What Happened to the Engineers on LV_223?

Shaw is now alone in the universe. Only friend she have is talking robot's head.

I just saw the film for the second time and noticed something about the Survivor Engineer that I did not before: his skin is different from the Sacrifice Engineer we see at the beginning, that does not seem to be s suit he's wearing. So I got to thinking: what if something happened to the Engineer civilization where they and their use of the black stuff went from being scientific to very military in nature? I mean, we see one of them sacrifice himself at the beginning to create life on Earth, and here the black stuff has a very different effect to what we see it do later on. So we're talking about a billion or so years later, that's plenty of time for them to go off the rails, maybe they got involved in some sort of war? Or, another possibility, just the group of Engineers on LV-223 went off the rails, and perhaps what Shaw will find on their home world are the 'true' Engineers? After all, how long a of a film can they make that would go like this: she arrives on their home world and then they kill her?

I don't think the black goo went past the infection stage when the engineers from the hologram died.The Alien was only born through Elizabeth and infected Charles having sex which allowed the goo to inherit the reproductive trait which lead to the squid that inpregante the last Engineer at the end. Without this the goo only seems to transform whatever lifeform it comes into contact with into a aggressive predator.The cobraliens didnt inpregnate the scientist it just killed him I like Xenjon's theory

Good questions Chris... we wonder too with my friends in last week.. I think something else for that... I think the Engineers had encounter another different technologic race which they are against on war with... There is so much things unanswered on Prometheus, If the Engineers created the Humanity just like the beginning of the Movie with sacrifice.. Then it is completely out of reason that why they are try to wipe-out life on earth? I think there is a war with another technologyc civilisation maybe like Predators (Youtjas), for that they are also pictured in AVP for some kind of gods on earth. The Engineers is also a god becouse they spread the life on earth. And so there is a war between them. Maybe it is the reason that in Predator 2 movie the Predator's ship contains a collection of rotted skulls of Engineers. If it is the case, than maybe the Engineers does not want to wipe-out earth from life.. Maybe they simply choose the Earth as "Warground" against with Yotjas ....... But Antonino may right, becouse the Pilot-Engineer is behaves like an insane and suspicious...

I was hoping that the pile of bodies with burst chests and holes in there heads may show signs of being killed by the "Predator" it would have made a very nice twist to the film ? would also answer the question of what they were running away from when trying to get to the Amulet room for safety and why there were no survivors?

LV 223 is a super sized version of our very own Area 51 here on Earth in some way. Militaristic agendas, labratories, experimentations, alien technology (apparantly) alien bodies, UFO's (Juggernaughts 1 and 2 maybe more), military technology of the age and of the particular race in question.

*****SPOILERS*****SPOILERS*****SPOILERS*****SPOILERS This first film of the franchise pretty much answers the OP, if you watch the movie closely... The "Engineers" of LV223 are NOT the same "Engineers" who visited Earth hundreds of centuries earlier. The "giants" depicted in the cave paintings on Earth are what we would call "fallen angels" (in Judaeo-Christian religion) or even "Titans" in Greek mythology. Essentially, these [i]fallen Engineers[/i] are responsible for contaminating Mankind with the genetic characteristics and godlike AWARENESS of their Creator. As you know from reading Judaeo-Christian and Greek mythology, the ULTIMATE Creator (God, or Zeus) was NOT happy when Humanity came into possession of godlike knowledge. So... The Heavenly Angels (or Olympian Gods) are STILL waging a war to eradicate the fallen angels (or Titans). This also means eradicating the OFFSPRING of the fallen angels... Which is US, Humanity. To this end, the Engineers of LV223 were manufacturing BIO-WEAPONS intended for use against the [i]fallen angels[/i] AND Mankind. LV223 was a facility for development, storage and distribution of these hideously advanced bio-weapons. The captain of the [i]Prometheus[/i], in a leap of understanding, even states as much. At some point in the remote past, there was a leak of the biohazardous material, that infectious organic sludge stored in mass quantities aboard the awaiting Engineer ships. The ancient holograms discovered on LV223 tell the story. There is a spill, the Engineers go scrambling for cover, some finding safety in the suspended animation cocoons, while others commit suicide before their heads explode. This basically shuts down the Heavenly offensive against Earth for several thousand years. Which is just long enough for Earthlings to develop their technology and retrace the path of the "fallen angels" to their home system (or home constellation, anyway). Whereupon we awaken the Heavenly angels and trigger their bio-weapons anew.

Hey Charles! ..you are brilliant! :) if that is the case, than the rounded-vessel (UFO Like ship) on the beginning (sacrifice scene) is belongs the "fallen angels" which are the "Rebellion Engineers" (the ones that spreads life on earth) And so we can say that the Engineers are on some kind of "Civil War" going on... dude this is huge!!!!

So let me get this straight... Angels, that can oversleep the call to go bring Judgement Day upon the puny Earthlings? And why do angels install 3d holographic CCTV in their hideouts?

[u]Then the Alien would only be a kind of evolution. Then the worm, a creature with tentacles would be only a part of this evolution with an Alien as the final result? [/u] Not the worms no. Put them in black goo, you get those cobra-alien things. Put a human or engineer in it though... now you're talking. Look at how Fifield could still see with no eyes (destroyed by acid) and could jump around like a ninja killing anyone he could grab. Put the rubber suit on him, and that's a scene from Aliens. Except he probably would be missing some of the tubes and other things of a normal Alien. Space jockeys, though, they have biomechanical suits with tubes and things. They could morph into a classic Alien [img]http://www.houriganwebworks.com/images/PromReadyReckoner.gif[/img] [u]Now, When the astronauts enter the temple where it has the giant head, they see a mural in which has a Xenomorph. What does this mean? Did the aliens already existed a long time and maybe this was one of the reasons why the death of Engineers?[/u] Well if you want to see everything as religious it could be a 'prophecy'... or more logically, yes it means that those things have been around a while, and they are the type of thing that Engineers would run from.

I was thinking here. Why an Alien came out of the body of the Engineer at the end of the film. David put that black goo on Hollyway drink, then Hollyway and Shaw had sex, and then the parasite entered the body of the girl who produced that giant creature with tentacles. But then comes another question, when that giant monster tentacles was attacking the Engineer, leaves another completely different creature, which would be the Alien. So in this case we have here the black goo, the worm, the monster with tentacles and Alien .. And I can not understand it, this kind of evolution. Does anybody have an explanation ?

@Vitor, ever hear of Liver Fluke (Fasciola Hepatica)? The adult lays eggs, which when they hatch are NOT the thing that will grow into another adult; it's called miracidia, and once hatches has 24 hours to find a host and lay these little squiggly things, which lay another and another version, each more complicated but still carrying the same DNA, to make the adult, after emerging from the snail it clings to wet grass and is eaten by a cow, where it will then infect the liver to start again. And other worms can have more stages, while still resulting in the same creature at the end although the shape can be different depending on the host. [img]http://comenius.susqu.edu/biol/202/animals/protostomes/spiralia/platyzoa/platyhelminthes/Schistosoma-life-cycle.gif[/img] [img]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Trematode_lifecycle_stages.png[/img]

Then the Alien would only be a kind of evolution. Then the worm, a creature with tentacles would be only a part of this evolution with an Alien as the final result? Now, When the astronauts enter the temple where it has the giant head, they see a mural in which has a Xenomorph. What does this mean? Did the aliens already existed a long time and maybe this was one of the reasons why the death of Engineers?

Sorry to disappoint you @face_hugger, but there are no Predators in this Alien/Prometeus created franchise. If you want to see Predtors then you should go see the AVP movie. That will hopefully satisfy you.

This is my first post, so please be gentle. I've watched this movie twice now, and the second time I picked up a few things that I missed. I feel this movie is like a magic trick, making you focus on something else, and then not understanding how it came to the final outcome. 1. The opening scene with the engineer. He is on the opposite side of the waterfall to the ship. This wouldn't have been easy to get to, surely this has some significance? 2. The planet where he sacrifices himself. I don't believe this is earth, nor is it millions or billions of years ago. I believe that the images where the dna stops breaking down, and then starts to change into cells and then multiply quickly all happens in real time. It would explain why hammerpede's grow so quickly, as well as cuddles, chest bursters, etc. 3. The black goo is 'god'. David alludes to this (big things small beginnings), and the substance itself breaks down the host and develops it into a survival machine that can reproduce. 4. We were put on Earth by engineers. They came an checked on us, and took us away to experiment on us. Cave paintings could be showing us where they took us. 5. I believe there is significance with the human head on top of the dome structure. Maybe thats where they experimented on humans. Other domes could be other species. I'd say each dome had 4 research engineers (as per ship cryo-stasis pods). There were at least 10-15 engineer bodies in a pile. 6. When the engineer wakes, he has similar tendencies to Ripley when she awakes in the Alien series, not wanting the disease to spread. I believe he comes after her because as a female she has a womb where they can reproduce, and maybe the alien takes on the womb like qualities. I didn't notice any female engineers. This could be on purpose. 7. There were different size urns. Everything else seemed pretty uniform in size, but there were big and small urns. Maybe they had different purposes. David took one of the smaller urns. 8. The worms that turn into hammerpede's come directly from Davids shoe. I don't think that this is any accident that we see this. Shortly after this the urns start to bubble and we see the worms writhing around in the goo. I believe this was part of davids experiment for Weyland. 9. The captain and vickers are both synthetics. Both seem most aware of Weylands plans. The captain asks if Vickers is a robot, probably sensing that he himself is one. They might just be wired differently to David. See Call in Resurrection. Doesn't seem much point in Vickers having a male only medi-bed. Plus Vickers is so much younger than her ' father', and he doesn't look like a hugh hefner. The Captain synthetic is charged with keeping Earth safe, hence why he takes down the ship. 10. LV 223 is LV 426. Wouldn't surprise me if Weyland Corp names the planets, and conveniently changes the name of it, hence why the go looking for it in Alien. Deacon goes back to the fallen ship and cuts itself to make the hole in the floor before laying tonnes of eggs.

The engineers seemed to be killed by you typical xeno. How do xenos kill A. they plant you with eggs, and B. they give you a lobotomy, as seen in every alien film. Not hard to figure out.

The sacrifice at the beginning is the core of this movie (If you watch the movie again with this in mind, then maybe it will actually make sense). Let me ask you this: 1. Would you be willing to sacrifice your life to create life? 2. Would you be willing to sacrifice your life to save many more? The engineers are willing to sacrifice themselves to kickstart life on earth (and assumingly other planets as well), so i'll also assume they would sacrifice themselves to save lives. That being said, the engineers view on life and death seems to be radically different than ours. Humans are selfpreserving, egocentric and greedy, but our biggest flaw, I think, is our inability to accept death. (have you noticed societys obsession with prolonging life. Dont eat this, dont do that, it may be fun but it'll give you cancer). In the end were all dead, right? Another interesting thing is, and nobody mentions this, am I the only one who thinks Humans are the bad guys in the movie? The engineers didn't create us, and then decide to destroy us for no reason, right? We did something 2000 years ago (my guessing) to cause the engineers death on LV-223. So, youre an engineer. You wake up after 2000 years of hypersleep, only to find the humans are now here asking for eternal life, oh, AND showing of their own creation, David, who is in contrast with everything you believe.

Antonio77 Then why did he put himself in Stasis, and didn't go ahead and take off , since there was no one to stop him

LV-223 is the Engineers most sacred place... the temple of life/creation The black goo is creation itself, but it can only create what is in the soul of whoever it comes in contact with (seen THE SPHERE?) So, for the engineers, who are pureminded and willing to sacrifice themselves to create life, it does just that... But when humans find it, it manifests the darkness in the human soul. Also, David has no problem even touching it with his bare skin (no soul, eh). So, what did happen to the engineers?... I'm thinking stowaway... When the Engineers came here last (2000 years ago), i'm thinking someone (human obviously) wanted to ascend to the heavens with "the gods", and hitched a ride. Upon arrival to LV-223, the black goo got tainted... Make any sense?

Here's my two cents: The engineers are an advanced civilisation who roam the universe, occasionally seeding worlds with their DNA. Why? Because they can. Wouldn't you? On their travels they encounter the xenomorph, which is the pinnacle of evolution. They worship/deify it, and they seek to emulate it, being technologically advanced. They take a sample of xenomorph eggs, which they value VERY highly as they worship the species. They build a base on LV 223 (their home planet at the time- hence the maps on Earth). There they find they cannot adequately recreate the xenomorph but they come close using a powerful viral agent built on a modification of the substance they use to seed planets with their DNA, creating the imitation species of the Dreacon. IT GOES WRONG. Because they worship the xenomorph, a ship tries to rescue the eggs, but the pilot is infected with a DREACON facehugger, and stops off on LV 426 to die. The hole in his rib age at the start of Alien is from a Dreacon, not a xenomorph, and the xenomorph eggs are OK. (Alien happens, obviously). Meanwhile on LV 223, the instillation is destroyed by the Dreacon species, with some of the pilots trying to escape (to anywhere, COINCIDENTLY to Earth) but they never make it- the Dreacon wipe them out. The engineer at the end of Prometheus is angry because his species has been all but anihilated (though not necessarily extinct), and David has told him something that we don't know, that's pissed him off. This is probably all wrong by the way... : )