Our love was lost

what can we do?  

at their best, there is gentleness in Humanity.
some understanding and, at times, acts of
courage
but all in all it is a mass, a glob that doesn't
have too much.
it is like a large animal deep in sleep and
almost nothing can awaken it.
when activated it's best at brutality,
selfishness, unjust judgments, murder.

what can we do with it, this Humanity?

nothing.

avoid the thing as much as possible.
treat it as you would anything poisonous, vicious
and mindless.
but be careful. it has enacted laws to protect
itself from you.
it can kill you without cause.
and to escape it you must be subtle.
few escape.

it's up to you to figure a plan.

I have met nobody who has escaped.

I have met some of the great and
famous but they have not escaped
for they are only great and famous within
Humanity.

I have not escaped
but I have not failed in trying again and
again.

before my death I hope to obtain my
life.

Charles Bukowski
from blank gun silencer - 1994

A Better Theory Of Prometheus

I WATCHED Prometheus.

I liked it, warts and all. There were unanswered questions and there were several internet answers worth looking for.

But there was one theory which really bothered me - that the Engineers wanted to kill humans because we crucified Jesus. I simply could not believe it. It is beastly. It is against nature. It is heartbreaking. I don’t care if it came from Ridley Scott himself. That kind of story has no place in this age of Philip K. Dick high-brow philosophical science fiction.

There is a good story hidden in Prometheus. It may not be the intended one, but by God I was going to find it even if I had to invent it myself.

So, I struggled day and night to formulate a theory which would unify all aspects of the movie, together with the other Alien movies.

Lo, and behold. This is the result.

The Central Thesis:
“The Engineers wanted to evolve humans, not destroy them.”

The Why:
“To save them from the fate they faced against their own makers."

Let us proceed.

1.    THE MOVIE TITLE

The title of a movie is the window to its soul. And, yes, it is also the name of the damned ship. But why stop there?

The myth of Prometheus is essentially about a God who created mankind and stole fire from the heavens to give to the humans. The Gods punished Prometheus not because of the theft, but because he gave the humans an opportunity to be equal or even better than the gods.

The Jesus theory completely misses this point and instead focuses on the liver-eating. I think the title goes beyond that. Besides, it doesn't makes sense for the Engineers to sacrifice themselves to give life to a planet, and then decide to eradicate it on a whim.

The only way that this myth becomes a central point of the movie is if we consider the Engineers as the modern-day Prometheus, and their own makers, to be the Gods. The Engineers gave life to us (probably against the Gods' wishes), and now gives us the equivalent of "fire" - the black ooze.

(As we will see later, the Gods "punished" the Engineers in a very deadly way.)

2.     THE BLACK OOZE.


From what we know, the black ooze does not outright kill a living organism. Instead, it evolves and transforms it into a more powerful form.

In the movie, only two things are actually touched by the ooze:

(1) The small worms inside the “tomb”; and

(2) Charlie Holloway.

The worms touched by the ooze become stronger versions of themselves, able to decapitate and kill a grown human being.

On the other hand, an infected Charlie is able to create life inside a barren woman. He rises from the dead and is able to absorb tremendous amounts of damage. His eyes turn black, the same eye color of the Engineers.

The offspring of the infected Charlie (a human) goes on to mate with another powerful alien being (an Engineer) and the result is the Xenomorph. The merger of creator, creation and catalyst. Arguably the most resilient and strongest creature in the galaxy. (A very valued trophy among the Predators in Aliens vs. Predator)





3.     THE XENOMORPHS

Inside the “tomb”, there is a mural of a xenomorph and an altar. It appears that the xenomorph was revered among the Engineers, probably because of its superior survivor qualities.

The Xenomorphs are superior to human beings in almost every way except for intelligence. In the Alien movies, we have seen their ferocious capacity to kill, to reproduce, to convert their surroundings into habitats. Unlike human beings, a newly-born xenomorph can protect itself from predators. Unlike human beings, xenomorphs have very short gestation periods limiting their period of vulnerability.

In fact, it may not be unheard for the Xenomorphs to eventually be capable of advanced intelligence. I mean, look at the size of their heads!

The Xenomorphs may have been considered by the Engineers as a force for "good" and, together with humans, will be instrumental in defeating the threat to the Engineers from their own Makers.

4.      WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ENGINEERS.

All of the Engineers were dead, save for one. What caused their deaths?

The popular theory is that the xenomorphs killed them. If so, why are ALL the Engineers on ALL the other ships dead? If there was a single Xenomorph outbreak in one ship, it should not have affected the other ships. However, it is hinted that everyone who has not been insulated in a hypersleep chamber is dead.

Also, if it were indeed xenomorphs, why did the dead pile of Engineers show no external wounds except for some open chest wounds. As we all know from the Alien movies, it is impossible for someone to be killed by a Xenomorph and not suffer SERIOUS wounds or a decapitated limb. Or two.

So what happened? We know that when the decapitated Engineer head was brought to the Prometheus, it showed signs of cell mutation. Upon electrocution, the head simply exploded.

It might not be far off to theorize that an outbreak infected the Engineers causing their cells to mutate and explore (or implode). This explains their uniform death on the planet with nary a mark.

So who infected the Engineers? I would like to believe that it was the Makers of the Engineers who knew their cellular structure and had the technology to manipulate it.

5.      WHY THE ENGINEERS SHOWED US A MAP TO THEIR TOP-SECRET MILITARY BASE

If the Engineers wanted to kill us, why would they show humans a map of their top-secret military base? More to the point, what is the precise nature of the outpost on the alien moon?

My theory is that the moon outpost is BOTH a tomb and a top-secret military base.

To recall, the Engineer ships do not lift off from a traditional landing strip but from underground, buried beneath tons of dirt and rock. Once they actually activate, the launch pad itself is destroyed.

This means that the above tomb-like structures were meant to disguise and camouflage the ships until the time was right for them to lift off.

My idea is that the Engineers wanted to hide their black ooze technology from a bigger threat through camouflage, but at the same time, wanted the humans to discover its location.

6.     DAVID

There are at least  four generations of creations in the movie: (1) The Engineers; (2) the Humans; (3) the Androids; and (4) the Xenomorphs (which are a combination of the black ooze, and human and Engineer DNA).

The story of David is amazingly complex. Here is a creature who knows his maker from the very start of his lifecycle. In fact, sometimes he knows more about his makers than he does himself. He is not deluded by the morality of his creators. He knows that they are as much capable of doing good as they are of doing evil. How does one live knowing such a hard, cold and brutal fact?

When asked why the Engineers wanted to kill the humans, David said “Sometimes you have to destroy in order to create.”

This dialogue is so philosophical it hurts. A human asks his creation about the purposes of HIS creator. And I can see the same scene being repeated in the Prometheus sequel where the Engineers ask Elizabeth about the purposes of THEIR creators.

Also David's answer supports my theory that the Engineers wanted to evolve the humans, not kill them, hence the reference to creation.

The moral lesson here (if there ever was one) is that our creations have the potential to be better than us, to answer our unanswered questions, to save us. Including androids and killer acid-spitting aliens.

7.      WHAT HAPPENED 2000 YEARS AGO

The internets claim that the crucial event which occurred 2000 years ago was the death of Jesus. This runs contrary to one crucial fact – the movie occurred on Christmas day or the day Jesus was born, not crucified.

So, it was around the birth of Jesus when the Engineers decided to evolve the humans. WHY?

Now I admit this is a shot in the dark, but I think an explanation can be found in a Sci-fi short story written by Arthur C. Clarke called “The Star”. Here is the Wikipedia entry:

"The Star" is the story of a group of space explorers from Earth returning from an expedition to a remote star system, where they discovered the remnants of an advanced civilization destroyed when their sun went supernova. Determining the exact year of the long-ago supernova and the star system's distance from Earth, he calculated the date the emitted light from the explosion reached Earth, proving that the cataclysm that destroyed the peaceful planet was the same star that heralded the birth of Jesus.

Applying it to Prometheus, a calamity destroys the homeworld of the Engineers but also acts as the Star of Bethlehem which signaled the birth of Jesus Christ (according to prophecy), the savior of mankind.

Perhaps, as their own home system was being eradicated precisely 2000 years ago (by the makers possibly), the Engineers found a way to send an emissary to Earth - Jesus.

Perhaps, as their own home system was being eradicated precisely 2000 years ago (by the makers possibly), the Engineers found a way to send an emissary to Earth - Jesus. 

 

8.     JESUS

Let us take a second look at the various "teachings" of Jesus: (1) he is bringing salvation to mankind; (2) he preaches about entering the Kingdom of God (entering the realm of the Engineers); (3) he preaches about gaining eternal life (possibly through transformation/evolution into a more powerful form); (4) he warns that people who do not follow him will suffer or be punished (hinting at the fate of humans who refuse to follow the warnings of the Engineers).

Now this is just pure theorycrafting, but maybe the crucifixion of Jesus could also be part of the Engineer's plan to galvanize the religion and further prepare the human race for evolution.

CONCLUSION:

So that's it in a nutshell. When Elizabeth goes to the Engineer homeworld, we pray that she will discover two things: (1) a civilization that died trying to save creation; and (2) everlasting hope in the human race.

This theory attempts to unify all aspects of Prometheus so that it makes real grown-up sense. It also attempts to give philosophical justice to the themes and concepts in the movie such as creation, faith, determinism, morality, science and the human condition.

However, there are some questions that even this theory struggles to answer such as, what did David say to the Engineer which caused him to go into a killing frenzy? Why did David bring the crucifix into his meeting with the Engineer? You'll have to help me with this one.