Hey all, just wanted to make a brief post talking about this little detail in the Totenreich intro as I haven't seen many people mentioning it. During the start of the cutscene after Grey shoots out the eye-window of the robot head they were teleported to, Richtofen says the following while looking over his former Norwegian stepping grounds:
RICHTOFEN: It can't be… this place is mein legacy. The result of that verdammt deal–
(Note that the auto captions interpreted "verdammt" as "rotten' deal, but the general jist is the same)
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As many now by this point, all of the BO7 player characters have been in contact with some sort of power within the Dark Aether that concentrated their essence. For Requiem, it's generally believed to be the Sentinel Artifact teleporting them into the Dark Aether at the end of Reckoning. As for the new crew, they've all had their own unique interactions. Dempsey bonded with a demon in Vietnam and briefly turned into an Elder Disciple, Nikolai bonded with the demon "Toor Bala" (Black Spirit in Pashtun), and Takeo's katana seems to be inhabited by some sort of spirit that he speaks to privately. But the one we've known the least about is Richtofen… until now.
My first thought was that of the old Kino der Toten poster of "Faust", which is probably pretty familiar to those who've been following Zombies since BO1. But, for those uninformed, this poster is referencing the tale of Faust, a German man who sought to gain unlimited knowledge. To do this, he makes a deal with the devil, who in this tale known as Mephistopheles (Infinite Warfare fans will immediately recognize this name). His soul, for all the knowledge of the world. This story is one of the most famous stories involving a "deal with the devil", to the point where many use the term "Faustian bargain" to describe trading ones soul for power, knowledge, or some other worldly desire.
You probably can guess where I'm going with this. Richtofen very likely made a deal with some sort of demon/entity to obtain much of the knowledge/technology that he helped develop for the war effort. But what was the end result of that? Besides giant robots, atomic bombs and presumably other technologies, according to Richtofen in that quote I brought up, it is the very town itself that Totenreich takes place in.
We know that this village ended up in the Dark Aether due to whatever happened here with 935. Those few who survived attempted to hold out the hordes of the dead, but seemingly fell one by one, like so many other souls who've been thrust through dimensional veil. And yet during the chaos, one factor remained unaccounted for. As stated in one of the teasers,
"This island is now a place of nightmares.[…] Oberst-Gruppenführer Richtofen remains unaccounted for."
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If you're familiar at all with the idea of a Faustian bargain, they usually don't end up very well. When all's said and done, your soul will be claimed by a demon, and you'll be in their grasp for eternity. Richtofen's a smart guy, he'd obviously know there'd be some sort of price to pay for making a deal with the devil. And knowing Richtofen, the man who in another timeline claimed to "always" have a plan, there's no way he wouldn't try to weasel his way out of such a bargain.
One thing that's remained consistent about Richtofen is that in pretty much every timeline, he's put his own needs over the needs of the many. Ultimis Richtofen manipulated his crew into helping him enter the MPD and gain the ultimate power, leading to the destruction of the Earth. Primis Richtofen allowed himself and his crew to perpetuate the Cycle so that they'd continue to survive at the cost of the billions trapped in the Aether's suffering. Eddie established Project Janus and created S.A.M. with the goal of resurrecting his family at the cost of Liberty Falls, an entire town of people. When the man wants something, he'll do whatever he needs to get it, no matter how many people get hurt or lose their lives.
We're not entirely sure how specifically this little fishing town ended up in the Dark Aether, other than 935's experiments having something to do with it. It could be anything, a failed attempt at teleportation, a simple Dark Aether breach, or something else. But I propose the following: Richtofen may have been directly responsible for ripping Totenreich into the Dark Aether, and he may have done it on purpose as an attempt of getting out of his Faustian bargain. After all, what's one soul compared to the dozens, if not hundreds of people that were working/living in this village? As to how he accomplished this, or if this is even true, we'll have to wait and see when the map comes out. But I'll leave you with one last quote from Richtofen in Ashes when he uses Aether Shroud which I feel fits this motivation.
RICHTOFEN: "I will use whatever dark magic befits my goals…"
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Let me know what you all think of this theory, or if you have any other ideas as to the details of Richtofen's bargain, like who he might've bargained with in the first place.