G-Man: the True antagonist
- Thread starter mastapenguin
- Start date
When do you think Eli learned of Gordon's situation with the Gman? If Eli thought Gordon was such a force, I don't see him waiting almost 20 years to call on him.
Did Eli know of Gman back in BMRF?
Did the Vortigaunts come across Gman and his involvement with Gordon and the Vortigaunts informed Eli?
Or did Eli know of the Gman and his interest in Gordon all along, but it was only now that Eli was in a position to bargain with the Gman for Gordon's services?
But if the Vortigaunts knew of Gordon before the events of HL2, why didn't they steal him then? Why be in the debt of someone like the Gman, to only go and double cross him later?
Hopefully Ep2 sheds some light on some of these things.
Did Eli know of Gman back in BMRF?
Did the Vortigaunts come across Gman and his involvement with Gordon and the Vortigaunts informed Eli?
Or did Eli know of the Gman and his interest in Gordon all along, but it was only now that Eli was in a position to bargain with the Gman for Gordon's services?
But if the Vortigaunts knew of Gordon before the events of HL2, why didn't they steal him then? Why be in the debt of someone like the Gman, to only go and double cross him later?
Hopefully Ep2 sheds some light on some of these things.
I
imagod284
Guest
No, it didn't occur to Dr. Kliner that Gordon might not have a map.
G
G-man
Guest
No one here has MEN-tioned the fact, that G-man is a slang name for FBI or government agents. G-man means for slang, Government man. I thank wikipedia for that.
Which if it has any meaning, could imply he is some kind of government agent, who is working for a remaining sect of the government to retain the earth.
His motives are of his employers.
Another possibility is that he is a future Gordan Freeman, as his compelixty and look is similar to Gordons except older.
I do believe he is in for himself, and his contractors. I don't think hes trying to save the earth, yet only laying forward his plans and munipulating situations.
Is he bad? No I would not say so.
Is he well aware of what is the affect of his and Gordons interferance, yes.
Is he good, no I would not say that either.
An interesting thing is, when Gordon is teleported into Breens office, for that second. It looks as if G-man's eye is on the screen. Hmm I wonder if Breen was the actual buyer of the contract, he does mention it in the citadal. He obviously is aware of who it is.
Which if it has any meaning, could imply he is some kind of government agent, who is working for a remaining sect of the government to retain the earth.
His motives are of his employers.
Another possibility is that he is a future Gordan Freeman, as his compelixty and look is similar to Gordons except older.
I do believe he is in for himself, and his contractors. I don't think hes trying to save the earth, yet only laying forward his plans and munipulating situations.
Is he bad? No I would not say so.
Is he well aware of what is the affect of his and Gordons interferance, yes.
Is he good, no I would not say that either.
An interesting thing is, when Gordon is teleported into Breens office, for that second. It looks as if G-man's eye is on the screen. Hmm I wonder if Breen was the actual buyer of the contract, he does mention it in the citadal. He obviously is aware of who it is.
Darkside55
The Freeman
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Why should anyone believe what you have to say on the subject? You ARE the G-man.
...Can I have your autograph?
...Can I have your autograph?
Yeah, I think Eli knows something.
Atomic_Piggy
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No, G-Man is not his name, it was simply his model name in the SDK. It has nothing to do with him in reality.
kewlnick12
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I dont know he seemed to be with the government to me.Or some secret department.I mean with all these diffrent clues from the diffrent games he could be anyone.He could be a homeless person with an evil power and purpuse.:flame: Probabley not but you never know.
tibetanpunk
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Gman is a shapeshifting lizard like the ones that crazy dude David Icke always rants about! 
)
I love the Easter eggs of Gman in Half life 2, the way he pops up every now and again on TV screens, or on walkways and stuff and then just disappears into thin air! Awesome!
You shoot that bugger in the head and he just acts like nothing happened...That b*stard!
Advisors, G-man...Exploding, poison-dart shooting, armoured worm cows!!! lol
)I love the Easter eggs of Gman in Half life 2, the way he pops up every now and again on TV screens, or on walkways and stuff and then just disappears into thin air! Awesome!
You shoot that bugger in the head and he just acts like nothing happened...That b*stard!
Advisors, G-man...Exploding, poison-dart shooting, armoured worm cows!!! lol
tibetanpunk
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K...Gman is THE bad guy imo...He hisses like a lizardy type folk, something up there for sure!
He takes away Gordon's free will at the end of Half life by basically putting him in a catch 22 situation..Then places him in stasis.
G-man appears to view Gordon as nothing more than a puppet to be used to his and his 'employers' ends...
Breen knew about G-man and his motives obviously...Maybe Breen works for G-man and his employers and is working undercover amidst the Combine to infiltrate and eventually destroy the combine...
The Vortigaunts appear to see another side to Gordon even though they resent him for killing many of their enslaved brothers (and sisters? hard to tell)...So they have helped him get his 'free will' back in ep.1...
The Vortigaunts appear to have their own agenda, which is much better than G-man's etc. it would seem...And it is essential for them to have the help of Gordon 'The one free man' Freeman for them to achieve their goals..Which would appear to ultimately be freedom from the Combine AND G-man and whoever his 'employers' might be...
Maybe G-man is like some kind of multi-dimensional 'agent' that 'hires out' Gordon to the highest bidder...
There is much more we have to learn about Gordon and his connection to the G-man and the whole multi-dimensional aspect of the story...
He takes away Gordon's free will at the end of Half life by basically putting him in a catch 22 situation..Then places him in stasis.
G-man appears to view Gordon as nothing more than a puppet to be used to his and his 'employers' ends...
Breen knew about G-man and his motives obviously...Maybe Breen works for G-man and his employers and is working undercover amidst the Combine to infiltrate and eventually destroy the combine...
The Vortigaunts appear to see another side to Gordon even though they resent him for killing many of their enslaved brothers (and sisters? hard to tell
)...So they have helped him get his 'free will' back in ep.1...The Vortigaunts appear to have their own agenda, which is much better than G-man's etc. it would seem...And it is essential for them to have the help of Gordon 'The one free man' Freeman for them to achieve their goals..Which would appear to ultimately be freedom from the Combine AND G-man and whoever his 'employers' might be...
Maybe G-man is like some kind of multi-dimensional 'agent' that 'hires out' Gordon to the highest bidder...
There is much more we have to learn about Gordon and his connection to the G-man and the whole multi-dimensional aspect of the story...
J
Jack_Death
Guest
I think the Gman is Combine. He hasn't done anything to confound the combine, and in fact just about everything Gordon has done has only helped the combine. Destroying the citadel only opened up a communication to the combines planet or mothership or whatever, and gordon delaying the core melt down only bought the advisors time to get itno the escape pods and spread out to areas outside of the city they don't control. Plus gordon has exposed the resistance, making it easier for the Combine to find and eliminate/enslave them, plus if you look at the episode 2 trailer there seems to be a massive invasion coming up, further supporting Gordon's action, under the gmans influence has only furthered the Combines cause. Plus in episode one, if the Nehilinth is actually the leader of the vorganth resistance, perhaps even the only thing preventing the Combine from completely enslaving the vorganth than that's just another Gordon has done to help the Combines cause. There has been no evidance to show that the nehilinth works with the combine, and going by the all knowing vorganth they are saddened by his death, and the ones fighting gordon in HL1 didn't seem to be combine, they didn't have any collars or whatever that the enslaved ones had in the sequel. The only problem with that theory is that the vorganth keep referring to gordon as a liberator.
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There are so many things wrong with this post that I'll have to do this bit-by-bit.
Welcome to the forums. :thumbs:
Like killing dozens of its troops, causing a rebellion in one of their realms and destroying their only local-teleportation device?Jack_Death said:
Communication between Earth and other Combine worlds was already good and established, as demonstraited at the end of Half-Life 2, when they open a portal to a Combine world to allow Breen and some gunships through. In bringing down the core Gordon effectivly closed all communications between Earth and other Combine worlds, except for their final message which they sent through when the citadel exploded. Perhaps they will be able to re-establish communications using the "super-portal" that the destruction of the citadel has caused. We don't really know yet.Jack_Death said:
They were already in the escape pods, as seen in the advisor room in Undue Alarm. They seemed to be waiting until the citadel exploded. I don't know why. Maybe it was because they wanted to see that there were no more interuptions by human forces so they stayed till the last possible momment, or maybe they were using the explosion to ride out of the citadel.Jack_Death said:
The Combine was well aware of the resistance. Breen even says this in his speech at Nova Prospekt. They could have struck at them at any time, but didn't because they wanted the resistance to finish their portal tech first, so they could steal it. I imagine promisses from Mossman, and maybe Breen, also kept them at bay for some time. If you pay attention to Route Kanal through Sandtraps you'll notice that the Combine are able to strategicly attack almost every single rebel outpost and section of the railroad you come across. They already knew where everything was, they were just waiting for the order.Jack_Death said:
All the forces we've seen in the EP2 trailers were already on Earth, it's not a new invasion, it's just a re-deployment of the local Combine forces.Jack_Death said:
How does destroying their local HQ help support an invasion?Jack_Death said:
This last bit confuses the hell out me so I'm not going to try to respond.Jack_Death said:
Welcome to the forums. :thumbs:
B
Beefdawg
Guest
u know what i think lol? Hl2 creators put him in there for fun and now have no idea what to do with him
R
Radu_Freeman
Guest
In the comment section of the "npc_gman.cpp" file of the Source SDK, Valve writes the following: "// Purpose: The G-Man, misunderstood servant of the people."
Thanks to the all-mighty Wikipedia,so he is a servant of the people,what i think:
Gman is an agent that works for an alien agency that seeks world peace,Gman was send to Black Mesa to stop "the Black Mesa incident" becasue thy knew what would hapen,because he failed he recived a new mision,to make sure gordon survives and saves the world from the Combine in the future,Gordon just had to show the door,the people had to enter on their own,so he destroied the Citadel,and then Gman took him for when his time will come again,Gman didn't had the brief case at the begining of Ep 1 because he was just visiting Tordon,i bet in those 20 yrs of waiting he visited Gordon,at least once to cut his hair ,and he didn't had any files about the next asigment for Gordon,anyway it's just my idea at this moment it may change....
Any way Gman is NOT bad,i'm not saying his good either,he may be neutral,or work for the "highest bidder"
Thanks to the all-mighty Wikipedia,so he is a servant of the people,what i think:
Gman is an agent that works for an alien agency that seeks world peace,Gman was send to Black Mesa to stop "the Black Mesa incident" becasue thy knew what would hapen,because he failed he recived a new mision,to make sure gordon survives and saves the world from the Combine in the future,Gordon just had to show the door,the people had to enter on their own,so he destroied the Citadel,and then Gman took him for when his time will come again,Gman didn't had the brief case at the begining of Ep 1 because he was just visiting Tordon,i bet in those 20 yrs of waiting he visited Gordon,at least once to cut his hair
,and he didn't had any files about the next asigment for Gordon,anyway it's just my idea at this moment it may change....Any way Gman is NOT bad,i'm not saying his good either,he may be neutral,or work for the "highest bidder"
O
Orgror
Guest
G-Man just an Intergalactic Business man
Well, i think that the G-Man is not good, nor bad, at least no for the humans. He sees all the races and conflicts that we see just as an oportunitty to to gain profit (we cant know what the G-man understand as profit).
I will take the opportunity of this thread to post a theory that I have been thinking for a lot of time.
English is not my mother language, and i know that i am difficult to read, but please give it a try.
This theory is written in chronological time (most of the dates are just simbloic) and try to explain the main plot of the Half life 2 series, as weel as the G-Man particular role in all we now.
-X Time in the past;
The Universal Union start conquering planets and enslaving alien races transforming them into Synth, this conquest take place in the systems and planets that are near their homeworld.
-X+300
With complete control of the planets, The Universal Uni?n becomes the Combine Empire, and continues the explorations of new systems and races.
Some when in this time the Combine start travelling longer and longer . They contact the Vortigaunts, a race that seems to have telepathic powers and a society of castes, in witch the Nihilanths are the governors and administrators.
-X+320
The Combine study the Vortigaunt race. It become clear to them that this race is a advanced one, and that their powers and abilities can serve them extremely well. The Vortigaunts and Nihilanths seems to know the secret of dimension travel (or the ability to travel long distances in space using this dimension travel trough a Broder World).
X+323
The Combine-Vortigaunt war began, although the Vortigaunts have no armies or weapons to defend themselves against the Combine aggression, the war is not a quick victory for the Combine, and the assimilation of this new race is slow.
In order to destroy the coordination of the vortigaunts defense, the Combine starts killing the Nihilanths.
After years of war the Combine starts winning, and the last Nihilanth and the vortigaunts remains abandon their planet and dimesion and seek refuge in Xen, the Border World.
X+325
The last Nihilanth and the remnants of his race strats to rebuild their society, but the fear of a new Combine invasion makes him paranoid. He enslave his own people, thinking that the only way to survive is acting like is enemies. He creates the Vortigaunts Slaves, the Controles (to control them) and a new military, the Grunt (something like the Combine Synths).
With his new dictatorial society the Nihilanth closes the Border World using his powers, preventing any travel through dimensions.
Meanwhile, the Combine at last complete their understanding of the dimesion-travel and the advances in that matter done by their newly conquested race. But after a few attempts, they realise that some powerful being is blocking the border world, preventing them to adventure to other dimensions, and so, to assimilate new races and worlds into their empire.
X+ 330
The combine make a contract with an mysterious agent (we know him as the G-Man), he promises that in no time the Combine can start their new conquests, he is going to solve that problem in the Border World.
1993
Black Mesa begins the teleportation experiments, only to discover that they not only travel in space, but in dimensions. They discover a new dimension, the Border World, a bottle neck for all the dimension travel. The Nihilanth can?t stop them reaching Xen, be it because the humans use a different mode of technology or method unknown for the Nihilanth and the Combine (they used the same as the Nihilanth) or be it because the Nihilanth was only blocking the dimesion travel for the Combine Dimension.
1995
G-man orchestrates the experiment at Black Mesa, resulting in the Nihilanth death and the consequent Combine invasion of Xen.
G-man sees how a single human is able to kill dozens of Vortigaunts soldiers, salve, controller and the last Nihililanth ( a being, in theory, much more evolutionated and dangerous than a human) and take Gordon Freeman into custody, thinking that he can be of good use in the future for new contracts.
200x
The Combine empire start again their assimilation of new worlds and the 7 hours war began. After conquering earth they travel to other dimensions to continue their exploration.
200x+x
G-Man make another contract, either by the human resistance in earth or by other beings, he releases Freeman to put an end in the Combine occupation on earth.
Half lfie 2+ Episodes
This theory is the one that have puts all my questions to rest (The Nihilanth voices in HL1 "I am the last, the last"... " He will lie to you... to you", the G-Man s speech at the end of HL2 "We have taken control of the Border World", and all that happens in HL2 and episodes seems for now, at least not to contradict this theory), but i want to ear what you guys think.
Well, i think that the G-Man is not good, nor bad, at least no for the humans. He sees all the races and conflicts that we see just as an oportunitty to to gain profit (we cant know what the G-man understand as profit).
I will take the opportunity of this thread to post a theory that I have been thinking for a lot of time.
English is not my mother language, and i know that i am difficult to read, but please give it a try
.This theory is written in chronological time (most of the dates are just simbloic) and try to explain the main plot of the Half life 2 series, as weel as the G-Man particular role in all we now.
-X Time in the past;
The Universal Union start conquering planets and enslaving alien races transforming them into Synth, this conquest take place in the systems and planets that are near their homeworld.
-X+300
With complete control of the planets, The Universal Uni?n becomes the Combine Empire, and continues the explorations of new systems and races.
Some when in this time the Combine start travelling longer and longer . They contact the Vortigaunts, a race that seems to have telepathic powers and a society of castes, in witch the Nihilanths are the governors and administrators.
-X+320
The Combine study the Vortigaunt race. It become clear to them that this race is a advanced one, and that their powers and abilities can serve them extremely well. The Vortigaunts and Nihilanths seems to know the secret of dimension travel (or the ability to travel long distances in space using this dimension travel trough a Broder World).
X+323
The Combine-Vortigaunt war began, although the Vortigaunts have no armies or weapons to defend themselves against the Combine aggression, the war is not a quick victory for the Combine, and the assimilation of this new race is slow.
In order to destroy the coordination of the vortigaunts defense, the Combine starts killing the Nihilanths.
After years of war the Combine starts winning, and the last Nihilanth and the vortigaunts remains abandon their planet and dimesion and seek refuge in Xen, the Border World.
X+325
The last Nihilanth and the remnants of his race strats to rebuild their society, but the fear of a new Combine invasion makes him paranoid. He enslave his own people, thinking that the only way to survive is acting like is enemies. He creates the Vortigaunts Slaves, the Controles (to control them) and a new military, the Grunt (something like the Combine Synths).
With his new dictatorial society the Nihilanth closes the Border World using his powers, preventing any travel through dimensions.
Meanwhile, the Combine at last complete their understanding of the dimesion-travel and the advances in that matter done by their newly conquested race. But after a few attempts, they realise that some powerful being is blocking the border world, preventing them to adventure to other dimensions, and so, to assimilate new races and worlds into their empire.
X+ 330
The combine make a contract with an mysterious agent (we know him as the G-Man), he promises that in no time the Combine can start their new conquests, he is going to solve that problem in the Border World.
1993
Black Mesa begins the teleportation experiments, only to discover that they not only travel in space, but in dimensions. They discover a new dimension, the Border World, a bottle neck for all the dimension travel. The Nihilanth can?t stop them reaching Xen, be it because the humans use a different mode of technology or method unknown for the Nihilanth and the Combine (they used the same as the Nihilanth) or be it because the Nihilanth was only blocking the dimesion travel for the Combine Dimension.
1995
G-man orchestrates the experiment at Black Mesa, resulting in the Nihilanth death and the consequent Combine invasion of Xen.
G-man sees how a single human is able to kill dozens of Vortigaunts soldiers, salve, controller and the last Nihililanth ( a being, in theory, much more evolutionated and dangerous than a human) and take Gordon Freeman into custody, thinking that he can be of good use in the future for new contracts.
200x
The Combine empire start again their assimilation of new worlds and the 7 hours war began. After conquering earth they travel to other dimensions to continue their exploration.
200x+x
G-Man make another contract, either by the human resistance in earth or by other beings, he releases Freeman to put an end in the Combine occupation on earth.
Half lfie 2+ Episodes
This theory is the one that have puts all my questions to rest (The Nihilanth voices in HL1 "I am the last, the last"... " He will lie to you... to you", the G-Man s speech at the end of HL2 "We have taken control of the Border World", and all that happens in HL2 and episodes seems for now, at least not to contradict this theory), but i want to ear what you guys think.
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Your theory is basically the same as mine, Orgror. I'd just like to point out one thing though:
The teleportation isn't just about moving between large areas of space instantaneously (In fact, the Combine don't see to be able to do this at all) but to move between different universes.
Anyway, welcome to the forums. I assure you, your post is quite readable and much better than some I've seen from some people whose first language is English.
The teleportation isn't just about moving between large areas of space instantaneously (In fact, the Combine don't see to be able to do this at all) but to move between different universes.
Anyway, welcome to the forums. I assure you, your post is quite readable and much better than some I've seen from some people whose first language is English.
T
Tyrone Slothrop
Guest
Dude, G-Man is obviously Adrian Shepard from the future.
But seriously, does anyone have any actual sound evidence that G-Man is anything other than exactly what he appears/ claims to be? I.e. a (current in HL1, maybe former in HL2) representative of some secretive arm of the U.S. government? Or some higher-dimensional/metaversal agency that either corresponds to or includes the U.S. government?
Yes, there's a lot of unknowns, but the whole half-life storyline never seemed particularly convoluted to me. Basically:
Gordon shows up late to work one day when his lab happens to be testing an unknown specimen using methods that are somewhat controversial among his colleagues (due to a potential resonance cascade.) 'Someone' (including but not limited to the then-unnamed BM Administrator )really wants the data and doesn't care about the risk. There's a "Man in Black" running around (this was the 90's, after all; HL1 basically took the premise of Doom and plugged in a bunch of pop-culture mythology about government/alien conspiracies) who clearly knows more than anyone else does. He seems to be there to make sure the Anomalous Materials people go through with the test. (arguing with the scientist, etc.)
The shit, obviously, hits the fan...
Gordon makes his way through the facility kicking ass, discovering along the way that Black Mesa personnel have been collecting Xen life-forms for study, and that the government would rather not see anyone escape the facility to talk about what happened there.
Finally, Gordon stops the invasion by killing the Nihilanth, and has a climactic meeting with the MIB who's been just out of reach the whole time. The MIB/G-Man reveals that 'his employers' actually wanted to eliminate the Nihilanth and take over Xen. (If we're going to take OpFor as canon, which I don't, this is probably the mysterious mission that the HECU was training for.) Maybe they engineered the Res. Cascade, maybe not, but the whole thing worked out well for them either way.
And by the way, "I took the liberty of relieving you of your weapons. They are government property, after all..." seems pretty clear to me: the guy works for the government, just maybe not any branch of the government that the general public would be familiar with. Since Gordon turned to be pretty useful, G-Man offers him a job. Since Gordon's suit is "full of tracking devices," whoever's monitoring those would have a lot information on how he was doing. (And obviously did, as you find out when you do something stupid and they terminate the evaluation)
Fast forward twenty years, and a lot more shit has hit the fan. It turns out that HL1 Earth people at BM aren't the only ones who have figured out how to travel between universes. That Earth's been invaded by a faction that's been doing it for a bit longer and has created an interdimensional "empire."
*side note: the Combine could just as easily have evolved on an alternate version of Earth as be "aliens" from another planet who conquered an entire universe. In fact, you see this more and more in science fiction (like that godawful show Sliders with the 'Cro-Maggs;' anyone remember that?) since it actually presents fewer problems when suspending disbelief than the old saw about spacemen from other planets: the Universe is pretty big, and we still haven't found even a single other planet anywhere that would support human-like organic life. It would be a pretty big gamble to go travelling interstellar distances looking for people to enslave if you can't be sure there's anything of value to you out there to begin with. On the other hand, if you can jump from your home in one reality to the same place in a similar reality, you'd probably find an environment that was pretty suitable, since three-dimensionally speaking it's the same place, just with (compared to other stars and planets) slight differences. If I was the overlord of some expansionist superpower with advanced technology that needed to conquer someone to survive and expand, I'd probably choose to go with the interdimensional option rather than go flying around space hoping to find something I can use.
Anyway, apparently the G-Man decides it's time to break Gordon out of storage, since some unspecified recent development (Probably Kleiner and Vance figuring out reliable local teleportation) means that "the right man in the wrong place" can now do some serious damage. Gordon proceeds to kick some more ass...
The whole 'contract' thing with Breen seems like its related to G-Man's comments about "these interesting times" at the end of the game. Maybe he's not sure who's going to come out on top so he's entertaining the idea of switching sides, or going freelance. Since I don't see why Breen would want his Citadel destroyed, it seems logical that he just couldn't make G-Man a better offer than whoever he was already working for.
So, basically, I think the G-Man is anti-Combine (again, for unknown reasons, but clearly so), but that doesn't mean he wants to just turn Gordon loose. He's not happy about the Vortiguants (who also might have their own agenda vis-a-vis "our"/ standard Earth) interfering with his operation, but I wouldn't be either if I'd put a lot of thought into how to go about things.
I'm sure there's more to the story than Valve has revealed so far, but up until now I don't see any reason to go crazy speculating about everybody having ulterior motives that contradict the story so far. I'm just gonna go with it and see what Valve does to fill in the blanks.
But seriously, does anyone have any actual sound evidence that G-Man is anything other than exactly what he appears/ claims to be? I.e. a (current in HL1, maybe former in HL2) representative of some secretive arm of the U.S. government? Or some higher-dimensional/metaversal agency that either corresponds to or includes the U.S. government?
Yes, there's a lot of unknowns, but the whole half-life storyline never seemed particularly convoluted to me. Basically:
Gordon shows up late to work one day when his lab happens to be testing an unknown specimen using methods that are somewhat controversial among his colleagues (due to a potential resonance cascade.) 'Someone' (including but not limited to the then-unnamed BM Administrator )really wants the data and doesn't care about the risk. There's a "Man in Black" running around (this was the 90's, after all; HL1 basically took the premise of Doom and plugged in a bunch of pop-culture mythology about government/alien conspiracies) who clearly knows more than anyone else does. He seems to be there to make sure the Anomalous Materials people go through with the test. (arguing with the scientist, etc.)
The shit, obviously, hits the fan...
Gordon makes his way through the facility kicking ass, discovering along the way that Black Mesa personnel have been collecting Xen life-forms for study, and that the government would rather not see anyone escape the facility to talk about what happened there.
Finally, Gordon stops the invasion by killing the Nihilanth, and has a climactic meeting with the MIB who's been just out of reach the whole time. The MIB/G-Man reveals that 'his employers' actually wanted to eliminate the Nihilanth and take over Xen. (If we're going to take OpFor as canon, which I don't, this is probably the mysterious mission that the HECU was training for.) Maybe they engineered the Res. Cascade, maybe not, but the whole thing worked out well for them either way.
And by the way, "I took the liberty of relieving you of your weapons. They are government property, after all..." seems pretty clear to me: the guy works for the government, just maybe not any branch of the government that the general public would be familiar with. Since Gordon turned to be pretty useful, G-Man offers him a job. Since Gordon's suit is "full of tracking devices," whoever's monitoring those would have a lot information on how he was doing. (And obviously did, as you find out when you do something stupid and they terminate the evaluation)
Fast forward twenty years, and a lot more shit has hit the fan. It turns out that HL1 Earth people at BM aren't the only ones who have figured out how to travel between universes. That Earth's been invaded by a faction that's been doing it for a bit longer and has created an interdimensional "empire."
*side note: the Combine could just as easily have evolved on an alternate version of Earth as be "aliens" from another planet who conquered an entire universe. In fact, you see this more and more in science fiction (like that godawful show Sliders with the 'Cro-Maggs;' anyone remember that?) since it actually presents fewer problems when suspending disbelief than the old saw about spacemen from other planets: the Universe is pretty big, and we still haven't found even a single other planet anywhere that would support human-like organic life. It would be a pretty big gamble to go travelling interstellar distances looking for people to enslave if you can't be sure there's anything of value to you out there to begin with. On the other hand, if you can jump from your home in one reality to the same place in a similar reality, you'd probably find an environment that was pretty suitable, since three-dimensionally speaking it's the same place, just with (compared to other stars and planets) slight differences. If I was the overlord of some expansionist superpower with advanced technology that needed to conquer someone to survive and expand, I'd probably choose to go with the interdimensional option rather than go flying around space hoping to find something I can use.
Anyway, apparently the G-Man decides it's time to break Gordon out of storage, since some unspecified recent development (Probably Kleiner and Vance figuring out reliable local teleportation) means that "the right man in the wrong place" can now do some serious damage. Gordon proceeds to kick some more ass...
The whole 'contract' thing with Breen seems like its related to G-Man's comments about "these interesting times" at the end of the game. Maybe he's not sure who's going to come out on top so he's entertaining the idea of switching sides, or going freelance. Since I don't see why Breen would want his Citadel destroyed, it seems logical that he just couldn't make G-Man a better offer than whoever he was already working for.
So, basically, I think the G-Man is anti-Combine (again, for unknown reasons, but clearly so), but that doesn't mean he wants to just turn Gordon loose. He's not happy about the Vortiguants (who also might have their own agenda vis-a-vis "our"/ standard Earth) interfering with his operation, but I wouldn't be either if I'd put a lot of thought into how to go about things.
I'm sure there's more to the story than Valve has revealed so far, but up until now I don't see any reason to go crazy speculating about everybody having ulterior motives that contradict the story so far. I'm just gonna go with it and see what Valve does to fill in the blanks.
T
Tyrone Slothrop
Guest
heheh. Long-ass post. Sorry. Quickly, here's what I've been rolling around in my head as far as unsupported conjecture:
Half-life 1 was pretty topical, and Valve obviously knew what they were doing by pitting the player against both an alien invasion force and a murderous, secretive government (again, it's the 90's; everybody's loving the X-Files, etc....)
So I can't believe they just randomly decided to switch up the aesthetic and go with the whole Iron Curtain Communism motif just for shits and giggles. My theory: we're looking at a Cold War type situation.
Think about it--you and your main adversary are roughly on par with each other in terms of conventional military strength; nobody's going to win an all-out direct war. So what do you do? You try to undermine their interests indirectly through proxy wars. You find somebody in one of their territories or client states (think Vietnam, Afghanistan, Nicaragua) that would like to get rid of them and you quietly support the local opposition hoping you can tip the balance in your favor.
This is exactly how the CIA and KGB operated: assign "case managers" to promising locals and encourage them to stir up shit to make things harder for your main enemy. The locals don't have to know your true objectives, or even have any great love for you (bin Laden accepted American help against the Soviets, but he's not exactly a big fan of America either); you give them just what they need when it can make a difference. Like, say, in Afghanistan, where the anti-Soviet jihadists mainly wanted American hand-held missiles they could use against Russian gunships. Sound familiar yet?
So, given that we're talking about hopping around between different universes and the G-Man obviously has access to technology (keep in mind Asimov's aphorism about sufficiently advanced science being indistinguishable from "magic") that's way beyond anything on Gordon's home version of Earth, I kind of think we're going to find out that the G-Man's a local "case worker" representing the Combine's main competition in the interdimensional-superpower game, whoever that may be. It wouldn't be inconsistent with their plans to have placed agents (or recruited people) high-up in the most powerful pre-invasion government on Earth if they knew the Combine wanted Earth or might want it in the future.
Eh? Eh? Am I way off-base here?
Half-life 1 was pretty topical, and Valve obviously knew what they were doing by pitting the player against both an alien invasion force and a murderous, secretive government (again, it's the 90's; everybody's loving the X-Files, etc....)
So I can't believe they just randomly decided to switch up the aesthetic and go with the whole Iron Curtain Communism motif just for shits and giggles. My theory: we're looking at a Cold War type situation.
Think about it--you and your main adversary are roughly on par with each other in terms of conventional military strength; nobody's going to win an all-out direct war. So what do you do? You try to undermine their interests indirectly through proxy wars. You find somebody in one of their territories or client states (think Vietnam, Afghanistan, Nicaragua) that would like to get rid of them and you quietly support the local opposition hoping you can tip the balance in your favor.
This is exactly how the CIA and KGB operated: assign "case managers" to promising locals and encourage them to stir up shit to make things harder for your main enemy. The locals don't have to know your true objectives, or even have any great love for you (bin Laden accepted American help against the Soviets, but he's not exactly a big fan of America either); you give them just what they need when it can make a difference. Like, say, in Afghanistan, where the anti-Soviet jihadists mainly wanted American hand-held missiles they could use against Russian gunships. Sound familiar yet?
So, given that we're talking about hopping around between different universes and the G-Man obviously has access to technology (keep in mind Asimov's aphorism about sufficiently advanced science being indistinguishable from "magic") that's way beyond anything on Gordon's home version of Earth, I kind of think we're going to find out that the G-Man's a local "case worker" representing the Combine's main competition in the interdimensional-superpower game, whoever that may be. It wouldn't be inconsistent with their plans to have placed agents (or recruited people) high-up in the most powerful pre-invasion government on Earth if they knew the Combine wanted Earth or might want it in the future.
Eh? Eh? Am I way off-base here?
Laivasse
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I thought I was going to end up posting a politely worded 'sounds like nonsense' post, until you led into your conclusion:
This would solve all the problems people are having in squaring G-Man's obvious sinister nature with the seemingly altruistic behaviour of aiding humanity against the Combine. After all, if he is responsible for the resonance cascade, the Xenian infestation, the portal storms and (indirectly) the Combine invasion then G-Man is the key factor in the general ruination of earth and loss of billions (?) of human lives.
IMO it's just a great thing for the plot if we find out that we've been the pawn all along of some competitor of the Combine; it works as an emotional shock to the player if we find out we've been working to further the interests of a force even more pernicious and powerful (although in different ways) than the ole Universal Union. It would really make us examine our actions all throughout the series in the same way people often say that that line of Breen's does in HL2 ("What have you created? Can you name even one thing?"). It fits the bleak and oppressive tone that's been established throughout the series - ie. you're never triumphant and deserving of a breather, you just have new disasters to face. Plus it leaves the story nicely open for a juicy big new concluding section, in HL3, where we'd come into direct conflict with G-Man and whatever he's supposed to represent. I'd LOVE it to work like this, but we'll just have to see what Laidlaw's going to go with.
...which happens to be very much along the lines of what I think would be a a very cool plot development for G-Man. If you extrapolate this theory backwards far enough, you could say that the whole Resonance Cascade was a set up by G-Man and his backers for the purpose of engineering an encounter between humanity and the Combine in the first place.Tyrone Slothrop said:
This would solve all the problems people are having in squaring G-Man's obvious sinister nature with the seemingly altruistic behaviour of aiding humanity against the Combine. After all, if he is responsible for the resonance cascade, the Xenian infestation, the portal storms and (indirectly) the Combine invasion then G-Man is the key factor in the general ruination of earth and loss of billions (?) of human lives.
IMO it's just a great thing for the plot if we find out that we've been the pawn all along of some competitor of the Combine; it works as an emotional shock to the player if we find out we've been working to further the interests of a force even more pernicious and powerful (although in different ways) than the ole Universal Union. It would really make us examine our actions all throughout the series in the same way people often say that that line of Breen's does in HL2 ("What have you created? Can you name even one thing?"). It fits the bleak and oppressive tone that's been established throughout the series - ie. you're never triumphant and deserving of a breather, you just have new disasters to face. Plus it leaves the story nicely open for a juicy big new concluding section, in HL3, where we'd come into direct conflict with G-Man and whatever he's supposed to represent. I'd LOVE it to work like this, but we'll just have to see what Laidlaw's going to go with.
