Everyone’s favourite grumpy assassin is back in the Jade Shadows story update for Warframe, and he’s more tragic than ever. But who is this enigmatic figure, and why is he at the centre of the latest mystery in Warframe’s epic narrative?
Take care Tenno! This article contains spoilers for Warframe’s story, including Jade Shadows.
A shadowed enemy
The player character first encounters the Stalker when he sends an ominous message after they have killed a high-profile assassination target. You are marked for death, and with a dramatic entrance of red flickering lights and coiling black smoke, the eerie figure of the Stalker emerges into the middle of a mission, ready to carry out his assassination. Early on, he is a daunting challenge, with unearthly speed and a range of cruel weapons named very normal things like Despair, Dread and Hate.
The Stalker wears Tenno armor but the true nature of his connection to the Tenno is still occluded. At first, the Stalker seems to be a lone assassin seeking revenge on the Tenno for their destruction of the Orokin Empire, but over time it becomes clear that he has made a powerful alliance.
An ancient master
When Tyl Regor seeks to excavate the Sentient Tombs on Uranus, he accidentally releases a powerful Sentient called Hunhow, who offers an alliance to the Stalker in a plan to destroy the Tenno. He bestows the greatsword War upon the Stalker and dispatches him as his agent, newly transformed through Sentient technology into the Shadow Stalker. The Stalker learns that the source of the Tenno’s power is the Reservoir on Lua, hidden away in the Void by the Lotus, and plans to collapse the Void around Lua to destroy it. With the help of the manipulative Corpus Alad V, the player character drags Lua out of the Void into material space to frustrate the Stalker’s efforts. The Stalker learns of the true nature of Tenno, controlled by an Operator, and questions the nature of his own existence.
The Stalker sends out his Acolytes, Angst, Malice, Mania, Misery, Torment, and Violence to hunt Alad V for his involvement and, inevitably, Alad V calls in his favor so the player character is compelled to intervene. How does he recruit these followers and why would they join him? Are they Tenno, or do they simply wear armor taken from the Warframes they have slain? More mysteries to unravel.
An unlikely alliance
When Narmer takes over the system, the Stalker is hunted as ferociously as he once hunted the Tenno. To his dismay, Hunhow agrees to work with the Tenno, and the Stalker and the Tenno finally end up on the same side, albeit briefly. Nevertheless, the Stalker’s wounds go too deep for a true alliance and when Hunhow tries to persuade him to make peace with the Tenno and stop hunting them, the Stalker refuses.
Hope from despair
The Stalker’s past is a mystery even to him. All he knows is that the Warframe Jade, the Orokin executioner, spared him. He has cared for her as her health has deteriorated, even asking for the player character’s help to bring her medical supplies, but he cannot save her. Before she dies, he has glimpses of memory: his name was once Sorren and he and Jade served the Orokin. Their relationship was forbidden so when Jade became pregnant they were both turned into Warframes as punishment. Jade’s child survives her and the Stalker swears to protect the baby, his only family.
Stalking onward
What’s next for the Stalker? He has abandoned his previous base, shunned his uneasy alliance with Hunhow and learned that the Orokin are not worthy of his vengeance in their name. He still seems wary of working with the Tenno but in his new role as the Protector of his young child, he will undoubtedly find that he needs to rely on his former target once more. Digital Extremes may have expertly played with our emotions in Jade Shadows, but this story quest poses far more questions than it answers. It seems that even after a decade of Warframe, the Stalker still has more mysteries to reveal.
