Gordon Freeman is a bumbling idiot

[Darkside55]

Gordon Freeman gets a lot of praise. A humble MIT-grad with aspirations of working on teleport technology for the good of mankind, he's saved the world twice and been hailed as an almost messianic figure in the minds of the oppressed. But in reality, Gordon Freeman is a bumbling idiot.

Let me present the case against Gordon Freeman. He is a naive, easily-manipulated pawn who doesn't consider his actions and acts on what seems like impulse and some other sort of half-assed judgement, whether it be his "feelings" or possibly some "moral code." And while he means well, he inevitably ends up screwing it up for all of us.

I'll try and start from the beginning, during his time at Black Mesa. Despite his doctorate, Gordon Freeman was effectively a glorified cart-pusher. The cart carrying the sample that he would end up pushing into the anti-mass spectrometer is what caused the resonance cascade in the first place, and while he can hardly be blamed for doing his job, he still pushed the cart which would tear a rift between dimensions.

Freeman then journeyed across the Black Mesa complex to reach the Lambda Core, because, y'know, some random scientist told him to and he was wearing the HEV suit and all. When he arrives, he's instructed to kill whatever's keeping the portals open on the other side. He's taking his orders from another random scientist...and a security guard. Two people who have absolutely no idea what the hell is possibly going on over there except for the fact that there's "something big" over there and it's "keeping the portals open." But Freeman will listen to anybody, so he goes and does what he's told. He kills the Nihilanth, hoping it will stop the portal storm. Well, good job, Freeman. While you may have succeeded in killing the being controlling the portals, you've also unleashed its energy, intensifying and randomizing the portal storms on earth, given control of the border world over to some unknown suit, and attracted the attention of an all-consuming alien horde.

Flash forward to ten years in the future. Gordon Freeman arrives in City 17, with no clear purpose of what to do, but he sees some citizens being oppressed and he doesn't like it one bit. So he decides to make it his mission to fight the good fight. Again, he certainly means well, but let's have a look at what he accomplished:

- Manages to put the Combine citadel on full alert, causing a city-wide manhunt that kills numerous rebels and unaffiliated civilians

- Gets Dr. Eli Vance and his daughter captured

- Fails to save Laszlo

- Leads hero-struck resistance members to their deaths

- (Presumably) Kills the one man who could've bartered for humanity's salvation

- Blows up the citadel

Those last two deserve some further examination. All throughout his campaign, Gordon Freeman has been opposing Dr. Breen because he works for the Combine. Far be it for Freeman to actually gather facts about what happened instead of just listening to his mentors say, "Grr, that Dr. Breen! He works for the Combine and he's bad news!" This is a man who saved our entire species from extinction by an alien race who decimated our ENTIRE FORCES in SEVEN HOURS. Regardless of what you might think of Dr. Breen, we managed to live at least ten more years because of him. But Gordon Freeman apparently sees things in black-and-white, so because Dr. Breen works for the Combine, he must be eliminated.

And what an elimination it was. To kill one man, Gordon Freeman brings down an entire citadel in the middle of a large urban area, an act that directly leads to Aftermath's flight from City 17. Dr. Breen even urged Freeman to listen to reason, that bringing down the citadel will kill all the people below, but did Freeman care? No. He had to kill the baddie, again, no matter the cost. And now the reactor's about to go critical. Tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people will be forced to flee the city into the wilderness where Xenian beasts live; the city's forcefields are already coming down and antlions are invading. Freeman's taken City 17's populace out of the frying pan and thrown them into the fire, at the behest of some scientists, a security guard, a love interest, and his own moral compass. But I'm sure he meant well.

 

[Sam]

I think the numerous times Breen tries to outright kill Freeman outweigh the 30-second period of "reasoning" with him. Plus, he's a tosser

The resistance members would've died a lot more had Freeman not been there. There's nothing you can actually do to save Lazo, even if you kill all the antlions before they hurt him he still dies.

Personally, I'd rather die than be horribly, painfully lobotomised and forced into slavery, which in constant pain, until I die from whatever chemicals they use to keep me barely alive.

I agree with you that Freeman doesn't really know what he's doing, but he's very capable at killing the bad guys. What you have to consider is what would've happened had Freeman not stopped Nihilanth (plenty of people getting slaughtered then subjugated until the combine show up anyway) or had not 'started' the rebellion and then put the citadel into meltdown (slavery and oppression until the earth's resources are gone and they leave us to all die).

 

[15357]

Freeman is also evil. He killed directly or indirectly hundreds of police officers that were only doing their job. And trying to get more rations.

 

[UltimaApocalypse]

Okay, all citizens immediately became rebels at the start of the uprising(which would have eventually happened). So a lot of those citizens would have died anyway. I bet a lot of them would die for Gordon Freeman if you give them the chance, too. Breen really only saved them at first, the "I can still deliver Earth" line proves it.

As for the Alyx/Eli being captured: "Although we could have taken them at any time...." -Breen

Killing Nihilanth may have been a good thing in a way. I "think" he was building up a huge ass army to conquer Earth(from seeing the Half Life 1 G-Man refusal ending).

He never blew up the Citadel. It's in meltdown.

Laszlo's death was tragic, yes. But there was nothing you could have done about it. However his rebel friend should have died with him because he said Laszlo was the greatest mind of his generation when it was truly Gordon Freeman.

 

[Darkside55]

I think the numerous times Breen tries to outright kill Freeman outweigh the 30-second period of "reasoning" with him.

But in this case, even though Dr. Breen is trying to save his own hide, he did warn Freeman about what would happen to the citizens. If nothing else, Freeman should've thought about that instead of just acting impulsively.

Plus, he's a tosser

Lies! Dr. Breen is a great man!

There's nothing you can actually do to save Lazo, even if you kill all the antlions before they hurt him he still dies.

Laszlo's death was tragic, yes. But there was nothing you could have done about it. However his rebel friend should have died with him because he said Laszlo was the greatest mind of his generation when it was truly Gordon Freeman.

I'm sure Freeman could've done something, he just didn't. Laszlo probably was the greatest mind of his generation, and Dr. Freeman couldn't stand to have anyone else competing with him pushing carts and flipping switches.

Killing Nihilanth was a good thing

Most unfortunately I have to agree, because there's really nothing else Freeman could've done. However, fighting Nihilanth's army would've been a cakewalk for Earth compared to fighting the Combine, and I'm going to assume that had Freeman NOT killed Nith, and Nith HAD invaded and we repulsed him, he would've closed down the portals and decided not to mess with us. That would have, perhaps, averted the Combine disaster.

Freeman is also evil. He killed directly or indirectly hundreds of police officers that were only doing their job. And trying to get more rations.

And don't forget the simulated procreation bonuses they received for further upgrades and memory wipes. Freeman's a ____-blocker.

He never blew up the Citadel. It's in meltdown.

When it melts down, it will go boom. It has simply yet to go boom, but it will, and Freeman was the one what done it.

As for the Alyx/Eli being captured: "Although we could have taken them at any time...." -Breen

I argued against this in another thread at great length, but basically Breen's a liar and was trying to make it sound like he could've taken them at any time when he couldn't. Mossman revealed the location of BME to Dr. Breen upon Gordon Freeman's arrival.

Somebody has to stop Freeman! Who knows what he'll do in Aftermath? He'll be the death of us all!

 

[UltimaApocalypse]

In Aftermath, he will summon up the strength to kill G-Man thus blowing up the universe.

 

[Sloth]

Well, unless you get to see different line of things Gordon is our bumbling idiot, and anything that we have to do through him is the only viewpoint we can see.

 

[Zoetrap]

I think it should be pointed out that Freeman didn't put the citadel on full alert. Neither was he the one responsible for the capturing of Eli.

The teleport incident was the reason for putting the citadel on full alert. Those nasty headcrabs...

And Eli probably wouldn't have been captured if Mossman wouldn't have reported the BME location to Breen.

All in all many of the "incidents" are not directly Gordon's fault, but he is clearly involved in them.

But I don't know why everyone seems so obsessed with that Laszlo guy. Have I missed something? He might have been the greatest mind of his generation, but does that mean he has to be involved in Cart pushing and switch flipping?

 

[Darkside55]

Well, unless you get to see different line of things Gordon is our bumbling idiot, and anything that we have to do through him is the only viewpoint we can see.

We are hopelessly forced to steer Freeman through acts that lead to disasterous results, and no matter how much we scream at the screen, we can only watch and move forward.

Hesuses, while technically it was Lamarr who caused the trouble with the teleporter, it was Freeman's appearance that put the citadel on alert. I doubt if it were anyone else Breen would've gone to FULL alert. Besides, we see Lamarr step out of the teleport easily enough; maybe Freeman just felt like waiting inside and seeing where he ended up.

You ever notice how, when Gordon Freeman gets around machinery, it messes up, even if it's not his fault directly? Gordon Freeman is bad luck with teleporters. He ought to find a new career path.

With Eli, he wouldn't have been captured if Mossman hadn't told Breen. Mossman wouldn't have told him if Gordon Freeman hadn't arrived. Thus, Gordon Freeman was responsible for Eli's capture. Everyone in the resistance (even Dr. Vance's own daughter!) is quick to turn a blind eye to that fact, however.

But I don't know why everyone seems so obsessed with that Laszlo guy. Have I missed something? He might have been the greatest mind of his generation, but does that mean he has to be involved in Cart pushing and switch flipping?

I bet Laszlo could've negotiated with Breen and the Combine, and come to a peaceful solution to ensure the fate of mankind. And then he had to die...while Gordon Freeman just watched. :hmph:

 

[ríomhaire]

He killed Nihilanth save Earth. He had no idea that it would create the portal storms.

 

[Polaris]

Gordon is also poor dope....
He must be dependent on morphine injections from HEV suit...

 

[Asknoone]

Yes, trouble does tend to follow in his wake...

However, the choices Gordon makes are really no better than the other options that lay before him, he's merely acting on instinct. The latter of course, Breen opposes.

Well yeah, Breen did manage to strike a bargain with a massive, planet/species consuming alien race that almost wiped us out - but at what cost? A fate worse than death? Slavery, genocide, becoming stalkers...the latter of which is the ultimate fate for the entire species. Hey kudos Breen, you might have won yourself a spacious office atop the Citadel with free reign to study whatever you may like, but its not the same for the rest of us. Breen didn't want to save humanity; he used humanity as a bargaining chip to further his own knowledge and greed.

Though I agree - Gordon’s latest action is, ultimately his worst. He single-handedly ripped an absolutely massive reactor to shreds, a reactor containing god knows what unfounded particles...and Gordon is about to unleash it upon City 17. Breen did warn him, but in the end Gordon had only two choices:

Allow Breen to escape with Eli's portal technology, and aid in the extinction and augmentation of countless more planets and races.

Or, stop Breen, and sacrifice the lives of the citizens of City 17.

Gordon can at least prevent the latter, with aiding in the evacuation.

Besides, Gordon didn't kill Breen, Breen is very much alive. Have a look down from the balcony, and you'll see him sitting within his little bubble. Breen, had he escaped, would have left humanity to rot and fester. Now he's stuck on Earth, within an increasingly fragile Citadel, surrounded by very pissed off rebels. Where’s Breen gonna run? To another city? Into the wasteland?

Take that Breen I say.

 

[Sam]

Breen doesn't care what happens to anyone who isn't him. The reason he finally tries to bargain with you, is because he will gain more favour with the combine if he stops your rampage. He breaks his promise to Mossman once he gets the knowledge of how to build a working teleporter. He's only ever civil to you when he wants something; he's going to send Eli and Alyx to, probably, die a slow and painful death when they refuse to help him. All through his "stop, think of the people" speech to you, he's still sending troops to have you killed.

In short, he's a tosser.

 

[lastHOPE_lambda]

I say follow Freeman to the death!!!!!!
First off who wants to live the rest of there life having no memory of who or what they once were, stuck some where inbetween life and death, in constant pain. Basically becoming striped of your soul.
Thankyou very much but I think I'd rather die at the side of Gordon Freeman fighting the good fight. Sure Freeman screws up but hes human, of coarse hes gonna screw up! Tell me you guys could have done better if you had been in that sitution.
And besides you have to remember the fact that we our controlling Freeman. So whos to say if Freeman actually had his own will (and not ours) maybe he could do some great amazing genius thing and save all our a$$e$. But we'll never know since we always cotroll Freeman.
This isn't really a viable reason but I'll say it anyways. The G-man seems pleased with Gordon's work and I generally trust the G-man. If an all powerful being like G-man trusts Freeman to do the right things, then I say its pretty safe to say Freeman is doing the right thing.

 

[Que-Ever]

I bet Laszlo could've negotiated with Breen and the Combine, and come to a peaceful solution to ensure the fate of mankind. And then he had to die...while Gordon Freeman just watched. :hmph:

I tried to kill the antlions everytime

btw, you're making some awesome points.

 

[losermeetsworld]

When it melts down, it will go boom. It has simply yet to go boom, but it will, and Freeman was the one what done it.

I honestly don't think the Citandel was destroyed. It's said ingame that Dr. Breen's office was at the very top of the Citandel (wait wait, if it's at the top, and the pod he rises in goes up for 4-5 floors... Plot hole?) and you SEE the reactor is at the top, it's very possible that the reactor just blew off the top 1/4 or so, especially when you think, the Combine is born and bred for war, and they conqured Earth in 7 hours... Their headquarters is going to be one tough mother to bring down.

 

[Asknoone]

The Citadel is not destroyed, its in meltdown - the entire place is going to go up very, very soon, thus the city 17 evacuation.
You've just dismantled a very dangerous, very complex reactor...I honestly doubt the Citadel will be able to hold.

 

[Llama]

Hey, its a ridiculously powerful Dark Fusion reactor, what do you expect? :E

 

[Sam]

I honestly don't think the Citandel was destroyed. It's said ingame that Dr. Breen's office was at the very top of the Citandel (wait wait, if it's at the top, and the pod he rises in goes up for 4-5 floors... Plot hole?) and you SEE the reactor is at the top, it's very possible that the reactor just blew off the top 1/4 or so, especially when you think, the Combine is born and bred for war, and they conqured Earth in 7 hours... Their headquarters is going to be one tough mother to bring down.

Actually Breen's office is at the top, when you finally shoot the parts of the top of the reactor, you're standing just outside the bit you see Breen talking about not being able to survive in the environment on the other side of the portal. When you blow it up, the window shatters and Alyx jumps through. (Sorry to nitpick)

BTW, Breen's a tosser.

 

[lastHOPE_lambda]

whats a tosser?

 

[AJ Rimmer]

whats a tosser?

Means he's a crackpot. A crank. A cuckoo, a demoniac, ding-a-ling, flake, freak, fruitcake, goof, harebrain, kook, lamebrain, loon, loony, madman, maniac, neurotic, ninny, nut, nutcase, paranoid, psycho, scatterbrain, schizo, screwball, section 8, sicko, whacko, yo-yo

 

[lastHOPE_lambda]

Cool I didn't know there were so many words for insane.
lol section 8

 

[AJ Rimmer]

Cool I didn't know there were so many words for insane.
lol section 8

I know.
Dear god how I love thesaurus.com!

 

[Darkside55]

He killed Nihilanth save Earth. He had no idea that it would create the portal storms.

I would assume that someone with a doctorate in theoretical physics working in a teleportation laboratory would at least have the knowledge that when you blow up something containing that much energy, the energy must go somewhere. When I first blew up the Nihilanth and watched him writhe in pain, electricity flowing out of him, my first thought was, "OH SHI--, this will not be good," rather than, "Yay I defeated the badguy!"

On Breen, which everyone seems to bring up:

Yes, Breen is a selfish, cold, manipulative figurehead who cares for nothing but personal and scientific advancement. In the long run, he's doomed humanity to a fate worse than death, but in the short run at least people are alive. Oppressed, downtrodden, living in substandard conditions, but they are ALIVE. People bring up the point that Gordon Freeman had only so many options before him (I'll address that in a moment), can't the same be said of Dr. Breen? What other options were available when the Combine came? Their objective was not to subjugate us. Their objective was to annihilate our species and steal our resources. Breen prevented that from happening; he saved humanity and eeked out what little time we have left as un-Combinified humans, all personal gain from the negotiation aside.

...in the end Gordon had only two choices:

Allow Breen to escape with Eli's portal technology, and aid in the extinction and augmentation of countless more planets and races.

Or, stop Breen, and sacrifice the lives of the citizens of City 17.

Gordon can at least prevent the latter, with aiding in the evacuation.

Breen would hardly have been an issue, stuck on a planet that cannot support organic life, far removed from our universe. Breen would have been left there to rot; the Combine care nothing for him. He would have never been seen in any of the universal union's future conquests. Also, a side note: I believe he's dead. Granted, he's still in the bubble at the end of the game, but I believe that to be more of an in-game limitation or oversight than a story clue. It's likely Valve didn't expect anyone to peer over the edge and zoom in to make sure the guy lived through the fall, so they left it be.

Now, Freeman, his options are also limited, but he always seems to take the more direct approach: blasting whatever gets in his way to reach whatever objective he has in his head at the time. Were he not so scientifically-minded, he might've been the perfect soldier, a man with unlikely leadership and survival skills who follows whatever orders his superiors bestow upon him.

As lastHOPE said, the G-man trusts Gordon Freeman to do the "right thing." However, what Gordon does isn't necessarily the right thing, it's simply the G-man's desired result. The G-man trusts Gordon Freeman to do what he wants him to do. Think about it: you have a man who's very shadow is trouble and catastrophe, a man who seemingly cannot die, is infinitely resourceful, and is very easily manipulated. You put an objective before him and he'll bungle his way through it, just like the G-man expects. That's why he never bothers giving Freeman any explicit orders.

I tried to kill the antlions everytime

btw, you're making some awesome points.

Gordon simply wouldn't allow him to be saved. Don't blame yourself. And hey, thanks for the compliment.

Also, I thought tosser meant something COMPLETELY different. Or at least, the version of it I'm thinking of is. Heh, and section 8's a housing thing for low-income families. I was on that once when I was much, much younger. Perhaps that's why I stick up for Breen, eh?

 

[Sam]

Also, I thought tosser meant something COMPLETELY different.

So did I :bonce:

 

[Darkside55]

I think we're thinking of the not-so-polite version, you and I.

Also, here's another bit of slang I'm going to introduce that I thought of when I wrote about Breen being locked away on some planet, never to be seen or heard from again. I'm gonna call that "Getting the Adrian Shepherd."

 

[Asknoone]

Breen would hardly have been an issue, stuck on a planet that cannot support organic life, far removed from our universe. Breen would have been left there to rot; the Combine care nothing for him. He would have never been seen in any of the universal union's future conquests. Also, a side note: I believe he's dead. Granted, he's still in the bubble at the end of the game, but I believe that to be more of an in-game limitation or oversight than a story clue. It's likely Valve didn't expect anyone to peer over the edge and zoom in to make sure the guy lived through the fall, so they left it be.

Breen would have been a massive issue. He was escaping with Eli's local teleportation technology - he would have succeeded in giving the Combine a far greater edge, its Breen’s bargaining chip. They want that technology, and Breen’s going to give it to them.
The Combines teleportation technology is not so advanced that they can go from one small point to another. Its like, universe to universe.

I actually emailed Marc Laidlaw on the subject of Breen, and he said that they left all character fates uncertain, and not decide to say 'well, yes he is dead.' Besides, Breen hardly fell, his bubble simply drifted.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

So did I :bonce:

You dare doubt the thesaurus?

 

[losermeetsworld]

Hmmm.... Perhaps with all the millions of other beings in the Citandel, at least ONE of them would have known how to override a meltdown? Or perhaps there is some way to contain it...


EDIT: Hold on, wait, is it just me or there is something in the back of my brain telling me I've seen an AM screenie with a Citandel in it? Maybe it DID survive, or maybe the Combine mass produce them, like the US army mass produces mobile field HQs

 

[Asknoone]

Yes, the Citadel is in Aftermath. The first part of the Aftermath has you escaping the Citadel, because the Citadel is in meltdown. You have disabled the reactor, and its heavily damaged. You are escaping City 17 before it goes up in flames and takes city 17 with it. You cannot override the meltdown, it doesn't work like that. The explosion at the end of HL2 was very minimal.

The Combine don't mass produce them. They need to send them through very large portals to get them places.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

Hmmm.... Perhaps with all the millions of other beings in the Citandel, at least ONE of them would have known how to override a meltdown? Or perhaps there is some way to contain it...


EDIT: Hold on, wait, is it just me or there is something in the back of my brain telling me I've seen an AM screenie with a Citandel in it? Maybe it DID survive, or maybe the Combine mass produce them, like the US army mass produces mobile field HQs

The citadel is still standing in AM, it just won't be standing for much longer.

Damn you Samon! Damn you!!!

 

[Flyingdebris]

Well put darkside, i bet that if gordon was set up by the gman to help the combine he would still think he would be doing the right thing in killing the rebels, its all in the manner in which the g-man manipulates things. Cause as we all know, gordon is an easily manipulated fool.

 

[bigburpco]

In Aftermath, he will summon up the strength to kill G-Man thus blowing up the universe.

It's a goverment conspiracy! D:

 

[Rizzo]

hmm i dont realy remember that lazlo guy, when in in one of the antlions chapters do you see him and where? Is it that guy who stands on the rock? In that case i sent a granade on him when the anlions attacked and gave it no more thought.

 

[Laivasse]

Have to agree with a lot of what you're saying Darkside, even if you're saying it kind of tongue-in-cheek. The way I see it Gordon is a victim of circumstance, but he rarely acts in a way that is guaranteed to improve circumstances.

Gordon simply goes along with his basest gut instinct, seemingly without cottoning onto the fact that that is exactly what Gman has been counting on Gordon to do since Black Mesa. Gordon makes no attempt to try and pursue Gman, barely chasing him more than a few feet each time he appears, and so he lets slip any opportunity to get to the bottom of what cause it is that he's really fighting for.

While you could say that Gordon is fundamentally well-meaning and that it's hard to see what you could do differently in his place, he's also content to sit back and be a pawn of disruption and destruction for what is obviously a very sinister figure. Every time Gordon experiences triumph it seems to bring an even bigger disaster waiting in the wings... Maybe how much of a bumbling idiot Gordon is depends on how conscientious he feels about the bad consequences which arise from his actions.

 

[Jintor]

I doubt he is bumbling, because he does what he means to do: Kill things. Flick switches. Save humanity (arguable).

Idiot, maybe. But, black and white vision in a black and white world is not a negative.

 

[Laivasse]

black and white vision in a black and white world is not a negative.

Ah but if we pretend the world of HL2 weren't so black and white...

 

[Jintor]

You said pretend!

*cackles gleefully*

 

[Rizzo]

Why did no one answer? Whos lazlo or what ever his name is?

 

[Sulkdodds]

That guy from GTA3 Chatterbox radio.

Gordon is more of a victim than a crazy nutjob moron George Bush (thinks what he is doing is right but couldn't be more wrong).