Why is MotD happening?

[JuggerWicho]

Ok guys. I've read a lot of theories, some of them increibly factible, about the events we are living on Alcatraz.

We all know that Lucifer is now present. Lot's of things prove this.

We know that this events should not be happening, that our crew actually died. First Al, then the other 3.

But they entered a loop, a loop that will continue until Al succeeds in his plan.

Some people say that this loop is controlled by Lucifer, like in Tranzit or Die Rise: They fail, they begin anew.

Why? Because they need to accomplish the mission of powering up towers for whatever reason, related whith Richtofen and this demon.

But, what about Al and his crew?

Why would Lucifer stuck this guys? Why does he wants Arlington to live and suceed? It's the only thing I really don't get of this map.

Why is this loop in Alcatraz (Or hell, purgatory, Al's dream, whatever) happening?

Thanks for reading, please leave your thoughts.

[HypeRedemption]

I'm pretty sure, but I'm not too confident, but this whole cycle thing isn't only present in zombies, I'm pretty sure its a belief it happens to ghosts when they're in purgatory or something.

[MysteryMachineX]

I think it is because Lucifer is pure evil, and he wants to watch them suffer. In fact, we don't even know that this is a special event. Perhaps this is how he tortured lots of really bad people the day they died?

[Electric Jesus]

The fact that you actually "win" after breaking the cycle makes me think Lucifer (or whoever) isn't holding you there as punishment, but long enough for you to complete a task. Once you complete it you are rewarded with freedom. No eternal prison of torture would offer that type of salvation. of course that's just my opinion.

My idea is that Lucifer or whoever the higher power on this map is uses his powers to influence the characters from MotD into completing their tasks because of the temporal butterfly effect. A small change in the past can lead to an unimaginably massive change in the future. By influencing the mobsters, maybe it results in... Something. Yes, that's it. It results in something. What that thing might be? Well it could be anything.

[AlphaOmega]

The cycle, i think, it more of the fact that Al was killed by his accomplies.

Breaking the cycle is HIM killing the traitors. Perhaps it is just that easy.

But my question is: How will this cycle affect the overall story? Perhaps this is the rift? Or perhaps breaking the cycle mends the rift AKA the GG bridge that connects us to the real world?

[FatedTitan]

I refer you to my Ghosts of Alcatraz thread in my signature.

In essence, they're ghosts on a cycle repeating their recorded patterns. Things get messed up somehow and they don't do what they should, the rift breaks, and with the side quest, we mend this rift.

I believe this map exists because

A. It's an awesome location to do a zombie map at with lots of potential for creepiness

and

B. To show us what mending a rift looks like.

[JuggerWicho]

I think like a mix of everything you guys say.

What about if Treyarch made this map to show us:

1.- That this Ateher Demon exists and what his power is.

2.- (As said by FatedTitan) To show us what a temporal rift is.

Maybe it isn't that important storywise, they are just telling us: "Hey see how Lucifer has fun with this guys and what he's able to do."

[Xieon]

Ok, Al is possesed/satanic. If you look at the drawings you can see he's hearing/seeing things like Richtofen, and Sam.

If you notice in the opening he says something isn't right, and turns and runs away from the other 3. Here's what happened:

Al has some voice talking to him. It causes him to perform some sort of Satanic ritual/selling his soul to the devil. He believes that if he sells his soul to the devil, he will get to escape, and the devil is what helps him gain the trust of the others. At the end of the EE it says "How Arlington got the others to go along with his plan was never known".

So Al sells his soul to the devil, and that what gets the escape plan/team together. But the team kills him, then they are executed. So all 4 of them are dead in reality. They are now forced to relive the same night over, and over, FOREVER. Sometimes they remember things, or say "did we leave this here", but they have no memory of the "cycle", although Weasel does. After the FIRST time them try the escape plan the night happens again, exactly the same way. However, all the sudden it changes to Hell. Thus Weasel says "something isn't right".

All 4 characters exist in the timeline of the original 4, the new 4, and the crew from 5, and the team from COTD. Except they are dead. If Richtofen looked up Arlington he'd find out he was killed on New Years Eve at Alcatraz, the others executed. The same for the others. (Maybe Richtofen/Sam/Samuel know whats going on because the demon may tell them about MoTD).

Anyway, this is all the same timeline. Except when we are playing we are all currently dead, and living in hell, repeating the same night over, and over, except the original first night didn't have Zombies, or any of that stuff. It's only after they die and are forced to live in their own personal hell, which is a model of Alcatraz that's physically in hell.

This is also supported by my theory that when Samantha says "something more evil than you lies here" or something, and Maxis blows up the Earth, it's because it would force Richtofen to live in his own personal hell for all Eternity.

[JuggerWicho]

Ok, Al is possesed/satanic. If you look at the drawings you can see he's hearing/seeing things like Richtofen, and Sam.

If you notice in the opening he says something isn't right, and turns and runs away from the other 3. Here's what happened:

Al has some voice talking to him. It causes him to perform some sort of Satanic ritual/selling his soul to the devil. He believes that if he sells his soul to the devil, he will get to escape, and the devil is what helps him gain the trust of the others. At the end of the EE it says "How Arlington got the others to go along with his plan was never known".

So Al sells his soul to the devil, and that what gets the escape plan/team together. But the team kills him, then they are executed. So all 4 of them are dead in reality. They are now forced to relive the same night over, and over, FOREVER. Sometimes they remember things, or say "did we leave this here", but they have no memory of the "cycle", although Weasel does. After the FIRST time them try the escape plan the night happens again, exactly the same way. However, all the sudden it changes to Hell. Thus Weasel says "something isn't right".

All 4 characters exist in the timeline of the original 4, the new 4, and the crew from 5, and the team from COTD. Except they are dead. If Richtofen looked up Arlington he'd find out he was killed on New Years Eve at Alcatraz, the others executed. The same for the others. (Maybe Richtofen/Sam/Samuel know whats going on because the demon may tell them about MoTD).

Anyway, this is all the same timeline. Except when we are playing we are all currently dead, and living in hell, repeating the same night over, and over, except the original first night didn't have Zombies, or any of that stuff. It's only after they die and are forced to live in their own personal hell, which is a model of Alcatraz that's physically in hell.

This is also supported by my theory that when Samantha says "something more evil than you lies here" or something, and Maxis blows up the Earth, it's because it would force Richtofen to live in his own personal hell for all Eternity.

I like that idea of Al selling his soul to the demon, it explains almost everything.

Maybe the contract also included making real the things he draws. The plane, the dogs and even maybe Electric Cherry.

He looks very surprised when he builds the plane: "Hey, it looks just like my drawing! Like if he wasn't expecting that.

The afterlife and Shock Gibson may be connected to, again, making whatever he draws real in "his world".

About the voices he hears, what do you need to have close so Al can hear it? Because I've played a lot of times as Al and never heard anything.

[FatedTitan]

Sure, it would explain some things, but there's no evidence that supports him selling him soul to the devil. More evidence points toward the Warden being the Satanic person.

[SacredRevenge]

I think like a mix of everything you guys say.

What about if Treyarch made this map to show us:

1.- That this Ateher Demon exists and what his power is.

2.- (As said by FatedTitan) To show us what a temporal rift is.

Maybe it isn't that important storywise, they are just telling us: "Hey see how Lucifer has fun with this guys and what he's able to do."

Good post. A lot of supporting evidence etc around the map, my favorite supporter of this theory is when Brutus says "You cannot escape your sins."

[YungRob420]

Sure, it would explain some things, but there's no evidence that supports him selling him soul to the devil. More evidence points toward the Warden being the Satanic person.

There's No absolute proof. But you could assume he is the one who sold his soul, due to the Dog heads appearing. And One of the characters says something about the chalk drawings Weasel Drew.(sorry i don't remember the exact quote) How would he have known to draw those heads if he wasn't working with a higher Satanic Power? That does not discredit that the Warden could also be working with a satanic power as well.

[FatedTitan]

I'm just saying that there is nothing pointing to Weasel making a deal with the Devil besides speculation. There's nothing in the map doing it.

[Megaton A]

One thing that confuses me if this is supposed to be hell is that Brutus sometimes says "I'm stuck here... just like you!"

Why would the guard be in hell? In the intro he's shown as a father of a young child and his murder by Al a kind of tragedy. This alone tells me that the entire map takes place in a kind of purgatory. Because he was killed and left behind a young child, his soul is not at rest and he is trapped there with the rest of the crew because he has unfinished business. This is why he is trying to kill them... to get revenge on them for taking his life and make right how he was wronged.

They are all stuck in purgatory (or some other kind of in-between state of death and whatever comes after) and cannot move on to their "final destination" until their business is finished.

Also note how the prison suddenly transforms in the intro when the zombies begin to appear. I think this is the moment they realize that they are no longer alive, but in some other state of being. The place goes from a normal prison to having hanging bodies and barbed wire everywhere all at once.

[Blitz]

"Al" Arlington is a inspiring comic book artist. Upon his editor constantly "Defacing" his art he turns to a life of crime as a "Booky" or a numbers keeper in order to pay the bills. Al is smarter than he looks and can normally Weasel his way in or out of any deal, hence the nick-name "Weasel".

Unfortunately, for Al a deal went south ultimately ending up with the crew, Billy, Finn, Sal, and himself winding up as prisoners on "Hell Island", Alcatraz. The other three told Al, that since they got him there that it was his responsibility for getting them off the island.

Al spent months planning to build "Icarus" which was named after one of the heroes in his new comic book. Al continued to write and draw comics while in Alcatraz to pass the time but his ultimate goal was to escape. He continued sending his work by mail to the "Editor" but it all resulted with the same outcome, it was never good enough.

Time went by and the other three weren't seeing any of the results, they looked at the drawings of the plane he made and said it would never fly. They eventually lost their temper knowing they were never going to escape and ended up shanking Arlington to death on the rooftop as Al was describing the ramp system he came up with. They then drug his body and hid it inside the shed on the roof.

The other 3 were then tried and executed for the murder of Al on that cold New Year's Night.

That was History... Then something changed...

A rift was opened in the space-time continuum as the result of experimental Nazi Time-Travel. Time was never meant to be manipulated but due to a new element being discovered resulted in experiments with "Magical" outcomes. This element is known as Ununpentium also known as Element 115.

With this new discovery, it led to new break throughs in science, primarily with Teleportation and Time Manipulation. Unfortunately, it had an alternate use, bringing the dead back to life, but that's another story.

With the experimentation and constant breaches through time, the rift was created. This rift resulted in time freezing in place, not only in the present, but also in the past. The past was reliving the same moment over and over again, but only a few were aware of it.

The Prisoners were some of those few. They knew what was going to happen, but had no control on how to change it so the cycle continued, Al being murdered and the others being executed.

Al has always been smart, and an artist of sorts, the others are completely useless. So Al was chosen... By who you ask? An ancient being, that had quietly been residing inside the world that he has know for centuries.

As Al sat in his cell he began seeing weird symbols, and was receiving odd messages. He began documenting them but kept them to himself. He never knew what role this ancient being was about to instill upon him.

It was Dec 31, 1932 New Year's Eve, and the cycle was about to begin again.

Finn states, "Sal, we must have been through this Fifty times already."

Sal replies, "And we'll go throught with it another fifty if thats what it takes."

Everything seems to be repeating the same until a guard that Weasel killed comes back with glowing red eyes. The crew unloaded their revolvers until the guard finally dropped. Then the prison began to morph into the definition of hell itself.

Weasel says, "This ain't right, something weird's going on here..."

Weasel has been given his mission to break the cycle. He has to survive and execute his three murderers himself. Thus breaking the cycle. Upon breaking the cycle he is given a gift, what gift is that? Immortality.

Weasel has been made the pawn of the ancient being residing inside the MDP.

What is his new mission? Stopping Rictofen and Maxis from ever ruling the Earth.

How will he do that? By creating the cult of "The Flesh".

Why would he create the cult? Because only those who have ingested zombie flesh can be communicated to by the "Ancient One."

Stulinger has ingested Zombie Flesh due to the Cult, Stulinger is being communicated to by the Ancient One. Unfortunately, he has two conflicting voices in his head, as well as a third through electronic devices.

We are now going to have a third choice of someone to help. By helping the Ancient One we restore balance.

If you want to restore balance you have to start over, maybe we are stuck in one continuous loop. The only way of restoring balance is by breaking the cycle.

[JuggerWicho]

^^^Great theory. But, where's your proof?

We know that we're in a cycle, and that this ancient being or demon has to do with all this events.

But... Sending his drawings to the editor, immortality, create the flesh cult? It really sounds interesing, but can you support it?

I think it's easier and more likely to say that they are in another dimension, like limbo or hell.

I think the Editor itself is Arlington, from the past and the present. He wrote something in his notebook, once the cycle was restarted he saw that and correct everything he did wrong in the future, before we "went insane" with all the escape plan.

As Megaton A said, it looks that they are in a place where souls have to accomplish what they didn't in the real life.

Brutus wants revenge, Arlington wants revenge.

In the real timeline, all the crew is dead, nothing of this is actually happening. Alcatraz is in its own temporal bubble, in some way, created by Arlington and controlled by this being.

[Guest]

One thing that confuses me if this is supposed to be hell is that Brutus sometimes says "I'm stuck here... just like you!"

Why would the guard be in hell? In the intro he's shown as a father of a young child and his murder by Al a kind of tragedy. This alone tells me that the entire map takes place in a kind of purgatory. Because he was killed and left behind a young child, his soul is not at rest and he is trapped there with the rest of the crew because he has unfinished business. This is why he is trying to kill them... to get revenge on them for taking his life and make right how he was wronged.

They are all stuck in purgatory (or some other kind of in-between state of death and whatever comes after) and cannot move on to their "final destination" until their business is finished.

Also note how the prison suddenly transforms in the intro when the zombies begin to appear. I think this is the moment they realize that they are no longer alive, but in some other state of being. The place goes from a normal prison to having hanging bodies and barbed wire everywhere all at once.

and I agree.

[Speedo Cola]

"Al" Arlington is a inspiring comic book artist. Upon his editor constantly "Defacing" his art he turns to a life of crime as a "Booky" or a numbers keeper in order to pay the bills. Al is smarter than he looks and can normally Weasel his way in or out of any deal, hence the nick-name "Weasel".

Unfortunately, for Al a deal went south ultimately ending up with the crew, Billy, Finn, Sal, and himself winding up as prisoners on "Hell Island", Alcatraz. The other three told Al, that since they got him there that it was his responsibility for getting them off the island.

Al spent months planning to build "Icarus" which was named after one of the heroes in his new comic book. Al continued to write and draw comics while in Alcatraz to pass the time but his ultimate goal was to escape. He continued sending his work by mail to the "Editor" but it all resulted with the same outcome, it was never good enough.

Time went by and the other three weren't seeing any of the results, they looked at the drawings of the plane he made and said it would never fly. They eventually lost their temper knowing they were never going to escape and ended up shanking Arlington to death on the rooftop as Al was describing the ramp system he came up with. They then drug his body and hid it inside the shed on the roof.

The other 3 were then tried and executed for the murder of Al on that cold New Year's Night.

That was History... Then something changed...

A rift was opened in the space-time continuum as the result of experimental Nazi Time-Travel. Time was never meant to be manipulated but due to a new element being discovered resulted in experiments with "Magical" outcomes. This element is known as Ununpentium also known as Element 115.

With this new discovery, it led to new break throughs in science, primarily with Teleportation and Time Manipulation. Unfortunately, it had an alternate use, bringing the dead back to life, but that's another story.

With the experimentation and constant breaches through time, the rift was created. This rift resulted in time freezing in place, not only in the present, but also in the past. The past was reliving the same moment over and over again, but only a few were aware of it.

The Prisoners were some of those few. They knew what was going to happen, but had no control on how to change it so the cycle continued, Al being murdered and the others being executed.

Al has always been smart, and an artist of sorts, the others are completely useless. So Al was chosen... By who you ask? An ancient being, that had quietly been residing inside the world that he has know for centuries.

As Al sat in his cell he began seeing weird symbols, and was receiving odd messages. He began documenting them but kept them to himself. He never knew what role this ancient being was about to instill upon him.

It was Dec 31, 1932 New Year's Eve, and the cycle was about to begin again.

Finn states, "Sal, we must have been through this Fifty times already."

Sal replies, "And we'll go throught with it another fifty if thats what it takes."

Everything seems to be repeating the same until a guard that Weasel killed comes back with glowing red eyes. The crew unloaded their revolvers until the guard finally dropped. Then the prison began to morph into the definition of hell itself.

Weasel says, "This ain't right, something weird's going on here..."

Weasel has been given his mission to break the cycle. He has to survive and execute his three murderers himself. Thus breaking the cycle. Upon breaking the cycle he is given a gift, what gift is that? Immortality.

Weasel has been made the pawn of the ancient being residing inside the MDP.

What is his new mission? Stopping Rictofen and Maxis from ever ruling the Earth.

How will he do that? By creating the cult of "The Flesh".

Why would he create the cult? Because only those who have ingested zombie flesh can be communicated to by the "Ancient One."

Stulinger has ingested Zombie Flesh due to the Cult, Stulinger is being communicated to by the Ancient One. Unfortunately, he has two conflicting voices in his head, as well as a third through electronic devices.

We are now going to have a third choice of someone to help. By helping the Ancient One we restore balance.

If you want to restore balance you have to start over, maybe we are stuck in one continuous loop. The only way of restoring balance is by breaking the cycle.

I believe this is a rift in time, and the zombies were sent from Der Riese. Alternatively, I saw a book in the Spawn that said "Mine Spelunking", so maybe the prisoners were forced to mine 115? Anyways, I believe some demonic being is in control, considering red eyes, the numbers changing from 115 to 666, and the hellhole. I think if we continue the cycle, then time goes on as normal, and Richtofen rises to power. However, I think if we break the cycle, Weasel either stops 935 or he is in a constant battle for power with Richtofen and Maxis, perhaps you are right about him being the voice on Die Rise?

[Megaton A]

IMO the presence of Lucifer, Cerberus, and the "Hellish" look of the prison is due to the fact that with the exception of Ferguson they are all "bad" people. Al killed Ferguson, the rest killed Al, and once they move on from this "limbo" state they will all end up in hell. Ferguson, however, will move on to Heaven/paradise/whatever you want to call it once his business is finished. Lucifer will be claiming their souls, which is why he is sending the undead after them. Ferguson/Brutus doesn't necessarily "work" for Lucifer, he's just out for revenge for his life being taken, and as a good person Lucifer isn't after him.

But again, this is just my interpretation based on what we're given about the events and the map itself. It doesn't exactly explain the presence of the perk machines or why Al is hearing Nikolai's name in his head.

[MixMasterNut]

I believe the Warden summoned an evil God in his chambers, the same time the prisoners planned to execute their escape plan. The portals of hell were opened up at 9:35 PM. 935 being a symbolically evil number in our storyline. :twisted:

- Mix