 |
This Article Contains Spoilers -
WARNING: This article contains major spoilers. If you do not wish to know vital information on plot / character elements in a story, you may not wish to read beyond this warning: We hold no responsibility for any negative effects these facts may have on your enjoyment of said media should you continue. That is all. |
| “ | Your actions have consequences... | „ |
| ~ The Stalker's warning to the Tenno. |
Sorren, better known as the Stalker or the Shadow, is a major antagonist in the MMO third-person shooter Warframe.
He is an enigmatic, vengeful figure with a personal hatred for the Tenno. He watches them from the shadows, cataloguing their individual sins and hunting them down until each and every one of them has paid for their crimes.
After the Sentient Hunhow was awakened from his tomb, he reached out to the Stalker and offered him a partnership with the goal of exterminating the Tenno once and for all. Later, the Stalker was approached by a group that shared his hatred for the Tenno and swore their allegiance to him.
He is voiced by George Spanos (pre-Jade Shadows) and Gianni Matragrano (post-Jade Shadows), the latter of which also voices Gabriel from Ultrakill, Cynte from Endoparasitic, Sebastian Solace from Pressure, Satan from Antonblast, Mr. Bullet from Mullet MadJack, Breadhead from The Gaslight District, and Mr. WPNZ from SMG4.
Appearance[]
The Stalker resembles a black, grey and red Excalibur Warframe with a custom helmet, his body almost always shrouded in a black fog. He wields a black bow called Dread, throwing knives with mono-filament edges called Despair and a scythe called Hate.
After joining forces with Hunhow, Stalker's appearance changed slightly, now including more metal and a thin loincloth. As a gift, Hunhow bestowed the Stalker with armor forged out of Sentient bones that grants him the Sentient's signature ability to adapt to and weaken various damage types and a greatsword called War, which is directly linked with Hunhow's consciousness.
Personality[]
Stalker is a stoic figure with a raspy voice that is little more than a whisper and a man of few words besides that. Despite this, his cold hatred for the Tenno is made clear by his almost single-minded crusade against them. Whenever the player defeats one of the game's bosses, there is a chance for them to get marked by the Stalker, who will then randomly invade a mission to hunt the player down. He claims their deaths need to be avenged and drench the Tenno's hands with blood , completely ignoring the fact that the targets he marks the Tenno for are either tyrannical Grineer commanders, exploitative Corpus Board members, simple robot proxies or genocidal monstrosities born from a living disease. This makes it rather obvious that Stalker is merely using them as an excuse to fuel his vendetta.
Both Lotus and Hunhow have their own beliefs on Stalker's inner thoughts. Lotus states the Stalker to have been driven insane when he discovered the true nature of his hated enemies, while Hunhow believes that the Stalker hates himself as much as and is ultimately little different from the Tenno he hates. This hatred is strong enough for Stalker to join forces with Hunhow, one of the leading Sentients who waged war on his Orokin masters during the Old War. However, when he is finally confronted with the player Tenno's true self and the chance to kill them for good, he hesitates and retreats while looking thoughtfully at his hand. The reason for this is still unknown, but it is possible that he was taken aback upon seeing that the Tenno is still just a child.
Regardless, his hatred proves to be stronger as he later returns to stop the Tenno from entering the safety of their ship and almost chokes them to death.
Biography[]
Past[]
Little is known about Stalker's past life, but his Codex entry and revelations from the Jade Shadows quest give some small perspective. The Stalker was originally a human named Sorren, a member of the caste of low guardians in the Orokin Empire and was present for the end of the Old War. In secret, Sorren had a relationship with a woman named Jade, something that was inexplicably forbidden by Orokin law. Their secret love eventually culminated in Jade becoming pregnant with his child, which inevitably led to the discovery of their forbidden relationship.
As punishment, Sorren and Jade were separated from one another and both forcibly turned into Warframes by Executor Ballas. Sorren became the Stalker and remained a low guardian, with Ballas dangling the possibility of a reunion with his lover and child in front of him should he redeem himself in the eyes of the Orokin, a promise that Ballas would never fulfill. Meanwhile, Jade's punishment was to remain in perpetual pregnancy and forced to become the Orokin Council of Seven's personal executioner.
When the Sentients were believed defeated and the Old War was declared over, the Orokin prepared a grand celebration in honor of the Tenno, the warriors that had turned the tide of war from impending annihilation to victory.
Sitting beside the other low guardians, the Stalker watched as the Orokin Emperors bestowed the Tenno with savior's silk. Then, across every world in the Origin System, the ceremonial Naga drums were rung. A royal salute to the Tenno, ten beats announced the end of the suffering the Old War had brought upon the empire. But the Stalker noticed something was wrong. The Tenno weren't silent and stoic as they had always been, they were waiting, prepared. He tried to call out and warn his masters, but only a whisper escaped his mouth and with the last solemn beat of the Naga drums, the Tenno drew their weapons and turned against the Orokin. Blood filled the golden halls of the empire as the Tenno slaughtered their masters across the system, starting the complete collapse of the Orokin Empire.
Stalker tried to fight against them, but he was hopelessly overwhelmed. Before a Tenno could strike him down however, Jade broke free from her Orokin captors and saved his life, carrying him away to safety. Unaware of her transformation and her unable to speak, Stalker could not recognize her and believed his family gone forever. His way of life had been destroyed and the only thing remaining on his mind was vengeance. Soon after the initial slaughter the Tenno disappeared, locked away in cryosleep by the Lotus, leaving the now loosed Grineer slaves to pick off what remained of the Orokin. He prepared and trained for the day when the Tenno would wake up again. They might not remember what they had done, but that does not make them innocent. He would not forget. He would make sure that their sins would be punished.
Jade remained by his side and laid herself to rest in his hideout. Although he did not know her, he decided to protect her while he waited for the day of his revenge to arrive. When the Tenno awakened once more hundreds of years later, Stalker began his hunt.
The Second Dream[]
Having accidentally been reawakened by the Grineer scientist Tyl Regor, the Sentient Hunhow set out to finish his daughter's work and destroy the Tenno for good. However, he required the aid of a non-Sentient and so turned to the Stalker.
The Stalker and Hunhow forging an alliance.
During their initial meeting, Hunhow explained to Stalker that the reason for his repeated failure in killing the Tenno, despite going so far as to decapitate their Warframe bodies, is that their true selves reside in a secret reservoir hidden within the Void, a realm where logic and the laws of time and space cease to apply. This secret reservoir remains out of Hunhow's reach, since the energies coursing through the Void are poisonous to all Sentients, a weakness Stalker lacks. Promising the chance to finally exact his revenge on the Tenno for destroying his way of life, Hunhow bestowed the Stalker with armor and a sword forged from his own bones, which would allow him to accompany the Stalker into the Void and guide him to the reservoir.
With the threat of death looming over her children thanks to the alliance between Stalker and her father, the Lotus was forced to accept the aid of Corpus entrepreneur Alad V, usually a fierce enemy of the Tenno, who isn’t keen on letting the genocidal Sentients return to the Origin System. He guided them to some of Hunhow’s bones deep in the underwater caverns of Uranus, which Lotus intended to use to spy on their progress. After merely sensing some confusion within Stalker, Lotus quickly realized that Hunhow anticipated and intended for his daughter to attempt this, who wasted no time in using their link to find the exact location of the reservoir from her mind. Said location turned out to be the missing moon of Earth, sent into the Void by the Lotus to ensure the Tenno’s safety during the late stages of the Old War.
To buy themselves more time, the Stalker intercepted and closed a Void gate the Tenno were about to enter while Hunhow sent one of his fragments to attack. Thanks to this time advantage, the Tenno arrived too late to stop Stalker from initiating a Void collapse that threatened to crush the Moon into nothing, forcing them to pull the Moon out of the Void and back into orbit around Earth. Stalker attempted to stop them on multiple occasions, such as attacking himself or by activating the Moon’s defense systems, but was ultimately unsuccessful. Yet the Tenno still wasn't safe. Pulling the Moon out of the Void meant that it was now vulnerable to Hunhow’s forces. The player Tenno rushed to retrieve themselves from the reservoir, but doing so only put them in more danger. The true Tenno awakening from their sleep severed the link to their Warframe. Weakened by their long slumber, the Tenno crawled to their Warframe and gave it enough energy to stand up and carry them, but in the same moment the Stalker arrived.
The Stalker pointed his blade at the Tenno ready to attack, but hesitated. He turned away and looked around the room, then at both sides of his hand, a gesture the Tenno repeated. Hunhow encouraged Stalker to remember his life-long despair and finish off the Tenno, but Stalker put away his sword and vanished. Escaping from Hunhow’s forces subsequent assault and back onto their ship, the Tenno carried themselves to a back room where they could properly re-establish their Warframe link. But the Stalker was waiting for them. He attacked with renewed vigor and the Tenno struggled to avoid him as they tried to power up the room’s systems. During the battle, the Tenno was knocked out of their Warframe’s arms, causing the Warframe to collapse once more.
A defenseless Tenno face-to-face with the Stalker.
As the Stalker tapped the motionless Warframe with his sword, Hunhow explained to him that the Warframe was nothing but an empty puppet for the true Tenno to control and encouraged him to end it. Stalker plunged Hunhow's sword into the Warframe, approached the Tenno, grabbed them by the throat and lifted them up into the air, slowly choking them to death. Suddenly, the inactive Warframe took hold of the sword stuck in its chest and began to pull at it. Hunhow quickly ordered the Stalker to protect him, dropping the Tenno, but before Stalker got close enough to do anything the Warframe broke the sword apart. The resulting feedback from being severed from Hunhow caused the Stalker to convulse in pain, forcing him to retreat and ending their plan in utter failure.
Shadow Debt[]
After their failure in killing the Tenno, the Stalker returned to hunting and disrupting them during their missions while Hunhow made preparations for the coming war. Six individuals, either wearing Warframes as armor or themselves Tenno, approached the Stalker and offered their service to him, believing him to be untainted by the Tenno's Second Dream.
They asked him what he wished for them to do, his answer was "punishment". Alad V's contributions in foiling their plan had not gone unnoticed nor been forgotten. To aid the Acolytes in their hunt, Hunhow boosted their cloaking abilities with a frequency that made them impossible to track.
Afraid for his life, Alad V called in the favor the Tenno owed him for helping them and had them defend him from the Acolytes. The strongest of the Acolytes, Misery, nearly succeeded in taking Alad's life, but he too was ultimately defeated.
The New War[]
Since their failure to destroy both the Tenno and Alad V, Stalker has remained by Hunhow's side as his guardian, killing anyone who dared to come near his tomb while still venturing out to try and assassinate any Tenno he deemed guilty. After the Sentients returned in full strength and successfully conquered the Origin System, they established a new order under the name of Narmer. Even though they now controlled the entire system, Narmer's second-in-command Erra decided to leave his father Hunhow to rot in his tomb.
Narmer's leader Ballas succeeded in casting the player Tenno into the Void to secure his victory, but in doing so unwittingly caused the Drifter, an alternate version of them, to emerge in the Origin System and fight back against his rule. With all of their potential allies controlled by the hypnotic Narmer Veil masks, the Drifter traveled to the depths of Uranus to enlist Hunhow's aid in saving his daughter Natah from Ballas' grasp. Narmer lieutenant Ka-Nuteru already tried to break into the tomb, but she and all of her forces were intercepted and slaughtered by Stalker, who allowed only the Drifter to pass.
Stalker threatens the Drifter.
When it came time for their audience with Hunhow however, the Stalker swiftly captured the Drifter and put his scythe to their throat. He loosened the blade when the Drifter made their peaceful intentions clear, but remained steadfast. Ballas killed Natah and both he and the Drifter were now attempting to resurrect her. Hunhow offered the Drifter a quick death at the Stalker's hand, a mercy compared to what Erra's Archons will do to them. Stalker finally took his scythe away from their neck, after which the Drifter bluntly asked Hunhow for help, a suggestion that clearly baffled the Stalker.
Hunhow found the situation laughable, but played along and gave the Drifter some information about the Archons they were about to face, then flew into a rage when the Drifter was actually about to leave to fight them with nothing, asking if they have a death wish. The Drifter countered that at the very least they were trying to do something to rescue Natah while Hunhow simply sits around to "wallow in ancient grudges". He conceded the point and agreed to help save his daughter, upon which the Stalker handed the Drifter the ancient Nataruk bow that could harm the Archons.
Stalker finishes off Archon Amar.
During the hunt for the Archons, Stalker came to the Drifter's aid whenever an Archon struck them down, reviving them once to resume the fight. After the first Archon was defeated, Stalker finished it off before it could regenerate and gave their shard core over to the Drifter to that Natah may be revived with its energy. Once two of the Archons had been defeated, Natah regained enough strength to fight and the Stalker returned to Hunhow, leaving the Drifter and Natah to fight Narmer themselves.
Jade Shadows[]
A sleeping Stalker being awoken by one of Jade's feathers.
After Narmer's hold over the Origin System was shattered, Stalker resumed his hunting of the Tenno. However, one day while he was resting between hunts, his rest was disturbed by a glowing feather and a voice calling out for his former name. In the belly of his hideout, the Warframe Jade laid dying. Hunhow suggested that Stalker reach out to the Tenno for aid, as he would be unable to save her on his own, but Stalker angrily refused and instead infiltrated the the Ardent, a Corpus ship, to steal their supply of medical bioplasma.
His presence was discovered when Captain Xeto noticed the sudden disappearance of their bioplasma, who quickly realized that the intruder was no Tenno and eventually recognized him as the "Tenno-hunter". Curious as to his motive for stealing bioplasma and sensing an opportunity, Xeto had her underlings track his movements. Stalker tried to heal Jade once he was back in his hideout, but unfortunately Hunhow was correct; Stalker had no knowledge of the illness that was afflicting Jade and no idea how to save her. A few of Xeto's forces found his lair, but her commander lost the signal after Stalker swiftly dispatched them.
The Stalker threatens the Tenno.
With no other option in front of him, Stalker relented and snuck into the player Tenno's Orbiter, sneaking past their ship Cephalon Ordis and holding his scythe to their throat. The Tenno warned him that when Ballas tried plunging a blade into them, things did not end well for him, prompting Ordis to notice Stalker's presence and prepare to expell him from the ship, but the Tenno stopped him. Correctly deducing that Stalker wasn't here to kill them, Stalker revealed Jade's feather and the Tenno realized that Stalker wants their help to save a Warframe, something they noted was very uncharacteristic of him.
Initially hesitant, the Tenno agreed to help for the sake of the Warframe and instructed the Stalker to hunt an Infested Juggernaut for chortichrome, a source of highly concentrated Infestation that the Warframes are also made of. Captain Xeto, still following Stalker's trail, realized that with the collection of both bioplasma and chortichrome he was very clearly "playing doctor" for a Warframe and sent word to Vala Glarios, believing this to be her chance to impress Parvos Granum and finally gain a place among the Sisters of Parvos.
Stalker showing his love for Jade during her final moments.
When Stalker returned to his stronghold, before he could do anything with the fresh chortichrome, Jade finally moved and revealed that her affliction was the final stage of her pregnancy. The Stalker quickly went by her side to comfort her, while the Tenno synchronized with her mind to help with delivery. Having drained all of her energy to overcome the limitations imposed upon her, Jade spent her last moments comforting the Stalker, who finally realized who she really was. Jade faded away and left behind her and Stalker's newborn son. Stalker wrapped his child in warm cloth, cradled and embraced him, but their tender moment was interrupted by an alarm caused by the arrival of Xeto's forces. As Stalker prepared to defend his child, Jade's energy coursed through his body and entered his scythe, imbuing it with immense power.
His hideout compromised beyond salvaging, Stalker's only priority became bringing his son to safety, cutting a bloody path through the Corpus to reach the surface. The Corpus Commander reported to Xeto that they found nothing noteworthy in his lair beyond some traces of a Warframe, so Xeto deduced that Stalker must be carrying her prize with him. On the surface, Xeto herself and a small platoon of crewmen secured Stalker's ship and used a portable turret to try and kill Stalker, who quickly used his scythe to shield his son from the incoming bullets. Stray bullets still managed to wound him and he fell onto one knee, prompting his child to begin crying. Xeto recognized the screams of a baby among the noise to her horror and ordered her men to stand down.
Stalker chooses a name for his son.
Wounded, Stalker had little strength left in him and simply slowly limped towards his ship. Xeto and her soldiers silently stepped aside and let him pass by without further conflict. Stalker brought his son to the relative safety of Earth's moon Lua, where he recalled Jade revealing her pregnancy to him and his worry about what would happen if their Orokin masters found out. Jade was confident that he would always be there to protect them. Finally able to have a moment of peace, Sorren looked upon his son and decided on a name for him: Sirius or Orion (the choice is the player's).
Belly of the Beast[]
As if Jade hadn't suffered enough, Parvos Granum was not quite ready to let her rest in peace. While Stalker had brought their son to safety at an unknown location, the Corpus seized control over his former lair. Jade herself may have passed on, but traces of her power still lingered in the caves that Stalker had made his home. By harvesting her energy motes, Parvos sought to create a new "Jade Light Eximus" program that imbued chosen soldiers and proxies with the ability to shoot devastating beams of light.
Outraged by this desecration of Jade's memory, Cephalon Ordis organized a counter-assault on Stalker's former stronghold to steal back the highest concentration of powerful, volatile motes inside and send them into the Sun as an impromptu funeral for Jade, preventing Parvos from exploiting her further. During this operation, for the first time, Stalker himself willingly lent the Tenno his aid by fighting alongside them against Parvos' forces. Prototype Jade Eximus units were already being deployed, but destroying the rest of the motes would keep the project from being completed.
When the final volatile motes were committed to the Sun, Stalker once again disappeared. The Corpus could still harvest weaker, vestigial motes, but the Eximus project was doomed to failure and that was victory enough.
Gallery[]
The Second Dream[]
Jade Shadows[]
Trivia[]
- Unlike every other boss in the game, Stalker used to have his own theme song that would play whenever he appeared. However, this has since been removed for unknown reasons.
- Before Update 18 gave Stalker his own voice lines he spoke in indecipherable whispers, which were actually a continuous repetition of the word "Death" played in reverse.
- The Stalker is an evil counterpart to the Tenno's Warframes, as he not only resembles a Warframe himself but also uses a full roster of weaponry, consisting of a primary (Dread), secondary (Despair) and melee (Hate) weapon. On top of this, he himself can also cast a vast array of abilities reminiscent of a Warframe, with his signature ability Dispel being able to negate most other Warframe abilities.
- While currently inaccessible to the public, the developers of the game have created a so-called "Stalker Mode" that features the Stalker as a playable character, allowing the player to choose a mission on the starmap and hunt other players similar to being invaded in the Dark Souls series.
- This mechanic was later used for the Belly of the Beast event, letting players support other squads as Stalker instead of hunting them though.
- After the Belly of the Beast event concluded, Ordis' event shop was moved from the Mercury player hub to the Drifter's Camp. Using vestigial motes to buy anything will prompt Stalker to appear in the distance with his child in his arm, watching the player and disappearing when the shop is closed.
External Links[]
- Stalker on the official Warframe wiki.
[]
 Villains
| ||
|
Grineer Corpus The Infestation Sentients Orokin Narmer Scaldra The Great Indifference Other | ||