The Half-Life 2 Mythology Gold Mine

[ríomhaire]

1. How do we know / why do we think the combine are aliens?
- I would have thought not. Collaboration between lifeforms from Xen would seem a good stratey surely?

The Combine are an alien race (or rather a collection of alien races under the rule of the true face of the Combine, the slugs you see in HL2 and EP1) that have taken over the Earth and are slowly assimilating people into their empire (soldiers and stalkers) and draining the Earth's resources.

2.WTF is "something in the water to make you forget" all about?!?!

Maybe the guy's just paranoid or maybe the Combine are drugging the water, we don't really know.

3. Where have the children gone?

The Combine have been in charge for some time and, as explaned by Dr. Breen in HL2 and Dr. Kleiner in EP1, they have had a 'reproductive supression field' that stopped people having children. All children that where alive during the Combine's reign have either died or grown up it seems.

4. What is the relationship between combine and headcrabs?
- are the two symbotic or are the headcrabs just weapons of the combine?

Headcrabs are just wild animals, the Combine use them as a weapon to clear out rebel infestations. As you can see from Ravenholm, it is very effective.

5. the "free" man?
- WTF is all this stuff about the free man and the glowing eyes etc...

Gordon has become a messiah to the citizens of Combine controlled cities. He is a living legend and the one who killed Nihilanth, this makes him quite popular with humans and Vortigaunts (who where slaves to Nihilanth). Dr. Breen mentions the citizens calling him the One Free Man, ie the one man the Combine are not oppressing, this is highly irronic as Gordon was far from free, in the clutches of the g-man. When the Vortigaunts call him 'the Freeman', it is just their way of talking. They also say 'the Eli Vance' and 'the Nihilanth'.

6. How do we know that the combine arent initially benoveloent?

The fact that they inslaved humanity and are now converting the remander into mindless slaves is a clue.

7. Any info about Gman that is easily missed?
- I have seen him around , y'know , and at teh endings and starts but WTF?!?!?! is he all about? Is he on any particular side in the HL2 conflict?

His side (if he has one) is unkown. Assuming he was the master behind the events of HL1, he aids the Vortigaunts (by getting Gordon to kill Nihilanth), the Combine indirectly(according to RtB they where atracted to Earth by the portal storms, a direct result of Black Mesa) and to a lesser extent the humans (Nihilanth and the Controllers where defeated and they where quite possibly going to attack Earth themselves as a reprisal for what the humans where doing to them "Theives, you are all theives"). Out of it he got Xen "Xen, is in our control, for the time being" and perhaps more. In HL2 he aids humanity and the Vortigaunts with his use of Gordon and shits on the Combine. In EP1 he is robbed of Gordon by the Vortigaunts and isn't happy about it. The g-man, more than anything else in HL, is rapped in a shroud of mystery.

 

[SVD_Sniper]

Ok, thanks a lot you two, it helps clear stuff up a bit. However a few more points have come to mind since then, some were raised by your responses
1. Gman's interactions
- Has gman ever been spotted interacting with another character? I havent seen it so is it possible it is just a fictional rationalization freeman has come up with?

2. Vorts and people
- So the vorts feel a debt to humans so are helping them in HL2? Or do they still shatre a mutual enemy?

3. The slugs
- Is there any info regarding how the slugs came to power? They dont look very combat effective and usually dictators/militant raigemes require a coup of superior arms and force?

4. Breeding inhibitation
- Why? Surely if you want earth for adding species to your own, you want a large population to enslave?

5. Is Breen assisting the combine for personal gain?
-Or is it somehing else.

6. Slugs = benefactors???
- Seems obvious but its good to be sure!

7. Combine military
- It sounds like the combine have assimilated many species each for their owm unique abilities and skills. We only see the milatary ones really (assuming lol). If they can pick and choose, why the hell are they so inept? A single vort could do serious damage to combine regulars/prison gards etc...

8. Adrian Shepard (Cpl.)
- will he come out to play at some point? lol, he rocks and I reckon he could kill freeman with his bare, shotgun laden, hands lol!!! Oh and on a similar note, will Ep. 2 end the HL series?
Again thanks, Oh and whts teh "raising the bar" ?? if its a page or movie or something, can someone post me or PM me a link? Thanks again guys!

 

[Jintor]

1. Multiple times in HL1, Opposing Force, Blue Shift. No times at all in HL2, once in HL2:Epi1 if you count the Vorts kicking his ass.

2. It's more the fact that there's really nothing else to do for the vorts on earth than to kick combine ass. Also i bet they feel all righteous about it.

3. The Slugs = the original Combine Race, or so it is theorised. Presumably they were still physically (or technologically) powerful when they came into power at the top of the Combine Empire, so they've sort of degenerated. The Superior Arms and forces are the gunships and striders and various other synths created by the Combine Empire. Oh, and don't forget the Transhuman Overwatch.

4. Because they don't want lotsa little resistance fighters. What breeding humanity has, they want to control.

5. Mainly he's assisting them because he's been deluded into thinking that the Combine *might* save the human race instead of eating it whole. (metaphor!)

6. Slugs = original Combine Race = "Benefactors" in Breen's words.

7. Combine Regulars/Prison Guards are humans, which Vorts have always held the ability to deal COLLOSAL damage against. Striders and Gunships, however.

8. No idea. And if you're a Shepherd fanboy, please don't sing his praises 24/7. It annnoys the hell out of me.

Raising the Bar is a 'making of' book that Valve produced. It's avaliable... somewhere. Google is your friend.

 

[Asknoone]

Breen is a scientist, he thinks he's guiding humanity into the next stage of evolution - essentially survival in an increasingly hostile universe.

 

[ríomhaire]

1. Gman's interactions
- Has gman ever been spotted interacting with another character? I havent seen it so is it possible it is just a fictional rationalization freeman has come up with?

Half-Life 1:
Arguing with a scientist prior to the resonance cascade. It is hard to tell what either of them are saying but I think the scientist says "I told you a hundred times, I am opposed to pushing the equipment beyond its safe levels" while the g-man says something about choosing someone and his employers.
Opposing Force:
I think he is talking to an officer in the boot camp but I'm not sure. Talking with a security guard after the resonance cascade in a safe area that some of the Black Mesa personell have set up. Talking into a mobile phone while watching the dam. Resetting a nuclear bomb you have just disarmed. Opening a door for Shephard to escape death by toxic sludge. He is also seen with soldiers but they both seem to ignore eachother.
Half-Life 2:
Talking to Odessa Cubbage prior to the gunship attack (or rather looking at eachother, they never open their mouths.
Half-Life 2: Episode 1
In his only appearance in the game he gets into a conflict with the Vortigaunts.

Also, he is quite vissibly ignored by antlions and rebels in HL2 as well as walking into areas of alien infestation without harm in HL1.

2. Vorts and people
- So the vorts feel a debt to humans so are helping them in HL2? Or do they still shatre a mutual enemy?

Their specific motivation is unknown but they seem to really hate the Combine and enslavement in general. They symathise with humans but in the end it could be just that they're stuck on Earth and would leave humans to die if they could.

3. The slugs
- Is there any info regarding how the slugs came to power? They dont look very combat effective and usually dictators/militant raigemes require a coup of superior arms and force?

The slugs are basicly the reflection of what humans are becoming. We are increasingly reliant on technology. Would you be able to function without a car, a phone, an oven etc? They are the obesity problem and all the genetic disorders rolled into one. They would never function in the wild as most people in the developed world wouldn't. You put a tiger against a human in a fight, who do you think would win? Not, give the man a shotgun, who will win now? Their technology and their minds are their strenght, not their muscles. Tanks are used in warfare to hide our week flesh. The Combine are us, amplified, all our positive qualities, our brains are technology, they have better. But also amplified are our negatives, our dependance on machines, our constant defeat of evolution for an increasingly unfit species. The Combine is humanity given a few thousand years.

4. Breeding inhibitation
- Why? Surely if you want earth for adding species to your own, you want a large population to enslave?

You need a small population to control. If scientists where studding rats they wouldn't want thousands of rats, it would be useless. Once they have the designs for their soldiers finished, then they'll start making more of us.

5. Is Breen assisting the combine for personal gain?
-Or is it somehing else.

He is assisting the Combine for the good of humanity, himself and for science, in what order no one knows. When he surendered I imagine he saw humanity's extinction at hand and gave in on behalf of humanity, maybe he didn't even suspect that he would be given so much power. His passion for science and discovery is certainly fueling his love for the 'Universal Union' and maybe he is using it in an attempt to distract himself from humanity's date. He has an inflated opinion of himself, whether this is a result of his status as Administrator of Earth or if he was always so arogant is unkown but he thinks he is more important than he is "It's me you should be worried about!" (an interesting quote, maybe the advisor was questioning him about Freeman or the g-man when he said this) "You need me".

6. Slugs = benefactors???
- Seems obvious but its good to be sure!

Yes.

7. Combine military
- It sounds like the combine have assimilated many species each for their owm unique abilities and skills. We only see the milatary ones really (assuming lol). If they can pick and choose, why the hell are they so inept? A single vort could do serious damage to combine regulars/prison gards etc...

The human design is unfinished and crude compared to the work on striders and other synths. The transhuamn soldiers wear suits and carry their guns, the synths all have everything built in. The humans are unfinished, and either way, remember, they are not much removed from humans, humans cannot withstand a Vortiguant's blast and neither can the soldiers.

8. Adrian Shepard (Cpl.)
- will he come out to play at some point?

Shephard's state is unknown and so is his future. And don't keep going on about Shephard, Shephard fanboys are annoying.

lol, he rocks and I reckon he could kill freeman with his bare, shotgun laden, hands lol!!!

...How can he have bare hands if he's holding a shotgun?

Oh and on a similar note, will Ep. 2 end the HL series?

No, there is at least 2 other episodes after. Episode 3 will continue on from Episode 3 and Episode 4 has been mentions once or twice but hasn't been elaborated on. Gordon may not be the main character and it may not even be an FPS. There will probably be more Half-Life games after that.

Again thanks, Oh and whts teh "raising the bar" ?? if its a page or movie or something, can someone post me or PM me a link? Thanks again guys!

Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar is a making of/art book about HL1, HL2 and also has a bit about mods like Counter Stike, Team Fortress and Day of Defeat. You can probably get it from the Valve Store or from Amazon.com.

 

[SVD_Sniper]

Shephard's state is unknown and so is his future. And don't keep going on about Shephard, Shephard fanboys are annoying.
- Ok, erm, im not going on about him, ive mentioned him all of *gosh* once. However i would like to fight him at some point - it would be kinda cool no?


...How can he have bare hands if he's holding a shotgun?
- lol, i was joking - in that in OF you dont use crowbars much and stuff - you get a magnum in the first 5-10 minutes and its one of the games best guns !!!!

Oh and sry, i cant be bothered to quote properly


Also,
Gordon Freeman
-The "free" man? Is this because he is free from combine rule? However it would seem he is very un-free (for lack of better word!) considering the gman appears to be manipulating/controlling him almost all the time (outside of Ep. 1)

More Gman
- It would appear gman is simply hiring out freeman ("highest bidder" etc...). In that case , who is "paying" him. The combine are apparently the most powerful and therefor richest collective in the universe, so who can out bid them???

 

[Asknoone]

I don't think you could define the Combine as 'rich'. Sure, they are huge, but there's a ton of other races at war with them, and the Combine move between universes, rather than operate in one.

Also, I'm sure Gman doesn't just simply offer Gordon's services for the payment. They have to suit his goals as well.

 

[Eejit]

I think they probably are quite rich. Even with tons of races at war with them they rule several entire universes. That's bound to give them a pretty nice GDP

 

[HL2Fanatic]

There are no more children... but if you listen in to what Dr. Kliener says on the HL2ep1 title screen, you will hear him mention that the combines technology has been disabled for the time being. The combine set up technology that stops the humans from having children.

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

There are no more children... but if you listen in to what Dr. Kliener says on the HL2ep1 title screen, you will hear him mention that the combines technology has been disabled for the time being. The combine set up technology that stops the humans from having children.

Aye, because if the supression field went up say, 17 years ago, the youngest would be 17.
Also, I presume your reffuring to those new factions in epi two Samon?

 

[Asknoone]

Haven't the foggiest. Notice the 2006 in my post.

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

whoops sorry.