My Xen Lifeform Metamorphosis Theory/Xen Lifeform Paradox

[MFL]

MY THEORY OF XEN LIFEFORM METAMORPHOSIS
note: This theory is based off of the various species seen in HL1,
which means any new species in HL2 will not be included.

Gonarch (gives birth to...)
|
Baby Headcrab (develops into full-grown... )
|
Headcrab (seeks a host... grabs a human... infestation begins and...)
|
Zombie (Zombie matures (if it doesn't meet Gordon) into...)
|
Alien Slave (the slaves with the most potential (or just random slaves)
| develop into...)
Alien Controller (and finally, the cream of the crop turn into...)
|
Nihilith.

This would be the basic metamorphosis pattern IF the headcrab finds a host.
If the headcrab does NOT find a host I would imagine it would go something like this:

Gonarch
|
Baby Headcrab
|
Headcrab (if the head crab does not find a host it would over time grow
| into what it naturally would turn into if humans were not
| involved)
Gonarch

The other specied assosciated with Xen, the bullsquid, the houndeye, the tentacle, the barnacle, and the ichthyosaur, I assume are the local fauna.
I personally believe that the garg is a metamorphosis of the snark, IF the snark is left in the cocoons we saw all over the place in the beginning of Forget about Freeman.
The alien grunt I believe is a artificially created construct of the Xen "whatever the heck really controlls the Xen", seeing as how none of the other species on the Xen world went through the packaging plant seen at the later Xen levels and the lack of the ability to speak English as the other
aliens (slaves, Nihilith, controllers) could.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seeing as how, according to my theory, the transcendance of the Gonarch species into the Nihilith species ABSOLUTELY depends upon the headcrab finding a HUMAN host, some very important questions are called to mind. How can this happen? Supposedly, the Xen lifeforms evolved on Xen, which may be in a completly different dimension then the human race's, or at least farther away than the average distance of a headcrab leap. This creates a paradox. Nothing evolving in a seperate ecology can really have the kind of symbiosis demonstrated by the interaction between headcrab and human. Only Nihilith and some of the controllers seem to have any sort of teleporting ability (I am assuming Nihilith transported the aliens seen in HL1 into the area's in which they were), and seeing as how headcrabs need humans to reach this stage of their metamorphisis, the headcrabs could have no interaction with humans at all. This would be like opening a crate with the crowbar inside. Could the Xen lifeforms really have been DEVELOPED by humans on Earth as some kind of human-race killer? Or could I truly be a long-winded babbeler? Or could something fishy be at work, something we can not even think of yet?
I invite you all to explore this and bring up any other matters of this sort you care to deal with. If we are to know the true nature of the Xen species, the true nature of the new aliens we will be dealing with, and the true nature of the story of the alien invasion of Earth, we will have to sort through these sort of questions.
I look forward to it.

 

[MFL]

The reason I say the Zombies grow into the alien slave is the big gash I allways see on the front of their chests. I imagine that if the infamous "third arm" was going to grow from anywhere, that would be it, and seeing how all the forms leading up to Nihilith have this third arm, it could be what links them all together

 

[ManicS2]

So humans live on Xen too?

edit: Read further

 

[Darkside55]

I can appreciate the time you probably put into this theory, but I have to say that I think it's flawed.

Assuming what you're saying is correct, then the entire species of higher lifeforms (slaves, controllers, etc.) are dependant on not only the gonarch's continued survival, but the need of the headcrabs to find a human host. As you already said yourself, this creates a fundamental problem because the headcrabs can't have evolved to their highest forms without contact with humans. As far as we know, "the incident" is the first contact man had made with the alien lifeforms.

I'll neglect that part for now in order to bring up some other points. If the gonarch spawned most of the Xenian race, it's curious why she would be isolated to that one sector of floating rock. While the gonarch can most certainly handle herself (tough, evil *@#$%^!), she has no defenses out there except for her baby headcrabs, and a couple other HCs hanging around the "nest." If she was so important, wouldn't there be guards? A bunch of alien laser-turret defenses? A FENCE, at least?!
If you think about ants, they've got guards all over the place protecting the queen. She's also in the innermost chamber, way deep in the ground, so she's the last layer. The queen is the most important ant because that entire colony depends on her survival, her laying of eggs. If the entire Xenian race were dependent on the gonarch spawning headcrabs, I think they'd put her in the most secure area possible and have no less than 1/4 the alien grunt army--and a bunch of slaves and controllers, too--hanging around to defend her.

Now, if headcrabs became alien slaves, why don't the two hang out more often? You'll notice that slaves and headcrabs, slaves and zombies, controllers and headcrabs, controllers and zombies...none of those combinations are ever seen together. The only combinations of Xen creatures we have seen, that work in harmony with each other, are the headcrabs and zombies, and the slaves, controllers, and grunts working together. You would think that these higher evolutions would be much more nuturing to their younger siblings, and would help them to get human hosts. Instead, they stay far, far away from each other.

And now I'm going to bring back the point about the headcrabs evolving without humans. The reason this can be is because the headcrab has never had contact with a human before, but it has had contact with other, nervous-system possessing lifeforms, some of which bipedal, that allowed it to evolve into the elite parasitic creature it is today. I'm talking, of course, about the vortigaunts (alien slaves), and the grunts. The slaves and grunts most likely have a central nervous system, just like a human, and their heads are the perfect shape for a crab to fit snugly over. This is how they evolved.

Why would the headcrab want to latch on to its future forms? It wouldn't. A better question, though, would be: "HOW can a headcrab latch on to its future forms, if it never had a host to become that form in the first place?" The answer is also, "It couldn't." Headcrabs are simply another type of fauna in Xen, completely unrelated to the vortigaunts, grunts, or controllers.

Also, the alien slaves don't become controllers either. I know this because that is why they are called slaves; the controllers enslaved their species for use in manual labor, and as cheap cannon-fodder troops. This is why they have that green collar on them; it's a control device, a symbol of their subservience to the controllers.

And about Nith, I don't think ANYTHING evolved into him. I think Nith was built, built by the controllers to harness the immense power of Xen's crystals. This vessel would be able to create dimensional portals at will, and also feed off the power of the crystals. He was their supreme being...he might've even been their living god, a thing of worship.
How do I know he was created? His third arm. It's not something that was grown.

IT'S STITCHED ON.



----------------------------------

So, good theory, but I, personally, can't find it to be correct. However, I'm with you all the way on the snarks-into-gargs thing. 'Cept, those weren't coccoons...they were tripmines. Evil, evil tripmines. >_<
Oh, and the controllers can't speak English. They speak weird, alien-screech speak. The vortigaunts can, though. I wonder if they're actually smarter than the controllers...or maybe they're just possessed of better vocal chords, hehe.

 

[Flyingdebris]

i don't know if the snarks evolved into gargs, aside from having 1 eyes and a rough looking exoskeleton, i don't really see the connection between them. I'm not saying its not possible but the impression that the game gives me is that they are completely unrelated creatures.
my take on the matter is this

baby headcrab - normal headcrab - zombie - gonome - ? - gonarch

there is probably lots of gonarchs on Xen, you fought one, also it is a wild creature and that is why it had to defend itself.


Alien Slaves, Hive Hands, and Controllers, seem to have a similar body shape. However the Controllers through evolution or science gave themselves all the brains and maintain power over the other 2 species. The Hive hands seem to be used as front line soldiers and it seems like they are manufactured. As if they are an artificial species. Alien slaves are under the controllers control, they are cannon fodder and worker all wrapped up into one.

Gargs, maybe manufactured, maybe not. They are living tanks and probably under control of the controllers.

Nihilanth, like Darkside said, probably a living god the controllers created

headcrabs, snarks,Bullsquids, Barnacles, and Houndeyes seem to just be local fauna the accidently ended up on earth.


Furthermore- The wild fauna, headcrabs, houndeyes, barnacles, snarks, bullsquid. It doesn't seem like they were put on earth on purpose. I think it was just that when the portals started spewing crap onto earth, they sucked random wildlife from Xen over here. For example the spongy bounce pads. those don't look like they were on purpose.

The other species, the gargs, the hive hands, the controllers, the slaves, were put on earth with a purpose. However i think they were taking advantage of the fact that their local animals were screwing up the puny humans' business.

 

[MFL]

I agree that Nihilith was probably created, by the controllers, or whoever wanted to have access to the teleporting power of Nihilith.

The solution to Darkside's problem with the Gonarch is that, as flyingdebris said, there probably are more Gonarchs. In the entire game, there have only been three cases where there was only a single enemy of a particular species. These are the G-Man (Who bloody well knows at this point?), Nihilith (probably built, so we can assume there wouldn't be more), and Gonarch. Gonarch, from what we saw fighting her, can obviously reproduce, so there can be a possibility for more than one Gonarch existing.

Another important point on the connection between human+headcrab->zombie->
slave is the ability for the slave to speak English. How can this happen? As I see it, when a headcrab infests its host, maybe not ALL of the human mind is lost, and the headcrab assimilates what information it can from the human mind. This would explain the alien slave's tendancy to convey its feelings to us (Die...!). For this to work though, the slave would have to have the neccessary equipment (vocal cords and the like) for this communication to be possible. The only way for the slaves to have this kind of equipment would be to get it from human beings. This is probably what started me off on my theory in the first place. The zombies could maintain their ability to speak, which would pass on to the alien slaves.

 

[Flyingdebris]

it wouldn't make any sense for the alien slave to be a result of a headcrabbed person

i would mean that the headcrabs had time to nab someone, zombify, gonomify, and then alien slavify someone long before gordon ever woke up from the resonance cascade

I think the damn slaves are just mimicing the humans. Cause think about it, never have the headcrabs had eyes, shot electricity, or blabber bits of the english language, and then to mutate into the gonarch and lose all of that?

no that theory just doesn't add up

 

[Fender357]

Thats a pretty horrible theory....I'm sorry.

Almost none of that makes any sense......the zombies could in NO way become a Vortigaunt.
The headcrab is a parasite. It dosn't attach itself to something in order to make it become something else. It does it for sustinance, and in order to survive. And the thing in the middle of the zombies couldn't become an arm....its a mouth.
And in order to make any of this make sense...there would have to be a whole planet of humans for them to get to and make this whole race of aliens.
AND................why would they allow a slave to become a solder? If they Vortigaunts were slaves....they would have kept them that way.

Bah....anyway................no dice.....

 

[Mechagodzilla]

I think it's more like...

Gonarch
-makes-
Baby Headcrabs
-that can turn into any one of these:-
Regular Headcrab/HL2 Headcrabs/A Young Gonarch
-gonarch junior grows up-
Back to start ^

So a Gonarch starts a new colony, and makes the headcrabs and their zombie counterparts do all the work (like possibly collecting food and defending the Gonarch) while new Gonarchs are spawned, which move to start a new colony, etc.

It's a lot like how ants live.

 

[Plug]

i'd say...
headcrabs at a young age need hosts to live off, they're parasites after all.
So they live off various hosts until they get a bit fatter, until they can sustain their own life and grow into a gonarch.

I'm surprised nobody has thought about gender yet :cheese:

But i don't think it comes into it...


You'd think nihilanth was some kind of evolution of controllers, they look the same... except nihilanth (note, "The Last") has that stitched on arm and a big metal chair thing to sit on (or whatever the heck it is... a hover device?)

Slaves are obviously workers, and alient grunts are obviously soldiers.. they have armor and everything.

I think the relations between the different species (3rd arms, eyes etc) are a just a natural progression of evolution in their world. You probably need red eyes (a few of them) to work well on xen, who the heck knows. Third arms might come in handy too =)

And in relation to hl2? wow don't even get me started on that... :cheese:

 

[Brian Damage]

Well, as for the slaves talking, there's a thread somewhere in this forum about that... I went and played all the sound files... they're definitely saying something, and some of it sounds like english (The obvious "Die!" and something that could be "Die, Earth shit!")...

 

[KurtCobain]

I think we have a ''What came first chicken or the egg situation'' here peeps. :rolling:

 

[Farrowlesparrow]

Hl2 aside for a moment, her eis my idea.

Xen Misc Species
Bullsquid
Headcrab
Barnacle
HornetGun? (i know its a weapon so thats probably not)
Gonarch
Tentacle

Xen "intelligence"
Nihilanth - Strange creature that looks like the lower life forms but isnt quite (The idea about it being constructed is interesting)
Slaves - bog standard alien, pretty much like a Xen version of a human
Controllers - As the name suggests, they are in control to an extent. Probably evolved a long time ago, either by artificial or natural means and now they are bred seperately from slaves, or perhaps changed at birth
Grunts - Probably come from the same "egg" as slaves but are altered at birth (they were in the barrels)
Gargantua - I originally thought they were like grunts, grown from slaves but the idea of being related to snarks is interesting. They have one eye, they have a distincly different body shape to the other xen creatures, although they do have a third arm. They are explosive when they die. Also the sounds they make, ive not tried it but perhaps if the noise of the garg is sped up it sounds like a snark . They seem to be similar in noise apart from the snark is a lot more high pitched.

 

[el Chi]

I kind of agree with Farrow, but I really do'nt dig this idea that all the life-forms from Xen spring forth in this metamorphosis process. Of course, I could be entirely wrong, but I see no reason why they can't just be different species - as they're from the same planet (and hence the same conditions) some of the ways they've adapted have been similar - chihuahuas and tigers both have four legs and a vertabrae but they don't come from the same egg. As any fool knows, chihuahuas are born to eagles, and tigers to the majestic pigeon.

 

[ComradeBadger]

I kind of agree with Farrow, but I really do'nt dig this idea that all the life-forms from Xen spring forth in this metamorphosis process. Of course, I could be entirely wrong, but I see no reason why they can't just be different species - as they're from the same planet (and hence the same conditions) some of the ways they've adapted have been similar - chihuahuas and tigers both have four legs and a vertabrae but they don't come from the same egg. As any fool knows, chihuahuas are born to eagles, and tigers to the majestic pigeon.

I'm with Chi, 'Metamorphosis'... gah.. nah, I doubt it.

 

[Brian Damage]

Besides, I doubt anything that metamorphosed from a zombie would be a friendly ally in HL2...

 

[Sulkdodds]

I think the point that the Xenians don't all come from the same 'metamorphosis' is pretty well argued.

 

[Brian Damage]

I concur.

It does make me wonder, though... we know very little about the life-cycle of Vortigaunts and such things... are they all clones (As the grunts supposedly are), do they come from eggs, do they divide like bacteria? What does a young Vortigaunt look like? How long do they live? Does the higher gravity of Earth affect them negatively?

 

[Sulkdodds]

I tmight make them even squatter than they already are.

I suspect they are born from eggs but bred by the Controllers as slaves. As Darkside said, there may be free communities of them, but they are few and ar between if, indeed, they exist at all. Then again, you never know - it's all speculation.

Personally I think finding a grunt in a barrel on a factory production line pretty much proves that they are manufactured/cloned.

 

[Brian Damage]

If you listen to the sound files, the grunts never say anything, either... I think they're just smart-ish animals... maybe engineered from Vortigaunt DNA, but nowhere near as intelligent...

 

[Sulkdodds]

And now for something completely different...do you think their armour is actually a part of them or just something they're wearing?

 

[Brian Damage]

I don't know... it seems to be a similar material to the collars and bracers of the Vortigaunts... but since the Xenians seem to grow everything they use (Ages since I've seen Xen in-game, not 100% sure about this) it may be grown on their bodies, not neccessarily as part of them, but as some sort of living clothing...

 

[Mechagodzilla]

I don't know... it seems to be a similar material to the collars and bracers of the Vortigaunts... but since the Xenians seem to grow everything they use (Ages since I've seen Xen in-game, not 100% sure about this) it may be grown on their bodies, not neccessarily as part of them, but as some sort of living clothing...

The armour looks like it is a part of them. Areas of it sticks into their skin.

The question is whether it was surgically attached or if it is just a jutting-out of their internal skeleton.

I'd guess that it's a partial exo-skeleton.
I think that the grunts grow inside those egg pods until they are mature, so there would be no time to graft the armour on.

 

[Brian Damage]

You're probably right, there...

The Vortigaunts' collars and bracers are detatchable though, IIRC... I think someone on these forums mentioned that you find some in Decay...

 

[Sulkdodds]

I think the armour was surgically implanted very early on, bet then, being some starnge, organic metal it grows with them.

 

[Brian Damage]

Why am I getting the feeling that the Combine could be using technology ripped off from the Xenians? SOme of the combine tech looks biomechanical...

 

[Mechagodzilla]

Yeah, the slave's collars and bracelets are detatchable weapons.
In one of the BM labs in Decay, the scientists had hooked them up to a machine where they could be turned on and off at the press of a button.

I hope that they were hinting at a new HL2 weapon there.

Also, it does look to me as though the combines are using advanced BM tech.

 

[Sulkdodds]

SOme of the combine tech looks biomechanical...

You don't say

 

[Chainer]

First off let me just say the Gonarch is in no way shape or form related to the Zombie, (except for the fact the Zombie has a headcrab.) The Gonarch is the result of a fully evolved Headcrab that has not found a host. This idea of mine goes hand and hand with the fact that if the Gonarch evolves from a zombie there was no time whatsoever for this evolution to occur. If this was the case we would have seen 15 or 20 Gonarchs. This is because of the limited amount of time between the cascade and Gordons clash with the Gonarch.

Heres how it goes:

1)Gonarch
2)Baby Headcrab
3)Headcrab (one we see in HL1)
4)Gonarch (Headcrab does not find a host in time it becomes Gonarch)

With this the reason for there not being a multitude of Gonarchs is the fact that on Xen the Headcrabs are hunted by Bullsquid. This keeps their numbers down. And is there is more than one Gonarch I would imagine they would fight for territory.

Now when a Headcrab latches onto a human:

1)Headcrab
2)Headcrab + Human= Zombie
3)Zombie
4)Zombie evolves into the creature we see in OPFC.
5)????? (hopefully HL2 will shed some light on this.)

 

[Brian Damage]

Errr... dude... the Gonarch was on Xen... for all you know it could have been several hundred years old... there's nothing to say that headcrabs don't parasitise creatures like Vortigaunts...

I'll agree with your zombie evolutionary pattern (Though I think there is a possibility that the after-Gonome stage eventually mutates even further into the Gonarch), but I'd like to see the source for you statement that the Gonarch has nothing to do with the Zombies...

 

[Chainer]

Errr... dude... the Gonarch was on Xen... for all you know it could have been several hundred years old... there's nothing to say that headcrabs don't parasitise creatures like Vortigaunts...

I'll agree with your zombie evolutionary pattern (Though I think there is a possibility that the after-Gonome stage eventually mutates even further into the Gonarch), but I'd like to see the source for you statement that the Gonarch has nothing to do with the Zombies...

If the Headcrabs can attach themselves to a Slave then why didn't we see one? I think they can only attach themselves to humans. I think the Headcrab only became truly parasitic when exposed to humans. That would explain then fact that we didn't see any throught the entire game. I would imagine that the Headcrab is like Xen's cockroach.

 

[AzzMan]

Maybe the xen aliens are better at detecting them or defending themselves. Somehow I really doubt the headcrabs just magically became brain parasites when they came into contact with humans. I mean i know it's only a game, but evolutionarily speaking it would make no sense at all. I mean to be able to parasitize something, it would have to have developed that ability somewhere down the line. That kind of thing doesnt just magically happen when coming into contact with a new species.

 

[Brian Damage]

Yes, I reckon that it's just somewhat more difficult for Headcrabs to parasitise Xenians... but not impossible... I certainly doubt that they just became parasites when they met humans... as AzzMan says, that would make absolutely no sense... and I've read several times that the VALVe designers were trying for at least a semi-realistic ecosystem for Xen...

Anyway, it wouldn't have to only be Vortigaunts that got parasitised... We haven't seen anywhere near all of Xen, so maybe the headcrabs have some resident prey species that they commonly use, whichlives somewhere we didn't see...

And what do you mean "we didn't see any throughout the entire game"? Zombies? Gonarchs? Headcrabs? Xenian Zombies?

I'm pretty sure I've also heard that someone from VALVe mentioned that we'd be seeing alien Zombies this time round...

Wooo... sorry if I seemed to be rambling there... got a headcold today...

 

[AzzMan]

Alien zombies? Was that in the Info from Valve thread? That should be interesting....

 

[Death.Trap]

Guy's I don't know if this has been posted yet because I don't have time to read the whole thread. I was just playing op4 and I saw this one alien thingy, well after I killed it I took a close look. It's definately the next step in the headcrab mutation. It's got a vertical mouth where our chest would be. You can see the beginings of this mouth if you take a close look at a zombie. Plus the headcrab..on it's head..


It shoots something, I think those blue laser thingys.


Well with my luck this is probably common knowledge..but hell..I tried.

 

[Brian Damage]

Never, ever heard of a zombie that shoots blue laser thingies...

Are you sure you're not talking about a Race-X Shocktrooper? They're bluish-grey, they have an insectoid head with one huge orange eye, they have spots on their back, and they carry a small creature called a Shock Roach (Which shoots blue electricity blasts). Their bodies look vaguely amphibian... and they have four arms...

Screenshot? (Printscreen + Paste)

 

[Death.Trap]

Never, ever heard of a zombie that shoots blue laser thingies...

Are you sure you're not talking about a Race-X Shocktrooper? They're bluish-grey, they have an insectoid head with one huge orange eye, they have spots on their back, and they carry a small creature called a Shock Roach (Which shoots blue electricity blasts). Their bodies look vaguely amphibian... and they have four arms...

Screenshot? (Printscreen + Paste)

I know how to take a screenshots silly


Yeah I was wrong it doesn't shoot blue lasers. That's something else. This one shoots something that is orangish. But I know it's the next step in the transformation. There are just too many similarities. Plus I can see the bloody headcrab on it.

I think I saw what your describing before I actually saw these zombie things. I walked down to the end of a hallway and the door was locked, there was a window to my right that looked into a pretty large room. Inside the room was a scientist and a barney. Some teleported into the room and barney went, "Don't worry, I can handle this guy." Then he died.. The scientist said "I've never seen this species before!." Then it grabbed him and teleported out of the room.

*Not in the last paragraph I'm talking about what you described.

 

[Brian Damage]

Yes, that bit you described ends with the scientist going "I don't want to diiiieeee!"...

The one you seem to be referring to, then, is what we all know as the Gonome. Yes, it does seem to be the next step of mutation. The mouth is much larger, the headcrab has begun to fuse to the body, it's much stronger, tougher and faster, and it's capable of throwing acidic mucous at anything it doesn't like. el Chi hates them, by the way...

I personally think that we'll be seeing the next step along from the Gonome in HL2...

 

[Edcrab]

Yep, lots of mods have speculated on stage numero 4 (as in modifications, not Chris_D and co. ...) and I would like to see what the official Valve stance turns out to be. I'm hoping its big enough to pick things up and either throw them or hit us with them. Maybe picking up a lesser zombie and clobbering Gordon to death with it

*ahem*

Personally, I reckon the life cycle is not disimilar to a bee's; that the Gonarch's children are baby headcrabs, that otherwise grow into Gonarchs in the right circumstances (in the same way that the drones "nominate" a queen by feeding a larvae royal jelly, which, I believe, triggers a hormone shift and creates the matriachal bee). It's possible that the 'crabs were genetically created lifeforms made purely to seek human targets, but I'd agree that (knowing Valve) there's probably a natural prey for them. Hell, Race-X is a second interdimensional population; who's to say there's not thousands?

 

[thomashiles]

You know, these ideas are all well and good, but just because some of the Xen creatures look similar doesn't mean they are the same species at different ages - to paraphrase someone else, humans and other primates are very similar. An alien might well surmise that chimps, gorillas and humans are all the same species at diffferent ages.
But in truth the similarities between primate species are superficial. The same is true of the Xen species discussed here.
I give exception to the head-crab/zombie/Op For super-zombie line.