Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Campaign - Ending Explained

Makarov's words, "Do not bury your enemies alive," carry significant meaning. Price regrets not preventing Soap from killing Makarov in the past and realizes that allowing enemies to be captured and imprisoned will not bring an end to the conflict. This is why Price decided to eliminate Shepherd, as he remembered the general warning him that he would regret keeping him alive. Consequently, Price eliminated Shepherd to eliminate a threat to both himself and Task Force 141. I believe Price plans to continue executing their most dangerous enemies going forward, similar to how the original Price dealt with his adversaries after interrogating them.

having Price not be able to save Soap a second time is just a stab in the heart for MW fans..

For those that have played the old MW series games, you know that after General Shepherd is killed TF-141 is disavowed and price is considered a war criminal. And CIA operative Joseph Allen is framed by Makarov on the mission "No-Russian", resulting in war between the East and the West. It sure does look like we are going to see a similar chain of events and I cannot wait to see how the next part of the story unfolds. HOPEFULLY the next campaign isn't rushed and doesn't feel like 14 different dmz or warzone exfils in the span of 3 hours LMAO!! Cod needs to take 2 years to make a good game not rush one out every year. As Makarov says and repeatedly reminds us, "Time is everything"

I think something to mention also is when they went to push the air base hanger , Shepard said that Makarov was in the helicopter but Price responded with no POSITIVE PID. Shepard then replied with Makarov is DEAD, leave it Price. This is also something that pushed Price to kill Shepard

Literally just finished it. At the end when I seen them spread soaps ashes I thought "right shits about to go down it's about to get fun now" then I seen the achievement for completing the game. I was fuming

What really breaks my heart is seeing Ghost and Soaps relationship go from annoying little brother to best bros, even adding the iconic “fist bump” before a mission and now Ghost is left all alone 😢

You missed the most important part. It was a trade off by General Shepard. 7:56 When they found him in the as prisoner, price asked, "What you traded for your life?". It turned out he traded "Soap" for his life. This idea is confirmed in the last 11:42, Shepard " This job is about making sacrifices for the greater good.". And that's why Price killed him.

Thanks for this vid! Very helpful

one thing i'll add about Price's character change and development is that it was interesting to see Gaz be Price's voice of reason in this campaign. Felt like they completely switched personalities from mw2019

This campaign genuinely feels like it was supposed to be twice as long. Soap just kicks it and suddenly boom it’s over. Feel like 2-3 missions were supposed to follow. I think dev cycle really hurt the story mode here, and they’re hoping to fill it in via seasons content, which I feel will fall flat.

Thanks for sharing your perspectives. Much appreciated.

Price killing shepherd felt great

In the cutscene before the mission where Ivan Nolan is captured he and Makarov have a conversation. Makarov says, "Lets find out if the intel from our shadow friend is accurate." Ivan asks, "And if it's not?" Makarov answers, "We'll kill him." The next thing you know Konni is transferring a prisoner that is revealed to be Shephard. It sounded like Shephard was working both sides.

" Do not Bury your enemies alive" - Vladimir Makarov. That quote just hits hard. Its supports Soap's Death and why Price killed Shepard as pointed out in the video. The realisation hits deep. RIP John "Soap" MacTavish, you will be missed.

I played the game and still watched cause Ink and Cod campaign go well. He’s a good narrator and has great theories that cod could chase

I think people fail to realize that Soap's death was not overlooked. Idk if you expect Price, Ghost, and Gaz to cry or something, but that wouldn't happen. You can tell Price, Ghost, and Gaz are all dealing with shock, sadness, and slight anger (More so for Price). The way Price brings himself to say "One KIA" shows it was something he wished he never had to say especially for Soap. They also are trying to keep a sense of professionalism in the state of everything going down. They gave Soap a send-off and paid a tribute to him with a few words before releasing his ashes. The characters are all devastated and for the story's sake, it is going to fuel them and give them even more eagerness to find and kill Makarov for good. It'll all be revenge for Makarov killing soap. I am not sure why everyone is so mad. I kind of wish it was Gaz who died, but it is what it is. It is in a new timeline where Soap's death isn't as crucial as it would be if Price or Ghosts died since they have more importance. They had to kill the character who wouldn't affect the storyline too much. It makes no sense to kill Price or Ghost. We have to stop comparing this game to the old game with how important characters are.

I’m willing to bet that the writers and devs were under the impression that they were gonna have that 2 year gap they were originally promised to write the campaign but when Activision wanted more money and stayed with the 1 year releases they had to try and pump the campaign out through the raids and the Shadow Siege event along with the Open Combat Missions and that the “final level” we got in the release where Soap died was really supposed to be a midpoint or a penultimate level instead of an end, I feel MW3 was supposed to be longer but had to cut a lot of content due to time constraints which all in all is disappointing, I still enjoyed it but there was still just so much missed opportunities that hopefully will be fulfilled in future seasons or maybe a SpeCops/DMZ type mode they can release post-launch and not us having to wait all the way to MW4

I actually believe Graves was telling the truth. Shepherd ordered Graves to use lethal force against 141, but Graves instead gave them a chance to run away. The resulting consequences was more self defense. I see Graves becoming a better ally down the road.

Thank you for this video

Price killing Shepherd also takes it back to MWII where he says he'll go after Shepherd because of the betrayal