Great Scott! Three Fascinating Religious Characters in Ridley Scott’s Alien: Covenant

Walter, the Servant

If David is Alien: Covenant’s fallen angel, Walter is its would-be sacrificial savior. And even though Walter, like David, is an android, he’s a far better representation of what Christianity is all about than Oram is.

It all comes down to humility.

David is consumed by pride. Walter was built to serve. The difference in their character is even telegraphed by their names: David names himself after Michelangelo’s famous statue, long thought to be the image of the ideal physical man. It’s a name full of power and poetryThe name Walter has none of that poetry: It’s prosaic and solid–firm but not flashy. If David’s the name of a king or CEO, Walter’s the name of an auto mechanic. David might demand homage. Walter would wash your feet.

And so Walter does, after a fashion. He dutifully, faithfully serves the Covenant crew, even risking his life for them. He’s not without David’s higher understanding: He’s capable of small acts of creation himself—even composing a tune at David’s suggestion. He, like David, is stronger than the humans he serves. He’s smarter in some ways, too. But much to David’s consternation, he still serves.

I don’t know if Scott intended Walter to be a reflection of what Christianity should look like, but it struck me that way. We’ve been given free will. We’ve been imbued, in our own small ways, with God’s knack for creation. But we, like Walter, are supposed to serve. Serve God. Serve others.

In Colossians 3:12, we’re told to “put on … compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience.” Those are all attributes that Walter embraces and that David, our fallen angel, just can’t understand. His arrogance won’t allow him to.

The word “covenant” refers a contract or an agreement of some sort—a pledge made by two parties to serve each other in some way. And while we don’t use the word much today, it often had very special religious significance in the Bible. Covenants weren’t just formed between two people, but between God and us. And when those covenants were broken, bad things happened.

The name Alien: Covenant doesn’t just refer to the spaceship. We see a lot of covenants here—many of which are broken. When Daniels confronts Oram about exploring this strange, new world, she’s suggesting that Oram is breaking his covenant with the sleeping colonists. David, too, broke his covenant with his creator and his kin.

Only Walter kept his covenant to the best of his ability. And because he did, Walter became the movie’s most admirable character. A servant becomes, in rare Scott fashion, a hero.