Chapter 43-3: The Darkness Ahead

[LiamKerrington]

Hi.

While the pheromone idea seems reasonable-ish we’ve gotten confirmation that it doesn’t work already, haven’t we? I thought the list where Datu found the address was a photocopy of the original. Regardless, the markings from the prison weren’t originals so the idea of a scent of some sort doesn’t work.

Yeah, this detail has slipped my mind. Thank you for pointing me towards it. Certainly - while looking at photocpies there is no chance that a certain scent my play into it as well; so in that regard my thoughts are proven to be wrong (to a certain degree though, see below). I am sorry.

And yet I add two buts:

But no 1: R2Da2's reactions to the symbols on copies or the "natural" ones are evident. Seeing and "understanding" them may (not necessarily will) indicate that the zombie-agent changes the way the brain functions and thus makes the brain operate based on some weird way of "hardwiring" just like different insects react to certain conditions in the environment.
But no 2: While R2Da2 reacts to the pictures on the photocopy with a serious, short-lived headache, he is totally out of a control for a short period of time when he faces a sign at the church. Why is that so? Because his zombification-process has advanced even further, or because other factors besides the optical impression have to be considered as well (aka smell, scent, hormons, gases), or maybe both?

Anyway: This is very interesting. So I would like to approach it much broader:

- When the zombocalypse kicked in, Ink was in the police van. And he was already covered in those tattoos. Zombies attacked his van. And back then we wondered why they stopped attacking the van and/or Ink. Probably because they "understood" the symbols on Ink's head? With the latest "news" this assumption has certainly become more certain.

- We also know right from the start of the zombocalypse that them zombos behave much more based on instinct than on conscious decisions. But we know that consciously made decisions and performed actions play into their behaviour as well. Regardless of that they react to human pheromons almost automatically (instinct). While hunting they apply all natural actions - attacking in numbers, in small numbers or as solitair creatures most of them (except for the Behemoths) use the surrounding or environment like beasts of prey do - so certainly a combination of conscious understanding, working with the environment AND instinct (remember the first encounters between zombies and Saul and Angel? It was not only mindless attacks already back then!).

- Also we know that Ink's army-zombies follow orders - they have created ambushs, captured victims, left alone solitairy easy prey, orchestrated attacks etc.

- Considering the huge amount of potential zombies in the area of LA alone it is kind of astonishing how few zombies there were right from the beginning.

- We must not forget: Not every zombie from the beginning was part of Ink's army; this is especially true for the zombie-hotspots in other areas, the many Little Ones from Boulder and Irwin, Hawaii, the sea, and quite certainly many of the early waves at the Colony. (Arguable, though, if we consider Ink being the one who started it all ...)

- Finally we know from R2Da2 that "understanding" or "reading" the symbols used by Ink does not require any learning to do so while being a zombie.

So the question would be: How or why do the zombies (only from Ink's army?) "understand" these things?

Theory a) The zombie-agent activates core information in the long-term-memory of the zombies - like esoteric or religious information/ symbols -, which the humans learned or at least glimpsed at over the years before the zombocalypse; such information focusses a lot more on emotions or emotional reactions instead of analytical thinking. With the zombie-agent this information along with the emotional concepts behind them has started to surface in dominant areas of the mind, which would make the zombies follow "orders" or "these symbols" much easier; this could also mean that probably many zombies were killed by Ink's zombies, because they were not able of understanding these symbols properly. R2Da2 points in that direction, because R2Da2 is the only one from the group of survivors about whom we know that he is a religious man and who therefore has put a lot of effort into understanding certain religious symbols - but I am aware that this is the first case we have making it hard to verify this theory; also the behemoths in the prison seem to add some problems to this way of looking at it.

Theory b) The zombie-agent modifies certain parts of the memory- or understanding-centers in the human brain in a way that the zombos' brains react automatically, kind of "more instinctive" to pre-programmed symbols or arrangements of sign-elements (lines, dots, waves, circles, squares ...) just like insects react to certain smells, light-patterns, temperatures, etc. - I know: there is little evidence (if any) available to support such an idea.

And yet both theories are kind of "scientific" approaches. And I could imagine that any of them, maybe even both, could be the theme behind all things WA-zombos ... Or something else. Thinking of it in these ways simply reveals that you can try a more or less "scientific" thinking towards these unexpected turns of events without considering fancy magic or some abra kadabra hokuspokus or shit regarding the understanding or reading of symbols ... I certainly am curious what it will be in the end, if we receive any explanations at all ...

Best wishes!
Liam

[Kc]

ok, why lie about what I said? I said nothing about kc's feelings or being less critical...Im ok with being the outcast on this subject, and im done with defending my position. but if your going to "poke fun" at me, or use me as a method for delivering your own personal agenda...get the facts right

and enough with the milkman thing. really starting to piss me off...

I think he was commenting about my comment. And yes. Let's nix the "milkman" stuff.

[UndeadSweeper]

Liam, could the "understanding" or "reading" the symbols be like a color blindness thing? When you are color blind you can't see certain color but what if it the opposite and you can see colors that other cant. It can heighten sense. For all you know the virus was suppose improve human life.

[LiamKerrington]

Liam, could the "understanding" or "reading" the symbols be like a color blindness thing? When you are color blind you can't see certain color but what if it the opposite and you can see colors that other cant. It can heighten sense. For all you know the virus was suppose improve human life.

Very good point - especially if you consider the changed/-ing eyes of the zombs. I like that!

[Elisa]

I love reading these comments. Tonight, especially has been interesting, and being able to sit and interact with you all face to face. I feel that today has pulled the curtain back and I'm more exposed to you all. It's also unique timing because I believe this is one of the few times we've had what fans call story red flags. And, I think maybe people may be reacting differently because the series is ending soon and they doubt how much can be wrapped up in such a short amount of time.

That being said, perhaps at this time I should limit my exposure. (And btw, I know Lit was joking with his comment above, but quite the opposite! Happily married, love my job, my show, but also very critical of my work and force a very self-grueling work ethic). In the future, at least until the end, I'll refrain a bit more from interacting within the threads. I'll still jump in here or there, but perhaps I'm a little too hands on right now. The other comment before was right, I do read and react to the people on the forum, and there have been small influences; things I've included to clarify something or maybe in other ways I don't recognize. So, I won't be gone or anything, just a little less of a guide. I'll let the story elements unfold, and let people react how they want. I like constructive criticism, and maybe this will be more freeing, not having a looming feeling that something might effect me.

Who knows, maybe I won't really have fewer posts... but the sentiment is to let people theorize without me getting in the way

NOOOOOOOOOO KC just keep being and doing what you do. This is why we love the story too because of your interaction with the fanatics aka us. That's we we were all LOST and BSG fans. Don't stop partaking in the fun

[Deacon_Tyler]

NOOOOOOOOOO KC just keep being and doing what you do. This is why we love the story too because of your interaction with the fanatics aka us. That's we we were all LOST and BSG fans. Don't stop partaking in the fun

I agree. THE KC MUST REMAIN AND ALL HEADS SHALL BE BOWED IN DEFERENCE WHEN WORDS ARE SPOKEN BY THE KC.

[Hoff4D]

Alright...so....I was wrong. By Datu's consistent pain at viewing and understanding of a 'command' not 'translation' I was off on the theory that it was phillipino tribal stuff. Whoops. Let's see, where to start? I've been out of the foil hat game for a few months (and theorizing in general) so let me dust off the hat and give it a shot again.

A lot of popular things in the thread, just want to say I second them. Scratch probably got into the Colony and heard the cry for help from Tanya, that can't be good. I mean, Burt keeps laying his fears about giving locations away over radio, even if its secured, doesnt that plant the seed of doubt for us in the landline? And a perfect point for Burt to bust in, in a few episodes to save them with Riley and blast Scratch away with a hilarious 'told you so'?

To that point, hell, what's to say Ink doesn't know what's going on? He always seems to? Maybe he's watching the colony, and tails Scratch to Cain, and we have an epic battle royale? Scratch attempting to take the baby due to some crazy "I-wanna-be-a-mom" thing inside of her, as Ink busts in and is like "A HYBRID BABY! PERFECT FOR TESTING!" (Saul's immunity/elevated levels, and Lizzy's presumable normalness). All this and Burt's silently listening to the radio for something like this to go down. And to TOP IT ALL OFF, we got crazy Entwalker-Behemoth walking around all tree-barked out. It practically writes itself, no?

Or maybe Ink just shows up and tells them to give him the baby and no one else gets hurt. He goes all Rumpelstiltskin on us? (Yeah, I looked it up, that's spelled right dammit

Alright, the tunnels...Big stretches here, but we know the zeds dont like the haze...we know the haze is coming from the cracks...Maybe they banded together to dig some tunnels to re-route the haze away from where they want/need to be? Or, Ink banded these things together to reDIRECT the haze to wherever he desires. Letting him conduct tests as he sees fit. Try a few different drugs, give 'em the haze, how'd they react? Maybe Ink really is still trying to solve the 'how do we overcome this plague?', That's far-fetched, but c'mon, supreme multiple-disorder anti-hero. Part of him wants to eat us, part of him wants to save us from the outbreak! This doesnt quite explain the zeds going INTO the tunnel, since they avoid the haze, but c'mon, i'm trying here.

Now, since I was wrong about Datu having previously knowledge of this "Language", and I still maintain Kc's grounding by some science, I want to try and figure out these 'commands' via symbols. I've got two sketchy theories.

1 - The virus unlocks something in our brains, some sensory perceptions being heightened. We've seen that the zeds smell better, generally, what's to say they dont SEE better (or differently). Cats see infrared, we cannot. We all accept the rapid muscle development, why not some rods/cones development. The symbols aren't as much about what WE see (some lines/colors) but what the Zeds see, perhaps some crazy vibrant light structure existing in wavelengths outside our perception. There's light going on all around us that we can't see, what's to say these aren't written in some form that Datu can now percieve? Not sure how this links to him feeling commanded/in the backseat, but it was the first thing that came to mind when the language theory was debunked.

2 - I have to go back to listen to when Datu was attacked, but he was left alive. That seemed odd at the time, but we kind of just glossed over it when he seemed within inches of death. That means the little ones that attacked left him at least breathing, no? Well, we've heard Little Ones speak, perhaps they're capable of hypnosis, as taught by Ink. Hypnosis would explain his compulsion to follow seemingly meaningless triggers. He sees one thing STOP. He sees another COME IN. He takes a backseat in his mind and cannot stop himself. This theory lacks in the idea that ALL of the zeds would have to be hypnotized at some point, or at least Ink's army. Perhaps in the video of Ink being busted out of the van he took that moment and hypnotized the Zeds, which is why the listened? This is out there, but throw in some drugs Ink could've perfected that affect someone's susceptibiltiy to suggestion (As previously mentioned by Witch_Doctor, forgot the plant/drug, just that he mentioned it started with d-a-t-u). If he gets the virus to effect the subject suggestion, it could be some form of hypnosis. Which would be why they dont 'translate' they just 'command'. MOREOVER, Ink planned Datu's attack, and wanted him to bring Michael to the church. This was all a set up....

[Hoff4D]

Alright, the tunnels..

I forgot one thing....The tunnels? I assume they're not lit-up. If the virus DOES open up some sensory perception in our eyes to more wavelengths, perhaps they see perfectly fine in the tunnels. Thus, datu will/can as well, and Michael/Victor will be going blind down there. Presents quite the problem if it's an intricate tunnel system and Datu dies sometime while they're down and Michael/Vic have to feel their way out....

[UndeadSweeper]

I forgot one thing....The tunnels? I assume they're not lit-up. If the virus DOES open up some sensory perception in our eyes to more wavelengths, perhaps they see perfectly fine in the tunnels. Thus, datu will/can as well, and Michael/Victor will be going blind down there. Presents quite the problem if it's an intricate tunnel system and Datu dies sometime while they're down and Michael/Vic have to feel their way out....

I'm thinking Datu will use himself as a distract to allow the other two get out safely. We know that they can tell that Datu is turning and won't attack him, unless there another loose cannon number one in the mix. But I think Ink will be blindside by this, as Michael said why wouldn't he think they would know the address, all he will see is Datu following the signs left by him. We might even here a talk between the two if possible.

With Cain, I think Scratch will get the message at the colony but head there to get some leverage for a trade for Peggs. The only thing is Saul unknowingly going to call Burt and Riley for back-up to help with the operation. Burt is going to be willing to help since they care for the couple dearly. So instead of them looking for her, she will come to them.

[Verse]

Bet "Land of the Blind" is the next title chapter.