Stuhlinger's Past & Quotes To Consider

[RadZakpak]

Eric Maynard made this post on Twitter today about someone who contacted Stuhlinger's VA, Dave Boat, and he confirmed that Stuhlinger was at one point a CIA agent.

 

 

Similar to the Group 601 images released recently, I'd take this with somewhat of a grain of salt since in-game this hasn't been explicitly confirmed since the character was introduced. But this inspired me to at least entertain the idea of Samuel Stuhlinger actually being a CIA agent at one point, and that most, if not all, of his crazy ramblings are real. So I've listened to all of his quotes from TranZit, Die Rise, and Buried to collect all quotes that reference something otherworldly, supernatural, or are just generally suspicious.

 

Before that, I do want to bring up that Stuh is apparently referred to in the files of BO2 as a reporter, which could similarly be a cut or ignored origin for his character, but I still think it could gel with this CIA agent thing. What if he was a whistleblower in the CIA, or rather a leaker spreading information about corrupt parts of the government including Broken Arrow. As a result, he is removed from power and possibly discredited by the government to avoid anything he says being taken seriously. Then as a result he becomes a reporter, not in a traditional sense, but more like an Alex Jones conspiracy-sharing type that gets laughed off. This could even tie into why he is close to Russman, as Russman could also have been leaking information about Broken Arrow to him, knowing he was legitimate. Anyway, that's just my headcanon answer to how this could all work.

 

TranZit Quotes

Spoiler

"I heard they put something in the water to make you forget to count your bullets! ... It's the game." - Low ammo

 "Oh those probers ain't getting me!" - Avogadro Above

"Oh, I know that lightning! That prober's on the way!" - Avogadro Above

"No! Don't probe me! Not again!" - Avogadro Spawn
...you get it. Nearly every quotes about Avogadro is about him "probing" like an alien.

"Oh, holy schnikies it's an alien!" - Avogadro Reveal

"I know what those aliens do inside their flying discs! Oh, I heard all about it..." - Avogadro Storm

"The aliens try and talk to me at night when I'm trying to sleep..." - Avogadro Storm

"You're messing with a patriot!" - Avogadro Wounded

"That's for all the times your kind probed us Earth-folk!" - Avogadro Wounded

"Oh, no no no no... I'm not opening that crate without my tin-foil suit on under my clothes! MIND CONTROL!" - Box Moved

"Glowing lights, disappearing conspiracy crates, alien ass-probers, and whoever keeps whispering to me in my head! THEY'RE ALL IN ON IT!" - Box Moved

"You know who owns this bus-line right? Everyone knows... it's them." - Bus Ride

"Oh, that didn't surprise me, no, I know all about those things. I read about how they plant 'em everywhere." - Earning an Achievement (Treyarch = Illuminati Confirmed)

"Oh, now that's a score! That supernatural box from Atlantis must like you! Oh, oh... wow, okay, I've said too much..." - Russman gets a Monkey Bomb

"That box of lies comes right out of the Bermuda Triangle! ... I read!" - Russman gets a Monkey Bomb

"*gasps* When did they build a town here?" - Entering the Town

"Me? I don't have any money. Oh, but the global banking conspiracy can buy themselves all the zombies they want! How fair is that?" - Not Enough For Perk

"And who told you to come after me?! Huh? Why do they want me dead?" - Surrounded

"I know all you deaders are working for 'em!" - Surrounded

"Oh, you act like you're mindless flesh-burritos, but I KNOW THE TRUTH!" - Surrounded

"I got enough bullets for everyone in Atlantis!" - Surrounded

"Come on! Come here and get stabbed you Bermuda Triangle barf-chuckers!" - Surrounded

"Oh yeah! Going out in a blaze of glory, just like the voices told me to!" - Surrounded

"I wonder if I should trust this super-gun technology... Everyone knows it came from... The Hollow Earth." - Taking PaPed Weapon (He's right, you know.)

"Huh, something funny about this place." - Entering PaP area

"Some kind of global banking conspiracy going on here." - Entering PaP area

"I feel like I might have been here before or somethin'." - Entering PaP area

"Late at night, when no one's around, I get out the book! And I read all about what's really going on!" - Waiting for PaP

"Oh I know all about the plots and the schemes! Yeah, I know what's really going on. You betcha!" - Waiting for PaP

"Okay so I remember seeing, seeing this big, hairy thing! Right? And it walked behind a rock! And then he looks behind his right shoulder! And then he walks behind a tree! And then he walks behind another tree! And then he just keeps walking, right? He just keeps walking right into the woods! It happened!" - Waiting for PaP

"Oh, I know what's really going on! I read the underground newsletters!" - Waiting for PaP

"Just more global financial system manipulation!" - Fire Sale

"I guess your overlord masters would arrange for you to get all the best equipment!" - Misty gets the Monkey Bomb

Several quotes about Misty working for them

"I'm pretty sure those dog-things were bred in secret labs!" - Hellhound Spawn (Technically not in-game)

"Ah! Hellhounds from the Hollow Earth!" - Hellhound Spawn (Technically not in-game)

"Oh! I have received a gift from the magical voices!" - Acquired Ray Gun

 

Die Rise Quotes

Spoiler

"It's aliens! It's got to be aliens!" - Box Move

"Ugh... Russia..." - ???? file name is vox_plr_1_gripe_russia_D_0

"Are you picking on me because I know too much?" - Surrounded

"I know what you really are!" - Surrounded

"Damn diary... Voices... I don't need this shit! I really really don't!" - Waiting for PaP

"So, voice in my head, are you gonna hold my past misdeeds over my head forever?" - Waiting for PaP (Shadowman?)

"God, what do you want from me? I'm already ashamed of what I did!" - Waiting for PaP

"Who's who? That's what I wanna know. Especially that crazy German voice." - Acquired Who's Who

"Same old, same old... Turn on the power... rinse and repeat... Which, by the way, is a conspiracy by the shampoo makers. You really don't have to wash your hair twice." - Spawn in

"Oh, it's this book! It's cursed!" - ???? file name is vox_plr_1_sidequest_samuel_self_D_4 (Seems to be when he hears Richtofen.)

"Where are we?! What happened to the Town? The light... I remember the light!" - Start of some step in the EE

"You..." - Start of some step in the EE

 

 

Buried Quotes

Spoiler

"Ya know, I just realized something. I don't even know the German guy's name!" - Waiting for PaP

"Hey, how come this machine seems to follow us wherever we go?!" - Waiting for PaP

 

So honestly, there's really no hints that I can see of him being in the CIA, but I guess there really isn't any that say he's a reporter either.

 

Some sticking points though:

 

- In TranZit he's focused on the conspiracies of the Hollow Earth (Kinda real in the form of the Aether), Atlantis (Could argue it is Zetsubou), the Bermuda Triangle, aliens (Believes Avogadro is an alien, which we know to be false, but what has he seen that it reminds him of?), and a global banking conspiracy (Probably true in the world of 2025.) If he truly was a CIA agent, his hints at aliens and the Bermuda Triangle could be significant in a way we haven't seen.

 

- Sometime between TranZit and Die Rise he acquires a book, or more specifically, a diary which he believes is cursed. Maybe Richtofen's Diary somehow ended up in Hanford or the Chinese Broken Arrow site after the Ascension Group fell apart? If it isn't Richtofen's diary, whose is it? EDIT: He actually mentions a book in TranZit that supposedly tells him about everything that's going on. But I believe his model only changes to reflect a book in his pocket in Die Rise.

[KronoriumExcerptB]

The book/diary thing is the most interesting to me. We've never seen that get any elaboration, we don't know if he just found it or if Richtofen told him to get it. My assumption is that the Journal was on Richtofen's body as they came back into Classified after Moon, but we never heard about Pernell or anyone else recovering that copy, and who knows what happened to it after that.  

 

Unfortunately, I think the CIA agent thing got scrapped. They probably would've put it into BO4 if they had any further intentions with it. Every other Victis character got at least something minor for their backstory, but Stuh got nothing, and he has the most mysterious backstory.  And for what it's worth, Stuh mentions in Tag that he read about the Hollow Earth on the internet, so I don't think he got that fact from the CIA.

[anonymous]

That's a great discovery! I like your idea about the diary being obtained at Die Rise since it became a supposed Broken Arrow station. Could Stuh have been one of the CIA members we play as in Survival/Grief mode, 10 years earlier? Being the sole survivor of his team, he gets stranded in Hanford, joins the Flesh and eventually meets Russman.

 

As for the Atlantis reference, I think you are spot on that it may refer to Zetsubou/Pohnpei. There is something interesting I see just now: Notice how he states that the Magic Box comes from Atlantis and the Bermuda Triangle.

 

"Now that's a score, wow, that supernatural box from Atlantis must like you. Oh well, Okay I've said too much"

"That box of lies comes right out of the Bermuda Triangle, I read."

 

This leads me to believe that Atlantis can be accessed via the Bermuda Triangle. I looked it up on internet and there are quite some real life conspiracy theories that "prove" that, there are even books written about it. And if Zetsubou would be accessible via the Bermuda Triangle in the Atlantic Ocean, that would actually make sense since Atlantis is believed to be located in that ocean (whereas in our Zombieverse we discover it is actually in the Pacific), so when entering Zetsubou people may think it is in the Atlantic. Now, we also see all those thunderstorms in Zetsubou's skybox, along with a lot of crashed planes both American and Japanese. This would fit with the Bermuda Triangle said to swallow planes. 

 

 

[anonymous]

Another weird yet interesting quote of Stuhlinger in Tranzit is the following: 

"I'd rather be judged by 12 than eaten by 6. And who told you to come after me, huh? Why do they want me dead?"

 

@RichKillerhas proposed the idea that "judged by 12" may refer to the Majestic 12. Now bear in mind that at the time of Tranzit, the idea of Broken Arrow didn't exist yet and the secretive organization was the Majestic 12, its connection with Zombies mode revealed in the Black Ops Dreamland server (not to forget the occurance of Hangar 18 and Area 51 in our story). Because of its connections with the CIA I'm inclined to believe that if Stuhlinger was a CIA agent, he discovered about the Majestic 12. Maybe that's why he is paranoid, because they are after him?

 

The other interesting part of this quote is the "eaten by 6". I can not find any other relevant connection with 6 than the Mark of the Beast. 6 is the number of Satan, of the false prophet, and of the Apothicons (see the three overlapping 6's in the Apothicon symbol)

Could "eaten by 6" refer to some kind of Apothicon cannibalistic ritual he stumbled upon?