The Black Goo and the Xenomorph

The way I see it the Neomorphs ,trilobite and hammerpedes are produced by the black too effects on nature...spores,environment, human reproductive system whereas the xenomorphs have been altered somewhere in the timeline to be more biomechanical....there is a connection between the two species but the xenos have been altered to be more effective/ deadly..self proficient...maybe the engineers had used the goo along with some other compound to bring about the xenomorph for a task..say wiping out a threat or human race...but as seen in alien they could not control...bringing on their own threat of extinction.. It'll be interesting to find out

I just got done reading Prometheus Fire and Stone and in that the black goo transformed LV-223 into a jungle.It was then that i started to question whether the black goo is responsible for the xenomorph or not.

I think the black goo is just a catalyst for any given matrix. In a sense it is like genesis from Star Trek when Spock said it would replace pre-existing life in favor of its matrix. In the beginning of Prometheus when the engineer opens the container, the black goo begins to react. This is the original black goo without matrix, without a program. It wants to adhere to something so it can begin its process. What is happening when the engineer ingests the black goo is that it is breaking down the engineers dna, bonding to it, adhering to its acquired matrix.  We don't know how long ago this scene takes place or where, earth? But I believe that the purpose of the black goo is to slowly mutate, direct, change and evolve life towards the end goal of its acquired matrix, in this case the engineers species. Along the way the planet will be filled with countless other species and mutations all originating from this catalyst.  It is obviously a slow process. But why did the engineer ingest the goo. They could have easily done this in a lab. I think that ultimately what the engineers are is a race of religious scientists. They worship science, creation, perfection. That scene at the beginning is an act of religious science. They believe in sacrifice for their science/religion. This religiousness can be seen in all the murals and artwork, we forget this is a lab/military installation that is decorated like a house of worship. Something that made an impression on me was that later on when they wake up the engineer he reacts with hostility. This is not the response of a pure scientist. A scientist would have tried to communicate, understand those in front of him. He would have shown curiosity.  No, he responded as if the humans were an abomination, As if their presence was sacrilegious. As worshippers of creation and perfection, I do believe the engineers were unhappy with the results of their experiment on earth. We were not turning out so perfect. We were a failure. We were to be culled. We must understand that these events are taking place thousands, millions, some say a billion years after the original scene. The engineers have evolved and advanced since then. They wear strangely xenomorphian body suits. Their ships are different. They've explored more, encountered different life forms. They've weaponized their black goo! The black goo in the canisters reacts infinitely faster than the original changing life around it in hours instead of millions of years. And that black goo has a different matrix already attached. It's matrix is to mutate and subvert all life it encounters towards its final outcome of the xenomorph. A creature I believe the engineers not only created but consider holy perfection. Along the way towards this goal there will be countless variations and mutations, intermediate stages. The trilobite, the deacon, the hammerpedes, Fifield and Holloway, would have continued to infect and create new generations until it reached its end goal-xenomorph. I believe what we are about to see in alien covenant is the process of this weaponized goo subverting and mutating the life of an entire planet. Hope we get to see lots of cool monsters. 

Impressive insight jd67.

My guess is that the engineers had different kinds of mutagen (black goo): The one used by the sacrificial engineer in the beginning was probably just for breaking down his DNA and start new life forms, whereas the black goo developed on LV-223 was for warfare, causing victims to change and become strong, aggressive and deadly?

I see the engineers not as creators of life but manipulators (scientists) who change life - mutations, evolution etc. They are therefore not "gods". Whether the xenomorph existed as an ancient alien species or was created by the engineers is perhaps something we will find out in one of the coming Alien movies?

Some of my thoughts about the goo (today at least ... theories keep changing lol) ...

The goo was a gift from the creators of the engineers

Why? Maybe the engineers are dying off?

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Through sacrifice, good engineers seed other planets using the recombinant traits of the life-giving goo

The good engineers have the obvious better idea - save yourselves by slowly spreading your seeds. Sacrifice yourself, to let something new grow.

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Maybe there are death-fearing engineers that got desperate and tried to use the goo to keep themselves alive?

The bad (or better yet - fearful) are trying to beat the system. Experiment and find ways to not die instead, no matter the cost.

First, they started to find ways to augment themselves, maybe prolonging their own life by drinking another engineer's "goo soup" instead of dispersing it. This probably didn't end well, so they entered the forbidden territory that created our new curse.

Like Prometheus, they didn't follow the rules and began to play with life, specifically using the goo ON themselves / humans. They collected the recombinations of their experiments that they literally "refed" to their lab rats in an attempt to force out desired traits. The new seeds are then collected in those urns.

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The goo only does one thing, it accelerates life. It does instantly what millions of years of natural recombination does. It's like the water .... what kind of life is determined by the seeds, and maybe also the dispersion method.

Now I have these two questions:

1) Were the engineers at war? This would mean the good ones intended us to be new life, but the bad ones decided we would make great food / lab rats

2) Were the engineers part of a grand cycle? This would mean one clan of engineers makes us, then we grow, then later other engineers come and prepare us to be food / lab rats.