: I was reading through "The Pfhor" page and noticed the section
: talking about whether or not Hunters are really machines or just Pfhor
: with armored plating. I have some evidence from Marathon I which suggests
: that they are indeed machines.
: If you read through the "Terminal 2: 'Success' message" in Cool
: Fusion you will notice Leela's reference to the Hunters taking no
: prisoners: The other Alien was named Hunter by the crew due to its size
: and appearance. It fires an energy weapon from its shoulder
: and is heavily armored. Unlike the Fighters, the Hunters
: never take prisoners.
: This caught my attention because it would make sense for the Hunters to take
: no prisoners if they were machines. It would be incredibly difficult, if
: not impossible, for the Pfhor to program them to take select individuals
: as prisoners. It would be much easier for the Pfhor to simply use them as
: "killing machines" and leave it to the Pfhor fighters to take
: the prisoners.
I don't think Hunters are full machines if at all:
1. The strategy guide says that Hunters are veteran Pfhor warriors who have developed a thicker carapace around them (very likely given the Pfhor's arthropod heritage). This armour is probably enhanced cybernetically/ or via nanotech (making them rough equivalents to the player in Marathon).
2. The howling roar that they make doesn't sound very robotic.
3. Though the green Pfhor blood-like liquid may indeed be hydraulics, if this was true, it's interesting to note that no other robot in the M-thon series "bleeds." Also, if you blow a hunter up, I think you can see bits of organs(?) fly out.
4. They are considered a caste of Pfhor by Leela in that M1 message and later by Tycho in M?.
My interpretation is that Hunters probably don't take prisoners due to some honour code. And as for the infamous eye mismatch? I think it was simply aesthetic stuff that got over looked. The hunter helmet would look pretty dorky if it would fit, wouldn't it? And if it was a robot, wouldn't it have the same eye pattern as the other Pfhor robots?
