GMans Offer

[Haze]

“Gordon Freeman, in the flesh, or rather in the hazard suit. I took the liberty of relieving you of your weapons... Most of them were government property. As for the suit, I think you've earned it. The border world Xen is in our control for the time being thanks to you, quite a nasty piece of work you've managed over there, I am impressed. That’s why I'm here Mr. Freeman, I have recommended your services to my... Employers... And they have authorized me to offer you a job. They agree with me that you have limitless potential. You've proved yourself a decisive man so I don’t expect you will have any trouble deciding what to do. If your interested just step into the portal and I will take that as a yes… Otherwise… Well… I can offer you a battle you have no chance of winning. Rather an anti-climax after what you’ve just survived.”

I thought that a few things have been overlooked from this statement. First of all he said the border world is under OUR control. This means he has to be working for earth, Black Mesa or the military since they control it. Second, he said THEY for his employers, which means they are more than one person. Third, he has spoken to his employers after what happened since he said ‘they agree with me.’
And the most interesting part is ‘they have authorized me to offer you a job’. Since the next thing Gordon does is defeat the Combine in about 10 years later, does this mean his employers KNEW that would happen?
Just thought I would say because I have seen questions about G-Man that can be answered in this speech.

 

[kupocake]

I thought that a few things have been overlooked from this statement. First of all he said the border world is under OUR control. This means he has to be working for earth, Black Mesa or the military since they control it.

How so? Just because the Nihlianth has been defeated by a human, doesn't mean that Humanity has claimed the borderworld. The only evidence for Human occupation is the wreckage of Human vehicles under a Xen sky (which bizarrely looms over what appears to be a desert - something we never saw on Xen whilst we walked through it - this casts a major doubt over the "Human occupation of Xen", which already seems strange... how did we manage to get vehicles there in the first place?).

A third power may have taken control of the Borderworld after the Humans made the opening by killing the Nihlianth. The G-man claims to represent this power, but can we even believe him in that?

Second, he said THEY for his employers, which means they are more than one person. Third, he has spoken to his employers after what happened since he said ‘they agree with me.’

Never read much into the words of a man that you don't know if you can trust. It would be in his interests to gain Freeman's trust, and that may be best achieved by claiming that he has power behind him which may not actually exist. A long shot, but little to nothing can be concretely claimed from the G-Man's words. The character's purpose is to lead you on and his speeches are intentionally abstract and confusing.

And the most interesting part is ‘they have authorized me to offer you a job’. Since the next thing Gordon does is defeat the Combine in about 10 years later, does this mean his employers KNEW that would happen?

No-One knows for sure, but it does seem very much like that. At no point does the G-Man explicitly guide you towards destroying the Citadel: his only words prior to its destruction offer no idea of what your objective is. To explain his seeming omnipotence, perhaps the G-Man is more mundanely a master of prediction rather than simply knowing the future: i.e. by setting Freeman off at the right time, he is likely to fall into the company of the Science Team that will surely steer him towards destroying the Citadel which is among their goals should it ever become a possibility. Such an explanation would be relied on should the G-Man turn out to be an enemy ("I don't believe in all that fate bullshit")

 

[ríomhaire]

I think the tanks with Xen skyline is actually the desert outside BM during the portal storms.

No-One knows for sure, but it does seem very much like that. At no point does the G-Man explicitly guide you towards destroying the Citadel: his only words prior to its destruction offer no idea of what your objective is. To explain his seeming omnipotence, perhaps the G-Man is more mundanely a master of prediction rather than simply knowing the future: i.e. by setting Freeman off at the right time, he is likely to fall into the company of the Science Team that will surely steer him towards destroying the Citadel which is among their goals should it ever become a possibility. Such an explanation would be relied on should the G-Man turn out to be an enemy ("I don't believe in all that fate bullshit")

The g-man reminds me of the Metallica song, Master of Puppets

Master of Puppets I'm pulling your strings
twisting your mind and smashing your dreams
Blinded by me, you can't see a thing
Just call my name, `cause I'll hear you scream

 

[LoB]

Indeed most of what the G-man tells Gordon can't be taken for granted. For all we know it could be in his best interest and that of his employers that Gordon is kept unknowing and unwilling to fight back.

Pretty much all discussion about the G-man has only resulted in more speculation, and no answer, be it from a forum poster or VALVe, will ever please everyone. But don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we shouldn't speculate, it's what keeps the game alive.

Sorry for diverting from the main topic.

That being said, I wouldn't be so sure that mankind was the one to control Xen at the end of HL 1.. The destroyed-tanks and dead soldiers scene was weird. It looked like an Earth desert with a Xen skybox, and it has been discussed before. I think the reason for the weird landscape is that the HL 1 engine didn't have the ability to switch skyboxes in the same map, or at least I remember reading something like that.

Also, if humanity had taken Xen, wouldn't the Combine take-over be much more difficult? They took over Earth in 7 hours. Now, if mankind had troops on Xen, couldn't they have taken advantage of the portal storms to strike at the invading Combine?

Which brings me to another point. If mankind was in control of Xen, how come Earth was overrun by the creatures sent forth by the portal storms in-between HL 1 and HL 2?

Although I will admit the possibility of the G-man having been talking about the vortigaunts and the vortessence when he mentioned being in control of Xen, although I highly doubt it.

On the matter of Gordon's purpose, I think no one has a clear idea of what the G-man's employers had in mind for him, although the toppling of the Combine seems to be a part of their goals.

EDIT: On a sidenote, Winamp seems to have quite the sense of irony, because as I was typing this (roughly at the same time as ríomhaire since I couldn't see his post) that was the song I was listening to

 

[kupocake]

I think the tanks with Xen skyline is actually the desert outside BM during the portal storms.

That's a view I've held myself for a while now. A human invasion force going to Xen just seems so logistically strange and unlikely, and the landscape (barring the sky) looks too earth-like for that to be Xen. The idea that they meant to have a more appropriate skybox seems possible, but to do such a thing is a little sloppy (why not just do another scene?). Of course, the trip-tastic nature of the G-Man encounters mean that it isn't necessary literally a "Xen sky looming over the earth" image: it could just be a figurative attempt by the G-Man to explain to Freeman the implications of what he has achieved.

One day, we'll know who the G-Man is, and what the hell he wants with us. Until that day, the Rumours and Speculation forum will have plenty to discuss ^^

 

[ríomhaire]

I think the g-man is completely truthful in everything he says. No real reason I just do.

 

[kupocake]

I think the g-man is completely truthful in everything he says. No real reason I just do.

Even that would be an interesting and unexpected twist. You're just waiting for him to betray you, turn out to be a combine or whatever, and he turns out to be just a good, honest philanthropic entity . I'm not so sure i'd believe that myself, but he may be a very good white liar.

 

[LoB]

I think the g-man is completely truthful in everything he says. No real reason I just do.

Hmm... That is an interesting viewpoint. If anyone can pull a twist (or a lack thereof) like that it's VALVe.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see (how I loathe doing that).

 

[Mith']

G-man reminds me of "Sad But True" also by Metallica
http://www.darklyrics.com/lyrics/metallica/metallicablackalbum.html#2
And I don't think the G-man is a liar, he seems like the guy that instead avoids the subject... And he says what he is supposed to say, nothing more. (" ...well, I'm really not at liberty to say.")

 

[Haze]

'No-One knows for sure, but it does seem very much like that. At no point does the G-Man explicitly guide you towards destroying the Citadel'

I know, but I ment that the 'employers' knew Gordon was for that job, not that they knew the outcome of it, just that they knew Gordon would be the person to help them or to do this job.

What you guys need to remember is that when Half Life 1 came out nobody knew it would create such a story line or climax, Seirra just presumed it would be another game and not 'the best game ever made' as its turned out to be. They probably didnt take to much attention to the details of what GMan said, if they had known their would be so many rumors about it they might of made what he said more clear.

for example you say that gman could be fooling gordon into thinking their are more than one employers, I dont think that seirra would be clever anough to make his say that and make him meen to fool gordon. No offence to them but they never knew of all this speculation their games would create.

This reson goes towards 'under our control' as well, mabey he didnt meen earth but he did meen it was under control, for example earth was not under threat. therefor the employers must be for earths wellbeing, either that or they are making gordon go through the whole eposode to gain his trust when in fact they work for the 'enemy' or whoever that would be.

I think in all reality gman is just a federal agent that knows a lot more than hes lettting on, hes just some FBI agent thats not at liberty to devolge any information but knows that gordon is used for the jobs.
I know its not that spectaculer and its kinda dull but the simple answers are sometimes the right ones, especialy since seirra never really ment for us to speculate so much otherwise they may have hidden it more and not made him look like a fed (black suit, not at liberty to say, THE VOICE, etc.)

 

[Cole]

You act as if he has a set of employers...or something..
Breen mentions a contract for gordons services. The Rebels probably had gordons contract for his services. Gordon is a tool.... Gman is just a lender..

 

[r2000]

You act as if he has a set of employers...or something..
Breen mentions a contract for gordons services. The Rebels probably had gordons contract for his services. Gordon is a tool.... Gman is just a lender..

Possible. Very likely. The G_man knew the portal storms would occur. He just stood by to pick up the people he felt could be of use. In the end, only Freeman and Shepard were saved. And Shepard was exiled.
I do believe, the view of tanks and other dead solidiers in the desert, was the 7 hours war. I believe we had the Resonance Cascade. We were invaded by Xen and Race X. Race X is put down by Shepard. Xen is freed in a bittersweet way by Freeman. We attract the attention of the combine, and they invade. They teleport into earth, and harvest the people. We enter. And destroy their main HQ on earth.

The alternate theory in which the combine cause the Resonance Cascade doesnt have to hinge on Xen being combine controlled. However, if Xen isn't combine controlled, its very implausible for the Combine causing the RC. Anyways, it seems illogical for the combine to need the RC to invade. I just believe the RC was a beacon to other aliens, about Earth, a sort of beacon letting aliens know where earth was. And so they followed. And the combine, almost humanlike in their processes, won the ensuing contest of control.

 

[Asknoone]

Gman is not an FBI agent. Cliche, crap and silly. Also, humanity does not control Xen.

 

[Haze]

Why is it 'cliche' 'creap' and 'silly'? you fail to realise that seirra never made the game to be speculated this much, they never knew thousands of people would be posting in forums trying to work everything out.

And why dont you speak politely instead of coming in here like you own the place.

 

[kupocake]

you fail to realise that seirra never made the game to be speculated this much

Quite right they didn't.

www.valvesoftware.com

^^

 

[Asknoone]

Why is it 'cliche' 'creap' and 'silly'? you fail to realise that seirra never made the game to be speculated this much, they never knew thousands of people would be posting in forums trying to work everything out.

And why dont you speak politely instead of coming in here like you own the place.

It was polite, I wasn't insulting anyone, it is just what I think it would be if gman turned out to be a FBI agent. Crap, cliche and silly. And I also was pointing out a fact....they don't control xen.

And how do I fail to realize? Where do you garner that from? I've been speculating for ages, hell half of my posts constitute for speculation.

 

[LoB]

I tend to agree with Samon in that the G-man isn't an FBI agent. Some other entity perhaps, but I doubt Marc Laidlaw would throw away all the hype the games have been creating about the G-man, this crescendo of speculation, just to have him turn out to be a fed. Seems like too much of an anti-climax (not saying that I expect a climax or conclusion on his identity at all).

I doubt we'll ever know.

 

[Haze]

Listen, I am not talking about you speculating, why on earth would seirra make such a good story line in the first place? Half Life is the only game people talk about with rumors and specualtion, Seirra never knew they would create this much hype, they just threw together a story without giving it much thought. They payed more attention to the second one but if originaly he had ment to be an FBI agent just becouse they created lots of hype doesnt meen they have to change that to make it more interesting

 

[Asknoone]

Listen, I am not talking about you speculating, why on earth would seirra make such a good story line in the first place? Half Life is the only game people talk about with rumors and specualtion, Seirra never knew they would create this much hype, they just threw together a story without giving it much thought. They payed more attention to the second one but if originaly he had ment to be an FBI agent just becouse they created lots of hype doesnt meen they have to change that to make it more interesting

Valve have changed alot of things. Breen never used to be the admin in the first, but half way through dev of hl2 they decided Breen should be the admin. They changed alot of things and originally yes - I guess they did have gman to be something like that, but he has changed and I very much doubt that they would keep it the same, as it would be boring. Hell, gman isn't even his name.

There are alot more games out there that have their storylines discussed also.

 

[Haze]

Did the team from half life 1 help with the team from half life 2? I know seirra is now owned by Valve but why the hell would they sell their company and the best game ever made? Half Life 2 could of been even better if they had stuck with the same team

 

[FRESCO_SUPREME]

i thought Sierra had just changed their name to Vivendi Universal?

 

[kupocake]

Did the team from half life 1 help with the team from half life 2? I know seirra is now owned by Valve but why the hell would they sell their company and the best game ever made? Half Life 2 could of been even better if they had stuck with the same team

Sierra was a publisher. They packaged and sold the game to shops. Valve are the developer of the Half-Life games: they create it. Sierra had financial trouble and were purchased by the French buisness Vivendi Universal. The Sierra brand still exists in publishing terms. Valve have parted ways with Sierra/Vivendi though, over a legal battle involving Cyber Cafe distribution of Valve's games which Sierra/Vivendi had no right to do. Valve are looking for a new publisher to publish a physical product in the shops. Some say this may be Activision (who published a stand alone version of Day of Defeat). We don't know. Meanwhile, Valve continue to self-publish their own work via Steam.

 

[ríomhaire]

I thought Valve was owned by Sierra, silly me. :rolling:

 

[Asknoone]

Sierra was a publisher. They packaged and sold the game to shops. Valve are the developer of the Half-Life games: they create it. Sierra had financial trouble and were purchased by the French buisness Vivendi Universal. The Sierra brand still exists in publishing terms. Valve have parted ways with Sierra/Vivendi though, over a legal battle involving Cyber Cafe distribution of Valve's games which Sierra/Vivendi had no right to do. Valve are looking for a new publisher to publish a physical product in the shops. Some say this may be Activision (who published a stand alone version of Day of Defeat). We don't know. Meanwhile, Valve continue to self-publish their own work via Steam.

What he said. Valve made the game, Sierra only published it.

 

[Haze]

wow i could of sworn sierra made hl oh well -_-

 

[el Chi]

First of all he said the border world is under OUR control. This means he has to be working for earth, Black Mesa or the military since they control it.

Not necessarily. He could be working for some other organisation completely different, and from what we've seen in HL2 this is more than likely.

Second, he said THEY for his employers, which means they are more than one person.

True, however in HL2, he never mentions his employers. If you ask me, he's gone rogue.

 

[ríomhaire]

First of all he said the border world is under OUR control. This means he has to be working for earth, Black Mesa or the military since they control it.

He may mean himself and his employers, silly boy.

 

[Haze]

im not silly =[
and why is xen the border world? why cant earth be the border world, they are both on the oposite side of the bordor and none are half way through -_-

 

[ríomhaire]

Earth
Xen
Combine world
Misc worlds


..0
000
..0

 

[kupocake]

im not silly =[
and why is xen the border world? why cant earth be the border world, they are both on the oposite side of the bordor and none are half way through -_-

The G-Man says: "the border world (.) xen is now under our control"
The small breath in between "world" and "xen" indicates a comma: "the Border World, Xen". That means that the border world is just another name for Xen.

 

[Steve^]

I kind of agree that G-Man might make out that he has employers, to help sway Freeman. There is the saying "Don't shoot the messenger", when being offered the job in that train, if it was just G-Man saying "Do this or die", i'd of personally taken a swing at him!

I'm also fairly sure there have been different jobs between that train ride and HL2. Otherwise, gordon would only be getting the HL2 job because he did well in HL1, but the HL2 probaly wouldn't exist unless he did well in HL1, so the employers don't really have any choice.
Whereas if we consider Gordon an employee of G-Man and friends, he is just awakening to the latest mission.

 

[Arden]

That would explain a lot about his first speech... "Rise and shine, Mr. Freeman, rise and shine... Not that I wish you had been sleeping on the job." If Gordon were a regular employee, pulled in and out of the spacetime continuum whenever his services were needed, then it's more likely he's been "sleeping on the job" since the last time he was resuscitated.

However... this theory doesn't fit with the rest of G-man's speech. Why would he be "more deserving of a rest" unless, as is likely, Gordon jumped into the portal at the end of HL1 and saw G-man's face floating in front of him 2 seconds later? Plus the flashbacks of the resonance cascade, with the flashforwards of the Citadel, and a complete lack of flashanywhere of anything else, suggest that Gordon is hopping from saving the world the first time directly to saving it the second time. And I'm sure we're supposed to assume that Gordon knows as little about what's happened as his friends know about where he's been... which is also inconsistent, since Eli and company seem to have been expecting him. Who knows, maybe they HAVE had dealings with him, and knew when he would be woken again...

 

[Flyingdebris]

the way i see it, the gman seems like he is pulling the strings one step ahead of you in a subtle manner. It would explain why he is always popping up every now and then. Also I think he's too damn weird to be a simple fed. Also being able to teleport whereever he feels like is a good indication of something a simple fed wouldn't do.

It seems like he doesn't so much as tell gordon what must be done, he simply places him where he is needed and subtely guides events/supervises to make sure gordon does what is needed. In the case of hl2, the destruction of the citadel/killing of mr. breen.

Doesn't it seem strange that the gman, on more than one ocassion seems to be communicating with members of the resistance right before you get there. Or how the resistance seems to view you as some sort of divine figure. Or anyone find it strange that kleiner would just happen to have an upgraded hazard suit WAITING for gordon?

The way i see it, Gman has gordon set up in a way that is similar to the movie the truman show. Everything or mostly everything is manipulated beforehand to yeild results without gordon being free