Was Paradise supposed to be the Engineers' homeworld?

[bb-15]

If the Engineers of Prometheus are a specialized breed, or unit, then they probably have their own iconography, similar to the way our armed forces or NASA scientists have an inner language that they understand. Their own mythology. I saw the Deacon mural as being representative of that.

That goes along with the way I see it.

As for the cave paintings...it seems that ancient civilizations were "checked on" by the Engineers. Perhaps during those times, mankind was not so out of control, and in interacting with their creations the Engineers told them where they were from. Shaw thought it was an invitation, but it obviously wasn't, considering where it brought them - to a military installation.

That also fits where I'm coming from.

About the Engineers, I think I finally got it.
They're like good and bad angels. Fits in the whole Christianity and Paradise Lost theme, no?
Lucifer and the bad angels got cast out of heaven because they are jealous of mankind and angry at God, because he picks mankind over them. That's why the bad angels want to destroy us.

Nicely done.

Ridley Scott also has made a connection between the Engineers and the "bad angels... and Paradise Lost".

if you look at the Engineers, they're tall and elegant ... they are dark angels. If you look at [John Milton's] Paradise Lost,...

https://www.fandango.com/movie-news/interview-sir-ridley-scott-explains-prometheus-explores-our-past-and-teases-future-alien-stories-716238

by bb-15; Where are the Deacon murals on the home world? Even in the most important shrine according to Scott in the city, there is no Deacon iconography. 

We saw one big room and some small ones.

EDIT: The following sentence (now under a spoiler tag) is incorrect, which is about a word that David stated. He said "necropolis" and not acropolis as I originally wrote. The original sentence is not valid for my argument.

Spoiler

- That "one big room" on Paradise is in a location described by David as an acropolis (a term originally used for the religious center of ancient Athens).

[close]

Ridley Scott in the AC commentary says that the central building design on Paradise was based on the Roman Pantheon, (a major religious structure in ancient Rome).
Also in Scott's AC commentary he says about this one "big room" when the giant statues are revealed;

Probably the six elders of the entire civilization. The intellects, the artists, the wise men.

- Here imo is the center of culture, or reverence for the Engineers on Paradise.

- On LV-223 those Engineers had a different center for reverence. This is described by Steven Messing, Visual Art Director for Prometheus, in the extras for the "Prometheus" Blu-Ray;

They're a lot about sacrifice, so in my mind, there was an Engineer that sacrificed himself with this virus and it created this horrific creature, this being that was gonna eradicate planets. It was like a parasite that would destroy the planet and then make it start over and rebirth it.

And they kinda worshiped it, and that's where you see this relief sculpture where it's almost a religious sculpture.

- My film theory then is that the LV-223 Engineers were about sacrifice (as shown in the ceiling painting where a creature tears at the side of an Engineer or emerges from that Engineer).
And these LV-223 Engineers revered the Deacon as represented by the Deacon relief / wall sculpture.
To me that was central to them.

By contrast the Paradise Engineers have in their center their most esteemed ancestors.

- Your film theory is that we only see one big room on the Paradise planet which should undercut my film theory.

* Fair enough; I'm most willing to agree to disagree and move on.

by bb-15; It is just as likely that the Engineers were simply pointing to where they came from.

Why?

Unknown.
Still in a religion from our world, while a star location could have significance due to a belief, the specifics of why that is will always be limited.

For instance there are "the Indestructibles" which "was the name given by Ancient Egyptian astronomers to two bright stars which, at that time, could always be seen circling the North Pole. The name is directly related to Egyptian belief in the stars' close association with eternity and the afterlife.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Indestructibles

Why questions about this will always reach a limit.
Same with questions about any religion from our world, a fictional universe or even with our science. Ask why and it will eventually reach a dead end.

* What I've done in this thread is I've added the information from Scott's "Covenant" commentary to my knowledge from the filmmakers about "Prometheus".
I've provided quotes, I've included a few film theories and that's the best I can do.

[Baron Von Marlon]

- That "one big room" on Paradise is in a location described by David as an acropolis (a term originally used for the religious center of ancient Athens).

Necropolis not acropolis. 

00:58:53,820 --> 00:58:56,272
And please do make yourselves at home...

00:58:56,322 --> 00:59:00,261
as much as you're able
in this dire necropolis.

From Wiki
A necropolis is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek νεκρόπολις nekropolis, literally meaning "city of the dead".

[SM]

Indeed.  And he's describing the city - not just the room they're in.

[Immortan Jonesy]

If the Engineers of Prometheus are a specialized breed, or unit, then they probably have their own iconography, similar to the way our armed forces or NASA scientists have an inner language that they understand. Their own mythology. I saw the Deacon mural as being representative of that.

As for the cave paintings...it seems that ancient civilizations were "checked on" by the Engineers. Perhaps during those times, mankind was not so out of control, and in interacting with their creations the Engineers told them where they were from. Shaw thought it was an invitation, but it obviously wasn't, considering where it brought them - to a military installation.

The Engineers of Prometheus are like a micro version of the God of Pandeism, a belief system that can be seen as a combination of deism, where the creator of the universe takes no part in its operation, and pantheism, where the Creator and the universe are one and the same. Pandeism suggests that this Creator made the universe by becoming the universe. From Wikipedia:

Pandeism is a theological doctrine which combines aspects of pantheism with aspects of deism. It holds that the creator deity became the universe (pantheism) and ceased to exist as a separate and conscious entity (deism holding that God does not interfere with the universe after its creation).

So, in Prometheus we have this chap, who has ceased to exist in order to become his own creation 

[bb-15]

- That "one big room" on Paradise is in a location described by David as an acropolis (a term originally used for the religious center of ancient Athens).

Necropolis not acropolis. 

00:58:53,820 --> 00:58:56,272
And please do make yourselves at home...

00:58:56,322 --> 00:59:00,261
as much as you're able
in this dire necropolis.

From Wiki
A necropolis is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek νεκρόπολις nekropolis, literally meaning "city of the dead".

Yes. Thank you for the correction. (I slipped up on that word while transcribing parts of Ridley's commentary.)
I'll edit my earlier comment regarding this. 

[Taxemic]

So 1010 years ago the Engineers had the accident on LV233 as they were about to head for Earth.

No contact was made with the Engineers on Paradise which is why they all start waving at the return of the ship from 1000 years ago I guess.

[Rudiger]

Was Paradise supposed to be the Engineers' home world?

Who knows?

Scott and co seem unable to make their minds up.

Deleted scenes, viral videos and bonus features are being used to try and make sense of the narrative, which does little to convince or inspire confidence.

It's bizarre that given the sums involved in making these two movies, they are seemingly being allowed to make things up as they go along.

[skhellter]

Wether it is or isnt the homeworld wasnt the focus of the narrative.
It's just a bit of Lore that is fun to speculate about.

and the answer is PROBABLY.


David/Shaw's dialogue at the end of Prometheus are a big hint as to YES.

Earth is probably a sister planet to it
and there definitely was a LOT of back and forth of
animal+plant life
between here and there.

[bb-15]

So 1010 years ago the Engineers had the accident on LV233 as they were about to head for Earth.

About 1010 years?
That is a small period of time compared with the total time indicated in "Prometheus".
- In "Prometheus" an Engineer is shown seeding genetic material on a planet (which would be what happened on earth).
That seeding of genetic material would have happened at least about 500 million years ago, maybe even in the billions of years.

Considering these huge time frames in the story as the Engineers experiment while exploring the galaxy, a thousand years is not that long.

No contact was made with the Engineers on Paradise which is why they all start waving at the return of the ship from 1000 years ago I guess.

That seems to be correct.
My film theory is that the Engineers in the base on LV-223 were doing their own thing. They were separate from the culture on Paradise, the Engineer homeworld.
- I compare it to the earlier history of exploration in our world where an expedition, like that of Marco Polo, could take decades.
Or where areas of our world, like Japan, were isolated by choice.
With the Engineer's projects again, they happen on much longer time scales.
On Paradise they welcomed ships that were long gone. So their separation for many years was imo due to their choice.

Another hint about Engineer cultures being separated imo is from the art in the central shrine on LV-223. Those Engineers seemed to have a reverence / even worship for the Deacon.
By contrast, the main shrine on Paradise has the Engineer's most esteemed ancestors. 
- A small difference in a way but to me it's a bit of information that the culture of groups of Engineers can be separate and develop differently.

[SM]

So 1010 years ago the Engineers had the accident on LV233 as they were about to head for Earth.

No contact was made with the Engineers on Paradise which is why they all start waving at the return of the ship from 1000 years ago I guess.

2000 years.

[Olde]

2000 years.

Because space Jesus.

[D. Compton Ambrose]

If the Engineers of Prometheus are a specialized breed, or unit, then they probably have their own iconography, similar to the way our armed forces or NASA scientists have an inner language that they understand. Their own mythology. I saw the Deacon mural as being representative of that.

As for the cave paintings...it seems that ancient civilizations were "checked on" by the Engineers. Perhaps during those times, mankind was not so out of control, and in interacting with their creations the Engineers told them where they were from. Shaw thought it was an invitation, but it obviously wasn't, considering where it brought them - to a military installation.

The Engineers of Prometheus are like a micro version of the God of Pandeism, a belief system that can be seen as a combination of deism, where the creator of the universe takes no part in its operation, and pantheism, where the Creator and the universe are one and the same. Pandeism suggests that this Creator made the universe by becoming the universe. From Wikipedia:

Pandeism is a theological doctrine which combines aspects of pantheism with aspects of deism. It holds that the creator deity became the universe (pantheism) and ceased to exist as a separate and conscious entity (deism holding that God does not interfere with the universe after its creation).

So, in Prometheus we have this chap, who has ceased to exist in order to become his own creation 

My theory is the planet that the Sacrificial Engineer unleashes the Xenovirus on is in fact LV-426. LV-426 and LV-223 are military-theological installations and the Engineers in Prometheus are the "elites" if you will. The interstellar power elite, including the human elite (and Peter Weyland) worship the Pathogen because of how enigmatic and borderline supernatural it is.