What is the "Chosen Operator"?

[Keithy55]

HUGE SPOILER WARNING, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

After the appearance of the Operator Report page and it's contents have become a hot topic leading up to the WITW update. I'm not sure whether people have discussed this before, but I want to voice my opinion on this and see what you guys think of this relatively small question: Who are we, the player?

A quick note: I am not as deeply lore read as other people like TheDsIEGE or StallordD, so I'm open to corrections and feedback. Be constructive, not hateful.

Some nomenclature to remove some confusion:

• We/Us/Our: The player, the Tenno that we control in-game, the persona is singular but using we/us/our removes the ambiguity from me (the post writer)
• Tenno: The clan/faction itself, or the generic Tenno, like "the lone Tenno operative" that Lotus always says in survival
• Operator Report: The catch up website in question, the site URL and tab title calls it Operator Report so I shall do the same
• Author: The one(s) who wrote the Operator Report

The texts refer to us as the Chosen Operator, the sole Tenno that had been through all that the questlines had shown. Before this, I thought the story and the gameplay are separate, in other MMOs like Dragon Nest or Maplestory; Whatever the quest story tells us, it does not inherently link to what we do in public lobbies or parties. Maybe there is some lore links to events and quests, but nothing was confirmed until the Operator Report appeared.

Before the release of the Operator Report, my assumption is that either (1) We are the only Tenno that was awakened, and that's how we encounter everything else in the game, or (2) We are one of the many Tenno that exists, maybe a little special given the events that we had went through in quests. (1) did not make sense when events like Scarlet Spear happen, where the story involves parties of Tenno fighting the sentients, The New War also shows Kahl picking up a Corinth Prime from a dead Rhino (AKA a dead/random Tenno). So (2) makes more sense, but how special are we? What makes us the Chosen Operator?

Let's talk about how special we are, not the spectrum, that's Rell. From the flashback events on the Zariman Ten-Zero, we can see that we are the ones that comfort our classmates and made the deal with Wally. That itself shows that we are unique and is probably one of the spearheads of the Tenno. Other events and cutscenes also shows our uniqueness, like being part of the 6 Tenno that deleted Erra in....Erra, or the Grineer Queens wanting to use our body as their Yuvan for Continuity, or us killing Rell. Logically, the events of all the quests should only happen to one Tenno, us: it doesn't make sense for the Lotus to *gasp* 7 mil times for every Tenno that found a sentient, which means we are the only ones encountering these events. So we can conclude that we aren't just ordinary Tenno, but someone that is probably the top of the class, and is probably highly regarded amongst the Tenno. This also explains how our presence could power the whole Zariman Ten-Zero ship, literally bringing people back from the dead, and that our Drifter counterpart made Duviri, unknowingly.

In the Operator Report, the 8_Queens.txt file is the first file that refers to us as the Chosen Operator, but the Author has been following us since The Awakening, which further anchors the fact that we have been different/special way before we were put to sleep. The notes refer to us as the Tenno candidate or subject, but immediately refers to us as 'The Tenno' after we went through the events of Natah (5_Hunhow.txt vs 6_Stalker.txt), which means that us figuring out the Lotus' true identity caused the Author to zero in on us, removing the need to observe other candidates. We have been the Chosen Operator since the Second Dream, but only suitable after The War Within. Does this mean there were other significant Tenno that could have been noteworthy? Are we the only ones that woke up from the second dream? Or are we the first of the Tenno to manifest those powers, causing a catalytic effect that woke the rest of the Tenno?

This shows that we are not just special, but the center of everything that has happened in the Origin System. I think we are the ones that made the Tenno, the one who made the deal and maybe passed the Void powers to other Tenno. We then powered the ship to move to a more visible, rescuable location for the Orokin to find the ship. Maybe when we awaken any new powers (Focus, Transference etc), the other Tenno followed suit simply because we gave them the powers in the first place. 

We might be the First Tenno, the Original. We found Lua and found Lotus' helmet. We killed the Elder Grineer Queen and we killed Rell. We brought the Entrati family back together, but we allowed Narmer to be made. We caused the growth of Solaris United, but we caused the death of Teshin. Ballas hates the Tenno, but he hates us the most. We are closest to the Lotus, but we are closest to Wally. We attracted the Author's attention, but we also attracted The Indifference's attention.

We triggered the Kalymos Sequence. We are the Chosen Operator.

Tl;dr We are the only Tenno that went through all the sh*t in the quests, and that makes us special enough to be the Chosen Operator.

Edited December 6, 2023 by Keithy55

[Chewarette]

To be fair here, "The Tenno" seems to be plural, as shown in 6_Stalker ("THE STALKER has been sent to find THE RESERVOIR, a place believed to conceal the Tenno’s gravest secret, and which could be used to destroy them all at a stroke.".

[Circle_of_Psi]

2 hours ago, Keithy55 said:

Tl;dr We are the only Tenno that went through all the sh*t in the quests, and that makes us special enough to be the Chosen Operator.

Not this again.

There is NO cannon Opeator or Drfiter, the Tenno is plural, meaning there is more than just one Tenno/Operator and no the Operator is not cannon "female" nor is the Drifter "Female". It is up to the player and how they see their Opeator or Drfiter, that is the whole point of character customization.

Each player is the "Chosen Operator", we are all registered losers.

Edited December 6, 2023 by Circle_of_Psi

[(XBOX)C11H22O11]

Just like other online games with stories, you're the "chosen one" from your perspective.

[Marvelous_A]

Nothing mysterious I suppose, chosen Tenno is the player character (i.e. you), similar to the Chosen Undead in the Dark Souls series.

Obviously all players exist in the game universe but each of us is the protagonist in our own story (our game session).

[Tarak]

Personally, I feel there's a couple ways to look at it:

Either the player's Tenno is in fact a special unique individual, and that we alone got the deal with the doppelganger which gave all Tenno their powers;

OR

Eternalism gives an alternate answer, that every Tenno is a special unique individual from their own perspective and we each exist across all timelines, and that each of us has experienced all these 'nexus events' in different realities.

In effect we are and aren't a unique individual among the Tenno. Each Operator got the deal in their own timeline, and each drifter was the only survivor in their own timeline.

[SneakyErvin]

The chosen is the tenno protagonist of the story, the one that experiences the specific story of the game.

2 hours ago, Tarak said:

Eternalism gives an alternate answer, that every Tenno is a special unique individual from their own perspective and we each exist across all timelines, and that each of us has experienced all these 'nexus events' in different realities.

In effect we are and aren't a unique individual among the Tenno. Each Operator got the deal in their own timeline, and each drifter was the only survivor in their own timeline.

Well yes and no. Eternalism allows for infinite outcomes, but in the end only a single outcome is experienced and observed, so there is only a sinlge chosen in reality. No matter if all other tenno experince the handshake in an outcome it doesnt change outside of that observation. So if there are say 10000 tenno only 1 has the perspective of the protagonist in reality. Each tenno would only be a special unique individual if all outcomes could be experienced and observed at once, which they cant.

Eternalism doesnt imply that different timelines and realities exsist, it all goes on at once in a single reality and what we assume is reality is just the part we observe and experience. So in the game, we have the chosen/protagonist and then the rest of the tenno. That we run into a bunch of other tenno that have done the same quests as us is simply online RPG mechanics, while none of us or one of us in the group might actually be the one. Just as only a single character really experiences the story of Diablo or WoW, you dont have several thousands of adventurers that go and find Mankrik's wife, no that is a single adventurer that does it, just as a single Nephalem goes and finds Tyreal and then goes on to beat up Diablo etc.

[(PSN)robotwars7]

it's not that deep guys: it's just the usual case of "chosen one" syndrome, there are other Tenno who exist but they are not as awesome or special or bada$$ as you. 

I'm more alarmed by the fact that somehow Albrecht Entrati seems to have known all of these events we have been through was going to happen, and if he didn't, why establish a system to watch over a single random Tenno, when they might've died not long after they awoke? how many Tenno has he watched until they failed and died, then switched to watch another?

also, how the hell did Albrecht keep those MASSIVE underground labs with the Vessels and access to the Void secret from his own family? the man has secrets on top of secrets..

 

[(XBOX)Cram Duahcim]

I'm actually more curious if "Tenno will have multiple meaning moving forward.

Tenno comes from 10-0, as in Zariman 10-0 in warframe right now. Dark Sector, the game has only had sprinkles of references and hasn't been really thought of as "offical canon" is about to play more of a role post WITW with WF1999.

Warframe 1999 appears to be changing that.

We could have The Tenno that we've known for the past 10 years and then "Tenno" that have a Hayden Tenno connection. Given that we have either a Time Travel or Multi-verse occurring very soon.

Edited December 6, 2023 by (XBOX)Cram Duahcim

[SneakyErvin]

53 minutes ago, (PSN)robotwars7 said:

it's not that deep guys: it's just the usual case of "chosen one" syndrome, there are other Tenno who exist but they are not as awesome or special or bada$$ as you. 

I'm more alarmed by the fact that somehow Albrecht Entrati seems to have known all of these events we have been through was going to happen, and if he didn't, why establish a system to watch over a single random Tenno, when they might've died not long after they awoke? how many Tenno has he watched until they failed and died, then switched to watch another?

also, how the hell did Albrecht keep those MASSIVE underground labs with the Vessels and access to the Void secret from his own family? the man has secrets on top of secrets..

I dont think he has known the events were going to happen, just that the events have been analyzed in order to try and find whatever it is Albrecht actually needs from the tenno. We know the Entrati were big on void tech, created mechs and also helped with frames. So it is possible Albrecht has known the secret about the actual tenno, hence why he has been able to create a system to recognize that power. Deimos is afterall the very center of the void in the origin system due to the heart.

The system itself doesnt seem to know the secrets of the tenno, since it doesnt mention it early on in the logs, but later on adds more and more info regarding the connections between the tenno and the void, and that it is what they look for in the chosen.

And how he could keep the labs a secret could be as simple as security clearence really.

Maybe it was a red door and the rest of the family only have blue and yellow cards? Ba-Doom-cha!

9 minutes ago, (XBOX)Cram Duahcim said:

Warframe 1999 appears to be changing that.

It will establish that we are indeed demons.

1999 turns into  Six, Six, Six, One or Six, Six, Six, I if turned the right ways.

 

Edited December 6, 2023 by SneakyErvin

[Loza03]

On 2023-12-06 at 8:52 AM, (XBOX)C11H22O11 said:

Just like other online games with stories, you're the "chosen one" from your perspective.

My theory is that this is quite literal. i.e. there both are and are not other Tenno simultaneously. From your Tenno's perspective, there are other Tenno, who are other people, with other dreams, desires and goals, and with that in mind, there are.

However, each Tenno percieves themselves as 'you' - with, if not the same parents, the same key parts of their upbringing, the same base personality (if expressed slightly differently), and being the sole Tenno that made a choice to save 'them'.

The Man in the Wall, contacting us through the Datapad questions, says that 'I said I'd save them. I never said I'd save you'. Everyone else is 'saved', getting to be their own selves. Through a manipulation of eternalism, they're all dragged into the same universe, percieving other versions of themselves that look different, call themselves different things. 

 

The only hole in this theory is Rell, but then again, the game constantly calls out that Rell was not a part of the Zariman kids. He was set apart, sat to one side, discriminated against. He wasn't a part of 'them', perhaps, and thus, spared a part of the deal. Perhaps even putting a dent in the Man's plans, for now.