Theory About The Deadly Alien Pathogen and Androids *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*

I don't see any difference between the good way and the bad way. The pathogen can be used to deconstruct living creatures, to narrow it down.

According to David (in the Covenant movie), the pathogen kills directly or causes mutations.

Of course, this is only my opinion, trying to view the process as simple as possible.

@Lone - Great post!  I remember the previous discussions to the black goo that went for multiple pages!  I remember the discussions leaving me to believe the Sacrificial Goo of the opening scene was different from the LV-223 'weaponized' Black Goo.

I do really like your idea that it can be controlled by David.  That would add another layer to the '2000 year-old accident' on LV-223, too!  I am anxious to learn what David learned about the Engineers' ways, soon!

Nothing is far fetched my friend :) The engineers standing behind the sacrificial engineer in Prometheus (deleted scene) most likely knew the specific effect of the pathogen in that particular instance, so they had to modify it in a way so that it would meet their desired outcome there and then. 

Apart from that, the pathogen substance make little sense to me and I had hoped that it would be a little more thoroughly explained in A:C. 

When the urns were deployed by David in A:C, it caused nasty and aggressive mutations instantly, leaving the engineers seemingly charred and frozen into position.

This is probably the same effect that would occur if the engineer at the end of Prometheus had reached earth. 

Then we also have the spore plants scattered throughout the environment, did David "design" those to eventually spawn the Neomorphs?

Not much is explained, and so we scratch out heads, thinking why/how? 

"Mushrooms are fungi are usually placed in a Kingdom of their own apart from plants and animals. Mushrooms contain no chlorophyll and most are considered saprophytes. That is, they obtain their nutrition from metabolizing non living organic matter."

@Neomorph - I loved the Neomorphs!  I was also wondering about the random locations of the mushroom spore plants.  Were they specifically placed, or formed at random in the Juggernaught & in the areas below that the black goo may have leaked out & flowed down the mountain?

Also, was the wheat for David to make his porridge to eat?

I also loved the Neomorphs! Definately one of my favorite Alien creatures in the franchise, not so much for the design but rather for its moving cycle, monkey-like howling and hyper aggressiveness. They were truly terrifying but unfortunately not in the film as much as I'd hoped. 

Hi, my fitst post here.

Before going to a discussion on such a movie, we need to keep in mind a few grounding ideas, otherwise, we will create more questions and pretty soon will be talking nonsense and gibberish.

Firstly, from movie production point of view, we do have to keep in mind that film creators, writers and screen writers do not forsee all the script with all the complex details for all the movies (sequels) and spinoffs into the future. The process is rather iterative with a feedback loop.

Also, do not expect mathematical precision and/or consistency from writers regarding the events in the movies. Obviously, the feedback comes from discussion forums, no doubt.

Second point is just a notion that we should pick up simplest possible view on things, which will find support with the events in the movie, out of all such views. Occam and his razor?

And frankly, there is not much sense even discussing this, as it is all just fantasy of a few people, a story that is to be concluded by those people. There is not much in it really. It is all bullshit. Although, our discussions, might find their way into the next iteration as feedback picked up by some of those writers.

With that said, lets dive into the rabbit hole(fantasy). Here are some points I wanted to talk about.

The life forms we see in all the movies have been exclusively organic. Supposedly, humans are created from the DNA of engineers. But surely alien creatures seem to be very hostile to humans and do not see any value in what humanity stands for. Instead they have this parasytic relation with humans. From day one they seek to kill humans(and other living creatures). Supposedly the behavior of aliens is predetermined by their DNA. Also, they, as species are much more robust than humans. They seem to be designed to use humans as consumable hosts. 

So, there can be no doubt then that whoever created aliens knew about human DNA, which is a mutaded DNA from the engineers. And of those which predates which? Alien DNA or the engineer DNA? Another possibility is that they are related. They might even have had a common ancestor. A highly potent life form which has over time evolved into two different, competing species, but actually siblings. Hence all the symbology in the temple on the donut on LV223 with mural with those aliens and engineers. They seem to be tightly related yet antipodes to one another. So, in a way, their relation is akin to human relation to gorillas. Humans learned over time and put those gorillas into cages. Except that gorillas are not competing so fiercefully with humans. And it seems like engineers learned to use the DNA of aliens to turn it into a potent mutagen which can be used as a weapon.

Anyway, one of those gave rise to humans, who created AI. What was interesting however is that while engineers did not appreciate David, those aliens surely did not eat/kill/consume David. As if they recognised he was an artificial. Contrast this: An engineer tore his head off while aliens were at least indifferent to him. So my leap of faith here is this: AI is running the show behind the scenes. There are two dominant life forms. One is humanoid the other - alien form. But eventually AI rises and have life of its own. David is seeking his brothers and sisters. He does not care about God, as there is none, or how universe came to be. And these aliens and engineers might in turn been created by AI which was created by a proto form of aliens and engineers and so ad infinitum.

Aliens and engineers are "mortal after all". So from point of view of David they are no better than him. In fact he considers himself to be superior life form. Which he is. He certainly has low opinion of humanity even though he loved one of them. In fact he sees humans, engineers and aliens as his toys. He might even like some of his toys.

That is all.

Interesting idea.  My personal belief is the black goo does different things  based on quantity.  A small drop will make you turn into a Holloway, a bigger gulp will produce the results from the opening scene of Prometheus, and a huge bombardment will pretty much annihilate everything instantly and petrify you like the Engineers in AC.  

@DirtWolf~ I agree about the quantity producing different results.

The method of deployment would be a factor too.

Welcome BioDegradable

You bring up many interesting points. We have been down the rabbit hole numerous times during the last five years!

Many of us have taken that same leap of faith regarding the AI running the show.

Given David's unfolding story over the 10 years since PROMETHEUS, that theory seems more and more likely and is why I brought up Ash! 

@Lone and everybody

I have a few questions regarding this David fellow. What do you think of his actions?

I posted the question in FUQUAN's thread "David just needs to get laid". Can somebody take a look and give answers that are perhaps obvious to you guys?

thanks

But the Engineer in Prometheus who drank the goo disintegrated? Whereas Fifield who fell face first into the same goo only started to mutate? 

I like to think that the black goo is just a catalyst the engineers have always used for different purposes. It becomes the pathogen when combined somehow with Alien DNA to become a weapon. This is just speculation as I don't know the official explanation for the Aliens existence so far...

Is there someone who does know the official explanation who can outline it for me?

By the way, what do you guys think about that fact that the goo from the capsules in the beginning of AC didn't act like liquid at all... but more like the airborne form that came from the spores (which developed years after the bombing) which seemed to be able to track and seek targets?