#nihilanth

[moffeen]

forgot to post this one!!

[gordon-freeman-phd]

"What arrogance do you possess that you would presume to kill something so much larger than yourself? So much older? What is it that you think you are proving?"

-The Nihilanth if it had a cool villain monologue before you fought it, I think

[mulletsg]

INTERLOPER

[zombiekitty33]

not hearing a word you say / sharpen your blade and get morbid / i want blood and i won't settle for less / let's see you ignore this

[narklos]

Half-Lore #1: Xen, The Nihilanth, and Race X

As promised, here's the first instalment in my deep dives into HL's worldbuilding! You all voted for this topic to go first- I'll work my way down from the list I made, but if there's anything you'd like to hear about, let me know. So, without further ado... have a gander at the wall of text under the cut. All images have descriptions!

Xen

Xen is what's known as a 'border world', a planet right on the edge of our understanding of space, and the primary subject of a lot of Black Mesa's research. The planet is also used as a teleport 'slingshot', according to Mossman in HL2, as its latent energy acts as a launching pad for whatever's being teleported.

Crystals from Xen (the orange-yellow rocks found all around the planet) were able to facilitate early teleportation research, the likes of which made Black Mesa a hell of a lot of money. A sample of these Xen crystals was delivered by the G-Man to Black Mesa, at the behest of Administrator Breen. This was tested by Dr Gina Cross and found to be the purest sample they'd seen yet, and they were sent to the anti-mass spectrometer for testing immediately. At this point, the crystal was swapped out for a corrupted sample by the G-Man, therefore kicking off the Resonance Cascade.

Xen is a hostile planet, home to quite a few dangerous creatures. However, it should be noted that nothing is native to Xen. Everything you encounter on Xen wasn't born there, but instead fled there. This is because they were escaping persecution on their respective homeworlds by the Combine. It's unknown whether this was the result of the Nihilanth teleporting them to the planet to act as its invading force, or mere coincidence that so many ended up there. Speaking of which...

The Nihilanth - In-Game Lore

The Nihilanth is the last of its species, having fled the Combine's invasion of its home, and possible enslavement of its race. The Nihilanth was also implied to be a former slave itself. It oversees a vast slave colony of vortigaunts, who toil away in its factory. It's unknown what this factory was actually producing- in typical chunky 1998 fashion, a lot of it is just boxes with pretty textures. This is why the Vortigaunts all wear a green collar and chains in HL1.

When Gordon inserted the corrupted Xen crystal into the anti-mass spectrometer, the resonance cascade allowed the Nihilanth to finally breach through to Earth and directly teleport its alien forces in. Again, it's not known whether the Nihilanth intended to take over Earth, or simply find another place to hide from the Combine, and was willing to do whatever necessary to secure it.

The Nihilanth was also not particularly fond of human scientists taking things from Xen for research purposes. In a level transition in HL:D, it'll say "Thieves, you are all thieves..."

When the Nihilanth was killed, the Combine took notice of Xen- and by extension, Earth. The resonance cascade had already shattered Earth's natural defenses to teleporting aliens, and so the Combine quickly swooped in to conquer Earth. That's the 7-Hour War, but we won't get into that here. The death of such a psychically powerful creature sent shockwaves throughout Xen. The vortigaunts were freed from its influence, however, leading to their tense alliance with the humans.

Curiously enough, it appears that the Nihilanth was actually aware of the G-Man, and his influence over Gordon. During level transitions, The Nihilanth makes repeated references to the G-Man deceiving Gordon, and that he "is not man." It's the first reference we have to G-Man explicitly being non-human, and also led to a lot of fan theories that the G-Man was actually part of the Nihilanth's race (though this is unlikely, as the Nihilanth is clearly referred to as 'the last).

The Nihilanth - An Interpretation

The Nihilanth is the most blunt piece of symbolism we get in Half-Life's story. The entire first game is an analogy for fighting against nihilism in an uncaring world that will constantly seek to break you down. Gordon is battling against forces completely outside of his control, trying to fix a mistake he didn't realise he was making, which was orchestrated by a man who's been manipulating him from the very beginning. It's a pretty grim tale. Gordon's reward for defeating his own nihilism is to be forced into another situation outside of his control- he quite literally does not have a say in it. He either takes a new deal, or is killed.

Gordon's defeat of his nihilism became a source of hope for the rebels 20 years on- despite being a single scientist in Black Mesa, facing impossible odds, he lived. That's why it's such a big deal when he comes back, and why the lambda symbol became synonymous with the rebels. Gordon is hope, the light in the darkness for so many nihilists who didn't believe they could do anything to fight back against the Combine. Gordon is a character to be projected on- this was explicit in the game's design. He doesn't have a personality, a voice- anything. He's the human spirit, and whenever you play through Half-Life, you're going on your own journey to defeat your inner nihilist. How cool is that?

What the hell is Race X?

Race X is a funny one. This is one of those "It'll be a cool idea, guys!" moments that never comes up again. In fact, it's pretty much agreed that Race X has been retconned entirely. Sorry, Pit Worm lovers.

They were essentially a group of aliens from beyond Xen, first featured in Opposing Force. Race X itself was entirely created by Gearbox (the studio behind Opposing Force and Blue Shift), rather than Valve. Even Marc Laidlaw said that he doesn't consider them canon. Yowch.

It's implied that Race X is more powerful than regular Xen creatures, as they actually have access to advanced weaponry and teleportation tech. They were discovered by chance, when a group of Black Mesa scientists accidentally teleported into their realm. Where this realm is located is pretty nebulous, if you'll pardon the pun. It's just... somewhere beyond Xen.

Their leader is the Gene Worm, whom they were clearing space for when they first teleported to Earth. The Gene Worm required a pretty sizeable portal to get to Earth- hence needing to clear space by force. Obviously, this doesn't happen. Adrian Shepard massacred them so thoroughly that they aren't even canon anymore.

That's all for this instalment! If you got this far, thank you for reading! Here's a video of Gabe Newell pretending to be Ringo Starr as a prize.

[abatilus]

[a-shift]

Realized yesterday that I gave up halfway on scanning my previous sketchbook

[deltoidlover]

BLACK MESA NIHILANTH & GONARCH MODEL REFERENCE (note: i recommend also looking at the nihilanth IN black mesa as reference, as some of the textures/colours are a little odd ported over to gmod. i did my best with the space baby screenshots)

send me a message if there's a specific model you need references of, i'd be happy to snap some pics!

[internetskiff]

Ohhh man do I have words to say about Crowbar Collective's Half Life 1 Remake

I notice the Black Mesa remake seems to be quite divisive, at least amongst the people I've spoken to. While I do understand some of the problems it has, I do believe it's a really stellar remake, especially when it comes to reimagining Half Life 1's frankly underwhelming xen levels.

I've seen people argue that Black Mesa's a little over-reliant on the Half Life 2 callbacks, especially with the Nihilanth's base of operations being a massive tower at the center of Xen's island mass. But personally? I think it's quite fitting for the Nihilanth. Even in Half Life 1, it seems to be in the process of trying to develop a "Unity" of it's own, increasing it's influence in the hopes that it can join enough species together to combat the Universal Union as it continues to hunt it down through worlds. I'd assume if it succeeded in fleeing to Earth, it would seek aid from the humans in developing equipment and weaponry that could counter the Combine, be it diplomatically or through forceful subjugation. Seeing as it's seeking to unify different species in order to resist it's oppressor, I believe it's quite fitting for Nihilanth's base of operations to be a sort of "Citadel" of it's own.

The Nihilanth resorting to imitating Combine equipment in the hopes of countering them is almost similar to how Half Life 2's Resistance Movement also repurposes Combine tech for it's own purposes, no? While yeah, this is definitely a cheeky nod to Episode 1's Reactor Sequence, it does make lore sense and technically helps characterize the Nihilanth's forces as a sort of desperate imitation of the Combine. They both use other species as pawns to further their plans (this is true even in the original HL1), which goes to show that in it's attempts to evade the Union the Nihilanth became almost exactly like them.

The Gonarch, for example - she seems to be deliberately kept around and permitted to nest in the outer expanses of the Nihilanth's island, almost acting as a sort of guard dog and, perhaps, the first line of defense. It has Garguantuas at it's disposal - it could have easily killed the Gonarch if she proved a detriment to it. But it doesn't. Infact, it seems to lament when it perishes - "Done, what have you done?"

And this brings us to the Tower itself, the Nihilanth's base of operations and the main production facility for it's foot soldiers. I have already touched on the parallels between it and the Combine's Citadel, but I do believe it's almost a clever mirror to it - both appear to be alive, but while the Combine force organic matter into an artificially constructed monolith to bring it to life, the Tower itself seems to be a living organism, the infrastructure within seemingly designed to aid it's bodily functions. The Citadel is parasitic in nature, a mere extension of the will of those that built it, but the relationship between the Tower and it's architect seems entirely symbiotic. Both, however, seem to have quite a detrimental terraforming effect on the surrounding environment.

With the context of Half Life 2, I consider the Alien Grunts to be the Nihilanth's response to the Universal Union's many heavily augmented units. A little disappointing that they didn't really touch upon how exactly they are created, but I guess any interpretation they could do could potentially end up being incorrect to Half Life 1's canon, so they kept the process mostly vague. I personally like to think they're cultivated from heavily influenced samples of Vortigaunt tissue, rather than being Vorts themselves altered through some sort of unknown process. Despite certainly being higher up in the chain of command compared to Vortigaunts, it doesn't seem like their lives are any better - any Grunt with a defect or abnormality is shown to be thrown into a literal meatgrinder, and apart from the ones overseeing the Vortigaunt workers they appear to be almost immediately geared up and sent to fight on Earth. This technically explains why their AI behavior is a little more complex in the Nihilanth tower compared to the ones sent to fight on Earth - it's possible the ones overseeing the tower had lived much longer compared to the infantry sent to overtake Black Mesa, and have thus further developed their proficiency with handling their Hivehand weaponry and navigating the Tower's vertical environment. The Grunts we fight on Earth might have, quite literally, come right off the production line only to be immediately sent out.

The Vortigaunts themselves seem to have been reduced from a once culturally rich species to one doing laborious tasks around the Tower and providing support to the Grunts during the invasion. I wonder if, at some point, the Nihilanth and the Vortigaunts established a union willingly, only for the Nihilanth to grow increasingly more oppressive as it grew more and more desperate to escape re-capture by the Combine. Perhaps at one point they saw eachother as equal - both united against a common enemy that sees great value in exploiting both: the Vortigaunts for their Vortessence and the Nihilanth for it's psychic abilities and the power to teleport things not only between worlds, but also specific points of interest in said worlds - capturing and subjugating it would instantly solve the Combine's local transportation problem. They needed it alive - after all, it was the last of it's kind.

Finishing Xen in Half Life 1, I didn't even stop as I reached the Nihilanth's portal, just kinda rushing in to kill it and be done with the game. But this? This made me stop and stare for a good while. Reaching the Nihilanth's portal actually had the sense of finality it was always meant to have. What you're about to do is doom several species to the threat of extinction - completely wiping one out, and opening the doorway for the Combine to subjugate humanity. It's really amazing finally seeing the end of this Remake's development cycle, over a decade of work culminating in this moment. There were people who thought they would never even remake Xen at all - for a good while, this game ended right as Freeman jumps into the Lambda Core's portal. And now, after years, here you are - standing at the foot of another, preparing to kill the thing on the other side and allow an even greater horror to force it's way into your world.

I really love the remade fight with the Nihilanth - it starts out gloating, laughing as it throws barrages of pure energy at you from the safety of it's shield. Once you break down the generators powering it, however, it seems to grow a little more concerned and confused, upping the intensity of it's assault but remaining relatively confident.

The moment all of it's countermeasures fail, though? It completely freaks out. It throws everything at you, summoning a storm inside of it's chamber and tearing everything up in the hopes you'll be killed in the chaos. It grows increasingly unstable, it's head splitting apart, it's attempts to stop Freeman quite literally tearing it apart from within. As he lands the killing blow, this culminates in the Nihilanth erupting in a destructive blast that wipes everything it's built up from Xen as a whole.

The G-man pulls you out just as you're about to be incinerated, impressed with your efforts and offering you a new job proposal - y'know, seeing how your original workplace is a bit.. Incinerated.

While yes, of course, it's not exactly canon-friendly to Half Life - how could it ever be, as a fan-made project - I do find Black Mesa's interpretation of Xen to be quite impressive from a storytelling perspective. Unlike the original barren floating islands, you can really tell that the remake's Xen has a history - many different species coming together to create an ecosystem in this borderworld where no creature was ever meant to linger, only to be wiped out by a single theoretical physicist wielding a crowbar and an arsenal of military weaponry.

It's fitting that this retelling of Half Life 1's story was finally completed right before Valve finally returned to their franchise with Half Life: Alyx.

[dizzyhslightlyvoided]

Gordon Freeman: (teleporting into Xen)

Nihilanth: Here comes the 🎵boy🎶

[thedemondeity]

Not everyone likes the final boss in the Half Life game. But it has some charm despite being a bit rough around the edges. The Nihilanth is creepy and I wish we knew a more about the aliens taking refuge in Xen.

[sparkbag]

It dreams fleeting dreams... Kept on the brink of life and death.

[ultimate-valve-character]

Loser's Round 4: Match 14

[leveste]

Some parts keep coming out blurry no matter how I take the picture. Guess it's on me for being fine with a cheap phone.

I didn't realise yesterday it was already inktober lol. I haven't joined in years, so might as well.

Anyway, I was staring at my sketchbook and put on the new Liam Triforce video for some background noise and you can guess how that went.

Just your average Phd Physicist dropping his mic crowbar after killing an mutated fetus eldritch abomination.

Edit: almost forgot to mention; my original plan was to make the Nihilanth look huge, but as I kept thumbnailing, I thought it would be cooler to make Gordon look bigger as he won in the end(so less David vs Goliath and more Saint George killing the dragon)

[grimdoch]

@deluxetrashqueen‘s birthday present <3 image of beloved barnabus

[quinntoday]