the items changes give some clues of what comes next?

Is he a deuteragonist, an antagonist, an antihero? He wears all of them at different times, whichever suits his current goal best. I think that's what defines Sylens. He isn't a bad guy or a good guy. He's just entirely self-serving, borderline clinical psychopathy. That actually makes him more dangerous and harder to predict. Good guys and bad guys are easy to predict and outsmart because they're guided by moral systems. Sylens is guided purely by his own logic, and without knowing his motivations and internal monologue, no-one else can really guess at what his next move or his goal truly is. The only goal of his that we truly know is his pursuit of knowledge at all costs. He would sacrifice a town to learn how a toaster works. He'd burn down a city to learn the quadratic equation. He was willing to set HADES free to get it's knowledge. He was willing to let the world burn if meant he could access APOLLO. We only have one constant in a very complex puzzle of a man. We can't solve the equation and figure out his motives with so little to go on. He's a mystery, wrapped inside an enigma, with a riddle tied around it.

I mean even thinking about the size of Apollo there could be so much knowledge in there that not even after 100 years he could get through it all. Nemesis would be the ultimate goal

Woo! Hope you're doing good Sir Chilly!

to me, in the next game we'll see Sylens deadly wounded near the end, his consciousness uploaded in a last attempt to defeat Nemesis and Aloy and friends helping from the outside in some way

Hey man, its great point about Sylens motives. What do you think about Vast Silver? It must will come in third game and become Eloy's ally in the fight against Nemesis? Where do you think Vast Silver is located? Maybe in Elysium, which we will surely visit? How do you think - is it correct that Vast Silver was main AI of General Syntetics drons army that fought against JTF-10?

Holy shit I think you probably called it on what his plan is. It’s so perfect and makes all the sense in the world for his character I can’t imagine what other path the writers would have for him

I wonder if he is somehow a subordinate function Apollo . Pursuit of knowledge.

I like that part at the end. Hopefully he does stick around & help.

I wonder: if Sylens was to decide to leave Earth under the impression that Nemesis was too powerful, would he try to take Beta with him? A clone of Elisabet Sobeck - One of the greatest minds of the Old World - who was raised on the Apollo database. He's butted heads with Aloy but does respect her. Beta meanwhile matches intellectually but wouldn't be much in the way of a fight, so all the positive aspects that Sylens admires about Elisabet without the threat of having a spear rammed down his throat that would come with Aloy.

Legendary as always. 🤘🌞🏹✨❄️🍻🧡

I didn’t think of this in the moment but your totally right. He’s only thinking at least there’s a chance to kill it with aloy or he can just blast off and leave.

I think this theory may be correct but I also think there is something even simpler going on with Sylens. At the moment he changed his mind about leaving on the shuttle, Beta was giving Aloy a hug. Sylens has obviously been alone for most of his life and he has never truly trusted anyone or has had his trust betrayed too many times. As he said in Zero Dawn, "trust is a poor foundation" for any relationship. All animals to include humans are not born mistrusting. Mistrust comes from being experience. Experience of being abandoned, the experience of giving trust but not having it given in return. The mistrust comes from being burned too many times in life. Sylens has done everything on his own for so long that his decisions are based on a "go it alone" philosophy because he has had to. If Sylens wanted to capture the knowledge of Nemesis, I believe he would have made that decision long before the final showdown with the Zeniths. I don't think that thought process just came to him as he walked up the stairs to the shuttles. Actually, I believe he saw the affection of Aloy and her friends and somehow longed for that. Yes, that is sentimentality, I know, but based on his change of heart at the moment he saw Beta hug Aloy, I think it is his longing to be a part of group and to trust and be trusted. I may be wrong and also, it could be a combination of the two theories or something else entirely different. But given the moment he changed his mind about leaving, I think he wants to be a part of this group even he hasn't learned yet to trust in someone again.

Sylens "I HaVe a PLAn AlOy" Aloy "Sure"

Omg seeing the footage of the first game shows me how much they progressed with the second game. I would definitely play a remastered first game

If i'm not wrong, one of the zenith says that nemesis comprehends all the knowledge from the zenith, so i think that he wants to do the same as he did to Ade, maybe he wants to "extract" it's knowledge. and, at the end of the next game, we might have to stop him

See emotionally his conscience turn makes sense. But logically your theory is nail on the head. I don’t know which would be better, I don’t know which I want. I would love if in the next game he is pursuing digital transcendent but is being turned by his conscience and is grappling with that

Hia change of heart comes from self preservation. If Aloy and humanity dies then he will be alone aganist nemesis

Well, he hasn't acquired enough knowledge to be a space pilot. Yeet yourself through space with zero knowledge is practically suicide.

Thanks for the video. Thought provoking! What I don't get is if that is Sylens aim and why he's staying why did he make as if to leave and then seemingly change his mind at the last minute as he's about to board the shuttle. The whole look back at the group embracing the look of longing to the shuttle, the shrug of the shoulders and the sigh just feel very uncharacteristic of him almost as if he's doing the heart thing not the head thing. Will be v interesting to find out what he's actually upto!

The mothership must be in orbit still Could missing sub-function copy’s be there also?

The Apollo archive contains everything that was known to the point the Zenith's left earth. Whereas nemesis theoretically knows of all the technology in addition that was discovered since. Meaning that Apollo contains less information than Nemesis potentially does. Sylens seeks knowledge above all else, and is very isolationist, however I highly doubt he'd be interested in a life completely and utterly alone, in complete isolation, for all his life or eternity. rather than transcendence I feel he seeks to squeeze as much info as he can from Nemesis, in like fashion to what he did with Hades.

He's always honest in his own want. "For a time" still going to leave but realised he needs time to pilot the ship.

Sylens/Nemesis hybrid confirmed final boss in Horizon : Outer Limits, you heard it here first folks

I believe that the sylens is going to be the antagonist in the 3th and final game

Will there be a video about the quen, utaru, or tenakth? Like the lord tribes videos from zero dawn

@9.49 Here you can see tracking for nemesis, just before zooming in on the planet. This is way before Aloy is aware of it. So Sylens has had plenty of time to plan. When turning, he has just realized that the best option is to remain and fight, since Aloy uniting all forces actually might defeat Nemesis.

I have a crazy theory. What if sylans is a construct from gia a secondary source of wisdom a vessle to carryout gia's more human touch for the planet, she is limited just by the fact that she is on a digital system, he's a human that is calculated in his mindset because thats all he can think. He was the only other human to understand ancient technology, and was able to understand far zenith better than they did (ie sheild technology). Also explains why even though leaving the planet is the logical choice he looked at aloy stand in the face of doom and planned to defy it changed his mind because gia would've seen the value of helping us survive. Whos to say gia wasn't crafting a perfect embryo that could make an offspring that could house her essence. Also with the apollo program gone no humans ever came to her like she was expecting thousands of years alone to restart life and spend another thousend years alone perhaps she was trying desperately to jumpstart humanity's discovery of her just so she didnt have to watch the species that she loves from afar

I don’t know he seemed ready to leave and tried to get Aloy to go with him. Then on the way to the shuttle he looks back and sees Aloy with her crew and changes his mind. What you’ve mentioned would all have been calculated by him well before the ending of the game. His calculation is that there’s no chance and it’s death to stay. If Aloy had told him let’s go he would have peaced out. So it’s ALOY that made him stay. I don’t think he has any special feelings for her so she must represent something that he wants. What that is is anyone’s guess. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I like to think that when she saw Aloy with his friends he realize that against odd and calculations Aloy has always been the thing that ruins Sylens calculations, and having Aloy as an ally he knows together they sucedded also pretty excited to see him making an ai with the help of beta and apollo

I've no doubt of the reason of his motivations youvve posited your always so ahead of curve.

It's a really interesting theory, but at the same time what were his options? He might have gotten appolo but being smart doesnt mean anything when you're alone in space forever.

2:31 is it just me or does he actually sounds like he is happy or likes the other characters for a split second

Must admit your theory holds strong and has a lot of things that line up, it may also be what the writers have intended to occur in the next game. I just want to add one little thing though, Nemesis likely is able to track the Odyssey, so even if Sylens left Earth with it, once Nemesis is done with Earth it would go after the ship and destroy it as it wouldn't want to chance its creators escaping. I think that whilst this isn't the main reason why Sylens stayed, it is probably part of his calculated risk as he probably realises he would have to deal with Nemesis at some point, so why not on Earth with the help of other people and GAIA?

Phenomenal

Sylens reminds me of the Illusive Man from Mass Effect

"What's a God without people to worship them?" I think that best fits Sylens. At every turn he shows his own arrogance, his own lack of concern for fellow human life. In his eyes all that matters is him as he is superior to everyone, and I think that's what drives his obsession with knowledge. It's why he doesn't care who he discards on his path to the top, but it's also why he stays- because what is the point in all that knowledge if he has no one to lord it over? What's the point of a superiority complex if you have no inferiors? It's why he doesn't see a flaw in his actions and doesn't apologize, why, even when he's the one turning to Aloy for help fixing something he broke, he's incredibly condescending. He needs this world because this world validates his ego.

I totally get where silence is coming from

I think he realized he has no idea of the location and capabilities of the colony ship.

I wonder what they're going to do as far as ending his storyline is concerned now that he has passed away

I would bet that he thinks if anyone can find a way to take out Nemesis, it would be Aloy. and IF he intends to use a nemesis like interface to transcend, he probably wants to know how she could end it.

To be honest i want sylens dead by trying to learn something from nemesis I'm tired of him constantly thinking he knows best and do things because he has to do it He gave those rebels oseram and tenakht the means to control other machine then he's like "let me help you, aloy" I hope sylens, somehow, tries something with nemesis and just dies

From aloy's pov this would be bad, however, the idea of transcendance is nothing new, and in some scifi it is treated with optiism and even spiritual. After dealing with nemesis, the door could be open for all new kinds of things. Perhaps someone could get the resources of the zeniths and odyssey and use it right. We could have mass effect horizon style :)

I think Sylens is a nora outcast maybe even the outcast boy that Teersa mentioned all grown up. His outfit is very nora its brown green and blue the nora colors. It also has small blue stitching like nora outfits. If you compare his outfit to all the other tribes it's looks mostly nora and banuk.

It's a shame HADES, the big bad from the previous game, was so unceremoniously replaced with space Greek gods in this game. The antagonist in the original felt more grounded while this one and the next is now pure sci-fi fantasy.

If we are to battle a super AI, then it's best to have one at your side at full power. Now that she has 3 more subfunctions to boot, GAIA's heuristic density might be enough to be a serious threat again to a Zenith exposed HEPHASTUS. If we can actually reboot it to it's original code, I reckon we can do some serious work with GAIA'S capability as her primary initiative is to preserve life on Earth. Maybe supercharge MINERVA and task her to begin simulations on undoing a super AI could be an option with Sylens and Beta to help,although retaining biosphere integrity should be priority 1

Every time Sylens spoke with that snide; uppity know it all I would slowly mutter “Asshole.”

I'm just glad he's not the antagonist of Horizon 2, just hoped he won't be in the next sequel.

I am finishing Forbidden West at this very moment (arrived at the Zenith island)

Great video. I do share same idea as you. Anyway someone knows what are those blue pipes in Sylnes body? I've been always curious about it.

I love Horizon, but when I played FW I couldn't help but think it could have just been dlc considering how poorly the story was told and how barebones it was for the title of sequel to HZD, an absolute masterpiece

Dlc - we go to mothership for other 3 sub-functions

i reeeeeally like the idea that sylens is a clone of the far zenith founder! it would explain why he thinks he’s above everyone else. or perhaps he’s the actual founder, and was cryogenically frozen, as it was said peter was into that? i dunno. i just love the idea that both aloy and sylens are clones lol

I wonder if in 3rd game he will be voiced by another actor or simply A1. It will be eerie seeing him again. Perhaps they'll do voice only?

RSQ please revisit!

I don't think he is ever risking his life by staying. After all, if things go south he can always board that ship and disappear in the space for good. Of course, considering that he do that in due time so can't be followed by Nemesis...