- For the soundtrack, see Hunhow (Soundtrack).
Hunhow is a massive Sentient discovered deep beneath the oceanic surface of Uranus. Revealed to be the father of Natah, who had since defected from the Sentients to become the Lotus, Hunhow set out to accomplish what his daughter ultimately refused to do - kill the Tenno - but his efforts are always foiled. Yet despite his animosity towards his most hated enemies, Hunhow maintains enough capacity for reason and can choose to set aside differences for a better cause.
Lore[]
General[]
Although he is presumed dead by the time players encounter him, Hunhow wakes when Tyl Regor dregs him up from the depths[1]. Even after the Old War the Lotus still fears him, and he still has Sentient drones (which he refers to as his "fragments", "children" or "body") at his disposal to do his bidding and is willing to forge a temporary alliance with the Stalker to attain his goals. The Lotus describes Hunhow as the individual mind of all his Sentient fighters, though it is unclear how many Sentient minds were active in the Old War. Regardless, Hunhow's influence speaks volumes, as Alad V claims he is a "bogeyman to the Corpus", indicating that they have either a great fear of him or believe that he no longer exists, possibly assigning him to legend.
Natah[]
As part of his research, Tyl Regor unearths Hunhow's remains from the depths of Uranus and reawakens him and his drones, news of which shocks the Lotus and forces her into hiding. After the Tenno and Teshin confront the Lotus about her past as Natah, they set out to seal Hunhow's tomb once more and delay his return. While the Tenno perform the deed, Hunhow communicates directly to the Lotus, disappointed at her apparent betrayal.
The Second Dream[]
Setting out to complete the Lotus' failed task, Hunhow convinces the Stalker (using their mutual hatred of the Tenno) to serve as his agent and help him destroy the Tenno, giving the Stalker a greatsword forged from his remains. Fearing the worst, the Lotus (with assistance from Alad V) orders the Tenno to locate one of Hunhow's destroyed fragments[2] on Uranus in order to figure out her father's plans. Once the Tenno locate his fragment however, the Lotus realizes that Hunhow has tricked her into giving away the location of the Reservoir - the source of the Tenno's power and their one weakness - which is hidden within the Void, a place impassable to Sentients. The Lotus sends the Tenno to the Void to save the Reservoir, later revealed to be located on the Earth's missing Moon. As the Tenno race to protect the Reservoir, Hunhow - speaking through the Stalker's sword - taunts the Tenno and the Lotus on their impending destruction.
During the siege, the Tenno uncover their true nature, and subsequently struggle to get back to their Landing Craft. However, the Stalker manages to infiltrate the Orbiter and ambush the Tenno. Just as the Tenno manage to secure the Somatic Link, the Stalker manages to impale the Warframe with Hunhow's sword and have the Operator at his mercy. Using the last of its strength, the Warframe manages to rip the sword apart, severing Hunhow's connection to the Stalker and forcing the latter to flee. What remains of the sword is kept as a trophy by the Tenno and does not seem to house his consciousness.
Octavia's Anthem[]
It is revealed Hunhow, having survived the Stalker's defeat, has infiltrated the Cephalon Weave, with his consciousness existing as a virus within Cephalon Suda. Intending to absorb the Cephalon data-weave and protect his drones from the environs from the Void, he gradually overtakes Suda's memories while the Tenno are helping her with her research into music. Recognizing that Suda's memories are invigorated by music, he seeks to destroy the Hydraulus musical organs Suda was seeking, and by the time the Tenno and Ordis manage to complete the song Octavia's Anthem, Hunhow has almost finished overwriting Suda's personality and renders her deaf to the song. When Ordis enters into Suda's datascape in a desperate attempt to save her, and fails, the Tenno convinces a reluctant Cephalon Simaris to send them in themselves; therein Hunhow manifests as a menacing red outline of his original Sentient body. The Tenno remove the corrupted, dissonant notes he was using to prevent Suda from hearing the full song of Octavia and, with Ordis' and Simaris' assistance, allow Suda to remove Hunhow's invasive presence from her consciousness.
The Sacrifice[]
Ballas's Vitruvian reveals that he betrayed the Orokin empire after they killed his beloved Margulis, leaking information to Hunhow detailing the weaknesses of the Warframes.
Erra[]
Early in the Old War's flashback, Hunhow charges towards Lua as a large group of Tenno and Railjacks try to stop him. A barrage of Seeker Missiles strikes his head to little effect, before wings of Gyrixes and Ionyxes flying towards the Moon divert the sight away from him.
The New War[]
Following the collapse of the Origin System and the rise of Narmer, the Drifter seeks to revive the Lotus and visits Hunhow's tomb in Uranus. He initially responded in condescension, but was amused by the notion of an alliance and was unwilling to allow his daughter to become a puppet to Ballas' schemes. Hunhow relinquished information on the Archons' ability to revive Sentients as well as their strengths and weaknesses, and gave the Drifter his bow Nataruk to combat them as well as have the Shadow Stalker support them on standby.
During the hunt for the Archons, Hunhow attempted to reason with his son Erra, referring to Ballas as a parasite that is merely using him and the sentients and that Erra is acting no better than a Dax in servitude to Orokin. However, Erra rebuffed that the Sentients lives are better under Narmer's rule.
What happened to Hunhow after killing the second Archon is unknown, but since the Stalker is still actively hunting down the players after the war, it might imply that he either cuts ties once again with the Tenno, possibly seeing that the Drifter requires no further aid, or simply lets his "Shadow" to act in his own.
Trivia[]
- During Octavia's Anthem, Hunhow makes reference to the "Naga Drums" first referenced by the Stalker in his Codex entry. These ceremonial Tenno drums were played during victory celebrations. Apparently they, along with Octavia's music, could "cross the gap" (presumably meaning the interstellar space between the Tau and Origin systems) and had a hand in defeating the Sentients during the Old War. Hunhow speaks of them "coordinating the slaughter of the Orokin across the gap", which refers to the moment following the end of the war when the Tenno 'betrayed' the Orokin by slaughtering them all. It is unknown if Hunhow is simply referencing the event or implying that the Sentients somehow had a part in the Tenno turning on their masters.
- Within Cephalon Suda's datascape during Octavia's Anthem, Hunhow is actually spawned in the game as an entity. However, the model used for him is not the apparition of his body that the player sees, but rather a large, invisible Osprey. This Osprey model can be temporarily revealed using a Codex Scanner or Synthesis Scanner, via the outline placed on the model immediately following a successful scan. Note that this does not provide any information or unlocks in the codex.
- Interestingly there is a Sentinel Cosmetic called the "Hunhow Sentinel Mask", which predates Hunhow's introduction by a considerable margin (many of the early Sentinel Cosmetics were introduced in Update 7.8 (2013-04-19), roughly 2 years before Hunhow would make his debut). It is unknown if this was an intentional case of foreshadowing on the developers' part or not.
- The Sentinel Mask also looks like a stylized version of Sentient drones' "faces", which makes a big case for intentional foreshadowing.
- In addition to the above, the pommel of War bears a striking resemblance to said mask as well.
- Hunhow's name was revealed during TennoVIP 2015. Prior to this his name was unknown.
- Hunhow's name may be derived from Hun-Hunahpu, a Mayan god mentioned in the Popol Vuh. Hun-Hunahpu was beheaded and imprisoned in the Underworld along with his brother Vucub-Hunahpu, and their remains were recovered by Hun-Hunahpu's sons, Hunahpu and Xbalanque. This is similar to Hunhow's remains being trapped beneath Uranus' oceans, and some of his remains being reforged into War and given to the Stalker.
- Reinforcing Hunhow's connections to Mayan mythology is the recurring broadcast present in Stolen Dreams and The New Strange, which is an excerpt from the Popol Vuh.
- He seems to have the ability to use mind-control, as shown when the Tenno fights Stalker in the Orbiter as Stalker's energy color of his armor turned from blue to orange.
- He appears as a charred version of Lotus during the Natah quest. This Lotus figure also appears in his transmissions during The Second Dream, standing behind the War he used to speak through, although much harder to notice.
- According to Natah during the Ropalolyst fight, he was "a farmer". Assuming this to be metaphor, it could allude to him being originally meant as a terraformer or agricultural system.
- As of The New War, Hunhow is the second Sentient to ally with the Tenno (though possibly temporary and out of convenience), after Natah, who became the Lotus, and before Erra, who had a change of heart at the latter part of the story.
- Despite revealing himself in The Second Dream, transmissions of Hunhow does not show his name oddly. When speaking through Cephalon Suda in Octavia's Anthem, he still uses her name. In the Cephalon weave, however, his name is shown.
- The lights on Hunhow changed from blue to orange in The New War.
- Hunhow was sometimes called "Space Grandpa" by fans, referencing how the Lotus was called Space Mom and Hunhow being her father.
Patch History[]
Update 17.0 (2015-07-31)
- Introduced.
See Also[]
Sentient | |
---|---|
Drone | Aerolyst • Anu Mantalyst • Anu Pyrolyst • Battalyst • Brachiolyst • Conculyst • Eradicyst • Membroid • Mimic • Oculyst • Ortholyst • Summulyst • Symbilyst |
Spectral | Anu Interference Drone • Choralyst • Spectralyst • Vomvalyst |
Amalgam | Amalgam Arca Heqet • Amalgam Arca Kucumatz • Amalgam Cinder Machinist • Amalgam Phase MOA • Amalgam Swarm Satyr |
Ships | Condrix • Gyrix • Ionyx • Murex • Orphix • Splintrix |
Bosses | |
Teralyst • Gantulyst • Hydrolyst • Ropalolyst • Condrix • Suda-Hunhow • Wolf of Saturn Six (Amalgamized) • Typholyst |
- ↑ * You betrayed us. As I awake, so will they. They will say you're riven and want to reclaim you. I will not be able to stop them.
- ↑ Lotus: "Yes. This is it, a fragment of... of my father, destroyed in The Old War. I can use it to see him..."