So, even though probably not many people care, I was scrolling through TikTok the other day and stumbled onto the analog horror series Angle Engine. As a horror fan, I was instantly drawn to the strange, unsettling imagery—yes, I have a soft spot for the morbid and disturbing—and before I knew it, I had binge-watched all 26 episodes. For two days straight, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. So I decided to put my thoughts and theories into writing.
But first—the elephant in the room. Yes, I know the series is AI-generated. That’s not great. But the story was actually written by a human creator—the unearthly hub—and he has since hired actual artists to move away from AI, which I think is worth acknowledging. Of course, supporting real artists is always better, but honestly, I was already halfway through the series before I even found that out.
Now, let’s talk about the plot. Spoilers ahead.
The story takes place in 2033. Earth is in ruins—resources completely depleted, humanity on the brink of extinction. In desperation, people pray to God, and the angel Uriel appears to help. Humanity’s response? They capture him, hook him up to a machine called the Angle Engine, and use his limitless power to heal the planet, cure the sick, and perform miracles. But in doing so, they torture and mutilate him. Uriel begins to rot and physically fuse with the machine, constantly begging to be freed, yet still insisting he loves humanity and wants to help.
The Angle Engine project is run by Goeff Ernstmann, founder of the “Second Tower of Babel.” He’s celebrated for his invention but also heavily criticized for Uriel’s treatment. Ernstmann brushes it off—until he’s assassinated by a critic before he can unveil a new invention. Thanks to said invention, Ernstmann is resurrected. Around this time, Uriel warns viewers about someone he calls HE—a deceiver, dangerous, not to be trusted.
Ernstmann then reveals his invention: an artificial angel named Barachiel, also deformed in appearance. During an interview about his death experience, Ernstmann suddenly orders Barachiel to destroy the cameras.
Meanwhile, the U.S. President talks about war and enemies. Soon after, nuclear bombs fall, and the Earth is destroyed—again.
That’s the broad strokes of the story. In between, Uriel gives viewers strange instructions: how to capture angels, how to find the Angle Engine, how to survive in the “Holy Land.” These segments often cut to a blond boy wandering through a wasteland. The instructions are delivered by both a fully decayed Uriel and a strange being against a starry backdrop that looks like Uriel but even more deformed, connected to even more wires and machinery. The series is peppered with biblical and religious quotes throughout.
According to the unearthly hub, this was just the prologue, which ended in August 2025. The “main story” is beginning now. Unfortunately, the TikTok comments are flooded with AI discourse, so there’s not much actual plot discussion. But after reading through what theories do exist, I noticed nobody really shares mine—so here’s my take.
My Theory: Different Timelines
I think the events play out across multiple time periods, something the starry-sky being even hints at. My guess is that all the retro, analog-looking footage was found by our protagonist—the blond boy. Everything we see through his eyes happened in the past, after the bombs fell. The boy is one of the survivors, wandering the wasteland, maybe searching for a way to save the world again.
He stumbles upon what I’ll call the “video archive.” Through these tapes, he learns what happened and follows Uriel’s instructions. But why would Uriel leave such instructions in the first place?
Here’s my take: the starry-sky being and the rotting Uriel are the same entity—just at different points in time. After the bombs fell, most humans died, and the Angle Engine/Tower of Babel were abandoned. Ernstmann disappeared, leaving Uriel to slowly wither away. But still wanting to help humanity, Uriel may have recorded these videos to guide survivors to find and free him—maybe even restore his strength, since the machine wouldn’t be draining him anymore. The starry-sky being, in even worse condition, is just the present-day Uriel—the form the boy eventually finds.
The “HE” Uriel Warns About
I think HE is Barachiel. He appears in the videos from the very start, possibly even editing himself into them. His design changes slightly, but the clues line up. As an artificial angel, he fits Uriel’s warnings: “He’s not like me. Don’t let him in. He will deceive you.”
I think Ernstmann built Barachiel to replace Uriel, who was deteriorating. Maybe Ernstmann feared Uriel might “die”—though as an angel, he’s immortal, just heavily mutated. But Barachiel wasn’t just a loyal creation. I think he had a big hand in restarting human conflict. We see him speaking to the President. Whenever Uriel warns of danger, Barachiel tends to be nearby.
Barachiel also claims to know where Ernstmann went. We occasionally see Ernstmann in the grasp of a multi-faced creature—possibly the devil? Could this be Ernstmann’s punishment for what he did to Uriel? Maybe Barachiel, not wanting to meet the same fate as Uriel, made a deal with that creature. Whatever the case, I think Barachiel is the main villain.
The Angle Corps robots are tragic. Powered by Uriel’s energy, created in his image, meant to rebuild the world—but kept in constant pain to enforce obedience. One robot even says his pain level is at 10, which Ernstmann calls “good.”
If they can feel pain, are they really just machines? Could they be human test subjects from the Tower of Babel? Are we looking at a Ghost in the Shell scenario?
The robots seem conflicted—telling people to stay calm, then contradicting themselves when a bomb is about to go off. And their name—Angle Corps—sounds suspiciously like “corpse” when spoken aloud.
Uriel mentions these beings. They live in the Holy Land and don’t welcome outsiders. They’re mutated—part human, part machine. More Tower of Babel experiments? The Tower itself is said to be in the Holy Land—the Negev Desert in Israel—adding another biblical layer.
The person who shot Ernstmann sang, “God will come.” That could be literal, or just dramatic flair. If real, maybe He would come to free Uriel—but He didn’t show up before the bombs fell. Why would He allow Uriel to be tortured for so long?
According to the short manga adaptation, God has abandoned humanity. He allowed Uriel to act freely, but if Uriel went against God’s will and insisted on helping humans, that was his own problem. Which makes me think Uriel’s warning was indeed about Barachiel, and the assassin was just a fanatic.
Genius? Yes. Megalomaniac with a God complex? Absolutely. He sees himself as a Messiah, even quoting scripture to that effect. Being killed and then resurrected fed that delusion even though he didn't seem to be himself after he came back.
But after his resurrection interview, he vanished—and while Barachiel claims to know where he is, I doubt he’ll be back. I think he’s trapped in hell with the multi-faced devil. And frankly, he deserves it—torturing robots, smugly claiming that Uriel could leave if he wanted to, implying he wants to be there. That’s pure arrogance.
Uriel wants to help—but not like this. Not rotting away, chained to machines.
If you ask me, the prologue set up a lot of moving pieces—and Barachiel is the real danger we should be watching.
I wonder what comes next and I am really curious about this. Maybe I am totally wrong with those ideas. Maybe you have others?