WMG / Doom Eternal

Pre-Release

The Doom Slayer

The Doom Slayer forgot how to talk

The Doom Slayer is a silent protagonist, yet unlike most silent protagonists he has a full personality if you pay attention to how he acts when being talked to by Samuel Hayden or whenever something happens in the game. This actually makes sense from a story perspective: while spending so long doing nothing but killing demons in Hell or in stasis because he had a temple dropped on him, he never really would have had a chance or a reason to talk. A couple of years, maybe even a decade and this shouldn't have been an issue, but the Doom Slayer has been doing this for literal eons if the Slayer's Testament is to be believed. There's a chance that he might end up finding his voice if he spends too much time among the humans on Phobos.

• He at least knows how to vocalize, as he can be heard grunting in pain whenever he's hit during the gameplay trailers.
• Semi-jossed. Word of God states that the Slayer is still capable of talking. The issue is not so much that the Slayer forgot how to speak so much as he doesn't want to speak.

The Doom Slayer has a soft side... somewhere in there.

But it will only come out when he's dealing with normal people not actively getting in his way or associating with hell like the civilians on the Phobos base. Every so often he'll have a Pet the Dog moment with one of them being kind in his deeply, deeply jade and battle-hardened way. It will be rough around the edges but just like when he backed up VEGA these occasional moments of not being a blood-crazed berserker will start to endear him to humanity at large earning him abject terror AND respect instead of just the former.

• There will be an optional animation like the bobbleheads where he pets a bunny. Prove me wrong!
• While there is no bunny petting animation, we do see his personal quarters in the Fortress of Doom, which includes a portrait of him holding a bunny.
• These moments happen enough to make this confirmed. The Slayer remains relatively courteous to the ARC and UAC researchers, gives a kneel of respect to King Novik's spirit, and refuses to fight the remaining Night Sentinels when they turn on him after killing Deag Grav. He's even able to trust Samuel Hayden enough to let him prove his worth and newfound devotion to the Slayer's cause.

The Doom Slayer will be depicted as a Friend to All Children

In the trailers, we see plenty of adult survivors cower in fear before him. But what about children? Particularly those innocent enough to see the Doom Slayer as their hero and saviour, and not as The Dreaded? Scenes might include him exchanging a fistbump with a random kid.

• Jossed, no children appear in Eternal.

The Doom Slayer will become a playable character in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate via DLC

After all, the original Doom played a major role in defining the FPS genre.

The Doom Slayer used to be Heavens enforcer.

But then he realized the truth, they were colluding with hell to prosper off the suffering of others. Hell took over other worlds consuming all the biological material then Heaven would sweep in and steal all the mineral wealth or some other similar relationship. The Doom Slayer who genuinely hated the cruelty and murderous intentions of the demons went rogue going off into to rip shit up. The demon with the grey skin wearing similar armor is Heaven's replacement Doom Slayer.

• Confirmed! The Khan Maykr, the collective will of Urdak, the Doom universe equivalent of Heaven, was initially bewildered and alarmed by the Hell invasion of Argent D'Nur. But then she discovered that combining demonic Essence with Wraith energy created Argent, so she struck a deal with the Dark Lord of Hell: she would have the people of Argent D'Nur build Argent-producing facilities in Hell on ground that the Night Sentinels (with the Slayer as their leader) had conquered behind their backs. This Argent factory mainly tortures people so that their souls can be extracted and turned into Essence and then into Argent, and then the broken empty bodies being ejected into Hell to become demons. The Maykr provides the locations and means of places for Hell to invade and absorb, and then she gets the lion's share of the Argent to prevent her world's destruction. After discovering this deal, the Night Sentinels had a schism where some decided to rebel against the Maykr and her unbelievably cruel ambitions while others stayed loyal. The loyal ones were turned into demons after their deaths - the Marauders.

Weapons, Equipment and Enemies

There will, of course, be a Bag of Spilling

Unless they throw in an Old Save Bonus by having a 100% Completion save from the previous game, expect the Doom Slayer to lose every weapon and upgrade he obtained throughout his trip through Mars and Hell. Not that it ever stopped him, to begin with.

• Justified based on the ending of the previous game. Samuel Hayden rigged his Praetor Suit with a tethering mechanism, so maybe the Slayer had to ditch the suit at some point and find another one.
  • Highly implied to be the case as in the Fortress of Doom, the old armor can be found disassembled, suggesting Doom Slayer was trying to remove that function from it at some point.
• Highly likely, since the reveal trailer shows him wearing what looks like either a new set of armour or a heavily damaged/deteriorated Praetor Suit.
• Confirmed by the opening of the game, as the Doom Slayer is limited to just his shotgun and needs to re-acquire his old gear (alongside VEGA's development of new tech for him to play with).

Weapons and other static pickups being brightly colored are a UI element of the new Praetor Armor

In the previous game, one had to keep an eye out for some pickups in darker places, but here they're nigh-impossible to miss. It's likely that he made the change as to reduce time wasted finding things.

Predictions for new or returning weapons the Doom Slayer will have access to

• Bayonet
  • Maybe an attachment for multiple weapons besides the super shotgun, allowing for more gruesome kills like in Gears of War as opposed to just bashing with the guns like in the previous game.
    • Sort of confirmed; the bayonet is actually the "Meat Hook" mod for the super shotgun, which functions like a grappling hook that pulls Doom Slayer towards his enemies.
• The multiplayer-exclusive weapons from Doom (2016):
  • Burst Rifle
  • Hellshot
  • Vortex Rifle
  • Reaper
  • Grenade Launcher
    • Semi-confirmed; it's now a shoulder-mounted cannon that replaces the frag grenades from the previous game.
  • Lightning Gun
  • Static Rifle
• The Crucible energy sword Hayden was carrying at the end of the previous game. Might have to defeat him in a boss fight to get it.
  • Semi-confirmed; The end of the Phobos gameplay footage at Quakecon has the Slayer whip out a Crucible with a different hilt, but it could be the same weapon. Concept art of The Marauder also depicts an axe with an energy blade similar to the Crucible.
  • Semi-confirmed; You do get your hands on the Crucible from the original game, but it is used to power the Doom Fortress after the Khan Maykr cuts off power to your ship following the death of the final Hell Priest. However, you do not fight Hayden but have to rescue him after he's been messed up by the demons following his leading of the resistance against Hell's forces after his continued use of Argent Energy blew up in his face. The Crucible you use in the game proper is a different Crucible that you used to kill a Titan, and which you have to use to kill the Final Boss.
• Unmaker
  • A demonic weapon from Doom 64; it could fire lasers or something else, and use either cells or souls as ammo. It could even become stronger as the Slayer upgrades it.
    • Confirmed: The weapon is now called the Unmaykr, a Maykr weapon stored within a tank in the Fortress of Doom.
• Soul Cube
  • Cameo'd as an unusable object in the previous game.
    • Jossed: Once again, the cube cameos as a decorative object, this time situated on the Slayer's desk in his Fortress of Doom.
• Weapon mods that could return:
  • The ability to shoot three shots from the Super Shotgun without reloading.
    • Semi-confirmed: The new alt-fire is an automatic shotgun mode that fires as many shots as the player has on them.
  • Micro Missiles for the Heavy Cannon
    • Confirmed as per the Google Stadia preview.
  • A siege mode for the Ballista
    • Semi-confirmed: the Ballista has a Destroyer Blade mod that charges up a wide beam meant for crowd control.
  • Plasma Rifle heat blast
    • Confirmed, the E3 2019 shows footage of the Heat Blast in a Blink-and-You-Miss-It scene.
  • Lock-On Burst for the Rocket Launcher.
    • Confirmed
  • The Chaingun's Mobile Turret.
    • Confirmed this time with Four Barrels!!!
• Brand-new Weapons:
  • The Boneslinger: This weapon is basically a large cannon that shoots bones harvested from demon corpses. If you Glory Kill an opponent while this gun is out, the Doom Slayer will slice open the opponent and rip out their skeleton, thus replenishing his ammo.
    • Jossed.

The Slayer's Crucible will have a similar mechanic to the Soul Cube from Doom³

Provided the Crucible is a weapon accessible like firearms, it can only be accessed by killing a certain number of demons before it can be used, like how the Soul Cube can be launched upon destroying five demons.

• Jossed. The Crucible stores up to three charges at once. Each charge can be used to kill every single enemy (except Bosses). Extra charges are only found scattered through the levels in very limited quantities.

The Slayer's Crucible will be an upgrade to the chainsaw

That way they won't have to have lore-based explanations for gas cans being everywhere after the first few levels, and it can function like a Laser Blade; instantly cutting anything you swing it at in half.

• Looking at all the footage, it certainly seems so. We’ve only ever seen the chainsaw used on smaller demons like Imps and Zombiemen, that the Crucible icon on the UI shares the same colors and blips as the Chainsaw, and that said chainsaw doesn’t seem to be upgraded to have more fuel, even in late game. Although there might be something missing, this is looking very likely.
• Jossed. The chainsaw is instantly activated by pressing X/Square/C. The Crucible is pulled out using D-Pad Right/V and swung using primary fire. They also have a different ammo/charge pool and the Crucible doesn't cause enemies to drop ammo.

The Slayer's Crucible is a sort of transformation ability

It'll have its own bar that fills up every time you kill or you get hit. Getting hit charges the bar faster but is not recommended. Once it fills, it can be activated at any time. It cannot be deactivated once you've used it so one must always find the right time to use it. It can be further upgraded to have a longer charge bar to last longer, deal more damage, increase your temporary damage reduction to yourself and maybe even let you absorb demonic energy and heal yourself for every hit you do on enemies.

• Jossed. See above.

The Slayer's Crucible will be named the BFS

Seeing as the BFS could potentially serve as a melee counterpart to the BFG, it'd only be fitting to give it this moniker, especially if it's an almighty power weapon that devastates opponents.

• Jossed. It's just "the Crucible".

The Slayer's Crucible is no other than the Daikatana

We all know the story, we all know the game. And I'm pretty sure that redeeming the blade would be sweet

• Grabbing the blade can give the Trophy "I'm about to make you my bi..."
• Jossed.

Predictions for what runes should make a return

• Rich get Richer
  • Jossed.
• Armoured Offensive
  • Jossed.
• In-Flight Mobility
  • Confirmed.

Predictions for new or returning enemy types the Doom Slayer will encounter (mostly from previous games; bold ones are confirmed)

From the original Doom games:

• Arachnotron
• Arch-Vile
• Pain Elemental
  • All three of the above are confirmed.
• Former humans such as Zombieman, shotgun guys and heavy weapon dudes. Unlike the previous game's Possessed Soldiers, these are armed with more traditional hitscan weaponry but serve the same purpose as low-level mooks.
  • Half-Confirmed, they have the looks but otherwise function like the previous game's Possessed Soldiers and Security.
• Spider Mastermind
  • If Olivia Pierce wasn't the only one. May serve as a miniboss.
    • Jossed, though we get Arachnotrons.
• Cyberdemon
  • If the UAC or Hell made multiple Cyberdemons. May also serve as a miniboss. Maybe one would even be fighting with the Spider Mastermind as a homage to the level Gotcha! of Doom II.
  • He was established to have fought and been killed by the Doom Slayer in the past, so it's not out of the question for it to be the same one back for round 3.
  • Semi-confirmed: the Cyberdemon doesn't return per se, but the Tyrants that appear later in the game were designed with the classic Cyberdemon in mind.
• Icon of Sin
  • Came as an Easter egg in the previous game, but perhaps it could be the final boss like in the original game, as either a static enemy or a giant towering demon-like in Brutal Doom.
  • CONFIRMED - the Icon of Sin appears as the Khan Maykr's final weapon against Earth, and the Doom Slayer has to face him down in the final battle of the game. And he is indeed a ginormous towering behemoth, outright stated to be one of the Titans of Hell.
• A certain developer's head on a spike which was the Icon of Sin's weakness.
  • As the Icon has a regular brain, this is jossed. However, there is a nod to Romero in the Night Sentinels' lore.
• Wolfenstein SS
  • An Easter egg enemy like those found in the secret levels in Doom II. Maybe it could be based on the newer soldier models in Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus.
• Commander Keen - or a similar character hanging somewhere as an Easter egg.
  • Semi-confirmed: While Keen doesn't make an appearance outside of his skull on top of Doom Slayer's bookshelf, the Dopefish from his series makes another cameo in a long line of cameos by showing up in Eternal.

From Doom³:

• More zombies such as the Z-Sec and Commando.
• Cherub
• Guardian of Hell (not to be confused with the similarly named Hell Guard from 2016), Seeker
• Maggot
• Sabaoth
• Tick
• Trite
• Vagary
• Wraith
• Bruiser
• Forgotten One
• Hell Hunter
• Maledict
• Vulgar
  • Jossed; no Doom 3 enemies in these parts.
  • However, the Doom Hunter enemies do resemble the Sabaoth boss in terms on body structure (large body on top of mechanical vehicle with oversized left arm).

From Doom 64:

• Nightmare Imp
  • Jossed, though the Prowler seems to be a spiritual descendant.

The Spider Mastermind will go the way of Tyrants and become a Boss in Mook Clothing in the followup.

As we now have Barons of Hell and Cyberdemons as more basic enemies than bosses, and that Arachnotrons also exist, some of them could age up to become very identical looking to the classic Mastermind, though with a different name as the 'actual' one is obviously dead.

New and Returning Characters

The Marauder is a new incarnation of the Cyberdemon

The Marauder is clearly the demonic counterpart to the Doom Slayer, the rival role previously held by the infamous Cyberdemon, whose 2016 incarnation even had carapace armour somewhat resembling the original Doomguy's armor, similarities appearance-wise include similar implants on their chest(although opposite sides)and the much heavier power armor on its left arm in which it wields a powerful gun, mirroring the Cyberdemons cybernetic arm and energy canon, as to why it looks so different? well its body was likely to mangle to be reanimated a second time so perhaps its spirit possessed a human and took up a style similar to it's hated foe to continue its revenge.

• This and the following Marauder WMG's are all Jossed. The Marauder isn't one character but rather a class of enemies. They are Night Sentinels who stayed loyal to the Khan Maykr even after discovering that she was working with hell to absorb realms and bring unimaginable amounts of suffering. After they died, they were turned into demons and became Marauders.

The Marauder is the Wretch

The Wretch is the one who crafted the Praetor Suit, and the Marauder appears to have his own suit, he also doesn't look as strong as most of the demons, as other then his face and skin color he could pass for a normal, if buff, human, no terrifying claws, no hooves to trample foes, no signs of being able to throw fireballs or being huge, with not much in natural ability's this is the kind of demon that would turn to crafting power armour and guns to allow him to match his demonic brethren, maybe he won't be as much a hated enemy as the others but more a worthy rival or even ally, of course, if he is an enemy that would simply mean the Wretch like Hayden was only helping doom guy for his own ends(likely killing rivals in Hell's power structure) and now that his purpose is done he has no problem getting rid of him.

• Jossed. See above.

The Marauder is the Betrayer alluded to in the Slayer Testaments

After all, Hell isn't above converting humans to demons, and what better way to "reward" the Sentinel who betrayed his world to you than to make him into a demon that can fight the Slayer on his own terms? Yes, it's a popular theory that the Doom Slayer and the Betrayer are one and the same, but there's nothing indicating that that's necessarily the case.

• Jossed. See above.

The Marauder is the Betrayer's son.

Since part of that story states that the Betrayer's son was warped into the demons' image. While it's implied that he became the Icon of Sin, this isn't explicitly stated. Also if the Slayer is, in fact, the traitor from that story, imagine how emotionally jarring it would be for him to fight and kill the Marauder.

• Bonus points if Deag Grav (the demon priest who screwed the betrayer over) is the Big Bad and is the one who sics the Marauder onto the Slayer in the first place.
• Extra bonus points if the Marauder attacks the slayer willingly, due to harbouring a massive grudge over the Slayer resurrecting him into what he is today. Maybe he'll pull a Heel–Face Turn and help fight the forces of hell.

• Jossed. See above.

The Doom Hunter is the Cyberdemon

Everyone is talking about the Marauder, but this guy is just as interesting to me. The Cyberdemon already had a grudge against the slayer before you fought them, and the Doomhunter was described by developers as an "Arch-Enemy of the Slayer". In the last game you finished off the Cyberdemon by ripping off his horn and using it to cut off the top half of his head, and the Doomhunter's head is mostly mechanical, and their organic parts have a dried, dead look to them. It is possible that the UAC after you killed the Cyberdemon, rebuilt them a second time, and now they are even angrier than before and actively hunting the Slayer down, hence the name "Doomhunter".

• Jossed. Doom Hunters were Agaddon Hunters, prehistoric Earth creatures that were captured and bred specifically to hunt the Slayer and Night Sentinels - who drove them to extinction - during the Argenta Civil War. By the events of Doom Eternal, Deag Ranak took their remains and cybernetically enhanced them into Doom Hunters.

All the giant tentacles assaulting Earth belong to the Icon of Sin, which is the final boss.

The end of the original Doom 2 mentions that the Icon's thrashing limbs in its death throes caused drastic damage for miles throughout Hell, to the point of describing Hell as destroyed. Such devastating death throes would be a lot more feasible if the Icon was an Eldritch Abomination with gigantic tentacles spreading across worlds.

• Jossed: the Icon of Sin has no tentacles as part of its body, and it's not even activated until near the end of the game.

Returning Characters and their roles

• Samuel Hayden will once again appear as an Affably Evil Well-Intentioned Extremist, and once again will be put through Teeth-Clenched Teamwork with the Doom Slayer. Here, he will realize that his exploiting of Hell wasn't a good idea thanks to its results and now actively tries to save humanity from Hell on Earth, which is why he will call upon the Doom Slayer yet again. His priority will be to try to protect the survivors and salvage what he can (possibly using the Soul Cube), and the Doom Slayer will only work with him if it means saving humanity. The Doom Slayer will also have the option to kill him when the dust settles.
  • Quakecon 2018 footage shows UAC Phobos facility fighting the demons, so seems at least someone in UAC will be playing this role.
  • Mostly confirmed. Hayden returns as Mission Control, but is first found near-dead and has to be resurrected, changes his stance on Argent Energy after learning of its horrific creation process, and survives the remainder of the game. Everything else is basically correct.
• Deag Grav, the unseen Hell priest from the previous game will appear as the Big Bad. He will be the demon leading the invasion on Earth and shown to be a case of Ambition Is Evil. He previously orchestrated Hell's takeover of Argent D'Nur, an achievement he hoped would cause him to rise through Hell's ranks as a demon lord, but later got scorn for it since this lead to the Doom Slayer's rampage. Here, he will be trying to start anew with his invasion of Earth and as a bonus will seek to kill the Doom Slayer once and for all to make up for his biggest failure.
  • Semi-confirmed. Deag Grav is one of three Hell Priests who the Slayer is charged with killing in order to halt the demonic invasion of Earth, and is the final Priest that the Slayer has to take down. However, he is only a dragon to the true Big Bad, the Khan Maykr, and like the other Hell Priests, the Slayer makes quick work of him once his demon boss guardian has been dealt with.
• Corrax, who wrote the Corrax tablets, who will be revealed to be the demon who aided the Doom Slayer, and has come back to help him find his way to Earth to stop the invasion.
  • Jossed. No individual named "Corrax" appears, and the tablets are indicated to be Argenta texts.
• The nameless "wretch", who gave the Doom Slayer his Praetor armour, perhaps returning to give the latter armour and ability upgrades.
• Jossed; the wretch seemingly makes no appearance.

VEGA will return to help the Doom Slayer

Unlikely since the Slayer probably won't find a supercomputer like that on the Mars Facility on Earth, due to VEGA's massive energy requirements. He did manage to make a backup copy of VEGA after shutting him down, so it looks like VEGA's still around in some form.

• VEGA, still in "disk form" will interact with the energy/armour that the Doom Slayer excretes/wears. The first half of the game will be a confused voice talking and attempting to speak to the Doom Slayer, only for a mammoth influx of energy to spark VEGA back into life, and for the second half of the game, you will have a mission control.
• Confirmed - VEGA acts as the Slayer's Mission Control aboard the Doom Slayer's ship, the Fortress of Doom, for much of the game.

It was VEGA who declared "INCOMING INVADER" during the demo

And that would indicate that he has become part of the Praetor Suit. And judging from his tone of voice he has become just as angry and determined as the Doom Slayer to eradicate The Legions of Hell.

• Seemingly Jossed. VEGA never gets added to the suit and is instead running the Fortress of Doom. While he fully supports the Slayer in his crusade against the demons, his voice and his pleasant, matter-of-fact demeanour hasn't changed.

Samuel Hayden will become the Icon of Sin

Samuel's willingness to do anything to solve the energy crisis is apparent, and in the interim between the end of the previous game and the reveal trailer for Eternal, it seems his actions have helped to doom Earth and humanity, much worse than what Olivia Pierce did, and thus presumably with a proportionate "reward" from Hell. However, Samuel's particularly sharp and willful mind may not be as easily subdued, and perhaps he might be able to exert influence with the hordes, especially with the Crucible. And, of course, what is the only remaining purely organic part of his body? The majority of his brain, just like the otherwise biomechanical Icon from Doom II.

• Jossed.

Hayden will NOT be the villain

or at least will be a villain who opposes both the Doom Slayer and hell, unlike Olivia he did not want to benefit the demons only use them to benefit humanity, so while it's possible he caused the current state of earth it would be entirely by accident, he would not sell out humanity and instead work against the demonic invasion, whether he's willing to ally with the Doom Slayer (or more accurately if the Doom Slayer is willing to ally with him again)is up for debate though.

• Confirmed: After his betrayal of the Slayer and his continued use of Argent Energy blew up in his face big-time, he led the ARC forces against the demonic invaders until he was messed up by the demons. Since learning of the Maykrs' true nature and the true nature of Argent Energy, he is now fully on board with the Slayer's bid to end this nightmare.

Some old returning enemies will be reinterpreted as angels considering there are now enemy angelic forces

Including Cherubs, Bruisers, Vagaries, and Trites.

• Jossed. The only new standard "angelic" enemies are Maykr Drones, which don't look or behave particularly similarly to existing enemies.

The Demon Mother from Doom 64 will be a boss

Possibly even a major villain.

• Jossed.

Hayden is the Big Bad

He got a demonic upgrade, if my guessing that the weird techno angel thing on the cover is him. it looks more robotic than all the other demons who at best are more techno-organic, whereas apart from Brain in a Jar seems to be a wholesale robot as Hayden was in the 2016 game.

• Possibly Jossed. The story trailer has a Blink-and-You-Miss-It shot of a heavily damaged Hayden, who is missing an arm and both legs.
• Jossed. He got messed up trying to fight the invasion and ends up as the Slayer's Mission Control by the end.
• Now confirmed in a way, he is the Maykr Seraphim Samur, the last boss of the Ancient Gods DLC.

The Marauder, despite being another demon, isn't really affiliated with Hell.

The etymology of Marauder comes from the French word "maraud", which means "rascal" in English. In the English dictionary, to maraud is to raid, pillage and plunder. With this in mind, I don't believe that the Marauder isn't really a part of Hell's forces, despite it being a demon. It 'could' possibly be going around dimensions rampaging and stealing, almost like he's some sort of demonic pirate.

• Jossed: The Marauders are corrupted Night Sentinels who joined the Maykrs against the Slayer and his forces in the Argenta Civil War which was sparked by the Night Sentinels learning of the true nature of Argent Energy and the complicity of the Maykrs in Hell's invasion of their world. The Sentinels in question were reborn as demons following their death in that war.

Samuel Hayden will make a Heel Realization and redeeming Heroic Sacrifice.

Possibly stopping the invasion or saving the Doomslayer's life.

• Alternately, he'll realize just how badly he fucked up and let the Doom Slayer kill him. If you want to.
• Jossed. While he's on board with destroying Argent for good once he finds out about the Khan Maykr and her deal with Hell, he never admits that he was wrong for making the choices he did when he did, and he survives through to the end of the game.

The betrayers will eventually give his name to the slayer, and his last name will be Romero

As a reference to the icon of sin/his son being John Romero in the original.

• Jossed. His name is Valen. Though the first Sentinel King is named "Ormero"

Levels and Environments

One of the new environments (specifically the Geiger-esque gold, white and red area seen in the concept art shown at QuakeCon) is Heaven

In the video, the presenters alluded to this indirectly while showing an environment consisting of cathedrals and castles. Considering that Earth looks the way it does during the demon invasion, and the castle area does not, it's safe to say it's probably not being invaded by Hell. If this turns out to be the case, then Heaven will also be an antagonist in the story.

• The environment concept art itself◊ sports a biomechanical, white/gold architectural style that stands in very stark contrast with all existing human and demonic architecture. The Doom Slayer was supposedly blessed by "the Seraphim", so perhaps the strange humanoid in the artwork (making the sign of benediction with his hand, at that) is the Doom universe's equivalent to an angel? Of course, knowing Doom, it's a fair bet that God and Satan Are Both Jerks.
• Confirmed: the place is Urdak, the Doom universe equivalent to Heaven.

The dull blue area with cathedral-like buildings is the Elder World from Quake

• Jossed, this is Sentinel Prime.

The first mission will take place on Phobos

The game opens with the Doom Slayer breaking himself out of UAC custody, finding out that the demons have overrun Mars and are attempting to escape and make a beeline for Earth. And the Doom Slayer attempts to stop them using the BFG-10,000, only to somehow fail and Hell on Earth happens. Kind of like how Wolfenstein: The New Order begun.

• Jossed The game starts with the Doom Slayer quite free on his Fortress of Doom teleporting down to Earth. He doesn't head to Phobos until later in the game when he has to find the final Hell Priest.

Predictions for classic Easter egg maps:

The classic Easter egg maps were a nice homage to the original games in Doom (2016), and it would be great to see more classic maps return in Doom Eternal. Not all will be selected, but here are some suggestions:

• From Doom II:
  • Map 03: The Gauntlet
  • Map 04: The Focus
  • Map 07: Dead Simple
  • Map 11: 'O' of Destruction
  • Map 13: The Factory
  • Map 17: Tenements
  • Map 20: Gotcha!
  • Map 23: Barrels o' Fun
  • Map 25: Bloodfalls
  • Map 27: Monster Condo
  • Map 31: Wolfenstein
  • Map 32: Grosse
• Semi-confirmed; while the Easter Egg maps as the appeared in 2016 don't make a return, you can instead play the entirety of the first two Doom games on Doomguy's old PC. Doom 1 requires you to find all the cheat codes, while Doom II requires you to enter in "FLYNNTAGGART" on the password screen.

The SnapMap Level Editor will return, possibly as a more advanced version

SnapMap was one of the big features that were heavily promoted when Doom (2016) was unveiled, so it would make sense for the sequel to have a similar editor with more features and assets.

• As an extra bonus, maps from the previous game will even be playable in Doom Eternal.
  • Unfortunately jossed. To compensate, id Software says they'll be focusing more on the single-player campaign DLC which was lacking in the previous game.

Miscellaneous

The in-game soundtrack will feature guitar riffs from some of Doom II's most iconic songs

The previous game's soundtrack had a lot of riffs taken from Doom's songs, so why not?

• Confirmed! Hell, the main menu theme incorporates music from the original Icon of Sin fight.

Multiplayer will return, but may have key differences from Doom (2016)'s multiplayer

The multiplayer mode in the previous game was not as well-received as the campaign, mainly because it played too much like a modern shooter which was antithetical to the old-school game design Doom was well-known for (being developed by Certain Affinity, who were behind the multiplayer of several Halo and Call of Duty games, instead of id Software could explain the similarities). id Software would learn from this and redesign the multiplayer to be more old-school like Quake.

• Some of the key differences would be:
  • No weapon loadouts - players start with a pistol and weapons are scattered across the levels to be picked up.
  • No hack modules or similar perks that give players certain advantages off the bat.
  • No demon runes - they could return but are heavily nerfed to balance the gameplay for other players.
• Player and weapon customization may return just for cosmetics.
• Confirmed. id Software is developing Eternal's multiplayer in-house instead of outsourcing to Certain Affinity. It's called "Battlemode", with the basic idea being one player as the Slayer with 90% of the abilities and weapons that you get in the campaign vs. two player-controlled demons who attempt to trap and overwhelm the Slayer.

Like the previous game, there will be a release for the Nintendo Switch.

• Bonus points if it's done by the same team Panic Button.
• Confirmed, but not at the same time. Upon the game being delayed to March 2020, the Switch port was announced to be releasing after PC, Playstation and Xbox consoles.

This game is set in the Fallout universe (part 2)

• A continuation of the Fallout WMG for the previous game. Assuming that this game takes place at most a few years after the other Doom game and is set on the East Coast, it could explain why that part of the country is so badly rundown in Fallout 3 and Fallout 4, despite claims in-universe that it wasn't as heavily damaged by the Great War as the West Coast; because the demons ransacked it. Now, why is it that the demons are never seen nor mentioned in the West Coast Fallout games? Because the West Coast was so badly irradiated and desolate that the demons didn't even bother invading it, and instead assumed it was uninhabitable. Alternatively, if there is any amount of lore in the game that suggests mankind thrived in the time period between 2077 and whenever the invasion of Earth takes place, this game could still take place in the Fallout universe, but in a timeline where the Great War never happened.
  • I'm pretty sure no one would forget demons invading the east coast. That sort of thing would be remembered for a while. Plus, the Vaults would've been destroyed in the process. On top of that, the Tech Level is not in line with Fallout, which has different plasma weapons, still uses monochrome terminals, and was heavily nuclear-powered, on top of the 50s stasis. This WMG was jossed from the get-go.
    • Not necessarily. There's still the latter possibility: that Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal take place in a timeline where the Great War never happened, but the Resource Wars continued until they became the energy crisis that kicked off the events of Doom 2016.

The return of mod support

• Bethesda has recently been pushing mods (and paid mods) more and more with Fallout 4 and Skyrim Remastered, and even made some of them available on consoles, so it would make sense for them to have id Software do the same (possibly as a replacement for SnapMap).
  • Jossed and Confirmed. It won’t be there at launch, but Bethesda says that that is a long-term goal for the game.

There will be a Cult of The Slayer

Either long since destroyed or still active, some humans will revere the Doom Slayer as a mythical being to be worshipped. Honestly, everyone knows who the Doom Slayer is, some people are going to worship him (even if it is only as a counter-culture to the Demon worship of the corporate higher-ups).

• Confirmed. The Slayer becomes a mythical figure to the non-UAC allied humans attempting to fight against the demons. One level features audio logs of a researcher who initially resists the idea of the Slayer being supernatural, but eventually looks at him as a divine saviour.

The Demons are refugees fleeing persecution

They're not trying to invade the planet per se, they're running away from the Doom Slayer.

• Jossed by the game proper. The demons are consuming Earth to create more Argent Energy to sustain the Maykr people.

The "Eternal" moniker will be made Meaningful by the end of the campaign

Given the incentive by id Software of "creating a Doom universe" per the QuakeCon presentation, the "Eternal" from the title will be a reference to the Divine Conflict between good and evil since the very beginning, especially with the theories there is a Doom equivalent of heaven from the showcasing of the art and previews of new environments from the QuakeCon presentation. Furthermore, that there might be Alternate Universes per the lore from Doom (2016) suggests the war between heaven and hell spans all realities, thus made "eternal" across space and time.

• Half-confirmed: the word "eternal" has a few meaningful drops, but it refers to Doom Slayer's own crusade against Hell.

The Praetor Suit upgrades come from the Da'at Yichud technology in WolfensteinTheNewOrder

This troper seems to have found a resemblance between the spikes on the new suits hands, and the spikes on the shoulders of the power armour Caroline and BJ wear in the rebooted Wolfenstein games. If it's possible that these two universes are connected, this might be an important puzzle piece in bringing the two together.

Like how Doom (2016) used the original Doom box art◊ as the inspiration for its respective cover◊, Doom Eternal will be inspired by the Doom II: Hell on Earth cover◊

However, since the Cyberdemon has been destroyed in the previous game, the Doomhunter or Marauder will be the parallel for the Cyberdemon on the cover art.

• Jossed: no "Doom Slayer vs. single demon" image on the box art.

There will be a Shout-Out or two to Goblin Slayer

Since Goblin Slayer has come out in the time between 2016 and Eternal and the two are very similar in their utter hatred for demons and goblins respectively, there will be some references to GS. Perhaps a skin allowing you to have GS's armour.

• Well, the Sentinel Training Armor does have a rather similar-looking helmet, but that may just be a coincidence.

At some point in the game it's going to turn into a war of mankind against the forces of hell and heaven

• Confirmed, at least literally. The Doom Slayer is indeed a flesh-and-blood human with divine empowerment and near the end of the game the Icon of Sin's awakening allows Hell to invade Urdak, creating a short-lived war between the (not-quite) heavenly Maykrs and the legions of Hell, thus leading to a war of mankind against the forces of hell and "heaven".

Some angels will be villains, but not all of them

Heaven is currently in the midst of a civil war between angels who want to protect humanity and ones who think humans are beyond saving after letting Hell loose, with the latter group winning and desiring to destroy humanity. Many angels will be enemies to the Slayer, but others will help him by giving him items, weapons, and upgrades.

• Semi-confirmed. While no Maykrs in-game assist the Slayer, a rogue Maykr working against the Khan's agenda was responsible for the Slayer's divine empowerment. The spirits of Night Sentinels scattered across the campaign may also count, as they hand the Slayer a Praetor Suit Upgrade Point for finding them.

Angels won't be the only potentially new enemies in the game.

We all know that angels are going to be in the game, potentially as new enemies in the game. Considering that at Quakecon 2018 iD said that they wanted to make the most powerful protagonist that they've ever created and that angels are potentially new enemies, perhaps the battle against both Heaven and Hell will get so intense that it'll drag in primordial and ancient gods that are attracted to the Doom Slayer's raw anger.

• Jossed for the main campaign, though who knows come DLC time.

Heaven is, and has always been, the true villain.

Argent Energy is actually a Heavenly source of energy, because Hell is Heaven's creation. Argent Energy is a Secret Test of Character: the strong-willed and virtuous resist its metaphysically corrupting effects and use it to enrich their society, while the weak-minded only interested in power for power's sake turn into insane cultists. The crime leads directly to the punishment: the cultists inevitably, deliberately or accidentally, summon the Legions of Hell to consume their world. The virtuous, meanwhile, undergo a gradual ascension to Heaven by converting themselves into divine machines powered by Argent Energy just like the rest of the Heavenly hosts.

Heaven empowered the Doom Slayer to keep Hell in check, but Heaven has decreed that Earth shall be destroyed for failing its test. The Doom Slayer, who wants to kill demons the same way water wants to flow downhill, has other ideas. If Heaven wants to get in the way of his revenge, his revenge will now encompass Heaven.

• The basic idea is confirmed, the details are jossed. The Khan Maykr struck a deal with Hell - she provides them with worlds to conquer, their conquest produces victims, their victims have their souls extracted and turned into Argent and their bodies turn into demons, and the Maykr gets most of the Argent to prevent her own world's destruction. Hell is the muscle that keeps the machine of suffering going, but Heaven elevated the scale and efficiency of that machine to unthinkable heights for its own gain.

Humanity will turn on the Doom Slayer, and he will ultimately do as the voice in the trailer commands

After all, the Doom Slayer of this continuity of Doom isn't actively saving humanity. He isn't fighting for their sake: he's taking his revenge on demons, he's bent on making sure that each and every demon is turned into a bloody stain on the nearest walls. The fact that these save what's left of humanity is a mere consequence. But the Doom Slayer knows that humans are behind the whole shit in the first place, gratuitously tampering with the Argent energy for the greater good, playing God and trying to make a profit out of Hell. In a way, they kinda deserve what's happening to them, and there's no doubt that they fear the Doom Slayer as much as they fear the demons. It could actually lead to a nice sequel hook: near the end of the game, Doom Slayer will duke out with the Angel boss thing, only to have mankind turn on him and seal him in a more hi-tech version of the tomb from the previous game, then, the third game opens with the Doom Slayer breaking free in a world where mankind, which has fully conquered the weakened forces of Hell, is trying to destroy Heaven, and his hatred for demons pushes him to, again, clean up the demonic mess by wiping out humanity this time. It could arguably be less cliché than the whole "Heaven is evil!" thing, while at the same time staying true to the Doom Slayer's nature.

• Doomslayer does genuinely seem to care about saving innocent lives, he backs up a friendly AI and when he first decided not to listen to Hayden it was after looking down at a dead human, implying he was going to at least hear him out till the whole "for humanity's greater good" schtick was immediately proven to be a load of crap, of course with the higher-ups of humanity's seeming to support the demons, they might have created a smear campaign to make humanity THINK he's just a mindless killing machine who doesn't care for humanity
• Jossed. Non-UAC humanity (which is most of them) revere the Slayer as a mythical figure who will save them from this unbelievable cataclysm.

DOOM: Repercussions of Evil will be referenced

Heaven will respond to the Doom Slayer opposing them to kill the demons with "No, Doom Slayer. You are the demons". Rip and tear got Ascended Meme status last game, after all.

• And then Doom Slayer was a zombie. They do get a zombie skin, coincidence?
• Alternately, Heaven's accusation of such will be so egregiously pious and wrong, and the Doom Slayer so UTTERLY pissed off at such, that it will be a Take That! to the fic.
• Sort of confirmed? There's no "you are the demons" quote, but Doomguy ranting about having to kill all the demons does seem to call back to another line in the fic.

Doomslayer will not be fighting alone

There will be other humans tired of the UA Cs shit and inspired by the slayer, deciding to do some ripping and tearing of there own, they might only be hinted at by finding the remains of there battles, they might join as NPC allies, or even be an excuse for co-op, and whether by coincidence or intentionally on their part, their armor will resemble the Doom Slayer(or classic doom guys) armor, this could even open up the possibility for an incarnation of Doomguy native to this dimension

• Confirmed. Humanity led by Samuel Hayden forms the ARC to fight against the demonic invasion, with... middling results. Most of their tech is based on UAC designs (some of which was based on the Slayer's Praetor suit), so there is some familiarity. The Slayer never fights alongside ARC forces, though, unless you count a resurrected Hayden serving as his Mission Control during the last stretch of the game.

There is a breakaway faction of Night Sentinels.

In the most recent trailer, we saw Night Sentinels with Crucible spears in two separate parts. One that shows as Doom Slayer is walking down a hallway on Sentinel Prime, and another with spears aimed at the Slayer. The context of both scenes is that in the former scene, the spear blades are a bluish silver, while in the latter, the spears are red, like most of the Crucible weapons we’ve seen thus far. This could possibly mean that the Marauder could have created a rebel faction of Night Sentinels against the Doom Slayer, who the Marauder calls a usurper and a false idol. The Night Sentinels in the latter scene are possibly affiliated with the Marauder.

• Confirmed: The Sentinels with the red spears are those who still use Argent Energy, and have been corrupted by the Hell Priests and the Maykrs. In the lore, there was a civil war involving the Slayer and the Night Sentinels who refused to have anything to do with Argent Energy after discovering its horrific origins at Nekravol and the complicity of the Khan Maykr and her people in the demonic invasion of their world, and the ruling faction led by the Maykrs and the Deagic Council, who wanted to keep using Argent Energy and following the Khan Maykr and her dictates.

The Corrax who wrote the Argenta texts is Korax.

Not only are the names strikingly similar, but so are the enemies brought over (Chaos Serpents = Pinkies, Iron Liches = armoured Lost Souls, etc). Korax was a refugee from Argent D'Nur looking for another world to colonize and happened across a fantasy realm he and his siblings tried to take over.

Post-Release

Main Game

There are demons on humanities' side.

The existence of the "wretch" mentioned in the slayer testaments as creating the praetor suit demonstrates that demons have enough free will to defect against Hell and the fact that the ARC also uses "Mortally Challenged" indicates that they might actually find the term "Demon" to be offensive.

There will be another Doomguy

Let me explain: If we go with the theory that this is an alternate Earth and combine it with the information that the Slayer is supposed to be a universal inevitability... Well, it's likely that, in a future instalment, the Slayer might find someone who reminds him of himself back when he was simply known as Doomguy. There's a lot of possibilities as to who or what might turn up, isn't there?

• Confirmed in a way, The Doom Slayer you play as is actually from a parallel universe where the other Doom games took place, the Reboot universes version is actually The Dark Lord, the leader of the Demons, and according to Maykr Lore, he is the very first Doomguy created, in face, he was the first being Father created.

Every demon we've ever fought was from a homeworld before being aligned with Hell.

With all this talk about Doom Slayer hopping to other worlds, and with the Codex showing that the new Gargoyle demon was native to the Night Sentinel's homeworld, it would be interesting to run into worlds where the other demons originated from. All demons are all diverse enough that they seem out of place side-by-side sometimes, such as the Revenant and the Mancubus. Not to mention, Doom's Hell is all about conquering and absorbing other realms in order to expand, as mentioned in Doom 2016.

Samuel Hayden isn't Samur Maykr, but was assisted by them as part of a larger plan.

It would explain Hayden's robotic body being of near-alien complexity while also preserving his past as a human. At some point after coming down with terminal cancer, the Samur Maykr granted Hayden the new body in order to prolong his life, predicting that he was in the best position to find and set the Doom Slayer free to spoil the Khan Maykr's multiversal genocide. This plan didn't go quite as well due to Hayden's flawed views on the use of Argent energy, requiring the Samur Maykr to enlighten Hayden on what it takes to make Argent.

• Perhaps Samur left info in other places, like the Fortress of Doom and VEGA (Though it might have wound up on earth in other ways) as it's not until Hayden gets hooked up to it (and thus VEGA at the same time) that he starts speaking of things very few know of and it changing his mind sharply.

The Gladiator is literally one of the original Hell Knights

As pointed out on the character page, his design is suspiciously similar to that of the original Hell Knight, and given that the classic games are canon to the reboot, it's quite possible the Gladiator is one of the few (if not the only) survivors of Doomguy's rampage in the original games.

• But one crucial factor remains...where's the green blood?

The Khan Maykr is responsible for the disappearance of Father.

No Father means she can rule longer and nobody can stop her plans.

Samur Maykr engineered many events as a Long Game to restore the Maykr race and break the pact between Urdak and Hell

The game's still new, and this goes all over the timeline including the 2016 game, so I'll just put the lot behind spoiler tags:After the Father's disappearance, Samur could tell all was not well with the Maykr. Just for a start, the Khan Maykr was actively avoiding the Transmogrification, a natural part of their life cycle designed to avoid stagnation and decay, and could do so thanks to a lack of their higher power. Making a pact with hell to sustain Urdak (and herself) through monstrous means was the breaking point for him. So he empowered the Doom Slayer, knowing he'd need a lynchpin in his plans far down the line, and allowed himself to be banished as punishment. Then he played a waiting game until humanity (specifically, the UAC) started meddling with hell portals and Argent energy, and then made his move - offering a cancer-ridden Samuel Hayden some Maykr tech for a functional cyborg body, on the condition Samur's spirit occupy it too. While Samur never pulls a Grand Theft Me, it did let him influence Hayden to take a few vital actions: creating VEGA based on Urdak AI design (this will be important later), progressing research on Argent production, and recovering the Doom Slayer's sarcophagus. The last accelerated Hell's plans, forcing the invasion to go off half-cocked: ideally, the Hell Priests would have influenced more world leaders and unified world religions so there as minimal resistance. However, the Doom Slayer was not only present but awake meaning this Culling cycle had to happen now before he ruined everything. The idea was that humanity being splintered, but organized would put up a fight, though Hayden was a Spanner in the Works at this point, trapping the Doom Slayer and trying to contain the situation himself, using the Demonic Crucible as an alternative source of Argent research. After this blew up in his face, Samur used the time they were trapped in the inert husk of a body to share more of his knowledge of events, turning Hayden over to his point of view. At this point, Samur's plans start coming together: since the demons couldn't wipe out humanity in one go, there was ample time for the Doom Slayer to return and start turning the tide. Moreover, the messy invasion got the Khan Maykr directly involved, motivating him to go after her too and cut the reason for invasion off at the source. When Hayden was recovered and integrated with the Fortress of Doom, he was prepared to wash his hands of Argent energy and help cut it off at the source, using Samur's knowledge to help get the Slayer where he needed to be to end the invasion. And most importantly for Samur, not only was the Khan Maykr killed thus opening the top spot in the hierarchy at long last, but a demonic invasion would tear down everything she had built, and VEGA - programmed to be Maykr-compatible and influenced by the Doom Slayer's single-minded approach to not giving blatantly destructive ideas like a Deal with the Devil a single thought - is integrated as a new Father, meaning the Maykr race is now in a karmically precarious position that will still allow them to fight and reinvent themselves.

The Father was taken away for His own good

The Khan Makyr was plotting to get rid of him, so Samur hid him away to prevent that from happening.

Samur Makyr has Amnesia

Why else would he, as Samuel Hayden, do unethical experiments with Argent energy, when that's exactly why he rebelled against the Khan Makyr in the first place?

• This could even be intended on Samur's part. To prevent spilling any secrets about Maykrs or Urdak during his time on Earth, his Cyborg body could have had inhibitors in his brain to invoke Laser-Guided Amnesia. These limiters wear off once his body gets destroyed in Eternal, and he pretty much remembers everything by the time he returns as the Seraphim. However, this could also be the result of his human guise's brain cancer, though since he is still 100% acute and every bit as cunning, this is less likely.

The Khan Maykr's offer to the Slayer in "Sentinel Prime" was to send him back to his original dimension.

Before offering to "restore" what the Slayer lost, she tells him "I know of what you have left behind. Go back to it then, leave this crusade." What does this mean? Well, in what seems to be an earlier version of this dialogue, she explicitly offers to return the Slayer to his home of "the Earth world of the 7th Dimension".

The Argent-borne demons were made to create a new generation of demonkind.

Since the catastrophic death and destruction that crippled Hell in 2 and 64, time was running out for the demons of old, doomed to go extinct as with the Doom 3 demons (assuming that is a prequel). The Nekravol factory was made via a pact between the Khan Maykr and the Dark Lord to create a whole new generation of demons - while the 'classic' ones are long gone at this point, they now have Was Once a Man successors that mostly replicate their origins, although having enough biodiversity to have their own spins and twists.

Doomguy's self-exile into Hell directly resulted in not only 64's new lost levels, but also the Master Levels of Doom II, Maximum Doom and God knows what else

As the Doomguy waged his war with Hell, after the events of the first two games, Final Doom and 64, he spent over a century killing every demon he could find, his conquest of slaughter becoming so great that it had brought native demons to extinction and tore the very fabric of Hell's realm apart just from having the Doomguy exist in it (aka. Maximum Doom's bugs). It took the remarkable discovery of Argent Energy for demonkind to thrive again.

Because of the untold amount of time between 64 and 2016, you could fit in pretty much anything from old-school .wads to official new maps to fill the gap - you could even include Fan Works and game mods such as Brutal Doom, Unloved, Micro Slaughter, lilith, Perdition's Gate, Hell to Pay, D!ZONE - and far beyond. As long as it's Doomguy in Hell 24/7 (or stuck in a horrifyingly poor .wad pack that is hellish to endure), it can work - and further add to how utterly FUBAR he is by the time he becomes the Doom Slayer. Even the stuff that features stories which doesn't have him in Hell specifically can just be summed up as his grasp of sanity slipping over long spans of time, especially with lilith.

Deag Nilox's crimes

Out of the three Hell Priests he's the only one who doesn't get to do an atrocity of his own; Ranak spearheaded the Mars invasion while Grav created the Icon of Sin. In this regard, Nilox could still have personally led the Earth invasion while the others merely oversaw it, choosing to invade it solely to spite the Slayer upon knowing of his origin. To deprive mankind of hope and create tidal disasters, he destroyed the Moon and summoned a Titan before his death.

The Wretch was brainwashed by the Slayer.

He did need a Revenant to retrieve his Super Shotgun, so how else could he get another demon to upgrade his Praetor suit?

Future Updates and DLC

The Betrayer will be a playable character in one of the story DLCs.

Another former Night Sentinel, similar enough to the Doomslayer yet distinct enough to be a separate character. Comes prepackaged with a reason to dislike demons, too.

• He also has a unique Argent-powered melee weapon (his hammer,) an Arc Symbol associated with him, and a unique model that seems to have had way too much work put into it for him to appear a grand total of two times.

The Nintendo Switch Version of Doom Eternal will have Animal Crossing: New Horizons related material

Like, say, Easter eggs where Isabelle is hidden in various places, or suits of armour inspired by Animal Crossing. Or even replacing Doom Slayer's character model with that of Isabelle in his armour.

The last single-player DLC will be Snapmap 2.0

Pretty simple.

The Dark One is the Doomguy of one of the other Doom games

the Slayer is confirmed to be the same Doomguy from doom, doom 2, final doom, and doom 64 but that still leaves more then a few Doomguys from the rpgs, spin offs, and previous reboots this demonic Doomlslayer could have been

The Intern is the Doomguy of this version of earth

sure hes a less then badass everyman, but the Slayer was not born the Slayer either, he was originally just an engineer with a pet rabbit before circumstances forced him to become the unstoppable killing machine we know today but he does have the most important aspect of the Slayer: raw determination and courage, he fan boys over The Slayer because well, of course The Slayers style would appeal to himself, he goes unnamed unlike most every character in the game to hide the fact his real name is B.J. Blazkowicz III, if the Doom Slayer is incapacitated or captured at some point then the Intern will don his gear and fight to rescue his friend/idol/self

The Dark Lord's armor will be a black version of 2016's Praetor Suit, and his boss fight will be like a Marauder taken up to eleven.

The Ancient Gods: Part Two is probably the end when it comes to Eternal's story, so naturally it'd have to go out with one hell of That One Boss to wrap it up. One Marauder is a beast, two Marauders is a nightmare - so what happens when you have to fight a far, far, far, FAR stronger Evil Counterpart as a Final Boss?

The Ancient Gods: Part Two will include some more enemies, perhaps also bring back a few more from 2016.

It may bring back the Hell Razers or Harvesters - or if they really want to push it, they can even bring back the 'classic' Hell Knight designs that they had in concept arts, and since they have the Barons of Hell and Cyberdemon/Tyrant as Bosses in Mook Clothing - they could even bring back the Spider Mastermind in some form beyond Arachnotrons.

One of the first things that the Dark Lord will do in The Ancient Gods Part 2 is retrieve the Demonic Crucible from the Slayer's Fortress of Doom.

This could be used as a setup for one or two of the second part's levels, which would involve the Slayer finding a new power source for the Fortress and reforging his own Crucible in preparation for the final showdown with Davoth.

• Close! The Slayer gets Valen's hammer for a Crucible substitute, and Davoth has a different but huge Crucible sword of his own, which comes with a shield.

Doomguy will have to cross another Godzilla Threshold and release the Icon of Sin from its slumber.

Considering the utter hell he went through just to put the Icon down the first couple times around and all he managed to do at best was leave it a Sealed Evil in a Can. Considering he just unleashed the In-Universe amount of Lucifer, he'll need his own devil to even the odds, and just to make it even BETTER... He not only kills the Dark Lord, but he also makes the Icon of Sin Deader than Dead.

• Jossed, he instead calls in the Night Sentinels. The Icon of Sin is still dead, and has been Killed Off for Real after the Dark Lord's death and the resultant Keystone Army effect.

The Ancient Gods: Part 2's new weapon

During his playthrough streams of Doom Eternal's campaign, Hugo Martin confirmed that TAG Part 2 will feature a new weapon, with key information being: It is a weapon that we've already seen, which is intended to take the Crucible's slot while also working as an active element of the game's arsenal and combat loop. Potential candidates could include...

• The Soul Cube, making its return from Doom 3.
• The Demonic Crucible.
• Valen the Betrayer's Argent Warhammer.
  • Confirmed!

Future Sequel

The third game's title will also be Doom: Absolution, as a reference to the final level in 64.

As well as a reference to what Doom 64 was originally intended to be titled.

The third modern Doom game will have the Mother Demon as the Final Boss, and the game will in some small form follow the plots of 64 and 3.

• Keeping in tune with the modern games' formula of reimagining the plots of the classic games (2016 with the original, this one with Doom II with a hint of 64), 64 and 3 are the only games in the series that have yet to be revisited. As a full-on retread of 64 would be redundant as 64 is directly referenced in this game, elements of 3 would be weaved in to keep the story in its own road, perhaps even as a means of properly "fixing" 3 for the fans.
  • And, considering that the Mother Demon appeared only as an Easter Egg in 2016 and that she is the only more powerful demon than the Icon of Sin, it is highly possible that she will become the head antagonist, or at least the end boss, of this game's followup.
  • With The Lost Levels that come with the re-release of 64, her sibling, the Sister Resurrector, could play a large role in the story as well.

2016 and Eternal are the first half of a tetralogy at least.

Since these two games have been hailed to be by far some of if not the absolute best games in the series, as well as the best selling, this is most likely the start of a four-part story - the third game, going back to another WMG, will focus on being a retread of 64 with the Mother Demon as at least one Big Bad, and the fourth being the payoff to the buildup to the Dark Lord himself.

The next game will heavily involve travelling the multiverse.

Doom 2016 stayed in one location along a long path. Doom Eternal had the Doom Slayer teleporting to a few separate dimensions and planets in order to take down everyone he needs to. The franchise has established that the worlds of the previous games exist. It stands to reason that the only way to escalate is actively traveling all over the multiverse. Not only that, but presumably the same multiverse exists in the Wolfenstein series, as the franchises are still linked since it’s the same canon as the original Doom games. Doom 3 is the most likely revisited universe, as well as the original games, the home Earth of the Slayer likely long since consumed. Some new universes are likely to appear as well, but the real wildcard is if Wolfenstein pops in. It would be a brilliant nod to the Wolfenstein levels of the classic games if there’s a universe where the Nazis summoned Hell.

• Jumping off this, some theoretical aspects of this theoretical sequel. If the Slayer revisits his original universe, Daisy will have been turned into some massive demon monstrosity he has to kill. Since the Slayer possesses the final weapon of Doom 3 as a paperweight in Eternal, presumably the Slayer was doing some depowered recon in Doom 3 and the Doom 3 Doomguy will not appear as a separate character. That said, they may wish to retcon him into someone else anyways because of how different the game was.
  • If the Slayer visits a Wolfenstein universe, either its B.J. will make a cameo looking and sounding like his reboot universe (which exists in its own canon multiverse which is presumably the same one as Doom due to the past relationship) or will have died already to the forces of Hell, leading to the Slayer having to do his job.

The Dark Lord will survive to become the Big Bad in the third game.

Come on. It's the Dark Lord. Satanic Archetype and Greater-Scope Villain of the entire franchise. You would really think he would go down in a mere DLC pack? Through some circumstances the Slayer will fail to kill the Dark Lord or even just flat-out lose to him, allowing the Dark Lord to conquer all worlds and have the Slayer's work cut out for him in a threequel; he will have to travel across multiple worlds to save each one from demonkind, until he finally gets to rematch and defeat the Dark Lord, sealing all demons back into Hell...provided there are still any in Hell at this point.

• Nope, as it turns out, dead as a doornail.

If there is another sequel, it will deal with a more eldritch threat à la Quake.

After killing God himself, this would be the next logical step. An unknowable force straight out of a Cosmic Horror Story tries to invade the Doom universe. In response, the seraphs and what remains of the Father resurrect the Slayer once again, who promptly shows said cosmic horror entity just what a bad idea stepping into his world was. The Rocket Jump could also come back as an important game mechanic.

Samur may still be alive.

As he is a master in Brain Uploading, he could have used the last of his sanity to tell his dwindling fellow Maykrs to construct another Cyborg body to put his mind in. It restored his sanity...but retained his Seraphim powers.

Likewise, he'd basically become the Last of His Kind - after the Dark Lord's death and the fact that Maykrs are demons, the alias of Dr. Samuel Hayden would be all he has left.

• Nothing in the game ever said the Makyrs are demons, that's a logical leap some have made.

The next game will feature a Flipping the Bird feature, which would aggravate certain demons more.

Like in Brutal Doom, since both the reboot games have taken cues from it. The one missing element would be the profanity-laden taunts, because...Doomguy, duh.

Story outline for the third game

Now without his Divinity powers, Doom Slayer - now back to Doomguy - is awoken again within his Fortress when the Ancient Gods, with their last breath, warn him that the galaxy itself is under attack - by a mysterious Lovecraft Lite abomination that a resurfaced Samur seems to have under his control. Unlike the creature's outwardly evil Omnicidal Maniac goal, Samur is again working under an Utopia Justifies the Means mindset.

The creature - we'll call him Currmakk^note Carmack - was one of Davoth's first creations, and was sealed into an ethereal blank dimension for his chaos and disorder. He feasts on life spheres to grow stronger, and is pissed at Doomguy for denying him three spheres, especially the Khan Maykr's (hence the Big "NO!" in Urdak). Samur, now Samuel Hayden again, gives Currmakk life spheres to keep him sated, while seeking to restore the Father - we'll call him Khanus Maykr - with an artificial sphere, which would do away with Currmakk and allow Hayden to conquer everything, with Khanus having no choice but to play along. Unlike Samur who survived the great extinction of demons and Maykrs by jumping into a robotic body, Khanus simply survived through not having a physical form.

Thanks to Word of God, it's known that Maykrs eventually become Eldritch Abominations themselves. Samuel, through his Cyborg body, is trying to stave off the process, though would eventually transform. This is probably evidenced by strange fleshy mounds growing onto his body.

While Doomguy is without any superhuman powers, he still has very, very large guns - and Night Sentinels - beside him, to thwart the threat of Currmakk and do away with Hayden's scummy ass for good, saving one planet at a time from Currmakk's legions of creatures that are essentially stand-ins for demons.

Lastly, one boss could be the Mother Demon, now the last demon alive, kept alive from the Keystone Army fate that befell her armies and superior through Currmakk's bizarre powers (even resurrecting the...well, Resurrector, for a Dual Boss). Another boss would be Samuel's eldritch form, the next would be Currmakk, and the Final Boss would be Khanus himself, incarnated as a bio-armored being that resembles the Maykr Slayer skin.

Miscellaneous

Unlike other demons, the Titans are naturally peaceful.

With the unique exception of the Icon of Sin every time we encounter a Titan actually helping the other demon's efforts they're enslaved, such as the two maintaining the Argent Energy collector or the ones used as beasts of burden by the Hell Priests for their barges. In both cases once freed the Titan takes no aggressive action but just wanders off, paying the Doom Slayer no further mind. The one free Titan we encounter is in the Blood Swamps and it actually helps, giving the Slayer a lift up to the lifespheres. We do see the remains of Titans who did fight on Argent D'Nur and Earth but it's not hard to imagine that they were also enslaved by the other demons into fighting.

The Spider Mastermind is what happens when a Khan Maykr lingers too long and refuses "transfiguration"

Maykrs are long live but not immortal, eventually, they go through something called Transfiguration before death, Khan Maykrs would be no exception. When we beat the current Khan Maykr, you get a good look at her face, it is almost an exact duplicate of the Spider Mastermind from the previous game, it is all but stated that Olivia didn't become the Spider Mastermind, she was sacrificed to summon it, using her body as a medium. It is also stated that the Spider Mastermind was a "hive mind" for the demons, the Maykrs are a hive mind, with the drones being unable to resist the Khan's demands. I figure that the Mastermind was one of the previous Khan Maykrs, who went to Hell, something Maykrs apparently weren't allowed to do after the pact, and she mutated into her Mastermind form because she refused to die, and due to extreme pure Argent exposure, furthermore, the current Khan is implied ot have ruled far longer than she should have and with her own Argent exposure and long life, she was beginning to turn into another mastermind.

The Ancient Gods Part 2 ending

Since this is the Grand Finale of the Doom Slayer story, best place our bets now than never.

• The Slayer does a Mutual Kill with the Dark Lord, ending his story but stopping Hell for good
• Alternatively, the Slayer survives and goes back to where he was at the end of Doom 64 - devastating Hell's infinite hordes
• The Slayer spearheads a full scale war on Hell as the Night Sentinels assert themselves as Earth's new defenders
• Through some circumstances, Hell is destroyed and all demonkind is extinct - the last you see of the Doom Slayer is just him sitting in his fortress wondering what he's going to do now
• The Slayer pays respects to a dying Samur and lets him rest in peace
• If the Slayer continuity is an Alternate Dimension after all, he finds a way back home to the classic dimension and you get one last old school ripping and tearing bit, retro style
• Forgoing expectations, The Bad Guy Wins which sets up a major Sequel Hook
  • All Jossed except technically the first bullet point, not before revealing that the Dark Lord is actually God.
  • The third bullet point is partially true; the Slayer does spearhead a full scale war on Hell by the Night Sentinels, albeit more or less by accident as he was just going alone as always but they decided to follow him without instruction. Though the torch of kings might have been a tip off.

Not only the Doomguy, but the universe will soon follow in a Metaphysical Annihilation.

"By his hand, all things were made... ...even you", said The Father as the final words of the whole game as Doomguy seemingly lost his life. It might signify that not only the forces of Hell that will disappear, but soon, so does every creation in the universe, including humanity.

Alternatively, any god or demon will be wiped.

Earth is sure to survive, but that's because they don't rely on Argent energy, nor Hell or Sentinel energies. Plus no demons, which affirms mankind's survival. However, Hell is certain to die due to no means of reproduction without Argent. Urdak is essentially extinct because Maykrs were the first demons, and because they're not in Hell they're dead for sure. The Doom Slayer and Night Sentinels are somewhat better off as the former is an Empowered Badass Normal and the latter are still Human Aliens. However, Argenta tech is hampered if not completely bricked as Sentinel energy could be wiped too; and with no Argent, the Slayer is back to a state of mortality, an exhausted and tired man who waits for his next awakening. As for the Wraiths, they are most likely gone too; with no Hell to fight and considering how badly they've fallen, they're simply no longer needed.
Ultimately, anything demonic or otherwise supremely powerful is dead or depowered, while those who are, or were born as mortal, live easy.

The Doom Slayer is dead.

When the Doom Slayer collapses after the Dark Lord's destruction, it's not because he's been depowered, it's because he's dying from a Mutual Kill. Without the Argent Energy in his system, all the time and strain and combat have finally caught up with him and he's expired — the only reason he doesn't disintegrate like the demons is because he's technically not physically reengineered into a full demon like they are, which is why his DNA is still a match for human DNA. When those priests place him in that sarcophagus, it's to bury him with honor, with a prayer to his spirit that he can finally, finally rest in peace. Plus, it's fitting that his story would end like this; the Doom Slayer literally existed only for revenge on Hell, and he achieved it.

• Jossed. Hugo Martin has confirmed in one of his many interviews with the community that the Doom Slayer is not dead. The most he could say on the matter (without getting into spoiler territory) was to the effect of "There can only be one Slayer", which is now true given Davoth's demise.

The Father didn't reveal the truth sooner because he was programmed not to reveal it by original Maykrs

During their uprising, they likely put in a thing sealing way such information to nearly everyone (Those below their clearance level) as to establish their take on things. However, the Dark Lord being the original creator, had absolute clearance so when he demands the Father reveal the truth, that overrides that seal.

The Demonic Troopers are a subtle Take That! to Doom (2016)'s multiplayer mode.

It could just be simple asset recycling, but think about it: they're incredibly weak, getting gibbed by a single shot from any weapon, their aim and damage is pathetic... and their armor and weapons are both directly based on an armor style and a weapon that is exclusive to that mode.

Even the demons in Hell will die out.

After Davoth's death it's stated that all demons outside of Hell will die. This does leave those demons at home still alive. However, we know that demons are not immortal (that being the problem that made them demons in the first place) and we know that their means of reproduction involves taking victims from other worlds, which they can no longer do, as leaving Hell will kill them. Combined with their habit of fighting each other when deprived of other people to fight (which they are now deprived of forever) and, while it may take a while given their numbers, eventually Hell will be empty and there will be no more demons.

• This may be a bit faster than expected, since Davoth's death most definitely wiped Argent and Hell energies off the map. With those gone, the surviving demons have little to live on - hell, they'd start eating each other if it means survival.
  • Where does it say that Argent and Hell energy has simply ceased to be, though? The only fully acknowledged effect of Davoth's death is that "all demons outside of Hell will perish". It makes no mention of the elimination of Argent/Hell energy or even artefacts of demonic origin/power like the Hellish Crucible.
  • Argent was created in Hell, its production being facilitated by Davoth and the Khan Maykr. Both of them are dead so the Nekravol factory is pretty much gone just from that; plus Argent would be rather useless. Hayden already showed what could go wrong with it, so no one in the right mind could want to use it; and if you were to manage to create a new demon with it? Chances are, it's going to die very quickly because it wasn't in Hell.
  • Argent and Hell energy require the demons to harvest the souls of other beings which they can no longer do, being stuck in Hell. So regardless of if they ceased to be with Davoth the demons can't make any more.
• What's to say the Keystone Army effect that occurred with Davoth's death isn't the be-all, end-all solution for demonic invasions? Just because the Gates of Hell have been sealed off doesn't mean that they cannot be opened again by another entity of similar power.
  • Assuming such entity exists at all; but Hugo said that the story isn't over yet. We'll have to find out what id goes for next. But as proven in the past, it ain't Doom with no demons, so they're free to introduce a new Big Bad later on.
  • As noted above later games may change/add things but as the lore currently stands reopening Hell would not, in and of itself, do anything. The sealing off of Hell is frankly an afterthought and indeed may be figurative rather than literal. The point is that all demons outside of Hell will die now. So even if someone or something summons demons to other worlds all that they'll get out of it is the chance to watch them die.

If Maykrs go extinct, they transported him back to the repowered Fortress of Doom.

To have no one overwatching him slumber in a deserted world is a pretty dumb maneuver; before they vanished, the Ancient Gods most likely sent the Slayer in his coffin back to his fortress where he is safer, and with all of what he needs.As the Fortress of Doom was powered by Argent in the latter half of Eternal, it probably returned to its original power supply now that Argent energy no longer exists.

The World Spear was made to protect the Wraiths.

They were beaten back by the leagues of Hell; three of them even being held captive; so the people of Argenta shielded them away at their weakest moment to ensure no demon finds them.

Explaining the titular Ancient Gods

They in particular are very likely the very Maykrs that betrayed Davoth first. They are the gods they've become because they're Seraphs which Davoth gave a ton of power to, thus gaining the powers needed to find the secrets of eternal life.

• Jossed. Those Maykrs aren't the "Ancient Gods". Hugo Martin confirms as such in this interview; it's just a subtitle flub akin to the Mysterious Voice/Dark Lord flub at the end of Urdak.

Destiny is yet another alternate reality that exists in the Doom multiverse.

Think about it: Doom Slayer is granted Divinity through Makyr technology, manifesting itself in increased speed and strength, not unlike a Titan. Who's to say the Traveler, and by extension the Ghosts, isn't another example of Makyr tech that has been transferred into an alternate reality through Hell, not unlike how the Slayer was transferred from the reality in the classic Doom games into the reality he fights to save in Doom (2016) and Eternal. Doom slayer also has access to a Hyperspace Arsenal, similar to how Destiny handles its inventory system, and the Destiny franchise has magical demonic and otherworldly threats in the form of the Hive, Taken, and their Worm Gods. In conclusion, the Slayer is a Titan and Hayden is his Ghost.

The entity that let out a Big "NO!" in Urdak was the Father.

It obviously could not have been Davoth as he foresaw the Slayer killing the Khan Maykr, but the Father has hard-coded pacifism within him. Once the Khan Maykr died, the realm of Urdak went under full attack by the demons, the Father screaming in horror as his dimension went completely unguarded. The reason why Samuel told the Slayer to leave? The Icon of Sin was a bigger priority. Urdak was a lost cause.

Marauder is Alastor.

Powerful demon? Check. Voiced by Edward Bosco? Check. Freaky red eyes? Check.

My thought: Before he came to the Happy Hotel, Alastor used to dress up in the Marauder armor (which somehow also deepens his voice) and mess around with humans. However, after being nearly destroyed, he decided to give it up. That then led to him developing "sheer, absolute boredom," which then led to him deciding to check out the hotel to spice things up for Charlie and her crew.