David in the Engineer cloak at a temple

I think the "hair" on that cadaver is just shadows...

I am convinced more than anything that is an Engineer (possibly one from the cryo-pods of the Juggernaut) that David has been experimenting on...

I interpret the site of this scene like this;

the population of the planet either gathered there in the event of David and Shaw arriving and the weaponized goo bombardement is about to be released from the ship, or they fled there from all over the planet to seek for shelter in the catacombs and what ever is in and beneath those structures, because there already was the goo related outbreak of creatures all over the planets ecosystem.

Imagine a freak show of goo- morphish abominations spawning from all sorts of indigenous animals and humanoids and taking over and infecting the entire flora&fauna.

A small group of engineer elders or leaders have already locked themselves in the big temple and the masses outside are trying to get in desperately - breaching against the walls and trying to climb them in panic and despair.

Just as all over the crowd the first creatures are starting to spawn out of the engineers bodies and others are mutated into raging goo zombies like fifield and attacking everything in sight - the Elders in the temple decide to 'pull the plug' and release some sort of weapon or auto-defence mechanism into the atmosphere, and i bet those stonehenge like pillars on

top of the temple site are the starting point of that weapon of mass cleansing.

It will be a shocking and disturbing scene of epic dimensions, so i hope ;)

I will be busy a bit over the next few days, but i can then elaborate on those questions and re-harsh the Source information which has the answers i think we are looking for, as it seems that information i passed on 2 years ago is Correct... The new Trailer and On set reports seem to back that up

I have a sneaking suspicion that the burned bodies are Engineers, and that moreover, they were wiped out by their creator. Our true creator. Why? Here's what I think:

The Engineers are an older race of Humanoids, again created by a higher being. This higher being also created us, AFTER the Engineers. As time went on, perhaps they found displeasure with the Engineer race and sought after Humanity to be their golden offspring. Perhaps they saw more potential in Humanity. OR... Perhaps they witnessed the Engineers tampering with dangerous tech, the "forbidden fruit", if you will. This angered the God(s) which led to their extermination. 

This would account for Engineer detachments on various planets and moons and it would also account for their hatred of Mankind. Jealousy of Mankind for being chosen in favor of their kind.

The Engineers I feel, like David is trying to do, attempted to put themselves on equal footing with their creators. And well, their creators didn't take too kindly to that. 

@Chris  Do you believe that this happened thousands of years ago like the dead engineers on LV-223? Was the incident on LV-223 connected to what happened on Paradise? And that the engineer race has been extinct since then? That is how I feel.

Chris

To paraphrase the TED talk- "you might say the gods over reacted a bit"?

well first off we are not sure it is David although my gut feeling was the same and would be the most awesome money shot and plot ever, since David is the most intriguing of the story. But i have a few ideas, One: its david and he somehow manages to infect the entire race on paradise and they all die like crashing with a ship and the ampules get released. Two: it dates back along time ago, where either rogue group of engineers turned against their entire race, an accident or mass suicide. Third: And this i thought was the most gnarly one i could think of, its the 2-3000 colonists from the Covenant ship and once they think its time to colonize, finding the old citadel city of the Engineers they are all killed by something or someone (like David). But which one fits the most logical into the story is that David takes revenge on the creators of his creator, a vicious circle that repeats itself.

I'm starting to lean towards the corpse on the floor is an Engineer. David 8 has detailed medical files on human science and medicine.

He would need to dissect an Engineer in order to tinker with their anatomy to create organisms. And the Engineer (in hyper sleep) could have come from the new ship they picked up on LV-223.

See below:

@Chris

[I'll be serious]Excellent stuff./ I for one was of the mindset that the engineers could not have been "it". This "who/what" rationale for their destruction on this planet got me thinking about the explicit warning from God to Adam to not eat of the fruit from the "tree in the midst of the garden." This was the tree of the "Knowledge of Good & Evil."

What people a lot of times forget or overlook is that the Bible states there there were two trees in the midst of the Garden. 1) said tree of knowledge and 2) the Tree of Life. The Tree of Life was not off limits to them at that time, only the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Once Adam & Eve had partaken of the fruit of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, God banished them from the garden and barred their way to the Tree of Life.

But why could they not at least eat of the Tree of Life which was previously accessible to them...?

Looking at our Alien enterprise. Could it be that with the forbidden knowledge (that they were not supposed to obtain) that the Engineers took a substancematerialdevice (The creature in the mural?) that was previously accessible to them and converted it into a dynamic (yeah...) harbinger of life, (however it was not the life that the creator intended).

This could be why they were destroyed....They played with something that they were not supposed to...The Black goo which may be a result of forbidden knowledge the Engineers were not supposed to get combined with something they already had...I am willing to bet my only pair of clean shorts that was the case.

What do you all think...? I you don't like it, I am going to pout : (

suwhited, no need to pout. I like your theory and I believe it is close to what Ridley Scott has said in the past in regards to concepts of good and evil and how we blew it and how it relates to the story.

Also, couldn't the same be said for humanity due punishment because of the arrogance of the android development. It looks like David 8 wants his parents to die (humanity) so he can be free to pursue his own interests.

Weyland claimed "we can be the gods now"...nothing bad ever happens when we set aside humility and try to put God in his place by taking over with our own efforts.

Never except always. 

Peter Weyland's best attempt at immortality was David 8 and this attempt could get everyone else killed. 

I sincerely hope the next movie explains the original Space Jockey. Could they be the creators, and the Engineers are just another humanoid race who like to dress up in a pressure suit that LOOKS like an SJ when piloting a Juggernaut? It would explain an awful lot regarding the size difference. In Prometheus, the Engineer still looks far too small for the cockpit chair - could they have stolen the Juggernauts and knowledge of the Goo, and what we see is retribution for their deeds. I still desperately want the SJ's to be a totally alien race and not some bald bloke in a suit.

I'm not sure we will get much of an explanation on anything past Paradise. I still haven't seen or read someone has seen Dr. Shaw. So her part in the Alien: Covenant in May 2017 may just be her name on the dog tags.

One point in this interview touches on Alien: Covenant going beyond the Engineers of Prometheus into who they answer to, see below:

http://www.joblo.com/movie-news/alien-covenant-set-visit-3-ridley-scott-billy-crudup-demian-bichir-540

"They reinvented the idea of ALIEN with PROMETHEUS. And with COVENANT they are taking one step closer to who and why this thing was designed. And if you think it’s the beings represented by the giant heads in the Altar room, you’re dead wrong."

SenseOfDoubt, you should see some of what you wish in regards to the Engineers because they touched on it in the set visit #3.

@Ingeniero. This is going further and further down the rabbit hole. I truly hope we don't end up with some "Interstellar" time warp confusion whatever...

suwhited, I thought about that too but I don't think so. Not from what Ridley Scott described.

I'm sure he'll show history from early first millennia in one of the Alien: Covenant films to show the attack from 2000 years ago but he hasn't mentioned a time travel element. That would kind of make me want to throw up if he did.

LV426Qeen, I took your last screen grab of the mystery man in pain. 

Is it James Franco on the left? I can't be sure but it could be. I found a pic of James Franco with the closest facial expression to the image but there were no "writhing in pain" images of James Franco in search results.

@senseofdoubt

im totally with you on the original SJ to selfishly maintain my teenage imagination, however I think this has already been quashed by Riddles  in Prometheus.

I think the Jockey and Derelict will just be a backstory in one of the next films, just hope it's done well

I've always thought to make it fit with the new story Arc and what David has been working on for the last 10 years and will continue to do so in the sequels, he will end up producing the huggers eggs under the Derelict.

A lot don't like this theory, but that's how I think it will go

Also I'm guessing the Egg / Hugger that produced the proto is about number XXX110 on David's diagrams!

I've always thought to make it fit with the new story Arc and what David has been working on for the last 10 years and will continue to do so in the sequels, he will end up producing the huggers eggs under the Derelict.

A lot don't like this theory, but that's how I think it will go'

:)  No I hate that idea . . . well hate may be a bit strong but it would kind of change the meaning of ALIEN for me and ruin the mystique.  Not to mention quashing the idea that the SJ was 1000s of years old . . . 

I agree though, sadly, that at this point it does look like that's the direction they are going in.

I think there is another race of alien beings that have yet to be revealed that will play in the story line.

Hey did you guys/gals read the 3rd party of the alien set interview where it was revealed that the captain ( James Franco) pretty much dies in the beginning of the movie? Perhaps in hyper sleep? He may have gotten the role because he's buddies with McBride and they're both fans of the franchise.

Shasta cyclone I did read that James Franco had a small part in the beginning with a follow up(s) later in the movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkXgRlRao5I

With the place his partner Daniels took at the middle of the table at the end of the last supper prologue and the wave James Franco gave at 1:06, I believe they are both important to the story.

Even if Franco dies early from hyper sleep issues, someone nefarious could use his body in some way as well as Daniels because of her obvious central position in the "last supper". Others near her were leaning to the opposite side to give her space to show significance.

I know others have covered some of this so please don't chop me up...

And, yes he's buds with McBride but I thought James Franco was great as Harry Osborn in the Spiderman movies. He may have done the Alien: Covenant work cheap because he's buds with McBride. Tip of the spear on speculation here.

Deep Space, yes David 8 was telling her what he believed Dr. Shaw wanted to hear inside the crashed juggernaut on LV-223.

I believe David 8 was going to Paradise as soon as he could lure Dr. Shaw into trusting him and providing the assistance he needed in becoming one again with the portion below his neck.

Perhaps david, being able to create life independently, despite being an android, does end up seeing himself as a superior to humans and wants to prove himself superior to the engineers.

i dont think the engineers were nuked by their 'masters' thats too complex a twist and would take away from the movies main characters. Lets think about it, black goo outbreak, neomorphs everywhere, engineers at home relaxing, caught completely defenceless, hide in their city and are nuked by the survivors ,who evacuate, or just self-nuke to avoid a terrible end.

I agree except for self-nuke. I think that is David 8 in a cloak at the Engineer temple walking past dead Engineers affected by the black goo aerosol they were killed with from above in the ship he travelled in.

David 8 did land on a waterfall. That, I'm sure, took care of everything else breathing on Paradise through the water system seen clearly when they (Covenant Crew) were making their way down to the surface.

I'm leaning toward a weapon of some sorts only because there is no power in the city or the crashed ship and I'm gonna guess other ships that would have to be there also. If there is not I would be surprised and then it would bring up other questions about the engineers on "that" planet.

I am glad that ridley will be diving deaper into the back story of the engineers in the upcoming ssequals along with multiple xeno type alien to freak us out.

I agree Shasta cyclone. I'm so glad Ridley Scott came back to Alien to set the story strait.

Rick started a topic in regards to the rules of the story. And I'm so glad Ridley Scott said: 

“If you really want a franchise, I can keep cranking it for another six,” he added. “I’m not going to close it down again. No way.”

I got sick with the addition of Predator into the series. I like the Predator movies but why the AVP? 

Blasphemy.

Inquisitor Fifield, is the figure in the cloak above David 8 (the planet's sole inhabitant according to the title description) or Fred Sanford walking through his junkyard of burnt mannequins?

idk, might be a smart gun with a sense of fashion?

that's pretty good.

I'm starting to lean towards this image being another incident than the Covenant crew being attacked at night.

This article below claims the android in the background is David showing his work to the captain.

http://io9.gizmodo.com/we-ve-seen-at-least-one-very-grim-secret-at-the-heart-o-1793188750

If this is David, with Captain Oram (with newly grown brown hair opposed to long blond hair in the cloak) then the cloak flare picture above was from another time before.

This flare image may show David attacking another crew than the Covenant while wearing the Engineer cloak.

Also, with the burnt bodies wasted away on the temple steps (below) this would explain the Engineers rotting away by the time the Covenant crew arrives.

This image with David in a cloak appears to be quite some time before the arrival of the Covenant crew due to the freshly burned Engineer corpses not rotting away.

I doubt Captain Oram would walk with David across a field of corpses and then go stand over one of David's creations (the eggs) with David's assurances of safety.

BigDave posted this photo above and pointed out the human technology (lights) already in place in the workshop. Is the flare photo above from David 8 overtaking another crew on Paradise and he recovered their tech.

This post is from Hicks/Hudson:

BigDave -  I posted a hypothesis a while ago that the Engineers had been abducting humans from Earth and bringing them there for experimentation. Maybe these skulls are left overs from a time long passed and David is studying them?

above post moved to new topic...multiple contributors, thank you.