The Order of Forgotten Mysteries #12: The House & The Children

[anonymous]

Our very first encounter with the House, or rather ‘Samantha’s Room’ as the community called it back then was in Kino der Toten. As most of you know, using the MTD in that map gives the players the ability to teleport to several random places, among which something that appears a children’s bedroom. Because of the presence of the teddy bear and toys, the fans assumed this was Samantha Maxis’s room. When listening closely, one can hear the French 'Nurse Rhyme', also heard at the Der Riese powerswitch, at the Tunguska sign in Shi no Numa and in the minecart in Shangri-La. In Kino it is also possible, however, to teleport to a red, hellish version of the room. The bed, the table, everything appears to be destroyed by something. Samantha’s original teddy bear is thrown on the ground, and a demonic red-eyed teddy bear that is almost the size of a man now occupied a corner. I think everyone, upon teleporting to this place, felt like something horrible happened here, especially when comparing it to the ‘normal version’ of the room. Though heavily theorized, the exact purpose of the room remains unknown.

The next time we come across the House is at the end of the final DLC of the next game, Black Ops II. It is here where we see a young version of Richthofen, called Eddy, playing with Samantha. As we hear ‘Samantha’s Lullaby’, we see them playing with dolls of story characters and zombies, we see a teddy bear, we see a weapon chalk on the wall, among with some kind of magic box, we see an Eclipse occuring outside at that very moment…. and we hear the following:

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Samantha: As the gates to Agartha opened, the four heroes were rewarded with riches beyond. From that day forward, they knew that Samantha would keep them safe... forever.
Eddie: You're getting everything wrong. I told you before, their eyes should be blue!
Samantha: It's my turn, Eddie. I can do whatever I want.
Eddie: But... You don't even know how to play properly! Girls don't know enough about zombies. 

* Suddenly, an air raid siren can be heard. Ludvig Maxis' voice is then heard from comms. *

Maxis: Put the toys away, children. Make sure the windows are locked before you come down to the basement. 

Eddie: We'd better be doing what your dad says. 

Eddie: I didn't even get my turn... 

Samantha: Tomorrow, Eddie. You get to make the rules. I promise. (Turns over to Fluffy) Come on, Fluffy! 

Eddie: I wish the heroes in our stories were real, Sam. 

Samantha: I know what you mean, but we will make everything okay... My dad says he has a plan.

I totally understand the confusion fans must have had when seeing that cutscene for the first time. But honestly, whilst Black Ops III gave much more intel concerning the House, basically revolved around the House, I think we can still only guess to the purpose and role of it.

 

Scientists at Group 935 and Division 9 facilities, facilities where was experimented with Element 115, actually heard echoes from the House, combined with power fluctuations. They heard children playing and a man (Maxis) yelling to the kids to close the windows. It seems like the House resides in a different unperceivable plane than ours, a plane existing over ours, yet invisible. But the fact that we can see it as a 3D place, and the children even physically play and live in it, show that the House isn't exactly the higher-dimensional Agartha either.

 

What I believe is that the House is most likely in some kind of 3-dimensional bulb within the Agarthan realm. Ironically, we could use a snow globe as a metaphor for this. It is left unknown if the House always was in this perfect world, or if it originated elsewhere, possibly the English Sheffield (as the spawn name in Revelations is called like that in the code) or the German/Polish Ludwigsdorf, a village close to Der Riese, where dr. Maxis lived. German architecture of that time is awfully similar to that of the House and surrounding buildings such as the church. At one moment, the House was (re)created in Agartha, initially inhabited by Doctor Monty.

 

 

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The First Arrival

With Doctor Monty’s help, the Maxis Drone arrives at the house in Agartha. Despite the absence of his soul, Monty recreates a physical manifestation of his Dimension 63 form.

 

So directly after Origins, Maxis’ brain and consiousness arrive in the House, where he reobtains a physical body.

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The Arrival of Samantha

Monty brings Samantha to the House, reuniting her with the Dimension 63 incarnation of her father.

 

I always found this a weird thing. Original Timeline Maxis took Samanthas soul somewhere, directly after Buried, from where we have to free her. As Samantha says that she is “trapped”, I assume it is a less pleasant location, however, oddly enough, she says it is Agartha. Then, when we release her, she goes to the House which (according to the Timeline) also is in Agartha. So...is she unaware that she never escaped or is what she calls Agartha something else?

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Samantha’s Corruption

Knowing that Samantha is corrupted by the Dark Aether, Monty takes her away from Maxis and the House.

 

The Isolation of Maxis

Alone in the house and missing his daughter, Maxis wonders if Richthofen will have “the courage to fulfill the vow he made all those years ago.”

 

The rediscovery of the Empty Earth

Having observed Monty for some time, Maxis uses the Teleporter in the basement of the House to study and explore other dimensions. Among them is the Empty Earth that houses artifacts and replicas collected from a multitude of different timelines. However, his attempts to manipulate the Empty Earth create a reality too fragile to be sustained.

 

So oddly enough, Monty has a MTD in his basement. Why? After all, Keepers are able to teleport between dimensions without the aid of a teleporter?

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The Restoration of Innocence

Monty returns Samantha to Maxis, her innocence restored.

 

Monty’s Plan

Monty explains to Maxis that the paradox wrought by a multiverse must be resolved. A new reality can be created - one free of the Apothicons - but only if they enlist the aid of souls who had lived through, and survived the fracturing.

 

The Arrival of Edward

Richtofen collects Eddie’s innocent soul from Dimension 2210, and Monty gives him a physical form in the House.

 

Samantha meets Edward

Eddie and Samantha meet each other for the first time Samantha writes in her diary that Edward “doesn’t like to share toys.”

 

The Happiness of Children

Monty brings Eddie and Samantha more toys.

 

The Arrival of the Souls

The souls arrive. Maxis tells Samantha and Eddie to put the toys away….and to make sure the windows are locked before they come down the basement.

 

I guess this is the infamous scene we see at the end of Origins...as well as the scene scientists at the Rising Sun Facility and Asylum hear coming from the walls.

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The Children Reborn

As each soul arrives, Monty transforms them into their younger selves and returns their innocence. 

 

We also have some weird radio transmissions from Maxis during his days in this extradimensional safehouse.

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Ludvig Maxis: "Whoever you are, wherever you are, I have one message. One message that must be remembered at all costs. The child must be protected."

Seems to talk about Samantha alone?

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Ludvig Maxis: "Day 66. The children are gone and the house still feels empty. I miss their laughter, their games. The sirens have not sounded for several months. I do believe that we may have turned the tide on the battle, but at what cost? The radiation levels from the fallout remain dangerously high. I can only pray I live long enough to confirm that my plan was indeed successful and the dark presence that has haunted our dreams, that infected every facet of our existence, has finally been vanquished."

As he is talking about the children, I guess this is about Eddy and Sam or possibly little Niki, Takeo and Tank as well. He also mentions a siren, possibly the same as we hear in the Origins cutscene. He talks about being on the winning hand and fallout. What does this mean?

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Ludvig Maxis: "She may have been returned to me, but I fear she is not as she was... In recent months, she has barely said a word. When she did, it was only to cry out for him; to call his name. What have I done?"

Good question. Please, share your own ideas! Is the entire story merely the game of a couple of children? Why are the children so important and have to be saved? What is their purpose in the House, and why do Richthofen, Maxis and Nikolai eventually want them to leave it, entering a new, clean universe?

[RadZakpak]

Excellent thread as always, Anon!

 

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So oddly enough, Monty has a MTD in his basement. Why? After all, Keepers are able to teleport between dimensions without the aid of a teleporter?

From the various radios from Maxis across BO3, we can ascertain that Maxis spent a lot of time alone in the House, where I believe he and Richtofen perfected the teleporter. It seems very man-made and is destructible using an axe. We see an early Walnut teleporter being worked on in the Alcatraz lab. I think it's safe to stay that Monty stayed out of the House most of the time, doing the work that he does. Everything about Maxis' work in the House seems somewhat rudimentary, for example:

 

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Maxis: And here we are (whistling), here we are... getting almost there. Ah... AH! There we are! (laughter) Who you have thought that a rifle sight will ever be used as a transdimensional conduit! Ah, yes. Greetings Herr Doctor. I have managed to use parts of your sample to boost the signal of my transmissions.

I'm sure Monty could have lent a helping hand, after all, he needs the teleporter to work to continue the cycle.

 

 

All that aside though, perhaps it is the First Transference Device, and Monty just gave it to Maxis to use. From the timeline:

 

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The First Transference Device

The Keepers master the ability to travel between Dimensions.

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As he is talking about the children, I guess this is about Eddy and Sam or possibly little Niki, Takeo and Tank as well. He also mentions a siren, possibly the same as we hear in the Origins cutscene. He talks about being on the winning hand and fallout. What does this mean?

This radio has troubled me as well. However, I have a theory that may be worth exploring, or is completely off-base. It's like you mentioned, it's as if the House is both simultaneously a 3D location on Earth, and a location in Agartha. This alternate loading screen may provide a hint: 

 

It depicts Primis (minus Richtofen... wtf) arriving at the House in England from Stalingrad, presumably right after Gorod Krovi. This was a part of the cycle, as we see this image disappear from the Kronorium after the cycle is broken. I believe the actual, physical House is related to the version in Agartha, and it is located in a dimension currently undergoing a war, possibly in something similar to The Blitz, the bombing of London during WW2. Maybe Monty preferred to keep them in this version of the House until he could be sure Samantha was uncorrupted and until he had the souls in his possession, hence the months Maxis seemingly spent in the House with sirens and fallout, away from the children. The House may follow similar rules to Shangri-La or the Siberian Facility, or even Der Riese, as @anonymous has theorized. It can change location at Monty's will, and serves as a headquarters of sorts for Monty and Maxis, both on Earth and in Agartha at the same time.

[anonymous]

I could totally see that! Apparently, the Sheffield Blitz really was a big, gruesome event: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheffield_Blitz

 

With help of interplanitary Vril tech, the House could swap in and out of our realm. Maybe it would work the same as the Alcatraz pocketdimension, being both a real location and a weird sort of 'private universe' only containing the Rock. Question remains though, why would Monty have a House on the English countryside? Did he actually had origins there? 

 

Still you gotta admit, if the house would be located in thís village, the name would be incredibly fitting:

[anonymous]

The House is mentioned to be in Agartha, another realm totally isolated from the actual Earth. But then my mind crossed the House radios once again. To summarize them: Whatever world the House is, this world is devastated by a nuclear event of some sort. Maxis says that they turned the side of 'the war', but at what cost...

 

Next, Monty appears. he tells Maxis (and Primis Richtofen) a plan to not let the prior history happen, to intercept. Upon executing this plan, Maxis sees the world around him changing in the good direction again, the children reappear and the world around the House seems to be saved.

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"Reality itself is shifting. I find myself reflecting on memories I am not longer sure are my own. Beyond the window, I saw a wasteland stretching far as the eye could see. I saw scourge visited upon the Earth. I saw the children withered before my eyes. That was before... before he came. Samantha has been returned to me once more, as have you Edward... as have you."

Meanwhile, we know that Monty's plan included to change history at Der Riese. To kill Ultimis Richtofen and not let the testsubject be awoken. As Monty says: "The test subjects can never be allowed to awaken, the havoc that could be wrecked upon the future by such simple-minded individuals would be catastrophic". So the events of Black Ops III seems to positively impact the House, changing the past from a nuclear apocalypse to a peaceful countryside again.

 

Baring this in mind, the big question is what happened to the world of the House. How such a peaceful, green and almost utopian Agartha turn into radioactive dust? I think we should ask ourselves whether the House really is permanent in Agartha... Realize this: the actions of the testsubjects led to this miserable future. For all we know, the major event the testsubjects caused was blowing up Earth during the Moon quest. Sooo.....was the House at that time on Earth? The idea of a 'pocketrealm' once again crossed my mind, a reality similar to the Alcatraz laboratory and the twisted Morg City. A reality isolated yet affected by the events in the real world, including the events of Moon. 

 

It would explain why the House area in Revelations is called Sheffield in the files, and also the alternative loading screen of our characters teleporting from Stalingrad to England. The House would, like @RadZakpak earlier said, be based on a real British village, but at the same time an isolated realm, where most outside factors couldn't interfere. 

 

Moving on:

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"She may have been returned to me, but I fear she is not as she was... In recent months, she has barely said a word. When she did, it was only to cry out for him; to call his name. What have I done?" - Maxis

The Timeline explains this one simply by saying Sam was corrupted, taken away by Monty, and brought back innocent again. I feel like these House excerpts hold more relevance. Just to be clear, "she" refers to Sam and "his name" refers to Eddie a.k.a. Richtofen. I interprent this as the following:

 

The House in it's apocalyptic fallout state, Monty hasn't interferred (yet) and Black Ops III has not happened: The testsubjects were awoken, Earth went boom. In this very same universe, Richtofen's soul swaps for Samantha's soul in the Aether. After this, Maxis gains control (following his Endgame, at least), and he banishes Richtofen's soul in the undead for all eternity.

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"I have been trapped for all eternity! Do you have any idea how long that is?" - Richtofen as a zombie, Buried

and

"Curse you Maxis! You and your stupid girl! You're always ruining my fun und games!" - Richtofen as a zombie, Buried

Maxis also reunites himself with Samantha's soul, grabbing her from Moon. Is this what this House radio is about? Does Maxis feel guilty for doing what he did to Richtofen, because now Samantha misses her buddy Eddie? This would, once again, suggest a correlation between the children in the House and the Controllers. Once Richtofen was replaced by Maxis in the Aether and banished to a rotten zombie body for all eternity, Eddie vanished from the House as well. Once Maxis took Samantha with him in the Aether again, Samantha had been returned to the House again. When we open the MPD, we get the achievement Cryogenic Slumber Party. Perhaps this slumber party is about Samantha wearing a pyjama in the House, and when we opened the MPD and got her out of Aether, this slumber party ended.

[RichKiller]

38 minutes ago, anonymous said:

Upon executing this plan, Maxis sees the world around him changing in the good direction again, the children reappear and the world around the House seems to be saved.

The quote you brought there suggests that he reflects on memories of stuff that he hasn't experienced. Future memories is a thing in zombies. Could be also memories of a different Maxis. The point is that we need to take that quote in grain of salt. 

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Richtofen must understand that using these teleporters to jump between dimensions is both dangerous and imprecise. At any point, the fabric of space-time could collapse if the proper amounts of 115 are not maintained. l am also concerned about the unknown effects of trans-dimensional jumps. l have noticed even with my brief travels that new memories and emotions have flooded my mind, suddenly appearing from nowhere. l am also sure something is happening on a molecular level as well.

 

[Lioss10]

1 hour ago, anonymous said:

this world is devastated by a nuclear event of some sort

Why do you say it is nuclear? Don't you think that radiation could also mean 115's?

 

1 hour ago, anonymous said:

blowing up Earth during the Moon quest.

If the missiles had 115 on their heads, then it could affect the area around the house and lead to radiation.

 

 

I wrote my thoughts on this quote, if you want to check it out for better context. There is a quote for my whole reply below. Although it is different than yours, they might work together with some modifications.

 

 

On 8/31/2020 at 2:19 PM, Lioss10 said:

On 8/26/2020 at 2:18 PM, anonymous said:

This would clearly refer to the Apothicons. Seems like the Great War against the Apothicons ended with a nuclear winter?

I believe the nuclear(?) war is the key in understanding the rest of the message and the time of this radio. We can't forget that 115 also has radiation.

Could it be that this radio is two months or more after the events of moon?

We know that Maxis is in the aether, since he contacts the Victus group.

He has been in the house for a period of time, and then Origins happens and Sam goes to the house > Origin's ending.

Also I believe the battle is against the zombies/Richtofen, not the apothicons.

On 8/26/2020 at 2:18 PM, anonymous said:

"After so long in isolation, we have begun to believe that we were the only survivors of the catastrophic event that had shaped our lives. Supplies were beginning to run low, and I was forced to prepare for the worst outcome. Just as I feared that we were truly alone, just as I feared that the end was near, there was a knock at the door"

He says "we", could he also refer to Victus?

He could also refer to the children, but he began the radio with saying they were gone, so I doubt it.

 

--

The two thing that I'm unsure of are the sirens and the disappearance of the children.

For the sirenes, It could be the sirens after Moon's rockets, but Victus are so far in the future that makes me somewhat doubt it.

But about the children, I don't know about that. Did Monty take them? But it's implied that Monty brought them back. if we assume the returned Sam and eddie are from Origin's post Origin, then where did the first children come from?

 

I might be off the mark, but this is what I think.

[anonymous]

16 hours ago, Lioss10 said:

Why do you say it is nuclear? Don't you think that radiation could also mean 115's?

Right! It essentially doesn't matter which unstable element it was, Uranium, Plutonium or perhaps more likely, Ununpentium. Each of these elements have the potential to ignite a nuclear event.

 

You mention the Moon rocketheads containing 115, possibly causing this radioactive event. I too think that it might be the events of Moon that resulted in this apocalypse around the House, though I personally am more a fan of the idea that the rockets hit 115 deposits, rather than transporting the element itself. Either way, nuclear explosions containing 115 occur, resulting in the element going airborne (as George Barkley says in his Die Rise radios). 

 

I completely overlooked your reply on that other thread, very interesting thoughts! Regarding the siren, it sounds like a typical 'the bombs are coming' alarm, so yeah could it be the rockets that are coming? That Maxis calls the children to the basement he does so because Earth will be bombed resulting in radioactivity? They try to find shelter in the basement.

 

The 'war' referring to the fight against Richtofen crossed my mind as well. Maxis says he thinks he turned the tide of the war, but at what cost? Could this be about Maxis sending the rockets to Earth (to turn the tide of the war), but with a high cost (Earth's destruction)? Because to me, this quote sounds like the radioactive scortch of the world was his own fault ("what have I done"). The Moon rockets were also his fault, so could this be it?

[Lioss10]

3 hours ago, anonymous said:

I completely overlooked your reply on that other thread

Don't worry about it!

3 hours ago, anonymous said:

could it be the rockets that are coming?

The problem is, how would that work?

If they were connected like Alcatraz and MotD are, would they also hear the sirens and feel the radiation?

Or is Maxis just observing and commenting?