Call of Duty: Modern Warfare – Ending Explained | References, Easter Eggs & Sequel Hints

“I almost buried him in Pripyat.”

Before getting into Victor, we have to talk about this line. In the ending cutscene, Price says he ‘almost buried him [Zakhaev] in Pripyat’ — that means that the past history of Captain Price is still canon. In a famous set of missions, set in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, Captain Price and his SAS mentor sneak behind enemy lines and shoot Imran Zakhaev.

With that reference, we probably won’t see a future reboot of these famous missions. But, I’ll bet money there will be a twist on the formula. We might return to Chernobyl in the present day while hunting Victor instead. It could be anything, but by getting the Pripyat reference out of the way, I think we won’t be repeating history.

Victor Zakhaev

The son of Imran Zakhaev, referenced in the ending cutscene as the true mastermind seeking to steal Barkov’s throne as the top evil general in Russia. Victor is also the son of Imran Zakhaev in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare — in that game, the JTF [Joint Task Force] attempt to capture Victor, only for the son to kill himself. In retaliation, Imran Zakhaev launches a nuclear strike against the United States.

From the sounds of it, the ending scene switches the roles. It sounds like Victor Zakhaev is being set up as the main villain of the next game, and he already has beef with Captain Price — Price shot his father’s arm off! Victor was a pathetic, useless kid in the original. Just a voiceless cog of his father’s war machine. My guess is that Victor will play a much larger role in the future.

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