Milo Rambaldi
Encyclopedia
- Rambaldi redirects here; see also Benvenuto Rambaldi da ImolaBenvenuto Rambaldi da ImolaBenvenuto Rambaldi da Imola, or simply and perhaps more accurately Benvenuto da Imola was an Italian scholar and historian, a lecturer at Bologna. He is now best known for his commentary on Dante's Divine Comedy.-Life:...
, the 14th-century Dante scholar
Milo Giacomo Rambaldi is a fictional person from the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television series Alias
Alias (TV series)
Alias is an American action television series created by J. J. Abrams which was broadcast on ABC for five seasons, from September 30, 2001 to May 22, 2006...
. The work of Rambaldi, often centuries ahead of its time and tied to prophecy, plays a central role in the show.
According to Alias creator J.J. Abrams, in a feature on Rambaldi included on the season 5 DVD box set, the Mueller device
Mueller device
A Mueller device is a mysterious piece of technology in the US television series Alias. It usually appears as a hook-shaped armature which levitates a red-orange liquid-filled sphere. It is named for Oskar Mueller, a chemist who was believed to have invented it, though it is later revealed to have...
and Milo Rambaldi were originally intended simply to be MacGuffin
MacGuffin
A MacGuffin is "a plot element that catches the viewers' attention or drives the plot of a work of fiction". The defining aspect of a MacGuffin is that the major players in the story are willing to do and sacrifice almost anything to obtain it, regardless of what the MacGuffin actually is...
s.
Rambaldi's technological developments are sought after by numerous governments and rogue organizations in the series. Arvin Sloane
Arvin Sloane
Arvin Sloane is a fictional character played by Ron Rifkin. He was the former director of SD-6 on the television series, Alias.-Background:...
is generally obsessed with obtaining Rambaldi's work and unlocking its secrets.
There seems to be no limit to Rambaldi's genius
Genius
Genius is something or someone embodying exceptional intellectual ability, creativity, or originality, typically to a degree that is associated with the achievement of unprecedented insight....
as he was highly capable in automatism
Automaton
An automaton is a self-operating machine. The word is sometimes used to describe a robot, more specifically an autonomous robot. An alternative spelling, now obsolete, is automation.-Etymology:...
, life extension
Life extension
Life extension science, also known as anti-aging medicine, experimental gerontology, and biomedical gerontology, is the study of slowing down or reversing the processes of aging to extend both the maximum and average lifespan...
, protein
Protein
Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...
engineering, mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, cryptography
Cryptography
Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties...
and cartography
Cartography
Cartography is the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.The fundamental problems of traditional cartography are to:*Set the map's...
. Rambaldi is said to have predicted the digital Information Age
Information Age
The Information Age, also commonly known as the Computer Age or Digital Age, is an idea that the current age will be characterized by the ability of individuals to transfer information freely, and to have instant access to knowledge that would have been difficult or impossible to find previously...
. He invented a machine code
Machine code
Machine code or machine language is a system of impartible instructions executed directly by a computer's central processing unit. Each instruction performs a very specific task, typically either an operation on a unit of data Machine code or machine language is a system of impartible instructions...
language around 1489, cryptographic
Cryptography
Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties...
algorithms, and sketched the designs of a portable vocal communicator and a prototype that reflected the properties of a transistor
Transistor
A transistor is a semiconductor device used to amplify and switch electronic signals and power. It is composed of a semiconductor material with at least three terminals for connection to an external circuit. A voltage or current applied to one pair of the transistor's terminals changes the current...
.
The character draws its inspiration from real-life historical figures including Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
and Nostradamus
Nostradamus
Michel de Nostredame , usually Latinised to Nostradamus, was a French apothecary and reputed seer who published collections of prophecies that have since become famous worldwide. He is best known for his book Les Propheties , the first edition of which appeared in 1555...
. Rambaldi's artistic-looking manuscripts, written in code, are a direct reference to Leonardo's method of recording his work. Behind the scenes, the writers of Alias often referred to Rambaldi jokingly as "Nostravinci".
The character is named after Carlo Rambaldi
Carlo Rambaldi
Carlo Rambaldi is an Italian special effects artist who is most famous for designing the title character of the 1982 film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and the mechanical head-effects for the creature in Alien...
, the creator and operator of many special creatures for science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
movies. Rambaldi won the 1983 Best Effects-Visual Effects Oscar
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
for his work on the E.T.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 American science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Melissa Mathison and starring Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, and Peter Coyote...
movie creature.
The Rambaldi subplot, which dominated the first two seasons of the series and was greatly explored in the second half of the third season, was virtually nonexistent in the early episodes of season four. However it continued to lurk in the background of the series and, as creator J.J. Abrams promised, resurfaced in full later in the season. Rambaldi and his works continued to figure heavily through the end of the series.
Fictional biography
Rambaldi (1444–1496), a renaissantial homo universalis, artist, alchemist, engineer and mystic, served as chief architect to Pope Alexander VIPope Alexander VI
Pope Alexander VI , born Roderic Llançol i Borja was Pope from 1492 until his death on 18 August 1503. He is one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes, and his Italianized surname—Borgia—became a byword for the debased standards of the Papacy of that era, most notoriously the Banquet...
.
According to the Alias fiction, Rambaldi was born in Parma
Parma
Parma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its ham, its cheese, its architecture and the fine countryside around it. This is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world....
, and educated by Vespertine monks and worked as a student of the arts until he was 12. In his 18th year and during his travels to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
he was introduced to Cardinal Rodericus and was retained privately as an architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
, consultant and prophet, when Rodericus of Borgia (Borja) became Pope in 1492.
His writings and plans are written in multiple languages ranging from Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
and Demotic
Demotic
Demotic may refer to:*Demotic Greek, a variety of the Greek language*Demotic , a script and stage of the Egyptian language...
hybrids, to elusive mixtures of symbols (pre-masonic cipher encryptions). Rambaldi also created the earliest known watermark
Watermark
A watermark is a recognizable image or pattern in paper that appears as various shades of lightness/darkness when viewed by transmitted light , caused by thickness or density variations in the paper...
which he used on all of his documents: a naked eye, visible only when held to black light
Black light
A black light, also referred to as a UV light, ultraviolet light, or Wood's lamp, is a lamp that emits ultraviolet radiation in the long-wave range, and little visible light...
, known as the eye of Rambaldi, which helped tell original works apart from forgeries many years later. His waterpapers were all hand-made from a unique polymer fiber.
Despite Borgia's benevolence, Rambaldi and his works never became famous due to the Archdeacon Claudio Vespertini, who feared the revolutionary implications of the technologies defined in Rambaldi's belief system: Rambaldi believed that science would someday allow us to know God. Vespertini attempted to pursue and destroy everything he could find and keep the name of Rambaldi 'invisible.'
When Alexander VI died in 1503, Vespertini ordered that the name Rambaldi be erased from all inscriptions between 1470 and 1496, his workshop in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
destroyed, Rambaldi himself excommunicated for heresy and sentenced to death by flame. However Rambaldi died in the winter of 1496, a lonely man without a known surviving heir.
Not long after his death, a second workshop was discovered in San Lazzaro, but was also destroyed by the Vatican
Roman Curia
The Roman Curia is the administrative apparatus of the Holy See and the central governing body of the entire Catholic Church, together with the Pope...
. Plans and sketches were sold and traded as if without value during a private auction. These plans however have since been located, starting in the 15th century and continuing even to recent years, around Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. Plans were also found in private collections or museum warehouses. During the Third Reich, documents interpreting his designs and teachings were highly sought-after. It was then when the nickname Nostravinci arose among auctioneering circles. The design directive for many of these drawings remains unclear to this day, and has inspired some impressive forgeries, even prime examples of digital piracy. However the eye of Rambaldi was proven to be the only test of accuracy against them.
Known Rambaldi artifacts
- Mueller deviceMueller deviceA Mueller device is a mysterious piece of technology in the US television series Alias. It usually appears as a hook-shaped armature which levitates a red-orange liquid-filled sphere. It is named for Oskar Mueller, a chemist who was believed to have invented it, though it is later revealed to have...
- Designed by Rambaldi, built by Oskar Mueller. Known effects include increasing the aggression of certain bees and emitting a sub-sonic frequency which combined with chemical contaminants causes heightened aggression in humans. Five Mueller devices are known to have been built. One small-scale device was seized by Sydney and handed over to Sloane. Its status is unknown as the CIA found no Rambaldi artifacts when it raided SD-6. One large-scale device was destroyed by Sydney in Taipei. "Arvin Clone" had one completed small-scale device, the status of which is unknown, and one large-scale device located in his Santiago compound, which was seized and/or destroyed by APO. There were also incomplete components of at least one more device in the compound, also presumably seized and/or destroyed by APO. Finally, Elena Derevko constructed an enormous Mueller device in Sovogda, RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, which was destroyed by Sydney. - Notebook - Recovered from San Lazzaro. Not seen on-screen; an analysis by SD-6 indicates that the notebook contains rudimentary schematics for a cellular phone.
- Sketches - Two sketches, each of which contains half of a binary code. The second sketch is destroyed by acid in BerlinBerlinBerlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. When the codes are combined with a compression scheme, they reveal the location of the Sol D'Oro. - Sol D'Oro (Golden Sun) - A yellow disk, appearing to be stained glass but actually a synthetic polymer.
- Clock - Commissioned and designed by Rambaldi, built by Giovanni Donato (the only man Rambaldi ever collaborated with). When combined with the Golden Sun disk, the clock reveals a star chart identifying the location of Rambaldi's journal.
- Rambaldi's journal - Contains instructions on how to fit together Rambaldi's designs. Page 47 was written in invisible ink and contains a prophecy and a drawing identifying Sydney as the "Chosen One". Page 94 included a listing of "apocalyptic dates and times".
- Ampule - Filled with a "Rambaldi liquid" used to make the text of Page 47 and the Circumference visible.
- Code key - Inscribed on the frame of a portrait of Pope Alexander VI painted by Rambaldi, housed in The Vatican. Used to decode the prophecy on page 47.
- The Circumference - A page of text describing the construction and application of the Mueller device. Like Page 47, it was written in invisible ink. It is obtained from the CIA for Irina Derevko in exchange for Will TippinWill TippinWilliam "Will" D. Tippin is a fictional character, one of Sydney Bristow's friends on the television series Alias. He is portrayed by Bradley Cooper.-Character biography:...
. It is next seen in the possession of "Arvin Clone". - Music box - Played a sequence that when each note was translated to its corresponding frequency, revealed an equation for zero-point energyZero-point energyZero-point energy is the lowest possible energy that a quantum mechanical physical system may have; it is the energy of its ground state. All quantum mechanical systems undergo fluctuations even in their ground state and have an associated zero-point energy, a consequence of their wave-like nature...
. Destroyed by Sydney after recording the equation to prevent it from falling into the hands of SD-6. - Flower - Found in an egg-shaped container, it was apparently 400–600 years old, Rambaldi's proof of eternal life.
- Firebomb - A neutron bombNeutron bombA neutron bomb or enhanced radiation weapon or weapon of reinforced radiation is a type of thermonuclear weapon designed specifically to release a large portion of its energy as energetic neutron radiation rather than explosive energy...
designed by Rambaldi, it delivered micropulses that disintegrated organic matter but left inorganic matter unharmed. - Cut-out manuscript page - A manuscript page with a section cut out of the center. Sloane recovers the missing piece from inside a 15th century statue of an arhat.
- Study of the Human Heart - Recovered by Jack and Irina. The CIA intended to use this manuscript and Irina to flush Sloane out, but Irina double-crossed Jack, stole the manuscript and turned it over to Sloane in exchange for extracting her from CIA custody. Included the DNA "fingerprint" of Proteo di Regno, which also served as a code key for page 94 of the Rambaldi journal.
- Di Regno heart - Found inside Proteo di Regno's body, it was apparently keeping him alive. Used to power Il Dire.
- Pages - loose pages seen in the possession of the man in Nepal who gives Sloane The Restoration.
- Il Dire (The Telling) - A machine made of 47 Rambaldi artifacts, it wrote the word eirene ("peace" in Greek) along with the DNA sequence of The Passenger.
- Medication - derived from a formula found in Rambaldi's journal and used on Allison DorenFrancie CalfoFrancine "Francie" Calfo is a fictional character on the television series Alias, portrayed by Merrin Dungey. She is Sydney Bristow's close friend.-Biography:Francie was Sydney Bristow's best friend and roommate during the beginning of the series...
. It helped her heal from the extensive wounds she received at Sydney's hands and may have imparted lasting rapid regenerative abilitiesHealing factorA healing factor is a term used to describe the ability of some characters in fiction to recover from bodily injuries or disease at a superhuman rate...
. Not seen on-screen. - Keys - A dozen keys collected by Andrian LazareyAndrian LazareyAndrian Lazarey is a fictional character from the television show Alias. He was played by Mark Bramhall.Andrian Lazarey was a Russian diplomat. He was the father of Julian Sark, a descendant of the Romanovs and a member of the Magnific Order of Rambaldi. He was first seen in a videotape in the...
(although one may have been collected by Sydney in the animated episodeAnimated Alias: TribunalThe Animated Alias: Tribunal is an American animated short film produced in 2003 for the DVD release of the third season of the espionage series Alias....
included on the season 3 DVD set). Used to open the vault which housed the Cube holding Rambaldi's DNA. - Cube - Housed a live sample of Rambaldi's DNA. Collected by Sydney and Lazarey, later concealed by Sydney herself which prompted her to erase her memory in the first place. The Cube would eventually be retrieved by Sydney for the CIA and would later be stolen by The Covenant, who planned to fuse the DNA with Sydney's eggs to engineer Rambaldi's second coming. Destroyed by Sydney.
- Kaleidoscope - This artifact required three discs. Once the discs were inserted into the kaleidoscope, they formed a map of an underwater formation in the Sea of JapanSea of JapanThe Sea of Japan is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, between the Asian mainland, the Japanese archipelago and Sakhalin. It is bordered by Japan, North Korea, Russia and South Korea. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it has almost no tides due to its nearly complete enclosure from the Pacific...
, where four additional discs were found. - Discs - four discs recovered from the Sea of Japan that were required to open the "Irina" box.
- "Irina" box - A box with the name Irina inscribed on it. It was rumored to contain "the Passenger", which the CIA believed to be a bioweapon. Supposedly it had not been opened since Rambaldi's time but apparently Sloane had found it open, because he hid the di Regno heart inside it.
- The Restoration - A manuscript which references "The Passenger" and the Hourglass. Contains the formula for "Rambaldi fluid".
- Code key - Used to decode The Restoration. Not seen on-screen. Lauren ReedLauren ReedLauren Reed is a fictional character played by Melissa George in the Alias television series. She is Michael Vaughn's wife during the third season of the series.-Character biography:...
stole a false code key created by the CIA. - Hourglass - Contained a fluid that powered the battery for the EEGEEGEEG commonly refers to electroencephalography, a measurement of the electrical activity of the brain.EEG may also refer to:* Emperor Entertainment Group, a Hong Kong-based entertainment company...
machine. - EEG machine - A device that reveals the identity of "The Passenger" by sketching her brainwaves.
- The Passenger - First believed to be a bioweapon, in actuality a living being with a "direct conduit" to Milo Rambaldi and the only one to know the exact location of the Sphere of Life. The Passenger is Nadia Santos, daughter of Arvin Sloane and Irina Derevko and half-sister of Sydney Bristow.
- "Rambaldi fluid" - A chemical containing "protein strains" which, when injected into Nadia Santos (The Passenger), made her a "direct conduit to Rambaldi." This allowed her to experience visions and through muscle memory transcribe a complex algebraic equation for a longitude and latitude, the location of the Sphere of Life.
- Sphere of Life - A vessel which supposedly housed Rambaldi's consciousness. When "the Passenger" came into contact with it, she saw terrifying flashes of the future.
- The Vespertine Papers - Texts, rumored to have been destroyed during World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, which refer to properties of the Rambaldi orchid. Not seen on-screen. Pages obtained from the Department of Special ResearchDepartment of Special ResearchThe Department of Special Research is a fictional government agency from the American television series Alias. The DSR is introduced in the first season episode The Prophecy....
(which may or may not have been genuine Rambaldi pages) were placed in auction as The Vespertine Papers to flush out "Arvin Clone". - Orchid - Paphiopedilum khan, a rare lady slipper orchid brought to Italy from China in 1269. Recovered by "Arvin Clone" from the Monte Inferno monastery, it is the source of a chemical contaminant that (when combined with other substances seeded in various water supplies by Sloane) encourages human qualities like empathy and harmonic coexistence; in conjunction with the Mueller device, it causes heightened aggression in humans.
- Vade Mecum - A Rambaldi manuscript, translated by Lazlo Drake. Described by Sloane as "a template describing how Rambaldi's creations were to be assembled in order to bring forth his final prophecy". Not shown on-screen.
- Il Diluvio (The Flood) - A manuscript that described Rambaldi's vision of a moment when the world would be cleansed and everything would begin anew. Not seen on-screen; Irina states that she destroyed it.
- The Profeta Cinque (Fifth Prophet) - A manuscript written in apparently unbreakable code that speaks of advanced genetics.
- Horizon - A small orb which, when placed on a stone altar in Rambaldi's tomb, forms a levitating sphere which generates a red fluid which has the power to convey immortality.
- Amulet - Recovered from "The Rose", it apparently contains a map to Rambaldi's tomb, which is revealed by sunlight shining through it while in a cavern on Mt. Subasio.
- Rambaldi's Tomb - Contains what appears to be the coffin of Rambaldi and a stone altar, which works in conjunction with "The Horizon".
Symbol
The symbol,Anna Espinosa
Anna Espinosa is a fictional character from the television series Alias, . Born in Cuba, raised in Russia, Anna was a Soviet spy at some point, until the collapse of the Soviet Union...
.
The glyph is also said by Irina Derevko
Irina Derevko
Irina Derevko , is a fictional character on the television series Alias, and a main character during the second season of the series. Irina, played by Lena Olin, is the mother of the central character, Sydney Bristow.-Biography:...
to represent the struggle between "The Chosen One" and "The Passenger," whom Irina believes to be her two daughters. (See Rambaldi's prophecies below) The circle in the center of the design is said to be the object around which they will do great battle.
The Rambaldi Eye (
Victor Garber
Victor Joseph Garber is a Canadian film, stage and television actor and singer. Garber is known for playing Jesus in Godspell, Jack Bristow in the television series Alias, Max in Lend Me a Tenor, and Thomas Andrews in James Cameron's Titanic.-Early life:Born in London, Ontario, Canada, Garber is...
's credit appears. In season two, it appears on ALIAS when "With Lena Olin
Lena Olin
Lena Maria Jonna Olin is a Swedish actress.-Early life:Olin was born the youngest of three children, in Stockholm, Sweden. She is the daughter of actress Britta Holmberg and the director Stig Olin...
" appears. Season four doesn't have a Rambaldi sign, but it appears in season five when Balthazar Getty
Balthazar Getty
Balthazar Getty is an American film actor and member of the band Ringside. He is known for the roles of Thomas Grace on the American action drama Alias and Tommy Walker on the ABC drama Brothers & Sisters.-Early life:...
appears.
Rambaldi's prophecies
One of Rambaldi's prophecies is central to the Alias story arc. Written on the forty-seventh47 (number)
47 is the natural number following 46 and preceding 48.-In mathematics:Forty-seven is the fifteenth prime number, a safe prime, the thirteenth supersingular prime, and the sixth Lucas prime. Forty-seven is a highly cototient number...
page of one of his manuscripts, it reads:
- This woman here depicted will possess unseen marks, signs that she will be the one to bring forth my works: bind them with fury, a burning anger. Unless prevented, at vulgar cost, this woman will render the greatest power unto utter desolation. This woman, without pretense, will have had her effect, never having seen the beauty of my sky behind Mt. Subasio. Perhaps a single glance would have quelled her fire.
The identity of this woman has been speculated to be Sydney Bristow
Sydney Bristow
Sydney Anne Bristow , played by Jennifer Garner, is the main character and protagonist on the television series Alias. She is an American woman with Russian-American family background who works as a spy for the CIA....
, as included with the prophecy is a drawing of Sydney's likeness, which also resembles her mother. Rambaldi also mentioned three physical anomalies in the prophecy which Sydney also has. Sydney Bristow tried to disprove that the prophecy refers to herself by climbing Mt. Subasio.
At the finale of Season Two, Sydney's mother, Irina Derevko, reveals that Sydney is actually the woman referred by Rambaldi and not Irina as Sydney wanted to believe.
During Season Three, an organization known as The Covenant
Covenant (Alias)
In the television series Alias, The Covenant is a large, powerful, and secretive intelligence/terrorist organization.The Covenant was a "loose affiliation of Russian nationalists" composed of retired KGB and former Central Committee members, all dedicated to the new world envisioned by Milo...
tried to use a Rambaldi artifact known as "The Cube", which contained a live sample of Rambaldi's DNA to fulfill the first part of the prophecy. This woman here depicted will possess unseen marks, signs that she will be the one to bring forth my works: bind them with fury, a burning anger.
The Covenant planned to fuse Rambaldi's DNA with Sydney's eggs to engineer Rambaldi's second coming. This was however prevented by Sydney who destroyed the lab where the process had been made.
When the FBI Assistant Director Kendall
FBI Assistant Director Kendall
Assistant Director Kendall is a fictional character from the television series Alias, played by Terry O'Quinn.-Season 1:He first appeared in the first season as the head of an FBI tribunal brought in from Washington DC to interrogate Sydney Bristow after she is arrested following evidence linking...
reveals to Sydney her lost two years, he mentions that she's a celebrity among the Department of Special Research
Department of Special Research
The Department of Special Research is a fictional government agency from the American television series Alias. The DSR is introduced in the first season episode The Prophecy....
as she was the one to collect the most part of Rambaldi's works which could also be what the first part of the prophecy meant.
During Season Four, another prophecy was revealed, this prophecy was told to Michael Vaughn
Michael Vaughn
Michael C. Vaughn is a fictional character on the television series Alias. Played by Michael Vartan, Vaughn is one of Sydney Bristow's co-workers and her ongoing love interest. He, like Sydney, is skilled in a variety of areas...
but never stated specifically, says that the "Chosen One", the woman referred to in the Page 47, and "the Passenger", Sydney's half-sister Nadia Santos
Nadia Santos
Nadia Santos is a fictional character in the television series Alias, and a main character during the series' fourth season. She is played by Mía Maestro.-Biography:...
, would fight and kill each other in battle. Irina Derevko recites a similar prophecy at the finale of season 4 that Rambaldi wrote:
- When blood-red horses wander the streets and angels fall from the sky, the Chosen One and the Passenger will clash . . . and only one will survive.
Both prophecies come to pass at the end of Season Four, when Elena Derevko
Elena Derevko
Elena Derevko is a fictional character from the television series Alias, played by Sônia Braga.Elena is the sister of Irina and Katya Derevko. Considered to be the most ruthless of the Derevko sisters, Elena is the secret leader of The Covenant. She was first mentioned in the season three episode...
's scheme to destroy civilization using the contaminated water in conjunction with a giant Mueller device. The team spotted a horse that under the light of the Mueller device appeared blood red (which prompted Irina to recite the prophecy); Nadia passed a statue of an angel which had fallen from a building right before she was captured. When Sydney tried stop her aunt's endgame by destroying the Mueller device she is stopped by her half-sister which was infected by the contaminated water and transformed into a killing machine.
As predicted by Rambaldi "The Chosen One" and "the Passenger" clashed around the Mueller device and Sydney would have been killed if not for Arvin Sloane intervention who was forced to shoot Nadia when she began strangling Sydney. Sydney then destroyed the Mueller device rendering the greatest power unto utter desolation.
In Season Five, its revealed that page 47 holds a secret message that is briefly shown when Nadia tries to burn the page to prevent her father from finding it which results in Nadia's death. Arvin Sloane eventually translates the message which reads:
- The circle will be complete when the Chosen One finds The Rose in San Chielo.
Prophet Five, using its government contacts, was able to secure Anna Espinosa release and later were able to genetically transformed Espinosa into Sydney's double after the latter's DNA was sampled by Prophet Five. Anna was however killed by Sydney, who subsequently impersonates Anna within Prophet Five.
Sydney is sent to Italy where she is approached by Sark at a betting parlor. Believing Sydney to be Anna, he explains that the former San Chielo monastery is now the La Fossa prison. After faking a robbery, Sark and Sydney surrender to the police and are taken to La Fossa. Sark fakes an illness and is taken to the infirmary, where he fights off the guards and accesses the security system to open the door to Sydney's cell. Sydney finds the basement, where an old man says that he has been waiting for her for a very long time. He quotes the message from page 47 and says that he is The Rose. He gives Sydney an amulet and declares ominously that it's only a matter of time before "the stars will fall from the sky" and "the light ends".
In the final of Season Five, its revealed that Sydney had misinterpreted the meaning of the prophecy, when she climbed Mt. Subasio, as the prophecy states "the beauty of my sky". Arvin Sloan shoots the ice under Sydney to prevent her, and therefore the audience of seeing a specific pattern on the wall inside Mt Subasio when the rising sunlight seeps into the cavern and filters through the amulet that Sydney recovered from the Rose.
Rambaldi's Endgame
As revealed in the final three episodes of season four, the first part of Rambaldi's endgame was the Mueller Device (which could be used to change human nature to hatred or peace on desire of the possessor, whenever wanted). The second part of the endgame was The Horizon (immortality), as was revealed in the end of season five. Together, they would result in the possessor living forever and, with the help of the Mueller Device, changing the world the way they see fit for all eternity. However, this was averted when all known Mueller Devices were destroyed and Sloane, the only known beneficiary of The Horizon, was trapped in Rambaldi's own tomb by an explosion, left to exist but never be free for all eternity.External links
- Official Rambaldi/Alias DVD site The Official Alias DVD site with Rambaldi objects