Uthid is a character and potential ally in Horizon Zero Dawn. He is a Carja soldier who went to Sunfall in the aftermath of Avad’s Liberation to become one of the the Shadow Carja. However he became disillusioned with the Shadow Carja leaders. This disillusionment came to a head when he was falsely accused by the High Priest Bahavas of attempted regicide to hide Bahavas’ own crimes.
The Nora huntress Aloy saved him from death at the hands of bounty hunters, after which he killed Bahavas and defected to the Carja.
History
A Carja Soldier
Uthid was a respected Carja soldier with twenty years of loyal service to Sun-King Jiran. He believed Jiran was the chosen of the Sun, which is worshiped by the Carja as a deity, and that this was irrespective of his despotic rule. He was a captain in the Carja army during the Red Raids, and because of his belief, did not question them. However he took no part in the atrocities that were a staple of these raids.
A Shadow Carja
When Jiran was overthrown by his middle son Avad, Uthid believed that Jiran’s youngest son Itamen, not Avad, was the true Sun-King, as he was Jiran’s chosen heir, though he is but a child. This belief compelled him to go with the Jiran loyalists, their slaves and other members of the Carja underclass to Sunfall. Here the two most senior loyalists, Helis and Bahavas, established the Shadow Carja as a splinter tribe from the Carja, with Itamen as the de jure Sun-King, though they held de facto power.
Disillusionment
However as time passed, Uthid noticed that the actions and attitudes of the ruling priests did not square with the honor and integrity that they claimed to profess. This was exemplified by their complete lack of care for the destitute underclass, who lived in squalor in Shadowside, the tent city around Sunfall’s palace, the Citadel, while they lived comfortably behind the Citadel’s walls. He did his best to alleviate as much of their suffering as he could by feeding orphans from his rations and protecting the elderly and infirm, punishing anyone who harmed or took advantage of them. His actions came to the attention of the Carja spy Vanasha, who herself was doing the same.
The Murders
Time passed. Uthid continued helping the underclass, becoming more and more disillusioned with the rulers. Then came a spate of mysterious deaths among the underclass. The dead were always the elderly, infirm or very young, and the deaths were in far too rapid a succession to be from natural causes. Uthid investigated and found it to be the work of a murderer using poison. With a group of other soldiers, he apprehended the murderer and turned him over to the High Priest Bahavas.
A Fugitive
Bahavas thanked him for his diligence, and then quietly had the murderer released. This was because the murders were in fact a culling of the tribe that he had ordered. Knowing that by releasing the murderer he had identified himself as having given the order for the murders, Bahavas and set the Kestrels on him and the other soldiers. Uthid was the only survivor. He escaped to a remote location known as the Greenclimb, where he had once held off an entire Bandit clan, while Bahavas publicly declared that he and his men had tried to assassinate Itamen. Knowing that Bahavas would send bounty hunters to find and kill him, he wanted to make a last stand at this location, as he was very familiar with it and they were not. He did not expect to survive the onslaught, nor, truth be told, did he want to. Because of Bahavas, he had become so disillusioned that he now believed that all his two decades of service to the Sun-King with honor and sacrifice were meaningless. He therefore wanted to make a last stand at the Greenclimb, ending his life fighting.
Vanasha and Aloy
What Uthid did not know was that someone in the Citadel was looking out for him: Vanasha. She was well aware that the likelihood of Bahavas’ accusation being true was virtually zero, and thus sought a way to help him without compromising her cover. That way presented itself in the form of Aloy. Vanasha spotted Aloy when the machine huntress arrived in Sunfall. Aware of her reputation as a helper of the innocent, she approached her and set up a meeting with her in Shadowside. Vanasha explained to her why the accusation was nonsense, and asked her to help Uthid. She informed her that his most probable location was the Greenclimb, for aforementioned reasons.
Fighting the Bounty Hunters
Aloy convinces Uthid to keep living
Aloy went to the Greenclimb, where she indeed found Uthid, prepared for his last stand. She suggested an alternative: defect to the Carja. Sun-King Avad, she informed him, was a just, compassionate and honorable ruler who understood and valued honor and sacrifice. As Uthid considered the idea, a group of Banuk bounty hunters, known as Kikuk’s Killers, appeared. Aloy fought alongside him; together they killed them. Soon after, a group of Oseram bounty hunters called Odund’s Marvels appeared, accompanied by Bahavas his personal Kestrel guard. The High Priest had come to watch Uthid’s demise. By this time, Aloy’s bravery, skill and fearlessness had begun to drive home her suggestion; indeed, as they faced Odund’s Marvels, Uthid remarked with a smile that he had come there to die, but she was starting to change his mind. A third group called Yun’s Shunned, composed of Nora cast out for felonies such as murder, never arrived because Vanasha intercepted and killed them.
Justice Upon Bahavas
Uthid corners and confronts Bahavas, as Aloy looks on
Upon the deaths of the Oseram, Bahavas and the Kestrels withdrew, but Uthid and Aloy caught up with them. Bahavas taunted Uthid, ordering the Kestrels to kill them while he stood back and watched. He expected to watch their deaths in triumph, but instead he watched in alarm as they instead killed the Kestrels. Uthid then advanced on Bahavas, knife drawn. Bahavas frantically tried to justify his crimes by insisting that he had ordered the murders to cull the weak, or the Shadow Carja would be doomed. Uthid did not bother to rebut him as he stabbed him to death. Vanasha then arrived. Knowing that Uthid could not return to Sunfall and that defecting was his only choice, she had arranged transport for him to Meridian. Uthid accepted. He and Vanasha remained at the Greenclimb talking about the details while Aloy left, bound for another mission that Vanasha has asked her to undertake after she had arrived.
The Battle for Meridian
Uthid became a military advisor to Sun-King Avad. He took part in the defense of Meridian against an impending all-out assault by the Shadow Carja cult known as the Eclipse. He and Vanasha helped prepare defenses at Meridian Village’s southern gate, known as the Overlook, where they again encountered Aloy. During the battle, he fought the Eclipse’s Corrupted Machines in Meridian Village.
Personality
Uthid is an honorable military veteran with a strong sense of right and wrong. He strongly believes in caring for the weak, unlike most high-class Carja who lived under Jiran’s reign. While he religiously held the belief that the Sun-King is the Sun’s chosen vessel, his belief was not fanatical, unlike the Shadow Carja leaders such as Helis.
Associated Quests
- Traitor's Bounty
- The Looming Shadow (if player completes Traitor's Bounty)
Trivia
- Uthid is a potential ally. If Traitor's Bounty is completed before Aloy rests in The Looming Shadow, he can be found bolstering the Ridge's defenses.
Gallery
