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For other uses, see Nihilanth (disambiguation)

Overview

The Nihilanth is considered the leader of the Vortigaunts and is responsible for the invading alien forces in the original Half-Life story. The alien despot is also responsible for keeping the link between Xen and Earth open even after the attempts to close it by Black Mesa's top scientists. Despite being the main enemy Nihilanth only appears in the final chapter of Black Mesa, and although he is very powerful, his physical form appears to be extremely odd. His head is massively over proportioned compared to his body, the massive size appears unnecessary when compared to the size of the brain within the cavity.

Gordon Freeman is tasked with destroying the Nihilanth in the final chapter of the game, in order to close the rift between the two worlds. As always Gordon takes on this challenge with ease and, once destroyed, the rift between the two worlds closes.

The Nihilanth is housed deep within caves on the borderworld of Xen. Remains of science teams from Black Mesa show that previous attempts to end the alien’s reign of power have failed.

Behaviour

Nihilanth launches large swarms of purple, slow moving, powerful energy balls. Nihilanth also has the ability to fire large green orbs which, in effect, teleports the player into another chamber of the cave containing more aliens which in turn defend Nihilanth by attacking Freeman. Gordon must battle his way out of these chambers and reach a teleport in order to return to the main chamber with the Nihilanth and continue the battle. Nihilanth can also use the green portals to spawn aliens to defend against attacks from inside his cave.

Nihilanth also has very strong defensive shield which can only be rendered useless once it has taken a set amount of damage from Freeman. This is shown as a set of golden spheres, which by no coincidence; appear to be replaced by crystals similar to the one from the test chamber in the chapter Anomalous Materials.

Quotes

"The truth...you can never know...the truth..."

Nihilanth is known for many cryptic quotes that are heard throughout the ending chapters of the game:

• "Comes... another..." - Spoken when Gordon first enters Xen. This is a reference to the corpses that can be found around Xen, apparently of those who tried to stop Nihilanth before Gordon arrived.

• "You are man... he is not man... for you he waits... for you..." - Spoken when the player enters the second part of the chapter Interloper. Believed to be a reference to G-man and his apparent inhuman abilities.

• "The last...I am the last..." - Spoken when the player reaches the final part of Interloper. Possible meanings include Nihilanth referencing that he is the last of his kind, or that he is the last obstacle in the path of Gordon.

• "Win... you cannot win..." - Spoken when the player reaches Gonarch's Lair. A taunt toward Gordon.

• "Done...what have you done..." - Spoken when the player defeats the Gonarch and enters the chapter Interloper.

• "Die...you all die...you all die..."

• "Die now...you die now...die now..." - Spoken during the battle with Nihilanth.

• "Their slaves...we are their slaves...we are..." The meaning to this remains unknown. Some believe it to be a reference to the Combine, who are not seen until Half-Life 2.

• "The truth...you can never know...the truth..."

• "Thieves...you all are thieves...you all are..." Believed to be a reference to the crystals and specimens taken from the borderworld prior to the resonance cascade.

• "Deceive you... will deceive you..."

• "Alone... aren't you alone... aren't you alone..." This implies us that Gordon is not alone, but followed by G-Man.

• "FREEEEEMAAAAAANNN!" - Spoken at the beginning of the final battle.

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