Mecca -- The Journey

[FatedTitan]

As we all remember, Der Reise's translation is The Journey. For a long time, we've been on a long journey, seeing places as creepy as a Nazi brain washing theater, as frigid as Siberia, and as high as the Moon can take you. But for a long time, we haven't know where this journey would take us. I believe I may have found where our journey will be leading us to. And that place is Mecca.

Mecca is the religious center of the Islamic faith. This is the place where Muhammad was born and where the Quran was revealed to him. This is the holy city of Islam. Every year, Muslims take a pilgrimage to Mecca to worship Allah at the Grand Mosque. A pilgrimage, as many know, is a journey. Not just any journey for a Muslim. It is The Journey.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mecca

So why does this matter? Well recently, and by recently I mean within the past day, Peter Livingstone changed his profile picture on Twitter to the Grand Mosque at the center of Mecca. I had to wonder why he would do this. Easter is a big time for Christianity, but not so much Islam. Ramadan isn't until November. So there had to be a reason. The Grand Mosque has long been thought of as a very mystical and historic sight, but there is something that is in the center of the Grand Mosque that catches my attention.

The Black Stone is thought to be many different things, whether that be natural glass, basalt stone, or even a meteorite. In fact, a meteorite is the most popular explanation of what The Black Stone is. The Black Stone in Islamic belief was a place that God told Adam and Eve to build an altar. He sent the stone from Heaven to show them where to build. This would be the first temple on earth.

"[T]he Prophet has named the (Black Stone) the 'right hand of God' (yamin-Allah), and for purpose. In fact one poses there one's hand to conclude the pact, and God obtains there our pact of allegiance and submission. In the qur'anic terminology, God is the king, and ... in (his) realm there is a metropolis (Umm al-Qurra) and in the metropolis naturally a palace (Bait-Allah, home of God). If a subject wants to testify to his loyalty, he has to go to the royal palace and conclude personally the pact of allegiance. The right hand of the invisible God must be visible symbolically. And that is the al-Hajar al-Aswad, the Black Stone in the Ka'bah[*]

The Black Stone is the right hand of God. Throughout the Bible, the right hand of God is a symbol of power. Jesus sits at the right hand of God. The right hand of God is extremely symbolic in Christianity and Islam. Both show that the right hand of God is a symbol of power and salvation.

http://whatthebiblesays.info/TheRightHandofGod.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Stone

So where does all this tie in? This is where it gets interesting. Let's look at these pictures (thanks I Grill I).

As you can see, we have the different locations all highlighted above where missiles will/have potential to hit. If we were to change a few things on this map and put

missile strikes in different locations, but still viable options based on our other in game missile strike location, we can see some...interesting things. Let's make our missile strike in China at the southern tip. We really don't know where we hit in China, just that it was in China. Let's move the missile strike in Europe to Spain. I chose Spain because the developers tweeted yesterday Chicos and Chicas, two Spanish terms. This could refer to the next map being in Spain. Obviously this is all speculation and might be thrown out in a week, but look what we have.

As we can see in this picture, the line from Spain to China runs very close to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. If the force was strong enough, the line would run directly into Mecca where The Black Stone is. Could this be our true obelisk that Richtofen wants powered? Could we be headed to the Middle East in Map pack 3? Think about it. The rock is thought to possibly be a meteorite(115 anyone?) and fallen long ago. This seems to be set up perfectly for an epic Middle Eastern map.

Now, to the hard side of this theory. I want to believe this to be true but there are many factors that make me question it being right.

1. I honestly had to stretch to make Mecca fit on that map. It's the right location, but Spain is a stretch and south China is also a stretch. It's a possibility, but it's still tough to make it work.

2. The Black Stone is very sacred to Islam. Infinity Ward had to take Favela off of their map rotation in Modern Warfare 2 just because someone found a text from the Quran on the ground. This makes me strongly believe that it Treyarch would not risk the backlash from Muslims over having a map in one of their most sacred places.

At the end of the day, I feel this would be a very interesting map if it went through and a very interesting tie in to the story. The Journey that started long ago could lead us here.

What does everyone think?

[*]Shenk, David W. (2006). Journeys of the Muslim nation and the Christian church: exploring the mission of two communities. Uzima Publishing House. p. 161. ISBN 978-9966-855-21-3.

[TBGxRyan]

You have to think about the world maps a bit better.

The maps you've used are a flat version of the globe.

The earth we blew up on moon was just the american area of it.

Showing all 3 missiles hit around America.

But, still a good point & theory none the less!

[ThrowAmonkeyBomb]

i like this throry :)

[FatedTitan]

Also, I forgot to add this.

The right hand of God can symbolize power or salvation. Now look at what we've been doing. We have two different sides, Maxis and Richtofen, telling us what to do. Richtofen wants power and control. Maxis claims to want to save mankind, aka salvation.

[FreDelicia]

You got a nice theory going on dude !

But if I'm not mistaken that in game pic was sent by me, not Grill. I posted it right after he had shown that isosceles triangle on google maps. After seeing that google maps pic the first thing that came to my mind was the impact points seen from Moon. It's a pattern !

[FatedTitan]

Sorry about that I just saw him in the quote with the pictures.

[FreDelicia]

Sorry about that I just saw him in the quote with the pictures.

No problem ! I assume that would eventually happen, I'm not as much active member as I was.

You got a nice theory, keep up the good work !

[killallzombies]

I like this theory, it's interesting.

But...who is Peter Livingstone?

[InfestLithium]

Great connections and theory, friendo. I've always wondered how Der Reise's misspelling would come into play sooner or later. It's good to see a connection now off of it. The question now becomes how will this come into play in our Black Ops II storyline?

Kudos, friendo. :)

[FatedTitan]

Peter Livingstone is one of the developers for zombies. His Twitter is @flyinhaggis.

[GRILL]

Well done Fated, on finding a link between Mecca & The Journey.

Though it's too bad you didn't take a screencap of Peter's twitter, he changed his profile picture!

This is what it is now:

I'm not sure if this is now a personal picture, or if it has anything to do with Zombies... :?

So let's add up the tweets in the order they were given:

- (2 road signs) Ireland

- (1 church) Ireland (?)

- (2 carpet pictures) ???

- (2 bathroom signs) Spain or (?) (unsure on this one, could really be anywhere)

- (Peter L's twitter profile picture) Mecca

Very cryptic. I'm really stumped on this one.

Also: I'd actually be inclined to put this thread either in The Asylum, or Future Maps. It's too good to get buried here in general.

[FatedTitan]

His picture was the first picture I gave.

And thanks for the kind words, but I don't think this belongs in the Asylum. I didn't put enough effort in to warrant that.

[NikolaisVodka]

I thought Der Riese's translation was "The Giant"?

[FatedTitan]

It is, but Treyarch has also spelled it Der Reise in advertisements. They have purposely made is an interchangeable word.

[Outcognito]

I thought Der Riese's translation was "The Giant"?

Yes, Der Riese translates to "The Giant" and is part of the name of the facility (Waffenfabrik der Riese), but in some promotional material it's spelled Der Reise, which is "the journey" or "the trip".