headcrabs and gonarchs?

[Wiseman]

Due to the very offtopic nature of the 'what kind of bosses?' thread (about half the posts were discussing this), I've decided to create a thread for the origins of headcrabs and gonarchs. If this's been discussed before, well, who cares? Anyway:

I assumed the headcrabs slowly changed into gonarchs. Sort of headcrab->zombie->fastzombie->gonarch->babygonarch->headcrab->... They would take over a host when they were headcrabs (due to being very vulnerable), and then slowly grow stronger, slowly metamorphosising in the host, until eventually the host'd been completely replaced by the headcrab DNA. There would probably need to be something between fastzombie and gonarch though (or maybe fastzombie isn't part of the headcrab species).

This is mostly speculation, but the best evidence imo is the similar structure of the headcrab, babygonarch, and gonarch. Also, the gonarch's concept art defines her as Big Mama, and the models for the babygonarch is called... baby headcrab. As well, the gonarch laid lots of babies, which would make sense, considering that bullsquids would kill headcrabs, so there'd have to be lots in order to survive.

 

[MAx]

That's what I'm thinking.

Btw. Fastzombie=Gonome.
And they are officialy the next step in the Zombie ladder.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

Well, I think if that is the case:
Babyheadcrab>Headcrab>zombie>bigger zombie>Gonome>(unknown middle species, maybe more than one)>Baby gonarch(at this point they would start battling each other to achieve dominance over their species)>gonarch>Babyheadcrab>Headcrab>zombie etc etc

 

[Wiseman]

That makes sense. Also if you look at the names gonome and gonarch, there's also that similarity.

I think a form between gonome and gonarch would make a good boss/sub-boss (sub-bosses being things like assassins). Like a small gonarch, but more melee oriented and more agile.

 

[eber]

That's what I'm thinking.

Btw. Fastzombie=Gonome.
And they are officialy the next step in the Zombie ladder.

no the first thing is wrong , the "fast zombie" and the "gonome" have nothing to do with each other, and they look quite diffrent.
well fine Max im glad ur always 100% sure of what you say !

 

[Wiseman]

When I said fastzombie, I meant the things in the E3 video. I'm pretty sure that's what he's talking about too. If your thinking of the big zombies from op4, I count them as still part of the zombie form.

And the name isn't important, it's just a label.

 

[Fly en Shoes]

i think we need a staff member, or moderator to settle this, or give us there wisdom

 

[MAx]

Oh I'm sorry, did you say anything Eber? So sorry, but you're on my ignore list.

Wiseman: If you meant the "ape-Zombies" or whatever they are, from the E3-video, that's not the ones I meant. I thought when you wrote fast-zombie, you meant those huge running things called Gonomes from OP4. Atleast THEY are officially some evolved form of the Zombie. Whether the "fast-zombies" come before or after the Gonome in the evolutionary chain I guess we have yet to see. Perhaps they are just monkeys that headcrabs have gotten onto?

 

[Brian Damage]

Well, looking at a close-up screenshot (don't worry, it was an official one) of those things, they actually look like a completely different species of headcrab (that some people here refer to as the "Deadcrab"), that actually parisitise the dead instead of the living. They're yellower, rounder, and they have longer legs. The bodies they've hijacked appear to be rotting human corpses (which ties in with the whole graveyard thing).

I reckon they're completely different to the familiar (and very cool) Gonomes.

 

[MAx]

Ah, that sounds just about right. Are you sure or are you theorising?

 

[Brian Damage]

It's a theory I'm fairly sure about.

 

[Adios amigos]

Here it is:

baby Headcrap = Headcrap = baby Gonarch = Gonarch....

Reason: In Xen there aren´t any humans/usefull host so how the hell can there be a Gonarch on/in Xen if it hasen´t been a zombie???
When a Headcrap finds a host it becomes:
Zombie = Gonome = "fast zombie" or something unknown
And maybe "fast zombies" are victims of the so called "poison Headcrap"

thats just my opinion and if you dont like, i dont give a shit

 

[DevgruSeal]

I assumed the headcrabs slowly changed into gonarchs. Sort of headcrab->zombie->fastzombie->gonarch->babygonarch->headcrab->

Where do the original headcrabs "come from" in HL2. If they come from gonarch>babygonarch>headcrab, then how did the original headcrab come to be?

Did they come from the small little things you step on, and make a crunch? Where did they come from then..

I love coming up with loophole questions :E

 

[Adios amigos]

its like with the chicken and the egg, what came first?

 

[AJ Rimmer]

Here it is:

baby Headcrap = Headcrap = baby Gonarch = Gonarch....

Reason: In Xen there aren´t any humans/usefull host so how the hell can there be a Gonarch on/in Xen if it hasen´t been a zombie???
When a Headcrap finds a host it becomes:
Zombie = Gonome = "fast zombie" or something unknown
And maybe "fast zombies" are victims of the so called "poison Headcrap"

thats just my opinion and if you dont like, i dont give a shit

Maybe they attack vortigaunts or controllers, or shocktroopers?

 

[Adios amigos]

Shocktroopers are Race-X, and you dosent know much about them, i dont even think they live in xen.... but maybe you are right

 

[B.Calhoun]

Baby headcrab- headcrab- Host(usually a human, zombie)- stronger host- until finally they become a gonarch.

Its not always going to be "Fast/stronger zombie" because the headcrabs are not always parasiting humans.

 

[PatPwnt]

That fast zombies are just hosts of a different species of head crab... called the fast head crabs. Duh

 

[B.Calhoun]

That fast zombies are just hosts of a different species of head crab... called the fast head crabs. Duh

I dont think so. Its a higher evolution step.

 

[AzzMan]

I dont think so. Its a higher evolution step.

No it's leak info..........

 

[Brian Damage]

Why did you quote She, then, Vegeta? Just leaves more stuff for the mods to edit...

And I don't think those "fast zombies" seen in the graveyard area are the evolution of the Gonome, the headcrabs themselves are almost certainly a different species and the bodies look like hijacked partly-rotted corpses, if you look at the pic that was released a while ago.

And as for the "Where did they all come from to begin with = chicken and egg" thing, I'll point out that the "Chicken and egg" question doesn't take evolution into account. The headcrabs evolved from something else (or were engineered, that's always a possibility). And obviously they must be able to parasitise something on their homeworld, or they wouldn't have evolved to become the parasites they are today...

 

[eber]

sure they are all engineered , :bonce: that makes much sense

 

[Kangy]

Here it is:

baby Headcrap = Headcrap = baby Gonarch = Gonarch....

Reason: In Xen there aren´t any humans/usefull host so how the hell can there be a Gonarch on/in Xen if it hasen´t been a zombie???
When a Headcrap finds a host it becomes:
Zombie = Gonome = "fast zombie" or something unknown
And maybe "fast zombies" are victims of the so called "poison Headcrap"

thats just my opinion and if you dont like, i dont give a shit

Well, there could be another reason for this. Perhaps the Gonarch was meant to be a very limited form in the ladder, so the headcrabs relied on some interdimentional travellers every 500 years or something.

 

[AzzMan]

I'm pretty sure there's things for them to parasitize on Xen, didn't someone at valve say we'd be seeing alien zombies too this time around?

 

[She]

why did the mods delete my reply on this post??
did i say something that was true??

 

[Brian Damage]

You posted a spoiler from the "beta". Which isn't allowed here. So don't post them.

 

[Wiseman]

Where do the original headcrabs "come from" in HL2. If they come from gonarch>babygonarch>headcrab, then how did the original headcrab come to be?

Did they come from the small little things you step on, and make a crunch? Where did they come from then..

I love coming up with loophole questions :E

I assumed that headcrabs could latch onto a variety of different things. If they could only latch onto humans, then from an evolutionary standpoint, would have to've come from Earth, or make frequent trips to Earth over the last several thousand years (enough to evolve human-specific parasitic capabilities). I'd just use Occam's Razor, and say they'd prolly be very versatile (slaves, grunts, and overlords have similar enough bodies to humans, so they'd be the most likely methinks).

MAx: that was what I meant. I didn't know the official names of any of the creatures until I started reading Half-Life forums, so I mostly made up my own names.