Horizon Forbidden West contains its fair share of mysteries, which was expected, and tells a lot of side stories through data points. Horizon Zero Dawn does both of these things, so it only makes sense that Forbidden West would as well. In Forbidden West, though, some of those mysteries and stories were kicked up a notch. At the top of the list is the truth about the man responsible for the apocalypse, Ted Faro. Read at your own discretion — late-game story beat and location spoilers ahead.
Towards the end of the main Forbidden West storyline, players will start a quest called Faro’s Tomb. In it, players finally gain the ability to travel to the far west side of the map. On the other side of the San Francisco Bay, they’ll encounter the Quen tribe... and Thebes, which houses the most disturbing story the Horizon franchise has offered so far. If you weren’t pausing to listen to every data point and taking the time to read between the lines, the sequence’s climax may have been confusing and even a little disappointing. So what exactly happened to Ted Faro?
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Thebes Showcases Faro's Personality
The horrifying Ted Faro story takes place in Thebes, his personal survival bunker where he took refuge while Project Zero Dawn was carried out. Right away, a few things are made very clear about Faro. First, he has a very weird obsession with Egypt that’s put front and center. No big deal, until you consider the killer robots he created.
Much of Thebes is inspired by Egyptian architecture and imagery, which would have felt a bit random if not for the Faro Chariot Line. The Chariot Line, consisting of the Corrupter, Deathbringer, and Metal Devil, originally had names inspired by Egyptian gods. The Corrupter was called Scarab, the Deathbringer was Kopesh, and the Metal Devil was Horus.
Given that the Chariot Line directly brought about the near-extinction of humanity, one might think Faro wouldn’t want to be reminded of it every waking moment. The apocalypse was called the Faro Plague for a reason. However, given the design of Thebes, and the two Corrupters decorating the main hall like trophies, he didn’t seem to have a problem with it. Even though Ted appeared to show remorse for his actions in Zero Dawn, almost all of that is negated here.
The second standout feature of Thebes is the massive statue of Ted Faro that looms over the great hall. Nothing more clearly displays Ted’s narcissistic personality, which again, somehow stayed intact even after he single-handedly caused the apocalypse.
As Aloy journeys into the depths of Thebes, she discovers some data points where the story slowly unfolds. Ted Faro wasn’t always alone in Thebes. He brought a guru named Grigori Fasbach, a scientist named Dr. Somptow, and Somptow’s teenage daughter Kanya. Ted also brought his many girlfriends, which Kanya describes as a harem.
Ted Faro's Descent Into Madness
The data points reveal that Faro was slowly but surely losing his mind, and took drastic measures to ensure his authority was never challenged. Everyone who joined Ted in Thebes had a “kill switch” secretly put in their heads so that if they began to challenge Ted (or if he simply grew weary of their company) they could be easily disposed of. Ted used the kill switches on both his guru and his harem girls until he was left with only Somptow and Kanya.
Dr. Somptow was the most important person in Thebes other than Ted himself. He was brought to Faro’s bunker for a very specific purpose: To unlock the secret of immortality. Ted wanted to outlive Project Zero Dawn and rejoin the world once it was rebuilt, greeting the new humans that would rise to populate it as a god. He refused to accept his own mortality, an obsession that may have also been inspired by ancient Egyptian pharaohs.
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Dr. Somptow and Kanya's Fates
Somptow fulfilled his end of the deal to the best of his ability, dedicating every waking moment to research and treatments. He was somewhat successful. Somptow’s treatments were based upon cellular regeneration, so that Ted would never age. His aging cells would simply be replaced when he died. It worked, but there were some flaws. Clearly, he wasn't using the same technology as the Far Zeniths.
The treatments successfully kept Ted from aging and achieved his goal of immortality, but they caused occasional mutations. It’s not clear what these mutations looked like, but it didn’t matter because Dr. Somptow was able to keep them under control. Kanya, however, was miserable, and it’s easy to understand why. She was trapped in an underground bunker with her father, a creepy and mentally unstable man, his girlfriends, and a random guru. When she learned about the kill switches, she understandably lost her cool.
By the time Kanya learned the truth, Ted had already disposed of Fasbach and the women. Only Kanya and her father were left. Kanya, who hated nothing more than the thought living and dying in service of someone like Ted Faro, convinced her father to commit suicide with her. When Ted found their bodies and realized he was alone, he got over it pretty quick. But Somptow’s death came with catastrophic consequences.
Faro's Final Form
Aloy discovers the truth about Ted’s fate, and the scene is haunting. After hearing inhuman growls from within the generator room within Thebes, Aloy digs through the files and discovers that Ted’s immortality treatments did work. He actually survived for a thousand years. But without Somptow, the mutations caused by the cellular regeneration therapy spiraled out of control. As his cells continued to multiply unchecked, Faro became decidedly less than human.
Players are divided on how the scene plays out. It’s clear that Faro became a monster, but his final form is never revealed. Aloy sees the reaction of the Quen’s Ceo and the soldiers sent to burn Faro’s twisted form, but there’s no big moment where everyone sees what Faro became. There’s no boss fight, either.
Some players were disappointed that the scene ultimately left them hanging. There’s a big build-up to this horrible monster Ted Faro became, but then the player is left without a clear answer. Other players, however, loved that Faro’s fate was left shrouded in mystery, arguing that what your imagination conjures is probably far more terrifying.
Both positions make valid points, but by putting the pieces together, there’s a pretty clear image. Ted’s cells began regenerating at an unstoppable rate, which means he probably became a giant mass of tumors. The Last of Us 2’s Rat King, or at the very least a Bloater, is likely a fair visual comparison. Some fans have suggested that Guerrilla didn't show Faro in his final form because it wanted Forbidden West to keep its T-rating, which might make sense if the Rat King is what the developer was going for.
The data Aloy sees also indicates that Faro essentially became brain-dead. After a thousand years in isolation spent transforming into a grotesque monster, that part is really a mercy. Faro finally meets his long-overdue end at the command of the Quen Ceo. Once he’s dead, Thebes starts to melt down from the inside out. It's well within character to think that Ted wouldn't have wanted anyone to outlive him in his own bunker. So in the end, the bunker did really become Faro's tomb.
Horizon Forbidden West is available now on PS4 and PS5.
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