Analysis: Classified Cover Art

[NaBrZHunter]

 

Quick breakdown of the image. Welcome back to the original Moon timeline. We’re coming home. 

 

1. The face is Sam’s. We all know that.

2. This is post-corruption Sam, no question. 

3. We’ve seen this face before. Remember, the Moon in my eye?

4. These are inevitably linked, as we know from the Chronicles timeline that Sam from the Ultimis timeline is the one who reaches out to Maxis in the Primis timeline. (Correct me if I’m wrong, but this makes the accent fiasco even worse to contemplate.)

 

5. Moving down the image, the lightning bolt clearly outlines a Nazi crusher cap, over a gaunt face, which most likely is meant to depict the spirit of Ultimis Richtofen inhabiting the body and mind of Sam inside the MPD, per his Grand Scheme. 

 

5.a The possibility that it is Maxis is there, as Maxis committed suicide while standing beside the MPD in order to enter Griffin Station’s computer network. I emphasize, however, this is unlikely. 

 

6. The MPD is clearly just below the lightning

 

7. The faces on either side of the neck are those of the Ultimis crew, which are confirmed to be the crew who we will play as in this map. 

 

8. If pt. 5 is true, this means that the face of Richthofen is more specifically that of Sam in Richtofen’s body. This would mean that our Classified crew is actually Sam, Tank, Nikolai, and Takeo.* 

 

9. The teleporter in the lower center of the image is, notably, a MK1 model, if you will. Der Riese/Der Eisendrache. Transposition of the teleporter model thanks to @Boom115.

 

 

10. Noteworthy is the fact that we also know that a MK1 teleporter is actually located on site at the Pentagon in Black Ops’ “Five.”

 

Starting to piece it together yet? All signs point to a post-Moon map, with Sam and the remaining 3 going there via teleporter following the Big Bang. 

 

Guys, this is the missing link between Moon, the Victis arc, and Nuketown. I love you, Treyarch. 

 

 

* @Spider3000 has made the informed observation, below, that, “The map very well could be post-Moon for the characters but it can’t be post-Moon for the Earth itself. Blundell said Classified will tell the story of the outbreak of the Pentagon prior to Five.”

 

He supports this with a relatively clear statement from Jason Blundell:

 

“...as time went on, we had to solve the question of where did that sit in the big story? And to do so we had to write a lot of assumptions. "Okay, this is what happened." And we've been using that to educate the decisions we've made in the storyline, but we've never actually told the story of, "Why were the zombies in the Pentagon? What did that have to do with the major storyline of the game?"

 

[ZombiesIsKey]

This map is going to be incredible. GGsTreyarch. Also great breakdown buddy, really enjoyed the read!

[Spider3000]

The map very well could be post-Moon for the characters but it can’t be post-Moon for the Earth itself. Blundell said Classified will tell the story of the outbreak of the Pentagon prior to Five.

[NaBrZHunter]

5 minutes ago, Spider3000 said:

The map very well could be post-Moon for the characters but it can’t be post-Moon for the Earth itself. Blundell said Classified will tell the story of the outbreak of the Pentagon prior to Five.

Oooooh...good point. Piece of intel I missed. Hm. 

[Tac]

2 hours ago, Spider3000 said:

The map very well could be post-Moon for the characters but it can’t be post-Moon for the Earth itself. Blundell said Classified will tell the story of the outbreak of the Pentagon prior to Five.

Do you have a link to that? I don't doubt you but I've missed a lot and would love to see that 

[anonymous]

That's a great analysis, Hunter, really brought up some points I didn't saw. 

9 hours ago, Spider3000 said:

The map very well could be post-Moon for the characters but it can’t be post-Moon for the Earth itself. Blundell said Classified will tell the story of the outbreak of the Pentagon prior to Five.

It could become a bit more complex. Let's say the map will be post-Moon. Ultimis disappeared without anyone ever hearing something about them. Except the physical body of Richthofen, previously inhabited by Sam's soul, left over as a undead slave of Primus Richthofen. Now remember @Blurryface's SPOILER of the wallwritings in Classified?

"Richthofen is the key" and "Die to find the truth". Two things that fit with undead Richthofen.

 

I think Ultimis ended up in a loop. A loop of World at War-Black Ops I, starting with the Eclipse in Der Riese. Maybe the loading screens of Shang and Moon have something to do with this, or with the fate of Ultimis after Moon. Perhaps they ended up in something similar to Brock and Gary, only larger. 

 

I'm not sure how to explain it, @Spider3000, but I think it would be actually possible for Classified to take place after Moon, and at the same time spark the events of Five, 1964. The map might solve some inter-map issues as well (think of Kino-Ascension and Shang-Groom Lake). 

[jiipee95]

Damn I was pretty excited if this was post moon. The picture definitely points out to that. Exploding earth, original crew, MPD... Whether it is or not I'm sure it'll have some interesting story

[Spider3000]

11 hours ago, Tac said:

Do you have a link to that? I don't doubt you but I've missed a lot and would love to see that 

Sure, here it is: https://blog.activision.com/t5/Call-of-Duty/Treyarch-Zombies-Director-Jason-Blundell-on-Call-of-Duty-Black/ba-p/10775346

 

“as time went on, we had to solve the question of where did that sit in the big story? And to do so we had to write a lot of assumptions. "Okay, this is what happened." And we've been using that to educate the decisions we've made in the storyline, but we've never actually told the story of, "Why were the zombies in the Pentagon? What did that have to do with the major storyline of the game?"

 

[NaBrZHunter]

1 hour ago, Spider3000 said:

Sure, here it is: https://blog.activision.com/t5/Call-of-Duty/Treyarch-Zombies-Director-Jason-Blundell-on-Call-of-Duty-Black/ba-p/10775346

 

“as time went on, we had to solve the question of where did that sit in the big story? And to do so we had to write a lot of assumptions. "Okay, this is what happened." And we've been using that to educate the decisions we've made in the storyline, but we've never actually told the story of, "Why were the zombies in the Pentagon? What did that have to do with the major storyline of the game?"

 

I’ll add this to the OP. 

[Guest]

You know those soviets in the corners of the 3rd pic look awfully close to the picture in Ascension near the PhD Flopper staircase 

[Guest]