The Deacon's Physiology

[img]http://www.prometheus-movie.com/media/deacon_alien_prometheus.jpg[/img] indeed, DEACON [b]GOT NO TAIL[/b] wonder where Deacon is going, as a character?

Perhaps as this theme developes a second threat to the galaxy is perculating in time out through space as the alien xenos have been in that franchise. Two major threats one started jbefore the events of Alien became apparant to humankind the creatures just have not crossed paths yet. So Shaw and others involved in the Prometheus franchise have the Deacon side of things to deal with then in time the humans in the Alien franchise will have the Xenos to deal with in their story. Somewhere during an intersection there will perhaps be an explenation as to where the xeno eggs originated from and hopefully there shall be a visual evolution of the Enginneers to look and explain the Space Jockies prescence and differing look as well. But still the liniage of both franchises will maintain their own mutual individualities whist each may at least flirt with friendly nods and easter eggs that reference each other in cleaver ways.

I think my theory explains such inconsistencies. They created the Xeno some how, or just came across it some how, and realized how hard it was to contain and store the Bio Weapons Eggs, never mind the potential chaos when one gets lose. The Answer..... well using the same process to break down a Engineer into the Building Blocks/DNA to seed life on Earth or at very least create Mankind. Surely the Same Process could be used to break down a Xeno DNA and thus then store this broken down substance within the Urns.

I don't think as such that the Engineers created Humans out of nothing and we just magically appeared, more likely they scattered their seed when very early Earth was just settling down with the puddles of life scattered around the entire planet. The processes that lead us to evolution remain the same, dinosaurs came and went ape man appeared we moved down from the trees and stood upright and began to walk across the world until we became the dominant force upon it but 'dominant' is a relative term with regards to our 'will' to dominate that is true where as we are still at the mercy of the elements and therefore have to act accordingly with our instincts to avoid danger and be wise when doing so. So the Engineers simply added there genome more or less into the melting pot of globe girldling pockets of life and inevitably as evolutionary events played out as we have currently come to understand them then their genetics were simply intermingled with the destiny and that of ours, both co-existing for mutual advantage until such a time would come where a 'seperation' may be required. Prometheus movie may be the rumbling beginings of just such a process.

You're right, the Engineer's genome helped to seed life. I was also thinking that perhaps the black goo was instrumental in the evolution of mankind as a whole. The film shows that there are either variations on the substance, or that it has different effects depending on how it touches an organism. I think the Hammerpede's evolution provides insight into the nature of the black goo. You could look at it as if the small worm evolved the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of years in mere hours. I would imagine that once life had been seeded on a planet, the Engineers could return and give certain species help with a little "dash of goo" to speed up their evolution. Perhaps mankind was a species that got this little leg-up on evolution, and the reason there is no missing link between ape and man is because that evolutionary step was made in days, not thousands of years?

I'm stickying this for a bit, I'd like to hear more opinions about this! Thanks for posting!

As I speculated in my my [url=http://www.prometheus-movie.com/community/forums/topic/7023]Black Liquid Thread[/url] the black liquid in the urns mixes with the substance inside the vials (note that Davids hands came into contact with both before infecting Holloway), and infects whatever it comes into contact with with the Genetic blueprint of the black liquid (Xenomorph genetic material). Look at the example of the Sacrificial Engineer - upon consumed the contents of the cup (same as whats inside the vials) the "Seed" covered his DNA as it tore him apart before re-assembling to create new DNA. Yes we have evolution and natural selection, but at the same time there was programming, engineering - features, traits of the Engineers DNA appeared slowly over the course of time, little by little leading to a species whose DNA was an almost perfect match to that of the source material - the Sacrificial Engineer. Following that logic the same would apply for the Deacon, its not the first ever Xenomorph is [u]A[/u] first generation Xenomorph. With each generation the source material will assert itself and each generation will lose the human/engineer aspects of their appearance, gradually becoming the creature we all know, just as life on earth slowly led towards our race being sired.

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Having understood all that (above) and getting where your all coming from it still does not explain why there are images of familiar Facehuggers hugging either humans and or engineersm, plus to my eye what looks like a queen, on the wall murals which all agree are thousands of years old. This would mean that a process has been underway for these millennia, at least. This Deacon would perhaps be the first, lets say DNA blend and or accident, being the outcome of a Human female being impregnated by a Goo infected human male, producing a xenomorphic foetus which is surgically removed, perhaps before fully formed, held in some form of stasis, only to then grow and then manage to infect an Engineer host. Forgive me if Im wrong but I doubt that this scenario has happened before, in this order. This is another reason I don’t like the Deacon design as it simply does not make sense to me. Sure a new design based on the original Burster would have been great, but the Daecon simply breaks and or creates too many rules. Same with the hugger squid.

BigDave is correct IMO. The goo from the urns is xeno dna already. Everything else in the op is just over thinking everything. The xenos we first see (alien) have already evolved and had many life cycles. You have to remember that the one we first see (alien) is from an egg that had been there long before the events of prometheus. Finally, the deacon xeno is not going to play a part in the next movie(s). It was just a nod to the original alien movie. The sequel (perhaps titled paradise) will take place on a different planet. I don't think we will see the Deacon again.

@ aurorian - Er, no... "[u]A[/u] first generation xeno, not [u]the[/u] first generation xeno..." Think of it like this... Thousands of years ago an Engineer stops of at LV-223, picks up a cargo of urns, flies off to a planet and deploys them. Some time later he comes back and picks up all the eggs. As the ship flies back home one of the egg hatches and jumps the pilot forcing the craft to emergency land on LV-426 etc. etc. Think of the deacon as a first generation incarnation of the creature, but not the actual first xeno...

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One other thing tht they may be trying to do with the murial is that as Mayan cultures and Astecs, Incas and the Anasazi have all done it could be the rendition of some kind of prophecy. Maybe that is where Ridley Scott is going with the murial design, all things depicted have not happened yet but are a prediction, a foresight of what is going to happen. So then the question is: Well how do they see into the future as the Mayans are supposed to have done to have any kind of incling of what they think is going to happen in 2012 on December 21st? Just Seuth Seers. So the idea that this culture for what ever reason made these designs 'saw' the future and predicted the images that we see on the wall and they are interpreting everything that has currently happened within the Alien canon and timeline. You may have to take a leap of faith and just accept that where this is going is nothing happened as was supposedly depicted upon the murial 2000 + years ago but was fortold and they were seeing what Ripley, Kane, the crew of the Nostromo, the colonists on LV-426/Ancheron, Alien 3 and Ressurection and now the events leading up to that timeline with Prometheus. They had the ability to see into the future. So now your probably wondering: Oh no! We've certainly seen that idea done before and not sure whether that is the explenation so you are probably saying as well: How can they see into the future? And my response to the hypothetical question I might add, I am not committed to this notion I am merely suggesting it's plot explaining potential, they somehow have technology to see into the future. Perhaps have been to the future, have timetravelled or as is the case when they activate the Pilot Room Chair mechanisms the holograms of the spacial grid of that quadrant of space the Engineers have already visited appeared. That similar technology could be how a group of Elders or Elder Monks or Elder Profits in this culture see into the future. Perhaps there as with ours a cultral intellectual battle going on with the Bio Engineers and the Elders. One camp hell-bent upon the rigorus pursuit of 'scientific' experimentation and bio-engineering in pursuit of perfection of the body, the outer-concience where the Elders may be of the spiritual and pursuit of moral quality of within. They, as we on Earth, have had this raging debate going on for millemia + and it shows that we are not so alien nor are they as we would at first like to think. I don't think this is actually 'The' answer to solve the murial mystery but I have to offer it as a point of view to see if it measures up to the riggors of debate and scrutiny. I thought of it and therefore have to be open enough to see if it would be an option for consideration.

What a fantastic set of replies, thank you all for your contributions and clarifications. What was tripping me up initially was the idea that the Black Goo was not composed of original Xeno DNA, but was rather a singular step (among many) contributing to the ALIEN's final development. Sort of like a generic, molecular disassembler / reassembler that is not patterned after any specific genus. But when we consider the murals, it's so apparent to me now that The Perfect Organism has been up and about for some time now. Actually, the goo's pigment should have been the dead giveaway! The Deacon as a new, super-potent chimera: wow! Containing Xeno aggression/strength plus Engineer/Human intellect would certainly be taking it to a new level.

Ok, however much I like to dig into this movie and ask interesting questions. Sometimes you shouldn't look for a complicated explanation for everything. The reason the Deacon has a pointed skull and similar skin texture to the xenomorph is because the creature design department and Ridley Scott wanted to reference the original xenomorph , yet make it different and refreshing/interesting.

".....The Deacon as a new, super-potent chimera: wow! Containing Xeno aggression/strength plus Engineer/Human intellect would certainly be taking it to a new level......" THere may be a greater threat to the Aliens and SJs that we have not seen..someone/something lurking in the background that is a threat to the entire univertse as we know it. Survival may depend on this XENO/Engineer/Human combination....All three may need each other ....if we don't all kill each other first..

Your answer sort of raises a question about the robots in each movie,,,Shouldn't theme,,connection ..likeness be evident in them? I mean David8 sort of infers the previous 7 designs had some use..Why not some continutity from the Design dept? For that matter maybe Vickers is the first Female 'bot....but never made it aboard any of the Alien related movies,,

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if you actually look at the murial in the urn chamber the xeno has the same body shape and same shape head as the deacon and 'no' tail . so it would seem the deacon is whjat was intended and that thing must be 6-7 feet tall . how big will this thing grow. basing that a 12 inch xeno grows to over 7 feet . that thing will be massive

.."Have you considered the ramifications of this further.." No problem here,,my toes are fine,,as I have not thought anything through, Let me consider your comments..and add your notes..if possible..

it could be that deacon and xeno are just related creatures, not earlier or later versions. like lions vs tigers.. or even wolves. other than that i generally like the idea that alien already existed and decon, worms, proto-facehugger etc are all the engineered variants.

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"...deacon and xeno are just related creatures.." Now this is a curious concept,,..If Zeno is just in the family..then there must have been a source,,before the creatures we have identified in the movie.. XENO seems to be at the top of this family tree compared to the other branches.. "...like lions vs tigers.. or even wolves.." at these could possibly live on the same land mass and survive,, From what we have seen,, Engineers/Aliens and Humans,,,could not..

[quote] at these could possibly live on the same land mass and survive,, From what we have seen,, Engineers/Aliens and Humans,,,could no[/quote] another point, humans are higher primates, evolved from lower ones,let we still co-exist with monkeys and apes. i'd find a branching family tree a lot less cheesy than rapid evolution i think..

Why is the deacon's head elongated? Didn't you just mention the black slime? Human + Black Slime = Babyhead. Yeah, yeah, I know they just used a stupid zombie in the movie, but that doesn't stop me from saying Fifield or Holloway wouldn't eventually turn INTO the original, not stupid looking babyhead. But, more importantly, it has an elongated head because it's a freaking alien. :/ Anywhichways, what if it was really simple? What if the mural depicted the adult form of a Deacon, which then gave birth to facehuggers directly, as the mural seems to imply? Maybe it's not actually complicated at all. And maybe the deacon really IS the first step, and the trilobite was the reason space jockeys went back to Earth, to abduct people and turn them into babyheads and then make them bone each other. ...that last part sounds kind of ridiculous, I know. Then again, this is Prometheus we're talking about.

"....another point, humans are higher primates, evolved from lower ones,let we still co-exist with monkeys and apes..." So far of the three branches as depicted in the movie,,(Engineers,Aliens/Humans) which grouping has shown any independant thinking,,action? Our human branch has entered their world..and stirring things up. The other two are acting quite instinctively.in a survivor/savage mode..not in an inquisitive/understanding frame of mind..

@Socrates Exactly, the deacon is just a reference to please the fans of the Alien franchise, which sadly enough, it hasn't, judging by all the bashing I have heard.

Does this all relate to Joey?

Is the Deacon Evolving..or devolving? I guess there are Earth examples of creatureas that have sayed the same for millions of years,,,but they all seem to in the sedate side of the activity fence,, The Deacon/Xenos are very active and seem to be to evolving at an alarming rate... I guess theXeno/Deacon timeline is a bit confusing to me because of the Alien movie coming out 30 years ago...and simply understand that storyline more than 'Prometheus' plot

Ahem... i posted in regards to the Deacon's look, and connection to the Engineer. There must be a greater connection between the Xenomorph (more precisely; the Deacon) and the Engineers that we don't know about yet. Here's my thread: [url=http://www.prometheus-movie.com/community/forums/topic/8149]Engineer/Xenomorph connection[/url] The Engineer is a much bigger necessity to the Xenomorph. A bigger connection exists between the two. Or so it seems, anyway... Check out the Engineer's suit in the thread. Compare it to the chest structure of the Xenomorph. Also, as someone pointed out, the Deacon has no tail. An indication of that greater connection between the Engineer and itself. This trait makes it more humanoid.