[Spoilers] The Operator And The Tenno

[Dailenth]

Okay So I decided to make a stronger research after making a little rant about update 18... It didn't go well and there are few misunderstandings. With a fresh mind and collecting the pieces from the beggining of the lore, It's either Digital Extremes left a lot of plotholes or It's something that I can't understand.

 

Lets start from the beginning:

 

"The Tenno are descendants of an ancient and mystical civilization of lost warriors from the Orokin era on Earth. Preserved in cryopods for centuries, the Tenno now awaken to a new war, fighting and resisting warring factions as the sole bearers of the Orokin-created Warframes. While the memories of the Tenno have faded over time, their mastery of guns, blades, and Warframe exo-armor has not. "

 

So long time ago in the ancient times they we're a faction with human-like features (eg limbs) or they we're humans, they we're the Tenno. They had these mysterious exo-armor called the Warframe, they function as armor and they had mystic powers a lot of commons with natural powers, elements and physics, which at their time and the time today is far superior when facing the rival. At some point they we're extinct for no explenation and forgotten, but then a Sentient the Lotus otherwise known as Natah Instead of destroying these armor suits, the warframe she saved them betraying their own kind because their kind in her perspective we're on the evil road, while she felt pity and regret she changed her living ways.

 

 

So the very first confusion I do have is when you  a Tenno woke up, since nobody is inside this cold and empty exo-armor, who is behind this? Who is manipulated from, and from my perspective it didn't seem that it was the Lotus, but somebody else. This is also way back behind update 18 so there is no operator inside the warfame, the abandoned liset isn't rescued yet and the Lotus simply guided you and gave commands instead controlling the exo-armor.

 

Secondly during a lot of the missions the Lotus refers you as Tenno, not Operator. She refers you as Tenno, a faction that was extinct long ago, but again I made a research so the new rescured operator that seems to be in command of everything you do,  there is a claim that the operator is a Tenno faction, so I felt a little nostalgic feeling since It started making sense. A master that was for centuries in cryostasis is awaken by the warframe that rescued him.

 

But then again, who is behind this warframe? Who is the operator that Ordis was refering to if the operator the really you was asleep in a cryochamber? Is this some kind of time paradox?

Edited February 7, 2016 by HaxBox

[EmptyDevil]

The Tenno were never said to be extinct. The person waking up and controlling the Warframe is the Operator/Tenno and it's similar to having a false awakening(waking up inside of a dream). Our minds are projected into a surrogate body while the real body is empty/sleeping in a pod on the moon.

[TropicalPsychosis]

... I'm sorry but you may need to do more research. The Tenno were the survivors of the Zariman incident, specualtion says that they are called Tenno after the ships name, the Zariman 10-0 so Ten-O. The operator you rescue in the second dream was on the moon in a transference module, which essentially projects the operators consciousness into the Warframe, (so the Warframe you are playing as is being controlled by the operator you rescue, which is why the Warframe turns off until the operator makes physical contact with it again, which gives him back control of his frame). Hence why the "Tenno" the Stalker would kill would simply rise again, he was just killing Golems, the mind behind the Golems was hidden on the moon in the void, he was cutting down frame after frame, but not the real Tenno. The basic gist, if you listen to the quest, is that the operators are the children from the Zariman, placed into transference pods and put to sleep, their conscious mind then wakes up in the Warframes in a lucid second dream. You are the operator, who is one of the Zariman orphans, who uses the mind transference pod to project his conscious into the frame, allowing him to control it. Essentially, you are the kid, the kid is the operator of the frame, also known as the Tenno, and the warframe is basically a weapon that acts as an efficient way to control the powers that the Tenno gained from exposure to the void.

[BornWithTeeth]

Assume here that when I say 'you', I mean the Operator.

 

 

 

 

It was always you. You were the Operator all along. The Operator is not somehow a new presence, a new point of view, added to the game only recently. The mind which has been in control of the Warframes all along is and was you.

 

You just didn't know that your true body was in stasis and that your mind had been projected into the Warframes. You were asleep, but not really asleep. It was more like you were Neo, unaware that you had been projected into the Matrix while your body was in a pod. Effectively, on waking from the Dream, you broke centuries of brainwashing and remembered who you really were.

 

 

 

Also, Operator = Tenno.

Edited February 7, 2016 by BornWithTeeth

[Plushy]

I think DE needs to do some lore cleanup or add more lore to help us make more sense of the stuff we already have. Otherwise we will keep getting more of these threads

[DeMonkey]

Much better wording this time and as you can see the responses you're getting are far more helpful.

I suggest you look what has been mentioned above, there is a lot you don't fully grasp right now.

[5HV3N]

yup, nothing to really add.

Exept for huge dissapointement that tenno didn't turned out to be energy.

or slugs.

Or even lizzards.

Or lizzard'ish humanoids (I really believed Tyl Regor on that one).

 

As epic as second dream quest was, final outcome is somewhat a letdown. And focus skills that makes operator fly out of warframe... That really feels out of place (enough to make me boycott it completely and pretend that there is no ancient barely used corpse in back of my ship. His yapping during missions don't make it easy though).

Edited February 7, 2016 by 5HV3N

[Blakrana]

Functionally speaking, Transference is a system that works upon a combination of Cartesian Dualism, the separation of Mind and Body, and the sceptical problem of Dreaming v Reality, as we have no way to tell this isn't just an elaborate dream. Warframes serve as the more specialised bodies better suited to properly harnessing the Tenno Mind. *Obligatory Morph comparison here*

 

Now, take what we understand about the Orokin from the Synthesis entries and other snippets in the Codex. The Orokin are arguably obsessed with the human form, otherwise known as being Anthropocentric. For all their technology and genetic brilliance, all they do is make humans 'prettier' for the elite Executors and the like, or 'practical', like the specialised Grineer (before degradation kicked in) and the Lorists (with the interwoven silica they're described as having in their skin).

 

The second thing that seems consistent is this view, or implied view at least, that the Void is some kind of 'sacred' entity or source. It's arguably the main source of the power of the Executors, priviledged control of the Void tech like the Rails and Towers (as noted in Eviscerator and Guardsman synthesis).

 

So you now have the Zariman 10-0 survivors, colloquially referred to as 'Tenno' (Ten Oh). Not only may they have been from all number of castes within the empire, they're also brimming with uncontrollable Void power. Something which makes them more than human and potentially equals the Executors given time. This...well, this is paramount to blasphemy by the feel of things, isn't it?

 

Enter Margulis. A kind, brilliant woman who looked past what she saw and suffered at the 10-0's outbursts because she knew they didn't intend to hurt her, it was uncontrollable. She railed against the Orokin for their mistreatment...which makes me suspect they likely pushed the kids around till they snapped or reflexively lashed out (aka Bullying a Dragon trope). Eventually, Margulis develops the basis of Transference in the nature of a kind of dreaming state where the 10-0 are harmless...but Ballas, her Executor lover has stopped protecting her so she then faces the Seven and is executed for the crime of 'Apostasy': in other words, for 'betraying/contradicting a political or religious belief'.

 

This leaves the 10-0 just...there. Until the incident in the Rhino Prime Codex, where for some reason Davis is implied to have engineered a break out of some creature and bring them into proximity of the sleeping Zariman children. This is the first implied instance of the Transference system in effect. This is where the dream may begin becoming 'Lucid' and, either or is the 'First Dream'. The Orokin at first may have dismissed it...but depending on the time line of the Old War to this discovery could have been a 'vanity project' that only really became useful when the War kicked off proper. For now...we don't know.

 

During the war, the Warframes themselves play a part in the masquerade. By being humanoid in form, per Orokin aesthetic sensibility I imagine, they enforce Occam's Razor: Are they people in armour, or actually just remote commanded bodies by some other being entirely? Like much of the community had up to the reveal...they went with the 'obvious' former choice. Even when challenged, there was so much material made to argue the point in favour of it than alternatives. Who'd expected them to be functionally working a kind of inverted phylactery, really?

 

Which leads us to the nature of Natah. Essentially, Natah is a maternal creature that could not actually handle the inability to be a parent. Not sure on the specifics, but whatever happened during her infiltration of the Orokin and the Tenno...she decided to take them as her own. Tenno themselves, at least by some dialogue at the end of the quest, certainly hadn't forgotten nor forgiven the Orokin for killing Margulis. The Orokin had arguably given them the means to avenge her, let alone even more justification; I don't imagine that the Tenno originally would have chose becoming conscript super soldiers.

 

Either event...The Empire falls with the deaths of the Emperors on Terminus, fracturing and fragmenting into sub-factions like the Grineer and Corpus over time. The Tenno remain for a time to fight and seal away the Infested...but ultimately disappear to cryosleep until the Grineer start disturbing them an unspecified amount of time later...which leads into when things start fresh. How to survive and what's going on now are more important concerns than 'what happened before I woke up?'.

 

As for terminology...it's like a nature of how the Lotus and Ordis differ in their relationship. Tenno is the closest thing to a general name. It's therefore more polite when addressing an individual in general. However, Operator is a title, establishing a more businesslike relationship with Ordis. In terms of pecking order, Ordis likely sees you as a direct superior...therefore, addresses you as such...though I imagine if names actually came into it...the Cephalons may be more inclined to append the name after Operator for a less formal feel. Though that's more suspicion than something I can empirically prove.

 

Any event, hopefully this helps clear things up. Apologies for the length of course.

[(XBOX)DShinShoryuken]

From the way I see it is this- it follows the Triforce way of things. There is the Warframe. These are what get captured and fall from cryopods. These are the vehicle that is used. Them there is the Tenno. These are the energy source that power the Warframe. Most people think we are the Tenno but as the Second Dream shows, all they do is give power to the Warframe.

We are the Operator. We move and decide on things that the Warframe does. This is the reason that the Tenno talks to themselves as many have said in confusion. They are talking to US, the Operator.

Whenever Lotus is informing the Tenno of something, we hear it because she is talking to the person that powers the Warframe. We, as the Operator, are talked to mostly by Ordis. We decide on what missions to do and how to do them. This is even more seen when Tenno powers are used. We stop using the Warframe and we now control the Tenno. The Tenno do not do anything unless we initiate them and while they are in the mission, our Warframes just sit there since they are no longer giving it power.

Remember that even when we are not playing the game, Lotus is speaking to the Tenno. Since missions are always popping up and she tells them there is another one....but we do not hear it since we, the Operator, are not there. We are not Tenno....we are the Operator in a 3-way dance. Without us, they go nowhere.

Two cents....tossed in...

[BornWithTeeth]

Them there is the Tenno. These are the energy source that power the Warframe. Most people think we are the Tenno but as the Second Dream shows, all they do is give power to the Warframe.

We are the Operator. We move and decide on things that the Warframe does. This is the reason that the Tenno talks to themselves as many have said in confusion. They are talking to US, the Operator.

 

 

 

 

Wat.

 

 

Dude. You realise you're basically making this up, right? You're inventing a trinity to insert yourself (the real world person playing the computer game called Warframe) into, when there's really no need.

 

Go into your main menu and look at where it says OPERATOR. It doesn't activate your computer's webcam and show you yourself, it goes to the actual Operator, the player character in the Somatic Link chamber.

 

Likewise, during the Second Dream, the Lotus didn't break the fourth wall and say "Good job Operator, you've retrieved your Tenno battery, the power source for your Warframes." She spoke to the Operator. It was made really clear, the Operator is the one who's always been in control of the Warframes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I dunno mang. If you apply this sort of logic to The Matrix, you'd get criticisms along the lines of:

 

I liked the film when it was this mystery about the weird things happening to this insomniac computer programmer calling himself Neo. It just completely lost me when they strapped Neo into the chair and then somewhere else, a guy who looked sort of like him woke up. It really pissed me off when this new clone guy or whatever he was started calling himself Neo too. I mean, he clearly has no idea that the real Neo is a computer programmer somewhere else, getting involved with terrorists, he doesn't seem to realise he's a clone. I just wanted the film to go back to focusing on the real protagonist, Neo.

[Lankander]

I like to think a Tenno is a being comprised of two parts: The Operator and the Warframe

 

The operator being the will of the Tenno

 

The warframe being the hand

[(PSN)Lowk721]

As epic as second dream quest was, final outcome is somewhat a letdown. And focus skills that makes operator fly out of warframe... That really feels out of place

I don't think it flies out, I think its more of a projection like Loki's decoy mixed with Effigy's ability to channel void abilities.

or

Man I wish the Tenno could do that.

Edited February 8, 2016 by (PS4)Lowk721

[(XBOX)Grihaly]

 

As epic as second dream quest was, final outcome is somewhat a letdown. 

This.

[Hellmaker2004]

I found the story to be ratter good and engaging. Until two of the flaws i disliked, one the fact we are children. And the design of the active effects of the focus.

 

And i am not talking about what effects they have, but ratter the leaving the Frame part to hover around part. So the appearance of it.

 

But i guess it i a matter of personal taste and i may dislike it, and some people will probably like it. Can't please everyone.

 

I do hope we get to "grow" up however.