So the Illuminate DID have weapons of mass destruction and Super Earth was 100% justified in their pre-emptive strike? Wow, we truly are the good guys.
perhaps. but there's a saying i like. "one sword keeps another in the sheath" sometimes the threat of violence alone is a deterrent. the fact they never used any of these weapons of mass destruction. on the bunch of monkey's attacking them. proves these were likely never meant to be used. sometimes a discovery is too horrifying to use. so the best you can do is lock it away
One aspect of the Illuminate I adore is the potential in seeing them evolve from the first game. They started out as a race of intellectual Darwinists who arguably fought us in the first War not with tanky units and overwhelming numbers, but with superior technology and unconventional tactics. Now that they've been beaten back, they've decided to play dirty, resorting to Voteless hordes and their Overseers, while their HD1 Walkers have been given heavier armor and laser armaments. Once the main Squid armada arrives, I really hope that their other units utilize more mind-screwy tactics on our Divers. The Bots have overwhelming firepower, the Bugs have tanky enemies that swarm, so I'd like the Squids to have a more "glass cannon" approach to combat: not as durable as the Heavies from other factions, but hellish to fight due to underhanded tactics, to symbolize them resorting to darker methods to fight us in the second War.
In the first draft of this script, I referenced the cult/mysticism aspects of their culture to Arthur C. Clarke's "any form of sufficiently advanced technology is akin to magic." The moniliths and the more magical aspect of the Illuminate has been present since helldivers 1, but greatly underdeveloped, imo. I'm hopeful we'll get to see it be more involved throughout the course of Helldivers 2!
Looking forward to the HD2 equivalents of the smaller Tripods (right now we are seeing the larger Strider-equivalents with the Harvesters, the Tripods would be like Bot Devastators/Scout Striders), invisible stealth sniper Hunters, large Obelisk tanks (which teleported around and created energy walls that could cut you in half), and the psionic Illusionist/Council Members that inverses your controls.
Control inversion is most likely not coming, and if it does it's on a lesser scale. HOWEVER! The illuminate entries suggest that illusioners live up to their name and actually cast illusions! Obelisks could return properly, and they would most likely have also a weapon, I'd say something along the lines of elevated overseers. The hunters (snipers) are probably gonna return more armored and more annoying, since squids now actually use armor and value the lives spent. @@AzureIV
Fun fact about the first galactic war: we did not steal the illuminates technology AFTER the first galactic war, but also DURING it. Stratagems like the tesla tower, personal shield and orbital laser were unlocked in the first game by completing operations against the illuminates on certain difficulties, confirming that we did not develop these technologies ourselves. The ability of super earth to retro engineer alien tech canonically played an essential part in winning the first galactic war as well as in the gameplay of HD1. PS: It is also stated that the voteless had the parts of their brain responsible for critical thinking and resisting propaganda messed with, implying that they tried to break super earths brainwashing but failed, leading to their damaged mental state. So maybe they TRIED to make more illuminate but the citizens were so "patriotic" that their bodies violently rejected it and turned them into zombies. PPS: It is also EXPLICITLY SAID by an announcement on the Super Destroyer that "there is, and always was, exactly one Super Earth" surely the Ministry of Truth only plays such an important announcement constantly on repeat because it's true...
I personally believe the squids are here now to PREVENT anymore dark fluid holes, cause they are tears into another dimension. Hear me out, daemonids! The new 4th faction, helldivers has most of the tropes but dimensional terrors.
im fairly sure the colour change is just becuase on the galactic map we are Blue when liberating and they changed the illuminate to purple for clarity of information. we are also monitoring the black hole now so i doubt the illuminate we are fighting come from there, but more likely that they WILL come from there. I do like the idea that they gave us dark fluid knowing it was the key to their return though.
That's a VERY valid point. It just never stood out to me until I saw the stark contrast on the Wiki, so that probably colors a lot of how I processed that change. The Illuminate we're currently fighting totally don't come from the wormhole. I've had two people comment that they DID, but I've revisited all the official game mission briefings and end of engagement recaps, NOTHING in the published game materials say they came from the wormhole as far as I've seen. It would make 0 sense for them to have initially come from the wormhole. They show up from an unknown location, Super Earth theorizes they were just somehow missed in the genocide during the first war, then days after they start building the monoliths that are clearly communicating with the black hole, it finally starts changing. If they came through the singularity in the first place, wouldn't the change have happened BEFORE they arrived, and the main fleet came through, instead of just a trickle and then them setting up stuff that's clearly changing the black hole? The assumption people are making that they came from the black hole when they showed up during the Calypso engagement makes no sense to me at all.
im sure its also a dig on the Covenant, i dont care tho, in fact i hope they rip off Halo's ideas, Halo deserves it lol, and im not imagining things, they already joked around with certain green armor
Honestly, if and this is a big if, but if done right, having a benevolent, hyper intelligent AI does sort of sound like the best form of leadership you could have. It wouldn't discriminate, it wouldn't be corrupt, and it would be able to see the bigger picture well also being able to zoom in and see issues on a more local level. But AI isn't currently on that level and might never be, not to mention you have to issue of who would make it and would they have control of it or what if it decided it doesn't need humanity and tries to get rid of us.
@@friendlycanadian3150 I could see that, but how would we prevent it from callously devolving into inhuman logic? Where people are just numbers to be managed and quelled lol.
If the wormhole opens to the reality where the Illuminate won, then its also where Super Earth lost. Just imagine if they put HD2 on Xbox and explained it as soldiers from the defeated super earth were joining us.
Came back after the most recent event in Helldivers 2 introduced a "Spacetime Fluctuation Indicator." This theory now seems more plausible than ever! Those squids could not live with their own failures. Where did that bring them? Right back to us.
Here's my thoughts: I've always thought that it was wierd how on the galaxy map threre was too much space for just 3 factions and a fouth faction might eventually appear... Your video made me think "what if the fourth faction is actually... Super Earth from the other timeline?" I know, I know, a deranged undemocratic idea... BUT They do say it in HD1 when the war is lost that Super Earth is looking for a suitable replacement...
That's a really interesting idea! I've always hesitated toward leaning into any theories that we'd ever directly fight other humans. I know a lot of the audience have said "we should get to fight dissidents someday!" But to me, that removes the hyperbolic parody of how much Super Earth enjoys war if we're just slaughtering other humans that scream and react in the same very visceral way our Helldivers do. It just seems....too dark. BUT! In an infinite number of timelines where humans may have evolved/devolved into ANYTHING, who KNOWS what a Super Earth foe could look like....
@@Jo_Plays_GamesThere was a 4th faction teased on a Super Destroyer TV News, where some Super Earth Colonists encountered a alien species on a swamp planet, and Super Earth claimed that they eradicated the whole species, idk if that could be a tease to 4th faction.
I can already imagine the insults Super Earth would throw at "Ultra Earth" calling them a "Warped sorry excuse for what can barely be considered a 'democracy" Which also would ironically also describe Super Earth
*_"You exist because we allow it - AND YOU WILL END BECAUSE WE DEMAND IT!"_* _"How well did that work out for you the last time we fought it out, grandpa..?"_
@@madisonatteberry9720there is spacetime fluctuations happening in the galaxy most likely from the illuminate. So there is a chance that the main fleet is coming soon.
I do think the reason for the Super Earth planet being different from HD1 is because its a placeholder. We are not supposed to be able to access land view of Super Earth yet, that would explain why the geography is totally different. HD2 leakers have even landed on Super Earth before and realized the biome down there is just a placeholder and is similar to planets like Angels Venture. Besides that, awesome video! The illuminate setting us up and getting reinforcements from another timeline would be awesome.
It's telling that the Terminids are starting to attack systems in the south of the galactic map. From a game management perspective, Arrowhead wants to migrate the Terminid missions to the south, so that the Illuminate can come through the Meridia wormhole and be the northeastern threat.
I think the reason why the current Super Earth looks different is because they have terraformed the Earth, fixing the planet inhabitable zones and expanding the landscape. Because for a place that only the “elite” can inhabit, it needs to be beautiful and vibrant with life instead of being an apocalyptic planet. And they have the capability to do so, because that’s literally what the Ministry of Expansion was made for “terraforming, colonizing, and extracting resources”.
I like the theory that the dark fluid injection opened up a wormhole to illuminate space, dumping a terminid mega hive in their back yard, forcing them to war.
as a helldivers 1 vet, you can really tell that the illuminate hadn’t fought a war in a lomg time. part of this was game design, to make them feel different from the cyborgs and bugs, but even so, they focus on things that aren’t immediately lethal. they focused on area denial and lots of pressure. they had snipers and shield generators that would set up offscreen (hd1 had everyone share a single screen, even when playing online - it was work together or die) to block off areas from you, send swarms of shielded and armored bots at you, and confused you by swapping your controls around with nanites. fascinatingly, however, they almost completely lacked heavy tank units and any kind of ranged weapons that could kill quickly and without warning. their snipers used highly visible beams that took a long time to charge up. The squ’ith themselves never wore personal armor, and only the guys in chairs had shields. i always thought it was awesome that their fighting style was woven into their story, especially since it was in a more interesting way that “ohh they’re so wise”.
Also forgot too say that the reason for their loss in HD1 was because the never had a war in their community so they didn’t have the combat skill too fight the all mighty humans of Super Earth
Yep! I have a feeling that it's probably just that Super Earth told it's citizens they were completely eradicated after the first galactic war, but I still find the inclusion of that conflicting information interesting.
I've had that same thought! It would be such an easy way to reintroduce the older enemies that have been conspicuously missing, and also fun. Arrowhead has said from the beginning they won't reset the galactic war map like Helldivers 1. In my mind, having an unlimited number of other universes to "liberate" would be the perfect way thematically to be able to have multiple galactic wars without resetting the map. Each time we win or lose, we get a new chance to liberate an entirely new universe and spread managed democracy further than we ever dreamed!
It is possible, another interesting thing I noticed is the home world of the bugs “Kepler Prime” or even the home world of the Illuminate itself is mysteriously missing on the Galactic Map. I always thought that something might have happened to it in the past 100 years like it being renamed but your talks of multiple universes would make sense if the story of the game progresses
The bubble shield and the tesla tower were already avalaible in Helldivers 1, as a veteran of the first war (12 of them in fact), The bubble shield was a must have in difficulty 13 to 15 against the squids. I used both a lot. So we didn't take those techs from the illuminates, we had them in the first place. I don't recall any plasma based weapon, tho. But this doesn't invalidate your point.
The Illuminate extended their friendship, cooperation, and sharing of technology before they and Super Earth were at opposing sides of the galactic war. It's still pretty likely the tech came from them, but that IS a good point! Thank you for watching!
ThiccFilA sent me here! Great video :D I like that the theory you have is supported by inconsistencies in designs of things like Super Earth and etc. - It's super compelling, and I think it would in fact, be super sick, if the Illuminate that come through are from an alternate timeline.
My guess is that the scouts the Illuminate sent picked Meridian as the black goo target on purpose. The black hole was likely meant to be a doorway so that a fleet could come through and attack Super Earth’s colonies while simultaneously cutting Super Earth off from the termanids they need for fuel. However, given that Super Earth rushes things without fully paying attention, the Illuminate’s plan failed. Ironic that they didn’t account for that. The Black Hole is a one way door at the moment. So now a vanguard has appeared to try and get their doorway into the system to work as intended.
or what they didn't expect was the unnuturaly fast spread of the gloom and it just wasn't a ideal place to have a war front on with a giant nebula of terminid spore death on iluminate neck
I appreciate that you used the cyclical nature of the wars in HD1 for this theory. I had been thinking about that for a while and it is interesting to think about how that could be repurposed in hd2 for plot.
Here's a theory that Merida is not a portal but a weaponized black hole reaching the end of its life. When it goes off, it's gonna take the gloom with it
that multiverse theory sounds so sick, really really hope it ends up being true. Iirc, you got special capes for winning/losing the war in the first game too. would love to see those come back with these illuminate
I feel like the elimination of the illuminate would make a bit more sense the other way around, having obliterated the great eyes and banished what remains of the fleshy illuminate to the void as a “non issue” Beyond that them reaching into a galaxy where they won for reinforcements sounds interesting, future will tell if it pans out as so
That's perfectly valid. I guess to me, it seems more likely that Super Earth would underestimate and write off a TRUE AI, especially if it was advanced enough to see the logical decision in deception and trying to pass itself off as a complete non-threat. The humans in Helldivers are very motivated to go to war with anything, especially if they feel they can gain something from it. Flesh and blood seems much more like something they can understand as a direct threat, and something to be gained from its eradication.
I wasn't familiar with Helldivers before the sequel, so I wasn't immediately aware of the Illuminate. However, once I learned about the Illuminate (before they returned), I always thought it was strange that the automatons and the terminids attacked almost at the same time. Once I learned about the Illuminate, I created this theory in my head that they were somehow helping the bots and bugs, and when people started seeing strange occurrences such as the blue lights, it only made that little thought in my head bigger. It was kind of cool to actually hear someone talk about it.
while the idea of a multiverse is cool i still think the theory that the Illuminate are trying to bring something from the past into the present is going to prove to be true in the end, one of the ones i personally hope is true is the idea that they are going to bring the Bosses from the first game back as a way to justify us fighting stuff like that again and again so each time we defeat a boss the Illuminate just grab it from the past again
I never thought too much about the Illuminate, but you have opened my mind lol. If this is what actually is the case, that is just awesome story writing. By the way, at 17:02, that's just an image of a regular planet we can fight on...
Thanks for watching! As far as I understand, that planet is NOT just a regular planet, it's the high res version that came out later in HD1's life and has the same land masses as the Super Earth planet that gets destroyed in the "Galactic War Lost" ending cutscenes.
I am not going to lie, I hate when a story goes into "haha, now everything lorewise is justified cuz we have 10002020438404 timelines that you have to keep up to know the lore!!!11!!!" It just opens SO MANY plot holes, and also makes the story a pain to follow.
12:10 I actually believe that Super Earth (not saying they are evil) releases the bugs at the start of the war to ensure they had enough E7-10 to fight the war. (a completely just and worthy endeavor by super earth)
Awwww, thanks so much! I do my best to be as accurate in actual known lore information as I humanly can, examine the environmental storytelling we see and how it fits in context of the in-game world, and then extrapolate that out into what it COULD mean. It's a really fun way to get to tell the lore and explore these worlds, for me at least. :p
I wonder if this is gonna lead to a whole thing of not just illuminate coming from the wormhole but the other factions who were also victorious. sure i do just want to see the cyborgs again and settle my score with the siegemech but it would be crazy to see all of those units again in the new artstyle.
I’m waiting on the hive lords to finaly come back up from the nests, every time I see their exoskeletons on the surface I get flashbacks. And I swear those exoskeletons have been slowly getting bigger since release
I've had this EXACT thought! It'd be such a fun and easy way to be able to bring in anything from the previous game, especially the conspicuously missing tougher enemies....
There is no Helldivers 1 "multiverse". Every instance of the war in HD1 happens concurrent to each other, it's even said in the lore that even when the war is "won" Super Earth finds some trumped up reason to re-initiate hostilities with the factions involved, and when the war is lost they simply find another earth like world and continue the war from there. The idea would be really cool, but this is only a conclusion you can arrive at if you have not participated in a full war cycle in HD1. Not saying these Illuminate CAN'T be from an alternate timeline, but I find the reasoning on this point is flawed.
why'd you have to go and say "trumped up"? Why try to draw parallels between real world politics and fiction? It only serves to divide the playerbase. I agree with the rest of your post though.
@@GoogleAccount-jn5qb "Trumped up" Is literally a phrase that goes back to the 18th century you rotbrained midwit, "trump" is a WORD, not just a NAME of some dumbass politician. YOU are the one whose brain has been poisoned into seeing everything as "political", which is hilarious given that Helldivers itself is explicitly a satire of Bush Era US foreign policy according to the word of Johann Pilestedt HIMSELF! God, I am so tired of knee jerk babies who get all testy the moment they see something their under-educated and politically illiterate brains associate with braindead "culture war" discourse.
@@GoogleAccount-jn5qb THIS IS GOD TIER BAIT. It's got it all, feigning ignorance begging someone to correct you, a statement that would annoy both sides, and just randomly inserted political discourse
Maybe not necessarily that, but I DO think the Illuminate handed over the dark fluid because they knew Super Earth wouldn't be able to resist using it, eventually resulting in a black hole. If the Illuminate themselves had attempted to use it, think about what Super Earth's response would have been considering that they started a war with the Illuminate on the idea that the Illuminate might have planet-destroying WMD's.
This is the EXACT theory I’ve been sharing for quite some time. Only difference is I thought about it after looking at Overseer corpses and noticing that unlike the Illuminate from before. These guys don’t sport an extra set of arms. In fact they just have a cavity in their chest right around where those arms would be. Which made me wonder if they’re an evolution beyond the Voteless, especially since they lead them on the frontlines. Illuminate value the lives of their members. Which makes sense why they wouldn’t want themselves dying. Not until they get a good idea on what they’re truly dealing with. That got me thinking about their tactics and wondering if they used the black hole to trace it back to our timeline because they appeared to be too ready for this sort of thing despite being a “peaceful race” unprepared for war that was defeated to near extinction 100 years ago. The way I see it, we’re two familiar yet new foes in uncharted territory sizing each other up for a another blood bath.
The more I think about it the more I notice the illuminate as a faction(In mostly culture, technology, and ideology) are mostly like a combination of the forerunners, the covenant, AND the flood, taking traits of all 3 along with a couple sprinkles of other alien species(Like War of The Worlds and Mass Effect) -Forerunners were tech wizards when it came to genetics and superweapons -Both Mendicant Bias and the Gravemind are similar to that of the great eye, whereas the council represents that of both the prophets and the covenant council itself. -Being leagues in both tech and knowledge above humanity -The flood gather bodies and corpses to create biomass, Create more flood forms, or form a gravemind -The Forerunners and Covenant both have shielding technology and plasma weaponry -The Forerunners made reality tearing doohickeys as 5th grade science projects -The Flood(Previously The Precursors) Have Access to Star Roads, basically a more cracked up form of FTL Travel. -The Forerunners and the Covenant both had an insurmountable hatred for humanity at one point in time -And probably a lot more that I don't have enough knowledge to elaborate effectively on They may or may not(I'm not sure) have access to multiversal travel or time travel, but if Halo lore is anything to go by The Illuminate are about to make the Skynet loving automatons look like rusty B1 Battle Droids with a half functioning tactical droid. I'm ready. *How bout you?!*
Illuminates have teleportation technology (Super Earth even reversed some of it in HD1 aka the Displacement field), it stands to reason that the wormhole is actually a portal for the Illuminates to attack from. However, I think Super Earth planned this from the get-go. The wormhole on Meredia is right beside the Terminates which would be the perfect set up for an ambush. Helldivers on 1 side with Terminates on the other is a death sentence.
yo DAM u rly knowledgable about this i tought i heard a lot from other youtubers but wow theres so many things here that they just either forgot or never noticed/mentioned. amazing
One interesting aspect about the voteless that wasn't mentioned is that if you attack them with arc damage or melee to the head, they have unique death animations which suggests that they are still human deep down and are being mind controlled to a certain degree. Some of them do a Super Earth salute before collapsing, others will act confused about their surroundings or react in horror to their bodies.
Interesting. Wicked interesting. So you're positing this war will be a war of victors. That's a very interesting concept, two armies who both won their respective wars coming back to the fight. The color theory tracks. I'm blown away! I hope this is true!
I'll admit, halfway through- but one idea could be that it truly was only A.I. that survived. They returned, and tried to transform the Voteless into pure Illuminate- but it has a high failure rate? But the monoliths and black hole making the same sound is horrifying. Since the illuminate just don't have many units yet, I'm waiting to pop back in. And the fact I don't like the super credits system...
I actually had that EXACT thought about the Illuminate. That's actually where this script started, was posing the question that we see the Voteless and they seem almost like failed experiments. .....Are the Overseers the ones that succeeded?
The theory of another time-line is plausible, especially because Helldivers like to mix sci-fi tropes with real world speculative science. Like the warp drive is called the alcubiere drive. In that same vain one of the interpretation of general relativity is that a black hole is a wormhole to another universe/space-time continuum. But everything you said could also be explained by just one simple fact. Super Earth is lying from the beginning. The canon ending is that they lost the first galactic war. It's weird how a they would have won a 3 front war, when one of the factions is so much more advanced than them. Hell they didn't even had FTL, so that would mean a massive disadvantage. The squid could do with earth and it's colony like the Reapers did with organic intelligent space faring civilizations after they cut out access to the mass relay network. They took isolated colonies one by one since they didn't had means to secure reinforcement and redeploy at galactic scale. It's much more likely than they lost, earth was destroyed. But before losing they managed to get hold of parts of their technology. They flee the galaxy on some short of FTL Ark to one of dwarf galaxies neighboring the milk way or even Andromeda Galaxy. The refugees of the war settled in a earth like planet, founded the new super earth and rewrote history that they won. Now the squid found the survivors and want to finish the job. The ones coming from the south of the galaxy map are the vanguard fleet that took the long slow FTL path following the humans. Reaching from the edge of the new galaxy super earth migrated to. They want to open the wormhole to the main force coming from the milky way to come and annihilate humanity for good.
Was nice to find this little video and appreciate the theories! I know it was something that was told to us through dispatch during the Calypso operation, but they did mention that the Illuminate came through the black hole, more importantly now labeled as a worm hole from the Turing research center. Again, it's super earth comms so it's always grain of salt. I've got some of my own theories swimming around in the ol' mind palace. Very curious to see where things go. One true sentiment, however, is the Illuminate are now, instead of just a defensive force, a force of war and vengeance. And that will change the face of their tactics and how they mold their units and equipment to boot. Seeing this transformation, along with that similar of the Cyborgs to the Automatons, is intersting enough to me. How does a society change when pushed to the brink?
Thanks for watching! Do you have any sources for screenshots of that in-game communication that confirms they came through the black hole? I'm afraid I may have missed something major, because I just went back through all the mission briefings from Calypso onward, and everything I'm seeing says the first incursion is unknown in it's source, but assumed to be survivors of the first war. And changes in the singularity didn't start happening until days after. Thanks so much for watching and commenting! I'm totally not trying to be like "nuh-uh," I've just been playing the whole time and am trying to figure out what I missed and how.
@@Jo_Plays_Games I had read it in the dispatches, I believe during the Calypso offensive. It was up for a very short amount of time. Something that I'm not able to find is a great list of Dispatches, though the MO's have been written out fairly well by the community. I could have sworn I had it in my list of pictures but I didn't take an image, and nor did my friends it seems. It's also entirely possible they had it out and pulled it because it wasn't the correct theorum anyway? I don't know. Been looking for over an hour to see if I can find anything and not having luck. Not sure if you have a better source for Dispatches at all.
Apparently it was in the patch notes as like, meta info. I might do some prodding on this. I trust Arrowhead communications FAR more than Fatshark, but even Fatshark has gotten details that are supposed to be brief recaps outright wrong in their own blogs about things. So I'm curious if this was something that was a little fudged by accident, or if that's really what we're supposed to take at face value, because none of the in-game communications have conveyed that.
i think some of the points you make are a stretch but I really really like the theory of the wormhole leading to the alternate timeline where the illuminate won the war
Some of the things toward the end are thrown in because I noticed them and I know other people have. I don't necessarily think they actually mean anything. Except the disparity between HD1 Super Earth and HD2 Super Earth. They cannot be the same planet and I will DIE on that hill.
honestly it makes sense the illuminate were seeing currently are the "remnants" from the first war that's why there only guerilla attacking planets and bothering with voteless they currently don't have manpower (which explains severe lack of variety) those things they build are prob meant to somehow power some slip space portal or some so the "other" illuminates can fully join the war i can totally see this good take
On one hand I don't want ANY Super Earth taken over and destroyed. But on the other I sure hope Meridia leads to an alternate reality where the Squids were never eradicated so that I and my fellow divers CAN SHOW THEM THE RASTE OF TRUE DEFEAT!!! iO
It's a amazing theory, but personaly I believe that most likely the whole Illuminate race comes from another Galaxy, and that the Illuminate fought in the First Galactic War were actually small colonies of the Illuminate in the Milky Way.
Personally, I'm with you. But I honestly feel like this is a strong contender, especially since Arrowhead has said that they're not going to reset the HD2 galactic war map.
I believe the illuminate's "religion" revolves around some kind of biomechanical being, A La the Mechanicus from 40k. The harvesters are not robots, at least not completely. They bleed, and have some fleshy substance below their armor. I'm excited to see how they evolve
I'm very excited to see where it's going. Arrowhead has said that the Illuminate are up to something "mysterious" that will unfold over the next few months.
I think there is a little plot hole in the lore of helldivers: How did humanity expand and explore the galaxy, colonize planets, meet the terminids and all of that before 2044 if supposedly they stole the FTL technology from the illuminate at the end of the first galactic war in 2084?? They even name the engine for achieving FTL travel as the Alcubierre drive, which is a real theoretical HUMAN engine But idk
Eh, clearly Squid propaganda you heard there. Sure, maybe Illuminate technology helped improve FTL technology, but we certainly didn't need them to have it in the first place.
They used the Alcubierre drive, a warp drive, before 2084. However, it took so much fuel that it was highly impractical. When they realized illuminate had tech that didn’t warp, but LITERALLY propelled you faster than light, they took it, because it ran on element 710, a much more efficient power source. However, since it’s not a warp drive, it has to have its path cleared of debris, or it would crash into something at FTL speeds. Thats why there are supply lines in the second game, basically lanes of clear space where it’s safe to go FTL.
@ but they still use the alcubierre drive in helldivers 2 that’s why I think it’s a plot hole They probably just kept the name the same to take credit for it lol
My theory is as follows: I think the Illuminates are gonna summon a massive mothership and rapid deploy the main forces onto planets. So that if Super Earth loses then the war will reset, when the War resets it’ll be a different universe so to speak and the Illuminates are gonna continue their plans of multi universal conquest in a cycle essentially allowing the war to reset consistently.
Things to note The Illuminate were pacifist that refused to give all their tech to Super Earth when demanded, so SE decided to lie that they had WMDs to declare war and steal all their tech. The "magic" in the first game was explained as being nanites Super Earth doesn't control the galaxy, it's literally impossible for them to have wiped out the squ'ith or exiled them from "the galaxy" We blew up The Great Eye at the end of the first galactic war
Given the number of variations in Super Earth history and current Super Earth logos and materials... it kinda seems like maybe every time our ships do an FTL jump we may be winding up in a slightly different universe and we just don't notice - the drives are calibrated well enough to keep things almost exactly the same, but minor variations creep in over time, particularly as crew are added or removed. _That_ would explain the inconsistencies AND why the Ministry of Truth keeps information so regulated.
Dude the alternate universe idea is such a good idea holy shit, it gives the excuse for them to do a warbond with more HD1 equipment, or after a while a defeated super earth contacts us to help defeat their occupier.
The helldivers 2 in game earth is a placeholder. Because we arent planned to be able to go there yet they did not properly model the planet and it is using a default planet map seed
So they put in a place holder that looks exactly like the irl planet Earth, in the Sol system, with our training taking place on the next nearby habitable planet of Mars, and set the intro cinematic in the Great Lakes area while voicing over it with "Super Earth," ......by coincidence?
@@Jo_Plays_Games Was referring to the zoomed in planet map (the one you see when choosing a planet operation) you showed in the video. Will find timestamp in a second
I think the ones we're fighting right now are truly from this same universe/timeline we've been playing in, but I think they have a MUCH more advanced concept of string theory than Super Earth does and knows that there's another version of Illuminate out there that stand a chance to come in and destroy their enemies.
Does also seem kind of interesting now that just one day out of the blue the TCS on Meridia failed so catastrophically that the only feasible way to stop it was to deploy the dark fluid They definitely had something to do with it, Their knowledge of genetics would make them able to cause the Terminids to rapidly mutate to form a super colony in a day
Woman
The first one he's ever spoken to
This is one of my favorite comments I've ever received.
Yes it is indeed a woman. A rare species
@@Jo_Plays_Games im glad there is cool women left on the internet :3
amazing observation skills I hope it pays off
So the Illuminate DID have weapons of mass destruction and Super Earth was 100% justified in their pre-emptive strike? Wow, we truly are the good guys.
Of course we are! I love super earth!
perhaps. but there's a saying i like. "one sword keeps another in the sheath" sometimes the threat of violence alone is a deterrent. the fact they never used any of these weapons of mass destruction. on the bunch of monkey's attacking them. proves these were likely never meant to be used. sometimes a discovery is too horrifying to use. so the best you can do is lock it away
@ohenthevoidwatcher3939 I'm sorry but I'm definitely gonna have to report you for treason
@ohenthevoidwatcher3939 there’s a prime example of that called the “Cold War” the threat of violence and mutual destruction causes peace
@@yesisaiah9246funny thing about the cold war, it wasn't a particularly peaceful period
By the way, every single time we lose a defense against them, a secret number called "potential buildup" raises
Ahhhh trouble. Thanks for the word, helldiver
Do successful defenses bring it down?
@@DytoxPrimeI'd imagine not. It sounds like a horde buildup modifier. A successful defense just means it doesn't increase their horde size.
Iiiiiiinnnnnntttttteeeeeeeerrrrrrrreeeeeeeeesssssttttttiiiiinnnnnggggg.... Thank you for sharing that info!
@@alejandrocarralero2826 Yeah, we've lost a lot of defenses against them....
One aspect of the Illuminate I adore is the potential in seeing them evolve from the first game. They started out as a race of intellectual Darwinists who arguably fought us in the first War not with tanky units and overwhelming numbers, but with superior technology and unconventional tactics. Now that they've been beaten back, they've decided to play dirty, resorting to Voteless hordes and their Overseers, while their HD1 Walkers have been given heavier armor and laser armaments. Once the main Squid armada arrives, I really hope that their other units utilize more mind-screwy tactics on our Divers. The Bots have overwhelming firepower, the Bugs have tanky enemies that swarm, so I'd like the Squids to have a more "glass cannon" approach to combat: not as durable as the Heavies from other factions, but hellish to fight due to underhanded tactics, to symbolize them resorting to darker methods to fight us in the second War.
In the first draft of this script, I referenced the cult/mysticism aspects of their culture to Arthur C. Clarke's "any form of sufficiently advanced technology is akin to magic."
The moniliths and the more magical aspect of the Illuminate has been present since helldivers 1, but greatly underdeveloped, imo. I'm hopeful we'll get to see it be more involved throughout the course of Helldivers 2!
Looking forward to the HD2 equivalents of the smaller Tripods (right now we are seeing the larger Strider-equivalents with the Harvesters, the Tripods would be like Bot Devastators/Scout Striders), invisible stealth sniper Hunters, large Obelisk tanks (which teleported around and created energy walls that could cut you in half), and the psionic Illusionist/Council Members that inverses your controls.
Control inversion is most likely not coming, and if it does it's on a lesser scale.
HOWEVER!
The illuminate entries suggest that illusioners live up to their name and actually cast illusions!
Obelisks could return properly, and they would most likely have also a weapon, I'd say something along the lines of elevated overseers.
The hunters (snipers) are probably gonna return more armored and more annoying, since squids now actually use armor and value the lives spent.
@@AzureIV
same i've been thinking for awhile that they seem way more aggressive and cruel than in the first game
@@fruitsalad5036we traumatized a whole species! Meanwhile humans living in a hierarchical and competetive society are like haha first time?
I’d go insane if I saw S.E.A.F soldiers and Helldivers as voteless.
Though it would be cool, I believe that us Helldivers are too democratically stupid to be turned by the squids.
the S.E.A.F and helldivers are simply too democratic to fall to the autocratic intentions of the illuminates
...which remain shrouded in mystery
@@enderg1196 i mean if it is genetic engineiring that is in play then it doesn't really matter if you are stupidly patriotic or not
They don’t react to democratic values, they were corrupted by those foul squids.
@@timeless.racoon7518prosperity burgers my favorite food 💪🌍
Fun fact about the first galactic war: we did not steal the illuminates technology AFTER the first galactic war, but also DURING it.
Stratagems like the tesla tower, personal shield and orbital laser were unlocked in the first game by completing operations against the illuminates on certain difficulties, confirming that we did not develop these technologies ourselves. The ability of super earth to retro engineer alien tech canonically played an essential part in winning the first galactic war as well as in the gameplay of HD1.
PS: It is also stated that the voteless had the parts of their brain responsible for critical thinking and resisting propaganda messed with, implying that they tried to break super earths brainwashing but failed, leading to their damaged mental state. So maybe they TRIED to make more illuminate but the citizens were so "patriotic" that their bodies violently rejected it and turned them into zombies.
PPS: It is also EXPLICITLY SAID by an announcement on the Super Destroyer that "there is, and always was, exactly one Super Earth" surely the Ministry of Truth only plays such an important announcement constantly on repeat because it's true...
No matter how hard the squids try, they cannot undo super citizens fork lift certification
I personally believe the squids are here now to PREVENT anymore dark fluid holes, cause they are tears into another dimension.
Hear me out, daemonids!
The new 4th faction, helldivers has most of the tropes but dimensional terrors.
Approved
Indeed, since there is a lot of space on the Galactic map for a 4th faction.
*laughs in WH40K*
Love this theory
Roo told me an illuminate would sell me fent. The south was left unguarded. 10/10
I like your funny words magic man
10:00 The Meridia Blackhole "has this sound playing from it" *the ad starts* 😂
Damn you, TH-cam! For the record, I don't set those, so the omniscient YT mind totally punked you. I'm sorry.
Same lol
Same. Had an add for TurboTax reminding me it’s tax season. Was not expecting taxes to be on the other end of the void.
LMAO SAME! I GOT AN AD FOR THAT STUPID GO GO MUFFIN GAME
MINE WAS FOR BITCOIN MINIMG WTF?!?
im fairly sure the colour change is just becuase on the galactic map we are Blue when liberating and they changed the illuminate to purple for clarity of information. we are also monitoring the black hole now so i doubt the illuminate we are fighting come from there, but more likely that they WILL come from there. I do like the idea that they gave us dark fluid knowing it was the key to their return though.
That's a VERY valid point. It just never stood out to me until I saw the stark contrast on the Wiki, so that probably colors a lot of how I processed that change.
The Illuminate we're currently fighting totally don't come from the wormhole. I've had two people comment that they DID, but I've revisited all the official game mission briefings and end of engagement recaps, NOTHING in the published game materials say they came from the wormhole as far as I've seen.
It would make 0 sense for them to have initially come from the wormhole. They show up from an unknown location, Super Earth theorizes they were just somehow missed in the genocide during the first war, then days after they start building the monoliths that are clearly communicating with the black hole, it finally starts changing. If they came through the singularity in the first place, wouldn't the change have happened BEFORE they arrived, and the main fleet came through, instead of just a trickle and then them setting up stuff that's clearly changing the black hole?
The assumption people are making that they came from the black hole when they showed up during the Calypso engagement makes no sense to me at all.
im sure its also a dig on the Covenant, i dont care tho, in fact i hope they rip off Halo's ideas, Halo deserves it lol, and im not imagining things, they already joked around with certain green armor
A society where AI moderates our every move? Hah! Stupid aliens. Couldn't happen to me!
Hahaha, yeah that could never happen! We'd have to be living in some kind of cyberpunk dystopia for that!
Yeah exactly super Earth's voting AI algorithms are totally superior and are in no way similar
@ I left a comment about this but is mysteriously disappeared. Weird... oh well! Probably just a bug.
Honestly, if and this is a big if, but if done right, having a benevolent, hyper intelligent AI does sort of sound like the best form of leadership you could have. It wouldn't discriminate, it wouldn't be corrupt, and it would be able to see the bigger picture well also being able to zoom in and see issues on a more local level. But AI isn't currently on that level and might never be, not to mention you have to issue of who would make it and would they have control of it or what if it decided it doesn't need humanity and tries to get rid of us.
@@friendlycanadian3150 I could see that, but how would we prevent it from callously devolving into inhuman logic? Where people are just numbers to be managed and quelled lol.
If the wormhole opens to the reality where the Illuminate won, then its also where Super Earth lost. Just imagine if they put HD2 on Xbox and explained it as soldiers from the defeated super earth were joining us.
..................that's fucking GENIUS
Came back after the most recent event in Helldivers 2 introduced a "Spacetime Fluctuation Indicator." This theory now seems more plausible than ever!
Those squids could not live with their own failures. Where did that bring them? Right back to us.
I'm sorry, there's a what now?? Oh shiiiiit, that's exciting!
Plot Twist its gonna be The Daemonids
Here's my thoughts: I've always thought that it was wierd how on the galaxy map threre was too much space for just 3 factions and a fouth faction might eventually appear... Your video made me think "what if the fourth faction is actually... Super Earth from the other timeline?" I know, I know, a deranged undemocratic idea...
BUT They do say it in HD1 when the war is lost that Super Earth is looking for a suitable replacement...
That's a really interesting idea! I've always hesitated toward leaning into any theories that we'd ever directly fight other humans. I know a lot of the audience have said "we should get to fight dissidents someday!" But to me, that removes the hyperbolic parody of how much Super Earth enjoys war if we're just slaughtering other humans that scream and react in the same very visceral way our Helldivers do. It just seems....too dark.
BUT! In an infinite number of timelines where humans may have evolved/devolved into ANYTHING, who KNOWS what a Super Earth foe could look like....
@@Jo_Plays_GamesThere was a 4th faction teased on a Super Destroyer TV News, where some Super Earth Colonists encountered a alien species on a swamp planet, and Super Earth claimed that they eradicated the whole species, idk if that could be a tease to 4th faction.
@@Certified500kgBombI think that was just a joke… also logistically wouldn’t a fourth faction spread the player base too far
I can already imagine the insults Super Earth would throw at "Ultra Earth" calling them a "Warped sorry excuse for what can barely be considered a 'democracy"
Which also would ironically also describe Super Earth
@@Justsomeguy-v2d you can literally see the galactic map still bigger for a 4th faction
*_"You exist because we allow it - AND YOU WILL END BECAUSE WE DEMAND IT!"_*
_"How well did that work out for you the last time we fought it out, grandpa..?"_
I absolutely love when squid aliens slip in from the south
You would.
Real as fuck.
“slipspace rupture detected”
“slipspace rupture detected”
“slipspace rupture detected”
Okay, so I haven't been playing that long, what did I miss?
@@madisonatteberry9720there is spacetime fluctuations happening in the galaxy most likely from the illuminate. So there is a chance that the main fleet is coming soon.
I do think the reason for the Super Earth planet being different from HD1 is because its a placeholder. We are not supposed to be able to access land view of Super Earth yet, that would explain why the geography is totally different. HD2 leakers have even landed on Super Earth before and realized the biome down there is just a placeholder and is similar to planets like Angels Venture. Besides that, awesome video! The illuminate setting us up and getting reinforcements from another timeline would be awesome.
If I recall correctly, the roswell incident in helldivers lore was humanitys first contact with the illumanate in helldivers lore.
It's telling that the Terminids are starting to attack systems in the south of the galactic map. From a game management perspective, Arrowhead wants to migrate the Terminid missions to the south, so that the Illuminate can come through the Meridia wormhole and be the northeastern threat.
I think the reason why the current Super Earth looks different is because they have terraformed the Earth, fixing the planet inhabitable zones and expanding the landscape. Because for a place that only the “elite” can inhabit, it needs to be beautiful and vibrant with life instead of being an apocalyptic planet. And they have the capability to do so, because that’s literally what the Ministry of Expansion was made for “terraforming, colonizing, and extracting resources”.
I like the theory that the dark fluid injection opened up a wormhole to illuminate space, dumping a terminid mega hive in their back yard, forcing them to war.
as a helldivers 1 vet, you can really tell that the illuminate hadn’t fought a war in a lomg time. part of this was game design, to make them feel different from the cyborgs and bugs, but even so, they focus on things that aren’t immediately lethal. they focused on area denial and lots of pressure. they had snipers and shield generators that would set up offscreen (hd1 had everyone share a single screen, even when playing online - it was work together or die) to block off areas from you, send swarms of shielded and armored bots at you, and confused you by swapping your controls around with nanites. fascinatingly, however, they almost completely lacked heavy tank units and any kind of ranged weapons that could kill quickly and without warning. their snipers used highly visible beams that took a long time to charge up. The squ’ith themselves never wore personal armor, and only the guys in chairs had shields. i always thought it was awesome that their fighting style was woven into their story, especially since it was in a more interesting way that “ohh they’re so wise”.
wasnt expecting helldivers lore here but am not complaining
Good! Then I won't have to ask you to face the wall.
If I’m not wrong. It says that in the credits if you win in HD1 the illuminate was forced too hand over their tech and flee the galaxy/milky way.
Also forgot too say that the reason for their loss in HD1 was because the never had a war in their community so they didn’t have the combat skill too fight the all mighty humans of Super Earth
Yep! I have a feeling that it's probably just that Super Earth told it's citizens they were completely eradicated after the first galactic war, but I still find the inclusion of that conflicting information interesting.
The blackhole would be a fantastic way to bring back a lot of old enemies, i hope we get to fight cyborgs again
I've had that same thought! It would be such an easy way to reintroduce the older enemies that have been conspicuously missing, and also fun.
Arrowhead has said from the beginning they won't reset the galactic war map like Helldivers 1. In my mind, having an unlimited number of other universes to "liberate" would be the perfect way thematically to be able to have multiple galactic wars without resetting the map. Each time we win or lose, we get a new chance to liberate an entirely new universe and spread managed democracy further than we ever dreamed!
It is possible, another interesting thing I noticed is the home world of the bugs “Kepler Prime” or even the home world of the Illuminate itself is mysteriously missing on the Galactic Map. I always thought that something might have happened to it in the past 100 years like it being renamed but your talks of multiple universes would make sense if the story of the game progresses
The bubble shield and the tesla tower were already avalaible in Helldivers 1, as a veteran of the first war (12 of them in fact), The bubble shield was a must have in difficulty 13 to 15 against the squids. I used both a lot. So we didn't take those techs from the illuminates, we had them in the first place. I don't recall any plasma based weapon, tho. But this doesn't invalidate your point.
The Illuminate extended their friendship, cooperation, and sharing of technology before they and Super Earth were at opposing sides of the galactic war. It's still pretty likely the tech came from them, but that IS a good point! Thank you for watching!
Have also seen the theory that the Illuminate are probably not happy that Super Earth express-delivered a bug supercolony to their doorstep
ThiccFilA sent me here! Great video :D I like that the theory you have is supported by inconsistencies in designs of things like Super Earth and etc. - It's super compelling, and I think it would in fact, be super sick, if the Illuminate that come through are from an alternate timeline.
Thanks! I really appreciate that. It's fun to work with these details and really get into the lore. Alternate timeline Illuminate would be super fun!
My guess is that the scouts the Illuminate sent picked Meridian as the black goo target on purpose. The black hole was likely meant to be a doorway so that a fleet could come through and attack Super Earth’s colonies while simultaneously cutting Super Earth off from the termanids they need for fuel. However, given that Super Earth rushes things without fully paying attention, the Illuminate’s plan failed. Ironic that they didn’t account for that. The Black Hole is a one way door at the moment. So now a vanguard has appeared to try and get their doorway into the system to work as intended.
or what they didn't expect was the unnuturaly fast spread of the gloom and it just wasn't a ideal place to have a war front on with a giant nebula of terminid spore death on iluminate neck
I appreciate that you used the cyclical nature of the wars in HD1 for this theory. I had been thinking about that for a while and it is interesting to think about how that could be repurposed in hd2 for plot.
Here's a theory that Merida is not a portal but a weaponized black hole reaching the end of its life. When it goes off, it's gonna take the gloom with it
Im happy to see a video form your channel again! Mostly because my darktide fixation returned with a vengeance
Awww, thanks!
that multiverse theory sounds so sick, really really hope it ends up being true. Iirc, you got special capes for winning/losing the war in the first game too. would love to see those come back with these illuminate
I agree, we need more cape rewards specific to actions the community participates in.
Helldivers lore is like if Bungie saw Red Vs Blue and decided to make the story around the fans
I feel like the elimination of the illuminate would make a bit more sense the other way around, having obliterated the great eyes and banished what remains of the fleshy illuminate to the void as a “non issue”
Beyond that them reaching into a galaxy where they won for reinforcements sounds interesting, future will tell if it pans out as so
That's perfectly valid. I guess to me, it seems more likely that Super Earth would underestimate and write off a TRUE AI, especially if it was advanced enough to see the logical decision in deception and trying to pass itself off as a complete non-threat. The humans in Helldivers are very motivated to go to war with anything, especially if they feel they can gain something from it. Flesh and blood seems much more like something they can understand as a direct threat, and something to be gained from its eradication.
That would be interesting since it does beg the question of who the Illiminate are without the Great Eyes leading them.
Apparently, pretty messed up.
I wasn't familiar with Helldivers before the sequel, so I wasn't immediately aware of the Illuminate. However, once I learned about the Illuminate (before they returned), I always thought it was strange that the automatons and the terminids attacked almost at the same time. Once I learned about the Illuminate, I created this theory in my head that they were somehow helping the bots and bugs, and when people started seeing strange occurrences such as the blue lights, it only made that little thought in my head bigger.
It was kind of cool to actually hear someone talk about it.
Fantastic video, I was suspecting a lot of the points brought up but never actually looked into how everything fits together. Awesome job!
I'm glad you enjoyed it! It's been a fun ride so far piecing together the lore and I'm hoping to do a lot more!
They just added a "Spacetime Fluctuation Detector". This theory is starting to look even more plausible...
while the idea of a multiverse is cool i still think the theory that the Illuminate are trying to bring something from the past into the present is going to prove to be true in the end, one of the ones i personally hope is true is the idea that they are going to bring the Bosses from the first game back as a way to justify us fighting stuff like that again and again so each time we defeat a boss the Illuminate just grab it from the past again
Would also explain why the Illuminate seem a lot more ruthless than they were in the first war. This is before they became pacifists.
I never thought too much about the Illuminate, but you have opened my mind lol. If this is what actually is the case, that is just awesome story writing.
By the way, at 17:02, that's just an image of a regular planet we can fight on...
Thanks for watching! As far as I understand, that planet is NOT just a regular planet, it's the high res version that came out later in HD1's life and has the same land masses as the Super Earth planet that gets destroyed in the "Galactic War Lost" ending cutscenes.
I am not going to lie, I hate when a story goes into "haha, now everything lorewise is justified cuz we have 10002020438404 timelines that you have to keep up to know the lore!!!11!!!"
It just opens SO MANY plot holes, and also makes the story a pain to follow.
12:10 I actually believe that Super Earth (not saying they are evil) releases the bugs at the start of the war to ensure they had enough E7-10 to fight the war. (a completely just and worthy endeavor by super earth)
Well, they did a piss poor job then, cause look at the damage those bugs have caused! Now I’m not saying super earth is evil, but come on guys!
This all makes so much sense. First time a lot of this info has been put into good context by a TH-camr. Instant subscribe
Awwww, thanks so much! I do my best to be as accurate in actual known lore information as I humanly can, examine the environmental storytelling we see and how it fits in context of the in-game world, and then extrapolate that out into what it COULD mean. It's a really fun way to get to tell the lore and explore these worlds, for me at least. :p
I wonder if this is gonna lead to a whole thing of not just illuminate coming from the wormhole but the other factions who were also victorious. sure i do just want to see the cyborgs again and settle my score with the siegemech but it would be crazy to see all of those units again in the new artstyle.
I’m waiting on the hive lords to finaly come back up from the nests, every time I see their exoskeletons on the surface I get flashbacks. And I swear those exoskeletons have been slowly getting bigger since release
I've had this EXACT thought! It'd be such a fun and easy way to be able to bring in anything from the previous game, especially the conspicuously missing tougher enemies....
Imagine this is how they bring back kaiju boss fights.
Is this a new series call, “no , seriously, WTF is happening in Helldivers 2?”
It's not outside the realm of possibility....
There is no Helldivers 1 "multiverse". Every instance of the war in HD1 happens concurrent to each other, it's even said in the lore that even when the war is "won" Super Earth finds some trumped up reason to re-initiate hostilities with the factions involved, and when the war is lost they simply find another earth like world and continue the war from there. The idea would be really cool, but this is only a conclusion you can arrive at if you have not participated in a full war cycle in HD1.
Not saying these Illuminate CAN'T be from an alternate timeline, but I find the reasoning on this point is flawed.
why'd you have to go and say "trumped up"? Why try to draw parallels between real world politics and fiction? It only serves to divide the playerbase. I agree with the rest of your post though.
@@GoogleAccount-jn5qb "Trumped up" Is literally a phrase that goes back to the 18th century you rotbrained midwit, "trump" is a WORD, not just a NAME of some dumbass politician. YOU are the one whose brain has been poisoned into seeing everything as "political", which is hilarious given that Helldivers itself is explicitly a satire of Bush Era US foreign policy according to the word of Johann Pilestedt HIMSELF!
God, I am so tired of knee jerk babies who get all testy the moment they see something their under-educated and politically illiterate brains associate with braindead "culture war" discourse.
@@GoogleAccount-jn5qb THIS IS GOD TIER BAIT. It's got it all, feigning ignorance begging someone to correct you, a statement that would annoy both sides, and just randomly inserted political discourse
That was a well thought out and constructed theory, could you now face the wall
So your saying, the illuminate sabotaged the termicide, knowing it would make a super colony, forcing us to use the dark fluid?? i like this theory
Maybe not necessarily that, but I DO think the Illuminate handed over the dark fluid because they knew Super Earth wouldn't be able to resist using it, eventually resulting in a black hole. If the Illuminate themselves had attempted to use it, think about what Super Earth's response would have been considering that they started a war with the Illuminate on the idea that the Illuminate might have planet-destroying WMD's.
This is the EXACT theory I’ve been sharing for quite some time. Only difference is I thought about it after looking at Overseer corpses and noticing that unlike the Illuminate from before. These guys don’t sport an extra set of arms. In fact they just have a cavity in their chest right around where those arms would be. Which made me wonder if they’re an evolution beyond the Voteless, especially since they lead them on the frontlines. Illuminate value the lives of their members. Which makes sense why they wouldn’t want themselves dying. Not until they get a good idea on what they’re truly dealing with. That got me thinking about their tactics and wondering if they used the black hole to trace it back to our timeline because they appeared to be too ready for this sort of thing despite being a “peaceful race” unprepared for war that was defeated to near extinction 100 years ago. The way I see it, we’re two familiar yet new foes in uncharted territory sizing each other up for a another blood bath.
wtf are you aiming at with the harvesters? Why so low down on the legs? Do you not know the weakness?
The more I think about it the more I notice the illuminate as a faction(In mostly culture, technology, and ideology) are mostly like a combination of the forerunners, the covenant, AND the flood, taking traits of all 3 along with a couple sprinkles of other alien species(Like War of The Worlds and Mass Effect)
-Forerunners were tech wizards when it came to genetics and superweapons
-Both Mendicant Bias and the Gravemind are similar to that of the great eye, whereas the council represents that of both the prophets and the covenant council itself.
-Being leagues in both tech and knowledge above humanity
-The flood gather bodies and corpses to create biomass, Create more flood forms, or form a gravemind
-The Forerunners and Covenant both have shielding technology and plasma weaponry
-The Forerunners made reality tearing doohickeys as 5th grade science projects
-The Flood(Previously The Precursors) Have Access to Star Roads, basically a more cracked up form of FTL Travel.
-The Forerunners and the Covenant both had an insurmountable hatred for humanity at one point in time
-And probably a lot more that I don't have enough knowledge to elaborate effectively on
They may or may not(I'm not sure) have access to multiversal travel or time travel, but if Halo lore is anything to go by
The Illuminate are about to make the Skynet loving automatons look like rusty B1 Battle Droids with a half functioning tactical droid. I'm ready. *How bout you?!*
I will never obey your cat. Dogs Forever!
I cannot stress enough how much i love the genetic take you're suggesting here. This is some DAMN good lore
Thanks so much! I was stoked to see it was confirmed in-game as I was working on this video.
Illuminates have teleportation technology (Super Earth even reversed some of it in HD1 aka the Displacement field), it stands to reason that the wormhole is actually a portal for the Illuminates to attack from. However, I think Super Earth planned this from the get-go. The wormhole on Meredia is right beside the Terminates which would be the perfect set up for an ambush. Helldivers on 1 side with Terminates on the other is a death sentence.
Great theory! now turn around and face the wall.
Wow! This is a nice wall! Thanks for suggesting I take a look at i-
yo DAM u rly knowledgable about this i tought i heard a lot from other youtubers but wow theres so many things here that they just either forgot or never noticed/mentioned. amazing
Thanks so much! I really do my best to get everything as accurate as I humanly can.
One interesting aspect about the voteless that wasn't mentioned is that if you attack them with arc damage or melee to the head, they have unique death animations which suggests that they are still human deep down and are being mind controlled to a certain degree. Some of them do a Super Earth salute before collapsing, others will act confused about their surroundings or react in horror to their bodies.
A new (to me) Helldivers content creator for me to listen to? Sign me up!
This theory crafting video most certainly gives the same vibes as a Game Theory episode. Well made!
Holy shit, what a compliment! Thank you so much!
Interesting. Wicked interesting. So you're positing this war will be a war of victors. That's a very interesting concept, two armies who both won their respective wars coming back to the fight. The color theory tracks. I'm blown away! I hope this is true!
Thanks! It would be really fun to be right, but all the theories seem pretty equally viable to me at this point. I'm excited to see where it's going!
The illuminate in HD2 is basically COD zombies plus Alien. I love it
I absolutely love this theory, so rad.
Other side of the black hole?
It is a universe where my dad comes back home with the milk.
I'll admit, halfway through- but one idea could be that it truly was only A.I. that survived. They returned, and tried to transform the Voteless into pure Illuminate- but it has a high failure rate?
But the monoliths and black hole making the same sound is horrifying. Since the illuminate just don't have many units yet, I'm waiting to pop back in. And the fact I don't like the super credits system...
I actually had that EXACT thought about the Illuminate. That's actually where this script started, was posing the question that we see the Voteless and they seem almost like failed experiments. .....Are the Overseers the ones that succeeded?
The theory of another time-line is plausible, especially because Helldivers like to mix sci-fi tropes with real world speculative science. Like the warp drive is called the alcubiere drive. In that same vain one of the interpretation of general relativity is that a black hole is a wormhole to another universe/space-time continuum.
But everything you said could also be explained by just one simple fact. Super Earth is lying from the beginning. The canon ending is that they lost the first galactic war. It's weird how a they would have won a 3 front war, when one of the factions is so much more advanced than them. Hell they didn't even had FTL, so that would mean a massive disadvantage. The squid could do with earth and it's colony like the Reapers did with organic intelligent space faring civilizations after they cut out access to the mass relay network. They took isolated colonies one by one since they didn't had means to secure reinforcement and redeploy at galactic scale.
It's much more likely than they lost, earth was destroyed. But before losing they managed to get hold of parts of their technology. They flee the galaxy on some short of FTL Ark to one of dwarf galaxies neighboring the milk way or even Andromeda Galaxy. The refugees of the war settled in a earth like planet, founded the new super earth and rewrote history that they won. Now the squid found the survivors and want to finish the job. The ones coming from the south of the galaxy map are the vanguard fleet that took the long slow FTL path following the humans. Reaching from the edge of the new galaxy super earth migrated to. They want to open the wormhole to the main force coming from the milky way to come and annihilate humanity for good.
Was nice to find this little video and appreciate the theories! I know it was something that was told to us through dispatch during the Calypso operation, but they did mention that the Illuminate came through the black hole, more importantly now labeled as a worm hole from the Turing research center. Again, it's super earth comms so it's always grain of salt.
I've got some of my own theories swimming around in the ol' mind palace. Very curious to see where things go. One true sentiment, however, is the Illuminate are now, instead of just a defensive force, a force of war and vengeance. And that will change the face of their tactics and how they mold their units and equipment to boot. Seeing this transformation, along with that similar of the Cyborgs to the Automatons, is intersting enough to me. How does a society change when pushed to the brink?
Thanks for watching! Do you have any sources for screenshots of that in-game communication that confirms they came through the black hole?
I'm afraid I may have missed something major, because I just went back through all the mission briefings from Calypso onward, and everything I'm seeing says the first incursion is unknown in it's source, but assumed to be survivors of the first war. And changes in the singularity didn't start happening until days after.
Thanks so much for watching and commenting! I'm totally not trying to be like "nuh-uh," I've just been playing the whole time and am trying to figure out what I missed and how.
@@Jo_Plays_Games I had read it in the dispatches, I believe during the Calypso offensive. It was up for a very short amount of time. Something that I'm not able to find is a great list of Dispatches, though the MO's have been written out fairly well by the community.
I could have sworn I had it in my list of pictures but I didn't take an image, and nor did my friends it seems. It's also entirely possible they had it out and pulled it because it wasn't the correct theorum anyway? I don't know. Been looking for over an hour to see if I can find anything and not having luck. Not sure if you have a better source for Dispatches at all.
Apparently it was in the patch notes as like, meta info. I might do some prodding on this. I trust Arrowhead communications FAR more than Fatshark, but even Fatshark has gotten details that are supposed to be brief recaps outright wrong in their own blogs about things. So I'm curious if this was something that was a little fudged by accident, or if that's really what we're supposed to take at face value, because none of the in-game communications have conveyed that.
And now the fluctuations on the radars are ever so slightly bigger around Meridia.
i think some of the points you make are a stretch
but I really really like the theory of the wormhole leading to the alternate timeline where the illuminate won the war
Some of the things toward the end are thrown in because I noticed them and I know other people have. I don't necessarily think they actually mean anything. Except the disparity between HD1 Super Earth and HD2 Super Earth. They cannot be the same planet and I will DIE on that hill.
got on helldivers, there are currently spacetime fluctuations, you were right
We'll see!
The supply links are almost gone one left, i parked my destroyer at the black hole to be the first line of defence with many others wish us luck.
Omg I really hope the multiverse theory comes true, that would be so cool!
honestly it makes sense the illuminate were seeing currently are the "remnants" from the first war that's why there only guerilla attacking planets and bothering with voteless they currently don't have manpower (which explains severe lack of variety) those things they build are prob meant to somehow power some slip space portal or some so the "other" illuminates can fully join the war i can totally see this good take
I think on the other side of that wormhole… are worms.
On one hand I don't want ANY Super Earth taken over and destroyed. But on the other I sure hope Meridia leads to an alternate reality where the Squids were never eradicated so that I and my fellow divers CAN SHOW THEM THE RASTE OF TRUE DEFEAT!!! iO
It's a amazing theory, but personaly I believe that most likely the whole Illuminate race comes from another Galaxy, and that the Illuminate fought in the First Galactic War were actually small colonies of the Illuminate in the Milky Way.
Personally, I'm with you. But I honestly feel like this is a strong contender, especially since Arrowhead has said that they're not going to reset the HD2 galactic war map.
I believe the illuminate's "religion" revolves around some kind of biomechanical being, A La the Mechanicus from 40k.
The harvesters are not robots, at least not completely. They bleed, and have some fleshy substance below their armor. I'm excited to see how they evolve
Arrowhead are BIG 40k fans! I honestly do wonder if it IS the AI they worship.
Im ngl I thought they were robots.
The recent “Spacetime fluctuations” have made this seem more and more plausible.
Absolute banger from Jo once again!!🔥🔥🔥
Awww, thank you!
This is all really interesting, we'll have to see how it all unfolds in-game
I'm very excited to see where it's going. Arrowhead has said that the Illuminate are up to something "mysterious" that will unfold over the next few months.
This is super cool and I'm happy to learn about this but DARKTIDE EVENT!!!!
I plan to make a short about that and also talk a little about the events of 2024!
Said it before, I'll say it again. Squids are trying to summon Cthulu on us.
Honestly I've considered this one, that they're going to bring in their horrifying Space God, and if that is what happens I'm 100% here for it.
If after the "OBEY MY CAT" it was just a bunch of meows and a cat paw hitting the subscribe button, I'd subscribe.
I think there is a little plot hole in the lore of helldivers:
How did humanity expand and explore the galaxy, colonize planets, meet the terminids and all of that before 2044 if supposedly they stole the FTL technology from the illuminate at the end of the first galactic war in 2084?? They even name the engine for achieving FTL travel as the Alcubierre drive, which is a real theoretical HUMAN engine
But idk
Eh, clearly Squid propaganda you heard there. Sure, maybe Illuminate technology helped improve FTL technology, but we certainly didn't need them to have it in the first place.
They used the Alcubierre drive, a warp drive, before 2084. However, it took so much fuel that it was highly impractical. When they realized illuminate had tech that didn’t warp, but LITERALLY propelled you faster than light, they took it, because it ran on element 710, a much more efficient power source. However, since it’s not a warp drive, it has to have its path cleared of debris, or it would crash into something at FTL speeds. Thats why there are supply lines in the second game, basically lanes of clear space where it’s safe to go FTL.
@ but they still use the alcubierre drive in helldivers 2 that’s why I think it’s a plot hole
They probably just kept the name the same to take credit for it lol
@@diegotepalmaYou know too much… Yes, this person right here Democracy Officer!
We had FTL tech, but it was probably less effective then the Illuminate tech. My way of explaining it
My theory is as follows: I think the Illuminates are gonna summon a massive mothership and rapid deploy the main forces onto planets. So that if Super Earth loses then the war will reset, when the War resets it’ll be a different universe so to speak and the Illuminates are gonna continue their plans of multi universal conquest in a cycle essentially allowing the war to reset consistently.
1:27 the great eye isnt 1 super computer
and also its not the leader its more like just a big advanced monitoring system for a bank
You're a kid now, you're a squid now!
Things to note
The Illuminate were pacifist that refused to give all their tech to Super Earth when demanded, so SE decided to lie that they had WMDs to declare war and steal all their tech.
The "magic" in the first game was explained as being nanites
Super Earth doesn't control the galaxy, it's literally impossible for them to have wiped out the squ'ith or exiled them from "the galaxy"
We blew up The Great Eye at the end of the first galactic war
Holy shit, the first galactic war lasted 40 years? Brutal
Ye. I believe HD1 is only the final year or so of the first galactic war, though.
@@Jo_Plays_Gamesyep, there's text in helldivers 1 saying the first galactic war went on for 40 years before we arrived to start fighting.
I love this video but I think i should report this to my Democracy Officer 🤫
Naaaaaawwwwwwww, he doesn't need to know.
Given the number of variations in Super Earth history and current Super Earth logos and materials... it kinda seems like maybe every time our ships do an FTL jump we may be winding up in a slightly different universe and we just don't notice - the drives are calibrated well enough to keep things almost exactly the same, but minor variations creep in over time, particularly as crew are added or removed. _That_ would explain the inconsistencies AND why the Ministry of Truth keeps information so regulated.
Dude the alternate universe idea is such a good idea holy shit, it gives the excuse for them to do a warbond with more HD1 equipment, or after a while a defeated super earth contacts us to help defeat their occupier.
The helldivers 2 in game earth is a placeholder. Because we arent planned to be able to go there yet they did not properly model the planet and it is using a default planet map seed
So they put in a place holder that looks exactly like the irl planet Earth, in the Sol system, with our training taking place on the next nearby habitable planet of Mars, and set the intro cinematic in the Great Lakes area while voicing over it with "Super Earth," ......by coincidence?
@@Jo_Plays_Games Was referring to the zoomed in planet map (the one you see when choosing a planet operation) you showed in the video. Will find timestamp in a second
watched this video yestertday and thougth it was cool theory but probably unlikely to happen, now i'm starting to be fully on board with it lol
I could not have put this video out at a better time if I tried.
Absolute freaking BANGER of a video
Thanks so much!
I've always thought the illumate were from a timeliness where they won, I'm glad I'm not alone with that lol
I think the ones we're fighting right now are truly from this same universe/timeline we've been playing in, but I think they have a MUCH more advanced concept of string theory than Super Earth does and knows that there's another version of Illuminate out there that stand a chance to come in and destroy their enemies.
Idk, given how different and more geared towards war the Illuminate in Helldiver's 2, I don't think they're the ones who won.
@@samiamtheman7379 Could that also be why they won? Maybe going all out on Super-Earth the first time was enough to eek out an Illuminate victory.
@Jo_Plays_Games no matter how many squids they bring they will still fall to democracy!
Does also seem kind of interesting now that just one day out of the blue the TCS on Meridia failed so catastrophically that the only feasible way to stop it was to deploy the dark fluid
They definitely had something to do with it, Their knowledge of genetics would make them able to cause the Terminids to rapidly mutate to form a super colony in a day
I LOVE this theory
Also a bunch of Martian Tripods coming out of UFOs everytime I see one.