Gordon Freeman
Encyclopedia
Gordon Freeman is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Half-Life
video game series. He is a theoretical physicist
who finds himself thrust into a battle for survival against both alien and human forces. Throughout the series, Gordon must prevail in hostile situations despite overwhelming odds, often without backup. As a means of immersing the player in the role, the character never speaks, and there are no cut-scenes or mission briefings—all action is viewed through Gordon's eyes, with the player retaining control of Gordon's actions at nearly all times. The images of Gordon are only seen on the game's cover and menu pages, and also in advertisements, making them marketing tools rather than pictures of what Gordon is "really" like. Designer Gabe Newell
has explicitly rejected giving the in-game Gordon a face or voice.
The character is introduced as a theoretical physicist working at the fictional Black Mesa Research Facility and involved in an experiment which accidentally opens an interdimensional portal, releasing confused, hostile beings into the complex. In the first Half-Life, the player, as Gordon Freeman, fights through the facility alongside fellow employees, engaging the aliens as well as a military unit sent in to contain the situation and silence any surviving witnesses. In its sequel, Half-Life 2
, Gordon is introduced to a dystopian world years after the Black Mesa incident, along with an interdimensional imperial force known as the Combine that took advantage of the interdimensional portals and has established itself as the ruling force on Earth. Gordon joins the human resistance fighters and aids them in their struggle against their oppressors.
during a conversation with the game's writer Marc Laidlaw
in his car. It included a homage to the physicist and philosopher Freeman Dyson
. Newell disliked Laidlaw's proposed name, "Dyson Poincaré", which also included the surname of Henri Poincaré
. The texture for Gordon's head was "too big of a job for just one person", so Valve designers combined references from four people. An earlier model of Gordon, known as "Ivan the Space Biker," had a full beard that was subsequently trimmed. Other iterations of Gordon's concept featured different glasses, a ponytail, and a helmet.
Gordon wears a special full-body hazmat suit
known as the hazardous environment (HEV) suit during combat, obtained from Black Mesa. The suit is designed to protect the user from radiation, energy discharges, and blunt trauma during the handling of hazardous materials. The suit's main feature is its "high impact reactive armor", an electrically powered armor system that, when charged, absorbs two-thirds of the damage that Gordon would ordinarily suffer. A fully charged suit can survive several dozen hits from small arms and even a direct hit from a rocket-propelled grenade. The suit can be charged by various means, and has its own oxygen supply and injectors which can deliver various drugs such as morphine and an antidote to neurotoxins. It comes with a built-in flashlight, a radio, various tracking devices, a compass, and a Geiger counter
. The suit contains an on-board computer system that constantly monitors the user's health and vital signs, and reacts to any changes in the user's condition. It also projects a heads-up display
(HUD) which displays Gordon's health, suit charge, remaining ammunition, and a crosshair.
In Half-Life, Gordon wears the Mark IV suit. This version comes equipped with an optional long-jump module so Gordon can leap great distances. It is charged using power modules throughout Black Mesa. In Half-Life 2
Gordon receives the upgraded Mark V suit, which lacks the long-jump module but gains several new abilities. It features a visual zoom
ing capability, limited enhanced running (sprint) capability, an injector to administer anti-venom, an optional ammo and health counter on the crosshair
and the capability to use Combine power nodes to charge the suit. The Mark V initially used a single power source for flashlight, sprinting, and oxygen supply; in Half-Life 2: Episode Two the flashlight was given a separate power source to improve gameplay. The symbol on Gordon's HEV suit is the lower case Greek letter Lambda
, λ. This symbol is used by scientists to denote the decay constant of radioactive elements (related to the half-life
of an element). As well as appearing on Gordon's suit, the symbol replaces the letter "a" in the game title, Hλlf-Life, and is the name of the complex in the Black Mesa Research Facility where teleportation experiments are conducted. The Lambda symbol is also seen in Half-Life 2 as a marking of the human resistance, seen close to hidden supplies and on the arm bands of better equipped resistance fighters.
Gordon is a native of Seattle who exhibited an early interest in theoretical physics, especially quantum mechanics
and the theory of general relativity
. His childhood heroes were Albert Einstein
, Stephen Hawking
, and Richard Feynman
. After observing a series of teleportation experiments conducted by the Institute for Experimental Physics at the University of Innsbruck, the transmission of matter became Gordon's obsession. Gordon has no known dependents. He graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) with a Ph.D.
degree in Theoretical Physics
. His doctoral thesis on the teleportation of matter through extremely dense elements was titled Observation of Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen
Entanglement
on Supraquantum Structures by Induction Through Nonlinear Transuranic
Crystal of Extremely Long Wavelength
(ELW) Pulse from Mode-Locked Source Array. Gordon's research into science eventually leads him to accept a job offer by the Black Mesa Research Facility, and begin working on a top secret research project headed by his mentor at MIT, Dr. Isaac Kleiner. He takes up residence at Black Mesa, conducting nuclear
and subatomic research in its Anomalous Materials department. Despite his education as a theoretical physicist, the work Freeman is involved with at Black Mesa is of a more experimental nature.
The games often make light of the fact that the tasks Gordon performs amount to little more than manual labor, despite his being a theoretical physicist. Gordon's assigned job at the start of Half-Life consists of little more than pressing a button and pushing a cart. Barney Calhoun wryly notes this irony at the beginning of Half-Life 2, when Freeman performs similar "technical" assistance by flipping a switch and returning a plug to its socket.
In Half-Life, Gordon Freeman and his research team perform an experiment that inadvertently creates a dimensional rift in spacetime
. Intelligent and confused alien life forms from the Xen dimension come pouring through multiple breaches inside the Black Mesa facility, attacking anything in sight. As scientific, military and civilian personnel fall under the alien onslaught, Freeman finds himself targeted not only by the xenomorphic incursion, but also the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit (HECU), a U.S. Marine Corps military force sent to contain the situation. The untrained theoretical physicist somehow manages to survive the chaos, impressing the few surviving scientists and security guards with his heroic acts, while quickly becoming the HECU's top priority target. Freeman is eventually transported to Xen by a few surviving Lambda Team scientists. After the successful elimination of the alien leader Nihilanth, Freeman is confronted by the G-Man
, who has been remotely observing Freeman throughout the entire Black Mesa incident. He shows Freeman several locations throughout Earth and Xen and offers Freeman a choice: either agree to work for him and his mysterious "employers", or be left to die on Xen.
Half-Life 2
begins as the G-Man speaks to Gordon in a dreamlike scene, after keeping him "in stasis
far from Earth, thought, and time itself" for nearly two decades, during which he did not physically age. He comments that "the right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world." Gordon is then "point inserted" into a train bound for City 17, to the (mild) surprise of the other passengers. Freeman quickly learns that Earth has been conquered and occupied by the trans-dimensional Combine empire, with a military force powerful enough to have subdued the entirety of Earth's nations within a period of 7 hours. He soon meets up with Barney Calhoun and Alyx Vance
, and joins the resistance against the Combine. During the course of the second game, Gordon battles the forces of the Combine in order to free humanity from its grasp. Already famous for his role in the Black Mesa Incident, Gordon quickly develops a legendary reputation among Earth's surviving human populace, who begin to look up to him and refer to him by such messianic titles as "the One Free Man" or "the Opener of the Way". After slaying scores of Combine soldiers and leading an assault against the Combine stronghold of Nova Prospekt, Gordon eventually sparks a full-scale rebellion, in which he becomes a combatant.
Gordon infiltrates one of the Combine's footholds on Earth, the City 17 Citadel, and destroys it by detonating its Dark Energy Reactor. In doing so he also prevents antagonist Dr. Wallace Breen, the Combine's human representative on Earth and Gordon's former administrator at Black Mesa, from escaping via a teleporter, thereby killing him. Although caught in the reactor's explosion along with Alyx Vance, Gordon is rescued by the G-Man (apparently leaving Alyx Vance to face the explosion alone), who tells Freeman that he is impressed with his work and has received "several tempting offers" for his "services". He deposits Freeman back in stasis, this time without giving him "the illusion of free choice".
Half-Life 2: Episode One
rejoins Gordon and Alyx Vance, who are separately removed from the G-Man's stasis, and rescued a split instant before the reactor explosion, by the Vortigaunt
s, greatly displeasing him. Gordon regains consciousness under a pile of rubble and is found by Alyx and Dog. Their proximity to the Citadel, coupled with its imminent explosion, which would level much of City 17, requires them to go back inside and stabilize the core, stalling the structure's destruction long enough for both themselves and much of the human population to escape. Gordon and Alyx succeed in doing so, but learn that the local Combine forces are attempting to send a distress message for off world assistance, using the Citadel's destruction to power the transmission. The Combine consider this a positive, as the subsequent explosion would destroy all of City 17 and much of the surrounding countryside, which has been all but lost to human resistance forces. With a copy of the distress message, Gordon and Alyx escape the Citadel and meet up with Barney and other survivors. The pair escape City 17 via an evacuation train as the Citadel core goes critical, sending out the Combine message. The resulting shockwave derails their train.
In Half-Life 2: Episode Two
, Gordon wakes up in the wrecked train and is freed by Alyx, who had earlier escaped the wreckage. A massive superportal is forming over what was once City 17, which will allow the Combine to send an invasion fleet once it is fully formed. The data they carry is the key to destroying it. Gordon and Alyx make their way to White Forest, an apparent Soviet-era missile base turned into a rebel stronghold, where the data can be sent to an orbiting satellite via a rocket, which will allow the resistance to collapse the portal. After Alyx is critically wounded by a Hunter, Gordon assists the Vortigaunts in saving her, their healing ritual giving the G-Man the opportunity to speak to Gordon. During this conversation, the G-Man reveals to Gordon that he saved Alyx from the Black Mesa incident. He also embeds a message in Alyx's brain for her father, Eli: "prepare for unforeseen consequences." When the duo reach White Forest, after a run-in with a Combine Advisor, they are reunited with Dr. Kleiner and Dr. Vance, and are formally introduced to Dr. Arne Magnusson, who has taken control of the base. After Gordon seals the silo from a Combine attack, Gordon, Alyx, Dr. Kleiner, and Dr. Vance watch the transmission from Dr. Mossman seen in Episode One, acquired with the stolen Combine data. It reveals that she has located the Borealis, an Aperture Science research vessel which contains something supposedly capable of causing "another Black Mesa".
The G-Man compels Alyx to deliver his message, and once Eli sends her away he reveals that he, too, knows of the G-Man, referring to him as "our mutual friend". With the Combine now sending Striders to shoot the rocket down, Magnusson enlists Gordon's aid in stopping through the use of his special explosive charges known as Magnusson Devices and Gordon's Gravity Gun
. After repelling the attack, the rocket is launched and the portal is destroyed. As Gordon and Alyx prepare to leave for the Borealis in an old helicopter, they are ambushed by Advisors, which kill Eli before Dog forces them to flee. The game ends with Alyx mourning over Eli's body.
Two expansions for Half-Life all more or less take place during the same time as Half-Life itself, and as such Gordon is seen at some points of the games. In these appearances, Gordon maintains his silence, even though he is not the protagonist. In Half-Life: Opposing Force
, Adrian Shephard only encounters Gordon once when he witnesses Gordon teleport to Xen in the Lambda Complex. Attempts to follow him through the same portal will result in a "temporal paradox
" which sends Shephard falling through Xen's void and ends the game. Gordon is also seen three times by Barney Calhoun during the course of Half-Life: Blue Shift
. Barney first sees Gordon passing by in a tram at the beginning of the game, later heading towards the HEV storage area through a surveillance camera, and lastly being dragged to a trash compactor by a pair of HECU troops.
ranked him as the fifth Best Hero of gaming. In 2008, The Age
ranked him as the 16th Xbox
hero of all time, adding that "no one has done more for the reputations and street cred of theoretical physicists than Valve." In 2009, GameDaily
listed the "strong and silent type" in their top 25 video game archetypes, using Gordon Freeman as an example. He was also ranked 14th on UGO.com's list of top 100 heroes in all media, and was voted as the eight best video game character of all time in the Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition
2011.
In 2009, a public poll on GameSpot resulted in him being voted the All Time Greatest Video Game Hero. In 2010, Empire also ranked him as the Greatest Video Game Character, commenting that "the character is the quintessential geek fantasy" who "has become a gaming icon, synonymous with the apotheosis of first-person action."
Half-Life (series)
The Half-Life series of video games share a science fiction alternate history. Nearly all of the games are first-person shooters on the GoldSource or Source engines, and most are linear, narrative, single-player titles....
video game series. He is a theoretical physicist
Theoretical physics
Theoretical physics is a branch of physics which employs mathematical models and abstractions of physics to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena...
who finds himself thrust into a battle for survival against both alien and human forces. Throughout the series, Gordon must prevail in hostile situations despite overwhelming odds, often without backup. As a means of immersing the player in the role, the character never speaks, and there are no cut-scenes or mission briefings—all action is viewed through Gordon's eyes, with the player retaining control of Gordon's actions at nearly all times. The images of Gordon are only seen on the game's cover and menu pages, and also in advertisements, making them marketing tools rather than pictures of what Gordon is "really" like. Designer Gabe Newell
Gabe Newell
Gabe Logan Newell is the co-founder and managing director of video game development and online distribution company Valve Corporation.-Work:...
has explicitly rejected giving the in-game Gordon a face or voice.
The character is introduced as a theoretical physicist working at the fictional Black Mesa Research Facility and involved in an experiment which accidentally opens an interdimensional portal, releasing confused, hostile beings into the complex. In the first Half-Life, the player, as Gordon Freeman, fights through the facility alongside fellow employees, engaging the aliens as well as a military unit sent in to contain the situation and silence any surviving witnesses. In its sequel, Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2 , the sequel to Half-Life, is a first-person shooter video game and a signature title in the Half-Life series. It is singleplayer, story-driven, science fiction, and linear...
, Gordon is introduced to a dystopian world years after the Black Mesa incident, along with an interdimensional imperial force known as the Combine that took advantage of the interdimensional portals and has established itself as the ruling force on Earth. Gordon joins the human resistance fighters and aids them in their struggle against their oppressors.
Character design
The name Gordon Freeman was coined by the Half-Life director Gabe NewellGabe Newell
Gabe Logan Newell is the co-founder and managing director of video game development and online distribution company Valve Corporation.-Work:...
during a conversation with the game's writer Marc Laidlaw
Marc Laidlaw
Marc Laidlaw is an American writer of science fiction and horror and also a computer game designer with Valve Software. He is perhaps most famous for writing Dad's Nuke and The 37th Mandala, and for working on the popular Half-Life series.-Biography:Laidlaw was born in 1960 and raised in Laguna...
in his car. It included a homage to the physicist and philosopher Freeman Dyson
Freeman Dyson
Freeman John Dyson FRS is a British-born American theoretical physicist and mathematician, famous for his work in quantum field theory, solid-state physics, astronomy and nuclear engineering. Dyson is a member of the Board of Sponsors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists...
. Newell disliked Laidlaw's proposed name, "Dyson Poincaré", which also included the surname of Henri Poincaré
Henri Poincaré
Jules Henri Poincaré was a French mathematician, theoretical physicist, engineer, and a philosopher of science...
. The texture for Gordon's head was "too big of a job for just one person", so Valve designers combined references from four people. An earlier model of Gordon, known as "Ivan the Space Biker," had a full beard that was subsequently trimmed. Other iterations of Gordon's concept featured different glasses, a ponytail, and a helmet.
Gordon wears a special full-body hazmat suit
Hazmat suit
A hazmat suit is a garment worn as protection from hazardous materials or substances. A hazmat suit is generally combined with breathing apparatus for protection and may be used by firefighters, emergency personnel responding to toxic spills, researchers, specialists cleaning up contaminated...
known as the hazardous environment (HEV) suit during combat, obtained from Black Mesa. The suit is designed to protect the user from radiation, energy discharges, and blunt trauma during the handling of hazardous materials. The suit's main feature is its "high impact reactive armor", an electrically powered armor system that, when charged, absorbs two-thirds of the damage that Gordon would ordinarily suffer. A fully charged suit can survive several dozen hits from small arms and even a direct hit from a rocket-propelled grenade. The suit can be charged by various means, and has its own oxygen supply and injectors which can deliver various drugs such as morphine and an antidote to neurotoxins. It comes with a built-in flashlight, a radio, various tracking devices, a compass, and a Geiger counter
Geiger counter
A Geiger counter, also called a Geiger–Müller counter, is a type of particle detector that measures ionizing radiation. They detect the emission of nuclear radiation: alpha particles, beta particles or gamma rays. A Geiger counter detects radiation by ionization produced in a low-pressure gas in a...
. The suit contains an on-board computer system that constantly monitors the user's health and vital signs, and reacts to any changes in the user's condition. It also projects a heads-up display
HUD (computer gaming)
In video gaming, the HUD is the method by which information is visually relayed to the player as part of a game's user interface...
(HUD) which displays Gordon's health, suit charge, remaining ammunition, and a crosshair.
In Half-Life, Gordon wears the Mark IV suit. This version comes equipped with an optional long-jump module so Gordon can leap great distances. It is charged using power modules throughout Black Mesa. In Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2 , the sequel to Half-Life, is a first-person shooter video game and a signature title in the Half-Life series. It is singleplayer, story-driven, science fiction, and linear...
Gordon receives the upgraded Mark V suit, which lacks the long-jump module but gains several new abilities. It features a visual zoom
Zoom lens
A zoom lens is a mechanical assembly of lens elements for which the focal length can be varied, as opposed to a fixed focal length lens...
ing capability, limited enhanced running (sprint) capability, an injector to administer anti-venom, an optional ammo and health counter on the crosshair
Crosshair
A reticle is a net of fine lines or fibers in the eyepiece of a sighting device, such as a telescope, a telescopic sight, a microscope, or the screen of an oscilloscope. The word reticle comes from the Latin "reticulum," meaning "net." Today, engraved lines or embedded fibers may be replaced by a...
and the capability to use Combine power nodes to charge the suit. The Mark V initially used a single power source for flashlight, sprinting, and oxygen supply; in Half-Life 2: Episode Two the flashlight was given a separate power source to improve gameplay. The symbol on Gordon's HEV suit is the lower case Greek letter Lambda
Lambda
Lambda is the 11th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals lambda has a value of 30. Lambda is related to the Phoenician letter Lamed . Letters in other alphabets that stemmed from lambda include the Roman L and the Cyrillic letter El...
, λ. This symbol is used by scientists to denote the decay constant of radioactive elements (related to the half-life
Half-life
Half-life, abbreviated t½, is the period of time it takes for the amount of a substance undergoing decay to decrease by half. The name was originally used to describe a characteristic of unstable atoms , but it may apply to any quantity which follows a set-rate decay.The original term, dating to...
of an element). As well as appearing on Gordon's suit, the symbol replaces the letter "a" in the game title, Hλlf-Life, and is the name of the complex in the Black Mesa Research Facility where teleportation experiments are conducted. The Lambda symbol is also seen in Half-Life 2 as a marking of the human resistance, seen close to hidden supplies and on the arm bands of better equipped resistance fighters.
Character biography
Quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics, also known as quantum physics or quantum theory, is a branch of physics providing a mathematical description of much of the dual particle-like and wave-like behavior and interactions of energy and matter. It departs from classical mechanics primarily at the atomic and subatomic...
and the theory of general relativity
Theory of relativity
The theory of relativity, or simply relativity, encompasses two theories of Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity. However, the word relativity is sometimes used in reference to Galilean invariance....
. His childhood heroes were Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
, Stephen Hawking
Stephen Hawking
Stephen William Hawking, CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA is an English theoretical physicist and cosmologist, whose scientific books and public appearances have made him an academic celebrity...
, and Richard Feynman
Richard Feynman
Richard Phillips Feynman was an American physicist known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as in particle physics...
. After observing a series of teleportation experiments conducted by the Institute for Experimental Physics at the University of Innsbruck, the transmission of matter became Gordon's obsession. Gordon has no known dependents. He graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
(MIT) with a Ph.D.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
degree in Theoretical Physics
Theoretical physics
Theoretical physics is a branch of physics which employs mathematical models and abstractions of physics to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena...
. His doctoral thesis on the teleportation of matter through extremely dense elements was titled Observation of Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen
EPR paradox
The EPR paradox is a topic in quantum physics and the philosophy of science concerning the measurement and description of microscopic systems by the methods of quantum physics...
Entanglement
Quantum entanglement
Quantum entanglement occurs when electrons, molecules even as large as "buckyballs", photons, etc., interact physically and then become separated; the type of interaction is such that each resulting member of a pair is properly described by the same quantum mechanical description , which is...
on Supraquantum Structures by Induction Through Nonlinear Transuranic
Transuranium element
In chemistry, transuranium elements are the chemical elements with atomic numbers greater than 92...
Crystal of Extremely Long Wavelength
Wavelength
In physics, the wavelength of a sinusoidal wave is the spatial period of the wave—the distance over which the wave's shape repeats.It is usually determined by considering the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same phase, such as crests, troughs, or zero crossings, and is a...
(ELW) Pulse from Mode-Locked Source Array. Gordon's research into science eventually leads him to accept a job offer by the Black Mesa Research Facility, and begin working on a top secret research project headed by his mentor at MIT, Dr. Isaac Kleiner. He takes up residence at Black Mesa, conducting nuclear
Nuclear physics
Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies the building blocks and interactions of atomic nuclei. The most commonly known applications of nuclear physics are nuclear power generation and nuclear weapons technology, but the research has provided application in many fields, including those...
and subatomic research in its Anomalous Materials department. Despite his education as a theoretical physicist, the work Freeman is involved with at Black Mesa is of a more experimental nature.
The games often make light of the fact that the tasks Gordon performs amount to little more than manual labor, despite his being a theoretical physicist. Gordon's assigned job at the start of Half-Life consists of little more than pressing a button and pushing a cart. Barney Calhoun wryly notes this irony at the beginning of Half-Life 2, when Freeman performs similar "technical" assistance by flipping a switch and returning a plug to its socket.
In Half-Life, Gordon Freeman and his research team perform an experiment that inadvertently creates a dimensional rift in spacetime
Spacetime
In physics, spacetime is any mathematical model that combines space and time into a single continuum. Spacetime is usually interpreted with space as being three-dimensional and time playing the role of a fourth dimension that is of a different sort from the spatial dimensions...
. Intelligent and confused alien life forms from the Xen dimension come pouring through multiple breaches inside the Black Mesa facility, attacking anything in sight. As scientific, military and civilian personnel fall under the alien onslaught, Freeman finds himself targeted not only by the xenomorphic incursion, but also the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit (HECU), a U.S. Marine Corps military force sent to contain the situation. The untrained theoretical physicist somehow manages to survive the chaos, impressing the few surviving scientists and security guards with his heroic acts, while quickly becoming the HECU's top priority target. Freeman is eventually transported to Xen by a few surviving Lambda Team scientists. After the successful elimination of the alien leader Nihilanth, Freeman is confronted by the G-Man
G-Man (Half-Life)
The G-Man, voiced by Michael Shapiro, is a mysterious recurring character in the Half-Life series of first-person shooter video games. He is known to display peculiar behavior and capabilities beyond that of a normal human, and his identity and motives remain almost completely unexplained...
, who has been remotely observing Freeman throughout the entire Black Mesa incident. He shows Freeman several locations throughout Earth and Xen and offers Freeman a choice: either agree to work for him and his mysterious "employers", or be left to die on Xen.
Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2 , the sequel to Half-Life, is a first-person shooter video game and a signature title in the Half-Life series. It is singleplayer, story-driven, science fiction, and linear...
begins as the G-Man speaks to Gordon in a dreamlike scene, after keeping him "in stasis
Stasis (fiction)
Stasis , or hypersleep, is a science fiction concept akin to suspended animation. Whereas suspended animation usually refers to a greatly reduced state of life processes, stasis implies a complete cessation of these processes, which can be easily restarted or restart spontaneously when stasis is...
far from Earth, thought, and time itself" for nearly two decades, during which he did not physically age. He comments that "the right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world." Gordon is then "point inserted" into a train bound for City 17, to the (mild) surprise of the other passengers. Freeman quickly learns that Earth has been conquered and occupied by the trans-dimensional Combine empire, with a military force powerful enough to have subdued the entirety of Earth's nations within a period of 7 hours. He soon meets up with Barney Calhoun and Alyx Vance
Alyx Vance
Alyx Vance is a non-player character in Valve's 2004 first-person shooter computer game Half-Life 2, and its following episodes: Half-Life 2: Episode One and Half-Life 2: Episode Two...
, and joins the resistance against the Combine. During the course of the second game, Gordon battles the forces of the Combine in order to free humanity from its grasp. Already famous for his role in the Black Mesa Incident, Gordon quickly develops a legendary reputation among Earth's surviving human populace, who begin to look up to him and refer to him by such messianic titles as "the One Free Man" or "the Opener of the Way". After slaying scores of Combine soldiers and leading an assault against the Combine stronghold of Nova Prospekt, Gordon eventually sparks a full-scale rebellion, in which he becomes a combatant.
Gordon infiltrates one of the Combine's footholds on Earth, the City 17 Citadel, and destroys it by detonating its Dark Energy Reactor. In doing so he also prevents antagonist Dr. Wallace Breen, the Combine's human representative on Earth and Gordon's former administrator at Black Mesa, from escaping via a teleporter, thereby killing him. Although caught in the reactor's explosion along with Alyx Vance, Gordon is rescued by the G-Man (apparently leaving Alyx Vance to face the explosion alone), who tells Freeman that he is impressed with his work and has received "several tempting offers" for his "services". He deposits Freeman back in stasis, this time without giving him "the illusion of free choice".
Half-Life 2: Episode One
Half-Life 2: Episode One
Half-Life 2: Episode One is the first in a series of episodes that serve as the sequel for the 2004 first-person shooter video game Half-Life 2. It was developed by Valve Corporation and released on June 1, 2006. Originally called Half-Life 2: Aftermath, the game was later renamed to Episode One...
rejoins Gordon and Alyx Vance, who are separately removed from the G-Man's stasis, and rescued a split instant before the reactor explosion, by the Vortigaunt
Vortigaunt
Vortigaunts are a fictional extra-dimensional species in the Half-Life series by Valve Corporation. In Half-Life and its three expansions, Vortigaunts are frequently encountered by the player as hostile non-player characters...
s, greatly displeasing him. Gordon regains consciousness under a pile of rubble and is found by Alyx and Dog. Their proximity to the Citadel, coupled with its imminent explosion, which would level much of City 17, requires them to go back inside and stabilize the core, stalling the structure's destruction long enough for both themselves and much of the human population to escape. Gordon and Alyx succeed in doing so, but learn that the local Combine forces are attempting to send a distress message for off world assistance, using the Citadel's destruction to power the transmission. The Combine consider this a positive, as the subsequent explosion would destroy all of City 17 and much of the surrounding countryside, which has been all but lost to human resistance forces. With a copy of the distress message, Gordon and Alyx escape the Citadel and meet up with Barney and other survivors. The pair escape City 17 via an evacuation train as the Citadel core goes critical, sending out the Combine message. The resulting shockwave derails their train.
In Half-Life 2: Episode Two
Half-Life 2: Episode Two
Half-Life 2: Episode Two is the second episode in a series of sequels to the 2004 first-person shooter video game Half-Life 2. It was developed by Valve Corporation in tandem with Episode One, the first game in the series, and released in Q4 2007 via Valve's Steam content distribution platform...
, Gordon wakes up in the wrecked train and is freed by Alyx, who had earlier escaped the wreckage. A massive superportal is forming over what was once City 17, which will allow the Combine to send an invasion fleet once it is fully formed. The data they carry is the key to destroying it. Gordon and Alyx make their way to White Forest, an apparent Soviet-era missile base turned into a rebel stronghold, where the data can be sent to an orbiting satellite via a rocket, which will allow the resistance to collapse the portal. After Alyx is critically wounded by a Hunter, Gordon assists the Vortigaunts in saving her, their healing ritual giving the G-Man the opportunity to speak to Gordon. During this conversation, the G-Man reveals to Gordon that he saved Alyx from the Black Mesa incident. He also embeds a message in Alyx's brain for her father, Eli: "prepare for unforeseen consequences." When the duo reach White Forest, after a run-in with a Combine Advisor, they are reunited with Dr. Kleiner and Dr. Vance, and are formally introduced to Dr. Arne Magnusson, who has taken control of the base. After Gordon seals the silo from a Combine attack, Gordon, Alyx, Dr. Kleiner, and Dr. Vance watch the transmission from Dr. Mossman seen in Episode One, acquired with the stolen Combine data. It reveals that she has located the Borealis, an Aperture Science research vessel which contains something supposedly capable of causing "another Black Mesa".
The G-Man compels Alyx to deliver his message, and once Eli sends her away he reveals that he, too, knows of the G-Man, referring to him as "our mutual friend". With the Combine now sending Striders to shoot the rocket down, Magnusson enlists Gordon's aid in stopping through the use of his special explosive charges known as Magnusson Devices and Gordon's Gravity Gun
Gravity gun
Gravity gun can refer to various fictional devices:* Gravity gun, a gameplay concept in video games that allows players to manipulate the game's physics.* Gravitational Beam Emitter, a fictional gun used by Killy in the manga series Blame! and NOiSE...
. After repelling the attack, the rocket is launched and the portal is destroyed. As Gordon and Alyx prepare to leave for the Borealis in an old helicopter, they are ambushed by Advisors, which kill Eli before Dog forces them to flee. The game ends with Alyx mourning over Eli's body.
Two expansions for Half-Life all more or less take place during the same time as Half-Life itself, and as such Gordon is seen at some points of the games. In these appearances, Gordon maintains his silence, even though he is not the protagonist. In Half-Life: Opposing Force
Half-Life: Opposing Force
Half-Life: Opposing Force is an expansion pack for Valve Software's science fiction first-person shooter video game Half-Life. The game was developed by Gearbox Software and Valve Corporation and published by Sierra Entertainment on November 1, 1999. Opposing Force is the first expansion for...
, Adrian Shephard only encounters Gordon once when he witnesses Gordon teleport to Xen in the Lambda Complex. Attempts to follow him through the same portal will result in a "temporal paradox
Temporal paradox
Temporal paradox is a theoretical paradoxical situation that happens because of time travel. A time traveler goes to the past, and does something that would prevent him from time travel in the first place...
" which sends Shephard falling through Xen's void and ends the game. Gordon is also seen three times by Barney Calhoun during the course of Half-Life: Blue Shift
Half-Life: Blue Shift
Half-Life: Blue Shift is an expansion pack for Valve Software's science fiction first-person shooter video game Half-Life. The game was developed by Gearbox Software with Valve Corporation and published by Sierra Entertainment on June 12, 2001...
. Barney first sees Gordon passing by in a tram at the beginning of the game, later heading towards the HEV storage area through a surveillance camera, and lastly being dragged to a trash compactor by a pair of HECU troops.
Reception
Gordon Freeman quickly became and then remained one of the most popular video game characters. Already in 1998, readers of GameSpotGameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
ranked him as the fifth Best Hero of gaming. In 2008, The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
ranked him as the 16th Xbox
Xbox
The Xbox is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Australia and Europe and is the predecessor to the Xbox 360. It was Microsoft's first foray into the gaming console...
hero of all time, adding that "no one has done more for the reputations and street cred of theoretical physicists than Valve." In 2009, GameDaily
GameDaily
GameDaily was a video game journalism website based in the United States. Launched in 1995 by entrepreneur Mark Friedler under the name Gigex and focused on free game demo downloads, The site changed its business model from a flat fee per download CDN distributed service network to an...
listed the "strong and silent type" in their top 25 video game archetypes, using Gordon Freeman as an example. He was also ranked 14th on UGO.com's list of top 100 heroes in all media, and was voted as the eight best video game character of all time in the Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition
Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition
Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition is a Guinness World Records book dedicated to video games. The first edition was released in February 2008 in association with the video games world records' tracking organization Twin Galaxies. The second edition was released in 2009...
2011.
In 2009, a public poll on GameSpot resulted in him being voted the All Time Greatest Video Game Hero. In 2010, Empire also ranked him as the Greatest Video Game Character, commenting that "the character is the quintessential geek fantasy" who "has become a gaming icon, synonymous with the apotheosis of first-person action."
Sources
- Mitchell, Heather. Half-Life instruction manual. Valve Software, 1998.
- Hodgson, David. Half-Life 2: Prima Official Game Guide. Prima Games, 2004. ISBN 0-7615-4362-7.
External links
- Story overview of Half-Life
- Gordon Freeman at Combine OverWiki, a Half-Life WikiaWikiaWikia is a free web hosting service for wikis . It is normally free of charge for readers and editors, deriving most of its income from advertising, and publishes all user-provided text under copyleft licenses. Wikia hosts several hundred thousand wikis using the open-source wiki software MediaWiki...