Head Crabs

[ríomhaire]

Well it would be rather a cowincidence for headcrabs by some old junk DNA instinctivly headhump humans and zombiefy them which has somehow evolved to work without them ever using it.

 

[esplin]

Wouldn't that be just like valve, though.

It does kind of fit. The headcrab "plants" are presumably leeching nutrients from Xen's soil through there feet, and the headcrabs just happen to implant themselves in humans by stabbing there feet into them and sucking the nutrients they eat into the headcrab.
Honestly, though, I think Valve simply hasn't figured out how headcrabs lived before humans.

 

[BuddhistWarlord]

interesting. maybe headcrabs are some king of preadatory fungi spore which are relatively defenceless and need a host for protection and later as nuirishment for when they become plants.

 

[Puzzlemaker]

Or maybe you guys are thinking about this more then Valve did.

 

[BuddhistWarlord]

aren't these kind of things usually thought out by the game developers? It always seemed like the enemies in half life 2 were as carefully developed as the charactes, and that their behavior and social structure, if any, was vague by design.

well, either way it seemed to work out rather nicely.

 

[Jandor]

I think the headcrab goes through a lifecycle evolving into a Gonome, at which point the headcrab drops off and dies and the host goes onto to become a Gonarch. I dont think the headcrab turns into a Gonarch.
There is also probably a stage inbetween Gonome and Gonarch, as the leap between the two seems to massive.

Poison headcrabs are engineered not to undergo metamorphosis into a Gonarch, yet gain the ability to breed at the Mawman stage, thereby keeping areas off limits indefinately, yet stay weak enough for the Combine to dispose of should they want the area back.

 

[lastHOPE_lambda]

I geuss the whole spore thing is possible (it is a very interesting theroy) but why would the headcrab ever need to transform into a gonarch in the first place then? Couldn't it just stick its self into the ground and become a spore right away?

 

[UltimaApocalypse]

Is there clear evidence that Headcrabs grow into Gonarches?

 

[Xaxor]

Raising the Bar says as much.

 

[UltimaApocalypse]

Hmm...I need to reread it.

 

[esplin]

Raising the Bar states that:
"Big Mama (technically a Gonarch) is the final phase of the lowly Headcrab. Few Headcrabs ever reach this stage, and little is known about how and when the metamorphosis takes place."

You could interpret that in several ways. It does state that the Gonarch is the evolution of a normal headcrab, but it is not known how, when, or why they transform. For all we know Gonarch was the only headcrab who ever made this transformation (in Xen, anyway).

 

[Link]

Maybe they change when the headcrabs need a new hive? She spits out mini-crabs after all, it does fit in with the "hive" theory.

It dosen't say that the ones that change are definatly normal headcrabs. Perhaps there are "queen bee" headcrabs? Completly normal to look at, but when the hive gets large enough, she splits off with a bunch of normal headcrabs, finds a new loacation, and grows as the other "normal" 'crabs protect her. Once grow, she starts to produce baby headcrabs.

Maybe I'm keen on the idea as it fits with the hive theory, but it makes sence. After all, queen bees don't leave the hive and set up a new one untill there is enough spare worker bees. Perhaps gonarchs are rare because there is not often many headcrabs dominating an area we go through.

 

[ríomhaire]

That quote if taken that whay contradicts jandor's theory too

 

[lastHOPE_lambda]

Hey this probably sounds stupid but what if gonomes and gonarches are two different branches of mutation. Here’s my idea Headcrabs who take a host keep mutating with that host untill it becomes a gonome then after that it probably goes through another transformation and permanently fuses with the host. And a Gonarch is formed when a headcrab doesn’t take a host and contiues to grow normally if it survives long enough with out a host it will eventually become a gonarch. What do you guys think. (sry if I spelt stuff wrong.)

 

[Dave_Batista]

According to Half Life 1's version.. they had teeth and veins/nerves as mouths.. Perhaps they latch unto the head of the victom/host, stabbing into the neck, killing the host but somehow controlling the nerves = actions of the host. The mutation is unknown to me, perhaps its a side affect as people said from the crab releasing some kind of toxin or substance into the body.

 

[UltimaApocalypse]

Hey this probably sounds stupid but what if gonomes and gonarches are two different branches of mutation. Here’s my idea Headcrabs who take a host keep mutating with that host untill it becomes a gonome then after that it probably goes through another transformation and permanently fuses with the host. And a Gonarch is formed when a headcrab doesn’t take a host and contiues to grow normally if it survives long enough with out a host it will eventually become a gonarch. What do you guys think. (sry if I spelt stuff wrong.)

That would explain why few ever reach that stage, because there nothing without a host.

 

[lastHOPE_lambda]

Yeah It makes the most sense too me.

hey just for fun what do think the last form of the zombie would look like. Heres my idea for the last form of a zombie after the gonome. The ribs grow into large teeth the intestines turn into a tenticle like tongues The large green acid boils grow larger and spread down the arms and claws harden and become more tallon like, And the head and headcrab are completely fused.

 

[Jandor]

That quote if taken that whay contradicts jandor's theory too

Which is a shame, as the headcrab dosn't mutate at all, its all the host. Oh well.

 

[Flyingdebris]

i'm not too keen on the hive theory. There doesn't seem to be much coordination among zombies and crabs to support it.

I think its more likely that they breed like crazy at gonarch stage and the baby crabs just fend for themselves and the gonarch serves itself.

As for the inbetween stage between gonarch and gonome. I think the ball sac begins to form on its back, the stomach hardens to become the acid spewing orifice, the arms and legs begin turning into the spidery spikey legs and bend backwards, and the headcrab finishes merging into the body.

I remember from opfor that the gonomes had the headcrab even more merged with the host than the regular zombies.

 

[esplin]

I know that you can interpret Half-Life in many different ways and I don't want to quash anyone's theory, but why do people believe that a Gonarch evolves from a Gonome?
The only Gonarch ever seen was found on Xen, and even if you believe that Headcrabs took hosts before they came to Earth they would look radically different then the zombies seen in Half-Life.
The Gonarch has no human attributes to speak of, or any non-headcrab attributes now that I think of it. The Gonarch has four legs, a hard-shelled body, and an egg sac. It's clearly just a normal headcrab but bigger with an eggsac attached.
I don't mean to be rude but there is no evidence even HINTING that a Gonarch is a mutated host.

 

[Sam]

It's not necessary for a headcrab to take a host, but considering how much larger and stronger a gonarch is compared to a headcrab, if headcrabs can eventually become gonarchs, they would really need to take a host simply to acquire enough food.

 

[lastHOPE_lambda]

Yeah but that would explain why they are rare, and perhaps thats why head crabs hang around zombies too eat what the zombie kills like a scavenger.

 

[UltimaApocalypse]

Maybe in the future we see a Gonarch, but it looks more human-like.
So if Headcrabs mutate into Gonarches, assuming they use a host, then maybe the Gonarch we fought was mutated from something that was heavily armored. And maybe the whole in the zombies we see is where the eggsac forms.

 

[lastHOPE_lambda]

Maybe in the future we see a Gonarch, but it looks more human-like.
So if Headcrabs mutate into Gonarches, assuming they use a host, then maybe the Gonarch we fought was mutated from something that was heavily armored. And maybe the whole in the zombies we see is where the eggsac forms.

Good point

 

[XANA]

im too lazy to read all the post so ill just go out and say it. has anyone noticed that all the zombies are males? and if you look closely the white, bloodstained shirts (on the normal zombies) kinda resemble the ones the citizens were to have worn (the citizens in the beta screens). uhhh... ill look for some more weird things. or actually, at a certain point in the game, citizens are sort of expressing their newly gained freedom by... getting new clothes from nowhere. anyway, youll usually see them in a white/offwhite shirt and blue jeans, a bit like the (normal) zombies are wearing. sorry if its too late to post!

 

[Llama]

Well female models as Zombie hosts would *possibly* attract Flack from people, like if their were children in the game.

I still dont know quite what to think about the Headcrab ----> Gonarch relationship, because it just doesnt make sense. I mean, if an animal is going to eventually mutate into something that big, it'll either have to be a big baby, or spend a hell of a long time growing. And ive never seen a headcrab feed while not on a Zombie host, so how the hell could it aqquire the food needed to mutate and grow while using a single host?

 

[ríomhaire]

im too lazy to read all the post so ill just go out and say it. has anyone noticed that all the zombies are males? and if you look closely the white, bloodstained shirts (on the normal zombies) kinda resemble the ones the citizens were to have worn (the citizens in the beta screens). uhhh... ill look for some more weird things. or actually, at a certain point in the game, citizens are sort of expressing their newly gained freedom by... getting new clothes from nowhere. anyway, youll usually see them in a white/offwhite shirt and blue jeans, a bit like the (normal) zombies are wearing. sorry if its too late to post!

Yes, headcrabs are sexist. Zombies wear the exact same clothes as refugies but strangly slightly whiter!

 

[Digamma]

Maybe after a 'crab becomes a gonome and it gets enough food and nutrients and stuff, it finds a safe place and just hibernates. And while it is hibernating, the headcrab grows and a case froms around the host and digests it. Then its a big sleeping headcrab with a flesh sac where the host was. And then it uses the nutrients from the host to grow a hardened shell and get even bigger. And this is probablly very difficult on Xen with all the predators which explains why you only encounter one on Xen. And Earth probablly doesnt have specific types of nourishment that Xen has, making it impossible for a Gonarch to form on earth.

 

[Stone_Madman]

Maybe after a 'crab becomes a gonome and it gets enough food and nutrients and stuff, it finds a safe place and just hibernates. And while it is hibernating, the headcrab grows and a case froms around the host and digests it. Then its a big sleeping headcrab with a flesh sac where the host was. And then it uses the nutrients from the host to grow a hardened shell and get even bigger. And this is probablly very difficult on Xen with all the predators which explains why you only encounter one on Xen. And Earth probablly doesnt have specific types of nourishment that Xen has, making it impossible for a Gonarch to form on earth.

That makes a lot of sense.

 

[Eejit]

When two gonomes love each other very much...

Anyway as to where Headcrabs come from I'd go with the Vortigaunt's pre-Xen homeworld, spreading to Xen during the vortigaunt exodus. It explains the presence of headcrabs on Xen as well as the Combine having their own Gonarch-sack, and some similarities between votigaunts and headcrabs do suggest common ancestry.

 

[Digamma]

Where do the combine have a gonarch sac?

 

[Eejit]

In the citadel somewhere. It makes headcrabs for the shells and is mentioned in Raising the Bar. I think the model is around somewhere too, either in the game or the beta.

 

[Llama]

That makes a lot of sense.

It makes no sense at all. How could a footlong creature such as the headcrab gather NOT ONLY enouhg enrgy to grow into something that size, but do it when Hibernating?
Out simply, it couldn't

 

[Mechagodzilla]

Headcrabs on their own eat plants and small animals like birds. That's where they get the nutrients to grow up.

To evolve to a gonarch, they must keep doing that for a very long time and slowly become (essentially) a gigantic, armoured fastcrab.
As we know, gonarchs are rather good at killing, so they'd keep bulking up on food until they grow the eggsac and end up in the final stage where they churn out babies.

However the headcrabs evolved to do the zombification thing, I'm willing to bet that they use the zombie powers defensively, turning into gonomes to kill most stuff that would threaten the smaller crabs.

The poison and fast zombies are very similar to gonomes, but they are lesser versions because they don't undergo the lengthy mutation process that a gonome does.
A gonome has speed, durability and advanced throwing technique.
Poison Zombies have the bulk and the throwing, while fast zombies feature the speed.

 

[ríomhaire]

It makes no sense at all. How could a footlong creature such as the headcrab gather NOT ONLY enouhg enrgy to grow into something that size, but do it when Hibernating?
Out simply, it couldn't

How does something as small as a sperm grow into a Chuck Norris?

 

[Llama]

How does something as small as a sperm grow into a Chuck Norris?

By spending about Two-Three years and nine months are a completly defenceless organism fed BY SOMETHING ELSE.
His idea was a headcrab would gather the nutrition it needed, then grow while hibernating. That makes no sense at all. If its hibernating, how the hell can It feed to grow? Because It cant store all the nutrition inside itself, obviosly - If it did, it wouldnt need to hiberante

 

[Eejit]

I'm with Llama on this on. It just wouldn't make sense.

 

[Digamma]

Maybe they dont hibernate. It was just a speculation. Maybe they just sit there. And I said that they would get nutrients from the host by completly digesting it; maybe in a cocoon of some sort. Then it would use the nutrients from the host to grow.

 

[Llama]

Maybe they dont hibernate. It was just a speculation. Maybe they just sit there. And I said that they would get nutrients from the host by completly digesting it; maybe in a cocoon of some sort. Then it would use the nutrients from the host to grow.

Still a problem of Biomass though. Simply put unless the Crab decided to latch onto a Gargantua for the majority of its feeding spree P) it wouldnt have the nutrition to grow that big. So, it'll have to either A.) Eat its host, then catch and kill more food while growing, or B.) Just catch and kill things to grow.

However, that is depending on the ability of the Headcrab to take nutrition form its prey. The higher in a food chain you go the less effective the respiratory / Nutritional systems get. Seeing as the Headcrab is fairly low (Probably) It might have a fairly effective nutrition system

 

[lastHOPE_lambda]

Maybe headcrabs feed of the electricty in or brain. It would explain why they'd want to keep the host alive and if they feed off of raw energy there systems would be super effective(nothing would go to waste.) When they kill something its to feed the host not them selfs.