Lore of Horizon Forbidden West: The Quen

Lets explore those who ventured across the great ocean in search of the Legacy, The Quen! What do we know about the empire, compliance, and the ancestors? Its time to Uncover the secrets of this mysterious tribe.

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[ianmiller]

A tribe building their whole civilization around knowledge but only having limited knowledge is a fascinating concept to me

[maxleroux]

I hate to say it, but it was pretty brilliant how Londra used the Quen's own faith to manipulate them. "They say there are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true, the other is to refuse to believe what is." (Vigo Grimborn, Dragons: Race to the Edge) The Quen fooled themselves into thinking that they were superior to all the other tribes because of the Legacy. But the problem with that line of thinking is that by believing that you're better than everyone else and destined for something greater, you can be easily fooled by someone with greater knowledge than you, which is exactly what Londra did. This is why I hate the "Chosen One" trope. Take Kina for example. Kina was a skilled navigator and an imperial favorite ever since she was young. As a result, she was already use to receiving special treatment and prestige, which is how she was so easily fooled by Londra's lies. Kinda believed what wasn't true and she couldn't see through the ruse until Londra revealed his true callous nature. The whole thing reminded me a lot of how HADES used Helis and the Eclipse in the last game. Horizon sure loves their cults. 😇😈

[TheMrblessed]

Funny how the desire to stay close to the comfort of the "goddess" has kept the Nora so far behind compared to tribes like the Quen who venture out. Funny how comfort and safety can turn around and bite you when you're not willing to venture out and discover new things. The Quen are now my favorite tribe of our Horizon world. Their expertise in maritime transportation and societal structure has been most fascinating. Besides, their outfits are my favorite! Even the Carja don't have that much style.
But, just like every other tribe, they misinterpreted the past and shaped their tribe into another lost civilisation of confused and lost humans.
I hope Aloy and Beta will fix all this mess soon...

Great video as always Sir!

[mastersaskashi]

I really hope Horizon 3 takes us to the Quen empire. I want to see more of them.

[sweetimmortalife]

A prime example that technological advance doesn’t equate to sociopolitical advance. To the Quen their unique knowledge has made them a very broken tribe, would be easy to think it would push them to incredible technological advances. But their prejudice toward other tribes and subsequent mistrust in their own people has made the sharing of knowledge a highly politicized and even religious matter. And no tribe is perfect but to point at the other main tribe in the Forbidden West, the Tenakth despite the perception of being a savage/barbaric tribe, we are soon proven wrong and get to see their belief system, more focused towards resilience and honor and also thanks to Hekarro, have united as a tribe, a whole more open to change for the good of their people. They understood that unity is key to their survival and that meant making amends with former enemies, like other clans and then other tribes, like the Carja. Despite some black sheeps the message remains strong. Sorry if I’m so biased towards the Tenakth, some of my favorite characters and side-quests have come out of the tribe. I also felt Aloy found a tribe that receiver her and others more warmly and is the tribe most open to change.

[MrNomad-]

Personally, I think I like the look of the Quens' armour the best. The flowiness of the fabric and those little circular metal plates just do it for me. They even top the oseram's armour in my opinion

[martinatobitt]

I love that you bring up that even the Imperials aren't allowed Focuses. Focuses are so overpowered, they're comparable to bringing gunpowder to pre-colonisation South America. Amazing that such a treasure isn't wider known, isn't it? Olin as a "lowly" Oseram Delver can walk around with such a marvel and people just laugh and think it's a jewel, and across the world, they're just about the most powerful tool a person could possess.

[Jayjay-qeum]

Quen swords and spears that can be seen on hands of NPCs, on the Settlements or concept art seem to be inspired by shark tooth weapons of Polynesian cultures and Native Hawaiians. These weapons used a wooden shaped sword, dagger, lance, axe, club and had shark teeth attached to the edge of these wooden weapons by rope. In a similar fashion, the Quen Sword and Quen Spear have metal pieces to teeth attached to their wooden and metal weapons attached by rope. The Quen ship is also inspired by trimarans, which ultimately have their origins in Polynesian boats.

[Itsgayread]

Interesting how modern corporations are often influenced by works such as "The Art of War" and empirical ideas of "conquest", and how the Quen were thus recreating Empire. Empires influencing companies influencing future empires.

[ashleycox]

Has there been anything released that shows the canonical ending to burning shores? I know the player is given the choice for aloys relationship but for the purpose of continuity in other titles and media there is going to be one option that is what was chosen. I really hope they decide to move forward with the relationship it was such an amazing story seeing it unfold, could tell from early on both were developing feelings and it felt so natural

[Maddie_Madds]

Great video. I think Horizon 3 will take us to the Quen Lands and knowledge from Apollo will make the journey much quicker.
Apart from the Horus, I found the Burning Shores rushed & underwhelming compared to Frozen Wilds.

[sweets]

Yay! I so much needed my RSQ fix! Thank you so much for yet another great video!

[Rey-]

Thank you for another great video! I've watched about every lore video you ever made and they allow me to enjoy my favorite game series even more. Always a pleasure seeing you uploaded a new one :)

[mitthrawnuruodo]

I love the idea of the Quen. Given the fact that they are most likely from China and got their focuses there it makes sense that their civilization is a mostly authoritarian society. Hopefully we get more in the next game.

[niellbecker]

Just as I’d been thinking I was missing the world of Horizon, a great video from RSQ!

Good to have the two stories of the Quen woven together, I’m still a little on the fence about them but it does add some interesting lore 😊.

[michaelbellefeuille]

Do you think it would be sad if Aloy went to another cradle facility and saw the exact same message with Gaia, and there was also another clone

[nayramartins]

I was waiting for this one! Nice video

[basiakost]

LOVE these videos so much! Thank you!

[shaynesaulnier]

I cant wait to see where they are going next! It is simply a masterpiece straight through

[Ambushbug]

Another phenomenal video by my fellow Banuk @RandomSideQuest