Was the Deacon shown to us right from the beginning of the movie, on the Mural?

Well, in the Mural we can see the classic facehuggers, then Xenomorphs are very old. But recently abordoli found an article that gives us a couple of new possibilities: 1) The Xenomorphs are of natural origin, but are difficult to handle and contain. And the engineers decided to create their own versions that resulted in a failed experiment. 2) Zeta Reticuli is a binary star system, and LV-223 and LV-426 are moons of different planets (possibly one on each system)

Maybe the deacon will turn into a queen mother beacuse in some of the alien comics and novels queen mother is the supreme ruler of all the aliens even the other queens also i think the queen mother's head looks kind of like the head of the deacon i'm not sure if you want to look at the picture type queen mother xenopedia also maybe there's alot of different generations of aliens so they could be evolving to become the aliens we have already seen beacause in alien it had a dome head and in aliens the aliens all had ridged heads and one final thing that weird looking yellow egg thing could possibly be holding a queen if the deacon's not a queen like an actual live one or it could be an early version of the egg holding a facehugger with the genetics for a queen

Haha, the Deacon of the movie looks like a cross between a Parasaurolophus, a Utahraptor and a goblin shark :p [img]http://i1070.photobucket.com/albums/u498/protoxeno86/Parasaurolophus_walkeri.jpg[/img] [img]http://i1070.photobucket.com/albums/u498/protoxeno86/Utahraptor.jpg[/img] [img]http://i1070.photobucket.com/albums/u498/protoxeno86/shark.jpg[/img]

I thought this was pretty obvious myself

One question Without Shaw/Holloway getting it on there would be no cuddles With no cuddles, would there have ever been a deacon? If so, how would it have been created without a human female to give birth to one of the protagonist elements?

YES, it is a good question, what happens if there are no women in the crew, or does no sex?. So bye bye Cuddles and Deacon :p Unless it is clear as Dr. Malcolm says: "Life finds its way" and the mutants will become in xeno-species. But the engineers created life on Earth, then they know that there are women and men. Hence this biological weapon is designed for an apocalypse on Earth, where it may expand so fast like a plague.

But it's probably a failed experiment...why? by the fact that nearly all the engineers in the pyramid are dead. I think the classic facehuggers were difficult to control and transport. Engineers then created this new variant, the Urns. But it certainly is a less efficient variant if you think about that a facehugger does not need a woman to be born.

I think: the xeno is a natural creature. Alien could be the basis for all their biotech (e.g. think of the potential of spider-slik to us). hence significant in their culture. The snakes are an attempt to create a weaponized derivative- a facehugger-chestburster hybrid (grew out of the worms, not mutated worms) - like a larvae stuck in adulthood. the giant-squid-hugger and 'deacon' are unintended reversions. humans may even be seeded as xeno-hosts, engineers have a sacrificial culture to breed useful aliens and figured they could save themselves hassle by breeding dumbed down versions of themselves as hosts.

@MVMNT; I wrote this 3 pages ago, gonna repeat because it got lost in the fray of new posts) "IF it does turn into a Queen, maybe the initial "impregnation" of a male and female host would explain why only "she/it" is fertile and can lay eggs (may not even be female, but a combo). But then to have that theory work, you would need a pairing, either forced or sacrificial, who knows."

OK, so this is what i have observed from the movie and everyone's explanations. Pardon my spelling. 1. David gets dna source code and puts it in Charlie's drink 2. Charlie impregnates Shaw with alien dna and his sperm 3. Shaw has squid-like baby 4. Squid-like baby then impregnates the engineer which bares a Xeno OK, so Charlie turns into something different than squid baby. Shaw would probably have been killed by birth of squid baby ( i cant see her surviving that, which imo flattens the theory of women surviving the births). Engineer then is the final catalyst in creating a xeno. All other possible creation pathway's we have seen, created something totally different. BUT, i agree with some of the explanations where the women is the key to creating a killing machine that can kill the engineer's race, that is why the engineer went after her. Shaw i don't think by releasing the squid-like creature knew it could kill the engineer. I think she in desperation opened the door hoping it would attach itself to an bigger pray which was the engineer. But in doing so she probably did what the engineer tried to avoid, and that is a squid creature infects one of his kind and xeno's are born. He walked into his own trap if you will. In all of this whatever you introduce the source DNA to, it evolves from there into something. The most striking thing about it all is that how the engineers look the same (even their sex) and how humans have the same shape yet differ in race/sex/ethinticity, one can almost take from it that humans are a different evolutionary step from the White pasty like dude's (engineers). Maybe a better creation. Hence the jealousy. SO yes the engineers fabricated their own experiments which turned out to be a handful (alien looking creatures). I keep asking myself why create so many source codes and using their creation as a weapon rather than creating weapons themselves. Not once did i see an alien gun or weapon of mass destruction only the biological weapon if you will. It's kinda stupid seeing as you can't point a biological weapon in any direction but a gun you can. You can't control a biological weapon. Surely these engineers are more clever than that? I am using this also as a reference: http://www.prometheus-movie.com/community/forums/topic/7436 Just my thoughts!

So David does go forth with his pebble to find Goliath. The light of life burns brighter and hotter than any weapon created, life in whatever form is eternal. Is such power a weapon in the hands of one who does not possess human emotions of remorse or ethical values truly a weapon? To what means will you go to find your answers? Whats questions does an Android dream of?

Oh and another thing that is sitting in my mind is, in the 4th alien movie, Ripley has an offspring which looks almost human. Remember that, where does that fit in then?

hey @Gahlaktus...i just read a REALLY (what I believe to be) dead on analysis of the film that even Damon Lindeloff has tipped his cap to. Everyone else should check it out too- tons of insight http://cavalorn.livejournal.com/584135.html#cutid1

@Wurnman; In that movie Ripley was part Xeno because of the cloning so all the Xenos that came from her Queen chestburster would have Human DNA in them as well.

@Svanya - the Queen Xenomorph in Alien Resurrection does not come from Ripley Clone 8, it comes from Ripley Clone 7 - the disfigured clone in the "Room of Horrors" that begs to be killed. Think about it... Using Warrant Officer Lt. Ellen Ripley's blood samples taken by Chief Medical Officer Jonathan Clemens on Fiorina 161, the USM, having developed selective cloning technology, realize they have 8 viable attempts at creating a clone. Clones 1-6 result in too much "bleeding" of the two genetic samples. Clone 7 however results in a Clone representing approximately 75% human DNA. The Queen Chestburster is removed and allowed to grow. In the final attempt the Clone has 99% human DNA. Thats two Queen Chestbursters, one with 75% of its genome (specimen 7), the other with 99% of its genome (specimen 8). Which one do you think the USM entrusted to the care General Perez, a specimen that ultimately developed a womb because of having too much human DNA in her genome?

My theory: The opening of the movie is supposed to show how the black goo was mixed with the genetically perfect DNA of the engineer and how this event was the origin of life on Earth. Clearly the engineer stood over a water source (which is where we know the first life-forms on Earth began.) This shows the basic and fundamental use of the black goo by the engineers- as a tool for creation, not destruction. And it teaches us that the black goo by itself does nothing- that it is dependent on it’s hosts DNA. So I believe the “shrine room” was a shrine to this black goo as the evolutionary marvel that it was. The giant statue of the engineers head shows this room to be celebrating them and their crowning achievements as the spreaders of life. In my opinion the engineers were well aware of the fact that sometimes the life they created became harmful to the greater universe . On the back wall they inscribed a mural with instructions (well I guess they wouldn’t need instructions- more of their art for the process) for how to destroy whatever life may have adapted via the black goo in ways which they did not like. This is something I think was missed before: I believe the green amber contains XENO DNA and the mural is a telling of the sacred process of destruction which needs to be there as a failsafe in case something goes wrong with their kick-starter life experiments. The worms mutating via the goo and the zombification of orange-hair are just examples of what happens when the black goo encounters an already evolved organism. Again- I think the black goo was engineered for “good” and was supposed to be used only in places where there was no advanced life and would have terrible effects if introduced to already evolved organisms. I do not believe the deacon is a XENO. I think this was just put in to beat us over the head with the fact that somehow the black goo spawns the XENO (although through a different combination of genes and events than what we saw). Even in the later Alien movies we see different versions and mixes of the Alien. The deacon was just showing the viewer that yes, the engineers hold the key to creating the XENO with the black goo (in case there was still a belief that the XENOs were a separate infection all together.) Also something that I don’t think has been brought up yet- Shaw is going to go on another mission. She has another bunch of years between when this film ends and when Ripley’s crew gets their distress call. She is looking for more engineers. I would venture to say that she and David are somehow involved in what happened to the original space jockey. Their future actions will then be the direct prequel to Alien.

All life on Earth from single-celled to modern humans shares a common ancestral DNA. If the engineers seeded life on earth as in the panspermia theory, they would have done so approximately 4 billion years ago. This means the opening scene with the Dr. Manhattan/Voldemort-looking alien took place 2-4.5 billion years in the past in order for his DNA to have seeded all life on Earth. Fast forward to when the engineers all died or went into stasis a mere 2,000 years ago. Why does their species appear EXACTLY THE SAME? They haven't evolved at all, while humans meanwhile have evolved from simple life forms into mammals, higher mammals, apes, primitive humans, modern humans and now have advanced technology and are capable of space travel. Meanwhile, the "engineers" haven't aged a day and their technology is roughly the same as it was thousands, millions, or billions of years ago. Also, when Dr. Shaw analyzes the DNA of the dead engineer, the computer says the DNA is a "match." If the engineers only visited Earth much more recently (tens of thousands of years ago in the cave paintings) and created humanity with DNA identical to their own, then modern humans would look identical to the Dr. Manhattan/Voldemort aliens. If the DNA matched completely, humans would HAVE TO look just like the aliens. No way around it.

With regard to the opening of the film, Scott mentioned that may not even be earth for all we know because remember when they were showing shots of LV-223, it look the same....as the opening shots. So, what we saw in the opening seq, may not even be earth....

Emmanuelzorg : Very well wrought! I'd like to hear more. Maybe you've put a finger on both the sacred and destructive sides of the mythology underlying Prometheus. Now, Ridley Scott characterized the engineers as "dark angels." How does the your view of the "green amber" fit with his sentiments. If the engineers are, as Scott says, dark angels, for whom would "the sacred process of destruction" be intended, others, themselves? What if the failsafe itself turns against the "priests" themselves? What if the engineers are the victims of the sacred xeno? Incidentally, your post is the only thing I've ever read that made sense of both the sacred and destructive sides of that mural. Usually, I read a lot of nonsense about the engineers being engaged in "xeno-worship" etc. Which makes no sense to me. As if they were a group of technologically advanced "primitives" bowing before a sacred totem. But your post is well reasoned and actually makes sense. So, I'd like to hear more. Thank you. Best

@ PlotHolePuncher this would all fall under suspension of disbelief- but maybe the black goo starts life and then ultimately funnels the development of life towards the human being form being the higher life-form on the planet...the process of evolution is random and it is obviously highly inconceivable that the end result of that process could be planned from the creation of the first cell billions of years earlier, but that could be the magic and purpose of their black goo. this could also explain how all incantations of the "evil" life created by the goo seemed to be leading towards the XENO form. perhaps when the black goo is weaponized, no matter what the host DNA is, it will eventually evolve into the XENO (hence the deacon resembling but not completely being a XENO). and as for the DNA test- (again suspension of disbelief), maybe the scan showed over a 99.99% similarity in DNA structure and therefore displayed it to be a "match". even identical twins share SOME DNA discrepancy i believe.