What is a Gonarch?

[elteaser]

Is Gonarch the source of all headcrabs? Are there many Gonarchs in Xen and all headcrabs come from them? Do headcrabs grow up to be Gonarchs? So many questions.

[I've ran out of profile ideas h]

I think they grow up to be Gonarchs but I dont remember any proper details.

[Eze]

There's unused models of Half Life 2 where there's a Gonarch body with it's leg cuts tied to an iron receptacle to, well, I imagine to make crabs.

[Ratchet]

Yes, yes I think so and finally yes.

[Nedly Dedly]

Gonarch is a final stage of headcrab's evolvement into an adult, which breeds the other headcrabs. How much does it take for the headcrab to evolve into Gonarch and how does that happen is uknown, neither is the exact number of Gonarches on Xen.

[Doc Tear Popper]

There should be more Gonarches and less Gargs on Xen imo.

[Cursed Hawkins]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Duc P:

There should be more Gonarches and less Gargs on Xen imo.

You are aware that there's a bunch of predators that can easily kill a headcrab not to mention the planet hazards itself like the stab trees before it even reaches that stage, its why so many don't get that far because they literally don't live to see it.

[Rico Raccoon]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Duc P:

There should be more Gonarches and less Gargs on Xen imo.

Gargs are manufactured as Tanks by the Xen Army, so thats why there are so many of them.

They're produced bio-organic tanks, just like alien grunts are.

Gonarch and Tentacles are lifeforms and like the above user mentions, they don't live long enough to survive, because well, Xen is a BORDERWORLD: Which means nothing is native to it, and its actually impossible for life to exist there for too long, it only happened as an inncident.
headcrabs and pretty much everything was broughty over there from other diminsions, when they cut open. Thats why Xen is the place located between diminsions. Or like they say in ♥♥♥♥♥♥ indiana jones movie with crystal skull "The space between spaces"

[elteaser]

i didnt know it was a borderworld.. interesting

[Rico Raccoon]

Początkowo opublikowane przez S M O K I N G L I Z A R D S:

i didnt know it was a borderworld.. interesting

They literally have a speech about it being a borderworld before you jump in. Or at least in Half-Life, IDK about Black Mesa.

[elteaser]

I think I was only partially paying attention to the speech. i was fascinated by all the gadgets and the first actual safe zone in a whole game of chaos.

[Rob DiGiorno]

gonarch = gonad = giant testicle. when I made the connection mentally I laughed

[Cat]

I always thought those creatures were called Big Mommas. And Gonarch was only the name of the specific big momma that Gordon encountered. Like how Gabe wanted to give every unique character in Half-Life (besides Nihilanth) a name that starts with G (gordon, gina, gman).

[elteaser]

Początkowo opublikowane przez Cat:

Like how Gabe wanted to give every unique character in Half-Life (besides Nihilanth) a name that starts with G (gordon, gina, gman).

Seriously? Hah

[Just Chill]

Początkowo opublikowane przez smokinglizards:

Początkowo opublikowane przez Cat:

Like how Gabe wanted to give every unique character in Half-Life (besides Nihilanth) a name that starts with G (gordon, gina, gman).

Seriously? Hah

You never stop a Gaben.

[Phoenix]

If the expansions are to be considered canon, the life cycle would start as headcrab, then zombie, then gonome, then (unknown), and eventually gonarch. If you've played Opposing Force you've met gonomes - they're the bigger zombies that throw projectiles at you. I had speculated on this a lone while back. If you observe that the zombies - originally called "mawmen", were often found feeding on dead scientists by stuffing things into the "maw" running from neck to groin, it would reason that they Could progress into something, which Opfor introduced with the said gonome. I could picture the gonome in turn using the stuff it secretes and throws at you to build a cocoon of sorts and then metamorphose into a gonarch. The gonarch would then serve to give birth to the next generation of headcrabs.

In Half-Life 2 the zombies are seen lacking their maws. Instead the internal organs are exposed and the ribs are visible, and they tend to just laze around. I speculated that the Combine either modified the headcrab DNA or, perhaps through the suppression field, prevented the headcrabs from fully overtaking their hosts to become a mawman. By breaking the mawman-gonome-gonarch cycle they could use the crabs as disposable bioweapons without worrying about the crabs becoming gonarchs, which would produce headcrabs in an uncontrollable manner and become a threat to their troops. We see just how dangerous crabs are to the Combine Overwatch in Ep1 and Ep2.

The odd thing about headcrabs is they seem tailored to affect humans specifically. For an alien species that's pretty bizarre. It would be like a race of snails opening a portal and discovering snail kites on the other side. Of course it's really just a matter of someone on the design team watching Alien and wanting to use face huggers but needing to avoid copyright issues, so instead of face huggers you get head humpers.

Just my pet theory anyway.