What Happened to the Engineers on LV_223?

Well hopefully Ridley Scott will clear it all up for us... As far as LV 426 Derelict, Ridley has said even as of late that the ships cargo was intended to be used as a Bio Weapon but one that had gotten lose and then infected the Pilot who made a emergency landing...... It could apear that same lifeform (Xeno) had wiped out those Dead Jockeys in Prometheus.... So maybe one Engineer had created something and then unleashed it on the others.... Therefore if the Xeno was created 2000 or more years ago, then either the Engineer on the LV 426 Derelict was one of those intending to use the Weapon against Earth or maybe their homeworld. Or he was one who wanted to get rid of and quarantine/dispose of the Xeno threat from LV 223.

I think that there were two factions one that thought it's a good idea to make the so called bio weapon and wipe out a whole entire race they created and another who said no this is a bad idea and it's wrong the engineers either killed each other their weapon turned against them and they probally lost control maybe there was an accident and alot were killed and some might of died of old age maybe all of the above and now that oi think about it i don't remember them finding the engineers who went into the chamber so maybe some are still alive in hiding maybe there's another facility on the plant far away from that one that they went to because there's no reason to drag the bodies to the other door exept to put the dead in one place altogether. and why some had exploded heads and bursted chests the bursted chests would imply chestbursters maybe body bursters but if the ship from the original alien had eggs with facehuggers that would imply that maybe the ship with eggs was docked there at the facility and some of the eggs hatched and the facehuggers escaped to the facility then the ship leaves and the engineers in the facility get infected after however long and the ship that took off dosen't know about the fact that some of it's cargo had escaped then the engineers in the facility die when they die I think that there are four ways they could have died 1.The aliens burst out of some of them and the other's kill themselves before the aliens burst out of their chests 2.The ones with exploded heads were killed by the goo like in the med chamber scene where the engineers head explodes beacuse he's infected with the goo while the ones with the bursted chests were infected by facehuggers 3.The black goo infects some of the engineers and they actually get aliens to come out of them and some their heads explode 4.One of the engineers or a group of them decide to kill the other group that disagree with their views 5.A scared group of engineers know that the goo or facehuggers have infected some of the others and decide to lock themsleves away and let them die because they're afraid I personally think way 1 and 2 are the most likely and there are probaly more ways and i don't think the engineers are evil And just to add the way the engineer on the ship could have died a facehugger is also loose on the ship it then infects the engineer flying the ship then the engineers chest bursts open the ship crashes and the eggs are all destroyed because in the first one there was only a small group of eggs and the alien that came out could actaully have died in the crash but that small bunch of eggs survive or it survives grows into queen and lays that small group of eggs Sorry for making this reply so long and sorry if i forgot to mention some things or maybe didn't explain some things properly maybe didn't spell somethings properly and for straying a bit off topic with that alien derelict theory btw only read couple of other posts sorry if i wrote something that someone else already wrote but i didn't steal anything this is what i think

Q: Why do the Engineers want to kill humanity on Earth? A: The film clearly shows that Engineers created life on Earth and then guided humans throughout our development, one day hoping that we would come visit them. But we did something very bad. So bad, that it upset the Engineers. And according to the movie, whatever we did, happened two thousand years ago. The only thing that could be is that we killed Jesus, who apparently was an Engineer as well. Here is a quote from Scott: "If you look at it as an 'our children are misbehaving down there' scenario, there are moments where it looks like we've gone out of control, running around with armor and skirts, which of course would be the Roman Empire. And they were given a long run. A thousand years before their disintegration actually started to happen. And you can say, 'Let's send down one more of our emissaries to see if he can stop it.' Guess what? They crucified him." Humans probably started making chaos and was evolving in the way which the Engineers didnt like so they sent Engineer to represent them but humans crucified him so that made engineers angry

the jesus theory i have a huge problem with also the 2000yrs people seem to forget if you travel the speed of light time essentially goes very slow for those onboard however the the time the has passed for those grounded in realitive timed planets the time flies by. This is another problem i have with the movie, If the star sysetem is 30 odd light years away yet it only takes them 2.5 yrs to get to, they are traveling roughly 15x the speed of light- and or warping space- in either scenario time stops technically to the travelers but 1000's of years wouldve passed to those on earth upon return, this also goes for those on lv223 but they have never seen you before so the time you arrive is specifically that time, even though it would be thousands of years later. It would make 200yrs ago to those on lv223 to maybe 2500 3000 in the future from the time you left earth .So its kind of hard to put your finger on correct figures of time dilation in the movie because the technology isnt explained and the models we have are only theoretical anyway.

the jesus theory i have a huge problem with also the 2000yrs people seem to forget if you travel the speed of light time essentially goes very slow for those onboard however the the time the has passed for those grounded in realitive timed planets the time flies by. This is another problem i have with the movie, If the star sysetem is 30 odd light years away yet it only takes them 2.5 yrs to get to, they are traveling roughly 15x the speed of light- and or warping space- in either scenario time stops technically to the travelers but 1000's of years wouldve passed to those on earth upon return, this also goes for those on lv223 but they have never seen you before so the time you arrive is specifically that time, even though it would be thousands of years later. It would make 200yrs ago to those on lv223 to maybe 2500 3000 in the future from the time you left earth .So its kind of hard to put your finger on correct figures of time dilation in the movie because the technology isnt explained and the models we have are only theoretical anyway.

the jesus theory i have a huge problem with also the 2000yrs people seem to forget if you travel the speed of light time essentially goes very slow for those onboard however the the time the has passed for those grounded in realitive timed planets the time flies by. This is another problem i have with the movie, If the star sysetem is 30 odd light years away yet it only takes them 2.5 yrs to get to, they are traveling roughly 15x the speed of light- and or warping space- in either scenario time stops technically to the travelers but 1000's of years wouldve passed to those on earth upon return, this also goes for those on lv223 but they have never seen you before so the time you arrive is specifically that time, even though it would be thousands of years later. It would make 200yrs ago to those on lv223 to maybe 2500 3000 in the future from the time you left earth .So its kind of hard to put your finger on correct figures of time dilation in the movie because the technology isnt explained and the models we have are only theoretical anyway.

What might have happened to the Engineers: [url=http://www.prometheus-movie.com/community/forums/topic/7928]http://www.prometheus-movie.com/community/forums/topic/7928[/url]

Could there have been a war or conflict between Architects?

My blog : http://gameofcrowns.wordpress.com/ Feel free to post comments and some of my theories.

I think that this story needs to be interpteted more in terms of myth rather than science. Even if things happen that are rather implausible , if they are consistent with certain mythologies they should be considered.

I have been reading most of the posts in this thread, and I think it is very interesting and I see a lot of insight and passion for this movie. Makes me feel glad, you's true believers ,you's mah boys. No just kidding. There is no reason to be blind to some of the faults in the movie, but the plot seems pretty sound to me. As for all the theories out there. I think you guys are relying too much on the xenomorph and the deacon (wherever the heck that name came from anyway) Don't read too far into the birth scene at the end. It might not have meant as much as you think. If anything it could have just been a nod toward the Alien franchise, and something to please the crowd. My idea is that the truth considering a possible sequel lies in ideas concerning the mythology of Prometheus, more than anything to do with the Alien franchise. Its just going to move further and further away from the Alien at this point, Space Jockeys, and whatever their society and whomever created them is where this story will be heading.

After the movie, I was completely lost. Then I read what people were writing in this Forum : and everything became clearer. Here is a mix of the best ideas I found + my own hypothesis. The ambition of this text is to explain everything : the goo, the Engineers, humans, Xenos, the cargos, etc. Of course, many questions remain. The black goo The black goo that is used to create humanity at the beginning of the movie and the one in the urns are probably not the same (the body of the self-sacrificed Engineer and the body of Holloway don't exactly react the same way, and not only because of the quantities absorbed). But I don't think it's a biological weapon as some people say in this Forum – neither is there a “creating” goo and a “destructing” one. In both case, it's simply a bio-tech device. What does it do? 1) It can destroy/rebuilt the DNA of complex organisms; 2) It can provoke a super-fast evolution if absorbed by less complex beings (worms becoming “cobraliens” with acid inside; sperm + ovule becoming a huge facehugger that can implant eggs in a body); 3) It can bring back to “life” a dead organism (Fifield becoming a very aggressive zombi)... How is it “activated”? Probably when it enters in contact with carbon : inside a body or with the air that the crew breathe out once in the Urns Chamber. Where does it come from? Well that is a good question for the sequels to answer. My hypothesis : 1) The first goo is a liquefied form of the DNA of the Engineers (that's why it's stored in urns) – and it's been produced with the green gem we see in the Urns Chamber; 2) The second one is a liquefied form of the DNA of the Xenos (engineers would have discovered the Xenos somewhere and applied the liquefying process to them). This could be confirmed by the fact that this goo leads the less complex organisms or the dead bodies to become very aggressive and predatory like a Xeno – and even to look like them (such as the “cobralien”). The Engineers The Engineers created human life – and maybe life in general – on Earth billions of years ago. Their science and civilization evolved with time, as shows the difference between the first and the other spacecrafts in the movie. But they didn't evolve physically, which should be explained. We also know for sure that they visited Earth several times in several places (the pictures in the caves). But they didn't show us where was their planet : they showed the planet where the scientific facilities were, where the goo was. Why? On that last aspect my hypothesis would be : 1) They were showing where the goo was produced and stocked, to explain to our ancestor where human life came from; 2) Possibly, they were showing where they were bringing human individuals, living samples to experiment on (if I am right, it could lead to a sequel which would be a prequel again, with some prehistoric humans brought on LV-223). Something that is said in the Forum is Engineers are just men : no women are to be seen among them. If we share the same DNA (as Dr Shaw discovers), then it's not because of the genes. My hypothesis : they chose to suppress women and reproduction – reproduction being an “inferior” process or women not being cold enough to conduct scientific experiment ( : the whole Alien series is about strong women defending life against cold business men, cold scientists men or stupid military men who want power). So, no women among the Engineers: that's why they reproduce by cloning themselves (hence the fact that they are all the same and don't evolve with time) or by seeding planets with their DNA. That's also why they would be fascinated by the Xenos (see below). Last thing : did they really want to destroy us by sending the cargo on Earth? Probably not. I think they wanted to experiment the Xeno goo on the full scale of a living planet, as our scientists would try radiations on a anthill or on the ecosystem of an island. “Nothing personal, it's just science”. The Xenos Everything confirm that the Engineers know the Xenos from long before Prometheus : 1) The egg shape mural in the Urns Chamber shows a Xeno around whom are several humanoids “kissed” by facehuggers; 2) The helmets of the Engineers are shaped like facehuggers. Those things indicate that Engineers probably venerate the Xenos. Why? My hypothesis : 1) The Xenos reproduce without sexual intercourse – just a laying queen and its children helping to gather hosts to make new children – and the Engineers like that aspect of their life cycle, being hateful of women or of reproduction (see above). OR 2) The black goo (even the first one) comes from liquefied Xenos – Xenos would then be the source of life and death, the source of evolution, the key stone of the tree of life (that would describe the mural). How/When did they discovered the Xenos? My hypothesis : 1) If even the first black goo comes from the Xenos, this means that the Engineers discovered them through planetary explorations – and maybe this discovery of a perfect life cycle lead the Engineer to reproduce themselves by cloning and to suppress women; OR 2) If the first black goo comes from the liquefied body of Engineers and if the Xenos don't come from another planet, maybe they discovered the Xenos through experiments on themseleves or on human beings collected during their “visits” (the successful experience must have been intercourses such as the one Shaw and Holloway are making without their knowing … so maybe David knew exactly what he was doing with the goo drop, having read big texts on the doors of the facility … maybe he read the “recipe” to produce a Xeno out of human beings). There is something to add about the facehugger. What is it? It's a mix of and ovule and a sperm that comes out of a queen in an egg (Dr Shaw being a kind of queen after the intercourse). It's very resistant and it can impregnate a body with a Xeno embryo/fetus that will be slightly mixed with the body of origin (human, Engineer, cow/dog as in Alien 3 – they lead to slightly different Xenos). Because of that, I don't really see how a facehugger could come out a black goo that is produced through an Engineer or a human DNA. That's why I think this goo is already a Xeno goo. But I would really like the idea of the Xenos being the results of years of experiments with Engineer goo. What happened on LV-223? This being said, everything become much clearer. Since the beginning for Engineer, LV-223 is the place where the goo is produced and stocked – that's where our ancestors were brought for tests. At the top of each dome is a skull, these domes being “morgues”, places where dead bodies are processed into goo. If the urns in the Urns Chamber contain Xeno goo, it means there were Xenos somewhere in the dome – maybe behind the mural. There were also people (humans? Engineers?) used as hosts. We don't see any of those things in the movie, but many parts of the dome or the ship were not explored. Also, the bodies could have destroyed themselves with no traces after 2000 years, not being protected by a suit. But for sure, Xenos were there at some point (the green glue discovered by David on a wall + the scream we hear in the hologram), they escaped and killed everybody. They chased the Engineers, killing them, maybe understanding how to open doors. They went to the other domes and killed them all too. Some times before this disaster (because they seem very relaxed the way they speak and move, not in a hurry or in distress), four Engineers go in the sleep-room of the spacecraft and put themselves into stasis – probably the pilot would have joined them later, but he was killed before he had a chance to. What is the cargo on LV-426? So there is this cargo at the beginning of Alien, on LV-426. Now we know that it was knowingly transporting Xenos eggs, and that something happened to one of them, causing it to liberate its facehugger and to kill the pilot who could crash and send a signal. It seems there is no crew in this cargo, which would mean it was not the first of its kind: it's the “usual” shipment. Which confirms that the Engineers are using Xenos on a regular basis. Hypothesis: 1) This cargo was heading to LV-223. Then the Engineers would have unloaded the eggs without triggering them, given hosts (human or not) to the facehuggers, and killed/liquefied the Xenos into the goo. In that case, where does this cargo come from? The Xeno planet? Another facility planet where a Xeno queen is? OR 2) This cargo came from LV-223, to be sent to Earth or to another planet – with experiment purposes. As it failed, the Engineers chose to transport urns of goo instead of eggs. But the facility was attacked by Xenos before they could do it. The remaining questions (some of them could be real flaws in the script) How can the Prometheus find the facility right away without having to fly upon the planet for days? Hum... I think this is a flaw... Or there are many other domes like that on the planet, and even cities... But why then, at the end, is Shaw leaving the planet, confident that there is nothing else to understand and to explore there? By the way, the fact she leaves even before exploring more thoroughly this dome and the other ones (in order to understand what happened to the Engineers), is a bit problematic for someone who likes to have her questions answered... Why is the head of the Engineer exploding? I think the head had to explode for the story (otherwise, they could have read inside, like David does when Shaw is sleeping). Now why? Because it has absorbed some Xeno goo. When? Just before he had to run (because it acts fast). How? No clue at all... Why was the expedition prepared 2000 years ago? This part is fishy because on Earth, 2000 years ago was the beginning of Christianity... And I don't think this is a coincidence, especially because of this cross Shaw has on her and that she takes back at the end (a cross that maybe will save her life in the next movie...). Of course, we can reject the idea that Jesus was an Engineer (but maybe he was a human coming back from LV-223 with some message to deliver). So it would mean the Engineers wanted to “avenge” him, or on the contrary, they would want to kill us because we had a new religion... Arghh... I don't like those plots... Why didn't the Engineers send crews to save the ones on LV-223 or other ones to complete their mission? This is a mystery. We can think many things: 1) The Engineer civilization died at the same time because of a war, because a plague, because of a Xeno invasion, etc. 2) The Engineers are not a civilization: they are a nomadic people, not really organized and centralized – so no one knows about the ones on LV-223 Whey didn't the cargo leave the planet? Probably the pilot and the flying crew are the dead Engineers we see. It means the sleeping ones went to sleep before the disaster. It means the dead ones died where they lie. Their bodies could have been a nest of hosts like those we see in Alien 2. Why Millburn does not become a zombi? Millburn dies because of the cobralien, then falls into the goo. Why doesn't he come back like Fifield? Because he is too dead for that (Fifield is dying because of the acid, but not completely dead...)? Where did the two “cobraliens” go? Why don't they attack the other members of the crew when they come back? Maybe because they are outnumbered this time... They hide. Why does the Engineer attack the crew? 1) David tells him something we don't know yet that infuriates him; 2) The Engineer understands the initial mission failed and that the goo is now in the hands of another species that could annihilate is own. How David can still talk after its head is being cut? And more: he can explain to Shaw how to flight a spacecraft... With what power, him being one of the first droid (less perfect than Ash or Bishop)? I think there is a big flaw here... How does the Engineer go from his spacecraft to the “surviving shuttle” without helmet? If Shaw could, he could. He is stronger and healthy, he could run without breathing. Maybe he as been trained too. Why the Company didn't send another ship to LV-223? It might be a big flaw again...

I think what many people are forgetting is the Predator presence in the Alien universe. Due to what we know about the Predator installation on Earth, and the Alien hunting grounds there, we are forced to ask where they first came in contact with Alien? I believe that there was an Alien colonie (born from the engineers) on LV_223 and the Predator species came apon them on accident. Always up to the challange, they hunted Alien untill the were only some left. In order to keep the hunt alive, they transported them to Earth, which had a species that directly matched the species from which the Alien form came from (the events of AVP). This explains the absense of Alien in 2093 and the reason that there is no evidence of the Alien colonie is because Predator may have used some kind of steralization in order to whipe out the existing colonie. After the events in 2093, Alien repopulated and a new colonie was formed which preluded the events of the first Alien movie.

The stacking of the bodies is reminiscent of either a catastrophe that happened rapidly and proper burial was impossible (Think Haiti or some other natural disaster) or of the disregard for life while conducting genocidal experiments (Think Mengele or Japanese treatment of Chinese during WWII). The last option plays well if you believe there are two camps of Engineers.

Wow... Not one to hang out on a site at night, but have to give solid compliments to those that contribute. That goes to all of you on the last nine pages I've sunk into. Dig reading all these posts, and enjoy seeing the different perspective on things we all saw in this flick. [b]This[/b] has me up and running at this hour, but not up to articulate anything of merit, other than to be excited that this has my skullcap running over what I've read through so far. Master Jo - gonna digest your post and sort out a different take on this flick. It provides an amazing scope to look through!

As this is a (possibly) a weapons installation and if there was a war between two nations of the Engineers then could the pile of bodies be prisoners that have been used as hosts in experiments? Also, I think that [i]these[/i] Engineers aren’t looking to destroy earth for some kind of revenge mission. They’ve developed a bio weapon that requires a host to complete the creation/process and Earth has these in abundance and would be no threat to any ships that are sent there (well 2000 years prior to the movie). If there are various races/nations of these guys then Earth's kick start could have been by a group of [i]nice[/i] dudes and these are just some [i]bad[/i] dudes?

Just another observation BUT; Isn't it unique and coincidental that the engineers look just like the statue of David from Leonardo Da Vinci! If you look at the statue of David, it not only resembles the engineers almost identical in form and shape, but also in scale. The David statue and the engineers are both the same height and mass. Also, the facial features are identical as well, with the big, plump lips and long straight nose. Also kinda funny since there's this recurring religious them and that the android is also named "David", possibly a node to Da Vinci and his creation of a perfect man? You also see in the temple room a copy of the Sistine chapel on the ceiling-

Yes, great point about statue of David. The engineers physique could reflect a state of perfection that they have reached. Perhaps as a species we have failed to reach "perfection" quickly enough, so its time for a re-boot, so to speak.

Since the writer of Prometheus never bothered to figure it out we will never know.Lazy Lost writin' MF! Most of the posts show more imagination than these tired film makers.J ames Cameron should have made this movie instead of Ridley.

I love this film; but I see a recut in the making. Perhaps I merely filled in the blanks; but when David is described by his holographic creator that he has no soul - that is the true quest, Every character is searching.

ok but that doesn't expalin one of the dead engineers having had his stomach blown out..Here's my theory, it's pretty close to Antonio77's except that the prot-xenomorph somehow got out of control due to the goo in addition to it having an effect on the SJ'S....judging from the last SJ who keels over and gets decapitated, they were obviously running from something...this "something" is what happened 2000 years ago and interrupted the plans for the military humanoids to destroy earth..

there was another door behind the pile of bodies that fifield and millburn found. anyone knows whats behind that door? and why the bodies were piled infront of it?

OK....can some please fill me in: 1. what scared the engineers 2000 years ago? 2. how could there be paintings or sculptures of 'Aliens" before they where made? 3.what was that green egg shaped crystal thing they where looking at? 4. who makes the alien eggs on the ship in Alien? 5. the engineer....died away from the ship out of the seat...then who is the engineer in the seat on the ship in alien? thanks

I tend to agree that all have been killed at this installation. We also are told there are four or so more temples for lack of a better word. We do not know what is in them as we never made it that far. After reading the posts above and having my own thoughts about the holograms and pile of bodies I now wonder why at the end of the film we see a new alien emerge. Is this a setup for potential return to this location in a future movie? Maybe to see what happened to the crew of Prometheus?

Prenihility... David seems to be key to this plot in so many ways. From the start we see him eating with no other humans around so he clearly has a Pinocchio or Data the android complex. He seriously wants to emulate if not become human. Further, we see David watching and mimicking Lawrence of Arabia, the most empathetic British officer in history. In spite of these efforts though, David has no trouble experimenting with the super goo and giving a taste to one of his ship-mates. David has a singular loyalty to his 'father' and any means justifies the ends here. The really curious bit for me was when the group wakes up the Engineer. He (the Engineer) seemed surprised to have company but it was only when he [b]hears David speaking his language[/b], or something close to it that he really bugs out and starts cleaning house.

The goo isn't always a deadly weapon of mass destruction. . . I'm assuming it acted that way as Humans came into contact with the Ampule Room and not Engineers. When those Engineers running from something would've gone in there, I doubt they would of died by means of the death goo.

The goo that the Engineer drinks at the beginning is not just goo. It looks like goo and something crystalline. I'm guessing that green crystal that Holloway saw also goes into the cup to do what it did to the first sacrificial Engineer. I also read somewhere that this Chamber is a monument to the Engineer's work on humanity, and all the vases on the ground are samples of updates over time to human genome. In that context, one reasonable assumption is that one of the old vases broke containment (being thousands or millions of years old) and caused the outbreak.

1. what scared the engineers 2000 years ago? They where flying from the infested Engeener. The one who fell. He was probably, like Milburn, very powerfull etc. 2. how could there be paintings or sculptures of 'Aliens" before they where made? They where already existing millions years ago in a very prooch shape. 3.what was that green egg shaped crystal thing they where looking at? I think the Engeeners found a first Xenos trace one day, and exploited it to refine it into a more deadly weapon. The cristal is this first Xenos, found in a cristalin prison... Like mosquitoes containing dinosaurus DNA in our world, inprisoned in old amber. 4. who makes the alien eggs on the ship in Alien? An old Xenos shape ? Looks more ancient than the one in the jarres of the Prometheus big room. 5. the engineer....died away from the ship out of the seat...then who is the engineer in the seat on the ship in alien? Alien 1 and Promehteus do not take place in the same planet...

You know what I have noticed on these forums? People who like the movie are in general better spellers than those who bash it. In other words, the fans are smarter :P