G-man's compatriots

[Saruke]

I know I'm probably going to get flamed for starting another thread on the G-man but well here goes.

As I was playing through episode 2 today I noticed something interesting. In his speech to you that occurs in the middle of the game he said something that I found interesting.

It was to the effect of "I wish I could to more then watch but i have agreed to abide by certain, restrictions."

This would imply that an entity or entities is equal or greater in power then the G-man or have enough power to threaten him into a state of semi-submission.

I know that collectively the vortigon's are able to shield gordon from him but the vortigons seem to be in confrontation with the g-man and not in a position to discuss terms. And the incursion by the g-man would show that he is bypassing them.

So thoughts? Wild speculations? All are welcome.

 

[Tomu]

You know it's crazy but maybe the advisors threatened G-man to not interfere with their plans (killing Eli) and he had to try to warn Eli somehow so hence unforeseen consequences!! Seriously now, I don't believe there to be a higher power at the moment that's an enemy of the G-man, it's perhaps his employers.

 

[PortalStormzzzz]

The Advisors are employers. I'm almost certain. (breen's comment about Freeman's contract)

G-man is equivalent to the people behind Bush in the real World. YOu never see them, and only few know of them.

 

[Polaris]

I guess he is talking about Vortigaunts and their business conditions.

 

[bbson john]

The Advisors are employers. I'm almost certain. (breen's comment about Freeman's contract)

G-man is equivalent to the people behind Bush in the real World. YOu never see them, and only few know of them.

So, the Advisors employed G-man to employ Gordon to destory the Advisors' world? To free Earth from Advisors' domination?

Does NOT make sense.

 

[Avoidist]

I doubt anything in this game is clearcut. However, we can assume that his employers probably changed going from Half-Life 2 to the episodes. Given that the employers were almost certainly the Vortigaunts in Half-Life 1 with delivering the crystal, and possibly the combined resistance forces in Half-Life 2, the Combine would be the most "interesting offer" going into the episodes.

 

[Druckles]

The Advisors are employers.

That's not true. Obviously.

We already know that the G-man has a higher authority. It's been present from the very beginning, certain since HL2 when he mentions other contracts. He appears to be some middle-man, organising your contract with different people.

As is always, the Gman will have a higher power - duh. No one ever assumed the Gman was at the top of the tree, and even at the end of HL, the way he put things seemed to indicate he was merely working for someone else.

 

[Avoidist]

Actually we knew he had a higher authority in Half-Life 1 when he mentioned his employers. And you have provided no evidence against his claim, but merely discarded it. Sure, it's not really that logical given the events of Half-Life 2, however if you consider that his employment changed just at the end then the events that follow make some sense. As of now, assuming he isn't freelance, he appears to be working against the Vortigaunts. What is the only party that we know of that is against the Vortigaunts I wonder?

 

[Druckles]

Hmm. Point. Forgot he wasn't really working for the gman anymore...

 

[Azner]

Gman was just Manipulating him at that point in time.

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

I don't think there were any employers. The GMan just made it up to convince Gordon he was like, a government dude - thus he would seem human, and so Gordon would more likely work for him.

 

[Saruke]

I don't believe G-man is the lying type because he hasn't so far, so your conclusion that he lied to gordon is groundless.

And dosen't it seem ridiculous that g-man's employers are the Combine? Cause if that's true then it could only have gone down like this:

Combine: Hey g-man we want you to go get that guy you have out of stasis who's a really good fighter and put him on earth to, you know, stop us and foil our plots at every turn.

G-man: ...that's stupid.

Combine: ...

I know Gordon is supposedly out of the g-man's control right now but ep2 kinda proved that's not true and if the g-man was told to stop him he could.

But this leaves us with no answers so I geuss that didn't help anyone.

 

[Lokizen]

In HL2 after you drop into that abandoned rail car you see the guy and the vortigaunt who charges your suit. Right when you get into that area, the vortigaut is watching the Gman on the tv set he is powering. What's up with that?

 

[Saruke]

easter egg.

There are lots of those.

 

[dead-memory]

perhaps gman is a cat?

 

[Avoidist]

I don't believe G-man is the lying type because he hasn't so far, so your conclusion that he lied to gordon is groundless.

And dosen't it seem ridiculous that g-man's employers are the Combine? Cause if that's true then it could only have gone down like this:

Combine: Hey g-man we want you to go get that guy you have out of stasis who's a really good fighter and put him on earth to, you know, stop us and foil our plots at every turn.

G-man: ...that's stupid.

Combine: ...

I know Gordon is supposedly out of the g-man's control right now but ep2 kinda proved that's not true and if the g-man was told to stop him he could.

But this leaves us with no answers so I geuss that didn't help anyone.

You did read my post right? His employers could have changed going from the start of Half-Life 2 to the episodes. In fact, they almost certainly did. The Vortigaunts, either being greedy or not liking his new employers, stole Gordon from him the instant he was locked away.

In fact, it was probably Breen who bought him given his little monologue, although he was only playing a diplomatic relationship with the Combine rather than being a loyal ally. With Breen out of the picture, the Combine Advisors were next in line.

 

[Azner]

I don't think there were any employers. The GMan just made it up to convince Gordon he was like, a government dude - thus he would seem human, and so Gordon would more likely work for him.

Exactly. Manipulation.

 

[Avoidist]

I highly doubt it. From a strictly narrative perspective, it simply makes absolutely no sense to have the G-Man (and those who know him) constantly mention employers, offers, restrictions and contracts and have him working entirely on his own. He may be relatively freelance in that his services are open to the "highest bidder" but there is no way all of his actions have been exclusively due to being some fun loving god alien who likes to burn anthills and see how long the ants stay on fire.

 

[Saruke]

I was responding to lorkizens post but anyways, I don't think the vortigons stole him out of greed or because he had new employers but they knew that Gordon was the best chance for defeating the combine and without him the resistence would crumble. So it was not greed that motivated them but self preservation.

I was thinking about it and I think that the combine is not as united as we might think. in every government there are groups within that disagree so other advisors may have hired g-man to sic Gordon on the earth combine for political reasons.

 

[LandStander]

I think the G-Man works for a kind of intergalactic merc-for-hire/espionage/all around covert activity business. So his employers could be those who hired him through his bosses or the bosses themselves.

 

[SpectreBlofeld]

Not a whole lot makes any sense at this point.

Gman seems to be assisting the Resistance by using Gordon... yet, at the end of HL2, he was about to put him back into stasis/time travel/whatever. (Oh yeah, speaking of which, what's up with his HL2 speech where he emphasizes the word 'time' about a dozen times?) Then we see the Vortigaunts OPPOSING the Gman. So, Gordon goes back to the fight, until the Gman gets free... and what happens then? He tells Gordon to go on doing what he was doing anyway, helping the Vortigaunts and the resistance.

The Gman's motives and alliances aren't just mysterious, they're apparently inconsistent/contradictory.

 

[Saruke]

I believe that when the vortigaunts took Gordon from the g-man he made the best of a bad situation because in ep2 he does not say he wants gordon to continue fighting the Combine he says he wants him to continue protecting Alyx (his other investment) until they get to white forest base so now there seems no reason for the g-man to not take Gordon again (except the vortigons but it's been shown that they can't protect gordon all the time.)

 

[urumax]

I know that collectively the vortigon's are able to shield gordon from him but the vortigons seem to be in confrontation with the g-man and not in a position to discuss terms. And the incursion by the g-man would show that he is bypassing them.

Beginning of EP1 right? yeh that was confusing/surprising/weird.

 

[Trodler]

We already know that the G-man has a higher authority. It's been present from the very beginning, certain since HL2 when he mentions other contracts. He appears to be some middle-man, organising your contract with different people.

So.. the Gman man is, in effect, Gordon's Manager....

 

[Druckles]

So.. the Gman man is, in effect, Gordon's Manager....

Yes.

Tell me you're being sarcastic...

 

[ríomhaire]

I think that the g-man's employers for the Black Mesa Incident may have been the Combine. They did benefit from it. Xen came under the control the g-man, and presumable those employers, for that time being, Nihilanth was killed and it opened to gates to size another world; Earth. Then again, if they did occupy Xen after Gordon killed Nihily, they didn't seem to learn any lessons in teleportation.

 

[Druckles]

No. I wouldn't have thought so at all.

Why would the Gman put you in a situation, in that case, to attack the Combine. And why would Breen order people to "fetch" you? And the Combine apparently just "noticed" the Portal Storms.

 

[Pesmerga]

The Advisors are employers. I'm almost certain. (breen's comment about Freeman's contract)

G-man is equivalent to the people behind Bush in the real World. YOu never see them, and only few know of them.

HOLY SHIT GO TO POLITICS

JESUS h. CHRIST

 

[Druckles]

You want him Plaguing the Politics section again? He probably got banned.

 

[ríomhaire]

No. I wouldn't have thought so at all.

Why would the Gman put you in a situation, in that case, to attack the Combine. And why would Breen order people to "fetch" you?

Because he changed employers between the Black Mesa Incident and Gordon's arrival in City 17.

And the Combine apparently just "noticed" the Portal Storms.

Still, the death of Nihilanth was good for them.

 

[Aldenhelm]

Ok - My theory.

The Gman is part of some inter-dimentional bureaucracy that, among other things, regulates the hiring and use of mercenaries. He most likely first came to earth during the black masa experiments, noticing their trips to the border world just as the combine would eventually find us through the portal storms. He probably told people he worked for the government, or at least implied it, and offered his services to aid the experiments. It would not be long after that Breen, the administrator of black masa, would approach him to help find a xennium crystal of desired purity. His employers authorize and he delivers the sample that Gordon Freeman would eventually use in the opening chapter of HL1. He transported the sample, knowing full well the effects it would have on the planet ("Prepare for unforeseen consequences"), but in his everlasting apathy, disregarded how many lives had to be sacrificed for his paycheck and the approval of his employers. But this dose raise a good question, what could we possible offer as payment to the Gman? I suppose it could be argued that, even before the resonance cascade, he saw the potential in Gordon, and in exchange for him Breen got his sample, but I think it was most likely a "first one's free" kind of deal, to demonstrate his abilities and ensure future business. Thus ensues the events of HL1.

We all know what happens next, Gordon re-appears, with old friends mysteriously knowing were he's going to be and everyone impatiently spurring him on, only to get snatched up again after three days. What?s clear is that he?s been hired to help the resistance movement, the three days probably being all they could afford. What?s not is what has been given in exchange. I?ll get to this in a minute, first lets look at the end of HL2 and the beginning of Ep1. Why did the vorigaunts see fit to take Gordon from his "master" As was said earlier, the resistance would have been nothing without Gordon, and the vorigaunts knew this, but what if there's more?, Breen did say that his contract was open to the highest bidder, and the Gman said that he had received several interesting offers for Gordon services. It is possible that the combine were interested in Gordon's services at the end of HL2, motivating the vorigaunts, who knew first hand how deadly Gordon can be, to give him a momentary reprieve from the Gman's control.

Gordon makes his way out of the city and into the wilderness, not seeing the Gman until ?This Vortal Coil?, most likely because Alyx?s healing diverted enough energy to release the Gman. The most striking thing here is his sudden interest in Alyx, saying that Gordon must protect her because he is not allowed to due to the rules he has agreed to follow. You may have guessed were I?m going with this. When the resistance bought Gordon, the only payment they could give was to exchange one fighter for another. They gave him Alyx. Now, the immediate question that you ask, ?Why would he just leave her to die in the reactor explosion if he cared so much about her?, is easily answered. We don?t know where he was going when he left Gordon in stasis, and was most likely going
back to retrieve her when the vorigaunts intervened. Now he?s biding his time, waiting for the moment when the restrictions will be lifted and he can retrieve what his rightfully his.

I'll say now, I don't know exactly what he ment by Xen being ounder "our" control. It could be his employers or some unknow party that probably won't be reveild. (not the combine)

 

[Emporius]

If anyone has read the book 'The Ellemist", it could be something like that. Just because the Gman has restrictions doesn't mean that he has a superiour. For all we know there is someone else employing the combine, possibly someone had employed Nihilanth. His 'restrictions' may just be an agreement between these employers.

 

[ríomhaire]

After re-playing EP2, this line made me think a little:
"I have learned to ingore such nay-sayers when quelling them was out of the question."
This implies, to me anyway, that the nay-sayers are someone who he could possibly quell, but is bound by certain restrictions not to.

 

[SpotEnemyBoats]

I remember in my second play-through of Episode 2 that when G-man says "naysayers" then Dr. Breen flashes. The line "naysays" means Breen saying that Alyx was a "mere child and of no practical use to anyone." and Dr. Breen was saying she wasn't worth rescuing, and that G-man was implying that he would no longer listen to those who say otherwise and that quieting/stoping/killing Breen wasn't even in question (it had to be done). That's where Gordon enters the picture of Half-Life 2.

At least that's what I think.

 

[LandStander]

Saying that "quelling them was out of the question" suggests that he was not able to kill them. He is likely referring to the fact that he and Breen had some kind of business relationship making it unwise to kill him.

 

[ríomhaire]

I don't remember Breen flashing.

 

[Andrew LB]

In another thread I read a while back, I vividly recall an artists conceptual drawing of Episode 3 where far above on a combine Citadel like bridge, you see three advisers floating along behind what looks like a human.... possibly Breen or G-man.... (I believe it is the G-Man)

But enough speculation on who it is.... when i saw that drawing I was like OMG.... now I gotta wait another damned year or MORE!!

 

[LandStander]

I don't remember Breen flashing.

It's a very quick flash during the lines "quelling them". You wouldn't be able to tell it was Breen unless you freeze-framed it(which someone on these boards actually did).