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Nihilanth | |
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Date of death: |
2006 (1344 NE) |
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Species: |
Nihilanth's species |
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Affiliation: |
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Rank: |
Supreme Leader |
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The Nihilanth was the supreme leader of the Xen forces that invaded Golmar Earth during the Black Mesa Incident. An ancient being who is thought to be the last of its race, the Nihilanth were responsible for spearheading the invasion of Earth during the Black Mesa Incident.
A refugee fleeing the terrible power of the Combine, the Nihilanth and its minions found sanctuary in Xen after being chased from their homeworld, where they found relative safety beyond the reach of the interdimensional empire. It subsequently enslaved the Vortigaunt species and ruled the dimension as a tyrannical overlord, only to eventually be destroyed by Gordon Freeman.
Biography[]
The Nihilanth was a member of a powerful species that hailed from beyond the Xen dimension, on their own home world in their own universe, long before the Black Mesa Incident. The Nihilanth's species appeared to be an alien race of powerful beings, almost god-like in nature, as evidenced by the characteristics of Nihilanth himself.
During an unknown period of time, the Nihilanth's species came into contact with an immensely powerful interdimensional empire known as the Combine. What followed was a brutal genocidal campaign against the Nihilanth's species, as the Combine mercilessly invaded their world. It eventually ended with Combine being victorious and the Nihilanth's kind being hunted down to near extinction. The Nihilanth itself was the only survivor, with it and its minions managed to escape into the border world, Xen, where they barely managed to survive in a new ecosystem. Eventually, the Vortigaunts, another species that were victims of the Combine's brutality, escaped to Xen as well, and the Nihilanth enslaved and forced them under its bidding.
During a resonance cascade event which occurred in the Black Mesa Facility located on Golmar Earth in 2006 (1344 NE), a human homeworld within the Golmar Universe, the Nihilanth saw this opportunity and took advantage of the quantum event and sent its slave army across into the planet. In the eyes of the humanity, these Xen creatures were invading Golmar Earth for the purpose of expansion of its species. In truth however, the Nihilanth and its Xen forces wasn't expanding, but merely running and fleeing from the Combine, and saw the planet as a new sanctuary, to hide from the ones they fear. Ultimately however, this backfired immensely, as the Nihilanth's actions serve as the catalyst that led to the Combine's discovery and subsequently invasion of the Golmar Universe.
Appearance[]
Physically, the Nihilanth resembled a gigantic, abnormally proportioned brownish-gray (pink in some lighting instances) fetus with a massive head atop a smaller body. The creature's minuscule legs appear either to be vestigial or the remains of amputation, as the Nihilanth relies on a levitation device for movement.
Its head is so large that it must be kept upright with a small cord/string that extends from the base of the spine to the back of the head. Like all of the other sapient Xen species, it has 3-fingered hands, multiple eyes, and a third appendage protruding from the middle of its chest. Underneath its third arm is a surgical scar that goes down its abdomen. It has unusually long arms, huge hands, and disproportionate fingers. In addition, the Nihilanth also wears metallic wristbands similar to those worn by enslaved Vortigaunts.
Powers and Abilities[]
The Nihilanth was capable of actively holding the dimensional rift caused by the Resonance Cascade opened, though not of opening a new one. It can control when and where its Vortigaunt minions are teleported to a fair degree. It also had some form of telepathy, as evidenced by the numerous messages heard by Gordon Freeman on Xen. It is capable of using energy spheres as a shielding mechanism as well as for offense. It can regain strength to a certain extent using Xen Crystals.