The Entire Vanguard Zombies Storyline Explained (Complete Call of Duty Zombies Timeline)

Recap of the Video’s Main Story (Vanguard Zombies Timeline)

The video wraps up the full Call of Duty Zombies storyline by first resolving the endgame of the multiverse, then rewinding into the Dark Aether / Elder Gods mythology that leads to the human-era Nazi and wartime events.

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Multiverse Collapse + Final Endings

• With the multiverse destroyed, everything—including zombies, Apothicons, Element 115, and even Doctor Monty—gets banished into the Dark Aether.
• Primis Nikolai ultimately kills Undead Richtofen to end the cycle for good.
• Primis Nikolai and Ultimis die, resolving the paradox.
• Samantha and Eddie walk into “the light,” entering a new, safer singular universe created by the Agarthan device—free from Element 115 and the zombies, so kids can finally grow up normally.

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Dark Aether Origin Myth: The Construct & the Arcanum

The narrative pivots to ancient Dark Aether lore:

• A powerful monolith called the Construct exists and chooses “its champions” through trials of mindfulness, sacrifice, and resilience—the Arcanum.
• Key named myth events include:
  • Wiping out a parasitic species
  • Fragmenting a moon
• Power politics follow: Elder Gods / Old Ones constantly clash, forging alliances and fighting for dominance.

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Cotifex’s Cruel Rule + Saraxis’s “Shadow” Fate

• Cotifex the Deathless rises through murder, takes Saraxis as bride, and forbids heirs out of fear.
• Saraxis has a child anyway:
  • Cotifex kills/erases the child.
  • He forces Saraxis to wear the Mask of the Sisters of Agony.
  • He deletes her past.
• Saraxis becomes a loyal assassin to Cotifex while trying to exist as a “shadow” of herself.

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Elder Gods Begin Influencing Earth Through Artifacts

After the multiverse is destroyed:

• Elder Gods start learning about Earth through glimpses through a dimensional veil.
• They create artifacts that let Dark Aether entities bond with humans.
• The video highlights multiple “culture-matched” artifacts and pairings:
  • Quarterdecks bonds and is associated with Egyptian resurrection legend (Osiris), granting Scepter of Ra
  • Nauticus becomes tied to Norse frost-giant lore (Ymir)
  • Invicta links to Greek war legends (Ares/Achilles-style myth confusion)

Big theme: human history becomes “wrong” or exaggerated because these Elder Gods influenced it like background players in ancient myths.

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Nether Wars: Archaefex vs the Resistance

• Archaefex and the Night Legions start the Nether Wars to seize control of the Dark Aether.
• A resistance forms, led by characters like:
  • Belakor (chronicler/strategist)
  • a fleeing Saraxis
• One of the darkest highlights:
  • Archaefex destroys a hermit clan’s sacred forest, causing the Web-of-Life to collapse.
  • The clan’s final member, Vacana, is said to become invincible—though Archaefex’s forces still face escalating resistance victories.

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Transition to Human History: Occult Societies → Nazi Programs → Zombies

The narrative jumps into Earth history:

Occult buildup (1910s)

• Alistair Crowley is present while young Gabriel Craft is drawn into occult learning through The Magus.
• The Societas Occult grows powerful, hides pages of the Tome of Rituals, and uses a “Hotel Royale” fortress in the Paris catacombs—then vanishes after a 1920s crisis.

Nazi escalation

• Heinrich Himmler and SS leadership (via Wolfram von List) hunt occult artifacts to support “Aryan master race” ideology.
• Craft is coerced after Nazis arrest and harm his loved ones:
  • He tries to play both sides while protecting future resistance plans.

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Project End Station: The Cyclotron Accident Creates Aether-Zombies

A massive accelerator/collider (Cyclotron) is built under Nazi atomic research (Uranverein), but during a 1944 test:

• It malfunctions and tears open a rift into the Dark Aether.
• Scientists are infected, producing a new exotic contaminant called Aetherium (Exo-Element 1).
• A decontamination chamber called “Der Wechsler” (“the changer”) reduces violence but doesn’t fully cure them.
  • This results in a zombie workforce that’s “less feral,” more useful.

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Von List + Court of the Axe: Bargains, Revenant Armies, and Major Operations

• Five artifacts awaken and begin changing power structures.
• Von List bonds with Court of the Axe, making a bargain to raise the dead and eventually return to the Dark Aether.
• SS operations spread across the globe:
  • Hotel Royale (Paris)
  • Normandy weak spots
  • Okinawa digging in Shinuma
  • Egypt’s Osiris temple
  • a Stalingrad-centered plan
• Belakor and Kraft (bonded through the Mask) form an alliance against Von List and rival Elder God power plays.

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Stalingrad + Egypt + Shinuma: The Hunt for the Mirror Relic

Key set-piece highlights:

• Kraft seals himself from revenants but receives help through Dark Aether-linked elder interventions.
• Special forces retrieve a Tome page sealed in the Void:
  • it explains that separating major entities requires specific relic mechanics.
• Vakana and resistance actions redirect conflict toward Egypt and later Shinuma.
• The relic mirror is central:
  • it was split in half and connected between the mortal world and Dark Aether
  • the team uses a Flogger Trap and blood-drinking to see between realms
  • in Shinuma, an echo of Saraxis/Sera’s memories returns, revealing why Cotifex erased her past
• The echo conflict escalates dramatically:
  • then the echo is defeated and the truth is restored

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Final Confrontation: Quarterfax Becomes the New Archon

• In Egypt:
  • they repair the Pack-a-Punch machine
  • then use the Relic Mirror to separate Quarterfax from Von List
• Twist: Quarterfax appears to be playing everyone, teleporting Von List and moving toward becoming the next Archon.
• The Construct tests the heroes:
  • the resistance completes the Construct’s three trials with help (including Von List and the Decimator).
• Emotional gut-punch:
  • In Stalingrad, Von List admits Sasha is dead
  • the letters to Kraft were part of manipulation
  • Craft shoots Von List in rage
• But the timeline can’t be fixed fast enough:
  • Quarterfax becomes the new Archon, grows into a gigantic form, uses Elder God powers, and is protected by the Construct.
• The heroes still win by destroying his three eyes, reverting him and killing him—while the Construct disappears afterward.

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Closing Beat: The Tome Page Escape + War’s Final Fate

• Kraft finds another Tome of Rituals page and escapes his sealed room.
• The video ends with a bleak strategic note:
  • After Normandy’s loss, Hitler believes Germany must “stand firm” until the coalition’s internal contradictions collapse.

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Standout Moments / Jokes / Reactions

• The recurring Saraxis “shadow” tragedy: she’s literally turned into an erasure of her former self.
• Human myths are repeatedly framed as distorted sightings of Elder Gods (Osiris / Ymir / Ares-style confusion).
• Grim irony in the “progress” timeline:
  • Nazi science opens rifts and creates undead power systems,
  • but attempts at control lead to a larger metaphysical catastrophe.
• Craft’s final emotional spike:
  • learning Sasha’s letters were manipulation,
  • then shooting Von List.

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Personalities Mentioned in the Video

• Undead Richtofen
• Primis Nikolai
• Samantha
• Eddie
• Doctor Monty
• Primis / Ultimis (as groups)
• Quarterdecks
• Morticus the Conqueror
• Cotifex the Deathless
• Saraxis (and later “Saraxis / Sera” echo)
• Belakor
• Nauticus
• Invicta (Ares/Achilles myth linkage)
• Archaefex
• Vacana the Last
• Quarterfax
• Decimator (merged into a shield)
• Vakana
• Zibella / “Zibala” (name variants in subtitles)
• Wolfram von List
• Heinrich Himmler
• Gabriel Craft
• Alistair Crowley
• Francis Barrett (as referenced text)
• Professor Gabriel Kraft / Craft (same character)
• Franz (Craft’s assistant)
• Sasha (Craft’s spouse)
• Dr. Ulrich Vogel
• Lukas Kurtz
• Kurt Diebner
• Dr. Steiner
• Yuri Varin
• Kraft’s Allied special forces (unnamed operators in subtitles)
• Hitler / Führer (referenced in the closing)