Regalla

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

Regalla is a major antagonist in Horizon Forbidden West. She is the leader of a faction of Tenakth rebels whose exploits have united the tribe against them.^[1]

Appearance

Regalla is a tall, thin and muscular woman with dark skin, long ashy gray hair with two braids over her shoulders and brown eyes, in addition to having black, gray, and red face paint.

History

Regalla was born in the Tenakth's Desert Clan, although she forswore any allegiance or bond with them once she became a Marshal. Accomplished with both weapons and fists, she earned the right to challenge The Enduring, but was refused on account of her rage. Her strong will and skill resulted in her becoming one of Hekarro's greatest and most loyal Marshals, able to settle disputes with her presence alone.^[2] Regalla gathered a fearsome reputation among the Desert Clan for her ways of dispensing 'justice,' when she was called to settle disputes. She would listen to the parties, then give them a single chance to come to an accord. If they did not, both would die. Whether this carried to other clans is unknown, but her reputation led many towards talking terms over having her involved as judge.

Red Raids

The Tenakth became the Carja's most formidable foes during the Red Raids, and Regalla's three brothers were among the first to meet the Carja in battle. The defense ended in defeat, and Regalla's brothers were captured by the invading forces. She found her brothers just in time to see them being burned alive by the Carja as an "example".

This act of barbarity filled Regalla with boundless hatred for the Carja, which could only be satiated by their extinction. Regalla wanted no survivors from any battle involving the Carja and considered it an insult when Fashav, a captured Carja soldier, was given the right to participate in the Kulrut to earn his place as a member of the tribe. This action may have started the rift between her and Hekarro. When Fashav served as Marshal to Hekkaro, Regalla would insult him or show her disgust every opportunity she had. She goaded him into attempting the trial of the Valley of the Fallen, in hopes that he would die in the attempt, only to be further angered when he survived.

Late into the war, the Tenakth pushed the Carja back into their territory when Hekarro gave the order to fall back. Regalla considered it a move of weakness when they had the advantage and power, but she had no reason to doubt Hekarro's strength and skill. While disappointed, Regalla stayed her hand, and followed her Chief's order, believing a greater plan would unfold. At some point, the Carja sent a priest as a delegate to negotiate peace.

When Regalla realized Hekarro wished to build peace with the Carja she despised, she was furious. Seeing peace as an insult to those lost when the Tenakth pushed the Carja out of their territory, and her own grief in the face of Carja barbarism, Regalla deemed Hekarro a traitor to the Tenakth and challenged him for control of the tribe. The ensuing battle ended with Hekarro's victory. Tradition of the duel often meant death for the defeated, and most Tenakth considered that death an honor. However, knowing the tribe was weak from war and in need of strong leaders, Hekarro chose to spare Regalla due to her previous service. Regalla, bitter and angry that Hekarro would treat with enemies of the tribe, and now denied an honorable death by Tenakth custom, cursed Hekarro for his supposed weakness, swearing vengeance upon the chief and any who followed him.

Sons of Prometheus

After her failed fight, Regalla brooded on her defeat and was desperate to find a way to achieve the vengeance she sought. Fortune soon changed after she encountered a group of Oseram mercenaries calling themselves the "Sons of Prometheus". Notably, they had the ability to override machines, and their leader, Asera, shared Regalla's burning hatred of the Carja. Seeing a way to gain tactical advantage on Hekarro and an ally against the Carja, the two parties came to an agreement: the Sons of Prometheus would show her how to override machines while Regalla would seize control of the Tenakth tribe and send the army to attack the Zeniths.

Forbidden West

During a delegation between the Carja and Tenakth, Regalla and her rebels attacked and killed most of those attending, including most of the Tenakth's Marshals. At the end of the battle, Grudda, one of her champions, challenged two of the survivors, Aloy and Varl of the Nora. Grudda was able to quickly subdue Varl but was easily killed by Aloy. With the challenge over and the battle won, Regalla turned back to Tenakth territory victorious. She considered the death of Fashav, whom she had always thought of as an insult to Tenakth tradition, to be a happy moment of the battle.

Regalla's massacre of the Marshals forced Hekarro to hold another Kulrut in order to rebuild his forces. Hoping to kill Hekarro in front of all the Tenakth clans to demonstrate her strength and ability, Regalla and her forces ambushed the next Kulrut. She fought Hekarro in the throne room and came close to killing him but was ultimately unable to end him. Defeated and outnumbered, Regalla retreated.

Reinforced with Tremortusks and other machines, Regalla once again attempted to storm the Grove and kill Hekarro. Just as Regalla had Hekarro cornered on a balcony, Aloy flew in on a Sunwing and disabled her machines. Aloy challenged Regalla to single combat, to which she accepted. A heated duel ensued, ending in Regalla's defeat at the hands of Aloy.

Death

At this point, Regalla's life lay in the hands of Aloy. Should Aloy choose to end her life, Kotallo will drive a spear through her.

Should Aloy spare her, Regalla will be offered a more "suitable" death: joining the assault of Far Zenith's base and meeting her demise at the hands of forces far beyond her ability to grasp. Regalla will accept the offer of a better death and wait in the basement of Aloy's base for the assault. During the attack, she will then meet the demise she was promised, overwhelmed by Specters in a crumbling corridor.

Personality

Raised in the Tenakth ways, Regalla is a warrior first, and a highly capable one at that. Skilled in tactics and weaponry, she was one of the points of pride for the Desert Clan, even while she rebelled against Hekarro. Despite her blind wrath, she proved herself strong enough to become one of Hekarro's greatest Marshals and was respected, even feared, among her Tenakth brethren. Before starting the civil war, she was regarded as his most prominent champion. Her name alone was often enough to get disputes settled as she had a fearsome reputation when parties did not capitulate.

The Red Raids and loss of her family drove Regalla to near madness. She became an embodiment of vengeance and inspired many Tenakth unhappy about peace with the Carja to join her crusade. The Carja bear the brunt of her hatred due to their barbarity during the Red Raids against her family, and she dedicated her life to destroying the tribe. However, her obsession with the Carja's destruction nearly blinded her to all reason, and any Tenakth who do not share her vision of the Carja's destruction is an enemy who must face death.^[3] To Regalla, peace is nothing but a pause between vendettas, and often a sign of weakness. Her headstrong nature made her want to press any advantage she can muster, without thinking how or why she could be manipulated because of it. She believes that there is no opponent superior to her armies and sees every other tribe as inferior to the strength of the Tenakth. She sees the Carja's defensive capabilities and holding out behind walls as a sign of cowardice.

Regalla's hatred for the Carja also turned her into a racist. She considers the Carja worthy of nothing but Tenakth blades, their blood existing to be spilled by her people. She finds it offensive to allow any outsider to be allowed to bear the marks of the Tenakth or wear their armor in battle, indicating that her prejudice extends to all tribes, but the Carja bear the brunt of it. Any Tenakth who would accept terms of peace from an opponent is not considered to be one in Regalla's eyes. Her racism found an easy target in Fashav, as she considered it an insult when Hekkaro gave him the opportunity to compete in the Kulrut. No matter how Fashav served, or how respected he was, she could never accept him. Every time she saw him, she saw her old enemy that she was unable to destroy. She would glare at him with disgust every time they met, and openly insulted him and his ability whenever she could.

Despite her anger and disgust, she has a level of cunning beneath her wrath. Knowing she could not move against a fellow Marshal, Regalla instead used Fashav's need to prove himself as a true Tenakth to ensure his demise. She smirked after she goaded him into accepting the survival trial at the Valley of the Fallen, thinking she had gotten him to sign his own death warrant (she was furious when he returned). She also turned Gruda, a man who once had a dispute that Fashav mediated, to her side and he became one of her prominent champions. Her standing within the Desert Tribe and awareness of past grudges allowed her to field a force that put the once united Tenakth tribe into a Civil War that she had the power to win.

Blind vengeance has driven her to attempt brutal reprisals against the Tenakth who defy her will. She already had a fearsome reputation for killing claimants who could not settle their differences but any who openly stood against her would be met with her full wrath. Regalla planned to have an overridden Behemoth and other machines rampage and destroy Fall's Edge, a major Lowland settlement. Had it not been for the defection of a young soldier and the help of Aloy, her plan may have succeeded. She also had a dam built upriver of Thornmarsh and kept blight ridden algae within it to ensure their water supply would remain poisoned even if the blight abated, hoping to destroy Hekarro's home even if everything else failed. She does not care who has to die in her vendetta against the Carja and Hekarro, as long as she got a chance to burn Meridian to the ground at the end. No price was too high to pay for her vengeance as she was told that she may have to offer her whole tribe in a suicidal charge against the Zenith base before being allowed to take Meridian, which she seemed more than willing to accept. Sylens remarked that her endless wroth and headstrong nature made her quite easy to manipulate.

Despite her bloodlust and uncompromising nature, Regalla retains a sense of honour common among her people. She does not fall back on her word and does have sense to know when she has lost a fight. That said, she does not handle defeat or compromise well, cursing her opponents with reprisals. After defeats, she often redoubles her efforts and attempts more brutal counters to sow fear among those who would stand against her. Her tactics almost mirror the Mad Sun-King Jiran, and the Carja she claims to despise.

Battle stats

Stats

Level	HP	Armor HP/Tear	Helmet HP/Tear	Additional Info
35	500 (Phase 1 & 2) 2000 (Phase 3)	440/440	950/550	Equipped with 14 armor pieces. Helmet cannot be removed until the final phase. Vulnerable to Fire and especially Plasma. Resistant to Frost and especially Shock. Coats sword with Plasma starting at 50% HP; lasts for 40 seconds each time. Takes reduced damage from headshots and stealth strikes. Susceptible to knockdowns and finishing strikes at 25% HP.

Attacks

Attack Type	Damage	Trigger Range	Description
Slash combo	97/97/194/194 Melee	0m - 6.5m	4-hit combo. Will cancel if first few strikes miss.
Slide Thrust	194 Melee	7m - 11m	Slides towards target and thrusts her blade.
Backwards Slash	145 Melee	0m - 4.5m	Turns around with horizontal slash and can continue with a combo.
Heavy Combo	97/145/194 Melee	1.5m - 6m	3-hit combo
Heavy Jump Combo	194/97/145/194 Melee	8.5m - 11.5m	Sprints at target, jumps forward and hits with a powerful vertical slash. Can be followed up with the Heavy combo.
Push Back	97 Melee	0m - 3.5m	Pushes back opponent after blocking an attack, exposing them to a counterattack.
Counterattack	145 Melee	0m - 4.5m	Can be used after a push back.
Grab Attack	291 Melee	0m - 4.5m	Jump-kicks off target then fires an arrow.
Hit & Run	40 Melee 145 Ranged	0m - 6.5m	After a horizontal slashing attack, switches to bow and fires. Used to create distance to switch to ranged combat.
Shoot & Run	40 Ranged 145 Melee	0m - 6.5m	Moves back while shooting an arrow, then switches to melee weapon and charges with a slam down attack. Used to switch to melee combat.
Twin Plasma Shot	85 Ranged 40 Plasma 145 Plasma buildup	16m - 50m (5m - 50m in Phase 2)	Shoots two consecutive Plasma arrows that leave hazardous pools where they land.
Frost Barrage	85 Ranged 109 Frost 63 Frost buildup	25m - 50m (5m - 50m in Phase 2)	Shoots a barrage of five Frost arrows in a wide spread that leave hazardous pools where they land.
Warhead Javelin	50 Explosive (average)	17m - 70m (5m - 70m in Phase 2)	Throws a Javelin at target that splits into multiple warheads which explode shortly after impact.
Dust Cloud	None	3m - 10m	Drags sword against ground to kick up a cloud of dust that conceals next action. Will usually follow with a melee attack.

Additionally, Regalla shares the same ranged moveset as Rebel Sharpshooters, dealing 97 or 145 Ranged damage per hit.

Gallery

Regalla prepares to attack

Concept art by Luc de Haan

Face paint

Clay model from Kudos Productions

References