The Order of Forgotten Mysteries #4: Belinski Mystery

[anonymous]

Eheh, that rimes. Sort of. Anyway, it is Wednesday again and time for the fourth Order of the Forgotten Mysteries post! This time we will head to a more recent, but equally intriguing oddity:

 

Belinski square: A very prominent plaza in the centre of Stalingrad, in Gorod Krovi. It is the square with the infamous Barmaley Fountain: A statue depicting a circle of six children dancing around a crocodile. Originally meant as an artistic decoration of the city, it became a symbol associated with the blind and meaningless horror and destruction that had been terrorized Stalingrad for half a year: War. 

I have consulted a Russian online forum, asking how the plaza in real life was called, and it appeared that it was originally simply known as the 'Trainstation Square'. So what caused this change of name in our Zombies Universe, or at least in the Agonia fracture? 

 

Belinski is obviously the last name of our well-beloved, chronic drunk, Soviet character: Niki! It seems, however, that Nikolai was merely an infantry soldier of the Red Army, rather than some famous person deserving a square being called after him. What is more, Nikolai's wife died on the 24th of June, 1941, two days after the start of the Nazi's Operation Barbarossa: the offense on the Soviet Union. From this it seems like Nikolai lived in the very west of his country, close to Poland or maybe in the Baltic area. Additional proof for this is that, according to my helpful online Slavic comrades, any name ending with ‘-ski’ originates from the Western/Baltic/Leningrad area (however, since Stalin’s population transfer in the 1930s this doesn’t mean anything anymore). So it seems unlikely that Nikolai was some local Stalingrad celebrity or something, as he most likely didn’t originate from there. But the place being called after one Belinski would be too coincidental if it wouldn't have any ties with him. Does Nikolai have relatives? Well, you might not know, but in fact is the answer yes: He had a brother. In one of the many knocht facts of Monty in Revelations, the following is stated:

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“Nikolai once had a brother. I don’t know why he forgot him.”

The CoD Wiki says that in a Black Ops 1 map, Nikolai states that he has a homeless brother which he hates, but I cannot find any proof for that. Also, the Timeline mentions his brother too:

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December 14th, 1942

Nikolai’s brother is killed during the Battle of Stalingrad

 

So there seem to be quite some nods to the existence of another Belinski. But who could this be? Der Eisendrache and Zetsubou no Shima provide us some interesting ciphers:

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“The last test subject, the Mexican, died, but during the autopsy I have discovered the key to create the army that we seek. We are now ready to capture the four subjects identified in report forty four”

 

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“Of the four test subjects highlighted in Report 44, one of the brothers has died before we could reach him in the battle. The other is still at large in the city.”

So next to Pablo Marinus, there are four other test subjects: Takeo, Dempsey, Nikolai, and a fourth unknown one. It is said, however, that one of them is a brother of the one at large in the city (who we assume is Nikolai in Gorod Krovi). So Nikolai’s brother is a testsubject of Group 935 too? What is interesting as well, is that these are facts scattered throughout all fractures: Agonia, Proditione and Deceptio, which most likely means it is something that was in the Original Universe as well, and not merely a random fracture thing. 

 

Nikolai’s brother is also confirmed to be dead. Compared with his addiction to booze, this might be why Nikalai sort-of forgot about him. But who could this be? And could he be the one who the plaza was named after? Leave your thoughts!

 

 

This is my own theory, a far one, I know, but I’m gonna leave it here as well. Next to Nikolai there is only one Russian we are familiar with: Viktor Reznov. There have been some nods to him in Zombie Mode as well:

• The Pack-a-Punched AK-47 in Mob of the Dead is named Reznov’s Revenge. Not uninteresting is that Nikolai’s name is heard in Weasels head and that the eye colour of the undead in Mob are, just like in Stalingrad, coloured blood-red.
• A gravestone on Belinski Square and a sign stating: “Vengeance is mine” - V.R.
• A trophy in Gorod Krovi, called ‘Viktorious Revenge’
• A cipher: 

  Quote

  "Comrade. I hope these schematics reach you in time so our scientists can make use of them, for I know the western front is on the brink of collapse. these schematics I have stolen from group 935 will enable us to construct our own wonder weapons which will help us turn the tide of the war and give us victory over the German pigs. I fear, however, I will not live to see this. —V.”

   

All these nods seem to hint to the fact Reznov is, in opposition to Mason’s mind games, already dead (or at least in Agonia), died in Stalingrad. Now you see where I am heading to: Could Reznov be Nikolai’s deceased brother? As he stole blueprints of German technological advancements (possibly during his time as captured testsubject), he might have earned fame among the Soviets and a square named after him. However, Reznov did so during the war, and it would be logical that the plaza was named ‘Belinski Square’ before the war. Anyway, more mysteries surrounding Reznov have been discussed in the comments of this post.

 

Did he die or did he live? The very first time we came in touch with Reznov was at the Trainstation Square, or Belinksi Square... Also notice the crow (thanks to @PINNAZ)

 

[RadZakpak]

 To quote Nikolai's World at War bio:

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Stalin himself cannot stare Nikolai in the eye, no one can. There, in his eyes, you will see the soul of a man burning with the hatred of all things living. His closet is full of skeletons, many of them with the flesh still attached.

Early in his career, Nikolai had quickly made his way up through the party ranks by killing the next man in line, and by marrying politically. Ultimately, his aspirations all came crashing down after his fifth wife mysteriously died while cleaning his axe with her neck. Little did he know that she had been sleeping with a high ranking party official on the side. This made Nikolai infamous, and his reputation spread quickly through the party. It was not long before Stalin himself had heard about Nikolai. More importantly, he feared Nikolai. As soon as the war started, our hero was dropped on the front lines and forgotten about, where he wallowed in self pity and vodka for several years.

There are many weapons in his arsenal, not least of which is his breath.

While we know a lot of this is a lie dreamed up in his mind, there may very well be some truth to this biography. While it seems that he only ever had one wife who died in 1941, it is very possible he and those in his family were a part of the Communist political party. While Nikolai tends to seem like an idiot while he is drunk, he is very defensive of Communism and openly despises both Capitalism and Fascism. It could just be him being loyal to his motherland, but it may just as well be that he really was involved with Soviet politics, and he or a family member of his was so influential that they had a square in Stalingrad named after them. It is possible that Stalin actually did fear Nikolai, not because of him killing his wife, but because he may have been growing in influence across the Soviet Union. This is consistent with the real life Joseph Stalin who, like Adolf Hitler, was known for being incredibly paranoid and had many of his own party members erased from Soviet history because he feared their influence. Sidenote, anyone interested in the subject should watch the comedy The Death of Stalin, it is genius.

 

Anyway, because Nikolai may have been seen as a public hero in the Soviet Union, instead of outright killing him, Stalin may have instead sent him to die on the front lines. It's funny, I've been researching Nikolai and the battle of Stalingrad this past week for the Storybook, and every article on Stalingrad I find says that around January 16th when he was captured, the Soviets had very nearly driven the Germans out of Stalingrad and were about to push back to Germany. On January 15th, artillary bombardment of Pitomnik airfield began, the last holdout of the Germans in the city: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitomnik_Airfield 

 

I don't want to go too in-depth into Report 44, because it is hard for me to wrap my mind around at the moment. I'm very confused by the timeline of it and its significance, and it may be worth a thread of its own.

[anonymous]

I completely forgot about his Bio! The bio is concerning the Original Universe, and if your theory would be correct, that'd most likely mean the square was named Belinksi Square in the Original Universe/World at War campaign as well.

11 hours ago, RadZakpak said:

I've been researching Nikolai and the battle of Stalingrad this past week for the Storybook, and every article on Stalingrad I find says that around January 16th when he was captured, the Soviets had very nearly driven the Germans out of Stalingrad and were about to push back to Germany.

I've noticed that as well, odd as it is. During the entire war, German troops have captured so many POW's. Why did Richthofen specifically wanted Nikolai, Takeo and Dempsey, even while (at least in Nikolai's case) it would require a lot of efford: In Stalingrad's final days, the Germans were starving, freezing and took advantage of every evacuation aircraft/vehicle there was. Why waste space for a captured Soviet POW? It just seems so unlogical. From Report 44, and entschuldigung that I do start about this again, it also seems like Group 935 had prior planned to capture/experiment on these three, before they even actually captured them: "We are now ready to capture the four subjects identified in report forty four", "He (the brother) died before we could reach him". 

 

Did Group 935 plan the capturing of our three heroes? And if so, why? Did someone told them, perhaps for the same reason it are them who reside in the House... (I have absolutely no idea)

[RadZakpak]

46 minutes ago, anonymous said:

Why waste space for a captured Did Group 935 plan the capturing of our three heroes? And if so, why? Did someone told them, perhaps for the same reason it are them who reside in the House... (I have absolutely no idea)

Thinking back on it, given how Blundell likes to retcon Monty and the Shadowman into these things, and how we know the Shadowman is in Richtofen’s head in the original timeline... things start to fall into place. The Shadowman’s job of assimilating universes is so much easier when Ultimis is tearing holes in the fabric of time itself. I would not doubt it that the Shadowman is aware of future events and that if he can force Ultimis to come together, they will inevitably wreak havoc across the universe and spread the Apothicon influence. Many a time Maxis and Richtofen refer to the Ultimis versions of Dempsey, Takeo, and Nikolai as “Simple-minded” beings that will create chaos. Chaos that the Apothicons feed off of.

 

It seems like destiny that the four of them will come together, that Primis will fail, and that Ultimis will prevail...

[anonymous]

If we talk about extradimensional messengers, I would consider 3 possibilities:

• Shadowman, for the reasons you said. In my opinion, this would be the most logical one, as he had contact with Richthofen and might've misled Richthofen towards power, possibly even after Samantha entered the MPD.
• Monty: In Classified, we came across a note from Maxis thanking 'M' for starting his great journey into science (or more specific: Matter Displacement). I hope this is due to different reasons, but there is a possibility that Monty too wants the events as they have happened so far, and so helped Richthofen in finding his testsubjects as well. However, from the note it seems that merely Maxis had (once) had contact with 'M', while Richthofen is the one taking the testsubjects in custody.
• Primis Richthofen: In the comics, it is seen that Primis Richthofen is able to influence both Samuel and his zombie-self in other dimensions. It seems like characters, or at least Richthofen, is linked with his other selves. 

[Schrödinger]

I never heard that Nikolai had a brother before BO3. He once had a sister, I don’t know why BlunMonty forgot her...

Moreover Takeo and Nikolai were captured before the death of the Mexican according to the first radio of Call Of The Dead.

Spoiler

Don't read CODWikia, it's bad for health.

 

[anonymous]

2 hours ago, Schrödinger said:

I never heard that Nikolai had a brother before BO3. He once had a sister, I don’t know why BlunMonty forgot her...

Moreover Takeo and Nikolai were captured before the death of the Mexican according to the first radio of Call Of The Dead.

  Spoiler, click to open contents

Don't read CODWikia, it's bad for health.

 

Thank you, reliable source of zombie pictures and radios! So according to the radio (and the Timeline), Nikolai and Takeo are indeed already captured and experimented on when Pablo dies due to spleen removal. Perhaps the whole Report 44 thing is just a fracture thing, though I find it odd it happens in all fractures. Or at least Agonia and Deceptio. What is weird as well, is that we believe the Deceptio fracture is created by killing Richthofen, while the testsubject/Report 44 stuff happened already earlier. Maybe it is, lije the Riese robot in The Giant, a thing that bleeded into this fracture from another realm/fracture, though I would find that a rather lame explanation from the developers.