Where is Our True Hero?

[Ehjookayted]

In the world of Nazi Zombies and our fantastic storyline, we've been met with laughs, pain, and even joy, yes, joy. But in the darkness, the truth awaits those who seek it. Every story needs its true hero, it's only the normal feature of the literary structure. It's me everyone, Ehjookayted AKA EyeCntSpel ready to bring you into the exciting world of literary analysis. Bear with me as we embark on a journey to find the location of our one, true, hero, a man among the chaos, who can rise up and take the lead next storyline.

Protagonist vs. Antagonist

In every story, there is a protagonist and antagonist. However, protagonist does not necessarily mean hero and antagonist does not necessarily mean villain. Let's take a closer look now.

Protagonist: the character, usually the main character, whose actions drive the plot of the story forward. Every story has its arc, its cycle, and the events surrounding it do not move on their own. The protagonist's actions move the plot forward, moving closer to that final goal of resolving the story's central conflict.

Antagonist: the character whose actions only serve to stop the progress of the protagonist and his journey to resolve the central conflict. Sometimes, the antagonist and protagonist can be one in the same.

We could say that the protagonist of the storyline this time was Richtofen, which would be pretty accurate, considering the final achievement is completing his Grand Scheme. Every map has something to do with his craft, his devious plots. Eventually, however, Richtofen meets his own actions' goals and achieves everything he has wanted to achieve. In this respect, we can say that the zombies themselves, or whoever controls them (be it Samantha or another), are standing in the way of Richtofen and his bad of merry misfits. However, Richtofen is the farthest thing you could expect for a hero. The true hero, it is my belief, is lost in the oblivion of memory.

What are the traits of a hero?

1. The hero is introduced in the midst of turmoil, at a point well into the story; antecedent action will be recounted in flashbacks.

2. The hero is not only a warrior and a leader, but also a polished speaker who can address councils of chieftains or elders with eloquence and confidence.

3. The hero, often a demi-god, possesses distinctive weapons of great size and power, often heirlooms or presents from the gods.

4. The hero must undertake a long, perilous journey, often involving a descent into the Underworld (Greek, "Neukeia"), which tests his endurance, courage, and cunning.

5. Although his fellows may be great warriors (like Achilles and Beowulf, he may have a commitatus, or group of noble followers with whom he grew up), he undertakes a task that no one else dare attempt.

6. Whatever virtues his race most prizes, these the epic hero as a cultural exemplar possesses in abundance. His key quality is often emphasized by his stock epithet: "Resourceful Odysseus," "swift-footed Achilles," "pious Aeneas."

7. The concept of arete (Greek for "bringing virtue to perfection") is crucial to understanding the epic protagonist.

8. The hero establishes his aristeia (nobility) through single combat in superari a superiore, honour coming from being vanquished by a superior foe. That is, a hero gains little honour by slaying a lesser mortal, but only by challenging heroes like himself or adversaries of superhuman power.

9. The two great epic adversaries, the hero and his antagonist, meet at the climax, which must be delayed as long as possible to sustain maximum interest. One such device for delaying this confrontation is the nephelistic rescue (utilized by Homer to rescue Paris from almost certain death and defeat at the hands of Menelaus in the Iliad).

10. The hero's epic adversary is often a "god-despiser," one who has more respect for his own mental and physical abilities than for the power of the gods. The adversary might also be a good man sponsored by lesser deities, or one whom the gods desert at a crucial moment.

11. The hero may encounter a numinous phenomenon (a place or person having a divine or supernatural force) such as a haunted wood or enchanting sorceress that he most use strength, cunning, and divine assistance to overcome.

These are the basic traits of an epic hero, thanks to Wiki Answers for the help.

The basic idea here is that there are noble qualities to a hero and interesting aspects of them. Things that Richtofen, a pretty obvious protagonist, doesn't have. But who has them? Well thanks to Matuzz for his amazing character bios, we can take a look at our other choices.

Nikolai Belinski

Nikolai was politician who increased his rank in The Bolsheviks party by killing next man in line and marrying politically. Nikolai's way to kill his wives finally got to a stop when he killed his 5th wife with axe. Little did Nikolai knew that his wife had been sleeping with a high ranking party official. Nikolai’s reputation spread quickly through the party, and it wasn’t long before Stalin himself had heard about the psychopathic politician who killed anything that came within 5 feet of him. When war started, Nikolai was dropped at the front line. So ended Nikolai's glamorous politician days. Nikolai got depressed and tried to forget his troubles with Vodka. Nikolai is true killer and doesn't avoid any means to get what he wants.

In the battle ground Nikolai's luck wasn't going to turn. In the Battle of Berlin Nazis captured Nikolai. Belinski was not going to be ordinary prisoner.

Group 935 picked him from the group of prisoners to be studied with. Dr. Richtofen erased Nikolai's memory and started studies with him. Nikolai started to finally respond to Richtofens stimuli but only after he was injected with new serum made primarily from vodka.

Nikolai was soon to find himself fighting against zombies with crazy German doctor and Japanese and American soldiers who seemed to be as confused as him. One thing Nikolai didn't forget is his lust for Vodka and how he murdered his wives. But all he wants now is to survive.

For some reason Richtofen seems to like Nikolai most from the test subjects. Nikolai also is friend of Dempsey and they get drunk together.

Its unknown why Nikolai hates Takeo. All we know about Nikolai's family is that he has brother-in-law, sister and daughter. Also his first wife might been his relative.

The future will tell what happens to Nikolai.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Takeo Masaki

Takeo has nothing left in his life except to try maintain his honor. He ponders this and other philosophical questions as his Katana slices through the flesh and sinew of his enemy.

Takeo's family was very wealthy. His family dynasty dates back several centuries, and throughout that time they have been highly decorated Samurai and Bushi. His family was very proud of Takeo and knew he would bring honor to the family name. Until Takeo slaughtered his entire family for their insolence.

Takeo joined military and quickly ranked his way up to a Captain. Takeo was taken as prisoner by Group 935 in Shi No Numa facility. And sent to be tested by Dr. Richtofen. There he was given name: Test subject N3WB. Richtofen almost completely destroyed Takeo's mind when he erased his memory because Takeo only stared at the floor muttering what sounds like some kind of proverb over and over again. Despite Takeo almost completely losing his mind in the test is gaining the fastest his memory back from the test subjects.

Takeo has rough time travelling with the others as he really doesn't like any of them. Also he is getting sick all of the time from using the teleporters.

Takeo is starting to remember what Richtofen did and wants his revenge and is going to kill Richtofen that dishonored coward who made all this to him.

Only time will tell if Takeo is going to have his revenge!

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Tank Dempsey

Tank Dempsey is a guy who you really don't want to piss off, if you make that mistake he will make you regret.

He is typical american hero, who is happy if he has loaded gun, wife and something to shoot at.

Dempsey was part of a Marine Raiders, the elite infantry units of the USMC. Only best of the best are chosen to the Marine Raiders.

His unit was captured during the early raids before the main invasion at the battle for Peleliu.

He spent two weeks in a rat infested bamboo cage submerged in malarial water. Eventually, he gnawed his way through the cage, and then gnawed his way through his captors armed only with a Bobby pin and his Medal of Honor which he keeps secreted in various body cavities.

After the events of Peleliu, Dempsey was chosen to lead a top secret mission which was to extract person called Peter.

All they knew about the mission was that Peter was presumed to be located in a top secret location known only as Verruckt.

When the marine recon unit was close to the asylum Dempsey decided to go and recon the facility before the others come.

For Dempsey's misfortune Group 935 caught him from spying. So Dempsey was to become another test subject of Dr. Richtofen who wanted to create super soldiers.

Like the others also Dempsey is slowly gaining his memory back after Richtofen erased it. Dempsey hates Richtofen. His hate started at first moment he saw Richtofen and erasing Dempsey's memory didn't remove it.

Dempsey seems to have some respect towards Takeo, maybe because of the events at Peleliu and how he saw Japaneses soldiers there.

Will we see in the future if this hero has had personal life, or has he used all his time in the military?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Samantha Maxis

Daughter of Ludvig Maxis, approximately 6-10 years of age. Her presence at the Der Riese is unknown but she must have possessed some kind of power that would have been useful for Group 935. In such a weird place Samantha tried to live normal little girls life and played with her toys like teddy bear and Mr. Monkey. What she loved the most was her dog called Fluffy. It was present from his father Maxis. But Fluffy was to come later test subject of Maxis an to be turned into hell hound.

It's known that Richtofen did experiments to Samantha behind Maxis back, but we still don't know what he did. But for some reason Richtofen wanted to get rid of Samantha and not only the Maxis. Finally Samantha was trapped with his father in a room by Richtofen. What made the situation sticky was that they shared the room with hell hound. Maxis tried to save himself and Samantha by using unfinished teleporter. In result Samantha was trapped in the pyramid Richtofen had discovered from the moon. From the pyramid Samantha got power to control the zombies, hellhounds and to drop power ups. When Richtofen discovered this he made plan to change bodies with her. After Richtofen succeeded in it Samantha got trapped in Richtofen's body and she had to fight against the zombies with the three heroes.

Samantha promised to revenge the things Richtofen did to her and her father Ludvig.

Time will tell if she gets her revenge and body back.

Well, who has a remarkably unique weapon among the characters, has a moral value, is respected, is characterized through flashbacks (remebering memories), and has a conflict upcoming with the new antagonist of the story, Dr. Edward Richtofen? Their epic battle will be delayed until whenever it may come. That man is no other than Takeo Masaki. His words that come off as something along the lines of "I swear to destroy every last remnant of Group 935" is one that will further define the storyline.

He will now embark on something we call the epic hero cycle. Takeo is a legendary figure in Japan, or has the potential to be, and is the most eloquent of all the characters. The developers have a special role for this Captain, a N3WB no more, eh? And perhaps that noob of a nickname serves as irony to further add to the idea that Takeo will become the leader of this new rebellion against Richtofen.

What is the epic hero cycle?

Alright, I know, this is pretty detailed and is pretty insane, right? Well as far as unique birth, we can say that a man waking up, unaware of who he is, reciting Japanese proverbs is pretty unique, right? Also, his "birth" is virgin. He starts life anew, with no birth of sorts. Takeo has plenty of helpers and trials. Now he approaches his final duel with the Demonic Announcer. From the chart we can see a predetermined list. This is just based on the library of epics, but one does stick out: Hell's Gate.

At the depths of the Underworld, of Hell itself, a final conflict will ensue, and if it is indeed true, and the Satanic-Illuminati connection holds true, the devil will fight a man with true honor. The hellspawn demons known as zombies, serve as pawns in this epic game of chess between Takeo and Richtofen. The two are the characters we can discern as being particularly inclined to lead and be strong for their fellow comrades.

The Zombie Storyline may not even have a true hero, but knowing Treyarch, they are creating an intricate and even more detailed story than before. Everything looks to be lining up for some epic maps and a journey to Hell and back that will redefine the way we look at zombies.

Thanks for reading and check out the ideas that helped create this thread.

[*:37yt8a6m]The Satanic Illuminati Involvement In Zombies
[*:37yt8a6m]Absolute vs. Relative Truth & The Question of Time
[*:37yt8a6m]Character Profiles

[Jolteon]

So... Much... Writing... Must... Find... Mistake... Just... Too... Perfect...

Damn Ehjookayted you've just gone from perfect to perfect with unicorns...

Anyways, on topic. This is frankly excellent. I've always been a follower of the "Hell's Gate" theories, with my biggest and best spawning from it, and the way you wrote all of this out just made it all from speculation to just pure logical... If that's possible...

As for Takeo? Well since Der Riese I've always thought something HAS to happen with Takeo. He's just a perfect character for a huge storyline, and honourable revenge and epicness...

Once again Ehj, perfection wasn't good enough for you

-Jolteon

[Undead]

Everyone seems is a bit eerie of Takeo, given the PaP Ascension quotes some of them say. I'm waiting for him to do something ACTUALLY honorable for the group alone.

[MixMasterNut]

I love Anti-Hero's.

Villain vs Villain is the best!

But if a True Hero were to emerge, my money is on Takeo.

[ZombieOfTheDead]

Yeah, Takeo's the hero. Though I think they might even this out with Samantha (more of an anti hero), as well as Tank in the next game.

Nikolai's just kinda the guy who does nothing, but makes everyone else laugh.

Anyways, I DO love this post. You are a first class writer, Ehjookayted.

[Ehjookayted]

Aw thanks guys

I appreciate the feedback and love as I enter the world of the zombies storyline.

[perfectlemonade]

I've been eagerly awaiting this since last night. Muhaha.

[MyLittleHellhound]

:o Another awesome post by Ehjookayted!

Well son, (haha) you did good out there. Now go hit the showers! [brains] [brains]

[Der atzi]

There are three "heros" and two as I call them, "others". But they are all protogontist, the zombies are the antagontist. The heros are Tank: the war hero with a son back home. Nickolai: the comic relief. Takeo: the shrouded-in-mystery guy who's intentions are good. The others are: richtofen: the angry mad scientist who wants to concure,(possibly destroy) all life on earth. And Sam/maxis (it counts as one person in my book ok!?!!) who is just an evil child that obeys her fathers orders/ a scientist who has become over run by the science (and people) he was trying to control.

Now a hero or anti hero(other) isn't a real hero until they do something that effects the course of the storyline in a positive way. The only ones that have done that are Sam and richtofen. Meaning, as of right now, we only have two anti-heros, but as all good story lines go.... All heros will emerge eventually, such as tank recovering his memory, or takeo fully destroying 935 or, (as I think would be the greatest plot twist...) Nikolai vaguely remembering something about a device or mechanism later, perhaps another player or two will come into play....

But that's just my idea, good job by the way very interesting post.

[Ehjookayted]

Thanks for all the comments, guys! 8-)

Der atzi, I like your thinking there. It's all really up to Treyarch to decide what they do. Aside from the proof, though, it feels like they created Takeo as a character who knows what he's doing. Honor among thieves... :twisted:

[xFaTaLx RaMpAgE]

[Der atzi]

:D I totally agree!

[way2g00d]

I missed this thread until now. See consolidating your work is always helpful for community in finding all valuable posts straight from the beginning. Very good post Eye.

[FatedTitan]

I could see Takeo getting it. Here's a great question though. Why is Tank ALWAYS with Richtofen on Moon. If you play with 2 players, it will always be Tank and Richtofen. They're connected.

[way2g00d]

I could see Takeo getting it. Here's a great question though. Why is Tank ALWAYS with Richtofen on Moon. If you play with 2 players, it will always be Tank and Richtofen. They're connected.

Richtofen for obvious reasons (he has the device) and tank because he is the player in white label. Just my guess.

[Monopoly Mac]

Like most people think, I think Takeo will be the protagonist. You could say that Richtofen was the protagonist of Black Ops because he was the leader while the others were pawns. Now that he has the control and power he desired, our team is on their own and will have to find the a solution. Perhaps Maxis has paved the way for us by blowing up a portion of the Earth.

If any of the characters took initiative, it would be Takeo. Trying to bring back honor to the Masaki name.

[FatedTitan]

I could see Takeo getting it. Here's a great question though. Why is Tank ALWAYS with Richtofen on Moon. If you play with 2 players, it will always be Tank and Richtofen. They're connected.

Richtofen for obvious reasons (he has the device) and tank because he is the player in white label. Just my guess.

But on others maps it's normally random people. I've gotten Nickolai/Tank, Nickolai/Richtofen, Nickolai/Takeo, etc. Only on Moon are the characters set to be together.

Another thing I noticed when playing Moon yesterday. Richtofen says "Ah Dr. Gersche. He would have been perfect for me if he had been born a few years earlier." or something like that. What I typed sounds like he's being gay, but when I heard it I know that's not what I thought. I know the quote is wrong because I specifically remember thinking that he wanted to use Gersche for his plans or something. Has anyone heard this?

[Hgoat]

Errr sorry I have to say it he way it is. This whole "hero" theory is based solely on one sentence in a bio written well before the loops and tangents written into BO. "Only time will tell if Takeo is going to have his revenge!".

No actual actions of any of the 3 would be regarded as heroic, only self preservation. If you see anything else its only because you want to see it, even if beyond logic.

Personally I think its more intriguing without the cliche "hero" anyway.