How do you think the Aether story is realistically going to end?

[Electric Jesus]

Alright, so as I’ve said before, every season finale for zombies tends to also work as a tentative “end” to the story. Almost as if they’re shooting the end of a season of a TV show without knowing whether or not they were cancelled. That being said, I doubt DLC4 will be the last zombies map, and maybe not even the last Aether map. But who knows. 

 

So, to rephrase in a more palatable way: how do you think this season of zombies is going to end? 

 

I kinda want this thread to be a collection of people’s specific hail-mary theories. So here’s one for starters.

 

I did have one specific idea occur to me that I think is both plausible and awesome.

 

Maxis talks in some alpha omega radios about how their plan might culminate in them hard-resetting the universe, or rolling back large amounts of time, in order to prevent earth from ever coming in contact with 115 in the first place, or something to that effect. This makes me think they could potentially roll back time and then kill themselves, kinda like the ending of Donnie Darko, in a sacrificial last stand.

 

Imagine if for the story’s grand conclusion, for the final easter egg step, as an alternative to a boss fight, or maybe even after the cutscene, the characters just spawn in to a game of Nacht der Untoten as ultimis, and the final step is to survive, until you die. You literally die in every game of zombies that you’ve ever played, only this time it’s canonical. You stay behind and die and close off the last remaining timeline tainted by the aether.

 

I have had a few other specific ideas rolling around in my head, will return with more. 

 

 

[Boom115]

Monty nearly beaten jumps down the ice slide in the lighthouse where he finds a plane is waiting for him on the other side of the mound. He manages to take off and feels safe for a moment...Suddenly he smells smoke spewing from his engine...He blacks out from the quick drop in altitude. He awakens next to the wreckage of his plane. In the distance he sees endless waves of Richtofen, Tank, Tak, and Dempsey sprinting at him. Fade to black.

 

[anonymous]

I think Doctor Monty is something else than an extradimensional alien originating from the space between spaces. As his name implies, it seems like he used to be a scientist or some sort, Maxis mentioned 'M' being the one that made him begin his MTD experiments. There also was a in-game code once that we hd to message the man with the red scarf that the Giant has risen. I genuinely believe Monty was a test subject in possibly his own 'God machine' experiment, possibly for a larger organisation such as Broken Arrow, the Illuminati, Treyarch or CoD: Zombie Labs. In this experiment, his alter ego which was named the Shadow Man was formed. Not sure if I can find any evidence or ideas of this all but I think the entire universe is one big Bootstrap Paradox. The Keepers might be the eventual evolution of mankind, and also the origins. But in such way, that it perfectly fits with so many conspiracies and mythologies.

 

I'm also still very curious to the Keeper's presence on Earth in ancient times: How much have they influenced, and possibly controlled, our society? What do the events on the Shangri La and Moon loading screens mean? The story that happened at Pohnpei? Hollow Earth?

[Lenne]

Turns out the whole Aether story was just a bed time story for three brothers called Nikolai, Dempsey and Takeo, which was told by their crazy grandpa: Monty.

 

[Inconcievable]

The screen will cut to black as we destroy the Aether...

...and then we awaken in a horse-driven carriage, in a forest. It seems to be heading down a cobblestone road, to where we are not sure. A man in light blue armor will then look up to us and say:

 

”Hey, you. You’re finally awake. You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us, and that thief over there.”

 

We’ll then look over to said thief and come to find it was actually Jason Blundell in Monty’s outfit. Jason then takes off his mask to reveal he was actually Todd Howard the entire time.

 

Todd then reboots the universe, one final time. It is said that we can still hear him, late in the night, if you listen closely, say...

 

”It just works.”

 

...and then you get a blue screen. The end.

[Electric Jesus]

I bet they are gonna somehow condemn Victis to their own cycle for eternity as the conclusion to the story.

 

That also opens them up for a Chronicles 2.0 starring victis. 

 

Chronicles was the best-selling DLC of all time on the PS4; no way they are skimping on that cash grab, especially during the zombies-free MW season. 

 

Also it would be cool if they just did a Chronicles 2 but where every map is a little continuation of the story in some capacity. Like the difference between Chronicles 1 and 2 would be analogous to Blops1 Der Riese vs “the giant.”

 

doubt it, but a russian can dream can’t he?

[SaLaD_FiNgErS_HD]

On 9/13/2019 at 11:39 PM, Boom115 said:

Monty nearly beaten jumps down the ice slide in the lighthouse where he finds a plane is waiting for him on the other side of the mound. He manages to take off and feels safe for a moment...Suddenly he smells smoke spewing from his engine...He blacks out from the quick drop in altitude. He awakens next to the wreckage of his plane. In the distance he sees endless waves of Richtofen, Tank, Tak, and Dempsey sprinting at him. Fade to black.

 

You're in my cycle now Dr. Minty - Stuhlinger probably

[Lenne]

3 minutes ago, SaLaD_FiNgErS_HD said:

You're in my cycle now Dr. Minty - Stuhlinger probably

I remember you!  Welcome back, buddy.

[SaLaD_FiNgErS_HD]

Just now, Lenne said:

I remember you!  Welcome back, buddy.

Thanks Lenne, I remember you too....

 

If I recall correctly, you and PINNAZ tied for UOTM years ago

 

Figured with Aether wrapping up in a few weeks, it's probably a good time to revisit the place that got me hooked

 

Are many of the old guys still active here?

[Lenne]

Yes we did. Nice that you remember that.

Yeah it is bittersweet, but what can you do. All good things must come to an end, right? Do you still play?

Definitely not many. A lot of them moved on from the game. Good old Chopper visited a few days back, I bet you remember him. I mean a lot of things change in 10 years, so it is no surprise that priorities change as well. It's a bummer, but we are still holding the fort.

[SaLaD_FiNgErS_HD]

46 minutes ago, Lenne said:

Yes we did. Nice that you remember that.

Yeah it is bittersweet, but what can you do. All good things must come to an end, right? Do you still play?

Definitely not many. A lot of them moved on from the game. Good old Chopper visited a few days back, I bet you remember him. I mean a lot of things change in 10 years, so it is no surprise that priorities change as well. It's a bummer, but we are still holding the fort.

I'm still playing almost every day. My love for the game has not diminished at all. My free time however, that's a different story

 

While Bo4 is fair from perfect, nothing else really scratches the same itch that Treyarch zombies does. I can understand why many of the theory pioneers have moved on... this place has been running for a long time now. It must have been 7-8 years since I last logged in. I remember some of the great OG theory crafters we had back when I came along (Tac, Alpha, Chopper, Rissole25 and PINNAZ)

 

I'm probably in the my minority by actually enjoying the Chaos story so far, it's a refreshing change. It just feels a little sad how rushed Aether has felt in BO4.... It's almost like fan fiction or a Netflix series at this stage. I would have preferred if they either kept it going for another game, or dedicated more time towards the Aether story in this one. It cheapens the story of the previous titles by trying to tie everything together in so few maps.

 

Oh well, it's the end of a era I guess. It can't go on forever............. or can it?