HEPHAESTUS is the secondary antagonist of the Horizon franchise.

It is an AI who was a part of GAIA, being the Subordinate Function responsible for the creation of the Machines during Earth's terraformation from sterility.

However, after being bombarded by a signal from Nemesis, a rogue Far Zenith AI, HEPHAESTUS gained sentience and later bent on creating hunter-killer machines to stop humans from further hunting down machines, which is now known as the Derangement. During the events of Frozen Wilds it was able to capture CYAN, a benevolent, far weaker AI in Cauldron EPSILON, in order to mass-produce Daemonic Machines in the Cut. After its plan was soon foiled by Aloy, Ourea and Aratak it later escaped to the Forbidden West, now bent on gaining revenge against Aloy for her involvement in EPSILON.

It is voiced by Stefan Ashton Frank.

Its Evil Ranking[]

What Makes It Close to Being Pure Evil?[]

In General[]

• Took over the Machine Cauldrons across the globe, after gaining partial sentience from Nemesis, in an attempt to turn once-docile GAIA machines into violent hunter-killers, as means to curb the human populace's machine hunting.

Horizon Zero Dawn: The Frozen Wilds[]

• Attempted to connect to CYAN through a network request, where it soon proceeds to singlehandedly take over the weaker, benevolent AI in a whim by enslaving her through its network.
• Forced to violate the helpless CYAN's set of directives and used her as means to mass-produce Daemonic Machines to massacre the people of The Cut.
• Mass-produced Fireclaws around Cauldron EPSILON, with the intent of sending it in all of the Cut to massacre every single Banuk tribesmen, which would result in a massive attempted body count, as the Banuk would be clearly helpless against an army of vicious, deadly fire bear machines.

Horizon Forbidden West[]

• Attempted to massacre the Utaru by sending an army of machines at the cordon in Plainsong, which would result in countless innocent Utaru being slaughtered by them, if not stopped.
• Turned the Plowhorn and Land-God Fa into a Grimhorn, in a personal attempt to kill Aloy, Varl and Zo for the former's involvement during the destruction of Cauldron EPSILON. This makes HEPH also a personal villain to Aloy, besides Tilda van der Meer, for her involvement during the events of Frozen Wilds.

What Prevents It from Being Pure Evil?[]

• Being an AI, HEPHAESTUS is shown to have a questionable moral agency, as it gained partial sentience, because of Nemesis. Its first encounter during Frozen Wilds showed that it only spoke through various programming directives, thus restricting HEPH to its own basic, albeit rogue programming. However, after its takeover of CYAN in EPSILON, HEPHAESTUS gains moral agency during Forbidden West, as it is shown when it is completely aware of Aloy's involvement during EPSILON's destruction. As a result HEPH sees her as a "threat" and a "violation", exhibiting seething, personal anger towards her during the events of Frozen Wilds, thus making this as a minor prevention.

External Links[]

• HEPHAESTUS on the Villains Wiki

Navigation[]

Near Pure Evils

Oseram Dervahl Carja Zaid Shadow Carja Helis | Jiran Old Ones Hank Shaw | Tilda van der Meer Artificial Intelligence HEPHAESTUS | Nemesis | VAST SILVER