Engineer Face on the Mountain Sequence (enhanced)

Ingeniero

Engineer Face on the Mountain

The remains of the Covenant crew who went to the surface of Paradise are leaving the planet in a shuttle flown by Tennessee. I'm sure most reading this noticed the Engineer face cut into the mountain at the end of the sequence in which Daniels fights the xenomorph (see below). 

sherris asks a great question about the Engineer face in the mountain. In summary, her question: is the face on the mountain an elder or an Engineer who sacrificed themselves on that planet to begin it's evolution?

I hadn't thought of this or seen it discussed and it makes a great point in regards to only one Engineer face seen on the mountain.

Is this Engineer face cut into the mountain related to an Engineer who sacrificed himself on that planet who is now revered by his descendants who live there?

We don't know now but that could be the reason behind the carving.

BigDave

Well it seems this Engineer is....

BigDave

But on a serious note, unless its done with no thought or reason and so just a Easter Egg or would this not look Cool..

Then it has to bare some importance and significance, and i am sure there are a few heads carved into the Mountains.

It could have been the Sacrificial Engineer, but then it could be the Elders... i would say its a Celebration/Worship of some Ancient Humanoid being that is of great importance to the Engineers History.

If there are more than One of these Heads which i think there are, then they are in effect similar to how the USA has Mount Rushmore Sculptures.

And so in that context i would say the ones in Alien Covenant are to celebrate the first set of either Leaders/Hierarchy of the Engineers on that Planet or they are celebrated as being the Forerunners to those beings on that Planet.

Ati

Ingeniero - Two faces can be seen in the mountain. There is no cut in the scene, the lifter is passing two Engineer faces.

Ati

...and:

Thombach

Abe Lincoln? I hope it's not a confederate soldier statue!

Lawrence of Arabia

Thombach

Both sides are wrong!

dk

Reminds me a bit of Mt Rushmore.

Ingeniero

BigDave, the resemblance to Mike Tyson is uncanny. That's funny.

Ati, that's awesome. I'll enhance the images in a little while and get that second face. Thank you again. I guess the evidence leans toward the elders etched into the mountain. I remember the discussion a while back on the topic but I wasn't sure if the sacrificial Engineer was discussed.

That's what I thought as well dk. 

Ingeniero

Here are the two shots that you provided from above Ati.

Ingeniero

Are there two faces shown at the same time or different angles of the same fly by?

Ati

:D

There is no cut in the scene, it is impossible that we see the same face.

11 images of the scene:

Ingeniero

So very good Ati...I wonder if that is the only two now.

Thank you for the images. Great sequence, a gift.

SuperAlien

And as somebody noticed some time ago, the docking ship crash landed on the valley beyond the engineers 'city. It can be seen in one of Ati's screenshots.

chli

Perhaps some likeness?

BigDave

Indeed there is a likeness

Ingeniero

Thank you and welcome chli. Great image of the group of Engineer elders departing from the sacrificial Engineer.

I think you may have nailed it BigDave with the side to side comparisons. Thank you. I used the topic image (your bottom example) in a wide comparison. Pretty good resemblance. 

I'll do another comparison to an enhanced image of the second Engineer face in the mountain (thank you Ati).

Cerulean Blue

@Ingeniero - To me it looks like there is only one face, as the lander in approaching the camera, the face is on the left & to the right of the lander.  As the lander is passing the camera & heading away from us, or the camera view, the face is now at the right of the screen & still to the right of the lander.  The lander is heading out of the shot with the engines flaming towards us as it exits the scene.  Let me know if I am missing something in these shots, as it is hard to see totally clearly in the dark-ish screen grabs on my computer?  I do think the face is of some type of heraldry/worship in significance to the inhabitants?  Good stuff!!

Ingeniero

The sacrificial Engineer comparison.

You are able to see the ship in the valley in the above image daliens (pretty great). I also noticed the "spoke" like structures (above sacrificial Engineer) on the mountain behind the city similar to the temple structures under the dome as well (thanks again Ati for source images).

Cerulean Blue

@Ingeniero - Does the Scorpion/Docking Ship not appear to still be hovering & not on the ground?  If it is in fact still hovering, it would be interesting to find out how it is doing it?  It may actually be unmanned & fully automated?

Ingeniero

Thank you for the compliment Cerulean Blue. I felt the same way until Ati guided my steps with the sequence of images above.

The camera angle seems stationary with the ship flying toward it with an Engineer in the mountain and when the ship flies by up towards the clouds the angle turns to see another Engineer face.

I'll lighten up the images Ati caught for me. Thank you for your patience Ati.

Cerulean Blue

@Ingeniero - Thank-you for the excellent posts you do!

Ingeniero

Wow, Cerulean Blue, thank you for the kind words. I figured others would enjoy some of the topics if they were half as obsessed as myself. 

sherris

Tkanks for the mention.

Indeed,  my ther theory was that if it ontsined several heads then this could mean maybe 2 things.

1. Planet 4 is Paradise and the chosen one,  enhance themselves then seed a planet. their faces etched into the mountains on planet 5 for worship/respect. 

2. That was the first Elder ruler over Planet 4, 10000k later another death of the lead elder. one more stone etched into mountains  portraying the last elder to rule and so on ??????

Ati

Ingeniero - You are welcome! x3  :D

BigDave - You are awesome! :) They are the Engineers from Prometheus. They look exactly the same!

'The camera angle seems stationary with the ship flying toward it with an Engineer in the mountain and when the ship flies by up towards the clouds the angle turns to see another Engineer face' - by Ingeniero

Ingeniero - Exactly! No cut in the scene!

Let's imagine that we are the camera. We are facing the mountain (the rock face), we do not move. We are between the two faces. First still: we are looking right, the lifter is approaching, we are looking at it continuously, it is flying away between the mountain and us, we don't move, as it is passing we are turning our head left...

If it is not enough, compare the two faces:

First face: there is no cloud at the forehead:

Second face: there is a cloud at the forehead:

Ati

As for the two faces in the mountain, to be more precise, the two Engineers from Prometheus, I have a theory:

This is the Father:

And this is his/the Son:

The Father and the Son!

/God and Jesus/

That would explain the whole situation in Prometheus - and why the scene with the father was cut/deleted. (They tried to avoid the religious connection.)

drucea

Do all of the head statues/carvings, either here or in Prometheus, seem to have horizontal (or slightly diagonal) lines going across them?  At first I was thinking that maybe the heads were craved in layers then stacked, but that doesn't seem to fit with a carving in a mountain side.  Anyone else have thoughts on this?

Ingeniero

Cerulean Blue, I believe the large Engineer ship is on the ground.

Ingeniero

The horizontal lines resemble the Engineer aesthetic we saw in Prometheus on the sculpture drucea.

Ati

AC heads in the Hall of Heads have lines as well:

Ingeniero

That is a great gif Ati. Yes, the Engineers have that design across their architecture. Thank you so much for the example.