At the moment of this post, Directive 8020 has not been released. I'm just going over what the names mean, how they relate to what information we have about the characters, and doing some fun speculating on how this might affect the characters and their story arcs. I'll be coming back to this once the game is out and talk about the characters more then!
Update May 2026: I'm going back and putting in bold predictions that turned out to be accurate! Do not interact if you haven't finished the game!!!
Tomas Carter
Research told me this is Aramaic but I also found some Scandinavian roots. The name just means "twin." Carter is English for "transporter of goods." The character blurb describes him as "methodical, patient and responsible." I get the impression that he's a gentle and calm person, (or at least I thought so based on how I played his character) or at least needs calm environments like his garden to decompress. The blurb also says he and Pari were screened to be perfectly matched, so that could be a part of the twin meaning. They've worked together for so long they're like twins. [If there is a twist where he has a twin on the ship and some doppelganger shenanigans ensue, (putting this one in italics because it's close! Not a reach since we knew it was inspired by The Thing, but we did miss getting a Carter double) I want to be credited] The last name makes perfect sense for his character. He and Pari are responsible for the crew while everyone's asleep. In a sense, he is transporting the "goods" to their mission. (This turned out to be accurate in a way I didn't see coming!)
Pari Simms
Persian and Indian, meaning "face of an angel, fairy, angel." The last name is English and refers to "someone who works at Simon's house." Without going into her character blurb, the first name makes sense. Like Tomas, Pari is watching out for the others while they're asleep. In a sense, she is their guardian angel. She is meant to be a reassuring presence. Her blurb describes her as "playful yet driven" which does make me think of fairies. They're known to be mischievous, so we'll see if she has that trait. I would also note that angels are actually very terrifying to look at, and fairies can be terrifying as well. (This fits more with the mimic, but we can use the "fairy" to reference changelings, which also works for Pari!) It could be that side we get to see in the game, who knows. I can't think of much meaning to her last name or how it might relate to her character. It does make me think of the word "stem" as in STEM, or "stim" as in short for "stimulation." That could be what the devs are gong for.
Josef Cernan
I told you the devs love this name! This time we're dealing with the German form. Depending on origin, his last name could mean different things. I found it is Gaelic for "lord" but could also be Slovak/Czech for "dark." We know he's the ship's engineer. I look forward to seeing what he "adds." It might be interesting to tap into the meaning "dark" in his character. Maybe as the story goes on, he is forced to make some choices that put his morals into question. Maybe the ship goes dark and you have to control him to fix it. (Not a reach since he's the engineer, but still!)
Brianna Young
We have another Irish name. This means "high, noble, exalted." The last name is English or Scottish, with a pretty obvious meaning. She is one of the pilots, and I imagine as the story goes on she might find herself exalted by her crew (If you make certain choices, she becomes the one in charge. Plus her OG is the one who can offer sympathy/rejection)--or the opposite, depending on player choice. The last name gives me a sense of youth or inexperience. Maybe she has lived in the shadow of her parents, (This one was close. Her dad is a constant ghost haunting her narrative) maybe she's felt that dismissive attitude before. Maybe she has a certain level of naivety that will be broken over the course of the game.
Laura Eisele
Her name is Latin for "laurel plant." The last name is German for "iron" and a nickname for a blacksmith. I looked a little into her character, and she is a senior mission officer. She also helped build the ship, which does feed into the last name referencing "iron" and blacksmiths. The laurel is a symbol of victory. (I see this as more ironic, given what we know now. Depending on choice, she can still be confident in victory with the clone project, or step in and stop it) I'm thinking at the start, Laura feels like she is wearing her laurels by being on this ship she built. She is confident about its design and where everything is, and slowly she's going to be proven wrong. Her knowledge will be played against her. (Like how she thought they could seal off the mimic in the vents, but it didn't work since there were multiple copies)
Nolan Stafford
Irish for "famous, noble." The last name is English and refers to someone from Straffordshire. On his Wiki, it says that he is famous and has built a strong career for himself. He was also friends with Brianna's dad and has determined to watch out for her. That ties into the noble meaning of his name. I don't know anything about Staffordshire, so no comment there. I do like the image of him being a father figure for the rest of the crew. He's their captain, but he is also probably the closest thing they have to a parent. (He's an obvious father figure for Young, but Mitchell also has dialogue saying Stafford was like his second dad. Plus Carter imitates him saying, "I'm not mad, just disappointed", which is a common parent phrase) His nobility will be challenged in the story as he fights to know who is the fake. I bet his relationships will all be how close or distant he is to the others. (His destinies are either Father or Commander, so I got close)
Samantha Cooper
Hebrew for "God has heard" but could also mean "flower." Cooper is English and refers to "maker of vessels like casks or barrels." She is the medical officer on the ship. I can see this going very dark depending on how the story goes. As the medical officer, she has a lot of control over life and death. (Her destiny ties into Williams's death, and she can assume Stafford's role if he's dead) She could lose it and develop a God complex, or think God is telling her to kill so-and-so. The last name referring to casks and barrels makes me think of sealing something (or someone) away. (Depending on choice, she's the one who decides if you leave Mitchell behind, sealed away behind a door. She also broke the seal for Anders's locked door when I picked saving Mitchell) Maybe she can seal someone in their sleeping pod or the escape pod.
Zoe Anders
Zoe's name is Greek for "life." We already went over Anders, which is a form of Andrew, meaning "strong, manly." She is the science officer, and according to her blurb, she's newer to the crew. She's also friends with Cooper, so the "life" meaning could get very grim through that. It may be that the two team up for either good or ill. (I really got it right with this one LOL) I imagine she feels she has to project this image of strength to the others, since she is newer to the crew. Her strength will then be stripped down over time. (Depending on choice, she can be more severely hurt by the liquid oxygen)
Noah Mitchell
Hebrew for "peaceful." Mitchell is a Scottish form of Michael, which means "who is like God?" I find it interesting that both his names are Biblical. Noah is the one who built the ark and Michael is the warrior angel. The devs love their Biblical imagery, so this was likely the intention. The "peaceful" meaning is funny considering Noah's blurb describes him as a risk-taker. I imagine him as the opposite of peaceful. (He's the first to suggest a gun, and is constantly antagonistic to Anders) I think it's more to do with the story of Noah, who was in charge of ferrying the animals on the ark during the flood. He watched to know when it was safe to leave the ark, and I bet that's a part of Noah's job. He's also likely going to face some things that are so terrifying and humbling that it feels godly. (I mean, you can certainly interpret the clone project as people playing God!)
LaMarcus Williams
Spelled Lamarcus, this is American and means "warlike" and is in reference to Mars. Williams is English and means "protection, resolute protector." This is a fascinating combination for this character. According to his blurb, he believes the mission will save humanity. In a way, he is fighting to protect the human race. As already discussed, Mars was the god of war but in a positive way, focused on military strength and working toward peace. I think LaMarcus is going to be the same way, showing a lot of strength and a strategic mind. (Like him or not, he had a plan the second they woke up) I also think the mindset of war and protection are going to be in conflict at some point. Maybe he will come upon a scenario where the choice is one or the other.
I will return to this in October/November to see how right I was!
|All the references to History and Mythology in Directive 8020|
*Major Spoilers ahead!*
*Please note that myths have a lot of variations. I chose the ones that make the most sense to me, but I’m open to discuss :)*
Cassiopeia, Andromeda, and Cetus:
The sister ships are called Cassiopeia and Andromeda, but in greek mythology they are actually mother and daughter.
Queen Cassiopeia grew proud of her beauty, she was full of herself and arrogant. With time she developed Hybris (hubris), the insolence feeling of those humans who think themselves superior to the Gods and their will: Cassiopeia challenged the Nereids, nymphs and daughters of Poseidon, in a beauty contest, unleashing their father’s wrath. Poseidon sent Cetus, a sea monster with the goal to flood the kingdom and its queen. King Cepheus (Cassiopeia’s husband) pleaded the oracle for a way to stop the catastrophe, and the solution given was their daughter Andromeda’s sacrifice. Before she could be eaten by the monster, Andromeda was rescued by Perseus, and later fled with him.
Still willing to give a lesson to the queen, the Gods turned Cassiopeia into a constellation. Cassiopeia was sentenced to spin for eternity, never having a chance to stop or to go back home.
Back to Directive 8020, the ship Cassiopeia has a similar fate, being left to float in space forever. As for Andromeda, the colony ship, it simply does not exist, hence not having to suffer the same fate as its sister vessel.
Even the monster, Cetus, is referenced in the game: Tau Ceti f is located in the Cetus constellation, and the alien infection from the planet attacked Cassiopeia just like in the myth.
Choosing Cassiopeia and not Andromeda for the spaceship is actually a perfect way to retell the myth, and give new perspectives on it: many characters in greek mythology are victims of the Hybris, but going against the Gods (the order of the world) shouldn’t always be seen as bad, especially when we learn about it in this age. Cassiopeia, like other victims of the Hybris, suffers a mortal fault, so she resonates with the crew from the game. The crew go against their superiors (the original crew and, especially, the bosses of Corinth we see in the post-credits scene) to survive.
A cute reference about the myth can be found in Episode 1, when Carter finds a book: it’s a modern-day telling of Cassiopeia and Andromeda’s story, which seems to follow similar themes and with a focus on hubris, as I discussed earlier.
Corinth:
Corinth is the company behind the Cetus mission, but it was also a greek city.
The most important figure from Corinth is Sisyphus, its king and founder.
Sisyphus was known to be very smart, with many sources referring to him as the most intelligent man in Greece, and especially, Sisyphus had no bounds.
When a drought hit Corinth, Sisyphus saw an opportunity to help his city: during a walk he caught Zeus seducing a nymph, daughter of Asopus (god of rivers and water). Later, Asopus asked Sisyphus of his daughter’s whereabouts, desperate to find her, but instead of immediately informing him, Sisyphus demanded water for his city in exchange for the truth.
Hearing this, Zeus ordered Hades to take Sisyphus to the underworld. Hades sent Thanatos, the personification of death, but Sisyphus was so sly he made Thanatos drunk and then imprisoned him. When Ares, the god of war, realised no one was dying in battle anymore, he searched for Thanatos, rescued him and led him to retrieve Sisyphus. Before descending to the underworld, Sisyphus had asked his wife to not bury his body, so when he alerted the monarchs of the underworld that he did not receive a proper burial, they agreed to let him go back to the living to find his wife and demand his request, but once again Sisyphus had escaped death. Having had enough with his insolence, the Gods sentenced him to eternal punishment: Sisyphus must push a rock on a mountain, but every time he reaches the cliff, the rock rolls back to the ground.
The myth of Sisyphus symbolises the futility of one’s efforts, and it reconciles perfectly with Directive 8020’s plot: every cycle, the clones try to survive their demise, failing. Only the current crew (depending on your choices) can break the cycle and escape.
As for Sisyphus himself, his intelligence is without limit, just like Corinth and its CEO, Williams. Sisyphus and Corinth don’t have empathy, they see it as a weakness to material success.
Daedalus and the Labyrinth:
Eisele is the architect of the Cassiopeia, designing everything inside and out of it. When she referred to the spaceship as a maze in Episode 4, I thought the connection to Daedalus was obvious. Still, since he is not directly mentioned take this with a grain of salt.
Daedalus was the greatest architect in Greece, he was very intelligent and an excellent master. He built the Labyrinth of Knossos upon king Minos’ request: the queen had given birth to the horrible Minotaur, a creature half-man half-bull, after mating with a bull (don’t ask). King Minos decided that the Minotaur was too dangerous and ugly to stay in the open, hence the labyrinth. Because the Minotaur had to be fed, the Labyrinth welcomed 14 young men and women from Athens, all of which were randomly picked to become human sacrifices.
After Theseus killed the Minotaur and fled, Daedalus was imprisoned inside the Labyrinth with his son Icarus, because he had helped out the Minotaur’s slayer. Daedalus built two pair of wings made of wax for him and his son, so they were able to escape by flying in the sky, but Icarus got too close to the sun, his wings melted and he fell, meeting his demise.
Eisele and Daedalus share the same role and the same fate: they are both architects imprisoned in a labyrinth they built. Like Daedalus, Eisele is able to escape with the rest of the crew, flying away from Tau Ceti f.
Charybdis:
Charybdis is the drone that surveys Tau Ceti f. The original Charybdis was a mythological monster located between the Italian peninsula and Sicily. Charybdis used to be a naiad, she was gluttonous and constantly hungry, so one day she stole the sacred oxen of Heracles. Zeus punished Charybdis by turning her into a sea monster that sucks water and ejects it constantly, creating continuous whirlpools in the sea.
There’s not much to say here, since there isn’t a direct correlation between the two. The only connection I found is that both Charybdis and Cetus were sea monsters, but that’s it.
Charybdis was located near Scylla, another marine monster that terrorised sailors. Scylla doesn’t seem to be appear in the game, but it’s worth to mention her since they are always represented together. (If I’m wrong do let me know though!!).
The Oracle:
The Oracle is an artificial intelligence developed by Eisele to help the crew on their mission. The Oracle knows it all, like in mythology: the oracles were sacred sites that humans consulted when in need of divine help. Each oracle was the property of a deity, and they gave their answers through the seers and clerics that worked there. Oracles often demanded rituals and sacrifices for their answers, that were spoken in riddles. The most important oracle was the Oracle of Delphi, dedicated to Apollo. When the god founded it, he ordered that a young woman named Pythia would become its high priestess. Pythia was the direct bridge to Apollo’s voice, she spoke in difficult riddles and was often misinterpreted by the same clerics that worked for her.
In the prologue, Carter and Simms can consult the Oracle after a meteorite strikes the Cassiopeia. The modern Oracle is much more direct but its questions can still be misleading for the player.
Final note:
So, mythology seems to be the last piece that connects Directive 8020 to House of Ashes, since they both explore it in different ways.
Aaand that’s it! I couldn’t find anymore references but if there’s anything you think i missed let me know, i’ll add it :)
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