what happened between the first and second game?

[G(ordanfree)Man1]

We know that he accepted the offer from the mysterious G-Man and that was the end.

On the second he wakes up on a train with the g-man talking to him. You get out and it seems like a civil area but controlled by these new combine. And you're faced with many questions. Who are the combine? When did the combine come? How long have you been gone? What year is it? Use your theories to answer these questions. I want to see what everybody else thinks.

 

[nipples]

Purple.

I'm sure a forum search will turn up a copious amount of threads.

 

[Adabiviak]

What happened on Earth or what happened in the train car? Earth had itself a little problem...

Seriously though, before the lynch mob comes... take a stab with the search function, maybe let us know what you find, and if any of it seems unrealistic (given a measure of artistic license), or if what you find is generally an accepted theory.

 

[ríomhaire]

The general concensus is that Nihilanth's death/the Resonance Cascade/both caused Portal Storms to rage between the Earth and Xen, causing much Xenian wildlife to be make a home of Earth. That's why there are headcrabs, antlions and barnacles all over.

According to Raising the Bar (basically a "making of" book for Half-Life 2) the Xen wildlife and portal storms caused people to crowd into cities for protection. After a while, when people were somewhat settled with the new way of life, citadels suddenly appeared in the middle of cities and aliens poured out and started killing everyone. The militaries of the world were all taken by suprise and in no state to launch an effective counter-attack. After 7 hours of fighting, Dr Wallace Breen issued a surrender to the Combine forces. The Combine set Breen up as the overseer of Earth and created the police state you see in the game.

Dr Eli Vance was the first human to work with the Vortigaunts.

 

[G(ordanfree)Man1]

The general concensus is that Nihilanth's death/the Resonance Cascade/both caused Portal Storms to rage between the Earth and Xen, causing much Xenian wildlife to be make a home of Earth. That's why there are headcrabs, antlions and barnacles all over.

According to Raising the Bar (basically a "making of" book for Half-Life 2) the Xen wildlife and portal storms caused people to crowd into cities for protection. After a while, when people were somewhat settled with the new way of life, citadels suddenly appeared in the middle of cities and aliens poured out and started killing everyone. The militaries of the world were all taken by suprise and in no state to launch an effective counter-attack. After 7 hours of fighting, Dr Wallace Breen issued a surrender to the Combine forces. The Combine set Breen up as the overseer of Earth and created the police state you see in the game.

Dr Eli Vance was the first human to work with the Vortigaunts.

THIS^

 

[FlamboyantPencil]

According to my knowledge, which could be wrong kind you:

Who are the combine?

An alien empire from the same universe as Xen, who's top, controlling race are the Advisors. Forget how to say their Vort/Real? name. They conquer planets and races, and then use whatever powerful technology that race has with minor Combine-y modificatons- pretty much the same thing they do with whatever race they particularly like on the planet. All of the live looking robot things of theirs are alien creatures "sync'd" with Combine tech, which I've heard referred to as synths on this board. The Combine soldiers, and stalkers are the human forms of this. CP I think are either not synths, or very slightly modified.

When did the combine come?

To what I understand, The Combine had been chasing Nihilanth and his... empire, whatever you'd call it, and had finally cornered him on Xen. Suddenly things go crazy, and everyone starts being transported to our universe, on Earth. Blah blah blah, HL1, you kill Big Nilly, the portals go nuts, you vanish with the Gman. The Combine, if I've done my research correctly WHICH I PROBABLY HAVEN'T noticed this crap happening and were like "Well whats this then", punched their way through the portals (cos they don't have their own portal technology at this point) and conquer the entire planet in 7 hours. :> Yay.

How long have you been gone?

I think about 20 years?

What year is it?

I've no clue,myself, but wasn't HL1 set in the early 90's?

Keep in mind, I haven't even played HL1 yet, so my "theories" come from what I've read on this board and what I've heard in HL2 and its episodes.

 

[Raserisk]

I think about 20 years?



I've no clue,myself, but wasn't HL1 set in the early 90's?

Keep in mind, I haven't even played HL1 yet, so my "theories" come from what I've read on this board and what I've heard in HL2 and its episodes.

HL1 - 1998

*Twenty years later* (speculation)

HL2 - 2018

However I think the combine invasion happened sometime during the 2000s. Am I the only one without Raising The Bar? :x

 

[FlamboyantPencil]

I don't have it either >:

 

[gFrohman]

I believe the Seven Hours War began right after the Black Mesa Incident, so it would have occured (if the BMI happened in 1998) in 1998, and the Combine would have been in control for the past twenty years (which I think makes sense to me at least).
In Raising the Bar, it has a page that describes a scene cut from the game (written by Marc Laidlaw) in which Eli shows Gordon a slideshow of what happened between HL & HL2 (pg. 142).

 

[ríomhaire]

HL1 - 1998

*Twenty years later* (speculation)

HL2 - 2018

However I think the combine invasion happened sometime during the 2000s. Am I the only one without Raising The Bar? :x

Actually, Gordon's letter in the HL1 manual is dated as 200-.

Edit:

I believe the Seven Hours War began right after the Black Mesa Incident, so it would have occured (if the BMI happened in 1998) in 1998, and the Combine would have been in control for the past twenty years (which I think makes sense to me at least).
In Raising the Bar, it has a page that describes a scene cut from the game (written by Marc Laidlaw) in which Eli shows Gordon a slideshow of what happened between HL & HL2 (pg. 142).

*opens page 142*
"People started crouding into the cities for protection [from the Xenian wildlife]. There was an illusion of safety, for a time. And then the Citadels appeared."
Sounds rather like there was a reprise for humanity between the Black Mesa Incident and the Seven Hours War from that speech.

 

[WriterforHire]

I agree with that. There must have been a gap between the Portal Storms and the Seven Hour War for all the people in the rural areas to flood into cities. At least, that is, if the info in Raising the Bar is correct. I guess a few months would probably be neccesary for such a widespread migration.

 

[Otto-Grainer]

I think a lot of people familiar with this old story have the general assumption that in the rough twenty year gap, ten years of it was a world inhabited only by xenians slowly migrating around, and such news probably got a lot of stupid citizens looting and shouting the end of the world to make things worse. Though if you don't think the Combine started slaughtering or hording away civilians under the age of 20 upon their decade of conquer, this theory does not fully explain the absence of children. I personally think half the time is a bit much, and Alyx is roughly aged twenty-eight at the most, and definitely somewhere around 19 at the least, so she's a good subject to take into consideration.


I know the only evidence of her age is one of these lines: "My Dad built him to protect me when I was a kid." Of course "kid" could be anywhere up to fourteen, really. Keep in mind it didn't have to be exactly two decades either. It may easily have been sixteen or even twenty four if Marc so wishes.

 

[benxbec1]

I think that it was BMI, hurry, go to the cities, 2-8 years of fighting with the Xen aliens, or whatever they did with them, then BAM! the world is under control by the combine just like that, and in control for about 12 years, then gordon arrives. I'm guessing the total time that you are gone is in the area of 20 years according to baby picture of Alyx to today.

 

[jet_porkins]

Hai, My name is G(ordanfree)Man1

Wait a minute.......