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MINERVA

"The lesson will be taught in due time, Aloy. Until then, we wait."
This article contains heavy spoilers. Read ahead with caution.

"Misery... will cease?"
―MINERVA before returning to GAIA

MINERVA is the subordinate function of GAIA tasked with broadcasting the deactivation codes that would shut down the Faro Plague. MINERVA also required the construction of massive communications arrays capable of transmitting the deactivation signal across the world.

History

Purpose

Headed by Alpha Ayomide Okilo,[1] MINERVA was designed to decipher the deactivation codes for the Faro Plague. Once these codes were generated, the signal would be broadcast through massive transmission arrays, which would be constructed by machines fabricated by HEPHAESTUS.[2] MINERVA's success was crucial to Project Zero Dawn, as none of the terraforming processes could begin without the deactivation of the Faro Plague.

Aloy later mentioned that the transmission arrays were also being used for sending messages to the terraforming system,[3] as well as MINERVA being able to prevent GAIA from being detected.[4]

Results

The spire 1

MINERVA was successful in its intended purpose, deactivating the Faro Plague around 50 years after being implemented.

The exact locations of and how many transmission arrays were built is unknown, with the only known one being built in Eagle Canyon, Utah.[5] The hologram presenting Project Zero Dawn show MINERVA's broadcasts originating in the eastern USA (likely from the transmission array mentioned previously) as well as four more, originating in the southern Atlantic Ocean, somewhere in or near eastern Africa, the North Pole, and the central Pacific Ocean.[6]

The only known transmission array would later be found by the first Carja, the shadow of which marking the location of their new home, and would become a prominent object in their culture.[7]

Independence

On August 26, 3020,[8] the Extinction Signal sent by Nemesis arrived at GAIA Prime and turned her subordinate functions, including MINERVA, into independent AIs. This led the subfunction HADES to initiate his purpose of destroying the biosphere. To prevent this, GAIA initiated her self-destruct in an attempt to destroy HADES, which would also destroy her and the other sub-functions. However, in response to this, HADES released a virus that unshackled all the other subordinate functions from GAIA, allowing them to escape.[9] MINERVA found refuge within Regional Control Center 9.

Horizon Zero Dawn

HADES intended to use the Spire to broadcast a reactivation signal to awaken the Faro Plague. While it was initially successful, the transmission was halted by Aloy in time, preventing MINERVA's transmission array from being used for the opposite of its intended purpose.[10]

Horizon Forbidden West
Aloy and MINERVA

About six months later, MINERVA was the only sub-function that responded to Aloy's scan at the HADES Proving Lab.[11] After Aloy, Varl and Zo managed to purge HEPHAESTUS from Repair-Bay TAU,[12] MINERVA tried to block their to Regional Control Center 9. Fortunately, Aloy managed to find her way in and conversed with MINERVA, successfully convincing it to allow itself be returned to GAIA, ending its misery. Through use of the Master Override, Aloy reverted MINERVA to its original code, allowing it and the GAIA kernel to reactivate GAIA.[13]

Reunited with GAIA

After her activation, GAIA subsequently used MINERVA to hide the Base's location from Far Zenith.[4]

When Aloy and her allies came up with a plan to capture HEPHAESTUS, Beta warned that MINERVA wouldn't be able to conceal the power surge that would be created at Cauldron GEMINI from GAIA's merging with HEPHAESTUS, which would be detectable by the Zeniths, prompting the team to think of another distraction.

After Far Zenith's defeat, Sylens considered that MINERVA would able to break whatever safeguards the Zeniths used to restrict the APOLLO database onboard the Odyssey.[14]

Personality

As a result of becoming self-aware and being separated from GAIA, MINERVA appeared to be rather scared and withdrawn, doing everything it could to keep others away from itself and describing its current existence as misery.[15] However, the fact it was the only sub-function to respond to Aloy's scan implied that it also wanted to be found.[11] In the end, MINERVA showed itself to be rather selfless, willing to forsake its own independent existence and become part of GAIA once again.[13]

Associated Quests

Horizon Zero Dawn

Horizon Forbidden West

Associated Datapoints

Horizon Zero Dawn

Hologram Datapoints

Text Datapoints - Quests

Horizon Forbidden West

Text Datapoints - Quests

Hologram Datapoints

RCC

Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores

Burning Shores - Companions

Trivia

  • MINERVA is named after the Roman goddess of wisdom and battle strategy.
    • This makes MINERVA the only sub-function to use the Roman name of a Greek god, Athena being the Greek name. Ben McCaw, the lead writer for Horizon Zero Dawn, stated that this decision was made because Guerrilla Games liked the sound of "MINERVA" better than "ATHENA".[16]

References

  1. ↑ The Subordinate Functions
  2. ↑ Full Steam Ahead
  3. ↑ The Point of the Lance
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 As mentioned by Aloy during Cradle of Echoes.
  5. ↑ Eagle Canyon
  6. ↑ The Good News
  7. ↑ Founding Of Meridian
  8. ↑ Operations Log
  9. ↑ GAIA's Dying Plea
  10. ↑ The Face of Extinction
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Death's Door
  12. ↑ The Dying Lands
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 The Eye of the Earth
  14. ↑ Probing the Graveyard
  15. ↑ As mentioned by MINERVA during The Eye of the Earth.
  16. ↑ Reddit: Horizon Zero Dawn Anniversary AMA with Ashly Burch and Ben McCaw

Wiki Navigation

AI Characters
Project Zero Dawn AIs AETHER - APOLLO - ARTEMIS - DEMETER - ELEUTHIA - GAIA - HADES - HEPHAESTUS - MINERVA - POSEIDON
Firebreak AIs CYAN
Far Zenith AIs Nemesis - The Julius
Other AIs Nova - VAST SILVER