What are the Advisors?

[CombineAdvisor3]

These grub-like beings seem to resemble something like that of a larvae enclosed within a 'cocoon' of some sort. And they appear to have intelligence which trumps Mankind's to be able to alter the mental perception of other living things, and pick up a living thing or barrel using it's mental strength, but their powers have been shown to not work when they are in pain. It's theorized that these grubs are the true face of the Combine, but this might not be 100% concrete as their name 'Advisor' seems to lean toward the possibility that they advise the conquest of other Universes and assimilation of species. Judging from their level of power, they HAVE to belong on at least the upper hierarchy. But something I've never noticed before... there are 3 different types of Advisors we see in the games.

This Advisor was the same Advisor that we saw during the teleportation sequence, the one who Breen was talking to at the end, the one who we saw in the Citadel, the one who we saw on the monitors as we left the hospital, it's obvious that this particular Advisor has been tracking our progress. In a way, it replaces Gman as the one who tracks our progress through the game, but for the time being of course. And it looks very bulky, carrying a breathing apparatus, some sort of eye...? metal claws, and a collar covered in some sort of Alien language? so this Advisor must have an important role in Combine matters and such.

In episode 2, we come to face with an Advisor that seems to look a bit different to the Advisor from C17... notice how it has no tube connecting to it's mask? instead it's connected to some sort of 'device' on it's belly. The collar covered in the Alien language is different, the cybernetic eye now moves to detect it's targets, and it has NO metal arms, instead it has telekinetic abilities strong enough to pull objects or living things towards it or crush them. And it's revealed that Advisors have a proboscis which is used to stab into the neck of a living thing and 'suck' out their knowledge.

At the end we face the Advisors once again, but they have received a cybernetic enhancement, mechanical claws. I am quite confused about this, where did they get the claws? did they build them themselves or did the Combine give them an upgrade on our way to white forest? Or perhaps they were born with them but they take a while to appear??? either way, it's very interesting.

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

they are the actual COmbine. The Combine are a race of creatures who assumedly became so dependent on the very technology they now harness that their physiology has regressed into a completely grub-like state, with powerful mental faculties lying under the useless and devolved exterior

loss of limbs resulted in artificial ones being developed, along with what are assumed to be breathing apparatus for foreign atmospheres, or even necessary as life support because they're so abominably large and fat

pretty sure that is just about it, other than the fact I don't remember what their biological deal is and whether they did in fact devolve into that state, or if they already resembled these Brain Bug-like creatures who gained motor function through developing artificial limbs etc etc
idk HOPE HHSI ANSWERED YOU WQUESTION

 

[Stigmata]

The Ep2 Advisor could be a sort of ret-con to update the original incarnation, but it could also just be a subclass of the same species. The Ep2 Advisor seems to have more telekinetic abilities, and the Combine themselves are basically a sort of spiritual species-agnostic movement of trans-biology-ism, basically just "we can make ourselves better with technology", so maybe that first Ep2 Advisor simply didn't need mechanical arms to be able to manipulate things in the world while others did.

They're all very important because they seem to be the interface between the Combine Empire and off-world (i.e. Earthbound) liaisons who side with the Combine for personal power in a world dominated by those Combine forces. Breen is just a power-hungry person who thinks much about himself and was involved with the whole Combine invasion since the events of HL1 and Black Mesa, and chooses to help the Combine in their conquest rather than face certain death by opposing them. The Advisors tell these self-subverting people what to do, and tell them how to be a friendly face for their galactic conquest.

R.I.P. Eli Vance

 

[Omnomnick]

The Ep2 Advisor could be a sort of ret-con to update the original incarnation, but it could also just be a subclass of the same species. The Ep2 Advisor seems to have more telekinetic abilities, and the Combine themselves are basically a sort of spiritual species-agnostic movement of trans-biology-ism, basically just "we can make ourselves better with technology"

Episodes One and Two were developed at the same time, so they weren't ret-conned.

 

[SpotEnemyBoats]

In Laidlaw's "BreenGrub" fan fiction (take it of you will), he mentioned that Advisors have several forms in their life cycle. There was also this:

 

[Spamming Tanks]

I'll leave this here:
https://twitter.com/breengrub

An account actually made by Laidlaw. Not necessarily cannon, but I find it very interesting.

 

[Spamming Tanks]

they are the actual COmbine. The Combine are a race of creatures who assumedly became so dependent on the very technology they now harness that their physiology has regressed into a completely grub-like state, with powerful mental faculties lying under the useless and devolved exterior

I think this is worth disputing. Granted, they are heavily implied to be higher-up in the combine hierarchy, but they were never, not once, stated to be the "leaders" or what-not.

I think it is more likely that they, like other synth's (striders, hunters, combine elites, etc.), are what they are called: advisers... sort of like field commanders. The true extent and nature of the combine has not yet been revealed, so I find it quite plausible that there are beings in the combine hierarchy still more "important". I also think it is likely that there is no single nexus or "top leader" of the combine... that the combine is a rather amorphous self-replicating entity... not a body politic in the human sense.

This is of course speculation. All of these things are left in limbo, canonically.

EDIT: Another possibility: there is not original "combine" species which dominates all the others. It may be the case that all beings in the combine are subjugated, in varying ways, to the combine military-industrial structure... whatever its origins.

 

[CombineAdvisor3]

In Laidlaw's "BreenGrub" fan fiction (take it of you will), he mentioned that Advisors have several forms in their life cycle. There was also this:

I remember that account, it changed my perspective on Advisors and what they really are... it's possible that the creature in that concept art could be a mature Advisor, it looks exactly like how he described them as 'airy nothings' and their mind abilities could of gotten to the point where they can bend completely bend Reality. Remember what Breen was talking about with Eli??

"Carbon stars with ancient satellites, colonized by sentient fungi; gas giants, inhabited by vast meteorological intelligences; worlds stretched thin across the membranes where the dimensions intersect... impossible to describe with our limited vocabulary!"
That line sounds so similar to a certain thing the announcer in Portal 2 told the player.

"If the Earth is currently governed by a manner of animal king, sentient cloud or other governing body that refuses to, or is incapable of, listening to reason."
That can't be a coincidence, this sentient cloud could be the final stage of an Advisor's life cycle, and if Portal 2 is canon within Half-life's universe... then it's possible that the Advisor's or 'Sentient Cloud's' have completely took over Earth and the Combine have defeated Humanity. This could be why no sign of Civilization can be seen, nothing but a Wheat Field...

 

[Spamming Tanks]

Nothing in the BreenGrub states that they can bend "reality", they can just alter their physical forms. Also, taken in context, "airy nothings" is what the larvae forms consider the mature forms. I don't think you should take that phrase literally.

But of course the BreenGrub is not cannon, yet. If any of that stuff makes it into the next game, then sure. But for now BreenGrub, interesting as it is, is an "airy nothing" where cannon is concerned.

Finally, Wheat fields in the real world stretch miles. That ending Scene from Portal 2 is hardly representative of the whole state of the planet.

 

[SpotEnemyBoats]

If that BreenGrub becomes canon, just imagine how powerful a fully evolved Advisor can be. A mere grub can **** with your mind, can throw stuff around using its mind and suck out your brains out with its alien dick. A final form advisor might have omnipotent abilities, I'm guessing.

 

[CombineAdvisor3]

Nothing in the BreenGrub states that they can bend "reality", they can just alter their physical forms. Also, taken in context, "airy nothings" is what the larvae forms consider the mature forms. I don't think you should take that phrase literally.

Technically, they have been known to be able to 'bend' Alyx and Gordon's perception of reality in the form of pulsing noises, headaches, color change and vision distortion. As they mature they could develop mind control.

But of course the BreenGrub is not cannon, yet. If any of that stuff makes it into the next game, then sure. But for now BreenGrub, interesting as it is, is an "airy nothing" where cannon is concerned.

This is true, but it's very likely that Laidlaw's 'fanfiction' will be apart of the Combine's backstory somehow.

Finally, Wheat fields in the real world stretch miles. That ending Scene from Portal 2 is hardly representative of the whole state of the planet.[/QUOTE

But notice how the field Chell is on resembles the same field that was used to gather sunlight for the light bridges? even the same shed? that can't be just a coincidence or hint to the ending... and it would be very 'GLaDOS' of GLaDOS to falsely send you to freedom and giving your WCC back because you're all alone.

 

[Fatikis]

If that BreenGrub becomes canon, just imagine how powerful a fully evolved Advisor can be. A mere grub can **** with your mind, can throw stuff around using its mind and suck out your brains out with its alien dick. A final form advisor might have omnipotent abilities, I'm guessing.

It is stated that the mature Advisers have little on their mind other than breeding. That is why the grubs basically have chosen not to mature they maintain their intelligence and their lives.

"The host bodies, the grubs, are a larval stage. Dormant and buried in the epochs of extremity, waiting to hatch, but not wasting their time"
"In the balmy seasons, they pass fleeting lives of freedom: Mature, they crawl or fly. They mate, lay eggs and die. And new grubs grow."
"But the freest forms are mindless, rapacious, bent only on reproduction. It is in the dormant form they thrive. Philosophers. Scientists."

"If the Earth is currently governed by a manner of animal king, sentient cloud or other governing body that refuses to, or is incapable of, listening to reason."
That can't be a coincidence, this sentient cloud could be the final stage of an Advisor's life cycle, and if Portal 2 is canon within Half-life's universe... then it's possible that the Advisor's or 'Sentient Cloud's' have completely took over Earth and the Combine have defeated Humanity.

The final stage is the mature stage which the form is malleable not likely cloud like.
"Their psychic strength is such that they can imprint upon their cells and dictate the form which they will take upon hatching."
After breeding they die. So there are not additional cloudlike stages.

You are reading a lot into a joke. Considering this is the Animal King