Story Speculation - Theory Crafting (SPOILER THREAD)

[quinch1199]

THIS WILL BE A SPOILER THREAD!!

...you have been warned. Contains theory crafting around the story of The Division 2, its factions, interactions as well as referencing in-game audio/video/visual collectables & hints. 

All posts below are unbound and can contain any possible spoilers as needed for an open discussion about the story in the game. 

 

[quinch1199]

I set this thread up so we can have a get together to discuss the story in the game, where its going, what's happened so far and to generally throw our conspiracy theorys around. This might also promote a new love of a story line which has, so far, been skipped over.

 - Don your tin-foil hats

- Get your documents ready

- Break out the ouija boards

- Grab your pentigram maps of DC

...lets go! 

Where's Nicolas Cage when you need him?

 

[quinch1199]

Both the president and the vice president are dead. De-facto (unelected) president is the speaker of the house, soon left the White House to effectively join the Black Tusks!

As of now, in the end game the USA has no government. This poses some heavy questions. 

Clearly the vice president was murdered (voice log proven). I strongly suspect the president was also murdered, a sudden heart attack?  He was in his 70's but that likely makes it easier to fabricate IMO. The Speaker confirmed as a Black Tusk collaborator/Agent. 

Who now gives orders to Division Agents? There appears to be no civilian morale compass for the Division Agency now..perhaps a minor issue given the rest of the issues around!

Hyena's were armed by the Black Tusks in an attempt to perpetuate the instability between the three main DC factions as well. 

However, before we get onto the Black Tusks in more detail. A VERY interesting nugget I found on good old Reddit about the True Sons:

"the true sons knew about the (impending) black tusk invasion, ..... head on over to the Lincoln memorial and look at the giant map in the war room, this is a story mission you play before it all goes down so they obviously knew, they even set up and underground logistic route to avoid the plan of assault of the black tusks"

Considering the True Son's were PMC/Rogue Military, is it possible they found out about this "invasion" long before the game even starts? Was this the catalyst for Ridgeway to want to funnel away material and men? Consider this, Ridgeway was a respected military leader before he went "Rogue", if he found out about this issue...perhaps he couldn't feel ANY of the civilian leaders at the time would believe him and given the situation and the fact he was given all the men and materials he really needed, its very possible that he acted in a way to firstly fully contain those civilians under his control (by blocking up the quarantine areas), then mobalising his forces with the aim to resist the incoming invasion force? Sure, to someone outside, his methods seemed insane but in hindsight perhaps this was one of the few courses of action he could take??

He had (in theory) the military manpower to resist a major enemy incursion/invasion BUT his assets are all tied up guarding and maintaining a civilian population. Time is short and there's a mix of no one else he could trust and civilian leaders unwilling to listen. 

Then...Division Agents get mobilised and take his structure down from the inside BEFORE the Black Tusks arrive??!! Then who stands to defend against them? 

Mmmm...convenient that the final act is to take down the True Son's isn't it? Who ordered it? Ellis? Sure he did...and now we find out he's actually part of the plan.

Who are the Black Tusks? They seem homegrown, have high tech gear. Some clear USMC equipment as well...you can't HIDE hover craft that are bigger than the USMC LCAC's without some significant infrastructure. 

 

[quinch1199]

So who might the Black Tusks be? Plenty of conjecture before they were in the game...some after....that they were a foreign power (China/Russia) but there appears no evidence in-game for this. Some options have greater weight than others though:

 - A Covert US Government Black Ops Paramilitary Agency option - 

This is the most likely scenario but still has holes in it. Not least the, how do you hide such a clearly VAST military budget expendature (and DARPA links) and all the men/woman/material that they seem to have had immediately to hand, issue. However, they appear to be American accented, have close ties to "acting" president Ellis & known to the CIA (the two agents who murdered the vice president must have had prior contact with BTSU). However, which faction or what was the purpose of their Agency BEFORE the apocalyptical scenario we find oureselves in? 

One theory I've been presented with and, which seems actually pretty likely, is that "Black Tusk" is a ... clean up ... Agency. We have Directive 51, using The Division to use armed paramilitary embedded Agents to directly and aggressively restore order and governmental control after a national disaster.

However, what if the fear was The Division needed a counter measure. What if, Division Agents went Rogue, didn't lay down their arms, or hand over control, what if...things got out of control so far The Division just couldn't contain it. 

...not to point fingers but...that's exactly what happened! *shock*

What happens then? Well, the idea is that Black Tusk is the Agency that goes in to clean up. Civilian Militia, Rioters, looters, unrecognised paramilitary factions and also Division Agents still active OR Rogue...all...Cleaned...up. The idea of wiping the slate clean in one final swoop using a highly trained and techologically advanced force in numbers seems to have appealed to Ellis for sure, as long as he was the one placed in charge at the end.

 - A military coup d'etat option - 

Next down is a simple coup d'etat. Whilst this leads into the first option nicely, it seems not to have been instigated  (as we know yet) by a military leader...rather a political one. No reason however to expect this to not turn into a military coup in the end though. Betrayal is a key element in this world.

- Foreign Invasion option - 

On face value this seemed a likely scenario, with plenty of possible background (including Russian involvement in the development of the Influenza virus). Firstly, the mass of material having NOT been hidden in the US itself but a military invasion from somewhere like China or Russia via bases in South America seemed very plausable and likely as there would be no need to hide these assets as such. The budget issues also can be explained better if this is actually a military from another country.

Unfortunately this seems to be dispelled by the nature of the "invaders" in the game, who all seem to have impeccable American accents....or are they too impeccable? Is it that the leaders are just highly trained Foreign Agents to present a familiar face to the population and those they work with as traitors in the US?

 

[genedjr]

Wow - now you got me wanting to review all the items I have collected.  Great write-up.

I look forward to much more.

...gene

 

[RimBlock]

But who Black Tusks the Black Tusks....  :51_scream:

Are we back to the old lady who swallowed the fly...

 

[quinch1199]

But who Black Tusks the Black Tusks....  :51_scream:

Are we back to the old lady who swallowed the fly...

Either we don't know why ... or 

..Alice is falling down a large rabbit hole.

 

[Oh. daesu]

But who Black Tusks the Black Tusks....  :51_scream:

Are we back to the old lady who swallowed the fly...

Ask me a riddle and I reply, cottleston cottleston cottleston pie.

But anyway, I can't see the Black Tusks being run by foreign actors. The dialogue and manipulation all sound like domestic hands working from the shadows.

The BTSU seem to be made up of black ops types than straight paramilitary. Their dialogue doesn't sound typical military in the same way as True Sons or for that matter, LMB.

The antiviral seems like a tool to manipulation. Restricting its distribution to those who play ball once the regime is in place.

The BTSU are being run without knowledge of their true masters. That in itself leaves the door open to them being betrayed. A bit of a parallel to the LMB.

So the question moves more towards who are the shadowy hands directing the BTSU.

Aaron Keener was the player in NYC. Using the factions for his own schemes. His dialogue doesn't sound like he is directly involved in running the BTSU, nor would he have the means to form equip and direct such a force. His dialogue sounds more like he is doing his own thing. Nor have I heard that he has been involved in the spread of the virus, considering he escaped NYC with the means to print the virus or maybe seek to print a new strain.

And if the BTSU is to use the antiviral for their own leverage, then there doesn't seem to be any signs Aaron's printing relating.

So I have the vibe he isn't a main player in this chapter of DC. Only a bogeyman at this junction. He seems to be motivated by anarchy, lamenting the dropping of the quarantine of NYC. Whereas the shadowy masters of the BTSU seem to be more of a fascist regime power move.

Edit: forgot to add;

Does anyone one think that Kelso is truly the white knight, or will turn and work for the BTSU? 

She has expressed he lack of regard for politicians, though she liked the way Ellis talked about "getting the job done" and that he had an antiviral (BTSU leverage).

 

[quinch1199]

Ooooo... Linking to the fact that the Tom Clancy universe is all linked....

BTSU = Ghost Recon.

*ouch* That'll hurt in the feels! 

Ghost Recon units are military but not typical as they're Tier One/SEAL operatives. There's (in theory) a decent number of them spread around the world on various ops. External Ops are likely to have been cancelled and GR units recalled following NYC. They have the assests available...and off-shore initially so potentially have access to the equipment we've seen. 

...if we see BTSU using stealth suits in a future DLC I'm calling it!!

Kelso, there's good support for her being at least a double agent. Jury is out for me as I'm not sure how much is just poor writing/bad animation lol 

Keener - I still, actually, hold out hope that he's going to turn out to be some form of Anti-hero in DC, rolling in with a handful of 1st wave Agents to take out the last paramilitary coup threat before leaving again.