Talk:Xen

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Xen's healing pools?

Apparently there hasn't yet been made an article about those Xen pools which heal the player as time passes. Also missing is that large "organic membrane" which can propel it's user to higher places.

I don't know about the healing pools, but I think the "organic membranes" and other kinds of organic growths are part of Xen's vegetation, much like the Xen Tree or the Light stalk plant. -FrankWellington.

Meaning of "Xen"

It may come from the Greek "ξένος", or "Xenos", meaning a foreigner (the Xen are aliens, after all). Kookas 01:01, August 29, 2011 (UTC)

"Protozoa"

In HL1, after the resonance cascade, you get teleported to Xen for a brief period of time, and then you can see some bullsquids drinking BUT also there's a strange "creature" flying around. After looking in the game files, I found out it's called "protozoa", any idea of what could it be? Also, similar objects are present in several Xen skyboxes. --FrankWellington.

I don't think "dimension" is the right word here.

I think the right word would be "universe." It doesn't make sense to call Xen a "dimension," because there are obviously at least three dimensions in Xen (length, width, depth). But, I haven't played Half-Life in a while, so if that is the terminology that is used in the game, then I guess "dimension" would be correct (since it's just fiction and all). So, it's either a mistake here, or in the game :)

Trampoline

Somebody make an article on the xen trampolines please

SIGN YOUR COMMENTS!

PLEASE. SIGN. YOUR. COMMENTS! Klow 18:09, June 24, 2011 (UTC)

HL2 screenshots?

How about some HL2 headcrabs, barnacles, leeches, antlions, vortigaunts and anything else I've forgotten? — Prtaler (about | complain) 22:00, 23 December 2015 (GMT)

While some of these entities are implied to still be actively coming to earth from Xen through the portal storms, I think there's enough of a disconnect between Half-Life and Half-Life 2 in regards to Xen such that the HL2 iterations of Xen creatures do not need to be demonstrated on this page, namely because Xen does not make an appearance in Half-Life 2. Hence, they're not directly relevant here.

Also, Antlions should not be listed here as they're never suggested to have resided in Xen. Marphy (talk) 09:38, 24 December 2015 (GMT)

Xen Thumpers

Episode Two reveals that Antlions are domesticated by Vortigaunts for various purposes (just as we here on Earth domesticate cows for both milk and meat). We clearly see Vortigaunts working on some oscillating cylindrical device in Xen, which is mentioned in the article. These things are the same size and have the same motion as the Thumpers we see in Half-Life 2, and we know those are useful for deterring Antlions. Shouldn't we suggest there may be a connection? -person who forgot to sign the first time around — Unsigned comment by 104.225.187.152

That is entirely speculation. All signs actually point to this machinery in Xen being used for mining purposes, and we know that because we encounter it in use right outside of the Mines and again dismantled inside of the Mines. There is nothing to suggest this has any relation to Antlions or Thumpers which would not have been conceived of by the developers at the time. Marphy (talk) 19:09, 16 October 2021 (MSK)

Should we add the Half-Life 2 and Half-Life: Alyx aliens?

Poison headcrabs, fast headcrabs, lightning dogs, antlions, etc... could not have developed on Earth in 20 years. Evolution takes thousands of years, if not millions, so it's safe to assume they lived in Xen before the Resonance Cascade. And Half-Life: Alyx confirms that Vortigaunts lived with antlions on their homeworld, and it would be too convenient if they didn't go to Xen but randomly showed up on Earth during the Resonance Cascade. You could make the argument that Race X wasn't from Xen yet they got teleported to Earth, but they specifically teleported there to take advantage of the Resonance Cascade. It would also be useful to have a flora section in the page, but that may be a stretch. — Unsigned comment by Antlion killer (they suck)

1. Different species evolve at different speeds. New species appear every day, new species or sub-species of insects appeared as an adaptation to the industrial evolution for example, even some sub-species of vertebrates appear as a result of pollution. All in all, we have absolutely no frame of reference for how an alien species would be evolving on Earth. So it's best to refrain from putting that in the articles.

2. When you say HLA confirmed `that Vortigaunts lived with antlions on their homeworld`, are you perhaps talking about Episode Two instead? Either way,

3. I suppose the article itself could link to the overall Antlion page somewhere if proper wording is chosen (not just "antlions were confirmed to have lived in Xen, because...").

I don't think there should be any pictures of them in the gallery, however, because it would make it even longer; because the sections of the gallery exist to specifically illustrate creatures and objects either from Retail or Cut, and Antlions don't fit either category; and because Antlions just aren't as illustrative of the Xen topic as the other creatures.

As for the flora. I assume this is about HLA's growths. I personally think it's much less of a stretch to add, because they're clearly identified as Xenian, and the concept art's already there. Cvoxalury (talk) 17:30, 13 February 2024 (MSK)

Other than being adjacent to known Xen creatures, the new Headcrab types introduced since the original Half-Life have no known direct connections to Xen. Same goes with the Antlions. Their unknown origins is a matter that has been extensively scrutinized over time to little avail, and anything to the contrary is needless speculation. Collecting Xen flora in this article, on the other hand, is perfectly apt as even the new flora types introduced in Half-Life: Alyx are explicitly tied to Xen itself. The articles on the new HL:A Xen flora still need further expanding and revision at the moment to complete the coverage on those particular topics, though. Marphy (talk) 19:24, 25 February 2024 (MSK)