#HZD

[hartlesshart]

While it's fun to get sucked into our favorite series, we must also remember that reality is riddled with injustices. In celebration of Burning Shores' first anniversary, I am opening up shop briefly and will be donating any proceeds to Palestine Legal - an independent organization dedicated to protecting the civil and constitutional rights of people in the US who speak out for Palestinian freedom. I will be holding a print run and selling stickers in my stash for anyone who'd like one of my nerdy horizon arts. 100% of all proceeds (after manufacturing expenses) will be donated to this organization. You can find my shop at - https://ehartlesshart.bigcartel.com/

#horizon forbidden west #horizon zero dawn #aloy #burning shores #horizon fanart #hartless doodles #palestine #artists on tumblr #also omg international shipping is so expensive I am so sorry #seyka #seykafirstanniversary #seyloy1stanniversary #seyloy #hfw #hzd #beta horizon #elisabet sobeck

[xamiipholia]

Since it’s been a year since Burning Shores came out, some thoughts on Seyka:

TL;DR: Great character, really happy with her as a love interest for Aloy. They do some really interesting things with her that I never really see addressed so I wanted to talk about them.

She is tangibly shown to be much more of a match for Aloy through gameplay. Compared to other npcs, she solves things faster, does more damage, is a much more formidable melee combatant, faster climber - she even has a fucking Valor Surge using her Focus that does pretty significant tear damage to large machines like Slaughterspines. Environmental storytelling- Seyka’s skiff has at least 2-3 Tiderippers’ worth of parts, meaning she’s been out on her own killing the things to build boat motors, and she has some ambient dialogue that strongly suggests she’s fought and killed Slaugterspines before. Is some of this npc tech advancements in Burning Shores? Maybe, but it feels intentional. 

Seyka has a natural probing curiosity about the old world that for the most part Aloy’s other companions didn’t have without some significant hand-holding from Aloy to get them started, and some of her close friend (but not base team) characters just don’t have at all. I don’t mean this as a moral judgement, everyone is different and has different strengths and priorities , but it’s absolutely critical that a partner for Aloy have that kind of curiosity - it’s such a big part of her character. While she lives in this new world, she’s never going to be entirely a part of it. Like she says, she finds belonging in individuals, and not really the tribes. I don’t really see Aloy settling down in Meridian or Mother’s Heart. She needs to have a life of exploration and discovery and Seyka seems cut from that cloth too, whether she was always that way or being marooned gave her a fresh perspective.

Seyka did risk death using the focus and decided to do it anyway- in Rheng’s notes he calls for capital punishment for her. The threat is never *too* present but honestly I think that’s a broader critique of the series and pretty consistent with the writing of conflicts in Horizon. I agree they could have played up the dramatic tension a bit, but this is a person who weighed the risk of a military execution by a totalitarian state and immediately decided it was worth it to save her sister and others. I think Aloy can intimately relate, given what she went through for Beta.

Even though it’s a DLC, she has a TON of screen time, probably comparable to Kotallo in HFW, and Horizon does SO much storytelling through gameplay and ambient dialogue. I think she’s given a LOT of narrative space to breathe. She’s also has her own musical cues and leitmotifs that do a ton of foreshadowing work through the DLC - in terms of musical cues and framing she’s very associated with the acoustic guitar, and the flute melody in ‘Her Sky, Her Sea’ has for Aloy and Seyka the same function that ‘It Can’t Last’ does for Ellie and Dina in TLOU2 - next time you play Burning Shores, listen for it. That and the guitar cues from ‘The Idea of Home’ and ‘For His Entertainment’ do a lot of emotional work. It’s great stuff.

Okay and lastly- YMMV on this one - I’ve def talked about it with friends before but I don’t think I’ve said it on Tumblr. I’m a firm believer that meta narratives and the way that stories are situated and created in our own world matter and that art deserves to be taken seriously and dissected. I love Horizon, but it, and Aloy as a protagonist, are absolutely drenched in white savior and colonial storytelling tropes. Every time I play Frozen Wilds, all I can think of is Jack Sparrow going “and then they made me their chief”. There’s a lot of iffy stuff in the games, as much as I absolutely love them. We’ll have to see how H3 goes, but Burning Shores is MUCH better about this and honestly Seyka is a huge part of it. The story centers itself on a queer woman of color who is pretty tangibly presented as Aloy’s equal with her own strengths and weaknesses throughout the story and takes the lead just as often if not more than Aloy does, which I find really refreshing. It doesn’t entirely fix Aloy’s white savior issues but I think it’s a really good move for the narrative that continues the themes found in HFW about community and connection.

Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds (2017)

#Seyka #horizon forbidden west #hfw #aloy #horizon #horizon zero dawn #guerrilla games #hzd #horizon burning shores #hfw seyka #horizon critical #The musical leitmotifs are gooooood shit #It was one of the things that really hooked me with the dlc because Horizon had never done that for a character relationship before #Also the last point is not a personal attack #I like lots of vaguely problematic things

[jinxsilly]

hii tumblr

#horizon forbidden west #horizon zero dawn #beta #kotallo #nil #aloy #..can you tell who my favorite is #i didn’t really like how this turned out but beta and nil look vry silly cutsey soo #i need to see beta happy and i need nil. religiously #hfw #hzd

[horizon-forbidden-memes]

Forget flying with The Wings Of The Ten.

I am flying with The Wings Of Meat!

Sorry Yarra, but Meat has my whole heart!

#aloy #horizon forbidden west #horizon zero dawn #hfw #hzd #tenakth #scalding spear #meat #yarra #vulture #bird #screenshot #mine #horizon meme #meme #guerrilla games #lol #funny #shitpost #playstation

[kelsochronicles]

Messing with styles and expressions a bit

#Talanah #talanah khane padish #Sunhawk #horizon forbidden west #horizon fanart #horizon zero dawn #beyond the horizon #hzd #HFW #my art

[eleonorpiteira]

Aloy, Horizon Zero Dawn fanart in honour of my best girl  ❤

@ Guerrilla Games release Horizon Forbidden West on pc pretty please  🥺

#aloy #aloy fanart #horizon zero dawn #artists on tumblr #horizon series #horizon forbidden west #hzd #guerrilla games #fanart #digital painting #digital illustration #digital art #art only tag #I LOVE HER #which is why I feverishly did this in a couple of afternoons #anyway aloy needs more hugs @ guerrilla

[snuffysbox]

Smooches for all of the HZD faves, 2023 edition 💋

#hzd #horizon zero dawn #aloy #talanah #talanah khane padish #petra forgewoman #vala #varl #vanasha #avad #teb #nil #erend #artsy stuff

[polarolds]

Silent Strike 🍃

#I missed drawing the loysie :') #study based off a screenshot I took a few years back #horizon zero dawn #horizon forbidden west #horizon fanart #hzd #hfw #aloy #aloy hzd #hzd fanart #hfw fanart #my art

[mossspond]

Designs that live in my brain rent free

#nvm i know exactly why i'm obsessed w a specific kind of biomecha lol #hzd #hfw

[madartsyworks]

Machine tamer & hunter, Aloy braves the unknown!

#horizon zero dawn #horizon forbidden west #aloy #aloy horizon #hzd #hfw #mads art

[hartlesshart]

escaping her shadow

#horizon forbidden west #horizon zero dawn #horizon fanart #aloy #elisabet sobeck #aloy despite the nora #shield weaver #hfw #hzd #focus

[boobaloof]

She definitely could get used to this 🍰

Happy birthday Aloy!

#aloy #horizon forbidden west #hfw #horizon zero dawn #hzd #hfw aloy #horizon fanart #horizon #digital art #animation #gif #LISTEN I LOVE GIFS NOW #anyway #bab-art

[meg-noel-art]

‘Take Pride in who you are' 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

Thankful to GG for giving us this world and this inspiring character! Happy Pride!

#aloy #horizon forbidden west #hfw #hzd #burning shores #horizon zero dawn #pride #pride month #fanart #my art #guerrilla games #happy (early) pride!

[horizon-forbidden-memes]

Knowing prices for Disney park food, I dread to thing how expensive it was to eat in Pangea Park

(Photomode near the lava is dangerous; I definitely forgot that the lava flows were flammable and lit Aloy on fire for these shots)

#aloy #seyka #horizon forbidden west #burning shores #horizon forbidden west burning shores #horizon burning shores #horizon zero dawn #hfw #hzd #horizon meme #meme #mine #lol #shitpost #funny #guerrilla games #playstation

[thedustyleaves]

Second commission for PMG features Aloy! I picked the Tenakth Recon armour from Horizon Forbidden West, because I've been in love with it since I first saw it <3

#aloy #horizon forbidden west #drawings #how #hzd #horizon zero dawn

[missmrah]

Thank you @foibles-fables for commissioning these two incredible women!!! I have so much love for all the fierce Horizon ladies and all the people who care so much about them xx

#horizon zero dawn #horizon forbidden west #hzd #hfw #aloy #talanah khane padish #talanah #aloy x talanah #talanoy #wlw #missmrah commissions