5

The following is a spoiler of the final scenes of Prometheus :

Why did the engineer bother to try and kill Dr. Shaw after the ships were damaged?

In the scene where the Engineer wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, Dr. Shaw starts running to escape. After he has caused damage to those in the immediate vicinity, and while fully aware that Dr. Shaw is escaping, he turns to the controls and initiates a lift-off.

OK. That makes some sense, he already knows there is an infestation in the complex. She might well be killed during the take-off, or by the infestation, and if not, she is of little consequence, since she is returning to the ship controlled (supposedly) by the old guy that politely asked the Engineer to save him. So the ship is presumably not a military ship.

Little does he know that the pilot is determined or insane enough to ram his ship!

Once grounded, he could have run to another ship (now confident of no air traffic congestion) and escaped in it. It would probably have also been loaded with cargo, so he could continue the job he was meant to do, but instead, he ..goes running after Dr. Shaw.

He might have presumed she had time to get to back to Weylan's ship, set it to collide with his & escape in the life-pod, so he has every reason to be upset with her, but what is the point beyond petty revenge?
I'm not even going to suggest that the entire reason he did so was so that we could see his end fate, and the result of that. No, that would just be too tacky.

Improve this question
1
  • 1
    @DavRob60smustache Thanks for the edit, it is excellent. :)
    – Andrew Thompson
    Commented Nov 10, 2012 at 1:45

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
5

I can hardly believe this, but I just thought of one potential reason..

(Engineer thinks) Huhh, the small noisy one is more clever & determined than I'd thought. Maybe she knows how to fly our ships, and if two of those collide.. better finish her off, first!

Alternate suggestions (especially canonical, as opposed to purely speculative, as above) welcome.

Improve this answer
3

There's possibly a simpler explanation: Intruders must be eliminated.

It is, after all, a military ship in a military installation.

Improve this answer
4
  • But then, why did it not fire upon the Prometheus? Alternately he thought the Prometheus was no threat or did not notice it closing on him, but once realizing the error, why not extinguish the remaining threat using the (presumably deadly) weapons of the 2nd ship? Not convinced, but +1 for your answer.
    – Andrew Thompson
    Commented Nov 10, 2012 at 6:23
  • >! He was in stasis up until the scientists boarded the ship and released him. After ridding himself of the immediate threat of the boarding party, he likely continued with his primary mission, and likely didn't anticipate the actions of the Prometheus crew on the Prometheus
    – Force Flow
    Commented Nov 10, 2012 at 9:36
  • ...I thought I covered (or at least alluded to) that aspect in the original question. Just to be clear, by '2nd ship' I meant '2nd engineer ship'. It is a pity comments do not support spoilers.. Must consider deleting later.
    – Andrew Thompson
    Commented Nov 10, 2012 at 10:06
  • That far into the flow of events, it's hard to guess at what the engineer's plans, goals, and sphere of awareness was.
    – Force Flow
    Commented Nov 11, 2012 at 4:03

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.