Edward Richtofen

"My name is Edward Richtofen, and I have been trying so very hard to do the right thing. Long ago, I made a promise. A vow to protect him. In order to keep my word, I have done bad things. VERY bad things. I do not regret the pain that I have caused because none of it really matters. This moment... this... me. All of it will soon be gone. I have lied, I have cheated, I have deceived. All for a purpose you could never understand. I would not change a single thing. He thinks I do not know, but I do. The blood will protect me."

- Edward Richtofen

Doctor Edward Richtofen is a German scientist in the Zombies storyline and also a playable character in the Zombies game mode. His player indicator color in World at War and Black Ops is normally green (shared with Fidel Castro and Michael Rooker), but is randomized in Moon and in all subsequent maps. Richtofen's voice appears in Call of Duty: Black Ops II in all maps set in the future, whilst an alternate version of him appears in Origins. This Richtofen also appears in Call of Duty: Black Ops III, in the ending cutscene of Shadows of Evil, and as a playable character in The Giant (which also features the Original timeline Richtofen during the opening cutscene), Der Eisendrache, Zetsubou No Shima, Gorod Krovi, and Revelations.

Original Timeline
''"Beware The Doc". A message that was scrawled across walls of every town under Axis control. Starvation may cripple you, dysentery may wreck you, and gunfire may rip the flesh from your bones, but "Beware the Doctor".''

''This is Dr. Richtofen, known affectionately as "The Butcher" to his victims as they scream in agony moments before he snuffs out their light. All through his career, Richtofen has been at the forefront of torture and information extraction research. Richtofen is an incurable sociopath and sees no moral distinction between natural death and murder; the victim is the victim, regardless of how their demise manifests itself.''

Doctor Richtofen has a collection of stuffed animals, most of them posed in positions of terror at the instant of their death."


 * — Richtofen's bio added with Map Pack 2 in World at War.

During the years of World War II, Doctor Ludvig Maxis formed Group 935, a research team dedicated to improving the human condition. Major General Richtofen, at the time, was Maxis' assistant. They would work together on many projects, though Richtofen would soon find out that Maxis had agreed to create weapons to help the Nazis in the war, due to a lack of funding. Richtofen also carried out his own experiments in the field of teleportation, along with fellow Group 935 member Dr. Schuster. Though he was successful at teleporting a walnut, Maxis did not agree to fund his project, and told him to get back to his "real work".

After conducting more experiments, Richtofen eventually used himself as a test subject for teleportation, leading him to be teleported to a catacomb within the moon, where he came into contact with a mysterious pyramid device, causing him to become insane with schizophrenia, which was later revealed to be the Shadowman trying to corrupt him. He was then teleported to an exotic jungle, where he spent three weeks learning of the Vril energy force. Afterwards, he traveled back to the weapon factory Der Riese, Group 935's base at Germany, where he started his plans to build a new base on the moon with Schuster and several other Group 935 scientists, all behind Maxis' back.

Using Element 115, Richtofen was able to create a deadly Wonder Weapon, codenamed Wunderwaffe DG-2. Maxis, though initially promised to mass-produce the Wunderwaffe DG-2, did not show any progress due to his infatuation with his assistant Sophia. He decided it was time to act for the betterment of Group 935 and kill Dr. Maxis. During a teleporter test, Edward locked Maxis and his daughter, Samantha, in a room with Fluffy, the first Hellhound, in an attempt to kill them, but they both escaped. Samantha ended up teleporting to Griffin Station and entering the M.P.D., taking control of the zombies, which Richtofen had planned to do. In order to take control of the zombies, he enlisted the help of "Tank" Dempsey, Nikolai Belinski, and Takeo Masaki, who were experimented on by Group 935 and whose memories had been wiped by Element 115. They first travel to a Japanese swamp and then to a factory, where the zombies were created. After overloading the teleporter with the Wunderwaffe DG-2, the group travels forward in time, ending up at a now-abandoned theater in Berlin, Germany, sometime in the 1960's. They then teleport to an abandoned Soviet Cosmodrome, where a scientist named Gersch needs to be freed.

The group then teleports to Siberia, where George Romero is filming a zombie movie with four well-known actors. Things go awry when zombies appear and turn George into one of them. The celebrities find the group trapped in a small room. Richtofen then asks them to retrieve the Vril Generator for him. After they do, Richtofen gives the celebrities the Wunderwaffe DG-2 before the group teleports. The four of them end up in Shangri-La, which, despite its namesake, is filled with zombies due to the locals mining Element 115. Richtofen took the group here in order to retrieve the Focusing Stone. The group ends up having to help an explorer and his assistant escape. Although the two end up stuck in a never-ending loop, Richtofen acquires the Focusing Stone.

Having everything necessary to complete his plan, he teleports the group to Hangar 18 in Area 51 in the year 2025, which is overrun with zombies. The group quickly runs to the teleporter in the hangar, sending them to Griffin Station on the Moon. Zombies are also present here due to previous tests by Richtofen. The group eventually opens the M.P.D., revealing Samantha Maxis, who still possesses the looks of a young girl due to being cryogenically frozen in the machine. After fusing the Vril Generator and the Focusing Stone together, Richtofen finally assumes control of the zombies by console-swapping bodies with Samantha and entering the Aether. Maxis then contacts the group from the computers of Griffin Station and explains that there is a way to minimize the damage that Richtofen will cause. After following his instructions, the group watches as three rockets are launched towards Earth to sever the link with the Aether and the world, one of them landing in a destroyed nuclear test site, another landing in an Angolan mine. However, much to Richtofen's pleasure, the calculations were off and the rockets instead obliterated Earth. This allows the zombies, now in Richtofen's control, to overpopulate the survivors of the missile launch and give Edward even greater power.

Over the course of the next 10 years, Richtofen and Maxis all attempt to use their power to communicate with the remaining residents of Earth to get them to power up polarization devices, so that they can gain full control over the Aether. Richtofen, however, can only communicate with those who have eaten zombie flesh, leaving him with the only choice being a cannibalistic survival group called the Flesh, by speaking to them as a voice within his head. The conflict between Maxis' followers and the Flesh would go on until Richtofen finds an individual named Samuel J. Stuhlinger, who is a former Flesh member.

To complete his plan, Richtofen instructs Stuhlinger to convince his allies, fellow survivors Abigail "Misty" Briarton, Marlton Johnson and Russman to activate a polarization device located in the ruins of a town in Washington by supplying it with energy. Meanwhile, Maxis contacts the survivors and asks for their help in polarizing the device as well, resulting in a power struggle between the two. Regardless of their choice, the four are teleported to a series of crumbling skyscrapers in former Providence 22, China, where the second device is located. There they are constantly resurrected by Richtofen until they successfully complete his demands, while Maxis also races to have the tower seized under his control. After the tower is polarized in either's favor, Russman leads the group to the mysterious Rift, located in Southwest Angola, hoping to find answers to the mysteries surrounding them all.

At the Rift, an African Western Town has been entombed within the catacombs, forcing the group to traverse beneath the surface to gain control of the third and final polarization device to complete the demands of either Maxis or Richtofen.

Non-Canon Ending=If the player decides to follow Richtofen's side of all three Easter Eggs, the Rift will be mended, eternally damning the soul of Samantha Maxis and the link with the Aether and the Earth will be reinforced. This allows Edward to gain full control of all energies and become omnipotent, granting his soul the ability to leave the Aether and enter the body of Stuhlinger, whom he uses as his physical host. Meanwhile, Maxis ceases his existence inside the Griffin Station computer systems. This is non-canon. Canon Ending= If the player decides to follow Maxis' side of all three Easter Eggs, a gateway to the Aether will open, allowing him to escape his digital form and assume power over the Aether's energy and use it to open the gateway to Agartha and destroy the Earth in the process. Meanwhile, Richtofen's soul is transported into a zombie with blue eyes and doomed to forever walk the Earth as one of the undead. This is the canon ending in the storyline.

With Richtofen defeated, Maxis then uses his power to pluck Samantha's soul from Richtofen's body on the Moon, and places her in Agartha alongside him. Realizing that her father has been corrupted, Samantha reaches out to an alternate timeline version of him, residing in Dimension 63.

Dimension 63 Timeline
"In a former life, the sadistic Doctor Edward Richtofen stood at the forefront of research into the mysterious Element 115 - and its potential applications for Group 935's Wonder Weapon program. Now, his grand plans for a brave new world guide him down a dangerous path toward an uncertain future..."


 * — Richtofen's bio for Call of Duty: Black Ops III.

In this alternate timeline, Group 935 located a site in Northern France with large amounts of element 115 and began excavation to unearth it. One year later, believing Maxis succumbed to the mental effects of element 115, Richtofen began surgery on him to recover his brain and place it in the Maxis Drone, but the excavation site became overrun with zombies. Amidst the chaos, three allied soldiers, "Tank" Dempsey, Nikolai Belinski and Takeo Masaki had orders to get Richtofen to their personal leaders. The three held Richtofen at gunpoint during the surgery, but faced with an overwhelming situation are forced to work together despite their differences. Samantha contacted the four and asked to be released from Agartha, which the crew eventually carry out successfully.

Maxis, still residing in the drone, arrives at the House in Agartha and meets Doctor Monty, an enigmatic Keeper who then uses his power to grant him a physical body, despite his lack of a soul. After some time, Richtofen arrives as well, and is briefed by Maxis about a plan to create a new universe to rid themselves of all evil forces. He is then instructed to acquire a book called the Kronorium, which contains the location of another ancient artifact called the Summoning Key.

Over the course of the next two years, Richtofen begins his journey throughout various dimensions. He reenters Dimension 63 in the year 1940, and uses his Illuminati contacts to construct a laboratory beneath Alcatraz Prison, even convincing then-Alcatraz guard Stanley Ferguson to assist the construction. While construction is under place, he then returns to the House, and discovers the connection between one of his other selves with Stuhlinger.

Timelines Collide
Richtofen, through unknown means, manages to make contact with his undead self in the original timeline, and instructs him to pursue Stuhlinger's group. At the same time, he also instructs Stuhlinger to get the others to follow his plan. They jump to a Broken Arrow base in 1996 to acquire a shard of Element 115, then arrive at the Empty Earth, where an alternate Maxis built Zero Base to house various artifacts, including the Kronorium. Once the Kronorium is acquired, Richtofen then makes his way back to Dimension 63 in 1941, with the construction of the Alcatraz lab completed. At the same time, the Victis group arrives and hands him the Kronorium. He then reads it, and discovers various excerpts documenting the fates of Richtofen and various other individuals. He then writes "I know what I must do - E.R. 4/7/41" in one of the pages, then travels back in time to 1934, 8 days before the execution of Billy Handsome, Salvatore "Sal" DeLuca and Michael "Finn" O'Leary, and acquires blood samples of the latter two. He jumps back to 1941, and then puts the Victis group in cryogenic sleep, preserving them for when they are needed next. Moments after, a future version of Richtofen, along with Dempsey, Nikolai and Takeo arrive, and receive blood samples of the Victis group from the younger Richtofen. Once the Primis group leaves, Richtofen then sets off for his next destination: Morg City in Dimension 63, where he acquires the Key from four individuals residing in Morg City. WIth the Key acquired, Richtofen then jumps to Dimension 2210, and acquires an innocent Richtofen soul, which would be sent to the House and be known as Eddie.

Fractures
"What can I say Dempsey? Things change (...) I am no fool! For what I do... I do only to secure a better tomorrow."

- Origins Richtofen explaining why he killed his Original Timeline self to Origins Dempsey and Nikolai.

Dempsey, Nikolai and Takeo, upon learning of Richtofen's multi-dimensional travels, attempts to stop him for fearing that he will disrupt the established continuity of the dimensions. After several dimension jumps and failed attempts, they arrive at the original timeline which has been slightly altered due to Richtofen's past actions of travelling through universes and killing his other selves, in the Der Riese facility, just moments after Original timeline's Richtofen trapped Maxis and Samantha in the teleporter with Fluffy. Dempsey, Nikolai and Takeo confront the original timeline Richtofen, telling him that there is a chain of events that must be carried out, and prompt him to awaken the original versions of themselves.

As the zombie horde approach them from outside, Richtofen ignores the three's warning and turns on the teleporter, only to find the Origins Richtofen inside. The young Richtofen then shoots the older Richtofen in the head, killing him instantly. This triggers a fracturization across the original timeline. While the group expresses disappointment in Richtofen for tampering with history, he defends his action, believing that what he does will be to secure a better future. While the others fend off the zombies, Richtofen pretends to use the Summoning Key to acquire the original Richtofen's soul, which Dempsey notices. Eventually, the four activate a beacon in the facility, allowing Maxis from another dimension to locate them.

After acquiring a Giant Robot from the Der Riese facility, the four pursue the scattered remains of Group 935 to Griffin Castle. The Germans had captured the Original Dempsey's cryo chamber from being experimented on by the Original Richtofen and planned to bring him to Griffin Station codenamed "Eagle's Nest", with the young four close behind until a German soldier fires a Panzerschreck at the Giant Robot, disabling it before it could retrieve the Original Timeline Dempsey. After arriving at Griffin Castle, the young four watch as a rocket containing The Original Timeline Dempsey launches to the Moon. After making radio contact with Dr. Groph, Richtofen masquerades as his older self in order to fool Groph. However, Groph becomes suspicious of Richtofen's change of personality and announces him as an imposter. Using the Death Ray, the young four manage to bring the rocket containing the Original Dempsey back to the castle, much to Groph's anger, who activates a failsafe so they couldn't touch the chamber.

Using the Vril Generator obtaining from the crash site, the young four awaken a ghost Keeper and help it return it to its physical form before it returns the favor and brings the MPD from the Moon to the castle. However, the Keeper becomes corrupted, forcing the four to battle it, eventually defeating it. After defeating it, Groph expresses his extreme anger, vowing to destroy them and the castle itself. In order to tie up these loose ends, the four use the Summoning Key to launch several missiles towards the Moon, destroying it, ultimately destroying Griffin Station and killing any Group 935 scientist at the station, including Groph. After walking towards Original Timeline Dempsey's cryo chamber, Richtofen activates the Summoning Key, forcing the others to levitate in the air.

Here, Richtofen's plan is revealed to the others. Richtofen plans to kill the original versions of themselves to put in the Summoning Key like he supposedly did with his own at the Der Riese facility. When Dempsey himself sadly put his older self down, Richtofen briefly comforted him after it was done, showing that he had laid his previous hatred of Dempsey off to the side. Richtofen then captures the Original Dempsey's soul in the Key.

Richtofen and the other three then travel to a different fractured timeline, to an island, arriving on a Japanese vessel heading for a Division 9 Facility before being caught and the Summoning key being taken away from him. A brief fight ensues with the Japanese soldiers with Richtofen burning one alive before he notices the Key rolling toward the ocean, luckily Takeo had managed to barely catch the Key by his fingertips much to Richtofen's relief. The four then are forced to swim to a nearby island after the ship blows up. Later, Richtofen was present when the Original timeline Takeo was cured from being a Thrasher to collect his soul.

After the Original Timeline Takeo honorably sacrificed himself for a better future, Richtofen then preserved his soul. Initially Dempsey suggested going after the Original Nikolai but Richtofen said a "chain of events " must be set in motion. Realizing that he wants to save his three comrades from their eventual fate, Richtofen then takes them to Alcatraz in 1941, where he meets his younger self and acquires the Victis blood samples. Then they jump to another fractured timeline, in a war-torn Stalingrad to kill the original Nikolai and place his soul in the Summoning Key. Eventually the four are teleported out of the sky and parachute in front of Original Nikolai's mech while he is distracted with vodka and listening to "The Ace of Spades" on his radio.

Upon seeing them original Nikolai attempts to kill them until a dragon throws him into a building. Later, Richtofen and the others make a temporary truce with the original Nikolai in order to kill the dragon. Afterward, Richtofen and the other three demand original timeline Nikolai to surrender to which he refuses and betrays them. After the Origins Nikolai kills his original self, Richtofen opens a portal in the sky with Maxis' help and lights a beacon from the Summoning Key which releases the original Nikolai, Takeo and Dempsey. After this, he says they will see Maxis soon.

Later, the mysterious voice contacts Dempsey, Nikolai and Takeo informing them that Richtofen can't hear him. He congratulates the crew on their progress of fixing the fracturing universe. However, he informs them that Richtofen had been searching for years for the correct versions of them to close off the dimensions, suggesting that the original timeline versions of the characters were the ones who determined the universe's disorder and fates of the incarnations of the alternate versions of the characters in other universes, who have all been erased due to the originals being killed off. He also tells them to not trust Richtofen and that's he's been in "The House" for "ages". Finally, the voice introduces himself as Doctor Monty, claiming it's so nice to see the characters.

Journal Entries
"September 22, 1917 When we began the site excavation, our group could not have predicted the dark path down which our work would lead us. The Doctor remains both adamant and optomistic (sic) that the potential applications for the new found element are worth the associated risks. I concur with the sentiment, but feel increasingly anxious as to the changes I am seeing in my oldest friend..."

- Edward Richtofen

"May 13, 1918 The journal of Pablo Marinus has been a most valuable source of information... We now stand at the edge of a brave new world. Our survey of the site has led us to believe that this location may hold the largest single source of 115 yet discovered. We have been authorized to begin work immediately... Maxis has become obsessed, he neglects the true focus of our mission and instead chases legends and myths. I fear that the girl's influence may have irrevocably poisoned his mind. It is with considerable regret that I must report his current mental instability to group 935's leaders..."

- Edward Richtofen

"Final entry In just a few short months, Group 935's work with Element 115 has allowed the Wonder Weapon program to progress at a rate beyond our wildest expectation. However, our work was not without consequence. The ancient evil unleashed from the mound has carved a path of terror and destruction across the entirety of the camp. With Maxis too having succumbed to the sickness, I am forced to take drastic action to preserve what remains of his mind. I now face an uncertain future, alone."

- Edward Richtofen

Original Timeline
Richtofen is a psychopath with a desire for violence, often laughing maniacally when killing. He loves blood and death and thoroughly enjoys killing zombies, and has a strange obsession for the spleen. He also has a strange suggestive feeling towards the zombies when killing them. Despite his insanity, he retains his knowledge of bodily organs, technology and Element 115.

He is also adamant on completing his work quickly. He despises Dempsey, likes Nikolai and has mutual feelings towards Takeo. He is a megalomaniac due to his plans on destroying the world with a zombie army which partly fails due to intervention from Ludvig Maxis. Post Moon he retains his insanity as the Demonic Announcer. After the Earth was destroyed he became focused in mending the Rift to eternally damn Samantha in the Aether world and to destroy Maxis once and for all as well as to partially repair the damaged Earth. To conduct his scheme, he communicates with fellow survivor Samuel Stuhlinger who had eaten zombie flesh beforehand and manipulates as well as blackmailing him to convince Misty, Marlton and Russman to activate the pylons in his favor while Maxis asked the same.

In the end should the Original Richtofen succeed in his plan, he murders Maxis and "condemns" Samantha; Should Maxis win Richtofen is trapped in the zombies, his soul moving to another zombie after death damning Richtofen for eternity and destroys the Earth by going to Agartha.

Dimension 63 Timeline
Due to him still being sane at this point, Richtofen's personality is completely different. He appears level-headed but paranoid possibly due to exposure to Element 115 in France. He appears more unskilled due to only being a field scientist and does not go into battle often, but attempts to keep focused nevertheless. He appears more fearful of the zombies and is more cautious for his own survival.

In The Giant, after meeting Samantha Maxis and receiving an explanation of the original timeline, Richtofen became more focused to prevent future events, as explained by Samantha, from happening and even showed disappointment and disgust to his future self before shooting his future self in the head showing how he despised his Original self's pure evil. However, as seen in later rounds of The Giant, Richtofen's instability comes back as he displays signs of insanity and claiming he hears voices in his head which is from exposure to Element 115, thus resulting in his original personality mixing with his younger self, but nonetheless he holds on to his advanced intellectual capabilities. Also, it appears as if Richtofen is manipulating the others to advance his own agenda such as telling Takeo he has a message from the Emperor of Japan when he does not (however he later regrets this in the ending of Zetsubou No Shima) as well as him manipulating Nikolai by saying they should remain allies due to an Artifact he possessed, and trying to convince him to help him find Maxis resulting in Nikolai verbally threatening to possibly kill him. Richtofen also appears to be hiding something from the other three as he lies while being asked about messing with his own original timeline's dead corpse when with Dempsey and while Pack-a-Punching he may say "I must remember... the others can never know."

In Der Eisendrache, Richtofen has become crazy like his Original self but is still level headed while on the mission and is clever enough to fool Groph who later catches wind of his plan. Richtofen's true plans were revealed in the map; he is killing all the Original timeline versions of the characters to capture their souls in the Summoning Key. He also gets rid of a loose end by blowing up the Moon and killing Groph with the missiles after the latter had threatened to kill Richtofen and the other three in extreme anger after Dempsey was brought down to the Castle going as far to threaten to destroy the entire facility to kill the four. After the Original timeline Dempsey was put down by his Origins version, Richtofen briefly comforted him, showing that Richtofen no longer has feelings of hatred toward Dempsey however later in Zetsubou No Shima they jokingly mock each other in some quotes showing that they don't think too highly of one another but are still friends regardless. He then captures the soul of the deceased Dempsey in the Summoning Key, completing his campaign in Der Eisendrache.

Richtofen appears to be much crazier in Zetsubou No Shima, his personality turning rather more violent when killing the hordes of zombies, displaying obvious signs of insanity, being rather callous about killing the original "Tank" Dempsey and gaining brief instability when talking to Dempsey about the difficulties of navigating the original timeline's universe, Richtofen as always stays true to the mission and is serious when focusing on collecting the souls of the original timeline crew. When Takeo learns of the Emperor's evil nature and calls his life a lie, Richtofen seems to be saddened at the revelation and possibly regrets manipulating Takeo in The Giant showing that the Origins Richtofen seems to have remorse and compassion unlike his original version.

After the Original Timeline Takeo nobly sacrifices himself for a better future, Richtofen captures his soul and sends the crew to an alternate dimension to "set a chain of events". When they return to Zetsubou, all of the four mysteriously have blood vials like Richtofen. Richtofen calls it their "insurance policy" in case the group didn't like where they ended up before the four go after the original timeline Nikolai, in Stalingrad. After the events of Zetsubou No Shima, Richtofen and the others arrive in a war-torn Stalingrad to collect the soul of the original timeline Nikolai in the Summoning Key. In Gorod Krovi, has become worried, saying to the others he fears he had forgotten something. The others nevertheless help remind him of why they are here. During the map, Dempsey becomes slightly suspicious to Richtofen when he fails to tell him the purpose of their recently acquired blood vials. Takeo also becomes more friendlier to Richtofen after he learnt of the truth about the Emperor. Nikolai however, has become slightly hostile to Richtofen, claiming he still hasn't explained why they need their original selves' eternal souls. After eventually killing the original Nikolai, Richtofen collects his soul before releasing the souls into the towards Maxis.