Gman Started the Rebellion?

[Rydon7]

I recently played through Opposing Force again. Great game. But the ending made me think of something.

Warning: Spoilers for All Half-Life Games

Gman said that Black Mesa was an embarrassment. Well, I think that could mean he was working, or at least pretending to work, for the US Government. Why else would he be embarrassed? (Unless he/his employers started it.) But, he also said something else. He said that he didn't want any witnesses, because it was an embarrassment (or because, in the end, he wanted to stop the resonance cascade and still make it appear as though Black Mesa never existed.)

Here are all the people that got away from Black Mesa before the warhead blew it up at the end of Opposing Force, and why the Gman let them get away/why they won't talk about it.
-Gordon Free - Stasis
-Adrian Shepherd - Indefinitely in Stasis
-Barney Calhoun - I don't believe Gman really looked over at Barney. He probably got away because he would be a viable member of the Resistance.
-Scientists that were with Barney - I believe they were all killed shortly(?) after in the 7-hour war.
-Dr. Kliener - He would develop Portal Technology for the Rebellion, and be a leading member. If Gman didn't want a rebellion, why let him get away?
-Dr. Vance - Say as Kliener. Why let him get away if you didn't want a Rebellion.
-Alyx Vance - Gman directly intervened here to save Alyx. Alyx is his tool/messenger, as shown in Episode 2.

I believe Gman wanted the Rebellion so the Combine/Rebels would have a reason to want to employ Gordon Freeman. The Rebels 'bought' him for Half-Life 2, but the Combine (whom he normally wouldn't consider an offer from, probably because as long as there is a fight there is business) gave an even better offer. The Vortigaunts stopped Gman, and got Gordon back. However, I believe they had to focus all their energy to stop Gman. Once they try to revive Alyx, they cannot use all their energy to stop Gman. So, Gman uses this opportunity to use Alyx, and it turns out he saved Alyx just for the purpose of using her.

And I didn't see this theory once I used the search button, so don't yell at me. Please.

 

[LackingSaint]

Anything revealed in Opposing Force is null and void, since, as officially stated, it was developed by Gearbox rather than Valve, and therefore is non-canon.

 

[Rydon7]

It should be noted that Marc Laidlaw has stated when asked that many of the new enemies in Opposing Force (Race x, Gonome, ect...) were creations of Gearbox and therefore are not actualy releveant to the overall Half Life story arc. The main plot occurances, such as the desctruction of Black Mesa, still apply to the overall series.

So if Barney is canon, then I think Adrian is canon.

 

[Barnz]

Anything revealed in Opposing Force is null and void, since, as officially stated, it was developed by Gearbox rather than Valve, and therefore is non-canon.

What makes you think it's not canon?

 

[V-Man339]

Certain things in Opposing Force are canon, it's still debatable as to what is, though.

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

Valve consider Race X non-canon, but Adrian etc. are. I think.

 

[Laivasse]

Laidlaw has given a fairly weasel worded account of whether the Gearbox games are canon or not. Iirc he basically says (to paraphrase) 'sure they are - but [only because?] they have no bearing on the current plot anyway'. I have no doubt, however, that if he felt HL2's story was going in a direction which directly contradicted something Gearbox wrote, he wouldn't give a damn. As such, if it doesn't matter what the Gearbox canon contradicts, I don't think it should be used to support anything either.

For example: BM is nuked. Fine. It is nuked as long as Laidlaw doesn't have some whim to take Freeman back there, or do anything else that contradicts the nuke, which for the moment he has said will not happen. However, by that token we shouldn't speculate along the lines of 'Well since BM got nuked, shouldn't that also mean that.... yadayadayada,' because Laidlaw has said it doesn't have any bearing on the current plot. It's a very tentative kind of 'canon'. I mean, look at Race X. How the hell did they fit in?? Answer: they didn't, there was no story there. Gearbox just wanted a new set of enemies in order to add variety, and iirc Laidlaw has also said as much, albeit in a pretty diplomatic way. So it's like, fine, Race X happened, as long as their existence doesn't **** up or complicate anything for the HL2 storyline as it develops. Which IMO means they may as well not have existed, if they're that irrelevant.

The idea of Barney's character existed before Gearbox made Blue Shift; Barney was any one of the generic security guards you wanted him to be. If you assert that the Barney Calhoun in HL2 is definitively the Barney Calhoun from BS, then that means he didn't meet up with Freeman a single time during the events of HL1, which seems a bit off. Fundamentally: The fact that Barney is still important to the story does not mean that Sheperd is too (or ever was).

Put it this way, I'm pretty certain none of the characters in Episode 3 or HL3 will ever refer to Race X, or to the mysterious heroic marine who cleaned out BM on the heels of Freeman, or to 'Barney''s adventures in Blue Shift, or how lucky they all were to have got clear of the nuke, or whatever. If you want all that to be part of the HL2 universe, it can be. Alternatively, you're completely free to act as if none of it ever happened IMO, and free to ignore any theories that are based largely off of Gearbox material.

@OP - you've got a few things wrong IMO, eg. Gman wanting to stop the Resonance Cascade (he more or less started it). I also don't think his embarrassment is due to any firm tie to the government, but rather because the BM incident became such a huge shitstorm, and as such it was a conspicuous example of his handiwork. Gman doesn't like to be conspicuous - see his statement in Ep 2 about having to operate under certain 'restrictions' this time.

Otherwise I do like the idea that he selected a few key people whom he thought would survive and provide him with a foundation from which to act against the Combine. It seems like the kind of thing he would do. I don't think he's been in any kind of serious contact with them since HL1, however. I'm still very dubious about the whole 'rebels hiring Freeman' thing.

 

[DoctorPhyrexia]

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[Laivasse]

I believe the Gman wanted the resistance to happen as well - But I also believe he brought the Combine to earth on purpose. The only explanation is that he decided to switch sides somewhere.

Not the only explanation - he may have just wanted to instigate the conflict in the first place. After all if the Combine had never enslaved humanity, then Gordon would never have caused them any problems either.