Headcrabs: Endangered Species?

[Psychosis]

From what I've seen, the single reproductive source of headcrabs is the Gonarch (that crazy-ass spider from hl1). It was all tha sustained the lil critters. I mean, the thing practically barfed 'em out. However, Gordon has killed the Gonarch.

My question is this: Has Gordon Freeman, by killing the Gonarch, single-handedly doomed the Headcrabs to extinction?

 

[Untermensch]

Well. After 20 years there's still plenty of 'em around...

 

[Selkcip]

The real question is: Do liberals care?

On second thought, it was NOT Gordon who hunted headcrabs to near extinction. It was Cheney. That's the reason he shot his hunting buddy in the head, he was being attacked by a headcrab, but they couldn't tell tha public the truth. No then they'ed have activists fighting for headcrab rights. An when headcrabs get rights, well the world's just F***ed

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

Theres more than one. Darkside55 says so

 

[Darkside55]

Theres more than one. Darkside55 says so

Mhm.

All classic headcrabs have the potential to become a gonarch. It just takes a host, some time, and a LOT of food. The statistic is one out of every one hundred headcrabs becomes a gonarch, and that's how they carry on the species. Gordon only killed one. There may be one or perhaps more remaining in the wild on Earth.

The Combine also use a gonarch egg sac (stripped off a gonarch's body and wired to a machine) to produce more headcrabs for shell ammo.

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

Bingo

 

[Costin]

The Combine also use a gonarch egg sac (stripped off a gonarch's body and wired to a machine) to produce more headcrabs for shell ammo.

That means,the Combine is the one who created the poison headcrab and the fast headcrab?Or they're are simply just a evolution of a normal headcrab?

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

That means,the Combine is the one who created the poison headcrab and the fast headcrab?Or they're are simply just a evolution a a normal headcrab?

We don't know about Fasts, but the poisens were proboaly created by a Zombie/Gonome eating something poisnones, his childeren copying, and soon they've become immune to it and are a new breed. At least according to Laidlaw.

 

[Gordon-Shepherd]

The Combine also use a gonarch egg sac (stripped off a gonarch's body and wired to a machine) to produce more headcrabs for shell ammo.

I saw that old thread from the wiki. of course this is, in the end, only speculation derived from a sprite of what looks like gonarch-balls wired up to a combine machine.. right? I mean it was an unused sprite, the idea could have been scrapped.

also,

That means,the Combine is the one who created the poison headcrab and the fast headcrab?Or they're are simply just a evolution a a normal headcrab?

in op4 we saw a new kind of zombie that spits stuff from its chest, I think this is the aforementioned gonome but I've only seen gonomes in sven coop and they look different than these creatures. anyway, my point is, headcrabs can definetly evole on their own, as can zombies. so i thought it went like
classic headcrab->zombie->"gonome" (however we see no gonomes in hl2, possibly gregory gets all the zombies before they turn into em?)
so think about it a second,
fast headcrab->fast zombie and
a whole bunch of poison headcrabs-> poison zombie. neither have a third evolution. do oyu think we could see a third one in due time? or maybe a fast headcrab zombine? or *shudder* a poison headcrab zombine? or.. I just had a horrible thought. what about a 3rd evolution poison zombine? nasty nasty nasty, yet the possibilities are endless. whether or not poison headcrabs and fast ones were created by the combine, I honestly don't care thats just being a lil bit too nitpicky storylinewise [/hypocrisy].

 

[Psychosis]

I never quite caught on that the combine had ANYTHING to do with the reproductive cycle of headcrabs. I've seen the unused image as well, but I think that idea was scrapped.

While the existance of other Gonarchs would make sense, I just don't think it's completely true. You would note that you find the Gonarch in an area called "Gonarchs Lair". Now, that seems like a rather specific place to call a place with one of numerous Gonarchs, right? I mean, if an owl lives in a tree we don't call that tree "owl's tree" now do we? That's just my reasoning.

And it also COULD be feasable for the headcrabs to survive for another 20 years. I mean, did you see how many headcrabs Gonarch shit out every second? If it lived long enough, the could be well stocked for, like, ever.

 

[Costin]

in op4 we saw a new kind of zombie that spits stuff from its chest, I think this is the aforementioned gonome but I've only seen gonomes in sven coop and they look different than these creatures. anyway, my point is, headcrabs can definetly evole on their own, as can zombies. so i thought it went like
classic headcrab->zombie->"gonome" (however we see no gonomes in hl2, possibly gregory gets all the zombies before they turn into em?)
so think about it a second,
fast headcrab->fast zombie and
a whole bunch of poison headcrabs-> poison zombie. neither have a third evolution. do oyu think we could see a third one in due time? or maybe a fast headcrab zombine? or *shudder* a poison headcrab zombine? or.. I just had a horrible thought. what about a 3rd evolution poison zombine? nasty nasty nasty, yet the possibilities are endless. whether or not poison headcrabs and fast ones were created by the combine, I honestly don't care thats just being a lil bit too nitpicky storylinewise [/hypocrisy].

Theory:What we have seen in Opposing Force the zombie that spits stuff from his chest is because the heacrab is mutating the DNA of the host,soldiers have a better DNA then us,more stamina stuff like that,which resulted in this new zombie,when we mutated the scientists as we see in Half-Life they were weak slow...that means the headcrab have a very adaptable DNA,so they will evolve by being more faster,smarter and and in some circumstances...poisonous-in a matter of 20 years.

 

[esplin]

Theory:What we have seen in Opposing Force the zombie that spits stuff from his chest is because the heacrab is mutating the DNA of the host,soldiers have a better DNA then us,more stamina stuff like that,which resulted in this new zombie,when we mutated the scientists as we see in Half-Life they were weak slow...that means the headcrab have a very adaptable DNA,so they will evolve by being more faster,smarter and and in some circumstances...poisonous-in a matter of 20 years.

The ironic thing is that all the Gonomes were former scientists.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:HalfLifeOpposingForce_Gonome.jpg

He's wearing the scientist's white pants!

 

[Costin]

OMG my theory is ruined......:x

 

[Llama]

besides, Stamina and fitness comes from training, not better DNA Nice theory though.

The thing is the ratio of headcarbs to Gonarch must be higher than 100-1, or Freeman would have run into one on Earth. Maybe 10,000 or 100,000 to one, given the not-ideal living conditions.

 

[Darkside55]

He would have, given time. Headcrabs mutate at an extremely fast rate, but not that fast...plus, there might be other factors involved. Other catalysts that are necessary for mutation into a gonarch. We can't be certain because the only mutations we've seen are zombies and gonomes, and we're not even sure what makes gonomes aside from time and food. You notice all the gonomes we encountered were down in the furnace area? Extreme heat, relative darkness...those could be factors. And there's nothing to say that the gonarch doesn't need a long amount of time to form, like a period of hibernation. So he would've seen one if he A) hadn't beenkilling off zombies as he found them and B) had more than the three days he was in the facility.

Now as for further evolutions of fasties and poison zombies, really unlikely, at least anytime soon. I won't say never, because headcrabs are adaptable as all get out, but right now there's absolutely no way for them to evolve in their current forms. They're just existing without purpose, really.

On the combine and gonarchs: the idea was "scrapped" if only because they couldn't find a place to put it. You notice that there would really be no place that the combine were launching shells from, if not for the inclusion of the lost coast. Same thing. We weren't shown it because really...there was no place to put it and it would've been superfluous information. If you consider it though, really, how else are they going to get shell ammo? I hardly think that there's a combine collection team that goes out with wire nooses on poles and nets wrangling up headcrabs and stuffing them into canisters.

Psychosis, the chapter name "Gonarch's Lair" really is only specific to that gonarch. They couldn't call it "A Gonarch's Lair," or "The Lair of One of Many Gonarches." If there were only ONE gonarch, how could the species have lived for countless centuries? That would imply that the gonarch is immortal. A heavy feat for something that continuously expends energy and has no means of intaking food to replenish it. Furthermore, headcrabs are a nuisance to EVERYBODY...including Xenians. Vortigaunts, grunts, controllers...if there was only one gonarch, don't you think they would've killed it before and been done with it?

 

[Tagaziel]

There's one thing that bugs me - the Poison and Fast zombies posess no eating cavity whatsoever, unlike the regular zombies (and Gonomes).

Given that, and the number of differences between fast and poison headcrabs, it may be plausible, that at least the fast variety was bio-engineered by the Combine. Let's face it, regular zombies are slow and despite their horrifying appearance, they aren't effective bio-weapons. Fast ones are their direct opposite - stripped of obsolete biomass to ensure it's speed and lethality. This stripping has also resulted in eliminating any ways for the zombie to sustain itself, but that isn't really important for a biological weapon.

The poison zombie is a different pair altogether - Laidlaw said that it was a headcrab eating soemhing very poisonous and mutating - the way the black 'crabbie moves suggest at least partial relation to the fast (leaper) headcrab. It may be that a fast one ate something posionous, or an area that was shelled was highly toxic and turned into our fuzzy headhumper. It also zombifies the hosts in a remotely similiar way - no maw to sustain itself.

However, the headcrab carrier always puzzled me as to whether or not the headcrabs riding on it were picked up or grown.

-- Mikael Grizzly

 

[Mesz]

Read the "READ THIS: Everything you ever wanted to know about" at the top of the Mythology forum, download the .zip file and read, it will tell you all about Zombies, headcrabs, Gonarchs, Gonomes, fast headcrabs, fast zombies, poison headcrabs, poison zombies and of course zombines

 

[ríomhaire]

All classic headcrabs have the potential to become a gonarch. It just takes a host, some time, and a LOT of food. The statistic is one out of every one hundred headcrabs becomes a gonarch, and that's how they carry on the species. Gordon only killed one. There may be one or perhaps more remaining in the wild on Earth.

Don't make up crap and say it's true, that's Laidlaw's job.

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

^^
Though what Darkside55 is saying seems very plausible.

 

[Darkside55]

Don't make up crap and say it's true, that's Laidlaw's job.

Riom why are you always trying to shit on my posts? Just curious. You're always butthurt about everything I say about headcrabs, you're butthurt that I got my paper stickied, you get on me about everything. I'm really just curious as to why. If you take such issue with what I say about them, write Marc and ask him whether I'm right or whether it's a load and not worth anyone's time to read. I will definately concede to what Laidlaw says (despite the fact that I do tend to disagree with certain things he's said in the past...but he's the storywriter, so).

If I'm "making it up" as you keep saying, I really suggest you take a look at all the headcrab species and YOU go do some research on them, and I mean in-depth research like I did, and then you can come back and be audacious enough to tell me not to "make crap up." Until then, seriously, get off my nuts about it, because it's getting old and you can't put forth any theories of your own to refute what I say other than, "it's not true, don't make stuff up." The day I make something up without either attaching three or four "this is only a theory" tags to it, or state unequivocably that everything I saw is the God's truth, I'll stop writing these things. I've said before they're not fact files, for one, and for two, everything I say has some factual basis to it. Everything in there has SOME evidence for it...and sometimes I even list contradictory evidence to it. But really you don't pay attention to that, you just bash me every chance you get. Disprove what I say beyond any shadow of a doubt, either by doing your own research or writing to Marc, otherwise stop being a jerk and be quiet about it, kiddo.

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

W00t!
BTW Darkside how is the Vorti article coming along?

 

[Darkside55]

I've started it. I'm writing it alongside another article (which is actually going faster than the vortigaunt one ), but lately I've just been busy busy busy. I've got a lot of site content to do too, so my time's stretched. I'll finish it soon enough though; I'll try and have both of the articles I'm doing out in Sept.

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

Cool. If you need any screenys or whatever I can help so it comes quicker

 

[Tagaziel]

While we do appreciate the work you have done on the Headcrabs, it is still speculation. Unless it comes from Valve, we can't say one theory set is the only real one, and others are fake.What if Laidlaw confirms the fake one?

The Headcrab Zombie -> Gonarch growth sounds plausible, but is actually nothing more than speculation, loosely based on facts.

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

Well, it is the most logical solution...though before Darkside55's article I thought Headcrabs who didn't find hosts transformed into Gonarches. :upstare:

 

[Ophiguris]

(first post) If anyone noticed... there's a gonarch sack in a lab in HL2... That would lead to saying that there must be more gonarchs (because) if HL2 did indeed accure 20 years later, the decay would have the original sack reduced to almost nothing.

 

[Ophiguris]

I saw it in a screen shot...

 

[Darkside55]

While we do appreciate the work you have done on the Headcrabs, it is still speculation. Unless it comes from Valve, we can't say one theory set is the only real one, and others are fake.What if Laidlaw confirms the fake one?

The Headcrab Zombie -> Gonarch growth sounds plausible, but is actually nothing more than speculation, loosely based on facts.

Indeed. Exactly the reason I never wanted to term the thing a fact file...it goes way too much into speculation. The gonarch thing in particular though, well, I can't see any other way it works. There are certainly other possible explanations...like Atomic said, unhosted headcrabs could become gonarchs. It'd be wasteful for them to do so, and go completely against the only nature we've seen them exhibit, but because no one can say for certain, it's still open to other possibilities. That's really the sole factor that stops what I say from being fact...the POSSIBILITY that exists in uncertainty. Otherwise, if you look at everything we've seen from Half-Life, OpFor (which IS canon ), and HL2, it's the only true logical answer.

(first post) If anyone noticed... there's a gonarch sack in a lab in HL2... That would lead to saying that there must be more gonarchs (because) if HL2 did indeed accure 20 years later, the decay would have the original sack reduced to almost nothing.

Yep, that'd be the Combine's egg sac. And you're right, they must have captured it from another gonarch that developed here on Earth. So if for nothing else this thread has answered the OP's original question: "Are there more gonarchs?"

The answer is yes, and the headcrab is not a doomed species. Yet.

*packs up his crowbar*




Oh, and Atomic, thanks for the screenshot offer. If I ever get these things in html form (which I hope to) I might take you up on it.

 

[Gorndt]

Riom why are you always trying to shit on my posts? Just curious. You're always butthurt about everything I say about headcrabs, you're butthurt that I got my paper stickied, you get on me about everything.

INITIATE FLAME WAR.