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Dr. Ludvig Maxis in "Call of Duty," Zombies


  • Name: Ludvig Maxis
  • Profession: Scientist
  • Memberships: Group 935 (possibly the Vril Society)
  • Items Created: Ray Gun, Thunder Gun, 31-79 JGb215
  • Family: Daughter, Samantha Maxis

Even though he has never actually appeared in a single zombie map, Dr. Ludvig Maxis is a key character in the Zombie Story. The story follows the major conflict between Maxis and Edward Richtofen, his assistant in Group 935.

Dr. Maxis has an intriguing and complicated story. He betrays almost everyone he comes in contact with, yet is gets very upset when he himself is betrayed.

In This Article:

  • Biography of Dr. Ludvig Maxis
  • The Maxis Zombie Story
  • Maps Maxis appears on
  • Other Interesting Information

Biography of Dr. Ludvig Maxis

Little is known of Ludvig Maxis before he became the leader of Group 935. His wife died shortly after the birth of his daughter, Samantha Maxis. Due to being afraid of losing her too, he kept her close by. This included bringing her with him to Der Riese where he led Group 935 in groundbreaking and dangerous experiments.

Dr. Maxis is a gifted scientist with a very large ego. He refuses to let another scientist succeed in areas that he has failed. This leads to his willingness to do anything it takes to accomplish the goals he has set for himself. This often leads to him deceiving those closest to him, and causing harm with rash decisions.

The Maxis Zombie Story

Dr. Ludvig Maxis was the leader of Group 935. This group was made up of scientists from around the world, and was intended to be independent from any country or involvement in the war. He moved to the Der Riese facility, which was a top-secret scientific facility that ran tests on Element 115 and Die Glocke. He took on Dr. Edward Richtofen, who was both a brilliant scientist and sociopath.

Initial Tests

With the assistance of Richtofen, Maxis performed various tests on the Matter Transference Device (M.T.D. or Teleporter). During this time Element 115 had an unexpected side effect. This lead to animating dead flesh, which in turn became zombies. Rictofen continued to work on the M.T.D., but also experimented with the newly created zombies.

Nazi Funding

As he struggled with the M.T.D. experiments, it became obvious that Group 935 lacked necessary funding. Maxis struck a deal with the Reichstag High Command to trade a new wonder weapon for funding. The wonder weapon was a design created by his assistant, Edward Richtofen. It was named the Wunderwaffe DG-2, Wunderwaffe meaning 'wonder weapon' in German and DG being the initials of Die Glocke. He kept this decision quiet due to the possible unrest it would cause to the other Group 935 scientists.

Maxis became upset when he found out that Dr. Richtofen and Dr. Schuster were working on the M.T.D. instead of perfecting the Wunderwaffe DG-2. Part of his anger was due to the success of their experiments. They were able to teleport a walnut, when Maxis himself was unable to teleport anything. He first belittled Richtofen, and then changed gears and filled him in on what he called an 'administrative secret'. After letting Richtofen know of his deal with the Nazis he thought the experiments with the M.T.D. ended.

Conflict with Edward Richtofen

The conflict with the M.T.D. device and Richtofen's reaction caused Maxis to distrust his assistant. He started working on several experiments without Richtofen, including the Tundergun, Vril energy (possibly with the Vril Society), and the Ray Gun. However, he continued to seek the assistance of Richtofen when running experiments with the M.T.D. and zombies. Going as far as letting Richtofen know that his plans have grown from selling the Wunderwaffe to creating a zombie army.

Ludvig Maxis became distracted by his daughter and a secretary he began to have feelings for, Sophia. This distraction allowed Richtofen the opportunity to go behind his back and build Griffin Station on the moon around the M.P.D. Once the station was complete a plan would be put in place that would change both his and Samantha's life.


Dr. Maxis wanted to conduct a live experiment with the M.T.D., but did not know that Richtofen has already successfully teleported live humans multiple times. He choose his daughters dog, Fluffy. He made the fatal mistake of allowing Richtofen to set up the machine. Instead of teleporting Fluffy it transformed the dog into the first Hellhound. Samantha Maxis saw what was happening and ran into the room. Richtofen shut the door behind her, trapping Dr. Maxis and his daughter with the Hellhound. In an attempt to survive, Maxis powered the M.T.D. and teleported out of the room.

Ludvig ended up trapped in a tunnel on the Moon. He remained there until Dr. Schuster and Dr. Groph found and teleported him to the M.P.D. They brought him there to see if he could convince his daughter to leave the machine. Instead of trying to convince her, he asked her to kill 'all of them'. He was then shot and entered the M.P.D.

Plans in Motion

His story does not end there. He had suspected that Richtofen would deceive him for a long time. During that time he set up two plans of his own. The first plan took place directly after Richtofen succeeded in switching bodies with Samantha. He used Tank Dempsey, Nikolia Belinski, Takeo Masaki, and Samantha (now in Richtofen's body) to launch rockets at the Earth. He intended on taking control away from Richtofen, but instead managed to destroy a large portion of the Earth.

His second plan went into effect when the first failed. He managed to talk to survivors on Earth through electrical devices. Through this ability, he tries to convince them to help him power several towers in a way that will give him control over the Aether. At the same time Richtofen is trying to stop Maxis, and gain full control in a similar method.

Possible Outcomes

If the survivors help Richtofen then Maxis will cease to exist. However, if they help Maxis he will destroy everything.

Maps Maxis Appears On

Maxis Can be heard on the following Maps:

  • Buried
  • Die Rise
  • Green Run
  • Moon
  • Kino Der Toten
  • Der Riese

Other Interesting Information

  • His office can be found in Der Riese, his name is on the door.
  • His other office can be found in Kino der Toten. It is the room that you teleport into. You can see his name on a gold nameplate on his desk, but you must look at it with a sniper rifle.
  • Maxis can communicate through electronics, but must often have the power off in order to do so.

© 2013 Edward D. Saterstad

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