There’s a few other things I noticed in the trailer after I edited this but maybe that’s a video for another day! Hope you all enjoy this one anyway

After watching the gameplay trailer, I was thinking, "is this going to be a Strelok situation, like in Shadow of Chernobyl?" Hunter gets so messed up mentally, he ends up destroying something he has created.

My guess is after the Aurora crew disappeared the remaining Rangers lead by Hunter declared open war on Hazna, believing that they killed them all. The subsequent second metro war was devastating for the weakened Rangers and so they made a deal with the remnants of the Reich, defeated Hanza and Hunter rose the ranks to the position of Furher, now seeing the monster he has created he's trying to fix what he has done.

Considering what we know about the Stranger's connection to the Dark Ones, his seemingly close relationship with Hunter, and his disdain for the Metro and the Spartans, what if the Stranger is not in fact Hunter?

What if he is Hunter's old friend? Sukhoi. Artyom's stepfather?

We know nothing about Sukhoi other than that he and Hunter were close, and that he was in the army. He also held a fear, if not reservation about the Rangers. The Stranger is skilled in door breaches from what we see in the trailers. Which army personel and Special Forces would know about.

We never hear or see what happened to Sukhoi after Metro 2033 or Last Light. Imagine a Dark One flashback that focuses on Sukhoi saving Artyom from the rat hordes?

Maybe I'm thinking too hard, but it would be awesome. Imagine a final battle between them both!

Would be funny if Hunter is really just a drunk and broken man, a shadow of his former self after chasing after the dark ones.I wouldn't be surprised if the Novoreich used Hunter's name and old legendary status to create a fake "strong man" to make the population submit. That Hunter doesn't actually have any power but that his image is being used.

Novereich seems to be metro’s first genuine nation level faction, up there with the Ncr in terms of sheer industrial capacity and numbers.

Khan is going to have to play a big role in 2039, he was the voice of reason that helped Artyom see the truth and if the Dark Ones are trying to help Hunter but he refuses to listen, Khan is the only one that can get it through his head.

It feels like we are gonna have a "Spec ops: the line" type of situation on our hands.

My bet is on 2 guesses either hunter snapped after he left exhibition in 2033 from the dark one becoming the leader of the new faction “ if it hostile you kill it” or hunter mind broke and it becomes other people with his mind broken because he has the memories of all the ones at the dark ones killed because his mind snapped, which still gives him the spartan skills, but memories that aren’t really his, but he’s trying to find them but they’re not his family their memories of someone else but that’s my guess. What do you all think?

The surface looks so much more developed than in the last games. I'm excited to see what moscow looks like now

I have a weird gut feeling that the story is gonna be awfully reminiscent of spec ops the line if anyone remembers that game but like more metro.

unrealted but I just realised, provided there is electricity and someone saved their PC, there is a non-zero chance of someone playing Gmod in the metro universe (atleast for a few years after the war)

Big Boss & Venom Snake

I think the stranger is a spartan who was a close friend/admirer of Hunter but was betrayed by Hunter. Likely after the departure of the Aurora and crew, Hunter returns to the Metro, takes control of the order in miller's absence and then uses them and support from the Reich, Hansa, and the watchers to unite the Metro. He then purges the order which has become increasingly opposed to his rule in an ambush or suicide mission on the surface that leaves the stranger as the sole survivor. Saved by the dark ones but driven mad by their intervention and the guilt & anger of Hunter's betrayal, the stranger lives in exile until he called back to metro to get his revenge.

It's possible the stranger is hunter, but if this is true then I doubt that he was ever the Fuhrer, with the Fuhrer being another Spartan or watcher plant taking his name and reputation. You don't get the called the stranger if you look and act exactly like the supreme leader and legendary soldier.

But there'd be too many mental hoops to jump through for Hunter to just show up one day and unite the entire metro then become driven crazy by his actions and leave in exile and replaced by an imposter in under 4 years. People in power don't just have an about-face especially when their successful in achieving their goals. A mental break wouldn't make sense because Hunter would've already been mentally broken by the dark ones in 2033, at least 2 years before he could come to power. And Fuhrer Hunter seems like a fairly natural progression from book Hunter if he was a bit more ambitious and politically inclined.

Inconclusion, I personally lean towards the stranger or the Fuhrer not being Hunter because Hunter as Fuhrer makes sense but him also being the stranger doesn't. It'd require much mental gymnastics and would be pretty cliche.

Also, notice how the eyes in the beginning are aged, but in the weird dark Babushka assassination scene, when he leans down to pick up the picture, his eyes are so much younger

I am in the crazy theory that Hunter has split personality disorder after his encounter with the dark ones and is both the main protagonist and the main villian all fight club style.

actually, the phrase on the player characters helmet translates to the enemies must be destroyed like the faceless children from the first trailer were saying which to be fair is very similar to hunters saying if its hostile kill it, I looked it up on google and plugged the writing in just now to see the English translation

I hope Leonid, Sasha, and Homer make an appearance.

Metro 2039 is my most anticipated game!! Can't wait.

I have a wild theory that the Dark Ones have seen what Hunter has become and somehow created "another" Hunter, giving him all good things (that original Hunter has lost) in attempt to stop him