#cod zombies lore

Quickest route, no freeways, as stated by the great and all-powerful lego batman lol

💫Hello hello!! Omg guys it's a babey! Welcome in, welcome in!! I do hope you enjoy it here!! ✨

💫 So, personally, my one-stop-shop for all things lore and Richtofen is this video right here! -> 🌟 Don't let the 9-hour run time scare you, it's not so daunting, I promise!! The video has chapter markers so you can skip around, along with audio logs and extra information so you can really understand what's going on! It's explained in a way that's easy to digest, and you can always go back to it! I've watched it in full about three times and still use it to reference certain parts of the lore! Best thing to do is just break it down into chapters if you don’t want to watch it all in one go!! I can also reccomend searching up audio logs on youtube too!✨

💫 Now, I can't help but notice you came to a Richtofen blog to ask about lore and Ultimis Richtofen, so, allow me to give you the warmest welcome by giving you a quick run down of his lore and the things he gets up to before, during, and at the end of the game! (Don't worry, I won't include huge spoilers!) ✨

⭐️ BEFORE THE EVENTS OF WAW.

Richtofen used to be a member of the Illuminati and joined Group 935 as a spy for them. However, he switched sides and ditched the Illuminati for Group 935 instead. The group's mission statement was to 'better the human condition,' but because of this being so open to interpretation, a LOT of strange science happened within the group.

Richtofen, partnered with Doctor Schuster my beloved, worked on teleportation experiments. They weren't going well, safe to say. Any deceased subject that was put into the M.T.D (Matter Transferance Device) came back as a sloppy pile of innards, or they would vanish. Until one fateful teleportation experiment, in which the subject returned as a reanimated corpse. An Undead. A zombie. With this new development, Maxis sought to control these zombies, and that later became an initiative to create an army of undead soldiers for the war effort.

Refocusing on teleportation, Richtofen decided to scale down the experiment. He attempted to teleport a walnut and found his first break through sucess!! He immediately told Doctor Maxis, the head of Group 935, but was met with mockery and the worst news of his life: Maxis had made a deal with the Nazi party. The deal was, if Group 935 supplied weapons for the German army, among other things, they would give the group funding to explore the concept of raising an undead army. This was a choice that would be the ruin Group 935, and Richtofen would make sure of that.

Richtofen offered himself up as the first human test subject, doing it in the name of science. He didn't die, but instead, he was sent up to the moon!! Though he wouldn't know that initially. On the moon, a device that would later be known as the MPD (Moon Pyramid Device) was waiting for him. This device had the ability to corrupt anyone who touched it, so, naturally, Richtofen touched it with his bare hands. To give him credit, he didn't know exactly what he was touching.

He then got teleported again, directly from the moon, to a place called Shangri-La. Now, this is unfortunately a bit of a racist trope, but we enjoy COD Zombies critically and are able to understand it is an old game with a lot of elements that haven't aged too well. While in Shangri-La, he was ambushed and taken by a tribe. Richtofen showed this old tribe the ways of electricity and hydro-power, and in reply, the tribe worshipped him like a God, making a shrine for him. He found a strange device in Shangri-La, and trapped up his altar to keep it safe. He also asked the tribe to mine element 115 for him, since there was quite a lot of it underground, and so the tribe did. They later succumbed to element 115 and turned into undead zombies. (Since I haven't mentioned it already: element 115 has the ability to turn you into an undead zombie if you have prolonged exposure to it)

Finding his way back to Germany, Richtofen took Schuster with him in an MTD ride for two and showed him the moon. After that, they began construction of Griffin Station. Griffin Station was a base of operations for Richtofen and the scienstis who he rallied against Maxis because of the deal with the Nazi party, and they conducted their own science on the MPD!

Richtofen led a double life for a while, acting as if everything was fine with Maxis, but it was difficult considering he was slipping into insanity. He heard voices in his head due to the corruption he was undergoing. Voices of creatures in a sealed-off realm, the voice of a man who spoke like a god. The voices were pulling a craving for more power to the forefront of Richtofen's mind, along with the idea of going to a place called 'Agartha.' (This is also a German conspiracy rooted in white supremacy, 'only pure whites can get into Agartha,' or something. THIS Agartha isn't that. THIS Agartha is basically just a COD Zombies equivalent to Christian Heaven.) And so, Richtofen started to go off script and use Group 935 equipment for his own personal experiments. Due to a spy catching him, his behaviour was reported, and Richtofen was sent to work closely with Maxis so that Maxis could keep an eye on him. That, however, was a mistake. While working on teleportation once again, Richtofen trapped Maxis and his daughter inside the MTD and...Kind of just sent them off?? into the stratasphear?? for all he cared?

Maxis ended up in a place known as 'The Crazy Place' and gained the ability to fuse himself with electricity. (It's a COD Zombies game, don't ask.) While his daughter, Samantha, was sent up to the moon and ended up running inside the MPD. Somehow, because of, well, science, Maxis was found and teleported to Griffin Station, where he was "asked" to coax Samantha out of the MPD. Instead, he asked her to 'do a favour' for him and 'kill them all' before shooting himself in front of his daughter. This drove Samantha even further along into insanity, and her vengeful wrath is why we're chased by zombies in the games!

Just before doing his own experiments, Richtofen was given three test subjects:

Nikolai Belinski

Takeo Misaki

Pablo Marinus

Tank Dempsey.

Richtofen thought he accidently killed Pablo in an experiment, and so his body was cast out and replaced with Dempsey. These test subjects were put on ice when Richtofen was punished for his personal experiments. But, when Group 935 was getting attacked by the undead hoard, Richtofen woke up these test subjects to help him fight.

🌟 BO2

This game is basically just a turf war between Maxis and Richtofen. Because of the events after the map 'Moon,' the Earth is an apocalyptic wasteland and both Richtofen and Maxis are fighting for control. They both want to go into 'The Aether,' because then they can reach Agartha.

🌟 BO4

The map 'Classified' is a little detour the group is forced to take, and it takes place between Shangri-La and Moon.

The map 'Alpha Omega' is the last map we have with Richtofen, and we see how the story ends in the 'Tag Der Toten' easter egg!

✨ We can draw out the timeline in two different ways, depending on how heavily we want to track Richtofen’s movements.✨

💫 OR! ✨

💫 We never really know how the cycle started because of those damn blood vials. We know that Richtofen went back in time to give them to another version of himself because our Richtofen has them in Origins, but we don’t know anything about THAT Richtofen. Though, we do know that this is probably not the first occurrence of one Richtofen relying on another version of himself in a different universe to keep the cycle going. In Blood of The Dead, Richtofen says this:

“[…] The voices of the damned and the doomed can get in line behind you three, the warden, the keepers, und the numerous other Richtofen’s now placing demands on. My. Time.” - Primis Richtofen, Blood of The Dead.

✨ This implies that there are various other cycles that all somehow rely on each other to go through certain events to keep the loop going. When Al Arlington breaks the cycle and the mobster’s souls are freed in Mob of The Dead, it breaks the Primis cycle because Richtofen was reliant on getting the mobster’s blood vials repeatedly. With that information, there’s a good chance that the multiverse may look something like this:

💫 Which is AMAZING! When you’re next playing The Giant, or Zetsubo No Shima, or Revelations, there’s thousands of other Richtofen’s scurrying around in the background in their own universes! It’s insane to think about!

✨ I also find it fascinating just how much dimension hopping Richtofen does- We can’t actually track it all on a timeline because a lot of it is off screen, and then when he hops into the main (first) timeline to get Victis’ blood and their aid (after the end of BO2), he sends Victis all over the place to several different dimensions. He also pops out of that dimension for reasons only known to him and pops back in when he needs to- AND, we know he’s been dimension hopping before these events because his memory is already evidently suffering. He doesn’t remember whose plan he’s even following anymore, but knows what he needs to do.✨

✨Ahem.✨

Anyway-

✨ POV you have COD Zombies autism ✨

💫 So, I’ve seen something and I want to weigh in. However, I need to state something very important first:

⭐️ I’m making a new post because I’m worried that reblogging and typing all this there would make the reblog chain way too long, but please understand that this isn’t meant to be an indirect or vague post. I’m hesitant to tag people because I don’t know if they would take kindly to it, but if you see this and you know what this is about, comment by all means and I’ll link the initial post and reblog!! I have nothing but respect, I have no ill will, and simply want to offer a fresh perspective, that’s all! This is NOT an attack, I cannot stress that enough!! Without further ado:

💫 I keep seeing the take that Ultimis Richtofen is pure evil and always has been. I also keep seeing the take that Primis Richtofen is selfish and also evil. I want to discuss these takes and yap about why I don’t fully agree, even though I can see where the view point comes from. Let’s talk about Ultimis first.✨

꧁ ༺ 🌟༻ ꧂

💫 “Ultimis Richtofen was never good intentioned and the story wouldn’t have happened if he took responsibility.” 💫

✨ Yes, but also…No? Kind of. Don’t forget, Dr.Maxis is also at fault. I’d argue he kicks everything off and Richtofen’s story gets worse from there. Dr.Maxis also destroys the earth. Twice. ✨

💫 So, the first thing I want to acknowledge is that yes, Richtofen did originally join the illuminati. We don’t know why or what for, but eventually he was sent into Group 935 to act as a spy. I’m not about to defend him for joining the illuminati because we don’t have enough information to understand his motivations. Objectively though, I agree this is a bad choice of him to make. But, the first thing of note he does in lore is abandon the illuminati to work honestly for Group 935. He never explicitly tells us why he does this, but we can use his audio logs to make an educated guess. He never shows joy in experimenting on p.o.w’s or human test subjects until after the MPD incident, so I’m reluctant to say that was the reason. If we look at Group 935’s mission statement though, we can infer his motivations behind his betrayal. Group 935 was founded on the idea of “Improving the human condition.” I wholeheartedly believe that Richtofen supported that mission statement and betrayed the illuminati because of that, which would put him in a morally grey position in my eyes, and shows he may have had good intentions in the beginning. Group 935 did do human experimentation, but Richtofen’s main area of expertise was teleportation. While that did use human test subjects, I would argue that his work wasn’t heavily reliant on human lab rats seeing as he later scaled down the experiments to test on a walnut. If Richtofen truly enjoyed human experimentation so much, he would have showed resistance and reluctance to dial the teleportation experiments back, but he doesn’t. Him and Schuster both agree to dial back the experiments and use a test subject that isn’t human. After finding success, Richtofen then offers himself up as the first human test subject after that, and it resulted in no other p.o.ws or human subjects being put at risk. Because of this, I believe he had good intentions when in Group 935 to begin with. He cared about the science more than anything else, and the science was carried out with the aim of bettering humanity initially. He even wanted the science to continue after he felt Dr. maxis “lost sight” of the group’s goals, and continuing the science would result in more experiments being done to “better humanity.” Regardless of how focused he was on the science, you could argue that his passion was inspired by the group’s initial mission statement. This puts him in a morally grey position because we then have to start asking questions like: ‘Do the ends justify the means?’ And ‘How much bad can you do in the pursuit of good before you’re deemed as evil?’ But, those aren’t questions we’re tackling here because they relate to more than just Richtofen.

✨ When it comes to the Wunderwaffe, I can’t weigh in on that because I don’t know where in the timeline the gun was invented. I don’t know what the original intent behind it was, or his motivations for making it the way he did. Since I don’t know about it, I’m not going to address it. ✨

✨Now we get to the matter of accountability, free will, and the amount of control he had over his actions. After touching the MPD, he was slowly corrupted by the Dark Aether. He was hearing voices, his mind unravelling, and we know it was slow because we can hear his descent in audio logs. Richtofen isn’t the only one we see being corrupted by the Dark Aether. For instance, we see Pernell get corrupted by it, so much so that he becomes Avogadro! When the Dark Aether corrupts, it drives people to do things they wouldn’t usually do, and warps their goals and influences them to follow through with its will. What I mean by this is: I’m not entirely sure Richtofen even knows why he wants to get to Agartha. He never explains it, he never tells us what he’ll do once he’s up there. In audio logs we see his obsession with Agartha grow over time, but he never mentions Agartha before the MPD incident once. To assume that he only hears voices and goes a little stir crazy because of them alone ignores the whole point of his character. He is evil by the end because power corrupts him, not because he was pure evil from the jump. When he speaks in game, in cut scenes or in Easter Eggs like Tag, we are hearing his corrupted self, not his genuine, uncorrupted self. This is also important to note when we hear him having an absolute blast! The Dark Aether loves chaos and death, Apothicons are naturally evil, so of course he would feel enjoyment while doing what he does after the MPD incident, the Dark Aether is not only influencing him, but actively validating and praising his actions too, we can hear this in his lines on the original Der Riese. If you want more proof that his actions aren’t fully his own, The Shadowman himself even states in Revelations:

“He did everything I told him to.”

It wasn’t Richtofen’s choice to be corrupted, and it wasn’t his choice to be tormented and manipulated by horrors beyond his comprehension, and trying to state otherwise is…Disappointing. You’re missing the whole point of his character.✨

💫 So, is he inherently evil from the jump? No, I don’t think so. With the information we have, I would say he fits nicely into being morally grey/questionable, I’m not arguing that he’s a morally good person. Would the events of the story change if he took accountability? …Maybe? It’s difficult to say because of his corruption. But given the whole point of his character, I’m hesitant to say it would have made a huge difference. We also need to look at Maxis and his actions. My point is that his character has nuance, and I feel that shouldn’t be ignored.✨

꧁ ༺ 🌟 ༻ ꧂

💫 “Primis Richtofen is egotistical, selfish and just as bad as Ultimis Richtofen.” ✨

✨ Not in the slightest, and I think saying this is actually quite a big reach. For this section, I want to address the reblog that I saw from an oomf. But again, I mean no disrespect!! In the reblog I saw, there were several errors I saw, so, I also want to correct those too. Respectfully, of course.✨

💫 The main motivator for Primis Richtofen isn’t ego or selfishness, it’s actually survival for himself and survival for Maxis. Later on, that changes to survival for the rest of crew, Samantha and Eddie as well. The reason he creates the paradox that perpetuates the cycle to begin with is self preservation, he even tells us this directly:

“The others don’t understand, I’ve been doing this for a long time. I don’t want this to end, und by that I mean, I don’t want me to end.” - Richtofen, Revelations.

✨ He does have a need to be needed, but that isn’t why he takes on the leader position of the group. If anything, I think the circumstances simply feed into his complexes even more. When he first reads The Kronorium, he reads that he dies in every single universe. Understandably, that revelation frightens him. Things must happen in a certain order for the cycle to continue, and it’s that fear that drives Richtofen to secrecy- He needs to have control over what the group does, or else the cycle could change. Not only that, but, in his mind, he is protecting the others by not letting them read the book. This is shown to us directly. He tells Nikolai in BoTD this:

“If I believed for an instant that you could comprehend so much as a phrase in The Kronorium, I would hand it over! But, no. That is mein burden to bear! My way, Nikolai, is the only way.” - Richtofen, Blood of The Dead.

✨ While I can understand this being seen as selfish, let’s remind ourselves why he’s doing this. If he lets the cycle end, all of their futures aren’t secure, not his, not anyone else’s, and his soul won’t be born anew. He has been following The Kronorium to protect and preserve his and eventually everyone else’s souls, things need to happen a certain way for the cycle to remain unchanged. Knowing this, I think his protectiveness over The Kronorium and his secrecy makes perfect sense! He even calls it a ‘burden.’ You might be asking why I’m so sure about this, and that’s because Nikolai himself agrees with me:

“It is only now…Now, that I understand the path of bloodshed and sacrifice that lays ahead…And how such knowledge must have gnawed -and clawed- at the German’s mind…I pity him. From this day on, it is my burden to bear.” - Nikolai, Alpha Omega.

✨ They both become undone and are protective over The Kronorium and its knowledge because that knowledge is heavy to carry. Nikolai also says he fears it might ‘drive him insane.’ If it were so easy to simply share what The Kronorium says with the rest of the crew, there’s nothing in either of their voice lines that suggest they wouldn’t be honest. There’s also nothing in either man’s voice lines that suggests their actions have anything to do with selfishness. (And no one calls Nikolai selfish even though he does the same thing as Richtofen, I’ve always found that interesting.)

✨ Focusing back on Richtofen, his plan isn’t to do the same thing as Ultimis to save his soul and discard the rest of the crew, that wouldn’t make sense. He presumably, going by what we’re told in the Tag EE, secured his own soul in the time between Origins and The Giant. This is why we don’t see his soul get sent up to Agartha via the summoning key in Gorod Krovi. While he doesn’t initially like the crew he’s with, he was never going to abandon them. He simply didn’t care either way, until he did. He also didn’t drag the members down with him, they were spying on him and Group 935 for their respective countries until things got out of hand. Richtofen was more than willing to kill the group’s Ultimis counterparts himself until Dempsey stopped him and insisted that he kill his Ultimis counterpart instead in Der Eisendrache. We also hear voice lines that imply his willingness to see the mission through on his own while playing solo, for example, on Zetsubo no Shima:

“Assuming I succeed in neutralising the next target, we are making excellent progress! Maxis would be proud of me.” - Richtofen, Zetsubo no Shima.

✨ At the end of the cycle, the crew presumably live out the rest of their lives until they die of old age and then reincarnate and start the cycle all over again. The reason that Templar! Richtofen is in that cryochamber in Alcatraz is because when Al Arlington broke his cycle, that had a knock on effect in other time lines and the past in the Primis timeline changed. That’s also why the crew show up late and in the wrong place, their timeline changed because the cycle was broken. Templar Richtofen is NOT the same as Primis Richtofen.✨

✨ I believe that…Should?? Cover everything?? One small detail though— Primis Richtofen doesn’t hear voices. The reason he’s the way he is, is because of the constant 115 exposure and dimension hopping. He has dimension hopped more than any other Primis crew member, so the 115 exposure is affecting him more than the others. Primis Richtofen was never corrupted by the Dark Aether. ✨

✨ So, to put it simply: I do think his actions are selfish to a degree, but his main motivator is self preservation and survival. It’s why he fights so hard during BoTD! Both of these characters are nuanced, and Primis Richtofen is NO WHERE NEAR as bad as Ultimis Richtofen, not by a long shot! ✨

✨Today, I want to do a little thought experiment! I'm doing this just for fun, but this could absolutely be used to give you more insight into the life of your COD Zombies oc's or self insert ships if you'd like!! Let's dive in! ✨

💫 For this thought experiment, we will assume that, when Ultimis Richtofen formed the elemental shard, he needed the essence of five human souls, not four. That last soul he used was yours. How would you fare? How would you change? What would your new life look like, and do you think you could keep up with it all? This little window into another far off dimension will put you in the Primis crew! I'll do another post putting you in the Ultimis crew too if it’s wanted, since this is such a fun idea! And, so that this post isn't too long, we'll go map by map if more is requested!!

💫 General ✨

✨ Firstly, let's talk about what you would be experiencing generally. TW here for talks about drugs and weight loss. ✨

💫 For starters, your teeth would feel awful. With all the chaos of the zombies coming after you and the fact you'll be moving around so frequently, you won't have time to brush your pearly whites every morning. Not only that, but with your constant exposure to element 115, it's likely you'd often forget if you had any sort of dental routine set up. After a while, you would need to be careful when chewing gobblegums. Your teeth would get sensitive, brittle, and the sugar in those gum balls would make any cavities you've developed even worse! You'd also probably reek, along with the rest of the crew. Not only are you running for your life, building up sweat, but you're also lifting and carrying heavy guns, that's going to be an added strain on top of all that moving you're doing- Your arms are going to burn! How's your stamina? I hope it's good, because if you run out of breath, if you stop moving or stop shooting, it could be the last thing you ever do. (This is how I know that I wouldn't survive, because my stamina is terrible!)

What would you be wearing? Oddly enough, your choice of clothing being in either crew actually matters quite a lot! Being in the Primis crew, you'd want to bundle up. Most of the Primis locations are freezing! If you want a fashion icon to look towards, Dempsey is your best bet. The belts and straps that Dempsey wears are easily and quickly removeable should he need to take his coat off and breathe. And, his coat covers all of his arms, giving him some skin protection. It also looks to be at least a little insulated, keeping him warm when he's idle. The leather of the coat also means he would keep his torso mostly dry if he's caught out in rain. The other members of the crew either have too many belts and straps, waist coats that would be a hassle to remove, or they're wearing material that isn't insulated! ...Richtofen.

Are you proficient with weapons? Well- I suppose I should really be asking: What other weapons are you proficient with? You can shoot a gun, that's amazing for your temporary survival, but you'll need a trusty secondary weapon at your side if you want to survive long-term! Something sharp, or perhaps blunt if you have the strength for it. Something that won't run out of ammo, something that doesn't break easily.

🌟 Richtofen uses a knife (And has a bone saw strapped to his thigh.)

🌟 Dempsey uses a knife.

🌟 Nikolai uses an axe .

🌟 Takeo uses a samurai sword.

🌟 What do you use? ...What can you use?

💫 What about the perk-a-cola's? Do you think you could handle swallowing down sludge to survive? Oh, you do? That's great! But, that shouldn't be your only concern. It's highly likely that you might become a bit...Addicted to some of the perk-a-cola's. Some of them are made with certain...Enhancers that aren't typically good for the brain or body.

"I can't be sure, but, I think the active ingredient rots your mind." - Richtofen, about Speed Cola.

✨ And finally, in general, your body would change. With all of that running around you're doing, you'd lose weight quite substantially, but that might be the only healthy way you shed some pounds. The perk-a-cola's will probably make you lose weight, but not in a healthy way. The gobblegums also aren't all that nutritious, so eventually your body would start eating into your natural fat stores for energy.

Now we've covered the basics, let's see how well you fare against your first obstacle: Origins.

💫 Origins ✨

The year is 1918. The place: Northern France. In this deadly hypothetical, you are a spy sent in from your native country to oversee the activities of Group 935. You have intel that they've recently established a dig site in Northern France, looking for something that will give Germany the upper hand in the war. It is your job- No, it is your duty, to report back anything you find to your higher ups. Your country is counting on you, you can't let them down.

Your lugs are iced out with every short breath you take on the site. The steps you take are slow, staggered, measured. If you step too quickly, or God forbid run, you'll slip on the ice underfoot- It. Is. Freezing. Squinting through the snow that cascades down from the dreary clouds, and zips past your eyes thanks to the harsh, whipping wind, you can see various zones spiralling up from deep trenches, machinery lifting rocks with strange, deep blue ores littered inside. The blue glows unlike anything you've ever seen before. As you venture in more, there's a sickeningly sweet stench that plugs up your nose and clings to the back of your throat, carried too by the savage, whirling chill. It's floral, but not pleasantly so. There's a twang to it, sour and mouldy. So much so, that you can't help but choke on it. There's a faint succession of shrills and cries that get louder the closer the dig site gets. They sound...Animalistic in nature. Unnatural.

Your shoes hit the ground with a squelching thud as you jump into one of those winding trenches. The mud has been trampled to a sludge, and it sucks you down until you pull your foot up, taking your first step. That damn scent is everywhere, and so are those mysterious roars. The wind screams in your ears, frost bites at you cheeks and nose- It's all so much!

Then, you see it.

A figure stands slouched just ahead of you. It's clothing is withered, tattered, and through the large gaps in the material, you see moulding, decaying skin. Bones poke out from it's joints, skin hanging from the exit point, barley holding on. You can see it's shrivelled and cracked teeth through the hole that used to be it's cheek. It's faint, but you can hear it's breathing, rugged and congested. Your own isn't much better with the conditions that surround you, but despite your quiet shock, it seems to know you're there. It's neck snaps to you, eyes glowing menacingly. What is it? How is it alive?

You don't have time to get distracted, you need to act.

Do you fire your gun? Or maybe, in a blind panic you reach for your secondary weapon and use that to block the attack, create some space. Do you even get that far? Adrenaline courses through you, heart hammering in your ears, but do you shaking hands move at all?

With one last groan, whatever it was is dead, it's body in a decaying heap next to you. About three more take it's place up ahead of you, and it's now where your endurance will be tested under immense pressure. You need to figure out what the hell is going on here, before the mystery of it all consumes you first.

Fighting your way through, you follow the twisting trenches until you finally come across an entry point into a building. But, it seems you aren't the only one here. Barrels of guns are what you're met with, heled by three men who are heaving for breath, suspicion and weariness in their eyes. It's a silent stand off, and if you don't present your own weapon in warning, will they shoot first? Tension runs thick in the air, and it takes a few seconds for all four of you to notice there's someone else in this room with you: Dr. Edward Richtofen. This man's name was inside your intel, you know he's someone to watch for and so do the other men. All four of your draw your weapons on the doctor, stepping further inside the room. As if the circumstances weren't strange enough, there's a body laid before the Doctor, his skull sliced open, his brain missing. What have you stumbled into?

Just then, a different whirling sound scratches at your nerves. It isn't the wind, it's mechanical, and what greets you when you all look up is a mechanical beast towering over you, it's foot lifting to take a step. You need to do- Something! Can you duck and roll out of the way? Do you simply just run out from underneath it? If you have the energy to be agile, move swiftly, you might just survive.

🌟

An army of undead are upon you, you don't have time to ask questions. Which is frustrating, because the first thing the German does is begin muttering to himself under his breath. Something about a brain, someone called 'Maxis,' and something about a 'Conversion Generator,' whatever that is.

Right now, the thing you need to focus on is your field report. But, what do you tell your country? How can you even begin to explain what just happened in such a brief window of time? ...And would they believe you?

Your new discoveries aren't quite at an end yet- There's a...Chewing gum machine? In this shoddy lab? You twist the knob on it, and out falls a vibrant little ball! Inspecting it, it seems clean enough, and there's a small drawing on one side of it in white edible ink. With a shrug, you pop it into your mouth. It tastes...Strange. It's a flavour you can't quite put your finger on. But, that isn't the only thing strange about it. Swallowing down some gum infused saliva, your whole body suddenly shudders with a feeling that can only be described as: 'Empowerment!'

Which gum did you get? How do you use it? Do you hold off on blowing your first bubble, or do you let your curiosity get the better of you and potentially waste your newfound power?

Focus - Focus! No matter what you do, nothing is more important than your survival, you can ask about the machine later! The undead are ripping down the boards over the windows, and again, you need to act! In such a small space with four other adrenaline infused bodies, there isn't much room to breathe. Do you guard one specific window? Or perhaps you rotate around the room, trying to work in tandem with the crew you're now apparently a part of.

A survival skill you'll need to learn very quickly is knowing when it move on. As more undead filter into the space, it becomes increasingly obvious that you all need to move. Now. The smart thing to do would be to let the German lead you. He would know this site best after all. But perhaps you fancy yourself more of a leader type? Regardless, you find yourself outside in the bitter cold once more, and these 'Conversion Generators' need powering up and defending. By now, your arms might be starting to get a little bit sore, your chest might be aching from your panting breaths. But you must push through it, you need to survive!

Not only are you locked in combat with an ever-screaming enemy, but there are call outs being yelled from one crew member to another, and a mechanical stomping sound is getting louder and louder in the background. The fight is nothing short of overwhelming. Can you keep your nerve? Do you throw your own call outs to the others? Or maybe you simply follow commands, trusting that the others know what they're doing.

🌟

You aren't sure who, but as that mechanical tower is about to step on you, someone grabs you and shoots at it's foot. A betrayal? You close your eyes and brace for impact, or maybe you struggle against the grip you're in- But as you open your eyes...You're alive! You're alive and you're inside the robot? You don't recognise any of what's in front of you, and you don't have time to either- You are ejected from the robot just as quickly as you entered, falling with the person who grabbed you. Who...Who actually was that? Do you trust them after? Or are you weary of them?

🌟

Damn...Your gun is feeling pretty light. Looking over to the wall, you can see there's a chalk outline of a gun in white. You walk over and bring your hand up to it, a brow furrowing as you inspect the drawing- Heavy cold steel is suddenly weighing your hands down. A gun! A gun that's in the same exact shape of the chalk drawing on the wall...Are you even able to comprehend this? You'd better fire it just to make sure it's real. Who know, maybe you're losing your mind already? To your surprise, it does actually fire! Brilliant! This means, of course, that you either need to remember where your favourite new mysterious weapons are, or, you'll need to switch guns every time you run out of ammo. Do you adapt to this well? Or is your memory awful from the get go? Can you adjust to the different weights and rates of fire the other guns you'll encounter will have? You'd better hope you can.

🌟

Trust is another thing that you'll need to have in full supply. Not only will you need to trust your eyes when a green glowing bullet case that somehow refills your gun lifts from an undead's corpse, but this German mad man is leading you head first into things you've never seen before! 'Conversion Generators,' chalk guns on walls, the inside of towering robots, a gravity defying space underground dubbed 'The Crazy Place,' and even an old underground cavern which houses recreations of the old ancient staffs, and statues of the ancient heroes that won a distant war...One of them even looks like you...How strange...Are you able to keep your wits about you and trust him? Are you able to bend your suspicion of disbelief to it's absolute end? Or will you tumble at the first hurdle? What's more, there's a lost child's voice in your ear every now and again. Her name is apparently 'Samantha,' and she has been begging for help so she can 'go home.' Richtofen doesn't seem to trust her, but do you? Perhaps her pleas fill you with determination to see your mission to it's end, maybe you can help her too while you're here! Or...Maybe Richtofen is right, maybe she can't be trusted...You need to carve your own certainty out of all this madness, the question is: Are you able to?

🌟

💫 Hi hi!! Welcome back!! Have a seat, get a drink!!✨

✨ So, shockingly enough I can actually answer this pretty accurately on Ultimis Richtofen’s part! Thanks to a line in Shangri-La, Richtofen actually hints that his father might have been a miner! (This is relevant, stay with me.) ✨

✨ When near the mine cart he says: ✨

“Reminds me of my childhood…STOP TALKING TO ME! ” - Ultimis Richtofen, Shangri-La.

“I was conceived in a mine cart! Or was it in a lab?” - Ultimis Richtofen, Shangri-La.

✨ Now, Ultimis Richtofen can absolutely be considered an unreliable narrator, so this depends on how much you want to believe him. But, I do! ✨

✨ If we believe him and then look at the lore we know around the whole ‘Teddy is a liar’ thing, we see some puzzle pieces fall into place!

✨ In the orphanage, Richtofen told his classmates that his father was a famous scientist, which tells us that he had a huge interest in science. Of course, he got found out for lying, and the children wrote ‘Teddy is a liar,’ on the orphanage yard’s wall. Given the fact that ‘Teddy is a liar’ is his log in to the Griffin Station base on the moon, it’s safe to say that this phrase stuck with him, he was likely bullied with it. Evidently, despite the bullying, he achieved his dream!

✨ As for Primis, it’s a bit more difficult to say. But, we do know that he was able to get himself into university and studied under Doctor Maxis for so long that they built up a strong, unbreakable bond. Maxis likely nurtured Richtofen’s love of science and saw an opportunity in Group 935. But before Maxis…We know that Primis Richtofen was orphaned at a young age, and we also know that he was a ‘sensitive and lonely child,’ so it’s highly likely that he held on to his dream for himself because no one else was there to support him. We know that he’s driven and resilient, and maybe this is an example of that in his childhood. ✨

✨ I’m not so sure about any Christian influences ever getting in their way- I’m quite sure they’d both tune things like that out since they both adore science! ✨

✨ It isn’t much, but I do hope I’ve answered your question well enough !! You might have been expecting more ‘headcanon’ territory, but the lore is equally as interesting !! I’ll also throw something else in too, did you know that Primis Richtofen loved chemistry and physics specifically?

Uhmm... I was just wondering if you happen to wanna explain the whole Zombified ultimis richtofen thing. :þ

I know its semi because his soul was in Sam's body in the aether... and maxis like ripped him out and put him in a zombie body.

But I thought you'd have some more well explained points on the matter.

-🕸

💫 Hello, hello, you!! Welcome back! 😌 Get nice and cozy, and we’ll get into answering this question!!✨

💫 First thing’s first, I 100% can see where the confusion is, so worry not, I’ll be your guide!! Second of all- Would I ‘happen to wanna’ explain COD Zombies lore?! Lore questions are like my own personal Christmas! Of course I would, my friend! 🙂‍↕️✨

✨ Our Zomitofen story begins at the end of the Buried map in BO2 and heavily involves the Victis crew! This story beat takes place in the Dark Horse comics run, so there’s not really anything in the games that even talks about this happening aside from one audio log which describes how a zombified version of Richtofen appeared in Ultimis Richtofen’s cell and then vanished, and a throw away line that Ultimis Richtofen has on the Alpha Omega map in BO4! I…Really hate when games do this. As someone who loves lore, I can’t stand when it’s convoluted AND all over the place— But that’s a whole different conversation.✨

💫 In the events of BO2, we play as the Victis crew, who are trying to survive in an apocalyptic world while Richtofen and Maxis basically have a turf war. At the end of this turf war, with the Victis crew aiding him, Maxis ascends to The Aether and throws Richtofen out of it, putting his soul in a zombie body that you can continually kill after the Easter Egg! (You’ll know it’s him because he is the only zombie with blue glowing eyes!!) ✨

✨ The comic run takes place afterwards and also ties into the Primis storyline of BO3 too! Naturally, that means Primis Richtofen is involved somehow. Because he always is.

✨ Primis Richtofen needs the Victis crew’s blood in order to create a paradox, the cycle that keeps his and the Primis crew’s souls alive. To do this, he employs the help of the zombified Ultimis Richtofen! If Zombietofen helps him by herding the Victis crew and pushing them to where Primis Richtofen needs them to go, Primis Richtofen will help Zombietofen get back into his own body, that’s the deal they make.

✨ This is why Zombietofen is seen sending zombies after the Victis crew, he’s herding them like cattle and making sure that the Victis crew go through the portals that Primis Richtofen has open for them. Once the Victis crew is where Primis Richtofen needs them to be, he gets each of them to willingly give a vial of their blood. Then, Zombietofen comes and collects those vials later, returning them to Primis Richtofen once the Victis crew are frozen inside cryochambers under Alcatraz!

💫 And from there, we get the audio log explaining what happened next, which I will link HERE !! ✨

💫 Hello hello!! Welcome to the ask box!! This is a pretty interesting question, so let’s talk about it!! ✨

✨ What you’re asking about takes place in Black Ops 2 !! ^^ There are two instances where Richtofen sends Zombies after the Victis crew, so let’s get into it!!

✨ The first instance is literally BO2 itself, since Richtofen is inside the MPD and controlling the zombies. The canon ending for Black Ops 2 is that the Victis crew help Dr. Maxis take control of The Aether and Richtofen ends up trapped inside a zombie body. So, to avoid this, during the game he’s likely sending zombies to attack Victis to put pressure on Stulinger. Richtofen needs Stulinger to convince the rest of the Victis crew to do what he’s asking of them in order for him to beat Maxis, but Stulinger isn’t exactly the most persuasive person on the team. With zombies running after them, it’s probably his hope that the rest of the crew will come around to Stulinger’s suggestions under pressure.✨

✨ The second instance of Richtofen sending Zombies after Victis is in the comics! Primis Richtofen agrees to help get a Zombified Ultimis Richtofen back into his own body in exchange for his help herding the Victis crew so that Primis Richtofen can manipulate them! ✨