Headcrabs and humans

[tinyxipe]

So, how does Headcrabs reproduce? Do they even reproduce???

What if they are a bit like worker ants for a larger entity, like the gonarch? In their native habitat, maybe they would "capture" food and guide it back home to be eaten. Something that big would need alot of food. There seem to be lots of them so they might just be disposable. There's nowhere to take the humans and our physiology isn't the same, so the zombies just end up getting very aggressive and messed up.

 

[fokke]

The way I see it, the headcrab kills the victim before it starts controlling the host body, if not, it would face troubles of a resisting host body.

I think the process is like this:

1. The headcrab pounces onto the head of the victim
2. It kills the victim by destroying the artery's and damaging the brain, which the headcrab doesn't need for controlling the host body.
3. It sends its injection tubes (Easy to see when the headcrab is rolledover) into the host body, injecting conserving fluids to stop the rotting process and enemy parasites.
4. It mutates the body

 

[Flashlight]

The way I see it, the headcrab kills the victim before it starts controlling the host body, if not, it would face troubles of a resisting host body.

I think the process is like this:

1. The headcrab pounces onto the head of the victim
2. It kills the victim by destroying the artery's and damaging the brain, which the headcrab doesn't need for controlling the host body.
3. It sends its injection tubes (Easy to see when the headcrab is rolledover) into the host body, injecting conserving fluids to stop the rotting process and enemy parasites.
4. It mutates the body

Your right in a way there fokke. But if the intended 'host' is dead, how do you explain the screams of agony and random phrases that come from the zombies? What use would the vocal chords have for the headcrab, unless, of course, the headcrab could completely control them and use the vocal capacity to its advantage (e.g. assimilating human behaviour), which they do not.

 

[Joe Nomalos]

I don't see why a headcrab can't take over anything with a head. It's called a head crab... not a human head crab or a bidel creature head crab... just a head crab. So I don't see why their aint a few stray dogs or cats or maybe even a horse or two with some head crab problems.

 

[MikeL15]

Headcrabs dont reproduce, remember in HL1? There was this giant for legged spider like thing on Xen that had a huge sack under it and it spat out tiny white headcrabs. They got annoying to, but they only took 1hp at a time...

And you say the headcrabs cant adopt to humans in so little time? Well if the combine are controlling them, then I think they can, because the combine soldiers took the form of a human, so why cant headcrabs adopt to human heads?

 

[screechrocket]

vort zombie

just imagine a vort poison zombie, it would throw a poison head crab at you then shock you with lightning. ouch.

Why are their no combine zombies? their were some marine zombies in HL right? and no females either.

 

[MikeL15]

There are no combine zombies because the combine use the headcrabs as a weapon, plus they got helmets that would protect them, unlike marines where there helmets can come right off...

And, how come you never see a Gordon zombie? Because... Gordon has gun... and guess what? Yup, Combies have guns too...

C + G > H
Key: C-Combine, G-Gun, >-Pwns, H-Headcrabs

 

[fokke]

Your right in a way there fokke. But if the intended 'host' is dead, how do you explain the screams of agony and random phrases that come from the zombies? What use would the vocal chords have for the headcrab, unless, of course, the headcrab could completely control them and use the vocal capacity to its advantage (e.g. assimilating human behaviour), which they do not.

It is sure by now that the Headcrabs control the nerve system of the host. Thereby controlling all motional functions, and probably also communication functions (unless they've ripped them open) The headcrab is probably not familiar with the human body, and thats why it walks so uncomfortably (or the rotting process may cause that) This is probably why the headcrab makes these sounds through the human body, controlling the vocabulary sustem also, but being unable to use it in a better way. That's my theory. If the host is still living, it would still have a will, and thereby it would make it very difficult for the headcrab to control the body. Why would it leave the host alive if it is in full controll of the body allready?

 

[Black Ops4]

I'm positive that the host dies as soon as the headcrab begins to take it over:

1) If you just hit a headcrab off it's human host with a crowbar, the host body is definatly dead. No signs of life whatsoever. It would be really disturbing if those mutilated people started crying out for help anyway.

2) If it can control movement, it can control vocal chords and stuff too. They may use the host's sound to communicate loudlier or for other purposes*, depending on the species. If the zombie tries to attack, the host arms swing out. If the zombie cries in pain, the host body cries out. Makes perfect sense to me.

*Houndeye-zombie, anyone?

3) Fast Zombie hosts are certainly dead, even while the headcrab is controlling them. They also make loud sounds which aren't heard from host-less headcrabs. They make these sounds while on the attack, so I think it is possible that they are communicating with each other.

Eh, I don't know why we bother discussing and arguing about the biology of fictional creatures, but it is fun!

 

[eatbugs]

With regard to Schreechrocket's comment, there should be more mutated alien's like a vortigaunt zombie or such the like.

 

[fokke]

Could a zombie be able to wield a gravity gun?
Btw, in HL1 the zombie's seemed to be cannibalizing corpses, but how can they ever feed when the headcrab is closed over the mouth? And why is their breast split open? The big zombie's in Opposing Force seemed to use this to attack with.

 

[AIDisabled]

If headcrabs can couple to one species they can couple to any.

Actually I don't quite agree.

I recently made a post elsewhere where I speculated that it's indeed a very big co-incidence that headcrabs can mate with human heads, especially if you want to consider that the Xen invasion on Earth was a total random co-incidence.

What I also said there is if the Xenians are so biologically advanced that they can modify their ecology to suit diametrically different conditions as prevalent on Earth, it's bad science to assume they can't do better things. Create bullet proof (just make sure the epidermis of the creature is hard enough) beings, for example.

What you're saying suggests exactly this: that headcrabs can change their biology based on circumstance. And if Xenians are advanced enough to do that, it's impossibly juvenile that one of their main central authority (Nihilanth) cannot protect himself better.

fokke mentions that those crabs control the nervous system, and it is a right assumption, I think. But how many different species in all the planets in the galaxy actually have the same biogenetical construction as us humans? If we get into low-level nervous cell make-up, then not even all the various species on Earth itself share the same equipment! So what you are saying is that those headcrabs adapt their attaching equipment based on the nervous system of a planet's dominant lifeform (let's not even talk about the non-dominant lifeforms). That is complex and terribly advanced biological mastery.

So while your statement can be considered (hey, they can be biologically advanced, why can't they be?), it can only be considered if we neglect hard science (and a certain logic which says that if you can do something for one function and that something also applies to another function with excellent results, you'd be a bit of a goofball to not use that something for that function too) altogether. Not that that is essentially wrong.

And I don't mean any personal rebukes, of course. If you find anything in this post that sounds insulting, I'm not trying to be.

 

[Angry Lawyer]

The Zombies feed through their chest cavity.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[AIDisabled]

The Zombies feed through their chest cavity.

-Angry Lawyer

Can you show us some evidence supporting this? I can't seem to remember any either supporting or denying your statement.

 

[ríomhaire]

What I also said there is if the Xenians are so biologically advanced that they can modify their ecology to suit diametrically different conditions as prevalent on Earth, it's bad science to assume they can't do better things. Create bullet proof (just make sure the epidermis of the creature is hard enough) beings, for example.

It's called evolution, everything alive today has done it!

 

[AIDisabled]

It's called evolution, everything alive today has done it!

Okay, accepted, (and this is also something I mentioned in another thread) but what these folks are suggesting doesn't allow the kind of time required for slow evolutionary advancement, man!

And if you're suggesting that perhaps these Xenians evolve really fast, then why is their evolution limited to such primitive creatures? Again, I'm not saying you're wrong, you could be right, but it's a repeat of bad science.

 

[Angry Lawyer]

Can you show us some evidence supporting this? I can't seem to remember any either supporting or denying your statement.

Sure. I'm glad someone here is needing solid evidence, rather than half-truths and distorted quotes.

Notice the sequence name, and where the Zombie is moving his hands to.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[AIDisabled]

Sure. I'm glad someone here is needing solid evidence, rather than half-truths and distorted quotes.

Notice the sequence name, and where the Zombie is moving his hands to.

-Angry Lawyer

Wow! Thank you for the evidence.

This actually gives further credibility (to me, at least) to the idea that headcrabs were specifically designed for human or humanoid hosts. Because it's just not that easy knowing what specific body part does what (the stomach digests, the hand carries a morsel of food from the plate to the source of entry) unless you know the basic humanoid structure. Which reminds me of what I said earlier, that though the Xen invasion was shown as a co-incidence, there's a strong chance it was carefully planned.

 

[Nephtis]

Ever thought of this? The big split in the chest is where the babies come out!
Sexy.
And a rip off of Alien.

 

[ríomhaire]

Wow! Thank you for the evidence.

This actually gives further credibility (to me, at least) to the idea that headcrabs were specifically designed for human or humanoid hosts. Because it's just not that easy knowing what specific body part does what (the stomach digests, the hand carries a morsel of food from the plate to the source of entry) unless you know the basic humanoid structure. Which reminds me of what I said earlier, that though the Xen invasion was shown as a co-incidence, there's a strong chance it was carefully planned.

I think that vortigaunt anatomy is similar to human anatomy allowing the headcrab to use humans, reasons:
1. Headcrabs can take human hosts
2. Earth and Xen have similar atmospheres (Barney could breathe on Xen)
3. Vortigaunts eat meat (the crab eating vortigaunt)
4. They have vocal cords
5. They have eyes, ears, hands, feat, a mouth etc.
6. There is water on Xen (Ichthyosaur being at home in Xen and Earth water.

The 3 main things for human survival (air, water and meat) are on Xen so it is posible that vorts have the same humans organs to process these.

 

[Angry Lawyer]

I think it's just based on carbon based life that have heads. IF they were engineered for a Human invasion, why do they run around on Xen freely? And Bullsquids specifically prey on them over all other things.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[AIDisabled]

Then it's just co-incidence, I guess, that of all the planets in the galaxy, in all the interdimensional worlds, only one carbon based lifeform got Beam-Me-Up-Scottied to another planet which also hosts carbon based lifeforms. Like the bloke said in Casablanca, "In all the Gin joints in all the world..."

Is there a chance that perhaps the reason Valve left so many things from the original HL in HL2 were all these inconsistencies and/or unexplained dual theories?

I also wonder how these things would've been explained had HL been a Science Fiction novel.

 

[Marx! II]

With regard to the faster ones, I always thought the howls and things were generated from the crab itself, and simply pumped through the now gaping chest cavity.
I'm not a doctor, so I can't verify this, but it seems to make sense to me.

 

[Angry Lawyer]

There is speculation that the fast and poison zombies are genetically engineered. Look at them - they don't have chest cavities, so they'd starve pretty quickly. Seems like an incredibly useful thing to have - shell an area with modified crabs, and wait for the resultant zombies to starve through lack of feeding parts.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[AIDisabled]

But then that doesn't make a lot of sense, you know. The basic reason we assume that crabs are bombarded are to convert a few humans into zombies, and then let those zombies kill the rest of the humans in that area till a) all humans are dead, b) all are zombies.

Now the problem with a zombie which does not feed is that it simply won't have the energy to sustain long periods of violent combat. Say two days at the maximum. And after that they'll just starve and die. Why go through all that effort for just a two-day killing machine? It still makes more sense to have those crabs or zombies to emit some sort of contagious poison which kills everyone. Or at least it makes more sense to me.

 

[Marx! II]

Perhaps zombies have the ability to hibernate and conserve energy?
It'd explain all the napping ones you see about Ravenholm, and also why that area could be so constant a threat as to warrant the fear and boarding up.

 

[AIDisabled]

Possible and interesting. Logical, too.

But I don't remember seeing any poison or fast zombies sleeping. And since it's actually established that normal zombies do feed, their hibernation does not actually answer the question about the energy levels of the zombies who do not feed.

 

[Marx! II]

That's true, but I can't remember ever seeing a fast zombie that wasn't but a few feet from me, ready to pounce. They seem to have short enough lifespans just based on how much the human form can take, however twisted and chest cavity'd.
The poison zombies are something, since nowhere have I seen one where it was not suggested that he had been there for some time. Perhaps whichever neurotoxin the poison crabs carry can also sustain a thing for a while. Perhaps this is the case for all of them.

 

[ríomhaire]

My theori is that fast headcrabs are part of the hive with normal ones, gonarches and another worker headrab. The normals gather food, the fast guard the hive the gonarch is the queen and the worker works. Since the crabs naturaly attack vorts the fasts have access to the mouth as that dosn't get covered. The human ones must digest themselves to live.

Then the black are completly different. They take a host then lay their eggs inside it (the piggy-backing and swolen stomaches). The eggs hatch and eat the host from the inside out while the big ones eat it from the outside in. The babies evenualy burst out and leave the host for dead.

 

[Laivasse]

My theori is that fast headcrabs are part of the hive with normal ones, gonarches and another worker headrab. The normals gather food, the fast guard the hive the gonarch is the queen and the worker works. Since the crabs naturaly attack vorts the fasts have access to the mouth as that dosn't get covered. The human ones must digest themselves to live.

Then the black are completly different. They take a host then lay their eggs inside it (the piggy-backing and swolen stomaches). The eggs hatch and eat the host from the inside out while the big ones eat it from the outside in. The babies evenualy burst out and leave the host for dead.

I agree with your theory about the fast crabs/zombies. Not only do they not have a chest cavity, but they seem to be in the process of beingconsumed. Everything about the fast crabs/zombies suggests that they are just kind of hyperactive and full of beans, kind of thing. It seems a cool idea to me that the crab would latch on and drive the host into physical overdrive so much so that they start to digest themselves, and don't even need to develop achest cavity. A fairly tortuous process... Presumably they can't keep going indefinitely, but maybe they could get by for a very long time - as long as would be necessary to fulfil their role to the hive.


The poison zombies, I dunno...instead of laying eggs inside, I'd say that they're the result of many poison crabs latching onto one person. This is kind of borne out by the fact that one poison headcrab alone can't actually kill you. Notice that poison headcrabs quite often appear in groups!

All these poison crabs would then pump whatever toxins and extraterrestrial chems they deem fit into the host, designed to turn it into a lumbering machine capable of withstanding tons of damage. The slow movement, and plethora of crabs adding their little bit to keep it propped up, would mean that sustenance by means of a chest cavity is not as essential. The goal would be similar to that of the fast zombie - just a different manner of soldier designed to protect the hive.

Again, I think it's a cool concept because it sounds so painful. Imagine the torture of 6 headcrabs biting into you, injecting venom and taking over your brainial array (scientific name). ...and all this causing your body to swell up and burst open with extremely tender sores and tumours, while the crabs make no attempt to mask the pain, just command your body to act in spite of it. Ouchers :naughty:

 

[AIDisabled]

Yeah, it wins brownie points for being gruesome, okay.

But (and I'm beginning to hate the way that I seem to be disagreeing with everything everyone says; I hope you aren't) this scenario again works only in the long run. It's not a short term solution. And the way the Combine invaded Earth (the seven hour war) suggests that they want a speedy capture. This is a paradox. So either the theory of zombies eating themselves etc. slowly is valid, or the seven hours war is valid. Cause I reall don't understand why the Combine would invade so fast and then just hold back and wait the stipulated time for the zombie-overtaking.

 

[Laivasse]

Yeah, it wins brownie points for being gruesome, okay.

But (and I'm beginning to hate the way that I seem to be disagreeing with everything everyone says; I hope you aren't) this scenario again works only in the long run. It's not a short term solution. And the way the Combine invaded Earth (the seven hour war) suggests that they want a speedy capture. This is a paradox. So either the theory of zombies eating themselves etc. slowly is valid, or the seven hours war is valid. Cause I reall don't understand why the Combine would invade so fast and then just hold back and wait the stipulated time for the zombie-overtaking.

IMO the whole headcrab shelling thing is a control and anti-insurgency measure that has arisen SINCE the Combine have got control. A non-Combine-on-Xen theory dictates that the Combine would have had to use the headcrabs they found lying around on Earth. Same with the metrocops and overwatch soldiers; they didn't exist at the time of the 7 hours war because the Combine had no humans to play round with, but they've been used since then in order to keep the rebel forces down (and in the case of the Overwatch, probably the Combine hope they will be usable on other planets in future).

It is a long term strategy... but if you look at Ravenholm it's obviously an effective one. With Ravenholm they just shelled it and left it to rot, without worrying about the zombies that were left over. However, there were also instances in City 17 where they use the headcrab shells...presumably the Combine aren't planning on leaving parts of City 17 to rot, but maybe they consider zombies to be easier foes than rebels, or maybe they want to capitalise on the confusion caused when rebels have to take out zombies who used to be their teammmates.

There are parts in the later chapters where you see Overwatch taking on fast zombies - maybe this shows the brutality of the Combine in that they'll shell an area with fast headcrabs and end up with dangerous fast zombies, and then they will chuck their own troops into the grinder until the fast zombies are dealt with. The bottom line is that they end up with zero opposition, and the welfare of petty transhuman troops is probably not very high on the agenda. Perhaps it's strange that the Combine would bother converting humans to fast zombies before fighting them, because fast zom's are still a dangerous enemy. But perhaps also the Combine are smart enough to understand that an enemy that can only fight (fast zombies) are a lot less dangerous in the long term than an enemy who can fight and plan (rebels).

 

[Jandor]

My theories on headcrabs go a little like this:

Normal Headcrabs

Headcrab latches onto host.
Headcrab mutates host into Mawman.
Mawman goes on massive feasting spree.
Mawman begins to mutate into a Gonome.
Gonome goes on a massive feasting spree.
Gonome begins to mutate into a Gonarch, headcrab drops off and dies.
Gonarch goes on a massive feasting spree.
Gonarch starts to give birth.

Fast Headcrabs

Headcrab latches onto Host.
Headcrab begins to mutate host.
Leaper attempts to go on feasting spree, but has no mouth/maw.
Leaper gets more and more hungry, becoming more and more ferocious.
Leaper starves.
Combine move in, thank there bio-engineering team.

Poison Headcrab

Headcrab takes host.
Headcrab begins to mutate host.
Poison Mawman begins to grow eggs.
Poison Mawmen has Poison crabs all over him.
These crabs take more and more hosts.

I don't know, It's been a long time since I looked at a Poison Mawman .

Ravenholm was a big testing ground for the effectiveness of the new headcrab breeds.
There are no Gonomes in Ravenholm as there is no prey, Mawmen are not cannibals.

 

[AIDisabled]

Somebody please bring me Mark Laidlaw so we can strap him to a chair and force the real deal about HL's world and story out of him. All this speculation is driving me nuts. We're all making sensible theories here, but we can't be sure which one is the right one. Like watching a David Lynch movie.

 

[Angry Lawyer]

The Gonome turning into a Gonarch, before the headcrab falling off? I'd think it closer to that the Gonarch eats as much as possible, hibernates, and has the headcrab slowly consume the rest of the corpse, swelling into a Gonarch.

Mawmen are cannibals - there are a number of places in the original game where they feed on each other's corpses.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[ríomhaire]

The Gonome turning into a Gonarch, before the headcrab falling off? I'd think it closer to that the Gonarch eats as much as possible, hibernates, and has the headcrab slowly consume the rest of the corpse, swelling into a Gonarch.

Mawmen are cannibals - there are a number of places in the original game where they feed on each other's corpses.

-Angry Lawyer

Not realy cannibals, if they were canibals they would kill eachother but I see what you mean.

 

[Jandor]

Yeh, they just eat any carrion whatsoever. but they dont kill each other.

and I dont think the little headcrab (that never seems to grow) suddenly swells up into a Gonarch, I think its much more likely, that the host (which is always mutating and growing) swells up and turns into a Gonarch. at which point the headcrab is no longer needed.

 

[NÜk]

I agree with your headcrab lifecycle theory Jandor, but you left out a vital early phase for normal headcrabs:

Headcrab latches onto host.
Headcrab mutates host into Mawman.
Mawman goes out of it's way to find a white shirt.
Mawman goes on massive feasting spree.

 

[AIDisabled]

I agree with your headcrab lifecycle theory Jandor, but you left out a vital early phase for normal headcrabs:

Headcrab latches onto host.
Headcrab mutates host into Mawman.
Mawman goes out of it's way to find a white shirt.
Mawman goes on massive feasting spree.

Holy Moly! I've never given serious thought to the white shirt before.

In HL, okay, it was a technology and space limitation.

But HL2 could've had many different colors for the Mawmen shirts, couldn't it? I mean, what's one more disc, right?

No, but seriously. Perhaps headcrabs need a specific intelligence level host to actually convert the host into a Mawman.

 

[Wraithen]

A Unicorn though... yeah... a Unicorn would be pretty much imune to headcrabs.


I guess that means Orgasmo's sidekick would be safe too... safe or very very popular among the headcrab comunity.