WARFRAME | Whispers in the Walls Story Analysis - A Truly Wonderful Quest 

If you noticed in the foundry when crafting the gorgoile, it costs 19 credits and 99 seconds, thus 1999 is hinted. And the fact that it costs 0 platinum to rush it means that we should not waste time anymore. Interesting easter eggs there.

Small side note, but I love the way that Nechraloid introduces you as “A” Tenno versus “The” Tenno making it feel more like the rest of us players are actually part of the world too.

I love the way you edited Ballas' words about the Tenno over that scene with the Vessels during the fight with the Indifference

Have to admit, I've never been more nervous about a video. There's literally NO information out there so this is the first I did entirely from my own perspective, so if there's anything I did miss, I'll do an update to change anything the community has learned in contrast to this. Fingers crossed, I feel good about it, but... you be the judge!

One line that's easy to miss almost directly states that Albrecht and Wally are basically one in the same. One of Loid's transmissions early in the quest says something along the lines of "The Nechramechs won't attack the Murmur, because they can no longer discern the difference between the Murmur and Albrecht. A theory Albrecht seemed hesitant to confirm or deny."

Loid has hadjust about enough andi s going to assault a voidgod with a glock.

A little secret that I haven't seen anyone mention or talk about yet; if you go backwards in the Arthur section of the quest you can find a little hole in the back of an infested train. You'll find a room and you'll start hearing whispers. Then your operator (presumably the man in the wall) appears and starts laughing at you and vanishes. I dont know really what to take from it. I clipped it because I was confused and didnt see my operator at first, but after looking back at it again it was indeed my operator and NOT my drifter, which I always play as.

I wonder if DE is going to explain if the vessels actually dream or transfer our tenno’s mind back to the past because when you play as Arthur he says it feel like someone is in his head, probably referring to us, the Tenno, experiencing what he is at that moment. Then there’s also what Wally says about us not being late again.

When its said "you are late" in th3 1999 segment i dont think wall said that. Imo wall finally gains controll at midnight and we dont have enough time left to stop him, therefore its albrecht who says "you are late" just before being taken over

In case you didn't notice, the man in the wall is just above the Sanctum Anatomica. Just go the sands pass the Vessel until you hear the ringtone. then look at the top of the Mountain thing.

24:10 at that scene I absolutely thought we’d void blast Wally and I’d never thought about that possibility, but after seeing it here again it seems like it’s the same thing we did with umbra: we sympathized with it, made an effort to understand its pain, and in the end took its pain away and helped it to move in

There's a specific thing we're already aware of, that the void is untimeless, that it exists in a form not subject to the apparent rules of everything else in the multiverse. In the multiverse theory there is a concept known as "important events", essentially points of time that cannot be rewritten once they are done as doing so would erase the strand of that particular's strand's multiverse consequences, and everything thereafter. I don't think it's a coincidence there are specific references to this in this quest, Loid specifically says he will help with transporting back to 1999 "when the time is right", implying there has to be a certain event that happens to meet the criteria to return to this "important event", as doing so otherwise would break the timeline continuity in reasons we don't yet know. The void (or in this case, the indifference) since it exists outside the laws which bound entities within the multiverse, knows how things will unfold, if "xyz thing" occurs, which i think is why he's warning that attempting to rewrite what already exists will make things worse (when mentioned in collecting the board), than they already currently are. In that, it is a real, formal warning, that he's aware of the consequences that the Tenno are doing, and where they lead will impact them in a unforeseeable way, similar to how Albrecht can apparently see the future, but not know the consequences his actions would have until it's done, of course being influenced by the man in the wall to orchestrate a certain consequence on the timeline to occur. That's what i gathered from this quest in general, it's references to time are much more than more or less any other quest, including the train which is deemed a trap, but more than likely the train used for travelling to 1999, then being late. Overall, it was a very well done quest.

I worked on ranking the Cavia up before anything else. It's rather heart-breaking to hear the tale of how they suddenly became aware, all while in a harrowing moment, and had to react within an instant of it. All of it leading to some poignant statements on what it means to be aware. I love Bird-3. He may seem to not be all there, but he is paying attention, and listening. And is likely the most emotionally stable of all three Cavia.

What I find interesting are a few things. 1: in the dialogue with organic Lloid we learn that Tenno do, in fact, communicate, most likely through telepathy. 2: when Wally appears in the “summoning” (or better warding?) circles he appears to be bound in some way since he doesn’t move and is hunched over. 3: it implies that in some places or with enough exposure people can see Wally, who was previously implied to only be visible to us

Fun fact, that statue has a build time of 99 seconds

One thing I gotta say about this quest is, I love how were getting more human characters. Huge lack of them with the whole sentient war tbh

Thanks for making these videos! As someone who loves deep lore but is unable to process the information in my brain myself you have my gratitude.

When i first saw the announcement i made a guess that Otak is somewhat related to Albrecht as he was important enough to be grafted onto necroloid and is aware of a cat he calls mr. Scratchykins This may be a void-touched fragment of Albrecht's mind

Cool detail I noticed just now. When doppelganger mocks Loyd, he says "Like you, Loyd" in his true voice Which is the first time we heard him speak our language with that voice I think Also, is that vessel we touch at the end with ours fashioned after Albrecht himself?

"Xata" means Truth and "Lohk" means Void if that helps any. Mara is often said to the Tenno themselves, so...maybe the end of the question is asking us about the truth and calling us like "void child" or something? Some languages put a word at the end even though translation would put it before the actual end word. (Just a theory.)

The man in the wall has been built up for so many years. Can’t wait to face this guy head on in the upcoming years

Was so excited about this video!! One thing I did notice at the end is that it's the same flower (similar to) to the one that is placed in front of the Warframes at the very beginning of the story during Vor's Prize. "We end as we began" makes me wonder if we are still dreaming? Or that the "time" we are supposed to meet Albrecht isn't a time on the clock. Old Wally told us "I can save them all." My thoughts were does he mean people or timelines? There have been "glitches" during certain scenes that has me thinking about the Matrix in some ways. Very interested to see where we're going and what you think of it! I made mention in a previous comment that I translated the quote on the floor of the Anatomica, and I think it's pretty fitting for Albrecht. "No God Above Knowledge." is what I believe it says. But at what cost does this knowledge come I wonder? Looking forward to more!!

Honestly, youre my favourite warframe content creator and ive been looking forward for this video ever since the update released! thank you so much for another amazing video!

Original Loid: "my Albrecht" ME: They F*cken!!

Bro, you don't understand how I look forward to your videos. Your breakdowns help me see how deep and beautiful Warframe's lore is. I did realize that Orokin Society is based on Greek/Roman Culture paired with futuristic Sci-fi Elements. So Loid and Entrati didn't bother me as much. Great job as usual bro. You always amaze me.

Im glad your back giving us more lore buddy. I missed your content. Keep it up!!

I didn't hear Albrecht's last words to Loid at the start of the mission, but I used what I knew about the character to guess for the final line and I'm glad to say I guessed right.

It was one heck of a quest, had been really waiting for some great lore expansion, but one thing I gotta say out of that is how greatly they nailed the audio on the damn thing, I mean bro, those songs will be stuck in my head for a while, and the singers voices are reeeally something, great work 👌👌

Absolutely amazing interpretations here. Love the part about how the vessels are actually people and how the ending dialogue choice actually had a “right” answer. Lots to uncover over the next while. Can’t wait to hear what you have to say about what’s to come.

I think lotus might have struck a deal with wally, to move lua into the void in old war, hiding her children within and keeping us safe from hunhow and stalker etc

Awesome video, I love the direction Warframes story is going it’s so unique and abstract.

YEEES! The overlay of Baals' voice is perfect! It's exactly the quote I was thinking of as I realized we weren't gonna have a fight in that moment. Absolutely perfect! Awesome video as always!

the "indiference" is much more expressive than any other character...

One of the coolest parts of the man in the wall in general is how I have never really thought of it as a thing to kill, I keep parsing it more as a natural disaster we have to mitigate or avoid or clean up after in some way. I wouldn't put it past us to tangle toe to toe at one point because that's what we do, but it feels like the man in the wall will never truly be gone as long as there are people who might answer a knock on the door.

The amazing thing about Warframe is that they always manage to take the story in a crazy new direction but always planted firmly in insane sci-fi concepts. I only wish the story quests ran a little longer so we can revel in the insanity of the story and it's concepts more.

I get the feeling, that 1999 is going to be akin to Duviri in terms of content and structure, beside the quest itself Open world set in 1999

Yo, that ending boggled my mind. It makes me see that the void let you keep your essence, consciousness or spirit but in return you died, giving that dead body to the void which now puppets your corpse around. The drifter might be another part of your psyche that was also kept intact but had to be stored in an anomaly or paradox. A part of yourself that isn't a child. My theory is the void is what creates life or sustains it but it needs materials to do so. A catalyst to inhabit to take shape and form from all the data that material contains. And humans must have so much tasty information to play with, compared to a star, an atom or even the complex machinations of the sentients. The void has so many new emotions to experience and all the time in the world to toy with them. DE has got us in their game....are you willing to play to see if you can defeat the labyrinth of the corporate machine? Trust me. I'm a senator.

35:41 Its curious that you mentioned the Tenno as a force that can win through both love and anger - considering the phrase "The opposite of love isnt hate, its indifference."

This quest has been absolutely fantastic. I’ve been loving exploring the laboratories and collecting note fragments from the whispers. I’m even invested in leveling up the Cavia just so I can see how their story plays out. DE knocked it out of the park with this one!

That’s cool and all, but I wanna know what the wolf of Saturn six is doing. He isn’t dead he is out there and single handily took on the corpus and overcame amalgamation somehow!

The way Albrecht talks when he talks to us on the Pom-2 reminds me a lot of the Gman from Half Life, especially that one "TennnnNNNoOo"

This has been one of my, if noty favourite quest so far. I absolutely adore the narrative and felt very fitting to the themes of the game as a whole.

I love how this quest goes more into the more esoteric and arcane part of Warframes lore

Oof that Ballas speech at 24:00 hit so much and makes that scene feel so much more emotional than it already was.

I personally am not a lore expert at ALL but I just wanted to voice my thought, I didn’t actually think it was about Loid’s indifference but now I think it might be that and what I first thought. I thought that since Albrecht is part of the man in the wall now (identity theft??? 😂) kinda well wouldn’t he also have the emotions of the people he has ‘become’? It feels kind of like weaponized emotions against the Indifference which i find interesting.

A few thoughts: The lotus flower might not refer to our Lotus, but the religious symbolism of the lotus flower. As the beautiful flower grows from the muddy pond, something divine can grow out of our tainted physical existence. In the case of the tenno, they pilot horrific mutated flesh zombies with their void devil powers, but they try to do good. (The Lotus herself of course is a warmachine that turned into a maternal figure so it also works for her.) Crushing the lotus flower would symbolize there is no escape from the muddy pond; we cannot escape the void's horror and the stains it has left on us (Wally). I think Wally wasn't really trying to stop us because if we reach 1999 we will end up bringing him with us. Unlike the lotus flower we see ourselves as, when we try to do good it will be tainted. The implication of the void not being able to reach back to 1999 is quite interesting as well. Important research is stored on pre-2000 PCs (even necramech designs), the handheld devices look like pre-2000 tech as well, and the "vaults" are pre-2000 rooms. It would seem that even in the current time the conceptual "1999-ness" of the objects must give them some protection. Perhaps Wally cannot interact with or locate them without using us? I wonder if the Y2K bug is more strongly connected to the man in the wall than it seems? We already know the void blurs the lines between "real thing" and "concept". But the void is also nothingness, it contained no concepts in and of itself until the Wall of Lohk was opened. Like opening a door into the vacuum of space, it sucks in the concepts it is presented with. Did the void become entangled with the concept of the Y2K bug somehow? Did Albrecht manage to do this intentionally? Since the Y2K bug cannot logically appear until the date rolls over, it would be impossible for the man in the wall to interfere before then as well.

I've seen a theory lately that the voidtongue phrase "mara lohk" translates to void demon, and that's why its used to refer to us so many times. so when Tagfer is trying to get out attention by saying "mara lohk! mara lohk!" he's essentially shouting "Tenno! Tenno!" at us. I wouldn't be surprised if the recurring question The man in the wall asks us ends up translating to essentially "can you hear/understand me, void demon/tenno?"

When we took the vessel's pain away, I just smiled and that exact Ballas quote popped in my head too. It's the main reason I main Umbra because us Tenno can fix a broken thing and I love that DE remembered that! But also one thing I thought was, are we the tenno, starting to become as strong as the Man in the wall? Like yeah we made a 'deal' of sorts but the fact we can fight back (whereas most have ran or perished) I wonder if he the reason he wants us is because we can be a perfect solid form for him to take?

Thanks to you I seen what I missed at the beginning due to the kavet distracting me. Now I finally understand why so many actually got hit in the feels and the representation of those two massive statues. Great video as well seeing has you have no true reference to lean on for it and had to go by what was given to us.

Thank you for including the context behind Loid and Albrecht's relationship. People seem to find it confusing, unbelievable, or unfitting, but I think it makes complete sense and I'm very glad to see it in the game. The sort of softening of indifference at the ending to me feels very fitting if you look at the aesthetic of this expansion too. Cold, hard concrete will eventually erode into sand.

since i come to play warframe and noticed that was our solar system in a distant future, i always wanted to see how it looked like in it's prime, how the orokin lived, how they begun, and the story is probably tell how it begun.... does warframes existed since before the orokin? or did the orokin existed since when? what is the currect year in warframe? how many time passed? ho similar is the human history compared to our?, i hope one day we get at last some of those questions awsered.

Something I hadn't thought about before this is at least the 2nd time we had an alignment choice that were not the tenno, is it possible the alignment is not *ours* but the indifference, I think that could still align with the psychology concept you mentioned previously and is quite interesting.

I shit you not I was checking back on your channel every day since the quest dropped to get the story of it.

Siege. Including the ballas quote when you did just... I WISH DE HAD DONE THAT!

I wanted to give the page to wally. Cause wally was the only one who gave us a chance and even supported us. Orokin tortured us and wanted us dead. Lotus tried killing us. The list goes on. The only thing that was there for us was wally and rell. He gave us immortality and powers. Wally even saved our sun from being destroyed by ballas.

On thing i have seen nobody mention. Loid is portraied in the biggining as being the janitor. He holds the hammer like a broomstick. And they make deliberate efforts to hide it the head of the broom until it is revealed to be a hammer. I truly think it is worth mentioning as it is indeed Loids quest. It all is about him as much as it is about the sequence. Why? Becuase Albrecht cared about him and by that so does the indifference.

my one and only nitpick with this quest is that i wish Albrecht looked more like his portrait in the zariman. other than that i loved it and cant wait to see more

Did any of you noticed that , that Harrow and Albrecht have the same pose ? Standing with a straight back both arms on their back. Could it be .... or is it just ....

Awesome video! I love your concepts. And I love how a lot of them have actually become true.

I've been playing warframe since 2014 and when i finished the second dream i really fell in love with its aesthetics and story and every time i return for the story updates. Channels like yours really help

About the infesteds new design: The infested are part machine, right? Probably they use nanomachines which is why they mostly look like flesh, with the mutalist infested inhabiting pre-existing corpus proxies. But in 1999, we don't have Moas and their personality constructs. We don't have nanomachines. We don't have orokin tech. But we did have those clunky computers and monitors.

I love the easily missed detail where, if you go out to that ledge where the quest ends, look back and up at the way you came from, you can actually see the Man in the Walls looming over the Sanctum

Maybe it's just me but I think the reason Loid was being an a**hat to the tenno and the animals was because it was a shield to hide his pain. He had to have felt betrayed, sadness, anger, and loneliness due to what happened with the man he cared deeply for. Or maybe i am just overanalyzing it.

I needed to see this video, thanks for this.

I really like the voice actor for Albrecht Entrati. I think it's a great detail that he speaks with a somewhat German sounding accent, fitting the hommage to Albert Einstein (as a German myself, it certainly sounds German to me lol). Anyway, great video, really excited to see where this plot will take us next.

The editing in these videos are really top notch. KEEP IT UP

I really wanna see more of what happens with arthur and a scene of how he became a giant vessel, a human warframe is just so interesting, just like when i saw umbra for the first time

ive been waiting for this vid since the update came out. cheers!

If Wally comes for Mama Lotus, IT'S ON!

I wanted to take as second and say thanks. I have been waiting for this video and it did not disappoint. I loved this quest it certainly is very intriguing. I wanted to say thank you because you are one of the creators that has inspired me to make some content of my own. Can't wait to see what else you come up with for noteworthy things in this quest!

Was waiting for this amazing video since the update release! Your content is amazing.

i really like ur take on this! keep up the good work bro

Man, the sound design in this quest is absolutely peak. Every time I here those low chanting growls I get goosebumps, even after I've put dozens of hours into grinding standing and the Dante update. So mysterious and powerful, you can tell it's a voice, but it's absolutely unintelligible.

With the potential gathering of the agents of the indifference/doppelgangers, i've got the image of the doppelgangers standing around menacingly, wally in the background, perhaps even a Parvos Granum entity, and then there's just Baro Ki'teer standing in the corner grinning

Fun fact: "Cavia", in Dutch (and I assume in other Germanic languages as well), means "guinea pig", as in the animal. But in the context of them being animals that Entrati experimented on, it becomes a bit of a word play. Because while in Dutch, "cavia" refers *only* to the animal, in English, the word "guinea pig" has two meanings: that being the animal and the subject of experimental testing. And I doubt that was an accident when they chose that particular word for this group of creatures.

Very apt analysis. I think it was genius to add that line from Sacrifice in the quest ending.. really adds more meaning like DE should have put it by default. I have different interpretation of that scene however.. That indifference could not be manifested by Entrati? When we go all the way to the far end where the giant vessel appears, we can find Entrati's pager. But all it took was the memory of Loid's affection that enabled us to calm this manifestation of the indifference which appears to be, in multitudes.

I've never thought of a Loids position of a "servant" being demeaning. Immediately when they showed Albrecht and Loid dynamic during the sarcophagus scene, I thought that it's just a "crazy inventor" trope. Albrecht is revolutionary, always looking in the future and not holding back. Breaking ethics laws and leaving behind huge messes. He creates, invisions, and his lab is a mess. Loid compliments Albrecht by being more timid, order focused and grounded. He clears every mess and focuses on practicality and usefulness. In the end of the quest we see Albrecht realising that his decision to leave Loid behind wasn't a kind nor, frankly, a wise one. And he too needs a support network, that being Loid and party animals. I think the relationship between the two is a common trope in media. They both have equal value in a relationship, they are just oriented on opposite stuff.

I think the question Wally is asking in void tongue is something about a truth. And it’s positing that the answer is the void

Never been more excited for one these. This is most interesting lore since second dream and im here for it!

This quest answered a ton of questions, and left many more 😂 Awesome video Siege.

Albrecht's last monologue kinda sounds like he's the other vessel

I was really waiting for this one, since that my reaction to the quest was a big "wtf" moment (just like the rest of the lore, for me...)

I'm excited to be able to replay the quest in the future. It was extremely well done though.

God your videos are so good, they understand the storytelling of Warframe so well. My interpretation of the story was the indifference isn’t related to Loid’s emotions, but it is just now attacking cause of Ballas’ portal, no reason in particular other than finally being able to. However, the Tenno stopping the vessels I interpreted as both the tenno using transference obviously in combination with conceptual embodiment of Loid’s emotions taking form of the vessels as it mirrors the first scene, and that conceptual embodiment of love is what’s holding back the indifference.

I look forward to each video you post like a hit TV show I can't wait to get into.

That Sacrifice segment with the background music was beautiful

What I hope for in the future is for DE to do more with Excalibur umbra within the story

Love the video man keep it up 👍

PLEASE DO NOT FORGET ABOUT THE CONSOLE NEXT TO LOID! someone apart from the cavia and loid was watching all of our history from the beginning! it wasnt the entrati so could have written those notes?!

I can't help but wonder if the Man IIn The Wall is actuallyevil at every turn. Maybe the Tenno are being idiots. It wouldn't be the first time.

All I heard in the scene where Albrecht talks to Loid is "worthy of you" and I didn't hear that until watching a shitpost video a few days after I finished the quest, which makes me annoyed at my choice for what Albrecht said to Loid because I VERY NEARLY selected the "I was never worthy of you" option but went with something else at the last moment.

What question do you think the Indifference is asking? It has asked three times now, so it must seek an answer.

30:16 5-10 years the fact that that doesnt sound too far off is wild to me, current gen consoles will probably be 2 generations behind the newest models by then

Always glad for another Warframe lore video

I’m so distracted by the pure amount of style your revenant has.

Great job on the analysis! Definitely helped cover any of the areas of lore I hadn't quite figured out from my own investigation. I definitely agree that this is one of the best quests DE has put out yet, and I think I enjoyed it even more than many segments of the New War. I'm also quite impressed by how invested I've gotten in the story of the Cavia, I'm excited to see that video too when it comes out! I honestly really like what the writers did with Loid and Albrecht's relationship. It not only makes sense based on some of the historic inspiration, but it's complex and flawed in ways I truly appreciate from a storytelling perspective, and I think some of those aspects are even more part of why it should be put outside the realm of pandering in my opinion. Oddly enough it doesn't strike me as romantic necessarily, but still deeply intimate in an obvious way that's more along the lines of queerplatonic to me. But I'm absolutely willing to admit that's far more likely more personal projection unless anything is confirmed otherwise. I haven't seen all of Albrecht's notes yet either, and there could very well be something in there that dispels that idea. Still, headcanon is a fun thing I suppose!

Maybe the Void doesn't enjoy being manifested.

One thing about the 'Khra'/time stuff, without its missing finger(s?) Wally is bound to what Loid and Fibonacci consider to be like timelines, or rather it needs to more respect cause and effect. I imagine its like it cant properly grasp reality and so has to follow at least some kind of rule in order to make things happen. Perhaps that is why it keeps making deals with people like the player and Baro, we make a cause to pair with the effects it is after. But if we rebuke it like in the end of the Whispers quest, then it can't complete the process and "achieve/gain mass" as Fibonacci put it, I suppose meaning it will have physical presence to which it will enact its will uncontested.

This is why you are one of the S tier warframe youtubers. We have reached a stage of exciting speculation in warframe and you are the type that combines excelent narration with deep lore digging (for the lazy of us) all with matching editing. I leave you this comment to let you know that your content is appreciated and hoping that you keep uploading as often as you do

I loved the indifferences presence in this quest.