Why Are Their Faces Hidden? - A Consideration Of The Facemasks Teshin, Lotus, And Civilians Wear

[Morec0]

Alright, so I was driving back from work one day, thinkin' bout Warframe things, and the thought of "huh, why DO Teshin, Lotus, and others have their eyes hidden like they do?" Then, for whatever reason (maybe because I was wearing sunglasses at the time) it hit me. Why does ANYONE (at least in western culture?) cover their eyes?

 

To shield them from light!

 

Take a look at how the Grineer from the Lancer Synthesis talks about the light approaching him:  "Why is this happening? Is that an Orokin? No, we serve the Orokin. The Orokin are golden. This is something else."

 

Call me crazy, but if the Grineer was so easy to mistake the light for the Orokin and his only correction being "the Orokin are Golden" then perhaps the Orokin themselves were glowing with light.

 

Which returns us to the visors. I equate Teshin and Lotus with being pretty high in the hierarchy of the Orokin Era, so a lot of this IS being based off of that, but New Loka's reverance for the Orokin is pretty damn clear based on their room's more subtle aesthetics so there's that as well and their leader is the only other character in-game to have a visor akin to what Teshin and Lotus wear.

 

Consider this: if your "Emperors" were glowing with a massive amount of light and you had to deal with them for one reason or another, what would you do? Look away? Maybe, or you could adapt to the situation - cover your eyes with a device of some kind to allow you to look at them without searing your retinas. It's a practical tool, but it's also something of a fashion.

 

And what has real-world history taught us about high-class fashion - practical or not? The lower classes will always seek to intimidate it. So, from them doing this you simply have a style of covering eyes with "future sunglasses" come about. And that style seems to have stuck, as we see even the most basic of civilians imitating it throughout the Relay, even those not affiliated with the aforementioned New Loka group do it from time to time.

 

So, thoughts? I feel like I took a few missteps in my thinking, but feedback typically helps pound these things out.

Edited April 11, 2015 by Morec0

[Imaru]

Alternatively (in the vein of it being a functional idea made fashionable) facial coverings could be used to keep wind or other things out of one's eyes. For example, whenever I ride my bike I always wear sunglasses or safety glasses (like would be work while working with power tools or chemicals) to keep wind, rain, snow, etc out of my eyes. Perhaps this idea was used while traveling through space for some reason and was so pervasive that people started to make their face covers look nice. 

[Grinmeister]

They don't have eyes. Why? I'm not sure, but I'm just waiting for the body horror reveal.

[Morec0]

Alternatively (in the vein of it being a functional idea made fashionable) facial coverings could be used to keep wind or other things out of one's eyes. For example, whenever I ride my bike I always wear sunglasses or safety glasses (like would be work while working with power tools or chemicals) to keep wind, rain, snow, etc out of my eyes. Perhaps this idea was used while traveling through space for some reason and was so pervasive that people started to make their face covers look nice. 

 

Maybe? There doesn't really seem to be any exact pattern to the designs of the helmets... and even Corpus and Grineer have SOME semblance of helmets, even if they don't wear it all the time.

 

They don't have eyes. Why? I'm not sure, but I'm just waiting for the body horror reveal.

 

Well, the Civilians don't have eyes, and why I'm not sure. But Lotus model glitches in the past, and moving the helmet through the masks of the New Loka leader and Teshin reveal they DO Have eyes under there, so (for them, at least) I'm not sure it's a simple matter of "well, they wont see them, so it doesn't matter if we make them" (which I think might be the case for the more mass-produced generic civilians types).

[Somedude1000]

From a design standpoint, having a characters eyes covered means they don't need to rig the eyes, eyebrows, etc as well, I suppose, saving time in the development process

[Imaru]

Maybe? There doesn't really seem to be any exact pattern to the designs of the helmets... and even Corpus and Grineer have SOME semblance of helmets, even if they don't wear it all the time.

I'm not sure what your counter-point here is. I feel that we are somewhat in disagreement but also agreeing at the same time. 

[Nitresco]

It's the latest in interplanetary fashion.

 

With the Tenno running around eye-less, donned in all that majestic armor and whatnot, who doesn't wanna follow their example a bit?

Edited April 11, 2015 by Nitresco

[Morec0]

From a design standpoint, having a characters eyes covered means they don't need to rig the eyes, eyebrows, etc as well, I suppose, saving time in the development process

 

Again, though, then why have the eyes be there for characters like the New Loka Lady and Teshin in the first place? They may not be animated, but those are still custom face models (especially Teshin's) so why add the hidden eyes in?

 

I'm not sure what your counter-point here is. I feel that we are somewhat in disagreement but also agreeing at the same time. 

 

Don't really have a counterpoint. It's logical and makes sense, but doesn't provide evidence against my theory at the same time, so I don't really have much choice but to agree it could be the case.

[fishworshipper]

My best guess is that the visors function as a real-life (for them) Heads Up Display.

[Volume]

Clearly it's to protect them from the light of the Sentients.

 

Originally developed for the military personnel.

 

Also, I don't know if the "civilians" on the relays are really civilians or what.

Edited April 11, 2015 by Volume

[Kaotyke]

Hmmmm....

Hear no Evil

Speak no Evil

See no Evil?

 

err... doesnt make much sense for the Tenno.

Edited April 11, 2015 by Kao-Snake

[(PSN)Husky_Pride]

Different facial textures for NPCs = more work for DE

[MartianJellyfish]

As much as I like to think it's to save developing time, I actually hope it holds any significance (and we'll eventually learn of it, of course). I mean, even after two years we know so little of the backgrounds and culture of these factions, it's a shame, really.

[Samoth95]

 

The lower classes will always seek to intimidate it.

 

Imitate, Mr. President.

[(PSN)Silverback73]

Like so many choices, the safe bet is because it's much harder/ to do facial animations; game design considerations.

Why did the Sentients have a vulnerability to gun and blade?; because this is a shooter/melee dungeon crawl hybrid; game design considerations.

The trick for DE will be to deliver top-knotch storytelling within the confines of game design and game limitations.

[sv3ntle]

Idunno but didnt they make infinity blade or something, and all the helmets were inpractical and never showed the face?

I thought they just like that kinda design

[(XBOX)LexaHex]

They are ashamed of something or spo0ked of something or secret conspiracy 

 

one of those 3 they are

[Lost_Cartographer]

Different facial textures for NPCs = more work for DE

This.  It's easier to believe every person looks different when we can't see their entire face.  The Grineer get a pass because they're clones (so they darn well better look the same.)  Corpus crewman get something of a pass because their faces are typically covered, even though they can be exposed.  However, it's generally expected that people won't pay much heed to the faces of slain foes as they would towards non-hostile NPCs.

 

I'm sure DE has a nifty lore reason cooked up, but ultimately, they're there for similar reasons why our Tenno never speak.  Your imagination will fill in the blanks for DE.

[321agemo]

My theory was always that the tennou were somewhat like war heroes (even before the massive slaughtering) and were part of the “in“ fashion.

We also know that there were people that worship them (lotus saying that our powers are sacred), so its not that suprising people would try to imitate our features.

I mean, its not just covering their eyes. Look at the syndicate allies, they even wear one piece suits.

And for those saying its an animation cutback, then why include eyes at all? We know the eyes exist inside the helmet as we can see then when we clip into them.

The only characters that dont cover their eyes are the grineer bosses, and thats because they don't really respect us.

Edit: of course, there is one character that i cant really explain why covers her eyes except because shes a spy, which is Maroon. I can explain darvo as he was with the corpus who wear helmets.

Edited April 11, 2015 by 321agemo

[Hitomo]

its really difficult to create realistic faces with game tech, so covering the faces with maskes, less complex, non deformable objects saves so much time (look at lotus for instance) ... but its not a shortcut its a restriction ...

[Mak_Gohae]

That future clothing style.

Cover the face.

[painovoimaton]

Or they are just visors with a hud on them. Kinda like an oculus rift.

But that's definitely an interesting theory.

[K0bra]

Maybe their faces are full of warts?

Give them some privacy.

[Hawkmoon230]

Maybe if you could see their eyes you would also see their lies and realise that we are being used for their own sick purpose. 

 

Or maybe it was just to make us wonder why.

[ArgonTheFox]

I always thought it was to provide them with some kind of HUD, or sensory enhancement.

 

IIRC, Tenno are confirmed to have 360 degree vision due to their Warframes, (hence why the game is 3rd person), so maybe their visors help them to emulate that. Obviously Teshin can fight, and its strongly implied The Lotus can, considering she has a convenient armoury full of personalized weaponry she gives us every year on the anniversary, so maybe they use their visors for that.

 

I think the HUD we see in-game is an in-character, canon thing also, for the Tenno to monitor their Warframe's functions, to measure their power capacity and how much damage their Warframe has taken on. In most games its obviously just something for the player's convenience, but I think the HUD we see is actually what the Tenno sees in their helmet. Supported by the fact in the tutorial, when Lotus says shes surging our Warframe to stop the Grineer from capturing us, our shield and power levels fill up, showing that it is actually something they interact with, rather than it being just for the player's quality of life.

 

As for why New Loka Lady, Teshin and Lotus have eyes, and everybody doesn't, I think its implying that one day, DE want to use them in a quest where they take off their visors at some point, so they'll need the eyes, but the minor characters like the Syndicate agents and townspeople in the Relays probably never will.

Edited April 11, 2015 by ArgonTheFox