Advisors

Half-Life Series
#1

I notice that whenever advisors are mentioned it is implied that they are the combine - they’re the founders’ lineage, the leaders and the beneficiaries.

I’d come under the impression that the advisors were more a tool of the combine empire than the leaders of it. What a strider is to combat, and a stalker is to operating those energy ball slots, I figured an advisor was to thinking and planning. Synths built for advising.

Is there some evidence supporting the common assumption I’ve missed, or are we just taking stabs in the dark here?

On a related note, its assumed that the Combine are occupying earth in order to access its natural resources. I know a lot of the original pre-leak storyline suggested this - the air exchange, for example - but I didn’t notice any abuse of the Earth’s resources in the release, canon, version (I’m open of course to refutation of this, I could easily have missed something).

Is it possible that rather than the Combine being deliberately antagonistic, Breen isn’t lying when he portrays the Combine as trying to lift humanity up, improve its’ functionality, and eventually bring it into the Universal Union? The road to hell is paved with good intentions, as they say. I certainly saw more evidence of the Combine’s efforts to that end - the production of stalkers and troopers for example - than to the recovery of resources.

#2

The oceans are being drained, as seen in the coast levels.

#3

And City 17 is being slowly destroyed by the moving combine wall. People are also unable to reproduce.

#4

All of these things are preperation for immigration to Earth, by the Combine.

#5

But what about the Advisor guys? I think he’s right oO

Otherwise, why would the Advisors go to battle if they’re in charge? Or is there anything that I missed too?

Maybe they just use their telepathic powers to send and receive messages to/from the combine world in real time.

#6

They are extremely powerful and a massive weapon against humanity?

#7

They want to put their advisor appendages in soft human holes

#8

The head is hardly a soft hole…

I’d missed the drained oceans (I live in a place with dramatic tides, so I didn’t really see the lower water level along the coast as out of the ordinary), which is evidence enough that the Combine are at least taking resources from Earth. I figured the moving walls were more a tool for redevelopment than resource recovery, seeing as how they’re seen being used to obliterate the older area of Nova Prospekt, but the crushed buildings probably would be resource rich.

What do you all think about the advisors? I couldn’t think how to properly articulate it before but as Cris90 said before their behavior - being present and active in a war zone - doesn’t seem to mesh with their supposed role as leaders.

#9

not at first, but inside is warm and squishy. There is always the eye socket, or the nostril if you like it tight :stuck_out_tongue:
The advisor body could be a generic shell, a host body as breen put it. maybe all the leaders of subjugated combine worlds end up like this eventually

#10

All the greatest leaders (and our evilest) of our world were always on the front lines. Alexander the Great, George Washington, Napoleon, Genghis Khan, Raminator, Sun Tzu, Attila the Hun, Judas Maccabeus, Cyrus the Great, Julius Caesar, Milos Obilic, William Marshal, Joan of Arc, Elvis Presley, etc etc etc.
I don’t understand this thread… Either you have poor understanding of what a “leader” is, or I’m misunderstanding your point…

#11

The Advisors never take a frontline role until Episode 2, and that’s when all forms of central command had been destroyed.

#12

On earth that is. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some even higher power behind this. I mean: Why else would they be called ADVISORS? I think they’re pretty high up there in the ranks of the combine, but I think they’re not the masterminds behind it all.

There’s probably an entity comparable to the Nihilianth. A controlling mastermind, that oversees all the operations from afar. It’s also presummable that the combine empire is so big that Earth is just one of the planets they are consuming. It’s possible that this overseer is controlling the operations on several planets.

#13

Back in the old days, yes. As our civilization progresses that isn’t the case, however. Stalin, Hitler, Patton, Churchill, and all other generals since about WWI have specifically avoided the frontlines. It would make sense to assume as time goes by in the development of civilization these leaders would continue to take roles away from the front lines as opposed to taking a regressive role.

Plus the combine have proven time and time again they’re manipulators. They didn’t even attack Earth itself, nor did they occupy it. To take over the Earth they used another enslaved race, to control the Earth they use modified humans. They’re definitely not front line style leaders.

#14

Lol wut.

#15

The earth is controlled mainly by the combine soldiers, which are humans that are modified in some way. The only other combine presence is in the form of striders, hunters, gunships, and other bio-mechanical weaponry. It can be assumed since there are no true combine there now that none took part in the invasion. Considering the large presence of Xenian creatures, the idea of human enslavement, and the knowledge of a vast number of previously enslaved species, it would be logical to say that no actual combine took part in the 7 Hour War.

#16

Again… wut? The Advisors where in stasis in EP1, which means they had been there for a while. Regardless, there is no evidence of whether they where on the front lines or not. Someone had to take the people of earth to the citadel to be “processed” during the 7 hour war, seeing as the advisors are the only combine with “hands” or some form of carrying people… All the rest are just war machines without any form of transporting people.

#17

You’re assuming that the Advisors are some pure form of the actual combine, not just another physical manifestation of the combine’s power. Considering the appearance of them and the way they move in relation to the other combine machines, it is very possible the Advisors are meant as a way to funnel the telekinetic/mental powers of the combine to Earth. Again, it makes no sense that the combine would place any high ranking person on the front lines when they have conquered countless planets and enslaved billions of organisms.

#18

Having another ultimate overlord above the Advisors seems redundant.

#19

I don’t see how the Advisors are ultimate overlords. They die easier than Striders and their powers consist of a super powerful tongue, minor manipulation of gravity and velocity, and making people’s heads hurt. Gordon covers the second with the gravity gun, the first doesn’t matter without the second, and the third is not particularly impressive.

I again stress the point that they have conquered thousands of planets, why risk their own lives on another little one with a poorly developed species and dwindling resources? Within the context of gameplay they may appear more powerful, but outside the constraints of the actual game, when they are put into conceptual form, they appear on par with something like the Strider.

#20

The combine are draining the oceans via a massive portal in the ocean floor, in the coast levels you can see the waterline is way down from what it previously was. But I think you maybe be right about the advisors , however.

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