If the Nihilanth had warned mankind about the Combine, the government would've definitely given him sanctuary in exchange for his vast knowledge and abilities. I guess he was so broken from what happened to him and his people that he adopted a "do it to them before they do it to me" mentality out of desperation. Poor Nihilanth.
Makes sense, not to mention who knows how long he was stuck in xen, with him being the last, and possibly having survivors guilt, it’s no wonder he likely snapped.
considering the government sent in a cleanup squad to kill everyone in black mesa instead of working with them when they received a distress signal, im not surprised if they would also just kill the nihilanth and ignore it
It would have been the better choice in hindsight, but if it failed he'd face certain death. He took the option where he had the most control over what happens, if he fails its by his own hand rather than failing a coin toss.
the species didnt have 3 arms. you can clearly see the middle arm was artificially attached like a frankenstein add-on with staples sticking out of the belly of the Nihilanth
The artwork in this video look like the creature has been impisoned and has had its arm removed to avoid using its power. Just like how the imprisoned Vortigaunt in Half Life 2 sweeping the floor at the beginning of the game has its third arm shackled.
Even if it was trying to survive, it still enslaved the Vortigon species and tried to do the same to humanity, essentially employing Combine tactics to escape them. The Combine is the most evil, but the Nihilanth is still evil as well.
Humans have also enslaved multiple species to ensure it's survival, but on a much less sophisticated manner compared to the Nihilanth's domination of "inferior" (for lack of better word) species. And no I am not a vegan ;)). I'm just trying to put this in perspective. Although what I question more about the Nihilanth's morals is if it was even worth it to enslave as many as possible all for the survival of it's last individual. There was no more reason to exist so lonely like that, it should've accepted it's extinction, for the sake of the rest of all universes' lives, but that's easier said than done, so I guess the Nihilanth is "evil" in it's disregard for other living species' freedom, who it "should've" left alone, but the thing is, the nihilanth couldn't survive alone, no species can. I'm thinking all of this as a parallel to both the Combine and the Humans btw, I don't think all of those aren't so different is my point.
he enslaved them because he was forced to do it by the combine, it would be a reasonable theory on how they found earth. using the nihilanth as its gateway
Imagine pissing off an alien entity so much it goes out of its way to learn your language just to call you out *personally* when you show up to its front door.
@Omkar Gawade except the combine enslave species and use them for their own liking throughout the years as a dominant species, we've been using less and less animals as time goes by. in 2010, there were around 50,000 police dogs in the US alone, and an estimate in 2020 says that there's only 15,000 horses, one of the biggest means of transportation throughout history, aren't even ridden on streets anymore what the combine do is take a species, put them to work, and keep them busy as their population slowly dies out under their command we don't do that, we instead retire them as our own abilities and tech gets better and better
My theory: Nihilanth was created or rather modified by the Combine as a controller of the multi purposed slaves - Vortigaunts, with the controllers being his close subordinates and the grunts being the... well grunts. Much like anything anything from the Combine, he was experimented and "upgraded" until reaching a point where he fits their [the Combine ] idea where he can fir in their forces. It is show he controls basically a sizable army and posses the ability to relocate them on demand during battle. His third arm is most likely attached with crude surgery, his legs amputated and his floating "chair" is a gift by the Combine most likely. Being scared from the Combine and desiring to escape their grasp he managed somehow to evade them taking with him his servants and the means to create ground troops. Xen was only temporary, Earth look like a perfect home.
@@Cysco8575probably halfway stalker Only realy the lower half is modified I.e. burnt legs Lack of genitals Metal pieces jutting out Also a third arm is sewn in And ssomething keeps it's neck up
@@denifnaf5874 Well, we don't know for sure how much of its head is actually his, but you're right, the third arm was sewn on him maybe to make better use of some kind of combine machinery. The only problen with that is that the Vorts (and by extention Alien Grunts and Controllers) have a natural third arm on their chest and Controllers and Grunts seems to be artificially created by combining Vortigaunt and Nihilanth's DNA (that's just some fan theory i like but it kinda makes sense too).
@ZoomerStasia slave escaped captivity and the first thing it does is to enslave others Not man in a nutshell Not man being greek for nihilanth The devs gave it that name intentionaly
I personally think the nihilanth’s species isn’t complete extinct rather there are some individuals that are being used and enslaved by the combine. The Nihilanth we see in HL1 escaped from the combine, that’s why it has those bands around it’s hands and that piece of machinery between its legs.
Well before I watch this video, the Nihilanth was the last of it’s kind and was being chased down by the Combine, it got to the boarder world Xen and saw the portals opened up by humans in Black Mesa, the Nihilanth thought it could escape again and move to earth, but this didn’t work as Gordon stopped and killed it. I believe the Nihilanth wasn’t a bad creature before the Combine, maybe even peaceful, only when they came, killed his kind and pushed them to Xen, I feel like this is when it became evil and started enslaving the Vortigaunts.
I think the Nihilanth is the Vortigaunt derivation of a combine advisor. The advisor grubs we find in the citadel are, in my opinion, the human derivation of a combine advisor. This is why the human advisor grubs were given bionic eyes and bionic arms, to be similar in form to the vortigaunt advisor - but they didn't have assistance in floating as their psychic powers would allow them to float already, but the vortigaunt advisor must not be able to move using its different psychic abilities, so the combine installed a device to allow it to levitate. That's why, when the Nihilanth is killed, the Vortigaunts under the control of the combine are able to exhibit free will once more, and begin to shield their species from the control/conditioning of the combine. This would also flow into the theory of G-Man being a full-grown advisor, while Breen and the other collaborators are the ones who exist within the grub advisor bodies. This would also make the Nihilanth the only vortigaunt who collaborated with the combine, allowing it to enslave the species. This explains why the Vortigaunts worship Freeman as if he's a living God, because none of them were willing to undergo what happened, except the one who collaborated, and that's why they are ALL treated like dissidents and slaves by the combine in HL2. It might also have something to do with how the vortigaunts speak, act and behave, and the words of the lone Vort in the sewers during water hazard. He says "We are coterminous", meaning he shares the same limits and boundaries in space and time as Freeman, which is probably his way of saying that the Vortigaunts are all as one - and that they consider Freeman something akin to, or deeper than, what we humans consider a "brother". They commune with one another on a higher level than humans can, and their actions in HL2E1 in saving Alyx and Gordon during the collapse of the citadel shows they aren't bound by physical location when they use their powers, which may be a personal, weaker form of the portals that the Nihilanth can cast. They're certainly a psychic species, and humans are seemingly null in those terms, so being an Advisor seems to grant or enhance those types of powers. That also explains why the Nihilanth really is substantially stronger than the human advisors, but the Nihilanth is specialized in subjugating its own species - like the human advisors are specialized in subjugating humans - and that's why it's so difficult for Freeman as a human to deal with the human advisors, and why the Vortigaunts couldn't resist the Nihilanth.
My theory is this: The Nihilanths were actually Vortigaunts at one point. They were genetically and mechanically modified as last resort weapons to use against the Combine but were wiped out down to the last, who then took what was left of the Vortigaunt race to Xen and then enslaved them either as payback for creating it or because it views this as the only way to save its species. It creates the Controllers to keep the Vorts in line and the grunts as shock troops to invade Earth. Both the Controllers and grunts are made from the same DNA as the Nihilanth and Vortigaunts which explains why they all share similar traits such as multiple eyes surrounding a central one, a third arm, and the ability to organically generate some form of offensive projectile.
Makes you wonder if THATS the secret aboard the borealis. Actually that would make alot of sense. The ships drydock appears as cave is dying and shortly before they build an AI body for him, however we know they had the ability because the turret that houses a fraction of his intelligence. The nialanth, and aperture have mastered portal technology and AI by the 21st century, in time for the events of half life. Glados, seems to be able to convince the science team to give hear airborne super poison, despite the obvious red flags, and even after attempting to kill them all, they persist in giving her poison when asked, showing she was oddly charismatic enough to have the employees do what she said. Maybe the 70s/80s apature had a device aboard the borealis that was akin to a human nialanth. A super brain of sorts, capable of teleportation. Maybe that's why they never got cave Johnson his robot body: the first teleported away, either because it wanted to, or someone else knew it posed a massive threat... Cave Johnson was super controlling, and having the ability mind control or force his work staff to do whatever he wanted (and stop them from reporting to the police, asking for safer work conditions, and going against his increasingly insane orders). A mind control device on the scale of the nialanths would be extremely dangerous to humanity as he would attempt to subjugate everyone in the facility by mental enslavement. This would be a perfect weapon in the cold war, and given that Aperture was pursuing government military contracts would make sense. The fact it had a COLOSSAL projected budget compared to Black Mesa would also seem to imply Aperture had produced something astounding, but when the device dissapeared they received basically nothing, thus bankrupting the company. After all, it wasnt the portal device that caused Apertures ruin: they had the technology by the late 50s, and Black Mesa hadn't even reached parity with it by 2000. Additionally, an artificial brain would be a great idea for a military contract. Eniac was originally made to calculate artillery barrages for ww2, it wouldn't be able to though because the war came to an end as the computer was coming online. In the cold War Maybe the borealis computer would have been proposed as a way to teleport soviet and Chinese nukes safely away, allowing the usa to have nuclear superiority again. But because it would be a vessel for insane despot, Cave Johnson, someone or something stashed the device away in the arctic, in the event it was ever actually needed... like for the Combine
Gordon Freeman is 27 years old and worked at Black Mesa, he has a PHD in Theoretical Physics and possibly some weapon training, or it may be the HEV suit. The Half-Life 1 story has him fighting through Black Mesa to survive, then to close the portals which are held up by the Nihilanth, he then goes to Xen and kills the Nihilanth, this closes the portals and stops the Xen forces by getting through, by this time it was too late however and the Combine come to earth. While the Nihilanth’s chamber was blowing up, Gman keeps Gordon in stasis and sends him back to Earth around 20 years later, without aging, Gordon gets back into the HEV suit which was stripped from him by Gman, which has now been modified by Dr Kleiner and then fights through the Combine forces, Gordon then fights his way up to the Citadel and blows it up, killing Breen (possibly). I was going to write more but I got a bit bored, apologies.
@@Jeff-fe8rf actually, gordon does have a personality his actions show his character, his friends show his character, and even just an NPC talking to him shows his character he's definitely a friendly and wonderful guy, a natural born leader, and a determined badass and his looks also give you a very good picture of what he's like, many of the cover art of him on the 2 games really shows himself off, yet, he doesn't say a word at all
@@jockeyfield1954 its like how @GarbageMammal put it, because gabe newell said that he doesnt speak because the player playing him does all the speaking, and how they choose to play the game.
I find it funny that we actually have no idea what the actual Combine species itself looks like. The Combine soldiers in HL2 being modified humans, the advisors being a whole another different thing, we've only really ever seen their slaves.
@@20_mihir48 I always saw him as a puppet, a pawn in the game. if the overlords who control him and everything else have so much power over Nihilanth then it probably wasn't his choice to enslave Vortigaunts
@@20_mihir48 he didnt plan the invasion (i think) instead he was enslaved by the combine (you can see by looking at his modifications on his body something under him, cuffs and a third arm attached to him) it would be a reasonable theory on how the combine found earth, using the nihilanth as its gateway to earth
What if he was planning to slowly take over earth, but the resonance cascade got the attention of the combine so he had to rush to try to take over. If his plan had worked, earth might have become an impenetrable base to defend against the combine. Perhaps the G man didn’t want such a stalemate and so orchestrated the resonance cascade to get rid of the nihlanth and accelerate the combine invasion and subsequent defeat?
Although I think the Nihilanth itself is dead and gone, I'd love to see the return of the other creatures under his control. I've always liked the idea of the grunts and controllers fighting the Combine after the death of their master, the ones who were transported to Earth possibly joining up with the lambda resistance. Who needs telepathic hunchbacks when you can have seven foot tall death machines and big headed energy orb slingers. Let's see the veterans of Xen's military rise up!
There is a mod called Human Error which let you play as a Metropolice to fight, Vortigaunt, Agrunt, Controllers, Manta rays and human rebels. The Xenians are on the rebel's side.
"The borderworld, Xen, is in our control for the time being, thanks to you. Quite a nasty piece of work you managed over there. I am impressed." - GMAN
the heart melting thing when i play this you find dead body of human with half life suit in very far from home. and you just pass by you took his ammunition
My theory is that it's brain is fourth dimensional. It's inside its head, but folded into N-space for hypercomplicated neurological output. The spine we see is it's brainstem. This fourth dimensional space would doubly protect the large brain from damage, as well as being a good explanation as to why it can easily traverse dimensions. *It thinks literally in new dimensions*
What if G-Man is the ultimate power in the Half-Life series? Think about it, he can bend time, twist space, communicate telepathically, and teleport to anywhere he desires in the universe, all with seemingly little effort. Even the Combine can't do that. Perhaps the G-Man is the one who is setting up the universe for him (or his "employers") to control. G-Man finds the most advanced and able of each species in the universe, and has them captured to create an army of super-intelligent soldiers. Think about the dropships, gunships, striders, etc. Perhaps they were species that were tricked by G-Man into working for him, only for it to lead to the genocide of their species and leading to the strongest one being cloned. "Quite a nasty piece of work you've managed over there, I am impressed," says G-Man to Gordon in HL1. "You've done a great deal in a small timespan, so well in fact that..." in HL2. "You've proved yourself to be of extraordinary value" says G-Man to Alyx in HL Alyx, after realizing that Gordon is no longer the best candidate from Earth. "Their slaves. We are their slaves. We are," Nihilanth says telepathically (not used in the game, although found in its files). "Deceive you. Will deceive you" perhaps an allusion to G-Man's tactics, presenting himself as helpful while having other motives. "The last... you are the last... you are..." perhaps "the last" means that Gordon is the one that G-Man will pick to be the last of his race.
By the way the nihlanth looks disfigured, it makes me think. What else in this universe disfigures and modifies creatures to fit an unnatural purpose? The combine, so far. The way he talks about Gman deceiving him, it also makes me think that he has been on the receiving end of Gman. Perhaps he was lead into a seemingly innocent deal with Gman, only to be betrayed with a combine invasion. This would explain his combine-esque disfigurement, modification, distrust towards Gman, and what appears to be extreme paranoia. Even his lair appears to be deep underground, safe from the threats of the outside world. But even worse, this means that Gman has done this before with other universes, other creatures. This means that Gordon isn't special, but just another pawn in Gman's grand game. This can theoretically mean that Gman can set things in motion to cause a combine invasion (or whatever he's trying to accomplish), but only passively. This may be why he recruits creatures across the universes to do his dirty work. Thank you for coming to my ted talk.
You're not wrong, considering that G-man also persuaded Black Mesa to use a bigger and cleaner Xen crystal, which caused the Cascade Resonance Except in the sequels he wants to help humanity and free it from the combine I honestly don't care about the plot at this point, but If the final Half Life game won't give us the ability to play as Gordon, Barney and Adrian and have them fighting the Combine I'm gonna be mad
@@NiCoNiCoNiCola Very true.. and yes, at the end of the day, I think we'd all prefer the series to end how it started with our boys Gordon, Barney, and Adrian somehow. That really would be grand
@@moga9504 wow, I posted this a long time ago. But yes, I did just finish HL Alyx! It had a phenomenal game ending that turned everything on its head! I think the new game has altered some of my ideas of Gman's relationship with the combine, as seeing it seems to be a strongly negative and fearful relationship, especially from the combines side. But I think the point stands, still, that Gordon is just a pawn, likely, along with many many others across the universes. I heard from the grape vine that the Valve team is working towards another game. Hopefully, we'll learn more about the mysterious life of Gman and who or what his "Employers" are.
It's clear that Gman wanted the nihilant dead, what other reason would he have for giving humans the crystal and pushing things towards the Cascade? This much is clear, but things get muddy with half life 2 and alyx. Why would the combine want to capture G-man? I assumed they hired him to get the nihilant. I guess he could release Gordon as a revenge for his capture.
You actually miss the fact those 'bands' and mechanical parts were most likely due to the creature escaping from the combine, Not from choice. Why would it wear any sort of chains or shackles by choice? The main hint of this was when the nihiliath says "we are their slaves, we are.." to Gordon and this makes a lot more sense than it initially did. Such a big thing to miss. The "controllers" would clearly control and direct the others, maintaining the ecosystem, serving as eyes for the nihiliath, As well as maintain a military structure that made alien grunts in a factory (presumably maybe this nihiliath made this army to protect itself, and fight back). It decided to invade Earth when it could, likely thinking it was probably the combine coming again through a portal, or if it knew, simply another chance to expand to another world beyond Xen; it could have been either, really the invasion of Earth could have been intended as a counter attack sent to the wrong place, because it thought the combine were the only ones who would be coming through any sort of portal. The whole of Xen was militarized with certain aliens and facilities likely because they knew they'd be fighting against combine again, or fighting back, thus the gargantuas and taming of other species as well that could help them. However as shown, the nihiliath was only one invader, the combine became the bigger problem for earth later. Vortigaunts were mostly again enslaved, likely out of necessity and not out of malice or any ill intent toward them, but as peaceful creatures, they were forced to help by wearing shackles to control them, as they otherwise wouldn't; thus their literal ingame entity being monster_alien_slave. If not, they'd likely have no other place to go to anyway. As Black Mesa showed, the Vortigaunts are mostly peaceful, but once controllers forced them to, they would attack. Lastly, the combine found Earth not by the nihiliath but by the fact they opened a rift anyway. Shortly after the 'rift' was closed that was being held open to invade by the nihiliath, possibly even intended to be an invasion/counterattack against the combine homeworld, the combine detected what the humans had already done and thus discovered earth, it had little to do with the nihiliath failing at it itself. The only unknown is that last part where maybe, it was able to project a way to invade/open a rift without alerting the combine, and when defeated, the remaining rift and information of where Earth was suddenly disclosed to the combine, but that is completely speculation.
The Nihilanth, the Vortigaunts and the Controllers all came from the same world. They have similar biology and powers. Also is still a matter of debate if Xen is or isn't their homeworld or if it was or not under Combine control. All we have is a 20 years old e-mail Marc Laidlaw (who doesn't work at Valve anymore) but nothing of this have been said or shown in game. It would make more sense for the Nihilant to be the equivalent of Breen on Xen under Combine control and Xen being the true homeworld of him, the Vortigaunts and the Controllers (the Grunts are are artificialy created soldiers which may or may not be Vortigaunts modified by the Combine like the Combine soldiers on Earth). Also if the Nihilanth was a enemy of the Combine it doesn't made sense that the G-Man (who is hostile to the Combine) wanted him dead.
Yeah, they have the same basic body plan and the 3rd, clawed arm on the chest is a giveaway that they're likely from the same world, much like we share the same basic body plan as every tetrapod out there.
Maybe the Nihilanth was a previous pupet of the GMan and when the GMan had no more use of him, he left the Nihilanth which explain those different sentences from the Nihilanth about the GMan.
It's interesting that the Xen Creatures live outside the constraints of time, this idea has been presented in the movie "The Arrival." and Dr. Manhattan from the "The Watchmen" comic. They show how entities perceive time differently. The reason I bring up the arrival is because of the language that allows people to see the past, present, and future at once. They communicate using full circles. And I noticed whenever The Nihilanth communicates with Gordon freeman, no matter which way the words are arranged, they have the same message. Was that intentionally done by the developers?
The way this thing talked was legitimately creepy and made him a scary villain to me as a pre/early teen. Now I hear the poor guy was just trying to stay alive 😄😢
Anyone noticed that the face of the nihilance is similar to that of the humans after they are synthed by the combine becoming combine soldiers? ( no eyes a tube for a mouth plus the added technology to his body and the stitches ext...)
Good videos, it just bothers me that you show his appearance in HL as what he always looked like. From the surgical scars and the stalker-like appearance it's obvious he was processed by the combine and escaped after. I don't think we can really know what he originally looked like.
Dude, awesome video. HL lore really gets me going (HL1 moreso). I'm subbing and checking out your other lore vids. Edit: It would also be great for you to provide sources so people can verify your info/explore more.
Hey thank you! Sources are in the description. A lot of the information is from observations and exploring the world and then there are various others such as raising the bar and interviews. As a lot is from playing the game, I've had to put it as various :)
Personally I feel "Being desperate" or "Fighting for survival" doesn't justify the enslavement, slaughter, and invasion of other species. If he wanted to escape he could've tried bargaining with or asking Black Mesa for help; being a scientific institute they'd jump on the chance to have an alien life-form cooperating with them. And don't pull that "Humans have enslaved and slaughtered also" crap on me cause that doesn't justify the Nihilanth's actions in the slightest.
I feel like the true cause for the nihilanths behavior was pure paranoia and fear It saw humanity and immediately attacked because it feared we would do the same thing as the combine
Yeah but the Nihilanth doesn't know anything about Humanity, yes they have made trips to Xen but in those trips they took away resources and kidnapped the life forms. This could have led him into thinking that Humanity had similar goals and ideas to the combine and that the only way to achieve peace was to dominate them, before they dominated him.
I personally don't think this is the natural form of the Nihilanth's species. I think the Nihilanth augmented himself after his arrival on Zen or possibly sometime before, and that's why he looks so messed up. I can't imagine that's what his species naturally looks like.
My theory of the Nihilanth’s Metal Parts: I think the last Nihilanth was in the process of being Combined alive like the others from a Combine Processing facility. So he maybe made a ability to make portals or accidentally teleported himself to Xen. Which might be why he has those mechanical structures.
Both Nihilanth and Breen tried to save their species, so I wouldn't call them villains. Seriously, I'm pretty sure if humanity could help combine build and master teleportation (and hand over Freeman too) they could probably be partially freed from Combine
@@seycro not really Judging by the fact they threw so much at Freeman they really don't want him around Oh, boy, I am glad Shepard isn't there. He would Doom, fucking, Slay the entire Combine species himself
pretty sure that the second humans handed over the recipe for portal technology and freeman they'd be lined up against the wall and deleted. this is the only bargaining chips Wallace Breen had to negotiate with the Combine. think about it for a second, why else would they agree to any terms? its because Breen promised them the portal technology, hence why they are so desperate to track down Eli Vance and Isaac Kleiner. this technology must have been previously unavailable to the Combine, if it wasn't they'd have surely used it to invade planets across galaxies already. they enslaved the nihilanth because he had similar portal powers, his species were likely found relatively close to the combine overworld, meaning the combine could get to them without portal technology and take them over, but the last nihilanth (or possibly a group of them) managed to escape the combine, leaving them without this major advantage until humanity broke down the barrier between the world of xen and earth, opening a loophole for the combine to exploit after the death of the nihilanth, the final piece of the puzzle for the combine to enter xen and through xen, earth, was the death of the nihilanth. he was likely responsible for preventing the combine from chasing him into xen, and after his death the combine could freely abuse the resonance cascade using their previously inactive 'primitive' portal technology that they had built while they had the nihilanth in their possession, he was likely the fuel that allowed them to use that tech, before he escaped. i think it is actually mentioned in half life 2 that the combine do posses portal technology, but that it is an inferior, very fixed kind of technology, that only allows that particular portal device to create a link between point A and point B, whereas the portal technology humans had invented was much superior since it could create a link, at will, between point A and point B, C, D, E, F, G etc. depending on the desired location. the combine made a crude replica of Isaac Kleiner's teleporting device in Nova Prospekt that Alyx and Gorden uses to escape while blowing it up, thanks to Judith Mossman's "double agent" antics (i personally believe she was a fullblooded traitor up until the point where she changes her mind in Breen's office, she was like under the delusion that if the Combine got what they wanted, they'd leave humanity in peace, and suddenly realized that would never happen).
@@NiCoNiCoNiCola they threw nothing at Freeman, in fact the Earth is such a small priority for humanity considering the Combine has actually conquered entire universes and span entire dimensions
Honestly, I want to know what the fuck the Nihilanth was thinking when he attacked humanity, considering his first introduction to us was some peaceful explorers and scientists. You'd think he'd immediately try to establish contact with humanity and warn us about the Combine, as well as join us so we could potentially stand together against the Combine should they ever discover us. Even if he did see us as thieves for taking some floura, fauna, and crystals from Xen, there are bigger things to worry about.
It's not because you're a victim that you cannot be evil. He became what he was running from (with less technology tho). Also he didn't just enslaved vortis but used all the life on Xen, that's why he wasn't happy when we got rid of Gonarch.
"They had three arms." Did they though? I know the one example we have of a Nihilanth does currently have three arms, but that middle arm is clearly stitched in place. On top of that, the initial concept art only had them with two arms. It seems more likely that the Nihilanth added that third arm onto himself after he arrived in Zen. Perhaps this made it easier to control the Vortigaunt species. Or maybe he thought the Vortigaunt's would more easily accept him if he tried to make himself more closely resemble them. Or, of course it could have been the Combine that added it for whatever reason they needed him to have it for. On the other hand, that concept art could equally point to the Nihilanth species actually having three arms. It shows a stitching vertically up the center of its chest. Once Valve decided to add the third arm, the pre-existing stitching had to conform around this new arm. The top of the "shoulder" does not appear to have any stitches. As for the controllers, they are unfortunately too low res to determine if that third arm is natural or not. Assuming it is natural, they could just have easily arrived along with the Vortigaunt's instead of the Nihilanth's world. Or they could come from an entirely seperate universe altogether. After all, three arms appears to be rather common among the multiverses. One thing that does seem to tie the Controllers to the Nihilanths though is that all three arms have three fingers each. The Vortigaunts have only two fingers on their middle arm. Personally, I think there is just an unspoken rule in effect. To live in Zen, you MUST have three arms. Doesn't matter how or why, but you must have more than two and less than four.
judging by how enemies act-in game as a fact, it can be interpreted that the Nihilanth wanted to kill all of humanity, as all Vortigaunts, Alien Grunts, Controllers and Gargatuas attack humans without remorse. yes, one can make the argument that is basically how the gameplay portrays that all alien enemies would be hostile, to incentivize the players to fight back and shouldn't be taken seriously for the lore. regardless, if what i think is true, it is pretty hypocritical that the survivor of a genocide is pretty willing to do that too instead of cooperation with humanity. to me he seems pretty evil, even if he may have good intentions. Oh and to double the hypocrisy, he *enslaved the Vortigaunts.* The Nihilanth is acting exactly like the Combine in almost all aspects. From making artificial monsters to brainwashing mooks to fight for him.
I haven't played alex so I don't know if my theory is somehow debunked in it, but my theory for a while has been that GMan is actually a Combine, possibly part of a rebel faction against what his people is doing, or simply a Loki type character, stirring up trouble and making things more difficult for his brethren for the lulz
I feel like the Nihilanth was definetly pretty evil, maybe that's the nature of his race. Maybe he was ruling over someone else in his homeworld just like the combine. For one, he seems awfully good almost experienced in enslaving and controlling said slaves. Only an inherently evil entity, would dominate and enslave a new world that they happened upon, in this case, nihilanth enslaved xen. Nihilanth also seems narcissistic or perceives himself as above others, potentially because of how his race lived in their homeworld. If the Nihilanth wasn't evil and just desperate for escape or survival, surely he would have asked or made a deal with Freeman to not kill him. He could have used his slave army to help the humans fight the combine, in exchange for alteast defeating a common enemy and promising the vortigaunts their freedom if they help fight. He could have went to earth with the humans, bait the combine in and launch a massive surprise attack as soon they arrive. But no, he chose to insult and attempt to kill Freeman. He tells him he cannot win etc. If he was watching Freeman for a time, then he definetly knew that Gordon was in the exact same desperate situation as him, only doing he things he's doing for the sake of himself and his species. It would make more sense to make allies in such circumstances no? Im not saying Nihilanth is a guaranteed pure evil. But he just gives off a narcissistic tyrant vibe, almost like he was always like this.
Also, if he was the last of his race, wouldn't he just accept his fate, his species dieing out? He would have known that his kind had no chance of survival, so wouldn't he at least try to save other species from the fate of the rest of his kind?
The Gman says that his Employers have been watching Gordon, and they have much interest in him. Gman's Employers must be a large group of Godlike beings, similar to the Nihlanth and the GMan. What if the Gman is being enslaved by his "employers", and the Gman is nearly a messenger for the Employers. The Employers speak through the Gman, and the employers are the backbone of the Universal Union, through which they control. The Universal Union strives to enslave the multi-verse. However, just like the Advisors were using Dr. Breen as a puppet, the "Employers" are using the Advisors as their puppet. So, in other words, The Universal Union (also known as the combine), are being controlled by the Employers. The Employers are controlling the Combine by controlling the Advisors. Employers>Gman>Advisors>Combine From here on out I will refer to the Universal Union as UU or Combine. The Combine under control of the Employers, want to eradicate any means of resistance, or anyone that they can't control and that has the potential of destroying the Combine or the Gman, and by anyone, I mean highly evolved beings capable of altering space, time, and that has the ability of moving between dimensions, in this case, The Nihlanth. The Universal Union, in their quest to rule the multi-verse, have eradicated almost every last one of these God-like beings, and the Nihlanth is the last of these godlike beings. Through searching for potential candidates that could be useful to their movement, they come across Gordon Freeman. Gordon Freeman was able to wipe out the Nihlanth, something the Employers had trouble doing. So, the Employers decides that they are going to use Gordon. They use the GMan, their messenger, and control Gordon Freeman through the Gman. The Gman delivers the Employers priorities and objectives directly to Gordon Freeman, and Gordon Freeman does the Employer's Dirty Work, making him a slave. Ok, this shit is a bit weird after this, but hear me out. From what I can see, Gordon Freeman is the only last known being in the Multiverse that is capable of destroying the Universal Union and their enslavement of other species and universes. The Vortigaunts have seen this after he freed some of them from their enslavement. Gordon was able to do this because he has limitless capabilities, meaning that he can basically do whatever he wants, earning him the title of "The Freeman." These potentials have led to Gordon actually appearing as a Godlike Being capable of extraordinary and unlimited abilities. However, Gordon does not know that he holds such powers and potential. The Employers saw that Gordon actually has the powers to destroy them and the Combine, however, the Employers eventually saw that Gordon does not know that he is capable of so much, leading them to making the decision of enslaving Gordon and using him as their tool. The Nihlanth has learned of the Employers, who they are, and their intentions. While battling freeman, he actually tries to educate and inform Freeman about the Employers, but it is too late as the Nihlanth is killed before he can finish. What's in the Briefcase? My Two Ideas 1. Instructions and Directions directly from the Employers on what to do. These instructions may include details on what Freeman's next objective is, who to control, what messages to spread and tell people, and overall, who needs to do what. The brief case many not only include instructions on what the GMans orders and objectives are, but also detailed information on the What will happen in the Future. Which may be another one of Gman's tasks, ensuring that certain events occur, leading to a future that the Employers favor. And example of one of these events could be the Renaissance Cascade 2. The Briefcase holds some type of XEN Crystal or some type of device that allows him to open doors and portals. These Doors (or Portals) allow him to travel to any point in time, instantly appear at any place or location in the Universe, and travel between Dimensions and Universes (Or Multiverse). This is how the GMan is able to appear everywhere at once, and how he is able to open portals which we can see occur a few times in Half Life 1. Prototypes of this device may have been built in Black Mesa. In Opposing Force, you may acquire a handheld weapon that allows you to flip between Xen and our Universe
When the nihilanth says we are their slaves everyone thinks it's talking about the combine but I think it's talking about the scientists because in the black Mesa facility the snarks are found in a testing room and the alien grunts are traped in some sort of test chamber and even more are found in other places especially in questionable ethics.
That wouldn't make any sense because he is supposed to be telepathically saying that to Gordon.... who as far as the Nihilanth is concerned is one of the scientists that enslaves the xenian wildlife. Even if he knew that Gordon never took part in such action, he still wasn't a slave to black mesa as he enjoyed working there. So it would only make sense if the Nihilanth is referring to the combine in that statement.
If the Nihilanth was clairvoyant- and I don't doubt it, the Vortigaunts are telepathic, anything goes in Half Life-- then maybe they were fighting Gordon and such, because they *knew* that a hole had ripped open in reality, and that'd draw the Combine's attention. It's the equivalent of the horror protagonist socking the idiot deuteragonist in the face for knocking over pots and pans and now the monster has come running to their exact location. "You fool! Now we're both in danger!" ... I feel sorry for 'em. Really, nobody asked to get so screwed over. The Combine are just tyrants all-out, the Xen life is just trying to scrape by.
I am a die hard fan of Half Life and my lovely mother got me an Oculus Quest 2 just so i could play Alyx. She overheard my conversation about it lol (I was in my early Twenties nearly in my mid Twenties now) Played the game with my VR headset and felt extremely sick. Good thing they made the teleporting option a thing. Still haven't finished it can't really get into it VR just isn't my thing. Got to Jeff and unfortunately put it down...
It's clear that Gman wanted the nihilant dead, what other reason would he have for giving humans the crystal and pushing things towards the Cascade? This much is clear, but things get muddy with half life 2 and alyx. Why would the combine want to capture G-man? I assumed they hired him to get the nihilant. I guess he could release Gordon as a revenge for his capture.
If the Nihilanth had warned mankind about the Combine, the government would've definitely given him sanctuary in exchange for his vast knowledge and abilities.
I guess he was so broken from what happened to him and his people that he adopted a "do it to them before they do it to me" mentality out of desperation.
Poor Nihilanth.
Nah, they killed the scientists and you expect them to be the sympathetic to an alien
Makes sense, not to mention who knows how long he was stuck in xen, with him being the last, and possibly having survivors guilt, it’s no wonder he likely snapped.
considering the government sent in a cleanup squad to kill everyone in black mesa instead of working with them when they received a distress signal, im not surprised if they would also just kill the nihilanth and ignore it
It would have been the better choice in hindsight, but if it failed he'd face certain death. He took the option where he had the most control over what happens, if he fails its by his own hand rather than failing a coin toss.
@@emmastrange5557 that actually makes sense.
> *invades Earth*
> "We are their slaves, we are..."
> refuses to elaborate further
> dies
Truly a "🗿" moment
the species didnt have 3 arms. you can clearly see the middle arm was artificially attached like a frankenstein add-on with staples sticking out of the belly of the Nihilanth
There's a chance that his arm was attached back, after he lost it, somehow. He was attacked by Combine, after all.
@@noeltlalka6476 yeah but with the machines attached it looks like he was changed like most creatures that have contact with the combine
What if he attached it himself to appear more native to the vorts and alien grunts?
The artwork in this video look like the creature has been impisoned and has had its arm removed to avoid using its power. Just like how the imprisoned Vortigaunt in Half Life 2 sweeping the floor at the beginning of the game has its third arm shackled.
It actually looks more like his belly was sewn back together, rather that a third arm was sewn on. There are no stitches on the top side of the arm.
Even if it was trying to survive, it still enslaved the Vortigon species and tried to do the same to humanity, essentially employing Combine tactics to escape them. The Combine is the most evil, but the Nihilanth is still evil as well.
Humans have also enslaved multiple species to ensure it's survival, but on a much less sophisticated manner compared to the Nihilanth's domination of "inferior" (for lack of better word) species. And no I am not a vegan ;)). I'm just trying to put this in perspective. Although what I question more about the Nihilanth's morals is if it was even worth it to enslave as many as possible all for the survival of it's last individual. There was no more reason to exist so lonely like that, it should've accepted it's extinction, for the sake of the rest of all universes' lives, but that's easier said than done, so I guess the Nihilanth is "evil" in it's disregard for other living species' freedom, who it "should've" left alone, but the thing is, the nihilanth couldn't survive alone, no species can. I'm thinking all of this as a parallel to both the Combine and the Humans btw, I don't think all of those aren't so different is my point.
he enslaved them because he was forced to do it by the combine, it would be a reasonable theory on how they found earth. using the nihilanth as its gateway
Lmao, humans enslaved fellow humans and Nihilanth ain't even a human
@@pyrobytee its not reasonable is stupid
Tbh its all about perspective sure every other species looks at humans as evil ...i mean what do you think cows and livestock think of us lmao
Imagine pissing off an alien entity so much it goes out of its way to learn your language just to call you out *personally* when you show up to its front door.
Honestly I wouldn't consider anyone "evil" in half life. Except the combine as a whole.
@Omkar Gawade except the combine enslave species and use them for their own liking
throughout the years as a dominant species, we've been using less and less animals as time goes by.
in 2010, there were around 50,000 police dogs in the US alone, and an estimate in 2020 says that there's only 15,000
horses, one of the biggest means of transportation throughout history, aren't even ridden on streets anymore
what the combine do is take a species, put them to work, and keep them busy as their population slowly dies out under their command
we don't do that, we instead retire them as our own abilities and tech gets better and better
@@jockeyfield1954 The combine twisting other species tech to their purposes instead of making their own doesn’t help.
and the Black Ops.
@@AngrySilence the black ops where victims they just have orders from the government , the only evils are the combine
Race X
My theory:
Nihilanth was created or rather modified by the Combine as a controller of the multi purposed slaves - Vortigaunts, with the controllers being his close subordinates and the grunts being the... well grunts. Much like anything anything from the Combine, he was experimented and "upgraded" until reaching a point where he fits their [the Combine ] idea where he can fir in their forces. It is show he controls basically a sizable army and posses the ability to relocate them on demand during battle.
His third arm is most likely attached with crude surgery, his legs amputated and his floating "chair" is a gift by the Combine most likely. Being scared from the Combine and desiring to escape their grasp he managed somehow to evade them taking with him his servants and the means to create ground troops. Xen was only temporary, Earth look like a perfect home.
Perhaps the Nihilanth is his species equivalent to the Stalkers made of non-obedient humans by the Combine.
@@Cysco8575Then Imagine a perfectly healthy and unmodified nihilanth
@@airesartz7196 Would be really interesting to see how was the Nihilanth's species before the combine.
@@Cysco8575probably halfway stalker
Only realy the lower half is modified
I.e. burnt legs
Lack of genitals
Metal pieces jutting out
Also a third arm is sewn in
And ssomething keeps it's neck up
@@denifnaf5874 Well, we don't know for sure how much of its head is actually his, but you're right, the third arm was sewn on him maybe to make better use of some kind of combine machinery. The only problen with that is that the Vorts (and by extention Alien Grunts and Controllers) have a natural third arm on their chest and Controllers and Grunts seems to be artificially created by combining Vortigaunt and Nihilanth's DNA (that's just some fan theory i like but it kinda makes sense too).
I'd say so, given it enslaved the Vortiguants. The Combine are the greater evil, but the Nihilanth is definitely a lesser evil.
Great way to view it
@ZoomerStasia slave escaped captivity and the first thing it does is to enslave others
Not man in a nutshell
Not man being greek for nihilanth
The devs gave it that name intentionaly
Damn, the Nihilanth would've been a great ally
yeah
4:37 I love how Gordon's just standing there like "...well I guess this is happening"
lol, ikr
"Welp... I guess I'm not coming back home at 5. Better tell the wife."
I personally think the nihilanth’s species isn’t complete extinct rather there are some individuals that are being used and enslaved by the combine. The Nihilanth we see in HL1 escaped from the combine, that’s why it has those bands around it’s hands and that piece of machinery between its legs.
Makes sense, but their probably doing the smart thing and keeping low
piece of machinery between it's legs
made me laugh lmao
Well before I watch this video, the Nihilanth was the last of it’s kind and was being chased down by the Combine, it got to the boarder world Xen and saw the portals opened up by humans in Black Mesa, the Nihilanth thought it could escape again and move to earth, but this didn’t work as Gordon stopped and killed it.
I believe the Nihilanth wasn’t a bad creature before the Combine, maybe even peaceful, only when they came, killed his kind and pushed them to Xen, I feel like this is when it became evil and started enslaving the Vortigaunts.
"Even the nicest guy on the planet can become the most selfish when his life is in danger." - some random youtube comment I found
I think the Nihilanth is the Vortigaunt derivation of a combine advisor. The advisor grubs we find in the citadel are, in my opinion, the human derivation of a combine advisor. This is why the human advisor grubs were given bionic eyes and bionic arms, to be similar in form to the vortigaunt advisor - but they didn't have assistance in floating as their psychic powers would allow them to float already, but the vortigaunt advisor must not be able to move using its different psychic abilities, so the combine installed a device to allow it to levitate. That's why, when the Nihilanth is killed, the Vortigaunts under the control of the combine are able to exhibit free will once more, and begin to shield their species from the control/conditioning of the combine.
This would also flow into the theory of G-Man being a full-grown advisor, while Breen and the other collaborators are the ones who exist within the grub advisor bodies. This would also make the Nihilanth the only vortigaunt who collaborated with the combine, allowing it to enslave the species. This explains why the Vortigaunts worship Freeman as if he's a living God, because none of them were willing to undergo what happened, except the one who collaborated, and that's why they are ALL treated like dissidents and slaves by the combine in HL2.
It might also have something to do with how the vortigaunts speak, act and behave, and the words of the lone Vort in the sewers during water hazard. He says "We are coterminous", meaning he shares the same limits and boundaries in space and time as Freeman, which is probably his way of saying that the Vortigaunts are all as one - and that they consider Freeman something akin to, or deeper than, what we humans consider a "brother". They commune with one another on a higher level than humans can, and their actions in HL2E1 in saving Alyx and Gordon during the collapse of the citadel shows they aren't bound by physical location when they use their powers, which may be a personal, weaker form of the portals that the Nihilanth can cast.
They're certainly a psychic species, and humans are seemingly null in those terms, so being an Advisor seems to grant or enhance those types of powers. That also explains why the Nihilanth really is substantially stronger than the human advisors, but the Nihilanth is specialized in subjugating its own species - like the human advisors are specialized in subjugating humans - and that's why it's so difficult for Freeman as a human to deal with the human advisors, and why the Vortigaunts couldn't resist the Nihilanth.
Holy shit, Meg, that's a lotta words
My theory is this:
The Nihilanths were actually Vortigaunts at one point. They were genetically and mechanically modified as last resort weapons to use against the Combine but were wiped out down to the last, who then took what was left of the Vortigaunt race to Xen and then enslaved them either as payback for creating it or because it views this as the only way to save its species. It creates the Controllers to keep the Vorts in line and the grunts as shock troops to invade Earth. Both the Controllers and grunts are made from the same DNA as the Nihilanth and Vortigaunts which explains why they all share similar traits such as multiple eyes surrounding a central one, a third arm, and the ability to organically generate some form of offensive projectile.
Good theory. Like creating a powerful AI that might enslave humans.
Makes you wonder if THATS the secret aboard the borealis.
Actually that would make alot of sense. The ships drydock appears as cave is dying and shortly before they build an AI body for him, however we know they had the ability because the turret that houses a fraction of his intelligence. The nialanth, and aperture have mastered portal technology and AI by the 21st century, in time for the events of half life.
Glados, seems to be able to convince the science team to give hear airborne super poison, despite the obvious red flags, and even after attempting to kill them all, they persist in giving her poison when asked, showing she was oddly charismatic enough to have the employees do what she said.
Maybe the 70s/80s apature had a device aboard the borealis that was akin to a human nialanth. A super brain of sorts, capable of teleportation. Maybe that's why they never got cave Johnson his robot body: the first teleported away, either because it wanted to, or someone else knew it posed a massive threat...
Cave Johnson was super controlling, and having the ability mind control or force his work staff to do whatever he wanted (and stop them from reporting to the police, asking for safer work conditions, and going against his increasingly insane orders). A mind control device on the scale of the nialanths would be extremely dangerous to humanity as he would attempt to subjugate everyone in the facility by mental enslavement.
This would be a perfect weapon in the cold war, and given that Aperture was pursuing government military contracts would make sense. The fact it had a COLOSSAL projected budget compared to Black Mesa would also seem to imply Aperture had produced something astounding, but when the device dissapeared they received basically nothing, thus bankrupting the company. After all, it wasnt the portal device that caused Apertures ruin: they had the technology by the late 50s, and Black Mesa hadn't even reached parity with it by 2000.
Additionally, an artificial brain would be a great idea for a military contract. Eniac was originally made to calculate artillery barrages for ww2, it wouldn't be able to though because the war came to an end as the computer was coming online. In the cold War Maybe the borealis computer would have been proposed as a way to teleport soviet and Chinese nukes safely away, allowing the usa to have nuclear superiority again. But because it would be a vessel for insane despot, Cave Johnson, someone or something stashed the device away in the arctic, in the event it was ever actually needed... like for the Combine
no
I'm most intrigued by the implication that the Nihilanth has already had dealings with the Gman
Yeah, everything apparently connected to Gman is automatically interesting.
10:51
I'm pretty sure it's "Alone... not you alone... not you alone..."
pls make lore behind gordon freeman (if its possible)
He’s just a nerd
Gordon Freeman is 27 years old and worked at Black Mesa, he has a PHD in Theoretical Physics and possibly some weapon training, or it may be the HEV suit. The Half-Life 1 story has him fighting through Black Mesa to survive, then to close the portals which are held up by the Nihilanth, he then goes to Xen and kills the Nihilanth, this closes the portals and stops the Xen forces by getting through, by this time it was too late however and the Combine come to earth. While the Nihilanth’s chamber was blowing up, Gman keeps Gordon in stasis and sends him back to Earth around 20 years later, without aging, Gordon gets back into the HEV suit which was stripped from him by Gman, which has now been modified by Dr Kleiner and then fights through the Combine forces, Gordon then fights his way up to the Citadel and blows it up, killing Breen (possibly).
I was going to write more but I got a bit bored, apologies.
@@Jeff-fe8rf actually, gordon does have a personality
his actions show his character, his friends show his character, and even just an NPC talking to him shows his character
he's definitely a friendly and wonderful guy, a natural born leader, and a determined badass
and his looks also give you a very good picture of what he's like, many of the cover art of him on the 2 games really shows himself off, yet, he doesn't say a word at all
@@Jeff-fe8rf we are his personality.
@@jockeyfield1954 its like how @GarbageMammal put it, because gabe newell said that he doesnt speak because the player playing him does all the speaking, and how they choose to play the game.
I find it funny that we actually have no idea what the actual Combine species itself looks like. The Combine soldiers in HL2 being modified humans, the advisors being a whole another different thing, we've only really ever seen their slaves.
we will find out what the combine species looks like in half life 3
@@clanka. ...About that.
@@Pangshieh we got HL:A and they always release new HL games when new tech comes out so we have a chance with source 2
What if at the core the combine is just a program (read AI), sounds familiar?
Anthros = Man/Human. Nihil = Not. Nihilanth = Not Man.
"You are Man. He is not Man. For you he waits. For You he waits ...." - Nihilanth quote
Amazing indeed.
If he was referring to the G-man, then didn’t he basically call him a nihila-WAIT A FUCKING MINUTE!!!!!
What if he is a woman?
And here I was thinking his name was a pun on Nihilism
Long story short smart feetus trys to yeetus humanity so he can run but gets killed after nerd in orang pj's shot him
Dude I wish your channel was bigger you make such great content
The Nialith wasn't really evil. He was just a creature fighting for survival. Kind of sad really.
But he planned the invasion of earth and he enslaved vortigaunts so for nihiilanth it is right but for people and vortigaunts it is wrong
@@20_mihir48 I always saw him as a puppet, a pawn in the game.
if the overlords who control him and everything else have so much power over Nihilanth then it probably wasn't his choice to enslave Vortigaunts
If he were friendly, yea, he wouldn't really be evil.
And headcrabs just want to eat.
@@20_mihir48 he didnt plan the invasion (i think) instead he was enslaved by the combine (you can see by looking at his modifications on his body something under him, cuffs and a third arm attached to him) it would be a reasonable theory on how the combine found earth, using the nihilanth as its gateway to earth
What if he was planning to slowly take over earth, but the resonance cascade got the attention of the combine so he had to rush to try to take over. If his plan had worked, earth might have become an impenetrable base to defend against the combine.
Perhaps the G man didn’t want such a stalemate and so orchestrated the resonance cascade to get rid of the nihlanth and accelerate the combine invasion and subsequent defeat?
*He could be talking about Dr. Breen, forseeing him getting an Advisor host body.*
Although I think the Nihilanth itself is dead and gone, I'd love to see the return of the other creatures under his control. I've always liked the idea of the grunts and controllers fighting the Combine after the death of their master, the ones who were transported to Earth possibly joining up with the lambda resistance. Who needs telepathic hunchbacks when you can have seven foot tall death machines and big headed energy orb slingers. Let's see the veterans of Xen's military rise up!
There is a mod called Human Error which let you play as a Metropolice to fight, Vortigaunt, Agrunt, Controllers, Manta rays and human rebels. The Xenians are on the rebel's side.
"The borderworld, Xen, is in our control for the time being, thanks to you. Quite a nasty piece of work you managed over there. I am impressed." - GMAN
On the 3 arm, it looks like the arm has been grafted on to the nilianth
the heart melting thing when i play this you find dead body of human with half life suit in very far from home. and you just pass by you took his ammunition
My theory is that it's brain is fourth dimensional. It's inside its head, but folded into N-space for hypercomplicated neurological output. The spine we see is it's brainstem.
This fourth dimensional space would doubly protect the large brain from damage, as well as being a good explanation as to why it can easily traverse dimensions. *It thinks literally in new dimensions*
What if G-Man is the ultimate power in the Half-Life series? Think about it, he can bend time, twist space, communicate telepathically, and teleport to anywhere he desires in the universe, all with seemingly little effort. Even the Combine can't do that. Perhaps the G-Man is the one who is setting up the universe for him (or his "employers") to control. G-Man finds the most advanced and able of each species in the universe, and has them captured to create an army of super-intelligent soldiers. Think about the dropships, gunships, striders, etc. Perhaps they were species that were tricked by G-Man into working for him, only for it to lead to the genocide of their species and leading to the strongest one being cloned. "Quite a nasty piece of work you've managed over there, I am impressed," says G-Man to Gordon in HL1. "You've done a great deal in a small timespan, so well in fact that..." in HL2. "You've proved yourself to be of extraordinary value" says G-Man to Alyx in HL Alyx, after realizing that Gordon is no longer the best candidate from Earth. "Their slaves. We are their slaves. We are," Nihilanth says telepathically (not used in the game, although found in its files). "Deceive you. Will deceive you" perhaps an allusion to G-Man's tactics, presenting himself as helpful while having other motives. "The last... you are the last... you are..." perhaps "the last" means that Gordon is the one that G-Man will pick to be the last of his race.
By the way the nihlanth looks disfigured, it makes me think. What else in this universe disfigures and modifies creatures to fit an unnatural purpose? The combine, so far. The way he talks about Gman deceiving him, it also makes me think that he has been on the receiving end of Gman. Perhaps he was lead into a seemingly innocent deal with Gman, only to be betrayed with a combine invasion. This would explain his combine-esque disfigurement, modification, distrust towards Gman, and what appears to be extreme paranoia. Even his lair appears to be deep underground, safe from the threats of the outside world. But even worse, this means that Gman has done this before with other universes, other creatures. This means that Gordon isn't special, but just another pawn in Gman's grand game. This can theoretically mean that Gman can set things in motion to cause a combine invasion (or whatever he's trying to accomplish), but only passively. This may be why he recruits creatures across the universes to do his dirty work. Thank you for coming to my ted talk.
You're not wrong, considering that G-man also persuaded Black Mesa to use a bigger and cleaner Xen crystal, which caused the Cascade Resonance
Except in the sequels he wants to help humanity and free it from the combine
I honestly don't care about the plot at this point, but If the final Half Life game won't give us the ability to play as Gordon, Barney and Adrian and have them fighting the Combine I'm gonna be mad
@@NiCoNiCoNiCola Very true.. and yes, at the end of the day, I think we'd all prefer the series to end how it started with our boys Gordon, Barney, and Adrian somehow. That really would be grand
If you have played HL Alyx you now know that Gordon is indeed not special. He was useful for a moment and now it's over. (I will not spoil more)
@@moga9504 wow, I posted this a long time ago. But yes, I did just finish HL Alyx! It had a phenomenal game ending that turned everything on its head! I think the new game has altered some of my ideas of Gman's relationship with the combine, as seeing it seems to be a strongly negative and fearful relationship, especially from the combines side. But I think the point stands, still, that Gordon is just a pawn, likely, along with many many others across the universes. I heard from the grape vine that the Valve team is working towards another game. Hopefully, we'll learn more about the mysterious life of Gman and who or what his "Employers" are.
It's clear that Gman wanted the nihilant dead, what other reason would he have for giving humans the crystal and pushing things towards the Cascade? This much is clear, but things get muddy with half life 2 and alyx.
Why would the combine want to capture G-man? I assumed they hired him to get the nihilant.
I guess he could release Gordon as a revenge for his capture.
You actually miss the fact those 'bands' and mechanical parts were most likely due to the creature escaping from the combine, Not from choice. Why would it wear any sort of chains or shackles by choice? The main hint of this was when the nihiliath says "we are their slaves, we are.." to Gordon and this makes a lot more sense than it initially did. Such a big thing to miss. The "controllers" would clearly control and direct the others, maintaining the ecosystem, serving as eyes for the nihiliath, As well as maintain a military structure that made alien grunts in a factory (presumably maybe this nihiliath made this army to protect itself, and fight back). It decided to invade Earth when it could, likely thinking it was probably the combine coming again through a portal, or if it knew, simply another chance to expand to another world beyond Xen; it could have been either, really the invasion of Earth could have been intended as a counter attack sent to the wrong place, because it thought the combine were the only ones who would be coming through any sort of portal. The whole of Xen was militarized with certain aliens and facilities likely because they knew they'd be fighting against combine again, or fighting back, thus the gargantuas and taming of other species as well that could help them. However as shown, the nihiliath was only one invader, the combine became the bigger problem for earth later. Vortigaunts were mostly again enslaved, likely out of necessity and not out of malice or any ill intent toward them, but as peaceful creatures, they were forced to help by wearing shackles to control them, as they otherwise wouldn't; thus their literal ingame entity being monster_alien_slave. If not, they'd likely have no other place to go to anyway. As Black Mesa showed, the Vortigaunts are mostly peaceful, but once controllers forced them to, they would attack. Lastly, the combine found Earth not by the nihiliath but by the fact they opened a rift anyway. Shortly after the 'rift' was closed that was being held open to invade by the nihiliath, possibly even intended to be an invasion/counterattack against the combine homeworld, the combine detected what the humans had already done and thus discovered earth, it had little to do with the nihiliath failing at it itself. The only unknown is that last part where maybe, it was able to project a way to invade/open a rift without alerting the combine, and when defeated, the remaining rift and information of where Earth was suddenly disclosed to the combine, but that is completely speculation.
How did I just find your channel? These are great man keep up the good work
Imagine going to that extent to survive the combine only to be taken down by crowbar man Gordor Freidman.
He'd better come back, because he's the only one who knows enough information to save the earth, since he hid himself from extermination.
The Nihilanth, the Vortigaunts and the Controllers all came from the same world. They have similar biology and powers. Also is still a matter of debate if Xen is or isn't their homeworld or if it was or not under Combine control. All we have is a 20 years old e-mail Marc Laidlaw (who doesn't work at Valve anymore) but nothing of this have been said or
shown in game. It would make more sense for the Nihilant to be the equivalent of Breen on Xen under Combine control and Xen being the true homeworld of him, the Vortigaunts and the Controllers (the Grunts are are artificialy created soldiers which may or may not be Vortigaunts modified by the Combine like the Combine soldiers on Earth). Also if the Nihilanth was a enemy of the Combine it doesn't made sense that the G-Man (who is hostile to the Combine) wanted him dead.
Yeah, they have the same basic body plan and the 3rd, clawed arm on the chest is a giveaway that they're likely from the same world, much like we share the same basic body plan as every tetrapod out there.
The lore says vortigaunts are not native to xen
Maybe the Nihilanth was a previous pupet of the GMan and when the GMan had no more use of him, he left the Nihilanth which explain those different sentences from the Nihilanth about the GMan.
@@viveka2994nothing is
It's interesting that the Xen Creatures live outside the constraints of time, this idea has been presented in the movie "The Arrival." and Dr. Manhattan from the "The Watchmen" comic. They show how entities perceive time differently. The reason I bring up the arrival is because of the language that allows people to see the past, present, and future at once. They communicate using full circles. And I noticed whenever The Nihilanth communicates with Gordon freeman, no matter which way the words are arranged, they have the same message. Was that intentionally done by the developers?
I think G-Man is "timeless".
Obs.: Gordon Freeman speaking? 😱 Half Life 3 confurmed
The way this thing talked was legitimately creepy and made him a scary villain to me as a pre/early teen. Now I hear the poor guy was just trying to stay alive 😄😢
FFFREEEEEEMAAAAAAAAANNNNNN...
Anyone noticed that the face of the nihilance is similar to that of the humans after they are synthed by the combine becoming combine soldiers? ( no eyes a tube for a mouth plus the added technology to his body and the stitches ext...)
Yeah..
Good videos, it just bothers me that you show his appearance in HL as what he always looked like. From the surgical scars and the stalker-like appearance it's obvious he was processed by the combine and escaped after. I don't think we can really know what he originally looked like.
Dude, awesome video. HL lore really gets me going (HL1 moreso). I'm subbing and checking out your other lore vids.
Edit: It would also be great for you to provide sources so people can verify your info/explore more.
Hey thank you!
Sources are in the description. A lot of the information is from observations and exploring the world and then there are various others such as raising the bar and interviews.
As a lot is from playing the game, I've had to put it as various :)
I thought the vortigaunts we're genetically related to the Nigilanths race because of they all have the third arm
Personally I feel "Being desperate" or "Fighting for survival" doesn't justify the enslavement, slaughter, and invasion of other species. If he wanted to escape he could've tried bargaining with or asking Black Mesa for help; being a scientific institute they'd jump on the chance to have an alien life-form cooperating with them. And don't pull that "Humans have enslaved and slaughtered also" crap on me cause that doesn't justify the Nihilanth's actions in the slightest.
I feel like the true cause for the nihilanths behavior was pure paranoia and fear
It saw humanity and immediately attacked because it feared we would do the same thing as the combine
My theory is that rhe nihilanth snapped after seeing it's species genocided
Yeah but the Nihilanth doesn't know anything about Humanity, yes they have made trips to Xen but in those trips they took away resources and kidnapped the life forms. This could have led him into thinking that Humanity had similar goals and ideas to the combine and that the only way to achieve peace was to dominate them, before they dominated him.
I think that third arm is grafted on, it appears to have stitches attaching it to the body.
*Since multiversal travel is a thing, maybe some Nihilanth from a universe where the Combine DIDN'T exterminate them all could pop up.*
I was just working at the citadel, as a combine elite, and I look down from a ledge on the citadel and I see *_gOrdON fReEMaaAnNN whAt tHe fuuUUuCk_*
I love these videos!! You should cover some lore videos on Half life Alyx
The Nihilanth's third arm is actually sewn onto him they likely only had 3 arms
I’m shocked you didn’t mention how the Nihilanth’s third arm looks grafted on.
You could add that the third arm of the Nihilanth was not natural and been implemented by the compine or to control the other aliens better
random orange dude succeeds in killing the nihilanth better than the combine empire
I personally don't think this is the natural form of the Nihilanth's species. I think the Nihilanth augmented himself after his arrival on Zen or possibly sometime before, and that's why he looks so messed up. I can't imagine that's what his species naturally looks like.
My theory of the Nihilanth’s Metal Parts:
I think the last Nihilanth was in the process of being Combined alive like the others from a Combine Processing facility. So he maybe made a ability to make portals or accidentally teleported himself to Xen. Which might be why he has those mechanical structures.
He was halfway stalkerified before escaping
Therefore
No balls
No dick
And possibly no butthole
Since this guy feeds off of xen crystal radiations
A creature so powerful that a nerd with a crowbar was capable of killing it...
I think he's dead, but I'd like to see more members of his race as combine slaves
A combine advisor made this comment lol jk
Both Nihilanth and Breen tried to save their species, so I wouldn't call them villains.
Seriously, I'm pretty sure if humanity could help combine build and master teleportation (and hand over Freeman too) they could probably be partially freed from Combine
Or maybe be disposed cus then humanity would have no utility
@@seycro not really
Judging by the fact they threw so much at Freeman they really don't want him around
Oh, boy, I am glad Shepard isn't there. He would Doom, fucking, Slay the entire Combine species himself
yeah, because every imperialist regime has always been merciful of collaborators
pretty sure that the second humans handed over the recipe for portal technology and freeman they'd be lined up against the wall and deleted. this is the only bargaining chips Wallace Breen had to negotiate with the Combine. think about it for a second, why else would they agree to any terms? its because Breen promised them the portal technology, hence why they are so desperate to track down Eli Vance and Isaac Kleiner.
this technology must have been previously unavailable to the Combine, if it wasn't they'd have surely used it to invade planets across galaxies already.
they enslaved the nihilanth because he had similar portal powers, his species were likely found relatively close to the combine overworld, meaning the combine could get to them without portal technology and take them over, but the last nihilanth (or possibly a group of them) managed to escape the combine, leaving them without this major advantage until humanity broke down the barrier between the world of xen and earth, opening a loophole for the combine to exploit after the death of the nihilanth, the final piece of the puzzle for the combine to enter xen and through xen, earth, was the death of the nihilanth. he was likely responsible for preventing the combine from chasing him into xen, and after his death the combine could freely abuse the resonance cascade using their previously inactive 'primitive' portal technology that they had built while they had the nihilanth in their possession, he was likely the fuel that allowed them to use that tech, before he escaped.
i think it is actually mentioned in half life 2 that the combine do posses portal technology, but that it is an inferior, very fixed kind of technology, that only allows that particular portal device to create a link between point A and point B, whereas the portal technology humans had invented was much superior since it could create a link, at will, between point A and point B, C, D, E, F, G etc. depending on the desired location.
the combine made a crude replica of Isaac Kleiner's teleporting device in Nova Prospekt that Alyx and Gorden uses to escape while blowing it up, thanks to Judith Mossman's "double agent" antics (i personally believe she was a fullblooded traitor up until the point where she changes her mind in Breen's office, she was like under the delusion that if the Combine got what they wanted, they'd leave humanity in peace, and suddenly realized that would never happen).
@@NiCoNiCoNiCola they threw nothing at Freeman, in fact the Earth is such a small priority for humanity considering the Combine has actually conquered entire universes and span entire dimensions
Gordon killing the Nihilanth might have also prevented the Combine from getting there hands on a teleport
Their*
Honestly, I want to know what the fuck the Nihilanth was thinking when he attacked humanity, considering his first introduction to us was some peaceful explorers and scientists. You'd think he'd immediately try to establish contact with humanity and warn us about the Combine, as well as join us so we could potentially stand together against the Combine should they ever discover us.
Even if he did see us as thieves for taking some floura, fauna, and crystals from Xen, there are bigger things to worry about.
If anything, he should have talked to the black mesa personel first before invading.
Just a suggestion x question: Can you please use Black Mesa atmosphere too on those scenes like surface tension and stuff?
It's not because you're a victim that you cannot be evil. He became what he was running from (with less technology tho). Also he didn't just enslaved vortis but used all the life on Xen, that's why he wasn't happy when we got rid of Gonarch.
"They had three arms."
Did they though? I know the one example we have of a Nihilanth does currently have three arms, but that middle arm is clearly stitched in place. On top of that, the initial concept art only had them with two arms. It seems more likely that the Nihilanth added that third arm onto himself after he arrived in Zen. Perhaps this made it easier to control the Vortigaunt species. Or maybe he thought the Vortigaunt's would more easily accept him if he tried to make himself more closely resemble them. Or, of course it could have been the Combine that added it for whatever reason they needed him to have it for.
On the other hand, that concept art could equally point to the Nihilanth species actually having three arms. It shows a stitching vertically up the center of its chest. Once Valve decided to add the third arm, the pre-existing stitching had to conform around this new arm. The top of the "shoulder" does not appear to have any stitches.
As for the controllers, they are unfortunately too low res to determine if that third arm is natural or not. Assuming it is natural, they could just have easily arrived along with the Vortigaunt's instead of the Nihilanth's world. Or they could come from an entirely seperate universe altogether. After all, three arms appears to be rather common among the multiverses. One thing that does seem to tie the Controllers to the Nihilanths though is that all three arms have three fingers each. The Vortigaunts have only two fingers on their middle arm.
Personally, I think there is just an unspoken rule in effect. To live in Zen, you MUST have three arms. Doesn't matter how or why, but you must have more than two and less than four.
what about bullsquids?
also it's Xen, not Zen
judging by how enemies act-in game as a fact, it can be interpreted that the Nihilanth wanted to kill all of humanity, as all Vortigaunts, Alien Grunts, Controllers and Gargatuas attack humans without remorse. yes, one can make the argument that is basically how the gameplay portrays that all alien enemies would be hostile, to incentivize the players to fight back and shouldn't be taken seriously for the lore. regardless, if what i think is true, it is pretty hypocritical that the survivor of a genocide is pretty willing to do that too instead of cooperation with humanity. to me he seems pretty evil, even if he may have good intentions. Oh and to double the hypocrisy, he *enslaved the Vortigaunts.*
The Nihilanth is acting exactly like the Combine in almost all aspects. From making artificial monsters to brainwashing mooks to fight for him.
The nihilanth probably vent insane and snapped after the combine killed all it's friends and it had been stuck on xen for a while...
Great Video !
Notice how the g-man always does something with his tie? Maybe one of the other nihilanth is disguised as gman
It took me ages to realize that crystals heal him.
It's third arm was grafted on, as seen still showing the stitches used to do it.
It looks like it. I'd have liked Valve to confirm who did this
What is the purpose of grafting this arm in?
The third arm looks like it was stitched on. I don’t think that’s natural.
Some said that the cursed game Stars Of Blood would have told more about the past of the Nihilant and the Universal Union
The 3rd are is not natural its grafted on
The third arm is stitched on
*Evil? No. A threat that needed to be stopped? Yes, sadly.*
I haven't played alex so I don't know if my theory is somehow debunked in it, but my theory for a while has been that GMan is actually a Combine, possibly part of a rebel faction against what his people is doing, or simply a Loki type character, stirring up trouble and making things more difficult for his brethren for the lulz
one thing i heard from nihilianth was "last, i am last"
I feel like the Nihilanth was definetly pretty evil, maybe that's the nature of his race. Maybe he was ruling over someone else in his homeworld just like the combine. For one, he seems awfully good almost experienced in enslaving and controlling said slaves. Only an inherently evil entity, would dominate and enslave a new world that they happened upon, in this case, nihilanth enslaved xen. Nihilanth also seems narcissistic or perceives himself as above others, potentially because of how his race lived in their homeworld. If the Nihilanth wasn't evil and just desperate for escape or survival, surely he would have asked or made a deal with Freeman to not kill him.
He could have used his slave army to help the humans fight the combine, in exchange for alteast defeating a common enemy and promising the vortigaunts their freedom if they help fight. He could have went to earth with the humans, bait the combine in and launch a massive surprise attack as soon they arrive.
But no, he chose to insult and attempt to kill Freeman. He tells him he cannot win etc. If he was watching Freeman for a time, then he definetly knew that Gordon was in the exact same desperate situation as him, only doing he things he's doing for the sake of himself and his species. It would make more sense to make allies in such circumstances no?
Im not saying Nihilanth is a guaranteed pure evil. But he just gives off a narcissistic tyrant vibe, almost like he was always like this.
Also, if he was the last of his race, wouldn't he just accept his fate, his species dieing out? He would have known that his kind had no chance of survival, so wouldn't he at least try to save other species from the fate of the rest of his kind?
"The greatest crimes issue from a desire for excess and not from necessity." For me Nihilanth is not evil.
I knew he used GMOD lol.Great video btw.
huh I never made the nihilism connection in the name. "Nihilanth" usually makes me think of "annihilation"
You deserve a bigger channel!
The third arm isn't natural looks like it got forced to have it
here for my 3 am half life binge
Point to note here: Nihilanth was teleporting aliens only in the black Mesa
He only had access to Black Mesa IIRC
@@Apes_TogetherStrong Then why did they send rocket to stop the portal?
The Gman says that his Employers have been watching Gordon, and they have much interest in him.
Gman's Employers must be a large group of Godlike beings, similar to the Nihlanth and the GMan.
What if the Gman is being enslaved by his "employers", and the Gman is nearly a messenger for the Employers. The Employers speak through the Gman, and the employers are the backbone of the Universal Union, through which they control. The Universal Union strives to enslave the multi-verse. However, just like the Advisors were using Dr. Breen as a puppet, the "Employers" are using the Advisors as their puppet. So, in other words, The Universal Union (also known as the combine), are being controlled by the Employers. The Employers are controlling the Combine by controlling the Advisors.
Employers>Gman>Advisors>Combine
From here on out I will refer to the Universal Union as UU or Combine.
The Combine under control of the Employers, want to eradicate any means of resistance, or anyone that they can't control and that has the potential of destroying the Combine or the Gman, and by anyone, I mean highly evolved beings capable of altering space, time, and that has the ability of moving between dimensions, in this case, The Nihlanth.
The Universal Union, in their quest to rule the multi-verse, have eradicated almost every last one of these God-like beings, and the Nihlanth is the last of these godlike beings. Through searching for potential candidates that could be useful to their movement, they come across Gordon Freeman.
Gordon Freeman was able to wipe out the Nihlanth, something the Employers had trouble doing. So, the Employers decides that they are going to use Gordon. They use the GMan, their messenger, and control Gordon Freeman through the Gman. The Gman delivers the Employers priorities and objectives directly to Gordon Freeman, and Gordon Freeman does the Employer's Dirty Work, making him a slave.
Ok, this shit is a bit weird after this, but hear me out.
From what I can see, Gordon Freeman is the only last known being in the Multiverse that is capable of destroying the Universal Union and their enslavement of other species and universes. The Vortigaunts have seen this after he freed some of them from their enslavement. Gordon was able to do this because he has limitless capabilities, meaning that he can basically do whatever he wants, earning him the title of "The Freeman." These potentials have led to Gordon actually appearing as a Godlike Being capable of extraordinary and unlimited abilities. However, Gordon does not know that he holds such powers and potential.
The Employers saw that Gordon actually has the powers to destroy them and the Combine, however, the Employers eventually saw that Gordon does not know that he is capable of so much, leading them to making the decision of enslaving Gordon and using him as their tool.
The Nihlanth has learned of the Employers, who they are, and their intentions. While battling freeman, he actually tries to educate and inform Freeman about the Employers, but it is too late as the Nihlanth is killed before he can finish.
What's in the Briefcase?
My Two Ideas
1. Instructions and Directions directly from the Employers on what to do. These instructions may include details on what Freeman's next objective is, who to control, what messages to spread and tell people, and overall, who needs to do what. The brief case many not only include instructions on what the GMans orders and objectives are, but also detailed information on the What will happen in the Future. Which may be another one of Gman's tasks, ensuring that certain events occur, leading to a future that the Employers favor. And example of one of these events could be the Renaissance Cascade
2. The Briefcase holds some type of XEN Crystal or some type of device that allows him to open doors and portals. These Doors (or Portals) allow him to travel to any point in time, instantly appear at any place or location in the Universe, and travel between Dimensions and Universes (Or Multiverse). This is how the GMan is able to appear everywhere at once, and how he is able to open portals which we can see occur a few times in Half Life 1.
Prototypes of this device may have been built in Black Mesa. In Opposing Force, you may acquire a handheld weapon that allows you to flip between Xen and our Universe
I mean, id say no, the combine are evil for sure, but not nihilanth
Or at least not intentionally evil
He is evil even if he did what he thought he had to do. He had a choice and obviously made the wrong one.
When the nihilanth says we are their slaves everyone thinks it's talking about the combine but I think it's talking about the scientists because in the black Mesa facility the snarks are found in a testing room and the alien grunts are traped in some sort of test chamber and even more are found in other places especially in questionable ethics.
That wouldn't make any sense because he is supposed to be telepathically saying that to Gordon.... who as far as the Nihilanth is concerned is one of the scientists that enslaves the xenian wildlife. Even if he knew that Gordon never took part in such action, he still wasn't a slave to black mesa as he enjoyed working there. So it would only make sense if the Nihilanth is referring to the combine in that statement.
you think the nihalinth was the gordon freeman of his race and after tons of figthing he gave up and saw no meaning in life?
Like epistle 3 gordon after seeimg a dyson sphere
1:49 human-based hunter chopper
Xen with earthly skybox
you forgot this line "last...i...am...the...last" or it was there? Idk
pretty sure the third arm was grafted on the nihilanth,
If the Nihilanth was clairvoyant- and I don't doubt it, the Vortigaunts are telepathic, anything goes in Half Life-- then maybe they were fighting Gordon and such, because they *knew* that a hole had ripped open in reality, and that'd draw the Combine's attention.
It's the equivalent of the horror protagonist socking the idiot deuteragonist in the face for knocking over pots and pans and now the monster has come running to their exact location.
"You fool! Now we're both in danger!"
... I feel sorry for 'em. Really, nobody asked to get so screwed over. The Combine are just tyrants all-out, the Xen life is just trying to scrape by.
this channel is soooo great
Good stuff :)
Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for the visit
I wonder if the combine enslaved alien X like they did to the other xen creatures (and yes, I know alien X didn't come from xen)
Rafe x where probably whiped out( at least the ones that stayed on earth) by the fombine
Xen World Is Already In GMAN Control Before Combine
Well Gordon helps his employers acquire it. They don't have control during HL1
I am a die hard fan of Half Life and my lovely mother got me an Oculus Quest 2 just so i could play Alyx. She overheard my conversation about it lol (I was in my early Twenties nearly in my mid Twenties now)
Played the game with my VR headset and felt extremely sick. Good thing they made the teleporting option a thing. Still haven't finished it can't really get into it VR just isn't my thing. Got to Jeff and unfortunately put it down...
It's clear that Gman wanted the nihilant dead, what other reason would he have for giving humans the crystal and pushing things towards the Cascade? This much is clear, but things get muddy with half life 2 and alyx.
Why would the combine want to capture G-man? I assumed they hired him to get the nihilant.
I guess he could release Gordon as a revenge for his capture.
how do you do this smooth movement with the camera???
Yeah it sucks he became the combine in his persuit against them.
He was a big ol' panicky baby boy