The Raised By Wolves Fan Theory That Will Have You Scouring Religious Texts

Contains spoilers for HBO Max's Raised by Wolves

Raised by Wolves is the latest prestige sci-fi project to come from the mind of Ridley Scott. 

The HBO Max series debuted on the platform on September 3, 2020. The high-concept show focuses on two androids, Mother (Amanda Collin) and Father (Abubakar Salim), who are responsible for raising human children on an extrasolar planet after Earth has been ravaged by a great war. The colony of humans is small, but it's still threatened by religious differences (shocker). It's up to the androids to find a way to control human beliefs, which is easier said than done. 

Like many of Ridley Scott's sci-fi works, there is a lot of philosophy at play within the series, and one fan theory suggests there could be a very specific religious text influencing the course of the narrative. If Redditor u/TheBigLahey is to be believed, then there's a text you may want to familiarize yourself with if you've become obsessed with this series.

According to the theory, Raised by Wolves is based on The Book of Enoch. This is an ancient Hebrew apocalyptic text that contains materials related to why certain angels fell from heaven as well as the origins of giants and demons. Within The Book of Enoch is a section entitled The Book of the Watchers, and that seems to be the main text at play as an influence in the plot of Raised by Wolves. This is the section that focuses on concepts of heaven and hell, as well as the hybrid offspring between "the daughters of men" and "the sons of God."

Here's the relevant passage from The Book of the Watchers that relates heavily to Raised by Wolves: "And these spirits shall rise up against the children of men and against the women, because they have proceeded from them. From the days of the slaughter and destruction and death of the giants, from the souls of whose flesh the spirits, having gone forth, shall destroy without incurring judgement."

This could also describe the demons that have started to attack the camp on Kepler-22b. The demons scour the camp for food, but they don't take anything. As opposed to being some kind of alien force, it seems like they might actually be supernatural demons, a realization with stunning implications.

The theory goes on to state that it's possible Kepler-22b was the location of the Garden of Eden and possibly the Great Flood from the story of Noah. It's possible humanity was created on this distant planet and then celestial beings took humans away from it to Earth to create another civilization. If that sounds familiar, it's due to the fact another Ridley Scott project, Prometheus, dealt with similar ideas.

The Book of Enoch also points us to the fact that humanity will be taken by angels to another land albeit in a future generation: "The words of the blessing of Enoch, wherewith he blessed the elect and righteous, who will be living in the day of tribulation, when all the wicked and godless are to be removed. And he took up his parable and said — Enoch a righteous man, whose eyes were opened by God, saw the vision of the Holy One in the heavens, which the angels showed me, and from them I heard everything, and from them I understood as I saw, but not for this generation, but for a remote one which is for to come."

Earth is no longer livable in the series. Humanity has returned to the one remaining (known) place in the universe that can support life, and Kepler-22b is certainly just as remote as suggested in the passage above. 

There are a lot of details shared between Raised by Wolves and The Book of Enoch. It's possible we'll soon learn the children were developed by hybrid means (man and machine) similar to the way humans in The Book of Enoch were created by splicing men and angels. There's also the fact that the character of Marcus (Travis Fimmel) certainly seems to be diving into "false prophet" territory.

An don't forget about the golden scalpel Marcus held in his blood-soaked vision. It was forged from holy relics, and based on the theory, it could have come from the Lance of Longinus, which is the spear that struck the side of Jesus Christ. 

With more episodes in the first season still to come, you can be certain the religious overtones will only become more explicit. One thing's for certain, the deep themes and symbolism in Raised by Wolves make it one 2020 show worth watching. Check it out now on HBO Max. The season finale airs September 24.