10 Things You Didn't Know About Half-Life

6. The Final Boss Of The Game Is Gray Newell As A Baby

barnacles half life
Valve

Here's Gabe again, just casually making Half-Life even more terrifying than it needs to be.

If you've ever beaten Half-Life, you'll know that the final boss fight is one of the weakest, and weirdest parts of the entire game.

You'll face off against a giant floating shrunken-head baby thing called the Nihilanth, the Supreme Leader of the Xen forces that invade earth during the Black Mesa incident.

It's a terrifying enemy to start with, resembling a huge, malformed fetus looking down on you.

But it actually represents a fetus in real life too.

As revealed by Grey Newell, the son of Gabe in an interview with Valve News Network, the Nihilanth in facts represents him.

"The final boss of Half-Life 1, the giant evil baby monster, is supposed to be me. When my mother was in childbirth they were thinking, ‘what’s really scary’? And at the time, having a child seemed to be the most scary thing to everyone.”
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Dan Curtis is approximately one-half videogame knowledge, and the other half inexplicable Geordie accent. He's also one quarter of the Factory Sealed Retro Gaming podcast.