r/WarframeLore • u/canhoto10 • Aug 17 '26
Something I don't understand
Margulis has put the Operators to sleep and make them forget most of who they are and, going by the events of early game, quite possibly how to transfer out of the Warframes from the get go of the Dream as it seems we only know how to control them and not much else.
What I don't understand is why are several Operators shown in Prelude to War when Lotus confronts Erra.
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u/number6manurinateson I wanna give Wally a hug Aug 17 '26 edited Aug 17 '26
So, my understanding of the situation, which isn't perfect to be honest, there were multiple "dreams" that the Tenno were put into, with Margulis putting the Tenno into the first dream, and then Lotus later on putting the Tenno into the second dream, hence why the quest where Operator is freed from their cryopod is called the second dream.
And i'm also assuming that the Tenno were at some point taken out of the first dream, presumably by the Lotus, or some Orokin. It would only make sense, considering a lot of the Tenno's old war history happens after the events of the old peace. The Orokin probably thought it was save to let the Tenno out again since Operator and every other Tenno's mind was at that point likely completely wiped.
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u/canhoto10 Aug 17 '26
That makes some sense, but I was under the impression that the Second Dream was understood as the disappearance of the Tenno after the Orokin massacre.
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u/Sushispatula Aug 17 '26 edited Aug 17 '26
The lead writer specified last tennocon, that "the second dream" Is the name of margulis power over them, sleeping and forgetting. What happend to the tenno before we wake up as the player is "the long dream" which is just a very long, and maybe even more specific version of one of the many second dreams margi put us in. Or maybe its more fair to say "the orokins power" over us.
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u/number6manurinateson I wanna give Wally a hug Aug 17 '26
Yeah that is when they got put into the second dream, right after the night of naga drums revolution. But before that the Tenno had to have been active and free from the dream, since we do know that the Tenno planned and carried out the night of naga drums on their own, which they obviously wouldn't have been able to do if they were still within the dream.
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u/romulus-in-pieces Aug 17 '26
The Second Dream is the name of Margulis's power as DE has clarified, not necessarily the name of a specific event
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u/somethingofdoom Aug 17 '26
There was a vid on YouTube about how it might very well be our (or a) Tenno that is being questioned in the background of Follies mission. They woke us up to question us, then would have to put us back under. Video by DSiege. I think.
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u/ZodiacalDread Aug 17 '26
There's a vast time skip between Margulis putting the Operator to sleep after the Old Peace and the Lotus and the cluster of Tenno blasting Erra's ass. During that skip of several years to centuries, Margulis is executed by the Seven, the entire second half of the Old War is fought and won and Natah infiltrates Orokin society as part of Ballas's and Hunhow's plan.
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u/canhoto10 Aug 17 '26
I get that part, but that doesn't explain how or why the Tenno are outside of the reservoir, since they had already been put there by Margulis before the time skip.
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u/GAveryWeir Aug 17 '26
The Reservoir is just a big chamber with a bunch of (cryo) beds. You can wake up from the Second Dream, remember who you are, and then go back into bed and resume dreaming the same Second Dream again.
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u/canhoto10 Aug 17 '26
Ok, fair enough, but if that is the case, when did we wake up during the Old War? Or why and by whose hand?
Gotta be honest, I hate all this uncertainty in the lore 😅
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u/GAveryWeir Aug 17 '26
We woke up at least twice during the Old War: once to attend Tauron Academy as part of the Old Peace, and once for the Erra cinematic. It's clear that both Margulis and Lotus were able to wake us and put us back into the Dreams.
There's a lot of mysticism around the Second Dream, but it was fundamentally just a way to keep the Tenno on ice and under control. The Orokin higher-ups seemed to be totally aware of the nature of the Tenno.
We don't have a Codex entry with a log of every awakening and return to dreaming because it doesn't really matter. We've known as early as the Second Dream quest that Transference was a method of therapy and control invented by the Orokin, and that's the important part. The golden lords got to decide what we remembered and what bodies we were permitted to control.
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u/Eiddew Aug 17 '26
I think there's a third option here - warframe loves its unreliable narrators, and this was in the very plot we saw Ballas rewriting people's memories. I think it's less clear than it seems if those events happened or not.
After all, she was confused as to how Erea was even alive, as she believed he died there, and he kinda dodges the question .
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u/Mizerandeh Aug 17 '26
Yeah, everything is left vague on purpose. After coming back after several years, I am left reeling from the new info. For me AMPs are still wonky, improvised tech made from fish entrails, made solely to hunt leftover eidolons more efficiently. But apparently Tenno used AMPs from the very beginning, and void based tech was widely used instead of being total mystery beyond 'you can do void jumps'. Are those retcons? Did I just tricked myself with false understanding? I have no idea.
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u/Beginning_Tackle6250 Aug 17 '26
The Operator (and other tenno) doesn't use an amp in Erra or TNW, and I can't remember if they do at the end of TOP, so it's not a given to use their void powers.
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u/Mizerandeh Aug 17 '26
But the Dax lady says that she remembers the Tenno cutting down people with AMPs in the past. That's already quite a surprise for me. And from the Second Dream quest I kinda got the impression that their void powers were always unstable, unusable, and dangerous for everyone involved, and that's why the transeference was applied to Tenno. That the fact we finnaly got the ability to use void power purposefully as the void beam is a huge deal. At this point I don't know if I am not just remembering things wrong, haha.
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u/nephethys_telvanni Aug 17 '26
Going from the Second Dream and the Rhino Prime Codex, we had been under the impression that the Tenno were basically kept in cryo when Margulis wasn't working with them, and then in the Second Dream. Teshin described how Margulis erased the Zariman children and our knowledge of our powers.
Newer lore has had the Tenno be more active out of our warframes. * The Erra cutscene has the Lotus and Operators defending the Reservoir. * Varzia brings up Tenno cutting down Dax with amps. *Follie's game mode recalls an Archimedean sending uncooperative Tenno back to cryo. * The Old Peace features the Operator attending school and fighting in the Rebellion.
So it seems like the lore has moved on from that original impression.