Ophelia

*"The Rusalka claims she journeyed into the Breach in search of a Patternmind. What did she find there?"*

## Description

**Ophelia** is the Rusalka who originally came up with the plan to create a clone of Trace in order to combat Athetos. She has a benevolent demeanor, apologizing to Trace when Elsenova, in her anger, used the nanogates to kill Trace for not agreeing to kill Athetos. When Trace nearly succumbs to Athetos' pathogen, Ophelia is somehow able to cure Trace. At the start of the game, Ophelia is inert and inactive due to lack of repairs. However, Trace is able to awaken her at Elsenova's suggestion by activating the Remote Drones.

Unlike Elsenova, Ophelia can speak in plain, unbroken English. Although she, being a Rusalka, is considered a war machine, she seems to be more akin to a combat medic than a soldier.

## Location

Ophelia's head can be seen in mid to upper left portions of Ukkin-Na. However, her body is located in the lower right portion of Edin.

## Etymology

In Shakespeare's *Hamlet*, Ophelia is a young woman who ultimately goes mad and drowns herself. This is probably related to the Rusalki being "water machines", as well as the Notes that imply Ophelia speaks Early Modern English. Shakespeare chose that name because in Ancient Greek οφέλη (o-***phe***-læ) means "a great benevolent act" or "gift" (like Theodora), but sounds close to οφειλή (o-phe-***læ***), which means "a great debt (or sin) to pay for". The pair of words, almost homophones (only one emphasis away), make Ophelia great as a literary name, describing the dual nature of a character. The good and evil counterparts were too poetic for Shakespeare to ignore, and the same could be said for the creator of Axiom Verge, since it shows Ophelia (as a Rusalka) is questionable in nature.

## Additional Images

Ophelia's dialogue icon.Ophelia's sprite.
## Speculation

### Identity

It is likely Ophelia was once Indra from Axiom Verge 2, due to her strikingly similar appearance to the Rusalka, along with other in-game clues. After Indra travels to Kiengir, she has her body stolen by the Arm Amashilama and her mind put into her Remote Drone. Though she attempts to gain her original body back, she isn't able to, and her body is eventually destroyed. Indra ultimately accepts this, and admits she does not feel like the original Indra, but rather something different. She is able to obtain a humanoid form which, as seen in the ending credits, bears a striking resemblance to Ophelia with the forward facing position, chin shape, expression, as well as hairstyle. Indra is also mentioned to be a fan of Shakespeare, who is the major source behind the popularity of the name Ophelia.

After the main events of the game, in the ending cutscene, Indra teams up with Drushka and makes a plan to head upstream to A'ansur, which they require a Patternmind for. This lines up with how the Rusalki travelled through the Breach and Ophelia's usage of a Scry- previously described by Elizabeth Hammond as a device being able to track a Pattermind- in order to locate Trace. Additionally, Drushka's appearance, as well as how it changes throughout the game, bears a resemblance to the mechanical appearance of Indra's drone body and seems to be unlike that of a human.

She is most likely the outsider being discussed in The Outsider and its reply*.* This is further supported by the fact that Ophelia is the only Rusalka with a non-Slavic name, as well as the only Rusalka depicted facing fully front, as opposed to in profile. The other Rusalki do not appear to completely trust her, and only appear to tolerate her because Drushka, who they trust, is sided with her. Indra and Drushka team up after the events of Axiom Verge 2 in favor of their common interests, and it is likely the rest of the Kazakh team in the Emergence became Rusalki along with Indra, despite not trusting her; it is unknown if Drushka became a Rusalka.

Her name's meanings, as mentioned in the Etymology section, can also tie into Indra and Ophelia's character; Indra holds great grief about her daughter's circumstances and not having been there for her, and says that she deserves her drowning at the beginning of the game, much like how Ophelia, in Hamlet, drowns out of grief causing her to no longer care about her safety or the world. The other meaning, being a benevolent act or gift, could tie into her nature of being a self-identified problem solver; she is headstrong and created the plan to clone Athetos and utilize Katrahaska's nanogates.

### The Pathogen

It is possible Ophelia, or Indra, caused the spread of the pathogen on Sudra, whether consciously or not. In the events of Axiom Verge 2, Indra traverses the Breach with her Remote Drone in favor of her physical body, which takes damage from Breach portals before obtaining the drone. However, after encountering the Breach, coming into physical contact with NPCs will cause them to become sick and eventually morph into a Proto-Xedur and cannot be changed back. It is unknown how the pathogen affected the Sudrans, though given how they surrounded Sudra with Breach, it is very likely something similar happened.

In-game, Indra picks up an item called the Breach Attractor; it is possible this isn't the exact same Breach Attractor from the first game, though it has the same effect. It is said that "*The intruder who commandeered the storm talisman is suspected of releasing a plague."*. Given the lack of pronouns or further context, it is impossible to alone discern if it is Ophelia or Athetos, however, it being Ophelia seems much more likely.

## Trivia

* Ophelia's wild hair could possibly be a reference to Sir John Everett Millais' Ophelia oil painting, depicting Shakespeare's Ophelia attempting to drown herself in the water, though it could also be reminiscent of Indra's hair style. (*See speculation for more details.)*

## References

1. ↑ Steam Trading Card description
2. ↑ Cutscene 0030, AV1
3. ↑ Plan B (Note)
4. ↑ *Hamlet* is a tragic play written by William Shakespeare at an uncertain date between 1599 and 1602.
5. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophelia
6. ↑ *Theodora* is a feminine given name, which derives from the Greek words θεός, theos, "god" and δῶρον, doron, "gift".
7. ↑ Cutscene 0041, AV2
8. ↑ *"I don't think I can really call myself "Indra" anymore. The real Indra died saving us. I'm something else." -*Indra, Cutscene 0083
9. ↑ Dr. Gloria at it Again (Note)
10. ↑ Goodbye (Note)
11. ↑ *"It was long ago ... I was far away for business all the time. I should have been more of a mother to her. ... she left in her teens, and I haven't seen her since."* -Indra, Cutscene 0053
12. ↑ *"I want you to stop blaming yourself over what happened to me."* -Samara, Cutscene 0063
13. ↑ In *Hamlet,* Ophelia's described as being "incapable of her own distress" after letting herself fall into a stream, filled with grief. (Act 4, Scene 7)
14. ↑ *"I'm Indra Chaudhari. I'll reverse engineer and build a portal myself if I have to."* -Indra, Cutscene 0021, AV2
15. ↑ Reddit post detailing AV2 decompiling findings
16. ↑ *"[...] the High Priestess rung in the storm, leaving [the Kuliltu] to spill upon the plains."* -The Kuliltu (Note)
17. ↑ Security Notice (Note)