Duran: An In Depth Curveball Analysis Long Read Sadly

I decided this topic wouldn't fit into any Duran Theory or the Dark Origin's Speech Thread.

Duran First Appearance and relation to Alpha Squadron.

His first appearance was on Braxis when the UED attacked the Dominion. He lends his assistance to Stukov. Previous to that moment he is part of the Former Confederacy. He is part of the Confederate Resistance Forces and leads a small commando squad from the former Alpha Squadron.

Now back in the first campaign Alpha Squadron appears on Chau Sara to deal with the Son of Korhal. During these proceedings Alpha Squadron finds an obscure group of scientist called the Cerberus Recon Squad the leader of this group remains a mystery. These scientist claimed to have an extensive knowledge on the Xenomorphs(Zerg).After fighting the Sons of Korhal they lost contact with a facility named the Flannum Installation. Xenomorphs had apparently surrounded the facility. The Cerberus Recon Squad helped Alpha Squadron clear a path to the facility and save the scientist their( Using an code that only the Magistrate of Chau Sara should have known.). During the fight to save them the "Zerg" had apparently used the security systems to control the Installation defenses. After the Scientist have been saved back on Chau Sara the Zerg have attacked the city of Los Andares. Duke and his forces arrive as Zerglings finish the city off. His forces reclaim the city. The Cerberus Commander takes control of Alpha Squadron and assaults the Zerg Hives. They are successful in this. After the events the the Cerberus Commander deems the events classified and to never be spoken of again. The conversation is said to never have happened then. Cerberus Recon Squad fades away not to be mentioned again.

Now you may at this point be asking why I told you that block of information. During this it is hinted that 1. The Cerberus Commander knew of the Zerg before most of the Confederacy perhaps.
2. The Cerberus Commander had a extensive knowledge of the Zerg.
3. The Cerberus Commander knew things which only some people who are very high up should have.

Relation to Duran will be made clear at a later point.

Duran and Relation to Sons of Korhal.

Later in the Starcraft: Brood War Campaign Duran and the UED reach Tarsonis. At Tarsonis Duran and the UED assault the Planet and capture the Psi Disrupter. At this point Duran explains to them how it works and why he thinks it should be destroyed. This is odd as it is Duran explaining this.

Back to Starcraft now. Alpha Squadron goes on and on then the Norad II crashes on Antiga Prime. Arcturus Mengsk and the Sons of Korhal rescue him. Alpha Squadron along with Edmund Duke join the Son of Korhal. Duke sets a Psi emitter up on the center platform near Tarsonis and billions of Zerg descend on it. It is at this point Duran and his Commandos leave the Dominion and become the Confederate Resistance Force.

Now with this knowledge in hand we have an idea that
1. Duran knows what messing with the Zerg does.
2. Duran knows what the Psi Disrupter is although. Mengsk had been looking for it after defeating the Zerg on the planet and if Alpha Squadron had been there wouldn't Duke have shown them it? . So how did Duran know how it worked.
3. It reveals a bit of how much Duran knows of the Confederacies Secrets.

Continuing on. Duran warns them of the power this holds if Mengsk controls it. He is sent to the surface to destroy it. Before he destroys it Stukov comes and dismantles it. (More on that later) Duran also tells the UED to destroy Mengsk Nuclear Silo's at Augustgrad upon their arrival at Korhal.

Few things their.
1. Duran is willing to destroy this quickly and then Stukov dismantles it. Where did it go?
2. This is the beginning of tension between Stukov and Duran.
3. How did Duran know of the Silo's at Augustgrad he was barely with Mengsk.

Later on the the UED head to Aiur tracking Mengsk after his loss at Korhal. During a battle their Zerg move on their position. Duran is already out of way oddly. Stukov and him begin to argue. The UED operations are interfered with by the Zerg allow the Protoss and Terran to escape through the Warp Gate. At this point Stukov leaves.

Points of interest here.
1. Duran is out of way and allows Zerg to interfere in operation allowing Protoss and Terran to escape.
How did Duran know the Zerg were coming and move when Stukov had only just then detected it. Did Duran do this to allow the Protoss to escape? More on this later as well.
2. Did he do this just to make more tension between him and Stukov.
3. Did he do this to begin the UED down a path of self-destruction?

Continuing on.

Duran's Betrayal.

Duran and DuGalle track Stukov to Braxis. Stukov has reconstructed the Psi Disrupter. Duran insist he has betrayed DuGalle. Duran leads a good amount of Marines into the Disrupter. They attack Stukov's Elite Guards and get to Stukov. Duran kills Stukov. Now Duran's voice is infested. Stukov tells DuGalle that Duran is the traitor as he is dieing. Duran sets off the Core to melt down. The Captain then shuts
off the core. Zerg infest the disrupter. Captain rallies forces and saves the Disrupter.

Few things.
1. Duran may have presumed Stukov was going to reconstruct it and allowed for it to happen so he could eliminate both him and the reactor.
2. Stukov seems to know more about Duran than Duran may have expected.

Continuance.

As we all know Duran by some means gets to Kerrigan and becomes here second in command.
When the UED go to Char and take control of the Overmind their Duran introduces DuGalle to Kerrigan. Later they go to Tarsonis where he informs Kerrigan the Psi Disrupter has effected Her Broods. After destroying the UED at Korhal. Duran and Kerrigan betray their allies.(Terran Dominion+Protoss.)

Observation
1. Its seems at this point Duran is showing off control over the Zerg when it would appear he had just been introduced to them. Weird no?

Now, the UED try to force KnD's hand and use their Overmind to attack Tarsonis. This backfires as Duran and Kerri attack the Overmind Hive Clusters. With that attack going well Duran And Kerrigan go to retrieve Raszagul. Raszagul is taken through methods and brought to Char. Dark Templar Prelate Zeratul infiltrates Char and retrieves her. Kerrigan sends her swarms after them. Duran disappears here.

Interesting Points Here.
1. Duran knew the name of Raszagul a Protoss Dark Templar Matriarch. This may be coincidence.
2. Duran took this moment when to escape. Free of Kerrigan's "control".

Time for Dark Origins Speech. Yes there is more... Unfortunately...

Now for the Mighty Pillar for which Duran is Chained to. Dark Origins Speech. I'll link to the thread to save space.http://www.starcraft2forum.org/forums/index.php?topic=1094.0

Examining a few of the things Duran says .

Duran: â€No . . . young Kerrigan could not have engineered this grand experiment, although her rebirth into the Zerg Swarm has sped up my progress. I can assure you that this endeavor is quite beyond her narrow understanding. â€

In this sentence he states Young Kerrigan. Now Kerrigan would be young to a millennia old, but, if he were part of the Zerg that would make Kerrigan very young.

Another part of this is that he calls Kerrigan Narrow Minded. Now albeit she may be a bit naive, but narrow minded I doubt it. She wants to control the freaking Galaxy.... Ya.... I think he may mean by this that she is narrow minded in the fact that she has not used the Zerg to their full purpose. A question that arises here is that does he know their full purpose? Now if he was their when the Zerg were first created it may be likely he knew.

Duran: “I am a servant of a far greater power; a power that has slept for countless ages, and is reflected in the creature within that cell.â€

I have a sneaking suspicion that the Zerg Overmind was not the main mind of the Zerg. I think that Duran was the Primary Intelligence of the Zerg. My explanation for this is like this. Duran says he has been around for a millennia. As the Zerg Overmind's Swarm increased it infested a Xel'Naga. The Overmind knowing the Psionic Potential of the Xel'Naga used "Duran" as a extension of himself and to preserve the Zerg. When the first Overmind perished Duran assumed the position of Power over the Zerg, but, did not assert it. If this was true then Duran's Psionic Abilities would allow him to take the guise of whatever race or civilization he choose. This is represented in the fact that Protoss can Hallucinate a entity so I presume that if Duran was a Xel'Naga his Psionic Abilities would be much greater.

Now in connection to the Terran it seems that Duran says he apparently has many names we could presume that he can appears in subtle ways. I link this to Alpha Squadron and the Cerberus Recon Squad Commander. The Commander knew far too much for his level of knowledge in the Confederacy. With Alpha Squadron I think that the Cerberus Recon Commander merged with Alpha Squadron making them much more advance than other squads.(Norad II?) With this comes the idea that if Duran had infiltrated Terran Society and had been connected to the Overmind why would he not absorb the Terran? Well in all likelihood he did. (Infested Terrans Duh!)
So, when he came upon Psionic Ghost all save a few had been killed. (Mengsk killed the first academy ghost, Nova being in the Second Ghost Academy.) So Kerrigan would be a leap towards perfection. In that a Psionic Mind in the like of the Cerebrate could control the Zerg, but, would be mobile. Closer, but, not their.

His work with the Protoss would be at a far as he with the Zerg would be left to fight with them rather than absorbing them into the Swarm. Now if Duran had the knowledge of the ultimate design of the Xel'Naga then he would still be serving a greater power with the Zerg/Protoss Hybrids. Albeit the Xel'Naga have most likely been in Cryo Sleep for a severely long time. So if he was doing experiments with his knowledge from the millennia he would in fact be finishing his former designs.

So to Summarize my idea on Duran. He is the Collective Intelligence of the Zerg and Xel'Naga. He has waited in the Shadows of Civilizations planning his completion of the Ultimate Design of his masters and brothers,the Xel'Naga. He has played a role in bringing the races of the Koprulu Sector to where they are at the moment. Only time will tell what will happen.

In Depth Analysis Done. Try to make sense of it.

Resources:
http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Samir_Duran
http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Flannum_Installation#Flannum_Installation
http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Cerberus_Recon_Squad
http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Alpha_Squadron
http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Edmund_Duke
Long Post Hurts Brain. I began this post at 9:30ish Please Forgive me its 11:57 Here. So my idea at the beginning may have changed. 8) Please Enjoy.

 

Wow, thats really long...

 

owerup: for effort

i like the idea of duran being an extension of the overmind, its more than possible that the overmind was able to 'infest' one of the many Xel that the swarm killed.

 

I got a little theory of my own, and after reading this i could finally finalize it... so thanks :
It's funny Duran surfaced first AFTER the Overmind perished.

I doubt the Xel'Naga was truly as naive to get surprised backstabbed by the Overmind... I think the Overmind was their puppet regarding the Completion of the Cycle aka the melding of Form and Essence. And Duran was the puppeteer, chosen by his people - the Xel'Naga - to become "infested" as a guise and reason of staying near the Overmind, keeping it under control by subtle manipulation.

I even think the death of the Overmind was planned all along. Think about it, the Overmind all along intended to absorb the Protoss into the Zerg gene pool. Why? Because that was the task beset upon him by the Xel'Naga.

In order to ensure that the Protoss and Zerg crossed their paths, Duran took human form and aided the Confederacy in creating the Psi Emitters, which was then employed as weapons in the Terran Civil Wars.

That's why he's been f**king around with the Zerg-Terran conflict, to draw out the Protoss, practitioners of Dae'uhl - protection of the lesser races - from their safety on Aiur. Tassadar wasn't as bright as one may think, for it was in fact he who unknowingly sparked the first of many events covered in the games by being so unusually altruistic for a Protoss. Tassadar, albeit unwillingly, gave away his race on a silver platter.

However, seeing as Duran most likely is a Xel'Naga, he knew of Aiur's location. Why not just give it to the Overmind in the first place? Now this is funny... if he had done so, the Protoss would have realized that the Zerg was in cooperation with Xel'Naga, as they were the sole beings with knowledge of the Protoss homeworld. Duran needed the curtain to stay down until things was settled - until the Overmind was dead, at which time the threat was supposedly at it's end.

But why would the Overmind consider Kerrigan his "greatest creation"? She was Terran. And how exactly did she speed up Duran's work? I think that has to do with Kerrigan's status as Terran/Zerg hybrid. Kerrigan was the prototype, the first test. Even as a Terran, her psionic powers became increasingly more powerful at the time of her transmutation, evidence of the Hybrids future superiority when matched against the Protoss.

Now, the greatest and most impressive part about all this theory is the fact that the Overmind, the powerful and seemingly omniscient, unyielding ruler of the Zerg, was naught but an expendable puppet. A decoy. In truth, the Xel'Naga has been pulling the strings since the creation of the Zerg, all through Duran.

But that does not explain why Kerrigan feels threatened at Char. Why would she feel cornered in, vulnerable? Because she is an expired experiment, a version too old. She, and the Zerg as a whole, has served it's purpose. The Overmind started the war, allowing Duran to claim a young Terran as his first experiment, as well as many fallen Protoss. Tassadar, Raynor and Zeratul all focused on the Overmind - as was intended - and succeeded in killing it - as intended - believing the threat to be over, their races saved from a gruesome fate. In fact, their doing just aided in moving them towards that fate.

With the puppet dead and his own name cleared of doubt (not that anyone knew of it anyway), Duran came out of hiding and willingly submit himself to Kerrigan's service, when the unexpected arrival of the UED struck the sector. The UED, far more numerical and technological than the Terrans, posed a threat seeing as the many devices Duran helped the Confederacy create could be used by the UED to sway the Zerg against the Hybrids. A force of humans and their Zerg lapdogs would pose a serious threat to the Hybrids.

Once again, Duran claimed human form and persuaded the leaders of the UED to destroy the Psi Disrupters. Stukov, who was far to clever to not see the potential of the Disrupters, "betrayed" Duran and reconstructed the Disrupter on Braxis. Realizing Stukov was way too clever for his own good, and that the gullible DuGalle would surely order Stukov's death for the untimely "betrayal", Duran decided to let go of his fake image, kill his only worthy adversary within the UED and bite the bullet. DuGalle was not competent enough to utilize the Disrupter in the way Stukov would have, and thus it turned out as a victory for Duran anyways.

However, at this time Duran needed Kerrigan to do his dirty work, and manipulated her in the same way he had manipulated the Overmind, suggesting far too thought out plans. Coordinating an unholy alliance between Kerrigan and her former Protoss and Terran adversaries, Duran began playing them all into destroying not only the main UED threat, but also eachother as a bonus. With the UED shattered, the Protoss and Terrans weakened and Kerrigan deluded into believing she alone was the ruling factor of the sector, Duran continued working on his Hybrids, unbeknownst that Zeratul would stumble upon them in search for Artanis. Thus the Dark Origin speech. It did not matter whether Zeratul knew about the Hybrids or not, seeing as Duran have had the time to work on them for years. The cycle was soon complete, all needed was the artifacts.

Now, the question i cannot really answer is what these Artifacts is, but i guess they are some kind of "Transmitters" to call upon the hiding Xel'Naga, or "Awakening-mechanism-or-some-other-cool-name" to awaken the Hybrids one after the other.

Well, that's just my 20050 cents.

 

Well SirBaron got to give you a owerup:. Thats the theory I had originally had but couldn't put into words with my own work. So ya thats what Duran seems like to me. Still gotta say Duran either way this goes. Most powerful character in game story wise bottom line. No one can really match him with the power he most likely holds. All in all he pretty much single-handedly took down the UED by manipulating them and the other factions of the Koprulu Sector. I really can't wait to see SC2 play out with Duran.

 

GJ on linking Duran to the scientists of the confederacy in the original game, and after playing broodwar for the 1st time, I had a feeling he had a role in the 1st game as well, just totally unknown to us, and sirbaron's idea could very likely be it, and this whole thing makes me wish Stukov would return in SCII that much more, as he is the only one besides Zeratul with a real understanding of what the hell hes up to, but they both have different experiences with Duran, combining the two could reveal something that seperated would remain unknown.

But yeah, Duran, hands down, most powerful character.

 

Yeah, well you pat yourself on the shoulder for that one, if i hadn't read your post i would still have been fumbling in the dark with my speculations.

Also

this comment fully finalized it. I always figured Duran was somehow pulling all the strings since he seemed to know so much about everything, and of course, due the obvious lack of control Kerrigan truly had over him and most obvious of all, the Dark Origin Speech.
Until GuiMontag mentioned those little words, i couldn't figure it out, but now it makes so much sense.

Yeah, and the pretty cool thing is also that his power stems from pure intellect, wit and tactical thinking, and not physical, psionic or army strength. I mean, if my theory is true he basically turned around a whole galactic sector all by himself, and Xel'Naga or not, that's a friggin big achievement for one single being.

 

Yeah, but I bet he has psionic and physical strength as well, in fact the psionic abilities may very well, in fact more than likely did play a role in all the people hes manipulated over the millenia .

 

One thing I've been playing around with in my head is the idea that Duran is manipulating Daggoth. Duran knew he wouldn't be able to work with Kerrigan as she was as he said "narrow minded" and if Duran is the collective intelligence of the Zerg Daggoth would know since he was created by the Overmind as his second. Daggoth seems to be a Cerebrate that knows more than hes telling. I won't go into more detail as their is a thread dedicate to Daggoth already. If Duran was breeding Hunter Killers + Protoss...... Dear Jesus Dark Hunter Killer Zealot!...... Ya... This connection is one of interest to me as if this theory is off. It could be that Duran was part of Tiamat Brood so when he is infested he is part of that Brood. As Daggoth is the second in command after the (Dead)Overmind. Just another thought Process. Ya... Daggoth + Duran = Holy Mother of God! 8) Things in this theory don't add up so much. I'll work on this one a bit more. I think it may make more sense if I go over some information. Off to the drawing board.

 

That actually makes even more sense. Duran could surely have persuaded Daggoth into coordinating a new Overmind-merge amongst the Cerebrates, in order to separate the Swarm and further delude Kerrigan into believing she was truly in control. Also, with a new Overmind, Duran would have yet another scapegoat to distract his enemies while he conducted his experiments.

 

That would also help explain why Kerrigan is afraid/uneasy. She has far too many enemies at the moment. Daggoth, Duran most likely, Jim, Dominion, UED , Protoss. Ya.... Zerg Campaign's gonna be interesting. So, If Duran and Daggoth are together that would make Kerrigan very scared. I also infer that since Duran called Kerrigan narrow-minded that he isn't with her anymore. This line of thought is beginning to make more sense as it goes along. I definitely am going to start preparing an extension to the analysis to address Daggoth and his relation.

 

While i am sure Duran and Daggoth had some kind of deal inbetween SC1 and SC:BW, it is highly unlikely that Daggoth will make an appearance in SC2, since he partook in the Overmind-meld in SC:BW. Since Zeratul killed that Overmind, Daggoth is most likely dead by now. Although that doesn't shatter your theory, i am sure Duran still has Cerebrates loyal to "his" cause, not just in the Tiamat Brood.

 

Well after some looking into and reading this thread http://www.starcraft2forum.org/forums/index.php?topic=1877.0 I highly, highly doubt Daggoth was with the New Overmind. For one Daggoth is an above average Cerebrate. And the wiki tells all. http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Daggoth From the Wiki Site.

Daggoth's fate after the events in Brood War is unknown. Kerrigan tells Zeratul, Artanis, and Raszagal that, "Apparently, many of the renegade Cerebrates, commanded by Daggoth, have merged into a new Overmind." Some have taken this to mean that Daggoth himself became part of the new Overmind, and was subsequently killed by the Dark Templar who allied themselves with Kerrigan for that purpose. Others believe that Daggoth merely ordered the other Cerebrates to merge and did not take part himself, in which case he would still be alive on Char. Kerrigan does say of the new Overmind, "It can't control the Swarm yet, but Daggoth and the others still have control over most of the Broods," which implies that Daggoth didn't merge into the new Overmind. After the death of the Overmind, Duran tells Kerrigan, "with the Overmind and its cerebrates destroyed, all of the Zerg in this sector have reverted to your direct control," so Daggoth was most likely killed with the new Overmind on Char

What I love about this is that if Duran did tell Kerrigan that the cerebrates are dead. That would support the fact that he is working with Daggoth. I mean if you were going to betray someone for another ally and she wanted that ally dead would you tell her that he is dead by your own hand to allow him to be free to his own plans. And the other thing I see here is that Daggoth is never stated to be dead. I would imagine that if we were to kill Daggoth it would have been in a mission. So to conclude this part.
I think Duran has hidden Daggoth from Kerrigan and is now working with him. Daggoth did have acess to unique strains of Zerg so he is a perfect match for Duran.

 

Kudos for clearing that up, man. And i who always went around believing poor old Daggoth was dead

Well, that certainly adds up intrigue to the whole. Duran and Daggoth cooperating... now i just got to figure out why.

 

The real question now is from who's perspective will we be playing in SC2 for the Zerg. If this theory plays out to be true then we can either play from Duran's, Daggoth's or Kerrigan's perspective for the Zerg. Now if their is the option to play as all three through three various Campaigns story arcs I would be ecstatic.

I enjoyed this research a lot. Duran is by far the most interesting character in the Starcraft Universe. Zeratul comes in a close second. Now with Zeratul one statement from Dark Origins Speech that Duran repeats is calling him young prodigal. Now I know that 634 years old would be young to a entity a millennia old, but, the definition of prodigal doesn't match Zeratul at all.

Definition of Prodigal

1. wastefully or recklessly extravagant: prodigal expenditure.
2. giving or yielding profusely; lavish (usually fol. by of or with): prodigal of smiles; prodigal with money.
3. lavishly abundant; profuse: nature's prodigal resources.
–noun
4. a person who spends, or has spent, his or her money or substance with wasteful extravagance; spendthrift.

That would be unless Duran has been watching Zeratul. Why watch him though? Duran has his own things to deal with and he meets him on the planet in Dark Origins.... So confusing their.

 

Prodigal can also mean the departure of a person from his home or family, and his subsequent return as a better person.
Source: Collins COBUILD Resource Pack - Lexicon
1 You can describe someone as a prodigal son or daughter if they leave their family or friends, often after a period of behaving badly, and then return at a later time as a better person. (LITERARY)
ADJ usu ADJ n

In my humble opinion that fits Zeratul quite well... well, even though he actually never departed from Aiur or witnessed the DT exodus from Aiur...







Or did he???? *spooky horror music plays in the background*

 

Ahh okay thank you for clearing that up for me SirBaron. Dictionary.com Should burn!!! Well it seems this theory wraps of Duran's past nicely. I think I will try and prepare a time line for Duran. Off to work once again.

 

Wow, good read, thanks guys. I'll remember 2 power-up's for each of you

 

The whole word 'millenia' in SC is somewhat confusing, if you note, it is used a few times throughout the story.

Its used by the Overmind, I don't remember exactly in what way it was messed up but not important i suppose.

secondly, Its used by Zeratul when speaking to Raszagul, He states something along the lines of 'Matriarch I have served you for countless Millenia' - this is perplexing as in the game manual it states he is 600 and something years old.

3rdly, Duran mentions...(sry just got IMed and lost where I was) he mentions something about being around for many millenia or something, again due to my friend I forgot the significance of this, but I'm going all from memory here about something I've noticed years ago.

anyways, all 3 of these people's definition of the word millenia differs, how could Zeratul who is 600+ years old serve somebody far many millenia? Are they simply using another it as another unit to signify an amount of time which isn't perhaps equal to one of our millenias?

on another note, I don't think he would be working with Daggoth, but rather simply using him like everyone else to attain his own means.

Sorry for half-assed theory, but perhaps you'll remember better what I'm refering to.

 

Now to address the matter of why Duran would work with/manipulate Daggoth is quite simple. Duran in no way seems to control his own Brood of Zerg. Now, this is most likely because if you have your own Brood of Zerg your most likely easily tracked and the Zerg would be telepathically linked to Kerrigan or whatever Cerebrate they are aligned with. Albeit Duran could severe that link most likely I think it would be in his best interest to use someone who is willing to give than be made to take something like a Brood with force. This also goes along the lines to support my recent Idea that Duran and Daggoth are working together,but, a new thought I had since my last post to give more reason behind this alliance is this.

Duran and Daggoth are both separate from the Swarm and Kerrigan is a threat to both of them. Daggoth is threatened for control of the Broods ,which, should be his imo. Duran knows she is too narrow minded and that she wants to consume the Universe and if that were to happen Duran would have two problems.1. His hybrids already in creation would be at risk from Kerrigan. 2. He would lose the Protoss as the Protoss would be needed to create his Hybrids. These two threats from Kerrigan could ruin his plans at Hybrids so a manipulation of/alliance with Daggoth would be key in that Duran most likely would not perceive Daggoth as a great nemesis to his Ultimate Design as Kerrigan seeing that Daggoth is the lesser of two evils.

This is why I believe Duran and Daggoth would work together. To take Kerrigan down.

@ AnArchY I'm looking into the millenia angle as I believe you are correct in that assumption. 8)