#but when it comes to the messaging i think... people really slept on hzd

[mcrololo]

I'm replaying horizon zero dawn and something just hits different about the game now that I have more life experience and go through life a little bit more consciously. Aloy not being born from a loving mother, causing her to be an outcast by her own tribe (the Nora) who believe in Mother Earth as their one true Mother, truly no longer can be outrun as something incredibly and profoundly painful when you, yourself, have realized you never truly were loved by a mother figure in your life.

And then the quest you get in the hunters lodge, where you meet Talanah, and Aloy bonds with her and tells her she somewhat understands being treaten like trash. The lines "Now everywhere I go I am Aloy of the Nora. It should be Aloy despite the Nora" runs deep, because not only does she acknowledge that she has lived through all the pain, but she also decides to rise above all that by traveling the world and helping others wherever she goes. Despite what the Nora have put her through, despite being shunned and never getting a helping hand herself, despite not knowing who she is... She is Aloy, at the end of every damning day. And that's all there is to it.