What exactly did Gordon Freeman achieve by killing Nihilanth?

[flamingdts]

The whole Half Life story can be confusing at times, with many holes to the story.

Though lately, after replaying Half Life twice (for some reason I got majorly addicted to it again), I've been wondering what exactly did killing Nihilanth do?

I know Nihilanth have been confirmed to be the being that kept the portal rift open from Xen's world (even though earth's side was closed when the satellite was launched), but I thought the resonance cascade was over once Nihilanth died?

Instead, it would appear that portals kept opening up, which forced people into cities for protection. Not only that, but the combine was able to invade earth through these portal storms, which led to the 7 hour war.

My question is, what exactly did Gordon Freeman achieve? He closed the rift connecting Earth to Xen on both sides, so shouldn't the resonance cascade have ended and all portals closed?

 

[Adabiviak]

He freed the vortigaunts. They're all pretty happy about that.

 

[swan_song1973]

ya, not to mention he struck a blow to the combine by killing one of their puppet leaders.

 

[kineaesth]

ya, not to mention he struck a blow to the combine by killing one of their puppet leaders.

What.

 

[swan_song1973]

What.

whut?

 

[kineaesth]

I think you just made something up, is what. There is no evidence to suggest that the Nihilanth is a 'puppet leader' of the Combine.

 

[swan_song1973]

I think you just made something up, is what. There is no evidence to suggest that the Nihilanth is a 'puppet leader' of the Combine.

ya there is. try the giant hunk of metal coming out of his ass and the stitches which could be from surgery preformed by the combine. then theres the similarity in the collars that they wear in HL1 and the beginning of HL2.

 

[pomegranate]

....because all the Combine have massive lumps of metal in their asses?
The enslaved Vorts had collars in HL1 and HL2, doesn't mean the Combine were involved in their enslavement the first time, it just implies that maybe collars are essential to enslave the Vorts, possibly to control their teleportation/energy attacks?

Didn't Laidlaw explicitly refute this anyway?

 

[Barnz]

ya there is. try the giant hunk of metal coming out of his ass and the stitches which could be from surgery preformed by the combine. then theres the similarity in the collars that they wear in HL1 and the beginning of HL2.

Uh no. Nihilanth is last of its kind who managed to escape from Combine.

 

[flamingdts]

ya there is. try the giant hunk of metal coming out of his ass and the stitches which could be from surgery preformed by the combine. then theres the similarity in the collars that they wear in HL1 and the beginning of HL2.

This thread went off-topic fast.

swam_song you need to double check your info. If Nihilanth was a puppet leader of the combine why were the combine absent in Xen? There was also a lack of synth in Xen.

Also, it's been explicitly implied and answered by Valve employees and sites that the Combine came to earth because they were attracted to the portal storm. Although Nihilanth and his kins were victims to combine as well, he himself play no part in this whole COMBINE invasion of earth. However, he was responsible (read my first post) for keeping the portal rifts open between earth and xen open.

This is subjected to change however, but as of now it is officially confirmed that Nihlilanth took refuge in Xen. Why he chose to attack Earth we have no idea (He sent vortigaunts, grunts and controllers. They were the only species with a third arm in the chest and are the only proper army of Nihilanth. The rest, including headcrabs, are simply the true habitants of Xen).

Still, my biggest question is why the portal storms were kept open even after killing Nihilanth. So far I'm assuming it's a hole they have yet to fill in and think about when they brought in the combine.

 

[gFrohman]

I think what happened is that the Nihilanth was responsible for the portals opening on Earth from Xen - killing it stopped the portals, but there was still an opening created that was large enough for the Combine to punch through.

Of course I could be completely wrong, but that's the impression I got...

 

[kupocake]

He freed the Israelites.

explicitly implied

 

[Mech Man]

I think what happened is that the Nihilanth was responsible for the portals opening on Earth from Xen - killing it stopped the portals, but there was still an opening created that was large enough for the Combine to punch through.

Of course I could be completely wrong, but that's the impression I got...

It has been said (though not witnessed) that killing Nihilly caused far larger portals from the borderworld. It was really a double edged sword because on the one hand you have the vorts being freed and the xenian army being pretty much decimated but on the other you have xen wildlife pouring through on a much larger scale and a way for the combine to find / invade / whatever Earth. Not sure about that though , I seem to have forgotten if it was the initial experiment which allowed them to locate Earth or the portal storms.

 

[flamingdts]

It has been said (though not witnessed) that killing Nihilly caused far larger portals from the borderworld. It was really a double edged sword because on the one hand you have the vorts being freed and the xenian army being pretty much decimated but on the other you have xen wildlife pouring through on a much larger scale and a way for the combine to find / invade / whatever Earth. Not sure about that though , I seem to have forgotten if it was the initial experiment which allowed them to locate Earth or the portal storms.

I assure you there was no double edged sword involved in killing Nihilanth. The Portal rift connecting Earth to Xen is like a double door. Earth has to close one side and Xen has to close on the other in order for the door to be fully shut. Otherwise, like when Gordon launched the Satellite that was supposed to have stopped the resonance ascade, one side of the door remains open (Xen). The person keeping Xen's side from closing is none other than Nihilanth.

Killing Nihilanth stopped the resonance cascade, but for some reason the portal storms remained. It's definitely not a backfire, because scientists were sure of the situation (assuming you hear the confidence in their voice).

The Portal storms attracted the combine to earth. If I'm correct they entered earth through these portals. They did not travel to earth, they took a portal to earth.

 

[Maturin]

You stopped the Nihilanth from allowing all of Xen's species to overrun the earth and turn it into another home-in-exile fortified against the Combine. Presumably the Cascade would have been much worse if the Nihilanth remained in control of it.

 

[Darkside55]

I'll tell you exactly what he achieved: nothing. Here's how it went down:

You have a race of beings that've been pursued across the universe by a relentless empire that assimilates any species it deems useful and completely eradicates those it deems worthless. And you finally get to this desolate place where there's no life and nothing grows, but it's cool because you've escaped your pursuers.

And then another rift opens up and these other guys start coming in taking "samples" of your wildlife and the crystals that power your technology, your abilities, and are basically what your life revolves around on this border world.

And then one day a massive number of portals start opening up all over the place, teleporting local fauna and even some of the sentient beings who-knows-where. And who has to step in and fix it from the Xenian end? The Nihilanth. So he closes down most of the erratic portals but maintains enough concentration to strategically place some of his own, sending troops through to Earth because to hell with these humans; everyone was just trying to live out their lives free from the Combine but here come some scientists in ridiculous ties taking all their stuff. And the Nihilanth wasn't having that.

So the scientists tell Gordon, "You better kill that thing!"

And Gordon's like, "Derp, okay."

And he busts into Nihilanth's shit-filled chamber and starts firing rockets at his head and the Nihilanth's like, "Goddamn" and then he explodes, releasing all the pent-up energies that were holding the remaining portals (the ones not closed by Nihilanth or the satellite) in check.

And those portal energies shredded the atmosphere of Xen and Earth, causing even MORE fauna to be deposited on our planet, and according to early drafts of HL2 even merged parts of Xen with parts of Earth. Complete ecological shift across the entire planet. Not to mention Xen, where all the remaining grunts and controllers DIED OUT, according to Valve.

And it was those portal energies on Earth that attracted the Combine in the first place. Now, the Combine can't use those portals--they can only detect them. So what they did was use their own warp technology to PUNCH A FRIGGIN' HOLE FROM THEIR UNIVERSE TO OURS and completely bone our militaries.

And none of this would've happened at all if Nihilanth was still alive.

Gordon Freeman is a jerk.

 

[Mech Man]

and according to early drafts of HL2 even merged parts of Xen with parts of Earth.

This was actually shown in HL1 towards the end , you find xen webbing and some of those giant 'shrooms in some places. And then there was that underground place in Op4 with all the zombies that were chillin' with the cool little light stalk things and Shephard was all like "imma bust their party yo".

 

[Darkside55]

Yeah, that area near the BMRF furnaces in OpFor was completely covered in what could only be described as "Xen creep."

I wish Valve would show off more of that in HL2.

 

[Mech Man]

IMO valve missed the chance to show off some xen flora/fauna. The only places it would have made sense is in HL2/ep2 and all we saw there was headcrabs and antlions. They could have had bullsquids in the canals and packs of houndeyes roaming the highways and caves / sewers covered in xen web but all of those chances have gone. If we do see any xen wildlife now it would either be some sort of new snow dwelling race or bullsquids (although they are amphibian and if they are anything like Earth amphibians they won't like the cold much). Maybe one day a mod will come out that fixes this stuff and adds some maps with xen growths in... Maybe one day... <subliminal message to potential mod devs>

 

[Maturin]

I feel like the Nihilanth was biding his time and leading the Black Mesa personnel on. He left them unmolested to collect samples, studied their capabilities and probed the world on the other side of the portal, maybe even communicated with them (how else did the Lamda Team know of his existence and powers?), and then killed them all and invaded when the Cascade occurred. He also knew about the G-Man and his plans for Gordon, so he probably knew what was coming.

 

[Otto-Grainer]

He certainly knew about the G-Man, though I wouldn't say he could communicate with the science staff.
They obviously detected the energy "from a single powerful being" but I wouldn't suspect we would understand how their computers worked.

 

[TheOneFreeMan]

The Resonance Cascade was stopped with the launch of the rocket in HL1. That rocket stopped the Resonance Cascade that was creating new portals between Earth and Xen, but the Nihilanth had control of the portals at that stage and was able to use his psychic/telekinetic powers to hold several portals of his own open to continue the invasion of Earth. If Gordon hadn't killed the Nihilanth then the invasion of Earth would have continued (which in retrospect might not have been a bad thing ... at least the military seemed to have a chance against the Xenian armies).

How I've always seen it is that when the Nihilanth died while in control of the portals to Earth, his death completely destabilised the portals. We saw at the end of HL1 that as the Nihilanth died, there were huge sparks of unstable energy around him. His death may have sent huge bursts of telekinetic power through the portals, uncontrollably creating portal storms all over the planet. An unfortunate side-effect which nobody saw coming. It also makes sense that if the Combine were looking for the Nihilanth who escaped from them, then these telekinetic death throws may be what attracted them in the first place; they came looking for the Nihilanth, but found a nice surprise in Earth. But that's all wild conjecture.

Was it worth destroying the Nihilanth? In retrospect, no. He was a much more controllable enemy than the Combine. But nobody could have seen what was coming at the time.

 

[coheedswicked]

The rest, including headcrabs, are simply the true habitants of Xen).

Actually nothing is native to xen as marc laidlaw has stated. Headcrabs, houndeyes, bullsquids, ect are just wildlife from a different world (maybe the same world as the nihilanth and his race.. maybe not)

I'll tell you exactly what he achieved: nothing. Here's how it went down:

You have a race of beings that've been pursued across the universe by a relentless empire that assimilates any species it deems useful and completely eradicates those it deems worthless. And you finally get to this desolate place where there's no life and nothing grows, but it's cool because you've escaped your pursuers.

And then another rift opens up and these other guys start coming in taking "samples" of your wildlife and the crystals that power your technology, your abilities, and are basically what your life revolves around on this border world.

And then one day a massive number of portals start opening up all over the place, teleporting local fauna and even some of the sentient beings who-knows-where. And who has to step in and fix it from the Xenian end? The Nihilanth. So he closes down most of the erratic portals but maintains enough concentration to strategically place some of his own, sending troops through to Earth because to hell with these humans; everyone was just trying to live out their lives free from the Combine but here come some scientists in ridiculous ties taking all their stuff. And the Nihilanth wasn't having that.

So the scientists tell Gordon, "You better kill that thing!"

And Gordon's like, "Derp, okay."

And he busts into Nihilanth's shit-filled chamber and starts firing rockets at his head and the Nihilanth's like, "Goddamn" and then he explodes, releasing all the pent-up energies that were holding the remaining portals (the ones not closed by Nihilanth or the satellite) in check.

And those portal energies shredded the atmosphere of Xen and Earth, causing even MORE fauna to be deposited on our planet, and according to early drafts of HL2 even merged parts of Xen with parts of Earth. Complete ecological shift across the entire planet. Not to mention Xen, where all the remaining grunts and controllers DIED OUT, according to Valve.

And it was those portal energies on Earth that attracted the Combine in the first place. Now, the Combine can't use those portals--they can only detect them. So what they did was use their own warp technology to PUNCH A FRIGGIN' HOLE FROM THEIR UNIVERSE TO OURS and completely bone our militaries.

And none of this would've happened at all if Nihilanth was still alive.

Gordon Freeman is a jerk.

What he said... but in my opinion the combine would have found earth even if ole nihilly was still alive... they were probably looking for him and he would have led them straight to earth

 

[Maturin]

He certainly knew about the G-Man, though I wouldn't say he could communicate with the science staff.
They obviously detected the energy "from a single powerful being" but I wouldn't suspect we would understand how their computers worked.

Couldn't communicate with science staff? He communicated with you!

And there were dead HEVs all over his factory and HQ areas.

Maybe he even supplied the G-Man with the crystal, which, by the way, comes from the skull of another, dead Nihilanth. I just don't know why the G-Man wanted him dead. Perhaps so the humans would experience the gentler oppression of the Combine, and be capable of resistance. Or perhaps the stories simply don't match up where the G-Man is concerned. It doesn't have to be perfect, given his nebulous motives.

 

[Warped]

IMO valve missed the chance to show off some xen flora/fauna. The only places it would have made sense is in HL2/ep2 and all we saw there was headcrabs and antlions. They could have had bullsquids in the canals and packs of houndeyes roaming the highways and caves / sewers covered in xen web but all of those chances have gone. If we do see any xen wildlife now it would either be some sort of new snow dwelling race or bullsquids (although they are amphibian and if they are anything like Earth amphibians they won't like the cold much). Maybe one day a mod will come out that fixes this stuff and adds some maps with xen growths in... Maybe one day... <subliminal message to potential mod devs>

have you tried to go swimming?? those piranha type fish eat you in seconds! Also I'm sure humans fought off a lot of these monstrosities and probably eliminated some species of Xeniethians or Xen creatures

 

[TheOneFreeMan]

Maybe he even supplied the G-Man with the crystal, which, by the way, comes from the skull of another, dead Nihilanth.

Is that just conjecture? I know that there was meant to be a direct link between the crystal at Black Mesa and the crystals surrounding the caverns of the Nihilanth, but ...

 

[nurizeko]

I'll tell you exactly what he achieved: nothing. Here's how it went down:

You have a race of beings that've been pursued across the universe by a relentless empire that assimilates any species it deems useful and completely eradicates those it deems worthless. And you finally get to this desolate place where there's no life and nothing grows, but it's cool because you've escaped your pursuers.

And then another rift opens up and these other guys start coming in taking "samples" of your wildlife and the crystals that power your technology, your abilities, and are basically what your life revolves around on this border world.

And then one day a massive number of portals start opening up all over the place, teleporting local fauna and even some of the sentient beings who-knows-where. And who has to step in and fix it from the Xenian end? The Nihilanth. So he closes down most of the erratic portals but maintains enough concentration to strategically place some of his own, sending troops through to Earth because to hell with these humans; everyone was just trying to live out their lives free from the Combine but here come some scientists in ridiculous ties taking all their stuff. And the Nihilanth wasn't having that.

So the scientists tell Gordon, "You better kill that thing!"

And Gordon's like, "Derp, okay."

And he busts into Nihilanth's shit-filled chamber and starts firing rockets at his head and the Nihilanth's like, "Goddamn" and then he explodes, releasing all the pent-up energies that were holding the remaining portals (the ones not closed by Nihilanth or the satellite) in check.

And those portal energies shredded the atmosphere of Xen and Earth, causing even MORE fauna to be deposited on our planet, and according to early drafts of HL2 even merged parts of Xen with parts of Earth. Complete ecological shift across the entire planet. Not to mention Xen, where all the remaining grunts and controllers DIED OUT, according to Valve.

And it was those portal energies on Earth that attracted the Combine in the first place. Now, the Combine can't use those portals--they can only detect them. So what they did was use their own warp technology to PUNCH A FRIGGIN' HOLE FROM THEIR UNIVERSE TO OURS and completely bone our militaries.

And none of this would've happened at all if Nihilanth was still alive.

Gordon Freeman is a jerk.

Heathen!

 

[Darkside55]

Don't act like you don't know I'm right!


It's nothing I haven't said before anyway. Gordon Freeman screws up everything. If you've got someone to blame for the all the events in Half-Life, blame him. Thanks for killing the Nihilanth instead of even trying to work out a peaceable solution, you jerk.

 

[Maturin]

Is that just conjecture? I know that there was meant to be a direct link between the crystal at Black Mesa and the crystals surrounding the caverns of the Nihilanth, but ...

In my book, if the devs meant for something to happen, but it was obscured by graphical limitations and lack of time, and it explains rather than conflicts with what is obvious, it's the truth.

 

[ríomhaire]

From the perspective of the Black Mesa scientists it seemed like the Earth was being invaded by the Xenians (ironically, the Xenian's believed they were being invaded by the humans, this is the genius of the g-man's plan). The scientists, being egomaniacs, figured they were the only ones that could stop this, and being pussies, they god Gordon to do it. They deduced, correctly, that the portals were being directed by a single, powerful being; Nihilanth. They dispatched Gordon to kill him. Gordon did so and unleashed horrific portal storms accross the world, ended the fighting between Xenians, allowed the g-man to sieze control of the boarder world, and freed the Vortigaunts.

 

[gFrohman]

From the perspective of the Black Mesa scientists it seemed like the Earth was being invaded by the Xenians (ironically, the Xenian's believed they were being invaded by the humans, this is the genius of the g-man's plan). The scientists, being egomaniacs, figured they were the only ones that could stop this, and being pussies, they god Gordon to do it. They deduced, correctly, that the portals were being directed by a single, powerful being; Nihilanth. They dispatched Gordon to kill him. Gordon did so and unleashed horrific portal storms accross the world, ended the fighting between Xenians, allowed the g-man to sieze control of the boarder world, and freed the Vortigaunts.

This.

 

[flamingdts]

So from what I've read and what I've summed up.

Nihilanth created and kept portals opened connecting Xen to Earth. However, this "powerful being" works like a machine. He keeps things open and working, but when destroyed causes horrific explosions and uncontrollable discharge of energy, which led to continous portal storms and eventually the arrival of combine. Nihilanth is like a machine that emits strong volts of electricity, when you blow it up, it BLOWS up, wrecking havoc across areas.

This is interesting, never thought of it that way. Guess the scientists were wrong afterall.

 

[Otto-Grainer]

Don't act like you don't know I'm right!


It's nothing I haven't said before anyway. Gordon Freeman screws up everything. If you've got someone to blame for the all the events in Half-Life, blame him. Thanks for killing the Nihilanth instead of even trying to work out a peaceable solution, you jerk.

Not so.

It certainly is his fault but he's not to blame because he intended only to save his home as he was told by every person he could understand or from those already dying when muttering 'kill it', and if this being was the cause of the entire death of the Facility that day, technically excluding the fault of the science administrator and the G-Man I suppose, you'd probably be intent to kill it if you were stupidly brave enough in the sight of its clear destruction. If he didn't do it somebody else would have because leaving this creature to continue tearing through our world wouldn't be a very wise act if you knew where it was and how to get to it, also keep in mind the government didn't know about this either and was intent on killing everyone as well, so this was likely their last chance.

Trying to talk to a Headcrab or Vortigaunt and expect them to understand you when you say "Peace, man. Peace!" and not kill you on the spot like they've been doing since you saw they existed is plain stupid. If you suspected the telepathic voices were from the Nihilanth, you can try putting your weapons down but he clearly shoots you anyway, because don't think he's forgotten what you did to his controllers, slaves, and soldiers. Why not just run to an Advisor and ask him that you all can be friends, I'm sure they meant nothing by what they did over the past fifteen years of oppression for humanity. They're just as likely a threat as the Nihilanth was, well actually less so because of the control they've had on each individual. We knew nothing more about the Combine than we did the Nihilanth.



That's not to say of course that we certainly know the Combine would never have found earth or Xen despite the fact that they had been chasing the Vortal race and were on their tale in the first place. Freeman had all the reason in the world to kill the Nihilanth and since nobody knew he was fighting two enemies and had key control over a rift that would go haywire upon his death (which is not confirmed that it did and merge to earth by the way), it was perfectly reasonable act anybody with balls and a brain would do, and who would know the better outcome if we let him in our world and the Combine followed in anyway? Nihilanth wasn't a Vortigaunt, he enslaved them so I'm not sure I'd be so inclined on trusting him with our own home and hearts.



Er, but anyway... It's great we have Vortigaunts helping us whatever the case. They are useful mechanics.

 

[Darkside55]

Trying to talk to a Headcrab or Vortigaunt and expect them to understand you when you say "Peace, man. Peace!" and not kill you on the spot like they've been doing since you saw they existed is plain stupid.

Talking to a headcrab is folly, but the vortigaunts realized that there could be a peace with you almost from the get go, when you first teleported into their little vortessence circle and they were looking at you with curiosity rather than open hostility. And then during the factory level of Interlopers where they just let you pass without attacking you (initially you would have led them to an uprising but it got scrapped).

If you suspected the telepathic voices were from the Nihilanth, you can try putting your weapons down but he clearly shoots you anyway, because don't think he's forgotten what you did to his controllers, slaves, and soldiers. Why not just run to an Advisor and ask him that you all can be friends

Thing is, we know the advisors' plans and that they cannot be reasoned with. We didn't know enough about the Nihilanth to assume he COULDN'T be reasoned with, or even that a treaty could be solved despite losses on BOTH sides. He was attempting to communicate with Freeman from Interlopers, before he reached him. And you just know Gordon didn't even try to respond.

 

[ShadowJustice]

The whole Half Life story can be confusing at times, with many holes to the story.

Though lately, after replaying Half Life twice (for some reason I got majorly addicted to it again), I've been wondering what exactly did killing Nihilanth do?

I know Nihilanth have been confirmed to be the being that kept the portal rift open from Xen's world (even though earth's side was closed when the satellite was launched), but I thought the resonance cascade was over once Nihilanth died?

Instead, it would appear that portals kept opening up, which forced people into cities for protection. Not only that, but the combine was able to invade earth through these portal storms, which led to the 7 hour war.

My question is, what exactly did Gordon Freeman achieve? He closed the rift connecting Earth to Xen on both sides, so shouldn't the resonance cascade have ended and all portals closed?

My guess:

At that point the rift was already open and the portal storms already in the initial stage.

But Nihilant was able to open portals to send his forces through. Random portals with alien fauna coming out might be dangerous but not like a sentient being teleporting his armies all over the earth. I assume that the nihilant would have been able to enlarge the rift as much to send his forces all over the planet at will and with precision- something even the combine are not able to do.

Basically the nihilant had the potential to become an unstoppable threat - even more than the combine- and gordon stopped it, freeing a civilization from slavery in the same time.

Also, imagine what could have happened if the combine managed to enslave the nihlant.... they would achieve complete teleportation control.

Second theory:

Gordon actually saved the earth in hl1 and hl2 is actually set in an alternate timeline\reality\earth

 

[flamingdts]

I think I may know the answer now after doing some reading in combine overwiki

The Xen crystals are probably play a bigger role than we think.

It has been said by developers that Nihilanth retreated from his homeworld to Xen due to Combine invasion. However, Nihilanth appears to have great knowledge of these Xen crystals, so it is possible that Nihilanth has either had prior experience to these crystals or he has spent a very long period of time in Xen (which explains the Grunt factory).

I think Nihilanth is indeed a powerful being, but when he came to Xen he probably realized the power of Xen crystals. Remember, Gordon's battle with Nihilanth requires you to destroy the Xen crystals, because Nihilanth can somehow "recharge" himself with these crystals.

Funny enough, this leads to G-man. Who claimed he has seized control of Xen. What does that mean? He and his employers have successfully invaded Xen, which means they have full access to the Xen Crystals. Now, lets move back from this fact. Nihilanth originally controlled Xen. G-man wants Nihilanth gone in order to have full access to Xen crystals without interference from the habitants there (even though Nihilanth immigrated to Xen).

What happens next? G-man could've saw Earth as a potential species to combat Xen. Since black mesa has already been working on a portal technology for a very long time, and since it is very possible that black mesa already has prior knowledge of Xen. However, it is completely possible for the G-man to have given the very first sample of Xen crystal, which led to Black Mesa's discovery of Xen. Though I like to believe Black Mesa had prior knowledge to Xen because of all the weaponary in Black Mesa, which hints that Black Mesa is aware of dangerous habitats in Xen which was why they possessed so many weapons in the facility, and it takes more than a few years to get all those weapons and facilities that store weapons. Not to mention the training area requires target practice.

Now, knowing Black mesa has come this far, G-man decided to give them one of the purer samples of the Xen crystal, which triggered a resonance cascade.

Now this is where things come together. G-man and his employers have contacted Nihilanth before, and G-man and his employers probably wanted Xen. However, knowing Nihilanth, he didn't allow G-man or his employers to either "buy" Xen or work in Xen since Nihilanth discovered how powerful the crystals are and wanted them all for himself. Not only this, there were grunt factories because Nihilanth is building an army to attack the Combine in order to take back his home planet. With the power of the Xen crystals, Nihilanth could open up and teleport his armies anywhere on a planet (as shown in black mesa how vortiguants and grunts pop out from anywhere). His attack against the combine would be largely in his favor, because he can have troops come out of anywhere to attack the combine, so the combine can never be prepare or be organized enough to fight back.

During his years (or whatever time he uses) of prepartion, he realized Earth has discovered Xen (probably due to G-man or the scientists on earth made a scientific breakthrough, as I've mentioned above) and are harvesting the crystals. G-man may have contacted Nihilanth again during this period, and told him that the species of Earth will kill him eventually if he doesn't hand over Xen to G-man and his employers. G-man may also have specifically said "A human by the name of Freeman will kill you"

What does Nihilanth do? He called it a bluff, or he saw earth as too weak to go up against him and his army. Then, the resonance cascade occured, sending non-soldier habitats of Xen to earth (headcrabs, bullsquids and hounds). Nihilanth realized that portals are opening up in Xen which transported creatures to Earth, and he saw it as a threat, so he began to send Grunts through to invade Earth. Unfortunately for Nihilanth, the One-Free-Man is journeying to Xen. Gordon was told to kill Nihilanth by the scientists, and Nihilanth was told by G-man that Gordon would kill Nihilanth.

This is where Nihilanth began bluffing Gordon (read all the quotes and things Nihilanth said to Gordon in combine overwiki), believing he couldn't be killed and saying things like "thieves..... you are all thieves" (notice the word all? This could mean G-man, his employers and Earth all came to take the xen crystal, which Nihilanth is not happy with). After Freeman kills Nihilanth, G-man and his employers decided Earth has potential to kill the Combines, with the obvious help of Freeman. They lured the Combine to Earth by keeping the portal storms opened (since they control Xen because Nihilanth has been killed). Freeman was kept in a stasis until Combine has fully taken over earth and has established posts, buildings and bases. They did this because Gordon can sabotage and destroy Combine from the inside, instead of a face on Earth vs Combine battle (where Earth failed in 7 hours)

Well if you've read all of it, job well done.

 

[cabbs]

Why is everyone making this so complicated?

- Combine finds the vortigaunts. Essentially peaceful, but difficult to assimilate, so they create the Nihilanth to enslave them with freaky mind powers.

- Nihilanth is not happy with the hand he has been dealt, and decides to escape. he takes his slaves with him, and the means to create more grunts, to Xen. Combine not too bothered. Failed experiment sods off somewhere? just keep an eye on them.

- He's not on xen out of choice you know, its called a 'Borderworld' for a reason. Not a nice place to be, but anywhere else and he might receive the attentions of his former masters. So when he gets access to our universe, he ****ing jumps on the opportunity to leave xen. Him or us.

- Gordon Freeman kills the cornered animal that is the Nihihlanth. Vortigaunts have been freed. (insert vortigaunt lesser master greater master speech here). Combine notices earth, and the rest is history.

Edit: sorry, it doesnt sound quite right tbh. but its close.

 

[Otto-Grainer]

Talking to a headcrab is folly, but the vortigaunts realized that there could be a peace with you almost from the get go, when you first teleported into their little vortessence circle and they were looking at you with curiosity rather than open hostility. And then during the factory level of Interlopers where they just let you pass without attacking you (initially you would have led them to an uprising but it got scrapped).

Yeah, when they're perhaps not being threatened with the collars. I suppose you're right on that one. You could see more sentient beings as having a larger potential of friendship than pet animals like the Bullsquid. And of course since the Bullsquids didn't attack us either I wouldn't say something is more intelligent than another just by looking more humanoid.

Thing is, we know the advisors' plans and that they cannot be reasoned with. We didn't know enough about the Nihilanth to assume he COULDN'T be reasoned with, or even that a treaty could be solved despite losses on BOTH sides. He was attempting to communicate with Freeman from Interlopers, before he reached him. And you just know Gordon didn't even try to respond.

Hey, don't mix the information we have outside of the game with the one we have with Gordon. We know probably as much about the Combine as we do of the Nihilanth in the game, so how come we suddenly know they can't be trusted for a friendship proposal but not trying it on the Nihilanth would make you a jerk? Why can't the Combine be reasoned with exactly? You base your pointing finger of "jerk" insult only on the later outcome rather than reason which is easy, fool.

Anyway, I hope you're not taking this too seriously. I'm only arguing jokingly.

 

[Darkside55]

- Combine finds the vortigaunts. Essentially peaceful, but difficult to assimilate, so they create the Nihilanth to enslave them with freaky mind powers.

Except that the nihilanths were an entire race that existed before the Combine enslaved them.

If anyone created the nihilanths it was the controllers.

We know probably as much about the Combine as we do of the Nihilanth in the game, so how come we suddenly know they can't be trusted for a friendship proposal but not trying it on the Nihilanth would make you a jerk? Why can't the Combine be reasoned with exactly?

Considering that one was fighting back after we invaded them, versus one that shows up on our doorstep and is like, "BLARGH SMASH SMASH SYNTHS IN YOUR BASE KILLING YOUR MILITARY EXTINGUISH ALL LIFE ON THIS PLANET SUCK THE RIVERS DRY AND PUMP POISON INTO THE ATMOSPHERE SO WE CAN MAKE IT HABITABLE FOR OURSELVES," I think it's clear who can be reasoned with and who can't. The fact that Dr. Breen could get through to them at all without having his brain sucked out through an advisor's biological straw really says something for how charismatic and persuasive he was.

Nihilanth might've been a lot easier, you know. "Sorry guy, we were being jerks. Friends?"

Anyway, I hope you're not taking this too seriously. I'm only arguing jokingly.

I never take this forum too seriously. :cheers:

 

[cabbs]

Except that the nihilanths were an entire race that existed before the Combine enslaved them.

If anyone created the nihilanths it was the controllers.

Goddamnit what. -.-

EDIT: Quote fail.