What the engineer pit is for(speculative)

I would assume indeed these Engineers or what ever are not expecting this event to Turn Hostile....

I dont think they would react like say if Independence Day became Real, or like the TV Series V... Yes people gathered to watch, but then some would be scared.

Those beings on Paradise or Planet 4 have seen and do know about Space Ships, this explains why they have a Hanger. But i am not sure they realize this type of Ship and the Death it is bringing.

You see the whole Courtyard is Huge..

Within the Green Circle is where they are amassing around the Hanger, this Courtyard is massive as if we assume the Hanger is the same as the ones in Prometheus and so about 430-450M then they would have to walk at least 1KM to where the Cities start to the Hanger area

So there seems to be a lot of them in a large mass gathered within the Green Circle area and a less of a mass around the outer rim of the Courtyard.

This can only mean they are expecting some kind of High Profile Figure to be arriving, or its part of some highly important custom, most likely Religious that the Hanger and arriving crafts represented.

I did a reply to a topic about this the other day, and the Hanger has 4 Large Stone Statues that are very much like the Buddha Offering Statues, and they appear to be holding Bowls.

The Sacrificial Engineer Scene the Elders gave the Sacrificial Engineer a Bowl/Dish that contained the Black Goo.

Ridley Scott referred to that Scene as like when some Ancient Cultures would choose a Sacrifice and this Sacrifice would be treated as a Prince for a year, and after a year they would be Sacrificed to Appease the Gods for the greater Good of their Tribe.

so i think the Superior Beings to this on this World, visit them now and again like the Engineers did with Ancient Mankind.

This would spark the interest for these beings to flock to the Hanger, and be shocked to find that all that awaits is Death.

The beings on Paradise were most definitely expecting something positive out of the arrival of David's ship. This leaves open the question as to whether or not visitors on the planet are common, and for what purpose. I like the idea of dropping mutated creatures into the pit for experimentation, as you suggested. However I don't believe they would torture them, unless the creature being dropped was some sort of enemy. However so, they certainly didn't look concerned as they all gathered to watch David's ship arrive.

Maybe it's a death match pit for two Xenos. Like a Colosseum in Roman times. The Romans could have got the idea from the Engineers and passed down from ancient times.

just a thought...

I think the Largest Clues are in front of us all along.

1) Elder Engineers had a significant importance over the Sacrificial Engineers (Ridley removed the scene as he did not want to give too much away), he did not want to meet GOD in the first movie and was a bit disappointed in how the Elders appeared in that Scene, either by design or how they maybe came across more Benevolent than Ridley now intends.

2) The Hanger in that Courtyard has a Buddha Statue of Offering look to them and they are 45-50M Tall.

3) The Hall of Heads has the Elder Engineer look, and Ridley referred to them as Superior Beings, wise men and Apostles and so this means they are above those other beings and Engineers and the Hierarchy as its been confirmed.

4) The whole Culture on this World is Ancient it is like Mankinds Thousands of years ago, on the outside. However the Cathedral Dome has some kind of Technology and there is also the Hanger.  And so this is maybe like some of the Ancient Astronaut theories on Earth and what Star Gate Series based itself off, as far as theory that some Ancient Cultures and such as the Pharaohs were superior beings and Gods, and the Pyramids was Technology that only these Gods are allowed to use.

Ridley has said before the whole Engineer Culture is set up to be Religiously connected to Sacrifice and he even said at one point that Mankind had lost the value of Sacrifice and its importance and this in part upset the Engineers.

So if we can imagine the Elders have created these beings on this World, and they taught them a lot of knowledge, gave them a Paradise World to Live in, like God did with Adam and Eve, and in return these beings not only are expected to Worship this Hierarchy Elders but these Elders will arrive back from time to time (as they did in Earths Past) and they would then most likely collect Sacrifices, and for those chosen for this Purpose it would be considered a Great Honor that they would be Part of Creating something.

Their Sacrifices leave a Legacy.

This is completely how i read the whole situation.

If this World is Paradise, we need to look at Paradise mainly in context to Paradise Lost Poem and the Biblical Context.

*Paradise was the place that held the Garden of Eden

*The Garden of Eden is the Cradle for our Creation.

*This is the Place Mankind (Adam) was created.

*GOD does not come from Paradise.

*Angels do not come from Paradise.

*Cherubim  Angels are the Guardians of Paradise.

*Lucifer Rebelled against GOD, and a War between God and Lucifer broke out where Lucifer had persuaded a 3rd of the Angels to join him.  Lucifer lost this battle and was kicked out of Heaven (not Paradise) with his now Fallen Angel follows.

*God then creates Mankind on Paradise.

*The Angels role is to watch over Mankind, and take care of Mankind and Mankind is viewed as Favored in Gods eyes.

*Lucifer does not wish to bow down to Mankind, he sees himself and Angels as Superior to them.

*Lucifer now turned into a Horrid Form (along with many of his Fallen Angels) is now Satan/Devil and he Plots to get Mankind to disobey rules that God set down.

*This causes God to expel Mankind from Paradise.

We have to remember to not take things too Literally and so these things are different.

GOD, there may now be Gods or multiple layers.

PARADISE.. is not some place near the Middle East but a different World.

ANGELS... are in effect the Engineers, some who have Rebelled.

So if you look at those points and adjust them a bit like i mentioned after, then we can see how this may fit.

The Hierarchy above the Engineers are not from Paradise, the Engineers are not from Paradise but some was positioned there to watch over Creations of Mankind on Paradise.

The Last Engineer said he was from Paradise, this could be because he as well as others came from Paradise in the sense that they had a role to for-fill there but the Race did not Originate from Paradise.

It would be like a American saying they are from the USA, when in reality they are from Europe and Africa (plus other places for more minorities).  The American Original inhabitants being the Native Indians.

The black goo could be Satans way of recreating in his image. The serpent/dragon zenomorph?

The engineers on lv223 might be the expelled group who wanted to do mankind in, but what makes the engineers on paradise worthy of an airstrike? 

Think just David and his God complex

@Babylonxeno

Indeed as Seanjohn had said maybe David just wants to destroy, but another thing to remember is Ridleys Comments a few years back...   He mentioned David and Shaw will be off to where the Engineers come from, and the beings they find are NOT Benevolent and are not Gods (in the traditional sense) but David is Bringing Hell with him.

He also mentioned a few years ago that they did not want to meet GOD in the first movie (in relation to the removal of the Elders) so the Engineers are not Gods, but this could mean as far as a Hierarchy as in how Ancient Cultures Tribal Elders, or Kings or Egyptian Pharaohs, Ridley was also not impressed with how the Elder Scene came off, so he was either disappointed with how they appeared (maybe frail and old) or how the scene painted their kind (Benevolent).

If Shaw finds out the Agenda of these beings and feels its a threat then indeed she may agree with Davids plans, who knows if its actually Shaw who tells David to do it?  So many Questions that hopefully we can get answers.

I will go further by touching up on indeed the whole Fallen Angels Aspect...

We need to look at the Creation of Mankind in context to a few Religions..  now Prometheus was touching on Biblical and Greek themes.

If i look at Biblical Account and more if we look at Paradise Lost, where God had his creations and servants the Angels, but Lucifer his favored creation who was PERFECT had a bit more free-will than the other Angels... we can think of this like David in Prometheus (Weylands Personnel one) is compared to the other Davids created.   Anyway Lucifer Rebels and persuades a 3rd of the Angels to join him and we get a WAR, Lucifer Loses and its Cast Out....

So God then Creates Mankind

The Annunaki Tale is another we can explore, the Annunaki had a servant lower caste who carried out duties on their behalf the Igigi and these beings was tasked with Mining for Gold.  These Igigi Rebelled against this task....

So Annunaki Gods then Create Mankind

And so indeed we could see similar to this happening, if the Engineers was supposed to do some Sacrificial Task, and Rebelled maybe this is why Mankind or at least those beings on Paradise was Created for.