Dr. Mossman...

[michael_obrien]

Does anyone have any speculation or more information on Dr. Mossman? To me, the way she was handled was one of the lower points of this excellent game... She is perhaps one of the most essential elements of making the plot make sense (they allow humans to live because they need the teleporter technology, plus the entire slow warp sequence from nova prospekt which she was crucial to) and then at perhaps the greatest turning point in the game, when breen has the 3 most powerful rebel leaders in his grasp ready to kill, she does what she "never could have done alone..."

huh?

First of all, she did do it alone. Second of all, she had Eli, Gordon, and Alyx together at nova prospekt, the exact same group as when she did what "she couldn't do alone"... and she didn't have Breen there bickering at her, and not nearly as much would be put at stake when she rebelled... none of them were in confinement, and actually, she worked with alyx and eli for what, according to that hl2 timeline, was at least six years, yet she continued to obey the combine... Speaking of which, WHY WAS SHE WORKING WITH THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE? Nowhere in the game does she say "oh I agree completely with Breen's takeover, the reason I helped him against my friends was because I had a slave chip implanted in my brain" or "He gave me sweet hot loving every night"...

Basically, I'm complaining about the complete darkness surrounding the motivation of one of the key characters in the game. It's not like g-man darkness - it's like they threw her into the game because they thought "oh shit, this doesn't make any sense at all, how can we put gordon through these cool combine carriage scenes without allowing Breen to kill him? And how can we stop them from rescuing Eli?"

 

[Grumpy]

Well, she is madly in luv with Eli, and turned them in to Breen to stop him being killed in the fighting, in the final sequence, she realized her mistake and took advantage of a perfect opportunity to go back to the side of goodness

As to why she is in the game, well, she is a Scientist like the others, but missed out on a job at Black Mesa as Gordon had extra credentions due to his attending Innsbruch ( This is mentioned in Elis' Lab ) Due to the fact most Scientists with the qualifications needed for Teleport Theory got nuked at Black Mesa, or killed by the Combine, she was snapped up by Eli & Dr Kleiner

 

[nutcrackr]

Mossman possibly had the chance to keep her life if she could turn over Eli. And with Gordon's arrival, she only had to set them free (read: Gordon) to do what she couldn't do alone: stop Breen from collaborating with the combine and thus destroying the human race.

 

[michael_obrien]

ok... she's madly in love with him... so... she decides that the best thing to do is, instead of going back to kleiner's lab with Gordon, Alyx, and Eli such that she could have a safe place to stay with him, help him and kleiner do even more advanced research, ... I just don't see how she could consider delivering him to Breen, a man she knows is crazy and who has already proven that he wishes to use him only as a means of hurting the resistance and keep him in a pod all day long WITHOUT letting her see him... Either she was incredibly conniving beyond anything she had shown and knew somehow that this would ultimately result in freeman being set loose right inside Breen's office with a super grav gun... Perhaps I missed part of the story.

Was she not trying to kill gordon and alyx when she abandoned them at the combine teleporter? Was she just playing alyx and gordon along with more finesse than the g man could possibly pull off, ultimately for their benefit?

Nut: She could have stopped breen in a lot of ways... bring him to the teleporter in the nova prospekt installation, for example, warm it up, suddenly blow his face off with a shotgun, and then tele away oh so fast and set the place to self destruct. She doesn't even need to shoot him; just get out of there and then blow the building on him. no?

 

[Bing_Oh]

I don't think her motives were all that convoluted. She loved Eli but believed that the Combine was destined to destroy the resistance that he believed in so wholeheartedly. So, in exchange for Eli's safety, she agreed to betray the rebellion. The biggest turning point in the scene in Breen's office is when Breen tells Mossman that Eli is expendable because SHE can continue his work. Breen's threat to send Eli through the Combine portal is the last straw...she chooses her love of Eli and takes her chances against the Combine.

 

[KagePrototype]

ok... she's madly in love with him... so... she decides that the best thing to do is, instead of going back to kleiner's lab with Gordon, Alyx, and Eli such that she could have a safe place to stay with him, help him and kleiner do even more advanced research, ... I just don't see how she could consider delivering him to Breen, a man she knows is crazy and who has already proven that he wishes to use him only as a means of hurting the resistance and keep him in a pod all day long WITHOUT letting her see him... Either she was incredibly conniving beyond anything she had shown and knew somehow that this would ultimately result in freeman being set loose right inside Breen's office with a super grav gun... Perhaps I missed part of the story.

Was she not trying to kill gordon and alyx when she abandoned them at the combine teleporter? Was she just playing alyx and gordon along with more finesse than the g man could possibly pull off, ultimately for their benefit?

Nut: She could have stopped breen in a lot of ways... bring him to the teleporter in the nova prospekt installation, for example, warm it up, suddenly blow his face off with a shotgun, and then tele away oh so fast and set the place to self destruct. She doesn't even need to shoot him; just get out of there and then blow the building on him. no?

We all know how much of a spin doctor Breen is. You have to try and see things from Breen's point of view; if he couldn't quell the resistance, the combine might think Breen is doing a bad job and get rid of humanity altogether (Breen was the one who made peace, afterall). Mossman understands this, and delivers Eli to Breen, in order to ensure humanity's future. However, she said she's only do it if Breen tried to bargain for Eli's life with the combine, which Breen ends up NOT doing. So she turns on Breen.

At Nova Prospekt, Mossmand took Eli and abandoned Gordon and Alyx, so they wouldn't beable to stop her. She does say she's sorry; she obviously regrets doing it, but she thinks it's for the good of mankind. Remember, she only agreed to do this is Eli was kept alive; once Breen decides to kill him and Alyx, she turns on Breen.

 

[Bing_Oh]

Nut: She could have stopped breen in a lot of ways... bring him to the teleporter in the nova prospekt installation, for example, warm it up, suddenly blow his face off with a shotgun, and then tele away oh so fast and set the place to self destruct. She doesn't even need to shoot him; just get out of there and then blow the building on him. no?

I think you're placing Breen in a position of power that he didn't reall have. Breen was a figurehead...a mothpiece for the Combine. He had very little REAL power. His death would have changed the world of HL2 very little in real terms. The TRUE victory at the end was the destruction of the Dark Matter Reactor.

 

[Varsity]

they allow humans to live because they need the teleporter technology, plus the entire slow warp sequence from nova prospekt which she was crucial to

I doubt it. Who knows why the combine want Earth? It sure isn't to get a teleport technology they know nothing about.

 

[AJ Rimmer]

I doubt it. Who knows why the combine want Earth? It sure isn't to get a teleport technology they know nothing about.

I agree. Their motives are quite unclear.

 

[Grumpy]

Probably because the Gman and his Boss have an alliance with the vortigons and Earth is important to them..the alliance is fighting the Combine, across many dimensions. The Vortigons are the key to the war as their home dimension is of major strategic importance in the fight against the Combine, and the Vortigons have placed their survival in the hands of Gordon and Earth.

 

[Mechagodzilla]

To me, it seemed that she's obsessed with science like Breen is, but she also respects humanity, unlike Breen.

She was all misty-eyed over the resonance cascade, an expert on teleportation, and sad she couldn't have known Eli during his Black Mesa years, when his work was being given full government funding.
Mossman seemed to feel like it's a waste of Eli's talents for him to be stuck in Black Mesa East, with only junk and stolen parts.
Basically, she's a Black Mesa/Eli Vance fangirl. More than anything, she wants to help Eli create the perfect teleporter.

So, she joins Breen and gains access to all the combine's knowledge of string-based teleport, under the condition that Eli be left alone to continue his research of Xen-based teleport. That way, she can combine the two technologies and help Eli complete his life's work.
When Gordon shows up, he accidentally gives away BME's location. Breen sees his chance to suck up to the combine and captures Eli.
Mossman gets kind-of stuck at that point. She's can't stop working for Breen, but Eli can't continue his work.

That's when Alyx and Gordon catch her at Nova Prospekt and try to escape with Eli.
Mossman thinks that the fight against the combine is a losing battle, so she prevents Eli from getting away and, in exchange, tries to get Breen to give Eli a lab inside the citadel.
Breen takes Eli, but doesn't agree to the deal. Instead, he keeps Eli imprisonned, and tries to get him to order a resistance surrender.

Once she realises that Breen is going too far in his pursuit of science and is probably not going to let Eli live anymore, Mossman spends a week trying to find a way to rescue Eli and get rid of Breen. She gets her perfect opportunity when Gordon and Alyx show up.


So Mossman was like Breen-lite. She would do anything to further the course of science, so she made a deal with Breen. But, she also has morals.
She spends the first half of HL2 realising her mistake of putting science ahead of humanity and, in the second half, she tries to repair the damage.

 

[boglito]

I think you're placing Breen in a position of power that he didn't reall have. Breen was a figurehead...a mothpiece for the Combine. He had very little REAL power. His death would have changed the world of HL2 very little in real terms. The TRUE victory at the end was the destruction of the Dark Matter Reactor.

Breen was merely a figurehead, but he had one ace. Humans (kleiner/vance specifically) had developed local teleportation which is something the combine were unable to do. This would be infinitely useful to the combine, and as such gave breen quite a lot of power over them.

.bog.