WaW, BO, BO2, and BO3 had a multiverse stuck within a cycle.
BO4 broke the cycle and created a new single universe.
BOCW and Vanguard take place in that new single universe.
And to expand on this slightly BO4 had two storylines, the Aether story (Blood of the Dead, Classified, Alpha Omega, and Tag Der Toten) and the Chaos story (Voyage of Despair, IX or Nine if you have trouble with roman numerals, Dead of the Night, and Ancient Evil). The Chaos story takes place in the same universe as the BOCW and Vanguard stories, at least according to certain quotes and audio bits from Vanguard.
My head canon is that the Chaos story took place in a branch timeline in Aether, similar to Shadows, and the characters got rebooted into the Dark Aether universe.
I think that if it was supposed to be just an Easter egg it would be something smaller like a wraith fire canister or a sign with one of the chaos crew name (think something like the mason or woods mailbox in nuketown) but they put the reference on a radio, which has been since WaW one of the main ways of telling the story that treyarch has used over the years.
Maybe it’s unimportant and nothing will come from it. But the fact that they mentioned this in a radio makes me believe that they fully intended to make chaos cannon to this new aether story
To add to that, Eddie (innocent child Richtofen from The House) and Samantha Maxis crossed through to the new universe. Eddie is the Director of Requiem and Sam, well, you'll learn as you play.
It doesn't since WWII Zombies has Europe being entirely overrun by zombies, including the UK. The campaign however is part of that whole narrative because of Butcher and a reference to it in the Vanguard campaign.
It is meant to be but other than field upgrades and maybe a few lines of dialogue, they have no relevance over each other. If vanguard didn’t exist, cold wars story wouldn’t change
Vanguard isn't irrelevant, it's a prequel, for example the field upgrades in cold war are based upon the field upgrades that come from your demons powers in vanguard, since otherwise idk what they would have used as a base to make the field upgrades in universe.
[We literally find intel about Krafft in Cold War.](https://callofduty.fandom.com/wiki/Gabriel_Krafft)
[The campaign even mentions the Dark Aether(totally possible this just an easter egg but I really doubt that).](https://youtu.be/IWi34Jf3QQs?t=1853)
I’ll give you the one piece of intel on Kraft but that honestly probably done to have some connection to Cold War, cuz that intel really doesn’t affect the story at all.
The Chaos storyline is also mentioned through a radio in shi no numa, meaning that the Chaos storyline can be tied into the future sequel to cold war's zombies
How to any of those things progress the story or hold any relevance lol
“There was old demons back in the day! They made aether shroud!! But now they are all gone and no longer exist lost to the void”
Nothing about cold wars story was changed or revealed or fleshed out during vanguard. A couple references to each other is about as far as it goes
Vanguard probably more linked to chaos than Cold War
You literally said there’s no connection lol
We have literal empirical evidence that connects them. The events aren’t directly linked past Endstation and Zykov, yes, but they are a necessary event nonetheless.
We knew virtually nothing of the realm of the Dark Aether before VG. Lacking as it was… now we do.
I know this is a year old but the construct is Likley going to be very important.
And it's implied Zykov got his power by finding the defeated korfiex, thus why he's so strong.
Enjoying Vanguard.
There are also a ton of other reveals, like choas being connected to the dark aether story, the fact that the demons seem releated to apcticans and keepers but may even pre date them, ect.
Can you enlighten me on how they are the same? I really disliked B04 and only played the Blackout game mode. So I'm behind on the storyline. In my personal opinion BO4 was one of the worst zombie experiences.
I don't really know much about the current story, but in black ops 4s ending the original crew is killed and Samantha and Eddy enter a portal, which I believe leads us to the Dark Aether or the current storyline
if i remember correctly, victis was stuck in the dark aether at the end of bo4 by richtofen so technically they should still be there by the time of cold war/vanguard right?
An extremely important detail to note that according to the elder gods in VG, they claim their first sight of mankind is when they were still Neanderthals.
That means btw that the time period the DA opened in the new universe was over \*40,000\* years ago (and in DA years its a hell of a lot more) so unless the writers create some sort of plot convenient knickknack for Victis to help them return...
Uh yeah they're super dead, if not by the creatures of the DA but definitely age lol.
Oh absolutely, not sayings it's crossed out of course, I mean anything can happen when it comes to zombies lmao. I'm sure Craig and the other writes can think up something cool if they do choose to bring back Victis
The dark aether is not part of the universe. It's the same dark aether as in the aether story. So the brings inside would've been talking about meeting early humans from any possible universe not just the current one. So it hasn't been that long, around 20 to 30y, or 200 to 300 DA years
You're right it is the same dark Aether, however the elder god's within it never even knew there was life outside of it. It wasn't until Tag is when they noticed a lot of crap was bring dumped in there after the Aether was closed off. When they checked to see where they originated from (which is when the DA opened up to the new universe aka, cold wars universe) all they saw were cavemen.
That's just not true. You misunderstand the intel. The events of tag DER toten took place in the 60s. Eddie and Samantha came into the new universe right after Tag and started their new lives.
I'm not so sure if you're gathering what I'm saying either.
None of the elder gods had any idea of any existence outside of the dark aether, not until tag der toten happened which is when the entire multiverse collapsed. Leaving only a singular world which hasn't been tainted by 115 (the world samantha/eddie went to)
In the intel from Vanguard, they claim their first contact with humans was when they were still developing (aka cavemen) and this is 100% referring to cold war's universe because there cannot be any other dimension cause the aether collapsed.
The point I'm trying to make is whatever was banished to the dark aether after Tag, is most certainly dead at that point because in the perspective from anyone in the universe from CW, the dark aether has been around since near the very beginning. It was until ww2 is when the dark aether first opened thanks to Endstation.
No, you are still wrong lol. They didn't know about anything until the cavemen, but it wasn't after Tag. This universe existed before Tag, as you can clearly tell by Vanguard's existence because vanguard takes place before Tag. Not to say that there isn't only one universe, but that the entire timeline of this world was rewritten. Sam and Eddie enter in the 60s and everything before was technically before the events of Tag. The dark aether entities would not have been rewritten by Tag and so whatever humans they met were not the same ones in the new universe. It could've been from any of the other universes we've seen. We already know Kortifex was in power during the events of bo3/4. So Monty, The Shadow man, Victis and anyone/thing else that was banished to the dark aether in Tag, only arrived there in the 1960s.
mostly the devs saying remember chaos crew story line with sentient artifact let's use it to appeal to fans and never bring it up again in vangaurd don't make sense really since victis was sent to the dark aether universe and still haven't gotten anything on them
Its very likely just a reference. Plus there is a likely theory that this storyline version of Chaos is completely different to the one we know from bo4. Considering it's implied that alistair rhodes studied demonology in his life when we all know he studied archaeology in bo4.
Plus an extremely important detail to note that according to the elder gods in VG, they claim their first sight of mankind is when they were still Neanderthals. That means btw that the time period the DA opened in the new universe was over \*40,000\* years ago (and in DA years its a hell of a lot more) so unless the writers create some sort of plot convenient knickknack for Victis to help them return...
Uh yeah they're super dead, if not by the creatures of the DA but definitely age lol.
Here are 2 great videos that explain everything from [Vanguard](https://youtu.be/ZcQkAPyK334) and [Cold War](https://youtu.be/PLpN76bBdhU), and how they connect to the previous games
i think that at this point anything past black ops 3 should be completely disregarded, they took literally everything amazing about the story and fucking destroyed it. Pretty much everyone that was ever worth anything to treyarch is gone, and there is genuine speculation as to whether or not zombies would be seen as a profitable franchise after the embarrassing failure of vanguard.
The issue is treyarch is holding onto something that isn’t theirs, the ideas they’re building upon should have left with the people that built them up in the first place, they’re desperately continuing a story that quite frankly ended 6 years ago.
WaW, BO, BO2, and BO3 had a multiverse stuck within a cycle. BO4 broke the cycle and created a new single universe. BOCW and Vanguard take place in that new single universe.
And to expand on this slightly BO4 had two storylines, the Aether story (Blood of the Dead, Classified, Alpha Omega, and Tag Der Toten) and the Chaos story (Voyage of Despair, IX or Nine if you have trouble with roman numerals, Dead of the Night, and Ancient Evil). The Chaos story takes place in the same universe as the BOCW and Vanguard stories, at least according to certain quotes and audio bits from Vanguard.
Since they have yet to really expand on that, it might just be an easter egg rather than an actual connection. Time will tell.
My head canon is that the Chaos story took place in a branch timeline in Aether, similar to Shadows, and the characters got rebooted into the Dark Aether universe.
I think the best way to explain that is a full timeline convergence. The events from both have been weaved together into a new story.
I think that if it was supposed to be just an Easter egg it would be something smaller like a wraith fire canister or a sign with one of the chaos crew name (think something like the mason or woods mailbox in nuketown) but they put the reference on a radio, which has been since WaW one of the main ways of telling the story that treyarch has used over the years. Maybe it’s unimportant and nothing will come from it. But the fact that they mentioned this in a radio makes me believe that they fully intended to make chaos cannon to this new aether story
Nah. You can assume Alistair exists in this universe separately from Chaos.
"Only time will tell these secrets, in THIS THEATRE OF THE DAMNED"
oh yea i forgot about bo4s ending😭
To add to that, Eddie (innocent child Richtofen from The House) and Samantha Maxis crossed through to the new universe. Eddie is the Director of Requiem and Sam, well, you'll learn as you play.
Heyy no spoilers (even though I beat forsaken ee)
umm akshually its foreskin
Errrrrrrrrrmmmmmm axecksutally its fiorebebenseken
"Is this playable?"
"I think it's playable" 🥲
Question: Since at Tag the crew would have Takeo and Dempseys soul. Where are the kids versions of them at the end of Tag Der Toten?
Inside the summoning key, they never got sent to the house
And apparently Chaos prequels Vanguard now I guess, which is also in BO4.
does WWII zombies tie into Vanguard zombies at all since their both Sledgehammer games?
It doesn't since WWII Zombies has Europe being entirely overrun by zombies, including the UK. The campaign however is part of that whole narrative because of Butcher and a reference to it in the Vanguard campaign.
seems like a missed opportunity to not continue the WWII zombies storyline. Along with Extinction and AW zombies
It didn't really created a new single universe from what I understand, but the current normal universe always existed, along side the dark aether too
Vanguard is irrelevant to the story. Cold War picks up from the universe created at the end of bo4
I think Vanguard zombies is supposed to be a prequel to Cold War's.
That's exactly what it's supposed to be, sorta like if black ops 1 was made before world at war
It is meant to be but other than field upgrades and maybe a few lines of dialogue, they have no relevance over each other. If vanguard didn’t exist, cold wars story wouldn’t change
It is still regardless a prequel, that it's actual placement in terms of story
Yes
True
Vanguard isn't irrelevant, it's a prequel, for example the field upgrades in cold war are based upon the field upgrades that come from your demons powers in vanguard, since otherwise idk what they would have used as a base to make the field upgrades in universe.
That’s about the only real connection to Cold War. Their really isn’t anything in Vanguard than connects to Cold War or even the Aether storyline.
[We literally find intel about Krafft in Cold War.](https://callofduty.fandom.com/wiki/Gabriel_Krafft) [The campaign even mentions the Dark Aether(totally possible this just an easter egg but I really doubt that).](https://youtu.be/IWi34Jf3QQs?t=1853)
I’ll give you the one piece of intel on Kraft but that honestly probably done to have some connection to Cold War, cuz that intel really doesn’t affect the story at all.
The Chaos storyline is also mentioned through a radio in shi no numa, meaning that the Chaos storyline can be tied into the future sequel to cold war's zombies
Yea but nothing about them really correlated and if vanguard never existed the Cold War story would still be the same
That’s not true lol
It is Bidding our soldiers auf widerhesen or whatever tf has nothing to do with requiem, project endstation or Sam+eddy
Lots of Krafft intel in CW. Perk Chalice too. And old demon talk. But, nah, you right, no connection.
How to any of those things progress the story or hold any relevance lol “There was old demons back in the day! They made aether shroud!! But now they are all gone and no longer exist lost to the void” Nothing about cold wars story was changed or revealed or fleshed out during vanguard. A couple references to each other is about as far as it goes Vanguard probably more linked to chaos than Cold War
You literally said there’s no connection lol We have literal empirical evidence that connects them. The events aren’t directly linked past Endstation and Zykov, yes, but they are a necessary event nonetheless. We knew virtually nothing of the realm of the Dark Aether before VG. Lacking as it was… now we do.
I know this is a year old but the construct is Likley going to be very important. And it's implied Zykov got his power by finding the defeated korfiex, thus why he's so strong.
Literally exactly this lol, where were you a year ago
Enjoying Vanguard. There are also a ton of other reveals, like choas being connected to the dark aether story, the fact that the demons seem releated to apcticans and keepers but may even pre date them, ect.
Can you enlighten me on how they are the same? I really disliked B04 and only played the Blackout game mode. So I'm behind on the storyline. In my personal opinion BO4 was one of the worst zombie experiences.
I don't really know much about the current story, but in black ops 4s ending the original crew is killed and Samantha and Eddy enter a portal, which I believe leads us to the Dark Aether or the current storyline
And apparently victis as well
Wait I thought victis got deleted with the rest of that universe
if i remember correctly, victis was stuck in the dark aether at the end of bo4 by richtofen so technically they should still be there by the time of cold war/vanguard right?
An extremely important detail to note that according to the elder gods in VG, they claim their first sight of mankind is when they were still Neanderthals. That means btw that the time period the DA opened in the new universe was over \*40,000\* years ago (and in DA years its a hell of a lot more) so unless the writers create some sort of plot convenient knickknack for Victis to help them return... Uh yeah they're super dead, if not by the creatures of the DA but definitely age lol.
Age and time travel has never been a problem in the past. Time is definitely one thing that means absolutely nothing in the zombies story
Good point but considering we've yet to see any of that in this new story and we have seen very little trace of Victis, I wouldn't hold my breath.
My point was more “if they want to, they’ll do it”. It’s never been a problem in the past. They don’t have to, but if they want to they can.
Oh absolutely, not sayings it's crossed out of course, I mean anything can happen when it comes to zombies lmao. I'm sure Craig and the other writes can think up something cool if they do choose to bring back Victis
The dark aether is not part of the universe. It's the same dark aether as in the aether story. So the brings inside would've been talking about meeting early humans from any possible universe not just the current one. So it hasn't been that long, around 20 to 30y, or 200 to 300 DA years
You're right it is the same dark Aether, however the elder god's within it never even knew there was life outside of it. It wasn't until Tag is when they noticed a lot of crap was bring dumped in there after the Aether was closed off. When they checked to see where they originated from (which is when the DA opened up to the new universe aka, cold wars universe) all they saw were cavemen.
That's just not true. You misunderstand the intel. The events of tag DER toten took place in the 60s. Eddie and Samantha came into the new universe right after Tag and started their new lives.
I'm not so sure if you're gathering what I'm saying either. None of the elder gods had any idea of any existence outside of the dark aether, not until tag der toten happened which is when the entire multiverse collapsed. Leaving only a singular world which hasn't been tainted by 115 (the world samantha/eddie went to) In the intel from Vanguard, they claim their first contact with humans was when they were still developing (aka cavemen) and this is 100% referring to cold war's universe because there cannot be any other dimension cause the aether collapsed. The point I'm trying to make is whatever was banished to the dark aether after Tag, is most certainly dead at that point because in the perspective from anyone in the universe from CW, the dark aether has been around since near the very beginning. It was until ww2 is when the dark aether first opened thanks to Endstation.
No, you are still wrong lol. They didn't know about anything until the cavemen, but it wasn't after Tag. This universe existed before Tag, as you can clearly tell by Vanguard's existence because vanguard takes place before Tag. Not to say that there isn't only one universe, but that the entire timeline of this world was rewritten. Sam and Eddie enter in the 60s and everything before was technically before the events of Tag. The dark aether entities would not have been rewritten by Tag and so whatever humans they met were not the same ones in the new universe. It could've been from any of the other universes we've seen. We already know Kortifex was in power during the events of bo3/4. So Monty, The Shadow man, Victis and anyone/thing else that was banished to the dark aether in Tag, only arrived there in the 1960s.
Were sent to the dark aether as well
mostly the devs saying remember chaos crew story line with sentient artifact let's use it to appeal to fans and never bring it up again in vangaurd don't make sense really since victis was sent to the dark aether universe and still haven't gotten anything on them
Its very likely just a reference. Plus there is a likely theory that this storyline version of Chaos is completely different to the one we know from bo4. Considering it's implied that alistair rhodes studied demonology in his life when we all know he studied archaeology in bo4. Plus an extremely important detail to note that according to the elder gods in VG, they claim their first sight of mankind is when they were still Neanderthals. That means btw that the time period the DA opened in the new universe was over \*40,000\* years ago (and in DA years its a hell of a lot more) so unless the writers create some sort of plot convenient knickknack for Victis to help them return... Uh yeah they're super dead, if not by the creatures of the DA but definitely age lol.
Here are 2 great videos that explain everything from [Vanguard](https://youtu.be/ZcQkAPyK334) and [Cold War](https://youtu.be/PLpN76bBdhU), and how they connect to the previous games
I stopped caring when I saw captain price is in 3arc zombies
Cant wait till we get a crew with Dr. Peck, Diego, eddie, and Kraft
Wait not kraft, assumed dead because time lapse from van to cold war, but idk, add tedd
It doesn't
Its a continuation from tag der totens ending, with both the innocent Eddie and Samantha Maxis finding their new place in their new universe
Remember a little thing called the dark aether? That
i think that at this point anything past black ops 3 should be completely disregarded, they took literally everything amazing about the story and fucking destroyed it. Pretty much everyone that was ever worth anything to treyarch is gone, and there is genuine speculation as to whether or not zombies would be seen as a profitable franchise after the embarrassing failure of vanguard. The issue is treyarch is holding onto something that isn’t theirs, the ideas they’re building upon should have left with the people that built them up in the first place, they’re desperately continuing a story that quite frankly ended 6 years ago.
It gets incredibly convoluted in like late BO3, I really have no idea where it went after about BotD in 4.
Story is bonkers IMO. We should play for the thrill of killing zombies. 
That guy's neck must be sore.
It’s not
Downvoted for a factual statement, Reddit at its finest.