Hazard Suit Evidence Of Alliance?

[Entity99]

At the end of HL1, the Gman relieves you of your weapons, saying "most were government property anyway". But he lets you keep the Hazard suit, saying you earned it.

When you wake up in HL2, you no longer have your hazard suit on. The next time you see it, Dr. Kleiner has it (and specifically calls it "your old hazard suit," so it's pretty damn likely it's the same one)

I have yet to see this point raised before, but I think that this fact, more than anything else, points to the possibility that the rebels know the Gman and obtained your services through him. Since the end of HL1, Gordon has been kept on ice SOMEWHERE, and it's seems that only the Gman (and maybe his superiors) have access to that place. So my take on this is that once the rebels and Gman made their deal, the Gman gave the rebels your HEV suit to give to you when you came around to help them. Why? Well, I'm really not too sure. Why not just leave it on Gordon if he's gonna get it eventually? I've got two guesses. The first is that a bright orange piece of high-tech armor is hard to miss, and it would've drawn the combine's attention to him before he was really ready to throw down. The second is that perhaps they (the rebels and the Gman) saw this as an un-obvious way of making Gordon feel indebted to them. They're constantly asking a lot of Gordon, and by returning to him his most valuable possession, they probably achieve a lot in the ways of securing his continuing service.

 

[Peqkx]

Supports the theory that G-Man offers Gordon's services to struggling and oppressed cultures even more.

 

[cH0WyUNf4T]

this has always pissed me off: the fact that you see the rebels cohorting with the gman; through the binoculars, on the tv screen when you drop into the train car with the vortigaunt and the alliance person. ever since i picked up on it it has given me the willies

 

[SimonomiS]

And dont forget the crowbar Barney "found"

 

[Messermeier]

The first is that a bright orange piece of high-tech armor is hard to miss, and it would've drawn the combine's attention to him before he was really ready to throw down. The second is that perhaps they (the rebels and the Gman) saw this as an un-obvious way of making Gordon feel indebted to them. They're constantly asking a lot of Gordon, and by returning to him his most valuable possession, they probably achieve a lot in the ways of securing his continuing service.

third: if dr. kleiner hadnt got his hands on the hazard suit, he couldnt have modified it to use combine power sources, making survival harder for gordon.

considering all these points, it was a whise choice to give the hevsuit to the rebels. no one but the gman could have done this.

no one?
never say never.

 

[choopa]

could someone please inform exactly where you can see the gman talking to someone in the coast levels?

 

[nick_t]

could someone please inform exactly where you can see the gman talking to someone in the coast levels?

you're with the dune buggy on the coast level. at one point, there is this house on the coast with a shed beside it. forget about the shed, and go up the ramp in the house. Inside, you'll encounter 2-3 combine. There is this binocular-type device which you call look through by pressing "E". There, you'll observe the rebel base across the water and on a tower, G-Man is exchaning pleasantries with a resistance fighter.

 

[Speedkills]

This is starting to creep me out....I never picked up on this during the game, but the evidence is pretty overwhelming. All the people I was fighting with had "bought" me from the Gman and were covering it up....

I just thought though - the bit where you see the Gman talking to the rebels; that doesnt necessarily mean they are in business with him. He could just be being polite after walking in on their base No, really...

 

[nick_t]

if freeman could talk and ask questions a lot would be answered. but hey.... he's a shy guy and lets no force him to do something he doesn't want to.

 

[DannoHung]

Don't assume that the G-Man is so direct. It may be that offering Gordon to the resistance was part of the plans of a party seperate from the known players.

 

[Chaotic_Aku]

I just hope we'll get another upgrade in the next HL =) Mach 6

 

[GiaOmerta]

It seems that everyone is in on Gordon's return.

Barney, Kliener, Eli and maybe Alyx.

Kliener has the HEV suit in he's friggen closet. Barney was on the right shift that one morning. Alyx was right around the corner when the Metrocops ambushed Gordon.... it's all ironic.

 

[Icarusintel]

it's all quite the elaborate setup, though the gman seems to be using them all, even though they think it's the reverse, and gordon, well, he's just a mute pawn

 

[Lanthanide]

Hmm, everyone says "the resistance knew Gordon was coming back". Eli couldn't have known, and therefore it's unlikely that Kliener or Barney did either, because they would have told Eli.

Why can't Eli know? Because if Eli knew, Mossman would know. If Mossman knew, then Breen would know. If Breen knew, he would have intercepted you at the trainstation before Barney did (or shortly after - when you were first walking around the city).

So: the resistence basically had no idea when/if Gordon was coming back, or if they did, they kept it a secret from Mossman (for no real reason).

Why do they have his hazard suit then? And also, if they didn't know he was coming back, why wouldn't Barney or someone else use the hazard suit and kick some ass in it, since there'd be no reason to keep it aside especially for Gordon?

Also, why would the Gman put Gordon on the trainstation anyway? If he had been hired by the resistance, what is the point in the gman risking Gordon's capture by the combine at the Nova Prospekt screening room - shouldn't he have warped you in straight to Kliener's (or Eli's) lab?

 

[Deputy J Garcia]

Why do they have his hazard suit then? And also, if they didn't know he was coming back, why wouldn't Barney or someone else use the hazard suit and kick some ass in it, since there'd be no reason to keep it aside especially for Gordon?

i think that in some crazy get rich scheme the company that made the hazard suit decided to make multiple hazard suits to sell.....naw, that would never work.....

 

[Icarusintel]

Why can't Eli know? Because if Eli knew, Mossman would know. If Mossman knew, then Breen would know. If Breen knew, he would have intercepted you at the trainstation before Barney did (or shortly after - when you were first walking around the city).
QUOTE]

why the hell do you say mossman would tell breen? doesn't she work toward his destruction in the end? what if all the "deception" with mossman and breen was all an elaborate trick?

 

[Lanthanide]

Well she was the one that got Eli captured once Gordon showed up (she was waiting for the right time). Later on she betrays Breen, but earlier on I don't think she ever had any intention to. Furthremore, when she did betray Breen, it was after listening to what he was saying to Alyx/Gordon/Eli and she felt bad.

I guess it's possible that Breen found out Gordon would be making an appearance a long time ago, and then once he never showed up, people became lax and stopped bothering about it, while Mossman still had her original orders to betray Eli once Gordon showed up (and therefore didn't do anything until that time).

 

[Reaperman]

Kliener has the HEV suit in he's friggen closet. Barney was on the right shift that one morning. Alyx was right around the corner when the Metrocops ambushed Gordon.... it's all ironic.

Irony
i·ro·ny ( P ) Pronunciation Key (r-n, r-)
n. pl. i·ro·nies

1.
a)The use of words to express something different from and often opposite to their literal meaning.
b)An expression or utterance marked by a deliberate contrast between apparent and intended meaning.
c)A literary style employing such contrasts for humorous or rhetorical effect. See Synonyms at wit1.

2.
a)Incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs: “Hyde noted the irony of Ireland's copying the nation she most hated” (Richard Kain).
b)An occurrence, result, or circumstance notable for such incongruity. See Usage Note at ironic.

 

[Hercules331]

Alyx didnt know Gordon was coming cause when she meets him she says. Funny you show up on this day (red letter day). wtf does this mean?

 

[JackFrost]

Maybe she thinks it's ironic (lol) that the guy who started all teh teleport madness turns up outta nowhere on the day the resistance crew are planning to test out their newest version of teh teleport madness...

 

[Messermeier]

a red letter day is a day you mark red in your calendar.

no idea why it is "letter", not "calendar" :|

 

[JackFrost]

I think it literally refers to the letters of the alphabet; 'a day written in red letters (on your calendar)'.

 

[Digital_Junkie]

Remember: The G-man only gives his (Gordon's) services to the highest bidder. What could they have possibly given the G-man that he couldn't get himself? Perhaps somehow Gordon's old friends found out about what happened to him (through the Vortiguants?) and made arrangements (through the Vortigaunts?) to hire him and subsequently defeat the Combine and free Gordon from the G-man. But that would mean that something went wrong in their plan, they underestimated the G-man, or they didn't have a clear enough picture of who he was.

 

[Entity99]

Hmm, everyone says "the resistance knew Gordon was coming back". Eli couldn't have known, and therefore it's unlikely that Kliener or Barney did either, because they would have told Eli.

Why can't Eli know? Because if Eli knew, Mossman would know. If Mossman knew, then Breen would know. If Breen knew, he would have intercepted you at the trainstation before Barney did (or shortly after - when you were first walking around the city).

So: the resistence basically had no idea when/if Gordon was coming back, or if they did, they kept it a secret from Mossman (for no real reason).

Why do they have his hazard suit then? And also, if they didn't know he was coming back, why wouldn't Barney or someone else use the hazard suit and kick some ass in it, since there'd be no reason to keep it aside especially for Gordon?

Also, why would the Gman put Gordon on the trainstation anyway? If he had been hired by the resistance, what is the point in the gman risking Gordon's capture by the combine at the Nova Prospekt screening room - shouldn't he have warped you in straight to Kliener's (or Eli's) lab?

Ok, I'm gonna go blow-by-blow here-

-My take is that the rebels knew that Gordon would be coming back (through their deal w/ the Gman), they just didn't know when or where (the when and where, I imagine, was determined by the Gman, convienently plopping Gordon in an area where he'd meet up with Barney and the rest of the resistance rather quickly). As such, Mossman and therefore Breen also knew he was coming back, but had no idea when and didn't know where in the city he would appear. Naturally, even Breen can't cover every point of entry to a place as big as City 17 at all times, so he had to resort to what he actually did in the game: wait 'til Freeman shows up and mobilize everyone to stop him as fast as possible when he does. That's why the citadel went on crazy-assed full alert right after they found out you were in the city.

-They had his hazard suit thru the Gman deal.

-Like I said, they knew he was coming back. Why didn't they let Barney use it? Maybe they did. The only time we see Barney before we claim the suit as our own (and as it is made for ONE person to wear it'd be odd to have Barney wear it with you) is when he's undercover as a combine cop at the train station, and a bright orange suit woulda probably blown his cover. However, there's nothing to say he didn't wear it before Gordon came back.

-As for why Gman didn't teleport Gordon straight to the lab, why don't we take the question to it's logical extreme and ask why the Gman didn't teleport Gordon in next to the Dark matter reactor thing and have it done with in five seconds? My guess is that the Gman may not be as omnipotent as we think. Everyone refers to his stopping time at the end as a reference to his God-like powers. I don't think he stopped time so much as just teleported you out. Keep in mind that earlier in the story, teleportation stretched out a second to a week, so we know it does funky stuff with time. When Gman was teleporting you out, it looked like time had stopped from your point of view, and I think the Gman took this opportunity to send you a little holographic message (which is why he looks ghostly in the frozen-time part of the ending-he's a hologram or something similar) which he probably left on your HEV suit when it was in his care (yeah, I know, lots of assumptions there, but this game demands it). At the end as he's walking out the bright door, he appears far more solid and less ghostly, and I believe this is because you're through teleporting and you're back in your storage/stasis place, and the real Gman is walking out of the room, leaving you to hibernate. Ok, sorry, I got hardcore off topic there, but my point is I don't think the Gman is capable of everything. Even tho the combine hadn't mastered local teleport tech, they were damn close (as evidenced at the end of Nova Prospekt) and as such probably had some sort of shields up to prevent people from teleporting into or out of the city (which malfunctioned when you blew up the Dark matter reactor, allowing Gman to get you out of there). So the Gman had to teleport you in somewhere in the outskirts, and what better place than a nondescript train entering the city at a station where you can meet up with the resistance quickly?

 

[Sean]

I feel that the G-Man planted everything to serve some higher purpose. He has the capability to stop time and spacel; what could the resistance possibly offer him that he couldn't get himself?

As for Kleiner having the HEV suit and Barney having the crowbar, the G-Man obviously knows what's coming. Time, it seems is below him. Therefore, he could have easily planted both of 'em in a place where one of the resistance could have spotted them.

IMHO, the G-Man works through coincidences. Makes more sense than giving him a wad of cash, anyway.

 

[ne0_shiny]

lanthanide.....
spoiler.....

 

[Entity99]

But I don't think he really can stop time, it just seemed like it. I mean, this guy seems like he's quite into the whole theatrics and remaining mysterious thing. He may very well have just planned the whole thing to further convince Gordon that he has no hope of resisting his power, ensuring that Gordon would never rise up against him.

And as for the crowbar, well an HEV suit is hard to find (yours is the only one you see in the entire game) but a crowbar's just a crowbar. A bent piece of metal. Granted, Barney DOES say "Hey, you dropped this at Black Mesa," but he says it jokingly and I don't think he really meant it was the same one. I take Barney's statement two ways:

1. A nod from Valve to the player that "Yes, the classic crowbar is back."
2. Barney's joking around with an old friend he hasn't seen in a while, not really being serious.

But, ah, I guess it doesn't matter if it's the same one.

God do I need to sleep. Damn midterms (and damn inability to not be distracted by my comp so easily).

 

[Moto]

One problem, it's an HEV Mark 5, the one in HL1 was a Mark 4. Kleiner tells you this when you get the suit.

 

[BelisariusRomani]

Kleiner points out that he made some modifications, hence the Mark 5. Since when was there time or resources to devote to formal advancement of that relatively-insignificant technology considering the defeat of humanity? My guess is that it's just shorthand to denote that it's an upgraded Mark 4, and Kleiner takes the liberty of calling it a Mark 5.

 

[Lanthanide]

Ok, I'm gonna go blow-by-blow here-

I like your answers, they are well-thought out and backed up. However due to no definate proof within the game itself, all I can really do is point out possible flaws with your version. Guess we'll just have to wait for another installment in the story.

-My take is that the rebels knew that Gordon would be coming back (through their deal w/ the Gman), they just didn't know when or where (the when and where, I imagine, was determined by the Gman, convienently plopping Gordon in an area where he'd meet up with Barney and the rest of the resistance rather quickly). As such, Mossman and therefore Breen also knew he was coming back, but had no idea when and didn't know where in the city he would appear.

Yip, I likewise basically said this in my reply above - Mossman did know, and this is why Eli was caught when he was (Breen says they could have done it at any point over the last few years), because Gordon appeared so she acted on her orders from Breen.

Naturally, even Breen can't cover every point of entry to a place as big as City 17 at all times

Um, why not? He has a massive citadel - look how many soldiers etc are being made in there. There's no reason he can't control all of City 17's entrances, and IMO there is probably only 1 official entrance - the trainstation. All other entrances would be secret passages etc that wouldn't neccesarily be covered by guards anyway. But for the ones that ARE covered by guards (eg, trainstation) there's absolutely no reason why the troops wouldn't be on the lookout for Gordon - unless, as I speculated, perhaps Breen sent out the alert years ago, and everyone has since forgotten about it.

so he had to resort to what he actually did in the game: wait 'til Freeman shows up and mobilize everyone to stop him as fast as possible when he does. That's why the citadel went on crazy-assed full alert right after they found out you were in the city.

Partly answered above. I think however that Breen seemed just a little too surprised/confused as to who you were for him to have been expecting you at some point. He says something like "what? who are you? what are you doing here?" then when you warp back about 10-15 seconds later he says "It almost looked like... Gordon Freeman". You would think that if he was actively on the lookout for you, and parrticularly your hazard suit, he would have recognised within seconds who you were, but he didn't. Bit of a nit-pick this one is, but given the amount of time between when he sees you, I think it's plausible enough.

-Like I said, they knew he was coming back. Why didn't they let Barney use it? Maybe they did. The only time we see Barney before we claim the suit as our own (and as it is made for ONE person to wear it'd be odd to have Barney wear it with you) is when he's undercover as a combine cop at the train station, and a bright orange suit woulda probably blown his cover. However, there's nothing to say he didn't wear it before Gordon came back.

I supposed he could have used it in the past. My question here was more of a "why are they keeping such a powerful tool in a cupboard? Why isn't someone out on the street using it right now?". However given the state of the resistance when you arrive, I guess it's not too surprising that they're not actively out there seeking attention.

-As for why Gman didn't teleport Gordon straight to the lab, why don't we take the question to it's logical extreme and ask why the Gman didn't teleport Gordon in next to the Dark matter reactor thing and have it done with in five seconds?

If you take it to that extreme, you could just as easily say "why doesn't the gman just shut down the reactor himself and even require you to be there at all?". Possible answer for this however is that you required the gravity gun, and the gman knows it exists, but doesn't know exactly where the resistance are hiding it, so he requires you to go retrieve it in order to use against the reactor. But then the question that follows that is "well why doesn't he teleport you away to the citadel once you have it".

Basically from this line of reasoning you have to conclude two things:
1. The gman is not all powerful
2. The gman requires you to do these things, possibly in a specific way (this would stop him from using his omnipotent powers if he has them).

My guess is that the Gman may not be as omnipotent as we think.

I agree.

Everyone refers to his stopping time at the end as a reference to his God-like powers. I don't think he stopped time so much as just teleported you out. Keep in mind that earlier in the story, teleportation stretched out a second to a week, so we know it does funky stuff with time. When Gman was teleporting you out, it looked like time had stopped from your point of view, and I think the Gman took this opportunity to send you a little holographic message (which is why he looks ghostly in the frozen-time part of the ending-he's a hologram or something similar) which he probably left on your HEV suit when it was in his care (yeah, I know, lots of assumptions there, but this game demands it). At the end as he's walking out the bright door, he appears far more solid and less ghostly, and I believe this is because you're through teleporting and you're back in your storage/stasis place, and the real Gman is walking out of the room, leaving you to hibernate.

Yes, this is a viable alternative I hadn't really thought of - what you perceive as time stopping is simply you being conscious during a delayed teleportation - and because it is the gmans personal teleportation and we don't know enough about him, there is nothing to say that this isn't possible/the right answer. Nothing to say that it is the correct one either, though.

Even tho the combine hadn't mastered local teleport tech, they were damn close (as evidenced at the end of Nova Prospekt) and as such probably had some sort of shields up to prevent people from teleporting into or out of the city (which malfunctioned when you blew up the Dark matter reactor, allowing Gman to get you out of there). So the Gman had to teleport you in somewhere in the outskirts, and what better place than a nondescript train entering the city at a station where you can meet up with the resistance quickly?

Good idea. However, we frequently see the gman in numerous places in and around City 17, which he can only get to via teleportation (he teleports you and himself at the end of HL1, incase anyone thinks "he just walks quick" as an alternative reason). So why would he be able to teleport himself, but not you?

Again we come to the reasons, either he's not all-powerful (however this should easily be within his powers) or you have to do all of these things that occur in HL2 yourself, in a specific way. Obviously if this is required, then things can't be done any differently and he can't give you a helping hand.


So what's the result of this big post? Well it is possible that Gordon was hired by the resistance via Gman, however there are also some problems with this idea.

 

[BelisariusRomani]

I don't think the HEV suit is as much of a mystery as it might seem. How the resistance got it, I haven't the faintest idea, and my conjecture would not add anything new to the table on that point. But as for why it hasn't been used before: as others have mentioned, it'd probably stand out rather obviously, considering the coloration, nature of the technology, and the lambda symbol on it.

More importantly, just look at Gordon in the art that's available. It's obvious that the suit is built *for* Gordon, obviously tailored to him. My guess would be that all the HEV suits were custom-built for one particular person, whoever that would be, and I don't think that anybody they'd be willing to let use the suit matches Gordon's build well enough for it to be worthwhile. Kleiner's joke, "the suit still fits you like a glove... or at least the glove parts do," would seem to lend some credence to this theory as well.

 

[BelisariusRomani]

Incidentally, it may or may not be worthwhile to point out that Breen actually jumped the gun in seizing Black Mesa East; at one point we hear Mossman and Breen arguing on the point, and she says that if he had waited for her signal, he could have captured Gordon, too. Good thing he's a bumbler, eh?

 

[Lockdown]

I think the best objection to gordon being hired by the resistence is this question; "what could the resistence possibly have paid the gman for gordon (not talking money, just anything at all that might be thought of as valuable), that the combine couldn't have matched or bettered?"

well, the first answer one might want to give is that they couldn't, the resistence simply doesn't have the resources. well, they did have the new teleportation tech that the combine didn't have, but mossman gave that tech to the combine, effectively removing even that slime advantage held by the resistence.

so, if you want to make the point that the resistence hired gordon, you really need to answer this question. if gordon really is open to the highest bidder, how the hell is the resistence in a position to outbid anyone?

::spoiler below::

personally, i don't think the resistence hired gordon. the gman specifically states in the end that "normally he wouldn't consider" offers for your services. while he may be thinking about them for the future, i think this percludes gordon's being hired by the resistence.

so what is to be made of all the gman/resistence sightings then? simple. the gman put gordon into this position, and knowing him to be more of a fighter than a talker, has arranged from some support to come his way, courtesy of the resistence. this wouldn't even take much convincing, a simple "gordon freeman is coming, he wants to fight the combine, give him some ammo and point him in the right direction" (to cubbage) or "fix up this HEV suit, someone will have need of it soon" (to kleiner) would suffice. remember, gordon pretty much just goes in the direction he's pointed throughout the game. characters just kinda tell him what to do and he does it. the gman knew the combine would be hostile to gordon. all it took was to have the resistence take him in, and he'd do whatever they needed him to. they are his only allies in the conflict.

because of this, i think that while gordon may be working for the resistence's benefit, and even with it's help, he is by no means their employee. the gman put gordon into city 17 for his own reasons, and asked the resistence to support him because the destruction of the combine would benefit them.

--lockdown

 

[Sean]

There is one thing for certain: Dr. Breen knows about the G-Man.
Pay close attention to the ending, when he turns to you after unsuccessfuly negotiating with Eli: "How about it, Dr. Freeman? Did you realize your contract was open to the highest bidder?"
So... who is he trying to outbid?

 

[AJ Rimmer]

I think the best objection to gordon being hired by the resistence is this question; "what could the resistence possibly have paid the gman for gordon (not talking money, just anything at all that might be thought of as valuable), that the combine couldn't have matched or bettered?"

well, the first answer one might want to give is that they couldn't, the resistence simply doesn't have the resources. well, they did have the new teleportation tech that the combine didn't have, but mossman gave that tech to the combine, effectively removing even that slime advantage held by the resistence.

so, if you want to make the point that the resistence hired gordon, you really need to answer this question. if gordon really is open to the highest bidder, how the hell is the resistence in a position to outbid anyone?

::spoiler below::

personally, i don't think the resistence hired gordon. the gman specifically states in the end that "normally he wouldn't consider" offers for your services. while he may be thinking about them for the future, i think this percludes gordon's being hired by the resistence.

Well, he wouldn't consider bids from certain sources normally, but you are in his employment and he does sell your services to different causes. Maybe some larger, bigger group would like to see the combine out of the picture and they hired Gordon to help the resistance. Or The resistance offered to fight for the G-man if Gordon helped them.

 

[Revenge]

Heh... It's almost like Gordon is the laser-guided rocket and the G-man is holding the RPG Launcher... Gordon just goes and goes and goes wherever the G-man points, going in wide circles in order to dodge bullets and leaving lots of smoke behind, and finally exploding right on target.

I don't think there were any real coincidences, because that is the G-man's main weapon. Even Lamar jumping into the teleporter with you wasn't by chance in my opinion. Therefore I don't think that Kleiner found another suit, and nor did he just find it randomly laying about. The G-man either planted it or gave it directly to Kleiner. Knowing exactly what would happen later on. I don't think the suit is exactly very easy to use. It has in incredibly large amount of functions, and would probably be quite sensitive to overcharging or powersurges etc. Gordon had to sit through a practical training session on how to use the suit, but there was probably a heck of a lot of theory and practise drills to go through before he got to the stage where he'd be able to use it so effectively. Mossman never got hired and so probably never got trained to use the suit, and I can hardly imagine Kleiner or Eli as the "warrior" types... Barney wouldn't be able to work it due to a lack of training, and the suit wouldn't fit Alyx.

Besides, nobody was fighting before Gordon got spotted, why would it have been needed?