Wrath of the Ancients: a closer look

[AlphaOmega]

Hi everyone! 

I'm here today to talk about the backstory behind each bow, as it seems that each quest line has some indication that these bows are each bound to a different story.

The Dark Void bow: This one seems to have the clearest story. A person of unknown origin is locked inside the arrow. He asks you to free him. By gathering sacrifices and calling out his name, you can obtain his power. From what we can deduce, it seems that this voice has a more malicious tone. It is noted that you must pick up skulls that have a passing resemblence to the keeper (sharp teeth, weird head). The most fascinating part in my opinion is the part of his name. Since it uses Apothicon symbols to spell out the name, I am willing to bet that this creature is possibly a Keeper, or at least BOUND by a keeper to the Arrow. Another way to look at this is to remember what Blundell and the map description says: "This is a site of unspeakable atrocities". Perhaps the person locked in the bow killed someone or sacrificed people to demons. This may explain the more foul nature of this quest, getting skulls and having them eat crawlers. Also, whoever this person is, we can probably assume they lived at the castle at some point. They happen to know the symbols on the armor. An interesting weapon, if a little under powered.

The Wolf bow: According to Takeo "The Forgotten King has graced us with a gift". This one is very interesting. Starting the quest with the paintings is really cool because they actually tell a story. As you go through them, you see in most of them knights. Possibly one of these portrayed the king. As the paintings go, the strangest one is the Cthulu attacking the castle and the king/knight has been slain. Later on, you go to the crypt section to shoot into a room that contains a skeleton. The wolf seems to be the sigil of this warrior/king. I need to research more on this one, but it is obvious that this guy has a very interesting backstory.

The Fire bow: Again, Takeo notes when using this bower "The earth's rage consumes you". This one doesn't seem to hold too much backstory. Please comment with some theories!

The Electric bow: Agan, not much backstory. Just seems like mother nature is not happy. Please  comment with some theories!

Have a nice day everyone! 

[Ragdo11706]

I have a question, maybe a little off-topic but an interesting one nonetheless. 

Would it be safe to assume the Nova Crawlers are direct descendants of the "Keepers". Looking at the skull of a Keeper looks almost identical to that of what a Nova Crawlers would look like.

[AlphaOmega]

8 hours ago, Ragdo11706 said:

I have a question, maybe a little off-topic but an interesting one nonetheless. 

Would it be safe to assume the Nova Crawlers are direct descendants of the "Keepers". Looking at the skull of a Keeper looks almost identical to that of what a Nova Crawlers would look like.

I'd say its a good guess, but doesnt really hold. We know that Nova Crawlers were a deformity due to exposure to element 115. Keepers are literal beings created to keep the universe in balance.

[Ragdo11706]

27 minutes ago, AlphaOmega said:

I'd say its a good guess, but doesnt really hold. We know that Nova Crawlers were a deformity due to exposure to element 115. Keepers are literal beings created to keep the universe in balance.

Ok, I was just wondering being how similar they look.

Thanx for the response .

[Tattoo247]

I have a theory that the thing in the sky from shadows of evil and the creature in the painting are of the same species. They are an H.P. Lovecraft creature called Eldritch Abominations, they are godlike beings and with a little research you'd see they would be capable of fitting the role of zombie controller. I also think Dolos and Deimos are Eldritich Abominations, and no I don't own a tinfoil hat.

[AlphaOmega]

11 hours ago, Tattoo247 said:

I have a theory that the thing in the sky from shadows of evil and the creature in the painting are of the same species. They are an H.P. Lovecraft creature called Eldritch Abominations, they are godlike beings and with a little research you'd see they would be capable of fitting the role of zombie controller. I also think Dolos and Deimos are Eldritich Abominations, and no I don't own a tinfoil hat.

Oh not cthulu? Thats what i thought it was

[Korima]

19 hours ago, Tattoo247 said:

I have a theory that the thing in the sky from shadows of evil and the creature in the painting are of the same species. They are an H.P. Lovecraft creature called Eldritch Abominations, they are godlike beings and with a little research you'd see they would be capable of fitting the role of zombie controller. I also think Dolos and Deimos are Eldritich Abominations, and no I don't own a tinfoil hat.

That was a theory of mine as well. It was either that, with Cthulu's influence, or Azathoth since The Shadow Man is clearly Nyarlathotep and it's right hand tentacle man.

[Tattoo247]

Well before Deimos dies he asks Dolos if she plans to kill their king(father?) and their brothers/sisters as well and she says yes. The king could be cthulhu for all I know, but she may be part of the good side of the keepers. There just Isn't enough to go on other than what we see in SoE and the Iron Dragon.

[MikeCirka]

I see a lot of people on here trying to tie Zombies in directly with Lovecraft's works, but everything in SoE suggests that the Mythos is inspiration for the Overlords and all that, not plucked straight from the page. The shadowman bears no resemblance to Nyarlathotep save for the name "Shadowman" being similar to the description of one of Nyarl's forms. Obviously the parasites are inspired by Mi-Go, but are not called Mi-Go, and Lovecraft never wrote about any Overlords or a race of three-headed roid monsters.

[Dr.Z]

The Nova crawlers COULD be Keepers that were collected and tested on and then thrown out maybe? 

[Tattoo247]

I never said it was plucked from the pages, they've taken a story and made it their own, same as the nazi lore, same as Alcatraz, same as the end of the world scenario. We'll just have to see as more maps come out.

[MikeCirka]

20 hours ago, Tattoo247 said:

I never said it was plucked from the pages, they've taken a story and made it their own, same as the nazi lore, same as Alcatraz, same as the end of the world scenario. We'll just have to see as more maps come out.

No, you didn't. I'm talking about the people saying that the Shadowman is nyarlathotep, the creature in the sky is Cthulhu and the parasites are Mi-Go. I'm not just talking this thread, either. People are running with the mythos theories... I've even seen Yog-Sothoth and Shub-Nigurath name dropped.

[Korima]

On 2/7/2016 at 1:55 PM, MikeCirka said:

I see a lot of people on here trying to tie Zombies in directly with Lovecraft's works, but everything in SoE suggests that the Mythos is inspiration for the Overlords and all that, not plucked straight from the page. The shadowman bears no resemblance to Nyarlathotep save for the name "Shadowman" being similar to the description of one of Nyarl's forms. Obviously the parasites are inspired by Mi-Go, but are not called Mi-Go, and Lovecraft never wrote about any Overlords or a race of three-headed roid monsters.

Aye, I see your point, but have to debate a bit. I agree that we can't take straight from the page of Lovecraft's works, but we can refer back to them to understand the CoDz's universes versions of his creatures. In particular, we already know SoE has a very close tie to Lovecraft's works, but takes it's own liberties (Insanity Elementals, Margwa, Apothicon, etc...). However, the way the plot is going, and if Nightmares is anything to compare by, there has to be a Greater Evil of some sort of lore. Now unless Treyarch wants to make a completely new evil being for the SoE universe, we can assume it's going to follow Lovecraft lore. Therefore, it's safe to say that The Shadow Man, with his tentacle form being pretty obvious, as well has his normal form and motives following that from a specific work that 3arc could have taken creative liberty with (Specifically "The Dreams in the Witch House"). That also explains their particular reason to add in the Parasites (as you stated, based off the Mi-Go) per creative liberty from the work of "The Whisperer in the Darkness". We could even go as far as bringing in the completely different EE song into play. Nyarlathotep is known as the one who plays the flute. If we take the song as coming from The Shadow Man, the way it brings back the jazzy feel and particularly the solo portion as his modern-version of playing a "flute"-like instrument.

Another reason everyone is inferring Nyarlathotep=Shadow Man is due to the lore used in the other universes of the zombies story so far, which seem to link to mythologies in a similar fashion. Nightmares and (possibly) MotD using Greek for Deimos, Dolos, and Hades. The main having hints and clues to possible Aztec ties, even referring to Mictlantecuhtli directly in one of the loading screens. There's possibly more in there that I'm not aware of or missed/forgot in some way, but it's a strong enough case. If I missed anything however, please let me know.