#I see a lot of people flirting with aloy in fw too

[diviner-alva]

I don't know why or what's got to me to want to write this, but I'd like to say this bcs who knows, perhaps someone resonates with it.

I am demisexual, and that makes me project in Aloy a lot for various reasons (that even make me believe it could potentially be canonical). So her being busy with her mission and not having time to be with someone is nice bcs most videogames having a love interest appears to be a must. That being said, I understood her awkwardness with everyone that confessed to her (confessed, not flirted), not because she's an outcast, sure that influenced a lot, but for me at least, having people confess is a huge turn off, being too direct not even trying to get close first (it feels lazy for me at least, like you didn't even want to try being my friend what do you meannnn) even more so if they then act as victims or use their insecurities to force you to pity them and give in. From a simple kiss to other stuff, I see absolutely no point nor I have the necessity in sharing those moments with people I don't feel connected with, that always made me the weird teen that doesn't hook up with anyone and so other weird stares they've thrown at me.

But why am I saying this? I am extremely intrigued, on how Kotallo perfectly fits as someone Aloy could start paying attention to. Subtle actions speak louder, never once he forced himself into her, never voiced his feelings, never overwhelmed her in any way, you see he is the only one that's not doing theatrics to get her attention, and he's the one she looks at the most.

He knows putting her on a pedestal makes her uncomfortable, when she asked about getting aether this was their conversation:

A: Getting aether out of the grove made quite a spectacle

K: One that showed that Hekarro's vision for peace is the correct path. For it is now blessed by the ten themselves.

Did he mention her gloriousness at defeating Regalla? Her blessed second sight that restored their visions and reunited the tribe? No.

The closest to uncomfortable he ever made her is after she flew, yet he tried as best he could to make that about him instead, to show how she made him feel "I could say that I am... inspired" instead of saying she is a deity to be worshiped. But she still cringed a bit, but flying is a topic with greater importance to him as we know, that he imagines what it would be like since he was a child.

He knows she likes doing her things on her own and that she's more than capable than handling herself, he just reassures her that he's there for whatever and whenever she needs him. Once her response was incredibly soft spoken.

K: If I can help in some way, say the word.

A: I will... thank you.

He never overwhelms her with his feelings, never voices them and he even has the care with his contributions to their base, the only thing he puts in her bedroom is the clawstrider and a privacy curtain, the trophies are on the common room, and even said trophies represents them both, plus she didn't seemed at all bothered by them.

He called her commander twice, but after this conversation, it became just Aloy. Even during singularity he doesn't call her commander once.

A: You busy?

K: One must never be idle when at war, but there's always time to speak to one's commander.

A: Oh that's... not really how I see myself.

K: It is how we see you.

And finally, one of my favorites, when she reaches to him and touches his arm, his hand twitches, moving on it's own accord towards her, but he doesn't touch her even when she's touching him. Another moment that we have this is right after that, if you go talk to him you can mention about GEMINI and how they never talked about it, during this conversation Aloy sounds vulnerable, he answers "There was... nothing more to say" and if you pay attention to her body language, she is staring down, and Kotallo immediately take half a step towards her, hesitant, as if he had to resist closing the space between them to comfort her, but again he stops himself. When he then says he would ink Varl's memory on his skin, her voice os heavy with emotion, she was only vulnerable like this while talking about Varl when she was with Zo by his resting place. To me this speaks volumes and volumes... the amount of respect he has for her is immeasurable, he knows that she's reserved, that she's her own person, that she's free. And yet making her comfortable enough so they could tease and flirt with each other, him using her own curiosity against her while they went to test his arm was fucking smart, and we can see she enjoyed it, she smiles at least five times while she's there with him. After that mission a whole set of greetings is unlocked, he starts showing her his longing, saying she was away for too long, that he has been wondering when she'd be back, and she even felt comfortable enough to ask once if he missed her. He's ambiguous when he mentions her being a miracle or the one that makes miracles, and I've never seen her bothered, even playing along:

A: Now that training time is over, what's on your mind?

K: The Bulwark, the Kulrut, and that we need another miracle if we're to survive the Zenith base.

A: I'll try not to let you down.

K: I know you will not.

I think there's a profound understanding between them and that's what makes this ship so beautiful for me. (not to mention the infinite similarities they have, that I repeat over and over on this blog)

It's far from being my hc the possibility that Kotallo is keeping to himself bcs he's insecure about his arm, the what was lost quest proves otherwise, him opting to be himself and seeking her approval and/or encouragement and she answers with "I wouldn't have it any other way" (in that moment the control vibrates like crazy guys it's very meaningful, there's no other quest with this type of immersion). Plus he never joined her bcs he felt he owned her, bcs she helped him or his tribe, but because he believed, admired and respect her and that was reciprocated. She never once doubted him and he feels confident by her side. He climbed a mountain with one arm and she didn't even bothered to mention it to him when he asked her to go with him, she also never doubted if he would be able to build his arm, neither did she implied he would need help doing so.

I just think him being subtle is what grabs her attention, she has beeing admiring him since stone crest, and him her since who knows... barren light? stone crest? the tremortusk site? the bulwark? And that admiration is growing with every passing day. I just think she sees him, and he sees her, for what they truly are.

[ratchetaginger]

No I'm seriously going crazy coming up with explanations. I think they were afraid of her power. Specifically Sony was afraid. Sony has a tendency to censor their devs when they don't like something or want to avoid problems. I'm looking for more solid proof but idk if it exists. Other than the original poster, the number of beds(like you pointed out! Thank you!), the dialogue of companions, the devs specifically saying play her story in ZD(clown face), her entire comic book arc(cries)!!!!!!!(there's more im sure)

Like idk is it even a conspiracy?? I legitimately think she was censored for potential controversy. This was one of the first major playstation exclusive games to drop "post" panini(it's still happening but ppl pretend it's not). The game needed to do well in sales 1. in order to secure Guerrilla's freaking paycheck and 2. So they can be secure in making more games. It already had "controversy" because of the supposed face change and weight gain of Aloy *eye roll*. Aside from being minorly reviewed bombed on a few sites as a result of these incels its avoided scandel on a massive scale. So If I'm right in thinking they sanitized the game to avoid even worse controversy I'll bet Sony feels pretty justified that it could've been worse. Because so far the game did mostly fine. Mostly receiving the general criticism that all games recieve honestly.(except us I wanna go to war)

Ok back to my point! Talanah's relationship with Aloy in many ways is far superior than the male companions simply because they are more alike. The devs obviously knew this! That's why they freaking wrote her that way in the first place.(AT LEAST IN THE FIRST GAME) Their conversations could have had so much depth! We were so robbed oh my god!!!! There was a damn reason she was on the alight with Aloy in the final battle against Hades! She was meant to be important.

We know HZD had a trans character, gay characters, discussed climate change, had Aloy flirting with men and women. However, the game was not nearly big enough to receive that much attention so it wasn't on anyone's shit list. I remember there being a few reviews critiquing the "woke" messaging but overall most people just liked it or ignored it.

However, Forbidden West was met with way more applause and pressure. Especially due to the fact that it's a PS5 launch when consoles are in extremely limited supply and hardly any exclusives exist. Also Aloy has kinda become the face of Sony. Corporations don't really like any implications of anything when it comes to branding. Just the fact that she is a women is already clearly too much for people!

So my suspicion is Sony saw what happened with Naughty Dog and TLOU2, one their best dev teams, and looked at Horizon and all of it's potentially controversial themes and said "oh fuck no we're not doing this again".

FW had a lot more to lose than TLOU2 did. Guerrilla is a fairly new dev team(specifically in making open world action RPGs) and especially compared to many of the other dev teams Sony owns. They are also a much smaller team than Naughty Dog. Guerrilla can't take a loss like Naughty dog can or a major controversy like they can. Like if Aloy had a close intimate relationship with someone other than a penis having male. Also the fact that non hetero relationships are still controversial like why are we still doing this!

With TLOU2 everyone that could've gone wrong seemed to have gone wrong. Major story leaks, huge uproar over plot choices and homophobia(again). The game still did well but the hate is very much still happening. I still see Abby slander on my timeline.

I can definitely see a scenario where Sony would do anything to convince/force Guerrilla writers/devs to remove and sanitize anything controversial from the story. The games industry is a mess right now. I'm not in coding or development but my partner is and I have discussed this in depth with him and he absolutely agrees that this is definitely something Sony would do. HE IS ALSO VERY ANGRY ABOUT THE TALANAH STUFF SO WE'RE CONSTANLY MAD TOGETHER ABOUT IT

*deep breath*

Basically I'm mostly convinced it's probably actually Sony who screwed us over :|

Cuz that's how they do be

The gaming industry *sigh* it's a mess

Thanks for reading my ramble I've seriously not stopped thinking about this for days. I'm very upset and have been trying to process and thinking how to contribute to conversation everyone has been having but was struggling because I was so mad lol.

(Um pls nobody come at me with hate for dissing a company I will never simp for a corporation worth billions like Sony lol they are pretty terrible in many ways lol as are all corporations because we live in a capitalist hell. If you play horizon you should know that <3)

I personally see Aloy as asexual but not aromantic. But I don't think that will happen canonically.

SPOILERS kinda and speculation (not necessary to read)

I think it's likely based on many, many looks and stuff...throughout the game at specific person that the writers are hinting at one person and well it's not a girl.

*dread* I like many gay and straight ships in the game. I think many pairings could hypothetically work but they are just ships and I'm frankly more interested in seeing Aloy happy and thriving because she is content in herself firstly. I want some serious growth for her. If they do give her a relationship it better be freaking earned because I cannot stand relationships in any media that just happen without real communication.

I don't want hints I want a conversation and addressing of feelings dammit. Give me something to root for if you're gonna force me to watch something Im not particularly interested in lol.

Not to be a conspiracy theorist convincing myself that talanah was supposed to stay in the game but the fourth bed section at the base was never filled 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔