Literal hell or Alien world?

[HellVain]

I keep thinking about this question. Since the first doom, I didn't realize that they were demons. They looked alien, until I saw all the pentagrams and demonic imagery. I mean yeah, they have the lost soul but still...maybe I'm overthinking a game that wasn't supposed to have a story back then (even though it has a little). So what do you guys think? Are the demons we fight actually aliens? or are they literal demons?

[Chezza]

A popular theory is the origin is Hell through and through however as Hell conquers planets and/or dimensions they assimilate a variety of corrupted locals and weaponry into their roster. The Revenant being a popular addition from Humanity. The Spider demons and masterminds were probably a more advanced specie than we are that met a terrible fate.

[CreamCheese]

HellVain said:

I keep thinking about this question. Since the first doom, I didn't realize that they were demons. They looked alien, until I saw all the pentagrams and demonic imagery. I mean yeah, they have the lost soul but still...maybe I'm overthinking a game that wasn't supposed to have a story back then (even though it has a little). So what do you guys think? Are the demons we fight actually aliens? or are they literal demons?

The point for the first episode of DooM was that it was meant to be obscure, only at the end when you fight the Barons is it revealed, that you were in fact fighting the forces of hell. Which is why there is no Satanic Imagery in the whole episode until the end.

Also:

Chezza said:

A popular theory is the origin is Hell through and through however as Hell conquers planets and/or dimensions they assimilate a variety of corrupted locals and weaponry into their roster. The Revenant being a popular addition from Humanity. The Spider demons and masterminds were probably a more advanced specie than we are that met a terrible fate.

Is a theory I subscribe to. It explains why in DooM 2 we finally see an actual Hell invasion force and its not typical demonry, i.e. Mancubus, Arachnotrons, Revenants.

[HellVain]

So that means the story was told through gameplay.....woah....with a game as old as doom...holy shit. It even didn't have narrative yet the levels spoke for themselves, make us perceive our own story, find out what happened....like that dead marine the first map of the first episode, It gave me the idea that something bad happened. Or the Tricks and Traps level, It basically made me think that the demons were playing tricks on you, screwing with your head with traps and hidden enemies. The second part of Doom 2 where they introduced the mancubus and the arachnotrons startled me and made my 12 year old mind think why these things had rocket launchers and plasma guns. That level was probably meant to tell us that Hell has now deployed it's stronger cyber augmented abominations in the fray.

[AirRaid]

HellVain said:

So that means the story was told through gameplay.....woah....with a game as old as doom...holy shit. It even didn't have narrative yet the levels spoke for themselves, make us perceive our own story

They had literally no other way of telling a story besides literally writing text on the screen, which they still had to resort to a couple of times. The technology for cutscenes or voiceovers just wasn't really there.

[HellVain]

AirRaid said:

They had literally no other way of telling a story besides literally writing text on the screen, which they still had to resort to a couple of times. The technology for cutscenes or voiceovers just wasn't really there.

And that made the game even better.

[MrDeAD1313]

HellVain said:

And that made the game even better.

I get your point but no one really has a solution for this type of thinking it seems :(

[Touchdown]

Yes, it's literal Hell.

The main point of the DOOM storyline is that scientists open a portal to Hell. Not to a random hostile alien dimension that just happens to resamble a popular vision of Hell. It's an actual Hell.

John Carmack says this during QC11 20 years of id panel (around 33:37):

John Carmack said:

I was disappointed that the movie did exorcise all of the religious element of that because I do think it is a fundamental characteristic of DOOM. It is 'Marines against demons'. (...) I think it is important to DOOM: it's not just monsters or aliens. It is demons from the pits of Hell and they're the worst thing imaginable.

[RyoAsuka]

Chezza said:

A popular theory is the origin is Hell through and through however as Hell conquers planets and/or dimensions they assimilate a variety of corrupted locals and weaponry into their roster. The Revenant being a popular addition from Humanity. The Spider demons and masterminds were probably a more advanced specie than we are that met a terrible fate.

Sounds like the Strogg from Quake 2

[snapshot]

HellVain said:

stuff

Yeah like they never showed us Videos or shots :

+ The New Multiplayer level

You clearly see them coming from Nowhere (1:04) (1:50) .

[HellVain]

DMGUYDZ64 said:

Yeah like they never showed us Videos or shots :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_XbtE6g3GM
+ The New Multiplayer level

You clearly see them coming from Nowhere (1:04) (1:50) .

umm...what are you talking about?

[snapshot]

HellVain said:

umm...what are you talking about?

Talking about that as long as they're put on a Hellish environment and they fit very well, they look like demons .

[HellVain]

DMGUYDZ64 said:

Talking about that as long as they're put on a Hellish environment and they fit very well, they look like demons .

Even aliens can be hellish-like you know? teleporters, organic constructs, wierd variants of creatures with a lust for blood even the pentagram and the wierd writings could be interpreted as alien hieroglyphs and alphabet . It just comes to my mind sometimes that "what if we were fighting aliens instead of demons?"

[snapshot]

The storyline is another factor too, not mentioning the level names which refer to Hell, and the Overall look/style, Let's for instance compare Xen from Half-life to Hell level from Doom 3 .

[AirRaid]

DMGUYDZ64 said:

The storyline is another factor too, not mentioning the level names which refer to Hell, and the Overall look/style, Let's for instance compare Xen from Half-life to Hell level from Doom 3 .

We've been over this before, let's not.

[HellVain]

okay, okay It's literal hell. I'm not saying that I believe that it's an alien world. I just wanted to make sure of things since I used to have doubts. Lets not turn this into a debate that could make AirRaid send this thread to purgatory.

[snapshot]

HellVain said:

... a debate that could make AirRaid send this thread to purgatory.

lol wat .

[HellVain]

let's not do this, please.

[DooM_RO]

What if...they are aliens worshipping demons?

[HellVain]

DooM_RO said:

What if...they are aliens worshipping demons?

:O

yeah! something like doctor who. Maybe these guys were being controlled by an entity from hell (looks at the necronomicon ex-mortis) and need to assimilate and kill to provide souls to their masters and their masters to provide power for them.

[DooM_RO]

I was joking.

[HellVain]

still a good thought tho XD

[AirRaid]

DooM_RO said:

What if...they are aliens worshipping demons?

Wasn't this a theme from Doom 3? The UAC was excavating alien ruins on Mars which had some carvings which might have suggested that.

E: actually looking back at those tablets, it's probably the opposite, the alien race were trying to fight Hell, which is where the Soul Cube came from.

[HellVain]

AirRaid said:

Wasn't this a theme from Doom 3? The UAC was excavating alien ruins on Mars which had some carvings which might have suggested that.

E: actually looking back at those tablets, it's probably the opposite, the alien race were trying to fight Hell, which is where the Soul Cube came from.

oh yeah, I was totally amazed at those tablets, referencing the original doomguy.

[Cruduxy Pegg]

Well hell IS an alien world since it is foreign to earth.. So the alien world part is true regardless. Now it being a brimstone infested shitty desert would be disappointing especially as the first games tries to be more creative than that. Some of the suggestions here look great in art but I wouldn't want to play jumpmaze, Dark cave or riverOLava for more than a few levels.

[Xerge]

Pegg said:

Well hell IS an alien world since it is foreign to earth..

Yes, exactly. They even mention the word "alien" in Doom 2 at the end of Circle of Death.

[DoomzRules]

Maybe they should design Hell like Xen from Half-Life; where it's kind of mysterious, and a little bit otherworldly to the point it kinda sorta freaks you out, and the final boss still gives you nightmares to this day. =)

[Koko Ricky]

HellVain said:

let's not do this, please.

[snapshot]

DoomzRules said:

Maybe they should design Hell like Xen from Half-Life.

No, Hell is not an alien Planet

[Deleted_Account]

All of the creatures in Doom are demons, and their place of origin is hell.