I’ve been going through the highlights of my time with New World. In the past couple pieces, I talked about some places in that game that felt special to me, but today, we’re changing direction a bit. This column isn’t about a “where”; it’s about a “whom.”
There aren’t a lot of particularly memorable characters in New World. I’ve previously praised Imhotep as a high point for the game’s writing, I love Galahad’s sad puppy himbo energy, and I have an inordinate nostalgia for the awkwardly flirty bartender in Monarch’s Bluffs. But that’s about it… at least as far as friendly NPCs go. For the most memorable characters, you’ve got to turn to the dark side. Be warned: spoilers ahead.
When we talk about villains in New World, most people’s minds probably go to the Tempest, Isabella de Leon. And I do like Isabella a lot. Like much of New World‘s story, she suffers a bit from the messiness of a plot having been completely rebuilt midway through the game’s life, as well as the fact many of the best parts of her story are buried in lore notes most people probably didn’t bother to read. But overall I find her an effective villain. The voice actress does a great job, and you can’t deny the girl’s got style.
But Isabella’s not whom I want to talk about today. Today is about New World‘s other leading lady, the woman we first come to know as Adiana Theron.
[The author sits down in a rocking chair and pulls up a cane.] I have been playing New World long enough to remember a time when Adiana didn’t even have a unique character model. When I first met her, she just looked like a generic human with vaguely druidic clothing.
I did get the impression there was something sus about her from the way she referred to “humans” in the third person, but that early version of the game was full of unexplained weirdness, so I didn’t necessarily assume she was going to be important in the long term.
Sometime later, I went back to her — this would probably have been when I started my Covenant alt — and noticed she now had a more elaborate character model, and that’s when I started to really catch on that our Adiana was destined for bigger and better things.
I progressed through the original version of the main story quest, and sure enough she would come to be relevant again. In that version, her role was to begrudgingly help the player weaponize the Blight against the Corruption, allowing a final strike against Isabella but poisoning the Angry Earth’s sacred Motherwell in the process.
I’ve criticized the retcons made by the revamped main story in the past, but one that I whole-heartedly support is the change to make the poisoning of the Motherwell happen against Adiana’s wishes. It makes what comes after feel much more natural.
Because as I discussed in my last piece, come Brimstone Sands Adiana would take over Isabella’s mantle as New World‘s chief antagonist. It was here that we learned she is one of the last survivors of the Ancient race who created Aeternum, and that her real name is Artemis. In New World‘s fiction, she is the inspiration behind the goddess of Greek myth.
The great thing about Adiana/Artemis as a villain is that you can understand where she’s coming from. Whether you’re looking at the real world or just what happens in New World, you can’t deny humanity has done incredible — unforgivable — harm to the natural world. It’s equally hard to dispute that giving us eternal life would be a very bad idea. New World‘s entire story can be summarized as “GIVING HUMANS IMMORTALITY IS REALLY REALLY REALLY BAD.” Can’t blame Artemis for thinking that’s a mistake that needs correcting.
I’m not going to say “Artemis was right” or that she did nothing wrong. You lose the moral high ground when you start to Island of Doctor Moreau still-living people into horrible plant-human-animal hybrids.
But I am going to say I sympathize with her anger. Like X-Men’s Magneto, she’s a villain who is in the wrong, but also one where you can perfectly understand how they got to where they are. Her feelings are valid. It’s only how she chooses to act on them that makes her a villain. But it’s that dichotomy that makes her a great villain.
Something else that makes Artemis special is the quality of her voice acting. I recall a Forged in Aeternum video from years back where they talked about the actress having a real passion for the character, and it definitely shows in the final performance. She brings such a confidence and gravitas to the role. You really believe that she believes what she’s saying.
New World‘s voice acting doesn’t usually garner a lot of praise, especially after the recent unpleasantness in Nighthaven, but Adiana/Artemis definitely stands as one of my favourite video game voice performances. Absolutely top tier.
Unfortunately, Artemis’ story did falter a bit at its conclusion in the Rise of the Angry Earth expansion. Partly it’s that it concluded too quickly, with Artemis defeated too easily. Going in my hope was for the story to be a trilogy, with Brimstone Sands establishing Artemis as the new main villain, Elysian Wilds being her at her most ascendant, and a future zone bringing the conclusion, but instead it wrapped up all too soon.
I also think ROTAE went too far in making her overtly villainous. The atrocities she committed against the humans of the region are entirely in character for her, but the ROTAE also shows her warping nature and perverting the Beast Lords, which seems a betrayal of her most sacred principles.
ROTAE also revealed that the, like Corruption, the Ancients are not native to our world, so my head canon is that the fungal nightmare Artemis turned First Light into is a replication of the environment of her homeworld, though it’s not a perfect explanation as it doesn’t explain why the Ancients wouldn’t have made all of Aeternum like that from the start. Or maybe she just viewed the horrid mutations as a necessary evil to give nature a leg up over humanity. Regardless, it’s messy, and it doesn’t feel in keeping with her character to that point.
Despite those stumbles at the finish, though, I still look back on Artemis’ story with a lot of fondness. It’s a great example of a slow burn build-up as she grows from a seemingly inconsequential quest NPC, to an essential yet reluctant ally, and finally a terrifyingly powerful antagonist. Artemis remains the best character in New World – and one of my all-time favourite MMORPG villains.
New World’s Aeternum is a land of many secrets. In MassivelyOP’s Vitae Aeternum, our writers delve those secrets to provide you with in-depth coverage of all things New World through launch and beyond.