Reincarnation, the O4, and the Capture of Samantha

[FatedTitan]

Lately, I've been really looking at Archangel for any storyline significance I could gather from it. As many of you know, I love to look at the songs and see what Kevin Sherwood has attempted to communicate about the story through the lyrics. Archangel has been a funny one for me though because I've always despised the song. When I saw that we'd have all three vocalists on board, I thought it would be epic and I just felt it feel flat and missed out on a great chance to do something. So I avoided the song for a long time until I recently decided to listen to it some and try to see if anything stood out to me. Well in the past couple of days, my ears were brought to attention by something I heard within the song and I may have figured something out. So hear me out as I try to explain.

In disguise in the skies

burns a fire in my eyes

and I'm holding the world in my hand

So contorted and twisted

condemned and submissive

When they kneel they'll know where I stand

yeah

So to begin with, the lyrics speak of someone holding the world in their hand. What's interesting is that most would assume this to be Samantha, but it can't be. She is in no position of power in Origins(in reference to her not being born yet or being in Richtofen's body, depending on the position you take). Also, I do not think Archangel is a song that is directly related to Origins, but is more of trying to relate what is going on in the story that we have known, outside of Origins. And it makes a lot more sense when you view it in this stance.

So with that in mind, who is in disguise in the sky? There is something that is in disguise in the sky, and I would assume that that is whoever is behind the power in the MPD. I'm not talking about Samantha or Richtofen, but, as Samantha screamed in Moon's easter egg,

"The blackness will swallow your pride! Something far more terrible than you lies here!"

Perhaps what is in disguise is the something that is far more terrible than Richtofen.

Next is "burns a fire in my eyes". Now this quote shows anger and hatred. Whatever this, for lack of a better term at the moment, demon is, it certainly has a lot of anger and malice for someone or someones.

The second part seems to point toward this demon being condemned to being submissive to whoever is in control of the MPD. They must do what the controller desires, at least for now. The end of that seems to point toward "they" , perhaps the O4, kneeling before this demon. And the next part seems to point to that as well.

Rise again

On my own

Now we are

Coming home

It all ends

Painfully and slow

I'll bring them down on my own

So in the first section here, we see that this demon plans to rise again on its own. Now something I do want to note here is the "rise again" portion. This indicates that it has risen before. Then it talks about how "now we are coming home." The strange thing in this section is the we. Who is the we? It kind of reminds me of the Bible when Jesus was charging a demon to give Him his name and he says "I am Legion, for we are many." But I still don't know how much that fits in here. I'd love some feedback on readers' thoughts.

Then the second portion seems to point to this demon wanting to end whatever its goal is painfully and slow. The malice and anger point toward a point of origin involved. I'd also note that this points back to 115, where "I'll bring you down on my own!" is screamed. The song 115 also supports the theory presented here. You can read the lyrics to that song here.

http://www.elyrics.net/read/e/elena-siegman-lyrics/115-lyrics.html

It also points toward Pareidolia, where Elena sings that "it all ends so painfully and slow." This is not an idea that has only been around since Origins. The story being told in Archangel has been intentionally placed in these songs since at least Black Ops, with some World at War songs shaping possibilities for what could be happening. They lyrics to Pareidolia are below.

http://www.elyrics.net/read/e/elena-siegman-lyrics/pareidolia-lyrics.html

First to go

first to go

Last to know

last to know

Always the only one I control

Lashing out

lashing out

Giving in

giving in

then letting go to begin again

I won't try to understand the first section. Once again, I ask readers to contribute if you have an idea.

After the first part, it states "always the only one I control." This seems to point toward the only thing this demon being able to control is themselves. They can't control the person who is in charge of the MPD. This demon will lash out toward whoever is in control, but at the end of the day, will give in to the requests. They let go of their power to begin again.

Now this part is interesting. What is letting go? Letting go of what? I say power earlier, but is that really what it's talking about? And how does letting go contribute to allowing this demon to begin again? Once again I ask readers contribution here.

Letting go

Letting go now

Letting go

My mind's corrupt

Our souls corrode

It's how we'll all end up

Now with this portion, we may have more of a pointing toward what letting go is. It seems that this demon lets go because their mind is corrupt. Then their souls corrode. Could this mean that users within the MPD have their souls corrode over time. Perhaps this demon continues to wait for one that won't corrode and allow it to escape the prison that is the MPD.

Burning down

Caving in

Die by fire and

begin again

What breaks my pride

will break your skull

I bring the end

just like an archangel

This portion seems to point toward destruction being what happens when this entity is involved. Dying by fire to begin again seems to be like the mythical phoenix, who dies by fire, only to be reborn anew.

Now this "demon" has a lot of pride obviously. Wouldn't any demon? And when someone has control over it, that is a big hit to their pride, but this hit to the demon's pride will break the controller's skull. In other words, the temporary hit to the demon's pride will end up killing the one who is hitting the pride.

Then the demon brings the end like an archangel. An archangel can wreak havoc and destroy everything in its path. The demon seems to be the same way.

All the ruptured existence

disdain life persistence

The wheel won't be turning for long

No

And I need

Carrion

Now I am

Coming home

Running from

I'm becoming one

I'll bring you down on my own

This demon has been around for a long time as we'll see a few paragraphs down. This must have been a very long wait for it to just sit there within the MPD for someone to give it hope. This would create a ruptured existence where you aren't really there, but still can't escape this persistence of life, which leads to disdain of this life. But as the demon is revived and given hope, it realizes that this constant wheel that continues to turn won't be turning for long. The constant cycle it has been in will soon be broken.

Now all it needs is a body...a carrion. If you look at the lyrics to Carrion, you'll see this theory supported as well. You can see a thread I made about Carrion involving Richtofen possibly being good below in my threads of note in the signature. For lyrics to Carrion, you can look here.

http://callofduty.wikia.com/wiki/Carrion

Honestly this entire part of the song seems to do two things:

1. Show that all of the songs connect together in one story. They do not contradict each other, but all are an important part talking about the same thing.

2. Give a shout out to Kevin's former songs in the current song.

Letting go

Now pain erupts

And time is slowed

It's how we'll all end up

It seems that as the demon lets go of whatever it's letting go of, possibly the host or its power, pain erupts, time slows, and that's how everyone ends up. This is how death seems to be. You feel pain, but time slows as you visualize your life and all you've done, then things fade away. No one escapes death.

Why do we end up here

Live in fire and feel so cold

O O

We burn together forever

waiting for the one

I don't understand the "why do we end up here" part, but the next part seems to point toward wherever the demon is is in fire, but they feel so cold. It kind of makes me thing of Hell, which is filled with fire. The reference to feeling so cold seems to point to being alive, but feeling cold like you are dead.

Once again, I have no idea who the "we" is referring to. Is the demon referring to the one in the MPD, or is there more than one demon present? Waiting for the one is an obvious reference to the song "The One" from Shi No Numa. I understand that Kevin Sherwood has stated that the song was written from a zombie's perspective, but I would like to suggest that this could have easily been made to fit into the story of this demon. The lyrics still fit perfectly if you read them with the proposed theory.

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/elenasiegman/theone.html

*deep breath*

Don't worry. We're almost to the end.

Letting go

Our time is up

Dust from our bones

This time we don't wake up

This seems to point to the demon letting go of its life. Their time is up. They won't awake this time because they fully die. Now does this demon really want to die? This may point toward there being more than one demon within the entity. One is wanting vengeance, while the other just wants to die.

Now we get to what REALLY caught my interest in this song.

Finding out

Where you've been

Wait in silence

and begin again

I'll take my time

to make you fall

Pass through your head

at just the right angle

Falling down

Giving in

Burn the liars and

begin again

What fills your pride

will make you fall

I am the end

a fucking archangel

So this is a very interesting part of the song. This demon is trying to find out where they've been. Who is they? Whoever they are, this demon has been waiting in silence patiently until they return.

I propose that this is a reference to the O4. Let's take a look at this picture.

As we can see, this points to an ancient group of the O4 that have been on this planet before. They seem to have conquered something and the people are praising them. What have they conquered? I propose that they have conquered a demon and sealed it away where no other can release it ever again. The people are so excited and are praising these Knights because of this accomplishment. But why does this look Middle Eastern and not French, which is where Origins is located? Perhaps because they sealed this demon within a great rock. A great stone that was extremely powerful. A black stone.

Now I want you to go into my signature and see my thread on Mecca. The black stone is a holy object in Mecca that is of the utmost importance to Muslims. I think that the developers put this scene in a Middle Eastern setting because this demon was sealed within this black stone. And coincidentally enough, we have a black stone in Moon. We have an "egg" that is a black stone, but also the MPD, which is also black. Perhaps the stone on earth links in some way to the MPD or maybe the black stone found its way to the Moon through the tornadoes or wormhole depicted in Shangri-la's loading screen.

So these four knights seal away this demon. The demon is angry and has much hatred for this capture, so it waits for a long time until reincarnation brings forth these four heroes again all in one place in France. That's when this demon takes on the persona of a little girl named Samantha in hopes that she can convince these four, that do not remember what happened so many years ago, to release her.

This demon has been waiting for a long time. It's fine with taking its time to make sure that the O4 pay for the torment the demon has had to endure being captured all these years by the O4 in their past life.

Next, the song seems to point toward the O4 lying to this demonic spirit to trick it into being captured. This demon wants to burn these liars. Could it have been friends with the O4 at one point?

And lastly, the O4's pride will be their downfall, at least according to the demon.

So if this is the case, then this causes massive implications to our storyline. We have a demon that is out to kill the O4 for a past action in their former lives. And not only that, we must see that the little girl Samantha is different that the demonic spirit that calls itself "Samantha."

*breathes out*

Phew. That was A LOT! And I'm sure a lot of it is hard to digest all at once. I hope to get your feedback and opinions on the parts I was confused about. I'd also like to hear what you think about this proposal. If you made it this far and read the whole thing, I give you a virtual cookie. -hands cookie to reader- If you said TL;DR, well I eat your cookie in front of you. -goes all Cookie Monster-

Thanks and I hope you enjoyed it!

[InfestLithium]

Love this very much, friendo. I had theorized a few months ago that the demon within the MPD - or whatever dimension is resides in - is the master of puppets for Zombies (in particular, more seen in Origins). May I just take some of your points to lean on, because you've really done a great job connecting Archangel to the demon.

1. The carrion, as you said, needs a host. It tried on its own to conquer but was sealed away by the ancients. Because of this, they can no longer control based on their own accord. Why do I say this? Just look at those who have assumed power over the course of Zombies:

[*:2pjriuey]Lucifer
[*:2pjriuey]Samantha
[*:2pjriuey]Richtofen
[*:2pjriuey]Maxis

The thing they all have in common is that they upheld the power of control without being the original rulers. None of them were exactly sentient already within the dimension of control, but were brought to it. For example, Lucifer arose in Mob of the Dead due to satanic practice within the penitentiary. Samantha was locked within the MPD by accident on Moon. Richtofen used the Vril technology to reverse-engineer the MPD so it would switch his soul with Samantha's. Maxis used Plan B in Buried to somehow remove Richtofen from the Aether and place himself into power.

Back to the main point: the demon needed some form of carrion to escape their Hell. In Origins, we have that carrion - Samantha.

"What I find fascinating is how she is able to hit the core of each character. While you're in Zombie Blood, she talks to a character and basically puts them on a guilt trip along with their "mini biographies" that are supposed to make them feel superior of their persona while she mocks them for not releasing her. The one I always remember is Samantha telling Takeo that the way of the samurai, his culture, his heritage, his honor will diminish and fade to black while the traditions are being lost. He then says something along the lines of her speaking his soul.

But I will say this: she is not the same little German girl that we knew in the recordings prior to her residing in the MPD. What was in that pyramid that she claimed was so evil and monolithic that even made her fear it? Whatever it was, it became instilled in her.

Origins is not a separate reality but rather the past altered. She was never meant to have existed in that timeframe. Hence, why Maxis says he has no such daughter. It's not because he doesn't recognize her or he never had Samantha. Rather, it is because she became a part of a time period in which she was not born yet. That interference alone screwed up what once was into something that should have never been.

May I add a notation to the Zombie Blood reference once more? When in that, she will often say hints towards the steps of the Easter Egg in a very demonic voice. She never sounds like this outside of Zombie Blood. Ancient Evil being a part - or even a whole - of her? I do say yes. I would even go as far as saying that she became integrated with the Ancient Evil which forces me to assume that the insidious entity does dwell in Agartha. Because Samantha has apparently ended up in there, it could be very well possible that they inhabit the same soul; the Ancient Evil going into her or her going into the Ancient Evil.

This is what struck me though: why would Samantha talk in two different vocal tones yet consist of the same point of being released? Simple. While she wants to become free of Agartha and freely go back to a world where everything is okay and all this destruction is just a game to her, there is also another motive. Samantha uses the O4 to free her and the Ancient Evil does exactly the same. Who would not feel any need to help a little girl that "just wants to go home"?

That's what is has been all along. Samantha intervening in time is the catalyst. In easier terms, she was the key to the door. And now, the Ancient Evil has a way into control once more. But sharing power is a difficult task, so someone needs to be released. And we know for certain that Samantha just wants to make everything seem like a fictional tale to herself.

The Ancient Evil wants in on it too, though. It uses Samantha to be released. That being said, we aren't just releasing Samantha from Agartha - we are also releasing the Ancient Evil into our world. Could it be that even in Agartha, only one entity can have the power? With Samantha soon out of the equation, it looks like the throne belongs to the Ancient Evil."

By using her, it makes it much easier for the demon to be relieved of confinement. Possibly to further expand their powers as well so they could gain full admittance back to power in the Aether rather than Agartha.

2. The Ancients sealing away the Ancient Evil is the perfect catalyst for revenge. No doubt the demon would want the O4 along with their ancestors to perish painfully. Perhaps this is how the controllers who would assume power in the future became power-hungry and sought the annihilation of everything until their goal was satisfied?

I'm glad to see a complete analysis on this track and its relation to the Ancient Evil. Hopefully we see more perspectives based on this theory. +1 :)

[PINNAZ]

Another great thread Mr Titan. You have really got your brain ticking on this.

I propose that they have conquered a demon and sealed it away where no other can release it ever again. The people are so excited and are praising these Knights because of this accomplishment. But why does this look Middle Eastern and not French, which is where Origins is located? Perhaps because they sealed this demon within a great rock. A great stone that was extremely powerful. A black stone.

This is a great explanation of what that picture represents.

The "Original Four" heroes used the 4 Elements to imprison the ancient evil. Perhaps the evil was imprisoned in the fifth element, = The Æther (Quintessence)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aether_(classical_element)

Over the years, the term quintessence, has become synonymous with elixirs, medicinal alchemy, and the philosopher’s stone itself.

The philosopher’s stone could be the Element 115 meteors?

I think that the original 4 heroes were buried at "Excavation Site 64" and Maxis was trying to find the original Elemental staffs? But he had to make copies. Maybe the Templar Zombies were protecting the graves of the Original 4 heroes?

Remember that the 'Ancient Ruins' are a 'Tumulus Burial Mound'. Much like the Great Pyramids, heroes are buried within. Anyway...

Awesome song analysis mate, there is so much story involved with the Zombie songs.

[FatedTitan]

Thanks and great responses to both of you. After listening to the song again, I am really starting to lean toward "letting go" being another phrase for dying. One lets go, then begins again. Another tip of the hat toward reincarnation.

Something I wanted to reference earlier, but forgot to is something I noticed. Many of you have noticed that I seem to reference animes sometimes when talking about the zombie storyline. Normally this is FullMetal Alchemist, but this time, I was to look at Soul Eater.

In Soul Eater, Soul has black blood within his body. As he gives in and let's this demonic force grant him stronger power and the ability to strengthen allies in fights, the demon grows stronger. Eventually, the demon is large enough and overtakes Soul, along with his body.

I feel this is what is happening within the MPD. As the user uses the power of the MPD, this demon is slowly taking control until they are fully in charge.

[Dahniska]

I enjoyed reading this. I think you've got some great points and I hope a bunch of other people will also enjoy the read!

The part about the black stone and the pieced-together picture, and the reincarnation or rebirth of the O4 characters definitely gets me thinking. It seems clear at the very least that Origins is in some type of time loop.

[PINNAZ]

So you're talk of reincarnation the other day whilst you were brainstorming all of this got me thinking of the hints that were 'tweeted' by whoever last year about "Beyond Birth & Death".

Edit - found @_rez_ tweet -

Beyond Birth & Death pic.twitter.com/wKbRVs6M

— Reza Elghazi (@_rez_) August 29, 2012

After reading Dahniska's post I thought I'd do a search & guess what I found? A post by FatedTitan...

http://callofdutyzombies.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23870&p=228591#p228492

Interesting...

The 'Vedas & the Eddas' seem to have a lot of influence on some parts of the Zombie storyline.

We know that the devs give out hints a long time in advance (Great Leap Forward radio & Manhattan Down letters in Kino Der Toten) which can really throw people off at the time.

Could this be a hint at the Origins story?

"Reincarnation is Key"?

[sh3baproject]

titan i have a question. can i give you a milk dud for this awesome thread?

i am amazed at this. for a long time i though zombies was just a cycle. but it seems its not gonna end like motd or eternal reoccuorence. you my friend will be showered will milk duds and skittles. epic level=1000000

[captinslog]

Hey Titan ,great thread and read very fresh. It makes me ask this question , isn't what Richtofen's doing along the same lines as what you're talking about plot wise of the demon trapped needing a body if not NEW body , much like with the possession of Samuel Stuhlinger .

Just wanted to hear your thoughts on the connections and similarities of Richtofen being in the Aether having maxis essentially foiling whatever plans and unknown intentions and he could then enact this painfully long and slow tug of war for the N4 to supply him with the necessary power and escaping into and possessing Samuel, who is then trapped inside his head in his own body looking through his eyes .

It seems to me that coincidentally Richtofen and the interpreted lyrics are the same thing and story wise the easter egg in buried had you changing things that happened in the past ? why are those events SO important for the plan and possession

And thanks again for the thought provoking analysis and feedback everyone Cheers !