Making Sense of Dead Space: The Markers

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by Farrell Maniac on June 26, 2011 at 05:11 PM

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Dead Space is a very fun horror/action game, but there is one thing that everyone has issues with: the Markers. These twisted rocks are the bane of the Dead Space universe and produce the main enemies of the series, Necromorphs.

I know a lot about the Dead Space universe since I have played the games, read the prequel novel and comics, and seen the movies. I also spent a lot of time on the Dead Space Wiki, studying what people had figured out about the Markers. After spending weeks on that site I have come up with several theories on the Markers.

*Note, these theories may contain some spoilers to the games so avert your eyes if you haven't played the games yet.

What the Marker is meant for:

To be honest, this is what I had had the most trouble with when doing this blog. But there is one thing for sure: the Marker was meant to wipe out the dinosaurs and create the Human race (the Black Marker came to Earth on an asteroid).

From here on I can't figure out what the *** thing is for. Some things in the series show that the Marker was meant to make Necromorphs to get rid of the Human race and make way for a new advanced species. I think that aliens did this because of some sort of cycle made the Marker. They had a Marker that told them to make another for the Humans; they sent the Black Marker to Earth; Necromorphs took out that alien race. This supports the theory that the Black Marker is a doomsday device, and the time for Humans is up and it is time for Humans to make a Marker for a new race. This theory is possible because the Markers is already starting to make Necromorphs.

The second theory is that the Marker is only made to bring life, but is making Necromorphs because it is damaged. In Dead Space: Martyr, two scientists took a piece out of the Black Marker. These two scientists went insane and killed each other. Afterwards other scientists decided to bring it out from the ocean, a Necromorph outbreak occurred, and the scientists got information on how to build Markers. I think that this information was tainted because they got this information from a damaged Marker, which is why the Red Marker and Marker Site 12 made only Necromorphs.

Why Markers make hallucinations and their personalities (yes, they have personalities):

Markers make hallucinations because when it tries to communicate to a human something in the brain goes off to protect itself and the person will start to hallucinate. The hallucinations the person will get will either tell the person to go away (the Marker) or to kill themself (the Necromorphs). The Marker seems to have two personalities, though the average person will usually see one of them with some exceptions (Isaac for example).

The Black Marker and the Red Marker have the same personalities: they felt bad for what was happening and it would have others try to reverse the damage that was done (Isaac and Michael Altman are examples). Marker Site 12 however showed no remorse in the game and seemed to want the Necromorphs to infect everyone. This may be because of the fact that Marker Site 12 was made from fragments of the Red Marker and information in Isaac Clarke's mind, mean while the Red Marker was directly from the Black Marker.

Well, that is all that I have for now. Post in the comments how you felt about the article and if you have any questions about Dead Space. I may post another blog doing it Q&A style.

Personally I am of the opinion that in the Dead Space storyline the alien Marker's act as a kind of "pandora's box" or maybe even a "black box". Only instead of mere information, the Marker's act as both machines with one purpose - the recreation of an ancient and highly evolved alien race. However while said alien being's "souls" if you will are contained within the marker(s) they need physical matter in order to recreate themselves. I imagine the Hive Mind from the first Dead Space game is a half finished example of the kind of creature the process of "Convergence" is supposed to achieve; once all the necromorphs reach a certain number or amount the Marker responsible initiates "Convergence" and brings together all the necromorphs into one advanced being. Yet the Hive Mind was an aberration and a result of humanities experiments with the Red Marker (a copy of the original). So the Hive Mind is a corrupted, devolved version of the original alien species.

I like to imagine that the aliens meant to be reborn by the Marker are something like the "Founders" from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine only more "Lovecraftian"; individuals merging together to form one mind and body but able to branch off into subsets. We see this behavior with the divider necromorph, the guardians connected to that organic stuff on the walls or even the Hive Mind able to spit out necromorphs during that last game's final battle. Here is a blogger who has similar thoughts about the marker(s): http://articles.pubarticles.com/what-s-the-purpose-of-marker-in-dead-space-2-1296180832,86442.html .

I too think the Red Marker was somewhat benevolent concerning humans which was why it wanted to stop convergence. The Marker's are sentient beings in their own right and it helps to think of them as a kind artificial intelligence; a strange alien device that follows a program but has the wherewithal to judge whether the program is correct or not. It is possible the original, Black Marker was defective but I think those claims were just a way for the Earth military and the Unitologists to justify their own beliefs about controlling the Marker's abilities to reshape dead matter, commune with the human mind, etc. In the novel Dead Space: Martyr, Micheal Altmann even says as much to the villains at the end.

Comments

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by Farrell Maniac Sunday, June 26, 2011 at 07:52 PM

Crap. The pictures didn't show up. Sorry guys!
Edit: Nevermind. I figured it out.
by Emily Sunday, June 26, 2011 at 09:22 PM

I really like this blog as I'm big into Dead Space and everything about it. I like your theories of the marker and it makes sense that the markers are tainted, which would cause the necromorphs. Looking forward to possibly more Dead Space blogs. :)
by Masterassassin Monday, June 27, 2011 at 01:12 AM

I couldn't make heads or tails of what they were lol.
by Science Officer Spock (derth44) Monday, June 27, 2011 at 06:26 AM

I will have too save this for later since I am dead space fan and the markers are fasinating to me.
by Rabid Chipmunk Monday, June 27, 2011 at 11:55 AM

This guess is as good as any, I suppose, since there's not much to go on. Frankly I'm gonna be mighty upset if Visceral doesn't start explaining what's going on with the inconsistencies between the Red Marker and Marker 12.
by eyros2k Tuesday, June 28, 2011 at 09:58 AM

I can tell you one thing, it pre-dates any Prothean technology.
by Darth Maul Wednesday, June 29, 2011 at 10:57 AM

*infects somebody*

Oh Jesus, I'm sorry dude, here lemme-"

*Isaac blows off the necromorph's arms and legs, killing it*

Aw, screw it.
by deschain22 Thursday, June 30, 2011 at 06:43 PM

Hmm, if the marker follows a doomsday cycle, that would explain why the Unitologist are always trying new markers. What I don't understand is why(SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER, SPOILER, what you see here cannot be forgotten) is that why is the Earth goverment trying to build new markers. Mind control? Technology? Or just for the fun of it?
by villain_eternal Wednesday, February 29, 2012 at 07:00 PM

I'm really glad you posted this. I absolutely love the Dead Space mythology, but I too have questions about some of its loose ends. I've read that ALL of the extended universe media (the books, the movies to some degree, and the comics) are all approved by the game developers, but that does NOT necessarily mean they are canon. I try to stick by the games more than anything. That being said, I've concluded the following: depending on the person, the Red Marker will manifest itself in a persons' mind in order to either create dead bodies (for necromorph infection) OR try to STOP a necromorph infection. This implies that the Red Marker itself is conflicted somehow. The Marker from Dead Space 2 ("Isaac's Marker") does seem very adamant at only causing death. One thing I don't understand though, is exactly HOW do the Red Marker and Isaac's Marker actually create infection? Does the signal that they broadcast actually recombine the DNA with no biological process? I hope all of these are answered in the third, and I hope final, Dead Space game...I don't want these going down the same convoluted and exhausted road that Resident Evil did.
by Maphisto86 Sunday, March 11, 2012 at 09:12 PM

Personally I am of the opinion that in the Dead Space storyline the alien Marker's act as a kind of "pandora's box" or maybe even a "black box". Only instead of mere information, the Marker's act as both machines with one purpose - the recreation of an ancient and highly evolved alien race. However while said alien being's "souls" if you will are contained within the marker(s) they need physical matter in order to recreate themselves. I imagine the Hive Mind from the first Dead Space game is a half finished example of the kind of creature the process of "Convergence" is supposed to achieve; once all the necromorphs reach a certain number or amount the Marker responsible initiates "Convergence" and brings together all the necromorphs into one advanced being. Yet the Hive Mind was an aberration and a result of humanities experiments with the Red Marker (a copy of the original). So the Hive Mind is a corrupted, devolved version of the original alien species.

I like to imagine that the aliens meant to be reborn by the Marker are something like the "Founders" from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine only more "Lovecraftian"; individuals merging together to form one mind and body but able to branch off into subsets. We see this behavior with the divider necromorph, the guardians connected to that organic stuff on the walls or even the Hive Mind able to spit out necromorphs during that last game's final battle. Here is a blogger who has similar thoughts about the marker(s): http://articles.pubarticles.com/what-s-the-purpose-of-marker-in-dead-space-2-1296180832,86442.html .

I too think the Red Marker was somewhat benevolent concerning humans which was why it wanted to stop convergence. The Marker's are sentient beings in their own right and it helps to think of them as a kind artificial intelligence; a strange alien device that follows a program but has the wherewithal to judge whether the program is correct or not. It is possible the original, Black Marker was defective but I think those claims were just a way for the Earth military and the Unitologists to justify their own beliefs about controlling the Marker's abilities to reshape dead matter, commune with the human mind, etc. In the novel Dead Space: Martyr, Micheal Altmann even says as much to the villains at the end.

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Making Sense of Dead Space: The Markers