Red vs Blue - Aether vs Dark Aether

[clueless]

(Moving my main comment from an unrelated thread here to begin a new discussion without taking away from the original post, I'll include @anonymous's response here as well to avoid redundancy on their end.)

 

A topic that has surfaced more than once involves the red and blue lights throughout the skybox of Revelations. We assume the red and blue lights are Monty and Shadowman / Keeper and Apothicon in conflict, but what if it was the Aether and Dark Aether in freeform due to Revelations existing outside the bounds of time and space. Red symbolizes Dark Aether, and Blue symbolizes Aether (or vice versa, I'll explain points for each in time). 

 

The Corruption Engines in Revelations can make or break this theory; they start out siphoning energy from the Apothicon Sun (or giving to it?) causing blue colored energy but after being "overridden" they emit red energy that centralizes at the Death Beams at Nacht. Or maybe these structures were already in Monty's perfect world and we are overriding them to make them the Corruption Engines? But the Corruption Engines are of Apothicon origins, so it wouldn't make sense for it to be in Monty's perfect world even if he was affected by the Dark Aether. 

 

If Aether was (represented by) blue and Dark Aether red, everything would make sense except for the Corruption Engines which would imply the opposite by their existence, causing a paradoxical situation.

 

If Aether was red and Dark Aether blue, we can dig a little deeper if we're willing to reach further

than our grasp. The original color of 115 was red-orange; in every map up until Origins the only instances of 115 we have had are red-orange and three instances of purple used for the NAV Tables. At this point our only instance of Dark Aether was from the MPD, which was of Apothicon origins to begin with, and Dr. Maxis' corruption at the end of Buried after winning the Endgame. Now in another theory I had on the 115 discussion page, red 115 is less potent in exchange for being "more stable". This would suffice with the Aether which tries to keep its form and conform to sustaining itself, as opposed to Dark Aether which is known for quite the opposite. Now in my same theory, blue 115 is far more unstable and far more potent, which is exactly what defines the Apothicons in every sense of the word. It would fit with everything except for the idea that the skies in Shadows and Maxis' Endgame in Buried turn red from Dark Aether overtaking the dimension, but that is practically baseless as of now.

 

anonymous's response:

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Notice the different kind of teleporting if you compare Shadows of Evil/Revelations portals with the purple-ish MTD. GKNova6 said that Hell is Purple so I assume the blue/purple thing is Apothicon, espessially if you think about how Fluffy became demonic upon teleporting through the MTD, Hellhounds and Jumping Jacks spawn in via purple flashes, etc.

 

Also, the Shadows of Evil portals feature the same Cthulu-like statues as can be seen in the map's undercroft, which was clearly a Keeper hideout...so Keeper portals then? The reason the Cthulu statues are here and also on the Revelations corruption engines is, perhaps, because the Keepers may used to perceive the Elder Gods as deities. They do not refer to them as 'Gods' for no reason. Ever since the Elder Gods started corrupting the Keepers, they started to view them as enemies but their appearance might still be included in old Keeperese statues, machines, etc

 

Regardless of what color symbolizes which form, that response helped to my next step in the theory (which really is just basic knowledge of color spectrum), that purple symbolizes a perfect equivalence between Aether and Dark Aether. Our main instances of the color purple are Margwas teleporting, certain enemies spawning in by lightning/flashes (Hellhounds, Jumping Jacks, etc.), the MPD's interior "soul housing sphere?" or whatever that ball of light is underneath Samantha's floating body, and the MTD itself which uses "Red Mercury" according to other theories here. Taking the quote "Hell is Purple" to a more literal sense Purple is the state between Red and Blue, and Purgatory rests between Heaven (Aether) and Hell (Dark Aether).

[anonymous]

I'm working atm so I'll be back for a more comprehensive reply later, but I wanted to add that in BO3, Primis seem to travel via the red SoE portals (see the ZnS outro), generated by the Summoning Key. Keep in mind that this is during the cycle, when they act in Monty's favour. 

 

In BO4, when Primis travel undercover and out of reach for Monty, they use similar portals but blue in colour. Is this because they use a different spectrum of Aether where Monty cannot see them? In other words, red=Aether and blue=Dark Aether? That reminds me of a quote of Richtofen in Buried.

 

"All this talk about energy, it’s so vague, ja? Its best not to worry about it. Just think of the big ones, positive and negative, north and south, light and dark, good and evil."

 

Also we have these red portals in the Pentagon, emitting the numbers just like the Pentagon Thief. I think these numbers might stand for the floating Keeper symbols like we see during the SoE rituals. More evidence that red=Monty/Keepers?

 

I'll come back on this later, break is over now

[RichKiller]

When JohnyJ asked Blundell for the colors of 115 and so, his answer was: 

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There is something, and there is also a time where it isn't something. So yes, it's both sides of the equations

(5:46)
There has been one theory of red colors = no one in control, which is a good theory and it matches this sentence.
However in Mob of the dead's ending, zombies do not attack the weasel. It could be because some controls them, or an affect similar to zombie blood.
Upon hearing "the truth" from the warden tapes and seeing zombies do not attack the weasel, the Mob team is convinced Weasel is responsible, hence killing him and the cycle repeats. 

There is also a quote from the BO1 MOON easter egg of Nikolai, in the black egg step:

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Hm...maybe we can make red eyes all around! Mmm, red eye! I like red eyes without the beer and egg, too

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There is rotten egg on moon? I thought it was made out of cheese

For some reason he refers here to food and cheese. I'm not familiar with red eyes as food but if someone could enlighten me it would be great.
Also, we know that Nikolai was always meant to get control of the zombies at one point or another, so perhaps red eyes = Nikolai. 
This could also tie with the famous Nikolai quote from Mob. 
The 115 color is a big mystery for sure. 

[RadZakpak]

2 minutes ago, RichKiller said:

When JohnyJ asked Blundell for the colors of 115 and so, his answer was: 

There is also a quote from the BO1 MOON easter egg of Nikolai, in the black egg step:

For some reason he refers here to food and cheese. I'm not familiar with red eyes as food but if someone could enlighten me it would be great.
Also, we know that Nikolai was always meant to get control of the zombies at one point or another, so perhaps red eyes = Nikolai. 
This could also tie with the famous Nikolai quote from Mob. 
The 115 color is a big mystery for sure. 

The red eyes thing is him saying he'd like everyone to get drunk (bloodshot eyes). I think the beer and egg thing might be a reference to Juggernog, so basically he just needs vodka.

 

As for the cheese thing it's a reference to a popular urban legend that the moon is made of cheese: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/53107/why-do-people-say-moon-made-cheese

[RichKiller]

2 minutes ago, RadZakpak said:

As for the cheese thing it's a reference to a popular urban legend that the moon is made of cheese: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/53107/why-do-people-say-moon-made-cheese

Makes sense. The way this sentence is built is a bit weird though because the subject is the the egg.
 

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The red eyes thing is him saying he'd like everyone to get drunk (bloodshot eyes)

That makes sense as well. I still think it's interesting Nikolai wants everyone with red eyes. 

[clueless]

6 minutes ago, RichKiller said:

Makes sense. The way this sentence is built is a bit weird though because the subject is the the egg.
 

That makes sense as well. I still think it's interesting Nikolai wants everyone with red eyes. 

Nikolai is simple man, he just needs vodka and friends

[RichKiller]

6 minutes ago, clueless said:

Nikolai is simple man, he just needs vodka and friends

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Nikolai: Do not try to confuse me German, I know why we are here. To secure the American test subject.
Richtofen: Is your contempt for me finally diminishing, my simple minded Russian friend?
Nikolai: I am beginning to think you're not the Richtofen I once knew.
Richtofen: You are stronger than you realize, Nikolai. If only your judgement were not so... clouded.... You would be... Invincible.

Nikolai was always supposed to become the leader with the absence of Primis Richtofen and obtain control, in one way or another. 
Not saying that at the time of Moon Zielinski's team planned it, but rather in the time of Blundell's team, who looked very closely in the past and specifically into Moon.

[clueless]

19 minutes ago, RichKiller said:

Nikolai was always supposed to become the leader with the absence of Primis Richtofen and obtain control, in one way or another. 
Not saying that at the time of Moon Zielinski's team planned it, but rather in the time of Blundell's team, who looked very closely in the past and specifically into Moon.

Even moreso, in The Giant Richtofen begins to say how he needs to confide in one of them, for only they could set them down the right path. (Don't remember the exact quote, it was a Pack-a-Punch quote.)

[RichKiller]

Just now, clueless said:

Even moreso, in The Giant Richtofen begins to say how he needs to confide in one of them, for only they could set them down the right path. (Don't remember the exact quote, it was a Pack-a-Punch quote.)

It turns to be Takeo: 

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Takeo: Why do you confide in me German?! I regard you with the same contempt as the others!
Richtofen: To be honest, I think it's your irrational commitment to being honorable that makes me trust you, Takeo.

 

[clueless]

While true, given how he forgot which person to confide in in the first place, is it possible he chose wrong and changed it in the Broken Cycle? We know (well, you guys did, I have never heard that quote until now lol) that Takeo was confided in but it could have just been on a whim in addition to the fact that he had "the message from the Emperor" to win him over. It's not until Blood of the Dead that Richtofen confides in Nikolai, who starts them on the right path.

[RichKiller]

6 minutes ago, clueless said:

While true, given how he forgot which person to confide in in the first place, is it possible he chose wrong and changed it in the Broken Cycle? We know (well, you guys did, I have never heard that quote until now lol) that Takeo was confided in but it could have just been on a whim in addition to the fact that he had "the message from the Emperor" to win him over. It's not until Blood of the Dead that Richtofen confides in Nikolai, who starts them on the right path.

Is the or "confide" being said there? 

[clueless]

I can't say much more without spoiling big parts of BO4 for you, sorry, but he does confide in Nikolai by the end of Blood of the Dead

[RichKiller]

Just now, clueless said:

I can't say much more without spoiling big parts of BO4 for you, sorry, but he does confide in Nikolai by the end of Blood of the Dead

you can simply provide an answer with "yes" or "no".

[clueless]

1 minute ago, RichKiller said:

you can simply provide an answer with "yes" or "no".

The word confide is not used but by definition he is confiding in Nikolai

[anonymous]

So all my speculation:

 

Perhaps you already knew, but there is a difference between the matter transference and teleportation. What the Matter Transference Devices do, is converting your matter into energy and, via the ethereal plane, building up your matter somewhere else again (return through Aether). Meanwhile, portals are tears in the universe, providing a stable tunnel to another place in that space-time. Like a wormhole:

The Space-Time is here shown as a 2D sheet, meaning the original wrap of a universe goes through the 4th dimension. Anyway, the central point of a wormhole, existing out of space and time, is called the singularity.

As there are no spatial nor temporal dimensions here, I believe this is the Aether. An absolute negative space where the rules of physics don't apply. Nothing exists but yourself and the other beings trapped there. The only way you could escape is if somewhere else in our 3D space-time someone would poke an exit hole. A living purgatory, a portal to hell. Thing is, which hell?

 

You see, I think the colour of the portal depends where the singularity crosses through, what spectrum of Aether. The skybox of Revelations shows the Aether but since our brains cannot comprehend it we only see a duality: Red and Blue. When Primis use a blue portal, we go through the blue "plane" of Aether. This is out of reach of Monty, hence why Broken Cycle Primis and Victis & Zombie Richtofen (who sought the blood against Monty's planning) use this spectrum. When Primis travel according to Monty's plan, they use the red spectrum.

 

Looking at the Revelations skybox, the Apothicon Sun is the center of the blue spectrum (shall we call that the Dark Aether?). To come back at Richtofen's quote:

 

"All this talk about energy, it’s so vague, ja? Its best not to worry about it. Just think of the big ones, positive and negative, north and south, light and dark, good and evil."

 

Everything has two sides: Magnetic north and south (often indicated with red and blue), positrons and electrons, matter and antimatter, mass and gravity. I think this same works for the Aether, but both sides are equally corrupting. Two sides of the same coin, and the coin corrupts people and aliens. 

[clueless]

1 hour ago, anonymous said:

So all my speculation:

 

Perhaps you already knew, but there is a difference between the matter transference and teleportation. What the Matter Transference Devices do, is converting your matter into energy and, via the ethereal plane, building up your matter somewhere else again (return through Aether). Meanwhile, portals are tears in the universe, providing a stable tunnel to another place in that space-time. Like a wormhole:

The Space-Time is here shown as a 2D sheet, meaning the original wrap of a universe goes through the 4th dimension. Anyway, the central point of a wormhole, existing out of space and time, is called the singularity.

As there are no spatial nor temporal dimensions here, I believe this is the Aether. An absolute negative space where the rules of physics don't apply. Nothing exists but yourself and the other beings trapped there. The only way you could escape is if somewhere else in our 3D space-time someone would poke an exit hole. A living purgatory, a portal to hell. Thing is, which hell?

 

You see, I think the colour of the portal depends where the singularity crosses through, what spectrum of Aether. The skybox of Revelations shows the Aether but since our brains cannot comprehend it we only see a duality: Red and Blue. When Primis use a blue portal, we go through the blue "plane" of Aether. This is out of reach of Monty, hence why Broken Cycle Primis and Victis & Zombie Richtofen (who sought the blood against Monty's planning) use this spectrum. When Primis travel according to Monty's plan, they use the red spectrum.

 

Looking at the Revelations skybox, the Apothicon Sun is the center of the blue spectrum (shall we call that the Dark Aether?). To come back at Richtofen's quote:

 

"All this talk about energy, it’s so vague, ja? Its best not to worry about it. Just think of the big ones, positive and negative, north and south, light and dark, good and evil."

 

Everything has two sides: Magnetic north and south (often indicated with red and blue), positrons and electrons, matter and antimatter, mass and gravity. I think this same works for the Aether, but both sides are equally corrupting. Two sides of the same coin, and the coin corrupts people and aliens. 

Oooh now we're getting into topics somewhat within my wheelhouse! Gersh Devices and the Casimir Mechanism / Effect can play a bigger part of this (if you want read this beforehand, if not I'll explore a good amount of it below the link.)

Being a purple portal, it would imply an equivalence, balance, or zero within spectrum of Aether. While this makes for pure portals that are controlled and stable, they also provide a perfect connection to the Aether. This is what led to Dr. Gersh's "ascension" as an orb of light (which seems to become a repetitive symbol, a different discussion for another time) , and is what tethers Samantha's/Richtofen's/Maxis'(?) soul to the Aether inside the MPD.

The problem with being in the middle, is that both sides fight for control of it, and given a long interval of time the darkness takes over (Apothicon language shows the mentality of consuming for survival, which makes sense that even the energy around them, controlling them, would do the same). Samantha's corruption was amplified by excessive use of the MPD, as well as it's darker origins of the Apothicons causing the darker spectrum of Aether to overwhelm her soul. Richtofen, who was already tethered to it via Elemental Shard, got a third exposure (I'll explain later) when he touched the MPD which truly began his insanity. Gersh was only within the Aether through his Casimir Mechanism for a relatively short time before falling through to the Agonia Fracture, which is why he does not get affected the same way.

 

Gersh Devices are constructed by Dr. Gersh as miniature Casimir Mechanisms; they use the vacuum between two metal plates to create a purple singularity. Unbiased towards Aether or Dark Aether on the spectrum, it brings us to the Aether location outside of our perception of space and time before they end up somewhere else. What triggers "the way through" is out of my range but can explain why using the Gersh Device does not corrupt anyone - they aren't using it enough to be contaminated by the dark spectrum of Aether directly. Now let's take a look at the MTD as contrast. The MTD is also known for its purple portals, and probably one of the most iconic things in Zombies. I believe it will solidify my point further. As we know, the MTD was used an extreme amount of times, with a combination of "Red Mercury" (which is now purple) and excessive amounts of 115 as a power source. While the test subjects were able to be sent to and from the teleporter, they would return corrupted and changed. I'd like to believe similar to my thoughts on Broken Arrow's serum for APD usage, Group 935 hadn't exactly nailed down the perfect amount of 115 to balance the polarity of Aether and Dark Aether. So while the "Red Mercury" was purple, there was more of the dark Aether's spectrum in play at the time causing the repeated failures of Richtofen and Maxis' teleportation experiments (expect for the walnut, because there isn't any Apothicon Walnut as far as I know). Richtofen, with his obsessive habit over the machine, spent many more attempts and as such many more tweaks to the design getting closer and closer to the balance. When he teleported to the Moon, he was close enough to balance that he didn't become a zombie but still far enough away that he began to go insane, now tripling down on Dark Aether corruption when he touches the MPD spewed from the darker energies of the Aether.

 

This raises another question. Were Samantha and Maxis already afflicted by the Dark Aether when Richtofen betrayed them, a result of a miscalculation that would lead to their own mental instabilities? Or was it later when they took the mantle from the source of the MPD?

[anonymous]

@clueless That actually sounds like it makes a lot of sense. As for Gersch, I always assumed he was stuck in the Dark Aether due to him calling it a horrible place and near to Sam's influence, but it could also strengthen your idea about the Dark Aether slowly occupying the neutral equivalance. After all, "She is coming", Samantha is underway to Gersch but not directly there. Her etheric influence finds her way bit by bit to this new insider of the Aether.

 

Gersch remains an odd subject. Why is Samantha, who entered the Aether via the pyramid, so all-powerfull, while Gersch (also in the Aether but seemingly at another spectrum) seems like nothing more than a prey for the little girl's corruption? Perhaps it has something to do with Samantha's proximity to the Apothicon Sun in the Dark Aether and thereby, possibly, absolute control over the undead. Gersch could also be merely scared by the intense, absolute evil-ness that inhabited Sam.

 

Another interesting feature of the Aether is that one can locally activate or deactivate an ethereal field. The EMP grenade, for example, creates an Electromagnetic Pulse. This basically creates an explosion of electromagnetic noise that blocks radio waves and fries circuitry. So as long as the pulse is active, the controller cannot communicate, as the frequencies are all blocked by radio noise. Zombies become passive because they lack a primary motivation to chase their prey. The EMP interrupts the signal from the MPD, locking the controller out of his Aethereal access to that area, so he can no longer 'insert' weapons or objects into that time via the portal known as the mystery box due to that disconnect. Note that the box is still there, the same way the guns you have previously purchased are still there because they have already been completely manifested and are now physical and out of the reach of the controller. However, the guns remain guns and the box remains nothing but a box.

 

Local fields are also seen overwriting the MPD's signal, as we can see at the American Pyramid Device in Camp Edward, where semi-alcoholic Pernell got loose and started an outbreak with his white-eyed undead slaves. @caljitsu also noted that the Skull of Nan Sapwe, in Zetsubou, also generates white eyes and may temporary create a 'control field' as well, stopping the zombies from attacking you. The skull also allows you to smack the zombies' heads, something we've seen Samantha and Richtofen doing as well, at the end of each match. Perhaps when the characters are killed and the zombies are useless, the controller can simply overload the zombies' brains with energy, making them explode.

 

Back on topic, I still consider the possibility that purple is another version of blue. This because the MTD teleportation initially coloured blue, which was changed to purple in BO3. We've also got the line 'Hell is purple' and I associate Hell more with the blue/Apothicon/Dark spectrum of Aether. But yeah, I must say it is very coincidental that we always see that duality between 'red' and 'blue', most notably in Revelations, and it could certainly be the case that purple is some type of in-between form. After all, purely light or dark influences are very rare. Here on Earth, we often encounter some kind of gradient in-between (hence the purple in MPD, MTDs, Gersch Device, etc).

 

By the way, sorry for the chaotic write-up. I'm afraid I'm on phone right now