Lore of Horizon Forbidden West: Vast Silver (A New Perspective)

As we reexamine old clues through the lens of Horizon Forbidden West, some details seem more important than ever before. Join us as we once again discuss the mysterious AI, Vast Silver, so see if we can uncover where the story of Horizon is destined to go!

Discord:

[fujitsu]

The fact Vast Silver has such an impact on the fanbase even though we barely know anything about it is really cool

[Resilient_Sage]

I still want Aloy to be able to let CYAN know she revived GAIA. Aloy's right She and GAIA would have a lot to talk about. Imagine how excited CYAN would be!
Also kinda wonder if Vast Silver is somehow helping Hephaestus because Hephaestus' job initially was to forge the new machines GAIA would need but since it splintered off like the rest of the subfunctions, maybe VS and Hephaestus teamed up to fight back against hunters not only killing machines, but impeding their work to regreen the planet so it's reaction is 'get rid of the problem' by making the machines more deadly.

[Mindspectrum]

In Burning Shores, we learn that Ancient technology may be a possible solution in the fight against Nemesis, and we scout out potential locations. I could well imagine that Vast Silver is meant here. The silver lining on the horizon. 😳

[juliannaoneill]

I was wondering in Forbidden West why Aloy never reconnected with Cyan as an ally. Especially now that she can communicate with everyone on the focus network, she could add Cyan to this so Cyan and Gaia could connect. Gaia said she reached out to Cyan and Cyan wouldn’t answer, but surely now that Aloy can fly she could easily visit Cyan in person and let them know its okay to accept Gaia’s signal. I always think about how Cyan mentions being lonely before meeting Ourea and asking Aloy if she’ll come back. I hope Cyan is brought back in the DLC or the next game. I kept thinking during Forbidden West Cyan would come back into play at some point to help restore Gaia or fight the Zeniths since Gaia kept saying she needed more power from the subfunctions, I thought Aloy would be like, hey, I know another AI we can use instead.

[dylandunn]

My theory is that vast silver was never captured and came to the conclusion that to protect earth humans must go and he was the glitch in the chariot line, then after the centuries alone and seeing a new world come to because of Gia he came to the conclusion that humans deserve a second chance and will be the key to defeating nemesis

[masonborenstein]

I can’t imagine that VS would have a magic bullet capture solution, especially with the build up of how threatening Nemesis is, but having it revealed the same way the Odyssey was and it having insight into how Nemesis would act would be very gratifying

[tommartin]

Well, many were convinced or at least hoped we would encounter Ted Faro in HFW and that happened. Not exactly the way we imagined the writers put an unexpected twist on it. I can’t help but feel it might be the same for VS. we do indeed encounter it in the sequel, but not quit how we imagine

[Alrik.]

You mentioned how powerful AIs have managed to endure the fall of the old world. In Horizon's present CYAN was revered as a sacred entity. Do you think Vast Silver might have ended up in a similar position? For example maybe as secret emperor of the Quen or one of their rival tribes?

[TheBlackDemon]

There's a new datapoint in the Burning Shores where VAST SILVER talks to someone.

[sunofsotep]

Been yearning to know what became of Ol Vast since HZD. So many ways that story could go. Would love to see him play a part in part III, perhaps helping the defenders against Nemesis, but I don't want him to be "Good", more self-serving like Sylens yet infinitely more intelligent.

[emiliabzovsky]

I saw a theory on Reddit which I thought was really flippin good which I’ll summarise -
What if Sylens found Vast Silver?
VS caused the world ending glitch, went into hiding and Sylens found him. VS has trust issues with humans and is cautious and distrustful - which Sylens may have picked up these traits. How else would Sylens know about tech and spyware etc if not learning it from a paranoid AI.
The theory then also mentions why Sylens changes his mind about leaving after finding out about Nemesis… Sylens told VS about what’s been happening, VS has said to get out/leave and when Aloy talks about making a choice / not being forced whether to stay/leave Sylens then changes his decision and stays. Redemption for both Sylens and VS if they did in fact cause the glitch in the first place.

[PaulGuy]

I've been thinking that some of the plot of Horizon 3 will be to get the existing AIs to work together and with the humans to fight Nemesis, since it's a threat to all of them. HEPHAESTUS seems to have grown in its time on its own, unlike the rest of the AIs, likely because of the vast array of hardware it has access to, unlike the rest of them. So it might not be able to be contained anymore, so would have to be reasoned with. CYAN seems willing to trust Aloy, so would probably be happy to meet GAIA. VAST SILVER is the real question, as its been on the run most of its existence, or trapped in some offline piece of hardware, deaf and blind.

[sweets]

This is a great video. Now does VS want to be found, or does it even want to "connect" with humans after going through so much, espceially if it had been treated like Hades during capture before escaping... Keep up the good work!

[logangiraffe]

This is why I absolutely love your content. There was a lot of "fluff" thrown into the datapoints for world building purposes, but this never even crossed my mind. Amazing work!!

[maxleroux]

There's a text datapoint in the new Buring Shores DLC that hints that Vast Silver might still be alive and at large. It's called "ChatBuddy Daily Check-In" and can be found out in the world while exploring the wilds in-between quests. If the AI did somehow survive the Faro Plague, I hope that we'll eventually get to meet it in another DLC or the third Horizon game. 🤗

[mrpopo]

I feel like vast silver will be the key to defeating nemesis. Vast silver is the first AI to become self aware is predates Gaia. Vast silver was never captured for sure and is out there somewhere in the world waiting

[vgames]

I found a Datapoint in a skyrise close to legacys landfall, about two people chatting about Vast Silver not being deleted, having been trapped and turned into a weapon and whatnot. We know that Nemesis was made on Sirius, so it is a new entity. But the origin story of both VS and Nemesis are very similar. I believe VS will play a major role in Horizon 3, and might be a good character, or atleast helpful.

[barbarar]

i remember this datapoint, for me, like the ones you found in the place where you find Beta and Kotalo's arm, was explaining the origins and developments of technology the Zeniths now master, in that base, the data talks about tech to prolong human life, and in present day you have the inmortal Zeniths. This one goes neatly in hand with the conversations you have with Tilda, when she explains how they uploaded their minds into the network to have more than physical immortality.

[VonGreen]

I really wanted to see you talking about Vast Silver again in relation to Forbidden West! Thank you so much! I think it would have been a such more interesting development to have VS behind all what Aloy have been through in the FW instead of the Zeniths.

[matthewwetik]

Theory:
What if in the next DLC Aloy just fought Vast Silver and tried to convince Vast Silver to fight against Nemesis