Hammerpede Evolution

Hmmm...very interesting. I could only assume that yes, they would continue to evolve/mutate. Fifield, given more time, would have become more and more Alienesque, I'm sure. I would think a Hammerpede bathing in Black Goo would eventually grow to become something much larger/more horrifying; possibly exhibiting more Facehuggerish tendencies.

Yeah I think there is a sleight of hand going on in the film whereby the direct progenitor of the classic xenomorph is the hammerpede. Permit me to explain. It’s quite clear that the xenomorph evolved from worms; worms are hermaphroditic, they shed skin, they lay eggs, they have no eyes, they sense light and will move away from light...Newborn xenos are worm-like in morphology indicating their worm/hammerpede ancestry and xenos are well known to be afraid of fire. Notice how the hammerpede had acid for blood? Notice how it strengthened its constriction around Milburn’s arm when it was touched? Quite obvious clues there, aren’t they? There is enough for one to infer that over time the hammerpedes mate or self-reproduce, lay eggs and either the next generation are the facehuggers we already know or the classic facehuggers arise after a few generations. Given that the black goo is a rapid evolutionary accelerant, it would not be inconceivable that the offspring of the hammerpede are the facehuggers we know. The altar actually shows facehuggers and hosts if one looks close enough indicating perhaps that the progeny of the hammerpedes are the eggs and the facehuggers we are familiar with. So now we know what came first; The Queen or the Egg? Neither; it was the black-goo, worms and hammerpedes. The hammerpede is an example of the ‘Chekhov’s Gun’ trope. It’s all implied right there in the film, and we see a deviation of the process where the black goo is used on human intermediaries, resulting in an uber-facehugger, the Trilobite and a deacon ‘ultramorph’. Those are the red herrings of the film and they are principle sources for confusion. Notice how the deacon infant wasn’t worm-like? It had no tail... I’m baffled that many couldn’t figure this out. Ergo, using the goo on human intermediaries created a speciation but the trilobite was still a recognizable facehugger type albeit larger and the infant deacon was recognisably xenomorph-esque but much larger and biological in morphology instead of worm-like, which indicates common evolutionary descent but a speciation nonetheless. Thus the Trilobite and the Deacon are cousins of the facehugger and xenomorph. The hammerpede as the direct ancestor of the xenomorphs makes more sense when you consider that it has several advantages over the Trilobite, the least of which is its smaller size and faster development; since the hammerpede is a mutation of a worm it is able to more rapidly pass on its genes to a next generation, ergo, it’s quicker, more agile, better able to find or reach food, better able to avoid predators, etc, etc. The bottom line is that it will be more successful at mating and passing along its genes than other "varieties" or types that were closely related to it – namely the Trilobite. Though Scott thought the idea of the queen somewhat cheapened the creatures, the worm to hammerpede ancestry certainly doesn’t contradict it; the Queen is a hermaphroditic egg-layer; a reproductive trait passed on hereditarily from worms/hammerpedes. So why do newborn xenomorphs have worm-like morphology? – The answer is because they descended from Worms/Hammerpedes. Indeed, all organisms are palimpsests of evolutionary history and within their bodies and morphology hold clues to their ancestry, indeed, ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny. When the worms are infected with the black-goo, it triggers a rapid metamorphosis. First the worm mutates and molts – now it’s a hammerpede. By the second stage the hammerpede finds a warm host and feeds on the host’s innards. Soon the hammerpede is a fertile adult, now it either creates sperm and eggs internally or reproduces with male hammerpedes. An unusual feature of worms, well unusual to human eyes, is the nature of its two sexes, where we have hermaphrodites with two x chromosomes and are capable of self-reproduction but may still need a male to fertilise the eggs. If a worm uses self-fertilization, its offspring will tend to number around 300, whereas if a hermaphrodite has sex with a male worm (which is a relatively less common mode) the number of progeny can be up to four times greater than that...Looks like the engineers stumbled on quite the bio-weapon, eh? The hammerpede’s progeny will be the eggs and the facehuggers we know. And there you have it. A deleted scene showed Milburn and Fifield finding the shed skin of the hammerpede much in the same way that growing xenomorphs shed their skin indicating that the hammerpede is the direct ancestor of the xenomorphs. Ridley and co probably thought it was too obvious a clue. Another interesting clue comes with the silica storms that occur frequently on LV-223. Now, what did Ash say in Alien about the facehugger? “I have confirmed that he's got an outer layer of protein polysaccharides. Has a funny habit of shedding his cells and replacing them with polarized silicon, which gives him a prolonged resistance to adverse environmental conditions.” As the 8th most common element in the universe by mass, silicon is most widely distributed in dusts, sands, planetoids and planets as various forms of silicon dioxcide (silica) or silicates. So it’s clear that the engineers tested the goo on LV-223; the hammerpedes mutated from worms and given the silica storms the hammerpedes evolved with prolonged resistance and eventually they laid eggs.

Meshuggah- great post, and its got me once again wasting valuable time thinking about a movie I saw 9 months ago. I was wondering just yesterday about why there were 2 Hammerpedes shown. Is this by any chance the actual mommy meets daddy scene Ridley spoke of? Otherwise, why film it?

Thanks Major Noob, this film has not left my system ever since I saw it and I started thinking more about the hammerpedes and something started to click. Yeah I think by showing two 'pedes intimates as much, and you're exactly right that the scene would be rather pointless if the hammerpede wasn't a significant factor here. I mean in Damon's words they are just 'larger and nastier worms' and obviously the hammerpede that constricted itself around Milburn's arm didn't loose its ability to grow back its head like a worm so it wouldn't lose its reproductive organs either. The way I see it, using human intermediaries is quite inefficient and prone to failure, using worms however is a far more efficient and deadly solution and something that backfired on the engineers given the LV-426 incident.

I like that notion of the Hammerpedes being a sort of early progenitor of the xenomorph. They both are technically aesexual creatures or clones of eachother. Its like the worms are the ones passing on the whole lack of the sexes when in need to reproduce. The Alien Queen uses some sort of aesexual reproduction.

You're right on Anunnaki50 :) Given the asexuality of the worms and the egg laying, don't you think it really fits perfectly? There are just too many hints that it is indeed THE progenitor of the xenos we know and love. I mean why would the deacon be an 'egg layer'? "Its like the worms are the ones passing on the whole lack of the sexes when in need to reproduce." BINGO. The worms passed on the skin shedding and egg laying as well. And the exact reason why the Engineers would use the mutagen on the worms - the ultimate weapon. I mean, when I sat and thought about it, it struck me like a brick. Ridley was right; all the answers really are all there if you are willing to just extrapolate a little.

Great and refreshing post meshuggah :-) That is really interesting theory... So two hammerpades are mommy and daddy and they will pass their genes in their eggs...the black goo will speed up their evolution and face-hugger will be developed... But I'm still missing some xeno traits. What if our worms will evolve and will facehugged our poor protoxeno? And bang you have the best survival worm traits, human traits, and engineer's trait in one creature?

Thanks Redhead Ripley! :) Oh yeah that is certainly feasible, I'm simply suggesting the most streamlined approach here when saying that the progeny of the hammerpedes will be the eggs we know and love. Think of it this way - the black goo already has the blueprint of the classic xeno but it needs the specific genetic route or expression, ultimately all routes lead to a facehugger and xeno of certain varieties but to get to the classic xeno you utilize worms. I also surmise that the black goo already has the engineers' genetic traits; using a weaponized evolutionary accelerator is their way of passing off their gene pool in the hope of achieving immortality. But remember genetic expression is an important factor here so using human intermediaries involves an awful amount of admixture, I surmise that utilizing the worms is the pure method of attaining the perfect organism. Anyway, I'm glad I could bring something refreshing to the table. :)

there was a Hammerpeed outbreak in the cargo hold of the derelict from Alien . Scott has said the ship in Prometheus is a sister ship to the one in Alien In Prometheus we get a tour of the parts of that ship that kane , dallas and lambert never got to see . the cargo hold contains massive stacked piles of urns , all packed into the same sediment found on the ground of the temple structures . the same sediment that contains the worms. the worms mutated mid flight , attacked the pilot , deposited an egg in his chest , that creature burst out of him and found its way into the basement of his ship and layed 1000's of eggs to ensure the survival of its species . some species of worm will go down underground when the temperature drops and lay eggs . the eggs contained the dna of the mutated worms , the biomech spacejockey chair and its pilot . the creature from inside that egg impregnated a human and thats how we get our classic xeno.