Games - Nihilanth

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	Games - Nihilanth

Nihilanth is the final boss character and the primary antagonist in the computer game Half-Life. It is the controlling intelligence behind the invasion of Earth shown in the game. Hovering silently in an enclosed cavern dozens of stories tall, Nihilanth has been commanding the forces of Xen and holding open a dimensional rift connecting Xen to Earth, enabling its creatures to attack.

Physically, Nihilanth resembles a gigantic, oddly-proportioned fetus, with its head alone outsizing the rest of the body, and its brain cavity forming most of the head's bulk. Its legs, minuscule in relation to its body, appear either to be vestigial, or are the remains of amputation. The creature sits on a large mechanical levitating contraption consisting of a large base with spikes underneath. Like the rest of the intelligent Xen races, Nihilanth has a third appendage protruding from the middle of its pectoral chest region. Its unusually long arms end in disproportionately huge hands and fingers, and it wears metallic wristbands, which look similar to bands worn by the Vortigaunts; contributing to the evidence that Nihilanth was once a slave to an obscure higher power (presumably the Combine, as Nihilanth moved his army to Xen to escape them) just as it is a master to the Xen races (see transcripts of speech below). Its torso has what appear to be surgical scars, a subject of much debate for fans.

Nihilanth attacks by launching energy balls, which come in two types: a swarm of blue-colored electrical orbs that causes immense damage, and a slow-moving, green-colored orb (similar in appearance to the teleportation portals constructed in the Black Mesa Research Facility) which homes in on and teleports its target to other sections of its lair populated by Xen aliens. It also uses these green orbs to teleport Vortigaunts and other Xen creatures into its main chamber to help defend it against intruders. A series of gold-colored "energy spheres" orbit around Nihilanth's head, rendering it impervious to damage. These are consumed as Nihilanth attacks or summons assistance, but specialized crystals within the upper portion of its chamber replenish the spheres as they vanish. If some determined invader destroys these crystals and does sufficient damage to its body, Nihilanth's head opens up like a flower, revealing a shining, vulnerable brain. Sufficiently damaging its brain destroys Nihilanth.

Gordon Freeman was tasked with killing the Nihilanth because it was the only force holding the dimensional rift open after the satellite delivery rocket was used by the Black Mesa Gamma Labs to reverse the resonance cascade. It is believed that the Nihilanth's death triggered the portal storms, and Marc Laidlaw has said that they continue to the present day.

Transcript of the Nihilanth's speech

There are several cryptic phrases either spoken or telepathically broadcast by Nihilanth once Gordon Freeman reaches Xen, but are difficult to understand in-game. Below are transcripts of several speech files extracted directly from the HL1 data packs, followed by speculation as to their possible meaning. Note that these transcriptions may not be entirely accurate, as the exact contents of Nihilanth's speech are fairly difficult to make out due to unclear articulation.

"Comes... another...": Said when Gordon enters Xen, 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.

"The last...you are the last...you are..." / "The last...I am the last...": It is unknown what is meant by Freeman being "the last." The second reference may be to Nihilanth as the controlling intelligence keeping the portals open, and therefore the last obstacle to be faced, or that the Nihilanth is the last of his species.

"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. However, it might as well not at all be about Gordon's ability to slay the Nihilanth, but rather about his ability to stop something we don't yet know about.

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