Headscratchers / Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus

New entries on the bottom.

The Black Revolutionary Front's continued survival

• How exactly did Grace and her crew survive for long enough in the irradiated ruins of New York to be able to set up shop at the top of the Empire State Building? For 13 years, no less?
  • They kept their head down. They probably weren't actively antagonizing the Nazis and it was only BJ going to the building that alerted the Nazis at all. Also, the building was apparently high enough the radiation wasn't a problem: lots of canned food, rain water, perhaps a couple suits that would allow some people to scavenge.

Milkshake and architecture

• Didn't the Nazi spend the twelve years since they defeated America destroying every Non-Nazi culture? Destroying buildings, rebuilding them in their style? How comes there's a normal american-looking bar and milkshakes around?
  • Perhaps it's been harder to change the American lifestyle and aesthetic compared to Europe, especially since the Nazis get along so well with the Klan.
  • Maybe they just like milkshakes?
  • I don't think the Nazi's ever perused scorched earth tactics with regards to other cultures. There's a newspaper in the first game about German sausages becoming more popular than fish and chips in England. That implies that they didn't systematically destroy every fish and chip shop, but let German culture promulgate over time.
  • They did use scorched earth tactics. Just ask Bobbi Bram, Bombate, or everyone in Russia.
  • Russia was a country they pretty much set out to annihilate, Bombate is a representative of a people the Nazis considered subhuman, and the British apparently fought to the last inch before surrendering. They're possibly just not interested in completely annihilating America in the same way as they were those examples.
  • Personal theory? The Nazis are allowing "Amerikans" to maintain the illusion of old-school Americana so that they can appeal to Nazi loyalists like the German American Bund or the Ku Klux Klan, both of which have similar racial politics, and both of which would more than likely disagree with a total eradication of their idea of the United States. (Especially the Klan.) Really, allowing them to keep this stuff would be a minor sacrifice to keep alliances with multiple factions who can assist with the occupation process.
  • Also, they seem to have appeased a significant part of the population by appealing to their baser instincts, what with allowing the KKK to operate openly and reinstituting slavery.
  • As seen in the game, the Nazis are indeed slowly eroding away American customs and culture, such as heavily encouraging the speaking of German over English, and gradually replacing American cuisine with German. The Nazis want to occupy and assimilate America, not completely destroy it.
  • Historically speaking there's also the uncomfortable fact that Hitler idolized the United States until they began actively opposing him and at the time the United States and Nazi Germany actually had a fair amount in common. Culturally and historically as well as in terms of recent behavior they were more likely to get along with the Nazi's then a lot of the European, African, or Asian powers.
  • It should be noted that while Gruber loves milkshakes, he also peruses the rest of the diner's menu and "suggests" that it needs to be more German.

Mechamooks and superior technology away from Deathhead

• Since Deathhead was the man behind all the Nazi's progress, why are their forces in the US better armed than in Europe?
  • The above can be addressed by two things: a newspaper article in the New Order states that, while the United States government was forced to surrender in 1946 after the bombing of New York, most of the military remaining kept fighting, similar to the Free French. Even up until 1960, the resistance was so bitter that the Reich had to transfer in elite anti-riot battalions from China, and we can bet the situation isn't as controlled as the Nazis claim, and it can be assumed the majority of the German military not involved in Africa is occupying the US. Europe was relatively stable and quiet, whereas America a giant hot zone. Another note is, look at the 'new' weapons used in 1961. Flamethrowers, submachine guns and a Gatling modification to the shotgun? These are not Deathshead advances, who developed things like lasers and advanced robots. Thus, it can be assumed the Nazis are trying or use what conventional tech they can to make up for the loss of their science division.
  • Just because Deathshead is gone doesn't mean there aren't other scientists picking up where he left off.
  • And let's not forget that an untold amount of their technology wasn't even his; it was Da'at Yichud's. All the Nazis really need is to reverse engineer more of their tech caches, and they can continue making their advanced weaponry.
  • The Roswell level demo has Seth Roth talk about how the Da'at Yichud had one of their major tech caches (one involving anti-gravity research) near Roswell, and that the Nazis have established a facility there. It is not a stretch to assume that they have made breaktroughs reverse-engineering this tech between the games and are ready to field new units by the time of the game.
  • And if you pay close attention, you can see that the American occupation forces aren't all that more advanced. For example, the supersoldiers are far more fragile and easy to kill than the ones under Deathshead's command, and they lack much of the highly exotic weaponry he was known to employ. In addition, Deathshead's advances were only possible through his ability to decipher Da'at Yichud research. Without him, the Nazis are basically left completely in the dark. Many of the notes you can find in the game talk about numerous accidents and mishaps in the course of studying Da'at Yichud artifacts because the Nazis have absolutely no clue how to handle them.

This Game's Title

• Why is this game being called Wolfenstein II when it's part of a continuity of at least four other games (Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Wolfenstein 2009, Old Blood and New Order)? They're all part of the same continuity, since Deathshead appears or is mentioned in all of them, Caroline from Wolfenstein 2009 appears in New Order, BJ reminisces about Deathshead's X-Lab from RTCW while swimming underneath Berlin in New Order, and Old Blood is a prequel to New Order. Why not just call it Wolfenstein: The New Colossus? No ones ever bothered with numbering these games before, so why now?
  • Most likely to make them more distinct as a soft reboot. While characters and events in the previous games are clearly part of this timeline, Machine Games are probably taking the opportunity to condense and consolidate the canon. That, and it also signifies The New Colossus is a full blown sequel, rather than "just" an expansion along the lines of Old Blood.

Heavy uniforms in New Mexico in July?

• The real life Roswell has a semi-arid climate with hot summers reaching 40+ degrees Celsius. The parade is explicitly said to take place on the 4th of July. So why aren't the soldiers wearing hot weather uniforms like the Afrika Korps soldiers on the wrecked train in the previous game?
  • This is adressed by a German soldier at the gas station who laments they have to wear the same cold weather clothing as they do home in Bavaria. Presumably this is just indifference from the higher ranks, and the distribution of hot weather uniforms reserved for fighting troops like the Afrika Korps instead of small town garrisons in occupied territory.
    • That is a possible in-universe explanation. The most likely real reason is that the developers thought they would look less iconically "Nazi" in desert uniforms instead of the traditional feldgrau. Still, it makes the setting seem inconsistent with itself when some soldiers serving in desert environments have uniforms designed for the environment and others not.
    • May be supply shortages, freshly re-deployed soldiers that haven't received desert uniforms or Nazi high command hasn't gotten around to it.
    • If could be that the Nazi's want their troops in their "Sunday" best. Lets face it the Africa Korps uniform isn't exactly that much of a proper uniform. Plus there is a parade going on, and if one group is wearing their "Sunday" best, might as well make them all. Plus, some of the troops may not even be German. By having them all wear the same uniform, high command can instill the idea to the public and the troops that they are all German.
    • If you've ever served in the military, you'd know the answer to "Why would they make the soldiers dangerously uncomfortable" is just as likely as not that they just didn't give a shit. This would probably go triply so when the top brass is literal Nazis.

B.J. is capable of wearing costumes, but cannot disguise his face?

• B.J's mugshot is everywhere on those "Wanted: Terror Billy" posters, and in Roswell random townspeople and guards are capable of recognising him. Why doesn't he try to disguise his features? He could easily put on a fake beard at least.
  • He is a metric ton of sentient muscle, a fake beard might not cut it.
  • In real life, many agencies will make photos of individuals with numerous disguises on them. After the WW2, there were pictures of Hitler having beards, glasses, bald, etc. Chances are that the soldiers are trained to identify such disguises. As for latter, in the casting scene, no one expects the actual Terror Billy to audition for the role. Guess Hitler was a cuckoolander that was right.
    • Well, in the case of the audition, they weren't expecting him, because he was, as Horton said, supposed to be dead.
  • This is actually a case of Reality Is Unrealistic - wearing unusual clothes, like a uniform, does make them stand out, but people are more likely to pay attention to the clothing, than the person in the clothing.
  • And for the audition, BJ does disguise his face with a fake mustache.

Grace's instant promotion

• Grace is immediatly put in charge of the Kreisau Circle as Caroline's replacement the moment she steps onboard the Eva's Hammmer, even taking Caroline's old room, despite nobody knowing her and her inmediatly starting fights with Fergus and Sigrun. It seems odd there isn't any discussion about the matter or suggesting someone else.
  • In my game, there was a significant cutscene that indicated nobody in the initial crew really wanted to be Caroline's replacement. When Grace rolled in and started firing orders, they just went along with it out of inertia, because at least Grace had a plan, an idea of how to carry it out, and showed a certain amount of respect to everyone other than Sigrun.
  • Simply put: Grace was the most qualified. She had been in contact with Caroline and the two had most likely developed most of the plan to liberate America. They are also working in America, and Grace had been in the United States far longer than anyone else. If she was joining them in Europe, someone else would have stepped up. In her defense, she also didn't realize that was Caroline's bedroom, so her callous attitude is more understandable.
    • She wasn't just the most qualified, she was the ONLY one qualified. BJ, Bombate, and Fergus are more boots on the ground type; Wyatt says himself he simply can't lead the revolution; Set is very intelligent but that intellect is more focused on engineering; Anya is similarly very intelligent but doesn't show much by way of leadership abilities; Max Hauss... well that should be obvious; no one on the ship trusts Sigrun (possibly save BJ and Wyatt) to give her any real authority nor does she show any leadership abilities, and Horton (who seemed to be having run a larger resistance and have better charisma) comes in far too late to bother taking control.
  • Grace's tactics are very similar to the ones drill instructors use - she doesn't care if you hate her for what she says, so long as the end result is changing you, and the group as a whole, by proxy, for the better. For example, her treatment of Sigrun not only caused the girl to prove that she wasn't a Nazi, but also caused her to take a level in self assertiveness. Something she was extremely lacking in.

Section F

• The remaining Nazi crew onboard the Eva's Hammer were able to hide the entrance to the gargantuan section of the ship they were hiding in and where most of the nuclear weapons were kept, by pushing a single locker in front of the door that wasn't even that heavy. How come even a genius like Set was fooled by that and just ignore that big a part of the ship simply not existing.
  • Anya says so herself that they thought it was just a laundry room, it wasn't until William noticed that one of the doors was welded shut that they realized that Section F's location was real. Anya also mentions that they were pretty preoccupied with a bunch of other things to further investigate.
  • It's also worth noting that on the blueprints they examined Section F only appeared as a small room but with a printed reference to another document. Meaning that if say Anya was going over it in a rush she might not have translated the german text immediately and thus not realized it had instructions to pull up another document for the full layout of that section. After all do you want to go through every single page translating all the text immediately when most of it is going to be descriptions of circuit layouts? No after commandeering a major piece of military hardware capable of stealth you'd rush to learn how it works well enough to keep control and go through the rooms as shown on the blueprint to eliminate any remaining resistance.
  • Section F also isn't **that** big compared to the Hammer itself. Even if someone saw a blueprint, it'd probably look like just an empty space for ballast or something.

Final Mission

• How was Engel not informed of the Ausmerzer being invaded by the Resistance while attending the Jimmy Carver Show despite the attack taking at least a good 10-20 minutes and then the Resistance heading over to the studio with no one aware of what has happened?
  • Believing Terror-Billy was dead, she felt there was nothing that could stand against her. She arrogantly only went to the Jimmy Carver Show with one bodyguard (who is killed at the beginning of the mission) and ordered radio silence so she wouldn't be interrupted during the interview. If her and her bodyguard's radios are shut off, no matter how many SO Ss are sent out, she won't learn of it, and the other soldiers were busy fighting the Resistance to physically go down and warn her.

Anya participating in combat

• Why is it that a heavily pregnant woman who is also supposed to be a Comms Officer is allowed to participate in field missions? Certainly they could have replaced her with another able-bodied person. Regardless of how proficient she is at murdering Nazis, Anya's condition seems like she'd be seen more as a burden who is better off left in the base rather than fighting out in the field.
  • Maybe she was the only one who understood the Ausmerzer's computer system well enough to operate the consoles. Still a great stretch, mind.
  • She proves that, despite her heavy pregnancy, she remains one of the most competent soldiers the Resistance has going for it. As far back as "The New Order," she expressed interest in learning to shoot. Five months later and through a lot of training, she knows what she is doing. If anything, I wish she came down to Section F with me.
    • Competent or not, she's pregnant. She has two fetuses growing in her body that could easily die. Even if Anya can take some a few hits, the babies sure can't. One stray bullet, piece of shrapnel, or even an excessive amount of g-forces (caused from explosions, shockwaves, jumping, falling, etc.) should be enough to cause a miscarriage. Therefore, putting herself on the frontlines at the expense of her own unborn children is a completely irrational—even moronic—thing to do.
    • It's either that or let the Nazis win because no one can crack code and shoot in the resistance apparently. They aren't really in a moment to choose.
  • Let's face it; the Resistance isn't exactly in a position to offer maternity leave here. They pretty much need anyone who can point a weapon and shoot to be in a combat position if needed. In this situation, Anya was needed. They probably don't want to put Anya in a position where she has to risk losing the pregnancy, but they don't exactly have an fuckton of choice in the situation either.

Failing Kidneys

• If B.J.'s kidneys were failing, why was he not hooked up to a hemodialysis machine?
  • Set implanted a smaller more efficient version in the space where most of his intestines would be after B.J.'s immediate condition stabilized. It wouldn't be that hard given how often he's shown using his knowledge of both advanced engineering and medicine together. That would allow B.J. to move around once he finally woke up, given he was dying regardless this would be a quality of life measure meant to keep him relatively comfortable.

Functioning Subway Train

• How does a subway in a city that's been nuked and abandoned for 13 years still have power?
  • Even more strange: how does a partially submerged ferry abandoned for 13 years still have a functioning power outlet that can recharge the LKW?
  • The Nazis are active in New York City as scavengers, and planning to de-irradiate the area to build a new city. The government was in the process of getting ready to renovate, so starting to provide energy to the trains as a reliable means of transportation.
    • Doubtful. If you are going to use subway trains, you really should start with clearing rubble from tunnels, draining floods and repairing tracks, not providing energy to the system that can short-circuit at any moment or fry some unlucky worker standing in a wrong puddle.
    • Like much of their work in this timeline it was a rush job and, not unlike The Last of Us, the Nazis didn't bother sorting out what power went where. All they did was turn off sections that made the system short out to deal with later.

Transmitting from a submerged submarine

• How was the Ausmerzer able to get a signal from the Eva's Hammer? Even if the signal could pass through several inches of steel, it would never reach the surface, due to the signal's high frequency and the high electrical conductivity of seawater. This is why transmitting to submarines via radio waves is limited to the ELF, SLF, and VLF bands (none of which the transmitter B.J. destroyed would be capable of transmitting at), and to signal back the submarine has to either surface or deploy an antenna buoy up to the surface. And how, if people like Anya are monitoring Nazi communications, did no one during the course of over five months notice a radio signal coming from inside the submarine?
  • They likely waited for the submarine to reemerge ,or non stopped sent communication for five months if they couldn't find out when they were reemerging. Also remember that those five months were Anya finding out she had twins and her boyfriend might not wake up, she didn't expect deep cover nazi transmitting info from their own submarine was a thing to check. The others probably didn't have it better as they needed to prepare a new Do-Anything Soldier for their fight.
  • Eva's Hammer is based on stolen Jewish Space Wizard technology. It doesn't every begin to follow the normal rules for submersible craft so I so no reason not to assume a more efficient form of transmission that can cut through the water on an encrypted frequency.

New Orlean ghetto

• Why didn't the nazi just nuked or firebombed the place? Do they need to keep undesirables there? Especially when they decided to put on the pressure after Roswell.
  • It's explicitly mentioned that after exterminating the population, the Nazis intend to rebuild New Orleans into another concrete Nazi metropolis. As for why they didn't just exterminate the undesirables in the first place, maybe it was too much work? Or maybe they thought the carnage of killings across the US might spur anti-Nazi resistance, and pragmatically chose to deport them away from the common American's view where they can just say the people killed were "terrorists"?

POV from a freshly-decapitated head?

• How come B.J. is still able to see anything right after he gets beheaded by Frau Engel, but before his head goes in the jar?
  • The human brain can stay active for a few seconds after beheading before brain death would set in, so he could still see himself being beheaded.

B.J.'s new... Schmuck

• This is a bit of a silly one, but if B.J. has been confirmed to be Jewish, and with his new body obviously not having undergone the Jewish... "procedure", does that mean he's going to need to find a rabbi once the war is over and do that thing down below all over again?
  • B.J. is half-Jewish, and he's never shown to be religious. Religious Jews don't have sex before marriage, and certainly not with non-Jews, for one thing. Also, he doesn't wear the yamakuh like Set Roth does.
  • He likely never got circumcised given his father would probably not have let his boy practice Judaism
  • Not all Jews practice circumcision.
  • We do know that he can read Hebrew (he dictates the words "Da'at Yichud"). Normally, this would indicate that he's studied for his Bar Mitzvah, at the very least. Secretly?
  • Who's to say Set didn't perform the procedure on the body beforehand?

Why is Frau Engel so disgusted about Sigrun writing sexual things in her diary?

• Considering she's a 17 year old girl I would think it would be more abnormal if she didn't have a lot of sexual thoughts. Or is the whole point of it to show what a hypocrite Frau Engel is in addition to all her other detestable qualities (considering she comes across as a deranged pervert herself?)
  • For one, she simply delights in cruelty toward those she sees as beneath her. She considers her daughter a disgraceful, weak-willed failure, so thinks it's her right to insult and embarrass her. For another, it's implied that Sigrun is attracted to women as well as men, something the Nazis did not approve of and would have branded deviant or perverted. Remember she later taunts Sigrun by simulating kissing and oral sex on her with Caroline's severed head, her twisted way of humiliating her for fantasizing about such things.
  • Even if we discount possible bisexuality, the game also clearly demonstrates that Sigrud has an attraction to black men, which would also likely be put down in her diary, and which her fanatical Nazi mother would also likely have a wee bit of a problem with. Frau Engel, for all her obvious perversions, almost certainly does not engage in or approve of miscegenation. But yes, the answer of "Engel's a cruel bullying hypocrite" also works nicely.

Nazi base on Venus

• There was a huge Nazi base on Venus the entire time. A massive, fully-functioning one too. That's so far above everything else technologically. Why does everything on Earth look like 1960s dieselpunk when that kind of technology is possible? When B.J. and Anya and their parents were resting in their 19th cottage did anyone ever tell B.J. "Oh by the way the Nazis made it to Venus and it's easy to travel there now"? Why even care about conquering America when that kind of space travel is possible? Did Deathshead build the Venus base? How come he never brought it up? There's so much attention to the Nazis building a base on the moon when they've dwarfed that accomplishment several times over.
  • Put simply, the base on Venus wasn’t important at the time. While it is a well-defended stronghold, the fact that Hitler is there at all indicates that it’s more of a castle - a luxurious but well-defended place reserved only for the higher-ups. Deathshead only stayed on Earth in the last game, and the only reason the resistance travels to the moon is to get the firing codes for the nuclear cannon, which would have to be kept closer than Venus in the event they needed to be used in a hurry. After “Terror-Billy” was declared dead, the Nazi regime probably felt okay loosening some restrictions, and revealed the Venus base to the public for the first time just for bragging rights.