The Untold Story of Samantha's Mother

[Doppelgänger]

Over the course of the Zombies storyline we have been constantly introduced to various different characters. From playable to background/story specific characters, one character we are in the dark with is Samantha’s mother. We know extremely little of her. Other than a quote and a small mention in a radio from Moon, we know next to nothing about her aside from the fact that she is dead.

 

In the last month, I have done some digging and have reached a point where I believe it is safe to say that I have possibly found the origins of her mother. Or at the very least, a convincing amount of evidence to point at this.

First off, let me give you some of the history of the Wittenau Sanatorium, the location wherein Verrückt takes place. I should warn you that it does get a little dark.

Wittenau Sanatorium served as a main part in the Nazi’s ‘euthanasia’ system. Hundreds to even thousands of patients sent to the asylum were eventually tortured and killed in a gross and terrible belief of Racial Hygiene. This theory held that those in society who were otherwise believed were ‘inferior’ and ‘burdening’ were a stain on the human race. Not only that, but individuals who suffered from ‘hereditary disorders’ were also among those admitted to the asylum. Hereditary Disorders were illnesses (i.e. both diseases and disorders) passed down from ones parents or ancestors through genetics, the five main genetic disorders being; Depression, Schizophrenia, ADHD, Bipolar Disorder and Autism. Many inmates were thought to eventually share their illness to their children or through their child’s genetics to their children’s children. This allowed for around 360,000 individuals to be forcefully sterilised between the years of 1933 to 1945. Many of these sterilisations were undertaken in Wittenau.

 

The forced sterilising of “patients” was not the only thing that occurred in the sanatorium. Many inmates were killed, this of course being another means of cutting out those that suffered from any defects. In the years that Wittenau remained active, thousands of patients were killed in various means. Around 4,900 were killed by oral tablets or through starvation. On top of that number, around 5,000 children born from those with “hereditary diseases” were killed. Many newborns were subjected to medical experimentation.

Now, when I mention the patients and the reasons for which these patients were killed in open quotes it is because, in many, many cases, those that were admitted, sterilised, killed or experimented on were most likely wrongfully thrown in with those that were actually mentally insane due to false accusations. As you can see here, there were very ridiculous reasons that people were thrown into sanatoriums. You should know, however, that this wasn’t an actual list of admission reasons that were specifically for the Wittenau asylum. It is just to show you the varying ridiculous reasons people were admitted into sanatoriums.

As a final piece of useful information, in Verrückt one can hear the many haunting screams of inmates who were admitted into the Wittenau Sanatorium. Most of these voices are clearly male. In the Crematorium however, we hear both the sobs of a woman and the screams of a baby. Even the dentist chair, when activated, will play the sound of a drill, followed by a man screaming. The sobbing of the woman and the crying baby are the only "unique" sounds of people in the entire map.

Another interesting piece of information is a sign written in German found on the map.
 

Translated it reads: “Warning! All unattended children will be immediately sold to the circus.”
 

Now, above I expressed how there was the theory that, if a patient was experiencing an illness, more often than not, the patients genetics were clearly inferior and therefore the patient would have to be sterilised. In this case however, Samantha’s mother was clearly not sterilised, proving that she was pregnant before she was admitted into Wittenau. This of course makes the identity of her father another mystery. There are two theories we can discern from this.

1. It is plausible that Doctor Maxis is actually Samantha's father, and his wife was admitted into the asylum during her pregnancy with Samantha. This was most likely the doing of Maxis himself after her disorder became serious, as he mentions in Moon, "When your mother died I could not bear the thought of losing you too, that’s why I kept you so close." Gathering intel from the Datenbediensteter, the Der Reise Data Servant, we can prove that Samantha's mother died at the asylum before the 20th of January, 1942. The sample found in the database being, "Greetings, I am Ludvig Maxis; today is 20 January, 1942. My Daughter has a dog, its name is Fluffy." This would possibly explain why Doctor Maxis, under the extreme emotional and mental stress he was undergoing during his time working in Group 935, coupled with working alongside the Nazi Party and with the Element 115, used the asylum as a near endless source of test subjects for his many experiments. Given his state of mind, Doctor Maxis most likely did this in a twisted sense of vengeance, putting his anger and bitterness into the place where his wife and the mother of his daughter had passed.

2. On the other hand, in the case that he is not her biological father, during his time experimenting with the Element 115 as the head of Group 935 we know Doctor Maxis would have been using the asylum to aid his experiments and to fetch subjects and specimens. Given this, it is safe to say that Doctor Maxis was most likely present in the asylum or at the very least knew of it when this birth occurred. Using the evidence above and the fact that he knew of the asylum's dark history, he took Samantha in, bringing her up as his own. 

Being the child of a mental patient, possibly being subject to being left alone and being put under stress, Samantha would have had a rather rough upbringing and especially if she shares the hereditary disability her mother had, even if it were a lesser case. Which is where the infamous, Fluffy comes into the picture. What if Maxis gave Samantha Fluffy to help her cope through Pet Therapy? Pet therapy involves interaction with a domestic animal. Most commonly, dogs and cats are used for this; however fish, guinea pigs and even horses could also be candidates. This means of therapy is typically used for those with mental disorders such as depression and anxiety, but is also used for the treatment of countless other disorders.

 

So to summarise;

- Samantha's mother was admitted into the Wittenau Sanatorium for unknown reasons before the war began.
- The common practice of forced sterilisation in sanatoriums such as Wittenau proves that her mother was pregnant before she entered the asylum thus the identity of her father is unknown. Compiling   the little evidence we have we can make two observations:
                                      1. Maxis is the father and his wife was admitted into the asylum. Possibly by him.
                                      2. Doctor Maxis was present in the asylum or at the very least had knowledge of the mother's pregnancy/Samantha's birth and took her in. 
- Doctor Maxis gave Samantha Fluffy as a means for her to be able to cope with her mother's absence, a possible mental disorder and his constant devotion to his work.

 

 

I'd like to offer a special thanks to @NaBrZHunter for lending a helping hand by giving me advice on how to go about making this.

[NaBrZHunter]

This is a CLASSIC theory. Great work researching, you managed to pull a solid and believable theory out of virtually nothing. 

[Guest]

I think the theory is good, but... we know Ludvig is Samantha's father. They literally resemble each other and in the versions of them that live at the house, Eddy refers to Maxis as her (Sams) father, but it seems as if he was adopted by Maxis there.

[anonymous]

Wonderfull theory, it were stories like this which made me interest in the storyline

[Doppelgänger]

On 3/16/2016 at 6:39 AM, Nightmare Voyager said:

I think the theory is good, but... we know Ludvig is Samantha's father. They literally resemble each other and in the versions of them that live at the house, Eddy refers to Maxis as her (Sams) father, but it seems as if he was adopted by Maxis there.

I don't follow where you're getting at. How do we know they resemble each other? We only have one instance of Dr Maxis' face and that is in Origins. Also, of course Eddy refers to him as her father. It would be strange, especially for a child to say, "You'd better do what your adoptive Dad says."

[NaBrZHunter]

@Nightmare Voyager this theory takes into account both situations, though: biological parent and adopted. Personally, for me, I favor the biological suggestion, because the explanation goes deeper and makes more sense. 

[Doppelgänger]

Both instances are there because really, the only way you could determine biological parenthood is through analyzing whether or not they look alike.

[Tac]

Definitely the most believe backstory that I can think of, if we were to guess. Nice job, @Doppelgänger.

[anonymous]

Hey @Doppelgänger I was wondering if you would allow it if I exacly copy a part of this post (the first part that is about the Wittenau Sanatorium) to use as backstory in the Verruckt article on the CoDZ wiki? I understand it if you prefer that I won't use it because all the work you put in it and the exclusivity.

[Doppelgänger]

14 hours ago, anonymous said:

Hey @Doppelgänger I was wondering if you would allow it if I exacly copy a part of this post (the first part that is about the Wittenau Sanatorium) to use as backstory in the Verruckt article on the CoDZ wiki? I understand it if you prefer that I won't use it because all the work you put in it and the exclusivity.

Sure bud! Go ahead.

[anonymous]

2 hours ago, Doppelgänger said:

Sure bud! Go ahead.

Awesome, thank you!