Alien Controller

An Alien Controller (also known as a Xen Master) was a levitating Xen creature, closely resembling the Nihilanth. Gordon Freeman did not see any Controllers in the Black Mesa Research Facility until he was about to teleport to Xen (where they were more numerous). Gina Cross and Colette Green saw them more frequently in the facility, during moments of increased displacement activity.

Description


The Controllers share many characteristics with the Vortigaunts, Gargantuas, Alien Grunts and especially the Nihilanth, suggesting that they are a related species. Like these other sentient creatures on Xen, the Controllers have a third vestigial arm growing from the center of the thorax. In addition to this, the Controllers have disproportionately large heads, which could peel open to reveal an apparently mechanical spike or cone, resembling the interior of the Nihilanth's skull. Unlike the Nihilanth, the Controllers have longer legs and were able to levitate without the assistance of a mechanical seat. It is unknown whether this ability stems from their strange psychokinetic powers, or from their seemingly mechanical parts. It is also possible that Nihilanth was also able to levitate unassisted, but this ability was lost when he was somehow injured and forced into the mechanical device seen by Freeman.

They attack by firing spheres of electrical energy (resembling ball lightning) from their hands, in the same way as the Nihilanth. They can also fire an energy ball from their head that is larger, more powerful and has a slight homing ability.

Controllers were usually encountered near places where Vortigaunts are made to work. They seem to have had an unspoken influence over the Vortigaunts, making them fight or toil at a whim. This might indicate that the Controllers shared a limited version of Nihilanth's psychic enslaving power or acted as an intermediary conduit, although their exact role in the hierarchy is unknown.

Is has been suggested by Marc Laidlaw that the controllers may have simply died out after Nihilanth's death.

Trivia

 * Alien Controllers might be younger versions of the Nihilanth's species.