Engineers in Prometheus Genetically Altered for Space Travel?

I think they are specialized suits.  

How pumped are you for Covenant?

Well they seem to have Biological Suits that attach to them, so they bond to the Engineers, but we cant rule out if they was Genetically Modified for the Purpose of Space Travel.

William, I agree the suits are specialized bio-mech which could have something to do with genetic experimentation, but I was thinking about their general appearance with pale white skin and black eyes versus the pinkish skin of the Engineers in Covenant. Perhaps the skin and eyes changed as they were altered to have a greater constitution for long periods of space travel. And yeah, I'm REALLY excited about Alien Covenant! I loved Prometheus and have been wanting more for almost 5 years! Woot!

BigDave I agree 100%. Those suits certainly don't look like they slip right on. The tech definitely looks integrated with the wearers physiology. It stands to reason that their bodies may have been altered genetically to interface with the suit tech as well. 

We know the engy's are geneticists.  So the larger size could be related to space travel.  Zero or Low G allows them to grow taller and bulkier than say Mid to High G planet/oids.  Which would compress them down and they would be shorter and stockier.

Great points Rick! The black eyes of the Prometheus Engineers vs the more human eyes we've seen from the ones in AC lead me to think they're members of the same race that were altered for combat, space travel etc. They have the same general appearance with bald heads and clothes similar to the robed Engineers of Prometheus, so I'm on the side of them being the same race, but the pale ones are genetically altered. 

They could well be related species, as Homo sapiens were related to Homo neanderthalensis. They could even be so closely-related that the two could interbreed (as genetic evidence suggests humans and Neanderthals did in the distant past), which would likely lead to an extended caste system. Certainly, the High Engineers we see in PROMETHEUS are superior physically to the Paradise Engineers we see in the stills from COVENANT, which likely makes them superior in social class as well.

Of course, the Paradise beings could be just another Engineer-spawned race like humans. There's a rumor flying around that there are different iterations of the human race, all created by the Engineers. And then there's the rumor that the Engineers themselves are subservient to even higher beings...

I have said this in another thread and its just my theory.

When the engineers go into hyper sleep/cryo this is where the morphosis takes place and maybe this has done something to shaw too.

The exoskeleton does look integrated into the engineers and looks like a xenomorph . 

This a great thread. It would make sense something like this was the case. They're billions of years more advanced then us. Why not have a class created/enhanced to conquer the universe.

It'd be interesting if this was the case and these enhanced/created engineers (weapons) were treated by their creators in a similar way to how humans treat the androids.

I'd always assumed they were bio-engineered soldiers of some fashion, given the the suits they wear, they look like they were grown into them, or with them somehow.

its quite possible that they are genetically altered. that theory could hold up.

ive said before but my theory is that the engineers 223, the pale, well defined ones, were creations. created by the elders with the sole purpose to seed planets.

they were created that size, like the ultimate designer baby. they break down with the goo to seed planets (start prometheus) they may have no sexuality as they have no need to reproduce. we see them and assume male, but are neither. they were created to seed planets and to link with civilisations around the galaxy.  

these do the bidding of the elders, when a planet is ready for seeding then they give the ultimate sacrifice.  

they go to war when commanded/use bio weapons

i thought the elders, if they are an advanced civilisation they may have creations go to war rather than their own.

these creations also seed planets when the time is right.  the tubes in cryo feed them for maybe thousands of years before they are summoned.  may explain skin colour.  

these creations would have to be strong so they are made that way. we think all male but maybe they have no sexual orientation. they do need to be strong.

it fits with the creator / creation themes. 

so its very similar to your idea about the genetic altering just maybe taking that a bit further 

sherris

Love that theory. Would be totally satisfied were that the case.

I agree with you, too Sherris!

I want to know more about the Engineers in the future installments, if not in Covenant?

I can't imagine we won't get some kind of exposition from David on the Engineers considering what we saw and heard from him in the prologue. 

i would love it if we got plenty of answers from prometheus and we are bound to get some.

the thing is....

the covenant crew cant give us anything we can see what is revealed and make assumptions but they cant answer the questions from prometheus

the only real people who can are shaw and david

shaws screen time is limited

david will reveal when he is in contact with the survivors from the drop ship. we should get something here.

the only other time is the events, (probably at the start of the film) when david and shaw are together and they do whatever they did prior to the bombarding and shortly after.

they will be a flashback scene i think, however this is the moment i spoke of when david meets the drop ship survivors and shows his shop of horrors.

im only judging this on a few bits of evidence and a look at the tracklist, which, lets be honest is almost a scene by scene view of the film. we just have to match the track names to the scenes we have seen so far.

feet on the ground and fingers crossed.

it will be a great film if we let it

I think its possible indeed they are some kind of Clones/Creation and so have a lot more in common with David.

It will be interesting to see where they go with the Franchise as those beings on Paradise/Planet 4 do look more Human, they are more Human Sized and they have Females.

Spaights had the idea the Elders are older versions of the Engineers and they had evolved themselves to the point they became Sterile, at one point in time this Race could Procreate but they Lost that Ability and had to then come up with other means.

Thus the Sacrificial Scene....

We now could thus be looking at either.

1) Elders/Engineers evolved and lost the ability and females just was not needed, so they seed via Sacrifice and Experiments in the hope of creating Females once again.

2) Elders are related to those beings on Paradise/Planet 4 and the Sacrificial Engineers and LV-223 are just a creation for a purpose much like David was to Mankind.

I think they are the soldiers/workers of the engineer population. I think they are altered to cope with space, and to deal with the mutants created by goo, because i think the engineers are dying out and go round, growing species to find a dna strain that will rejuvenate themselves. I think the engineers may be deeply misunderstood as to why they do what they do, and humans are simply their creations or inferior to them on the food chain, hence we are targeted for termination. I hope david gets all the engineers, their might be payback!

both of those seem to have what they need to be on point. 

i would go for the second option as i can debate that a little more but both seem like they could easily fit

A possibility is that the suits the engineers wear are designed to cope with xenos or deacons with acid blood. The engineer suit is shiny, like a dolphin, designed to make acid slide off?

I think it's possible the suits were designed to double as protection but I'm thinking the overall use is for ship control interface. As we saw in Alien, the Space Jockey seemed to be a part of the console in the Juggernaut.