Heligoland, Atlantis, and Future DLC implications

[certainpersonio]

*Note, this is a tweaking of a post that I put on reddit not too long ago. I think people here will appreciate it too! Also, check out @anonymous's great post on the Ahnenerbe (i've also linked to it in the post below for background references)*

 

As far as I know, the exact location for the Darkest Shore has not been confirmed. However this is strong evidence points towards Heligoland. I think MrDalekJD's video is a good summary of the available evidence. In the teaser trailer for DLC1, Cameron Dayton states, “for this next chapter in our game, our characters have received intel about the movement of Dr. Straub. He’s gone to this foggy island just north of Germany.”

 

By why the hell does a German scientist run from Bavaria to an island in the North Sea? What’s the connection? I believe the answer lies in the Ahnenerbe.

 

The Ahnenerbe spent a large portion of their time hijacking the classical roots of Europe via archeological and anthropological exploration to justify the superiority of the Aryan race. They funded expeditions throughout Europe, Africa and Asia to explore these ideas from the homeland of the Aryans in Lapland to searching ancient battles by the Aryans in the Middle East. This led to some radical ideas lead about how ancient peoples interacted and migrated throughout the ages. Perhaps the most outlandish was that the Aryan people were descended from the Atlanteans.

 

The theory states that the Aryan people were from Atlantis, and that when their homeland was flooded they became a sea-faring, warrior-like people who settled in the mountainous regions of the world so they would never have to fear flooding again. This led them to the Himalayan mountains, from which they eventually migrated from to arrive in their northern/Nordic roots. Apparently, Himmler himself believed this theory!

 

Speculation as to the location of the Atlantean continent was rampant, but important to our story, Heligoland was considered a possible candidate! Again, it is believed Himmler wanted to send an expedition to Heligoland to investigate the claims, but wartime activities prevented him from doing so. This region does have some logical archeological underpinnings for this claim though. Heligoland is part of a region called Doggersland, which is known to have been above sea at some point due to geological findings. Furthermore, remnants of human settlements have been found there before.  Also, as this map of Heligoland demonstrates, the island itself has been disappearing into the sea even within easily recordable history. 

 

So to wrap this up, why does Dr. Straub go to Heligoland? Because in this universe the Ahnenerbe built a research station there along with the Naval base, so Dr. Straub is running to a place of safety and familiarity. While I hoped this would be to study Atlantis (thus the focus of this post), the most recent trailer for the Darkest Shores suggests an emphasis on the Gods/Goddesses of the island. However, they could also find/work with ancient technology created by the Atlanteans, or maybe just throw in a few references there or there.

 

What implications does this have for future DLC?

 

I think we will be chasing Dr. Straub down as he escapes to different Ahnenerbe expeditions/strongholds. I personally think this would be FASCINATING!!!! To name just a few of their exploits, the Ahnenerbe funded expeditions to search for the Holy Grail, Ark of the Covenant, and witches in Finland.

 

As u/Johnyj45 theorized, there is evidence one of the DLC maps will be in Egypt and relate to Ramses II. He ties this together with a theory about the DLC revolving around ancient kings, which he laid out in videos here and here. I agree with his evidence that Egypt could be a future map, but have a hard time fitting it into my theory. As far as I can tell, the Ahnenerbe did not have a specific expedition to Egypt. However, as I mentioned previously, the Ahnenerbe did care about Atlantis. It is believed by some that all ancient “Sea Peoples” are related to Atlantis by heritage or alliance. Ramses II is known to have the first recorded defeat of a Sea People known as the Shardana, who are believed to have come from Sardinia, and island off the coast of Italy. Italy has been a source of a few different Ahnenerbe expeditions, with a Sardinia expedition being planned but never completed. 

 

I am not the first person to suggest the Ahnenerbe could be a focus of future zombies maps, but I believe this is the first time we can move the discussion from the “hypothetical” to “probable”.

[anonymous]

Awesome theory, certainpersonio, and good research. I've heard of many theories about the origins of the Aryans (Hyperborean, Aldebaran, Hymalaya's) but Atlantis has always been a repeating name in those theories. Interesting that Ahnenerbe really wanted to investigate Heligoland concerning these theories. The whole Nordic and Germanic myths and Nazi-occults really gets me, and make me like this story really much. It reminds me that I still have to discover the science behind Geistkraft, and make a topic about it :P.

 

Anyway, Egypt.... Although Ahnenerbe had no (official) expeditions to that's country, they were definitely interested in it. Did you know Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark is based on Ahnenerbe, taking place in Egypt? Still, we have to keep in mind that WW2 Nazi Zombies takes at least place in the end of 1943, possibly later. Egypt was no German territory anymore in that time, and within 1 year (winter of 1944), the Nazi's had lost their European Reich and only occupied Germany, indicating that Ahnenerbe could only operate within Germany.

 

Of course, there is a possibility that Dr. Strain fled out of Germany, though. 

 

Also, I wonder if the flood/tide will have a role in TDS. Will there be rooms underwater? Tunnels underwater, like in ZNS? Will there be a tide, temporary disabling the player from entering certain areas of the map? We'll see.

[certainpersonio]

@anonymous Great point about the scope of Nazi territories in 1943. I didn't consider this, but it could really limit the areas they focus on.

 

I can't decide whether I like the idea of Dr. Straub "falling back" into Germany to help defend as the Nazi's lose territory in Europe. I love the realism of it, but I can't help but think that it put some strong boundaries on the direction of the story. But maybe this will be a one-and-done type of experience. Maybe the end of WW2 Zombies is us defeating Straub and defeating the Axis powers?

 

And I'll keep an eye out for your Geistkraft research!

[anonymous]

Still it's hard limit ourselves to German occupied territory. The Final Reich takes place in Bayern in the snow season, which can be any time between November 1943 and Februari 1944 (though my preference goes to 1943, since Marie Fischer's last journal was in August 1943, stating that she will go to Mittelburg in the snow season). The Germany-occupied/allied area in 1943 made a drastically change within one year. While the Germans were in the suburbs of Moscow in 1943, they had only half of Poland in (summer) 1944.

 

Ahnenerbe has, like you probably know, been kinda everywhere in Europe. From Scandinavia to Italy, from France to Romania. Doctor Straub could've go anywhere, yet something in my head keeps thinking he will limit himself to Germany (except last DLC Maybe), I dunno why. 

 

Oh, and one last cool thing I came across the internet: Ahnenerbe was in Crimea as well. I've always wondered why Gustav Cannon is a map in MP mode: it's so out of place. Ahnenerbe was in the Crimean city "Kerch", in order to find artifacts following up the recent display of the "Kerch" Gothic crown of the Crimea in Berlin. The German occupation of Kerch was brutal, and there was a constant guarilla war going on in the Adzhimushkay catacombs (mines) of the city. The place has an interesting ancient history as well. One big disadvantage: There is no connection with the HRE or Barbarossa. Sadly I think this really is a necessarity for a WWII Nazi Zombie map. Btw, remember the Dunkirk coordinates we've got from Sledgehammer even before WWII was released? That has to lead to something too, right?