Why are antlions on earth enyway?

[Apiary]

I just want to know!
Are they from xen OR WHAT??
Tell me

...please
its nothing on wikipedia

 

[The Mild Gatsby]

In Episode Two, your vortigaunt buddy states that "antlion husbandry was once our ancestral practice." This does not, however, allude to an antlion presence on Xen. Not only is the environment of Xen comically unsuited for antlions, but the vortigaunts were enslaved, and unable to enjoy their "ancestral practices." Both the antlions and the vortigaunts must logically have a common place of origin beyond Xen.

 

[mikeecm]

i bet they are from xen and that xen use to be a planet like earth but then it got blown to asteriod chunks and it became uninhabitable for the antlions... along with every other life form from there

 

[Omnomnick]

I'm going to guess and say by accident at the time of the Black Mesa Incident. You know, just peacefully doing what-not and suddenly they begin teleporting to earth. Then they find suitable Habitats and begin breeding. And since Antlions are very similar to insects, they probably breed very quickly.

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

i bet they are from xen and that xen use to be a planet like earth but then it got blown to asteriod chunks and it became uninhabitable for the antlions... along with every other life form from there

Not quite. Marc Laidlaw said that Xen is a place between dimensions, a transdimensional bottleneck, and nothing there is native - the Nihilanth and the aliens in HL1 fled the Combine to Xen, a place they cannot reach because of they're limited teleportation tech.

 

[Omnomnick]

...Until Gordon flicks that switch and opens up the portals to Xen...

 

[mikeecm]

oh lol jk then

 

[ríomhaire]

The antlions came to Earth from Xen, where the Vortigaunts once practiced antlion farming.

 

[Au-heppa]

Xen had those blue liquid pools with magical healing powers, much like the Extract.

 

[ríomhaire]

I doubt they had anything to do with the extract. I don't think the extract has healling powers anyway. I think it just supercharges the Vortigaunts and then they have the healling powers.

 

[The Mild Gatsby]

The antlions almost certainly aren't from Xen. Below is an unloved post that nobody read or cared about. Sniffle.

In Episode Two, your vortigaunt buddy states that "antlion husbandry was once our ancestral practice." This does not, however, allude to an antlion presence on Xen. Not only is the environment of Xen comically unsuited for antlions, but the vortigaunts were enslaved, and unable to enjoy their "ancestral practices." Both the antlions and the vortigaunts must logically have a common place of origin beyond Xen.

Furthermore, the extract itself could have healing powers of some sort, as the grubs that seemingly result from it do.

 

[ríomhaire]

The extract comes from the larvae. The pellets the grubs drop are something different.

Almost certainly aren't from Xen? We have seen sweet **** all of Xen. If the only part of Earth you had seen was Switzerland it would seem unlikely to you that blue whales exist on Earth, but we know they do.

 

[Earthdeath]

i think the combine unleashed the antlion in a similar fashion as the headcrabs, to further cripple the Earths defensive capabilities.

 

[ríomhaire]

The Vortigaunts farmed antlions, therefore your theory is wrong.

 

[Earthdeath]

i didnt say where they were from.it is obvious they use vorts as slaves, so they could have invaded the planet they come from, captured the vorts, and then used the antlions as weapons.

 

[Cornerstone]

That's a piss poor strategy. Send in antlions as weapons which you will in turn have to defend against at all times and if your defences drop, (in the event of oh let's say a rebellion) they begin to rape you repeatedly. Meanwhile the Combine had the technology to create a synth to do that job easily and more importantly loyally, but they did the same thing with headcrabs so it isn't really far-fetched. Combined that with the Combine tactics in battle of always go forward, I'm starting to believe the Combine are just a giant group of retards.

 

[Earthdeath]

they are.did you notice how lax the citadel security is?you dont even encounter any on the way in!

 

[PimpinPenguin]

they are.did you notice how lax the citadel security is?you dont even encounter any on the way in!

There was loads of security in the Citadel, after you got the super charged Gravity Gun. I think there was no security getting it because you went though like the sewer with help from Dog, and the Combine never expected that. Not to mention load of the Combine forces are now trying to stop the rebellion happening in City17, so that means less in the Citadel.

 

[altceva]

Did anyone try to kill the antlion guard that follows you near the extract? I mean... outside the game story, just to kill the bastard with all weapons and full ammo cheat. Can he be killed?

 

[PimpinPenguin]

Did anyone try to kill the antlion guard that follows you near the extract? I mean... outside the game story, just to kill the bastard with all weapons and full ammo cheat. Can he be killed?

All Antlion guards can be killed. I'm not sure about which one your talking about. You have to kill the Antlion Guard to get the extract, no cheats are required all you have to do is throw heavy stuff and explosive barrels at them with the Gravity Gun. Antlion Guards are kinda like boss battles, there are none outside the game story.

 

[Naph]

Antlions are why quarantine matters.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

In Episode Two, your vortigaunt buddy states that "antlion husbandry was once our ancestral practice." This does not, however, allude to an antlion presence on Xen. Not only is the environment of Xen comically unsuited for antlions, but the vortigaunts were enslaved, and unable to enjoy their "ancestral practices." Both the antlions and the vortigaunts must logically have a common place of origin beyond Xen.

Very good post, reflecting my own thoughts too. In relation to Riomhaire's comment about a variety of ecosystems existing within Xen, I'm skeptical. None of the environments were hugely vast nor able to support tunnel networks like we see in Episode 2. Also I don't see how the 60ft Antlion king would work on floating islands and low gravity.

 

[Rizzo]

Is antlion king even cannon yet? We haven't seen it yet so for all we know there might not be any.

 

[PimpinPenguin]

He means the Antlion Guard, they used to be called the Antlion King.

 

[Rizzo]

No, antlion king is a huge mofo, 60ft tall as he said, he was suposed to be in some underground level of half life 2, but as those level where cut, so was the king.

 

[ríomhaire]

i didnt say where they were from.it is obvious they use vorts as slaves, so they could have invaded the planet they come from, captured the vorts, and then used the antlions as weapons.

Oh yes, sorry. I misread your post.

 

[Shu`Ulathoi]

The fact that we dont encounter any Antlion King doesnt means they dont exist. Besides, Xen is only a Borderworld. Bullsquids, antlions, vortigaunts and other friendly creatures have their origin outside Xen.

 

[Earthdeath]

so what, Xen is the combine version of a zoo?

 

[Hobopro]

i bet they are from xen and that xen use to be a planet like earth but then it got blown to asteriod chunks and it became uninhabitable for the antlions... along with every other life form from there

I believe that none of the creatures that were on the Xen were "from Xen". Xen is kindof like a place where they escaped to. :dork:

But then again I dunno much about it anyway :cheese:

 

[Avoidist]

That's true, Hobopro, that was verified by Laidlaw.

So, one of two logical things must have happened to get the antlions to Xen (as they were most certainly on Xen, just not spectifically where we looked).

1. Vortigaunts and Antlions come from entirely different worlds (or possibly the same world) by chance, possibly in a dimension that is susceptible to portals and the like. On Xen, or possibly beforehand, the Vortigaunts farm the antlion extract.

Not all too likely as it leaves things up to chance, and the fact that the Nihilanth had a great degree of control over the Vorts on Xen (and NOT the combine, I really can't stress that enough, check the Laidlaw Vault) and thus Nihilanth probably wouldn't want them to have more power.

2. The Vortigaunts as a free society farm the extract on their planet of origin until they encounter Combine and/or get enslaved by Nihilanth. Once they escape, they then bring antlion eggs with them in secret from planet to planet to farm the extract for strength, providing them with their mechanism for dimension hopping to escape the combine for so long. I.e. Vortigaunts introduce the Antlions to Xen and hence are responsible for their presence on Earth.

 

[Adabiviak]

...was about to write exactly what Avoidist point #2 says. I think this is the scoop.

 

[Ultra Waffle]

Imho

Maybe the resonance cascade pulled in creatures from dimensions other than Xen as well? I mean, how would the headcrabs have evolved their zombification trait without any native creatures to head-couple with? They can't zombify Vortigaunts, and they are the only creatures on Xen with the physiological makeup suited to it. My theory is that antlions came from some desert planet, and headcrabs came from a parallel Earth in another dimension. Make sense? Just think about it. It's possible!

 

[Earthdeath]

the only problem is that the vorts and antlions came from the same planet, and the vorts wouldnt survive on a desert planet

 

[Ultra Waffle]

Yeah

the only problem is that the vorts and antlions came from the same planet, and the vorts wouldnt survive on a desert planet

Well, maybe not a desert planet but somewhere that antlions could burrow. Doesn't have to be a desert planet.

 

[Kula Meenur]

Antlions are why quarantine matters.

Don't muck with it



/end Steve Irwin

 

[Deinonut]

Look, it's like this. Gordon closes the portal at to xen in HL1 right. This did not solve everything. In the years between the resonance cascade and the 7 hour war there were ocassional weak portal storms that brought the antlions and possibly other aliens. The combine somehow detected these storms, and created a portal to earth through them. End Thread!

 

[Apiary]

Look, it's like this. Gordon closes the portal at to xen in HL1 right. This did not solve everything. In the years between the resonance cascade and the 7 hour war there were ocassional weak portal storms that brought the antlions and possibly other aliens. The combine somehow detected these storms, and created a portal to earth through them. End Thread!

Uuuu I like it