Tanaka Naoto

Tanaka Naoto
General Information
Culture	Old Ones
Position	Alpha
Status	Deceased
Biological Information
Birth	Prior to 2036
Death	February 2, 2066 GAIA Prime, King's Peak, Utah, USA
Cause of death	Suffocation caused by Ted Faro
Production
Appears in	Horizon Zero Dawn (recordings only) Remastered (recordings only)

Tanaka Naoto was a member of Project Zero Dawn, serving as the Alpha in charge of the DEMETER subordinate function.

History

Almost nothing is known about Tanaka Naoto, but given his later position as the Alpha of DEMETER, they were likely an expert in botany. Additionally, they had a deep interest in poetry.

Project Zero Dawn

During the early stages of the Faro Plague, Tanaka was recruited as part of Project Zero Dawn as the Alpha in charge of the development of DEMETER, which was responsible for environmental remediation and stabilization and restoring plant life to Earth.

After Elisabet forwarded a message about the Odyssey's launch to the Alphas, Tanaka responded in less than a minute with "The Building of the Ship" by Longfellow. As she planned to visit Tanaka to check on DEMETER's progress, Elisabet believed she would be lucky if she can get out without having a volume of Tennyson pressed into her hands.

As the Faro Swarm overran humanity's remaining strongholds before the subordinate functions were complete, Tanaka and the rest of the Alphas were evacuated to the GAIA Prime facility, where they would spend the rest of their lives perfecting their respective subordinate functions.

Almost a month later on February 2, 2066, Tanaka and the other Alphas were gathered into a meeting by Ted Faro. They were shocked to learn that Ted had not only locked them out of all the systems, but had purged all copies of the APOLLO database, believing it to be a disease that he wanted to keep from the new humans Zero Dawn would create. Ted then vented the room's atmosphere, killing Tanaka, along with the other Alphas.

Legacy

Tanaka's efforts resulted in the restoration of flora to the once-ravaged biosphere, which paved the way for the re-introduction of fauna, and eventually humanity.

Sometime after the destruction of GAIA Prime, mysterious floral formations began appearing: metallic flowers, each surrounded by an equilateral triangle of purple flowers, with the Metal Flowers containing poetry, and later on, with their vines active, having been sent out by DEMETER, fearing the Faro Plague returning.

Associated Quests

Horizon Zero Dawn

• The Mountain That Fell (hologram only)

Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds

• The Forge of Winter (mentioned only)

Horizon Forbidden West

• The Eye of the Earth (mentioned in a datapoint only)

Associated Datapoints

Horizon Zero Dawn

Hologram Datapoints #22 Emergency Recording

Text Datapoints - Quests #46 Sobeck Journal, 7-16-65 R (mentioned only)

Horizon Forbidden West

Text Datapoints - Quests

• #10 The Subordinate Functions (mentioned only)

Identity

While Tanaka, as well as Anders Larsen, Ayomide Okilo, and Catalina Garcia Fernandez are all present in the Emergency Recording hologram (three sitting between Margo Shĕn and Travis Tate, with the fourth between Tate and Charles Ronson), they are all represented with randomized individuals on each playthrough, making it impossible to determine which of these is Tanaka. See below for all documented appearances and their sitting positions.

One of the unidentified Alphas in Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, sat between Travis Tate and Charles Ronson.

One of the unidentified Alphas in Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, sat between Travis Tate and another unidentified Alpha.

One of the unidentified Alphas in Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, sat between two other unidentified Alphas.

One of the unidentified Alphas in Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, sat between Margo Shĕn and another unidentified Alpha.

Gallery

Screenshots

Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered

The Alphas finding themselves locked out of core control by Omega Clearance.

Ted explaining that he needs the Alphas to listen.

Ted telling Charles to stop trying to access the system.

Ted telling Charles again to stop trying to access the system.

Ted explaining that he can't stop thinking about the innocent people who will be born from Zero Dawn.

Ted explaining that he can't stop thinking about the innocent people who will be born from Zero Dawn.

Ted explaining that those people are the cure and that they can't spread their disease to them.

Ted stating that he purged APOLLO.

Charles berating Ted while Patrick and Margo go to comfort a crying Samina.

Charles berating Ted while Patrick and Margo go to comfort a crying Samina.

Ted apologising for his actions.

"But sometimes, to protect innocents... innocents have to die."

Ted venting the room's atmosphere, suffocating the Alphas.

Ted venting the room's atmosphere, suffocating the Alphas.

Ted venting the room's atmosphere, suffocating the Alphas.

The Alphas unconscious.

The Alphas dead.

Trivia

• Tanaka's full name appears to be written in the Eastern name order (the family name, Tanaka, followed by the given name, Naoto), which is unusual for names when written in Western world English, in which names would ordinarily be written with the given name followed by the family name (i.e. “Naoto Tanaka”), regardless of origin. For the sake of simplicity, this wiki orders Tanaka's names in the same way the game does.
  • Tanaka's names are both Japanese in origin, indicating that Tanaka was likely of Japanese origin.

References

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