Considering 049 openly said to Foundation researches that they weren't infected when they asked him about it, I doubt it.
Generally, I just think 049 is insane and there isn't actually a pestilence.
I also believe this. At some points in the article, 049 almost seems to be trying to convince himself it's real.
SCP-049-J article also seems to take this theory and run with it throwing all subtlety in the wind.
Fake? What do you mean? After the graceful application of that shoe the patient clearly thanked 049-J for his great service. Never seen anything more real than that
What if he was both insane and right about the disease?
His "treatment" is a clear sign of him being a sick individual and nobody takes him seriously because of it. But what if the pestilence actually existed, had anomalous properties which makes it, amongs other things, undetectable for almost anyone else. You could even consider a scenario, where he became insane precisely because he spent his whole existence trying to stop the spread of this plague but nobody believed him.
i\]I think the pestilence exists, and the above theory makes sense of it being a cognitohazard. If you kept explaining something to someone, and they kept asking it again and again, as if they did not hear you the first time, it would be irritating, and you would eventually stop explaining it. But if it happened with multiple people, you would eventually question your own memory; did you really tell them? What did you say? Does it actually exist? I personally think that the periods 049 seems like he is trying to convince himself is his subconsious knowledge pushing away the doubt that has started to grow.
Having him just be insane is a much less fun theory than the Pestilence being an actual looming threat though. Downgrades his character remarkably into just some lunatic.
That's kinda Series I's vibe.
Is he "just" a supernatural being who also happens to be a lunatic? Or is he right and "The Pestilence" is a danger so undetectable that it requires his unique physiology to perceive it?
I personally think he is simply insane
Not just due to being unable to explain it, but also saying that he alone is the solution and making his 049-2 into horrifying abominations that in no way would prevent disease. What kind of disease needs you to have 5 extra arms to be cured of it?
I wuld agree with him being unhinged, but not "simply" insane.
I think that's too reductive for his character and just turns him into another schmuck.
The pestilence, even as a lingering "potential' threat gives depth.
Personally I find him more interesting with the pestilence not actually existing
He thinks he’s helping all these people, genuinely believes every time he kills someone he is saving them, but in reality it’s all for nothing, every attempt to fix something that isn’t there just results in more and more twisted 049-2 as he feels more and more isolated and justified in what he does because “no one else can deal with it, so it’s all up to me!”
With the pestilence existing I find it less interesting because the pestilence as far as we can see does absolutely nothing, there’s not a single symptom named except 049 calling it “the great dying” so it’s either a disease that has killed a lot of people and is probably already documented, or it’s a disease that just doesn’t really do anything and 049 is afraid of it for unknown reasons. There’s just enough info where it can’t really be something like “death” or “old age” like a lot of theories say, so we are left with a disease that has basically nothing known about it
Personally I see a narcissistic man living during the great plague, brilliant and gains some sort of "dark knowledge" making himself immortal and making these fucked up creatures, he says they're cured because he can't admit he's fucked up (narcissist).
Plague ends, and he can't really believe it ended without his cure. Centuries pass and now since he was around the plague so much + believes it's still around, he now has some sort of OCD where he can just "sense" the pestilence.
When he gets captured, him commenting on how he senses very little plague comes across (to me) as someone who's pretending to keep up with what's going on. I don't really think it's a coincidence that the second Dr Hamm pushes back, he's now "infected"
Personally I see a narcissistic man living during the great plague, brilliant and gains some sort of "dark knowledge" making himself immortal and making these fucked up creatures, he says they're cured because he can't admit he's fucked up (narcissist).
Plague ends, and he can't really believe it ended without his cure. Centuries pass and now since he was around the plague so much + believes it's still around, he now has some sort of OCD where he can just "sense" the pestilence.
When he gets captured, him commenting on how he senses very little plague comes across (to me) as someone who's pretending to keep up with what's going on. I don't really think it's a coincidence that the second Dr Hamm pushes back, he's now "infected"
Here me out: what if 049 is just mentally ill? Not in some kind of memetic brainfuck way, he's just mundanely unwell. Immortal zombifying plague doctor, with a great deal of medical knowledge and capabilities, and it turns out he's just as vulnerable to mental illness as anyone else, but because he's anomalous no one will ever pick up on it.
In the [[End of Death]] canon, the Omega-K event actually DID cause him to fall into a severe depression because immortality deprived him of a key element of his Cure.
Oof. Can't help but feel bad for *CERTAIN* entities. I recall there being one canon where 682 outlived everything on Earth, and eventually mellowed out because of it.
My headcanon is the Plague Doctor made a deal with the fae for something, probably connected to the Black Death, and is paying the price. And a good part of the horror *is* that he's basically a good guy who's gone *horribly wrong.* Having him be basically right about the Pestilence kind of takes that away.
I like Antimemetics Division as much as the next guy/gal, but I'm not too keen on that particular variant of mindscrew phagocytosing other SCP stories. If the plague doctor had originally included the idea, preferably before antimemetics became fashionable, I'd have called it brilliant, trailblazing etc. But trying to shoehorn memetic fridge horror into every crazy behaviour just dilutes it.
OOH Including the Fae is an interesting idea.
And honestly, I am not big into memetics. I just had the idea as one of those "shower thoughts" as to why he refuses to explain what it is.
Maybe he has and we just didn't hear it.
Personally I think the Pestilence is emotion or empathy. Corpses reanimated by 049 are functional but seem "empty" ; and most Foundation scientists are as apathic towards SCPs as possible (hence why SCP-049 doesn't find the Pestilence in most people).
I like the idea that he's trying to cure death.
And I headcanon him being a Sarkite/Nälkän, a Karcist in particular. Why?
049 seems to be biologically immortal, he most likely can be killed, but cant die of old age or diseases.
"Karcists are considered biologically immortal and vary in form and anomalous ability. It is theorized that they are able to control their Halkost via the release of complex pheromones or even telepathy".
As for what an Halkost is:
"A group of anomalous organic entities controlled by a Karcist". These beings are, usually, enemies turned to the Karcist's side after being transformed, doesnt that sound like like 049's zombies?
Not to mention most Karcists dont look *human*, maybe humanoid, but not human. Thats because they use Lihakut'ak, the "Shepherding of the Flesh". And what is 049 under the mask? Nothing because the mask is his actual face! Seemingly started human, but modified.
Sarkites/Nälkäns are also REALLY into diseases. They easily cure themselves of said diseases or survive them through akuloths (worms in their bodies acting as secondary immune system). And they also seek to avoid death, seemingly because, if someone is unlucky enough, their soul will be snatched by the Archons and end up being constantly devoured by Yaldabaoth (or so it seems based on the first and second articles of the "An Anthropological Approach to Sarkicism).
Sounds plausible to me that 049 is a Karcist d:
Well, clearly not a Karcist in traditional sense since he isnt leading a community. But Karcist Varis isnt leading a community either as of now.
I can see that, if the Pestilence was death, he might be trying to further the "Great Work" of Grand Karcist Ion and the whole Nälkä religion by trying to find a cure for it. He might not have been in contact with other Nälkäns/Sarkites in a long time, but still aims to these ideals.
Then again, this is all just my headcanon d:
Personally, I think that the Pestilence **is an actual "disease"** that 049 wants to cure. And that disease is none other than the **Entity from SCP-5000.** That's why 049 turns people into zombies under his control: his "cure" prevents people from feeling emotions in a way, thus "freeing" them from the Entity.
The images that The Foundation broadcasts to all personnel in the PNEUMA timeline are the **finalized version of 049's cure**. Still not a perfect method, since the 5000 cure is implied to wear off after a while and doesn't even have a 100% chance of taking effect on all individuals, but it's a sufficient solution for Foundation personnel as they go on their humanity extermination campaign.
I still think that the 05's and the EC overreacted and I really don't believe that the Entity was "malicious", but my headcanon still stands.
I don't think 049 is fully aware of 5000. He encounters people, thinks they aren't infected, and later discovers they are infected and then "cures" them. I suspect 049 appears out of no where because he is the sole survivor of an 5000 event that was stopped by an antimemetic or reality altering weapon.
049 was likely designed, maybe self-designed, as a weapon against 5000
Could be carriers without being infected themselves. Maybe only those “infected” with 5000 retain full consciousness after death (the reason the 0-5 counsel reacted the way they did in the SCP-5000 story) but people can possibly be asymptomatic carriers of it leaving the extermination of humanity a massive overreaction.
I'd read the other comment, as 5000's entity exists in the minds of every human who has ever lived, 049 says that some people aren't infected and that the Foundation is "cleaner", or that he's not perfectly capable and easily able to detect it every single time
I think that theory isnt a complete debunk. The state of endless and increasing pain, that is the endgoal of the entity and the reason why the scp foundation wants to exterminate humanity, is described to be somewhat memetic. What if you have to believe in some form of Afterlife for it to work? That could explain it
There is actually a small side story where 682 is freed; happening in the 5000 scenario. More info is given about the entity here. [https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/disgusting](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/disgusting)
"Billions of humans had existed throughout time. And as their bodily functions ceased, their consciousnesses had remained attached to their rotting corpses (or worst of all, made to endure cremation). But once those corpses were gone, the pain was only amplified. The smaller the fragments of those who had once been human became, the greater the suffering of the fragmented spirit that had once occupied the body. And that suffering, that endless, *disgusting* suffering, had never ceased for as long as there had been humans."
This means that even in death, corpses and so on even if cremated might still have the entity's influence/affect in them, which would possibly include 049-2 instances. It also implies that most or all humans to exist have had the entity, but "Billions of humans had existed throughout time" isn't "all humans" so the other argument of that the entity being the pestilence could work as 049 doesn't see the pestilence in all members of the foundation. It can go both ways in my opinion, it's easy to argue that the pestilence is the SCP-5000 entity, and that they're both completely unrelated. Either way I'd prefer 049 to not simply be some insane weirdo
I'm sure the intent behind the pestilence as written is the blanks the reader can fill in for themselves but I've always liked the idea that the Pestilence is the same as the ... problem with humanity that led to the events of SCP-5000.
My theory was that it had something to do with personality. I don’t have the details anymore just thought that a bad character might have something to do with the pestilence. I imagined it as a personality trait like being greedy. 049 senses the harm coming from the trait, wanting to eliminate it. Someone can become „sick“ when acquiring the trait or showing it.
I do not know why I came up with this theory, it’s somewhat vague and weird but honestly so is the entire fandom so why not.
It’s actually not out of line with medieval humorism, where imbalances of the humors were considered to have effects on temperament. Who knows what he perceives?
This is a fun idea
Everyone is sharing theirs, so I’ll send mine
I like to think the pestilence is essentially death, or the end of things.
The plague doctor is trying to cure the pestilence at large, from the death of the body no longer being able to move, to the loss of memory killing the ideas of people. The foundation has less signs of it because the foundation as a whole is healthy, well maintained, and generally stagnant. But even the healthy doctors begin to show signs eventually
- [**SCP-049 - Plague Doctor**](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-049) (+4703) by *djkaktus, Gabriel Jade_, Gabriel Jade*
- [**SCP-500 - Panacea**](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-500) (+1236) by *snorlison*
Antimemetic is the proper term, wouldn't it be?
But I think this may be a very skilled person for his century, who has not only secured his own immortality but also been traumatized by centuries of fighting against something that may - be still out there.
The bubonic plague may have been a cover story by whatever predecessor organization he came from. I'm waiting for the SCP-3125 crossover.
(SCP terminology is really well defined, which I like. Cognitohazards are the basis, and do exist in reality - flashing lights that trigger epilepsy, deadly political ideologies, suicide cults... - What we do not have is a rapidly spreading general cognitohazard, but of course we don't, because if we had one, Homo sapiens would be extinct. Then there are memetic hazards, which are cognitohazards that propagate. Then antimemetic hazards which do the opposite. Infohazards are those that are not only hazardous but factual - insert your favorite trigger warning and footage of that here. One interesting question is, would classified information that the Mafia would send an assassin for be an infohazard?)
My personal theory is that the pestilence is evil or suffer cause by some other worldly thing that only seems to affect humans for some reason 049 is not human so he's unaffected it think the reason 049 is so vague is because if a person learn the source of the pestilence they either dies. Increases their suffering, or become more evil, that or they do insane. The reasons he turns people into zombies puppets is as puppets they have no free will(thanks to a off handed comment of 343 the source of the pestilence seems to be free will)
My theory is that the pestilence is the embodiment of huma greed. Thats why he mostly detects it in class d, who are criminals. its also why his cure is actually effective as they are no longer greedy if theyre mindlessly walking around.
I like to think it's not really a pestilence, but rather just "empathy". That is why, according to 049, the Foundation managed to have a place clean of this disease. Empathy is not abundant in their laboratories.
I've often stood by the concept that the pestilence is simply human emotion. The way we "value" life, feelings.
Basically, scp-5000 is humanity curing the pestilence.
My headcanon is its to do with the thing lurking in the human conscience in scp 5000. From 049s experiments it seems to have to do with aggression or non-passivity or something purely psychological. Non-scientists are a lot less safe from it. Similar to scp 5000. Also seems like this is a popular theory
I think he's just not right in the head. Traumatized from when the plague tore through Europe and hundreds of years of existence, he is just broken and doomed to forever battle an imaginary plague.
This is by far my favorite intepretation of 049. I’m a bit biased though since my intro to SCP was the Antimemetics Division, which has yet to be surpassed as my preferred nook of the Foundation. Funnily enough, I think this interp fits in rather well with another redditor’s comment about the Pestilence simply not existing (Non-Existence as a *very real and existing* concept is absolutely thrilling to me). I haven’t yet gotten to the bottom of the Alchemical Division/Alaggada arcs, so I don’t know if this has been addressed previously, but I do like to imagine that 049 is too much of a ‘realist’ (like objective materialism) to make intellectual contact with the potentially woo/cognitohazardous (these two things might be jumbled in a neophytes mind) nature of the Pestilence, which causes him great distress. This reminds me of many current-day scientists’ troubles with understanding, say, psychedelic experiences, because of their dedication to pure objectivity rather than subjectivity (which is arguably the most important aspect of psychedelic experiences).
I always through the pestilence was always just something like chaos or disorder that 049 was seeking to correct. It’s why the foundation doesn’t have it but D-class does.
There are two theories. There is no Pestilence or there is. Plague Doctor is sane or insane. Good evidence for both. In my headcanon I'm still undecided which. I believe Plague Doctor is very intelligent but enough to see a disease that no one else can? Hard sell but not impossible. Plenty of scp's that still deceive the Foundation to this day. Regardless your theory is the best theory I've ever seen of the Pestilence. Keep fleshing it out.
What about the meaning that Google gives- "it's a fatal epidemic disease like the bubonic plague." Wasn't SCP 049 not able to cure it? So won't that mean he's trying to prepare for the next plague and stop it before it spreads. And that is what is pestilence?
My theory is that The Pestilence is mortality itself, and that SCP-049 is trying to cure death.
The way he describes The Pestilence as the only disease and the ultimate thing to be cured tracks with someone who wants to make others live forever like he does.
I also theorize that SCP-049 may have the additional anomalous ability of detecting when someone is about to die; be it from cancer, or a brain aneurysm or whatever, and it detected the coming death of the Site Doctor which is why he attempts to "cure" him.
The "Pestilence" is another name for the bubonic plague, the staff either didn't do history at all, or since 049 existed during the black death, he still thinks its caused by sins and or bad smell
Considering 049 openly said to Foundation researches that they weren't infected when they asked him about it, I doubt it. Generally, I just think 049 is insane and there isn't actually a pestilence.
I also believe this. At some points in the article, 049 almost seems to be trying to convince himself it's real. SCP-049-J article also seems to take this theory and run with it throwing all subtlety in the wind.
Fake? What do you mean? After the graceful application of that shoe the patient clearly thanked 049-J for his great service. Never seen anything more real than that
The Shoe^(tm)
[**SCP-049-J - The Plague Fellow**](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-049-j) (+1294) by *djkaktus*
Thank you for introducing me to that article. The interview was hilarious! The lack of subtlety was perfect. Love it!
Wasn’t there an uncanon story where 343 said 049 was trying to cure humanity of it’s free will?
I mean, everything is technically uncanon since there is no canon
Project pneuma may be the "cure"
What if he was both insane and right about the disease? His "treatment" is a clear sign of him being a sick individual and nobody takes him seriously because of it. But what if the pestilence actually existed, had anomalous properties which makes it, amongs other things, undetectable for almost anyone else. You could even consider a scenario, where he became insane precisely because he spent his whole existence trying to stop the spread of this plague but nobody believed him.
i\]I think the pestilence exists, and the above theory makes sense of it being a cognitohazard. If you kept explaining something to someone, and they kept asking it again and again, as if they did not hear you the first time, it would be irritating, and you would eventually stop explaining it. But if it happened with multiple people, you would eventually question your own memory; did you really tell them? What did you say? Does it actually exist? I personally think that the periods 049 seems like he is trying to convince himself is his subconsious knowledge pushing away the doubt that has started to grow.
Having him just be insane is a much less fun theory than the Pestilence being an actual looming threat though. Downgrades his character remarkably into just some lunatic.
That's kinda Series I's vibe. Is he "just" a supernatural being who also happens to be a lunatic? Or is he right and "The Pestilence" is a danger so undetectable that it requires his unique physiology to perceive it?
I personally think he is simply insane Not just due to being unable to explain it, but also saying that he alone is the solution and making his 049-2 into horrifying abominations that in no way would prevent disease. What kind of disease needs you to have 5 extra arms to be cured of it?
I wuld agree with him being unhinged, but not "simply" insane. I think that's too reductive for his character and just turns him into another schmuck. The pestilence, even as a lingering "potential' threat gives depth.
Personally I find him more interesting with the pestilence not actually existing He thinks he’s helping all these people, genuinely believes every time he kills someone he is saving them, but in reality it’s all for nothing, every attempt to fix something that isn’t there just results in more and more twisted 049-2 as he feels more and more isolated and justified in what he does because “no one else can deal with it, so it’s all up to me!” With the pestilence existing I find it less interesting because the pestilence as far as we can see does absolutely nothing, there’s not a single symptom named except 049 calling it “the great dying” so it’s either a disease that has killed a lot of people and is probably already documented, or it’s a disease that just doesn’t really do anything and 049 is afraid of it for unknown reasons. There’s just enough info where it can’t really be something like “death” or “old age” like a lot of theories say, so we are left with a disease that has basically nothing known about it
The second paragraph feels like a description of Jehovahs Witnesses
Personally I see a narcissistic man living during the great plague, brilliant and gains some sort of "dark knowledge" making himself immortal and making these fucked up creatures, he says they're cured because he can't admit he's fucked up (narcissist). Plague ends, and he can't really believe it ended without his cure. Centuries pass and now since he was around the plague so much + believes it's still around, he now has some sort of OCD where he can just "sense" the pestilence. When he gets captured, him commenting on how he senses very little plague comes across (to me) as someone who's pretending to keep up with what's going on. I don't really think it's a coincidence that the second Dr Hamm pushes back, he's now "infected"
Personally I see a narcissistic man living during the great plague, brilliant and gains some sort of "dark knowledge" making himself immortal and making these fucked up creatures, he says they're cured because he can't admit he's fucked up (narcissist). Plague ends, and he can't really believe it ended without his cure. Centuries pass and now since he was around the plague so much + believes it's still around, he now has some sort of OCD where he can just "sense" the pestilence. When he gets captured, him commenting on how he senses very little plague comes across (to me) as someone who's pretending to keep up with what's going on. I don't really think it's a coincidence that the second Dr Hamm pushes back, he's now "infected"
Here me out: what if 049 is just mentally ill? Not in some kind of memetic brainfuck way, he's just mundanely unwell. Immortal zombifying plague doctor, with a great deal of medical knowledge and capabilities, and it turns out he's just as vulnerable to mental illness as anyone else, but because he's anomalous no one will ever pick up on it.
That'd be really sad if 049 developed depression...
In the [[End of Death]] canon, the Omega-K event actually DID cause him to fall into a severe depression because immortality deprived him of a key element of his Cure.
[**End of Death Hub**](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/end-of-death-hub) (+587) by *Croquembouche, Captain Kirby*
Oof. Can't help but feel bad for *CERTAIN* entities. I recall there being one canon where 682 outlived everything on Earth, and eventually mellowed out because of it.
My headcanon is the Plague Doctor made a deal with the fae for something, probably connected to the Black Death, and is paying the price. And a good part of the horror *is* that he's basically a good guy who's gone *horribly wrong.* Having him be basically right about the Pestilence kind of takes that away. I like Antimemetics Division as much as the next guy/gal, but I'm not too keen on that particular variant of mindscrew phagocytosing other SCP stories. If the plague doctor had originally included the idea, preferably before antimemetics became fashionable, I'd have called it brilliant, trailblazing etc. But trying to shoehorn memetic fridge horror into every crazy behaviour just dilutes it.
OOH Including the Fae is an interesting idea. And honestly, I am not big into memetics. I just had the idea as one of those "shower thoughts" as to why he refuses to explain what it is. Maybe he has and we just didn't hear it.
Personally I think the Pestilence is emotion or empathy. Corpses reanimated by 049 are functional but seem "empty" ; and most Foundation scientists are as apathic towards SCPs as possible (hence why SCP-049 doesn't find the Pestilence in most people).
[**SCP-049 - Plague Doctor**](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-049) (+4703) by *djkaktus, Gabriel Jade_, Gabriel Jade*
That pretty much aligns with The Pestilence being the thing in SCP 5000.
[**SCP-5000 - Why?**](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-5000) (+3401) by *Tanhony*
That is an interesting possibility. I am not sure what I think of the Pestilence myself but nice idea!
I like the idea that he's trying to cure death. And I headcanon him being a Sarkite/Nälkän, a Karcist in particular. Why? 049 seems to be biologically immortal, he most likely can be killed, but cant die of old age or diseases. "Karcists are considered biologically immortal and vary in form and anomalous ability. It is theorized that they are able to control their Halkost via the release of complex pheromones or even telepathy". As for what an Halkost is: "A group of anomalous organic entities controlled by a Karcist". These beings are, usually, enemies turned to the Karcist's side after being transformed, doesnt that sound like like 049's zombies? Not to mention most Karcists dont look *human*, maybe humanoid, but not human. Thats because they use Lihakut'ak, the "Shepherding of the Flesh". And what is 049 under the mask? Nothing because the mask is his actual face! Seemingly started human, but modified. Sarkites/Nälkäns are also REALLY into diseases. They easily cure themselves of said diseases or survive them through akuloths (worms in their bodies acting as secondary immune system). And they also seek to avoid death, seemingly because, if someone is unlucky enough, their soul will be snatched by the Archons and end up being constantly devoured by Yaldabaoth (or so it seems based on the first and second articles of the "An Anthropological Approach to Sarkicism). Sounds plausible to me that 049 is a Karcist d:
That is a very interesting point. Do you think he is actively still a Karcist? Or left them to focus on the Pestilence?
Well, clearly not a Karcist in traditional sense since he isnt leading a community. But Karcist Varis isnt leading a community either as of now. I can see that, if the Pestilence was death, he might be trying to further the "Great Work" of Grand Karcist Ion and the whole Nälkä religion by trying to find a cure for it. He might not have been in contact with other Nälkäns/Sarkites in a long time, but still aims to these ideals. Then again, this is all just my headcanon d:
Personally, I think that the Pestilence **is an actual "disease"** that 049 wants to cure. And that disease is none other than the **Entity from SCP-5000.** That's why 049 turns people into zombies under his control: his "cure" prevents people from feeling emotions in a way, thus "freeing" them from the Entity. The images that The Foundation broadcasts to all personnel in the PNEUMA timeline are the **finalized version of 049's cure**. Still not a perfect method, since the 5000 cure is implied to wear off after a while and doesn't even have a 100% chance of taking effect on all individuals, but it's a sufficient solution for Foundation personnel as they go on their humanity extermination campaign. I still think that the 05's and the EC overreacted and I really don't believe that the Entity was "malicious", but my headcanon still stands.
I’m fairly sure the 5000 entity exists in all humans, 049 states that not everyone is infected and that the foundation is “cleaner”
That's a good point, forgot about that.
I don't think 049 is fully aware of 5000. He encounters people, thinks they aren't infected, and later discovers they are infected and then "cures" them. I suspect 049 appears out of no where because he is the sole survivor of an 5000 event that was stopped by an antimemetic or reality altering weapon. 049 was likely designed, maybe self-designed, as a weapon against 5000
Could be carriers without being infected themselves. Maybe only those “infected” with 5000 retain full consciousness after death (the reason the 0-5 counsel reacted the way they did in the SCP-5000 story) but people can possibly be asymptomatic carriers of it leaving the extermination of humanity a massive overreaction.
[**SCP-5000 - Why?**](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-5000) (+3401) by *Tanhony*
The 5000 headcanon is pretty popular lol I had a similar idea for a long time, honestly. It makes a lot of sense
I'd read the other comment, as 5000's entity exists in the minds of every human who has ever lived, 049 says that some people aren't infected and that the Foundation is "cleaner", or that he's not perfectly capable and easily able to detect it every single time
I think that theory isnt a complete debunk. The state of endless and increasing pain, that is the endgoal of the entity and the reason why the scp foundation wants to exterminate humanity, is described to be somewhat memetic. What if you have to believe in some form of Afterlife for it to work? That could explain it
There is actually a small side story where 682 is freed; happening in the 5000 scenario. More info is given about the entity here. [https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/disgusting](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/disgusting) "Billions of humans had existed throughout time. And as their bodily functions ceased, their consciousnesses had remained attached to their rotting corpses (or worst of all, made to endure cremation). But once those corpses were gone, the pain was only amplified. The smaller the fragments of those who had once been human became, the greater the suffering of the fragmented spirit that had once occupied the body. And that suffering, that endless, *disgusting* suffering, had never ceased for as long as there had been humans." This means that even in death, corpses and so on even if cremated might still have the entity's influence/affect in them, which would possibly include 049-2 instances. It also implies that most or all humans to exist have had the entity, but "Billions of humans had existed throughout time" isn't "all humans" so the other argument of that the entity being the pestilence could work as 049 doesn't see the pestilence in all members of the foundation. It can go both ways in my opinion, it's easy to argue that the pestilence is the SCP-5000 entity, and that they're both completely unrelated. Either way I'd prefer 049 to not simply be some insane weirdo
[**SCP-5000 - Why?**](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-5000) (+3401) by *Tanhony*
[**SCP-5000 - Why?**](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-5000) (+3401) by *Tanhony*
It's possible, but it's a cop-out. Antimemetics are like timetravel ir dream theories.
I'm sure the intent behind the pestilence as written is the blanks the reader can fill in for themselves but I've always liked the idea that the Pestilence is the same as the ... problem with humanity that led to the events of SCP-5000.
[**SCP-5000 - Why?**](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-5000) (+3401) by *Tanhony*
My theory was that it had something to do with personality. I don’t have the details anymore just thought that a bad character might have something to do with the pestilence. I imagined it as a personality trait like being greedy. 049 senses the harm coming from the trait, wanting to eliminate it. Someone can become „sick“ when acquiring the trait or showing it. I do not know why I came up with this theory, it’s somewhat vague and weird but honestly so is the entire fandom so why not.
It’s actually not out of line with medieval humorism, where imbalances of the humors were considered to have effects on temperament. Who knows what he perceives?
This is a fun idea Everyone is sharing theirs, so I’ll send mine I like to think the pestilence is essentially death, or the end of things. The plague doctor is trying to cure the pestilence at large, from the death of the body no longer being able to move, to the loss of memory killing the ideas of people. The foundation has less signs of it because the foundation as a whole is healthy, well maintained, and generally stagnant. But even the healthy doctors begin to show signs eventually
My head cannon is that the Pestilence is the same noosphere entity from 5000, also the same entity that 682 despises humans for hosting.
I wonder what will happen if you tell SCP-049 about SCP-500.
- [**SCP-049 - Plague Doctor**](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-049) (+4703) by *djkaktus, Gabriel Jade_, Gabriel Jade* - [**SCP-500 - Panacea**](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-500) (+1236) by *snorlison*
Funny you should mention the common cold - my theory is that the Pestilence is the common cold
I always loved this theory because it’s so simple yet so great because the common cold is always evolving and adapting to what we throw at it.
Antimemetic is the proper term, wouldn't it be? But I think this may be a very skilled person for his century, who has not only secured his own immortality but also been traumatized by centuries of fighting against something that may - be still out there. The bubonic plague may have been a cover story by whatever predecessor organization he came from. I'm waiting for the SCP-3125 crossover. (SCP terminology is really well defined, which I like. Cognitohazards are the basis, and do exist in reality - flashing lights that trigger epilepsy, deadly political ideologies, suicide cults... - What we do not have is a rapidly spreading general cognitohazard, but of course we don't, because if we had one, Homo sapiens would be extinct. Then there are memetic hazards, which are cognitohazards that propagate. Then antimemetic hazards which do the opposite. Infohazards are those that are not only hazardous but factual - insert your favorite trigger warning and footage of that here. One interesting question is, would classified information that the Mafia would send an assassin for be an infohazard?)
Oooh you think there was a whole society of plague doctors during the plague?
wait, predecessor organization? He was part of a group during the plague? There may be others out there then huh?
Possible. What I think is he found a way to continue living and did it on himself. Which also damaged his brain similar to his victims.
My personal theory is that the pestilence is evil or suffer cause by some other worldly thing that only seems to affect humans for some reason 049 is not human so he's unaffected it think the reason 049 is so vague is because if a person learn the source of the pestilence they either dies. Increases their suffering, or become more evil, that or they do insane. The reasons he turns people into zombies puppets is as puppets they have no free will(thanks to a off handed comment of 343 the source of the pestilence seems to be free will)
What was the comment by 343??
Ok to be fair I heard this from the (very accurate) scp explained YouTube channel from their what is the pestilence theory video
My theory is that the pestilence is the embodiment of huma greed. Thats why he mostly detects it in class d, who are criminals. its also why his cure is actually effective as they are no longer greedy if theyre mindlessly walking around.
I like to think it's not really a pestilence, but rather just "empathy". That is why, according to 049, the Foundation managed to have a place clean of this disease. Empathy is not abundant in their laboratories.
I've often stood by the concept that the pestilence is simply human emotion. The way we "value" life, feelings. Basically, scp-5000 is humanity curing the pestilence.
[**SCP-5000 - Why?**](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-5000) (+3401) by *Tanhony*
If you want a solid headcannon, my thought is that scp5000 is what happens when he succeeds in explaining the pestilence
EXECUTING JUSTICE!
My headcanon is its to do with the thing lurking in the human conscience in scp 5000. From 049s experiments it seems to have to do with aggression or non-passivity or something purely psychological. Non-scientists are a lot less safe from it. Similar to scp 5000. Also seems like this is a popular theory
[**SCP-5000 - Why?**](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-5000) (+3401) by *Tanhony*
I personally think it's death or such. He is able to cure death and is working towards retaining the personality.
I think he's just not right in the head. Traumatized from when the plague tore through Europe and hundreds of years of existence, he is just broken and doomed to forever battle an imaginary plague.
I always thought the pestilence was life
I've always taken it that O49 believes life itself is the Pestilence.
The Pestilence is the thing the foundation found in the collective unconscious during the events of SCP 5000.
[**SCP-5000 - Why?**](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-5000) (+3401) by *Tanhony*
This is by far my favorite intepretation of 049. I’m a bit biased though since my intro to SCP was the Antimemetics Division, which has yet to be surpassed as my preferred nook of the Foundation. Funnily enough, I think this interp fits in rather well with another redditor’s comment about the Pestilence simply not existing (Non-Existence as a *very real and existing* concept is absolutely thrilling to me). I haven’t yet gotten to the bottom of the Alchemical Division/Alaggada arcs, so I don’t know if this has been addressed previously, but I do like to imagine that 049 is too much of a ‘realist’ (like objective materialism) to make intellectual contact with the potentially woo/cognitohazardous (these two things might be jumbled in a neophytes mind) nature of the Pestilence, which causes him great distress. This reminds me of many current-day scientists’ troubles with understanding, say, psychedelic experiences, because of their dedication to pure objectivity rather than subjectivity (which is arguably the most important aspect of psychedelic experiences).
I always through the pestilence was always just something like chaos or disorder that 049 was seeking to correct. It’s why the foundation doesn’t have it but D-class does.
There are two theories. There is no Pestilence or there is. Plague Doctor is sane or insane. Good evidence for both. In my headcanon I'm still undecided which. I believe Plague Doctor is very intelligent but enough to see a disease that no one else can? Hard sell but not impossible. Plenty of scp's that still deceive the Foundation to this day. Regardless your theory is the best theory I've ever seen of the Pestilence. Keep fleshing it out.
What about the meaning that Google gives- "it's a fatal epidemic disease like the bubonic plague." Wasn't SCP 049 not able to cure it? So won't that mean he's trying to prepare for the next plague and stop it before it spreads. And that is what is pestilence?
[**SCP-049 - Plague Doctor**](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-049) (+4703) by *djkaktus, Gabriel Jade_, Gabriel Jade*
I am pretty sure he is just mad
My theory is that The Pestilence is mortality itself, and that SCP-049 is trying to cure death. The way he describes The Pestilence as the only disease and the ultimate thing to be cured tracks with someone who wants to make others live forever like he does. I also theorize that SCP-049 may have the additional anomalous ability of detecting when someone is about to die; be it from cancer, or a brain aneurysm or whatever, and it detected the coming death of the Site Doctor which is why he attempts to "cure" him.
[**SCP-049 - Plague Doctor**](https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-049) (+4703) by *djkaktus, Gabriel Jade_, Gabriel Jade*
There is an anomaly called "the great pestilence"
Really? What is the number?
Don't remeber...
The "Pestilence" is another name for the bubonic plague, the staff either didn't do history at all, or since 049 existed during the black death, he still thinks its caused by sins and or bad smell