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Here are my thoughts regarding one of Horizon's most intriguing locations that we've yet to see: Elysium.

Elysium's Location[]

Where exactly Elysium is is never established, the only hint we have is from Charles Ronson, who describes Elysium as "a distance of miles" away from GAIA Prime.[1] Additionally, the staff within the facility near present-day Mother's Watch were given a chance to make the journey to Elysium on foot when exfiltration transport wasn't able to arrive in time before the Faro Plague's arrival within 24 hours.[2]

GAIA Prime

King's Peak.

Ruins - Mother's Watch

The facility near Mother's Watch.

Using real life measurements, GAIA Prime (King's Peak) is around 300 miles away from the facility near Mother's Watch (near Cheyenne Mountain), which I understand is a very unreasonable distance for a human to travel on foot within 24 hours (Google states that the current world record for longest distance walked in 24 hours was 142 miles, about half the distance between the two). Using this as a guide, my guess is that Elysium is located somewhere between GAIA Prime and Mother's Watch, likely closer to Mother's Watch, narrowing it down to the eastern/southeastern Sundom or the western/northwestern Sacred Lands or possibly the Valleymeet.

Rockbreaker-Render

A Rockbreaker.

Elysium is described as being underground,[3][4] and GAIA's data leaves Elysium's fate unknown.[5] With GAIA's machines being literally everywhere, including Rockbreakers deep underground, they evidentially haven't encountered Elysium to get an idea of what happened to it. Whether this is because Elysium is too deep underground for Rockbreakers to find or some other reason is unknown.

Kings Peak

The FAS facility in King's Peak being repurposed into GAIA Prime.

Another theory that I think is worth some consideration is wondering if Elysium is a repurposed facility, like GAIA Prime being repurposed from an FAS facility[6] and ELEUTHIA-9 likely being repurposed from the Cheyenne Mountain Complex. From a quick Google search, there are numerous underground facilities in Utah that could've been repurposed for Elysium, or possibly from a facility that only exists in the world of Horizon.

Condition of Elysium[]

We have nothing to go off as to the condition of Elysium in the present day. We know that Elysium suddenly went offline and GAIA's connection to it was severed long before the expected lifespan. When Aloy asked if the Faro Plague found Elysium, GAIA simply replies that it's unknown.[5]

LATOPOLIS interior

The water damage within LATOPOLIS.

Thebes The Great Hall

Thebes in good condition.

Regardless of what happened within Elysium leading up to going offline, underground Old World facilities have shown themselves able to remain in remarkably good condition into the present day, with Thebes and ELEUTHIA-9 being in very good condition, although some have become very damaged, such as the facility near Mother's Watch or to a lesser extent: the HADES Proving Lab. With more underground facilities being in reasonably good condition than not, assuming it wasn't damaged by the Faro Plague, Elysium is more likely to be in reasonably good condition too.

If Elysium is located within the Sacred Lands or the Valleymeet, as the Nora would see it as part of the Metal World, they'd ignore the bunker and see any attempts to explore it as taboo. While some have ignored this law, including Aloy and Karst,[7] and may have explored Elysium anyway, I believe it would be unlikely that the bunker would be especially known amongst the Nora.

Sundom 1

The Sundom.

If Elysium is located within the Sundom, it's unlikely that the Carja paid any particular attention to the bunker unless it provided a use for them, such as serving as a stable foundation to build on much like the Zero Dawn Project Facility did for Sunfall (which could've heavily damaged it, like what happened to the Zero Dawn Project Facility during Sunfall's construction).[8]

The Oseram are known to have delved into Old World ruins. If they found Elysium, there's no telling how much delvers could've damaged Elysium or how much could've been taken from within. As Elysium was meant to be home for up to 2,000 people, there would be a lot of everyday Old World items in there that could've survived into the New World and be extremely rare elsewhere, which would probably make Elysium very profitable to delve into if the Oseram knew about it.

Elysium in Horizon III?[]

Will Elysium make an appearance in Horizon III? I believe there is a good chance it will, although I struggle to imagine why.

The-Proving-1

The Sacred Lands.

There are a few hints that we may be heading back east towards or to the Sacred Lands in Horizon III. When looking at Varl's Focus after his death, Aloy wonders out loud about returning to the Sacred Lands.[9] Zo is planning a pilgrimage to the Sacred Lands to tell Sona about everything her son did in the Forbidden West.[10] Additionally, Brin describes an "ancient ghost, rising in the east."[11] Plus, Elysium is brought up multiple times in HFW,[12][13][14][15][16] ensuring that we don't forget about it.

Gildun (HFWBS)

Gildun.

The only question is: Why? Why would visiting Elysium become necessary? Perhaps Aloy's own curiosities lead her to investigate the fate of Elysium? Maybe Gildun finds Elysium and askes Aloy for help during this massive delve? Maybe it appears with no relevance and is purely for the player to explore if they happen to find it?

Nemesis HFW

Nemesis.

I think my last idea is the least likely, Elysium is too important to the lore of Project Zero Dawn to be given so little attention. Unless it's Gildun due to his connection to GAIA possibly visiting Elysium if marked on the map given to him by GAIA,[17] I think it's very unlikely that Elysium will be in a side quest, it would need to be a main quest location. Personally, I can't think of any reason why Elysium would have anything within that could help against Nemesis, so if it does make an appearance in Horizon III, I can't think of any good ideas as to how it will be important in the main story. Maybe in a DLC story? Only time will tell.

References[]