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MetalFlower-Render

Metal Flowers are a type of collectable and path-blocking growth found across the world of Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West, respectively. They can be seen scattered throughout the wilderness, each surrounded by a distinctive triangle of flowers or indestructible ivy vines in Zero Dawn and Forbidden West, respectively.

In Zero Dawn, Metal Flowers can be traded in sets of 10 to the Carja merchant Kudiv, in exchange for special Treasure Boxes. Map - Metal Flowers can be purchased from merchants and shows the approximate locations of all Metal Flowers.

In Forbidden West, Metal Flowers and their vines act as path-blocking obstacles that require the Vine Cutter to be removed.

Lore[]

Zero Dawn[]

The description in Aloy's notebook suggests that the Metal Flowers may simply be intended to promote seed germination. However, according to the merchant Kudiv, the Metal Flowers first began to appear at roughly the start of the Derangement, i.e. shortly after GAIA's subordinate functions were split off into separate AIs, and GAIA herself was destroyed. Additionally, in Elisabet Sobeck's final resting place, her body is surrounded by a triangle of flowers identical to those which occur around Metal Flowers. This seems to suggest a connection between the Metal Flowers and GAIA, although the exact nature of this connection is unclear.

This connection is further supported by CYAN. When asked about the Metal Flowers, she speculates that there may be a connection between them and GAIA's terraforming system. Specifically, she suggests the possibility that their creator is a now-autonomous sub-routine whose purview is flora.

The Metal Flowers contain "code fragments" in the form of poems about nature, which can be downloaded and read. There are three different types of Flowers, which differ in the length of the poems' texts: 

  • Mark I flowers
  • Mark II flowers
  • Mark III flowers

Mark I[]


Code fragment downloaded:

///
  [function: true]
    {{Light of the moon}}
    {{Moves west, flowers' shadows}}
    {{Creep eastward.}}
  [function: true]
///


Found in the Sacred Land, in the Ruins near Mother's Watch


Code fragment downloaded:

///
  [function: true]
    {{Evening wind:}}
    {{water laps}}
    {{the heron's legs.}}
  [function: true]
///


Found in the Sacred Lands, above Brom's Camp

Mark I (B) map


Code fragment downloaded:

///
  [function: true]
    {{Lightning flash—}}
    {{what I thought were faces}}
    {{are plumes of pampas grass.}}
  [function: true]
///


Found in the Sacred Lands, north of the Northern Embrace Gate

Mark I (C) map


Code fragment downloaded:

///
  [function: true]
    {{Orchid breathing}}
    {{incense into}}
    {{butterfly wings.}}
  [function: true]
///


Found in the Sacred Lands, west of the Devil's Thirst Bandit Camp

Mark I (D) map


Code fragment downloaded:

///
  [function: true]
    {{Summer grasses:}}
    {{all that remains}}
    {{of soldiers' dreams.}}
  [function: true]
///


Found in the Sacred Lands, east-southeast of Devil's Grief

Mark I (E)


Code fragment downloaded:

///
  [function: true]
    {{When this pine sapling}}
    {{grows to flower...}}
    {{who'll be here?}}
  [function: true]
///


Found in the Sacred Land, inside the Ancient Armory

Mark I (F) map


Code fragment downloaded:

///
  [function: true]
    {{Sharing tree shade}}
    {{with a butterfly...}}
    {{friends in a previous life.}}
  [function: true]
///


Found in the Sacred Lands, south of the Ring of Metal

Mark I (G)


Code fragment downloaded:

///
  [function: true]
    {{Watching the river}}
    {{through a window of trees...}}
    {{spring rain falls.}}
  [function: true]
///


Found in The Longroam, south of The Grave-Hoard


Code fragment downloaded:

///
  [function: true]
    {{From the mind}}
    {{of a single, long vine}}
    {{one hundred opening lives.}}
  [function: true]
///


Found in Valleymeet, south of Hunter's Gathering


Code fragment downloaded:

///
  [function: true]
    {{To tangle or untangle}}
    {{the willow...}}
    {{it's up to the wind.}}
  [function: true]
///


Found in Valleymeet, east of Two-Teeth Bandit Camp

Mark II[]


Code fragment downloaded:

///
  [function: true]
    {{When dawn hennas her hands with the blood}}
      {{of the horizon}}
    {{Let the new bride of the golden veil uncover}}
      {{her shining face...}}
  [function: true]
///


Found in the Sun-Steps, north of Dawn's Sentinel


Code fragment downloaded:

///
  [function: true]
    {{The sky's face has turned dark, don't believe}}
      {{a cloud has come}}
    {{In the garden, snow changed the raven}}
      {{to a falcon of white}}
    {{Oh what designs might the magician of cold}}
      {{display?}}
    {{Like a mirror, the page of the water}
      {{is bound in ice...}}
  [function: true]
///

Found east of Dawn's Sentinel


Code fragment downloaded:

///
  [function: true]
    {{The dust of many crumbled cities}}
    {{settles over us like a forgetful doze,}}
    {{but we are older than those cities.}}
    {{We began as a mineral.}}
    {{We emerged into plant life}}
    {{and into the animal state, and then into being human,}}
    {{and always we have forgotten our former states,}}
    {{except in early spring when we slightly recall}}
    {{being green again.}}
  [function: true]
///

Found in Greatrun River Canyon, north of Lone Light


Code fragment downloaded:

///
  [function: true]
    {{By its own nature}}
    {{It towers above}}
    {{The tangle of rivers}}
    {{Don't say it's a lot of dirt}}
    {{Piled high}}
    {{Without end; the mist of dawn}}
    {{The evening cloud}}
    {{Draw their shadows across it}}
    {{From the four directions}}
    {{You can look up and see it}}
    {{Green and steep and wild.}}
  [function: true]
///

Found in the Rustwash, north of Sunfall


Code fragment downloaded:

///
  [function: true]
    {{Even this morning, O Swan, awake,}}
    {{arise, follow me!}}
    {{There is a land where no doubt nor}}
    {{sorrow have rule: where the terror}}
    {{of Death is no more.}}

    {{There the woods of spring are a-bloom,}}
    {{and the fragrant scent "He is I"}}
    {{is borne on the wind:}}
    {{There the bee of the heart is deeply}}
    {{immersed, and desires no other joy.}}
  [function: true]
///


Found in the Glarebreak, near Course Listing, 2063


Code fragment downloaded:

///
  [function: true]
    {{I saw a mountain... its haughty peak}}
      {{and bunched spine vying with the worlds on high,}}
    {{Deflecting every salvo of the wind,}}
      {{and shouldering the starlight from the sky,}}
    {{Brooding above the dunes like some great thinker}}
      {{considering days to come as nights go by}}
    {{With black clouds wrapped about it for a turban}}
      {{and bangs of redhead lightning in its face.}}
    {{And through the night, that tongueless mountain}}
      {{uttered marvelous things...}}
  [function: true]
///

Found in Sun-Steps, west of the Glarebreak


Code fragment downloaded:

///
  [function: true]
    {{In autumn rain, the grasses rot and die,}}
    {{Below the steps, the jueming's color is fresh.}}
    {{Full green leaves cover the stems like feathers,}}
    {{And countless flowers bloom like golden coins.}}
    {{The cold wind, moaning, blows against you fiercely,}}
    {{I fear that soon you'll find it hard to stand.}}
    {{Upstairs the scholar lets down his white hair,}}
    {{He faces the wind, breathes the fragrance, and weeps.}}
  [function: true]
///

Found outside of the border to The Claim


Code fragment downloaded:

///
  [function: true]
    {{I slumbered this spring morning, and missed the dawn,}}
    {{From everywhere I heard the cry of birds.}}
    {{That night the sound of wind and rain had come,}}
    {{Who knows how many petals then had fallen?}}
  [function: true]
///

Found in the Rustwash, in the Valley of Omens


Code fragment downloaded:

///
  [function: true]
    {{The moon's reflected on the river a few feet away,}}
    {{A lantern shines in the night near the third watch.}}
    {{On the sand, egrets sleep, peacefully curled together,}}
    {{Behind the boat I hear the splash of jumping fish.}}
  [function: true]
///

Found in the Sun Furrows, south of Dimmed Bones


Code fragment downloaded:

///
  [function: true]
    {{When you are so full of sorrow}}
    {{that you can't walk, can't cry anymore,}}
    {{think about the green foliage that sparkles after}}
    {{the rain. When the daylight exhausts you, when}}
    {{you hope a final night will cover the world,}}
    {{think about the awakening of a young child.}}
  [function: true]
///

Found on the edge of the Daybrink

Mark III[]


Code fragment downloaded:

///
  [function: true]
    {{As a fond mother, when the day is o'er,}}
    {{Leads by the hand her little child to bed,}}
    {{Half willing, half reluctant to be led,}}
    {{And leave his broken playthings on the floor,}}
    {{Still gazing at them through the open door,}}
    {{Nor wholly reassured and comforted}}
    {{By promises of others in their stead,}}
    {{Which, though more splendid, may not please him more;}}
    {{So Nature deals with us, and takes away}}
    {{Our playthings one by one, and by the hand}}
    {{Leads us to rest so gently, that we go}}
    {{Scarce knowing if we wish to go or stay,}}
    {{Being too full of sleep to understand}}
    {{How far the unknown transcends the what we know.}}
  [function: true]
///

Found in The Jewel, near VertiVIP Program


Code fragment downloaded:

///
  [function: true]
    {{...now the cordial clouds have shut all in,}}
    {{And gently swells the wind to say all’s well;}}
    {{The scattered drops are falling fast and thin,}}
    {{Some in the pool, some in the flower-bell.}}

    {{I am well drenched upon my bed of oats;}}
    {{But see that globe come rolling down its stem,}}
    {{Now like a lonely planet there it floats,}}
    {{And now it sinks into my garment’s hem.}}
  [function: true]
///

Found west of Dawn's Sentinel


Code fragment downloaded:

///
  [function: true]
    {{A wind sways the pines,}}
      {{And below}}
    {{Not a breath of wild air;}}
    {{Still as the mosses that glow}}
    {{On the flooring and over the lines}}
    {{Of the roots here and there.}}
    {{The pine-tree drops its dead;}}
    {{They are quiet, as under the sea.}}
    {{Overhead, overhead}}
    {{Rushes life in a race,}}
    {{As the clouds the clouds chase;}}
      {{And we go,}}
    {{And we drop like the fruits of the tree,}}
      {{Even we,}}
      {{Even so.}}
  [function: true]
///

Found south of Dawn's Sentinel, east of Daytower


Code fragment downloaded:

///
  [function: true]
    {{Life, believe, is not a dream}}
    {{So dark as sages say;}}
    {{Oft a little morning rain}}
    {{Foretells a pleasant day.}}
    {{Sometimes there are clouds of gloom,}}
    {{But these are transient all;}}
    {{If the shower will make the roses bloom,}}
    {{O why lament its fall?}}
  [function: true]
///

Found in The Jewel, near the Spearshafts and AVOID THE TOUR!


Code fragment downloaded:

///
  [function: true]
    {{Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,}}
    {{Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;}}
    {{Conspiring with him how to load and bless}}
    {{With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;}}
    {{To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,}}
    {{And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;}}
    {{To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells}}
    {{With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,}}
    {{And still more, later flowers for the bees,}}
    {{Until they think warm days will never cease...}}
  [function: true]
///

Found in The Jewel, southeast of Meridian Village, near Greece is Calling


Code fragment downloaded:

///
  [function: true]
    {{Flow, softly flow, by lawn and lea,}}
    {{A rivulet then a river:}}
    {{Nowhere by thee my steps shall be}}
    {{For ever and for ever.}}
    {{But here will sigh thine alder tree}}
    {{And here thine aspen shiver;}}
    {{And here by thee will hum the bee,}}
    {{For ever and for ever.}}
    {{A thousand suns will stream on thee,}}
    {{A thousand moons will quiver;}}
    {{But not by thee my steps shall be,}}
    {{For ever and for ever.}}
  [function: true]
///

Found in The Jewel


Code fragment downloaded:

///
  [function: true]
    {{Spake full well, in language quaint and olden,}}
    {{One who dwelleth by the castled Rhine,}}
    {{When he called the flowers, so blue and golden,}}
    {{Stars, that in earth's firmament do shine.}}

    {{Stars they are, wherein we read our history,}}
    {{As astrologers and seers of eld;}}
    {{Yet not wrapped about with awful mystery,}}
    {{Like the burning stars, which they beheld.}}

    {{Wondrous truths, and manifold as wondrous,}}
    {{God hath written in those stars above;}}
    {{But not less in the bright flowerets under us}}
    {{Stands the revelation of his love.}}
  [function: true]
///

Found in The Jewel


Code fragment downloaded:

///
  [function: true]
    {{Low in the eastern sky}}
    {{Is set thy glancing eye;}}
    {{And though its gracious light}}
    {{Ne'er riseth to my sight,}}
    {{Yet every star that climbs}}
    {{Above the gnarled limbs}}
      {{Of yonder hill,}}
    {{Conveys thy gentle will.}}
  [function: true]
///

Found in Gatelands, near Tallneck: Copper Deeps


Code fragment downloaded:

///
  [function: true]
    {{I wandered lonely as a cloud}}
    {{That floats on high o'er vales and hills,}}
    {{When all at once I saw a crowd,}}
    {{A host, of golden daffodils;}}
    {{Beside the lake, beneath the trees,}}
    {{Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.}}

    {{Continuous as the stars that shine}}
    {{And twinkle on the milky way,}}
    {{They stretched in never-ending line}}
    {{Along the margin of a bay:}}
    {{Ten thousand saw I at a glance,}}
    {{Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.}}
  [function: true]
///

Found in The Jewel, naer Naysay Doom (Datapoint)


Code fragment downloaded:

///
  [function: true]
    {{It may indeed be fantasy when I}}
    {{Essay to draw from all created things}}
    {{Deep, heartfelt, inward joy that closely clings;}}
    {{And trace in leaves and flowers that round me lie}}
    {{Lessons of love and earnest piety.}}
    {{So let it be; and if the wide world rings}}
    {{In mock of this belief, it brings}}
    {{So will I build my altar in the fields,}}
    {{And the blue sky my fretted dome shall be,}}
    {{And the sweet fragrance that the wild flower yields}}
    {{Shall be the incense I will yield to Thee,}}
    {{Thee only God! and thou shalt not despise}}
    {{Even me, the priest of this poor sacrifice.}}
  [function: true]
///

Found in Gatelands, between Lone Light and Morning's Watch

Forbidden West[]

Aloy encounters multiple Metal Flowers scattered throughout the Forbidden West. Unlike those she had previously encountered, these remain closed and covered with seemingly indestructible vines. When retrieving DEMETER, she encountered Alva and the Quen at the Faro Automated Solutions' research facility The Greenhouse where the signal is transmitting from. DEMETER was found easily, but the modules were covered in vines connected to a metal flower. While looking for a way around, Aloy and Alva find data describing the "Adamantine Wreath" project; the metal flowers were intended to rapidly produce vines resistant to the biomatter conversion processes utilised by the Faro machines, a process Tala Aquino sarcastically described as "giving them indigestion" - an ironic task given that the conversion technology was developed at the exact same facility. While the design was successful - a form of synthetic plantlife the Swarm was unable to eat - the project was abandoned when projections revealed the devices could not be deployed in sufficient numbers to stop the swarm, or even quickly enough to slow it down. Additionally, before they could be launched, a massive attack occurred that, while the crews survived, the resources were lost, and supply lines were cut off, increasing metal flower production time 300% and ultimately led to the cancellation of the project.

Aloy is eventually able to find the metal flower operation codes and combines it with a Faro biomass converter to make the Vine Cutter, a tool that removes the vines made by the flowers. Through mechanical disturbance, the Metal Flowers are forced to "bloom", exposing their core to which the module is inserted and code to dissolve the vines deployed. She is able to open and deactivate the flower blocking DEMETER, allowing her to recover the subfunction.

Upon collection, DEMETER's bio states it was the one responsible for dispatching the metal flowers, using them as rapid plant growth and transporting them by large flying machines like the Dreadwing. The poems on the flowers' data were from DEMETER's fascination with old poems around the Greenhouse talking about plant life.

When DEMETER is returned to the base and reconnected with GAIA, Aloy asks if the metal flowers could've helped save the planet if they were not halted on production. GAIA states she ran multiple tests upon learning of the data and concluded from them that even if the metal flowers were successfully dispatched, they wouldn't have worked; the swarm would've quickly hacked through the flower's database and shut it off.

Metal flowers encountered in the world usually generate vines that shield locations where supply and treasure boxes can be found, as well as greenshine deposits. Aloy has to hit the flower three times with her spear (a fourth hit can cause her damage) and then insert her spear to disable the flower; the vines melt away after that.

Trivia[]

  • Each flower's poem was taken from pre-existing poetry. The sources for each can be found here.
  • Mark I are from Japanese poets, Mark II from Arab, Turkish, Persian, Indian, and Chinese philosophers, and Mark III from British and American literature.
Horizon Zero Dawn Collectables
Horizon Zero Dawn Ancient Vessels - Banuk Figures - Metal Flowers - Vantage Points
The Frozen Wilds Animal Figurines - Pigments
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