Here 15% of the original article (the best arguments are in the 4 last pages ;) )

Spec Ops - The religion under the sand

Even though Spec Ops can be interpreted in different ways, there is a much
more religious reading that borrows from Christianity and particularly
Catholic theology. However, this reading is only rendered possible if we
take the time to focus on the symbols, on those hints strewn around
throughout the game like pebbles. We then see that Spec Ops: The Line
literally proposes a journey across Purgatory, somewhere between ruin and
damnation. The stakes? The salvation of our souls.

First Signs

he proofs of Walkers hallucination are obvious, we have been

over this. But those of a religious order are even more so, buried
deep or hidden in plain light. In the end, just as post traumatic stress
and war have come to hide the hallucination theme, the hallucination
has been used to hide the theme of salvation. However, it is not for
lack of hints placed to make the hero think about the true fight at
hand. This goes, for example, for this chain of key-words written on
the wall of the television studio (chapter 2): - sand, liars, menteurs (liars
in french), lies, water, help, blind -. While these words announce, like a
prophecy, the journey about to begin, they surround the phrase God
show mercy. Through these words, religion appears for the first time.
Not to ever leave us.
We find it again on Chapter 5, in the words of a soldier who recites
the supplication of Christ on the cross (Luke 23:34) : Forgive them,
for they know not what they do. This declamation, utterly unexpected,
is the revealing element. We immediately understand that the events
and the characters are being manipulated by an external force and that
this force means to guide them. This is why the restaurant from which
Walker fires white phosphorus (chapter 8) is called Lux Aeterna, for
Eternal Light. The reference is crystal clear, these are the first words of
the communion prayer told during the Requiem mass: Lux aeterna
luceat eis, Domine, cum sanctis tuis in ternum, quia pius es. This text,
specific to the Catholic liturgy, has been set to music by the greatest
composers. That being said, should we be surprised to find Verdis
Requiem in the original soundtrack, then sung again by the character
of Radioman? Ultimately, we realize that text and music have been
combined to provide a precise meaning, a religious one. Moreover,

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if the Requiem, mass for the dead, is about Judgement Day through
the Dies Irae, one must admit that the game is filled with visions of
the Apocalypse. The burning tower comes to mind (chapters 9, 13,
14), the dead coming back to life (chapters 13 and 14), these fiery
landscapes, the tormented bodies, the many visions of horror...
In an admittedly less spectacular manner, Spec Ops calls for spirituality
by the mere presence of candles placed along your way (chapters 4, 5,
9, 13, 14). If these candles tell the peoples grief, they also look like
they were placed there for us, as a way to express our funeral wake.
Finally, the game is not void of irony either since we regularly come
across Paradise Splash or Spirit Cola vending machines. And the irony
will only grow stronger when the bells are being heard with the ringing
of a chime. (chapter 4 see icaremag youtube channel).

Cultural Scope

eligion can take on sundry representations , like the ships called

Eternal Wisdom, Fortune of Light, Do Sin or this high-end shop
called Christienne. The game doesnt hesitate to use diverted means in
order to guide Walker. This is the reason why we find references to
ancient myths, figures from Greek mythology for the most part. One
must notice the names Aether ou Hyperion carved inside the ships,
sometimes providing a name for the ships themselves. And lets not
forget the three gigantic statues of Icarus, superimposed at the end
of chapter 8 to represent his downfall. However, these pagan figures
converge to point at either the sky (symbol of transcendence) or the
sun (symbol of truth): two major attributes of the divine.
It is a capital symbolic detour that can be explained, as weve seen, by the
deep relationship existing between Christianity and Greek antiquity.

Dies Irae
Mors stupbit et Natra,
cum resrget creatra,
judicnti responsra.

Death is struck, and nature quaking,

All creation is awaking,
To its Judge an answer making.

Liber scriptus profertur,

in quo totum contintur,
unde Mundus judictur.

Lo, the book exactly worded,

Wherein all hath been recorded,
Thence shall judgment be awarded.

Judex ergo cum sedbit,

quidquid latet apparbit,
nihil inltum remanbit.

When the Judge His seat attaineth,

And each hidden deed arraigneth,
Nothing unavenged remaineth.

Quid sum miser tunc dictrus ?

Quem patrnum rogatrus,
cum vix justus sit secrus ?

What shall I, frail man, be pleading?

Who for me be interceding
When the just are mercy needing?

Rex tremnd majesttis,

qui salvndos salvas gratis,
salva me, fons piettis.

King of majesty tremendous,

Who dost free salvation send us,
Fount of pity, then befriend us.

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Besides, we can extend the discussion by referring to different biblical

and mythological parallels (Nephilim/Demigods, Flood/Deucalion,
Eve/Pandora) as well as certain concepts like the Logos, the pneuma,
the socratic daimn or platonician idealism (without leaving aside the
analogy between the end of the allegory of the cave, the transmission
of truth and martyrdom).
Finally, the game goes and draws from our culture to show the reality
of this fight for salvation. God himself tries to warn Walker through
words, names, up to the use of great myths that will resonate with him.
Besides, the game seems to be speaking to us through psychology and
more particularly the interpretation of dreams. We find it important to
mention the board that reads trust in your dream, as if an external force
was trying to convey the idea of lucidity within the illusion. We see
here how these hallucinated visions and the permanence of the divine
can work together. Images would matter less than what they say. There
would dwell transcendence and truth: in the Word.

Pride...

e saw that the protagonists had been blinded by their pride,

by the distorted and falsely heroic vision of themselves.
Nevertheless, this interpretation can (and must) be brought onto
religious grounds. For the characters pride dwells in the idea that they
can save the people of Dubai. There is not only a lack of humility
towards the forces of nature but towards life itself as well, as if it
could be bent by the will of Men. Thus, we can blame Walker, as well
as Konrad, for playing God, an attitude that echoes in the famous
pascalian aphorism: Whoever wants to act like angel, acts like a beast.
In his way, Walker will confess it : I didnt mean to hurt anybody.The
analysis could be developed based on a double reading angle. Indeed,
not only the protagonists are faulted when they believed they could
master life (feeling of almightiness) but they have forgotten where
their own talents came from (absence of humility that strips the soul
from its right to Heaven). Thus whoever plays God takes his attributes
while thinking they were born from themselves. We are dealing here
with the paroxystic side of pride.
This explains the statuette of Konrad, this ex-voto built after the image
of Christ on the cross (chapter 13). Arent his arms spread open? His
body tied to a piece of wood? A wound on his side to remind us of
that of the lance (cf. P92)? From that, we better understand why the
word savior is written on its base. We are dealing with the imitation
of Christ and Konrad is nothing but a false prophet. Yet, it might be
here that the parallel reveals its radicalism. For the statuette was made
by certain refugees; they are the ones worshipping Konrad, seeing their
savior in him. We cant help but think of the famous passage from the
Gospels: Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheeps clothing,
but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.(Matthew 7:15) Wearing what
they believed was the wool of humanitarian aid, Konrad and Walker
didnt miss their chance to sink their fangs into whatever was around.

Youre no savior. Your talents lie elsewhere

__ Konrad
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...comes before a fall

e have come now to the fundamental element that makes

pride the transverse theme since it touches equally the main
characters, the NPCs and the city itself. After all, Dubai appears to
be the modern incarnation of the great Babylon. The rooftop pools
have replaced the terraced gardens and the gold camel (chapter 10)
has succeeded the calf of the same metal. We also need to mention
those titanic shopping malls, illustration of the ownership spirit,
of consumerism and materialism, all attributes of Mammon. By
prolonging the analogy, the famous tower that rises above the
landscape could be the equivalent of the Tower of Babel. As if Pride
always reached for the sky before sinking you into the abyss.
We are here at the heart of the allegory since the collapse of Dubai
is obvious: the sky-scrapers are ruined, the city is on the brink of
exhaustion and the levels architecture makes us feel like were going
ever deeper. The descent to Hell is literal. Likewise, the statue of Icarus
doesnt show him in his glory but in his fall. We can see, at least from a
Christian point of view, the storm as a punishment: Dubai undergoes
the divine ire. It is being punished just like Babel and Babylon.
Even more subtly, we can extend the analogy to the theme of
hospitality (Gomorrha), to the way the Americans were eventually
fought off. We also dare make the comparison with the fate of the
inhabitants of Sodom, wallowing in debauchery and vanity before
they were annihilated by a rain of sulphur and fire. Truly, weve come
to see that the game is irrigated with Catholic theology and with the
theme of pride.
Along the same lines, it is not coincidental that vanity holds the
top rank of the short list of capital sins established by Saint Thomas
Aquinas and integrated into the Churchs catechism. As such, it seems
important to underline what it owes to Ancient Greece and its concept
of hubris (excessiveness). Once again, Christianity and Greek antiquity
walk hand in hand. Practically, is this not the same pride that drove
Lucifer (etymologically, he who carries light) in his uprising against
God? And cant we distinguish this ultimate figure in the statue of
Icarus as it eerily resembles that of a fallen angel? Do we not feel it in the
presence of the flies swarming over the mass graves (Belzebuth meaning
lord of the flies)? Is this upside-down pentacle that ornates Colonel
Konrads medal of honor, an exact replica of the original granted to the
soldiers of the US Army (we find this symbol everywhere in Europe
as in the US)? Furthermore, cant we see the Devil in that angel of
darkness that seems to stand out in the left corner of the painting
made by Konrad and that has all the traits of an infernal vision?
Finally, there is no forgetting the fact that Lucifer, figure of the latin
mythology, son of Jupiter and Aurora, turns out to be the counterpart
of the Greek god Phosphoros. Here is what ties, in the most fortuitous
and surprising manner, the infernal theme to the white phosphorus.
Chance? Synchronicity? Be that as it may, these interpretations
remind us that if pride precedes the fall, humility comes before glory.

There is no man righteous.

Not a One.

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