Edward Richtofen

"Don't be afraid of death...be afraid of the doctor!"

- Doctor Richtofen on real fear

Doctor Edward Richtofen is a sociopathic Nazi scientist who invented the Wunderwaffe DG-2 and often loves to torture and kill his various victims. He appears in Shi No Numa and in Der Riese in Call of Duty: World at War, but in Call of Duty: Black Ops he appears in all four original zombie maps, as well as appearing in Kino der Toten and Ascension. He is voiced by Nolan North.

Biography
"Beware The Doc". This message 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 Doc".

Meet Dr. Richtofen, known affectionately as The Butcher to his victims as they scream in agony moments before he snuffs out their light. Throughout his career, Richtofen has always been at the forefront of torture and information extraction research. Before the war he was a back alley plastic surgeon, who created an army of monstrous affluent Weimar socialites that would follow him around and laugh at every joke the genius doctor made. This all fell apart when the republic fell and the Nazi party took control. To Richtofen, their values were too moral, too liberal for his liking. He joined the army so he could satisfy his need to watch people die, slowly.

An incurable sociopath, he sees no moral distinction between natural death and murder. The victim is the victim, regardless of how their demise manifests itself.

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

Past
Edward Richtofen worked with Doctor Maxis on various experiments at Der Riese. Maxis was testing zombies for a government project christened "Der Riese". He would send humans through teleporters, but they would always appear at the mainframe as zombies. Maxis attempted to control them, but they would always try to kill him, resulting in their deaths.

According to the Central Intelligence Agency Data System, Richtofen witnessed tests run on Tank Dempsey, Takeo Masaki and Nikolai Belinski. Doctor Maxis recorded that the three have shown "unique side effects" to the experiments. Maxis records that their baseline psyche "remains intact", but all "specific memories" are lost.

One day, Richtofen and Maxis were testing the effects of a teleporter on Samantha's dog, Fluffy. The dog was teleported, but reappeared at the Mainframe as a Hellhound. When Samantha entered the room questioning Maxis about the dog, Richtofen left the room. He then locked Maxis and Samantha in the room with the Hellhound, which killed them. Richtofen then released the zombies on Der Riese.

Call of Duty: World at War
Richtofen makes his first appearance in Shi No Numa, which also marks the first appearance of Tank Dempsey, Nikolai Belinski and Takeo Masaki. They escape the Imperial Zombies and move to Der Riese, fighting off Nazi Zombies.

Call of Duty: Black Ops
Richtofen and the others are revealed to have survived the events of Der Riese. They use a teleporter, which unknowingly teleports them into the Cold War era. They arrive at Kino der Toten. Richtofen leaves a message which can be heard when the player loads the map on solo:

"(static) Entry 741021! Perhaps the station will hold the key to the real goals of group 935. I still do not trust my 'unconventional' allies, but they are of great use to me. But, I digress. Who would have thought the MDT was capable of time travel? How many stations does this group have? Where did that little girl disappear to? Only time will tell what new questions awaits us in this...THEATER OF THE DAMNED! (static)"

The four manage to escape the theater, only to arrive in a zombie infested space station in Ascension after an unspecified amount of time. It was also during this time that Richtofen discards his uniform in favor of a jumpsuit, possibly to keep any Russian civilians from recognizing him, as the Nazis would certainly be unpopular there.

Quotes

 * Main article: Shi No Numa quotes
 * Main article: Der Riese quotes
 * Main article: Kino der Toten quotes

Proven Alias
Richtofen was originally speculated to be Edward, a man heard in the radio messages in Der Riese. Several hints are given that they are the same person. Along with these, Treyarch has confirmed that Richtofen and Edward heard in the messages are indeed the same person.
 * One of Richtofen's quotes is "Ed wants your head!".
 * One of Richtofen's quotes is If only Dr. Maxis were here to see this..., said when near a teleporter, showing that Richtofen knows Maxis.
 * In the recordings, his voice is very similar to Edward's as they do in fact have the same voice actor.
 * The secret note to "kill Maxis" (which Edward does) that is found under a grate in Der Riese is written in an Illuminati code, and Richtofen often makes quotes about being tied to the Illuminati.
 * Niikolai often refers to him as Edward,.
 * One of Richtofen's quotes, "Fluffy, is that you?" relates him to Edward who knew Fluffy.

Trivia

 * In "Shi No Numa", it is noted that if the player goes to the book case in the doctor's quarters, there will be demonic laughter if the 'use' button is held on the books. In "Der Riese", when somebody plays as Richtofen and gets a kill, the same laugh can be heard from Richtofen.
 * Doctor Richtofen created the Wunderwaffe DG-2, shown by his exclamation when he receives it. The Wunderwaffe DG-2 was planned to be mass produced and fielded to German soldiers.
 * In Black Ops, Richtofen uses the same first person character model as Hudson during Rebirth. In World at War, his model had bare hands and arms (the same as all other characters).
 * He was one of the scientists responsible for originally creating the Zombies, and often refers to them as 'minions' or 'children'. He is also mentioned in the message sent to Peter.
 * His name suggests that he belongs to the aristocratic family in Prussia.
 * His name may have been inspired by the legendary German World War I flying ace Baron Manfred von Richthofen, more commonly known as the Red Baron.
 * He could also be inspired from the Nazi Doctor Josef Mengele, a physician at the death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau also known as the "Angel of Death".
 * Doctor Richtofen is apparently part of the mythical group, the Illuminati (see quotes).
 * Doctor Richtofen apparently dislikes the British, as when Dempsey gets a killstreak or a series of headshots he sometimes says "you thought he was British, Ja?".
 * Given the facts that Doctor Richtofen is a scientist and helped create the Wunderwaffe DG-2, he may be a member of the Schutzstaffel (SS or "Protection Squad", despite donning a Wehrmacht officer's uniform), much like Dr. Werner von Braun, the creator of the V-2 missile and Saturn V rocket.
 * He is said to look like the German that kicks Dimitri in "Their Land, Their Blood", though he is actually based off General Amsel from Vendetta, as evidenced by his similar facial features and Wehrmacht general's uniform.
 * He seems to like dogs as he shows remorse when he kills them, possibly because he is behind their creation (see quotes).
 * Richtofen has a disturbing love of killing, maiming, torture and excessive gore, as heard by his quotes. He likely has a pain fetish.
 * He always compliments Nikolai even though they are direct enemies, though he looks down upon everyone (including Nikolai) due to them swiftly killing their opponents.
 * When playing as Richtofen in Der Reise, if the player receives a Wunderwaffe DG-2, he claims that "he feels aroused".
 * Richtofen's point color is green.
 * Apparently Richtofen is schizophrenic, due to the fact of some of his quotes in Shi No Numa, like: "NO! THE VOICES! STOP!" or "Do you hear it? Talking to me?" this could be where his insanity comes from, and this could also be why he killed Dr. Maxis and Samantha, as the voices in his head may have ordered him to kill them. Alex Mason is in a similar situation where Reznov's voice tells him to kill Dragovich, Kravchenko and Steiner.
 * Under Richtofen's right eye is a scar. This scar is not in Shi No Numa, so he most likely got it fighting in Shi No Numa.
 * The German multiplayer skin for sub-machine gunners look a lot like Richtofen.
 * The laugh in the bookcase in the Doctor's Quarters is the same when Richtofen gets the PPSh-41 from the mystery box. This could mean that Richtofen could have used that hut at some point.
 * The Docter's Quarters may be the place were Richtofen went mad, as the laugh heard suggests.
 * Richtofen's bio picture has his name on the opposite side of the picture from the other characters.
 * Richtofen refers to the Wunderwaffe even if he does not get it, such as when getting the Browning/MG (Wunderbar, need Wunderwaffe. Wunderwaffe!)
 * According to his quotes, Richtofen apparently tries to hide his history away from the other characters, especially in Der Riese, where he most likely worked at some point (example: He says "Ahh, it is still here! Err . . . I mean . . . What is this strange device?" whenever he approaches a deactivated Teleporter).
 * On the iPhone/iPod Touch version of Nazi Zombies, Richtofen (who is less insane in this incarnation) instructs the player through the tutorial before becoming a zombie, having been badly injured (and obviously infected). IMG 0158.PNG
 * In the radio messages in Der Riese, his voice is much deeper and less demented than his voice normally heard. This shows he probably went insane being in the company of the zombies, or the Illuminati with whom he is apparently associated drove him insane.
 * It seems that Richtofen created the teleporter as no one else but him could operate it to escape, along with the others, away from Shi No Numa to Der Reise.
 * Richtofen appears to have a large hatred for both Dempsey and his voice, and he quotes, "Dempsey, I hate your ugly voice."
 * Richtofen breaks the fourth wall by referencing the scoring system, as he quotes "You shoot so much but score so little!" When he gets Double Points, he may say, "More score!"
 * Richtofen may sometimes structure sentences oddly, such as, "Ich bin angry!" (I am angry!).
 * Sometimes when Pack-a-Punching, he sings the Double Tap jingle.
 * Occasionally on the PC version he may say "Blondi? Is that you?" possibly referring to Hitler's dog, meaning he could have met Hitler's dog or Hitler himself.
 * Also in Der Riese at the bottom of the staircase is a picture of a zombie and in the bottom left hand corner of that picture it says Dr. K Blondi when Richtofen says "Blondi? Is that you?" He could be referring to that person being turned into a zombie.
 * In Call of Duty: Black Ops, various paintings are hung on the walls in the Zombie level Kino der Toten. These paintings are of Richtofen, Dempsey, Takeo and Nikolai.
 * When subtitles are turned on for Kino Der Toten, Richtofen's name is misspelled as "Richtofan' when the singleplayer movie plays on the Xbox 360 but is spelled correctly on the PS3.
 * In Kino Der Toten, Richtofen seems to want zombies' kidneys for an unknown reason.
 * So far, Edward is the only playable German in Call of Duty: Black Ops and Call of Duty: World at War.
 * After exiting the elevator in the level Vorkuta, if the player looks at the books on the floor, one will say "Edward Richtofen" on the cover.
 * Richtofen's quote: "This is much better than my Hitler Youth Knife" (Added with the Black Ops classic zombie DLC) is quite intriguing as Richtofen almost certainly would have been far too old to join the organization at any point in its existence. He may have been a leader or teacher in the Hitler Youth; or may have received one of these knives as a gift.
 * In one of the loading screens (the one with the combat clips) there looks to be a half a second where it shows Edward Richtofen downed.
 * Apparently his favorite SMG is the MP-40 as he will say, "Of course they have the best weapon ever made!" when buying it. It is quite possibly his favorite gun (aside from the Wunderwaffe of course)
 * His quote, "Suffer little children," is a reference to a song by the Smiths of the same name.
 * In the Black Ops version of Verruckt, some of the books on the shelves in the left starting room have "Edward Richtofen" written on the spine, similar to other books found throughout Black Ops.
 * Richtofen seems to have a particular liking to hellhounds, as he says in Kino der Toten, "The dogs, we must help them." This is probably because he feels guilty for trapping Samantha and Dr. Maxis in a room with a hellhound.
 * From a part of his entry heard during the single-player start menu of Kino der Toten, it can be concluded that Richtofen did not know that the teleporters were capable of time travel. This is from the entry; "Who would have thought the MDT was capable of time travel? How many stations are there?"
 * In Kino Der Toten, Richtofen quotes, "Ja ja (Yes yes) the power needs to go on," referencing the power requirement that is common in Zombie mode.
 * AsAscension_platform.png mentioned in his bio, he has a collection of stuffed animals, hinting that he likes killing animals. This led to his creating the Monkey Bomb as revealed in the Vbush account in the Black Ops menu.
 * In World at War, Richtofen's hat is green, but in Black Ops it's gray, but on the wii it is a beige color.
 * Richtofen's new outfit seems to resemble a type of flight suit.
 * In one of Richtofen's quotes he states that the Monkey Bomb reminds him of subject 2-6. This could mean that a monkey was a test subject.
 * Richtofen seems to have the most hatred towards Tank Dempsey, since a few of his quotes consist of him hating some features of Dempsey's appearance.
 * In Ascension, it is possible to hear the voices in his head as when you play as him, the player might hear a whispering voice similar to his own telling him things.
 * If one is Richtofen at the start of Ascension, after the engineer is done talking, Richtofen might say "The voice doesn't sound as angry as the ones in my head" Hinting that he knows he is insane.
 * Further evidence of this would be when at the start of Ascension, he may say "Who am I talking to?"
 * Upon collecting a Insta-kill, Richtofen says something along the lines of "Nein...shut up...must concentrate!" This further proves that Richtofen is aware of "the voices in his head".
 * When Richtofen kills a Hellhound, he may say, "What have you done to the poor puppies?!" This is odd, as he killed the Hellhounds. He may be referring to the player controlling him.
 * Richtofen may have a sister. In Ascension, when you hold the action button near a doll, there is a chance he may say something along the lines of, "I used to crush these as a child to hear my sister cry in anguish."
 * Richtofen's favorite perk-o-cola is speed cola because he likes the taste of the drink.
 * Richtofen's appearence is similar to the Nazi General in the film Outpost, who wears the same uniform and has a scar just like Richtofen's.