The Story of Call of Duty Zombies – Part 1: The Great War

Call of Duty: Zombies, is set to be returning in Black Ops: Cold War, with some possible designs already being publicised. Behind the gameplay which can keep you entertained for hours on end, there is a story, featuring the main characters like Dr. Richtofen, the teddy bear in the random box, and its owner, Samantha. Here we will dive into the depths of Treyarch’s dark and devious creation, and the storylines within. The story begins with the Black Ops 3 Shadows of Evil characters, Shadowman and Dr. Monty…

The Shadowman & Dr. Monty

The Shadowman and Dr. Monty were ‘keepers’ in a dimension that exists in an unknown universe, known as Agartha. The two lived among other keepers, on the perfect dimension, or ‘paradise’, until between themselves they created a ‘summoning key’ to harness the power within the Agartha and travel between dimensions. Along their way to power, they had also accidentally created an alternate dimension, the Dark Aether, the opposite of Agartha which had the power to corrupt its inhabitants.

The Dark Aether

Eager to experiment with the Dark Aether, the Shadowman soon became corrupted, and in turn, so was Dr. Monty who attempted to save his friend. The two created what is known as the Aether Pyramid, a device capable of absolute power, which divided them and the keepers who remained uncorrupted by darkness. This caused a war to break out, in which the corrupted decided to hide the Aether Pyramid on the moon of Earth, before being banished from Agartha to the Dark Aether. The corrupted keepers began to contort and evolve into the alien-like creatures that can be found in Shadows of Evil, also known as ‘the Apothicons’ who were hellbent on returning to Agartha and the paradise. The Apothicons had a plan to remove themselves from the Dark Aether, involving an element called ‘Element 115’.

Element 115 to Earth

The element was designed to build a bridge between Earth and the Dark Aether, in which if discovered, they could pass through. This became true, over a thousand years later, when humanity discovered the element and the Apothicons passed through to attempt to take over Earth. This sparked ‘The Great War’.

The Great War

The Great War broke out between humanity and the Apothicons. This would last for seven long years. Humanity would enlist the help of the keepers, the uncorrupted inhabitants of Agartha. Fighting side by side, four knights stood out, called the Primis, made up of Dempsey, Nikolai (not to be confused with Nikolai in the Modern Warfare Campaigns), Takeo and Richtofen. The Primis raise the staffs of Wind, Ice, Fire and Lightening, the four buildable staffs in the map ‘Origins’, to ultimately defeat the Apothicons. After the victory, the four instruct ‘The Wolf King’ to build the castle ‘Der Eisendrache’, and after the Wolf King’s death, his ashes were scattered in the castle by his loyal servant ‘Arthur’. Arthur is later found to be ‘Leroy’ or ‘The Giant’ in the map buried. Arthur is soon teleported by ‘Temporal rifts’, a substance from element 115, into the future and to Angola.

The Birthing of the Pack-A-Punch Machine

Five hundred years later in a town called ‘Purgatory Point’ in Angola, a Zombie kills a woman, and disappears down a mine. The son of the deceased, Jebediah, goes in search of revenge, and falls down the mine, knocking him unconscious. After a few days Jebediah resurfaces and begins to have dreams of two ‘keepers’ who have ordered him to build a machine. Giving him the instructions, the two keepers build the Pack-A-Punch machine, before ordering a corrupted Jebediah to build an Argarthan device that has the power to grant anything that one truly desires; it was to be constructed by the blood of an Apothicon, and Elemental Shard, and a metallic vessel. Due to the element 115 in the ground around Purgatory point, an increasing number of people turn corrupted, becoming Zombies. Overcome with grief, Jebediah digs up his mother, placing her in the Pack-a-Punch Machine, attempting to resurrect her. She returns to live in a younger spiritual form, before Zombies rose from the mine, killing Jebediah.

Ludwig Maxist

The element 115 would not be found again until 1931, by a German scientist, Dr. Ludwig Maxis. Forming a group called ‘Group 935’, Maxis dedicates his studies to element 115, which was found in its masses near Breslau, Germany. The international organisation worked in secrecy to study the uses of the unknown element. Meanwhile, Maxist’s wife dies in childbirth, with her daughter, Samantha being born…

Stay tuned here at GGRecon for Part 2 of Call of Duty Zombies lore, Samantha’s story.

Image via Activision