Vortigaunts and The Freeman

Half-Life Series
#1

We all know that Freeman is deeply connected with the Vortigaunts. They rescued Alyx and Gordon at the beginning of Episode One, screwing with G-Man in the process. The White Forest Mines Vort mentions that Freeman “bears some traits [they] thought innate to Vort-kind.” Even more interesting is that they haven’t really forgiven Gordon for killing so many of their own, but have allied with him - and the rest of earth - for the common purpose of freedom.

This is one of the biggest mysteries in the series; it’s right there behind G-man and those huge pistons at the base of the Citadel.

How are they connected? Why did this happen? Why can’t Gordon shoot lightning from his hands? All are important questions.

The Vorts (most notably the “All-Knowing” Vort) have some very interesting things to say on this subject, and others, if you +USE them. Some of the quotes even seem to be leaning on the fourth wall.

[i]“Something secret steers us both. We shall not name it.”

“We remember the Freeman. We are coterminous.”

“We cannot forget those whose cords you cut. Forgiveness is not ours to bestow.”

“Far distant eyes look out through yours.”

"That sharp spur of hope has not dulled to this day. For once the lesser master lay defeated, we knew the greater must also fall in time. "[/SIZE][/i]

Check the attached file to see them all, excerpted from closecaption_english.txt in source engine.gcf.

EDit: Oh, I forgot to mention that this thread is to discuss this. Obviously.
Vort Quotes.txt (3.04 KB)

#2

Think Gordigaunt in the same way you think Brangelina, but with less children and more KY jelly.

#3

Or Vortigordon. And the Vorts don’t need K-Y Jelly, for obvious reasons.

But still, could you be a bit more serious?

#4

I think that Gordon isn’t necessarily part vortigaunt, but rather that Gordon’s rendezvous with the G-man has opened his eyes to a bigger picture.

Also, with the “traits we thought innate to Vortigaunt kind” he could be talking about the bravery and relentlessness the Gordon has to finish his goal. Possibly also tlaking about the psychic link Gordon has with the G-man.

that’s my cup of tea :slight_smile:

#5

there was also a vortigaunt in hl2 before getting on the canals wich is looking the G-man from a TV, when you enter he turns it off and when you leave he says: ‘‘we serve the same mistery’’. I think this info should have been told from the starting here, because it has a connection between Gordan, vorts and the G-man.

#6

The vorts only thanks gordon for rescuing them from xen, controllers and other stuff!

#7

and joined to the human resistance to stop their same enemy. Most of the resistance members don’t think that the vorts are useful/real friends. As seen in ep1.

#8

“Unity of purpose, the shattering of common shackles, a single road we tread”. A single cause unites them. This is their main connection, although the vorts seem to find a kindred spirit in him, for what reason we can only speculate. Perhaps, as was said earlier, it was his fearlessness and courage to fight against the Combine and not accept the status quo. “Let this war end in either total victory or our extinction. No further compromise shall we allow.” “What seems to you a sacrifice is merely, to us, an oscillation. We do not fear the interval of darkness.” It seems the vorts are more willing to fight and have less fear of taking losses than the humans are: the majority of the humans seem resigned to their fate when Gordon arrives in City 17. Although, the vorts even admit that “although we call you sib, your mind and meaning are a mystery to us”, so while they find hope in him and share a connection, they do not entirely understand him.

As for these quotes:

[i]“Something secret steers us both. We shall not name it.” -Possibly a reference to the G-Man and his forces.

“We remember the Freeman. We are coterminous.” -An odd expression. Literally, he seems to be saying that Freeman and the vortigaunts share the same end. This could perhaps mean that their lives are so entwined now that whatever outcome befalls one of them will befall the other. If Freeman falls, the vortigaunts fall. If they succeed, they succeed together.

“We cannot forget those whose cords you cut. Forgiveness is not ours to bestow.” -A simple statement that means about exactly what it says. The slain vortigaunts were the kin of the surviving vortigaunts, they loved and cared about them. Although the surviving vortigaunts lament the tragedy of their deaths, they understand why it had to happen. They evidently feel that in such a situation forgiveness could not be granted to the Freeman, or perhaps they believed that only the dead had the right to forgive the Freeman for their deaths.

“Far distant eyes look out through yours.” -Another possible reference to the G-Man.

“That sharp spur of hope has not dulled to this day. For once the lesser master lay defeated, we knew the greater must also fall in time.” -Obviously, when the Nihilanth was slain, the vortigaunts felt hope in their freedom, and believed that the Combine would someday also be defeated.[/SIZE][/i]

#9

Actually, I think the line “What seems a sacrifice is merely, to us, an oscillation. We do not fear the interval of darkness.” is more their stance on death, or possibly their modification thereof. You die, you rest in the darkness, you return, and eventually die again to start the cycle anew.

#10

“npc_vortigaunt.vmono_07” "For a brief time you joined with us. You are one. Between the worlds. "

I guess this is referring to those ring of vorts that circles you when the resonance cascade happened. Gordon MIGHT actually have some special trait he shares with the vortigaunts.

“npc_vortigaunt.vmono_27” "We are a tapestry woven of vortessence. It is the same for you if only you would see it. "

“npc_vortigaunt.vmono_29” "Could you but see the eyes inside your own, the minds in your mind, you would see how much we share. "

“npc_vortigaunt.vmono_30” "We are you, Freeman. And you are us. "

Also, this quote here really got me going.

“npc_vortigaunt.vmono_14” "While our own lay scattered at your feet, you severed the vortal cord that bound the Nihilanth to life, and to us. "

This means that the Nihilanth was controlling the vorts to attack Gordon, but when you entered that Xenian factory where they produced Alien Grunts, they didn’t attack you, and it was before Gordon “severed the vortal cord”. Could something stronger prevented the vorts to attack Gordon Freeman?

#11

that trait is obviusly the vortessence.

Edit: Thanks to it he’s also connected to Alyx

#12

Of course they were under control. Hell, their name was “monster_alien_slave”.

Also, the vorts IN the factory attacked you, it was the ones outside that you encountered before the factory that didn’t, and it was only a couple before they went back to attacking you again. I’m assuming they were quite caught up in their duties with the weird pump machines they were standing around, or they didn’t stop working for fear of what the nearby grunts would do to them.

#13

Right! Remember the vorts said, “we weave your lives” …. to bring Alyx back from the brink? I always thought that the vorts saw Gordon as savior, of sorts, because he rescued them from Xen.

#14

there’s a part of the factory wich has not controllers inside of it, those vorts will not attack you for a while, how you said. But then a group of 2 controllers will be aware of your pressence and will force the vorts to attack you.

Edit: also if or you attack the controllers before they see you, they will also force the vorts to attack you.

#15

I don’t remember any Controllers in there.

Edit: I mean, I’ve stuck around there for a while and never seen any.

Yeah, that’s more or less the same conclusions I drew.

#16

They are on the roof, and hard to see, they will hardly ever attack you. But will send the vorts to f*ck you up if they detect you.

#17

Shows up it is more to see in hl than just in those "Let’s play"s…

#18

Well, as the OP mentioned, there’s some references to the fourth wall. The vorts can sense g-mans presence somehow (probably, again, thanks to the “vortesence”) and his connection with Freeman. Those references can be interpreted both as “winks” for the player (the fourth wall), or as them sensing the G-man. I prefer the last one but Valve probably did this bi-references on purpose.

#19

Could someone refresh my memory what the 4th wall is? Everything else makes sense but I don’t recall hearing about that…

#20

The 4th wall is your screen. It’s a concept that comes from theater, as the stage had 3 walls plus an imaginary wall between the actors and the public. That’s the 4th wall.

If a character addressed the public directly, it was considered breaking the 4th wall.

In the case of a game, if a character addresses the player directly, that’s considered breaking the 4th wall too.

It’s all explained here: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BreakingTheFourthWall

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