Confused about Xen..and other Half Life elements.

[GTGear]

I'm confused about a few things in Half Life-1

The Nihilanth isn't originally from Xen..but from another planet that was taken over by the Combine? So basically, Xen is a hideout of sorts. So, are the vortigaunts from Xen as well? or from another planet?

Also, was the Nihilanth planning to invade Earth from the beginning? or when the cascade happened, he saw the rifts open between Earth and Xen, so he figured that was a way to escape Xen and sent in his military forces to clear a path, so he could eventually enter our dimension?

Also, what caused the beginning of the Portal Storms? I'm guessing the death of Nihilanth? since he was keeping the portal between Earth and Xen open in the first place? or was it something else?

Also, when did the Combine invade Earth? about two years after Black Mesa? and the Combine have been in control of earth for 20 years?

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

I'm confused about a few things in Half Life-1

The Nihilanth isn't originally from Xen..but from another planet that was taken over by the Combine? So basically, Xen is a hideout of sorts. So, are the vortigaunts from Xen as well? or from another planet?

Basically nothing is native to Xen. Everything thats there has come there from somewhere else.

Also, was the Nihilanth planning to invade Earth from the beginning? or when the cascade happened, he saw the rifts open between Earth and Xen, so he figured that was a way to escape Xen and sent in his military forces to clear a path, so he could eventually enter our dimension?

Pretty much the latter. He was up against a wall, and was worried that the Combine might find a way to Xen. So when the Black Mesa Incident happened, he took the opportunity to escape. So no, it wasn't planned from the beginning.

Also, what caused the beginning of the Portal Storms? I'm guessing the death of Nihilanth? since he was keeping the portal between Earth and Xen open in the first place? or was it something else?

It's never really been explained that much. Essentially, the Portal Storms are the resonance cascade (what happened in HL1) on a global scale, and yes, they were caused by the Nihilanths death.

Also, when did the Combine invade Earth? about two years after Black Mesa? and the Combine have been in control of earth for 20 years?

Once again, we can't be entirely sure. The Episode One website claimed that HL2 was 20 years after HL1, and we know that the Combine have ruled for at least a decade (from Kleiners speech in Episode One).

Hope that helps.

 

[ríomhaire]

I think with the resonance cascade the Xenians thought that they were being invaded. Humans had been taking specimens of their races so when random portals starting tearing between their world and ours, I figure they thought they were under attack.

 

[GTGear]

That does answer some of the questions.

Thanks a bunch guys.

Also, one more question about the Combine communications network. So, the Combine only had one teleporter on Earth? and that was in the Citadel that was destroyed in Half Life Episode One? Wouldn't the other Citadels on Earth have teleportals built in? Also, that one citadel acted like a communications hub for all Combine on earth? seems wierd for the Combine to put all their eggs in one basket.

 

[flamingdts]

The things native to Xen are the Xen crystals, and some other wildlife (headcrabs).

Xen is more than what people think. It is not only a "borderworld" that is great for teleportation (as Mossman calls it some kind of bungee where Xen acts as a checkpoint). The Xen crystals also serve a far greater use as seen by the weapons (like the gravity gun and other weapons in HL1).

Remember at the end where G-man claims he and his employers have complete control over Xen? This may have been his use for Gordon in the first place. It may be possible that G-man and his Employers have certain "laws" to abide by, but they're using loopholes to get to their goals. In other words, they cannot interfere, but they can get someone else to interfere.

 

[tschumann]

The Xen crystals also serve a far greater use as seen by the weapons (like the gravity gun and other weapons in HL1).

Where does it say that?

 

[ríomhaire]

I don't think any weapon we have ever used has anything to do with Xen crystals (except the OP4 displacer). The gravity gun was invented for the handling of hazardous materials according to Alyx, which to me sounds like it was created in Black Mesa well before the Black Mesa Incident. I don't think, when monsters were appearing in every hallway some scientist would take the time to get an alien crystal and make a device for the handling of hazardous materials. I also don't think anyone, prior to the resonance cascade, would have been allowed to use the crystals for anything other than analysis and teleportation experiments. It's not like they had a large stockpile.

The tau gun and gluon gun don't have any connection to Xen crystals either (I assume those are the weapons you're talking about). Both fire sub-atomic particles but you don't need alien crystals to do that.

 

[flamingdts]

I don't think any weapon we have ever used has anything to do with Xen crystals (except the OP4 displacer). The gravity gun was invented for the handling of hazardous materials according to Alyx, which to me sounds like it was created in Black Mesa well before the Black Mesa Incident. I don't think, when monsters were appearing in every hallway some scientist would take the time to get an alien crystal and make a device for the handling of hazardous materials. I also don't think anyone, prior to the resonance cascade, would have been allowed to use the crystals for anything other than analysis and teleportation experiments. It's not like they had a large stockpile.

The tau gun and gluon gun don't have any connection to Xen crystals either (I assume those are the weapons you're talking about). Both fire sub-atomic particles but you don't need alien crystals to do that.

Gravity Gun (mostly speculation, but is put in Half Life wiki etc. Also note the orange color) is one weapons that appear to utilize the Xen crystal.

I gotten confused with the opposing force weapons (which cannot be officially accepted as canon), so technically half life does not have any xen powered weapons, but half life 2 does with the gravity gun.

What I mean is the Xen crystals serve a far greater purpose for Nihilanth especially. This is evident when we fight him and is also possibly a tool he uses for teleportation. The humans utilized the Xen crystals better in Half Life 2, but who knows what G-man and his employers want with the Xen Crystals? We know for sure they have control over Xen, but I doubt they only wanted it because it is a borderworld and probably a good place to use for teleportation. They most likely wanted the resource in Xen as well.

 

[Barnz]

I gotten confused with the opposing force weapons (which cannot be officially accepted as canon)

Why is it that?

 

[ríomhaire]

Gravity Gun (mostly speculation, but is put in Half Life wiki etc. Also note the orange color) is one weapons that appear to utilize the Xen crystal.

Except that the Xen crystals are generally yellow (with some cyan ones decorating the caves of Xen).

 

[flamingdts]

Except that the Xen crystals are generally yellow (with some cyan ones decorating the caves of Xen).

That would be the ones in half life.

The ones in half life 2 are more orange than yellow (the one in Eli's Lab). I don't recall cyan Xen crystals though.

I'm basing my facts on the wiki and other sites, but since Valve hasn't confirmed this it's only speculation and it could be wrong. We have seen how useful the gravity gun has become. It is only logical to build more of them, but I'm assuming they didn't because the resource required to build the gun is scarce.

Why is it that?

Valve has not confirmed it as part of the Half Life universe. Not to mention, the last thing I want to see is race x back to the game.

I'll admit some parts of it Valve has accepted it as canon, the weapons I'm not too sure.

Edit: The xen crystal in half life 2 when powered also emits a beam similar to the gravity gun when powered.

 

[Otto-Grainer]

I'll admit some parts of it Valve has accepted it as canon, the weapons I'm not too sure.

They haven't "accepted" or declined anything as canonical yet. That should be clear by now.

What I mean is the Xen crystals serve a far greater purpose for Nihilanth especially. This is evident when we fight him and is also possibly a tool he uses for teleportation.

It appears native to the Nihilanth, but I don't know about Xen. Or maybe he/ (it) can naturally harness such power over contained crystals. Could have certainly been the main reason why they moved to Xen, the nest and connections of the crystal stones which make Xen a dimensional transit. Though I doubt there was much of a choice when being chased.

 

[flamingdts]

They haven't "accepted" or declined anything as canonical yet. That should be clear by now.




It appears native to the Nihilanth, but I don't know about Xen. Or maybe he/ (it) can naturally harness such power over contained crystals. Could have certainly been the main reason why they moved to Xen, the nest and connections of the crystal stones which make Xen a dimensional transit. Though I doubt there was much of a choice when being chased.

Some parts were accepted, though vaguely and very little (typical Valve :hmph. The destruction of Black Mesa is the only part of Gearbox games that Valve confirms to be canon. They saw it as a good reason for Gordon Freeman and Co. not to return to Black Mesa in Half Life 2.

I think we can agree that Nihilanth definitely knows how to use those crystals to their potential. However, I don't think they're native to Nihilanth. Nihilanth escaped from the combine and found Xen. I doubt he planted those crystals in Xen, but we do know that he was massing an army and was using these crystals to help (some machines in Xen had an orange/yellow canister).

Nihilanth probably spent a period of time with these crystals, and became familiar with it. He realized the crystal's potential, and probably planned to mass an army in order to combat the combine. At this point, I have three theories as to why Earth was attacked.

1. He retaliated and attacked Earth in self defense. Afterall, the scientists were the ones messing around in Xen

2. G-man and his employers wanted control over Xen (he claims he and his employers have control over Xen at the end of half life), and decided to manipulate Earth into contacting with Xenians and therefore starting a war. G-man and his Employers probably didn't do it themselves because they had to "abide" by certain rules and restrictions and cannot interfere with galactic events. This is partially evident when G-man claims he himself has to abide to certain restrictions and cannot directly help Gordon.

3. Nihilanth wanted to test his army and his teleportation ability (with the help of Xen crystals) by targetting Earth. Though this theory is a bit far fetched.

These are all speculations, and they can be completely off.

 

[TheOneFreeMan]

Also, when did the Combine invade Earth? about two years after Black Mesa? and the Combine have been in control of earth for 20 years?

We can assume around 22-25 years between HL1 and HL2. For one there's Alyx; we know she's a small child when HL1 happens, and she's plainly in her mid-20s in HL2.

Also, one more question about the Combine communications network. So, the Combine only had one teleporter on Earth? and that was in the Citadel that was destroyed in Half Life Episode One? Wouldn't the other Citadels on Earth have teleportals built in? Also, that one citadel acted like a communications hub for all Combine on earth? seems wierd for the Combine to put all their eggs in one basket.

IIRC, Dr. Kleiner says something in his city-wide transmission in EP1 which says that the reactor of the citadel becoming unstable has started a chain reaction across the entire Combine network of citadels, disabling all of them.

 

[Emelyn]

xen is like a borderworld. so everything from various dimensions end up there.

Nihilanth was like the de-facto leader of xen and he enslaved the vorts

The portal storms were caused by Dr Freeman by pushing the test crystal, and launching that ICBM satellite in HL1. (Well he was told to, but he still did it)

 

[ríomhaire]

That would be the ones in half life.

The ones in half life 2 are more orange than yellow (the one in Eli's Lab).

I don't think they're very similar. Eli's crystal (Thanks Polaris) is more green than orange.

 

[Darkside55]

The things native to Xen are the Xen crystals, and some other wildlife (headcrabs).

Nosir. Nothing comes from Xen. Least of all the headcrabs or the Xen crystals.

The Xen crystals are part of the makeup of the controllers and the Nihilanth's race. The Nihilanth and the controllers brought them to Xen and grew them there.

Everything that is on Xen is said to have come from somewhere else. That means even things like the spike trees and the eyestalks and whatever those weird, floating, translucent blue orb-organisms are came from somewhere else.

In the beginning, Xen was barren.

 

[flamingdts]

I don't think they're very similar. Eli's crystal (Thanks Polaris) is more green than orange.

Weird.

The picture you have is very yellow. If anyone can give me a quick guide on how to post images I can probably show it from a different angle.

Nosir. Nothing comes from Xen. Least of all the headcrabs or the Xen crystals.

The Xen crystals are part of the makeup of the controllers and the Nihilanth's race. The Nihilanth and the controllers brought them to Xen and grew them there.

Everything that is on Xen is said to have come from somewhere else. That means even things like the spike trees and the eyestalks and whatever those weird, floating, translucent blue orb-organisms are came from somewhere else.

In the beginning, Xen was barren.

Not saying I don't believe you, but do you have a link that supports your claim that Xen was a barren world? If I recall correctly the wiki/sites put Xen as both a hideout and home to creatures alike. I also fidn it hard to believe that Nihilanth brought Xen Crystals to Xen and began growing them. If you don't mind can you post a link for that as well?

Edit:

I see what you did there riomhaire, very very cheeky of you with that image.

When you step far away enough from the xen crystal, it suddenly becomes all yellow. Probably a glitch. You had the picture of the xen crystal when you stand far away enough and it turned yellow, no wonder your picture of the xen crystal looked so...unorthodox. As you can see with my image, the Xen crystal color fits the gravity gun canister thing much better.

 

[Darkside55]

do you have a link that supports your claim that Xen was a barren world?

You can find Marc Laidlaw's response to Riomhaire here; the important part is:

(nothing's native to Xen)

I also fidn it hard to believe that Nihilanth brought Xen Crystals to Xen and began growing them. If you don't mind can you post a link for that as well?

This one's a little trickier; the post was:

that crystal sample in the opening, for instance, should have been clearly echoed in the nihilanth’s chamber—and even down inside its gaping cranium. That was the plan. But we ran out of time to make the clear visual association.

It's in Samon's first post in the Marc Laidlaw Vault sticky. So, if the controllers and the Nihilanth were supposed to have this crystal inside their heads and used the crystals to power their abilities, it's more likely that the crystals are a part of them and they can grow them outside their bodies as well. Like taking a seed out of their heads and planting it.

The other option is that they got to Xen and found crystals and started jamming them into their heads. Not likely, simply because whichever Xenian thought that up was stupid/crazy/reckless beyond belief, and also you'd have to explain how the Nihilanth could already teleport an entire planet's ecosystem across multiple universes before using the crystals. If he was that powerful, why would he need them?

So the crystals almost definitely originated from the Xenians themselves.

 

[DEATH eVADER]

I reckon the Nihilanth was one of Gman's clients, of sorts.

As humans where taking specimens from Xen, the Nihilanth had no way of preventing or stopping this from happening, and had no idea which dimension they were being taken. So Nihilanth engineered the 'sample', and gave it to the Gman.

The sample acted as a tracking device or beacon of which the Nihilanth was able to determine where the Humans where; all it required was enough energy to travel through it, thus the extra energy used in the test caused the RC.

But as with everybody who deals with the Gman, they all eventually get backstabbed; Nihilanth was such a casualty.

The portal storms were caused by Dr Freeman by pushing the test crystal, and launching that ICBM satellite in HL1. (Well he was told to, but he still did it)

It wasn't an ICBM, it was just a satellite delivery rocket, the scientists in Lambda complex needed it in orbit to sort out the mess.

 

[Darkside55]

G-man/Nihilanth theory

I'd post my usual shocktrooper image here, but Glenn might think it's spam and give me the ban.

I'm still watching you, though.

 

[flamingdts]

You can find Marc Laidlaw's response to Riomhaire here; the important part is:




This one's a little trickier; the post was:



It's in Samon's first post in the Marc Laidlaw Vault sticky. So, if the controllers and the Nihilanth were supposed to have this crystal inside their heads and used the crystals to power their abilities, it's more likely that the crystals are a part of them and they can grow them outside their bodies as well. Like taking a seed out of their heads and planting it.

The other option is that they got to Xen and found crystals and started jamming them into their heads. Not likely, simply because whichever Xenian thought that up was stupid/crazy/reckless beyond belief, and also you'd have to explain how the Nihilanth could already teleport an entire planet's ecosystem across multiple universes before using the crystals. If he was that powerful, why would he need them?

So the crystals almost definitely originated from the Xenians themselves.

Ahh that sorts things out. Thanks Darkside.