Prometheus & Alien Covenant: Waffling about Nephilim

 leading from 

Prometheus: Afterthoughts

and

Alien: Covenant

and

Prometheus: Jon Spaihts the Scriptwriter

 

 

Engineer concept art for Prometheus by Carlos Huante

 

a) Prometheus: The Engineers as Nephilim

a.i) Jon Spaihts drew on Old Testament tales of the Nephilim

Jon Spaihts found that in his explorations into the Engineers for his Alien Engineers script, he was looking into the old Testament finding all kinds of fantastic stuff about the beings known as the Nephilim. 

They seemed to be a sort of giants who dwelt among humanity. 

They were powerful, were teachers and sired children with the human race to create a breed of more angelic or noble beings who would become leaders amongst the human race. 

So for Spaihts this seemed to be fertile mythology for the Alien story

1. Jon Spaihts:My script delved somewhat deeper into the mythological and biblical ramifications of the discovery  (14:00) of the Engineers. There's all kinds of fantastic stuff in the old testament about the... the Nephilim, er these sort of giants who dwelt among humanity, um, in the early pages of the bible, were powerful, were teachers and sired children with humanity er to create er er er a breed of more angelic or more noble beings who were leaders among us. So that seemed very fertile mythology for our Alien story,  (See: Transcript for Script Apart podcast Episode 41: Prometheus with Jon Spaihts)

 

Jon Spaihts

a.ii) Concept artist Carlos Huante's thoughts on the Nephilim

Thinking about the work he was to do on the Engineers, Carlos was conscious of the idea that these giants were like what he had read about the the Nephilim and the fallen angels in the bible and they were created beings by these other aliens that had created these giants to infect humanity by mixing with them was like the old biblical story. 

See Prometheus : Carlos Huante's Engineer concept art

1. “I was gathering from what I was reading that obviously, they called it Paradise Lost. So It was going to be a science fiction version of Paradise Lost and that’s what I was kind of gathering even from the time we were working on Prometheus is that these are giants like the Nephilim, the created beings by these other aliens that had created these giants to infect humanity by mixing with them that’s kind of the old biblical story. The fallen angels and the Nephilim, and that’s what I thought he was trying to tell. And I thought ‘Man, this could be the coolest thing ever. No one would ever go into this area of the bible’…and then as in Paradise Lost David would essentially become the devil.”(https://hnentertainment.co/exclusive-alien-covenant-creature-designer-carlos-huante-talks-details-of-elizabeth-shaws-original-role-davids-army-of-meerkats-and-a-fight-between-xenomorph-neomorphs/)

Carlos Huante

a.iii)  LA Marzuli connects Prometheus with ideas to do with the Nephilim

Ancient Aliens Theorist LA Marzuli took note of Prometheus and saw it as the return of the Nephilim, complete with genetric manipulation, and hybrids. 

 

He watched Alex Jones video on the movie in which Jones warned the public that it was the end game of the Illuminati elite,  and would quickly decide that there was a Nephilim connection.

 

Marzuli had been beating this drum for years, and it was the central theme of all his books.

See: Ancient Alien theoriest L A Marzulli on Prometheus

LA Marzuli

 

 

b) Alien Covenant

 

b.i) Carlos Huante's view on David the android creating Nephelim

Going by the early script that he read for Paradise , it looked to Carlos as if David was going to become the devil who had taken over Paradise and was now creating the Nephilim, his hybrids and he was even starting to do experiments on some of the engineers.

Carlos also understood back in Prometheus, there was still no evidence that the Engineers had anything to do with Earth through the whole film but for some reason, everyone was stupid enough to say 'They created us" because it had similar DNA.

He found the ideas there stupid.

b.ii) His understanding of the Nephilim through the bible

 

As a man who had discovered God after a personal experience, he took an interest in the bible and

assumed the film was about the fallen angels and the Nephilim from the bible.

 

As an audience member, he thought about David's story in terms of the Genesis story of the Nephillim which was about fallen angels rather than demons.

 

These fallen angels removed their state to be able to mate with humans using technology.

 

Carlos realised that at the time that they were working on Prometheus, these giants were like the Nephilim from the bible, and the created beings by these other aliens that had created these giants to infect humanity by mixing with them was like the old biblical story. 

 

b.iii) David the android becoming more Nephilim himself

However he thought that it was as if David was more of a Nephillim hmself, as if he creating life in his own image in an abominable way because he cannot reproduce like humans can.

See: "Alien Covenant: The plot of "Paradise Lost"

 

1.  Carlo Huante:  I didn’t know if it’s what Ridley was going for, that David was going to become the Devil but that’s what it was sounding like that he was the Devil that got ahold of Paradise and he’s now creating his Nephilim, his hybrids, and he even started to do experiments on some of the Engineers. It’s wrong in many ways, right, that the creation of the creation has come in to dominate you…story-wise back to Prometheus there was still no evidence that Engineers had anything to do with Earth through the whole film but for some reason, everyone was stupid enough to say ‘They created us’ because it has similar DNA..There was a lot of stupid talk in those movies.”(https://hnentertainment.co/exclusive-alien-covenant-creature-designer-carlos-huante-talks-details-of-elizabeth-shaws-original-role-davids-army-of-meerkats-and-a-fight-between-xenomorph-neomorphs/)
   
2.  Studio Yutani: If you could decide how you would like a third alien prequel to go, how would you progress the story and what creature or creatures would you have featured in the film?

   Carlos Huante: Well just as a member of the audience  i want David dead.. heheh.. he’s a menace and the mirror of his creators shortcomings. The story of David to me is the Genesis story of The Nephillim. About how fallen angels / not demons .. the fallen angels removed the their state to be able to mate with humans.. using technology? Not unlike David.. Although David is more of a Nephillim himself.. he’s a creation creating life in his own image in an abominable way because he cannot reproduce like humans can.. so he produces things that mirror his interests and shortcomings.. if a human is born from faulty parents a he or she can still overcome those challenges and do something great.. but if you are a programmed being?.That being said i would like the Ultramorph to show up and there to be the revenge of the Engineers on David. (https://yutani.studio/carlos-huante-alien-day-2020-interview/)
   

3. HN: That was more of a hypothesis since it was never confirmed [in Prometheus].
   
   Carlo Huante: “There’s no reason to think that and then Charlie’s idea that ‘Anyone can create life. All you need is DNA’… well, that’s not ‘all you need’ that’s a huge one. You’re supposed to be a scientist.”
   
   “I was gathering from what I was reading that obviously, they called it Paradise Lost. So It was going to be a science fiction version of Paradise Lost and that’s what I was kind of gathering even from the time we were working on Prometheus is that these are giants like the Nephilim, the created beings by these other aliens that had created these giants to infect humanity by mixing with them that’s kind of the old biblical story. The fallen angels and the Nephilim, and that’s what I thought he was trying to tell. And I thought ‘Man, this could be the coolest thing ever. No one would ever go into this area of the bible’…and then as in Paradise Lost David would essentially become the devil.”
   
   “But I still don’t know where that movie was going because I don’t know if a third one is going to get made. But there were other creatures in there, there were supposed to be a bunch of experimental creatures…Neomorphs, the giant engineer creature, the many failed experiments of David, and the Primitive Xenomorph .”(https://hnentertainment.co/exclusive-alien-covenant-creature-designer-carlos-huante-talks-details-of-elizabeth-shaws-original-role-davids-army-of-meerkats-and-a-fight-between-xenomorph-neomorphs/)