After their meeting in Frozen Wilds, I never expected to see Gildun again – but when he appeared again in the first DLC for Horizon Forbidden West, The Burning Shores, what happened shocked even me.
Horizon Forbidden West follows Aloy, the outcast hero of the original Horizon Zero Down, from her home in what we know today as Colorado to what we know today as California, tracking down an existential crisis that threatens all life, everywhere. In the respite between apocalypses, Aloy finds a note from Gildun talking about a delve down south, in the Burning Shores. Aloy feels she has no choice but to follow her man down south.
Gildun’s tribe, the Oseram, has been delving into the mysteries of ancient technologies around the ruins of a Jurassic Park-themed amusement part (“Pangaea Park”). The mystery of what happened to these Oseram delvers threads throughout the expansion, but one question is always on Aloy’s mind: What happened to Gildun?
I don’t want to get into too many spoilers, but after many adventures, she finally reunites with Gildun. He’d fallen overboard on his trip down to the Burning Shores, but nothing can dampen an Oseram’s love for the delve, and once he’d washed up on shore, he immediately set out to reunite with the rest of his expedition – when he is sidetracked by underground treasure, which sets up the legendary reunion of the two lovers.
I’m reading all over everyplace that Burning Shores is controversial, somehow, but Aloy and Gildun’s love is true and pure. Sure, I get it – she’s a Nora outcast, and Gildun is a renowned celebrity among the Oseram and everyone else who has ever heard his adventures. It’s a class thing. But love will always win out.
I can’t wait to play through their adventures in Horizon 3, whenever that might come out. Aloy has the brawn, but it’s going to take a Delver’s instincts to take on an interstellar threat.
Seriously, I loved seeing Gildun here, and now that he has joined Aloy’s team, I genuinely look forward to seeing him in the next game.