One Decade or Two?

[GrimaceGrunson]

Ok, full time lurker venturing once more into the hectic world of Forum posting. You see, I often find that, any questions I do have are often already answered (with a little bit of searching). But, lo’ and behold, I’ve come across one that has stumped even the hl2.net forums! My question is quite trivial and unimportant, but also unanswered…which just drives me nuts, to be honest. And thus, here I am…

We all originally believed that HL2 took place around a decade after “The Black Mesa Incident”. This idea was supported by Raising the Bar (I believe…), various characters acting as if Gordon had been gone a while, and the fact that “A decade” is a nice big, round number.

Along comes the “Episode 1” webpage, which states “Gordon emerges from the darkness, nearly two decades removed from his last conscious thought”. Nearly two decades. Fair enough then. We chuck the last theory out the window, comfortable in the fact that it’s been, in fact, two decades since HL1, while ignoring the fact that everyone seems remarkably unconcerned by the fact Gordon Freeman hasn’t changed “one iota” (27 to 37…sure, it’s passable, but 27 to 47? Surely someone would notice his hair hasn’t grown?).

Finally comes Episode 1 itself, (and there was much rejoicing), which presents the (unimportant, but irritating) problem: In the “Dr. Kleiner Show”, Kleiner himself mentions that the science team has done great work in “the last decade”, or words to that effect.

So now, surely you see my dilemma. How can I work, think or breathe as long as this enigma of a quandary goes unanswered? Which takes precedence? 10 years or 20? Both? Neither? Should I care? Should you care? …probably not. But still, I’m curious as to how people will answer this.

 

[The Kaiser]

When Kleiner is speaking of the "last decade" he could easily just be referring to the past decade, not the entire time since the Black Mesa incident. It's possible that for the first decade they were simply just getting set up, trying to experiment again, and it hasn't been until the second decade any real progress has been made.

Personally, I perfer the two decades, as it fits with most of the characters from HL1 to HL2, especially Alex going from a small tot to a mid-20s woman.

 

[Butterblaster]

I think it's ten years. Everyone would be a lot more suprised to see Gordon if they though he was 47. It would be especially weird that Alyx flirts with him. Who says she was a tot at Black Mesa? She could have been 12 or 13, and it'd still make sense.

I think we're supposed to imagine that he talks to them (that he's not actually mute). He must have informed them of his age by now??? If I were him, it would drive me crazy to just go about seeing my old friends and not telling them something like that.

 

[Geogaddi]

Stasis prevented Gordon's aging.

 

[Black Op]

I always wanted two decades since Alyx would only be a pre-teen if HL2 was merely 10 years after HL1. I'm glad the official stance is 20 years.

 

[$kelet0r]

it was stated as 2 decades on the episode 1 site
http://ep1.half-life2.com/story.php

The G-Man, as he's come to be called, seals Gordon in stasis far from Earth, thought, and time itself.

Gordon emerges from the darkness, nearly two decades removed from his last conscious thought. The G-Man has reawakened him, though the briefcase-toting official's intentions are murky at best.

 

[jimmyjam]

In-game mentions always trump ad copy
and how did you decide that alyx would be a preteen in HL2 if it was a decade betwixt?
as her age at the time of hl1 is unknown, it's impossible to track

 

[Ren.182]

I think 2 decades (or there abouts) seems more logical. In Black Mesa East we see a picture of Eli and his family. Alyx looks very young in it, probably around 5 or 6, so add 20 and we have Alyx in her mid-late 20's. Also Barney seem like he's aged quite bit (possibly, it's hard to tell what age they were back in HL1 because of the detail on the models).

I'd say it was much cloaser to 2 decades than 1.

 

[Black Op]

In-game mentions always trump ad copy
and how did you decide that alyx would be a preteen in HL2 if it was a decade betwixt?
as her age at the time of hl1 is unknown, it's impossible to track

1. What in-game evidence directly states that HL2 is 10 years after HL1? That decade figure Kleiner could have been in referrence to when the Combine first arrived, or perhaps even when the Resistance was formed. Therefore 20 years is still the best estimate there is, so the burden of proof is on you.

2. Actually with common sense, it's very easy to guess Alyx's HL1 age. Seeing that the Vance family potrait would at the time of HL1 have been Eli's most recent family photo, logic tells us that Alyx was a baby or toddler during the Black Mesa Incident. This is even more apparent if you retcon that baby picture in Freeman's locker to be Alyx (both babies look similar to each other, and Freeman has no known family of his own). Thus how I come to my 20 year estimate.

 

[Asknoone]

Two decades is alot more plausible.

 

[jimmyjam]

the photo is not necessarily the most recent family photo
it's the photo eli managed to keep while ALIENS and ****ing GOVERNMENT TROOPS were trying to kill him

edit: have curses always been censored here? I'm starting to confuse forums

 

[5x5]

Oh man. I thought I had read 15 years somewhere. More than ten and nearly twenty... my head explode!

 

[esplin]

Quote from Raising the Bar:

G-man: "Ten years Mr. Freeman. It won't seem that way to you of course, but ten years is a long time."

Just stirring up some contraversy.

 

[$kelet0r]

ah but nothing like that in RtB is canon

 

[esplin]

but why would they change it?

 

[ríomhaire]

Quote from Raising the Bar:

G-man: "Ten years Mr. Freeman. It won't seem that way to you of course, but ten years is a long time."

Just stirring up some contraversy.

Not in the game though

 

[Asknoone]

Cut from the game, however.

 

[alehm]

I am comfortable just knowing its been a lot of friggin years and its time to kick some butt because of it.

 

[Hyperion2010]

but why would they change it?

because alyx has to be legal

 

[Butterblaster]

1. Barney looks like he's in his 30s. He couldn't have been a teenager when he was a guard.

2. The picture of baby Alyx is not necessarily the most recent photo Eli had.

3. Alyx thinks Gordon is 27 years old plus the number of years since the Black Mesa Incident. Unlikely that she'd flirt with a 47-year-old.

4. Kleiner refers to advancements made in the last 10 years. This isn't proof but it supports the idea of a ten year period.

 

[Scotsman]

If Alyx was a young kid at the time of Black Mesa, 15 or 20 years sounds far more realistic than 10.

 

[RezDude]

If Alyx was a young kid at the time of Black Mesa, 15 or 20 years sounds far more realistic than 10.

Yeah, I would say she's probably 26-27 in Half-Life 2, around the same age as Gordon (I don't count the 20 years Gordon was in statis).

 

[Butterblaster]

If Alyx was a young kid at the time of Black Mesa, 15 or 20 years sounds far more realistic than 10.

If Alyx was a teenager at the time of Black Mesa, 10 years sounds far more realistic than 15 or 20.

 

[Scotsman]

If Alyx was a teenager at the time of Black Mesa, 10 years sounds far more realistic than 15 or 20.

Eli said that he was only able to grab that photo and Alyx on his way out of BM. She was probably a small child at the time of the incident.

 

[Black Op]

Also, an unused piece of EP1 dialogue confirms that Alyx was too young to remember the one time Eli took her on the Black Mesa Transit System. One would think she'd remember more if she was older at the time of the Incident.

 

[Darkest90]

How about something like 16 years? That could qualify as 'nearly twenty'.

27 + 16 = 43

Its a little better than 47.

My opinion is that Alyx was around 10 during Black Mesa. 16 + 10 = 26 ... Sounds good to me.