Half-Life's Horrific Town | Ravenholm | Full Half-Life Lore

[Music] there are many locations scattered across the vast wasteland of planet earth that hold iconic events that have changed the history of this floating rock while some of these places are known for the great waves of change that eventually led to the fall of the many combine strongholds of planet earth there are others that have a more sinister tale to tell with many regions affected deeply by the invasion of the combine empire humanity desperately searched for a place to seek shelter from their dominating role and for some a place was found and became a safe haven for the refugees and resistance but this place would not have a happy ending where is this haunted location what atrocities occurred here under just how important was this place to the resistance cause against the combine here we explore in the law behind the tragic town of ravenholm believed to have been located within eastern europe the town of ravenholm was constructed established on top of a source of natural minerals in the ground this town became known across the region as a mining town where the residents within could predominantly make their living working in the mines to acquire the natural formations within as the population increased so did the growth of the town where more buildings were constructed along the coast to house the new residents with a church on the outskirts the religious folk here had a place to feel closer to their god the many streets housed many stores so that the population had a place to spend their money and communal spaces allowed the residents to feel closer as a community by spending time with their neighbors as time went on this simple mining town made its way in the world not a lot is known about the day-to-day functioning of ravenholm before the invasion but what is known is that the simple town would gather a reputation in the future unfortunately not a positive one this video is sponsored by the ridge wallet the ridge wallets are the first company i have chosen to sponsor this channel as it's a product i'm actually happy to use it comes in over 30 different styles and colors as you can see here i went for the burnt titanium as the blue kind of matches the the combine metallic blue that you find in the citadel what i really like about this is that it's small and compact in comparison to my old wallet which you can see now you can fit up to 12 cards in this small durable wallet and you even have a money clip on the back to store your notes i'm really happy that the ridge reached out as i did need a wallet but i never really knew what i was looking for to get yours head over to ridge.com for slash skyrion and use the code scarion on checkout to get 15 off now back to the lore on an unknown date during the early 2000s planet earth suffered a great catastrophe the resonant cascade over in the new mexico desert the scientists of the top secret black mesa research facility had managed to accidentally rip a hole in space during an experiment with this tear planet earth became linked to another dimension the border world of zen over the following hours this disaster triggered portal storms to ravage the planet bringing through hostile alien life forms from zen as humanity began to understand their situation they fought back these invaders but the creatures kept coming as the population of earth collectively fought off these zenier creatures their defensive resources slowly depleted although the personnel of black mesa later managed to reverse the resonance cascade and therefore breaking the connection between earth and zen the damage had already been done jumping from universe to universe the vast combine empire searched each one for sentient life so that they could firstly take all of the natural resources from the planets and secondly harvest the genetics and manipulate the physiology of these poor life forms into new soldiers for their armies although humanity had survived the zenian attempt to occupy the planet the resonance cascade had alerted the combine of humanity's existence and with this another war began as the combine attacked the planet earth attempted to fight off these invaders but already tired from fending off the zenian forces in combination with the combine's immense army and advanced technology humanity surrendered merely seven hours later to the combine empire as the combine traversed the planet they rounded up humanity like cattle into combine controlled settlements even though humanity had attempted to take out the zenian creatures during the zhenian invasion many of the creatures still remained and had now made this place their home despite the combine having issues with the roaming headcrabs antalyans barnacles and various other zening creatures these hostile lifeforms did come in useful for the humans that still openly disobeyed the orders of the combine and in turn attempted to live in the wasteland the zenian creatures made survival difficult for humanity and so the combine controlled settlements appeared to be the only safe haven from the creatures within ravenholm the survivors of both the zenian and combine invasion also evacuated to their local combine settlement city 17 where they would gain sanctuary from the dangerous creatures of the wasteland in return for their servitude to the combine with the combine now in full control of the planet and its population the mining town of raven home lay empty as the years passed humanity began to form a resistance against their oppressors on the outskirts of city 17 a resistance base black mesa east was constructed within the canals from this base dr eli vance led the resistance with the help of other bases scattered across the wasteland within city 17 dr isaac kleiner also constructed a base just under the noses of the combine between these two bases they created the underground railroad a secret group of smaller resistance bases scattered around the wasteland that allowed the refugees escaping city 17 to find a safe haven from their oppressors as more refugees came to black mesa east through the underground railroad the base slowly became over-occupied and so the resistance needed to expand to house their new members to their luck the resistance discovered a location just close enough that they could occupy just under the noses of the combine the local abandoned the mining town of ravenholm had everything the resistance needed a place for the resistance population to grow and thrive a place to acquire natural resources for their strategic missions against the combine from the mines and with its location being close to city 17 as well as being on the coastline the resistance could navigate the wasteland covertly with an underground tunnel connecting the mining town to black mesa east the population could move between the locations with ease over time raven home became a major stronghold for the resistance those that wanted to reside in peace and fight for the cause now had a comfortable safe place to live with a stunning church on the outskirts of the town the resistance were lucky to bring father grigory into their ranks he could lead his flock through these tough times and offer comfort when they fell to the combine strikes out in the wasteland the resistance occupation of ravenholm offered them safety and a place to grow live and plan out their future strikes against the combine but only if they could evade the watchful eye of their oppressors as time went on the population of ravenholm thrived that was until the combine became aware of their presence since their occupation of planet earth the combine had been exploring the biology and technology that planet earth had to offer and after the failed zhanian invasion planet earth was now home to the head crab species although humanity feared and loathed these creatures the combine saw the biological benefits that they possessed collecting the roaming headcrabs of planet earth the combine came up with the idea to place them in large shells with these shells they could then fire them into locations across the wasteland although the standard headcrab would be worrying in one sense the combine also placed the fast and poisoned variants of the species into the shells allowing ultimate destruction to the population they would hit on a standard day in a combine controlled planet earth the combine struck from the sky the town became victim to the many headcrab shells that have been launched here as the headcrabs each left their temporary home they wandered the town attacking anything within reach for the many who had chosen to live here in peace away from the warfare of the combine they panicked and fell prey to the head crab infestation one by one the head crabs latched on to their new hosts creating more danger for those around them as they became zombies with this collapse of their society those with the ability to defend themselves watched in horror as their friends and family fell around them the priest watched as his congregation fell and the resistance stronghold of raven home slowly changed from a place of peace and hope into a dark place of horror after becoming aware of this brutal strike on raven home the resistance members of black mesa east decided to close down the tunnel connecting the base to the town for additional protection they even set a barricade and a sentry gun to keep the base clear from the increasing zombie population growing in ravenholm as the combine had only been aware of ravenholm and did not blackmaize the east the future of the resistance's cause came with making tough decisions and so leaving the poor people of ravenholm to their fate without a way to escape meant that the rest of the resistance within black mesa east could continue to fight in secrets as time passed the abandoned residents of this old mining town fell one by one to the headcrab and zombie infestation the mines below became a hot spot for headcrab activity while the town became flooded by zombies headcrabs and the many bodies that had perished during the attack having taken out this once strong resistance town without having even stepped foot inside of its walls the combine then moved on believing their mission to have been successful as many of the population died some attempted to escape the town but there was one that chose to stay having been abandoned by the resistance and having watched his congregation die to the brutal headcrab species father grigori decided to stay within ravenholm with a mission to save the souls of those he had once known although the headcrab upon latching onto their prey did turn their hosts into killing machines the victims were still believed to be conscious just not in control of their motor functions in a state of agonizing pain the victims would scream out for help but due to the head crab's control of their cognitive functions these pleas would come out backwards and appear to those around them as a moan navigating ravenholm through the rooftops and using his rifle to defend himself father grigory continued with his mission to save the souls of those he had once considered friends by putting them out of their misery it is also thought at this point he even attempted to free his friends from the grasp of the headcrab but each of these attempts ended in the death of the headcrab and the host with a lack of ammunition in the abandoned town grigori had to get creative with how to take on the mass amount of zombies throughout the streets and so he made use of the town's natural resources to create defenses and traps recycling the furniture that had once been used to make this town a home grigori stacked them up against one another to create makeshift barricades to slow down the zombies wandering the town with them now having limited access to certain areas of ravenholm the mad priest then strategically placed propane barrels within the many streets and buildings although these barrels alone were harmless a bullet from grigori's rifle annabelle could set them a light resulting in a giant explosion taking out everything around them alongside these barrels grigori used his creativity to set up traps salvaging parts from the now unusable vehicles he constructed a trap that would drop a car with force to the ground upon activation of a lever with this force anything below it would be crushed and after its drop the car would simply rise back up ready to fall again onto another horde of zombies with the various sections of raven home separated by metal fences and scaffolding grigori made use of this manipulating the power structure of ravenholm the priests turned these metal regions into open conductors for the electrical current which when touched by the zombies would fry them ultimately killing them for his third trap grigori hooked up large propane tanks to hoses with these hoses he created holes that allowed the gas to escape after this he placed a live electric feed within the area with a button to activate a spark and so when the spark hit the gas the region would fill with flames although the zombies could continue to hunt down their prey when on fire this trap also had the additional benefit of slowing them down as the flames further decomposed their bodies for grigori's final trap he took out the engines from the vehicles he had previously used for his crush traps using these engines as power sources he attached blades to them which would then spin at an incredible speed slicing through anything they interacted with as time passed grigori lived in solitude simply attempting to help the souls of those he had once considered friends move on from the hellish existence under the control of the head crop for each killing of a zombie another one of his congregation was free ravenholm had once been a place full of hope and it had fallen so far to a place of death and misery when no one would choose to visit willingly unless they were extremely desperate now approximately 20 years after the initial combine invasion the world had moved on and most of humanity had either accepted their fate under the servitude of the combine or had joined the resistance in an attempt to remove them from the planet on a standard day the tunnel from black mesa east to ravenholm opened once more only for a few seconds where one of the living would attempt to pass through ravenholm on their path to do their part for the resistance with the many dead bodies of refugees scattered throughout the streets that have fallen to the initial raven home headcrab bombardment hanged corpses and vicious traps that had killed many of these creatures dr gordon freeman discovered a dangerous and broken town that had once been a stronghold for the resistance all he needed to do was get through this place alive to his look a now mad father grigory discovers gordon and sees him as another life to save having been alone for all of this time in this desolate town grigori's mental state had taken quite the hit and it seemed that another living person's appearance had at least brought him back with the limited ammunition around the town gordon relies on grigori's traps to avoid the constant zombie and headcrab bombardment with the minds of ravenholm being the perfect place to escape the town and move on with his journey grigore takes it upon himself to guide the scientists there to safety and for a short time gordon and the priest fight together freeing the tortured resistance members from the control of the headcrabs finally making it to the graveyard the duo fight off a horde of zombies that have made their home here this place had once been a sanctuary to mourn the lost resistance members and now it had become yet another place tainted by the zenian and combine forces successfully making it through the graveyard grigore bids farewell to gordon as he travels into the dangerous headcrab infested mines below as gordon leaves grigore continues his grand fight to save the souls of his congregation the tragic mining town of ravenholm had once been a place of hope for the refugees and resistance members of humanity but the combine did what they do best they conquered and destroyed so that they could grow stronger and dominate those below them it is unknown what became of raven home its tormentous streets and its lone survivor after the fall of the citadel and the destruction of city 17 it is likely that ravenholm also fell in this explosion where the tortured souls can now finally be free from the control of the headcrabs but if it did not fall then father grigori still has some work to do now ravenholm went through many changes and adjustments through its development i think that the most well-known information about the town is that during the development of half-life 2 the town went through many nicknames these being quarry quarry town trap town sidetown zombie town and just town until we finally received the name raven home the name that may jump out there is trap town and that is because this is what was shown of raven home during e3 during the demo we can see here just how different raven hum was to be we can see that raven home was originally to feature combine soldiers and all of these amazing traps the name trap town now makes sense to me i've just got it anyway it is really odd to see combine soldiers in ravenholm moving on gordon was to come through the town on his way to dr eli vance's lab instead of from it it is pretty blatant in this demo that raven home is a testing ground what was actually possible with the gravity gun where quiet and black mesa east with the limited ammunition available in ravenholm this town is the perfect place for the player to experiment with the weapon and see just how useful it can be there is even an achievement to complete the whole of ravenholm without firing a single bullet instead you have to make use of the saw blades washing machines toilets and various other objects that could cause damage to the dangers of the town now there are some interesting little facts about the town an early concept art which i cannot find anywhere there is said to be a tragic scene showing the body of a child in ravenholm if anybody can find that for me please dm me as we know now this would not fit into the law of the world we finally received as the combine had created a suppression field across the globe to stop the reproduction of humanity on this note if you stand still long enough you can actually hear the voices of people still surviving in ravenholm this does add a lot of tone to the town one of these voices does appear to be that of a child which after my last point would not fit into the law building of the world children 20 years after the combine invasion should not exist now this could be viewed in two ways this was simply a developer oversight or the suppression field did not do its job properly and some people were immune to it in terms of development there are a few things that we did not get the main one for me is the digger this vehicle was to be located within the mines and was to be used to destroy one of the biological weapons of the combine the big mama pod these ghastly creations were to be crafted specifically to carry a gonad where it would continuously birth headcrabs to effectively supply a consistent flow of headcrabs into ravenholm in my opinion this would have made ravenholm even more incredible it is also important to note that there is a kind of map that shows where the big mama pod was to be located and one of these locations is close to where we meet father grigori i mean it is a shame we did not get this it seems that valve did put quite a bit of thought into these contraptions and sadly they did not make it i feel like i cannot make an episode on ravenholm without at least mentioning return to ravenholm developed between 2006 to 2007 by arcane studios return to raven home was planned to be a half-life 2 spin-off game set within and around ravenholm for the premise our favorite hecu member corporal adrian shepherd somehow finds himself on a combine-occupied planet earth 20 years after his employment by the g-man on his journey adrian comes into contact with father grigory set between half-life 2 and half-life 2 episode 2 this game was to show us what happened to the priest and ravenholm after gordon had moved on with his journey it would have been an interesting perspective to see how not only father grigory had got on with his mission of saving the souls of his parish but also how gordon's actions had affected the other parts of the wasteland not only would return to ravenholm have given us another trip to this haunted town but it would have also given us more information about grigori adrian shepherd and the evolution of descending creatures on earth there was even meant to be a fight between adrian and grigory after the mad priest had injected himself with headcrab mata where he became a sort of zombie too sadly this was cancelled as the developers realized that the whole zombie phase had been played out at this point as well as a limitation in their creative view and so we did miss out on this game i for one would have loved to have continued adrian's journey i did only want to touch on this but if you do want to see more return to ravenholm footage then absolutely go and check out noclip's video on it i will link it below i do also plan on covering the game in the future now before i continue my closing thoughts i do want to mention that i am sick when i'm recording this audio so i do apologize if i sound off it's nothing serious just a cold raven home was and still is one of those locations that changed the way i view video games this location just like nova prospect clearly has a visual story told throughout the town that the player can uncover and kind of piece together as they make their way through the maps i love and fear ravenholm i remember in my first playthrough that this place scared me so much the fear of the unknown while seeking out ammunition to fight off the upcoming non-stop zombies is still a strong memory i hold to this day throughout this whole process father grigory still is a source of relief and comfort whenever i play this chapter a person calling out mud ramblings from the rooftops while navigating the terrifying haunted streets of the town maybe i am alone in feeling this but the town really left an impression on my view of the world building of horror games although half-life is not a horror game what valve did with raven home is truly remarkable the distant screams of those being subjected to unknown terrors the subtle music and raven home itself truly made an impact raven home to me is a masterpiece there are even traps that did not make it into the game and some of them were not even in ravenholm i think i will at some point in the future dive into unused traps creatures and weapons of half-life just quickly these traps consisted of the scythe trap the tail trap catapult trap guillotine trap and finally the pendulum trap ravenholm and its surrounding regions could have been so much more but i'm not mad about it raving home to me was pretty perfect that was the law and story behind the tragic town of ravenhur as always if you enjoyed this episode i would really appreciate it if you could leave a like and a comment on your thoughts the algorithm has not been too kind to these videos lately and so any interaction would be really appreciated if you're new here then please consider subscribing i try to post a video once a week normally i try to post a half-life lore video once every two weeks and i'll also cover games like bioshock fable and fallout in between them again i don't always sound like this i'm just sick if you would like to stay up to date with everything i do outside of youtube and fancy some behind the scenes content then go and follow my twitter and instagram i mostly post my day-to-day activity on instagram finally i would like to thank my patrons who are helping to support the channel i really appreciate you thank you to the old gods talos detroit avi wv brunette janas jojo scotia imaginary holly ruben mendoza and putzpa i would also like to give an extra special thank you to the elder ones tier jonas lewis and queen arby thank you so much for the continued support what did you think of this law for me as i've said in my closing thoughts section ravenholm really is a standout location and after replaying the game and understanding the pain that this one place has been home to it truly left an impression what did you think of ravenholm do you think that black mesa east should have put up more of a fight to save ravenholm during the headcrab bombardment and finally what is your favorite location in the half-life series i would say that ravenholm is absolutely up there for me let me know yours in the comments below if you have any suggestions for future half-life lore videos please let me know the next few videos i'm thinking of are the half-life 2 beta story unused weapons and creatures oh and alex any suggestions from you guys are welcome that was everything i wanted to cover in this episode now resistance member enjoy your day bye [Music] foreign

Channel: Skyrionn

Views: 251,367

Keywords: Half-Life, Lore, The Borealis, Aperture Science, Half-Life 2, Half-Life 3, Episode 1, Episode 2, Valve, Gordon Freeman, Cave Johnson, Lemons, The Combine, Teleportation, Skyrionn, Borealis, XEN, Dr Mossman, betrayal, classics, valve, steam deck, Ravenholm, Father Grigori, Headcrab

Id: Ctnmja94WEA

Length: 31min 19sec (1879 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 14 2022