Just to start i'd like to say this is all just my take on the MotD story and my theory on how it fits in with the parameters that have been set by the greater zombie story line.
Basis of my theory / context
So to begin, many moons ago it was revealed to us through the zombie story that the Aether is some sort of alternate dimension and that the MPD or "Vril machine" on the Moon is in a constant connection with, allowing a constantly active portal between both worlds to exist. it was also revealed to us during the MOON easter egg AND Ascension easter egg that souls are physical things and can both enter the Aether and excist there.
MotD story conflicting with the greater story.
Now to begin, i think that all of us know that in the zombies are created through the meeting of element 115 and dead flesh, however MotD has no presence of element 115 and according to the story element 115 was not discovered and experimented with until the late 1930's to mid 1940's (late 1960's for America & Russia) so how are zombies present on alcatraz? or was this America's first glimpse at the effects of element 115? possibly leading to it's discovery and early experimentation by the time WW2 rolls around? it fits with the timeline and given the fact the 4 Villains are suffering with memory loss, another effect of exposure to 115, MotD could be a flashback into the early zombie storyline... but since Samantha wasn't in control of the zombies in 1933 or even born yet (by my count Samantha was 9 when she entered the MPD in 1945 correct me if im wrong) and for the sake of argument lets go with No.
MotD does fit... it just fits sideways
Despite the time frame and the events we play out in the map: the breakout, the zombie outbreak, construction of the plane and the escape, these events never happened according to Brutas "So you want to know the truth" but they did happen, we did them... just not in our universe. Through the easter egg audio logs we find out the truth, our 4 Villains planned their escape but their arguments and their betrayal lead to their deaths, the events of the map did happen but our characters are dead the entire time, the events of the map take place in the afterlife! but here's my theory...
Given the fact that zombies are present and we have our drops, our perks, box, wall weapons and everything elso that show signs of the MPDs influence and the fact souls can enter the Aether my theory is that the afterlife IS the Aether, and that the souls of anyone who dies or has had contact with 115 enters the Aether when they die. Who has had contact with 115 you ask? i'll get on that soon.
What the hell is going on? what is the cycle? AND who is in control?
So lets go over the story again, our 4 Villains are locked up together on Alcatrz, 3 of whom are some of the most notorious gangsters in the prison and 1 is the catalyst to the following events: Al Arlington or as he is better know as: The Weasel. Now Weasel seems to have all the answers judging by his quotes but we'll get to that later, Weasel wants out, in his journal he writes of getting back at someone called the Editor and to do so he sets out to unite the 3 most notorious gangsters in the prison, why? during gameplay Billy talks about his boys stashing parts to the plane, so its obvious that these guys had influence and could get things done so Weasel was clearly desperate enough to promise these gangsters with big reputations freedom in exchange for their help, this would ultimately be his undoing as all eyes were on him. With a clear plan designed by Weasel everyone had their roll to play in the planes construction, but due to heavy infighting and arguments the plan was as far as they got. With the plan a failure and the with the project being Weasels idea, the promise of freedom that had been made to the gangsters was nothing but a lie in their eyes, with tempers flaring someone was to blame and Weasel was at the centre of it all.
The mobsters had been decevied, Weasel had promised freedom, a big promise to some prominent gangsters locked up in Alcatraz, after being convinced to participate and having been given hope through a plan, all that they were left with was just that... a plan and a pritty bad mood so in their eyes Weasel had lied and betrayed them with his empty promise, and they weren't gonna let that fly. So one night they lead Weasel up to the roof and killed him, 13 days late they were all executed. Now our map begins, our 4 Villians are acting out the final stages of the plan with no memory of the plan failure, the murder or their own execution, so they go about the final stage: kill the guard, take the keys, unlock the cells, pass out the guns, kill the... zombies? the guard comes back to life and almost instantly the prison fades into a demonic hell with zombies pouring out of every corner, after a quick battle the 4 Villians are quickly overrun and eaten alive... only to stare at their body as a ghost, after bringing themselves back from death it seems that they can't die. with no other option they carry out their plan fighting through the waves of the undead and the strange screaming prison guard brutas. after completing Weasels escape plas the 4 Villians take to the skys only to crash onto the golden gate bridge, here they find they have an option, die at the teeth of zombies or fry in the electric chair. either way the only thing that ends here is their memory as the whole experience begins again.
The Cycle
It's clear that the electric chairs aren't teleporters, and no amount of syrett or thunderbolt is gonna patch up someone after dying in those chairs, so what happens? we find ourselves standing over our characters in ghost form in the exact same positions as we started the game, my theory is that the entire beginning scene plays out again but for the sake of gameplay the map cuts to the chase. So this is the Cycle, a constant circle of breaking out and escaping amongst a zombie outbreak onto the golden gate bridge only to fry and start over. Now the easter egg explores the breaking of the cycle, through the easter egg we find out the truth and ultimately reenact the scene that occurred on the rooftop, and just like all Black ops 2 zombie map easter eggs we are given a choice. Continue the cycle: the 3 gangsters enact their revenge and gun down Al Arlington OR... Breack the cycle: Arlington kills his former associates and breaks the cycle of death and revenge.
What & Why
So in this instance we've broken the cycle... what now? have their souls moved onto a higher plane of existence and are free of the chaos of the Aether afterlife? or is something more going on... as i've said before, Arlington seems to have all the answers/ know whats going on despite the memory erasing effects of the cycle, or is he pulling a Richtofen and hiding his knowledge from his associates to achieve some secret motivate? my conclusion is that he either may know that his associates are going to kill him due to him dying 13 days earlier and retains just enough memory after each cycle to try and prevent it or he knows exactly what's up and is trying a new way not to die each cycle.
Al 'The Weasel' Arlington's secrets and future influence
Arlington seems to knows more than he should for a 1930's thug, there is more to him than meets the eye, given his knowledge of certain things and people Nikolai for example, how exactly dose he fit in? well if my theory holds true and the prison is within the Aether and the cycle is our 4 Villans purgatory then something is clearly wrong here, since the map is littered with hints to future events one obvious example is the announcer when she becomes trapped in the MPD 12 years from when the map takes place, other than the more obvious hints such as the drop and such, the fireworks going off at the docks are only 2 colours: Orange and Purple. Coincidentally these are the colours to signify Maxis & Richtofen... think about that....
So who's in control and why is this so complicated I had to write a damn essay
So who is in control? My guess... no one..... or maybe no one we know of. This takes place before anyone had discovered the MPD and we don't know what the Aether was like before Samantha gained control of it or even now Richtofen is in control, the Aether as it stands is unknown to us and MotD has made it all the more confusing given its focus on Arlington. But I do have another theory that may straighten things out...
The Rift
In Die Rise Richtofen wanted out 4 Survivors to complete his task of "Mend the Rift" and he is repeatedly reviving the 4 Survivors either himself or he's bending time in a way that allows them to live again much like the cycle our 4 Villans are experiencing, Now what is a 'Rift'? A gap or tare in or between something, when has something like that ever been mentioned in zombies? Only once... during the Black ops 2 radio in the map remake of Shi no numa
"Of course! The DG-2 must have overloaded the teleporter, RIPING space-time, backtracing us to the future!" seeing as how this occured in Der Riese and before that time travel was impossible, my theory is that the tear in space-time didn't close and ever since Der Riese it has been there silently getting worse this can be seen in Kino der Toten, 20 years after Der Riese when teleporting you can be sent to the same room at different points in time randomly without the use of the wunderwaffe demonstrating how unstable the MTD teleporters portals had become due to the growing Rip in space-time... remember teleporters create portals through the Aether in order to teleport someone from one place to another, so i think that 'The Rift' is what Richtofen once said to be a rip in space-time, but over the years has grown into a Rift between Earth and the Aether. This explains Richtofen's need to "Mend the Rift" as through the MPD Richtofen controls the Aether and through the Aether Richtofen controls the Earth and with the growing rift between dimensions Richtofen will eventually loose control, this may explain the towers, Richtofen wants the towers to mend the Rift and Maxis wants the towers to repair the world. In radios you hear some have activated the towers for Maxis and some have activated the towers for Richtofen, i believe this is reflected in MotD through the fireworks mirroring Richtofen & Maxis' fight for the power of the towers.
So.... after using that theory as a basis for my MotD theory, i believe everything in the map is reflective off the real world as with Richtofen's constant manipulation of the world through the MPD and the ever increasing rift the Aether is actually taking alot of damage (think environmental damage) For starters, Samantha: The drops were originally her creation hell the whole game mode was her creation it was all her game to use the undead to kill 935 & Richtofen this is reflected in MotD with the game repeated exactly for out 4 Villians with her as the announcer, the zombies may be reflective of the constant stream of zombies souls into the Aether (i don't mean metaphorically i mean these are the actual zombie souls) the box's new design signifies that either no one is in control or that a yet unseen person or power is in control going by grief announcer i'd like to think brutus is actually in control of the Aether zombies and the zombie game as breaking the 4 Villians cycle may release him aswell going by his quotes but thats for another day, regardless the new map consepts, box design and lack of teddy bears prove neither Richtofen nor Samantha are in control of these zombies. But i do believe with this theory that modern events in the real world are effecting the Aether throughout all of time due to the rift as seen in MotD.
One thing extra, despite how upside down this map is canon wise (the developers went all out with this 1) Weasle seems to be a the heart of it, with his knowledge of future events i think there's yet more to be seen with him.
Anyway thats my theory on MotD that i based on a theory with a few more theorys added in, if you honestly read all this i tip my hat to you. If you think i missed anything tell me or made a mistake do tell.
Just a disclaimer... i 100% do not believe in the devil/ satin theory, thats why i danced around it so much...
