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"Oracles are rare, and highly prized; part of a secret government program designed for exactly the eventuality that's now occurring in the Dead Space universe. Because of the importance of their mission, Oracles are given a very free reign, and secrecy of their mission and true nature is paramount. This includes a licence to kill anyone they deem a threat to security, their mission, or government integrity."
—Official description[1]

The Oracle Program is a secret EarthGov program designed for operations of the highest importance, specializing in retrieval and secrecy. Its agents, known as the Oracles, are deployed in two-man teams and make use of advanced Stasis and laser technology as weapons.[2] The Oracles are implied to have been designed by EarthGov specifically to assess the threat of the Necromorphs in the 26th century.[3]

Biography[]

Dead Space: Salvage[]

Oracles

The Oracles in Dead Space: Salvage.

The Oracles are depicted as mysterious men dressed in white who made their first appearance in a meeting with EarthGov Defense Secretary David Chang. They informed him about their involvement in the retrieval of the USG Ishimura. One of the Oracles implied that the authority of their superiors went beyond that of the Defense Secretary, and that they were not authorized to interact with either civilian or military operations unless the situations "directly concern [their] priorities", which were "retrieval and secrecy. Especially secrecy".

Later, when Julia Copland betrayed the Magpies to contact EarthGov and arrange a deal in exchange for the Marker 3A shard that she had stolen, the Oracles were brought in to interrogate her. After learning everything that they could from her, one of the Oracles expressed their gratitude for Copland's aid. Copland asked for a reward and the Oracle responded by merely holding her hand. A ring on the Oracle's hand then glowed with a blue light and, moments later, Copland fell to the ground, dead and bleeding from her nose. This meant that the Oracles' 'rings' are some sort of weapon or tool that possesses the capability to kill someone in such a way.

The Oracles eventually located the Ishimura, presumably using Copland's information, and boarded the ship. They noted that 'reanimation already started', showing their familiarity with the Necromorph contagion. They began searching the ship for signs of the Marker, employing unusual laser weapons along the way, using them to dispatch several Necromorphs and even a Hive Mind. Eventually, they found and confronted Stefan Schneider.

Schneider, fully aware that the Oracles could turn around and take the Marker shards at any time, asked why they chose to chase him instead. The Oracles told him that they needed to "know what you know and what you saw", referring to Schneider's direct contact with the Marker shards. Schneider pointed out that they could have just asked, to which the Oracles replied that he did not "possess the language to tell us". They also referred to the Necromorph outbreak as "an unfortunate side effect" of the Marker. After a brief struggle, Schneider managed to escape the Ishimura using the stealth ship that the Oracles had arrived in, leaving the two agents to be slaughtered by the Necromorphs.

Dead Space 2: Severed[]

DeadSpace2SeveredCaptors

The Oracles capturing Lexine Weller.

During the outbreak on Titan Station, two Oracles arrived in search of Lexine Weller, a subject of study for EarthGov's Oracle Program due to her apparent immunity to the influence of the Marker signal. The two men exhibited the same mannerisms and behaviors as their brethren in Dead Space: Salvage. They were described by Lexine to Gabe Weller as strange men "dressed in white". They searched the Psych Ward for Lexine's whereabouts for the duration of Gabe's journey through the Titan Memorial Medical Center.

When Lexine was captured by Victor Bartlett, the colonel demanded to know why they were following him. He tried to tell them to follow the orders given by Hans Tiedemann to eliminate the "key subjects". Their answer, however, suggested that they were following orders higher than Tiedemann's, and they used finger rings with apparent Stasis abilities to subdue Bartlett. They then captured Lexine and took her to the hospital shuttle bay. However, before they could board their Gunship, the Oracles were killed by two Infectors, who transformed their bodies into Twitchers.[4]

Trivia[]

  • It is written in the Dead Space: Salvage graphic novel that the Oracles are "part of a secret government program designed for exactly the eventuality that's now occurring in the Dead Space universe". This implies that EarthGov dispatched the Oracles to deal with the threat of the Necromorphs.
    • In Dead Space (2023), a New Game+ text log written in Marker script translates to reveal a poem about the Oracles that also hints at their greater mission:
      "They walk in white
      Untouched by red
      They order the living
      They shepherd the dead

      A finger's touch -
      We're frozen still
      They are the answer
      They are the will

      Beyond the stars
      The brethren wait
      Oracles, deliver us
      From humanity's fate"
      • The start of the poem refers to the Oracles' uniforms and their authority as part of EarthGov, as well as their method of dealing with Necromorph hordes by driving them away with their unusual laser weapons rather than killing the creatures. Next, the Oracles' finger rings with apparent stasis abilities are referenced, along with their purpose of being deployed for highly important operations. The poem concludes by alluding to the threat of the Brethren Moons and the Oracles' mission to assess that threat in an effort to save humanity from its "fate".
  • One of the Oracles from Salvage has a nearly identical face to that of Russian President Vladimir Putin, a retired KGB colonel.
  • The Oracle Twitchers seem rather different from regular Marine and Titan Security Twitchers, as they still possess the original hosts' human arms clasped to their chests, sprouting new ones from their shoulders instead. This trait is seen again in Dead Space 3-era Twitchers.

Gallery[]

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