Half-exposed ovoid emerald in the ampule room

Stand back everybody. Stand back....

BigDave is on his way;)

NathanAdler - Great question.

The colour is most interesting to me.

It has the glow - and the green seems to be the same colour green that, when David examines the Engineer Door and gets some goo on his fingers, he takes a closer look and the substance on his gloves seems to contain micro particles that are the same colour?

Any thoughts on possible connection ?

Michelle thought it contained or was an Alien head. I think either DNA from amber type like Jurassic park as Covenant showed proof Ridley will borrow from lots of places. Another theory is alchemy/ sorcerer stone as the urns and goo all seem to relate to all kinds of madness. Furious Gods at 1:49 showed the altar and item but had a bright light blocking a good viewing. The back half looks carved open so who knows. Good luck findimg your answers

I read something someone posted on this awhile back, and if I'm not mistaken, it was changed to the "green gem" in post, as the trailers showed something else in that very spot (I don't remember exactly what it was)...some of the youtube "experts" (Mr H, Alien Theorist, Hybrid/NickH) have theorized on what it could represent...but there is nothing definitive.

Now...patiently awaiting BigDave's 14 page exposition to explain it all so clearly... ;)

Always though Holloway should of investigated the green object alot more. It seemed to have some importance to the Engineers.

Holloway should've removed it, bagged it up and run tests on it back on the Prometheus.

It was a very interesting object and testing it could've provided some answers.

Mine and Lone's view is it is the buried head of a Deacon. Charlie looks at it and the mural and says "this is just another tomb" which in an earlier script was said outside the headroom door. As soon as I saw it in the cinema it reminded me of an ALIEN skull. 

In the trailers a sacrificial cup was in its place suggesting the  Deacon is caught up in the ritual of sacrifice, note the christ like pose of the lower Deacon in the mural who appears to be bathing in what of course could become the mutagen in the urns. 

Big Dave has said before it is a shard of the source power of the Engineers that would have been revealed in Prometheus : Pandemonium (one of the titles for the original Prom 2).

Its knowing how visual Ridley is that to put in ones mind an Alien skull seems to me to much like coincidence.

Interestingly in all other respects BD and I share the same view about what is recorded in the headroom. Some elements are Easter Eggs but some like the frescos had genuine intent to tell the story of LV223. The theft of the catalyser and to experiment with their own sub creation driven by their hubris which turned round and got out and destroyed them. The creator/creation parallax which repeats itself with the engineers/xeno strain and Mankind/A. I. all three elements of which will come together in the next prequel. Pietro the editor has recently said they talked about Milton's Paradise Lost as applied to fallen angels and the Engineers on LV 223 represent that. They stole the forbidden fruit and suffered punishment and if it is stolen again the Promethean punishment of the ripping out of ones entrails will repeat itself over and over again. To seek the catalyser and harness it is to unleash the devil.  

It is merely speculation on my part but I believe the catalyser was booby trapped and its misuse generated punishment. Just as mankind entering the headroom set off the atmospheric changes, the fresco mutation and the leaking of the urns and created the storm. In one of the tie books you can clearly see the fresco turns into an Alien Egg - a prophecy that the coming of mankind to LV223 leads to the XXX121. Indeed the barren Elizabeth sets in motion the forerunner.

Thanks Michelle as always! This stuff almost flies over my head. I could see that as a head cause it's pointed at one end and curved on the side facing the deacon wall mural. Lots of heads everywhere so who knows I just wish they could have given us a cleaner look but......part of the appeal of Prometheus was the guessing. Not sure I even care to guess about Covenant but oh well. The search continues.....

I forgot to mention that the shape fused into the alter it is a mixture of Green (the hint of good life) and black (the hint of the Xeno Strain) which echoes the vial that David opens up which is green with black threads in it. 

Yes the beauty of Prometheus to me is you are not spoon fed and left many puzzles to consider and mull over. However what has happened with Covenant is many of those speculative avenues have been abandoned and yet ironically the core of the connection with Prometheus, the David/Elizabeth story and to a lesser extent the creation of the life cycle have not been lit with the kind of certainty that would have fulfilled us.

I also think the whats next could have been handled in a more exciting and compelling way. Imagine if in the last frame we returned to the desolate quiet of Paradise to look upon the cave, Walter and to see the return of an Engineer juggernaut that would really have set things up beautifully and set keyboards on fire - after all this is meant to an episodic connected trilogy .    

Buried head of a Deacon?!

It's quite clearly not that. It's emerald green and transparent, crystal/glass-like. The Deacon is a blue/grey colour and not see-through. It's also the wrong shape to be a Deacon head.

My guess is that it is a power source/control for operating systems in the head room, either that or an ancient DNA sample of xeno/pathogen which is held in high regard by the Engineers.

I agree, this definitely not a deacon head. This jem is probably some parallel to amber. I always presumed it held the original form or the pathogen, hence is position on an altar at the foot of a mural depicting the various creations it can be used for.

Basically it is just saying 'from this, came all of this'.

Ridley has hinted a few times that the Engineers are not the ones who designed humans, so it may be that they found, stole, or were given the original material from which all forms of the pathogen are based. Hence all the suggestions at parallels to the story of Prometheus.

I can see how it looked like a Xenomorph type Head, the rear of the head... but i am not sure thats the case, but we have no official answer so any thing goes really.

I think MICHELLE summed up most of it spot on..

Originally it had a Sacrificial Bowl/Cup

This was very clever work by RS to show us the scale of the Engineers as we see the size difference to Holloway compared to the Sacrificial Engineer, the difference would make the Engineers 12-15ft Tall.... But Alas with no Special Effects etc all we got was 7ft Actors who looked 7.5ft in most of the shots.

But the Mural in Sacrificial Pose, is to represent Sacrifice, Christians worship Christ on the Cross not because of it showing GOD, but that it showed Christ had Sacrificed himself to Save Mankind.

Jon Spaights Alien: Engineers had the Engineer take Cruciform pose before he was broken down and fell into the Water-fall..... in his Draft the Goo was replaced by Scarabs and when we see how they worked in his Draft... and apply it to Prometheus then we can see the Deacon Mural shows the Engineers had Sacrificed this Organism to then Create the Goo that is contained within the Urns.... the Deacon Organism was thus exposed to the Sacrificial Goo.

But during the Edit of Prometheus a lot of Scenes was cut, and a lot of changes compared to how the movie was to be prior to Shooting...  They (FOX) attempted to address the Black Goo by releasing a File that explained it but this just contradicted the movie.

The Crystal was thus a replacement maybe to show a Change of Direction to where they was going.

A Source i had who claimed to have information and seen a few early concepts for Prometheus 2 as of November 2014 had claimed that  Paradise was a loose version of Paradise from the Bible, a Place where Humanoid Creation came from.

This place had among a Orchard that was at the end of a like path/courtyard that was described to be like some Ancient Egyptian Valley of the Kings/Luxor Monuments.. at the end of this Path  was a Obelisk that was neither Rock or Metal and it appeared to be Growing from the Ground with Roots... it had some Markings on it... but at the center it Glowed Green

This was in effect the Biblical Tree of Life and Tree of Knowledge, it was the Source of the Engineers (or their Hierarchy) Tool for Creation and Power.

Thus the LV-223 Engineers had Stolen a Shard of this Crystal Obelisk....  The Obelisk thus likely the Source of the Sacrificial Goo.

But again i can not confirm if this information is correct, only if we see a Paglen/Green Draft or related concept work released would we be able to see if this was correct.

I never saw the ultramorph/protomorph arms-wide pose as anything to do with sacrifice, although clearly something is destroyed to create using the pathogen.

I saw the arms-wide pose as simply the ultramorph/protomorph figure being central result, and the arms encompassing the various forms of creation all around it in the mural.

Even David spread his arms wide when his 'success' was born, and it did the same back to him.

@Kethol

Agree with your last post, this has to be a connection.. i however think we need to not read into Ridley Scotts did not create Humans comment.

I feel it was a misquote...

"So we've reinvented the idea of Alien, I think, which is that Covenant gets us a step closer to who and why was this thing designed to make human beings. And if you think it's them [the Engineers], you're dead wrong"

We have to understand AC was to show us how the Xenomorph came to be and Who created it, a lot of us would think the Engineer/Space Jockey Race... which is where RS pointed out And if you think it's them [the Engineers], you're dead wrong Ridley Scott was pointing at the Large Head Room in Alien Covenant when he made this comment.

I think what RS means is to Replace MAKE with Destroy or Kill.

"So we've reinvented the idea of Alien, I think, which is that Covenant gets us a step closer to who and why was this thing designed to KILL/DESTROY human beings. And if you think it's them [the Engineers], you're dead wrong"

If you then look at that and see how its revealed David created the Xeno and not the Engineers and David created such a Horrid Weapon to destroy Mankind then AC has all the clues to back this up... 

Then again its how i see it, the direct quote could have meant otherwise but i think RS meant Kill and not Create.

Here is another Interview RS had made this comment

"If the engineers were the forerunners of the human race on Earth, and therefore were creators of life forms in places that were possible for biology to function.

But who created that?

Where's the big boy?

Or should we think this was all an accident?"

And so i think its likely the Engineers played a role in our Creation at the very least Genetically we are connected, the Sacrificial Scene was to show how Mankind was created.

But this could be any place, even Paradise and so if the Sacrificial Scene lead to Humanoids on Paradise, at some point the result of this Sacrificial Scene, (Humanoids) would have played a Role in how Mankind came to be.

I really hope we delve deeper into all of this in future movies.

I think Kethol this is the great thing with Prometheus, its ambiguity and so no one theory can be claimed as 100% what has happened, its left open to debate where many people can come to different conclusions.

I think Originally it had a Sacrificial Purpose.. but then we dont know how they are evolving the Franchise and so indeed the Scene with David and the Chest Buster where David raised his arms can look like the same as the Deacon.

I saw that Scene as David raising his hands a a Puppet Master does to then allow the Puppet via strings to perform the same pose.  Thus showing David is the Master and Creator of these Organisms.

But again thats how i saw that scene and people will come to different conclusions which is all part of the fun of debating on here.... Where there is Ambiguity it opens up for debate...

Lindeloff is kind of proud of Prometheus for this, as he stated in a Interview before.. that if there was no Ambiguity and it was all Spoon Fed then Websites and Youtube would have less to Talk About.

I don't think Ridley mis-spoke at all. When he said "this thing designed to make human beings", the "thing" he was referring to was the creation goop we see in Prometheus prologue. He was just saying if you think the Engineers made that stuff, you are wrong. That's what I heard, anyway.

Damon Lindeloff hinted at this many times in interviews as well, saying things like "there are these beings that may or may not have created us".

@Kethol I think you're dead on. I wonder if what Ridley is getting at is that humans and engineers have the same originator and are cousins. Imagine how insane it would be if we all came from the pathogen... IE- it was the first form of life and the biotechnology is a dormant state, as if it is a superorganism fooling them/us into thinking we are the puppet masters when in fact it is the opposite. It would be the best tribute to Giger if, in fact, the Juggernauts are ALIVE.

Big Dave your glowing rock/tree/generator might be the best guess other than DNA/amber or alchemy stone. In Furious Gods there are digital concept pictures of the crew going deeper into the depths of the once much larger pyramid structure. At its core was this crazy rock with a glowing center it also had stuff like crystal organics growing on it. Maybe it's that concept boiled down as somehow them entering the ampule chamber = triggers a storm + removes cooling stasis of room to activate goo. I found the green slime on that recording panel (David rubs fingers) to just be a leaking power source. So is it connected to their temple power supply or is the parked juggernaut the source. My second best guess I think is, its DNA in crystal they found(somewhere in cosmos) and combined with the catalyzer they stole and mixed it to create madness....kinda like N. Korea with nukes.

There is some confusion developing here. 

He was on the set of Covenants headroom when he made the statement to visiting journalists "if you think they made him (the Xenomorph) your dead wrong" he did not say who did.

However after the movie was released he has done multiple interviews one of which is over 7 minutes long which I just rewatched  and he made the same point and finishes off by saying "its far more interesting" that David made the Xenomorphs rather than the Engineers and the reasoning is that having destroyed the Engineers (or so he thinks) he wants to destroy mankind who are not worthy for reasons he express's in Covenant.

Those conversations are not about mankind they revolve around Covenant and whom made the Xenomorphs.

@Indyfront

If you have seen Prometheus you will know the entire proposition is that mankind was seeded by the Engineers we share their DNA. They repeatedly visited us over ten of thousands of years taking an interest in our progress until they finally decided having created us they would redact us. So your guess is spot we are the creation of the Engineers the intergalactic space gardeners we are to use your words cousins.

@Kethol 

I like your idea that the fused item in the alter is a receptacle for the catalyser. My problem with that is it does relate in any visual sense to the Urns and nor does it leak when the atmosphere changes or have any other dramatic value. But for me the compelling reason your wrong is there is nothing in the dialogue of Charlie to hint at any ambiguity and in the end stories are about visuals, actions and dialogue. 

I must say you are the first person I have ever come across who fails to make the connection that the deacon the forerunner of the protomorph as Ridley describes the former, is not in  a sacrificial pose. I have studied many artefacts, artistry of Judo/ Christian/ Hindu and even Moslem tradition and the idea a spreadeagled creature is embracing rather than crucificalo is outside of my experience.

We do know from both Damon and Ridley a key theme of Prometheus is sacrifice so to create a mural within that film that is not about sacrifice seems counter intuitive to me.

I would welcome some examples of religious iconography where your theory that it is an open handed gesture surrounded by the achievements. Also you should be aware the artist who made the mural indicated the surrounding elements should be viewed as Easter Eggs.    

I see why you are making that connection and think that the something-morph in the mural represents sacrifice, I just completely disagree with it. There are obvious sacrificial elements to the actions of the Engineers when they create, but that does not mean every symbol in the movie implies sacrifice. They also destroy.

The Christ figure in the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil is holding his arms out in the same manner, and he was sacrificed in that pose. But just because he is in that pose does not mean that statue is meant to convey his self sacrifice. His outstretched arms and open hands are meant to convey a welcoming symbol of peace, among other things. One of the designers said it was also a monument to science, art and religion. See the difference?

The only sacrificial elements I see in the mural are the face-hugged Engineers (if that is what they are) that are being used, or allowing themselves to be used, as incubators for the something-morphs.

"My problem with that is it does relate in any visual sense to the Urns and nor does it leak when the atmosphere changes or have any other dramatic value. But for me the compelling reason your wrong is there is nothing in the dialogue of Charlie to hint at any ambiguity and in the end stories are about visuals, actions and dialogue. "

I don't think it would leak because the material was removed long ago, but how do you know nothing leaked? It was only shown one time, very briefly. And why would it relate in a visual sense to the urns?

Also, I'm not sure what you are talking about regarding Charlie's dialogue. He never mentioned the emerald jem in the movie. No one did.

Sherris: LMAO! Thanks

I also wonder of it is a sort of amber type, just like Capt Torgo says. Maybe the stone has some sort of DNA in it that were used to create Xenos or something similar. Doesn’t it pour out green slime out of the Xenos when they get shot in Aliens?

Yes it pours green out of an alien. If you pause the video (Aliens) at 1:00:19 into the movie you see a Xeno getting hit by a bullet. Some sort of yellow green slime pours out of it. Maybe it has got something to do with the green sacrificial stone to do since yellow and green are in the same kind of color scale? Compare it to how it is done in a photo editor program were yellow and green are close to each-other. Of course I can be totally mistaken but I find it to be a bit interesting. By the way, you also see that kind of slime when they try to remove the face-hugger from I think that his name was Kane in Alien.