Nihilanth....

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Preator

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In Half Life 1, Nihilanth (for those who don't know is the last boss) says some odd things like
"The Truth, you can never know the truth"
"You are all thieves"
"There is another"
"They're Slaves, We are their slaves"
"We are the last, You are the last"
"You are man, he's not man for you he waits"
"Done what have you done?"
"He will decieve you"
"You will all die"
If anyone can explain any of these Nihilanth quotes that'd be great, some already do make sense but if anyone has an idea on what they mean please let me know =D
 
It's hard to tell you what they mean, but we can certainly do a good job of explaining them.

"They're Slaves. We are their slaves." is most definitely a reference to the Vortigaunts being under the Nihilanth's control. The second sentence might refer to the combine's control over them.

"He's not man for you he waits" is probably referring somehow to the Gman.

That's as best I can do off the top of my head. You could probably Google them or check the Wiki page.
 
"The Truth, you can never know the truth" and "You are man, he's not man for you he waits" are my favorite quotes, I really like them for sum reason.
The first one kinda symbolizes the fact that you can never figure out anything in Half-Life, and the other really reminds me of all the mysterious and wtf'ness of the Gman.

I thought Nihilanth was pretty cool, I dunno why everyone makes fun of him...I mean, he does kinda look like a giant fetus, but still.

Also, when i turned my attention to the thing protruding outta his ass (presumably a flying throne of sorts), the alloy it's made of really reminded me of all the stuff Combine build stuff out off.
Here, look
180px-Hl_nihilanth.jpg

Looks really combine-ish to me
 
It's "their slaves," not "they're slaves." That entire line was in reference to the Combine.

"Thieves, you are all thieves." Easy enough to understand; Black Mesa was taking the crystals from Xen (as well as flora and fauna samples, but the crystals were the important thing).

You've got some of these quotes wrong..."there is another" is actually "comes another"; "we are the last, you are the last" is "the last, I am the last"; "he will deceive you", now, this one's up for a little debate because while I'm positive he's not saying that, I've never been able to place whether he's saying "deceive you, will deceive you" or "deceive you, we'll deceive you." Obviously it makes a huge difference which one is correct.

So, "comes another," the Nihilanth is referring to you.

"The last, I am the last." He's both the last boss, as well as the last of his kind. There were more of his species at one time.

The "deceive you" line can either be talking about the Xenians deceiving you, or it could be about the G-man deceiving you. I prefer to believe the former rather than the latter, for no real reason other than I don't like to believe the Nihilanth was talking about the G-man. However, it's certainly a question worthy of an e-mail to Laidlaw.

"Done, what have you done?" Killed him, that's what you've done. Jeopardized the location of the border world. Brought the attention of the Combine. GG Freeman you jackass.

"The truth," well who knows what he's talking about. There's a lot of truth that you might never know. Hey, maybe it's a jab from Valve that you'll never have an explanation for everything.

Ok, so this has got to be the ten millionth time I've said this over the course of five years on this website. Every time a Nihilanth thread comes up, people quote that damned, "You are man, he is not man" line and thinks it's the G-man. The only reason people think this is because when Half-Life first came out, people went into their pak0.pak files and started listening to all the .wavs, and came across that line. "IT'S THE G-MAN!" they thought.

NO

There is only one time the Nihilanth has spoken that line in the game, and that is if you allow yourself to be teleported three (or was it four?) times. When he drops you into a cave with an ichthyosaur, he says, "You are man. He is not man. For you he waits, for you." He's talking about the damned ichthyosaur, which is obviously...not a man!

This really deserves an e-mail to Laidlaw as well, more than anything else. I'm willing to accept if I'm wrong about it, but considering that I seem to be the only person in the entire fandom who has actually heard the line in game and noticed that there's another context for it, I hold steadfast to my belief that he was talking about the ichthy unless told otherwise by Valve.

Seriously, why has no one else heard that line in game? I suppose that no one else has bothered actually trying to get teleported away by the Nihilanth the full number of times, instead opting to kill him as quick as possible.
 
Trying to get teleported there??? I am scared shitless of those damned things! The only time I actually got myself thrown into that room, i kinda walked around the room for a bit, noticed the water. Dropped into it, it was dark, "yup" i thought, "revert to last save."
brrrrrr
But more to the point, I've never heard that theory, and indeed it does make sense...but it does seem a bit odd that Nihilanth would be relying on an Ithchy to kill Freeman, and taunt him about it, too...But yeah, still it kinda makes sense.
 
Feckin' giant fish. I ain't goin' near the damn thing.

Scared of the water.

It moves.

Too fast.

All sides, nowhere to hide.
 
I hear ya. On the list of, "OH GOD IT'S COMING FOR ME OH JEEZ I THINK I JUST SAW IT MOVE PAST" scary creatures, the ichthy's up there.

And yeah, Pivovar, on one of my HL runs I was trying to get teleported to all the different places the Nihilanth sends you, just so I'd see everything. The first time he drops you into that cave it's OK; there are just vortigaunts there. The second time he drops you into that cave area, OH NO ICHTHYOSAUR!

I really hope we see that fish again someday.
 
He scared me shitless in the Half-Life 2 teleporter incident at the beginning. We haven't really had any water scenes like we did in Half-Life. Just the odd 'go under water and then out again the other side'.

I think part of the fear is the fact that they can come from anywhere, even under you. Which can't happen on land.
 
So you think.

Ichthyosaurs were originally supposed to dwell in muddy areas.
 
Funny fact: Nihilanth was voiced by Mike Shapiro, the guy who voiced G-Man and Barney.
 
Well actually yesterday i just finished HL again, and i was noting out some of the quotes he says, sorry bout some of them being slightly innacurate i was getting electrocuted and zapped by aliens >.<
Thanks for the responses, yeah some i already had an idea what they meant but the rest i hadn't a clue
except for "You are man, he is not man" when Nihilanth ported me into the cave for the 4th time with the Ichth, he said "Die, you will die"...
 
While I don't really like to be uber-scared, I do miss the Ithchys, yeah they were freaky, but that's what made them so memorable, it would bring back some pretty sweet nostalgia to see them again. I honestly was completely sure there was gonna be one in Ep.2. Since you know, we went out to the wild and stuff, I really expected to see them.
When they didn't show up, it was sort of a wierd mix of relief....and disappointment.
Mostly relief though.)

Also, I don't really know why, but the HL2 teleport sequence did not scare me at all.
 
Gotta admit it didn't scare me either, was more fascination and excitement to see where i'd finally end up and yeah i do miss the Ithchys the thrill of out running the first one you see in the rail system just to see it explode in the railway power station was intense!
 
The Nihilanth was an extremely strange boss for me. I didn't even think of it really as a boss, more like a puzzle. Once I completed the game and researched it I found the final chapter was more like a homage to the beginning of the game. Think about it. Teleportation crystals, the Nihilanth teleports you to several different places, you need to destroy yellow crystals, you need to crowbar it's brain. Pretty much reminded me of the first part of the game
 
Preator said:
except for "You are man, he is not man" when Nihilanth ported me into the cave for the 4th time with the Ichth, he said "Die, you will die"...
Click to expand...
...

*Retreats to the Darkside-cave to do some tests*

Does he say something random from the pak file each time?
 
I've always figured that "Done, what have you done" is a reference to killing the Gonarch, their headcrab factory. Tells you something about the game that debate goes on even on the verge of the 10th anniversary of release.
 
Hmmm maybe not sure, but still I didn't get ported more than the 4th time, just wanted to see what he'd say, he might after the 4th say something different again?
 
Yeah Planetary, thats what i thought at the beggining but now lots of people have come up with their own theories that are really convincing so not sure
 
Yeah, it was an awesome boss fight, and i didn't really think of it that way, thats really cool, it sorta does bring into context the origins of the game
 
Transcript of the Nihilanth's speech

There are several cryptic phrases either spoken or telepathically broadcast by the Nihilanth once Gordon Freeman reaches Xen, but are difficult to understand in-game. Below are transcripts of several speech files extracted directly from the Half-Life data packs, followed by speculation as to their possible meaning. Note that these transcriptions may not be entirely accurate, as the exact contents of the Nihilanth's speech are fairly difficult to make out due to unclear articulation and the low, gravelly manner in which it speaks. Some of the comments can be interpreted as having various connotations to Half Life 2. However, an important point to remember here is that the possibility of a sequel was far from people's minds during the production, especially such detailed concepts as the Combine. Therefore, although it is perfectly reasonable to suggest that they can be related to post Half-Life events, these interpretations are not without a downside.
"Comes... another...": Said when Gordon enters Xen for the first time, this might mean that Gordon Freeman is another human to enter this world, as evidenced by human corpses found on the way.
"You are man...he is not man...for you he waits...for you...": Most interpret this as a reference to the G-Man, who the Nihilanth implies is not human. This seems extremely likely in light of the facts that the G-Man is the only "man" who is portrayed in Half-Life with any significance besides Gordon himself, and that the Nihilanth's saying this predates any plans for either of the game's two expansion packs. It is known that the G-Man's employers aren't human, as he said to Shephard, "...my employers are not so trusting and, rather than continually subjecting you to the irresistible human temptation of telling all..." Said when Gordon enters the second part of "Interloper" at the alien camp.
"The last...I am the last...": Said when Freeman enters the final part of "Interloper" near an eerie, coral-like altar with a red portal. It is unknown what is meant by himself being "the last." A fan theory states that it may mean he is the last of his species as nothing else like him is seen on Xen-with the possible exception of alien controllers (this was later confirmed by Valve). It could simply be a nod to the fact that he is the final foe in Gordon's path. It is interesting to note that at this portal to the game's last battle, the voices of scientists that Gordon has previously encountered throughout the game can be faintly heard, although hard to hear in-game through the alien sound effect around it, with no proper explanation as to why.
"Win... you cannot win...": Said when Gordon enters Gonarch's lair. The most obvious interpretation would be that this is some sort of taunt to discourage Gordon — this follows from below ("Done.. what have you done...") implying the Gonarch's death was not predicted. It could, instead, not be about Gordon's ability to slay the Nihilanth or Gonarch, but rather about his ability to stop the Combine. Or, it could mean his inability to ever leave the service of the G-man, which would also foreshadow that Gordon would arrive under the G-Man's service as he is not "hired" by the G-Man until moments after this battle.


"Done...what have you done...": Said when Gordon enters the chapter "Interloper." This refers to the Gonarch and its defeat. As the Gonarch creates headcrabs, Gordon's interference (perhaps the reason for the name "Interloper") has halted the production of the headcrabs. This could have a major effect since Gordon has fought headcrabs throughout the entire game. Also, the first section of this level is the last time headcrabs will appear, and only a few are seen.
"Die...you all die...you all die...": Probably spoken out of anger, may be related to above phrase. This could also reference hostility from the Nihilanth towards the Combine. Nihilanth may also be speaking of humanity in general, implying that humanity will cease to be (either because of him or the Combine). Possibly also referring to the other human visitors to Xen, whose corpses lie scattered around the world.
"Now die...now die...now...": Said during the battle with the Nihilanth. Probably said just to intimidate Gordon.
"Their slaves...we are their slaves...we are...": Probably a reference to the Combine, as they enslaved the Vortigaunt species prior to the first Half Life game.
"The truth...you can never know...the truth...": Seems to suggest that the overall plotline will remain filled with unanswered questions. Or perhaps he is telling Gordon that he will never know the truth as to what the Nihilanth or his species are. This could possibly be out of shame, or disgust of a human ever learning of his species. Another possibility is that this statement breaks the fourth wall, signifying that Freeman will never know that he is being controlled by the player.
"Thieves...you all are thieves...you all are...": Similarly vague. Possible reference to one of the crystals from the Nihilanth's chamber that was taken back to Earth, along with countless Xen specimens for zoological study. Or it could possibly be that most species want to control Xen to use it for their portal technology (as human teleporters are dependent on Xen; even intra-dimensional teleportation is achieved by "swinging around" Xen), and they, to the inhabitants of Xen, are stealing it.
"Deceive you... will deceive you...": This is quite possibly a reference to the G-Man and the way he employs (and uses) Freeman.
"Alone... not you alone... not you alone...": Unknown. Possibly related to a statement by the All-Knowing Vortigaunt, breaking the fourth wall with a reference to the player. Or perhaps he is saying that Gordon is not the only human in employment of the G-Man and that he also has many other humans or beings on other planets and dimensions working for him. This statement can be reinforced by the holding of Cpl. Shephard. He could also simply be taunting Gordon that he cannot hope to stop the Nihilanth alone. It could also mean that the G-man is with or simply watching Gordon.
"Alone... aren't you alone... aren't you alone...": Exact phrase as above, but has a different meaning, the Nihilanth is thinking simply that Gordon is surrounded by no one; this is most likely as the Vortigaunt slaves in the first room of the 3rd map of "Interloper" go about their tasks instead of shock Freeman-unless he stays there for a long period of time, then one or two slaves will attack.
"FREEEEEMAAAAAANNN!!!!!": The Nihilanth screams out Freeman's name at the very beginning of the game's final battle, indicating that it knows Freeman by name. (Assuming that the messages are delivered via telepathy, this is quite credible; such an assumption would also explain how the messages come to be in English.)
Click to expand...

Voilla! taken from hl wiki
 
It is known that the G-Man's employers aren't human, as he said to Shephard, "...my employers are not so trusting and, rather than continually subjecting you to the irresistible human temptation of telling all..." Said when Gordon enters the second part of "Interloper" at the alien camp.
Click to expand...
What.

WHAT.

"It is known that his employers are not human." Bullshit. While they might not be, it isn't KNOWN.

Damn you, misinformative wikis! Damn you to hell!
 
Druckles said:
*Willy Wonka and the Headcrab Factory*
Click to expand...
Careless friend
it's your end
you've succumbed to pure zombification
Gasp your last futile breaths
in suffocation

Don't be scared
you're ensnared
in a state of pure zombification
Might feel strange
it just takes some acclimation

Once I'm on your head, your body's mine
anyway I want I'll use it
stuff food in my chest and chew it
Ribcage in the way? I'll tear right through it

So don't fret
you aren't dead yet
you'll exist in pure zombification
Though your eyes no longer see
and your voice no longer screams...
 
that information on the Nihilanth quotes is actually really good, with some errors around the place, most of it is actually credible
 
Darkside55 said:
"It is known that his employers are not human." Bullshit. While they might not be, it isn't KNOWN.
Click to expand...
Well, it's not completely proven but come on.
There's no way a human employer could really keep the g-man in line.
I mean, if you were some boss dude, and your employees had the power to teleport wherever the hell they please and you couldn't....i don't really see how that could work.
And besides, he's way to badass to be employed by a human, he kills people who disagree with him for chrissake
 
You can't say that for a 100% certainty, however, and considering that wiki pages are supposed to be a compendium of FACTS, not SPECULATIONS, no matter how logical they seem, I am opposed to them being used in that way.

Who's to say that the G-man doesn't work for some third, clandestine science facility that wasn't a direct competitor with Black Mesa and Aperture, but profited from the technologies of both companies. What if the G-man's position as liaison to Dr. Breen at BMRF wasn't paralleled by another agent at Aperture?

Who's to say what the G-man really is isn't a glorified talent scout for said agency?

And who's to say that the administrators of said company don't have technology that keeps even their impressive middle-managers in line? Human, alien, robot, what have you, do you really think ANY employer would give their employee technology beyond their ability to control?

See, I just pulled all that out of my ass but you can't say for certain that it isn't possible, or even plausible. Yet I wouldn't put it on a wiki and call it "obvious."
 
Thats true, It is possible that Gman's "mentors" are human, but I think theres a large possibility they aren't, which might actually make you think that Gman might be human too, granted technology by aliens, who knows whats in that briefcase of his, maybe a time warper!! O.O and to keep the gman inline i gotta say that it would be hard to keep him in line, but if someone presented themselves with the power or not so much "power" but ability or know how to create a weapon that could kill the gman, not necessarily alien or other, but possibly human then the gman would have no choice but to get down on his knees and obey his master otherwise prepare for unforseen consequences =P In the Half Life universe at this moment of time it is hard to predict the gman's race, althought having powers to stop time seems like it may be alien tech or alien powered, in Half Life they have portals that can tear the fabric of time and space he may just be human granted means of technology by another company
 
id just like to add when i played the first half-life games i always thought that the g-man was human. what especially gave evidence to this was that he said that he took your weapons because they were government property (referring to the weapons you "relieved" from the soldiers and stole from black mesa)... so i thought he worked for the govt.
half-life 2 however definitely suggests that he is not human, nor does he work for humans
plus valve says hes an interstellar bureaucrat and i dont think we have any of those

as for the nihilanth (trying to stay on topic here) and the stuff he says... it would seem like he is referring to the g-man but as darkside said it could very well have nothing to do with him... the icthy theory actually makes more sense to me... and as for him looking combinish....yes, yes he does, in fact his little metal part looks alot like the crab synths i think
heres a link: http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/en/images/thumb/4/4f/HL2Synth.jpg/200px-HL2Synth.jpg
 
Yeah i thought it'd be a legitimate theory of the ithchy, as far as i am aware or it, Darkside could have been right, but from what he says when you actually get portaled for the 4th time doesn't match up for me but the stuff Nihil says it'd make sense for him to also mention Gman, kinda like Beware you are man, but he is not man he has different purpose of being on Xen than Gordon does, which kinda suggests that Gordon is fighting Nihilanth, but not exactly needing too, Gordon could have a better reason to try and kill the Gman which as far as we all know is impossible. i mean how do you kill a time bender? >.>
 
I fully concur with Darkside's view on this matter, in that there's no evidence to back up what the wiki says, although I disagree that Nihilanth is talking about the Icthyosaur. Why would Nihilanth state the obvious, that the Icthy is not a man? Furthermore, the Icthy would have to know that Gordon will be coming to his pool for it to be "waiting" for Gordon.
Preator said:
i mean how do you kill a time bender? >.>
Click to expand...
You stab him in one of his hearts, then twist the knife sideways and cut horizontally through the chest to make sure you get the other one. :P
Although I wouldn't say he's a time bender. Slow and stop time, yeah, but that's not really bending it. If he was a time traveller, you'd expect him to be a lot less surprised at the Vortigaunts' actions.
 
Darkside55 said:
The "deceive you" line can either be talking about the Xenians deceiving you, or it could be about the G-man deceiving you. I prefer to believe the former rather than the latter, for no real reason other than I don't like to believe the Nihilanth was talking about the G-man. However, it's certainly a question worthy of an e-mail to Laidlaw.
Click to expand...

Xenians deceiving us? That doesn't make any sense, the xenians mostly consist of wildlife, they can't really deceive us, they just prey on us because they are predators. To Deceive: "to mislead by a false appearance or statement; delude"
If you are insinuating that it is the Vortigaunts that will deceive us, well it's been implied pretty heavily that the Vortigaunts are not Xenians.

So it's the G-man. The only other way it could not be the G-Man is if he is referring to the combine. As in the whole "We are your benefactors" bullshit. But that still seems unlikely, considered that Valve wasn't thinking about the combine in the developement of HL1. So unless they changed their minds, it's definitely about The G-Man.


Darkside55 said:
There is only one time the Nihilanth has spoken that line in the game, and that is if you allow yourself to be teleported three (or was it four?) times. When he drops you into a cave with an ichthyosaur, he says, "You are man. He is not man. For you he waits, for you." He's talking about the damned ichthyosaur, which is obviously...not a man!

This really deserves an e-mail to Laidlaw as well, more than anything else. I'm willing to accept if I'm wrong about it, but considering that I seem to be the only person in the entire fandom who has actually heard the line in game and noticed that there's another context for it, I hold steadfast to my belief that he was talking about the ichthy unless told otherwise by Valve.

Seriously, why has no one else heard that line in game? I suppose that no one else has bothered actually trying to get teleported away by the Nihilanth the full number of times, instead opting to kill him as quick as possible.
Click to expand...
I hear that line everytime I play? I thought you went through all the teleportation sequences no matter what.
 
zombieturtle01 said:
If you are insinuating that it is the Vortigaunts that will deceive us, well it's been implied pretty heavily that the Vortigaunts are not Xenians.
Click to expand...

Didn't valve say that nothing is native to Xen?
Who are "Xenians" then?
 
Xen is a borderworld.

I was under the impression that headcrabs originated there, but then the Gonarch 'n shit n stuff.
 
zombieturtle01 said:
Xenians deceiving us? That doesn't make any sense, the xenians mostly consist of wildlife, they can't really deceive us, they just prey on us because they are predators. To Deceive: "to mislead by a false appearance or statement; delude"
If you are insinuating that it is the Vortigaunts that will deceive us, well it's been implied pretty heavily that the Vortigaunts are not Xenians.
Click to expand...
Vortigaunts are Xenians...in the sense that everything that dwelled on Xen is a Xenian. Nothing evolved on Xen originally; it was once barren. Everything that lived on Xen came from other worlds. So to that effect, vortigaunts are Xenian.

Think of it how an immigrant from one country becomes a citizen of another, and identifies himself and his offspring as citizens of their new country.

I hear that line everytime I play? I thought you went through all the teleportation sequences no matter what.
Click to expand...
You don't have to. You can dodge the portals he throws at you. You can beat Nihilanth without ever being warped to another area.
 
Even so, making the Vortiguants turn on us just sounds like bad writing.
 
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