"Mother"- Where the eggs came from.

He is implying that these eggs need a host...which in this case would be a human and this would be Oram in this case. The "mother" of his creations that they are waiting on is whichever poor soul, male or female gets facehugged by the creatures residing in these eggs, as they will become "mother" to the organism that will eventually burst forth from them...in this case there are no chickens, just eggs...Ridley will not use the Queen concept in his movies trust me

from what I read he says 'all they need is a mother', suggesting a host to birth the embryo

@ Grinning & Linen

I wasn't talking about a queen, I was talking about one of David's experiments.

I think David created something that probably laid the eggs, hence why he said "they are waiting for mother"

Also: the phrase "they are waiting for mother" implies that "mother" is actually a name that David gave this thing.

seems to be some confussion as to what david actually says. iv read its 'need a mother', maybe wrong though

Could David been referring to MU-TH-UR, or AI, when speaking to Crudup?

David would be (I assume) familiar with programs in development at Weyland Industries at the time he was marooned on Paradise.

Could David anticipate corporate (Weyland-Yutani Corporation: MU-TH-UR) sending someone (to answer his distress signal) to provide exactly what he (David 8) needs to complete his biology work on Paradise. Walter seems to be a walking MU-TH-UR.  

@ ali81

Can you please tell me where you read that?

also if they were laid by something, why would they be waiting for its return? they need hosts not the thing that laid them no?

ill see if I can find it again and let u know. I could be mistaken but ill search

@ Ingeniero

Maybe but I highly doubt it, nice suggestion though :)

@ ali81

Thank you ;)

I haven't found it yet but this is a copy of what was printed on the alien SXSW news roundup thread

One of the crew somehow meets David (from Prometheus) who has been living on the planet for over a decade, experimenting with the black ooze from Prometheus. He tells the person how he’s been testing it with a variety of genetic techniques, in an attempt to create life. He shows the person all his failed attempts and tells him that he thinks he’s figured out how the create the perfect specimen. He just needs one more thing. He leads the person into another room and shows him some eggs. These eggs, of course, contain facehuggers. And one attaches itself to the man’s face.

I know it doesn't say 'all they need is a mother' or something to that effect but it does slightly support that I don't believe they r waiting on mother. its one of those 'I know I read it somewhere I just cant find it again' scenarios lol, I will keep trying though

Thank you Movie fan.

I didn't have much to go on but "Mother" is how the Nostromo crew (in the future I know) refers to the artificial intelligence.

David could be waiting for a response to his distress signal sent from Paradise from corporate AI. Corporate delivered a ship full of bright-eyed idealistic colonists.

What would be a better contribution to David's biology project on Paradise than a ship full of colonists and most likely a DNA sample from every conceivable life form on Earth?

The Covenant ship brings these:

Also, David would have a portfolio of plant life DNA from the Bio-Replicator Pods above (Weyland-Yutani Corporation technology) and I'm sure re-task any technology he could get his artificial hands on.

"The final preview scene starts on Michael Fassbender's android, David, who definitely is the Prometheus android, and not the new Covenant android, in this scene. David escorts Billy Crudup's character through what The Verge describes as a "personal workshop of biological terrors" David is explaining that, in an effort to fully understand the alien that they encountered in the finale of Prometheus, he has been experimenting with genetic mutations of these creatures, and that he has genetically engineered new versions of the Alien. David says that he has been waiting for one last piece of his genetic puzzle to fall into place, at which point he brings Crudup's character into a room that contains the four eggs that we know from Ridley Scott's original Alien. David's final puzzle piece is "mother," or a waiting host, and he wants Crudup's character to be that for him. Yikes!"

http://www.cinemablend.com/news/1634600/ridley-scott-revealed-some-serious-alien-covenant-spoilers-at-sxsw

im sure what I read was along the lines of...

david reveals he is in the process of creating the perfect organism then leading the person into the egg chamber. he then says all they need is a mother. egg opens etc etc

along those lines....

@ Ingeniero

I understand your point, but the article you posted might be wrong: they said that there were 4 eggs, the set pictures and trailer shows 7+ eggs so they could be wrong about other things too.

Just a suggestion ;)

@ ali81

Can you post the link to the article you read this at?

Movie fan, yes, we can't depend on the twitter based media that continues to "grab a detail and write an opinion essay" on it.

There are many holes in the coverage of the immaculate story that is Alien: Covenant. Great topic.

the article I read may be wrong aswell. I still cant find it yet but will keep searching. the point im trying to make is that david is waiting on mothers for the perfect organism, not the organism that laid the eggs to return. the creature that lays the eggs is of no use to the ace hugger inside. kane was a mother, to kanes son. it just a human term for that which births offspring as in human terms fathers cannot give birth. it would make more sense for the scene for david to refer to mother as the soon to be human hosts, which I believe is why he sent to signal. he got to this point and knew he needed mothers to birth the embryos. I could be wrong and there could be something else entirely but from the other movies, which yes r dated after AC, the next stage in the life cycle is a host. in aliens, other than physically being in the same room as the eggs, the queen doesn't seem to take much to do the eggs other than wanting them to be protected. they don't hatch as she is of no use to the hugger inside.

Indeed, Ingeniero some people don't understand what characters say and some people want to post fake news.

I'm just glad I found this website, one of the only websites I can trust :)

@ ali81

I think the reason why they wait for "mother" is because "mother" can make more eggs to help procreate the xenomorph species and lead to total victory, but then your theory could be correct too.

Only time will tell.

I think it is pretty clear Ol' Dave is referring to the host/victim as mother.

Dammit, dude has no soul...

true, wel only know once the film comes out so till then its all speculation. these sources can often be full of mis-quotes or some has genuinely thought they heard words that may not have been said. as is some folk (myself) can think they read something they didn't lol. I am 98% I read it but I could be just tired lol

Like I said, people might misinterpret wording or meaning we really just don't know.

keep posting your thoughts below :)

I'm rather sure David's looking for a mother, something to gestate and birth his creations. The facehugger I think is the culmination of his DNA experiments. I'm imagining that he's been melding traits from different organisms together. The drawings on the wall and the skeletons in his lab show some of the creatures that he has been using and some of the different results along the way.

I think a mother could be any host to birth from.

yes mother is just the human term for an organism giving birth

@ Ingeniero

Liking the alternative scenarios ;)

I do think it is not in connection to waiting for AI like MUTHER however.

@Movie Fan

I also dont think he means the being/organism that birthed those Eggs but i come back to this ;)

I think this is clearly a reference to Those Evolved Eggs, require a Host to Gestate, so technically Crudup would be the Mother because he would be giving Birth to the Xeno, well he would be needed so the Organism can Pro-create.

I wonder if the name Oram is no Coincidence as its meaning is Serpent/Dragon now this wont fit in with him being a Lucifer of this movie? but maybe it could do as far as Devil goes.. we have to remember Biblical wise Devil is not always refereed to Satan but it means Deceiver and Opposer and so it means someone who wishes to oppose or deceive or obtain by deception.

The whole Prologue Last Super had that Jesus theme to it as far as the Biblical Last Super and so i wonder who would be the would be JUDAS?  If this is Oram (Dragon/Serpent) then this fits with his role being a Devil of sorts...

However that may be reading into it too much, the other interpretation is more worrying.... if Oram (Serpent/Dragon) is in context to Ridley Scott when he has refereed to the Xenomorph, thus means ORAM (Billy Crudup) is the Serpent/Dragon aka Xenomorph... 

Thus he is the one who births the Protomorph which will be the true Progenitor to the ones in the Alien Series, from those Eggs and Oram just happens to be the first Victim of this Evolved creation.

Maybe its Walter then that eventually gives us the Bio-Mechanical Aspects?  Waltermorph anyone lol... who knows.

This is a concern for me... as it seems Ridley Scott or John Logan could be making a mess of this to the depths that would get Fans to beg for Lindeloff back as i have a few concerns about the Franchise now...

Prometheus could have been potentially a Masterpiece, but maybe the Alien Prequels could now make the Star Wars ones look like Masterpieces....

Maybe in time we can accept the change of plans, that will completely re-write the tale of Alien and the Space Jockey...  So for those who was peed off about the Space Jockey being a Giant Bald Humanoid... well maybe now they will be left with it being a Brave Attempt to Rescue the stranded  Colonist in the Alien Covenant Sequel by Walter.... they hitch a ride on a Juggernaught... only for Walter to become the Space Jockey and the Egg Morph the Crew..

YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST LOL

Now if i may tackle the other element....

Davids Worship which i will be making a thread about after so i wont be doing to much here ;)

Firstly..... the 4 Eggs we have to remember someone saw the footage and in the Trailer we can only make out a few Eggs, 3-4, 4-5 if you have a keen eye... yet the Room has loads.. like 8 or more.. so its simply a case of this is all the reporter saw from the Scene.... one other report said it was a Handful of Eggs... which means just a few... as the Trailer shows... but the room has more.

Anyway onto what David has been doing...

The Footage Report, informs us that David mentions to Oram that he has been experimenting with the Aliens from Promethues.

Now unless Ridley/Logan have done some piss poor witting this is  not True... and is a Plot Hole.

David only witnessed mainly (depends on the cut of the movie i.e have ignore the alternative not shown original Fifield Scene)  Shaws Infection as far as what was growing inside.

They was aware of the Trillobite, because Vickers mentions it.... so we can assume David has a connection to the ship and can maybe view any CCTV footage, so he may have spied the Trillobite after the C-Section.

So David has no knowledge of the Deacon other than what he could interpret from the Murals and what ever else... but again unless he is aware or can communicate with the Ships CCTV he would not know 100% or seen  Holloway and Fifield but he would have more first hand knowledge of Holloway

So when David mentions to Oram about the Aliens from Prometheus...  he would have to either Uploaded and connected to CCTV footage of the event... or had Shaws accounts of what happened.

But none of them witnessed the Deacon but David could guess the outcome from the Mural and what he managed to find out from the Engineers Writings etc

The only other way would be if the DEACON got onto the Ship but this leads to potential Plot Problem as surely a Deacon would pose a threat to David and Shaw... i mean look what a Engineer did to David (Then again how does David not get killed by his Experiments in Alien Covenant) yes i think some potential Bad Writing again if the Xenos have no interest in him, mind you they have no use for a Synthetic unless it poses a threat to its plans... but if these earlier experiments are more animistic  then that dont bold well for David.

SO....

David has the broadstokes worked out... seems he wants to play God and wonder what the  Black Goo does, and if he was not aware of what becomes of Shaws Baby at first hand.. i am sure he would be curious to what it would have led to.

So David has the Black Goo and he would surely experiment with it and create some hybrids, maybe even try and Re-create his Experiment with Shaw... (does not have to be on Shaw)

Then this leads to his experiments related to the Black Goo that would then bring the Whole Experiments with Aliens from Prometheus... dialog into context

Thus...

For David to evolve something, he needs to see the fruits of his previous labour.... and for that he needs Genetic Hosts, be that for Face Hugger type Experiments or just to Evolve like we saw the Hammerpedes and Fifield.

A Paradise with Dead Engineers and no Life... would  not provide David the means to Experiment

He would only have the Black Goo and Shaw... which could mean ....

1) He could Evolve Shaw into a Hybrid

2) Extract her Eggs and Experiment on them.

3) Re-create the Trillobite...  which happened

a) Mutated Sperm which means David needs a Donner and thus a Humanoid Male to infect.

b) The Goo contained Parasitic Worms that Holloway was just the vessel to get to Shaw (like Sexually Transmitted Disease) which would make Davids job easier.

But then regardless a Trilobite needs a Host..

So there has to be some way David acquired Hosts....

I will cover this in my thread latter ;)

Movie fan:While I concur with a lot of what has already been said,that when David says they are waiting for mother,if I had to interpret it differently,then i'd say Shaw is "mother."I've ran a couple different threads on what I think has happened to her,and the most likely conclusion is that David has done something to her.Dr.Elizabeth Shaw has become Queen Elizabeth Shaw if you will.

imagine she comes stomping into the lab all mutated alla gary oldman in lost in space

Lol!Yeah I know what you mean ali81.That or possibly like The Fly.

Well i will latter have another interesting thread as such after ninXeno426 i think Shaw has to be key to any Experiments David has been doing.

Black Goo could evolve Shaw into something else..

Which i found Dane Hallet's concept work he released a few months back was interesting... surely shows what we could assume could come from the Black Goo they each have a potential Alien/Prometheus Aethstic to them and Dane is one of the main Creature Designers for Alien Covenant.

Was these just a brain storm of what may had been, or just some Fan Made attempts by Dane of what could have been but has no relation to the movie.

I certainly liked where his mind was going when he did these.... and if he has come up with something a bit different but loosely along the same lines..

i.e Female + Black Goo =

It would be interesting..

The other option would be to extract some of Shaws Eggs and use the Black Goo on those.

OR....

Replicate the Trillobite Experiment.

Excellent artwork BigDave,I haven't seen those yet.I've read the reports from the visit to the set.There it was acknowledged that some artwork had been seen that perhaps indicated that something horrible has indeed befallen Elizabeth Shaw.It also said it could also have been possible direction though,but I certainly do believe Shaw is indeed the key to David's experiments.I believe it most likely stems from her giving birth to the trilobite and the umbilical cord.I firmly believe the black guys is indeed part of her DNA.

@BigDave - the image at the top left (particularly the hands) to me looks similar to what is walking up the stairs behind the hanging headphones in the trailer. Could that be Shaw?

Who knows...

I think one thing to remember was indeed this movie has had a lot of work done on it as far as Drafts, and even after getting a Final Draft done in 2014 where from October on wards was the process of getting the Story Fleshed out as far as ideas for visually how they would make the Story work... (which is when seems the Source i had, had information) to then the main Concept Artist coming on board from October-November 2014

A lot of work and planning was started on the Prometheus Sequel after then..... until the Summer of 2015 John Logan came on board and did 3-4 rewrites and we ended up with Alien Covenant.

So we cant be sure how many ideas as far as Plot, and Concept work had been worked on and then dropped after the John Logan Re-write..

Even those who worked on the movie that Officially came out and gave information but only limited to what they can say... thats Wayne Haag and Dane Hallet have both said they dont know how much of the work they had done will or will-not make it to the movie.

Things change, get cut get dropped and even after shooting has finished a lot can change in the VFX after and added scenes or removed scenes etc.

There was some differences between Spaights and Lindeloffs Drafts and also so many concept works on from Alien: Engineers to Prometheus that did not make it into the movie.

And so the same could be with this movie... we dont know how drastically they had a U-Turn with Alien Covenant.

So that Shaw Concept Work that was refered to like some of Gigers Work, could have been a idea they had... that has now been dropped, or changed and toned down... or it may be part of the movie still

But the Set reports can confirm that at very least, yes this was surely one idea they had for Shaw.. the case now is how similar is her true fate... i guess we find out in 10 weeks.

indeed, from what iv read, seen and viewed in the Prometheus blu ray extras, ridley is being very cautious and secretive, esp when it comes to the creatures. no one was allowed into the creature design room and id wager AC has been the same. I think shaw is something else and their keeping her totally under wraps for the movie coming out. she will most definitely, imo, have a huge role to play in davids experiments

If my theory on what happend to Shaw is correct, and my theory about "mother", then Shaw could become "mother" or something that births eggs. ;)

I think the eggs were "grown". its a far bet, but I'm going to go with that.

@BigDave. Good stuff on your assessment of the scene with David serving up Oram for alien lunch.

My thought that (I conjured this of nowhere while getting a pedicure..) had is what if David and by default Weyland knew what the black goo was? Maybe they didn't understand what it did or how it worked but they knew what it was.

This would explain, why David said "Great things have small beginnings" before he put the goo in Holloway's drink. If he didn't have a good clue what it was, for all he knew he could have been poisoning (and thereby) killing the whole crew with some sort of alien bacteria, nerve agent, or Arby's secret sauce.

No, I had a feeling that he knew what he was taking when he retrieved a canister of the stuff from the Juggernaut. He knew what he was doing when he tainted the drink. Is it possible that the Weyland corporation knew about this stuff beforehand...?

Just my thoughts.

The eggs are waiting for M.U.T.H.E.R to come, and load them up for study and use in the bio weapons division