Metaphor Cesspool and Name Signifigance

[cleckmoon]

For a few days, i've been exploring the words used in HL2, and metaphors implied by them. I've stumbled upon a few interesting facts, which I will present in logical format. Please excuse the disaray of this post, because I'm still not too sure what I'm getting at with all this.

Done with lots of help from Google and Wikipedia.

+
Half Life- The Lambda Symbol:
-A scientific symbol of decay.
-A set of logical axioms in the axiomatic method of logical deduction in first-order logic.
- In epistemology (the branch of philosophy that deals with the nature, origin and scope of knowledge.), an axiom is a self-evident truth upon which other knowledge must rest, from which other knowledge is built up. To say the least, not all epistemologists agree that any axioms, understood in that sense, exist.
+
Ravenholm- The Forgotten Town
-The Raven. Many large black birds of the genus Corvus are called ravens. Other birds in the same genus are the smaller crows, jackdaws, and rooks. Often used as a symbol of ill omen.
-In siberian mythology, the Raven (named Voron) is a trickster and theif, and is held responsable for the creation of the earth. With its archtypal characters and depiction of the transformation of death and loss into new life, the story is a powerful parable for the journeys of our own lives.

-Holm. A european term for a small island. Examples: Steep Holm, Flat Holm, ect.
+
Gordon Freeman- The Unlikely Her0
Gordon- An english word for a rounded hill.
Freeman- Duh. But, also similar to Freemason.
-Freemason-Freemasonry is one of the world's oldest fraternal organizations. The lessons Freemasonry teaches in its ceremonies, are to do with moral values. Freemasonry's acknowledgement, without crossing the boundaries of religion, is that everything depends on the providence of God.
-Freemasonry is often acused in many conspiracies, which I do not care to list at this time. Anyone with knowledge or rumors of this, please post below.
+
Black Mesa- The Zero Hour
Mesa- A flat-topped hill.

--

THEROY: The tale of Gordon Freeman is a story of decay, made evident by the world crumbling around him. His escape from Black Mesa is hardly a victory. He has invoulentarily become part of the great decay of the world, opening the first doorway to the invaders. The path only leads downwards from there. He is inserted into City 17, the epicenter of the world's new order.

Ravenholm is a metaphor for the true fall of this world. Once an isolated rebellion holdout, one of the last hopes for humanity, it is now a city of death, full of specters and the tormented.

More on this when my head stops hurting from unrelated causes.

==

Dumb note- Voron sounds like Vorgon.

Alternately note- Morgan Freeman looks kinda like Eli Vance.

 

[cH0WyUNf4T]

Ravenholm- The Forgotten Town
-In siberian mythology, the Raven (named Voron) is a trickster and theif, and is held responsable for the creation of the earth. With its archtypal characters and depiction of the transformation of death and loss into new life, the story is a powerful parable for the journeys of our own lives.

.

wait one goddamn minute, siberian mythology. ok....phew, city 17 is situated somewhere on the red sea right? at least i seem to remember that being the answer to TEST NUMBER 2. red sea=baltic area=siberia. so we can assume that siberian traditions apply to city 17. THE FREAKING GMAN IS ALWAYS SEEN WITH BLACK CROWS!!!!!ONEONE for example, in anticitizen one when you reenter the apartment b uilding, there is small tv in a collapsed entry way showing the gman, standning in a little boat with a BLACK CROW on his shoulder. and gordon appears to be symbolized by the white dove/seagull. anyway, does this mean the gman is a memeber of a race of people who crearted the world/galaxy/univers?????

 

[twist]

gman ... god-man lol
and then theres obviously freeman free-man

 

[we11er]

I think the lamda stuff is pretty unimportant actually. It's just the name of the original lambda complex in the black mesa labs. There was probably alpha, beta etc etc. Lamba just sounds cool I guess. And the decay equations.

As for the rest, pretty interesting!

 

[cH0WyUNf4T]

and speaking of decay, and the gman being the creator of the world, and freeman perhaps being its destroyer. in "our benefactors" breen says "ask yourself mr freeman, in all of this destruction, have you ever created anything? ...I thought not." oooOOOOooooh

 

[campioNe]

"Half Life- The Lambda Symbol:
-A scientific symbol of decay."


no, the scientific symbol for wavelength.

 

[cH0WyUNf4T]

lambda is also used to indicated the half-life of a radioactive isotope, in addition to being the wavelength of light and particles

 

[fookhar]

Apparently Lambda means quite a lot of things. There are a lot of homosexual communities named Lambda, guess it has something to do with that as well

Lambda is also a decay constant, used when measuring how long it takes for a source to decay to half its original activity (It's Half-Life ).

c/p

N=N(0)*e^(-lambda) (t)
http://www.cehs.siu.edu/radiological/Training Modules/properties.htm

EDIT: Bah, you beat me to it.

 

[Fighter]

Raven-holm: holm means hill in Russian, so it is like Raven's hill. But it is probably just a coincidence.

 

[PrivateerLunatic]

You guys are reading *way* too much into this game. I mean, it has a pretty cool plot and it definitely has its subtleties and all, but that's just insane. Now you're starting to sound like the people who think that Pink Floyd *intentionally* wrote Dark Side of the Moon to play in sync with The Wizard of Oz. =p

 

[rosseh]

The Ravenholm information is quite interesting. I think so far out of all the G-Man idea's, him being the 'creator' is my favorite :>. Good work on the research and I hope it doesn't turn out to just be a nice coincidence.

 

[Fighter]

You guys are reading *way* too much into this game. I mean, it has a pretty cool plot and it definitely has its subtleties and all, but that's just insane. Now you're starting to sound like the people who think that Pink Floyd *intentionally* wrote Dark Side of the Moon to play in sync with The Wizard of Oz. =p

It is always fun to speculate. Most of the stuff probably has no significance, but but some could have metaphorical meaning put there by valve on purpose.

 

[we11er]

lambda is also used to indicated the half-life of a radioactive isotope, in addition to being the wavelength of light and particles

No, lamda is not the half-life, lambda is a variable in the equation for the half-life.

 

[SupaKoopa]

lambda (or the letter "t") is also used as the TIME variable in a parametric equation.

hmmmmm

 

[Dr. Shim]

I heard, in an interview, that Freeman was in a world which was slowly spiriling down into destruction. He was saying that in most video games, the player feels too much like a God: Powerful and indestructable. So, the Lambda symbol having something to do with decay makes sense to me.

Yesh, I do read a lot of interviewsh with Valve. :B

 

[Armageddon00]

You guys are reading *way* too much into this game. I mean, it has a pretty cool plot and it definitely has its subtleties and all, but that's just insane. Now you're starting to sound like the people who think that Pink Floyd *intentionally* wrote Dark Side of the Moon to play in sync with The Wizard of Oz. =p

Just to second what fighter says its always fun to play around with things like this I hate people who seem to put it down.

 

[Rhalle]

A Raven is a carrion-eater: it eats dead animals like vultures do. Holm is Town or Home. That's why its called "Ravenholm" There are lots of ravens there because they eat the corpses.

My theory on Gordon is,well-- look up "Gordian knot" someplace, and see how that might apply to Gordon.


"Freeman" is ironic-- he is alone, but he's not really 'free'.

G-Man is Government man.

Lambda is the symbol for radioactive decay-- 'half-life'. It also means lots of other relevant things. The greeks saw it as the letter that symoblized 'freedom', and some other stuff I don't remember right now.

There's playing around, and then there's answers.

Vavle doesn't make up random stuff; it all has its meaning and relevance.

 

[cleckmoon]

for example, in anticitizen one when you reenter the apartment b uilding, there is small tv in a collapsed entry way showing the gman, standning in a little boat with a BLACK CROW on his shoulder. and gordon appears to be symbolized by the white dove/seagull. anyway, does this mean the gman is a memeber of a race of people who crearted the world/galaxy/univers?????

However badly spelled it may be, this is an interesting theroy I did not think of.

holm means hill in Russian, so it is like Raven's hill. But it is probably just a coincidence.

Holy shit, another thing that means 'hill'.

Now you're starting to sound like the people who think that Pink Floyd *intentionally* wrote Dark Side of the Moon to play in sync with The Wizard of Oz. =p

It DOES?

Lambda-A set of logical axioms in the axiomatic method of logical deduction in first-order logic.

Quoting myself, but it has purpouse. I spoke to my math teacher today after class (nice middle aged fromer soviet block resident), and she clarified the definition of 'axiom' for me. It's simplest definition is 'Something that is considered true, even without proof'. I found this interesting, since a Lambda is a set of axioms.

The resistance has taken on this symbol, mostly for the Black Mesa incident, but what if it has deeper meaning? What if the resistance is indeed beliving in hollow truths? What if Dr. Breen is correct in his actions? Highly doubtful, but something to be considered. In all truth, the resistance is fighting against the blind following of an unrealistic ideal.

I'm glad to see the response this is getting. Anyone have any theroys on the Free Mason thing, though?

 

[cleckmoon]

STUPID UPDATE! Found more siberian Raven and Gull stuff. It's facinating, and curiously coincidental.

As stated above, the Supreme Being sends Big-Raven to order human affairs. The native name for Big-Raven is Quikinnaqu or Kutkinnaku, which are augmentative forms of the words for 'raven'. He is also known as Acicenaqu (Big-Grandfather), or Tenantomwan (Creator). The tales about Big-Raven form part of the Pacific Coast cycle of raven myths, for we find this figure in the mythology of the north-western Amerinds as well as in that of the Siberians of north-eastern Asia. But, among the Koryak, Big-Raven plays a part also in the ritual of their religious ceremonies. 'Creator' is really a misnomer, for this being did not exercise any truly creative function: he was sent by the Supreme Being to carry out certain reforms in the already organized universe, and was therefore, so to speak, a reorganizer and the first man. He is also a supernatural being and a powerful shaman; and his name is mentioned in almost every incantation in shamanistic performances. 'When the shamans of the Maritime Koryak commence their incantations they say, "There, Big-Raven is coming!" The Reindeer Koryak told me that during shamanistic ceremonies a raven or a sea-gull comes flying into the house, and that the host will then say, "Slaughter your reindeer, Big-Raven is coming!"'

Source: http://www.sacred-texts.com/sha/sis/sis09.htm

 

[marksmanHL2 :)]

STUPID UPDATE! Found more siberian Raven and Gull stuff. It's facinating, and curiously coincidental.

As stated above, the Supreme Being sends Big-Raven to order human affairs. The native name for Big-Raven is Quikinnaqu or Kutkinnaku, which are augmentative forms of the words for 'raven'. He is also known as Acicenaqu (Big-Grandfather), or Tenantomwan (Creator). The tales about Big-Raven form part of the Pacific Coast cycle of raven myths, for we find this figure in the mythology of the north-western Amerinds as well as in that of the Siberians of north-eastern Asia. But, among the Koryak, Big-Raven plays a part also in the ritual of their religious ceremonies. 'Creator' is really a misnomer, for this being did not exercise any truly creative function: he was sent by the Supreme Being to carry out certain reforms in the already organized universe, and was therefore, so to speak, a reorganizer and the first man. He is also a supernatural being and a powerful shaman; and his name is mentioned in almost every incantation in shamanistic performances. 'When the shamans of the Maritime Koryak commence their incantations they say, "There, Big-Raven is coming!" The Reindeer Koryak told me that during shamanistic ceremonies a raven or a sea-gull comes flying into the house, and that the host will then say, "Slaughter your reindeer, Big-Raven is coming!"'

Source: http://www.sacred-texts.com/sha/sis/sis09.htm

Niiiice!


Thats pretty cool actually

 

[Thruster1]

What about

Spoiler

Entanglement

Didn't realise it was an actual scientific term

If you read this article -

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/quantum_teleportation_001012.html

just after the Spooky Science heading you'll see what I mean

 

[Uncle Ho]

My Science Teacher actually references Half-life in his lessons. He sees a lot of science in it. Also, if you listen to Father Gregory's lines, you realize that this game really is deep. "I remember your true face, brother" "I shall release you from your torment". It shows him drawing from faith, the one thing he has left, to persevere.

 

[porus]

kinda irrelevant, but i was playing around in mspaint the other day and i discovered that the lambda can be perfectly tesselated in several different ways.

 

[cleckmoon]

kinda irrelevant, but i was playing around in mspaint the other day and i discovered that the lambda can be perfectly tesselated in several different ways.

... Actualy, not all that irrelevant. Quite interesting.

http://www.space.com/businesstechno...n_001012.h tml

Also interesting. But a lot of it went over my head.

Stiiiiillll looking for Freemason references. I know there is some connection SOMEWHERE.

 

[ExiT]

To correct something said earlier, the Red Sea separates egypt and saudi arabia. Maybe you mean black or caspian sea?

 

[cleckmoon]

I personaly am not making any assumptions on the location of city 17, other then the fact that it's probably a former soviet city, either within the soviet block, soviet germany (unlikely), or within the span of soviet russia. The whole place gives me the heebie USSR jeebies.

 

[pur3r4ge]

Everyone should read the Prima "Raising the Bar" book if they're interested in all this. There are some writer's notes about the origin of Gordon Freeman (no metaphor: just referencing favorite scientists names). City 17 is a conglomeration of architecture from a number of eastern European cities, and is not one specific city.

If people are looking for metaphor, perhaps they should be sniffing about the significance of the number "17". I don't know if there is anything there, but many number have many connotations.

 

[Fighter]

"17" is just a reference to old Soviet secret cities I think. Like Arzamaz 16 is where nuclear bombs were made as an example.

 

[Tantalus]

gman ... god-man lol
and then theres obviously freeman free-man

actually, g-man is a negetive connotation for an FBI agent.

 

[cojawfee]

My Science Teacher actually references Half-life in his lessons. He sees a lot of science in it. Also, if you listen to Father Gregory's lines, you realize that this game really is deep. "I remember your true face, brother" "I shall release you from your torment". It shows him drawing from faith, the one thing he has left, to persevere.

Or he could just be saying that he remembers the person and tells them that he remembers what the guy used to look like. Then he is going to release him from his torment (kill him so he doesn't have to live with the horror of being a headcrab zombie).

 

[Tantalus]

I'm glad to see the response this is getting. Anyone have any theroys on the Free Mason thing, though?

I don't think Gordon Freeman is a free-mason...

free masons talk too much!

 

[cleckmoon]

But Free Masons have lots of evilness! I saw it on the interweb.

 

[Hazar]

Tenements were large apt. buildings in the early 1900's with very poor living conditions.

They were usually run by 'slum lords' who prayed on the poor and made things worse...

 

[cleckmoon]

Fascinating.

 

[Ultimape]

my grandma was once a leader of a sect of freemasons. I stole one of their "sacred books" from her bookshelfs... It is structured very similarly to a cult.