Ted Faro is one of the main antagonists of Horizon Zero Dawn and the cause of the infamous Faro Plague. Despite having been born more than a millennium before Aloy, the negative effects of his actions are still very much apparent in the post-apocalyptic world. That said, Faro is a complex character with his own flaws and (albeit skewed) moral compass, and it’s this complexity that makes him such an effective antagonist.
Though his actions are inexcusable, Faro’s character is an interesting case study on the consequences of greed and recklessness. His overarching story in Horizon Zero Dawn also serves as a warning, reminding people that the very technology humanity creates can — and will — lead to devastation if it gets out of hand.
Background on Horizon Zero Dawn’s Main Antagonist
Theodor Faro was born on December 24, 2013 in what was, at the time, Salt Lake City, Utah. He later enrolled in the University of California, Los Angeles, where he pursued a degree in business. However, Faro never finished his university education and dropped out in 2033.
After, he founded Faro Automated Solutions (FAS), a corporation in the robotics industry that produces automated machines meant to improve different aspects of human life. The company struggled in its first few years, especially since industry giants General Synthetics and RECorp were direct competitors at the time. However, FAS had a breakthrough in 2038 when it released the @lfred line of robots, which were manufactured primarily as personal robot helpers. It’s this product that catapulted FAS to a place on the Fortune 50 for the first time.
The Hero of Mankind
Fortune 50 was only the beginning for FAS and, subsequently, Faro. In 2040, the company hired a brilliant young scientist named Elisabet Sobeck. By this time, catastrophic climate events such as the Great Die-Off and the 2036 Submergence had occurred, causing New Zealand and other smaller islands to become fully submerged underwater.
In response to this, FAS started manufacturing green robots, which were tasked with environmental cleanup and detoxification efforts. The robots were designed by Sobeck. Thus began the “Claw-back” decade, wherein FAS would lead the way with environmental preservation efforts. As a result, the company’s approval ratings skyrocketed, and Faro was called “the man who saved the world.”
The Man Who (Nearly) Destroyed Humanity
FAS’s line of green robots led to the company tripling its profits. Though later on, FAS would pivot to the creation of military technology. This shift to weaponized robotics pushed Sobeck to resign in 2048 as she wasn’t happy with the direction the company was taking. Even so, FAS continued to thrive in the market for automated military machines, even dominating it in 2053.
FAS then became the wealthiest corporation in the world, and by 2055, it had secured military contracts with 353 nations, organizations, and other corporations. Additionally, Faro became the world’s first trillionaire and was lauded as the world’s most popular businessman. This, however, is when Faro’s corporate greed starts rearing its ugly head.
Internal messages among FAS employees reveal that the company doesn’t shy away from closing contracts with opposing forces. Datapoints within the game even detail how FAS purposefully scheduled the meetings of two rival coffee companies at the same time to rile both sides up and possibly convince them to purchase the company’s weaponized machines.
Later, the company would release the Chariot line, one of the most advanced automated military machines of its time. It was composed of three distinct robots — Scarab units (Corruptors), Khopesh units (Deathbringers), and Horus units (Metal Devils). Faro was determined to make these machines unstoppable. Thus, they were highly weaponized, capable of fuel regeneration through the consumption of biomass, and able to self-replicate. Suffice to say, the new line was a success.
However, things would start going downhill in 2064, when a group of Chariot robots owned by the Hartz-Timor Energy Combine would stop following orders and attack its owner’s workforce. FAS would be unable to shut the robots down as its own security protocols made the machines unhackable — a result of Faro’s insistence that FAS create an unstoppable force. Given this, the rogue Chariot units continued acting independently, drawing energy from the planet’s biomass, humans included, in order to refuel and multiply. This was the beginning of the Faro Plague and the supposed end of humanity.
The Interloper Within Project Zero Dawn
With no one else to turn to, Faro went to Sobeck for help. With the rogue Chariot units now impossible to wipe out, she estimated that the Faro Plague would destroy all life on the planet in merely 15 months. This then led to Project Zero Dawn, an initiative headed by Sobeck which sought to create an AI that could eventually shut down the rogue Chariot units and start life anew on Earth.
At first, Faro was unwilling to dedicate his wealth to build Project Zero Dawn. He asked for Sobeck’s help because he wanted to save face. After all, he was well aware that it was his lack of foresight that ultimately caused his machines to go rogue. Still, after Sobeck threatened to tell everyone the truth, Faro relented, and Project Zero Dawn was well underway.
This is when Faro began to see the gravity of his decisions. After agreeing to help Sobeck, he started ruminating about what his actions led to and seemed genuinely remorseful. Later, he pestered Sobeck and the rest of her team, constantly asking for updates. In a journal entry from 2065, Sobeck also mentions that he couldn’t seem to stop fidgeting or even look her in the face without blinking.
In 2066, after everything in Project Zero Dawn is in place, Sobeck sacrificed herself to seal the facility where GAIA, the project’s governing AI, is housed. Around the same time, Faro’s guilt reached its peak. During his time away in his sealed bunker, Faro came to the conclusion that knowledge was nothing but a danger — a disease, even — to humans, and that it had to be destroyed. Thus, Faro accessed APOLLO, Project Zero Dawn’s archive of knowledge, and deleted everything. After which, he murdered all the remaining members involved in the project so that they could not recover the archive.
Whether Faro came to this conclusion because he genuinely believed it is unclear. It’s entirely possible that he just didn’t want the next generation of humanity to learn of his crimes. Still, one of his redeeming actions was his insistence on creating a kill switch for GAIA. This kill switch is the Master Override, which Aloy later uses to shut down HADES.
At the end of the day, there is no excuse for Faro’s wrongdoings. Though he was a skilled and intelligent man, he was also reckless. This is what led to the temporary extinction of all life before the events of Horizon Zero Dawn. Ultimately, his story is a cautionary tale for those who continually push for technological innovation — a reminder that not all progress is made for the good of mankind.
Horizon Zero Dawn is available now for PC, PS4, and PS5.
