really dead? Or just out of commission for (potentially) ever? We see him close the gates at the end of the series, which cuts himself off since he is still controlling the hive mind. If the gates were to ever reopen (not seen in the epilogue after 1k years) would he still be alive but just completely transformed into full protomolecul person, or could he even reopen the gates within the slow zone existence, but chooses not to for obvious reasons?