Vortigon Transcript

[WhiteZero]

The following is a Transcript of the stuff that the Vortigon say, and some translations (for laymen). Most of these are from the "Secret" Vortigon.

"We remember the Freeman."
The name "Freeman" pronounced Free-man (2 syllables) as a pun that is his name and the fact that he is the only free person in the world

"We are coterminous."
Coterminous means that 2 peoples fates are linked. Much like Dr. Frankenstein and his monster, when one dies, so dose the other.

"There is no distance between us."
I believe they are trying to say that Gordon and the Vortigon are "close" to each other. That they are similar somehow.

"No false veils of time or space may intervene."
Not sure what he's getting at with this.

"We see you still in Black Mesa, clearly we see you in the Nihilanth's chamber."
I believe they mean that when they look at you now, they are reminded of when you defeated Nihilanth.

"We bare witness to the bright eternity of the Nihilanth's demise."
They are glad that they have been freed from Nihilanth's slavery and see a bright future ahead.

"You leap, you fall, we see you flash between the barriers."
I'm not sure about the "flash" part, or the reference. Maybe joking about Gordon jumping around so much (all the jumping puzzles in the original HL)

"For... a brief time you joined us, you are one between the worlds."
Probably referencing your trip to Xen in the original HL.

"Communion of the Vortessants, and that other, a deeper mystery, no deeper than the void itself."
Vortessants = Vortigon People. I believe he's saying that all the Vortigon people are once more united. "that other" probably referencing the Combine.

"We cannot forget those wholes cords you cut; forgiveness is not ours to bestow."
Cord cutting is a slightly religious reference, which entails peoples souls are linked to etherealness by a "silver cord". If it's cut, then you die in this world. Also that the Vortigon's don't forgive you for killing so many of them.

"Unity of purpose, the shattering of common shackles, a single road we tread."
Once again referencing the current alliance with the humans and the Vortessants against the Combine, to free themselves from oppression.

"Your song we sing and shall sing for eternity, no matter the consequences of this struggle."
No matter what happens, the Vortessants will remember Gordon for his help.

"You have brought us grief and jubilation beyond measure."
The grief part is referencing the original HL, where Gordon killed hundreds of their kind. Jubilation (extreme joy) is referencing Gordon freeing them from Nihilanth.

"We are there still in observance of your final strou."
I assume that by "strou" they mean the final strike against the enemy. "there still" meaning that they were there in the original HL for the end, and for this one.

"While our only scattered at your feet, you severed the vortal cord that bound the Nihilanths to life and to us."
I believe that "our only" means that Nihilanth was their only purpose in life. Then he once again references the "cord"; except this time he means not only the "life cord" but a "cord" or shackle which held the Vortessants in Nihilanth's servitude.

"That sharp spur of hope has not dulled to this day."
probably a reference to Gordon's shinny crowbar :naughty:

"For once, the lesser master lay defeated; the greater must also fall in time."
I'm not sure what the rest really means.

"With you besides us, a talesman of victory, the day of freedom draws nigh."
The talesman is a metaphor for Gordon. Freedom is very close.

"Your bright face obscures your darker mask."
Gordon is a nice looking guy, but he'll ruthlessly kill to get to his goal.

"Recall you sib, although your mind and meaning are a mystery to us."
I'm not sure I'm hearing the "sib" part right. The rest pretty much says that the Vortessants don't quite understand what is going though Gordon's head.

"Far distance eyes look out though yours."
Now sure...

"Some things secret steals us both; we shall not name it."
I believe he means that the Combine are very mysterious and that they have "stolen" their freedom. I'm not sure about the naming part.

"We have endured these chafing bonds for aeons, yet a single moment of further servitude seems intolerable."
They were enslaved by Nihilanth for a very long time. Finally they were freed by Gordon... but damn! Now the combine has them enslaved. They can't friggen stand this any longer!!

"How often have we slipped aryoke, only to find it choking us again."
Not sure if he's actually saying with "aryoke". It could be Vortessant for "free" or just a terrible slur on some other word. Anyway, he's talking once again about being set free from their bonds, but only to be enslaved again.

"Let this war end in either total victory or our extinction; no further compromise shall we allow."
Meaning that we'd rather be dead, then let ant more of our people die or be enslaved.

"We take a stand beside you here upon this miserable rock."
They are fighting with the Humans. They don't like Earth.

"The way ahead is dark for the moment."
Your adventure onward is filled with danger. Not exactly sure he said "moment".

"What seems to you a sacrifice is merely to us an osculation; we do not fear the interval of darkness."
They don't fear sacrificing some of their own for the greater good. Correct me if I'm wrong.

"We are a tapestry woven of Vortessans, it is the same for you only if you would see it."
I believe he means that the Vortigon people are all one, they work together.

"How many are there in you?"
No clue

"Whose hopes and dreams do you encompass?"
Gordon is the "shining light" for many people. People idolize him and dream of the day that he will save them all.

"Could you but see the eyes inside your own, the minds in your mind you would see how much we share? We are you Freeman... and you are us."
Once again referencing the "coterminous" thing, sharing fates. They do not think that Gordon understands this.

 

[Zento]

Great work man!

"For once, the lesser master lay defeated; the greater must also fall in time."
Probably referring to Gordon defeating Nihilanth and how Gordon must one day die.

"Far distance eyes look out though yours."
Sounds interesting...maybe the G-Man?

"How many are there in you?"
May be related to Breen talking about genes or something in Gordon

 

[Liam]

Nice, a few misheard words hear and there but it's mostly right I think...

Missed a few lines as well, like "We are you, freeman. And you are us."

 

[WhiteZero]

Missed a few lines as well, like "We are you, freeman. And you are us."

Do you mean that you missed that or I did?
Because it's at the end of my last quote.

 

[Liam]

Do you mean that you missed that or I did?
Because it's at the end of my last quote.

Oh wopps, it's actually a seperate sound file, that's why I didn't see it on the end there. Was expecting it on its own line.

 

[Lanthanide]

"How often have we slipped aryoke, only to find it choking us again."
Not sure if he's actually saying with "aryoke". It could be Vortessant for "free" or just a terrible slur on some other word. Anyway, he's talking once again about being set free from their bonds, but only to be enslaved again.

The word is probably actually "our yoke". Yoke = a harness put around an oxen's neck, to indicate slavery and work.

 

[Franky]

"For once, the lesser master lay defeated; the greater must also fall in time."

lesser master=nihilanth, greater master=the alien thing Breen was talking to? maybe nihilanth was the 'administrator' of Xen, just as Breen was the administrator of earth. that would make hl2 somewhat a parallell to hl1.

 

[Zento]

^Personally I think they are talking about Gordon and how he is eventually going to kick the can

 

[T.H.C.138]

the "eyes in your mind" thing could that be a reference to the G-mans employers? or the G-man himself?

 

[Jakeic]

isn't it funny that freeman is not a free man?

 

[warban]

Were is this "Secret" Vortigon?

 

[Liam]

Were is this "Secret" Vortigon?

http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?t=52745

 

[Kongo]

Maybe the "far distant eyes"-thing refer to you, the player

 

[Griever]

"What seems to you a sacrifice is merely to us an osculation; we do not fear the interval of darkness."

"We are a tapestry woven of Vortessans, it is the same for you only if you would see it."

"How many are there in you?"

"Could you but see the eyes inside your own, the minds in your mind you would see how much we share? We are you Freeman... and you are us."

I read somewhere (probably in one of those Raising the Bar promo scans) that the Vortigaunts have what is known as a Hive Mind. Meaning that all experiences, knowledge etc. is shared throughtout the entire race. Which is why Vortigaunts make such good spies; one infiltrates, and the rest can report.

It also means that when one member dies, its conciousness (or at least a part of it) is transfered to the rest. Hence the 'tapestry woven of Vortessans' line.

Knowing that, the lines I quoted make a little more, and a little less, sense...

 

[Spartan]

Why didn't you activate subtitles?

"Some things secret steals us both; we shall not name it."

Something steers us both. He's referring to the G-man.

I read somewhere (probably in one of those Raising the Bar promo scans) that the Vortigaunts have what is known as a Hive Mind.

That's pretty obvious, if you listen to what they say.

 

[Griever]

That's pretty obvious, if you listen to what they say.

That wasn't the point of my post. And as obvious as it may seem, apparently no-one in this thread has taken that into consideration yet.

 

[WhiteZero]

Why didn't you activate subtitles?
Something steers us both. He's referring to the G-man.
That's pretty obvious, if you listen to what they say.

Because I have it on a sound file. And I've found that the closed captions in the game can be innacurate.

And since I have it on sound file, I've listen to the same thing about 30 times. Your right about the "stears" part, but he also says "secret" as well.

 

[Mister_Pie]

My interpretation is that their hive consciousness stands outside the boundary of time, so simultaneously they are experiencing Gordon's killing them while at the same time they are experiencing his liberating them.

Also, "We are there still in observance of your final strou." should be ""We are there still in observance of your final stroke." It's a reference to how they stand outside time, and even now they "experience" Gordon's killing of Nihilanth just as they are concurrently experiencing Gordon killing many of them.

 

[Simplepsy]

Nice work there, heres my opinion regarding their message and what they are.

Firstly and most importantly the vortigons have a conciousness outside our 3 dimentional space time universe. as before mentioned, they are linked to both their own past and their futures.
Not only do the see gordon in his current stuggle, but they also see gordon fighting his HL1 battles, and also in his final hit against the combine. Be this the final chapter of HL2 or maybe a chapter still to come in another HL game.
The reference to "flash between the barriers", could very likely be refering to gordons Various Teleportation attempts in both games. It could also be linked to gordons time outside our universe in stasis.

"For once, the lesser master lay defeated; the greater must also fall in time."
This i believe refers to the Nihilanth's destruction and ultimatly the fall of the combine, or more specificly Breen!

"How often have we slipped aryoke, only to find it choking us again."
This I feel should be Our yoke... meaning our burdon. The humans and the Vortigons must have similar histories of oppression, wars, struggle, and new found freedom, followed by yet more stuggles and duties. The combine oppression being to date the ultimate oppression.

 

[Driftlight]

You have "Vortessents" written a few times; what they actually said was "vortessence", which seems to be a vortigaunt analogue of essence. I'm not really sure what it means in context.

I've found that subtitles are very accurate in this game. It'd be pretty worthless if they weren't.

 

[WhiteZero]

Well, I wrote this from listening to a wav file, so I didnt have the subtitles at the time.

 

[denko]

I think nearly every Vortigaunt you meet in HL2 will say these lines if you keep speaking to them. I spoke to the one that attaches the Combine gun to your air boat and he said all of these lines that have been listed.
I went back to him just now, with subtitles on for comparison, and found a few things I think need correcting. These are what I believe to be the correct lines and their meanings:

"You leap, you fall, we see you flash between the barriers."
I'm not sure about the "flash" part, or the reference. Maybe joking about Gordon jumping around so much (all the jumping puzzles in the original HL)

I'm fairly certain that the "flash between the barriers" part is in reference to Gordon's use of teleportation, the barriers are those of time and space.

"We are there still in observance of your final strou."
I assume that by "strou" they mean the final strike against the enemy. "there still" meaning that they were there in the original HL for the end, and for this one.

He definately says "stroke". The word is stretched out and the "ck" sound is not pronounced very loudly.

"While our only scattered at your feet, you severed the vortal cord that bound the Nihilanths to life and to us."
I believe that "our only" means that Nihilanth was their only purpose in life. Then he once again references the "cord"; except this time he means not only the "life cord" but a "cord" or shackle which held the Vortessants in Nihilanth's servitude.

He actually says "While our own lay scattered at your feet..." in reference to the Vortigaunts that Gordon killed in Half-Life 1.

lesser master=nihilanth, greater master=the alien thing Breen was talking to? maybe nihilanth was the 'administrator' of Xen, just as Breen was the administrator of earth. that would make hl2 somewhat a parallell to hl1.

The lesser master has to be nihilanth. And the greater master would definately be whoever or whatever is in control of the Combine. I doubt it could be a reference to Breen, he seems to be just another servant to a greater master, as you can see him reporting to on the computer when you're teleported to his office at the beginning.

"Recall you sib, although your mind and meaning are a mystery to us."
I'm not sure I'm hearing the "sib" part right. The rest pretty much says that the Vortessants don't quite understand what is going though Gordon's head.

It is in fact "We call you Sib..." Sib as in sibling. Meaning the Vortigaunts consider Gordon to be their brother even though they don't know him... They don't know what makes him tick.

"Far distance eyes look out though yours."
Sounds interesting...maybe the G-Man?

The G-Man maybe, personally I think it is whoever is behind the G-Man. I believe the G-Man to be only a leesh barer for Gordon the viscious dog, or to put it another way, Gordon is the tool, and the G-Man is the wielder of that tool. The G-Man has to be working for something greater, which of course would be the "distant eyes".

which makes sense of these 2 lines aswell:
"Something secret steers us both. We shall not name it". The something secret has to be what/who the G-Man is working for.

"Could you but see the eyes inside your own, the minds in your mind you would see how much we share". This one would also be referring to the same thing.

Well those are about all the corrections/modifications I can think of. Though these are my opinions, and you're welcome to disagree with me and/or suggest any variations.


Vortigaunt - "Our finest poet describes it thus: Gallum Galla Gilla ma"

 

[general griffin]

"Could you but see the eyes inside your own, the minds in your mind you would see how much we share". This one would also be referring to the same thing.

To quote the late great Bill hicks.

We are all energy condensed in a slow vibration of matter. Each of us aspects of one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively.

Basically we are all one massmind, each of us experiencing for one consciousness, that of earths. I think the vorts are a consciousness that was dominated by the combine. They are not individuals.