Who controlled Nihilanth

[Jandor]

This is a good point, but perhaps its more complex than that. The Teleportation that Kliener etc use has a Relay or something located in Xen (As Dr Mossman points out, it means you don't have to go to Xen Adrian Shepherd style to move around, you just use it as a "Slingshot") - Perhaps the Combine's "Relay" was destroyed - particuarly supported if Nihlianth was their method of doing so. Also, actual combine presence on Earth is minimal - the inability for the Transhuman arm of the Combine to teleport is down to them being limited to just Human science.

I think 'Relay' is a scientific term, she mentions "we have compressed the Xen relay beyond belief, yada yada yada" I dont think she literally means a relay that is on Xen that they have gone and squashed .

 

[kupocake]

I think it fits well with Breen's character that he pushed for the experiment simply due to his greed for results. Fame for having first dibs on Xen aliens, the "questionable ethics" of abduction and experimentation - these all seem like pretty Breen-ey things to me. Breen's not a guy that would let whiners and naysayers get in the way of a big experiment like the one that caused the resonance cascade - greed for results could well be what sealed it. The only real mention of him in the first game is that he "just wouldn't listen".

Valid points and good ones at that. I just still feel that the coincidence between Breen being the likely instigator of the Cascade and therefore the Portal Storms and then the guy who came out on top, is just all to big to simply be a coincidence.

All the while Gman was pushing for it behind the scenes - he's the one who wanted the cascade to happen IMO. Perhaps GMan was even feeding misinformation to Breen, which would account for how Breen seems to know about his existence.

I don't really see any evidence for the G-Man's role, apart from the "Bullet Proof Glass" speech of the G-Man, which I seriously doubt as an acceptable source (It wasn't ever really supposed to be have heard, and It could have easily slipped past Laidlaw). The sheer enigma of the G-Man character means that even if he had a role in the cascade, it doesn't really service any argument - He may be human, xenian, combine or something completely different. I also never really bought into the whole "did you know your contract was open to the highest bidder" comment as being anything other than a glancing remark. But that's just me

Then come the portal storms and Earth gets ruined by Xen aliens - Breen was the head of a government facility that had experience of these creatures, so it makes sense that he'd have some authority in knowing about how to deal with them. In Eli's lab, near the bottom left of all the clippings is one saying something like "Former Black Mesa Admin Made Head of Human Affairs Bureau" - to me this says that Breen became the equivalent of some kind of "Xen Aliens Consultant to the UN" or suchlike in the period following Black Mesa. Then when the Combine turn up it would be natural for Breen, as the extraterrestrials boffin, to be the one chosen to broker a peace with them - something he did with his own benefit solely in mind.

http://www.jolt.co.uk/popup.php?ima...lt.co.uk/_mainsite/articles/041118/hl2/09.jpg <- picture of Eli's wall. I haven't got the game installed to check it, but that clipping does not say "Former Black Mesa Admin Made Head of Human Affairs Bureau" but "Black Mesa Admin Charged with Human affairs Bureau" which umm... makes no real sense to me at all!

You could say that the clipping came from after the 7 hours war and is about Breen being put in charge of Earth - but to believe that you also have to believe that newspapers didn't immediately cease circulation,

"Earth Surrenders" and "7 Hour war ends in combine victory" are both obviously from after the 7 Hours War, and the rest of the newspapers could easily be from then as well (except "Portal" Storm Continues).

and also that there is some kind of "Human Affairs Bureau" underneath Breen in HL2, something we see no evidence of in the game. It's also a pretty small article and you'd expect an article about the new nominal ruler of Earth to be big news.

The Human Affairs Bureau sounds like some kind of agency for Combine / Human relations to me. That was after all what Breen was all about - getting the Human race in with the Combine before the rest of the human race is exterminated.

I think 'Relay' is a scientific term, she mentions "we have compressed the Xen relay beyond belief, yada yada yada" I dont think she literally means a relay that is on Xen that they have gone and squashed .

I picture the Relay as some kind of machine that sends the teleportation data on. Kind of like a Network Router. The actual "Relay" is simply the act of sending data to and from the machine, so perhaps compressing the data makes it quicker, just like a compressed music file moves quicker through a network than an uncompressed one...

Edit: Of course, that could all just be really bad science made up to impress us with big words. "And then we must reverse the polarity of the neutron flow!"

 

[eber]

i think the g-man was the 1 who wanted to cause the cascade. he must have known something.
well laivasse , didnt u say that breen seems to know about the g-man ? please where do you have that from .. give me some evidence .

 

[Laivasse]

http://www.jolt.co.uk/popup.php?ima...1118/hl2/09.jpg <- picture of Eli's wall. I haven't got the game installed to check it, but that clipping does not say "Former Black Mesa Admin Made Head of Human Affairs Bureau" but "Black Mesa Admin Charged with Human affairs Bureau" which umm... makes no real sense to me at all!

"Charged"="put in charge of", as I see it.

"Earth Surrenders" and "7 Hour war ends in combine victory" are both obviously from after the 7 Hours War, and the rest of the newspapers could easily be from then as well (except "Portal" Storm Continues).

Possible, but those 2 would have been from *right* after the battle. Perhaps not enough time for the Combine to shut down the world press, who knows. I personally don't imagine everyone getting a daily newspaper in City 17, tbh. Free flow of info doesn't seem high on the list of Combine priorities.

As for the G-Man thing not really figuring into anything, I pretty much agree. The G-man's for fitting into your theories rather than supporting them. The trouble is that if Breen instigated the resonance cascade and G-man was trying to stop it, then that makes him out to be more of a benevolent anti-Combine-figure than I can really deal with. He doesn't seem too bothered after the RC, sauntering around without a care, so it doesn't seem to me like he would have been too bothered before it.

 

[eber]

lol the gman wanted to have the resonance cascade be happen , isnt that obvious ? but i see no motive for breen.

plus , if the gman really wanted to prevent the cascade .. dont you think he would have succeeded in it? he can stop the time and teleport you around xen so what should stop him canceling the analysis ?

 

[Laivasse]

i think the g-man was the 1 who wanted to cause the cascade. he must have known something.
well laivasse , didnt u say that breen seems to know about the g-man ? please where do you have that from .. give me some evidence .

Eih, I've already proved I'm not good with exact quotes today, but there are some very unsubtle hints towards the end - Breen says to you something like "the resistance have a new hero, one who has proved to be a useful pawn for those who control him..." As kupo mentioned, he also says something about a deal, or negotiating which I can't quite remember. It certainly made me think a bit deeper about the whole thing.

Alyx and Eli get a bit restless at the same time, telling you not to listen - why would you? Surely to them you're just their friend fighting for your survival and theirs? ...so it's possible that even they know about G-Man.

plus , if the gman really wanted to prevent the cascade .. dont you think he would have succeeded in it? he can stop the time and teleport you around xen so what should stop him canceling the analysis ?

Well, exactly, that's what I think too.

 

[eber]

ooh good , i would never have figured that out .. good point.

 

[kupocake]

"Charged"="put in charge of", as I see it.

That is how I see it as well, but it seems a peculiar choice of words to me.

Possible, but those 2 would have been from *right* after the battle. Perhaps not enough time for the Combine to shut down the world press, who knows. I personally don't imagine everyone getting a daily newspaper in City 17, tbh. Free flow of info doesn't seem high on the list of Combine priorities.

Yes, I highly doubt the press was able to operate on Combine controlled earth for very long, but that doesn't mean that the cuttings on the board aren't from after the war. It would of course make sense for Breen to have got some power in the Portal Storms, as you suggested... we're so far along with the speculation that it doesn't matter either way. We've all invented some pretty good explanations for what the hell has been going on in the Half-Life games...

Now Valve: your turn!

then that makes him out to be more of a benevolent anti-Combine-figure than I can really deal with.

He sure doesn't seem the Benevolent type does he? He's either ultra-sinister or else ultra-eccentric ^^