"Accept your fate, begin anew."

[SeaboundSlayer]

Hi, this is my first topic in this forum so please cut me a break if I get anything wrong! In the opening cut scene for Die Rise, we hear a garbled voice speaking to Samuel, and as far as I know, this is the first time we have heard it. When playing the game, not only does Samuel hear this voice, but Richtofen as well. The voice is often heard moaning and grunting, whereas Richtofen remains clear and concise in his speech, just as he did in Tranzit.

Nearing the end of the cut scene, the four are riding down the elevator shaft and the garbled voice says "Accept your fate, begin anew." Samuel responds, saying he does not understand; so Richtofen replies, repeating that of the garbled voice. The four are then sent back in time and are back where they started. It would appear to anyone that the garbled voice is just a distorted version of Richtofen. This is what a lot of people are saying, however I disagree.

Firstly, why would Richtofen send them back in time due to the death of Russman if he controls them? Surely he could, y'know, stop the Jumping Jack from killing him? I suppose you could say they were following Maxis' orders so he decided to send them back to the beginning to try manipulating Samuel to get them to follow his orders, but surely this would stop us from completing Maxis' side altogether, in-game, if Richtofen has this recycled ability to send them back in time?

Secondly, why does Richtofen use this secondary voice when Samuel finds it hard to comprehend what he is saying and his primary voice is perfectly fine (when explaining the steps of the easter egg he uses his primary voice)? It seems to me that the two are in fact separate, as he does not hear one voice exclusively.

Thirdly, and I am aware that others have noted this too, the purple colour that is used to teleport them. Richtofen is blue, Maxis & Samantha are orange, ? is purple.

My theory is that the garbled voice is some being lurking in the Aether (when Samantha and Richtofen switch bodies she says "There are far worse things than you in there."). When Richtofen repeats "Accept your fate, begin anew." I think he is just repeating what the garbled voice said to clarify for Samuel. This new entity likely has evil intentions :twisted: of its own and this is why it sent the four back in time (Russman is important - Stop Rus at the bus depot in Tranzit).

[Xieon]

The garbled voice is Richtofen.

He says "accept your fate, begin anew" twice. One time it is hard to hear, the next time it is clear. It is obvious that it is Richtofen. They made it this way for new players who want to jump in with Samuel getting messed with, and not knowing a ton of the back story.

The reason Richtofen brings them BACK IN TIME (as confirmed by the latest Dr. Maxis journal entry) is to illustrate the fact that you must have 4 players. He says "accept your fate (death), begin a new (new game)" because you cannot do the EE (which is what he wants) without 4 players, thus they go back in time, get Dejavu, and try to do it again.

Most likely this has been going on for a long long time as Maxis said he was searching for decades at one point. Additionally if Richtofen needs living humans to activate things he cannot manipulate through the aether, and it takes 4 of them for the EE, but he has the power to reverse time then he can keep trying again, and again, and again, and again, until either the team gets it or he finds a new team.

This is evident from the TV transmissions where there is a girl talking about how the guy with a German accent told her what to do, she followed the instructions, but he stopped talking to her.

[SeaboundSlayer]

Why when we activate the radio tower for Maxis does Richtofen not use his powers to send us back in time to complete his side and why is the colour purple used instead of blue?

[nayrcraig]

Why when we activate the radio tower for Maxis does Richtofen not use his powers to send us back in time to complete his side and why is the colour purple used instead of blue?

Personally i haven't look into this much yet, but maybe he can only bring them back in time when they die, hence him needing them to all die before bringing them all back in the opening cutscence.

This would explain why he cannot just put them back if they try to help maxis.

[CrimsonZombie]

Why when we activate the radio tower for Maxis does Richtofen not use his powers to send us back in time to complete his side and why is the colour purple used instead of blue?

Maybe now Maxis control's the energy field in tranzit and So Richtofen can't do anything. Plus this is a choice made by the player, not treyarch. Don't think to deep into this. Treyarch is famous for tricking and hiding what in front of you.

[zombo187]

The garbled voice is Richtofen.

He says "accept your fate, begin anew" twice. One time it is hard to hear, the next time it is clear. It is obvious that it is Richtofen. They made it this way for new players who want to jump in with Samuel getting messed with, and not knowing a ton of the back story.

The reason Richtofen brings them BACK IN TIME (as confirmed by the latest Dr. Maxis journal entry) is to illustrate the fact that you must have 4 players. He says "accept your fate (death), begin a new (new game)" because you cannot do the EE (which is what he wants) without 4 players, thus they go back in time, get Dejavu, and try to do it again.

Most likely this has been going on for a long long time as Maxis said he was searching for decades at one point. Additionally if Richtofen needs living humans to activate things he cannot manipulate through the aether, and it takes 4 of them for the EE, but he has the power to reverse time then he can keep trying again, and again, and again, and again, until either the team gets it or he finds a new team.

This is evident from the TV transmissions where there is a girl talking about how the guy with a German accent told her what to do, she followed the instructions, but he stopped talking to her.

I may be one of the people at odds with the general forums but I completely disagree. no offense, I do not mean to be rude. We cannot assume it is Richtofen talking. Although it is easy to make that assumption, I am not quite ready to YET. There are still too many variables. As for your "introduce Stu's plight to new gamers" the, it just doesn't add up. That movie scene was confusing for the most knowlegable zombies player. How on earth could this be some form of introduction to the zombies lore? All new players can take from that intro is that the world is over, we teleport and dude is hearing voices. Secondly there are further complications to the implications of Richtofen being able to reverse time. Could we argue that Sam could do it too? Why wouldn't she save her father, if so? She basically watched him die, and this is the cause for her vendetta. Yes she is a little girl, and may not understand her power or how to use it, but children are more open minded and creative than adults. She would have tried to save him in any way possible.

for all intents and purposes we CAN assume that Richtofen is talking and reversed time somehow to further his own agenda,I am not saying this is wrong. I am just trying to say that the theory, although straight forward, seems to clash with the story.

Further more, why would Richtofen say these words before the crew dies and respawns. They don't remember what he says, so for whose benefit is he saying this? This is a question directed at no one in particular. I don't mean to try and shoot down your theories. Im sure you know what your talking about.

In nearly every other instance of time travel, we see it visualized in the loading screens. However this one shows the second arrival to the site and not the first.

[MNM1995]

I think the reason he teleported them all back through time was because they were all killed, not just Russman. It's pretty clear that Misty, Marlton and Samuel all get swarmed at the end of the cutacene, and it is very likely they all die. Richtofen likely knew this before they reached the bottom of the elevator, hence why he tells Samuel to "accept your fate, begin anew!".

Also, I think that is definately Richtofen's voice. If you remember, Samantha could manipulate and distort her voice to (like when she says "Kaboom" and whilst she is cursing Richtofen when he is filling up the tanks with souls during the Moon EE). Richtofen wouldn't want to tell Samuel what needs to be done because that was too easy- he secretly enjoyed the challenges he faced whilst trying to get tasks done in previous EE's from BO1, and is doing the same in BO2. This also explains why Samuel is getting so annoyed with Richtofen when he communicates with him- because he never gives a clear answer, he just talks in riddles.

[SeaboundSlayer]

@CrimsonZombie

Why does Maxis control the 'energy field' in Tranzit? There were two sides of the easter egg, to follow Maxis and to follow Richtofen. How can you assume Maxis holds control?

@MNM1995

So, Richtofen knew that the remaining three were going to die, so told them to accept their fate and start over again? Why, as controller of the zombies, did he not reduce the hoard to stop them from dieing? I remain adamant that it is not Richtofen.

I stated in my post that at first glance it seems to be just a distorted Richtofen, but when you look at the evidence it seems the two voices are separate entities. If you listen to a couple of audio quotes from the radios on Moon, when Samantha first enters the MPD her voice is normal; it is clear that years trapped in the Aether had driven her insane, thus changing her voice. Why, in the very sudden transition from Tranzit to Die Rise, do we see an almost instant change in Richtofen's voice - that he switches to and from freely!

[HammerFace]

@CrimsonZombie

Why does Maxis control the 'energy field' in Tranzit? There were two sides of the easter egg, to follow Maxis and to follow Richtofen. How can you assume Maxis holds control?

@MNM1995

So, Richtofen knew that the remaining three were going to die, so told them to accept their fate and start over again? Why, as controller of the zombies, did he not reduce the hoard to stop them from dieing? I remain adamant that it is not Richtofen.

I stated in my post that at first glance it seems to be just a distorted Richtofen, but when you look at the evidence it seems the two voices are separate entities. If you listen to a couple of audio quotes from the radios on Moon, when Samantha first enters the MPD her voice is normal; it is clear that years trapped in the Aether had driven her insane, thus changing her voice. Why, in the very sudden transition from Tranzit to Die Rise, do we see an almost instant change in Richtofen's voice - that he switches to and from freely!

He doesnt control them, I think. I'm pretty sure Maxis nuking Earth ensured he would not control them, or control them properly at least. I mean if Richtofen were actually the controller of the zombies and he wanted the crew to do something for him why send zombies after them at all?

[MNM1995]

@MNM1995

So, Richtofen knew that the remaining three were going to die, so told them to accept their fate and start over again? Why, as controller of the zombies, did he not reduce the hoard to stop them from dieing? I remain adamant that it is not Richtofen.

I stated in my post that at first glance it seems to be just a distorted Richtofen, but when you look at the evidence it seems the two voices are separate entities. If you listen to a couple of audio quotes from the radios on Moon, when Samantha first enters the MPD her voice is normal; it is clear that years trapped in the Aether had driven her insane, thus changing her voice. Why, in the very sudden transition from Tranzit to Die Rise, do we see an almost instant change in Richtofen's voice - that he switches to and from freely!

I don't believe Richtofen has full control of the zombies. He can stop them spawning in as much (like he says in TranZit, he can hold them off for a while) but I believe that he cannot simply stop the zombie from eating people.

In regards to your theory, you have to bear in mind that Samantha has always been able to do this, and besides that Richtofen was insane going into the MPD so he would have had an advatnage. Of course Samantha's voice was normal then, she had only just entered! She's not likely to know all the powers at her fingertips immediately. She even says in Moon that Richtofen is terrible at controlling the zombies and that he needs more practice, not suprising seeing as he just gained control.

You are also forgetting Samantha could change between the voices freely as well (proven on Moon and as I mentioned before when powerups are dropped). I think you are jumping to conclusions about this- Samuel can only hear one voice in his head, and it's Richtofens. This is proven on Die Rise, when the Who's Who perk is bought by him. He says:

"Who is who? That's a good question. Like that crazy German guy in my head!"

I'm sorry, but if the character himself confirming he only hears one voice, and making no mention of another voice or anything of the sort, is not enough proof that at the time being there is only one voice in his head, then I don't know what is.

[CrimsonZombie]

@CrimsonZombie

Why does Maxis control the 'energy field' in Tranzit? There were two sides of the easter egg, to follow Maxis and to follow Richtofen. How can you assume Maxis holds control?

Remember that Maxis made sure Richthofen doesn't control the zombie's on earth. If he did then there would be no continue of zombies. So Richtofen can't control the zombie's but still has power. Think of doing Maxis side like building an emp to disrupt Richtofen power in the area and increase Maxis's. Still maxis has some power as well but not the same as Richtofens. So if your about to ask "well then how did they get to China?" Maxis still can teleport them as well as Richtofen. Though Richtofen controls the moon, so maybe the four are dead or still fighting i don't know. Maxis is trying to stop Richtofen to continue his plan of domination over earth. Richtofen even say you are helping him to gain control to earth and rebuild it in his own way as a god.

[zombo187]

@MNM1995 it seems that saying there is only one voice is jumping to conclusions. to me anyway. We have evidence of other voices. speaking to Richtofen. Even when we played Richtofen we never actually heard the voices. I understand your probably locked in on the one voice theory but you should try keeping an open mind.

On Moon Samantha says "There are far worse things than you in there." That seems to be hinting at something.

Then there is the whole (bear with me as i try and spell this) Michantuhli aspect. There is a reference to him in MOON (in adverts. "Idle Idol") and the new Nuketown loading screen.

Just sayin...

[CrimsonZombie]

@MNM1995 it seems that saying there is only one voice is jumping to conclusions. to me anyway. We have evidence of other voices. speaking to Richtofen. Even when we played Richtofen we never actually heard the voices. I understand your probably locked in on the one voice theory but you should try keeping an open mind.

On Moon Samantha says "There are far worse things than you in there." That seems to be hinting at something.

Then there is the whole (bear with me as i try and spell this) Michantuhli aspect. There is a reference to him in MOON (in adverts. "Idle Idol") and the new Nuketown loading screen.

Just sayin...

True, still Samuel only hear's Richtofen but the other voice's are with Samantha (in Richtofen body). Richtofen was doing his part with element 115 then gone crazy an started hearing voices. So 115 gave him the ability to talk with "the Voice's" 8-). Samuel never did what Richtofen did by mis-take or none at all. But yes there are other voices.

[InfestLithium]

The garbled voice cannot be 100% determined as Richtofen's, but there is no other explanation to actually connect it to this "dark entity" inside the Aether. The muffling of his voice is to give us the clear clues of Stuhlinger's involvement in The Flesh cult and some procedure of "mending the rift". It's set up to make us think hard about was has just been presented to us.

Towards the end of the cutscene, Richtofen's voice becomes much clearer so we can hear the repeated "Accept your fate, begin anew" phrase. This seems to be a foretold message that the crew would eventually perish, so there is no point in surviving. In response, time is bent backwards to the crew's entrance in Shanghai. Beginning anew is either two things: resurrection, or time distortion. Maxis and Richtofen need the crew, so they surely do not want them to die. If we follow the time distortion concept, it would be easy to say that Richtofen has just enough power to reverse time to a period from a very short timeline. Therefore, the crew would've had to fail within a short matter of time before meeting their small demise.

[MNM1995]

@MNM1995 it seems that saying there is only one voice is jumping to conclusions. to me anyway. We have evidence of other voices. speaking to Richtofen. Even when we played Richtofen we never actually heard the voices. I understand your probably locked in on the one voice theory but you should try keeping an open mind.

On Moon Samantha says "There are far worse things than you in there." That seems to be hinting at something.

Then there is the whole (bear with me as i try and spell this) Michantuhli aspect. There is a reference to him in MOON (in adverts. "Idle Idol") and the new Nuketown loading screen.

Just sayin...

Perhaps there are other voices in there, and i'm not completely dispelling this theory, but for now we know there is only one voice in Samuel's and that is Richtofen's. We would be jumping to conclusions if we believe there are more than one voice in Samuel's head as we only have solid evidence of one voice, no more.

[SeaboundSlayer]

@HammerFace & CrimsonZombie

Maxis nuked the Earth to reduce the severity of Richtofen being in power - he essentially reduced the amount of zombies Richtofen could control by obliterating their corpses.

@MNM1995

Where can I find this quote from Tranzit? I don't think you understand, I probably didn't explain myself properly. The transition period from Tranzit to Die Rise was pretty much instantaneous, no? We never heard any distortion of Richtofen's voice in Tranzit, why would he suddenly utilise it when we got to Die Rise, and why to the extent that sometimes we cannot even comprehend what he is saying? It seems more likely to me that Samuel has just started hearing another voice in his head, and I also think this new being is somewhat responsible for the teleportation of the crew.

"Who is who? That's a good question. Like that crazy German guy in my head!" I don't see how this confirms Richtofen is the only voice in his head.

@InfestLithium

Are you saying that Richtofen's voice has been muffled to effect by the developers to make us think more carefully about what is being said? So Samuel is simply hearing Richtofen as he is normally when we are hearing the muffled voice?

[CrimsonZombie]

@HammerFace & CrimsonZombie

Maxis nuked the Earth to reduce the severity of Richtofen being in power - he essentially reduced the amount of zombies Richtofen could control by obliterating their corpses.

I"m well aware of this and was trying to explain that Maxis is still trying to stop Richtofen plans. You did do the EE for Tranzit and Die Rise right? They both involve tower's that represent radio antenna. Richtofen can gain control of the zombie's once more by using them. It's like controlling a remote control zombie with the towers. But by doing Maxis side, it reduce's the frequency of Richtofen power to the area. Which give's Maxis an advantage.

[SeaboundSlayer]

@HammerFace & CrimsonZombie

Maxis nuked the Earth to reduce the severity of Richtofen being in power - he essentially reduced the amount of zombies Richtofen could control by obliterating their corpses.

I"m well aware of this and was trying to explain that Maxis is still trying to stop Richtofen plans. You did do the EE for Tranzit and Die Rise right? They both involve tower's that represent radio antenna. Richtofen can gain control of the zombie's once more by using them. It's like controlling a remote control zombie with the towers. But by doing Maxis side, it reduce's the frequency of Richtofen power to the area. Which give's Maxis an advantage.

You clearly aren't well aware of it as you contradicted yourself in your post. Richtofen does control the zombies -- the purpose of the radio towers is currently unknown.

[MNM1995]

"Who is who? That's a good question. Like that crazy German guy in my head!"

I don't see how this confirms Richtofen is the only voice in his head.

Does he mention any other voices then? Surely he would if he was thinking about the voices in his head? I think that kinda sums it up, and besides if you looked at my later comments, I said that there is no proof anywhere that there is any voices, other than Richtofen in Samuel's head yet it is already a given fact Richtofen can communicate with Samuel. Until this point is proven, I hold true to the fact that Richtofen is the only voice in Samuel's head.

If in another Zombies map this is proven false, I will of course take back everything here as my theory would no longer be correct and your's would be, but until then your point is just a theory, regardless of the fact that their could be other voices too.

EDIT: In regards to the TranZit quote, go on Youtube and look for any videos with all of Richtofen's quotes from TranZit on it. It'll be there.

[HammerFace]

Why would Richthofen try to kill the crew if he needs then to complete the tower? It doesn't make sense, so maybe he doesn't control the zombies or he doesn't control them completely. Also wouldn't nuking the earth with 115 missiles create more zombies than it killed?

[CrimsonZombie]

Why would Richthofen try to kill the crew if he needs then to complete the tower? It doesn't make sense, so maybe he doesn't control the zombies or he doesn't control them completely. Also wouldn't nuking the earth with 115 missiles create more zombies than it killed?

Well since all wonder weapons use element 115 the vr-11 turns zombies back into humans. But hey that's the gun it's self and you are right about creating more zombies.

[MNM1995]

Why would Richthofen try to kill the crew if he needs then to complete the tower? It doesn't make sense, so maybe he doesn't control the zombies or he doesn't control them completely. Also wouldn't nuking the earth with 115 missiles create more zombies than it killed?

That's what I think too, that the nukes reduced the control Richtofen has over the zombies although as he says in TranZit to Samuel, it's something along the lines of:

"What is wrong? Why are you not helping? Look, I can keep my minions away for a short while, just get it done!"

This shows us that, at the very least, Richtofen can control the amount of zombies that come to attack the survivors, and I think it's fair to say that these easter eggs are to build up either Richtofen's or Maxis's power.

[SeaboundSlayer]

Also wouldn't nuking the earth with 115 missiles create more zombies than it killed?

The bombs were massive nuclear explosions, they would vaporise bodies, turning them to ash so there are no dead cells for the 115 to reanimate.

Illustrated in this graphic video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lDFLLKSkUg (go to 2:18)

[InfestLithium]

@InfestLithium

Are you saying that Richtofen's voice has been muffled to effect by the developers to make us think more carefully about what is being said? So Samuel is simply hearing Richtofen as he is normally when we are hearing the muffled voice?

Yes. Treyarch has given us enough detail on Stuhlinger's importance in the current storyline. At this moment, we are getting closer to understanding what "mend[ing] the rift" actually means. It also allows us to better analyze The Flesh cult and how Stuhlinger is incorporated into it exactly. We know that he was a part of them, but for what reason did he leave? And what will become of him when the others discover his grueling history? It's a setup for a cliffhanger until we gain more evidence/theories.

[GRILL]

might I also add that we have heard Richtofen use a demonic voice before...

like when he was getting used to ze Aether

q6Rm1yUV2Hs

link for mobile: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6Rm1yUV2Hs

it's not exactly the same as the Die Rise intro, but similar enough...

jck0cR7CR2I

link for mobile: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jck0cR7CR2I

I'm glad that we're getting a tangible story, rather then a bunch of random conspiracy theories regurgitated by a driving robot. Really interested to see what becomes of the flesh, and where the N4 are going.