Half-Life 2 Theory based off information from Half-Life 1

[Eejit]

I don't even try to explain what the G-Man is and what his motives are. He's far too obscure and mysterious. I doubt any of these 'grand theories' about him have more than a single fact right each, but that's just my opinion.

 

[jabberwock95]

I like the gman. He's one of the most mysterious characters I have ever seen in a video game. And that speech impediment... adds just the right touch of menace to his speech, whilst making him seem a little more human (or alien, whatever) instead of a faceless, emotionless 'government guy'.

I take my hat off to valve, they've thought of everything to make half life a great game!

/me takes hat off, then goes to play half life.

 

[Seraphim]

I think the theory of him being some sort of 'combine prototype' holds itself up to an extent. He does seem a bit inhuman, at least his voice does. why does he have such long pauses in talking?

You'll also note that he says this at the end of Opposing Force: (paraphrased to an extent)

"So to help you overcome the human urge of telling all..."

Note how he specified "human". This could be for two reasons:

1) He's an alien - Nope, this was confirmed not to be the case.
2) He's a combine prototype - Well, if you were made to be nearly invincible and enhanced with biomech devices, wouldn't you think you were better than the "human" population?

 

[jabberwock95]

You'll also note that he says this at the end of Opposing Force: (paraphrased to an extent)

"So to help you overcome the human urge of telling all..."

Note how he specified "human". This could be for two reasons:

1) He's an alien - Nope, this was confirmed not to be the case.
2) He's a combine prototype - Well, if you were made to be nearly invincible and enhanced with biomech devices, wouldn't you think you were better than the "human" population?

Actually he says '...rather than continually subject you to the irresistable human urge of telling all...'

He also says 'I have a fasination for those who adapt and survive against all odds, they rather remind me of myself.'

I love quoting the gman...

 

[Seraphim]

Yes, well.

A Combine prototype would have to survive against all odds. It must have been really advanced technology for the time, and thus quite risky.

 

[Lanthanide]

I'm not comitted to believing they're biomech from simple 2 or 3 guessed examples, but I'll reserve judgement for now until I go watch the videos again with your comments in mind.

Anyway, I thought I'd throw this into the mix, as I forgot to mention it earlier:

The gauss gun is a brand new top-secret invention in HL1, you in fact stumble across the first testing of it.

Yet in HL2 we see it mounted to buggys that freemen drives around in, in at least 3 instances. So something interesting has gone in the world if this top-secret technology is now somewhat common-place.

 

[theotherguy]

I truly belive that The Combine are not biomechs at all, and that they use the other definition of combine, that is, the mechanical reaper used to harvest grain. I believe that the term "The Combine" is used to identify their nature, which is to conquer everything on the planet, and thus "reap" the people and things on the planet. It makes a hell of alot more sense then the combine being "combined" aleins and humans.

 

[Epsi]

My own pet theory about The Combine is that it is some sort of cabal of alien races, forming some sort of government. Think the Federation from Star Trek, but more evil.

The Citadel, Striders, Combine Gunships and other highly advanced technology are provided by the alien Combine government, while Breen and his metrocops and human combine soldiers are left in charge of organising the Combine presence on Earth. Think of Breen as the liason to the alien faction. Obviously, the Alien Combine get some advantage by Earth being part of it, but what this is I can't say.

The motivation to Breen of being part of this Combine is the apparent catastrophe that has occured on Earth. City 17 is described as being "safer" and one of the "finest remaining urban settlements". Also, it appears that Ravenholm is overrun by headcrab zombies. How did they get to Eastern Europe? Breen, presumably by aligning himself with the Combine, is trying to save humanity from whatever has occured.

Therefore, it would seem that the G-Man's agenda in bringing Gordon Freeman back into play is to interfere with the human integration into the Combine. This wouldn't fit with the G-Man being biomechanical at all, but I think he'd be a representitive of another faction, his mysterious "employers".

 

[Brian Damage]

Epsi's got a good one there...

I personally think that another feature about the G-Man that makes him more human (And maybe somewhat more appealing), is that fact that the new G-Man model has slightly wonky eyes. They're on different levels, which is actually pretty common in humans.

 

[NeLi]

combine (harvester)

 

[Mechagodzilla]

The combine wouldn't need super-strength if they were mass-produced.

 

[Lanthanide]

Another possibility that I think has been overlooked and not considered before.

The end of Half Life 1 where the g-man talks to you doesn't neccesarily have to be right after you kill the Nihilanth. 10 years could have actually elapsed between the death of the Nihilanth and the g-man finding you.

Reasons for:
1. You black out after you kill the Nihilanth, for an unspecified length of time - this could have 10 years.

2. You are shown a landscape of xen with dead soldiers and tanks around - when you left Black Mesa, it really doesn't look like they were in a capable situation to teleport this sort of offensive force in, and we know from OpFor that Black Mesa gets nuked - so perhaps 10 years later another facility has the power to teleport troops into Xen on that scale?

3. Also, before you left to kill the Nihilanth, there did seem to be a lot of life left in Xen - we have to assume that -some- time has taken place since the death of the Nihilanth and the subjugation of Xen - or did the defense of Xen completely and immediately fall apart after the Nihilanth's dead?

4. If you decline the g-man's offer for employment, you are warped into ranks upon ranks upon ranks of alien grunts - a perfect assault force to attack Earth (if that is indeed what is happening in Half Life 2. This is a bit of a contradiction to the humans having taken control of Xen in any event, however).

5. If you accept the g-man's offer, he says "I will see you up ahead" - we know that HL2 starts in a train ride, it seems plausible to me to suggest that the 10 year gap occur before both train rides, rather than in between them (I guess if Gordon were unconscious for 10 years he wouldn't be able to tell the difference though).

6. The g-man says he removed all your weapons ("most of them were government property, but as for the suit, well, I think you've earned it. try not to break it"), but that you can have the suit. If you have just been lying in a puddle of brown goo in the Nihilanth's chamber for 10 years, your weapons may have drifted away / been taken by soldiers, while you were left for dead (yet your suit kept you alive). Kinda iffy.

7. <Long Shot> At the end of OpFor, Adrien is detained for further evaluation, whereas it says Gordon is hired. Adrien may need to be held for 10 years until the time of HL2 (or thereabouts), because there is no need for him. Whereas because Gordon has just been unconscious for 10 years, the g-man needs him right now, hence his hired status.


Against:

1. The g-man never says anything along the lines of "we wondered what happened to you, Gordon, over these last 10 years", as he probably would in this sort of situation.

2. The 2004 E3 vid had the g-man saying something like "not to imply that you were sleeping on the job", indicating that Gordon had been hired, and then slept/held for 10 years. Similarly he says "wake up and smell the ashes".

3. How would Gordon stay alive for 10 years on Xen while being unconcious?




What does all this really mean? Well the only -real- thing it ties in with is the supposed invasion by the Xenians into Earth, and the fact that while the g-man is talking (if indeed it is during HL2 times, and not 10 years earlier in HL1 time) they have control of Xen itself.

Just something I don't think anyone has addressed before; it's probably irrelevant, but someone might like to pick up the idea and run with it if they can see some opportunity to.

 

[Esquire]

Lanthanide: The end of Half Life 1 where the g-man talks to you doesn't neccesarily have to be right after you kill the Nihilanth. 10 years could have actually elapsed between the death of the Nihilanth and the g-man finding you.

Wow, that's a pretty good idea. Never even crossed my mind.

I'm not going to try to "run with it" because i've had enough of HL2 speculating for now. Don't know enough. But still, that's pretty good idea.

 

[Eejit]

Eeeh, lying unconcious/in a coma in a big empty room on Xen for 10 years doesn't sound entirely plausible... how/what did Gordon eat for example?

On the other handthe G-man could have found him while unconcious after a short period of time, held him in stasis and then 10 years later asked him to choose. The problem with that is would the g-man bother keeping someone ready to use for 10 years before hiring them?

 

[Brian Damage]

Maybe the death of the Nihilanth, and the humonous energies released at that point in time, threw Gordon forwards in time?

 

[Need-For-Weed]

Did anyone even consider that Gorden himself is not entirely human? True, he is capable of dying, but so are aliens. But it is a fact that he made it through black mesa against all ods. Besides, why would both the G-man and the government show such a huge interest if he was just one of the dumb scientist? I'm not saying he is alien, but there's something strange about him.........
By the way, sorry for my crappy English, it's not my native language as you might have noticed.

 

[marksmanHL2 :)]

Nar, he is human...

I mean come on, your going to far there.


The G_Man.. alien.. purhaps.

The combine alien... its possible.... But they are definatly partly human. I mean come on. The valve crew have more imagination than that lol...

Gordon..... nope, I cant see it at all..

 

[Brian Damage]

Well, there is the factor of his luminously green eyes...

 

[NeLi]

I have luminous green eyes...

...and I'm almost sure I'm not an alien.

...almost

 

[Nem]

And the G-man has green eyes :O ... But i think that the combine were designed as the invasion force against Xen. The people you see on Xen are in HEV suits, and you assume that (well i did ) Gordon wears the HEV helmet on Xen. So the combine have been designed so that they can survive in the Xen atmosphere, as they only wear little headmask things, not a whole suit to protect them (unless its under those baggy clothes ). What if they went to Xen, but were convinced some how to support some other cause (proably not all Xen aliens, maybe not Xen aliens at all, as the vortigaunts are friendly to humans -- As seen in E3 2004 movie.), and come back and help the invasion of Earth? :thumbs:

 

[jabberwock95]

The people you see on Xen are in HEV suits, and you assume that (well i did ) Gordon wears the HEV helmet on Xen. So the combine have been designed so that they can survive in the Xen atmosphere, as they only wear little headmask things, not a whole suit to protect them (unless its under those baggy clothes ).

In Blue Shift, Barney Calhoun went to Xen without any special protective clothing apart from his (surprisingly high-tech) bullet-proof vest and helmet. Plus at the end of HL you see marines (dead) on Xen, but they do have gas masks.

The thing that bugs me the most is how the hell all those marines and tanks get to Xen? It has been said that Black Mesa was certainly in no condition for transporting an invasion force, and it has also been said (by me :cheese that nowhere in Black Mesa is anything capable of transporting something as large as a tank!

We are led to believe that the Lambda Complex and attached reactor are the most sophisticated and powerful teleport devices in black mesa, probably the world. The teleporter that Gordon took was nowhere big enough to take a tank or a large invasion force. True, there could be another, bigger teleport somewhere else in the complex (Barney used a less sophisticated machine), but if there was a better teleport why didn't gordon head for that? Plus the teleporter in the Lambda complex required its own (massive) reactor just to create a portal big enough for one man. And there is the business of Black Mesa being nuked...

So how did a tank and an invading force get to Xen? So far one of the more plausible theories is Lanthanides, that some time had passed before Gordon spoke with the Gman. I just can't think of any other explanation (other than 'teh GMAN had a TANK TELEPORTER in his BRIEFCASE!!11! OMG!!1'). If anyone else has a plausible theory, please share it!! :cheese:

^^ Wow, it's so easy to ramble on about HL, isn't it?

 

[Angry Lawyer]

Those folks could have ended up on Xen through random teleportation, instead of human machinery. With the death of Nihilanth, lots of teleportative crap probably spewed through the multiverse, and started beaming stuff about. I mean, I'm sure that the appearance of headcrabs in the machinery at the very beginning of HL1 was through accidental randomness, rather than Xenians actually putting them there. Who knows - maybe a bit of space folded around a tank, and beamed it into the middle of a field of angry Gargantuas?

The G-Man had a pistol in his briefcase. Decompile the model, and open it out - it's also got a little computer, if I remember correctly.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[eber]

1.The G-Man
First of all . . the G-Man isn't immortal !
It just doesn't make sense to kill him. Who would Gordon speak to at the end of H-L if the G-Man was dead ? But otherwise u can shoot at him as long as you have enough ammo . . . i tried it !
H-L would be crap if someone or something was immortal or undestroyable,
and I can't believe that the G-Man is a human-alien hybrid or a machine, it sounds dizzy in my eyes. I think he is a pure human same as Gordon.
But one thing is for sure, the G-Man had something which allowed him to get everywhere he wanted to go . . that's why he could outlive the incident without weaponry or HIV-suit.

2.The Military
I dont know jack about these guys or why they are called combinesoldiers, but what I know is that they are humans ! Have you ever seen an xen alien moving like a human looking like a human or being able to use human-equipment ? Nah, and they have red blood and they can speak !! Maybe they are some sort of cyborg but nothing else !!
I don't know how to call those flying thingies, but both those and the striders don't look organic ! They move like real animals but they were built not born ,or what did you guys mean with biomechanic ?!?

3.Nihilanth
It's a fact that some xen aliens were able to read minds, for example the alien slaves and the mini nihilanths or nihilanth himself, well I think you already guessed that.So the aliens knew what was going on in the BMRF althought they couldn't understand the humans language(alien slaves are quite intelligent), and nihilanth who controlled their minds got all information he needed. That's how he knew Gordons name and all that other stuff and that's why I think that the G-Man is a pure human or can aliens read the minds of machines ????????????????????????????????????????????????????

4.The end of Half-Life 1
I read some of your posts before, and think that after Gordon killed the nihilanth he was teleported directly into the future (ten years after)!
Im pretty sure that Gabe Newell talked about something like timetravelling in Half-Life 2.
Well, Gordon killed the nihilanth then the nihilanth began to move up and exploded. . . it made a sound like when you enter a teleporter and suddenly everything turned into black and the only thing you could hear was gordons heart (which is a sign for that Gordon must be a human ). Suddenly gordon appeared next to the G-Man and found himself on another part of xen. The G-Man told him that he took back Gordons weapons ,but did you see him doing it ? As Gabe Newell said:"In Half-Life you see everything with Gordons eyes, with other words you are Gordon"! But shouldn't you have seen it ? Later he told you that the government took xen succsessfully under control ,but don't you think it needs more then 10 minutes to get the whole army to xen with tanks and planes and hundreds of marines? i don't think they were able to teleport something bigger than a human at this time when Gordon left the BMRF to defeat the nihilanth! It must have took several years to take over xen and to keep any resistance under control. Maybe it's possible that the nihilanths explosion caused a shockwave which made you teleporting directly into the future (nihilanth was able to shoot those teleporting thingies if you remember)! I remember green light after nihilanths defeat and this also remembers me on the beginning of Half-Life when the experiment went wrong and some alien slaves appeared in front of you . . . think about it .

5.Half-Life 2
H-L 2 starts when H-L 1 ends ! The G-Man offered you to work for him, after Gordon excepted it the G-Man said :"We'll se up again"! I think that you will find yourself in a train driving to City 17 ! And remember Gordon still has his HEV-suit in H-L 2, if he worked all the time for the G-Man or had been sleeping for a long time he would have got something newer from the G-Man then a ten years old dirty suit !

_________________________________________________________________

That's all I have to say for now, but thanks for reading my post and agreeing with me !!!

Well I'm sorry for my crappy english ,it's not my language, but i keep working on it :bounce: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jabberwock95]

Those folks could have ended up on Xen through random teleportation, instead of human machinery. With the death of Nihilanth, lots of teleportative crap probably spewed through the multiverse, and started beaming stuff about. I mean, I'm sure that the appearance of headcrabs in the machinery at the very beginning of HL1 was through accidental randomness, rather than Xenians actually putting them there. Who knows - maybe a bit of space folded around a tank, and beamed it into the middle of a field of angry Gargantuas?

The G-Man had a pistol in his briefcase. Decompile the model, and open it out - it's also got a little computer, if I remember correctly.

-Angry Lawyer

Im sure there was random teleportation from Xen to Earth, but the other way around? What are the odds that several dozen military guys, three tanks and a military jet ended up on Xen and could find each other in time to put together an invasion force just by random teleportation? Too much of a coincidence for me.

 

[Angry Lawyer]

Who said the blown-up tank was invading? Just chanced upon, and discombobulated by some angry snarks, or something.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[jabberwock95]

Who said the blown-up tank was invading? Just chanced upon, and discombobulated by some angry snarks, or something.

-Angry Lawyer

At the end of HL, the gman shows us three destroyed tanks, several dead marines and a crashed jet on Xen, and he says 'the border world, Xen, is under our control, for the time being'.

 

[RakuraiTenjin]

At the end of HL, the gman shows us three destroyed tanks, several dead marines and a crashed jet on Xen, and he says 'the border world, Xen, is under our control, for the time being'.

Hmm. We didn't see any.. live.. earth forces either.

He could be a third party. Ours could be referring to him and his employers, and not humanity.

Who knows!

 

[jabberwock95]

Hmm. We didn't see any.. live.. earth forces either.

He could be a third party. Ours could be referring to him and his employers, and not humanity.

Who knows!

That's a good point, I never thought of that. It does sound plausible that he meant Xen was under the control of 'his employers' instead of the whole of humanity. Interesting.

How did those tanks get to Xen!!! Arrgghhh, this is really bugging me now.

 

[we11er]

I just think that the two worlds merged a bit, random teleporting and all that. Remember in op-for there was the huge monster coming through a large 'hole' in time/space or whatever you want to call it. And large 'chunks' of xen areas merging with black-mesa areas.

 

[Brian Damage]

I don't know how to call those flying thingies, but both those and the striders don't look organic ! They move like real animals but they were built not born ,or what did you guys mean with biomechanic ?!?

Biomechanical basically refers to an organically grown/living machine.

Not to be confused with cybernetics.

 

[Need-For-Weed]

4.The end of Half-Life 1
I read some of your posts before, and think that after Gordon killed the nihilanth he was teleported directly into the future (ten years after)!
Im pretty sure that Gabe Newell talked about something like timetravelling in Half-Life 2.
Well, Gordon killed the nihilanth then the nihilanth began to move up and exploded. . . it made a sound like when you enter a teleporter and suddenly everything turned into black and the only thing you could hear was gordons heart (which is a sign for that Gordon must be a human ).


Maybe I am ignorant, but the fact that you could here Gordons heart doesn't mean that he is human. As far as I know most animals which are bigger then a mouse have a heartbeating. So why wouldn't an alien have one?
So I do not believe this disproves my earlier statement (in some threat???)that Gordon is not human.

 

[eber]

hmm well but does machines have hearts ? i mean that the Gordon isnt a machine . .
and he also cant be an alien cos aliens have diffrent organs .

 

[eber]

and as i remember gordon had red blood and his organs and bones looked pretty much as those of a human !!

 

[theotherguy]

The Combine are NOT human, I remember specifically in the valve info thread or in an interveiw, Gabe Newell was asked " So who are The Combine?" and Gabe replied "The Combine are like us, they are the superpreadators of THEIR OWN WORLD" which clearly means that The Combnine are aliens. Sadly, I cannot find this exact interveiw, but I remember reading it specifically, and then putting the information in my fanfic immediatley afterwords, because I thought the quote was cool.

 

[Brian Damage]

Nice if we could see that interview, I'd like to think I've at least taken a quick squiz at them all.

Couldn't find it with Google.

 

[marksmanHL2 :)]

Maybe their us FROM THE FUTURE!!!


Heheh, sorry, I felt I needed to contribute somethin!

 

[chimpmunk]

For the tanks in xen, they could have been teleported there by other means, maybe the gman's employers have access to more effective teleportation devices than the ones produced at BMRF...

 

[jabberwock95]

For the tanks in xen, they could have been teleported there by other means, maybe the gman's employers have access to more effective teleportation devices than the ones produced at BMRF...

Yeah, that was my first thought. But what good would BM be as a 'research facility' if it wasn't on the cutting edge? No point researching out of date technology.

The outdated teleport Barney Calhoun used to escape the facility had simply been built over by newer construction, hidden behind new walls and buildings. This shows that black mesa would simply replace old teleport technology with the cutting-edge stuff. Indeed, they built the entire Lambda Complex, complete with giant reactor, just to stay up-to-date.

 

[chimpmunk]

Maybe Gman was just Guiding mankind toward developing teleportation so they would discover xen and make everything happen (that'd explain why his teleportation technology is superior)


OMFG! that makes a lot of sense actually, i'm really proud of myself...

 

[Nem]

Maybe their us FROM THE FUTURE!!!


Heheh, sorry, I felt I needed to contribute somethin!

You're probably right lol I still think they are partially human. Every combine is kinda the same and mindless. I think they are semi-human from another planet and they invaded Earth, and are trying to unificate everyone to be like a combine or something. Cos then there would be total control, and no wars, violence etc.