Combine, G-Man, and Earth theories

[Phat-t]

Combine and G-Man theories:


Combine theory 1: The Nililith and the Advisor look to be of the same makeup (sewn togeth, biomechanicle) and they are both part of the combine. However, I still don't think the nililith and the combine advisor (the big slug guy who talks to breen) are the acual combine. If you look closesly, they both look like they've been sewn together. I beleive they are both just powerful pawns of the combine, which we still haven't seen a real member of. The Nililith and the advisors are just powerful pawns the combine uses for different purposes. (Nililith- Management of the border world between dimensions, aka Xen. Advisor- Management of Earth, or negotiator to the leaders of combine controlled planets.)
This is why at the end of HL1 the Nililith says something like "slaves, we are their slaves", because he is a slave of the combine war machine.

Combine theory 2: Or my other theory is that there is no pure member of the combine race. The advisor and nililinth were ancient creations of a now-extinct or conquered race (note the ruins on the advisor's neck). They overthrew their creators and kept building onto themselves (the stiches on the nililith and the advisor). I think there also might be a huge, biomechanical, combine leader or group of combine eldar creations. He, or they, would've been the first creation/s, or the strongest early creation/s, who keeps building onto himself/themselves and leading the combine.

Earth theory: Also, I think Earth might've just been a minor stop for resources for the combine. Although there are hundreds of thousands or maybe even millions of combine war machines and soldiers on Earth, they all seem like minor forces when you think that the combine has conquered lots of other planets. Or maybe they used all their big guns during the seven hour war, then withdrew them to other planets where they were needed. They didn't beleive earth to be enough of a threat to keep they're big guns here, so They then transformed many of earth's citizens into their peace keeping forces (combine soldiers) to quell rebellions. They also left a small number of their minor war machines (striders, gunships, etc.) to help out until more could be made from the citidels all over the world.

To sum it all up, the Combine just conquered Earth to be another one of their troop building and resource absorbing factories to support a much larger war.

This is where the G-Man comes in.

G-Man theory 1: I beleive the G-Man is part of an interdimensional company or race much larger than the Combine or whoever their opponents are. The G-Man's company or race bascially screws around wherever they can by giving instant saviors to whoever needs them, but I'm still not quite sure what the G-Man's race would get out of this though, but it all probably effects something bigger that is within their best interests. Or maybe its just for intertainment, who knows?

G-Man theory 2: The G-Man is part of an advanced race that is having a huge war with the combine. The G-Man's race is powerful, but few in number. The G-Man is a lone agent of this race that is assigned to mess up the combine's plans for Earth. His human form is not what he really looks like. His real form may be something humans cannot comprehend, or maybe he's just a robot or some kind of advanced projection. The G-Man being a robot or projection could explain his indestructibility and his strange form of talking that is probably pieced together by an adaptation device that allows him to speak the language of any race he comes in contact with. This also explains why he always seems to be everywhere you are: He either has internal mechanisms that allow him to teleport (robot) or he has multible projections of himself around the world.

 

[Gray Fox]

Nice theory

 

[Wrafe]

Hmm, intersting theorys..... the way you put it it sounds like The Combine are the Sith trying to takeover planets and gaining control via force and fear and the G-man is kinda like the Obi Wan or Yoda of Half-Life.... i get it !

 

[Phat-t]

ummm...kinda? lol

 

[LupinTheThird]

yea but what about the first half life? he dosent have u kill the combine its more of "gerrr all aliens" or was it a test hmm

 

[Phat-t]

arite, here's my theory for it

HL1 theory: Breen messed up the experiment on purpose, knowing that it would allow the Combine to come to earth through the interdimensional border world, Xen. Xen is a dimension that would allow the combine to cross it into our dimension to conquer earth. You see the G-Man around because he's trying to use you to stop Breen, but he dosen't get to you on time. The "accident" happens, allowing the nililith, who has control over Xen, to send in Vortiguart slaves, those soldiers with the organic guns, and other Xen creatures and forces. These creatures were meant to kill any remaining personel in the facility and repel military attacks until the combine could use their portal storms to cross into Xen, and then onto Earth. You see a few Xen soldiers in tubes where they can be examined in the game because Breen was just making sure they could adapt to Earth environment.

The G-Man, too late to stop the experiment, decides to use it to his advantage. He makes sure Gordon gets on a portal to Xen to kill the Nililith. I'm guessing that the Nililith was the Combine's means of getting onto Xen and then onto Earth, explaining the Nililith's mastery over teleportation (in your boss fight with him, he teleports you to various areas). Killing the Nililith blocked off the Combine's means of geting to Earth for the time being.

My guesses of how they got to Earth later are:

a) the combine found another way to get into Xen and took it over again.

b) The combine found another border world they used to get to earth'

c) the combine's teleportation technology became more advanced.

My best guess is that its the second one, and this means that in HL3, you will travel to this new border world to get to the:

a) combine homeworld, to kill the combine master or master. Or just mess up the Combine's plans some other way.

b) a powerful combine stronghold where the combine keeps in reserve its invasion forces for earth.

c) a powerful combine stronghold where the combine keeps its invasion forces to invade a planet that's important to the G-Man.

I'm sure there'll also be a few twists in there, the most obvious being that the G-Man has his own agenda and you end up fighting him. Or maybe the G-Man's race is just as evil as the Combine and they just want you to damage the combine so they can conquer everything. This would probably result in you destroying something that's precious to the G-Man's race and the combine, like a prominent border world or something.

I think HL3 will deff. take place in a few off planet locals and will broaden the scope of the story and gameplay.

 

[LupinTheThird]

i dont think you will fight him he saves your life in the second(he still has plans for you) but how the hell do you beat somthing that can stop time and all that funkly stuff i surely know a magnum wont do

 

[Smokey_The_Bear]

Nice Theories!

I liked them.

 

[wassup]

It is logical that we will go off planet in HL3 (not that VALVe is logical) we need to kill the combine master.

Also in several parts of the game it does indicete that combine teloportation is shit that's thy they want Alyx's father.

This indicates the technoligy is new to the combine and yes they prob did need to use Nililith to port to different plannets (before they had this technology).

I'm still not sure why the combine were nowhere in HL1 (out getting a beer?)

Oh yeah and i guess the game is in the future because it took the combine time to develop teleportation.

Can the next HL be set in the past (e.g. stop combine before they come to earth and save Alyx)?

 

[Phat-t]

i dont think you will fight him he saves your life in the second(he still has plans for you) but how the hell do you beat somthing that can stop time and all that funkly stuff i surely know a magnum wont do

Well he'll deff. try to use you again before and if he fight you. But if you do end up fighting the G-Man, i dont think it will be directly. I mean that like he will be trying to stop you while you do something to hurt or kill him. You're right though, the G-Man is deffinatly too powerful to just kill him by shooting him.

 

[Brian Damage]

I think the Advisor is actually in a rather roughly-stitched sack of green fabric, from looking closely at the pictures, not actually stitched together itself. It's own flesh appears kinda greyish-white, from memory...

 

[echoplex]

hmm

I think g-man is the last one standing of a race destroyed by the combine and is looking for revenge.

and I think Freeman is a 'host body' for one or many others, maybe even the true combine out to stop their creations who knows its all guessing.

"How many are there in you? Whose hopes and dreams do you encompass? " - the all seing dude says this in the game.

 

[--ping--]

anybody checked out the model for the advisor or director, whatever the fat blobby thing in hl2 is through the sdk?- he looks alot like the nihalinth, more grubbish- allthough i didnt really see any stitching or even any cybernetic looking stuff on him

ive got a few different theories, which dont match up:
gman is part of a resistance against combine, as said by others, hl1 was a test to see if you could cope with the tasks at hand, and to free the alien-slave race from the nihalinth/combine.

in hl2 dr breen says that you were available to the highest bidder, which means gman and combine may be the same race, a super-natural race controlling others, which are in a sortof tribal war against each other, as "gods" often do- -highly unlikely- -

g-man is a human survivor from the future, capable of bending time as we have seen.

is opposing force 2 going to be with the same guy from opp force 1? he did get frozen in a similar way to gordan, so he may be another saviour figure.

in hl2 the vortigaunt in the red cargo box with the guy before the underground railway, just before that mounted machinegun is powering a tv with the g-man on it, and when spoken to says "we serve the same mystery" is there a vortigaunt saviour character as well perhaps? or is he speaking in a collective manner?
gman is seen talking to several key characters, perhaps arranging certain events to take place- such as that toffy english tubby guy that gives you the rocket launcher, he was visible talking to him through the telescope.

gwaaaaah- can't wait till next bit of plot. end boss may have been easy but it was an awesome ending, cinematic and edge hanging and all the rest....kicked ass

woO!thats a long post-

 

[justmatt]

One thing I've always wondered was: How do the marines you fight against in HL1 fit into these stories? It seems they were ordered to kill *anyone* left inside Black Mesa, especially Gordon. Seems an odd thing for someone to order them to do. Think someone we haven't seen yet was pulling the strings there??

 

[Phat-t]

easy one.

the marines were just a gov. clean up crew for what happened there, which is why they're just ordered to kill pretty much everything. The gov. didn't want anything that happened there revealed to the public. If American citizens, or any other country for that matter, found out what the government was secretly doing at Black Mesa, it would be disaturious for the U.S.

 

[Dipso]

Also many of them seemed to think that freeman was a sabotour in charge of the disaster, i think.

 

[0mar]

The G-man didn't engineer the disaster at Black Mesa (at least there's no evidence that he did). I think he had a heads up that that day would be special. When the disaster happened, he made the best of the situation with Freeman blasting his way through. I figured the G-man knew of the combine's Modus Operindi and used Gordon as an ace in the hole, because of his deeds at Black Mesa.

 

[Phat-t]

yeah thats what i think too, i think i put it in the first post how i think breen already had contact with the combine before the incident. That combine advisor thing probably brainwashed him the first time he had contact with the combine and ithad breen acually engineered the "accident" so the combine could come through xen after.

for more on that, skim through some of tha theorys

 

[moggy]

yeah thats what i think too, i think i put it in the first post how i think breen already had contact with the combine before the incident. That combine advisor thing probably brainwashed him the first time he had contact with the combine and ithad breen acually engineered the "accident" so the combine could come through xen after.

for more on that, skim through some of tha theorys

yes i have considered that one also. as the scientists say the administrator would not listen to their wrnings , he probally caused it all diliberately

they had also been to xen via lambda before the incident so he had probally contacted combine.

 

[Jay9475]

Perhaps g-man is a god-like being and whilst he cannot directly intervene into the matters of the universe he has to stop the combine from wrecking the equilibrium of the universe and thus uses a mediator in the way of Gordon to do the more direct run and gun stuff that he cannot,

-J

 

[Phat-t]

yeah, thats why under one of my theorys that the G-Man might be some kind of advanced projection. It would definatley explain why he can't just do the stuff himself. Or mayb he's just a busy guy watching over all his saviors for hire.

 

[Simplepsy]

Ok, Stepping back a few posts, my theorys:

Firstly and formostly, The combine are a race who seek the total domination of all lifeforms and planetary 'real estate'. Like the Borg on star trek, they seek the perfection of their race by the addition and modification of all other races in their path. Very xenophobic too.
Their method of take over would require minimal resistance, and maximisation of takings from the planet.
They firstly would contact a planetary resident, someone with autority and ability, to negotiate a deal, offering immortality and great power, they would persuade this person to open a temporary portal to a combine controlled planet.
In this case Dr Breen may have been this person. In the case of Zen, i believe the nililith to be the corrupted 'local'.
After the resinence cascade, helped along by Breen, The first wave of Vortigons were able to come through, unfortunatly some other life forms hitched a ride. The aim of the vortigons was to secure Black Messa in order to keep the portal open for the major assault.
Gordons exploits and destruction of the nililith, freed the vortigons, delaying the arrival of the combines forces. However, since the lamda satalite was released, maybe this was eventualy used by breen and the combine to secure a major portal to earth for the combine. Hence the portal storms (see newspaper cuttings in the labs).
The next phase was to storm earth, with slave forces from a combine controlled planet. Using hostile alien wild life to force citizens into large cities. Major human headquaters were hit, eg, The pentagon. This was lasted 7 hours (also see newspaper cuttings in the labs).
Dr. Breen was then granted election by the combine to Govener of Earth, the equivilent role that the nililith played in Zen, directly advised by a previously added species of thinker (the slug type being). Breen negotiated the surrender of earth to the combine under the promise of improvement to the human species.
The combine then build up their forces by modifying humans, the perfect environmentaly adapted super soldier. Propaganda posters detailing this as the next step in human evolution are used, the water supply drugged to help us forget why we hate the combine, and a suppression field used as standard to prevent more human population growth. Thus eventualy we humans become combine, and know no different.
meanwhile the seas are being drained to suit another species (unknown...maybe the original combine), resources are depleated in the effort to expand.

To summerise, I believe the combine to be technology dependant, mostly made up of various brainwashed, technologicaly enhanced species, hence "COMBINE"... a combination of all.

Where G-man fits in, search me! I'm not sure we are ment to understand that yet.

 

[Hunt3r88]

that advisor is what the true combine look like

 

[Simplepsy]

that advisor is what the true combine look like

makes sense to me. The original combine must be an old species, so dependant on technology and other races to do their work that they have out evolved the need for limbs and mobility.

 

[Phat-t]

Ok, Stepping back a few posts, my theorys:

Firstly and formostly, The combine are a race who seek the total domination of all lifeforms and planetary 'real estate'. Like the Borg on star trek, they seek the perfection of their race by the addition and modification of all other races in their path. Very xenophobic too.
Their method of take over would require minimal resistance, and maximisation of takings from the planet.
They firstly would contact a planetary resident, someone with autority and ability, to negotiate a deal, offering immortality and great power, they would persuade this person to open a temporary portal to a combine controlled planet.
In this case Dr Breen may have been this person. In the case of Zen, i believe the nililith to be the corrupted 'local'.
After the resinence cascade, helped along by Breen, The first wave of Vortigons were able to come through, unfortunatly some other life forms hitched a ride. The aim of the vortigons was to secure Black Messa in order to keep the portal open for the major assault.
Gordons exploits and destruction of the nililith, freed the vortigons, delaying the arrival of the combines forces. However, since the lamda satalite was released, maybe this was eventualy used by breen and the combine to secure a major portal to earth for the combine. Hence the portal storms (see newspaper cuttings in the labs).
The next phase was to storm earth, with slave forces from a combine controlled planet. Using hostile alien wild life to force citizens into large cities. Major human headquaters were hit, eg, The pentagon. This was lasted 7 hours (also see newspaper cuttings in the labs).
Dr. Breen was then granted election by the combine to Govener of Earth, the equivilent role that the nililith played in Zen, directly advised by a previously added species of thinker (the slug type being). Breen negotiated the surrender of earth to the combine under the promise of improvement to the human species.
The combine then build up their forces by modifying humans, the perfect environmentaly adapted super soldier. Propaganda posters detailing this as the next step in human evolution are used, the water supply drugged to help us forget why we hate the combine, and a suppression field used as standard to prevent more human population growth. Thus eventualy we humans become combine, and know no different.
meanwhile the seas are being drained to suit another species (unknown...maybe the original combine), resources are depleated in the effort to expand.

To summerise, I believe the combine to be technology dependant, mostly made up of various brainwashed, technologicaly enhanced species, hence "COMBINE"... a combination of all.

Where G-man fits in, search me! I'm not sure we are ment to understand that yet.

yup thats pretty much it in a nutshell i beleive. Except my theory of Xen and the Nililith is a bit different. I think the Nililith is acually part of the combine. For my ideas on this and my G-Man theorys, read the first few posts of this thread.

 

[Combine Hybrid]

At the end of HL1 after defeating Nihilanth and get teleported with G-man to various places, you get to this place where the marines got wiped out at the battlefield. This somehow gives a clue that the Earth was fighting the Combines during the 7 Hours War.

 

[Phat-t]

At the end of HL1 after defeating Nihilanth and get teleported with G-man to various places, you get to this place where the marines got wiped out at the battlefield. This somehow gives a clue that the Earth was fighting the Combines during the 7 Hours War.

hmm ill hafta check that one out

 

[TerminallYDead]

At the end of HL1 after defeating Nihilanth and get teleported with G-man to various places, you get to this place where the marines got wiped out at the battlefield. This somehow gives a clue that the Earth was fighting the Combines during the 7 Hours War.

I thought that was on Xen. Which with what he says, where did the troops and material for a major invasion of the border world come from? Black Ops? Since the Marines in OpFor were pulling out.

Also, replaying OpFor i noticed that in some places there are little lights that move along the path you should take... which are very similar to the ones seen during the cascade. Are these just random particles that are following the path you should take? Or are they something explained in the storyline (that i missed) or something else, possibly relevant to HL2/3

 

[Simplepsy]

I thought that was on Xen. Which with what he says, where did the troops and material for a major invasion of the border world come from? Black Ops? Since the Marines in OpFor were pulling out.

Also, replaying OpFor i noticed that in some places there are little lights that move along the path you should take... which are very similar to the ones seen during the cascade. Are these just random particles that are following the path you should take? Or are they something explained in the storyline (that i missed) or something else, possibly relevant to HL2/3

Could it be that the resinance cascade not only distorted space, but also distorted time?! Could it also be possible that due to this cascade and space-time distortion, time is folding back on itself. Maybe those random particals are a resinance of gordon freemans path through the games, somewhat like a precognition due to a time overlap... maybe this could also explain The g-mans apearance and existance in our universe. and his aparant knowledge of time.
Could make a good thread, I'll see what response I get to this first.

 

[Is This Tea]

Could it be that the resinance cascade not only distorted space, but also distorted time?! Could it also be possible that due to this cascade and space-time distortion, time is folding back on itself. Maybe those random particals are a resinance of gordon freemans path through the games, somewhat like a precognition due to a time overlap... maybe this could also explain The g-mans apearance and existance in our universe. and his aparant knowledge of time.
Could make a good thread, I'll see what response I get to this first.

I don’t mean to act the part professor annoying here but… I just wanted to note that a distortion in space is a distortion in time. Period. Sitting around a high gravity distortion caused time to pass slower for you then the lower gravity folks. Because gravity is the distortion of space and time.
Just a bit of constructive input for you’re upcoming thread

Also space and time were proven to be the same thing. All of us are traveling forward in time at “c” aka.. the speed of light. Unless we do some traveling through the other 3 dimensions. In which case we subtract from our forward motion in time to add to out motion in other directions… so if you’re a photon traveling at the speed of light… you haven’t aged since the birth of the universe!

 

[dæmon]

Someone mentioned a theory about time dilation, which I'm at a loss to explain, but if you stand beside the portal just before entering Nihilanth's chamber, you hear the scientists saying things you heard at the beginning of the game... "We tried to warn them!" etc.

Theoretically speaking, Gordon fights Nihilanth at the equivalent 'time' on Xen at which the incident takes place. This doesn't mean simultaneously, but really someone who knows what they are talking about should explain it .

Hondo also posted an interesting theory on who the G-Man is. It fits in with some of those mentioned in this thread that he is a being who alters the course of events on Earth/the Universe to suit some greater plan of his. The attached picture suggests he really could be the "Raven." (The bird on his shoulder.)

 

[Phat-t]

Could it be that the resinance cascade not only distorted space, but also distorted time?! Could it also be possible that due to this cascade and space-time distortion, time is folding back on itself. Maybe those random particals are a resinance of gordon freemans path through the games, somewhat like a precognition due to a time overlap... maybe this could also explain The g-mans apearance and existance in our universe. and his aparant knowledge of time.
Could make a good thread, I'll see what response I get to this first.

nice one, i like this theory.

 

[DarkGhost86]

hmmmmmmmmm............... Only Half Life 3 will tell our everything

 

[The Bait]

Phat-t your theorys are great, but on your Half Life 1 Theory, How could Breen know about the combine? From what I have heard the combine attacked Xen. When the residence cascaid (or whatever) happened in Half Life 1 the combine probly took Breen hostage and he made a deal with them that he would surrender Earth to the combine. Thus, started the 7 hour war and the portal storms started. Then after the 7 hour war Earth gave up and found out that the combine were too much for them so they surrendered. Just my thoughts.

 

[Phat-t]

yes i have considered that one also. as the scientists say the administrator would not listen to their wrnings , he probally caused it all diliberately

they had also been to xen via lambda before the incident so he had probally contacted combine.

thats how, they probably had contact with them through combine scouting parties. Or maybe when the scientists were sent to xen, something of combine origon sent by the Nililith came throught the portal and brainwashed or made a deal with Breen so he would cause the Black Mesa Incident to happen that would allow combine forces to travel to xen and then to earth.

 

[friend]

How about this; the contollers are combine, they are made to controll the enslaved vortigaunts. The controllers built an artificial monarch for themselves; nihilanth.

While the Combine were in the middle of taking over Xen they reach Race X's space and when the Combine gets first contact with them they find out that Race X is just as melevolent as they. Race X kicks them out with their biotechnology and soon they discover the rift. Curious about what just happened they went into the rift and discovered Earth under the impression that the scientists that came earlier were Combine and the Combine race lives there.

The slug is called an Advisor, it was ment to release headcrabs at you. The Advisor is the Combine's true form, they are called the Synth, the Synth are slugs(Advisors), Mortarsynths(weird thing on conveyor belt in the citadel) and Synth(the green walking crab thing in the citadel, also on conveyor belt, under the Mortarsynths).

I bloody win!

 

[Phat-t]

How about this; the contollers are combine, they are made to controll the enslaved vortigaunts. The controllers built an artificial monarch for themselves; nihilanth.

While the Combine were in the middle of taking over Xen they reach Race X's space and when the Combine gets first contact with them they find out that Race X is just as melevolent as they. Race X kicks them out with their biotechnology and soon they discover the rift. Curious about what just happened they went into the rift and discovered Earth under the impression that the scientists that came earlier were Combine and the Combine race lives there.

The slug is called an Advisor, it was ment to release headcrabs at you. The Advisor is the Combine's true form, they are called the Synth, the Synth are slugs(Advisors), Mortarsynths(weird thing on conveyor belt in the citadel) and Synth(the green walking crab thing in the citadel, also on conveyor belt, under the Mortarsynths).

I bloody win!

possible i guess but i definetly dont think the controllers were the real combine. I think it was the reverse, the Nililith, a slave of the combine made the controllers. And the Advisor's sole purpose was to release headcrabs on you? I dunno its hard to tell when people are serious or not online. Maybe the Race X thing though.

 

[MisterDeak]

Perhaps g-man is a god-like being and whilst he cannot directly intervene into the matters of the universe he has to stop the combine from wrecking the equilibrium of the universe and thus uses a mediator in the way of Gordon to do the more direct run and gun stuff that he cannot,

-J

I like that one. Anyone of you read Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy ? It has more or less the same theme: something goes terribly wrong and creatures from another dimension flood the earth. In TND it's an enigmatic race called the Kiint who sort of guide humanity through the crisis without offering any concrete help. They have placed in cognito monitors all over the human hegemony who sort of gently nudge humanity in the right direction, without showing their true colours.

I like to think of the G-man as comparable to one of these monitors: he's an envoy of a much larger and more advanced alien civilisation who see that the Combine are "wrecking the equilibrium of the universe" (nicely phrased!) but somehow don't think of this as their personal problem.

 

[Phat-t]

never heard of it. ne good?

 

[Albrek]

Breen is in on it i tells you!

I don't know if this is mentioned at all yet, just thought id quick post it before i forget You'll have to forgive me if i use the wrong names

Breen (the administrator?) is in on whatever game the Gman plays. I noticed this at the end of HL2, He says to you, before he tries to teleport away Eli and Alyx, something like "did you know your services are open to the highest bidder, Freeman?". I originally figured yeh between our resistancy guys, and the law and government of the time. But Gman makes a similar comment after he takes you away, that there's been alot of bids for his services. Seems Breen knows more about Gman and Freeman's purpose than Freeman probably does. guess we'll never know with the zapping and the explosions now