“Abandon all hope ye who enter here”

chli

In the new trailer we see more religious references. This time in the form of Dante’s “The Divine Comedy”. In the Poem, Dante walks through the three realms of the dead: Inferno (Hell), Purgatory and finally he reaches Paradise (where his beloved Beatrice is). In the first two realms, the souls of the dead are punished for their sins.

In the trailer, they make this reference by showing the horrors inflicted by The Devil (the serpent) and his hordes, stating: “The path to Paradise - begins - in Hell”.

In order to enter Hell, the ferryman Charon rows the sorrowful souls over the river Acheron (LV-426 . . .). And in the deepest pit of Hell, the serpent himself (Satan) dwells:

Finally, we have the biblical reference of The Apocalypse where the serpent, The Beast (666), exterminates humanity and the wicked are doomed for an eternity in Hell, and the righteous eventually enter Paradise.

Will the The Covenant finally enter Paradise?

ninXeno426

Excellent comparison chli.I got Dantes Inferno nearby,I think it's about time i read it.

chli

Thanks, ninXeno426. It's a long read (I haven't read all of it myself). But different parts of it are really interesting. Maybe I should try to read through the whole work myself. :)

ninXeno426

Your welcome.That's pretty much why I haven't read it yet,i don't get to many chances to read these days.

dk

I only read the cliff notes since I didn't get the poetry meter....interesting read though.

I have a problem with the concept of the damned- if they are being damned for not worshiping but otherwise not harming others as opposed to those who were devout but would harm others for being nonbelievers- I might be among the face hugged or egg morphed. Weird but honest.

chli

dk: Yes, I agree. I’m an agnostic myself (whereas Ridley Scott apparently is a believer of sorts). But I suppose the wrath of God is due to mankind’s wars and aggression, indifference, decadence etc?

dk

RS changes his views at times but- he is RS so there it is lol! I was raised to believe and trashed it so I can appreciate on either level. I used to rail against the God stuff, but as long as it is a good movie, I'm all in.

Aorta

I was wondering about this myself, the wording suggests this planet is not Paradise. Likely wishful thinking on my part but it seems to indicate a sequel?

chli

Aorta: Yes, and in the trailer it seems that another dropship is sent down (or were there several from the beginning?) to rescue the ones still alive on "Paradise"? This might suggest that The Covenant is still in operation and that the aliens haven't wiped out all on board? The survivors could then continue the journey to their intended destination (which was probably disturbed by the distress signal sent by David)?

Or the Covenant is blown up and they have to get away from the planet using another dropship which had landed on the planet from the beginning? But where will they go? Presumably, Paradise is far, far away and they probably have no cryo chambers? They might then decide to go to LV-223 which is probably not so far away and they know that there is breathable air there . . .

Or, they get away in the dropship but when they reach The Covenant they discover that it’s full of xenos and they decide to blow it up and get down to the planet again and try to survive somehow?

Or . . .  :)

For Close Encounters

Good chance there is another engineer ship on the planet.   If so, David remained on the planet for a reason.....help Shaw, remain to see through his work, await the arrival of unsuspecting ship responding to distress call

chli

FCE: Do you really think David would try to help Shaw (or the opposite)?

ali81

my understanding is that this is a path to paradise. clues on this planet may lead them to such a place. but id def say as far as mankind is concerned, there is no paradise here, just hell. there will be at least 1 more sequel to come. iv heard ridley had originally planned a trilogy, Prometheus, AC and 1 more but after the backlash from viewers who didn't get enough aliens in Prometheus, he changed what the Prometheus sequel was to be to appease these fans, another 4th film is planned. I could see this being true as I think he will be going back to lv223 as we have the deacon story to rejoin along with a possible recon expedition to find out the fate of the Prometheus mission and if AC is not on the engineers homeworld, which I believe is not the case, then surely he cant finish without addressing that aswell.

SteveRogers1973

It is worth noting that Ridley is a producer for the show Ancient Aliens.  If you've ever seen it or some of the episodes, you can quickly see where all this is coming from.  There have been many different interpretations of "God" or a creator throughout mankind time on Earth.  This canon is quickly developing into an origins theme.  I seriously doubt that this was even considered at the time Ridley first conceived of the first Alien.  Both Alien & the Thing seem to have used HP Lovecraft as source material circa 1930

ali81

I believe ridley just wanted to make a scary horror film when he made alien, he had no idea there would be sequels. but after aliens, he has stated he was surprised no one addressed the main questions. who was the big guy in the chair? how did the eggs get there and why were they there?

SteveRogers1973

@ali81 - and we are now how many more movies in and we still don't have those answers.  And I'm 99% sure we won't know those answers after this movie either

ali81

that's it, the traler was awesome yet gave nothing away. im sure theres even more twists to come that we haven't even thought of. will someone try and capture the proto alive for the company? whats walters role and does he last till the end? theres hints towards shaw but nothing that gives her fate away. I think this is just an alien movie and ridley will get back to his Prometheus themed story in the sequel

chli

ali81: They may just be playing with us but "The path to Paradise begins in Hell" could be just a lose reference to Dante or it could mean that if they survive this detour they can then go on to Paradise (their intended destination)? Or you might be right that, apart from all horror and devastation, they (or David) discover something on the planet (perhaps about the engineers - or their creators) that will lead on to something new - for the sequel?