End game discussion *spoilers of course*

[stoo]

I think everyone has missed something pretty important.

When Gordon reaches his office, Breen says that it's ok that Eli has chosen not to join him because Gordon has become the people's new leader and that Gordon has turned out to be a, "fine pawn for those who control him."

He then turns to Gordon and asks, "did you know that your contract is open to the highest bidder?"

Add that to the remarks by the G-man at the game's end scene, where he tells Gordon that he has, "received some interesting offers for [his] services."

He goes on to say: "Ordinarily I wouldn't consider them, but these are extraordinary times."

Leads me to think that, at the beginning at least, HL3 will see Gordon working for the Combine.

 

[Cabb]

Very interesting point, I only read up to page 4, but no one seems to have mentioned up until then that G-Man can be spotted communicating with what must be a resistance leader (maybe the tally ho pip pip british one) when you look through the combine camera across the water, top floor of the house, I forget the chapter, green grass, rocky, buggy, the telescopic camera is in a house.

This of course suggesting that the g-man is not hostile to the resistance, possibly suggesting that Gordan was hired to help, but by whom?

 

[Absinthe]

am i going crazy or did i hear breen say that he genetically altered freeman as a little kid. he says it when you are on one of the elevator things, it kind of explains why gordon kicks so much ass.

No, he was talking about how he was disappointed with Kleiner and Eli Vance for dragging you over to their side, and he accuses them of planting ideas of iconoclasm in your head when you were young and gullible.

The ass-kicking was a result of something screwing up during the confiscation of your weapons, I believe.

 

[Dee]

i just beat the game and man it was great from start to end although i didnt like the final areas of the game too much seemed to remind me of matrix and i just wasnt feeling the whole futuristic stuff but man the ending was great had me wondering what happened to everything was the city destroyed did everyone die or what.....i might be the only one that actually enjoyed the ending.


One more thing I donno if its just me but the game seemed kinda short... -shrugs-

 

[shade70]

OKay, my take on the story, with bits Ive picked up in the game, plus from hints in the game guide.

The Black Mesa Incident created a Dimensional Rift (as in HL Decay) - the Combine were attracted to Earth by this rift and attacked. The Earth surrended after 7 hours of fighting - mainly due to Dr Breens interference. When Earth surrenders the Combine make him the Human populations Administrator

There is more than one City on Earth - at least another exists - City 14, however City 17 is the main base of Operations for Dr Breen.

The Citys inhabitants are drugged and violently supressed, and randomly taken away by the Combine to Nova Prospekt to be assimilated.

To help control the human population Dr Breen is the Combines mouthpiece on Earth, the Combine stop sexual reproduction (probably through drugs) and also try to restrict other 'basic' instincts as well. This is to make the human popualtion less likely to resist, however Dr Breen tells the people is too make them a Super-race.

With no babies being born, and the Earths remianing population slowly being turned into unthinking Slaves this is basically mass genocide.....the slow extermination of the human race.

The Combine Soliders and Stalkers are all adapted Humans - Dr Breen calls them trans-humans, basically superhuman - fitted with implants to control them, and their brains tinkered with. This is what usually happens to any undesirables - they are sent to Nova Prospekt to be assimilated.

Xen has nothing to do directly with the Combine. Xen is the key to teleportation in 'our' universe, however the Combine are only able to teleport from 'their' Universe to Earth (they are from another Dimension), probably through the remains of the Dimensional Rift, but they are unable to teleport 'locally' so to speak (thats why they use Dropships/Trains/APCS etc & dont just teleport directly) if they had access to Xen they would have the power of Teleportation on Earth, but they don't.....Dr Mossman had betrayed Humankind by building the Combine a working 'Local' teleporter and showing them the power of Xen.

The teleporter Bleen uses at the end is the Teleporter to the Combines dimension. The interdimensional Teleporter takes gigantic amounts of power to charge and takes along time to prepare, making it almost useless as a gateway for Combine control. This is why the Combine use the human population & machines built on Earth as Soldiers and a workforce....it would be impossible to teleport everything they needed for Earths supression from their dimension

The Vortigaunts are Alien Slaves from HL1. When Gordon attacked Xen and killed the Nilliath (or whatever its called) they were freed. The ones still left on Earth decided to help the Resistance, as they didnt want to become enslaved again by the Combine.

The big slug you see Breen talking to at the end is the true face of Combine. This is an actual Combine alien. They obviously have telepathic powers (he never actually talks to Breen, but Breen is having a conversation with it) and are completely dependant on Technology for survival. (If you ever read the War of Worlds by HG Wells basically they are the same as the Martians - me thinks Laidlaw got the idea for the Combine from this book......Striders=Fighting Machines)

Striders are biomechanical machines as are the gunships.

The Portal storms caused by the Black Mesa incident transported local Xen life to Earth - Antlions, headcrabs etc. This is why the Vortigaunt know how to create bugbait. Both species are from Xen.

The Combine, seeing how effective Head crabs were against the Human popualtion, captured breeded and mutated them, and used them as a Bioweapon against 'Troublespots' of Human resistance.

G-Man has contact with the Resistance.....it is possible the reason they knew Gordon was coming is that because the G-Man told them.

One of the Vortiguants in a hidden area tells you alot about yourself. He does say they realise about how many of his race they killed, but accepted this for the Freedom he gave them. Another thing is how Gordon was like they were - a Slave, and when you think about it, its true. The gigantic irony of the whole story is that the 'One Free Man' - the hope of all of the Human slaves to the Combine- is actually a Slave to the G Man!

Vance, Kliener and Barney all knew what Gordon did in Black Mesa - they would have spread the Legend of how he saved Earth from the Xen invasion & freed the Vortigaunts.Hes a big hero on Earth.Thats how everyone knows who you are (the HEV suit with the Lambda sign would have been a big giveaway as well) and why the Combine throw everything at you once they know you are on Earth (when you teleport accidently to Breens office) - you give the population hope.

Thats what Ive come up with so far. Who or what the G-Man is, and what his motives are, are still unclear.

 

[Ezekial]

I think everyone has missed something pretty important.

When Gordon reaches his office, Breen says that it's ok that Eli has chosen not to join him because Gordon has become the people's new leader and that Gordon has turned out to be a, "fine pawn for those who control him."

He then turns to Gordon and asks, "did you know that your contract is open to the highest bidder?"

Add that to the remarks by the G-man at the game's end scene, where he tells Gordon that he has, "received some interesting offers for [his] services."

He goes on to say: "Ordinarily I wouldn't consider them, but these are extraordinary times."

Leads me to think that, at the beginning at least, HL3 will see Gordon working for the Combine.

Yeah man, I should have noticed that, but the Gravity Gun on the desk was distracting me... I just wanted to get back to hanging people by there foot off ledges!

I expect we should be expecting HL3 or at least an add-on in the not to distant future.

I would still really like to know what the GMan is, he oviously isn't human, unless humans have the power to stop time and walk through doors of light that pop out of nowere that we just don't know about yet.

 

[markabey]

Xen has nothing to do directly with the Combine. Xen is the key to teleportation in 'our' universe, however the Combine are only able to teleport from 'their' Universe (they are from another Dimension), they are unable to teleport 'locally' so to speak (thats why they use Dropships/Trains/APCS etc & dont just teleport directly) if they had access to Xen they would have the power of Teleportation on Earth, but they don't.....Dr Mossman had betrayed Humankind by building the Combine a working 'Local' teleporter and showing them the power of Xen.

Im not sure on this, i had a feeling that the combine controlled xen but had no real use for it (or didnt know how to exploit it), they made the vortigaunts slaves, and made nilhilanth the controller, he floats on a sort of mechanical base so is part combine himself. There the slaves made alien grunts which are also combine im sure (synth anyway)

The teleporter Bleen uses at the end is the Teleporter to the Combines dimension. The interdimensional Teleporter takes gigantic amounts of power to charge and takes along time to prepare, making it almost useless as a gateway for Combine control. This is why the Combine use the human population & machines built on Earth as Soldiers and a workforce....it would be impossible to teleport everything they needed for Earths supression from their dimension

i also think that is why the towers are so high, the energy in the dark energy reaction is so great that at ground level it would blow up everything

Striders are biomechanical machines as are the gunships.

The Portal storms caused by the Black Mesa incident transported local Xen life to Earth - Antlions, headcrabs etc. This is why the Vortigaunt know how to create bugbait. Both species are from Xen.

Im not sure about this, i think that the combine brought antlions from their world. Look at the similarities between the combine synth (striders/gunships, and those things u see near the end in the citadel) and antilions (antlion guards especially), they are both very hard to kill and the same colour and texture. Its as if the combine assimilated antlions into themselves aswell. That is why they brought the thumpers as well, to control the antlions.

Vance, Kliener and Barney all knew what Gordon did in Black Mesa - they would have spread the Legend of how he saved Earth from the Xen invasion & freed the Vortigaunts.Hes a big hero on Earth.Thats how everyone knows who you are (the HEV suit with the Lambda sign would have been a big giveaway as well) and why the Combine throw everything at you once they know you are on Earth (when you teleport accidently to Breens office) - you give the population hope.

i would have thought that the vortigaunts would have told the people, as they could telepathically know what was happening on xen and now they are free from nilhilanth they can speak independantly.


Great ideas though
:thumbs:

 

[PrivateerLunatic]

I think most of you guys rushed through the game too quickly. I agree with Apos.

Many of the answers you've been asking for in all these pages are there. The thing is that the game avoids expositition in dialogue or whatever completely. However, if you take the time to investigate, there are tons of clues and if you look carefully and think logically you can fit together a lot of details about who the combine are, why they came, where they're from, what your role is, what's going on, what you're there to do, and many, many more things.

The only one who truly remains an enigma is the G-Man, but I think we know more about him than we did in Half-Life 1.

We know that he has control over time/matter (much like Q in Star Trek, as someone previously mentioned), we know that he is almost certainly not human, we know that he is trying to stop interdimensional intervention with Earth and the rest of our universe, and we know that he's not the only one involved -- he's contracting you out to someone, he says at the end.

I think many of you who hated the ending just missed most of the literally hundreds of clues that help to help you at least formulate well-founded theories to answer your questions.

 

[MickeyAsh]

so the whole we were gone for a week in the teleporter might explain a few things, i don't think Gordon aged at all in the time period between HL1 and HL2 remember what Vance said, "you havn't changed one iota" (spelling?) so maybe you have to go to xen and fight off the combine? but what world was that through that big teleport in the end, almost looks like a whole bunch of big towers like the citadel.

Negative on that... if you throw on sv_cheats 1 and noclip, you can pan around the top of the tower during the phase where you see the "towers" and they actually appear to be spires of a simlar tower that is elsewhere in the universe. If you look to most science fiction interpretation (even some science FACT interpretation) of the use of black holes used as transportation (which is what is being used in the instance of HL2... numerous references to a singularity [Astrophysics. A point in space-time at which gravitational forces cause matter to have infinite density and infinitesimal volume, and space and time to become infinitely distorted.]) there is sometimes the portrayal that the location of departure and location of arrival require two similar devices... (anyone see Stargate?)

About Breen's mentions of a host body... he doesn't request a host body. His word's were something like "A HOST BODY!? Why, I couldn't possibly... well, if that's what it takes, then fine." Sounds more to me like Breen will become a host body for someone/thing, himself. Perhaps the "Combine Liaison" (large worm-like thing he's talking to in the final scene) wants to use Breen as a host body?

 

[sprinterboy]

The G Man

I dont think anyone will have died, because the g-man intervened and holted time, so know one will die, he will take freeman forward in time to the next level, hl1 was alien based but hl2 was never supposed to be loads of aliens, i was expecting it to be more combines, but hl3 will go back to loads of both combines and aliens

 

[nuttymi2]

Maybe in HL3 Freeman just wakes up in a shower (Dallas style)

Half life 2 was the best thing in my life (having to wait for it, then getting to play it), now its over what am I to do for the next 2/3 years?

Playing other games now just isn't going to be the same!

HL2 ROCKS!

Guess I will have t play it again and again! :sniper:


EDIT: The pulse gun thing looks crap when your holding it, shame you couldn’t have a sniper rifle.

 

[Asuka]

Well after 14 hours of playing, its done. I was kind of hoping for more out of the gman at the end..no? Anyway overall it seemed kind of short, but overall it was massive. I dont think I rushed it, but I dont know. Anyone else?

Worst ending ever.......We have to wait six more years to find out what the hell is going on.......Worst ending since matrix 3......Awesome game, levels were huge and I had a blast. Took me about 12 hours. I just expected so much more at the end, it was almost like it just stopped and the power went out at my house. I was like "Is that it, it can't be it, wait lets see what happens after the credits there will be some crazy ending? Nope just lamar and the professor. Urgh." I give it a 9/10 for no ending." Time to play it again on hard.

14 hours/12 hours wtf? Iv been playing fps games for a very very long time. (hl1 doom etc) I dont think hl2 is hard but you guys are clearly rushing through the game. Took me give or take 24-26 hours to beat. (Puzzles 90% on 1st try, i didnt die much on battles ether.) I mean did you guys stop to hear what ever civilian said? Listen to breens moniter? explore? How many gmans did you guys see 1-2? (Saw about 5) Did you guys just run and gun down enemys? Really because i find it hard to believe you beat the game in 12-14 hours if you played it like it should be played.

 

[MindCrafter]

I think everyone has missed something pretty important.

When Gordon reaches his office, Breen says that it's ok that Eli has chosen not to join him because Gordon has become the people's new leader and that Gordon has turned out to be a, "fine pawn for those who control him."

He then turns to Gordon and asks, "did you know that your contract is open to the highest bidder?"

Add that to the remarks by the G-man at the game's end scene, where he tells Gordon that he has, "received some interesting offers for [his] services."

He goes on to say: "Ordinarily I wouldn't consider them, but these are extraordinary times."

Leads me to think that, at the beginning at least, HL3 will see Gordon working for the Combine.

Do you think that Gordon is a mindless pawn?
Remember at the end of HL1 you agree to work with the G-man?
All I know is that Valve made an excellent and mysterious game, again.
It's all so confusing

Edit: I used 24 hours or something to finish the game btw.

 

[Para]

I dont think anyone will have died, because the g-man intervened and holted time, so know one will die, he will take freeman forward in time to the next level, hl1 was alien based but hl2 was never supposed to be loads of aliens, i was expecting it to be more combines, but hl3 will go back to loads of both combines and aliens

You do realize that if/when Gordon is taken further in to the future, the time must restart again and the explosion starts expanding again, among other things.

 

[Zeus]

This took me about 30 hours to beat on normal

 

[markez]

half life 1

just thought i would give my 2 pence (yes, im british :cheers: )

has anyone played half life 1 after completing number 2. it just opens up even more questions.

for example:

when you first start the game and your heading to the test chamber, remember the Gman talking to another scientist in an office and he stares at you? i was just contemplating that he could be Dr Breen. maybe he planned the experiment to go wrong

another is in Opposing force when you defuse the nuke, when you go into the security chamber you see the Gman setting it up again? one theory is that he just wants to kill the vortiguant, or cover up traces of the accident to prevent public uproar. paving the road for the combine uprise :naughty:

i mean, if you listen to alot of the conversations from breen and others you can almost piece together the fact that everyone wants gordan freeman.

another part in HL2,(correct me if im wrong) when your in the elevator with alyx, heading up towards breen. you hear him talking about a host of some sort and how they need one before they can do something (i know, your loving the details). then you see that giant alien thing onscreen. my guess is that they need gordan to be the host for the aliens mind. as i said, load of questions.

other things like the weird stick human things with no hands or faces working for the combine. not to mention those giant mechanical bull squids that you see on your "cocoon trip". so many things that you see but never see again only to be exploited in the future.

anyways, thats all i have to say, i would of gone into my own "conspiracy theory" with all the bells and whistles, but that will have to wait till later (need to play OF and BS more).

see ya around

MARKEZ

"A man who never made a mistake, Never made a discovery"

 

[Asknoone]

Well i dont think at all that Gman has connections with breen...i also think that shade70 is spot on with his plot overview..with a few niggles.

Your goal through the game for gman is clearly: Destroy Dark Fusion reactor. This is obvious, alyx tells you that the reactor powers the combines tunneling entaglement device..tunneling through from there universe...however without it they are screwed and as soon as it blows up your taken out of there. Job done.

And also when Breen is talkign about the host body, he is referring to the fact that the acual combien alien told him that if he wanted to survive the enviroemtn the portal woudl take him to then he would need a host body to do so.

 

[markez]

i too understand that your mission is complete when you gank the generator. there is no other explanation to that, why else would Gman pull you out.

but the fact that the xen creatures and the combine seem to have the same likeliness is starting to get pretty convincing. like other posts have said, the factorys have similaritys but i have notice that the way some of the combines machinery has been constructed is veering the same way.

the main one being these huge mechanical things you see when your on your second trip round the citadel. before you see the 4 or 5 flying craft pull out, you see 2 bridges with these lumbering things that in a way resemble bullsquid.....need to get a screeny.

 

[A2597]

I just had an interesting thought...

OK, I was really pissed that the G-Man was selling my "services" to the highest bidder...

but then at the end he was getting some interesting offers he wouldn't normally concider.

And from this ending, it's safe to say the G-Man exist outside time.

So, He can see the outcome of placing Gordon at a point in time before it happens. So he can choose which contracts to give gordon, based on the outcome of doing so.

What motive the G-Man is working towards I have no clue, but he's working to some greater goal, I'm hoping it's not the destruction of Earth. That would be a massive surprise if at the end of HL3, we learn that we are responsible for the death of the human race...

 

[Asuka]

I just had an interesting thought...

OK, I was really pissed that the G-Man was selling my "services" to the highest bidder...

but then at the end he was getting some interesting offers he wouldn't normally concider.

And from this ending, it's safe to say the G-Man exist outside time.

So, He can see the outcome of placing Gordon at a point in time before it happens. So he can choose which contracts to give gordon, based on the outcome of doing so.

What motive the G-Man is working towards I have no clue, but he's working to some greater goal, I'm hoping it's not the destruction of Earth. That would be a massive surprise if at the end of HL3, we learn that we are responsible for the death of the human race...

That would be awesome.

 

[MiccyNarc]

Markez, I disagree with you 100% on your theory.
Why would the Gman make you help the combine get to earth, and then make you massacre them?

Makes 0 sense.
Oh, by the way, I think the end result will be the destruction of the human race. It's very possible.
"Gordon, look at everything you have destroyed. Can you name one thing you have created? That's what I thought."
Sobering.

 

[MrWynd]

there are posters on a wall saying "humanity surrendered in 7 hours" and "portal storm continues" it looks like the combine are using the aliens to take over earth, and now Breem is using this Projekt to mutate humanity into more powerful aliens - he believes it's the only way to further humanity.

 

[pooter]

This isn't anything big, but I found it interesting nonetheless. Notice how the Combine use headcrabs as weapons? Yet, from time to time, we see the Overwatch fighting headcrabs and zombies. This suggests to me that the Combine don't give a crap about the humans, whether they are for or against the Combine, since they employ weapons that will hurt their own "allies." Kinda shows their ruthlesness.

Also, regarding Breen, I think he knew what was going to happen all along with the experiment in HL1. Like Wynd said, he wants to advance humanity into the Superman, and he probably felt this was the only way.

 

[AzzMan]

About everyone arguing about what Breen was saying about a host body, that thing he was talking to told him that he would need a host body in order to survive on the Combine world, because of the conditions there.

 

[Asknoone]

Thats pretty much it Azzman, he needs a host body to survive in the combien universe...

Althought after that he says "Alright dammit if thats what it takes!"

Now the actual combine creature is talkign to him telepathically...so i wonder what conclusion they came to...

 

[Tyrsenus]

Now the actual combine creature is talkign to him telepathically...so i wonder what conclusion they came to...

If they were talking telepathically, why did they need the screen? :naughty:

I think the idea from the combine was influenced by 2001 (the book, this wasn't in the movie). Towards the end of the book, it describes an alien race that began to rely more and more on technology. Eventually they had no more need for their bodies, they just lived within their technology. And then after that, they had no more need for matter at all, and existed in the "lattices of light." Whatever that means.

 

[Asknoone]

Well its either the prima guide or rainsing the bar which mentions telepathy...

was the book called 2001 Tyrsenus?

 

[AJ Rimmer]

Well its either the prima guide or rainsing the bar which mentions telepathy...

was the book called 2001 Tyrsenus?

You don't know 2001: A Space Odyssey? And you call yourself british...
Now the question is: Did Dr Breen die?
Right after you blow up the reactor, you hear Breens voice echo: "No. You need me." Did the combine teleport him at the last moment or what?

 

[Asknoone]

Oh Space Odyssey...he didnt mention that!!

I dont think Breen does die actually, he simply drifts down to the bottom of the reactor in his little control bubble.

When he says "You need me.." I think he is referring to 2 of these:

He is talkig about how the human race needs him to survive and how if he were to achieve his goal of teleporting then he would have saved them...because remember if he goes to the combine unvierse then he will become immortal...

Or he is talkign to the combine..."you need me" as in "dont leave me..."..Because liek he said when he was talkign to that combine "I canstill deliver earth but not without your help." Perhaps the combine arnt interested in breen anymore because Mossman turned on him and mossman was the key to the teleportation tech that the combine wanted

 

[AJ Rimmer]

Oh Space Odyssey...he didnt mention that!!

I dont think Breen does die actually, he simply drifts down to the bottom of the reactor in his little control bubble.

When he says "You need me.." I think he is referring to 2 of these:

He is talkig about how the human race needs him to survive and how if he were to achieve his goal of teleporting then he would have saved them...because remember if he goes to the combine unvierse then he will become immortal...

Or he is talkign to the combine..."you need me" as in "dont leave me..."..Because liek he said when he was talkign to that combine "I canstill deliver earth but not without your help." Perhaps the combine arnt interested in breen anymore because Mossman turned on him and mossman was the key to the teleportation tech that the combine wanted

I'm betting on your second one, although I think the combine does want his help. They were willing to use up considerable resources during their biggest crisis yet to teleport him even after mossman was out of his hands.

 

[Dr. Shim]

Damn it, you guys are STARTING THE HYPE TRAIN AGAIN! At full force! I'm not being mean, just sarcastic.

It took me 6 hours to beat the game. The ending was rather a... Disappointment. I wish I knew more about the Combine in the end, but what I did know what from speculation prior to the game's release. (Some of it was correct; although I can't mention any specifically.)

I am hoping for a back-to-back style release for HL3. However, this seems unlikely. Source is an engine like no other, and I wouldn't be surprised if it took them three to four years to make the game; and two to three making the engine. I could be full of crack too...

I loved the game. Keep the story-guessing going. This is fun. (Seriously!)

 

[Asknoone]

I'm betting on your second one, although I think the combine does want his help. They were willing to use up considerable resources during their biggest crisis yet to teleport him even after mossman was out of his hands.

Yes true, although i am more interested in how he got a portal workign on the reactor...all alyx said was it powered there tunneling entaglement system so i am assumign that the reactor is powering the combien portal which is in Nova Prospekt...but that exploded.....

However it seems as if they are getting a bit annoyed at him, judging from his speech to the combine soldiers in Nova Prospekt and such and how the combine are gettign nervous at the fact that freeman simply cannot be stopped...

Well overall, refering to the original question i really think he survived..although you cant be to sure because the reactor exploded right above him and i am betting that that cant be good for him whom is simply below...

 

[Wraithen]

Valve need a new publisher now so they should go with EA Games. Then we'd get a new half life game every year!

 

[A2597]

and if we got a new HL game every year, they would all suck

 

[Wraithen]

Well I was kidding, but I really don't think Valve could make a shit game. Or I don't think they would anyway. But with Source finished, how long would it really take?

 

[Muskrat]

I think its been discussed, but where did the hydra go again?

I wondered the same thing. And the OICW gun, and the traptown level from the videos. I wanted to blow that dumpster on the combine SOOOO bad! There seemed to be quite a lack of clever traps to kill the combine with physics.

I also get the feeling I missed something important about the story, besides the basic understanding the we were helping the humans be free from the combine.

 

[CountShockula]

Perhaps the combine is our own human race from the future?

 

[Tyrsenus]

Valve need a new publisher now so they should go with EA Games. Then we'd get a new half life game every year!

I think once their contract with Vivendi expires, they're going to Activision. I think they owe Vivendi one more game under the contract agreement.

 

[satch919]

Just finished it on the hard setting like 10mins ago.

MASTERPIECE!!! :thumbs:

Game of the Year X 10

I felt used and abused at the end. So helpless. I also felt like Im part of something absolutely massive. But.....

WHO THE F*** IS THE GMAN?!?!? ARGHHH.

Talk about friggen mysterious.

I was very pleased with the ending.

This is the very pinnacle of gaming. It was: amazing, astounding, bewildering, breathtaking, extraordinary, impressive, marvelous, miraculous, spectacular, staggering, startling, striking, stunning, stupefying, stupendous, wonderful, and wondrous.

 

[Tyrsenus]

In case this hasnt been stated recently, I think its obvious that Nihilanth was a combine (btw, he (she?) actually looks freeky in HL:S). This explains why the vortigaunts are assisting the human resistance.