Rost

"The lesson will be taught in due time, Aloy. Until then, we wait." This article contains heavy spoilers. Read ahead with caution.

Rost
Culture	Nora
Gender	Male
Eye color	Gray
Hair color	Brown
Position	Outcast Brave (formerly) Death-Seeker (formerly)
Family	Unnamed mate (deceased) Alana (daughter; deceased) Aloy (adopted daughter)
Portrayed by	J.B. Blanc (voice) Bryan Larkin (motion capture) Mark Powley (model and motion capture)

"The strength to stand alone, Aloy, is the strength to make a stand; to serve a purpose greater than yourself."

―Rost speaking to Aloy

Rost was a major character in Horizon Zero Dawn and a cameo character in Horizon Forbidden West. He was a Nora outcast, and the guardian of the Nora huntress Aloy, herself an outcast since birth. Tragic circumstances led him to willingly become an outcast for the rest of his life. He raised Aloy from infancy and trained her, ultimately sacrificing himself to save her life. He is responsible for her unparalleled skills as a hunter, tracker and warrior. He is the only parent she has ever known, and the lone influential figure in her life.

Appearance

Rost was a burly man, with a barrel-like chest and powerful arms and legs. His beard and hair were braided and slightly grayed with age. He wore a boar's skin on his left shoulder, and blue and red fabrics with metal and machine armor plating woven onto his right shoulder, braces, waist and boots. Specifically, this plating came from a pre-Derangement version of a Stalker. Outdoors, he wore a cloak made of black bird feathers. Like other Nora, he wore blue face paint, in the Death-Seeker pattern. He carried a bow across his back and a quiver of arrows on his right hip.

History

Background

Rost lived in the village of Mother's Vigil alongside his mate and their daughter Alana.

When Alana was just six years old, a band of twelve outlanders raided Mother’s Vigil. They killed Rost’s mate and took his daughter and several Nora hostage. They then proceeded through the ancient ruin known as Devil's Thirst, where they camped. Rost, Teersa and some other Braves shadowed them, but the outlanders prevented intervention by killing a hostage any time a Brave got within bow-shot, and they couldn't get past Devil's Thirst due to the Nora taboo against entering Old World ruins. After two days beyond Devil’s Thirst, the outlanders suddenly made for the border of Sacred Lands with six hostages still alive, Alana among them, and successfully crossed. With no need for their hostages, they slit their throats and left their bodies just beyond the border. Teersa believes that they did this out of cruelty, knowing the strong Nora taboo against leaving the Sacred Land; thus they presumed themselves safe from the tribe’s vengeful pursuit.

With nothing left to lose, Rost begged the High Matriarchs to be made a Death-Seeker. The High Matriarchs agreed, and performed the ritual on him. Now considered to be ritually dead, Rost crossed the border and returned the bodies of the hostages, then left in pursuit of the outlanders to kill them all, never to return. He tracked them far and wide, visiting Meridian, Ban-Ur, the Claim and Utaru land over the course of a year, and succeeded in killing all twelve. But the final one severely wounded him, but he managed to return to the border of the Sacred Lands, wanting to die as close to All-Mother as he legally could. A Nora hunting party chanced upon him, with one of the Braves, a woman who had lost her mate and two sons to the same outlanders Rost lost his family to, broke taboo and dragged him back across the border to nurse him back to health.

Rost’s return put the Matriarchs in a quandary. Though as a Death Seeker he no longer had any place in the tribe, they could not bring themselves to have him driven out. Thus, they offered him a compromise: provided he never spoke of it, he would be allowed to live the rest of his life in the Sacred Lands as an outcast, which he joyfully accepted. He constructed a homestead in the hills to the northwest of All-Mother Mountain, out of the way of any settlements, and settled into his life of solitude. However, though the tribe did not know why he was an outcast, but Rost retained respect among the Braves, as shown by guards at the Embrace's main gate, who opened the gate to let him come and go years later and would silently greet him with a respectful nod as he passed through.

Teersa and Rost performing Aloy's Naming Ritual.

A while later, in the year 3021, a mysterious infant girl was discovered in the heart of All-Mother Mountain, in front of the door that represented the Nora goddess. The High Matriarchs disagreed over what she was. Teersa thought her to be a blessing, but others, including Lansra, believed her to be a curse, as she seemingly had no mother, and motherhood is highly sacred to the Nora. They ultimately decided to turn her over to Rost to raise, which he accepted. Devoutly following the tribe’s religious practices even though he was an outcast, he named her Aloy in a Naming Ritual blessed and witnessed only by Teersa. When Lansra arrived and angrily rebuked them by performing it on her, and worse, on what she believed to be a curse. Undeterred, Rost's fatherly love for Aloy remained unaffected.

Horizon Zero Dawn

Rost and Aloy.

Rost teaching Aloy how to hunt machines.

As Aloy grew, she began to experience situations involving the tribespeople that steadily built up her resentment about how they treated her, and made her wonder about her origins. One such incident resulted in her running away in tearful frustration and falling into an ancient ruin where she acquired her Focus. Rost tried to take it from her, but she refused to surrender it. Rost then determined that if she was going to go off by herself, she should learn to hunt survive. He thus began to teach these skills to her. During the course of a lesson, an incident with a young Nora named Teb resulted in Rost realizing that Aloy’s Focus was far more than the Old World plaything he had believed it to be. However, a subsequent incident involving a Nora child named Bast resulted in her finally getting fed up and demanding Rost for the identity of her mother. Rost could not answer, as he did not know. However, he told her how she could find out: by winning the Proving. She therefore became utterly determined to do so, and thus he began intensively training her, but always remained ready to step in if she needed him.

Rost trained Aloy for 12 years, up until she was 18 and ready for the Proving. After administering a final test to her involving her singlehandedly hunting a Sawtooth with no support, Rost met her outside the Nora capital Mother's Heart. There, to her great distress, he told her that they would never see each other again, as she would join the tribe as a Brave, while he would remain an outcast, then took his leave.

Rost fighting Helis.

Rost holding Aloy in his arms, telling her his final word: "Survive!"

Rost watched her from afar as Aloy undertook the Proving the next day. However, when the Shadow Carja cult known as the Eclipse attacked upon the rite’s conclusion, when Aloy was grabbed and threatened by Helis, Rost broke taboo and intervened, firing an arrow straight through Helis's body with several more on the way as he charged valiantly towards him. Once in close, Rost dropped his bow for his spear and engaged Helis. At first, Rost held his own, but Helis ultimately prevailed, and stabbing him before briskly ordering the site razed and then departing. As the cultists set the explosives, Rost summoned all his strength to crawl over to Aloy, taking his adopted daughter in his arms. His last word was an exhortation: “Survive!” before pushing her off the mountain to escape the detonation. As she fell, a barely conscious Aloy saw the explosion consume Rost.

Legacy

Rost's Grave.

While they was very little to recover, Rost’s remains were buried at a grave on the grounds of his homestead, which Aloy later visited.

Horizon Forbidden West

After Aloy was launched from the HADES Proving Lab with much of the water contained within, she later washed up on a river back. In her delirium, she thought that approaching Varl was Rost. After Aloy and Beta had a heated discussion, Varl told Aloy that she was muttering Rost's name when he found her outside the HADES Proving Lab asked why she never talks about him, to which she said that she does miss him, but doesn't have time to think about him. Aloy later confessed to Varl that she does think about Rost a lot and his sacrifice to save her life, but that he never would've been able to understand her mission, hence why she had to stay focused.

While trying to convince Beta to help trap HEPHAESTUS at Cauldron GEMINI, Aloy asked her what was stopping her from doing what Aloy and Elisabet would do since they share the same genes, mind and heart, to which Beta cried out that she doesn't know what part of Elisabet she's missing or what her defect is. At that moment, Aloy came to realize that what gave her the strength to carry on was Rost, while Beta didn't have anyone. Beta, having reviewed Aloy's Focus data, had only a surface impression of Rost, observing that he was never warm or loving and that he planned to abandon her after the Proving. Aloy reminded her that Rost wanted Aloy to embrace the Nora, and went on to sacrifice his life for hers, that he loved her in his own way. Even now his teachings stick with her, quoting, "When it looks impossible, look deeper. And fight like you can win." This same quote would later inspire her to thwart Regalla's rebellion, rather than let Sylens sacrifice the Tenakth to defeat Far Zenith.

Personality

Aside from being an outcast, Rost embodied many of the qualities of the ideal Nora: honorable, wise, faithful to Nora traditions, a skilled hunter, and dedicated to his family. The people who knew Rost prior to his casting out agree that he was a good man, regardless of his status.

Rost believed firmly in the Nora way of life. As such, he considered the Old Ones to be wicked and faithless, and shunned the Metal World. He insisted on keeping the tribe's traditions despite being an outcast, going as far as planning to leave Aloy permanently to ensure she would not break tribal law for his sake.

Rost preferred to teach lessons through experience, and would merely guide Aloy rather than tell her directly. While Aloy was often frustrated by his refusal to answer questions, she acknowledged that Rost taught her everything she knew about surviving.

Rost loved Aloy as a daughter, which Aloy recognized, ultimately giving his life to save hers.

Relationships

Aloy

Rost was given the task of raising the baby girl found by the High Matriarchs. Rost willingly accepted her into his home, caring for her and naming her Aloy. He acted as both caretaker and mentor to her, teaching her how to hunt and training her for the Proving. Although deeply devoted to her and raising her with patience and wisdom, he often maintained a serious and solemn demeanor around her, and he had the capacity to be strict with her. However, he made sure never to leave her alone in dangerous situations until he judged her to be capable of handling herself. Even so, he was constantly looking out for her, and was willing to put himself in danger for her.

Rost's conflicts with Aloy stemmed from his remaining commitment to Nora traditions, which Aloy struggled to understand, having only been shunned by the tribe. However, he was prepared to bend tradition (if not fully break it) on occasion for Aloy's sake. He was initially reluctant to allow Aloy to keep the Focus she found in the ancient ruins within the Embrace, though he relented after she used it to save Teb’s life. He was also insistent on maintaining the rule that forbade contact between tribe members and outcasts, while Aloy showed willingness to break this taboo. His greatest hope for Aloy is that she find her place among the Nora, hoping that she'd come to love the tribe once she was accepted into it, despite her obvious contempt for them casting her out as a baby. He would tell Aloy stories about the wider world that he knew, including stories about Banuk shamans.

Being the only real relationship Aloy had for most of her life, Rost was the most influential and important figure to her; his teachings and training preparing her for what she would eventually face.

The Nora

Rost was a devoted member of the Nora tribe, showing great respect for tradition. Even after he was made an outcast, Rost still upheld the tribe's traditions and rituals as best as he could. Though he was still openly shunned by the tribe, some within the tribe still respected him, as he "reaped honor before disgrace." Very few were aware of his becoming a Death-Seeker and thus, unaware of his reason for being an outcast.

Trivia

Possible early rendition of Rost.

• Early footage Horizon Zero Dawn shows a man presenting an unknown weapon to Aloy, who is widely speculated to be an early rendition of Rost, having a similar build, wears the same Death-Seeker face paint and has vaguely similar clothes and hair to Rost. However, this remains unconfirmed.
  • It's also possible that this man is an early rendition of Karst, as his face is nearly identical to the unknown man's face, with the unknown man presenting a weapon to Aloy could be for her to buy, which Aloy can do with Karst.
• Both the names Aloy and Rost may well be references to common phrases like "alloy" and "rust," seeing as metal is an important theme in the game.
  • Rost also is the German and Swedish word for rust.
• At various points during the game, Aloy can return to Rost's grave and "speak to him," telling him of the various people she's met and the things she's done throughout her journeys.
  • In a sad twist of irony, these one-sided conversations fulfill Aloy's promise that Rost wouldn't need to speak when Aloy came to 'visit' him.
• Rost cameos as a 'bot in Astro Bot, labelled "Paternal Outcast." His description reads "Trained a legendary warrior."

Gallery

Rost at Aloy's Naming Ritual.

Rost pulling Aloy from the ruins of the Metal World.

Rost scalding Aloy.

Rost questioning Aloy about the Focus.

Rost ordering Aloy to give him the Focus.

Rost confronting Aloy.

Behind the Scenes

Rost's render.

Rost's alternative outfit render.

Rost's beard render.

Concept Art

Concept art of Rost, by Luc de Haan.

Others

Rost as a 'bot in Astro Bot.

Wiki Navigation

Nora
High Matriarchs	Jezza - Lansra - Teersa
Braves	Sona (War-Chief) - Aloy - Bast - Den - Dran - Ferl - Jarm - Marea - Muns - Resh - Teb's father - Vala - Varl
Seekers	Aloy - Sona - Teb - Varl
Outcasts	Brom - Cren - Grata - Jom - Kam - Kurnst - Nora Keeper - Rost - Yun
Other members	Alana - Arana - Dral - Enara - Fia - Grist - Jarg - Jun - Karst - Lut - Nakoa - Olara - Orn - Solai - Taim - Thok - Yan