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#REDIRECT [[Half-Life (video game)#Plot]] |
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The Nihilanth is the controlling intelligence behind the invasion of [[Earth]] shown in the game. Hovering silently in an enclosed cavern dozens of stories tall, it has been commanding the forces of [[Xen (Half-Life)|Xen]] and holding open a dimensional rift connecting Xen to Earth, enabling its creatures to attack. |
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{{in-universe}} |
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{{R to section}} |
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{{Original research|article|date=October 2007}} |
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{{Cleanup|date=October 2007}} |
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[[Image:Hl nihilanth.jpg|right|thumb|180px|The Nihilanth.]] |
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The '''Nihilanth''' is the final [[boss (video game)|boss]] [[fictional character|character]] and the primary [[antagonist]] in the [[computer game]] ''[[Half-Life]]''. |
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The Nihilanth is the controlling intelligence behind the invasion of [[Earth]] shown in the game. Hovering silently in an enclosed cavern dozens of stories tall, it has been commanding the forces of [[Xen (Half-Life)|Xen]] and holding open a dimensional rift connecting Xen to Earth, enabling its creatures to attack. |
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==Physical Attributes== |
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Physically, the 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, the 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 [[Vortigaunt]]s; contributing to the evidence that the Nihilanth was once a slave to an obscure higher power (presumably the [[Combine (Half-Life 2)|Combine]], as the Nihilanth moved its 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 players. |
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==Attack Methods== |
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The Nihilanth attacks by launching energy balls, which come in two types: a swarm of purple-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. This may not be intended as the creatures appear only when the green orb flies into a wall or rock or is destroyed by the player and triggers the teleportation. A series of gold-colored "energy spheres" orbit around the Nihilanth's head, rendering it impervious to damage. These are consumed as the Nihilanth suffers damage from the player, 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 so that all the "energy spheres" are consumed, the Nihilanth's head opens up like a flower, revealing a shining, vulnerable brain. Sufficiently damaging its brain destroys the Nihilanth. Additionally, once the Nihilanth uses up all its golden energy orbs, and cannot replenish them, it can only attack with one electrical orb, instead of a swarm of ten, or a teleportation orb. |
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==Notes== |
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[[Image:Hl nihilanthcrystal.jpg|right|thumb|180px|The Nihilanth regaining its strength using a Xen crystal.]] |
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*[[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 Lambda 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.[http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showpost.php?p=1581445&postcount=825] |
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*The material that makes up the crystals protecting the Nihilanth is the same as the crystal sample which [[Gordon Freeman]] placed into the anti-mass spectrometer, triggering the resonance cascade in [[Black Mesa Research Facility|Black Mesa]] and portal storms across Earth. This is clarified in the expansion ''[[Half-Life: Decay]]'', although it is never made completely obvious. In ''[[Half-Life: Blue Shift]]'', the player is required to align a teleportation signal located on the planet Xen, which uses a crystal similar in size to the ones in Nihilanth's chamber. Multitudes of smaller crystals, found in groupings of two or three, can be found in random places on all Xen levels. A similar crystal can also be seen in ''[[Half-Life 2]]'' in Eli's lab, housed in a machine simulating a small resonance cascade. In ''[[Half-Life 2: Episode 2]]'', it is revealed that the crystal Gordon pushed into the anti-mass spectrometer (thus putting the whole Half-Life series storyline into motion) was delivered to the Black Mesa complex by none other than the G-Man. Why or how he obtained it as well as his intentions for giving the crystal to Black Mesa are yet to be revealed. |
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{{Half-Life enemies}} |
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[[Category:First-person shooter creatures]] |
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[[Category:Half-Life characters]] |
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[[Category:Video game bosses]] |
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[[es:Nihilanth]] |
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[[fr:Nihilanth]] |
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[[ru:Нихилант]] |
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Latest revision as of 10:41, 13 June 2019
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