My theory on the G-man...

[MiccyNarc]

I have a very different opinion on the G-man's goals than most I've heard. Just posting here as speculation, forgive me if someone has already made such a thread.
First off, the G-man and the scientist mumblings:
http://www.halflife2.net/forums/sho...ge=1&pp=15&highlight=G-man+Scientist+Mumbling
It looks as though the g-man wanted to push the testing equipment at BMRF beyond normal levels.

Now, let's look at what the G-man has done:
1. Arguably, he caused the Black Mesa incident, or used Gordon to do it
2. He ultimately destroyed Black Mesa (Opposing Force)
3. He used Gordon to destroy many of the Xen populace
4. Now in HL2, he has Gordon destroy the Citadel. While the combine do not have an immediate way of accessing earth (for now), the act of the destruction of the citadel will collapse it, therefore whiping out everyone below it (in theory). In Aftermath, you'll be trying to escape the city, but since the suppression field is down Aliens are swarming city 17.
5. With the Citadel gone, and Breen, the negotiator between the "Benefactors" and the Human race dead, the Combine really have no reason to continue with sustaining Earth. They are probably very angry with the human race right about now, and see no reason to not completely annihilate it.

I think the G-man is working against the human race, and Gordon is just his pawn to set his plans in motion.
So far....what has Gordon done?
1. Directly caused the Black Mesa incident
2. Directly severely damaged the races in Xen
3. Made the Combine very angry with the Human race.

Half Life 3 should be interesting.

Anyway that's my theory, thoughts?

 

[Marx! II]

Quite a theory, this.
And consider that if Breen would threaten the Overwatch with extinction for not catching Gordon, how much worse would the Combine unleash on the populace for him destroying a citidel?

 

[MiccyNarc]

And consider that if Breen would threaten the Overwatch with extinction for not catching Gordon, how much worse would the Combine unleash on the populace for him destroying a citidel?

Exactly.
Combine vs. Earth, Earth = screwed.

 

[MarcoPollo]

I was getting ready to start a fire when I saw the thread name but actually, that's a good theory....hmmmm

 

[Solver]

Yes, it's an interesting theory. We only know that the G-Man has his own goals and uses Gordon as he seefit. In fact, it would probably be a great plot twist if it turned out in HL3 that all this time Gordon had been working only to destroy the Earth.

 

[$kelet0r]

At the beginning of hl1 when u see the gman arguing with a scientist in the lambda complex, the gist of what can be made out of very muffled dialogue is that the test should not go ahead
It is the administrator/breen who was pushing for the experiment to be carried out
The gman must of found out, failed to stop it going ahead and then in opposing force according to the manual was sizing up the troops when at the time they had just received word of a new mission in Black Mesa
Anything more than that is theory
Mine is that Breens and Black Mesa's exploration of Xen brought them into contact with the combine or nihilanth (who I believe was the combine's puppet and the same species as the vortigaunt) who gave breen the crystal so that a portal could be opened between earth and xen
Then Nihilanth flooded black Mesa with his troops so as to secure the exit point of the portal

 

[MiccyNarc]

I think the G-man, with his amazing fantastic skills, could have prevented the experiment from going forward. My impression that the G-man wanted the test to go forward despite the scientist whining.

 

[Angry Lawyer]

I think Laidlaw just put him in with no explanation at all to make us all go 'Who is the G-Man?'.

It's likely that, twenty years from now, we'll all still wonder who he is.

-Angry Lawyer

 

[BlazeME]

Very interesting theory. However, I think the popular theory that Gman is set out to destroy the combine is a better theory.

 

[MiccyNarc]

Very interesting theory. However, I think the popular theory that Gman is set out to destroy the combine is a better theory.

He could be out to do both, but it appears that he's done quite a bit more damage to the human race.

Oh, and folks, remember, if all the Citadels are destroyed somehow, the suppression fields will be gone, and Aliens will have free reign in the cities of Earth, since there is no true standing army.

 

[Marx! II]

I will go to my grave railing against the theory that G-man is the agent of a heroic underground resistance movement set to take out the Combine.
Maybe for personal reasons, but never will I believe him to be idealistic and loyal in such a way.
Perhaps a human fellow with massive teleporting powers, out to wreak vengence on the Combine folk?

 

[Laivasse]

I will go to my grave railing against the theory that G-man is the agent of a heroic underground resistance movement set to take out the Combine.
Maybe for personal reasons, but never will I believe him to be idealistic and loyal in such a way.
Perhaps a human fellow with massive teleporting powers, out to wreak vengence on the Combine folk?

Strongly agree with your first point. GMan might not have had the Combine's best interests at heart in HL2, but I'm damn sure it wasn't out of a sense of justice or righteousness. Also, if it was part of a long-term fight with the Combine then surely they'd recognise him as a threat?

He doesn't strike me as "underground" either. He wears a suit in a warzone and can't stop straightening his tie - he's not some dodgy idealistic freedom fighter, he's overground, in a big way. The whole way he takes that speck of dust from Alyx and inspects it, without breaking flow in his oratory (any more than usual)...callousness from every pore!

I'm more than doubtful about him being human, though.

 

[blck_productions]

Hey everyone

I think the G-man is against the Combine.
Because the Combine are a species that destroy the synergy in the universe.
The G-man is the governator, the congierce of the Universe. He must see that everything in the universe stays in balance. Maybe G-man is angel Gabriel? Who's also some sort of governator of God. Just an idea. He has all these powers but doesn't seem to attack the combine directly. This is because he's not allowed to do this...No creation of God maybe Harmed. but since the combine make such a mess of it. They need to be stopped. Therefore he works with 3th persons like Gordon to stop them of destroying the universe and all its different species and realms.

Just another theory, hope we'll find the answers in HL3

 

[Asknoone]

Since when was Breen dead? You don't actually see him die, and as Marc Laidlaw said they left it open for them to bring him back if they felt they wanted to, or people liked him.

We'll see in aftermath.

 

[aztecsaxwarrior]

G-man was intended as an enigma, but as every other person was fleshed out into full-blown characters between the two games, I believe Laidlaw will also eventually tell us who G-man is.
I believe Breen pushed for the crystal sample to be examined. As the scientists in the anti mass spectrometer said, they had reassured the administrator that nothing would go wrong. They also said that the machines were pushed beyond their intended capacities (I haven't played it for a while so I'm not going to try to quote it).
G-man either was unaware of the impending resonance cascade or wanted it to happen, because with his incredible resourcefulness, he could have easily stopped the accident. I believe that Breen was in contact with the Combine prior to the accident and knew the implications of the resonance cascade.
Xen WAS Combine controlled, only the Combine was able to easily set up Nihilanth as a puppet dictator and with his incredible mental prowess he held the Xen masters in control and was able to provide the Combine an army of Xen slaves.
Breen most likely was the cause of the resonance cascade because it was necessary for the Combine to reach Earth. Breen was probably suckered by a promise of Earth joining a Union of Galaxies or some such nonsense induced by the psychic powers of a Combine Overlord (Assuming they have them, and why would they not if they only communicate by similar means).
---G-man is NOT human. His motives may be unknown thus far to us, but although he doesn't overtly tell us, Earth's well being is not his primary concern, it is safe to assume that he only cares because Gordon cares. As long as Gordon has an emotional attachment to Earth, G-man will probably let him fight for it, but as soon as the Combine lose interest in it, G-man will as well.
-G-man can not be human because he has powers that no other humans possess.
-His suit does not show the same wear and decay as everyone else's
-His speech changes speed as though he isn't comfortable with Human speech. His lisp is not the result of improper airflow around the tongue (The correct form is across the tongue) as though the speaker puts emphasis in the wrong spots with a special regard for his S's.
-He always has a portal when he needs one. I suspect he has a portable teleportation device in his briefcase as he never parts with it.

 

[gantzer]

The only two things that are clear are:
"what is G-Man?" (note that i'm not talking about of what are his interests or
his purpose) and "what does mean half-life?".

a) About G-Man:

In the official guide, G-Man is defined as an "Eldritch entity". The term "Eldritch entity" is taken from Philip K. Dick.

Dick wrote a novel called "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch" where Palmer was altered by an alien race, losing his "humanity". Now, Eldritch is a superior being, Eldritch can control humans making them prisioners of an eternal illusion: Eldritch can create worlds in the human minds and, as creator, "he" is like a God, "he" is omnipotent, "he" observes the humans behavior, "he" controls the space and the time ("he" can stop it,
"he" transport humans through it,...)...

Now if we compare Eldritch with G-Man we see a lot of similarities: G-Man is omnipresent like Eldritch. G-Man watch us like Eldritch. G-Man controls time like Eldritch...

It's clear that Laidlaw (scriptwriter of hl2) has been influenced by Dick's works, and G-Man is without any doubt a semi-clone of Palmer Eldritch.

b) About the meaning of "half-life":

More influences of Dick's novels (specially Ubik).

In words of Philip k. Dick: "... we are in a state of half-life. We are neither dead nor alive, but preserved in cold storage, waiting to be thawed out.". As we know, G-Man puts Gordon in state of stasis. Freeman hasn't aged because he was in the half-life state. Philip K. Dick uses the term "half-life" in his book Ubik.

Summarizing:

What is G-Man?: is an Eldritch entity, nor human nor alien.

What is the meaning of "half-life"?: is an state where we are in stasis in the limb where time and space have no sense.

 

[BlazeME]

erm... Half life is a scientific term. It means the time when a nuclear substance has reached half of its life, the other half has degraded. Although I am sure that Valve gave it several meanings.

 

[gantzer]

No, no, no...

The scientific meaning (and real) of half-life doesn't apply in the game. Tell me, do you think that Valve was thinking in
"The half-life of a radioactive substance is the time required for half of a sample to undergo radioactive decay." as a title of a game? For me is ridiculous.

As i said before, Valve takes lots of concepts of Philip K. Dick's novels. And one concept is half-life. When G-Man put Gordon in "stand-by" at the end of HL1 and at the end of HL2, is that, the state of half-life.

That's the real meaning of the game's title.