Jump to content
ApornasPlanet

Immortality of Kane and immortality in sci-fi in general

Recommended Posts

How come Kane has been around for thousands of yearts as he claims? Why didn't he get more hurt by the ion canon blast by the end of TD?

Do we know any of Westwoods lore reasons for his immortality? I want theories!

What are some common ways of doing immortaly in sci-fi? I mean there must be a lot of different takes on it. Doesn't Paul Atreidies become sort of immortal in Dune? Or at least he recieves great powers. What are your thoughts?

Share this post


Link to post

It goes both with the EALA story of him being an alien and the biblical theme of Cain from Genesis (who was condemned to a life of wandering in the Land of Nod after killing his own brother, Abel).

However, a particular line in the Bible makes things all the more interesting (Genesis 4:15):

Quote

15And the Lord said to him, "Therefore whoever kills Cain shall suffer sevenfold vengeance." And the Lord set a mark upon Cain so that whoever found him would not slay him.

It's in everyone's best interest not to kill him ;)

  • Upvote 1

Share this post


Link to post

Yeah that's true! I relly like the allusion to the biblical figure even though I would like to think of Kane as another sort of being. He is not fully human that's for sure.

If he's not the biblical figure then he is either an alien or a human that somehow got supernatural powers. Are there any theories of aliens posing as humans since he has a human appearance? If it's the later from what could he have recieved supernatural powers? There must be a lot of different sci-fi stories out there with similar figures. If anyone could tip me of that would be great.

I'm interested in different theories that could explain Kane. He and the origin of tiberium never got explained in TD or TS.

Share this post


Link to post
6 hours ago, ApornasPlanet said:

Why didn't he get more hurt by the ion canon blast by the end of TD?

So this is the end of Tiberian Dawn:

Kv8ZXrg.jpg

Now look what he does here (start at 1:30) :

Kane survives because he is able to leave this world before damage reaches him

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post

If that were the case, he wouldn't have wounds under his mask nor a limp throughout TS, FS and KW Act 1.

  • Upvote 1

Share this post


Link to post

Because in the first game he wasnt gone fast enough

Its not like they actually planned for him to survive the ion blast, but when they made a second game, they came up with a simple explanation, which is that he could make himself disappear away

Edited by AppleHat

Share this post


Link to post
19 hours ago, AppleHat said:

So this is the end of Tiberian Dawn:

Kv8ZXrg.jpg

Now look what he does here (start at 1:30) :

Kane survives because he is able to leave this world before damage reaches him

And how would you explain that? How can he do that? Because he's not human or  because of stuff he's learnt from the alien derelict? I do agree that it looks like he can dissolve himself in the TS Nod ending. But are there any sci-fi theories that could explain how? That's what I'm after. 
 

Share this post


Link to post

I think the idea was that this is related to the chronosphere. That would kinda explain his abillity to teleport and give a reason for him beeing in Red Alert.

Image it this way: WW was probably just starting to develop RA1 when TD was released and when they realized how popular Kane was, they knew they needed him back for the next Tib game. So why not use the teleportion device from RA to explain how he survived?

Of course that raises more questions than it answers...

 

Some of the IDBs in KW have Kane mention his "departed brothers", making it sound like he was marooned on earth by whatever group he belonged too. Maybe they left him some secret base or an hidden alien ship that he uses as hideout between the games that also houses some secret tech like the teleporter. After all, it seems they didnt want to kill him but imprison him, so maybe they gave him something to prolong his life.

Then again, when he talks about the Tacitus in the GDI ending, he seems genuinely amazed by its powers and talks about "the next step in OUR evolution" as if he seems himself als a human, so your guess is as good as mine.

Edited by Stygs

Share this post


Link to post

I just conjured up a silly explanation. You know how Yuri is sent back to dino times? Then all of a sudden dinosaurs appear in the Tiberian Dawn bonus missions... Kane want's you to check that out. What if Yuri managed to escape from dino times to the future? Unfortunately he brought some dinos with him. Then he got stranded because of low power. Then Kane captured and killed Yuri, got the time machine and then used it to go back in time which explains why he suddenly appears in the service of Stalin.

I was looking for some more interesting sci-fi take on him being on eart and what kind of being he is. I really don't like the connection of the tiberian universe to RA so I would prefer to look past that.
 

On 3/04/2020 at 12:26 AM, Stygs said:

Then again, when he talks about the Tacitus in the GDI ending, he seems genuinely amazed by its powers and talks about "the next step in OUR evolution" as if he seems himself als a human, so your guess is as good as mine.


That's indeed very true and that makes things a bit confusing. Could he just be a human that have realised the full potential of tiberium which is the evolution of man.

Share this post


Link to post

I wonder what happened to the time machine or Chronosphere in the Tiberian era?

At least in Red Alert 3, it's the Soviets that ruined Einstein and then the Empire of the Rising Sun destroyed the time machine. Question is, who actually destroyed the Empire of the Rising Sun? GDI or NOD?

Share this post


Link to post

In TW, near the end of the Scrin campaign, the Scrin Commander (over you, the Foreman) plus your tactical AI mention having crossed paths with Kane before, hinting at him being more than Human.

He also talks, in both TS and TW, about he has been here (on Earth) for thousands of years, watching, helping mankind evolve from living in Mud Huts to their technologically advanced civilization.

Share this post


Link to post

I just replayed the TS Nod campaign and in the end, when Kane achieves his goal and just before the tiberium bomb transforms earth he disappears into the air.

Behold:


Any idea on what he does and how? Where does he go? He obviously don't won't to be there when the missile hits the planet.

 

Share this post


Link to post

I'm starting to believe the chronosphere theory even though I hate it for lore reasons. It would have been so much cooler if Kane's immortality was explained differently.

  • Upvote 1

Share this post


Link to post
On 18/05/2020 at 9:25 PM, ApornasPlanet said:

I just replayed the TS Nod campaign and in the end, when Kane achieves his goal and just before the tiberium bomb transforms earth he disappears into the air.

Any idea on what he does and how? Where does he go? He obviously don't won't to be there when the missile hits the planet.

I don't think there was ever consistent lore developed by Westwood for Kane's origins and nature. His final pose in the ending FMV seems more like a nod (no pun intended) to the original C&C's GDI ion cannon ending, while the missile itself is a kind of downer ending for the player ("You just blew up the Earth. Have a nice day!"), and at the same time an unexpected surprise because the Nod campaign narrative in TS went away from portraying the Brotherhood straight out evil to something more of "they have their own cause to fight for", only to find out that they were ultimately manipulated by Kane to wipe out humanity (apparently).

The Nod ending in TS was probably not intended to be canonical for the planned sequel so they just went with what seemed cool I guess.

Also in C&C Renegade (IIRC), Kane almost straight out states he's the biblical Cain, when the player discovers the tomb of Abel under the temple in the final mission.

BTW, it's your best explanation of why Kane is immortal, and you could give it a sci-fi twist in the style of Stargate if you wish.

  • Like 1

Share this post


Link to post

Kane almost reminds me of a Vandal Savage type (DC Comics).... Although the Scrin do mention that he's in there database, they've come across him before.... 

 

Likely intentionally ambiguous by EA, but still cool

Share this post


Link to post

I think he reincarnates, also remember the FS ending having cabal with the Kane clones in tubes, likely he reincarnates into the clone body. 

Share this post


Link to post
7 hours ago, Nero7 said:

I think he reincarnates, also remember the FS ending having cabal with the Kane clones in tubes, likely he reincarnates into the clone body. 

I don't know if I would say reincarnates. We obviously see him damaged several times throughout the series, including the Nod campaign in Tiberian, Sun, and in Kane's Wrath.

 

This implies that he has extra human healing ability, or he somehow using the tanks for rejuvenation kind of like a back detang from Star wars. Which is not out of the question for someone like Kane.

Low key absolutely loved the ending there of Firestorm that showed the clones plus Kane and his voice being superimposed over Cabal's voice. As much as I like Legion in Kane's Wrath, I'm still slightly bittersweet about the fact that the Cabal storyline was not further developed Thanks to EA's shenanigans.

 

Share this post


Link to post
On 27/09/2022 at 8:34 PM, Nero7 said:

I think he reincarnates, also remember the FS ending having cabal with the Kane clones in tubes, likely he reincarnates into the clone body. 

Those were not clones. They were the biological component of CABAL. CABAL's processing power are human brains.

An interesting inspiration for the character of Kane was recently unearthed: Isaac's Asimov's short story "does a bee care?"

As I summarised it on the C&C Wiki:

Quote

The story describes the life of a seemingly-immortal alien living on Earth, who subtly influences humanity over the course of millennia to make it progress towards becoming a space-faring race. The alien's only goal in uplifting humanity is to reach space, to progress to the next step in its own life cycle. Notably, the alien in the story is also called "Kane".

 

  • Upvote 1

Share this post


Link to post
On 15/10/2022 at 4:45 PM, Nyerguds said:

An interesting inspiration for the character of Kane was recently unearthed: Isaac's Asimov's short story "does a bee care?"

According to an anonymous person with no source to back it up, Joe Kucan confirmed that as an inspiration back in 2009 (they also misspelled his name).

  • Upvote 1

Share this post


Link to post

Huh. Someone should ask him about it then.

  • Like 1
  • Upvote 1

Share this post


Link to post

That was very interesting! Can someone with Twatter or other anti-social media ask him or someone from Westwood?

 

e: I think I have the Robot Dreams Collection in which Does a Be Care is published. Will check as soon as I get home! Must read.

e2: While we are on the topic can we start listing the complete source of inspirations?

The Bible
Dune
The Monolith Monsters

Edited by ApornasPlanet

Share this post


Link to post

I'm sure if EA ever greenlights TS remaster then we'll be able to publicly dive into the lore of Kane a bit more

Share this post


Link to post

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.

×