Thebes

"The lesson will be taught in due time, Aloy. Until then, we wait."

This article contains heavy spoilers. Read ahead with caution.

"Look at this place. It's pretty fancy for a survival bunker."

Thebes was an unmarked location in Horizon Forbidden West, located under the ruins of the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco, the region now known in the New World as the Isle of Spires.

Description[]

Thebes was created to serve as Ted Faro's personal bunker to keep him safe from the Faro Plague and the collapsing biosphere outside. Beyond Ted himself, Thebes's occupants included his spiritual guru Grigori Fasbach, his physician Dr. Narong Somptow, Somptow's daughter Kanya, and a collection of girlfriends,^[1] including a holo-singer named Brianna.^[2]

Thebes inner door — The inside of the door into and out of Thebes.

Thebes's genetic-locked door was colored black with golden logo of Faro Automated Solutions emblazoned into it. The Identican was set to only open the door to Ted,^[3] although an emergency exit function allowed anyone to open it from inside. The synthetic voice within Thebes is the same as Ted's voice.^[4]

Thebes social space — Thebes' living area.

The interior of Thebes was remarkably capacious, with the hallways decorated in Egyptian iconography. In the central area, known as the Great Hall,^[5] was a massive statue of Ted Faro, standing in a pose reminiscent of an Egyptian pharaoh, with two Corruptors to act as guards. It also contained a large living area, with private bedrooms for the inhabitants, bathrooms, a gym, and other storage rooms connected to it. It also had a medical area with several beds, office areas and a special chair used for Ted's genetic treatments.

At the back of the bunker was a room where the reactor was operated, designed to be simple enough for Ted to operate despite his lack of engineer skills. These systems were designed to melt down and destroy Thebes if Ted ever dies, to keep it from being claimed by anyone else.^[6]^[3] Ted also used these systems to control the Zero Dawn system with his Omega Clearance.

Despite suffering noticeable damage over the centuries, much of Thebes was relatively intact before its destruction.

History[]

In the Old World[]

Thebes was created to serve as Ted's personal bunker during the Faro Plague, the apocalypse caused by his malfunctioning Chariot Line of military robots. Everyone within, without their knowledge, were secretly implanted with a device that would trigger death via heart failure at Ted's command.^[7] In secrecy, Ted underwent genetic treatments by Dr. Somptow in order to achieve immortality^[8] so that he could guide the new humans born from Zero Dawn,^[9] but mutations kept occurring, which required specific corrections by Dr. Somptow as they appeared.^[8]

After Grigori hacked into Ted's files and discovered his murder of the Zero Dawn Alphas,^[10] Ted used the implant in Grigori to kill him in his sleep, feigning ignorance to the other inhabitants in Thebes.^[11] However, he progressively killed the other occupants out of paranoia,^[5] until the last two residents, Dr. Somptow and Kanya, committed suicide as they felt that their lives were no longer worth living,^[7] leaving Ted completely alone. With no one to treat his mutations caused by his life extension treatments, Ted entered the reactor chamber, believing its energy would stabilize his mutations while he waited for when the Zero Dawn progeny found Thebes.^[9] However, his hopes of guiding the new generation of humanity were dashed as his mutations accumulated, to the point where he became a hideous fleshly abomination that filled much of the generator room, becoming immortal as he desired, but completely bereft of any humanity or cognition.^[4]

In the New World[]

Almost a thousand years after the Faro Plague, Thebes was found by an expedition of the Quen tribe, who believed that Ted Faro held secrets there that they could use to save their homeland.^[12] Roughly a year later, they were finally able to enter with the help of Aloy, who managed to find a ruptured passage and open the main door from the inside.^[4]

Upon finding Ted, still alive and grotesquely mutated, which contradicted the Ceo's claims about being Ted Faro reborn, he ordered Ted burned to ash and all witnesses killed, ignoring Aloy's warning of the security measures Ted had put in place, triggering Thebes's self-destruction. The collapse of the bunker was riddled with irony: the only two to escape were Aloy and Alva, whom the Ceo had ordered killed to eliminate any witnesses. The Ceo, on the other hand, was crushed beneath the head of Ted Faro's statue, ironically killed by the legacy of the man he idolized.^[4]

Due to the destruction, Thebes was deemed of no further value to the Quen, so they left the site.^[4]

Notable Inhabitants[]

Former Inhabitants[]

Other Inhabitants[]

Brianna (deceased)^[2]
Grigori Fasbach (deceased)
Kanya Somptow (deceased)
Other girlfriends for Ted (all deceased)^[2]

Collectables[]

Audio Datapoints[]

Hologram Datapoints[]

#13 Longevity

Text Datapoints - Quests[]

Trivia[]

Thebes is named after the ancient Egyptian city of the same name, which heavily inclines to the thematic usage of Egyptian references within the series.

Gallery[]

Behind the Scenes[]

References[]

↑ New Normal?
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 Brianna
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 As mentioned by Aloy during Faro's Tomb.
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 ^4.2 ^4.3 ^4.4 Faro's Tomb
↑ ^5.0 ^5.1 Power Over
↑ Heat Rising
↑ ^7.0 ^7.1 Last Judgement
↑ ^8.0 ^8.1 Ted's Getting Impatient
↑ ^9.0 ^9.1 Alone
↑ What Grigori Did
↑ About Grigori
↑ As mentioned by Bohai and the Ceo during Faro's Tomb.

[1] New Normal?

[:1-2] 2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 Brianna

[:2-3] 3.0 ^3.1 As mentioned by Aloy during Faro's Tomb.

[:3-4] 4.0 ^4.1 ^4.2 ^4.3 ^4.4 Faro's Tomb

[:4-5] 5.0 ^5.1 Power Over

[6] Heat Rising

[:5-7] 7.0 ^7.1 Last Judgement

[:6-8] 8.0 ^8.1 Ted's Getting Impatient

[:0-9] 9.0 ^9.1 Alone

[10] What Grigori Did

[11] About Grigori

[12] As mentioned by Bohai and the Ceo during Faro's Tomb.

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