Pocket dimensions I - Explaining the House & the Giant radios

[anonymous]

Hey all! First part of a duo-thread I intent to make with our friend @Rapt. Today I'm gonna deal with the House and talk about the Giant radios as well. But first start with what a pocket dimension is, and a perfect model for "pockets".

 

Alcatraz is the most clear example of a pocket dimension, and understanding Alcatraz may prove to be a key concept in order to understand other pocket dimensions. Created by the Warden of Alcatraz, the dimension appears to be anchored to the Warden's corpse, and his soul contained within; with the souls of the four mobsters holding the dimension together. This is a similar mechanism to that of the Elemental Shard, and the souls of Dempsey, Nikolai, Takeo, and Richtofen. The four mobsters were electrocuted to death, whose "sacrifice" created the pocket. Being a pocket dimension, it is seemingly outside the scope of Doctor Monty nor any other inhabitants of the House (e.g. Maxis), with Monty being physically unable to interact with it. This isolation and "locked off" of other realms seems to be a core feature of pocket dimensions.

 

 

To summarize, features of a pocket dimension are (1) that its creation requires a sacrifice of four souls and (2) that it is isolated from the regular world, yet based on it. It is therefore that I think the twisted Morg City we visit may be a pocket dimension as well, and possibly Der Riese and the Frozen Forest as well but we will talk about that another day. Today, we will discuss the matter of the House.

 

As odd as it sounds, the House initially seems to originate outside a pocket dimension, within our regular, physical Earth. The House area in Revelations is in-game called 'Sheffield', a city in central England which location also seems to be hinted at in the alternative Die Rise loading screen. Interesting enough, Maxis seems to have found his way to it before the apocalypse (and the subsequent "knock on the door" and Monty's arrival. Hang on I will make this clear later on). Perhaps this could have anything to do with the teleporters in World at War's Der Riese indicating the abbreviations GER (Germany), FRA (France) and, curiously enough, ENG (England). Germany and France are confirmed to have had Group 935 facilities, and it would actually make sense since both countries were under the Nazi's regime. But the fact that Group 935 has a teleportation connection with England is quite intriguing. This, I think, may very well have been the House: Maxis' House. This could be why we are able to simply teleport to it in Kino der Toten, as it wasn't in a safely locked off pocket yet. When the Earth was blown to bits after the events of Moon, the House too was condemned to exist in an apocalyptic wasteland. 

 

 

Ludwig Maxis: "Day 66. The children are gone and the house 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."

 

Keep in mind that at the time of Black Ops III's release, alongside the Giant radios, we were only one map away of Buried and the "old story" of destroyed Earth. Ironically, the destruction of Earth was Maxis' own intent, as he instructed Ultimis to launch the rockets. I believe that's why he notes that he may have turned the tide of the battle, but at what cost. But things changed when a man named Doctor Monty knocked on the door, offering his help to change the present by altering the past.

 

Ludwig Maxis: "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."

 

Ludwig Maxis: "He explained everything to me, he will explain everything to you. Though his very presence defied logic, defied reason, he told me that he would help. I could not refuse."

 

Let's go to the Giant intro, where zombies start to break in after the freezing of time and Primis' arrival. This distracts them which allows Ultimis Richtofen to link the MTD, as you can clearly hear the sound. Dempsey shouts at him: "Whatever you think you are doing, don't do it!". Nikolai says that he does not want to meet what's on the other side of that door, and Takeo warns him that he cannot begin to comprehend the great evil he could unleash. Despite their warnings, they do not simply kill Ultimis Richtofen. They seem to want him alive for some reason (coming back on that later).

 

Stubborn as he is, Ultimis Richtofen activates the teleporter, and the door subsequently opens: Primis Richtofen steps out and kills his Ultimis counterpart. Tank is angry at Primis Richtofen ("I thought we were done with this") but Richtofen tells them that things change. Nikolai says that only a fool would dare to change history but Richtofen says he does so in order to secure a better tomorrow. From intel, we know this Primis Richtofen was told by Maxis to trust Monty's plan, in order to save the world. He is sent by the House, with survivors who have witnessed the destruction of Earth, and he is convinced that what he does, he does not let that happen again. He obeys Monty's plan, which included changing history at the Der Riese Waffenfabrik. To kill Ultimis Richtofen and not let the test subjects be awoken. As Maxis 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". 

 

The event happening at Der Riese is what we can call a 'nexus point', where various timelines converge. As the events of the destruction of Earth and the nuclear House happened after the events of Der Riese, in a reality where Ultimis Richtofen didn't open the MTD and Primis Richtofen never intervened, the future was altered as soon as the past was changed according Monty's plan. For Maxis this may have felt very strange, as his own past also changed. His skin deficits, caused by the fallout, vanished. The environment around him changed from a nuclear wasteland to a peaceful countryside. As the original outcome of the universe was changed, his old experiences first became vague memories, and then vanished completely.

 

 

Ludwig Maxis: "The siren has not sounded in many months. I am... confused, by the changing world around me. I look at my hands, and they are not the hands I remember. The wrinkles, stains and liver spots that textured my skin have disappeared, as though time itself was unraveling against its natural order. Is this the end, or a new beginning?"

 

Ludwig Maxis: "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."

 

The content of Monty's plan, which eventually saved the House, was to collect the souls of our four heroes, a process which takes the entirety of Black Ops III. The use of their souls may have multiple reasons, but I believe one of them may be elevating the House to a pocket dimension. In the Morg City and Alcatraz pockets, we learn that it takes a sacrifice to actually create a pocket dimension. What's more, Morg City and Alcatraz require respectively the four souls of our Shadows crew to be poisoned, and the death of the four mobsters on the electric chair. In case of the House, the four souls attached to the Aether via the Elemental Shard may have been used to create a pocket of the House: Dempsey, Takeo, Nikolai and Richtofen.

 

 

But there is more to the House. When the souls arrived, Maxis ordered Samantha and Eddy to lock the windows and go to the basement. This is the infamous scene we see at the end of Origins. But the interesting thing is that before this, the children are playing with their "heroes", wishing that they were real. So the children were playing with Zombies-related toys simultaneous to the events of Black Ops III, and the gameboard that lays in front of them corresponds with Der Riese/the Giant. Now remember that alternative Ascension loading screen where Monty is seen drawing a wall chalk weapon within a hypercube, while standing in an environment which seems to be the countryside around the House. If this realm has extraordinary powers that can reflect drawings to real weaponry on Earth, a process visualized with the hypercube, what does that tell us about the children's games? In Revelations we learn that the Kronorium was in Samantha's room, so she and Eddie may have looked in it several times. It has been theorized earlier that the comic pages we see as map loading screens in Black Ops I and II are pages of the Kronorium, but through the eyes of Samantha and/or Eddie. And given that they are playing with Ultimis dolls here on a Der Riese gameboard, could that indicate that they are playing the story of the Original Universe here (of which the ending was quite significant for the setting of Origins, Black Ops III and the House). This may be why, at a certain point, Monty gave the children more toys. Because time has been changed now.

 

One last thing that regards the House: the awakening of the test subjects. As we know, Primis Nikolai, Tank and Takeo were on their way to Ultimis Richtofen, telling him to awaken the test subjects. Then Primis Richtofen intervenes and suddenly, they all agree on not awakening the test subjects, an order given by no one else than House Maxis. I believe this is because of the time alternating event that Richtofen's intervention is, similar to how House Maxis' memories were changing after this event, how the House was suddenly healing. Primis Richtofen misleads them by writing their confusion off as 115-induced delusions.

 

Primis Richtofen: Ah, dear Dempsey! Sure memory loss perhaps due to your prolonged exposure to Element 115? Or are you just one of the stupid Dempseys?

 

So in the original timeline, the timeline where Ultimis Richtofen didn't open the MTD and Primis Richtofen never intervened, the rest of Primis insisted on waking up the test subjects together with Ultimis Richtofen. A tale that may have been shown at this odd comic page. As you can see, the alternative comic page with Primis Richtofen killing his Ultimis counterpart can be seen after this page, indicating that this current event (of Primis + Ultimis Richtofen) was supposed to happen prior to the history changing at the Giant.

 

 

The test subjects, whether they had to be awoken or not, seem to have a prominent role in either Primis' or Monty's plan. For a long time, I have thought that it regarded the Ultimis test subjects, but rather, could it perhaps refer to Victis?

 

Gorod Krovi cipher: "We will keep the individuals in stasis, on ice to speak, and continue the specimen rotation once we finish drawing more power from the drill . Oh, I almost forgot, the sequencing for the current blood samples is as follows: SSMJABR" 

 

 

Why? Let's consider the theory that the events of Black Ops II occur in a Cycle, whilst Victis are still actually cryogenically frozen in the Alcatraz pocket dimension, invisible for Monty. As indicated by Richkiller, Richtofen's soul in the zombies after Maxis' ending in Buried says: "There has to be a way to break the Cycle". If it is true that Maxis' path in Black Ops II is actually the one that makes the Victis cycle to occur over and over again, it is logical why Maxis and Monty never want them to be awoken from their pods. On the other hand, Ultimis Richtofen with Primis do want to awaken them, as that may also lead to breaking the large Cycle they self are stuck in (of which they are clearly aware, as they refer to it in the Giant radios).

 

Special thanks for Rapt, Radzakpak, Clueless, Richkiller and Caljitsu for inspiration regarding certain parts. More on pocket dimensions soon, and don't be shy to share your interpretation of the House