History Fridge / SpecOpsTheLine

* All the actions of Walker during the first chapter are justified. The rebels shot first so he has to order advance to protect himself and his squad. He recieves a distress call so he goes to rescue some members of the 33rd. It's only in chapter 2, and after Adams questions him that the first descend triggers

* As the game progresses, you often start from a higher place and end up descending, symbolizing your descent into villainy. It isn't until the end when you're given the chance to do the right thing when you ascend.

* The American Army deploys to a middle eastern country, over the protests of its government, to rescue the population. When given the impetus to leave, the Army instead chooses to stay, resulting in a quagmire in which the local population is subject to a foreign military dictatorship ostensibly in place to ensure order, but which commits many atrocities. From these atrocities, the disgruntled people become insurgents and fight back, with civilians caught in the cross fire. Now, does that describe Spec Ops the Line...or the [[WarOnTerror Iraq War?]]

* The menu screen depicts an American flag upside down. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_desecration Flying the American flag upside down is an officially recognized signal of distress.]]

* The menu screen depicts an American flag upside down. [[http://www.usaflagsupply.com/upside-down-flag/ Flying the American flag upside down is an officially recognized signal of distress.]]

* The way Walker's sleeves are ripped perfectly to show off his arms after the truck crash. It's impossible he could've done it himself since we never leave his POV and his sleeves are just gone when he regains consciousness. [[spoiler: Actually, he probably ''did'' do it himself and doesn't remember it, thinking it's normal ClothingDamage. It's an overused look for the typical action hero, and Walker is trying to be a hero, is doing a good job of convincing himself he's a hero, and is in reality, of course, anything but]].
* Right before Captain Walker finds the two men Konrad claims over the radio that he is trying to execute, a couple of vultures fly away from the catwalk they hang from. [[spoiler: The two men turn out to actually be corpses, so the carrion-seeking vultures make a subtle hint to that.]]

** What is the answer given by the [[spoiler: imaginary]] remnants of the 33rd to Walker about Konrad's location? ''"Where he's always been sir. Upstairs, waiting for you."'' At first glance, you'll likely take this to mean that Konrad has simply been upstairs on the top floor, waiting for Walker to finish his mission and arrive there to meet him. It takes on an entirely different meaning when you realize [[spoiler: that Konrad is just a figment of Walker's imagination due to dissociative disorder and that the real Colonel Konrad has been dead for two weeks. Konrad has been figuratively "upstairs", namely in Walker's brain the entire time]], not the type of "upstairs" Walker was expecting.
** Somewhat related to the above point, when asked by Konrad if Walker thinks he is insane, Walker responds that he wishes that to be the truth. Konrad says that it would have made everything simpler, but he is ''"just as sane as you (Walker) are."'' When you take into consideration that [[spoiler: Konrad is a figment of Walker's own imagination, then Konrad literally is as sane as Walker is, as this "Konrad" is an extension of Walker's personality and thoughts]].

* This one crosses over with GeniusBonus. [[spoiler: At the end of the game, in Konrad's penthouse, there are two intel collectibles, one of which is a letter by Konrad to his son. In both ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness'' and ''Film/ApocalypseNow'', Kurtz's final testament to his son is immensely important to both stories, being, among other things, a justification for his actions, an explanation of how he became what he was, a sort of missionary tract to be disseminated to the rest of the world, and a burden for Marlowe/Willard to carry and deal with as they see fit. In ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine'', Konrad's letter to his son is a simple apology, one that takes about twenty words. It is a massive departure from the game's roots...but it is appropriate, because it is the first clue that ''The Line'' is '''not''' the story of Konrad's fall, but of Walker's]].

** Walker's reaction to his gradual awareness that his presence in Dubai is actively making the situation worse is to deny reality and embrace fantasy, shift the blame for his wrongdoing onto somebody else and push forward because he wants to be a hero, all the while growing increasingly frustrated that he cannot be the hero he wants to be. Similarly, the archetypal player will ignore the horrific consequences of their actions and insist that "it's only a video game, it's just entertainment", blame the developers for railroading them into committing horrific acts (especially the [[spoiler:white phosphorus incident]]) and keep playing the game to the end, growing increasingly frustrated when the game denies them the escapist fantasy they wanted from it.
** In one of the endings, [[spoiler:Walker massacres a squad sent to rescue him, having finally snapped. By now, the game has very resolutely shown that there is no glory in war, and senseless violence is wrong. If, after all that, the player ''still'' wants to have whiz-bang shooty fun, they are "rewarded" with the bleakest in a set of already bleak endings, as the player is as insane as Walker]].
** Some players may complain about the railroading at the [[spoiler:white phosphorus incident]], saying they only did it because the game made them. But then, the game ''didn't'' make them do anything. A player could have simply turned off the game, like how Walker could have turned around at that point, saying it's not worth it. But both the player and Walker did it because they were so dedicated to their goal that they had to rationalize the horrible things they did. [[spoiler:Konrad even calls you out on this in the ending, saying Walker's/the player's insistence on continuing only made things worse, and he/you should have just turned around and left. "None of this would have happened if you'd just stopped."]]

** The development team were aiming for one of three player reactions to the [[spoiler:white phosphorus incident]], above. The third of these most closely mirrors Walker's own reaction to the event. In this case, the player realizes that it was a ButThouMust scenario and becomes just as angry about it as the characters are, and desperately seeks to shift the blame onto the developers. Lead writer Walt Williams, as quoted on the main page:

* What significance does Walker shooting the mirror [[spoiler: with the imaginary representation of Konrad looking back at him]] have for Walker's situation? The mirror represents [[spoiler: Konrad being a reflection of his inner chaos that he has to overcome or be destroyed by it, "We can't live this lie forever."]] and by shooting it he [[spoiler: defeats his inner demons, the illusion of Konrad is shattered in a manner similar to Fight Club]].

* Why can Walker [[spoiler:shoot the American troops coming to rescue him at the end]]? Well, he's shot at people like them for the entire game. Also notice that Walker is wearing [[spoiler:Konrad's clothes in the epilogue. This symbolizes Walker's realization that HE is the villain he thought Konrad was. The kind of villain who would murder American soldiers in a fit of insanity]].

* The music that is played in some of the combat scenes isn't just flavor, it is there in-universe and being played into your headset by Radioman. [[spoiler:It stops happening once he dies]].
* One of Adam's lines to Walker towards the end of the game foreshadows the primary conflict in the ending: [[spoiler:"Lugo's blood is on your hands, not mine." Seems like Walker's not the only member of his team who is desperately trying to push the blame onto someone else]]. Bonus points: [[spoiler:after Adams blames Walker for everything, Adams mimes shooting Walker. The ending where Walker still blames Konrad has him following his accusations ''by pointing a gun at him and shooting him.'']]
* At the end of Chapter 7, the player is forced to choice between saving Gould or saving some civilians. [[spoiler:Lugo advocates saving Gould, pushing the mission over saving lives, and gets lynched by the very civilians he disregarded in Chapter 13. Adams advocates saving the civilians, pushing saving lives over the mission, and dies helping Walker finish the mission he disregarded in Chapter 14.]]
* At first, the game just quietly hints at something horrific happening in Kabul, but after the [[spoiler: White Phosphorus incident]], Walker switches from not bringing it up, to actively cutting people off from talking about it. [[spoiler: You'd almost think he was in denial]]...

* Why would Walker have the option to [[spoiler: shoot his reflection in the mirror]] rather than Konrad? Because it isn't a challenge of Walker [[spoiler: shooting the imaginary Konrad's reflection]] before he can hurt him but rather deciding which one of them is responsible for Dubai's hardships. The act of [[spoiler: shooting yourself]] is symbolic of Walker realizing that all of this has been his [[spoiler: downfall]] rather than Konrad's. Pay attention to Walker's [[spoiler: reflection]] in the event that you let [[spoiler: Konrad pull the trigger]]; notice anything? Walker's [[spoiler: reflection shows the gun point up at his own head if you let Konrad "shoot you"]], meaning that the whole exchange is about deciding who is responsible and who deserves judgment.

* The White Phosphorus is growing to be a bit divisive: Either it was a case of gloriously [[NightmareFuel and vividly]] deconstructing what so many FPS's go through easily or the incident was a nasty case of CrueltyIsTheOnlyOption. But if the above fridges are taken seriously, the latter criticism could be irrelevant; [[spoiler:Even if Konrad was right about the majority of the story's events being in Walker's head, the player still had to go through with them anyways]]. The game wasn't forcing us to do anything, it was Walker's mind telling himself IDidWhatIHadToDo!
* In a similar vein, many have criticized how the game forces you to use the white phosphorus by continuously spawning enemies if you try to engage the camp directly. But if you accept the idea that [[spoiler:Walker died in the chopper crash in the prologue, and the game is him in a nightmare afterlife]], and that everything up to the helicopter crash is an exaggerated recollection of what really happened, it makes perfect sense. In the "real" version of game's events, Walker uses the phosphorus without bothering to engage the enemy first. When Walker comes to the same point in [[spoiler:his nightmare world]], he knows what's gonna happen and wants to avoid it, but [[spoiler:the forces in control of his nightmare]] deny him the chance by forcing him to fight infinite soldiers until he uses the mortar. In other words, the endless wave of soldiers is [[spoiler:Walker's nightmare's]] way of telling him "You had no choice," because he kept telling himself that when [[spoiler:he was alive]].

* During Walker's opening monologue, a wall decorated with Konrad's various medals and framed newspaper clippings related to his deeds is shown, while the voiceover claims, "But the facts don't lie. The man's a fuckin' hero." To Walker, and the casual observer, the medals and clippings do indeed serve as evidence of Konrad's heroism. [[spoiler: But to Konrad, who in hindsight is probably on the verge of suicide at that very moment, they're only reminders of the mistakes he's made, the lives he's taken, and the pain he's caused]].

* As [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw]] says [[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/columns/extra-punctuation/9810-Crossing-Spec-Ops-The-Line here]], "I think what says it all about Spec Ops is that your final choice in the game is whether or not to shoot [[spoiler:yourself in the head]]. And that you really, really have to think about it." The FinalBoss is [[spoiler:''Walker'' AKA '''yourself, the player''']]. And having spent the game observing his atrocities and his reasons for committing them, you have to decide what his punishment for those crimes will be; death, madness, or to be hauled into court for trial.

* At the beginning of the twelfth chapter, Rooftops, if the player stands around for a few moments, Walker will say, [[spoiler: "It's Kabul all over again." which may indicate that Walker's hallucination are, in part, PTSD-induced flashbacks triggered by current events closely mirroring his traumatic memories (and then further building upon them given Dubai's own horrors).]]
* Some more excellent foreshadowing: In two levels, Walker will occasionally start with a Desert Eagle, seemingly as his new sidearm, with no explanation where he got it from. Lugo and Adam also produce a Deagle from nowhere in certain chapters. However, Walker continues wielding a Beretta M9 as his sidearm in some cutscenes, in the same holster where the Deagle was supposed to be. Lugo and Adam also still have suppressed M9s as their sidearms. And to top it all off, as cool as it is, the Deagle is a very impractical choice of sidearm for any situation outside hunting. Now, consider [[spoiler: Konrad's rant that Walker thinks he's a fantasy action hero, and the Deagle is ''the'' gun of choice for action heroes. Yep, that's right-he's deluding himself into thinking that he's a 1980s/1990s action movie protagonist and doing the same with his comrades. A good sign that he's not the disciplined soldier he used to be.]]
* It's implied that Adams [[spoiler:took out all of the 33rd's remaining soldiers before being killed.]] While this seems ridiculous, the last thing you hear as you run away is what sounds like a helicopter going out of control, followed by an explosion, implying that [[spoiler:Adams was somehow able to bring down the helicopter, and since it was loaded with fuel and ordnance, the resulting explosion killed both him and the 33rd soldiers.]]
* After Lugo [[spoiler: kills the Radioman during "The Rooftops"]] Walker grabs the mic and broadcasts a message to all Dubai: "You are going to be evacuated, but the 33rd needs to pay for what they done". When Konrad starts speaking and telling him that "No one leaves Dubai", listen very, VERY, carefully, and an American soldier can be heard on the background talking to Walker! This means that [[spoiler: Walker was hallucinating again and while he didn´t answer the American soldier, this made Command think that Dubai indeed had survivors!]] And that´s why Walker is found by Falcon-1 at the "The Road Back" ending.
* During the first encounter with the refugees, after executing the last one, Walker says [[spoiler: "I thought we were rescuing people"]]. It´s wrong in so many levels, because that wasn´t their mission, their mission was [[spoiler: to locate survivors and then LEAVE Dubai]]. It goes to show that Walker was deceiving himself from the very beginning.
* When Walker happens upon the two condemned criminals he realizes that it is a test of character for him, which Konrad confirms. [[spoiler: At the end we learn that both of the "criminals" were in fact two hanging corpses; long since dead before Walker got there and one wasn't even the same gender. However "Konrad" wasn't lying when he said it was a test. It was a SecretTestOfCharacter that was suppose to see if Walker can realize the extent of his hallucinations and delusions.]]

** Denial: [[spoiler:Walker holds his hand against his head in almost shaking it, replying to the accusations with "You're not real. This is all in my head. Konrad scoffs at this.]]
** Anger: [[spoiler:Walker pulls out his gun and points it at Konrad, once again blaming him for everything in an angered tone. Konrad then encourages Walker to shoot him.]]
** Bargaining: [[spoiler:Running out of excuses, Walker starts to break down and plead for mercy. "I didn't meant to hurt anyone."]]
** Depression: [[spoiler:After Konrad continues the countdown, [[HeroicBSOD Walker doesn't respond and stays quiet, as if the reality finally hit him]]. [[StunnedSilence He doesn't even react as the countdown reaches its end]].]]
** Acceptance: [[spoiler:Walker, in a moment of clarity, turns the gun on Konrad, pulling the trigger and ending the fantasy, with Konrad telling Walker "Don't be too hard on yourself, even now, after all you've done, you can still go home, lucky you."]]
* After [[spoiler:the lynch mob hangs Lugo, it seems easy to want to shoot them. But then you consider their take on Lugo and, by extention, Delta Squad; he was responsible for mowing down their protectors by the truckload. He was also complicit in numerous atrocities against them directly, namely the attack on the Nest, the white phosphorous incident, and the assault on the Aquarium, the last of which resulted dooming all of the survivors to a slow, agonizing death by thirst. The only people that still like Lugo are Walker and Adams; [[AssholeVictim of course they’d hang him!]]]]

* [[spoiler:Walker is dead]]:
** The typical shooter game-isms of regenerating health, endless hordes of enemies, and slow-motion murder can all be explained by [[spoiler: Captain Walker being trapped in Hell or Purgatory after dying in the copter crash. Presumably, events proceeded a little differently at first]].
** If that's not enough, consider this: the MultipleEndings may be [[spoiler:Walker being forced to relive Dubai over and over again, for as long as it takes him to learn the lessons the "game" has to teach, presumably by reaching the least horrific ending]]. Ye gods, thoughts like that are enough to make a pacifist of anyone.

** [[spoiler:Not just Walker, but Lugo and Adams as well, in the Room with the five burned soldiers where Walker pics up the Walkie-Talkie you can see lists of Casualties. Among them are Sgt. Lugo and Lt. Adams. That is another point showing that the Player just re"lives" the horror of Dubai, knowing exactly how it will end.]]
* Near the end of the game, [[spoiler:Konrad]] states that there were over five thousand people alive in Dubai the day before you arrived; at the time of the game's release, there were over two MILLION people alive in Dubai.

* The reason that the 33rd is so gung ho to kill you? [[spoiler: By the time that you've exited the Nest, you've murdered dozens of them. Of ''course'' they're going to shoot at you on sight and try to throw everything they've got at you]].
** After the infamous [[spoiler: White Phosphorous scene, you hear them shout things like "MURDERER!" and "Let's fuckin' BURN 'em!"]]
* [[spoiler: What if the the poignant words Konrad shares with Walker aren't just about Walker, but you the player as well? The player gets to turn off the game and go home. Men like Walker don't get to turn off the trauma of war they have witnessed by flipping a switch, even after all you have forced Walker to do you get to go home perfectly intact, Walker will have to live with these choices for the rest of his life while you go home trauma free]].
-->[[spoiler:'''Konrad''': No matter what happens next, don't be too hard on yourself. Even now, after all you've done, you can still go home. ''Lucky you.'']]

* In the epilogue, Walker grows a full-blown beard by the time Falcon-One shows up. Considering the lack of nourishment he’s had and the time it might take to grow a beard that thick, it might have taken a while. Then you remember that, because you crashed Dubai’s water supply, the ‘’entire city would be dead in a couple of days.’’ So either [[spoiler:Walker died alongside the rest of the city or he drank the water in Konrad's suite. Either way, “one too many” survivors just took on a whole new meaning.]]

* It's implied that Adams [[spoiler:took out all of the 33rd's remaining soldiers before being killed.]] While this seems ridiculous, the last thing you hear as you run away is what sounds like a helicopter going out of control, followed by an explosion, implying that [[spoiler:Adams was able to bring down the helicopter, and the resulting explosion killed both him and the 33rd soldiers.]]

* Some of the 33rd soldiers use the AK-47 instead of the [=M4A1=]. While it's easily explained as expediency, it also illustrates that the 33rd are NotSoDifferent from the insurgents.

* At the end of Chapter 7, the player is forced to choice between saving Gould or saving some civilians. [[spoiler:Lugo advocates saving Gould, pushing the mission over saving lives, and gets lynched by the very civilians he disregarded. Adams advocates saving the civilians, pushing saving lives over the mission, and dies helping Walker finish the mission he disregarded]].

* In the epilogue, Walker grows a full-blown beard by the time Falcon-One shows up. Considering the lack of nourishment he’s had and the time it might take to grow a beard that thick, it might have taken a while. Then you remember that, because you crashed Dubai’s water supply, the ‘’entire city would be dead in a couple of days.’’ So either [[spoiler:Walker died alongside the rest of the city or he found some water in Konrad’s suite. Either way, “one too many” survivors just took on a whole new meaning.]]

* Shortly after Delta encounters the first insurgents and engages in combat with them, the Radioman informs everyone that the cease-fire with the insurgents is over and that hostilities between them and the 33rd have resumed. While it's made clear that the CIA were planning to break the peace later on anyway, Delta moved that timetable up considerably and indirectly caused the fighting to resume. From the very begging Delta's presence in Dubai complicated things.

* Your two teammates. [[spoiler:Lugo keeps pushing the mission over saving lives and gets lynched by the very civilians he disregarded. Adams keeps pushing saving lives over the mission and dies helping Walker finish the mission he disregarded]].

* Some more excellent foreshadowing: If two levels, Walker will occasionally start with a Desert Eagle, seemingly as his new sidearm, with no explanation where he got it from. Lugo and Adam also produce a Deagle from nowhere in certain chapters. However, Walker continues wielding a Beretta M9 as his sidearm in some cutscenes, in the same holster where the Deagle was supposed to be. Lugo and Adam also still have suppressed M9s as their sidearms. And to top it all off, as cool as it is, the Deagle is a very impractical choice of sidearm for any situation outside hunting. Now, consider [[spoiler: Konrad's rant that Walker thinks he's a fantasy action hero, and the Deagle is ''the'' gun of choice for action heroes. Yep, that's right-he's deluding himself into thinking that he's a 1980s/1990s action movie protagonist and doing the same with his comrades. A good sign that he's not the disciplined soldier he used to be.]]

* This one crosses over with GeniusBonus. [[spoiler: At the end of the game, in Konrad's penthouse, there are two intel collectibles, one of which is a letter by Konrad to his son. In both ''Literature/HeartOfDarkness'' and ''Film/ApocalypseNow'', Kurtz's final testament to his son is immensely important to both stories, being, among other things, a justification for his actions, an explanation of how he became what he was, a sort of missionary tract to be disseminated to the rest of the world, and a burden for Marlowe/Willard to carry and deal with as they see fit. In ''SpecOpsTheLine'', Konrad's letter to his son is a simple apology, one that takes about twenty words. It is a massive departure from the game's roots...but it is appropriate, because it is the first clue that ''The Line'' is '''not''' the story of Konrad's fall, but of Walker's]].

** Acceptance: [[spoiler:Konrad asks Walker is this is what he really wants, and Walker is DrivenToSuicide.]]

* Some of the 33rd soldiers use the AK-47 instead of the M4A1. While it's easily explained as expediency, it also illustrates that the 33rd are NotSoDifferent from the insurgents.

** An alternative interpretation advanced by Extra Credits is that the more overtly video-gamey aspects of the game are a deliberate uncanny effect designed to represent Walker's mental state: the obvious spawn points and exploding heads are how Walker sees the world, all filtered through a lens of trying to convince himself that he's a bigger {{Badass}} and hero than he really is. Those pornographic money shot-esque exploding heads when you score a headshot, coupled with erotic slow-motion? That's part of how Walker tries to convince himself ''that he's one of the good guys''. And this, by extension, applies just as much to [[YouBastard the player]] as Walker. If that's not creepy, I don't know what is.