The Paradox, Samantha, and Agartha

[RichKiller]

4 hours ago, anonymous said:

A major thing remains unclear to me: What exactly happened to Samantha? How does the place she is trapped in now differs from the place she was during her time in the MPD? It reminds me of how we free Gersch in Ascension, how he describes it as a terrible place and yet a place where 'she' is in power. 
 

It's also curious how Samantha says that "we are trapped here", plural. What does she mean?

This is tied to another question I've been wondering about, which is when Origins actually start?
Similarly to The Giant, it seems like the crew again forgets how they really got there. 
"You don't even remember, how long this has been going on, how long we have been trapped here"
(Samantha to Richtofen in Origins)

Similarly, in the beginning cutscene you see Richtofen looking at his hands.

 

You may think this is because he is shocked he killed Maxis,
but what if he is just confused at what happened previously and where is he now, in the same way the characters from The Giant seem to get confused?
Food for thought.