Why does Eli think that "Unforeseen consequences" has to do with the Borealis?

[ríomhaire]

The first time the g-man uses the phrase it is as the testing of the sample that he gave to Eli and Breen. The consequences were of an act that he was directly involved in. Why would Eli make the connection between the g-man's words and the Borealis and what are these the consequences of?

At first I thought it was the consequences of stealing Gordon away, but there is no real reason for him to draw the connection between the Borealis and that (unless he was just really, really paranoid about the ship). And this got me thinking? Why did Mossman go north in the first place? If they always knew there was something of huge importance there why had someone not gone sooner? If there was alreay a rebel base up there why had they not previously found the Borealis? Perhaps the g-man told them to search up north. It would explain allot, except perhaps for the one flaw in this theory: Why would they accept any information from the g-man when they knew that'd he'd probably still be pissed off from the whole Gordon-Vortigaunt fiasco?

Also, I realised this a while ago but it didn't seem worthy of its own thread. You know when the Vortigaunts say "The Eli Vance was our first collaborator"? Well, he was actually our first collaborator too. If you recall, he's the first scientist to help you after the resonance cascade. He's the first one to open a door for you. Just a nice thought.

 

[Asknoone]

Magnusson says Mossman went North to retrieve the Combine portal codes; at the time of the Super Portal creation the scientists didn't have any idea Alyx and Gordon would possibly be carrying that data packet, and so Mossman went North straight away to find those codes so that they could launch the satellite at the soonest possible opportunity.

Why did Eli make the connection? Well, he tells you. Unforeseen Consequences was spoken to him the moment the Resonance Cascade was about to occur, and apparently Eli believes the Borealis is capable of producing that exact same event. Gman uses Alyx as a mouthpiece just moments after Kleiner found the hidden Borealis transmission in Mossman's report. The exact nature of the Borealis experiments is unknown, but we know it's something portal related and on the same scale of those at Black Mesa. Gman made it 100% sure that Eli made the connection: he wanted Eli to make that connection. And now Eli's convinced the ship must be destroyed, which is too bad, because that's clearly exactly what Gman wants.

 

[Saruke]

And now Eli's convinced the ship must be destroyed, which is too bad, because that's clearly exactly what Gman wants.

I must quickly ask, what your basing this on?

The G-man never states any opinion on the Borealis and I personally believe that "Unforseen consequences" was the G-man telling Eli he was about to die in his own way. He was about to expierience firsthand the unforseen consequences of resisting the Combine. Which is getting probed to death by an alien slug tongue. Think about it, why would the G-man tell him about something that he won't be around to do anything about? G-man almost assuredly knew of the Combines plot to kill Eli because he does have connections within the Combine and if he wanted to tell Gordon why would he bother addressing it to Eli?

I'm sorry but the phrase "Unforseen Consequences" only makes sense when your talking about Eli's unexpected death.

 

[Avoidist]

Hardly. If you treat the G-Man as near omnipotent (which he isn't) and most concerned about his investments (which he appears to be), then all you need to consider is what the end result will be concerning Alyx and Gordon, and what their present motivation is. Unless complications arise at Borealis (which they almost certainly will), the G-Man's clear goal mirrors your intended outcome: destroying that ship. How did you, and particularly Alyx, come to such a goal? Directly through the actions of the G-Man.

 

[Headcrab Pie]

I'm sorry but the phrase "Unforseen Consequences" only makes sense when your talking about Eli's unexpected death.

Unforseen Consequences. Eli getting Advisored is a Consequence of what exactly?

 

[Saruke]

the unforseen consequences of resisting the Combine.

KA-SMACKA!

lol it's cool I won't hold it against you.

 

[Headcrab Pie]

Not thats that "Unforseen". I mean if you resist the Combine, it's kinda Forseen that they would try to kill you. The only unexpected part was the Advisors doing the deed themselfs.

 

[LandStander]

I must quickly ask, what your basing this on?

The G-man never states any opinion on the Borealis and I personally believe that "Unforseen consequences" was the G-man telling Eli he was about to die in his own way. He was about to expierience firsthand the unforseen consequences of resisting the Combine. Which is getting probed to death by an alien slug tongue. Think about it, why would the G-man tell him about something that he won't be around to do anything about? G-man almost assuredly knew of the Combines plot to kill Eli because he does have connections within the Combine and if he wanted to tell Gordon why would he bother addressing it to Eli?

I'm sorry but the phrase "Unforseen Consequences" only makes sense when your talking about Eli's unexpected death.

The G-Man had no possible way of knowing that Eli was going to die. If he could see the future so easily he would have prevented the Vortigaunts from snatching Gordon away from him.

 

[Avoidist]

And yet at the same time he is a man of great insight (assuming he actually knows what he's doing). I still agree however, G-Man wasn't involved with Eli's death, this was purely a reaction to the resistance's success, and the advisors anger combined with careful timing.

He seems to be playing a very long game though.

 

[morgs]

Unforseen Consequences. Eli getting Advisored is a Consequence of what exactly?

During the gmans speech half way through the game he says Since he saved alyx from Black Mesa he must take something from her as payment. I believe this is Eli.

 

[99.vikram]

During the gmans speech half way through the game he says Since he saved alyx from Black Mesa he must take something from her as payment. I believe this is Eli.

What on earth did the Gman get from Eli's death? Eli is insignificant and powerless, why would the Gman want to kill him? :|

 

[Lokizen]

Eli's death makes Alyx a more powerful 'tool' for the G-man?

 

[Gordon_X]

The only thing I know is that Unforseen Consequences is the name of the second chapter of half life 1.

 

[Asknoone]

The G-man never states any opinion on the Borealis and I personally believe that "Unforseen consequences" was the G-man telling Eli he was about to die in his own way. He was about to expierience firsthand the unforseen consequences of resisting the Combine. Which is getting probed to death by an alien slug tongue. Think about it, why would the G-man tell him about something that he won't be around to do anything about? G-man almost assuredly knew of the Combines plot to kill Eli because he does have connections within the Combine and if he wanted to tell Gordon why would he bother addressing it to Eli?

I'm sorry but the phrase "Unforseen Consequences" only makes sense when your talking about Eli's unexpected death.

None of that makes any sense. The Advisors act on pure desperate rage in the final scene (it wasn't planned, it was just a last roll of the dice); the Gman could not and did not predict that. Gman knew of the plan to kill Eli? Well, they don't make it a big secret that should they have the opportunity to kill the resistance leader they would take it. You might as well say he knew they wanted to kill Alyx and Gordon. I very much doubt Unforeseen Consequences had anything to do with Eli's death. The Gman gains absolutely nothing from that and had no idea it was going to happen. Nor, I think, does he care.

You're setting too much by the phrase itself, which I think is entirely irrelevant. The Gman manipulates and has manipulated every event and course of action Gordon has taken over the course of the games (except Episode 1). Everything is engineered toward an outcome which would benefit him. Unforeseen Consequences is a double-bluff; Gman isn't so dumb he'd pass that onto Eli and then not expect him to do the opposite after what happened at Black Mesa. Does anyone regret Black Mesa more than Eli? I don't think so. This is Eli's chance to do right where he did wrong, and his first instinct is going to be to 'rebel' against what he thinks is the Gman's will.

So, if you look at it from that angle, Gman is making 110% sure Eli thinks that. He wants Eli to have that reaction, and with that in mind we can assume that means he also wants the ship destroyed...unforeseen consequences.

 

[LandStander]

During the gmans speech half way through the game he says Since he saved alyx from Black Mesa he must take something from her as payment. I believe this is Eli.

He was saying that he was extracting a payment from Gordon "for his own survival". That payment was seeing Alyx safely to White Forest so she could deliver his message to Eli.

 

[Druckles]

I believe Samon's got it right. There's little point in arguing against him, because he's not really producing anything bizzare.

 

[ríomhaire]

Magnusson says Mossman went North to retrieve the Combine portal codes

That detail seemed to have slipped my mind

What is there up north that could have Combine portal codes, though? The "project", obviously. But what is it? Some sort of station that was sent up to monitor portal activity? It seems the data only became available after the events of HL2, otherwise the resistance would have retrieved it earlier. Perhaps it was only recorded when the citadel finally blew?

And it still doesn't explain how they happened to come across the Borealis. I guess we'll see in EP3.

 

[morgs]

Well perhaps the G-man thought Eli could interfere with him using Alyx? With Eli out of the way he could control her without interruption, or Eli Interfering. I think this makes a bit of sense.

 

[Avoidist]

That effect would have been accomplished anyway. Gordon and Alyx were going alone into the arctic and I doubt they would be keeping radio contact with the base.

What the intervention actually accomplished:
- The death of the leader of the resistance, resistance now weakened and tactically leaderless in the event of a reemergence.
- Going on direct info from a Valve employee, a crude knowledge of Eli's mind.
- Eli stressing to Alyx the importance of destroying the Borealis.
- Alyx becoming angry and vengeful towards the combine, possibly more reckless.

 

[SpotEnemyBoats]

I think with destroying the Borealis it could possibly do more harm than good. It's seems when ever Gordon tries to help and do something possitive it always turns around and things get more ****ed up.

 

[Druckles]

Hey! Leave poor Gordon alone. Not his fault he's surrounded by incompetent scientists.

 

[Gordon_X]

Hey! Leave poor Gordon alone. Not his fault he's surrounded by incompetent scientists.

loltru.


Whatever is in the Borealis...it's bad.

 

[Darkside55]

And now Eli's convinced the ship must be destroyed, which is too bad, because that's clearly exactly what Gman wants.

Unforeseen Consequences is a double-bluff; Gman isn't so dumb he'd pass that onto Eli and then not expect him to do the opposite after what happened at Black Mesa. Does anyone regret Black Mesa more than Eli? I don't think so. This is Eli's chance to do right where he did wrong, and his first instinct is going to be to 'rebel' against what he thinks is the Gman's will.

So, if you look at it from that angle, Gman is making 110% sure Eli thinks that. He wants Eli to have that reaction, and with that in mind we can assume that means he also wants the ship destroyed...unforeseen consequences.

I think you're second-guessing the G-man too much. The G-man's never used any sort of doublespeak or conniving to achieve his ends; I doubt he'd try to use reverse psychology on Eli to get him to destroy what would potentially be a very valuable technological acquisition. If anything, it seemed more like a jab than a statement designed to provoke a response.

And while the G-man probably knew what Eli's feelings on the Borealis would be, and subsequently what he'd tell Gordon to do (destroy the ship), the G-man probably has it planned out so that in the end, the ship is not destroyed. I could not imagine the G-man to destroy that ship. Not unless his aim is to destroy valuable portal technology, but why would he want that?

The words he gave Eli at Black Mesa seemed like a warning. "Here's this thing, bad stuff will happen if you use it." But on the other hand, the G-man was pleased at gaining control over the borderworld, thus he wanted the scientists to use the crystal, but he warned them in advance (for whatever reason). He might be trying to draw a parallel to the Borealis. "Here's this technology, bad stuff will happen if you use it," but it's still going to benefit him.

Assuming that the G-man was giving Eli cryptic messages so that he'd order Gordon to destroy the ship, and then the G-man saying, "Ha ha, fooled you, knew you were gonna do that!" I don't like it. Seems convoluted.

 

[Avoidist]

This is Half-Life. Despite Murphy's Law not kicking in at the end of Episode Two with the superportal due to story closure (something I still can't wrap my head around), we are not going to get a clean destruction of the Borealis. Even if we did, it is a recurring fact that in Half-Life destroying something activates its magical powers.

Factor G-Man in now, and you get that what seemed to be a bluff into getting you to destroy Borealis is actually a bluff to get you there quickly under the right circumstances and with the right motives when you (or someone else) acquire the technology and use it (intentionally or not).

Spoiler

Then Gordon, Alyx and Zombie Judith end up getting teleported on the borealis to the combine overworld to... kill things. You know it's gonna happen.

 

[Omnomnick]

I don't think he believes it is, just that he is 'convinced' it is, and maybe he thinks that the borielis could do great damage..

Well he 'did'...

 

[Atomic_Piggy]

I agree with Darkside. I am certain the GMan wants to save the Borealis.

 

[Druckles]

I'm not sure whether the Gman minds either way. From my perspective, he appeared to be warning Eli, reminding him of the resonance cascade. I don't think it particularly benefitted him when it happened...

I can't believe I'm trying to understand this... my head... it can't comprehend it...

 

[Avoidist]

I can't believe I'm trying to understand this... my head... it can't comprehend it...

You're not supposed to. Think in the frame of mind that you are trying to predict the events of Episode Two based exclusively on playing Half-Life 2 and Episode One. There are some bits you can easily predict, a couple of hints that suggest something that may or may not come to fruition, but most of it is an absolute mystery until you play through it (if you don't look at all the media beforehand. Which in the case of Episode Three is taking its sweet time...)

 

[Van Kayne]

Note: this post is slightly off topic to start with, but it comes to a conclusion that is back on topic.

It seems to me that the G-man actually wants the human race to survive, or at the very least, the Combine overthrown. Even when Breen states Gordon's contract was open to the highest bidder, it seems that the Combine were excluded from bidding: consider, at the outset of HL2, what massive amounts of resources the Combine had both on Earth and in the Border worlds, available with portal technology. Now compare this massive amount of resources with what the Resistance has.
You see the problem? Because Gordon worked at Black Mesa on teleportation, he would have made an excellent assistant for Dr Mossman, who as we know was working with Breen to create local teleportation. The Combine, or perhaps just Breen, would have desperately wanted him, even if just to make sure the Resistance didn't have him.
Given these facts, I conclude one of the following:
A) The G-Man didn't want the combine to bid for Gordon. That left the Resistance.
B) The Resistance had something that the G-man valued more than anything the Combine could offer, and won a "fair" bid.
C) A third party, neither Resistance nor Combine (Vortgaunt?), won the bid. I can't really speculate further.

I prefer to think that A) holds true. This indicates to me that he has a vested interest in preventing the Combine from re-establishing rule over Earth, and therefore any message he sent via Freeman or Alyx must be "true" or "as intended".
He isn't trying to trick Eli, I think. He does not want the Borealis used.

Oh, and by the way Avoidist, I think that the closure of the superportal isn't just to close lose ends. It merely foreshadows a larger threat that will be reavealed in Ep 3, and make us go "We did all that...and that was nothing compared to This New Threat™"