Why The Engineers Were Heading To Earth

Summary

• The Engineers in
  Prometheus
  created humanity, saw them as failed, and planned to wipe them out with advanced technology.
• David, an android and artificial creation of humanity, wanted to overcome creator status quo, signaling humans playing God and their impending downfall.
• Alien: Covenant
  hints Engineers could have used Black Goo as a bioweapon to eradicate humanity on Earth.

In Ridley Scott’s 2012 sci-fi mystery, Prometheus, the Engineers were heading to Earth — and while it’s strongly insinuated that their voyage didn’t bode well for humanity, the true reasons for their journey have been a consistent question raised by viewers. However, the central themes that pervade both Prometheus and its 2017 sequel, Alien: Covenant, help understand what the Engineers want. Both movies deal with the fraught relations between creator and creation, reflecting a classic tussle for power between the two.

Prometheus follows a human expedition headed by archaeologists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green), wherein humanity seeks knowledge about belief, immortality, and death from beings that appear god-like in comparison to mortals. When they arrive, they uncover many truths about the origins of humanity, the Engineer’s role and the black goo they used to create the dominant species on Earth, and why the ancient race of extra-terrestrial super-beings wanted to return to revisit their creation.

What The Engineers Are In Prometheus And Alien: Covenant

The Ancient Aliens Are Responsible For Humanity Itself

In the simplest terms, the Engineers in Prometheus are the beings that created human kind. The opening shot of Prometheus features an unforgettable sequence wherein an Engineer named Sacrifice drinks the black goo — which was later discovered by the android, David, on LV-223 — from an urn to create humanity itself, which is accomplished through an act of literal disintegration. The ritualistic sacrifice of this particular Engineer carries religious undertones that are subtly hinted at throughout Prometheus.

This thematic intertwining of sci-fi and faith becomes especially prevalent when it is revealed that an Engineer was sent to Earth to prevent humanity from being consumed by cruelty and aggression (with the movie insinuating that this Engineer and his actions were the truth behind the Bible’s version of Jesus Christ). Although very little is known about these beings, their origins, and motivations, it is established that Engineers are a primordial species, with access to cutting-edge technology, which also involved genetic engineering.

The crew of the UCSS Prometheus, especially Peter Weyland, likely doomed humanity when they encounter the Engineers. Weyland wishes to prolong his lifespan, and demands so from his maker, without a clear understanding of the core beliefs of the alien race. What ensues is a reversal of the creator-creation dynamic in Blade Runner, as here, the primordial creator views Weyland’s request as a fall from grace, which is an indication of failure as a race that does not deserve redemption. Prior to this, Weyland’s daughter, Vickers, questions his hubris, driving the point home: “A king has his reign, and then he dies. It’s inevitable.”

Why The Engineers Were Returning To Earth

The Creators Of Humanity Wanted To Destroy It

Engineers could create life on planets like Earth, but they did so with a deliberate purpose and goal — even if their reasons are beyond the understanding of humanity. The act of sacrifice that led to the creation of humanity at the start of Prometheus can almost be seen as an engineer acting as “a gardener in space”.

Ridley Scott himself likened this superior race to the dark angels in Milton’s Paradise Lost and the symbolic etchings of William Blake. Hence, the reason why the Engineers were heading to Earth was to annihilate the human race, possibly with the aid of the bioweapons they had created. This could be triggered either by the multifaceted transgressions committed by humans over the span of a millennium, or a specific event that warranted the Engineers to disavow and eradicate mankind as a whole.

It is also interesting to note that in Prometheus, David, who is a creation of man, does everything to usurp the creator-creation status quo, going as far as to say “Doesn’t every child want their parents dead?” This ties in with humans entering the space age, which eventually propels the events of 2089, which is essentially a quest to play God themselves.

What Would Have Happened If The Engineers Reached Earth?

While Details Are Hazy, The Consequences Would Have Been Apocalyptic

Exactly what would happen if the Engineers reached Earth isn’t clear, at least when it comes to the specifics. However, it’s certain that it wouldn’t have been good for Humanity. Given how advanced the technology of the Engineers is, it’s all-but-guaranteed they could have achieved their goal of wiping out the dominant species they created — and it probably wouldn’t have been that challenging for them either. The unknowns aren’t what the Engineers would have done when they arrived, but how they would do it.

This is where the events of the Prometheus sequel, Alien: Covenant, may shed some light. In Covenant, David is revealed to have wiped out a village of Engineers using the Black Goo, proving how potent it could be as a bioweapon. This could have been what the Engineers were planning but on a smaller scale. What’s more, the ease with which David was able to commit a localized genocide more than proves the Engineers would have been capable of the same on a planetary scale.

Future movies in the Alien franchise may also elaborate further on the Engineers, their plans for Earth, and the way they’d go about culling Humanity. The Black Goo returned in Alien: Romulus, and the most recent Alien film showed what the mysterious substance is capable of. In Romulus, the Weyland-Yutani corporation had been conducting experiments with the Black Goo, hoping to use it to evolve and elevate Humankind.

Unfortunately, their meddling produced nothing but monstrous beings. However, this could have been the deliberate purpose of the Black Goo all along. It’s entirely possible the Engineers would have wiped out Humanity by devolving the entire species into primal monsters — leaving them alive, but removing any possibility that Humans could ever reach the levels of technology and power the Engineers seemed to fear they would during Prometheus.