Origins Ending: Canon Or Not?

[AlphaOmega]

Hi everyone! AlphaOmega hear with another balls-busting question. This time, we move to the ending of BO II zombies with the Origins cutscene. Now the Questions:

 

-Worth it?

-Initial  Reaction?

-Is it Canon or a sidetrack story?

-If it is Canon, in what way?

-What is your interpretation?

 

The last question is up to you to decide:

 

What is the most popular/accepted theory you know? What is the stupidest?

 

Alpha Out.

[Electric Jesus]

Hmm. Interesting.

Well my first reaction. I literally drifted through the next day and a half like an empty shell. I'm pretty sure I legitimately went into shock.

I like MMX's partially cyclic omnipotent Sam theory. Essentially there is the Dieselpunk WWI timeline (origins) where Sam plays with dolls, and the "Normal" WWI timeline. They both exist, and are in a type of reciprocal cycle. (If I remember correctly. )

Personally I recall Vonderhaar (VONDERHAAR!!!!) saying in one of the trailers that it takes place in an "alternate" world war 1, and presents "one possible way" the story came to be. Now we all know zombies exists in an alternate universe (not our universe) but that's always been a given. So when he states that it is an alternate WWI, I think he's referring to the map in specific. I mean, the series has never been too historically accurate in regards to our timeline.so that suggests that it takes place in an alternate timeline (to me at least.)

Additionally the second quote from our dear DSR nerfing pal says that it is "one possible way" the zombies story began. Now this doesn't say "this is the way the story began," but it is a possibility. To me this screams multiverse. So what I'm thinking is that there are infinite different zombies universes, and all are equally real. This is how one universe began, so within that universe it's Canon. Outside of that universe it is real but not necessarily canon. But what I'm most concerned with is the main universe, which encompasses the other maps. The way that universe ended or began remains to be seen.

That's my spin on that. So sure it's real, but not necessarily canon to the main universe / timeline.

The dumbest theory? No offense, but the people who just give up and say "we were always dolls from the beginning." That's not necessarily a bad theory (in terms of evidence and logic) but come on. I guess I think it's stupid because I don't WANT it to be true.

I love scotch.

[MegaAfroMan]

I thought it was kind of cool, but not really what I wanted to see.

MMX's Cyclical theory has my heart. People always claim that the map must not be cannon because Maxis doesn't recognixe samantha, and Maxis wasn't in a quadrotor to our knowledge, but MMX's theory explains that with the simple idea of alternate timelines, and time cycles. Even though the theory has an obnoxious name, it is so simple, it can literally be represented with a few scribbles on paper.

I at first figured it was some form of metaphor for Samantha's perception of godhood as if real people were just Dolls. Richtofen and Maxis also were present in the Aether in some way, so it made sense for them all to be in this "higher plane". To Sam, the plane reminds her of her childhood before all the mess with zombies and 115. A much simpler time and easy to retreat to. To her, controling normal people as a god, would seem like playing with dolls.

Richtofen and Maxis are present because they both had aether presences. Richtofen competed with Sam, hence she sees him as a playmate, another little boy. Maxis on the otherhand, has always seemed more sinister, and more distant. Hence his STILL comes through electronics, even to Samantha in the higher plane.

See, godhood is a hard thing to take away. Considering gods can travel freely through time and space. So although in our normal universe and timeline, Richtofen is in control, Samantha is in some way, shape or form, in some timeline/universe still a god, but now without center stage, she's been bored. So she made up this scenario using the O4, who either died under Richtofen's rule, or got snatched by Samantha mid teleport and redirected to her play zone.

All in all, it's a complicated mess that I think is quite intruiging. I don't see why everyone bellyaches about Origins being a punch in the face to our story. I think they just don't fully grasp the true complexity that is our universe enough to understand that Gods, and time travel isn't exactly a straightforward thing.

I can't be mad about that, it's a tough thing to grasp. I know I don't fully grasp it myself. That's what 14 years of college is for. A Doctorate in Cosmological Physics.

[ETEl2NAL407]

I at first figured it was some form of metaphor for Samantha's perception of godhood as if real people were just Dolls. Richtofen and Maxis also were present in the Aether in some way, so it made sense for them all to be in this "higher plane". To Sam, the plane reminds her of her childhood before all the mess with zombies and 115. A much simpler time and easy to retreat to. To her, controling normal people as a god, would seem like playing with dolls.

Richtofen and Maxis are present because they both had aether presences. Richtofen competed with Sam, hence she sees him as a playmate, another little boy. Maxis on the otherhand, has always seemed more sinister, and more distant. Hence his STILL comes through electronics, even to Samantha in the higher plane.

 

That was my initial reaction too. This was how the Aether seemed to Samantha from her perception. In game we just have a demonic sinister announcer playing games, but in her eyes, it's fun way to pass the time. I'm reminded of the ending scene from MIB. They pan out of our solar system, continue out of our galaxy, keep panning to encompass the known universe, and then pan out even further to show a marble. Then some alien form grabs the marble (and several others) and rolls them like a toy. So, our universe is just a marble that some alien is playing with? 

 

Comparing that to the ending cutscene gives a good frame of reference for deification. The more powerful a being is, is really all relative to perception. 

 

Another example would be ants. Imagine the world from an ant's perspective. When you step on one, they're not angry you did that. They're just obliterated by some massive thing because they don't know about your will to smash them, they cannot perceive it. At the same time, you're not concerned with causing their mass destruction, you're just walking.

 

However, I would rather believe this situation untrue. I'd prefer this to be the "cop out" theory EJ loathes. Why? Because it wipes the slate clean and allows Treyarch to really sink their teeth into something new. We can't just ignore the fact that Treyarch never meant for the game to meet with such success and thus had to scamble to put this story together. If you made up a story and we're doing it just to flex your story-telling skills, but then everyone loved it and demanded more, it would not be an easy thing for you to continue the story without some kind of plot hole somewhere. This is ultimately what happened to Zombies, IMO. 

 

So, now they can start over and think out the story ahead of time. This will make the releases much more fluid and the dots will connect together well. Instead of trying to jam the puzzle pieces together or whittle down the edges to make them fit, instead they will just fit without much effort. That is what I want to see, thus the reason I would prefer for all of it to have just been a game.