Alien Covenant: Chestbursters and Queen Alien

[Nightmare Asylum]

Whether the two Black Goos are one and the same or not (I'm inclined to think that the one in Prometheus' prologue that is used by the Sacrificial Engineer to seed life on Earth is the same Pathogen from LV-223 that David eventually brings to "Paradise" and uses to create the Alien but coded/programmed differently for different use), Weyland's quest is still very much that same senseless fool's errand that ends in him meeting his uncaring creators and having what little life he was clinging to snuffed out by them.

Back at the time of Prometheus' release, before Covenant came around and recontextualized the Pathogen and its relationship with the Alien via David's arc, I was actually under the impression that the Alien itself was ancient and the Black Goo/Pathogen was the Engineers' attempt at distilling the Alien into what was intended to be a more controllable bio-weapon for them to use that eventually got out of hand and became uncontrollable – and if it was uncontrollable for them, then clearly Weyland-Yutani and the USM's future attempts at controlling and weaponizing the Alien would be just as futile.

[Immortan Jonesy]

To me:

• Resurection of an ancient horror 5⭐/5⭐
  
  


• David creating the Alien 4⭐/5⭐
  
  


• The Alien as a natural lifeform 4⭐/5⭐
  
  

I like all those possibilities, with cosmic horror as my favorite. However, there is nothing in Prometheus to indicate that the Alien existed before Covenant. The mural is a creature whose head tip ends in a fine pointed end very similar to the head of a Deacon / Neomorph.

David created Plagarius linesteres which materializes in a morph lacking the biomechanical characteristics of Plagarius praepotens. Whether P. praepotens existed before David's actions is the subject of speculation, and probably the plan was that David eventually plays a pivotal role in the evolution from P. linesteres to P. praepotens, with all that and maybe even a first queen.

Sometimes we talk about Xeno-like traits when referring to the Neomorph & Deacon. But maybe it's the other way around: the Alien has Neomorph-like traits.

Anyway, the pathogen is the only thing that is undoubtedly ancient, and it appears to be a nanobot soup indeed. 

Edit ~ I included the option of the Alien as an organism with a natural origin, because seriously! imagine how terrifying the ecosystem would be to force an organism to become this!! 

[Nightmare Asylum]

I am not really into the Alien as a naturally occurring lifeform. At least, not in the way the original comic handled it, with them just coming from some random planet where they're part of the natural ecosystem that marines can just fly over to and mop up and whatnot.

My number one choice, at the moment, is David as creator. Love the thematic ripple effect that that has across the rest of the films, given what we know about David and the things we see the Aliens do.

But I'm also very loose on canon and would be totally down to see this either blow up in David's face as he finds out that he's part of some cyclical saga of re-creation (and how he reacts to that) or a flat out reboot/retconning that just goes for something totally different, something more inherently cosmic/primordial - I'm not beholden to any one  strict continuity, so long as each individual film/story is interesting in and of itself.

[[cancerblack]]

God I wish this was an anthology series with a shared setting but no real continuity.

[City Hunter Yautja]

I am not really into the Alien as a naturally occurring lifeform. At least, not in the way the original comic handled it, with them just coming from some random planet where they're part of the natural ecosystem that marines can just fly over to and mop up and whatnot.

My number one choice, at the moment, is David as creator. Love the thematic ripple effect that that has across the rest of the films, given what we know about David and the things we see the Aliens do.

But I'm also very loose on canon and would be totally down to see this either blow up in David's face as he finds out that he's part of some cyclical saga of re-creation (and how he reacts to that) or a flat out reboot/retconning that just goes for something totally different, something more inherently cosmic/primordial - I'm not beholden to any one  strict continuity, so long as each individual film/story is interesting in and of itself.

You make an interesting point that we can look at the horrors of Xenomorph as Collected Stories, which can differ in details. Perhaps something in each interation is willing this nightmare into existance. For now its David Weyland.

[Stitch]

David created Plagarius linesteres which materializes in a morph lacking the biomechanical characteristics of Plagarius praepotens. Whether P. praepotens existed before David's actions is the subject of speculation, and probably the plan was that David eventually plays a pivotal role in the evolution from P. linesteres to P. praepotens, with all that and maybe even a first queen.

I'm confused. As far as I was aware, P. praepotens was the black goo itself, but you're referring to it as if it's the alien from Covenant. What gives?

[jorel04]

I had a problem with how the creation was so easy in terms of how it was portrayed. That's why, in my fan fiction, I try to answer that question using what I think of the pathogen, David's experiments, and how "unpredictable" the pathogen's results were told to be.  I've always thought that, since it was so interpretative that David was the creator, it can also be interpretive on what resulted from it.  That he facilitated it versus out-and-out creating it... A cop out, sure. But if I "was booking it," to use a pro wrestling phrase.

[Nightmare Asylum]

Was it easy, though? I mean, it took David ~10 years and if his lab is anything to go by, it took a ton of trial and error and experimentation over the course of that decade before he reached the iteration of the Alien that we see in Covenant, and by Covenant's ending the Alien still isn't even completed/perfected.

[Immortan Jonesy]

David created Plagarius linesteres which materializes in a morph lacking the biomechanical characteristics of Plagarius praepotens. Whether P. praepotens existed before David's actions is the subject of speculation, and probably the plan was that David eventually plays a pivotal role in the evolution from P. linesteres to P. praepotens, with all that and maybe even a first queen.

I'm confused. As far as I was aware, P. praepotens was the black goo itself, but you're referring to it as if it's the alien from Covenant. What gives?

P. praepotens was introduced in the novel The Cold Forge as a mutagenic substance produced by a facehugger to create a chestburster embryo within a host.

https://youtu.be/NdqInTKzWbc

But yeah, Alex White said something along these lines. 

Honestly, I don't know why he said that. Was it his way of making things less confusing for us? I mean, P. praepotens is the mutagenic substance to create the biomechanical Alien, as far I'm aware. The closest thing to the pathogen is P. linesteres which creates a chestburster that matures into a non-biomechanical Alien. That's...

I could be wrong, but as I understand the pathogen took many forms, until David began to do his own experimentation, with a less random direction,  since as White himself states "resequenced by David, Linneaus-style". The result was his Praetomorph, which is created when a facehugger introduces P. linesteres to a host. P. praepotens produces Giger's Alien, with its biomechanical details, in addition to the chestbursters from the original films, which are generally snake-shaped (some with front limbs and others without limbs).

Also, if we talk about mutagenic substances produced by facehugger (or the equivalent) to create chestbursters in hosts, there is still an unknown type of Plagiarious. I guess it's the original pathogen playing randomly to create a hybrid. 👀

Actually, in David's Praetomorph (P. linesteres) in addition to being fleshy like the pathogen-based hybrids, the chestbursters are born fully developed with arms and legs just like the Deacon & Neomorph. So yeah, P. linesteres is the closest thing to the original pathogen IMO. I wonder if you need a queen for facehuggers that are carriers of P. praepotens? 🤔

Here's a stunning comparison to real life viruses. 

▶PLAGIARUS PRAEPOTENS by STUDIO YUTANI

[BlueMarsalis79]

Thank you for the thorough explanation and link.

[Immortan Jonesy]

TY. I like helping.

[jorel04]

TY. I like helping.

Freakin' awesome!  Thank you for posting that; it makes it look a little easier to understand.  Definitely don't want to study these creatures up-close... LOL

[City Hunter Yautja]

That last one is Plagarius Deaconis.

[[cancerblack]]

But where's Plagarius Tapiridae?

[City Hunter Yautja]

Would the King Alien be Rex Plagarius?