Atlantis theories...

MaxPhactor23

New member
I just picked up Indiana Jones Omnibus 1 and first read through “Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.” I’m still relatively unsure as to how I felt about it. I wanted to get second opinions. I apologize for the following thesis. Hah! I was left mildly confused on certain subjects. Sophia seemed to be fairly incorrect in her prediction of what Atlantis was. Her imaginative and borderline science fiction utopia was far from the truth. My question is concerning the monster-like beings and/or gods. Just what exactly were they? Controlled Sophia speaks the Atlantean leader of when they first arrives, “They came…the great horned ones. The sky lit with fire and they were here…gods walking among us!”

Some people theories they’re extraterrestrials aka aliens (in the cliché usage of the term). Think what we saw in Crystal Skull. However, I believe that’s incorrect. Certainly it briefly speaks of the sky, but it does not speak of them coming from the sky. They’re never directly referred to as aliens life forms. Also extraterrestrial doesn’t only mean Martians/Little Green Men. The term simply means anything not of this world. That gives a number of possibilities. I’ve heard it argued they were inter-dimensional beings, but I think it’s even more then that. I theories that they were demons. Here’s why:

Demons are naturally perceived to have horns first and foremost. That’s the most blatantly obvious of allegory. The “God Making” machine termed the failed experimental creatures as monsters. They don’t resemble what the human archetype for an alien would be whatsoever. One would think that if they were aliens, the writer and artist would make sure they’d more resemble what we associate to be more interplanetary (instead of monstrous and demonic) to prevent confusion. Everything associated with them seems to speak of fire and pits. Could this be a possible allusion to hell? “From the boiling pits of fire-rock, they gave us orichalcum…and it caused stone and bronze to live, to work for us - as slaves who do their masters bidding.” Literally bringing to life stone and bronze statues is not the work of deep knowledge, it’s impossible to do such things with even today’s science, that’s the fantasy work of dark magic and occultism. I do not believe they were true robots. You can see ancient gears only during one of the statues attacks on the Nazi’s. Ultimately it still had to be powered either by orichalcum or by some sort of magic. Then the Atlanteans were taught ways to exploit their newfound element, then abandoned by their so-called gods. The orichalcum receptacles have a sort-of chemical reaction that triggers the technology to open things like doors. Alchemy being the ancient term for today’s chemistry. It all sounds very similar to alchemic practices, oftentimes historically revered as the works of witch’s, wizards, and Satanists.

Atlantis was then punished: “Our dream was doomed. Perhaps inflamed by our pretensions, the true gods rose up in anger.” Notice the emphasis upon true gods, as if they’re trying to display that the Atlantean gods were almost anti-gods (aka demons). For following their evil ways, leading them to world conquest and domination, the true gods punished them for their fell deeds and following Gods enemy. “Bellowing, boiling, shaken with rage, the fire-mountain rained down it’s contempt upon us!” They are plagued by fire, that which they utilized. They are then destroyed, swallowed by the sea, water being the antithesis of fire, one of the elemental manifestations of demonism. Is this also displaying them being sent closer to the realm of hell, that which they befriended?

There are other possible metaphors and allusions to demonic influences here. The horned statues dig into the ground, possibly symbolic of going to Hell! The “God-making” device is far more akin to séance possession and not alien technology, which is also a theme represented often in here through Nur-Ab-Sul’s channeling of Sophia. So…what has this all been said before or am I on to something? Without a doubt I believe the story is very ambiguous. So I don’t necessarily see any theory as being incorrect, it’s really up for interpretation. This was just one mans.
 
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DrHapgood

New member
I was really displeased with the comic adaptation. The mythology was torn up and the entire movement from plot point to plot point was horribly contrite. The only point I take as Canon from that entire thing is that after the ordeal, Sophia's paper on Atlantis earns her a fully tenured professorship considering we know for a fact she returned to academia before being joining the CIA.

Have you played the Fate Of Atlantis game? If you haven't, really do yourself a favor and play through it. I find the mythology is a bit more concise and easier to understand there.

I think the entire idea of the comic's "Horned Beings from the sky" is utterly ridiculous for the following reason. If the atlanteans built the God Machine to make themselves into Gods and the experiments were horned creatures as well, shouldn't they have begun to revere them as Gods and not slaves??? It makes absolutely no sense.

In the game it's a bit more obvious that the Atlantean idea of Gods is more like that of what we consider to be a God. An Omnipresent being. And the odd thing is that in the game, the machine does in fact work. I never got the impression that the one in the comics actually "worked".

My understanding from the games is that Atlantean society reached a pinnacle so high, the only obvious place left for them to reach was Godhood, which is when they created the God Machine, leaving thousands of failed experiments on the waste-side as slaves.

Now a lot of how/why about the God Machine and so-called "Gods" is up to interpretation; but this is how I see it:

The God machine worked turning humans into beings made of pure light, as seen in the Game Finale when Dr. Uberman becomes a God himself. However the stability of said beings was never perfected and they exploded shortly thereafter. I believe Nur-Ab-Sal went through the transformation and in a way overcame the lack of stability by placing himself inside the Medallion. The part that gets to me is that when Nur-Ab-Sal possesses Sophia, he wants to be transformed by the God Machine again, so my thought on this is when he placed himself inside the Medallion he became trapped inside and the second transformation (maybe due to the extra body - Sophia's) would stabilize him, even though if you get to that point you find out that it doesn't. As for the destruction of Atlantis, from what we see at the end of the game, it's brought on from the explosion of the light beings created by the Machine.

I could probably go on longer, but it's late and I'm sleep deprived.
 

MaxPhactor23

New member
agentsands77 said:
I think the horned beings are absolutely aliens. Especially since the artwork gives them spacesuits.

That's....debatable. At least I'd say so. Besides, I'd much rather demons and/or gods over some corny alien angle like in Crystal Skull.
 
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Attila the Professor

Moderator
Staff member
DrHapgood said:
My understanding from the games is that Atlantean society reached a pinnacle so high, the only obvious place left for them to reach was Godhood, which is when they created the God Machine, leaving thousands of failed experiments on the waste-side as slaves.

I very much liked DrHapgood's post, but this is the essential part, when it comes to the question about the bones, at least in re: the game version.
 
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