Talk:Vortigaunt/Archive 1

Page contents not supported in other languages.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Resemblance with Vorticons

The vortigaunt show much resemblance (not in appearence)to the Vorticon aliens from the commander keen sidescroller. They both have claws, some are telepathic and they were both used as slaves and forced to fight the protagonist with a special belt. It's probably just a coincidence, but who knows.

Thats interesting because I always used to think that they bore alot of resemblance to Tralfamadorians from the book Slaughterhouse Five. They both had very similar views on time and space.Maybe Vorticons were just sortof a compilation of aliens they liked? Also Vorticon, Vonnegut and Vortigaunt all sound pretty similar. By the way sorry I voiced an already voiced opinion. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 165.139.129.1 (talk) 20:02, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

Non sentient vorts

I don't think that really fits in. It does very well seem the vortigaunts are sentient creatures. Here is Kleiner's quote:

'Fellow citizens...residents of City 17 and environs...by which I mean sentient residents, of course, human and otherwise, although I believe there is little need to explain recent developments to our vortigaunt allies...'

While I don't know what it means, I don't think that it means the vorts aren't sentient. Knowitall 19:01, 22 December 2006 (UTC)

I think what is meant is, Kleiner is speaking to all races currently on Earth that can listen to the speech, and that would include humans "and otherwise," or Vorts. That's backed up by the "although" line, which also explains that Vortigaunts understand everything that's going on, and there's really no need to explain it to them. -TheJoey —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.123.189.5 (talk) 18:46, 10 January 2007 (UTC).

Sources

I'd like to see sources for a few of the statements in this article. Specifically: "Its scientific name, according to one source, is Xenotherium subservillia." (What source?) "These creatures were bred for submissive behaviour, hardiness, and unswerving loyalty." (Were they actually bred, or just a naturally developed species that was enslaved?)

Also: I didn't find the "All-Knowing Vortigaunt" when I played HL2 for the first time, but I did talk to the Vortigaunt who welded the gun to the airboat. Talking to him repeatedly, I got many of the same dialog lines listed here, interspersed with impatient comments from the two humans in the area to hurry up and leave. -DynSkeet 14:01, 29 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I found the guy, and he indeed is in that area of the game. However, to reach the pipe, I had to make use of Noclip. Whatever event was meant to trigger easy access to the pipe apparently never happened, or I did something wrong. CABAL 11:54, 22 May 2005 (UTC)
Yea the "All-Knowing Vortigaunt" bit should probably be removed since the vortigaunt that puts the gun on says all the same lines and probably other vortigaunts do too. --62.252.128.17 21:00, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)
I dunno. While the other vortigaunts can (if pushed) tell you the same sorts of things, the All-Knowing Vortigaunt is particularly talkative on these subjects. Given its hidden location, it's clearly an Easter Egg, so it's not surprising that Valve made it such an easily mined repository of knowledge. --Plumbago 07:59, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)
I don't quite understand what you mean about being particularly talkative vs. having to be pushed. After the vortigaunt affixes the gun to your airboat, all you have to do is keep pressing the "use" key and he'll babble on and on, although the nearby humans keep urging you to get moving. -DynSkeet (talk) 12:44, Jun 14, 2005 (UTC)
Do you remember if there is the λ sign nearby? If yes , then it is not an easter egg and not a secret. In any case, I do not consider it an easter egg, but a secret, for the following reason: isn't the term "easter egg" kept for ingame experiences that are generaly unrelated to gameplay? This guy is just a hidden Vortie. A Vortigaunt dressed as Santa would be a good reason to use the term "easter egg", or perhaps if he said humorous things, in the vein of "hey! catch me later! i'll buy you a beer", mocking Barney GeorgeTsiros

Nope, you don't need to use noclip. I used the airboat itself as a platform to reach the pipe. Just got really close first then jumped up onto the airboat. You do have to cross a fair stretch of toxic waste to reach the All-Knowing Vortigaunt, so don't try it unless you're healthy. Anyway, it's fun to visit him. I can't help thinking though that Valve shouldn't have made a single, hidden vortigaunt the source of all of this information (I didn't persist with the other vortigaunts like DynSkeet). It's quite pertinent to the backstory, but unless you're fabulously lucky (or read Wikipedia) you'll never know about it. --Plumbago 13:11, 22 May 2005 (UTC)

You don't even need the airboat as a platform. I just walked right up into the pipe. Thunderbrand 14:38, May 22, 2005 (UTC)

To return to DynSkeet's first point though, I also wondered where all of the stuff about the alleged scientific name and breeding comes from. I've never heard it before. The "scientific" name looks like some retrofitted attempt to tie in the alleged subservience. As is noted elsewhere, in HL the vortigaunts wear devices that, presumably, allow control by a hidden master (the Nihilanth). In HL2, with the exeception of the "janitor" vortigaunt in the train station, the vortigaunts no longer wear these devices. This, tied with what the All-Knowing Vortigaunt says, is strongly suggestive of the vortigaunts being enslaved in HL, i.e. not bred for submission. Unless anyone objects, shall we hack this out? --Plumbago 08:49, 23 May 2005 (UTC)

I think I know where all that came from. Have a look. However, I do not know if this is genuine canon information, or that the Gamespy editor was feeling particularly creative. CABAL 16:24, 27 May 2005 (UTC)

Well spotted CABAL. Reading some of the other entries on that page, I think your assessment about "creative" GameSpy editors is about right. Too much coffee on a Friday afternoon I reckon. Given the role of vortigaunts in HL2 (i.e. no longer enslaved), I think we should still hack out this over-ripe prose. Any complaints anyone? --Plumbago 08:55, 28 May 2005 (UTC)

Right. Hacked now. Feel free to further hack yourselves. I'll try to add a screenshot of a Vortigaunt from HL at some point too. --Plumbago 12:09, 29 May 2005 (UTC)

On the subject of Vortigaunts in Half-life 2:

"In Half-Life 2, their electrical attack is far more devastating, tends to kill whatever it hits immediately, and quite often knocks back its target a considerable distance. Only objects with significant mass can resist being knocked back, such as the Strider (which appears to be fully immune to the beam) and Antlion Guards. It is also suggested that Vortigaunts can siphon an opponent's lifeforce with their energy beam attack, as they are heard saying phrases like "Give over your essence!" or "Empower us!" during some of their attacks in Half-Life 2."

No where in the game do you witness Vortigaunts fighting. Is the above from a use of Gary's mod? If so then it should be clarified. Also I apologize if this comes up wrong, I'm new to Wikipedia.

Yes, I have NEVER seen or heard about vortigaunts in combat at any point in Half-Life 2, so the bit about energy beams sounds totally bogus. In my opinion, it should be deleted ASAP unless whoever included it can come up with proof/a reliable source. --Pmaddamsetti 23:22, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

Speaking as someone who grabbed the spoileriffic captions text when it was spread ar ound after being leaked through CS Source, "Empower us!" and "Give over your essence!" are definitely in there. A bit of Google research also indicates that you can see Vortigaunts fight with their powers through cheating or otherwise manipulating the game, but not normally. -the unsigned 24.20.237.11 04:22, 7 February 2006 (UTC)


Has anyone ever noticed the similarity between Vortigaunts and Vorticons? Both are alien species invading earth later discovered to be slaves to a higher power. --Filip


Actually in Black Mesa East I believe you can catch a small glimpse of them killing metrocops. And you can also spawn them using console commands and they kill most things in one shot and a group of 4 or 5 will take out an Antlion Guard Keeffecanfly 00:57, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

When going down an elevator in Black Mesa with Alyx, if you look forward while going down, one of the levels has a Vortigaunt wearing a chef hat, and apron, taking a sip from a soup ladle. That was awesome. -Jack

Just to let you know, in the Black Mesa East level, just after Gordon and Alyx get split up by a cave in, it is possible to use the "noclip" cheat to go into Eli's lab. Alyx will disappear but there will be three vortigaunts standing around. After a certain period of time, there will be a combine soldier appearing in the room, after which he will promptly be destroyed by the attacks of the vortigaunts. It is possible to hear many different lines being spoken by the vortigaunts as they attack. This has probably been noticed by many already though...

Also: I was one of those nutters that carried Dog's ball all the way through Ravenholm and up to Leon's rebel hideout. Those who have done the same may have noted that Grigori likes shooting your rollerball; well, I guess it still reads as combine allegiance. In any case, I actually got to see the Vort in Leon's place using his zappy-zappy on the ball. He kept doing it, too. However, he never said anything. Now, this was on the XBOX, so take from it what you will...

Role in Half Life 2: Episode One

I was surprised and impressed by the Vortigaunts abilities; they seem to have some of G-Mans powers, and can hold him back (and, by the looks of it, upset him vvvveeeerrrryyyy much). The question is, are they tracking and following the "realms" he enters (i.e. Alyx in slow time, and G-Mans prision), or are they just able to enter slow time and the G-prision (other dimension?). - Doug 01:26, 3 June 2006 (GMT)

The Half-Life series is based in science, namely high energy physics. By 'slow time', they're not entering another realm or anything, they're just slowing the passage of time. Vortessence itself seems to be a biological and cultural manipulation of strings. --2ltben

I'm not sure if this belongs here, but the actions of the Vorts in Episode One seem to make everyone think that they are necessarily holding back the G-Man because the G-Man is a bad guy (good guys stopping someone shady or mysterious usually makes people think that)-- I don't believe that's the case. Think of this for a minute: What if the Vortigaunts were the ones that asked the G-man of Gordon's services in Half-Life 2? It could be possible that the Vorts stopped the G-Man from taking Gordon anywhere else in order to ensure the destruction of the Combine. They really screwed the G-Man over, which is obvious by how angry he became. --TheJoey

No Longer an Enemy

I think we've got a problem. The Vortigaunts are clearly friends to the Resistance, but they're still listed under "Enemies" in the purple box that lists all Half-Life related articles (whatever that's called). And yet, during Half-Life, they were your enemies. So how is it that they can be listed as enemies and also listed as... well, characters, I guess, since that seems to be the only place appropriate for an entire species that's friendly.

Half-Life 2 is more recent and in it, Vortigaunts are allies, so let's go by chronology and put them on "Other Characters"; also, as we see in Episode One, they're gaining a new relevance, so they deserve to be separated from the "Enemies" article.

Also, if you want to see it in other way, the Vortigaunts were enemies unwillingly, because they were slaves of the Nihilant; they now are willingly allies, so they should be put in "Other Characters" instead of "Enemies".

Green Beam Attack

I added to the Offensive/Defensive page about their green beam attack and how it can kill the player or npcs almost instantly. --65.255.130.104 00:53, 22 July 2006 (UTC)VonV

By the way, I've tested it. -VonV

Group of Vortigaunts Picture

I edited the picture's size in the article from 200px to 300px, because the image is really dark and it's hard to see the Vortigaunts with the picture so small. I also tried 250px and it looks good with that size too, but I ultimately decided for the 300px. I hope nobody minds.

They did see combat on the source engine before....

"This will likely be the first time Vortigaunts are seen in single-player combat in a Valve game using the Source engine"

Half Life:Source... I'll just go ahead and correct this... ok?

Gman and Vortigaunts: possible allies?

I Hl2,in the Route Canal chapter, when Gordon goes in the train wagon that contains a citizen and a vortigaunt powering a tv (with the gman on the screen), the vortigaunt then says to Gordon:"We serve the same mystery." Could this mean that the Vortigaunts and the Gman work together or have something in common? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Garmanbozia (talk • contribs) 22:06, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

Possible allusion

I may have missed it, but does anyone know if the Vortigaunt race is an allusion to Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.? In Slaughter-House Five, there is an alien race that has the same perspective on time. Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.227.97.252 (talk) 02:29, 17 October 2007 (UTC)

Notable Vortigaunt & Uriah

I have created a new section pertaining to notable vortigaunt in the half life universe. I have also added subsections for Uriah and added the "all-knowing" vortigaunt to the section. Please feel free to edit the expansion and make it better. Noj_R 01:21, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Is the Notable Vortigaunt the one required for the achievement in the Orange Box?--Tenorwoody 18:43, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

I don't know about a vortigaunt needed to complete an achievement, I just made a section for notable vortigaunt (plural) that appear in the series. - Noj r 01:27, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

Appearance change

I remember someone pointing out that the Ep2 Vortigaunts looked different because they're the younger members of the race, front line soldiers, while the ones previously seen were older, playing support roles?216.154.16.83 (talk) 16:52, 5 December 2007 (UTC)


Green Collars/Bands

I noticed that in this article, it states that the green bands/collars that the Vortigaunts wear were for control by the Nihilanth- however, having just played through all of Half-Life, expansions, Half-Life 2, etc., I noted that in one of the original Half-Life expansions (I believe it's Decay), the player can find a "naked" Vortigaunt on a table, with the green bands/collar wired up to a control board. If the player activates the control board, a focused been of green energy (identical to the ones that Vortigaunts fire) comes out. This is used to kill a Grunt that later pursues the players.

Further, I note that the bit about the bands being for control isn't sourced. Given the information above, it would appear that the bands being used for control is incorrect. I'll make a temporary change until somebody else can do it better. 76.108.31.31 (talk) 17:42, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:VortigauntHL2.jpg

Image:VortigauntHL2.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 03:17, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

All Knowing Vortigaunt Acheivement in Xbox 360

In the Xbox 360 version of HL2, you earn an achievement for finding the "All Knowing Vortigaunt". Should we include this under it's section? —Preceding unsigned comment added by The Youth Counselor (talk • contribs) 19:44, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to one external link on Vortigaunt. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add {{cbignore}} after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add {{nobots|deny=InternetArchiveBot}} to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at {{Sourcecheck}}).

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 18 January 2022).

  • If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
  • If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—cyberbot IITalk to my owner:Online 01:22, 29 February 2016 (UTC)

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 6 external links on Vortigaunt. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 18 January 2022).

  • If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
  • If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 05:38, 5 May 2017 (UTC)

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 6 external links on Vortigaunt. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 18 January 2022).

  • If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
  • If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 03:06, 12 May 2017 (UTC)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Vortigaunt/Archive_1&oldid=1048895062"