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“ | Oh, it's not their fault, worm. Mommy and Daddy weren't around long enough to teach them any manners. [laughs] We will have to. | „ |
~ The Elder Queen mocking the player Tenno. |
“ | I like to cook. Are you surprised? I'm working on a few new recipes - appetizers mainly. Soups and the like. And you uglies are going to be the broth if you don't make enough Kuva for us! | „ |
~ The Worm Queen threatening her own troops. |
The Grineer Queens, also referred to as the Twin Queens, are two of the main antagonists of the MMO third person shooter Warframe.
They are the supreme rulers of the Grineer Empire and former Orokin nobles who survived the end of the Old War, thanks to the Grineer slaves starting to worship them and uniting under their rule.
All Grineer are genetically coded to be completely loyal to them and them alone. Those that are not are labelled as defective traitors, hunted down and executed. Following the death of the Elder Queen in The War Within quest, the Worm Queen is the sole ruler of the empire.
The Elder Queen is voiced by Tricia Brioux and the Worm Queen by Jex Black.
Appearance[]
While the Queens may have been born as identical twins, they have since shed their original bodies and transferred themselves into bodies made by their Grineer servants, each having a unique appearance. Both have had several mechanical implants, typical for the Grineer, and their bodies below their waist are slug or snake-like.
The Elder Queen has a predominantly red and black color scheme and more regal-looking clothing than her sister. She has a mechanical right hand with which she holds the Kuva Scepter and also wears a pointed tall hat that gives the impression of a hood.
The Worm Queen meanwhile has a white and grey color scheme and significantly more augmented than her sister. Both of her arms and eyes are mechanical and her noseless face resembles a Grineer mask.
Personality[]
The Queens are both as cruel and arrogant as expected of tyrannical dictators, especially former Orokin. Their will is enforced with swift brutality and genocide appears to barely be a second thought for them, given how many colonies and civilians have been lost to their rule.
Among themselves they may have shared a loving bond in the past, but the Elder Queen has since taken a more abusive stance towards her sister, calling her "worm" and shushing her when she speaks out of line. That doesn't mean she doesn't care about her sister though, as when the Worm Queen expresses worry that the new fully-awakened Tenno are going to come for them, the Elder Queen is quick to comfort her and ease her doubts.
The Worm Queen meanwhile is a lot more psychotic than her composed sister. When Teshin asks her what they are going to do with the Tenno's body, she excitedly tells him that they were going to eat them despite this going completely against her sister's plan, which shows that she has eaten people before. When the Tenno breaks free of the Elder's trap and does arrive in person, the Worm Queen abandons her sister and rushes to safety. After her sister's death, she doesn't express any sadness over it and barely even acknowledges it.
Biography[]
The Tale of Two Sisters[]
The Queens' origins is told by a poem found by collecting small Orokin statues called Kurias that are scattered throughout the game.
They were born as the identical twins to an important Orokin nobleman during the Old War, which drew the ire from the elders that had gathered to celebrate their birth. The Orokin were disgusted by their identical looks as it was considered a trait of the ugly Grineer slaves and demanded them to be killed immediately, but their father was influential enough to protect them. While they may have survived being born, they were still shunned and rejected, which only strengthened their bond to each other. When the Old War ended and the Orokin Empire started to fall apart after the Slaughter at Terminus, the Grineer slaves took the opportunity to rebel and break free of their oppression.
With the Orokin's Dax soldiers gone and their father presumably dead, the Queens were forced to fight for their lives as everyone who remained turned against each other. The clones were inspired their strength and related to how similar they were to each other, and hoped that if the Twins could forge such strength, perhaps they could too. One by one the Grineer started to bow to them, but not as they had to the Orokin. These two deserved being worshipped. Once unified under their rule, the Grineer ravaged the Orokin colonies to gain territory, quickly becoming a new dominant power in the Origin System.
The Ascension[]
When Councilor Vay Hek was still just a regular, disrespected Grineer councilor, he and Doctor Tengus were working on a secret project that he hoped could get him the recognition he deserves. On the day where he could present their joint project to the Queens themselves, Vay Hek stumbled and nearly made a mockery of himself due to his nervousness.
The Elder Queen was displeased when he failed to address the Queens before his other superiors in the room, but soon became very interested when he proposed his idea: a new breed of soldiers that could be launched from orbit and implanted into the ground of any target they choose, where they would quickly grow in days and surprise any enemy: The Ghouls.
Vay Hek's brief moment of triumph was interrupted when, after the pit containing the prototype Ghouls was opened, Doctor Tengus betrayed him and kicked him into the pit to be eaten alive. This would have been the end of him, but the Elder Queen was amused by Vay Hek's speech, ordered Tengus to save his life and approved their Ghoul project. The damage Vay Hek sustained required extensive body augmentations for him to survive and drove him over the edge, turning him into the murderous lunatic he would become known as.
Once Awake[]
Among many other projects undertaken by Doctor Tengus, perhaps his most important was the attempt to make the great plague of the Orokin era into a viable weapon under Grineer command. His experiments bore little fruit, however, as the Infestation cannot be easily controlled and spreads quickly if given the slightest opportunity. When the Tenno arrived in his research facility on M-Prime to stop him, Tengus unleashed the Infested unto the station while he made his escape.
The Tenno were able to contain the outbreak for the moment, but a few spores escaped into the Origin System and brought about the revival of an ancient threat to all life. Likely knowing the lethal consequences for such a catastrophe, Doctor Tengus wrote a report to the Queens blaming the Tenno for the destruction of the station and claimed they stole Infested spores to use against the Grineer.
Eyes of Blight[]
The following years of success made Councilor Vay Hek into a feared and influential figure among the Grineer military, and favored by the Queens. This allowed him to funnel extensive resources into his own projects, the most dangerous of which were the colossal Balor Fomorian capital ships. After many months of dealing with Tenno sabotage and constructing an armada, Vay Hek unleashed the Fomorians into the Origin System with the goal of conquering the system in one fell swoop through overwhelming firepower, starting with the destruction of the Tenno relays that they use as communal hubs.
Although many relays were destroyed, the Tenno managed to launch an effective counter-offensive and destroyed the Fomorians from within. This failure made the Queens furious, who severely reprimanded Hek for his massive waste of resources and threatened to replace him with Tyl Regor unless he makes proper penance.
The War Within[]
The Search for the Queens[]
With the Elder Queen's clone body becoming weaker and weaker by the day and Sentient Hunhow's failed plan to kill the seemingly immortal Tenno having resulted in their full awakening, the time had come for the Grineer Queens to finally reveal themselves after centuries of remaining in utmost secrecy.
With her Kuva Scepter in hand, the Elder Queen commands Tenno ally Teshin to bring a Tenno to her. As a former Dax soldier from the fallen Orokin Empire, Teshin is still bound to the will of whomever holds a Kuva Scepter. He has no choice but to obey, but warns the Tenno not to follow him. Angered by his calling them "child" and curious as to his connection to the Queens, the player Tenno disregards his warning and follows him to a heavily fortified asteroid field close to Sedna. After infiltrating the outpost, the Tenno discovers a massive fortress built into an asteroid: the Kuva Fortress, the Twin Queen's seat of power in the Grineer Empire.
The Lotus implores the Tenno to retreat and regroup, but the Tenno argues that the Kuva Fortress has Fomorian engines built into it, making it mobile and difficult to keep track of. If they retreat now the base will surely move again, and an opportunity to confront the Queens themselves is simply too good to pass up. Within the fortress itself, the Tenno is then left on their own, as something is interfering with Lotus' transmission, all while the Elder Queen's voice goads them further into their trap. Eventually they find the throne room and are approached by Teshin, who chides the Tenno for coming here and putting them both at risk.
But before Teshin can draw his blade, he is stopped by the Elder Queen descending into the room on her floating throne, congratulating him on completing his task, upon which the Tenno realizes that Teshin was working for them all along. The Worm Queen complained that Teshin brought the Warframe and not the true Tenno Operator to them, claiming they intended to eat them when Teshin questioned this. The Elder silenced the Worm and chided Teshin for daring to question them, commanding him to her her "Yuvan". Losing patience with the situation, the Tenno shouted into the room, but received only mockery from the Elder Queen.
Without another word, Teshin drew a weapon from his back and disabled the Tenno's Warframe. The Elder used this opportunity to lift the Warframe towards her and held out her scepter, the liquid flask on which began to sprout small tendrils and form a drill. After more mockery, the Elder burrowed the drill into the Warframe's skull, which also affected the Operator's mind.
Conflict on the Inside[]
Unable to sever the connection, the Tenno was trapped within their own mind and lost the Void powers that allowed them to command the Warframes. After their ship Cephalon Ordis expelled them from their own ship, the Tenno found themselves at a snowy mountain range filled with Orokin ruins, where Teshin confronted them. Initially hostile due to his betrayal, Teshin revealed that he had no choice but to serve the Queens, as he was a Dax soldier from the days of the Orokin Empire. The Dax were granted advanced strength from the Orokin, but received the restriction that they could never oppose one who held the power of the Kuva, the liquid found in the Elder's scepter. Teshin had to obey as long as the Elder still holds it and only the Tenno can fight back against her.
Meanwhile the Elder was still burrowing into the Tenno's mind. She did not intend to kill the Tenno, but was instead trying to undergo Continuity, the ritual by which the Orokin cheated death. From within the holy Yuvan theatres, the old and withering Orokin chose a young slave to serve as their next vessel, torturing the child psychologically until their mind was gone and the Orokin could insert their own. Now, the Elder Queen's cloned Grineer body was reaching the end of its lifespan and she sought to claim the body of the Tenno for herself, attempting to break the Tenno's mind with memories of the Zariman 10-0 Void jump accident that saw the adults go mad and try to murder their own children, who were forced to kill them in self-defense.
However, with Teshin's guidance the Tenno unlocked the full measure of their Void powers, locked away long ago along with their memories to protect them from the Void's influence, and rejected the Queen's Continuity. Furious at having lost her chance, the Elder suspected Teshin's betrayal and used her scepter to torture and question him. No longer bound by the restrictions they once had, the Tenno reconnected with their Warframe and returned to the throne room to save Teshin and deal with the Queens, the sight of which caused the Worm Queen to flee the scene.
Seeing her only opportunity to save herself right in front of her, the Elder Queen sent first her personal guards and then Teshin to subdue the Tenno, then attacked them herself once those failed. An impenetrable shield protected the Elder from any attack, but going on the offensive herself required briefly lowering it and leaving her exposed. By correctly timing their move, the Tenno teleported right through the Elder and snatched the scepter away from her. Now completely powerless, the Elder Queen was at their mercy. Depending on player choice, the Tenno either left the Elder to rot in her dying body, killed her themself or allowed Teshin to take his revenge, who decapitates her.
Either way, the Elder Queen was no more and the heroes escaped from the Kuva Fortress while the Worm Queen taunted them over the speakers, warning them that she still has "delicious" plans for them.
The Old Blood[]
After the death of her sister, the Worm Queen was left to rule the Grineer on her own and began to send Kuva Siphons across the system to collect more Kuva for her personal projects. The Tenno intercepted and destroyed many despite their armed guards, much to the Worm's frustration, but eventually the Worm gathered enough Kuva to begin the next phase of her plans.
A select few Grineer were dragged before the Queen and injected with Kuva, then sent back out into the battlefield as "Kuva Larvlings" with the goal of receiving a killing blow by a Tenno. Those that were ignored and left to bleed out on the floor were promptly discarded, but Larvling that was successful became resurrected by the Kuva with incredible powers drawn from the Warframe they were killed by, turning into elite Kuva Liches.
Lua's Prey[]
Some time afterwards, the Worm Queen began to miss her sister and played some cards with the painted-on helmet of a Grineer Commander unit, which slightly resembles the Elder Queen's crown. While she talked to herself about how her sister "lost her head", a Drahk Master with his hunting dog entered the throne room. He reported that the Drahks were getting restless and requested a target for the hunt. The Worm Queen smiled, threw one of her cards to the Drahk and answered that the hunt would go to Lua, Earth's moon.
The Drahk sniffed the card and howled into the air, which the Worm copied with glee. The goal of the hunt was to find remnants of the Warframe Voruna, guardian of the Circulus, the holiest Yuvan temple in the Orokin Empire. Of course, the Tenno were not going to let her succeed and joined the hunt themselves, which she proceeded to taunt them about all the while.
Angels of the Zariman[]
After the Sentient conquest of the Origin System in The New War had been thwarted and the Narmer Empire's dominion was shattered, the Worm Queen wasted little time in re-establishing her hold over the Grineer territory. However, the chaotic and apocalyptic actions of Narmer's leader Ballas caused a massive Void rift to open up on the fringes of the Origin System. Through it, the equally legendary and infamous Orokin colony ship Zariman 10-0 arrived back in the system, lodged inside the Void tear.
The Worm Queen quickly sent her elite Kuva guard to the ship to gain control over it and the many dangerous secrets the Zariman holds. But the Grineer were merely one problem that the Tenno had to contend with, as a strange song echoed throughout the ship: the song of the Void Angels. While the Tenno were able to silence the song, something that the Grineer in their arrogance nearly let develop into another catastrophe, the Zariman was not quite safe. Not only were the Grineer still trying to claim the ship for their Worm Queen, Corpus founder Parvos Granum also took interest in the Zariman and sent his own troops onto it. The two factions have been fighting over dominance ever since.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Prior to The War Within, the Grineer Queens remained completely unseen with only their voices being heard in an early trailer. Due to this there was much speculation about the Queens. Since they were always referred to together and were also referred to as Twin Queens, many players expected them to look and behave identical. This was backed up by the fact that the one time they were head they spoke with the same voice in perfect unison. It is unknown why the clone bodies their servants made for them look so drastically different from each other, since they were worshipped specifically for being identical like the Grineer.
- Although the player has three different options of dispatching the Elder Queen, the Worm Queen's comment in the cutscene for the Lua's Prey update implies that Teshin cutting her head of is the canonical choice.
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Villains | ||
Grineer |