A question from way back in Half Life 1.

[FrostXian]

In the ending, G-man states they have control of Xen. In the background are several dead soldiers and wrecked military vechiles.
So what happened? Army attacked Xen to take over it? How did they get destroyed? Was the combine waiting for them, as they probably entered with Nihilant's death? What the hell was THAT?
And G-man, those alien weapons were NOT goverment properity. Give them back.
NOW.

 

[Druckles]

I don't believe the Combine have ever been to Xen. Before or even now.

 

[ríomhaire]

I don't think there was a human invasion of Xen. Human forces on sand (which we've never seen on Xen) under a Xen sky is either a vision from the g-man or on Earth but with a ****ed up sky due to portal storms. The "our" in "our control" is probably the g-man and his employers, whoever they were. I like to think they were the Combine.

 

[Triumvir]

I like to think they were the Combine.

Judging from the events of HL2, I'd guess some as-of-yet unknown third party.

 

[Narvi]

I should note that the human forces he showed you were defeated.

 

[Asknoone]

I like to think they were the Combine.

That is pretty unlikely.

 

[ríomhaire]

Probably. But hey, stupid/improbable theories are what keeps the wheels of HL2.net greased.

 

[FrostXian]

I should note that the human forces he showed you were defeated.

Indeed, but by what? The side G-man was on, by then?

 

[ríomhaire]

Probably by Xenian troops.

 

[phishey]

i thought the combine noticed xen due to the portal storms? the xenians (all those headcrabs, vorts and whatever) escaped to the earth in fear of the combine. at least its what i thought until now.

 

[Jeron]

When the g-man is talking to you at the end of the game you aren't anywhere, you're not on earth or on xen or anywhere else. You're in some kind of dreamworld or something, under the control of g-man, showing you alot of stuff which is just an illusion.

And that government property thing is just an excuse to strip you from your weapons.
It wouldn't make much sense to start HL2 with those alien weapons, lol.

 

[Darkside55]

You have to understand though that at no time since Half-Life 2 has the G-man ever shown you something false; he never shows you any illusions that are constructs of his own imagination. He always shows a specific moment in time, a specific place, without anything added or altered. This is important because it sets up backwards precedent for HL1. So, at the point where you see the marines on Xen, despite the fact that they are standing on sand you can be sure that they were on Xen, that that was an accurate vision. After all, if a headcrab knows to burrow into sand, it obviously learned to do it on its home turf before experimenting in the New Mexican desert.

Retroactive continuity does seem to suggest that you were not on Xen, however, although at what point you made the transition from Xen to the G-man's dimension is questionable. It's my personal opinion that Gordon Freeman was physically on the elevator at the beginning of the G-man's speech, but everything after is subject to interpretation.

 

[ríomhaire]

Except, Darkside, at the end of HL2 when he's talking to you. If you look around you cam see that the sky has changed and City 17 is nowhere to be seen. So the area he's showing you can be real, but not the sky.

 

[Jeron]

Yes he's showing you real things, but those things aren't really there. It's like on television.

Like in episode 2 you see g-man sitting at a desk, but you're not really there, and that place is not really here. They're all visions the g-man is showing you.

At the end of HL1 the background is just a summing up your playthrough of the game, but mixed. Those marine corpses and ruined vehicles in the sand is just to show you what a mess you made, but they're not really in Xen, that's just another background.

I tought that this would be obvious.

 

[Druckles]

They're all visions the g-man is showing you.

Vision is the operative word. It implies truth. So they might be a vision of the past or of the future, but as Darkseid said, you can be assured that it will or had happened.

For all we know, the Gman might not be capable of lying.

I tought that this would be obvious.

"Obvious"?

Have you played Half-Life?

 

[Absinthe]

I should note that the human forces he showed you were defeated.

Well, I just thought the G-Man simply had a macabre sense of humor at the time.

 

[FrostXian]

"We have total control.
...
Haha, that was a joke.
Fat chance."