So are these guys evil or just some poor space worms that got absorbed by the combine?
So are these guys evil or just some poor space worms that got absorbed by the combine?
So are these guys evil or just some poor space worms that got absorbed by the combine?
They were an advanced psychic civilization, and then got enslaved by the Combine
Who were the original members of the Combine?
It'd be quite possible that the 'Combine' was a confederation of several species, or that it organically emerged from another entity. There really isn't enough information to say, most Combine we see are humans.
why they have Egyptian runes on their collars?
WE
WUZ
KANGS NYIKUH
Wtf I never noticed that
are they actually egyptian or do they just look similar?
they just look similar
they're not Egyptian in the slightest (those would be called hieroglyphs anyways)
It's ancient Hebrew I think
its called hieroglyphs you fricking moron.
the combine thought it looked cool
these worms are the original combine. they became so dependent on technology that they devolved into shapeless blobs of cancer.
just like the fat people in Wall-E
why post headcanon when there's an actual answer, the worm is their larval form and they were psychically corrupted by some outside force
They are not the original combine, their planet got "combined" before the portal to earth was opened
What do you even do all day as a giant floating grub
>What do you even do all day as a giant floating grub
invade parallel universes, apparently
What a bunch of fricking Black folk I can't believe it
Before Combine got to them, they existed in a collective dreamscape.
become a janny
Play video games on the blue combine consoles
They are the combine are they not? They just enslave humans and other creatures.
>floating uncut penis
they've been enslaved by humanity
Considering Breen, the administrator of what was left of humanity on earth, appeared to be taking orders from them, that's not the case.
>he doesn't know who the real leaders of the ~~*combine*~~ are
We have no idea what the Advisors are, but we do know for a fact that they're the highest members of the Combine hierarchy present on Earth. Whether that means they lead the Combine as a whole or are just field commanders is unknown.
>they're the highest members of the Combine hierarchy present on Earth
If they're so high and mighty, then how come they can't stop a single dude with a gravity gun?
They literally did though?
It took dog ambushing them and a timeline-splitting g man frickery trick to do anything to them, while gordon was just pinned to the wall when they arrived
The very second they appear, they immediately subdue Gordon with no visible effort and necessitate immediate G-Man intervention to stop them.
>-ACK!
I doubt there was ever actually supposed to be an "original combine race".
The Advisors/Shu'ulathoi are likely just another unfortunate race that got abducted into their middle-management position, like how humans became soldiers and minor technicians.
Everything about the Combine implies they're on a scale that basically impossible to comprehend for humans and have absorbed so many races and worlds that any original Combine species have probably been lost to the greater machine of the Combine.
IMO, this is why Nihilanth became a retroactively interesting character -- because he appeared to know quite a lot about the Combine and the GMan's employers. He was an entity aware of the mysteries of the setting and was actively working against them, even if he ultimately had to be killed by Gordon and allow the Vortigaunts to be freed from their slavery.
Is there any link between these things and the worms you crush in jars in HL Alyx for health? If so, might it imply that those worm bodies have noteworthy regeneration abilities (could be immortal?), and maybe the OG combine transferred their consciousnesses into those worm bodies to live forever?
No, those are antlion grubs, they were brought to xen and earth by the vortigaunts
They farm them for their healing properties
ah interesting & never knew, thanks anon
Would
My headcanon is that the Combine are just an automated bureaucracy run amok, where their only goal is to expand and grow like a cancer. All the aliens that are part of it are enslaved to it completely and just unwittingly follow some ancient forgotten directive programmed in somewhere. Enslaving each other in a circle because they don't know anything else.
>combine are an intergalactic pyramid scam, desperately searching for portal technology so they can create a new bottom tier for the pyramid
You and I both share the same headcannon.
this is the closest to the truth I think, but consider that the aliens who are enslaved to it don't just do so unwittingly, but because they've been modified to the point where they can't survive without the combine, like the human soldiers with their eyes and faces removed, but much worse.
They're just vessels for the minds of other organisms.
>we'll never get Laidlaw's kino episode 3 where Breen has been turned into a grub
How unfortunate.
It's a metaphor for the mark of the beast and transalienism
Are you really going to take the chip so you can buy ze bugs during the upcoming famine?
Where does your integrity lie
anon, these were released between 2004-2007
And the book of Daniel foretold the next empires after babylon
Could the Combine handle the Flood?
It works best if they are yet another race absorbed by the combined imho
If I recall correctly they were infected by some kind of mind virus- they were all telepathically linked
It was not in the game but some interview or tweet or blog post from the original writer