History Fridge / SpecOpsTheLine

* 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. The two men turn out to actually be corpses, so the carrion-seeking vultures make a subtle hint to that.

* Replaying the game will cause the player to realize that Walker was going mad ''long'' before it was readily obvious. A specific instance mentioned by Walt Williams comes in chapter 9, when Delta have to fight their way through a sandstorm. If the player looks in a certain direction, one can see that the Burj Khalifa appears to be on fire, owing to Walker's hallucinations, an image which reappears in the hallucination after the helicopter crash.

* Why does Walker hallucinate the 33rd remnants welcoming him at the Kharja lobby? Because the building is completely empty. Walker subconsciously realizes that the villain's lair wouldn't be left unguarded, so he just imagines the welcoming committee to reconcile this. The building isn't unguarded; all the guards there just flip to his side and stay out of his way!

* Why does Walker hallucinate the 33rd remnants welcoming him at the Kharja lobby? Because the building is completely empty. Walker subconsciously realizes that the villain's lair wouldn't be left unguarded, so he just imagines the welcoming committee as a way to reconcile this. The building isn't unguarded; all the guards just flip to his side and stay out of his way!

* After defeating the bulk of the 33rd in the finale, Walker is cordially greeted by their remnants and crowned as their new leader. This serves as one final foreshadowing that the whole thing is in his head. It's Walker reassuring himself that everyone will understand and validate him once his quest is over.
** Alternatively, Walker is hallucinating a welcoming committee because the building is completely abandoned. There's no way the actual abode of the city's ruler would be left unguarded, so Walker reconciles it by imagining that all the guards there just defect to his side and stay out of his way.

* Walker can get away with everything he did in the game if he wants to; there's no one left to contradict anything he says. The 33rd is likely killed to a man since Falcon-One couldn't find any other U.S soldier before reaching Walker. Civilians can't even tell the difference between all the U.S factions, so they likely can't single out a single soldier. Unless he chooses to turn himself in, [[KarmaHoudini Walker is going to walk]].

* After defeating the bulk of the 33rd in the finale, Walker is cordially greeted by their remnants and crowned as their new leader. This serves as one final foreshadowing that the whole thing is in his head. It's Walker reassuring himself that everyone will understand and validate him once he completes his quest.

* After defeating the bulk of the 33rd in the finale, Walker is crowned by what's left of them as the city's new leader. This serves as one final foreshadowing that the whole thing is in his head. It's Walker reassuring himself that everyone will understand and validate him once he completes his quest.
** Alternatively, Walker is hallucinating a welcoming committee because the building is completely abandoned. There's no way the actual abode of the city's ruler would be left unguarded, so Walker reconciles it by imagining that all the guards there just defect to his side.

* After surviving the bulk of the 33rd in the finale, Walker is cordially greeted by their remnants as though he's a victorious conquerer [[AppealToForce entitled to their loyalty]]. This serves as one final foreshadowing that the whole thing is in Walker's head. He believes his quest to be so righteous that even the villain's minions will come to their senses once he defeats them.

* Walker in the ''Road Back'' ending likely won't face any consequence for his action; there is no one left to implicate him in any wrongdoing. The 33rd is likely killed to a man since Falcon-One couldn't find any other U.S soldier before reaching Walker. Civilians can't even tell Delta, the Exiles and the Damned apart, so they likely can't single out a single soldier. Unless he chooses to turn himself in, [[KarmaHoudini Walker is going to walk]].

* After surviving the bulk of the 33rd in the finale, Walker is cordially greeted by their remnants as though he's a victorious conquerer [[AppealToForce entitled to their loyalty]]. This serves as one final foreshadowing that the whole thing is just Walker's power fantasy.

* Walker in the Leave ending likely won't face any consequences for his action; there is no one left to implicate him in any wrongdoing. The 33rd is likely killed to a man since Falcon-One couldn't find any other U.S soldier before reaching Walker. Civilians can't even tell Delta, the Exiles and the Damned apart, so they likely can't single out a single soldier. Unless he chooses to turn himself in, Walker is going to walk.

* "Gentlemen, welcome to Dubai." Okay, so the IronicEcho is there, so what—wait a minute, why is Walker walking back to Dubai? What about the remaining civilians? (Sudden realization) [[OhCrap Oh]] [[KillEmAll shit.]]

** Denial: 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.

** Bargaining: Running out of excuses, Walker starts to break down and plead for mercy. "I didn't meant to hurt anyone."

** Acceptance: 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."

* The Radioman's line "To infinity and beyond! Or to the storm wall. Same thing." seems like just a WesternAnimation/ToyStory reference till you see the lanyard for his press pass in the intel database. Printed on it is: "SF - Marathon 2005 To Infinity and Beyond"

** In the ending where Walker is confronted with the Shadow Konrad pay attention to Walker's lips. During this scene Walker has comparison shots, one of the imaginary Konrad standing in front of him and another shot of the reality of no one actually being there. As Konrad says, "It takes a strong man to deny what's right in front of him.", you can see that Walker's lips are moving, as if he were speaking but no words are coming out. Walker is speaking on Konrad's behalf! Walker is talking to himself as if he were Konrad and then the hallucination compensates by making his voice sound like Konrad, this allows Walker to deny the truth that's standing right in front of him. We don't see Walker's mouth moving while the Shadow Konrad can be seen because that is taking place inside Walker's head, Walker's mind is the last refuge where he can deny the reality of everything going on around him, thus making Konrad's confrontation a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind. Did I just blow your mind?

** Amusingly, if you take the story as a deconstruction of most shooters that have been out on the market, you know the type that encourage mindless violence and don't showcase the consequences that such violence would have in real life, then Konrad is addressing not only Walker but the player as well. His brutality is just as "sane" as our mindset is, showcasing such mindless brutality makes us no better than Konrad is. It reminds me a great deal of what Colonel Kurtz said to Captain Willard in Film/ApocalypseNow, "I have seen the horrors, horrors that you've seen. But you have no right to call me a murderer. You have a right to kill me, but you don't have a right to judge me." How can you judge a man that you are the same as? It would be like judging yourself.

* In the end Walker was a hero, but not in the way he wanted to be which was save everyone. Had he walked away from it all and send the men in, at best they will be traumatized for life while he becomes a KarmaHoudini, no guilt of committing atrocities. At worst they join the Damned 33rd and continue a vicious cycle in Dubai for god knows how long and Walker is treated as the harbinger of doom. But by going in he had prevented everyone else from suffering the same fate as he did and ended the suffering of those within it, but he couldn't kill them without causing extreme pain.

* 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 [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror Iraq War?]]

* Ironically, despite being called out for his actions by everyone else, Walker is the only one, potentially speaking, who can actually take responsibility for what he's done and live with the consequences, should he choose to stand down and go home with the rescue squad. This becomes even more apparent when you realize Walker isn't the only one to denies fault.

* 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

* After Lugo 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 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.

* Some of the 33rd soldiers use the AK-47 instead of the [=M4A1=]. This can be explained as expediency-since the 33rd obviously can't order new rifles to replace lost or broken ones-but it also illustrates that the 33rd are NotSoDifferent from the insurgents, since both sides think they're doing what's best for Dubai.