Notes On The Lotus' Character Design And Other Tidbits (Looking For Lore In All The Wrong Places)

[Terumitsu]

Alternate title: Passing time until U14

 

Playing through warframe, it's hard to miss the rather overt 'eastern flair' that we space ninjas have. And not just the whole ninja thing either given the Buddha statues, dojo, all of that stuff. The thing is, however, it's easy to run through the game and just assume that is all skin deep; a veneer simply there for flavor. While that is up for debate for some, I've picked up on a few interesting things that point to the designers having a fairly solid idea of what their doing.

 

Chakra, Buddhism, and the Lotus: How our flower girl fits in:

 

Let's take a glance at the current design of the Lotus. While you could just look up over this post to see that little bulletin board on the left, I'll save you the trouble and a tad of eye-strain and put this here:

 

We're all familiar with this. Whether telling us the upteenth time that we are, in fact, fighting grineer or belatedly letting us know the cryogenics have failed after we've slipped on more than one patch of ice, this is a face we see often. Or.. Head with a giant mask on, I guess. So what does this have to do with anything? Well, before we get to that, let's do a quick rundown of just what chakra is.

 

Now, chakra, despite how a certain other ninja animu displays it (as a side note, it's surprisingly accurate some of the more spiritual portrayals but that's left for another time), can basically be summed up as the belief that the body has centers for various types of physical and spiritual energy. Depending on the school, there can be upwards of a hundred different major and minor 'nodes' on a body. Primarily this came from the hindu belief system which in turn influenced buddism's tantric and yogic traditions (tantra and yoga being styles of meditation to approach 'oneness of the self').

 

Brief history lesson aside, in modern times the currently most widespread understanding in the west of this chakra belief is based on seven nodes following the spine, each corresponding to the seven colors of the rainbow. Starting with the Red chakra at the base of the spine (AKA: Muladhara or the Root Chakra) it travels upwards with the rest of the chakra centers with the orange (Svadisthana or Sacral chakra), yellow (Manipuraka/stomach chakra), green (Anahata/heart chakra), pale blue (Vishuddhi/throat chakra), blue/violet(Anja or 'third eye'), and purple/white (Sahasrara or crown chakra). It's these last two which are really the one's to focus on.

 

Back to the Lotus, aside from the eyeless mask (her old design having veiled eyes), we see that blue shiny thing between where her eyes would be. That blue mark between where her eyes would be(/were in the old designs) is where it's commonly thought that the 'third eye/Anja' is located. Now, the Anja chakra (Note: Anja translates to 'Command') is generally concerned with the roles of cogitation, intellect, and intuition. It seems like a minor point, and it is in this case, but one would assume such qualities would be useful to an AI (or so the commonly accepted belief of her paints her as). And, of course, there is the faucet of the third eye being key for perception and meditation upon it supposedly grants omniscience. While she may not be the most alacritous at giving us information, for someone who is implied to have a huge information network this seems fitting.

 

But how about we move on to the real meaty bits, hmm?

 

The Lotus has an interesting name and it's one that I can't accept as just one pulled from out of a hat. Note that above that shiny blue gem-thingy is a huge lotus-shaped crown/mask. Recall that the crown chakra is named 'Sahasrara' which translates to 'Thousand Petaled Lotus' and it is correspondent to pure consciousness and detachment from illusion as well as 'higher understanding' where all things are one. That last bit especially so given that she's our ubiquitous mission control, linking us to every other tenno out there. It is also said to be the most subtle chakra which makes thematic sense for the head of a massive shadow organization. Hell, even we are unsure as to just what or where she is as well as her aims and goals and we're the ones following her! Finally, this chakra is instrumental to reaching 'Samadhi' or a transcendent state of consciousness beyond the body through meditation. Personally, all this talk about consciousness cements for me that the Lotus is an AI or similar entity given how these things are about leaving the physical body behind.

 

In any case, I'm personally okay with the fact that they decided to streamline things rather than add a thousand 'petals' to her headwear as I imagine that would have just been hell to design.

 

Allegorical Nirvana: How I stopped worrying and learned to love the Void:

 

This one is gonna be a bit more straightforwards.. I hope.

 

Nirvana itself is defined in Buddism as the stillnes born of being without illusion, desire, or fear and is more commonly described as being 'extinguished' of such. Nirvana is the route by which one achieves liberation from suffering as well as freedom from the cycle of reincarnation and experiencing perfect peace. This peace is key for the state of 'Śūnyatā' or the experience of 'openness/emptiness' or, more commonly 'voidness'. This state of emptiness is a positive note, mind, as it is the closing off of the ego and it's focus on the self and allows one to be receptive to one's place in the world and how they and everything else relates. 

 

But what does this have to do with anything?

 

Now, what I'd like you to do next time you hop into a Void mission is to just take a look at the aesthetic of the tilesets. Compare them to all the other sets you've seen. Notice how comparatively 'still' and sterile the towers feel? even the way you enter them could be seen as entering a different state of existence. Now, remember that Tenno are a result of exposure to the void. In Buddhist mythology, it is the way of things for someone who has experienced this void to return to the world again, changed by their experiance, so that they may teach others (Note: the term 'Buddha' means 'Awakened/Enlightened one' and is commonly ascribed to those that teach others of the 'path' of the philosophy). In the stories about The Buddha, he was spoken of being neither man nor god and was said to do many miracles as well as mystical and superhuman works in his travels.

 

Sound a little familiar?

 

As a bonus thing to note, you know that ambient droning singing that is done when you go undetected in a mission? This is most commonly known as Mongolian or Tibetian throat singing and is commonly done by buddist monks of those areas.

 

Another example:

 

 

Elhefe provides nifty interpretations and insights here!:

 

[...]I would suggest that Naraka - the Buddist Hell - would be a closer analogy to the Orokin Void

Here's why:

 

First, Naraka is a series of caverns ... EMPTY SPACES - like the Void

 

Second, unlike Judao-Christian Hell, you are born/reborn into Naraka as a means to REDEEM onself - not sent there for punishment

One leaves Naraka after ascending spiritually ... again the analogy to the Void where the Technocyte "damaged" Tenno were sent and thus "purified" with the Void "energy" and redeemed to be the Orokin "saviors"

 

What makes this comparison really interesting is the complexity of Naraka, with "hot" and "cold" zones - especially the Padma (Lotus) Naraka where one's frozen skin splits open and bleed ... again perhaps an analogy to the Warframe Lotus who sends Tenno into dangerous, often deadly places

 

EDIT:  BTW, there are ALL SORTS of demons and monsters in Naraka!!

 

I would also look into Mahakala as a model for the Tenno ...

In other threads OP suggest that the REAL PURPOSE of the Tenno is to be a solar/cosmic balancing force

 

From gameplay alone, I would suggest that the Tenno are more like ENFORCERS - the popos - and not the brains behind the "balance" - Lotus is more like the Police Chief or Commissioner

 

Mahakala is my PERSONAL FAVORITE of the Buddhist traditions ... He is fierce, ugly, powerful and utterly RUTHLESS in putting down evil and general stupidity of man

 

Nomenclature: A mishmash of silly things from playing with translators

 

This is gonna be the shortest section as I've not run every single thing in the game through a translator (yet) but some things that stand out are as follows:

 

'Orokin' with the root words 'oro' and 'kin' which could be loosely made to mean 'Golden People/family.' I am drawn to call parallels here to the 'Statue of the ages of man' in greek mythology where a statue is made of seven materials, each of which referring to an age of humanity. A golden head referencing the lost golden ages, particularly in this case.

 

'Tenno' directly translated is Japanese for 'Emperor of Heaven,' a posthumous title awarded to an emperor of a given dynasty or age in Japanese history. It might be a stretch here but I could see the argument where this could tie in to that ramble about the void above here.

 

'Soma' is a fun one. Rather, it could refer to the flesh or meat of a body OR the juice of a plant of the same name of which is able to make a mixture which, when drunk, can either grant longevity or immortality and was known to be quaffed often by some hindu deities.

 

TL;DR: I ramble about real world connections to game themes and possibly make the occasional reaching conclusion.

Edited July 14, 2014 by Terumitsu

[immolator1001]

I agree about the lotus but not the void. The way it is described in the codex is a hellish place that most can't survive and those that do are twisted into monsters. That doesn't sound like Nirvana.

[Lil_Uzi_Vert]

Clever and insightful.

It's really amazing how much thought goes into such overlooked facets of design.

 

Kudos to you and DE, homie.

[MortalSage]

The connection you made with the void makes perfect sense after reading through some of the codex entries.l

[Terumitsu]

I agree about the lotus but not the void. The way it is described in the codex is a hellish place that most can't survive and those that do are twisted into monsters. That doesn't sound like Nirvana.

I probably should have mentioned that but if we're gonna continue making the metaphor then it is absurdly easy to simply state that the monsters and such are simply the demons and entities out to lead a person astray from 'the path' in Buddhist mythology.

 

Of course, I make no claims to this being a perfect metaphor as this is just my own opinions but this is what makes the most sense.

Edited July 14, 2014 by Terumitsu

[ElHefe]

@ Terumitsu ... kudos on a stimulating thread!

 

However, I would suggest that Naraka - the Buddist Hell - would be a closer analogy to the Orokin Void

Here's why:

 

First, Naraka is a series of caverns ... EMPTY SPACES - like the Void

 

Second, unlike Judao-Christian Hell, you are born/reborn into Naraka as a means to REDEEM onself - not sent there for punishment

One leaves Naraka after ascending spiritually ... again the analogy to the Void where the Technocyte "damaged" Tenno were sent and thus "purified" with the Void "energy" and redeemed to be the Orokin "saviors"

 

What makes this comparison really interesting is the complexity of Naraka, with "hot" and "cold" zones - especially the Padma (Lotus) Naraka where one's frozen skin splits open and bleed ... again perhaps an analogy to the Warframe Lotus who sends Tenno into dangerous, often deadly places

 

EDIT:  BTW, there are ALL SORTS of demons and monsters in Naraka!!

Edited July 14, 2014 by ElHefe

[Terumitsu]

Ooh, I hadn't considered that angle!

 

Mind if I add your input to that section in the OP?

[Fraggoth]

Well, I always thought the Void Towers (as in the LOCATION) were basically (and I must stress that this is gonna be oversimplified) space stations that the Orokin used before going postphysical, and they bopped 'em into an adjacent dimensional interstice or some such thing,  (if you've read Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn series, think what the antagonists were trying to do to whole planets for the majority of the series) largely because the could, or, more practically, because it was a method of hiding from whatever Big Bad was up in their grill (read: the Sentients, whoever they are. There's a lot of wiggleroom there- COULD be the creators of the Infested, but that all depends on how canonical Dark Sector and its Technocyte Virus are at this point. )

 

Void Energy, on the other hand? That stuff that the Tenno channel as their powers? That stuff that makes a mockery of the Loz O' Fizziks? I generally figure that that stuff is the Orokin themselves, after becoming postphysical. It also adds a little extra meaning to the term Tenno, especially the whole "posthumous" implication. So, yeah, we're channeling/siphoning the energies of a race that became borderline deities, insofar as such a description applies.

 

The above also worked even BETTER when I was operating under the assumption that the Warframes weren't just suits- that they were collections of the Technocyte Virus shaped and molded by either force of will or what-have-you a-la Dark Sector's Hayden Tenno, where his body was being physically converted into a new form entirely, as opposed to being a mere suit of armor. Practical upshot of that theory? That the Warframes were vessels of the Orokin- and, when inhabited BY an Orokin, would then be called a "Tenno"- the manifestations of Heavenly Emperors on the Material Plane.

 

This had all kinds of implications for what exactly the Lotus was doing- granted, back then there was heavy implication that the Lotus was not a singular entity, but the mouthpiece of some kind of organization, however that is apparently debunked.

 

In the end, that can be taken however anyone wants- I still find that a lot of it makes sense, but there's enough moderately definitive lore now that it can be debunked. Meh, I don't really care - I like it.

[ElHefe]

@ Terumitsu ... by all means include it

 

I would also look into Mahakala as a model for the Tenno ...

In other threads OP suggest that the REAL PURPOSE of the Tenno is to be a solar/cosmic balancing force

 

From gameplay alone, I would suggest that the Tenno are more like ENFORCERS - the popos - and not the brains behind the "balance" - Lotus is more like the Police Chief or Commissioner

 

Mahakala is my PERSONAL FAVORITE of the Buddhist traditions ... He is fierce, ugly, powerful and utterly RUTHLESS in putting down evil and general stupidity of man

[Fraggoth]

Oh, and as a side note, regarding the Lotus- specifically the "Thousand Petals" bit - we never really get a good, unobstructed view of the back of her head all we can see are wires and cables. Lots of them. Possibly... up to a thousand? So there's still some merit to that approach.

[RabidBunny]

Whilst I understand the basics of Lotus in Eastern religion, I like to think of the Tenno as "Lotus Eaters", similar from the Odyssey. In the Odyssey, the protagonists stumble upon an island inhabited by the Lotus Eaters. This tribe of humans eat a delicious lotus flower that causes total apathy, memory loss and a sort of peaceful ennui as they forget about the troubles of the world. This sounds alot like the Cryosleep the Tenno entered.

 

I thought the Orokin towers weren't symbolic or a last haven for the Orokin to reach enlightenment, I thought they were the last hope for the Orokin. After the Old War with the Sentients and the Orokin unleashed Technocyte virus, some fled that, then the remainder fled after the Tenno massacred them after the war. The sterility isn't because they ceased to exist due to enlightenment, its that they have been dead so long that nothing remains.

[ElHefe]

@ RabbidBunny ... clever tie in!  It is easy to forget just how rich classic mythology is and how eclectic a new story becomes by incorporating differing elements and sources.  Kudos +1

[OniDax]

The Lotus' design is Orokin. That's all that needs to be said.