The Combine's Secret Prison | The Vault | Full Half-Life Lore

this video contains spoilers for half-life alex [Music] the inter-dimensional force of the combine for many years has traveled from universe to universe targeting all sentient life forms with the goal of ultimate domination over the vast multiverse during the early 2000s the combine discovered a pathway to planet earth where they would then decimate the population using the merciless methods they had used on many races before with planet earth being just another planet to conquer they broke down the humans mentally and physically until only a handful actively fought against them seeing potential in humanity they tested the limits of their bodies to adapt them into their vast army just like they had for the many other creatures that have been unlucky enough to have been discovered by the sinister force here they were transformed adding piece of technology and biology from other creatures to create the perfect weapon and servants to aid and fight with the combine while the humans for the most part were simple to subdue aside from a handful of resistance members the inter-dimensional empire had to deal with other forces across the multiverse that had also made their way to earth and in turn had gotten in the way of the plans of the combine and their goal to add their enslaved humans into their terrifying mutilated army while the animals such as ant lions head crabs and barnacles were simply attempting to create a new home for themselves on the planet they were more intelligent forces that always seemed to get in the way of the combine's plan to this the combine had to use their vast knowledge of technology and the lessons learned over the years of conquering to adapt to this hindrance that always appeared to be one step ahead of their plan using their knowledge they constructed a large machine capable of holding even the strongest prisoner while keeping those that would wish to save their prisoner away with ease while we do not know a lot about the mysterious dream man and his employers we do know that in one timeline he was captured by the combine and held within a prison how was he captured and how did they keep him imprisoned here we explore in the law behind the vault while the main focus of the combine empire was to enslave and control the multiverse over the many years they had acquired various species that they had indoctrinated and mutilated to become more efficient to serve and fight alongside them although a main focus of their domination had been on gathering new forces they also looked to gather knowledge and scientific techniques to aid their efforts from the best and brightest of these doomed civilizations after the invasion of planet earth the combine discovered that the scientists on this planet had found a way to teleport to various points within a single universe instead of being limited to jumping to a different one a technology that they lacked having to use standard forms of transportation across the planet during their fight for control and knowledge the interdimensional force constantly came up against a mysterious human appearing man holding a briefcase this man always got in the way of their plans with this they decided to bring in one of their most powerful pieces of technology the vault to stop him still attempting to stay on top of the humans and keep their power the combine constructed the vault it is unknown whether this was brought in through a portal or whether it was constructed on planet earth but the vault was held in the quarantine zone a walled off section of city 17 that had been infected by xenium flora and fauna the area was known to be dangerous to both humans and combine forces the combine had chosen the quarantine zone due to the force wanting to keep the vault a secret with the increasing attacks from the resistance the combine could not take any chances on the structure being damaged with a powerful piece of technology in the hands of the combine now ready to be used all they had to do was wait for the g-man to make an appearance so that they in turn could strike going by the name the vault to some and the box to others the massive ship uses advanced technology to defy gravity floating high above the ground away from those who would wish to enter it for those permitted to enter the vault the combine had created a tall station within the quarantine zone from within the heavily guarded station the controls allowed a user to engage with the docking procedure first the user would have to extend a bridge and then secondly bring in the vault from the sky to the extended bridge while this procedure sounds extremely simple the control station itself has a lot of docking levers and so messing up the procedure could have severe consequences for anyone in the vicinity of the vault as it could potentially fall from the sky while the vault does have a simple docking system it also has a tractor beam on its base capable of picking up anything below it which was likely used by the combine to pick up undesirables or bring in units engaged in heavy combat as an extremely valuable asset to the combine the vault was also shown to have an outer green glow where some believe this to be a powerful force field capable of protecting the structure from the resistance's heavy arsenal of rockets and likely to protect the structure in the possible event it were to fall from the sky from a distance the vault appears to be a giant floating ship using the traditional combine materials and aggressive architecture associated with the dominating force just like those of the citadel and the walls that separate the various regions of the wasteland the bulky structure extends into three directions suggesting different sections within while its most noticeable feature is its gigantic scale the cables attached to it made those that observed it question what exactly the cables did with the structure being so large the cables transferred power to the vault keeping it afloat and maintained the vault's main function only something extremely powerful would be needed to power the vault and the combine had found a natural source for this during their conquest of the multiverse the combine had come across the humanoid species of the vortigaunt while the species had originally fled to the border world of zen the combine rediscovered the species after the nylon had held open a portal from zen to earth after the nylon's death the combine recaptured the vortigun species and after testing them they discovered that the vortigaunt had access to a natural form of energy which they called the vault essence with this power the vortigaunt had been able to convert it into deadly lightning attacks and some were even capable of foreseeing future events by tapping into the tapestry of the vote essence with the captured border guns the combine created stations across the city within each of these stations they contained a metallic shell capable of withstanding the strikes of the vortigaunt and trapped one inside of each here they captured the vortigaunt to gain access to their vote essence and the natural energy they had access to giant cables were then connected from the vault to each of these stations where the energy was sent up to the vault harvested and held within to keep the giant structure functioning and floating while kept secret on what the function of the vault actually was those from the ground simply observed it as a floating ship but its true purpose was far more sinister within the vault had been constructed to be the perfect prison using the harvested power taken from the tortured vortigaunt the vault was designed to capture a threat regardless of what kind of location the threat was in this vault had been created with the plan to capture the mysterious g-man an entity of unknown origin that had messed with the plans of the combine for a long time on one of the gman's visits to planet earth the combine had become aware of his presence while the man was visiting an apartment block the combine took this opportunity and used the vault's powerful tractor beam to take the entirety of the building taking the dream on and all of the residents of the building with it although it sounds like an extremely impossible task to acquire an entire building the combines collection of knowledge and technology over the years had given them a vast insight into the workings of science and the universes they had visited while the vault had successfully taken the building the laws of physics had been messed with and so the building although within the vault had taken on strange features that defied the laws of physics while the bottom of the ship would appear to be the actual bottom level of the ship from an observer the levels of gravity within is completely flipped making the bottom level of the structure actually the top inside of the vault the levels of gravity appear to be slightly less to that of earth navigating through the transported apartment building the structure and gravitational field changed from room to room making even a normal kitchen look alien to a human unfortunate enough to have been captured during this mission within the vault an active signal made any attempt of unauthorized communication outside of the structure impossible leaving those that have been trapped within helpless to the environment and guards that patrolled the vault around the captured building the combine had created walkways so that their elite soldiers could navigate and take out those that had accidentally come on board or had come to attack the vault the main feature of the vault was placed in its center a giant cage connected to the chamber by a single bridge the glass chamber was chosen by the combine to hold the g-man with anticipation of his unique abilities to teleport the combine had used the best technology to hold him in place indefinitely where he would not meddle with their plans on the outskirts of the chamber giant lasers shoot the harvested vortigaunt energy at the glass cage creating a force field similar to that of the force field that protects the outside layer of the vault from outside threats in the cage the capture had held the g-man in place showing what he had been doing in the apartment building during his abduction standing in front of a window the mysterious entity had been watching someone likely a person of importance to his employer's unknown grand plans due to the effort it had taken to capture the g-man the combine assigned their strongest and most capable transformed humans to guard the cage and the soul bridge that connected to it in the small chance that someone with combat experience could enter the vault to free their prisoner as the combine had beamed up the whole building it is unknown what became of the residence of the apartment complex while their bodies are nowhere to be seen within the vault ghostly apparitions appear throughout believed to be held in the place and position they were in as the building was collected by the vault while this may simply be another one of the vault's features to annihilate and need their prisoners during transportation which in turn transformed their atoms into static ghosts the humans may have simply died waiting for someone to rescue them and the vault had simply created an echo of their suffering with the mysterious nature of the physics of the structure it may never be known what happened to the residents with the vault being powered by the harvested vertigo vortigaunt energy strong power ports were noted to be openly visible on the walls while waves of energy also surged through the vault periodically likely a way to keep the ports readily active in the event they were needed by the residents of the vault now with the combine mostly in control of the population of planet earth their force is managing to defend themselves against the attacks of the resistance and the g-man imprisoned in an inescapable cell the interdimensional empire could now look for other planets to secure within this universe believing that the scientists of planet earth would assist them in creating the teleportation technology they desired whether they wanted to or not only they underestimated the determination of the human race to survive against the odds and at the age of 19 alex vance would discover their prison and bring it to the ground five years before the return of gordon freeman alex vance the daughter of the resistance leader dr eli vance began a journey to save her father from capture and in turn made life more difficult for the combine navigating through the quarantine zone she observed the vault in the sky over her journey and with suggestions from her father and a talented resistance inventor russell she planned to take down the vault believing it to be a super weapon for the combine later they discovered it to be a prison holding someone that the combine believed to be a major threat throughout the wasteland it was common knowledge that nova prospect was regarded as an extremely valuable location for the combine to place their prisoners torture them and adapt them to become a mutilated member of the combine army if nova prospect was not strong enough to hold this person that the combine deemed a threat then this person would likely be a much needed ally to the resistance and acquiring this person would be a huge step in the fight for planet earth and the survival of the human race believing the prisoner to be gordon freeman a member of the anomalous materials team from the black mesa research facility this man had taken down the nylon and shortly after disappeared without a trace after discovering a vortigaunt trapped within a substation she rescued him and together both alex and the vortigunt rescue the rest of the vortigaunts powering the vault traveling further into the quarantine zone alex manages to gain access to the vault docking station but without the knowledge of how to operate it correctly she pulls the wrong levers and it crashes into the ground due to its force field the vault survives the crash and alex later uses the active tractor beam to enter the vault navigating through the apartment complex now altered by the adjusted physics of the prison ship alex makes her way closer to the center of the vault using her gravity gloves constructed by russell alex is able to manipulate the vortigaunt energy held within the walls striking the elite soldiers with green lightning just like the vortigaunts were able to do in combat with waves of energy traveling around the ship alex has a consistent source of energy to fight through the elite soldiers guarding the central chamber which she then enters with the cage now in front of her and having beat the purpose of the vault alex sees the prisoner trapped within the force field protected cage once again using the gravity gloves to manipulate the vortigaunt energy flowing around the chamber alex makes the decision to overload the cage with energy in doing so the cage shatters freeing the g-man from his prison and generating a new problem for the combine's plan once again with his freedom from his prison the mysterious entity instantly creates a gateway from the vault to an unknown dimension taking his savior alex vance with him with the g-man free and the purpose of the vault now defeated it is unknown what happened to the giant prison ship with the damage from the height that the vault fell from in combination with alex manipulating the power surges within the structure itself it is highly likely that the vault was destroyed merely seconds after the g-man had teleported himself and alex out of the line of fire it is also possible that the combine repaired the structure in the event that they would gain the opportunity to capture the g-man or any of his employers again i ask resistance member if you knew that the g-man was the prisoner inside of the vault would you have freed him or would you have left him in there for as long as you had left on this planet with the half-life universe being a part of the vast multiverse there are some that believe that the vault had never existed in the originally known timeline and that the vault had simply been a construct created in another with the mysterious ways that the g-man and his employers operate it could be entirely possible that this entire timeline was constructed just to hire alex vance so that eli could live in another the dream man could have gotten himself captured to give alex an interview for his organization if this is the case then the future we will return to may also be different due to the various ways that the existence of the vault had created while gordon and eli know that alex had simply been plucked from their timeline others may not the various actions that alex had committed may not have actually happened in this timeline suggesting that in the future of the storyline we may be able to jump to different variations to save alex or even play as alex to get back to her father and gordon while we do not know a lot about the g-man and his employers they may actually be the good guys in this situation simply using the combine for an unknown reason while the vault appears to be no longer in use by the combine it is worth asking what other structures or pieces of technology have they been holding back on using if they have the ability to create a machine as complex as the vault a machine that can mess with gravity beam entire buildings away and mess with the laws of physics why haven't they used it on the resistance or maybe the question we should be asking is are they going to be using it in the potential further installment of this series where we could either play as gordon or alex that was the law behind the vault although we did not get a ton of information about the giant structure during half-life alex it was definitely a fascinating concept to work with and it gives me hope for the next installment for the half-life series while there is not a lot of information to work with i hope this video was still informative and it did give me an excuse to go back into another playthrough of the game if the combine had kept this piece of technology secret just imagine what valve could come up with next maybe something that could give them back access to earth i don't know i think i would take anything at this point half-life alex concluded in such a great way so i am hopeful i am a little disappointed that i could not find any information on what happened to the vault after half-life alex i did take a look at the half-life wiki page but it says that the vault was destroyed so maybe it was if you enjoyed this episode i would really appreciate it if you could leave a like and a comment on your thoughts if you want to see more then please hit that subscribe button if you would like to stay up to date with everything i get up to outside of youtube then go and follow my twitter and instagram i do also stream on both youtube and twitch every friday where we are currently playing through alien isolation and fallout new vegas on alternating weeks the link is in the description if you are interested finally i would like to thank my patrons who are helping to support the channel i really appreciate you thanks to the old gods avi wv arco austin moody brunette jonas and jojo scotia and an extra special thank you to the elder ones tier scruff room jonas lewis and queen arby thank you guys so much what did you think of this lore video did you like the concept of the vault do you think the combine may have other vaults hidden across the planet or even every other planet they have taken over i would love to see a version of the vault return in a future installment or even other pieces of combine technology if they are created to mess with the laws of physics imagine what else they could do if you have any suggestions for future half-life lore videos then please let me know i do have a long list still to get through but the interesting ones seem to always get bummed to the top now resistance member enjoy your day bye [Music] you

Channel: Skyrionn

Views: 363,503

Keywords: half-life, alyx, lore, the vault, gman, citadel, skyrionn

Id: 6tdTJDZ2OW4

Length: 21min 54sec (1314 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 20 2021