Keeper

"The Keepers seek to exploit the weakness between the dimensions, to allow their master's passage to this world, you must repel their onslaught at all costs!"

- The Shadow Man talking about the Keepers.

The Keepers, also known as the Ancients, are mystical creatures in Call of Duty: Black Ops III that play a major role in the storyline of Zombies. They have appeared in Shadows of Evil, Der Eisendrache as a part of the main Easter Egg, and in Zetsubou No Shima.

Summary
The Keepers are manifestations of the Ancients who were a part of the Order of the Keepers, an ancient order with the purpose of protecting the Summoning Key, and preventing the Apothicon from wrecking havoc upon all dimensions through time and space. They are known to be the creators of the MPD.

A part of the Keepers were corrupted by the Dark Aether and were turned into Apothicons. The Keepers fought against their corrupted brethren in a Great War and managed to banish them back to the Dark Aether, afterwards the Keepers ascended to become the guardians of all the dimensions through time and space.

In Shadows of Evil they at first try to prevent the characters from handing the Summoning Key to the Shadow Man, but later aid them in killing him and retrieving it, but the Key gets stolen by Edward Richtofen. They are shown to be allies of Richtofen and the group in Der Eisendrache, where Richtofen summons one from a tomb using the Vril Generator and aids it in returning to its physical form. In return, the Keeper transports the M.P.D. from the Moon to Der Eisendrache but gets corrupted on the way. After a battle against the corrupted Keeper, the group manages to purge the corruption from the entity. In Zetsubou No Shima, several Apothicon-corrupted Keepers like the Giant Keeper in Der Eisendrache attack the player when attempting to pick up the Skull of Nan Sapwe, but get dispatched by the group.

Appearance
The Keepers appear as some sort of unearthly species of unknown origin. They have large sharp teeth and no visible eyes, similar to the Margwas, and have three clawed fingers on each hand. They don't seem to have legs, but instead levitate. They wear dark red robes with gold embroidery including the Order of the Keepers symbol on their chests. Once in contact with the Dark Aether, the Keepers get corrupted and eventually turn into Apothicons like the Margwas and Parasites.

Trivia

 * In Der Eisendrache in the pyramid room, the pillars surrounding the pyramid are shaped to resemble four Keepers.