Revision 19155878 of "Antlion (Half-Life 2)" on enwiki

[[Image:Hl2antlion.jpg|thumb|right|195px|An antlion serves as both enemy and ally in ''[[Half-Life 2]]''.]]

'''Antlions''' are a fictional [[extraterrestrial life in popular culture|alien]] species found in the [[first-person shooter]] [[computer game]] ''[[Half-Life 2]]''. Antlions appear in chapters 7 (''Highway 17''), 8 (''Sandtraps''), and 9 (''Nova Prospekt'') of the game.

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Antlions live in underground colonies, typically situated in sandy areas such as beaches. They usually hide under the sand, waiting for anything unlucky to cross its path and then quickly surface and tear it apart. Antlions sense a victim's presence via vibrations transmitted through loose soil or sand; this makes it possible to safely venture through antlion territories by walking solely over foreign items placed on the sand, or by walking across rocks.  If unlucky enough to disturb a swarm of them, temporary refuge may be sought in water, since Antlions quickly die when they come into contact with it.  Antlions also possess the ability to fly short distances.

Antlions are a constant and lethal pest to people living in areas near them, though both the Resistance and the [[Combine (Half-Life 2)|Combine]] have different ways of dealing with them. The resistance uses pheropods, or "bugbait", containing Antlion [[pheromone]]s to control and tame the Antlions. The Combine, however, use "thumpers" - large machines that repeatedly pound the ground and form "safe zones" that Antlions will not cross.

The behaviour of Antlions in respect to sound, vibration and aversion to water is analogous to that of Sandworms in the [[Dune universe]].  However, while the use of Thumpers in the Dune universe attracts Sandworms, Antlions in ''Half-Life 2'' are repelled by the strong vibrations produced by them.

[[Image:HalfLife2 AntlionGuard.jpg|thumb|195px|An Antlion Guard]]

In addition to normal Antlions, there are also '''Antlion Guards'''. These are far larger and stronger than Antlions, and appear to have the ability to issue orders or otherwise control Antlions.  Perhaps unsurprisingly, since it is extracted from glands within their bodies, the pheromone-containing "bugbait" has no effect on Antlion Guards.

In the game, [[Gordon Freeman]] is required to travel along antlion-infested coastlines until he reaches a resistance base.  There he meets a [[vortigaunt]] ally who provides him with a bugbait "gland" from a felled Antlion Guard.  With the help of the bugbait, Gordon goads the Antlions into helping him attack the maximum security prison [[Nova Prospekt]].

The origin of the Antlions is unclear.  The kind of sandy environments they inhabit in ''Half-Life 2'' are not encountered in the border world [[Xen (Half-Life)|Xen]] (the origin of the alien species in ''Half-Life'').  However, as mentioned above, during ''Half-Life 2'' a vortigaunt skillfully harvests pheropods from an Antlion Guard, suggesting familiarity and that Antlions possibly are indigenous to Xen.

[[Category:First-person shooter creatures]]
[[Category:Half-Life characters|Antlion]]