#vortigaunts

[brokendeerteeth]

“We see you still in Black Mesa. Clearly we see you in the Nihilanth's chamber”.

“We are you, Freeman. And you are us”.

[theofficialpeanutgallery]

I like to imagine Gordon getting increasingly flustered at the vortigaunts' nonstop praises. Just like, face slightly going pink, rubs the back of his neck and looks away all "aw, shucks".

Like, yes, Gordon Freeman is an unstoppable force of nature, but he's also like. Just a guy. He's a nerd and probably a little overwhelmed with suddenly being this Big Hero™️ that everyone is in awe over.

He's the guy who single-handedly WRECKED the Citadel with nothing but the gravity gun, destroying everything and/or one in his path, but like. They kidnapped his friends. NOBODY touches his friends without feeling the wrath of ten thousand supernovas.

But he's also the guy who fiddles with stuff in his friends' labs like a kid in a candy store. He's a man of multitudes.

[botaurus-exilis]

Gonarch and Vorts

[alyavaai]

one of my most favorite games

art of 2022

[blacktobackmesa]

is there a word for "privacy" in vortigese language

[internetskiff]

ok but xen fauna cuisine has got to be either strangely delicious or some of the most vile shit ever concocted by both human and vortikind.

I feel like an antlion grub fried up and coated in herbs and spices will be either the most rejuvenating or the most vile meal ever. The most healthy meal in the half life universe is eating an antlion grub whole and raw. This thing beats any earthly fruit or vegetable. Headcanoning now that this was Alyx's equivalent of "eat your greens" growing up. Mysterious antlion compounds will save you.

Go ahead and eat that whole globule of Larval Extract, Freeman. It does wonders for the integrity of your vortal tether. Cleanse your cords. Consume nothing but extract for a month and see the wonders it will do to the mind and the body. Blend it into a smoothie and chug it every day.

Sorry you can't see the creature he's frying on the spike but basically I think fast headcrabs are probably the shittiest fucking thing you could eat. I bet they're 90% like the soft fatty part of meat that's gross and stretchy. Gross! Instead Put A Xen Grenade Into Your Mouth

[bunny-heels]

random hl analysis posting cause my friend is getting into the series and ive been Thinking. it is Vort related but its also GMan related. you are not surprised by this. but its also Gordon related. you will forgive me for this.

been thinking about how the All Knowing Vort kinda implies that vortigaunts are aware that Gordon is a character that can be controlled by people. like obviously theres multiple interpretations to the "far distant eyes look out through yours". it could be that the Vort is saying that, with so many people now using him as a symbol of freedom, its like he embodies their spirits and dreams. or it could mean that they're aware of GMan and his Employers always watching Gordon and maybe looking through his eyes and seeing what he sees. but even with that the line is very clearly also referencing that fact that Gordon is a playable character being controlled by tons of people that are playing the game. and very likely not to be taken too seriously.

BUT

ive been thinking about if it wasn't just a simple reference just to freak the player out though. i wonder if there's a possibility that the Vorts actually DO know that Gordon is a character. if they're actually aware and fully acknowledge the people who are piloting him throughout the whole game. and if so, would that mean that they trust Gordon AND the players and bringing them to freedom, or do they trust Gordon BECAUSE of the players. and IF they did know about the players, would that mean that they know they're in a game. or perhaps maybe theres an in-universe equivalent to a player that exist and that's what the Vorts are referring to, and they just so happen to be very similar to players of a video game.

and just as, if not more importantly, does GMan know that.

because as far as we know, from everything he's said to Gordon, he fully refers to him as just a singular person. refers to him by name and even his honorific. said that HE did a good job at Black Mesa, HE was the right man in the wrong place, HE was getting offers for services, HE didn't need super high security to be imprisoned. you'd think, with how much he invested into Gordon and how long he was willing to keep him in his grasp, he would've acknowledged that he's clearly being controlled by an external force. him of all entities would know that.

but he NEVER brings it up. EVER. he strictly speaks to Gordon directly as a single individual. which, with everything said above taken into account, would lead to the conclusion that GMan has no idea that Gordon's being piloted. therefore, also, probably has no idea that he's inside of a video game.

and just to clarify, whatever it is the All Knowing Vort is talking about, its not Vortessence. the Vort said that, even though they call Gordon 'sib', like a sibling, they actually have no biological or mental connection. his mind is a 'mystery to them'. and when they had him close to the table while reviving Alyx, weaving their life together, the Vorts claim that bond between the two is ''almost Vortal'. if it was straight up Vortessence, they would've said it. im pretty sure Vorts have no reason to lie or walk around the truth. whatever Gordon has is very similar, tough, and for some reason its something GMan probably can't see. or perhaps he could see the effects of it, but had no idea what it actually was. like he knew that Gordon was skilled with weapons, with environmental obstacles, with weird puzzle-like areas, and he admired that about him, but had no actual idea on HOW he could do all that.

or he did but just??? didn't care???? cause one person he does put a lot of faith into, more than Gordon, is Alyx, and we still have no idea as to why he's so hellbent on hiring her. especially since the concept of Alyx being revealed to be half-Vort was scrapped. PLUS she was the one to be killed by a Hunter while Gordon came out unharmed so. i dont. i dont know!

final interpretation that i have is that probably there's some in-universe force that's meant to represent the players and they've for some reason decided to pilot Gordon throughout the events of the game which iead to him having weird luck in his situation, and GMan either only noticed the weird luck and didn't know where it came from but never questioned it, or he did know it was an external force but didn't care for whatever it was. maybe being like "well if it gets the job done that's good enough for me."

but yknow whatever i dont write these game who care.

[grayrazor]

I imagine one reason why there’s been such increasingly long gaps between Half-Life games is that making the story about mysterious alien happenings works for one story installment, but from then on it starts to become increasingly constraining.

Same reason as why only the first two Space Odyssey books have gotten movie adaptations, the author’s answer to a mystery will always feel disappointing compared to the audience’s own imaginations about what it could be.

Valve probably dumped the early “Gordon Freeman: Space Adventurer” plot for HL2 because it would have been too transparent, given too much away about the nature of the G-Man and the broader universe/multiverse; and similar for the “Epistle 3” draft of HL2:E3/HL3.