Nacht der Untoten's Significance II - Where The Seven Fell

[RadZakpak]

Twelve years ago we unwittingly discovered a hidden mode within Call of Duty: World at War; A mode where four marines survive against endless hordes of undead in an abandoned German bunker. That's all that the mode was for a time, but it didn't take long for the mode and its story to develop, culminating in the end of the previous multiverse, and the creation of a new one. It seems poetic, then, that the first location visited in this new universe is Nacht der Untoten. But why is this location so significant within the universe itself? Especially now that 115 and thus Group 935 are out of the picture?

 

Last year, I made a thread documenting the bunker's many appearances throughout the multiverse, and evidence suggesting why people just can't seem to stay away from the place. I think now is the perfect time to revisit the topic, with Die Maschine still fresh in our minds. I intend to explore more than the location's practical significance in the universe, but also its cosmic and figurative significance.

 

Big Bang Theory

The theory that Die Maschine's surrounding frozen forest is the same frozen forest where Ultimis and Primis met their fate at the end of Tag der Toten is not my own. It would seem appropriate to start here given that the previous story also ended here, and in the lyrics to "Alone", the singer describes burying "a well" where the seven fell, the seven possibly being Ultimis and Primis minus Nikolai, who died by a different method, or perhaps minus Ultimis Richtofen who lives on through Eddie.

 

In any case, if we go with that interpretation of the lyrics, think for a moment of the broader implications of the frozen forest being at Nacht der Untoten. That would mean the place that Primis goes before arriving in Agartha for Revelations is near Nacht. It would mean that it is somehow a significant enough place that Monty could not find them there at the end of Tag der Toten. It means that the story ends at Nacht just as it began there. Why is it that the characters cannot seem to avoid going there, time and time again? What cosmic coincidence has the bunker re-appearing again and again across time and space?

 

Imagine if you will that Nacht der Untoten is the origin point of the universe. The Big Bang Theory suggests the universe was infinitesimally small and hot, before expanding at a more and more rapid pace, a phenomenon still occurring now. In reality, Earth is an unlikely center of the universe compared to the vastness of space. But Earth is shown time and time again to be significant throughout the multiverse, even to beings such as the Keepers and Apothicons. 

Gateways to the Aether lie within the Earth's surface. The MPD is hidden by the Apothicons on Earth's moon, close enough for one of us to access it and free them, but far enough away that it can't be found by the Keepers. It is the location of the rift which allows the Apothicons to conquer dimensions. Earth being the location of the origin point of the universe starts to make a little more sense in that light, but why Nacht?

 

Through a cosplay guide released by Treyarch, we received confirmation that Samantha Maxis is in her 30s as we see her in 1983 in the new universe. With a little mental math, that lines up perfectly with her and Eddie having arrived in this new universe around 1964, when Tag der Toten takes place and the multiverse is banished to the Dark Aether. So by traveling through the white void into this new universe, they still arrive at the same time that they left: 1964. A better question, though: WHERE did they end up? It stands to reason that if they end up at the same time as they left, they would end up in the same place that they left: The Frozen Forest. That explains Samantha's fixation on the location of Die Maschine in Morasko, Poland. It's where she ended up, and she knows of its cosmic significance.

 

If we think of the end of Tag as being a reverse Big Bang, the final ending point, or starting point, of the new universe is in that forest. This could be why the Cyclotron was built there by the Nazis in the first place: It's the little pin hole into the Dark Aether where the universe started. The broken multiverse, held together by the Aether, was filtered and pushed through the pin hole, but what was filtered out still remains on the other side. 

 

Perhaps it's a bit on the nose for the first zombies map ever to be the literal origin of the universe, but it does so much to explain the strange occurrences there. It is where every dimension began, the connecting point between them and the Aether. To top it all off, the map takes place on November 13th, 1983. November 13th is also the release date of Cold War, and the real-world day when this new "Dark Aether" universe is created.

 

Any further thoughts or evidence? Counter-arguments? Do you foresee this idea being touched upon more as we learn about Eddie and Sam's place in the new universe? I'd also be interested to hear if my interpretation of the Big Bang Theory is correct in this context. Maybe this is even a further connection to the Welteis Theory with the origin point of the universe being a frozen forest.

[anonymous]

If I were damned, this post, you really are into something here Rad. I can totally see this theory. I guess the Frozen Forest would be some kind of isolated pocket realm of the original forest around Nacht, akin to how the House is a variant of the English countryside and Hellcatraz is a variant on Alcatraz. This may also explain why this place was secret for Monty, as he was confirmed to be unable to be omnipotent in such pocketrealms (see Blood of the Dead). Nacht der Untoten was the beginning and the end, literally.

 

Of course, this pocketdimension was sustained by energy from the Aether, and by sealing the Aether off (or destroying it, I'm unsure about Tag's ending), the Frozen Forest would vanish as well. But it's real world counterpart, Morasko, still exists, in a world without 115 and ethereal influence. The children go through the tunnel of light and find themselves at that very site, in the year 1964.

 

Nacht being 'in the middle of the universe' also reminded me of this:

Is there some symbolism behind this? Is this the reason why the four Leylines of the Corruption Engines float to Nacht, and all corruption portals are connected with this site?

[RichKiller]

I'm gonna hang on the big bang theory here. 

  

Quote

"This is an inter-dimensional convergence. Other galaxies, other realities... are bleeding into our own."- Nero, Shadows of Evil

 

As you probably know, many earths / galaxies is a representation of the multiverse theory, where you have different earths showing different possible universes. It's a very simple way to communicate this idea to people who can't begin to imagine space beyond 3D. 

 

 

We do have a reference to big bang theory, in terms of Moon's easter egg, exploding the earth.

As you probably know as well, the big bang theory says the world was born in a catastrophic explosion, which is interesting considering you do explode the earth. 

 

Quote

"The fate of the world rests on what happened on the moon. I must prevent the inevitable"- Primis Richtofen, Der Eisendrache

 

So the question is whether this explosion gives raise to new universes. Glady we do have a brief cipher, telling us that the many universes were born by mixing "all the dimensions with life, giving each one its unique balance." and that this event (that we haven't experienced yet) was possible due to the summoning key. 

There are rather quite interesting quotes regarding fixing the universe and the different fragements in DE, a tiny few appear in this thread, which is overall very connected to this topic:

 

One of the more interesting quotes is the following:

 

Quote

"Once again, it seems like WE , have to do THEIR repairs" - Primis Richtofen, Der Eisendrache

 

This quote is super interesting. We know Ultimis broke the earth and lead to the catastrophic events Maxis hopes to prevent:

 

Quote

"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."- Maxis, The Giant radio, upon inviting Primis Richtofen to the house. 

 

Primis Richtofen, trying to fix the universe, gets mad at Ultimis, which have broken the universe. He hopes to bring order to the universe "piece by piece". 
Eventually that results in the universe convergence, one universe is destroyed by the other. The paradox must be resolved, the loop must be closed, and the multiverse must come to an end. 

 

Eventually we have two canonical events: the mixing of life with the dimensions (most likely with the souls of the main four) and Ultimis fracturing the earth.
So how do they connect? Good question that requires further discussion.

 

One option is that one events directly leads to another, which seems somewhat likely. This is an option I will not discuss right now.

I want to talk about one option that I find less likely, or by the very least, happens in combination to the above. It can almost stand alone and is easy to explain. 
 

People around the forums are already familiar with the Black Egg on Moon:

During the final steps of the easter eggs, players duplicate the Egg used in the Easter egg (the one that slightly looks like the summoning key) 

by sending the Egg into a black hole, then each copy goes inside one of the rockets:

 

 

The Black Egg is referred to as "An egg of the devil", and in Staflight 2 (where the Black Egg is inspired from), the black egg is necessary to destroy the planet of the final level. 

People have speculated that this egg is alive, as the egg seems to speak. 
For example, in the following quote, the egg seems to say "Hello": black_egg_accelerate.wav

It is possible that the life within the black egg was unleashed with the explosion of the earth, eventually creating the multiverse.

 

So that's it for the Big bang theory for now. Are Nacht and the forest forest the same? Not sure. 
The frozen forest a super important location, especially for souls as previously discussed. I believe there's a consensus that it is located within the Aether first and foremost (and it may be located in another location, as it often happens in Aether). 
I will not be surprised with the mixing live and the dimensions happened in the forest, the trees of life if you will. 

Bringing Nacht, I have lately seen the claim around that Nacht is not a worthy place in Aether to revisit. I disagree with that statement and here is way:

 

The plane crash had some significance in the story. By the timeline, the plane gets crashed, and therefore hits German Army trucks that transport stuff between group 35 facilities.

 

 

This is further interesting when you recall that comic pages showing that in a corrected universe the plane simply does not crash, arguably when Ultimis Richtofen is not around.

 

The overall crashing of the plane happens in June 4th, which is a reoccurring date that appears in several important dates, such as Origins itself.

I think Nacht in Aether could be rather interesting overall. 

 

[RadZakpak]

On 12/4/2020 at 4:25 AM, RichKiller said:

 

 

The overall crashing of the plane happens in June 4th, which is a reoccurring date that appears in several important dates, such as Origins itself.

I think Nacht in Aether could be rather interesting overall. 

 

Good catch on that. I've noticed some other particularly interesting dates here and there that seem majorly significant across time and space. Such as October 13th: The day Richtofen betrays Maxis, the day Richtofen completes his grand scheme in Moon, and the day he returns to his old body as seen in Classified. At first I wondered how a date, something related to the human concept of time could be so significant. But if the theory is correct that Nacht, and the Earth around it, is the origin of the known universe and the closest connecting point to the Aether, it would make some sense that a calendar based on Earth's rotation around the sun would have some bearing on events.

[RadZakpak]

I'd also like to make an addendum to this post after some thinking and discussing in the Discord this morning. I wondered why Broken Arrow would built Nacht at the Hanford Site, or how it could have ended up there from Poland, then I speculated that perhaps it's because Broken Arrow was attempting to harness the Dark Aether in much the same way we see in Die Maschine. Within those underground labs, maybe there even was a Cyclotron.

 

By 2025, Broken Arrow would be fairly acquainted with the power held in the Aether, after coming face to face with it in Pernell. Perhaps by building a cyclotron and attempting to reach into the Dark Aether, with it comes the Nacht bunker, and that is why it is there.

 

There's actually some tangential evidence: The Denizens of the forest. For a while I wondered why specifically they are referred to as being from the forest when that doesn't seem to be a prominent feature of the map, and they all come out of a portal in the ground. Then I wondered: Are they denizens of the frozen forest? Specifically, the Dark Aether version of the forest, and that is where they spawn from underground, and where they return to through their portals. The portals they open around TranZit are very similar to the ones opened via the anomaly in Die Maschine after all. Their mutations may be a result of polonged exposure to the other dimension, much like what is seen happening to the Stranger in DM's intel. The Stranger mentions how there are many types of creature forming a hierarchy in the Dark Aether, such as the plague hounds and elder gods. The Denizens may very well be some low part of the hierarchy, hence their skittishness. 

 

To go a little further into speculative territory, could these Denizens actually be the denizens of Hanford itself? The BO4 multiplayer map Remnant tells a story of native Hanforders all disappearing over night mysteriously. This could just be legend, but, what if it were true? And Broken Arrow's Dark Aether experiments sent them to the other side, where they mutated over time, occasionally returning to their former home looking for food? A dark thought, but interesting nonetheless.

[anonymous]

16 hours ago, RadZakpak said:

There's actually some tangential evidence: The Denizens of the forest. For a while I wondered why specifically they are referred to as being from the forest when that doesn't seem to be a prominent feature of the map, and they all come out of a portal in the ground. Then I wondered: Are they denizens of the frozen forest? Specifically, the Dark Aether version of the forest, and that is where they spawn from underground, and where they return to through their portals. The portals they open around TranZit are very similar to the ones opened via the anomaly in Die Maschine after all. Their mutations may be a result of polonged exposure to the other dimension, much like what is seen happening to the Stranger in DM's intel. The Stranger mentions how there are many types of creature forming a hierarchy in the Dark Aether, such as the plague hounds and elder gods. The Denizens may very well be some low part of the hierarchy, hence their skittishness. 

So Richkiller just posted this image of the Keepers skulls specifically used to obtain the Void Bow in Der Eisendrache:

Notice the little hands under the big head. As we know, the Void Bow relates to the Apothicons and the Dark Aether, as other names for the weapon are Kreegakaleet lu Gosata'ahm (Decay Portal) and Demon Gate, as well as the hellish purple colour it creates. Therefore we can assume that this skull is from something originating from that realm as well. Those little hands, that big head, it reminds me of the Denizens. And I know, the Denizens appear much different, but consider the factor of evolution. Denizens have big, lifeless eyes, similar to those species that make a transition from an open world animal to a blind cavern animal. The hypothesis that the Denizens originate from a dark habitat is even more backed by the fact that they are solely encountered in dense fog and are scared of bright light, making them return to their dimension of origin.

Creatures living in the dark will eventually evolve away from their senses of sight. The Denizen's eyes are rudimentary organs, that will eventually evolve away. 

 

Are the Denizens in some way related to the Keepers/Apothicons, or more importantly, to the Dark Aether? We have seen Keepers without eyes, as well as a Keeper skull with eyes (Nan Sapwe). We know that human DNA holds hidden Keeper traits that have been expressed upon combining it with pig DNA (see the 'Keeperese traits' of the Nova Crawlers). We also know that Broken Arrow created the Denizens. Now if you look to a Denizen, it does hold some humanoid characterisms such as the nose, the ears, and the extremities in general. Could they be created through the Dark Aether, or perhaps having merged with other creatures from the Dark Aether? Are the Denizens, indeed, part of the 'picking order' of the Dark Aether?

[anonymous]

@RadZakpakfound something in Die Maschine today which may strengthen your theory:

Inside the crashed plane, you can find a lot of trash and something what appears to be an improvised bed. Along with it, a teddy bear. Someone slept here, be it hippies or people having a raveparty. But they left a teddy bear, which reminds me of one specific person.... The one who couldn't sleep without his bear.

 

Did Eddy dropped his bear when he and Sam entered this new realm?

[jfryxy]

On 12/16/2020 at 11:05 AM, anonymous said:

@RadZakpakfound something in Die Maschine today which may strengthen your theory:

Inside the crashed plane, you can find a lot of trash and something what appears to be an improvised bed. Along with it, a teddy bear. Someone slept here, be it hippies or people having a raveparty. But they left a teddy bear, which reminds me of one specific person.... The one who couldn't sleep without his bear.

 

Did Eddy dropped his bear when he and Sam entered this new realm?

I am now 100% convinced that Eddy and Samantha started in Morasko when they emerged from the old multiverse. Amazing thread, can't believe I didn't piece it together when iI saw the teddybear and money on the horse rocker in Nacht

[anonymous]

@jfryxy glad to hear that! Another vague hint may be the sentence "they buried a Well where the Seven fell" in the EE song. Morasko has seven meteorite craters. The buried well is thought to refer to the ending of Tag. Additional hint that Sam and Eddie walk from the "old" multiverse to this new universe via Morasko?

 

Thinking about it longer, we don't see any reference to the meteorites in Die Maschine, possibly meaning that there are no meteorites. This place, Morasko, has been chosen very carefully and for what other reason would Treyarch chose a random village in the middle of Poland where the only absurd event are the meteor crashes. But there are no meteorites here....can this be an indirect reference to showing that 115 meteorites never fell in this universe?

 

Welcome to the site by the way! You are interested in the story as well?