Engineer at the beginning

Someone in another thread pointed out that this Engineer is wearing a cloak, not a suit, and is dropped off by a sphere UFO and not a ring-shaped UFO. Perhaps a rebel. give life to all the planets, rouge activist who sacrifices himself to seed life on Earth?

Some people theorize that he's being forced to do it, but he looked perfectly calm to me......not under duress. He never gave the ship a second look, or hesitated for a moment.

Good theories, Thanks!

he sacrifices himself to start humanity. what the movie dosent point out is that he isnt in the same group as the bad enginers. actually the movie dosent say anything about this guy and as the movie goes on this scene makes less sense because they dont point out he isnt a bad one

Unclear what planet he's on at the time - that might have been LV223 or LV426. We never find out the result of his death and ensuing DNA recombination in the water: he could be the father of humanity, or the father of those reptilian tentacle things, or he could just be a martyr protesting the black goop genocide initiative.

Ridley Scott has apparently confirmed that it is earth.

Pretty sure it was earth and the begins of life

The beginning sequence segues to Shaw in the cave and that's enough for me to know its Earth.

I have a pretty lengthy theory on the Engineer at the beginning of the film [url=http://www.prometheus-movie.com/community/forums/topic/7310]here[/url]. There are a lot of theories on this Engineer though, and lots of threads asking this question. You should check out this forum, and read the great ideas. :)

My take on the Engineers is that the one in the beginning is the same species as the the giant head Engineer in the chamber with the black ooze containers. This is because the black ooze containers are what the planet starter Engineer is drinking out of. We humans are a derivative of these even more gigantic Engineers as are the elephant trunk "Engineers". And that's why the elephant trunk Engineers want us dead. We are competition on discovery their gods.

I'm pretty sure he was the Greek Titan 'Prometheus' himself. Rather than giving us fire, which is obviously an allegory for something else, he gives us life by rebelling against the powers that be in his society and defying the laws. The bad Engineers the crew of Prometheus encounter on LV223 were there setting up a mission to go back to Earth and correct the mistakes the mythical Prometheus did back on proto-Earth. My suspicion is that they didn't lose control of their weaponized pathogens by mistake, but rather the same group the Engineer at the beginning belonged to had probably sabotaged their endeavor to stop them from completing their mission to kill all the life they had created on Earth. Basically we are dealing with competing ideologies in the Engineer civilization. The mythical Prometheus (the Engineer who sacrificed himself at the start of the movie) is probably part of a bleeding heart echo-terrorist group, not unlike Peta of our own world. Just as the humans and the general sentiment of Weyland Yutani find themselves not that impressed with Synthetic lifeforms humanity has created, most of the Engineer society doesn't think that highly of their creation. It's difficult for them to not think of it like a tool or appliance after all. However just as some humans (Shaw) think higher of human created artificial lifeforms, there would be some in the Engineer society who care more about their creation. This is what the mythical Prometheus stands for. Or perhaps the bad Engineers were afraid of the creation of Humanity somehow overcoming them and wanted to launch a preemptive strike? After all, look at our own cultural fear of AI overthrowing us. Terminator, The Matrix, Battlestar Galatica etc, etc, etc. Anyway, that's what I took from the film. AWESOME MOVIE!

i feel as though he was forced he was looking at the ship above the hole time while drinking. if he wanted to kill him self to make man in his image why not drink the black stuff while standing in the water? that hole scene can go a lot of different ways and other scenes that can go in different directions that way it gives the writers and director more room to take the next movie

Hi everyone... (Markus here) First of all sorry about my poor english (isn't my first language). Just saw the movie together with my parents a few days ago :) . Much to see, much to hear, much to think about . . . and that is what I like and missed in so many SciFi movies these days. The people around "Prometheus" are not explaining every little thing in the movie and so force the audience to use their brain, imagination. Then the discussions start and everybody share his sight and thoughts about the "Engineers", "Humanity", "God", "Christianity" and so on. The first Engineer we saw at the beginning of the move: ... For me it was clear that this is on planet earth, long before "life" existed. Also it looked to me that he was doing his self sacrifice in a religious way to give "life" to a dead planet but a planet with all the things life needs to start its evolution (water, atmosphere and so on). He must be proud to be one of those "life givers". The robe this first Engineer wears like a robe from an Augustinian monk, those "pants" (remembered me of the "Mawashis" = pants japanese sumo wrestlers wears.. see the gods wearing Mawashis ^^). Later we saw other Engineers (same species but different cult / religion) acting in a total different way. They not wanted those first Engineers to give life to all those solar systems / planets, cause they fear that in future some of their born starchilds can became a danger for their own old god like species. Also that would fit well with the "Prometheus" mythology... A Titan made life out of the dead clay of a planet and the gods not liked what he did, so they punished him for what he did. = 2 different god like cults ... one thinking giving life to the so dead outer space and the other cult thinking only their own species should undergo save evolution till they are gods themself. So for me the first shown Engineer in the Prometheus movie was one from a cult who were thinking: giving life to solar systems and planets like once Earth is their destiniy and the other cult wants to annul those terraforming actions = wanted to destroy all the life on those terraformed planets, cause in their believe the born specimen / beings from planets like Earth will be a danger for their own existence somewhen in future, so they made weapons of mass destruction out of the black DNA god substance, just they could not control what they created and so they had to pay for their abuse and were destroyed, just.... not from species they thought (like "Humans") but cause of the monster they created their own = also a theme within the greek mythology or Frankenstein. Something about those attacking snake specimen within the pyramide: The Engineers were running away to the ship cause the weapon was running out of control.. they died, the one survivor closed the doors and was going to cryo sleep. from the worms out of the dead bodies from the dead Engineers in combination with the black super dna substance those snake / worm like killing machines were born. The searching for the truth "Creator / God" must go on... maybe some of the "good" Engineers have some answers about who created them and maybe they are willing to share that with mankind. I really hope there will be a second part, cause "Prometheus" is one of my all time favorite movies. :)

Well he was not called Sacrificial Engineer for nothing.... And the full scene shows he was commanded by the Elders to perform this task, and he did so without any objection he realized that his Sacrifice would be more important for the greater good of his species or some agenda or objective they had. The substance breaks down his genetic building blocks that dissolve into water and it would appear this either becomes the building blocks of all life, or they mutate basic life forms to evolve into advanced lifeforms. Why does none of these lifeforms have Xeno DNA or Traits? And why is mankind a match for Engineer DNA and all life on Earth also similar. Because the movie hints that all life traces its genetic DNA origins back to that Engineer. As we do not see exactly what happens to Holloway if he had not be torched by Vickers. Apart from potentially he was infected with the Goo from Urns that turns at the very least his Sperm to carry Xeno DNA which leads to Shaws Baby Squid that has Xeno DNA. Every other organism that comes into contact with the Black Goo mutates into having Xeno DNA and Traits (the other Fifield concepts show this). Thus i think the stuff the Engineer had taken at the Start of the Movie and the stuff in the Urns are not the same. The stuff in the Urns is broken down Xeno DNA that was created using same process that the Sacrificial Engineer created the building blocks for life on Earth with his broken down DNA.

@ Big Dave... Your last point... [i]The stuff in the Urns is broken down Xeno DNA that was created using same process that the Sacrificial Engineer created the building blocks for life on Earth with his broken down DNA.[/i] Is exactly what I said in my [url=http://www.prometheus-movie.com/community/forums/topic/7023]The Secrets of the Black Liquid REVEALED[/url] thread, yet I seem to remember you disagreed with as evidenced by your second to last statement above... [i]Thus i think the stuff the Engineer had taken at the Start of the Movie and the stuff in the Urns are not the same.[/i] In the above thread to which I link I state that the urns contain two substances,, one within the vials and one within the urn - the clumpy substance in the vials being the same substance seen at the start of the film and the slimy substance in the urns being the Xeno DNA. Although some may consider that a bold statement, take into consideration what we know from what is inferred in Prometheus... That the Sacrificial Engineer consumed the substance in the cup, which broke apart his body at a genetic level, seeding his genetic material upon the life of the planet (as with Earth). Millions/Billions of years later, through what can best be summarized as "Engineered Evolution" the majority of the Engineers genome re-combines in the development of a species, us. Thus showing the true purpose of the substance taken by the Sacrificial Engineer - to combine with and break down at a genetic level, spreading and seeding life using said material as a template. Now look at urns, containing two substances, neither with an oily composition, yet a black organic oil is what is shown oozing from them once they are triggered. Thus this organic oil must be the result of the two substances combining. All the Engineers have done is simply applied the technology they once used to create life and applied it to a weapon - simply by having the substance from the cup (now inside the vials) combine with inert Xenomorph genetic material (the slime in the vials), thus applying the genetic template of the Xenomorph onto what or whomever it infects.

I just looked at that thread and my first real contribution as far as the Black Substance which i posted on 4th July was that i feel the Urns contain somehow broken down DNA of the Xeno, that very likely was produced via similar process to what the Sacrificial Engineer had taken to break down his DNA into the Water. We do see the Urns seem to contain 3 internal parts, there is a blacky slime then the glass like ampule inside (could be because its frozen) and inside that is the Goo David places inside Holloways drink. The question would be why does Holloway some how manage to get Shaw Pregnant with a Fetus that has Xeno DNA if its the substance on the outside that is the Xeno DNA and not the internal goo in the ampule?

Well it all looks not that complicated to me... Some of the Engineers realized somewhen that self sacrifice in the way they perform it in conjunction with the black god dna substance is for sure more important for the greater good of LIFE at all in the otherwise so dead universe. For me it still just looks like they were trying to find the same answer like we try to find... what is life all about, what is life for at all, why are we here ? They gave themself the answer: Make sure Life will still exist even you are dead and more... even your species, your planet, your solar system is dead one day. So for me it looks like one group of Engineers (sacrificial Engineers + their assisting monk like Elders) just want to protect "life" itself in the way that they give life to planets like Earth in that religious self sacrificial rite at the start of the movie. It looks like a ceremony with the clothings they were wearing (Augustinian monk robe + Mawashi like underwear.. known and used in asia for spiritual rites). Black unknown god substance + their dna = the start of a new evolution on an fitting planet and on different solar systems, so that the species will not cross each others way before they were ready (planets with an atmosphere, water, sun etc.) Another group of their species are not happy about their doings (see Prometheus mythology) and they not believe in that faith and religion. They think that maybe one day some of those seeded Spacechilds could try to find their makers and so they could become a danger to their whole species and cause of that fear, they started their own doom and abused the mighty black "god" substance for creating weapons of mass destruction to eliminate what the other group = sacrificial Engineers created.. the LIFE of all those terraformed planets, just like all who tried to become "god" himself they lost control over their creations... like we saw it on the screen. Still fits best to me with the Prometheus or Frankenstein mythology / tale. Nietzsche once wrote: If you gaze long into an abyss the abyss will gaze back into you. or Khalil Gibran: Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. The one group wanted to left something good behind = life itself (was their religion, their thinking about the sense of their existence and their life). The other group feared that religion / that thinking and also the new given life on all those planets, cause one day it could be their end. So their fear let em create devastating bio weapons they could not control in the end. Message = watch what you do with all your knowledge, all your science. Trying to control what no normal man could control is a path into destruction (use the given black substance like maybe you was told and spread life to save it but try not to manipulate on things you should not lend a hand on). Still the cross or crucifix Elizabeth Shaw want to wear in the end shows she not believe in those Engineers as her god. She want to find the one who created the Engineers, who created life itself. Maybe the sacrificial Engineers know more about that. She still can believe in good as a driving force, so she wears the cross, even she knows about the violent Engineers from the ship.

If there were two different sects of Engineers, which was responsible for the cave paintings on Earth? What are they telling the ancients by pointing to the group of stars?

I also feel that there are two factions of Engineer. The title itself is a huge clue. Prometheus (Greek: Προμηθεύς) is a Titan, culture hero, and trickster figure who in Greek mythology is credited with the creation of man from clay and the theft of fire for human use, an act that enabled progress and civilization. He is known for his intelligence, and as a champion of mankind.[1] I think one faction broke off on their own and decided to seed the Earth. Another faction wants to erase the mistake. It also explains why so many incidents are happening to prevent the "cleaners" from reaching Earth. Sabotage? In Alien and Prometheus, there are curious incidents that prevent Earth from being wiped out. Obviously there is some conflict going on behind the scenes with the Engineers themselves.

Is there any reason to assume that the Sacrificial Engineer and the Last Engineer are related? Face Structure,,for sure and even 4 limbs seem alike. I say this based on the Holograph scene,,showing the be-headed Engineer,,and then the remains. What was left of the body was not human like in that there seems to be more bony material,,in the legs especially. THe sacrificial seemed to me..as the disintergation.progressed..to have most flesha nd blood,,rather than any kind of bony display in nhis lower limbs,,like the be-headed Engineer. Yes there is a similarity between the First and last Engineer,,but to me it was not conmclusive.// Perhaps the DVD Extras have additional details.