Gorillaz/WMG

Murdoc has demon blood.

Has already been suggested by at least one fanfic (see the fic recs). We don't know whether it's from his mother's or father's side but, since we know very little about his mother, this could go some way towards explaining where he came from.

Also, normal people, even within the cartoon Canon, don't have green skin.

• Murdoc has repeatedly said that the green skin was from tanning.
• And Murdoc is infamously an Unreliable Narrator.
• Murdoc may not necessarily know if he has demon blood. He probably has enough contacts in both the living world and the underworld to find out about his parentage, but he may simply not care enough to bother. If he does know, then he's likely not telling.
• He's been practically living on rum for several months and is still alive. ("You mean it's NOT full of vitamins and nutrients?") Okay, presumably he's been eating food as well, but most people would be dead of alcohol poisoning by now.
• This troper has a theory that Kain is Murdoc's grandfather. It would explain a lot, as both have green-ish skin and Magnificent Bastard overtones.
  • But these two characters do not exist in the same continuity or time period, and Legacy of Kain doesn't even take place on earth.

2D is an alien.

Think about it...he's not stupid, he's just not used to earth ways.

The blue hair explains a bit.

The falling out of a tree story is a cover story.

His eyes could have been for disguise, which explains why he can function perfectly well without them. He still has eyeballs, but they both have eight-ball fractures (effectively a permanent bruise on the eyeball). Logically, he probably should be blind; but since he's an alien, it's compensated for.

The real Noodle isn't in Hell, she's in a coma somewhere.

So far half the members of the band have spent a few years comatose at one point or another in their lives. Now it's her turn.

2D isn't as dumb as he puts on

He has extensive knowledge of music and, if pressed, probably knows quite a bit about headache pills and machinery. I'd like to put forth the theory that 2D is Obfuscating Stupidity and doing a very good job of it.

• It's possible. He'd said quite philosophical, deep stuff on several occasions.

2D on the Demon Days track: "You remember when you were a little kid and you would look at the clouds in the sky as the sunlight bounced off them. And something that simple would make you feel a part of everything and all alone at the same time. And that feeling's got something you can never put into words so you spend your whole life chasing it; making Carols, taking pictures, painting... whatever, in the hope that other people will understand that sense or... feeling. As creative entities we look for signs of life outside ourselves, for a connection to... alleviate the sense of solitude. That's why we all do what we do, whether we know of it ourselves or not."

• • He's also had a couple of moments of wit. Murdoc once described himself as being "a genie unleashed" when working on the first album, and 2D's response was "There's a difference between being a genie and just being trapped in a bottle."
• During the iTunes sessions, 2D goes into a complete Deadpan Snarker mode.

Murdoc's mother is Salad Fingers

Green skin and the fact that we don't know Salad Fingers' gender. Also, Murdoc's mother is conspicuously absent. So I think that Salad Fingers went back in time, boned it with Murdoc's father and went back. This makes Salad Fingers Murdoc's mother and a Time Lord.

Russel is either gay or asexual.

We hear plenty about 2D and Murdoc's various flings, not to mention the illegitimate children that have come from them, but not his, even when he stuck around the increasingly hedonistic LA party house well after the rest of the group left. He seems completely apathetic about his surroundings in the Feel Good Inc. video. And he calls Del his "soulmate" (which admittedly was literally true). Or maybe he's straight but having other people hanging around in his head while he's having sex just creeps him out enough that he avoids it.

• Or maybe he's just seen what Murdoc and 2D get up to and decided it's far more trouble than it's worth.
• Murdoc might have given another hint towards it when he once mentioned that at first he thought Russel was making a euphemism when told everyone he lived in Ike Turner's basement for awhile. Or Murdoc might just have been trying to be a dick. It's hard to tell.

The music video for the song DARE is Murdoc's wet dream.

The majority of the video involves Noodle dancing around and then, just before the end, Murdoc waking up in bed with another man. This could be symbolic of repressed desires--in this case, pedophilia and homosexuality. Then there's the fact that the lyrics could be interpreted as lyrics about masturbation. Finally, at the end of the video, Murdoc wakes up sweaty and frightened, or confused at what's just happened.

Noodle didn't escape Hell, she was set free to do the devil's dirty work for him.

Russel's band profile was just recently updated with a letter containing the phrase that returns Noodle's memories to her after she, or someone else, used the codewords to erase them. It also mentioned that he's still been chased by demons all this time, so he could have heard something about what happened to her in Hell from them, to know if it's needed.

If her memory was wiped, either of her own will or because the devil knew the code, Satan gone on to muck around with her brain however he wants to, and sent her on her way. What would his aim be? Well, Murdoc has freely admitted on many occasions that he's managed to duck out of paying up on his end of his Deal with the Devil, and Noodle's just about the only person that he'd head straight for with his guard dropped when he heard she was around, so...

Murdoc's red eye back in Phases 1 and 2 had something to do with his Deal with the Devil.

Some fans have brought up the idea that the red eye was a symbol of the contract with the devil. The fact that it now appears to be gone may have worrying implications. Other theories about the eye include:

• Injury, possibly at the hands of his father.
• Injection of drugs directly into the eye (crystal meth is a possibility).
• It was a contact lens, either because he actually needed vision correction (some people get prescriptions for red lenses in glasses, it could happen) or because he liked the look and/or wanted to spread bizarre rumours about it for kicks. Or, alternatively, both his eyes are naturally red, the black one was a contact lens, and now he's wearing contacts in both eyes.

Noodle suffered head injuries while she was missing.

Her hair has faded from purple to blue, according to the "On Melancholy Hill" video. 2D's hair was apparently turned blue when he suffered a head injury in childhood, so possibly Noodle now has the same condition.

• Or she's just running out of hair dye.
  • Or using more hair dye, since her hair started out being black when she was ten.

Real!Noodle's appearance in On Melancholy Hill is a tribute to 2D.

She has blue hair instead of purple or black as she has before, a l Iong TV similar to the T-shirts he wears, and a similar mask in the same video. It might of been her way of remembering the band if her memory was really wiped clean

The Real!Noodle in "On Melancholy Hill" isn't the real Noodle either.

She's a lookalike, being used to taunt the fans. Could be a demonic replica, or maybe one more of the kids from the lab escaped before they were killed.

The psychic link Murdoc suspected exists between Noodle and the Cyborg works both ways.

Murdoc thought that the Cyborg started talking on her own because "maybe there’s some kind of organic, ‘psychic’ link between the two." At the same time, Real Noodle seems a lot more angry and quick to use violence than she used to be (though admittedly it's understandable in the situation, and who knows how often pirates have gone after her since El Manana to wear down her patience). So, the connection could be effecting both of them; the Cyborg's developing a few more human traits while Noodle's being hit by Robo!Noodle's lack of empathy and pirate-killing bodyguard programming.

Sun Moon Stars has some connection to the Strange Folk from Fire Coming Out of the Monkey's Head

The designs for both are strikingly similar. Beyond that SMS seems to be a general corrupting force fueled by greed like the Strange Folk from Fire Coming Out of the Monkey's Head

The DNA Murdoc found at the crash site? It wasn't Noodle's - it was Jimmy's.

It makes sense if you think about it - yes, Cyborg!Noodle looks like Real!Noodle, but her personality? Let's see here - violent, gun-happy, and a tendency to be as creepy as possible? Yep, sounds a lot like Jimmy to me. Both Noodle and Jimmy were in the lighthouse at one point; if Murdoc got it from in there, there's a pretty equal probability that it was Jimmy's rather than Noodle's.

• You know, actually, there's a possibility he's gotten a sample that contained both the DNA of Noodle and Jimmy. That would pretty much clear everything up.
  • Um, the only way a DNA sample could contain both of their DNA would be if... something interesting went on in the lighthouse between the two. otherwise, he could find a sample with both of their DNA in it but the clone would only be of one of them.

This is all in Murdoc's head.

During Murdoc's attempted ram-raid of the store 2-D worked at, he suffered a severe head injury. Said injury didn't get any better and he lost touch with much of reality. He still had the idea of a band in his mind, but 2-D, Russel and Noodle only joined in his imagination, fueled by random bits of information that managed to stick. Everything that Gorillaz achieved is only a daydream he will never leave.

The last word in the codephrase that erases Noodle's memory is "Noodle".

Her old memories are erased while the phrase is spoken and new ones start being made as it ends, and her very first new memory ends up being the last word in the phrase. Which is why it was the only English word she knew when she first arrived at Kong, and why it would stick out in her mind when she was deciding how to greet the new people around her.

• Makes sense, if you think about it. Both codephrases would have something to do with food (ocean bacon restores her memory) and her creator was working as a chef when she found him, wasn't he?

Noodle's hairdo is inspired by 2D and Murdoc's

When I first saw phase 2 Noodle this immediately struck me - when she grew her hair out it turned out to look like a halfway point between Murdoc and 2D's, with jagged spikes and a thick fringe. Influence from two important figures in her life? Coincidence? Deliberate artisitc choice? Either way!

Murdoc really did kill Dennis Hopper.

It's probably Too Soon, but I think it's certainly plausible.

• TOTALLY!!!!!! You know why the movie Alpha and Omega has gotten bad reviews? Murdoc purposely somehow sabotaged the movie's success so it would get bad reviews!!!!!! Hell, he probably disguised himself as all of the critics and wrote bad reviews. Once he was done killing Mr. Hopper, he threatened the movie makers to dedicate the movie to him in utter disrespect! Like my friend said: "If they dedicated this movie to him, he must be rolling in his grave!"

Murdoc is soulless -- or, at least partly.

Assuming that Murdoc really did go into Hell to look for Noodle, Beelzebub could have seen a perfect opportunity to collect on Murdoc's promise of his soul. However, he only managed to take a portion of Murdoc's soul before he escaped. A lot of the fanbase seems to agree that Murdoc has become a lot more heartless and unhinged between Phases 2 and 3, and losing part of his soul may explain some of this. This may also explain why the Boogieman is after him: to collect the portion of Murdoc's soul that's left.

Murdoc's biological mother was very, very underage.

If he's telling the truth about hitting puberty at the age of eight, it might run in the family.

2D is a masochist.

• Or he could just be psychologically battered.

In addition to this theory...

Murdoc is a sadist

All but outright stated, considering his sense of humor.

Murdoc is a zombie.

He's green, smells bad, steals people's organs ...

2D is a zombie.

He died in one of the two car crashes, and being around Murdoc all that time built up enough occult energy to bring him part of the way back. His brain power never recovered fully. Explains why he can apparently get around perfectly well when he should be blind thanks to his eye injuries - zombies don't need eyes.

Had Noodle remained missing, Murdoc would have attempted to integrate Vocaloid technology into Cyborg Noodle's programming.

Maybe he would have gotten word of Vocaloid's success somehow, and attempt to immitate/cash in on such a phenomenon. Gorillaz is a virtual band after all, something Mudz seems to be at least partially aware of. However, the plan would backfire because:

1)The whole thing would create a widespread Broken Base. Some would criticize, contending that it strays too far from the philosophy of "Reject False Icons." Others would contend that it takes just as much creativity to program a Voca-Cyborg to sing a well written song as it does to sing one naturally.

2) Copyright issues.

3) Unseen and unstoppable forces -- i.e. Damon and Jamie -- would have prevented the plan from coming into fruition, had it crossed their minds at all, for the previous reasons.

The Band's name was inspired by the Monkees

Two bands, separated in time but both spread "artificially" - and they're both named after misspelled simians.

Murdoc's deal with the Boogieman was primarily for the creation of Cyborg Noodle.

Come on, it's Murdoc, does it seem likely he could make something that complex (even with the issues she has)? It seems different from his initial deal, he appears to be the same age as he is now when we see it happen if nothing else. If they decide to make Murdoc's trips to hell in search of Noodle canon (that really happened and wasn't just him making up stories) he could have met up with the Boogieman then, and the deal was made so he'd bugger off. Unfortunately for the Boogieman she was created to be a little too loyal to Murdoc, and turned on him when he came to collect whatever his end of the bargain was.

2D will return from the whale as a hardened Badass.

And within five minutes, Murdoc will break him back down to his usual submissive self.

2D isn't dead.

Instead, he's going to wash up on a beach somewhere in a chunk of his room. Whilst the whale did bite into his room, it never actually swallowed, as Russel hurled it.

The Phase 3 b-sides will be called Sea-Sides

Just for Pun.

Murdoc is a Take That to Rupert Murdoch.

Think about it. Murdoc seems to have a lot of control over Gorillaz, just like Murdoch has a lot of control over the British media. Also, if Murdoc has the government conections that Murdoch seems to have (in light of the Leveson Inquiry) it would explain why nobody tried to rescue 2D and how he's got out of so many crimes.