As for Makarova and Bolshakov, I don’t think them being pawns is merely an idea. We know that they, and many others with them in Ostertorn, are part of the Gold Faction…and we also know that other elements of the Golden Faction are still in Russia.
Those other elements would undoubtedly be members within military and government positions there, with some of them making up the “brains” of the overall operation. We know that Makarova and Bolshakov are not the top of the command structure, because the top elements are needed elsewhere…to secure the Firebirds, to provide more support for the operation in Ostertorn, and to await the operation’s success to take advantage of the gains later…which I doubt is going to happen, as we should be doing everything we can to stop it.
I think it is too early to say what goals the Golden Faction might have, beyond seizing control of the Soviet Union. It is likely that they would eventually wish to expand their borders, as most powers would like to do one way or another. They may very well see Sweden as a weakened power that would be easy to move against, after the whole machine uprising.
( Like Putin, currently, wanting to assert dominance over a wider area, re-establish borders and buffer states… )
In my opinion, “Kenneth” being present simultaneously in both the Ringfort and Averholm is likely just a mistake by the devs, just some small detail they forgot or overlooked. Or, like some other elements of the game, they just didn’t expect the player(s) to be aware that he “exists, simultaneously” in both places at once. Like being able to see the Reaper in Bergfinken disappear, rather than the elevator it is standing on going down and then coming back up.
I figure that the players are not expected to occupy two (or more) places at once—the elevator area in Bergfinken and the Bergfinken Warboard Room, or both the Ringfort and Averholm Orchard. We’re expected to stick together, to move together, to work together, when we’re playing together—not to try and break the game or immersion by trying to observe things we shouldn’t be able to observe. Likewise, we aren’t supposed to be aware of invisible walls between islands, because we aren’t supposed to be trying to go to other islands—or, worse, to the mainland, to see the “end of the world”… (The Langoliers, the Langoliers…!)
The devs could have handled the situation in Bergfinken better—“all players must be present in the Warboard room, to progress the mission, for the Reaper to ‘leave’…” Likewise, they probably were supposed to have removed Kenneth from the Ringfort at some point as well. Just as they did with Veronika, it seems, though we have no idea where she has gone to? Thought she should ahve shown up at Bjorntunet, to meet up with Elsa, but nope, not yet?
But, yeah, it is also a possibility that these “Kenneths” are indeed entirely different people. I don’t think that is the case, but I could always be wrong.
Holberg has a habit of not just doing snus, but of also moving around a LOT and leaving messages on Bjorntunet brochures all over the place. He’s been all over the islands, not just on Himfjall. Fredrik in the Ringfort does not just have snus tins, but also Bjorntunet brochures. That isn’t enough for 100% confirmation, sure, but I still strongly suspect that he is Holberg, FH, VU’s boss/contact at RO, “the guy.”
Part of my suspicion is also based on his facial hair, his beard. You see it all the time, hear about it, read about it—TV, movies, books, fiction and non-fiction…when someone wants to change their identity, escape detection, like a bank robber or a terrorist, or the more believable secret agents (Bond is OUT), they change their look. Grow out their hair, change the color of it, style it differently. I suspect he keeps the beard so that he doesn’t immediately get recognized, compared to the appearance on his ID card that the player gets/can find.
Again, yes, there are other Fredriks, plenty of room for me to be wrong here—but I don’t think so. Similar situation to Kenneth, I cannot overlook the similarities that I see.
In my brief searches for hints at Boden, Karlshamn, and Farosund, I found nothing else in the game but did see that these are actual locations around Sweden. But, as we’ve both pointed out now, yes, it is still entirely possible the references to such locations in the game may be to other locations within the game world, on the islands or elsewhere.
However, I don’t think merely referencing places outside our reach necessarily means that they intended to include the mainland “in play” but just “in the story”—like with the Soviet Union, Russia, Camp Kabarga; not “in play” but definitely “in the story.”
Echelon, yeah, it might be a bit far-fetched, but I think I could at some point see GZ getting some sort of TV series or movie mini-series. Would be wild to see it get some high-end production…
“The Terror” or “Shogun” or “The Expanse”—all I figure were better than “The Walking Dead”…though, unfortunately, maybe that level of production value would be more in-line with GZ…
I mean, hey, they’ve done movies for “Tomb Raider”…games for “Riddick”…a series for “The Last of Us”…games for “Battlestar Galactica”…so the jump to and from game/movie/TV may be a very real possibility.
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