A Few Questions about the Nuke

[MFL]

The question I put to all of you is: Is it possible that the G-Man has influence over more people than just Gordon, and if he does, how many?

As most of us know, during the course of events after the resonance cascade, Black Mesa was eventually reduced to ash through nuclear destruction. We know how Gordon escaped his ultimate end, he was plucked out of the Nihilanth's chamber by the opportunistic G-Man. We know how Barney escaped... supposedly. Depending on the thoroughness of the destruction of Black Mesa and the surrounding environment, and the amount of time that transpired between all the events after the resonance cascade, which I can remember individuals from this site plotting out a few years ago, but I can't quite remember at this moment, there might not have been enough time for Barney to make much of an escape at all before he and his entourage was incinerated AND/OR irradiated to death through fallout. The point I am trying to make here is that, if Black Mesa was indeed destroyed, and think about it, for the entire facility to be destroyed the strength of that bomb must have been relatively impressive, then the only way that the characters who survived to make it into Half-Life 2 would be the ones that, like Gordon, were helped out of a life or death situation by the G-Man. The fact the Eli can sympathize with Gordon about the G-Man proves that the G-Man has been in contact with persons other than Gordon. Now, if I am correct in my assertations, then everyone who survived Black Mesa can be put under suspicion of having some sort of relations with the G-Man. This raises further questions, like, why would the G-Man have saved these people? More importantly, why aren't they talking about it.

 

[Adabiviak]

Barney's just tough that way. Shake it off, man.

 

[WriterforHire]

The question I put to all of you is: Is it possible that the G-Man has influence over more people than just Gordon, and if he does, how many?

As most of us know, during the course of events after the resonance cascade, Black Mesa was eventually reduced to ash through nuclear destruction. We know how Gordon escaped his ultimate end, he was plucked out of the Nihilanth's chamber by the opportunistic G-Man. We know how Barney escaped... supposedly. Depending on the thoroughness of the destruction of Black Mesa and the surrounding environment, and the amount of time that transpired between all the events after the resonance cascade, which I can remember individuals from this site plotting out a few years ago, but I can't quite remember at this moment, there might not have been enough time for Barney to make much of an escape at all before he and his entourage was incinerated AND/OR irradiated to death through fallout. The point I am trying to make here is that, if Black Mesa was indeed destroyed, and think about it, for the entire facility to be destroyed the strength of that bomb must have been relatively impressive, then the only way that the characters who survived to make it into Half-Life 2 would be the ones that, like Gordon, were helped out of a life or death situation by the G-Man. The fact the Eli can sympathize with Gordon about the G-Man proves that the G-Man has been in contact with persons other than Gordon. Now, if I am correct in my assertations, then everyone who survived Black Mesa can be put under suspicion of having some sort of relations with the G-Man. This raises further questions, like, why would the G-Man have saved these people? More importantly, why aren't they talking about it.

This is all very interesting and is a relatively strong arguement, however, I still think your assuming too much. While its true that Eli is aware of the G-Man's presence, that does not neccesarily mean that the G-Man has directly interfered with Eli's actions like he has interfered with Gordon's. All the scientists in the facility were trying to escape Black Mesa far before the Nuke was dropped. That, plus the fact that we can't be sure how much time Gordon spent in Xen (after all how does time in Xen relate to time on Earth?) and the fact that the Nuke, just might not be canon show that Eli, Barney, Kliener and the others can survive without the G-Man stepping in and meddling with their fates.

 

[coheedswicked]

the only people we know for sure he saved were gordon and alyx and i dont think alyx knows how she escaped. as for the timing with the escapes and bomb going off ect. its difficult to tell because opposing force and halflife chapters dont match up to nicely

 

[-ilu-]

If I remember right the nuke looked like a ordinary ICBM warhead which I would say has a blast radius of few kilometers. So I think it was not too hard for Barney and the scientist to escape the nuke (1 hour would have been enough). And I don't remember if it was ever told how far from the black mesa Barney and the scientist teleported.

Anyway, it might still be true that G-Man helped some others (which he had ofcourse specially chosen) also to escape from the black mesa.

 

[PimpinPenguin]

I'm sure Barney would have floored it outta there. Who knows meybe there was a HEV suit in the car and it protected him.

 

[coheedswicked]

um ICBM stands for Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile and the nuke in opposing force was not delivered via missile, it was just on the back of a truck, armed by the black ops, disarmed by shepard, and rearmed by the g-man if it is indeed cannon. and if it is, which im pretty sure it is just becaus laidlaw didnt want to set hl2 in black mesa, there would be no way to tell the blast radius just by looking at it you dont know if its using U-235, Pu-239, or H and how much of whatever fissile (or fussile) element is in there

 

[WriterforHire]

If I remember right the nuke looked like a ordinary ICBM warhead which I would say has a blast radius of few kilometers. So I think it was not too hard for Barney and the scientist to escape the nuke (1 hour would have been enough). And I don't remember if it was ever told how far from the black mesa Barney and the scientist teleported.

Anyway, it might still be true that G-Man helped some others (which he had ofcourse specially chosen) also to escape from the black mesa.

It's of course possible. A lot of things are possible in the Half Life series (and Portal for that matter) and I would even say it's probable that he's specifically choose a few from Black Mesa. The Black Mesa Incident was a means for him to find individuals who have survivalistic tendancies, mainly Gordon, Alyx and Sheppard. He's also had contact with Eli, yet it can't be said for sure whether he involved himself in Eli's escape.

Those are the consistances in G-Man's behavoir. He looks for individuals that he finds useful, which, for one reason or another, tend to be those who can survive extreme circumstances. He also doesn't pick sides. Gordon and Eli were scientists, Sheppard was part of the Opposing Force, and Alyx was a mere child. Quite a variety.

 

[-ilu-]

um ICBM stands for Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile and the nuke in opposing force was not delivered via missile, it was just on the back of a truck, armed by the black ops, disarmed by shepard, and rearmed by the g-man if it is indeed cannon. and if it is, which im pretty sure it is just becaus laidlaw didnt want to set hl2 in black mesa, there would be no way to tell the blast radius just by looking at it you dont know if its using U-235, Pu-239, or H and how much of whatever fissile (or fussile) element is in there

Heh, I was quite sure someone is going to have something to say about this Yes, I know what ICBM means, I was just stating that it looked like a ICBM WARHEAD (I'm not sure if it was a picture from the actual game or a remake). So it had obiously been removed from the actual missile and put on to the back of a truck.

For the blast radius, Of course I cant say accurately how big the bang will be but this was just a good guess. I looked from wikipedia for the blast radius of Minuteman ICBM and took the figure from there. If you look at the blast radius of Tsar Bomba, its quite much bigger but that nuke in Black Mesa sure didn't look like a 27 ton Tsar Bomba.

Ok getting little bit of topic here

 

[lord_raken]

We know the G-man save both Alyx and Gordon. And that the G-man has plans for Alyx. who knows who else the G-man has manipulated?

 

[Maturin]

He's betrayed Breen, for one.

 

[fishdbaz]

He's betrayed Breen, for one.

Ummm... Since when has there been solid evidence that Breen was even aware of the G-Man's existance, let alone that he was betrayed by the G-Man?

 

[the cow says moo]

Breen talks about him when you're in his office. It's right before he sends Eli and Alex away to talk about it with you.

 

[fishdbaz]

Breen talks about him when you're in his office. It's right before he sends Eli and Alex away to talk about it with you.

What he says in that scene is very ambiguous; it can can hardly be considered solid evidence.

 

[the cow says moo]

I beg to differ. Breen clearly talks about your contract with the G-man, as seen in the video below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHFEzlx6tkg

 

[Maturin]

Also, see his Nova Prospekt speech. He knew you were in stasis.

 

[fishdbaz]

He mentions Gordon's "contract"; I've got to say, that is rather ambigous. You do have a point though, this does sound like a "G-Man-ish" kind of thing to say. But to me, it seems more likely that he was in communication with the G-Man's employers.

 

[coheedswicked]

I think that between the office speech and the nova prospekt speech its a pretty safe bet. in case any of you forgot he says something like this in nova prospekt: " I have reason to believe that in the time of his absence he was in a state that precluded further development of combat skills" meaning, he knows you were in stasis as opposed to hiding out underground somewhere preparing yourself to lead an armed rebellion

 

[jet_porkins]

I think that between the office speech and the nova prospekt speech its a pretty safe bet. in case any of you forgot he says something like this in nova prospekt: " I have reason to believe that in the time of his absence he was in a state that precluded further development of combat skills" meaning, he knows you were in stasis as opposed to hiding out underground somewhere preparing yourself to lead an armed rebellion

From wikipedia:

"I have good reason to believe that in the intervening years, he was in a state that precluded further development of covert skills."

You were close :cheers:

 

[MFL]

DAMN! I wrote a LONG post about further speculation as to the nature of the G-Man and his involvement with the Combine! Then accidentally reloaded the page! ALL GONE! NO MORE! *head in hands, tears of blood*

GAHHHHH!

*sulk* I am saying what I had to say. I'm not elaborating unless asked. The explanation is here if you want it.

G-Man is either part of the Combine or has been working for them the whole time. The whole mess with keeping people in status is because he is going to sell off the best of human biology to the Combine for them to incorporate, as is their nature. That's what the whole thing with the G-Man "saving" those with the best skills has been about.

 

[the cow says moo]

I really disagree with that. I don't think the G-man's employers are the combine. I do think the combine are trying to buy the G-man's services though.