David saw the mural too, right?

[Doctor Ash]

Who says David's creation is the only strain of Xenomorphs in existence. The Engineers might have created the original version, we know since the first Alien movie, a long time before David experimented on Shaw. As it was hinted at in the Alien Covenant Novelization.

[Darwinsgirl]

David understood their language. So what did he learn from the temple / tomb the others didn't?

[Baron Von Marlon]

The deacon is just the deacon. Created by chance.

The thing on the mural would be another version. The xenomorph version of an Engineer, when the Engineers were still supposed to be the creators in the sequel.

There's a picture of the mural with a bowl in front.


Same bowl: an Engineer drinking its content leads to him becoming a xeno over time. And thus becoming destruction.
The opposite of what he'd become should he drink a bowl of sacrifial goo.





The human xenomorph wasn't supposed to appear until the third prequel.
But because of the complaints he got an early introduction AND DAVID BECAME THE CREATOR.
Always be careful what you wish for...

I think originally Covenant would've ended with David succeeding in creating the well known egg. Custom made for destroying humans.
Perhaps he flew off in what would be the Derelict.

[Frosty Venom]

The Deacon seen in Prometheus is likely the only one to have ever existed. It's creation was quite convoluted but didn't require hardly any biological tampering just a series of certain events happening. A male human ingesting a small amount of the Pathogen, then having sex with a female (Shaw's infertility may have effected the outcome), the Trilobite grows and emerges from the female host and eventually implants it's payload into an Engineer which becomes the Deacon.

Yes there may have been Deacon like creatures in the past, perhaps if a similar scenario happened between Engineers. So yes this may be a Deacon like creature of sorts seen in the Mural but I think it'd be more accurate to say that its either a Neomorph like creature or a Engineer born Xenomorph (Ultramorph).

As to why David would still be proud of his creations when he would have been made aware of the Engineer's creations. He is clearly mad and malfunctioning as he is seen displaying various emotions and qouting a passage with the wrong writer. And so he may be blind to the truth that he is a false God.

[The Kurgan]

Humans and engineers have the same or a very similiar genome.

I think the deacon in Prometheus would not be vastly different from one beeing created by engineers  in a similiar way but without humans.

[Immortan Jonesy]

The deacon is just the deacon. Created by chance.

The thing on the mural would be another version. The xenomorph version of an Engineer, when the Engineers were still supposed to be the creators in the sequel.

There's a picture of the mural with a bowl in front.


Same bowl: an Engineer drinking its content leads to him becoming a xeno over time. And thus becoming destruction.
The opposite of what he'd become should he drink a bowl of sacrifial goo.

http://www.khang-le.com/uploads/7/2/5/9/72599295/disease-02.jpg

http://www.khang-le.com/uploads/7/2/5/9/72599295/xenomorph-20_orig.jpg

The human xenomorph wasn't supposed to appear until the third prequel.
But because of the complaints he got an early introduction AND DAVID BECAME THE CREATOR.
Always be careful what you wish for...

I think originally Covenant would've ended with David succeeding in creating the well known egg. Custom made for destroying humans.
Perhaps he flew off in what would be the Derelict.

If everything weren't so random, the Engineer infected with black goo becomes a mutant (ala Fifield).



Which leaves us with 2 different monsters genetically related to the Engineers: Ultramorph (via facehugger) and the Neomorph-like mutans.

[bb-15]

I'd disagree on the notion that the creature in the mural is necessarily even the Deacon,
considering the convoluted circumstances required for it to exist in the first place.

It's much more likely (retconned) as a Neomorph, in light of Covenant's revelations.

- My view is that the central figure in the sculpture is a Deacon/ultramorph.
I base my view on the explanation by Steven Messing, Visual Effects Art Director for "Prometheus", in the 3D Blu-Ray set (Enhancement Pods/Xenomorphology: The Deacon).
FYI; the name for the creature changed from ultramorph to Deacon by Ridley because of its pointed head.

...the ultramorph. It was the pure form of this kind of almost virus that these Engineers had created.

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.

- The figure in the relief sculpture (associated with the ultramorph/Deacon by Messing) has a pointed head which fits the look of the Deacon.

- As for this being convoluted argument, it's not convoluted at all imo since I look at the context of the Alien movies.
The Deacon process is very similar to the stages that give birth to a xenomoph.
The Engineers did it as Messing in the "Prometheus" Blu-ray extra says.
And we also see how humans (Holloway/Shaw) could do it with some help from David.

1. Xeno; Queen produces eggs within her body.
Deacon; An Engineer / human has black goo infected sperm.

2. Xeno; Queen lays eggs. 
Deacon; black goo infected sperm fertilizes Engineer/human egg.

3. Xeno; Egg contains the facehugger.
Deacon; The Engineer/human egg becomes the facehugger/squid.

4. Xeno; If a host gets near enough, the facehugger attacks the host and implants a baby creature.
Deacon; If a host gets near enough, the facehugger/squid attacks the host and implants a baby creature.

5. Xeon; The baby creature grows and then becomes a chestburster. The chestburster is the xenomorph.
Deacon; The baby creature grows and then becomes a chestburster. The chestburster is the Deacon.

PS. As for the Neomorph, that creature is created with combining black goo + fungus spores which create a ground fungus that produces more spores which burrow into a host.
The Neomorph is related to the Deacon and xenomorph but the Neo takes a much different path to become born.
- Only the Neomorph has fungus as part of its stages (which imo contributes to its very pale coloring).
- The Neomorph has no facehugger. 

[SM]

Humans and engineers have the same or a very similiar genome.

I think the deacon in Prometheus would not be vastly different from one beeing created by engineers  in a similiar way but without humans.

Precisely.  It's only convoluted if you believe the events in Prometheus with Holloway and Shaw are the only way it can come about.

As to why David would still be proud of his creations when he would have been made aware of the Engineer's creations. He is clearly mad and malfunctioning as he is seen displaying various emotions and qouting a passage with the wrong writer. And so he may be blind to the truth that he is a false God.

How does that work?  He created the Xenomorph; which isn't a Deacon.

[David Weyland]

I feel that there is something majorly missed by people in Prometheus. I could be wrong but I find a path cleared in terms of understanding of what we are being told.  When they are in the mural room- It is when David touches the black goo urns & remarks, ' Organic' that the 'Paintings in the ceiling begin to change. Shaw notices this and thinks they've 'contaminated the environment in the room'
Holloway soon after shines a light on the mural for the first time
Therefore I hypothesise that the mural is in fact a form of 'Black goo mirror' or a form of readout of the shape of reaction the organisms in the room will turn into as a result in contact with the substance. The shapes we see are what is to become...
The Deacon we see at the end of the film is essentially a Proto Human Facehugger & Engineer, this is just a consequence of that combination. The Deacon is a one off aberration
The origin of the classic Xenos is I believe going to remain the result of David, personally in terms of the bigger picture I love this decision & along with the illustrations made by Dane Hallett & co, the spirit of Gigers original bio tech vision is in place & respected in order to develop further in the future.

[bb-15]

Humans and engineers have the same or a very similiar genome.

I think the deacon in Prometheus would not be vastly different from one beeing created by engineers  in a similiar way but without humans.

Precisely.  It's only convoluted if you believe the events in Prometheus with Holloway and Shaw are the only way it can come about.

Yes. Here is one idea. The sacrificial bowl on the altar could have a black goo/fertilized egg in liquid which will send the egg to the proper place in the Engineer's body.
Result; facehugger/squid birth. Then the Engineer "mother" could also be the host for the baby creature from the squid.
All as part of a ceremony which leads to a second birth of the baby Deacon.

[whiterabbit]

David understood their language.

What if David couldn't actually read their language and just ad-libbed it. His entire understanding was lost in translation and the alien was a gigantic misunderstanding.

The black goo does whatever the f**k it wants too but it has a fetish for angry, eggy, acidy, rapey things with mouths for tongues and eye holes in skulls. The Black goo was probably made by an android created by the engineers to wipe them out.

[The Old One]

I'd disagree on the notion that the creature in the mural is necessarily even the Deacon,
considering the convoluted circumstances required for it to exist in the first place.

It's much more likely (retconned) as a Neomorph, in light of Covenant's revelations.

- Steven Messing, Visual Effects Art Director for Prometheus:

...the ultramorph. It was the pure form of this kind of almost virus that these Engineers had created.

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.

Sounds functionally much more like the Neomorph to me.
In fact:
We see this happen in Covenant, David sacrifices the Engineers against their will- wiping the planet clean and bringing forth Neomorphs.
And the Neomorph has every feature the Deacon has, except it also has back spines and a tail.
Generally in appearance is closer to Carlos Huante's concept art.

And let's be clear: there is no "Ultramorph" that creature only exists in "Alien: Engineers" and was replaced by the Deacon, they aren't one and the same.
Likewise, concept art of potential mutations are only that- concept art. Not a basis for an argument.


Also:

Deployment of Pathogen on a planet:

Spore Pod = Egg
Notes = Facehugger
Bloodburster = Chestburster
Neomorph = Xenomorph

Oh I believe that in a planet wide infection, Deacons do get created-
Perhaps it even bypasses the Trilobite if the reproductive system is functional.
But it still requires indirect contact- drinking from a river that became infected for instance-
Then if sex occurred, we know the rest- the woman likely dies in birth and the man turns into a raving lunatic and is going to explode.
If it creates a Trilobite the Trilobite needs to survive until it's fully grown and then infect someone else.
If it goes straight to Deacon, which it may well do- sure.

Unlike the Neomorph being generated though- this requires two people to have sex;
Which is far, far more unlikely than some poor sod being in the initial blast radius or
looking for food in the wilderness and getting infected by spores.

This all said;
I actually believe the Deacon of Prometheus is one of a kind, and owes its skin colour to the fact it was
generated through two distinctly different beings, the Engineer and a pair of humans.
Considering literally everything else that was generated solely from one species
in the prequel films is pale white and partially translucent.

[Baron Von Marlon]

I think when an Engineer is going to drink the black goo variant that turns him into a 'morph, he'd be a chosen one (like the sacrificial Engineer).
But he'd turn into destruction instead of life in the form of a 'morph. But the main 'morph, the leader of the destruction that he's chosen to carry out.
Could be even that he remains his original memories.

In Advent David mentions a ritual. I'm pretty sure that is it.

[The Old One]

I doubt it.

There's no basis for it in the films, the Engineer at the beginning of Prometheus disintegrates.
(The ritual is one where they gave life to both the wolf and the lamb.)

[Baron Von Marlon]

(The ritual is one where they gave life to both the wolf and the lamb.)

The ritual was one where they gave life to both the wolf and the lamb.
Maybe each time they used to seed a planet, they destroyed another one at the same time. But they quit doing it. Could be a reason why the LV-223 facilites were abandoned.