Talk:G-Man (Half-Life)/Archive 1

Image
There's an image of the G-Man from HL1 and HL2 at Image:Gman.jpg, but it doesn't cite the source or copyright status. --Mrwojo 14:20, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Breen
"His various references to his "employers" offer even more theories - that he works as a freelancer or agent who simply hires his talent or Gordon's out to the highest bidder, a theory supported by certain interpretations of Doctor Breen's comments towards the end of HL2."

As far as I can tell, Breen wasn't referring at all to GMan in that scene. It is far more likely that he was referring the Gordon's alliance with the BM crew. Given that no other characters in any of the games ever acknowledge GMan's presense, it seems peculiar that out of nowhere, Breen would suddenly refer to him, especially in such an arbitrary quote.


 * But also note - during Breen's speech to the Combine soldiers in Nova Prospekt, Breen also says something to the extent of "[Gordon] has been in a state that precludes building his skills since the Black Mesa incident." I can't remember it exactly, but it seems another hint of Breen knowing of G-man.

He says "Your contract is open to the highest bidder." It makes sense to connect with G-Man as G-Man is the only person Gordon is mentioned as having a contract with! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.66.84.39 (talk) 19:41, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

In Episode Two, Eli Vance acknowledges G-Man's exsistance, referring to him as, "Our mutual friend." Also, during G-Man's monolouge in the same game, he mentions "appraisals" and "naysayers" suggesting he could work for some galactical 'rent-a-hero' corporation. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.248.135.16 (talk) 02:37, 15 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Also note: when GMan said in the main encounter with GMan and Gordon in Ep. 2, as GMan was talking about "naysayers" an image of Breen flashes on the screen behind GMan's desk. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.207.89.21 (talk) 03:24, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

That image...
...if I'm not wrong, that image was released to the public at least a year ago, to show off the Source engine's markedly improved capabilities. It would definitely belong to Valve Software. CABAL 16:09, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)


 * The term G-Man is a term that has been around since before Half-Life. The character in HL1/2 didn't have a name, but was given the model name GMan. Given that the G-Man in HL1/2 was named because of the historical title of G-Man, there's no reason to redirect. Despite Valve's lack of a - in the name, their community has already chosen it to be spelled G-Man. Scumbag 07:34, Dec 3, 2004 (UTC)


 * The community chose to popularly call the character "G-Man", though that's not his official name. But it's true that biographical articles on real people are supposed to be located at their popular names, not their full official names (if those differ), so I can see why it belongs here. --Arteitle 08:39, Dec 3, 2004 (UTC)


 * I've altered the article so that it is at least internally consistent. If you guys think that the exact choice of spelling is important, perhaps include a short paragraph in the article to state the ambiguity? Axl 20:19, 6 Dec 2004 (UTC)


 * I don't think its important, but I did as you asked, regardless. If this gets moved to "GMan", I'm going to slap someone. Scumbag 03:03, Dec 7, 2004 (UTC)


 * Well, it was more of a suggestion than a request. Anyway, thanks for adding it, Scumbag. Axl 14:45, 7 Dec 2004 (UTC)


 * If you look at Episode One's website, you see the G-Man's refered to as we call him - G-Man, WITH the hyphen. So, it's official now.


 * In the credits of both Half-Life 2 and of Half-Life 2: Episode One, this character is referred to as "Gman" (without quotation marks). These seem to be the two most credible sources, and they are consistent. Additionally, placing the page under that name would avoid confusion between the character and historical G-Men. Jason Jones 07:56, 3 June 2006 (UTC)

A bit off-topic here, but where did you read on those theories? The G-Man as a ghost? I almost burst out laughing. Seriously though, I'd like to know where did you read those. I might mine them for more oddball content to put up in the article. Oh, and as a side-note, did the G-Man make an appearance in Blue Shift? I never played that one, so I wouldn't know. CABAL 12:17, 7 Dec 2004 (UTC)


 * He did only once. Before the Cascade, the player (Barney) has to walk to a broken elevator since the train that would otherwise take him there is down due to mecanical issues. As he walks down the various halls and tunnels, at one point a bridge between the tracks of the transit system is retracted as a car with the G-Man as the only passenger drives by. This is his only appearnce in the game. --Paul Soth 21:49, 8 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Nihilanth quotes
I propose that the section containing Nihilanth quotes, while interesting, are not relavant to this article, and should be moved or removed. If there is no opposition, I will do so myself. ---Jackel 05:48, 2 Jan 2005 (UTC)

- Moving it to the Nihilanth article would be most welcome. CABAL 11:01, 6 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * Done.---Jackel 16:40, 6 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Speculation
The Speculation section seems out of place - could it be rephrased or removed? Orange Goblin 13:14, 12 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * I agree. Throwing out over a dozen possiblilites is needless, and catagorizing them is a bit much. This could easily be reduced to a simple sentence outlining that there are many theories on his purpose. ---Jackel 13:36, 12 Jan 2005 (UTC)
 * I have removed the section and put a mention of it in the main text. Orange Goblin 11:05, 14 Jan 2005 (UTC)

G-Man in Half-Life: Absolute Redemption
In November 2000 the UK based Maverick Developments produced as a free PC addon pack for Valve Software called Half-Life: Absolute Redemption, bringing back Gordon Freeman in a single-player mode for 4 additional episodes and another encounter with G-Man.

Since the product was made for Valve, could we consider the episode as 'official'? The game starts with Gordon Freeman in G-Mans office, in some kind of facility similar to Black Mesa. Would this count as a part of the G-Man story as well?


 * That was a fan mod that Valve was so impressed with they decided to bundle it with several other mods in a retail pack. It was long available in a download before then. So nope, it's not at all official. --Paul Soth 02:42, 26 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Half-Life
Actually, I think in the ending where you "decline" his offer, Gordon doesn't actually lose his suit; he's just weaponless, and probably severely injured from the encounter with Nihilanth (unless you are a VERY skilled player). Or at least, I remember still seeing the HUD from that ending ... comments, before I take that part out? --Yar Kramer 19:18, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * True, you can see that he still retains his HEV suit from the HUD, but is indeed weaponless. Nufy8 19:32, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * Righto. Removing the part that says he loses his HEV! --Yar Kramer 19:33, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I am told by a friend that if you use a trainer to regain your weapons after declining G-Man's offer, you can kill the enemies, but then G-Man says "cheaters never prosper" and 50 Nihilanths spawn. Is this true?
 * It's possible to cheat to give yourself weapons and then proceed to kill the Grunts, but the chances of killing them all before the screen fades to black is very low. In fact, only the first few lines of the Grunts are actually real; the rest are merely lifeless cardboard cut-outs that resemble Alien Grunts. And no, the G-Man never utters that line, nor do 50 Nihilanths spawn. Nufy8 20:35, 19 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I see. Thank you.

List of G-Man's appearances
I have a complete list of all the G-Man's appearances in Half-Life and Opposing Force (not HL2 yet, though, not until I actually get the game). Anyone interested in me putting it somewhere? --Yar Kramer 01:49, 16 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Sure, I could add the HL2 sightings if need be (including the three not described in the Strategy Guide). Also, there is one known Blue Shift sighting. Nufy8 01:54, 16 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Okay, where? In the G-Man article, or in a separate article altogether? --Yar Kramer 17:21, 17 July 2005 (UTC)
 * It would probably serve better in the G-Man article.


 * I also have a suggestion for the format, tell me what you think of this example:

Appearances
The G-Man appears at several points in each Half-Life SP game, blah blah blah...

Half-Life
1.
 * Description: Seen in a tram heading in the opposite direction as Gordon when he first arrives.
 * Map: c0a0d
 * Chapter: Chapter 1, "Black Mesa Inbound"

2.
 * Description: Seen talking to a scientist in the offices before the airlock.
 * Map: c1a0
 * Chapter: Chapter 2, "Anomalous Materials"

Nufy8 20:00, 17 July 2005 (UTC)


 * Actually, I already have them listed by chapter (on the assumption that he doesn't appear more than once per chapter), with a brief description of where he's found apart from what he's doing.


 * Oh, and should I also change the "Opposing Force" header to three ='s instead of four so it's under the main "Appearances" header instead of under "Half-Life"? --Yar Kramer 00:55, 18 July 2005 (UTC)


 * There are three chapters in HL2 when he appears several times. And yes, the OpFor title should have the same number of ='s as Half-Life, so that it's under the Appearances heading. Nufy8 01:16, 18 July 2005 (UTC)


 * Really? Hmm, my list must be incomplete, then. Ah well ... I hafta comment, though, that your format seems to, uh, take up a lot of space for just one short comment and stuff. --Yar Kramer 01:36, 18 July 2005 (UTC)
 * I guess it would make more sense to put it all on one line, provided that the chapter and map can easily be distinguished. Nufy8 01:42, 18 July 2005 (UTC)


 * Black Mesa Inbound (c0a0d) Seen on a tram etc. --Yar Kramer 01:46, 18 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Yeah, that looks good. Numbering each in order of appearance sound good? Nufy8 01:48, 18 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Actually, I was going to just list them with bullets. Be easier to add stuff in between items on the list, if it turns out not to be as complete.

--Yar Kramer 01:53, 18 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Black Mesa Inbound (map: c0a0d): When the tram Gordon is riding stops for a large robot, the G-Man is standing with a scientist in another tram heading in the opposite direction.
 * Ok. Nufy8 01:56, 18 July 2005 (UTC)
 * So far, so good. If you need any help getting map names, let me know. Nufy8 03:02, 18 July 2005 (UTC)
 * I, uh, don't actually know (read: am too lazy to find) any of the map names, so, uh, could you do it? ^^; --Yar Kramer 01:19, 19 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Of course, I went ahead and found those out today anyway. Nufy8 01:54, 19 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Hmm ... methinks now we ought to clean up the rest of that section, now that we have a specific list. --Yar Kramer 00:06, 27 July 2005 (UTC)
 * Yeah, some of the detailed sightings that aren't pertinent to the story line should be removed, such as the one sentence paragraph at the end of the HL2 heading. Nufy8 00:12, 27 July 2005 (UTC)

"Pit Worm's Nest (map: of4a4): Shephard is deposited into a garbage compactor resembling the one from Star Wars. The G-Man can be seen quietly observing him from an observation window." ''Isn't the trash compacter in Half Life (not OpFor) when Gordon is bundled by two guards in a dark room, has all his weapons removed etc?


 * I believe there's a trash compactor near the Pit Worm's nest in OpFor aswell. Nufy8 23:32, 30 November 2005 (UTC)


 * Yep. In fact, it looks more like the one in Star Wars than the HL one does. --Yar Kramer 05:35, 1 December 2005 (UTC)

2 Episode 1


 * Contrary to popular belief, there is a g-man sighting in this game. I was watching someone play, and when Gordon made his way past a Combine wall that was blocking the road, he looked up at the top of the building and the G-man was standing there watching him as he went into a half destroyed tunnel. It seemed to be the only sighting in the game but he was there.  I suggest they play the game more than once before they start saying that the G-Man is not in Episode one. Wednesday, May 2, 2007 (UTC)

"Alien contractor"
''Note: the following was added to the article by 69.3.48.170; I felt that it didn't belong there, mainly due to the "not sure where to put this" note. Feel free to replace it with suitable framing. -DynSkeet (talk) 12:16, July 18, 2005 (UTC)'' It should be noted that some people do not actually belive that G-man is a human but rather an alien contracting out Gordon Freeman's services without directly informing him in any way. This would explain both the speach and the fact that his face looks a bit odd when compared to the quality of other human faces in the game.
 * Not a quote, not to sure where to put this. Suggest start new section entitled "G-man theories"

Miscellaneous / gman quotes
those sound bites are infact used in the game during his the argument with the scientist observable through a window near the game's beginning. i found that if you turn your volume all the way up you can hear G-man talk the frases listed. can someone conferm / insert it into the artical if it is nesesary.
 * You're right, I failed to see the error in the article before. I corrected it, as it seems that you can hear basically every mumble file from the sound directory in the game. Also, the scientist has his own mumble file(s) - I'll see if I can deduce what's being said and how it fits in with the G-Man's speeches. Nufy8 01:41, 3 August 2005 (UTC)
 * I'd say they're both randomly selected, much like all other "conversations" are. ("You still think this is a drill?" "Yep." between two Barnies, or "All the displacement modulators were tuned today, weren't they?" "Of course not!" between two scientists before the resonance cascade) --Yar Kramer 01:44, 3 August 2005 (UTC)
 * Correct, it appears to be random. I went ahead and listened to the scientist mumble file, and this is what I got: "I told you a hundred times, I am a scientist. Personally ... unquestionable." Pretty sure about the first sentence, but after that it gets pretty difficult to understand. Nufy8 01:58, 3 August 2005 (UTC)

There was a huge thread on the halflife2.net forums covering this, and I've looked through all the submissions and reached some sort of consensus. Tell me what you think:

sci mumble - "I've told you a hundred times, I am opposed with pushing this equipment beyond its test levels."

gman1 - "This is not your descision to make." [These two are 100% certain]

gman2 - "You must not get in the way."

gman3 - [Something about giving him an answer]

gman5 - "My employers don't agree with that!"

This seems like a pretty good fit:

gman4 - "If I had one of those suits, then I would, certainly". --Subtlesnake 20:55, 2 September 2005 (UTC)


 * I just recorded three and a half minutes of this babbling in-game, and then tried to transcribe it with ^ this as a reference. It's really annoying how the scientist keeps saying the exact same phrase over and over again, but it does indeed sound a lot like "I've told you a hundred times, I am opposed to pushing this equipment beyond its test levels." And I'd say the "my employers don't agree with that" phrase is 100% certain as well; it's the loudest and clearest of them all.
 * I don't agree about the "If I had one of those suits, then I would, certainly" part, I think there's too many syllables in the actual sound. Someone else thought he said "If I wondered why I had chosen him, then I would, certainly." The "won-"/"one" syllable is really clear, but everything between that and "then I would, certainly" seems impossible to make out.
 * The other qoutes, "you must not get in the way." and [something about giving him an answer], I haven't heard. I'm sure they weren't in the part I recorded, which is strange, because all the other remarks passed a hundred times. Maybe I got another release of half-Life or something.


 * Hmm. Let me see what I get when I use GCFscape to extract all his sound files directly ... uh, later (I don't have time right this minute). --Yar Kramer 21:38, 1 November 2005 (UTC)


 * Out of boredom I've extracted and listened to the sounds in question. I pretty much agree with their transcriptions above. gman3 is something like "I wanted to get an answer". gman4 is a little more difficult. All I can clearly hear is "If I had wondered, (muffed syllable - possibly intake of breath?) then I would certainly." I don't think there's much muffled. No more than a word or two. --Sum0 19:25, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

There is a sound file titled "us_gman03.wav" which was in circulation before the release of HL2. It was NOT in any way related to the leaked versions of the game. Here is a direct quote from the person who obtained these sound files from Gabe Newell himself: "Just got these from Gabe this morning... It's the English and corresponding Russian translations of some G-Man audio." Feedbag owner and operator of HL2World) All of the sound files were later discovered to be used in obvious parts of HL2, except us_gman03.wav. The speaker's voice is clearly that of the gman's. Here is what he says: "Cleverly done, Mr. Freeman...but you're not supposed to be here. As a matter of fact, you're not. Get back where you belong, and forget about all this. Until we meet...again" All of the mentioned files can be found at this link http://www.hawaiigamer.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=919

I used GCF Scape to look through the game's files, and could not find this us_gman03.wav anywhere in the game. The discussion of this sound file seemed to have ceased since the release of HL2. I believe this could be important information possibly regarding Episode One (formerly known as Aftermath). I hope that somebody will make some kind of write up about this file in this section of the G-Man page.--Gobanzo Mon 06:00, 2 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Well, I added the "Cleverly done" quote to the main page. It may be crucial to understand the plot in future releases. Also, I added my personal opinion about the fact. I think it's at least mildly logical, but if you don't think that way, feel free to warn me, and I'll cut it out.


 * "This also may be a fourth wall easter egg. The developers are congratulating you for discovering the dialogue files outside of the game, but you're "not supposed to be there" and "in fact, you're not", because it isn't Freeman hearing it, it is the player directly.  "Get back to where you belong" could be good natured ribbing to get back into the game."


 * Have you forgotten or did not notice the reference saying that the .wav is NOT in the game's files?
 * It appeared MULTIPLE times in the HL2 Leak's files in the gman_misc folder. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.7.228.91 (talk) 17:52, 1 April 2014 (UTC)


 * Can someone put the unused voice clip again in the main page? In light of the new info about Episode Two, it might be interesting to add it.
 * wasn't that unused gman quote used in the one episode 2 trailer with gman and Alex in a dark roomChardrc

"The Illusion of Free choice"
"However, in HL2 the G-Man talks about the "Illusion of free choice", suggesting either choice in the first game would have eventually led to Gordon being 'employed'. For instance, he may have been teleported away from the Xen forces, the G-Man having made his point."

I don't believe he Freeman would have been teleported if he declined the job offer. I always thought the "illusion of free choice" meant G-Man had put Freeman to such a position that he had no choice(survival-wise) but to accept G-Man's offer. Its like that: "Youre free to deny my offer but if you do, you will die."

I guess that was meant by "The Illusion of Free choice" as Freeman, who fought through impossible odds in order to survive, wouldn't be stupid enough to choose to get killed.


 * Has any of you ever heard of a philosophical view called determinism? Because it has everything to do with free choice being an illusion. It says when people think they choose, they do not actually choose; in fact, their thought just follows an inevitable pattern that couldn't have lead them to any other option. It might be that the G-Man supports this view.


 * I think after being able to teleport and time travel and what-not the G-Man would probably have enough of an understanding of quantum physics & its probabilistic events to discount that philosophy. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.238.39.56 (talk) 08:59, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

Bullet hole texture
"It is unknown if this 'immortality' is part of the character, or was simply a way to prevent players from killing the character accidentally. The latter is more likely, as the decal (an image shown over walls and models to simulate blood, bullet holes etc.) is a brick bullet hole texture."

Uh ... what decal? --Yar Kramer 01:42, 7 October 2005 (UTC)


 * No idea. Sentence removed. Nufy8 03:01, 7 October 2005 (UTC)


 * Actually, the game seems to have been programmed to treat the G-Man as a metal object, since hitting him with the crowbar produces sparks. CABAL 20:42, 7 October 2005 (UTC)


 * And any other weapon for that matter. Nufy8 22:27, 7 October 2005 (UTC)


 * I've heard "hitting/ricocheting against glass" SFX when I've tried to attack him. --Yar Kramer 22:32, 7 October 2005 (UTC)


 * The non-breakable glass, right? Because it sounds more like a metallica "ping" to me, which I guess is used for non-breakable glass as well. Nufy8 22:35, 7 October 2005 (UTC)


 * Actually, the reason he is invincible is because the G-Man is not a model, or rather not an 'entity' as Half-Life editors would call it. Instead, they simply use a Sprite with the image of G-Man, and as such it cannot be interacted with, killed, etc. This is in fact used when something is supposed to be "off-limits" to the player, similar to the zombies/guards in chairs. In the game, G-Man is programmed to always evade the player, until the end where Gordon no longer has weapons, and so there is no reason to make him vulnerable, as this might make him die from freak accidents in the game. So, unless you are using noclip or other console commands, you wouldn't notice the difference! And that, good sirs, is why G-Man is invulnerable. Keine skillz 12:10, 30 November 2005 (UTC)


 * Right. --Yar Kramer 03:58, 8 October 2005 (UTC)


 * Not Right....The GMan is not a sprite, for the engine treats him as a "model" not a "sprite." A sprite is a 2D animated graphic in game (used as lasers, blood, explosions, smoke, fire, electricity) The GMan, on the other hand, is inevitably 3D. The difference between the GMan and other NPC's is that he has little programming for his AI.  This is reasoned for the few sightings and the ending in which he only talks.  The only plausable reason that he is invincible is so that his model cannot be killed during the game.  ))User: Terrel| Terrel}} 11:15 25 February 2005 (UTC)


 * The post above me sounds correct. Anyways, there are points in the game in which you are allowed to take a few shots at the G-man before he walks off. Namely one nearly directly after the cascade happens. He's up on a platform and is looking at you. At this point, I think you're only supposed to have the pistol and the crowbar, though I'm not 100% sure. There's also the part on the Dam, when he's on the platform and goes into the teleport...I may be thinking of the wrong version of the game, though...I'm not sure about the rest of the game, but I think he's behind walls. --BrokenTripod, Unregistered User.


 * Yes, there are indeed a few places you can get a shot at him. First is around where you meet the houndeyes. He looks at you from the upper platform. When you climb up there, he's gone (there is a professor sitting in a corner and a room with hand grenades on that platform, to give a more exact explanation about whereabouts). Also in the dam stage.. In Half-life and/or opposing force.


 * If "he has little programming for his AI," he obviously must be...... A ROBOT!!! :O

I'm not sure if he is an "entity" or "sprite" or how it works.. But that time when you see him talking to a prof before the incident, while you are supposed to get your HEV suit, I used noclip mode and impulse 101. I succesfully placed lots of trip mines on him, dropped several satchel charges then exploded them. What I got was just sparks. Then I released some snarks. They completely ignored him. So, you actually can take a shot (actually as many shot as you can till he moves away) at him at some points. I do not know though, if programmers took that into consideration, or they just thought players wouldn't attack him.--Maelstorm 02 July 2006


 * The GMan has no AI, he's just a 3D model without any stats directly controlled by the game script. He is neither invincible nor ...not-invincible... because as far as the program is concerned there is no character there, just a part of the level that happens to move, like a train or door.Leushenko 11:05, 5 August 2007 (UTC)

Invasion of Xen
At the end of HL, we get taken to Xen, where the G-Man stands surrounded by dead soldiers and explains that Xen is now in his employers' control. Is he referring to the human race or the Combine? Its just struck me that he is surrounded by dead HECU soldiers and wrecked equipment, which ties in with the info on Xen and the Combine that was recently released by Valve, stating that the Combine conquered Xen prior to invading Earth. I'm assuming that the HECU forces were dispatched to Xen to conquer it, but were defeated by the recently-arrived Combine armies? Would this support the theory that he works for the Combine? I'm not sure whether or not to work this into the article or not Rusty2005 19:09, 30 October 2005 (UTC)
 * hmm it is somthing i have been thinking about also.. but why would gman be combine if he sends you to cause havik in city 17? also were can you see this recently released info from valve? --Chardrc 00:59, 31 October 2005 (UTC)


 * Someone put this new Valve info on the Combine page, claiming that a Valve producer had said something along the lines of how the Nihilanths race was at war with the Combine, and were forced to escape the Combine by fleeing to Xen, with the Nihilanth keeping the portal shut so the Combine could not invade. When a portal from Xen to Earth was accidentally opened by the Black Mesa team, Freeman was sent through to kill the Nihilanth and close the Xen-Earth bridge. However, this info claims, the Nihilanth's death allowed the Combine to invade Xen, with Earth only a short step away. I think there's a distinct possibility that the GMan works for the Combine - maybe as a double agent trying to bring it down from within, like Dr. Mossman. Which is why, at the end of HL, he talks about Xen in his employers' control while he is surrounded by a defeated human army on Xen (assuming they were sent to conquer Xen but were in turn defeated by the newly-arrived Combine). He may well arrange the City 17 incident because he's a double agent. Maybe he thinks Earth is a waste of the Combine's time. We'll never really know, I was just wondering what other people thought Rusty2005 08:18, 31 October 2005 (UTC)


 * Methinks Valve is being mighty devious about this whole business. Who can tell what the real story is? Anyway ... I'm probably just being picky, but the idea that he's working for the combine seems a bit close to fan speculation. --Yar Kramer 17:11, 31 October 2005 (UTC)


 * More generally, the recent Valve statements (see the Xen article) that Nihilanth, etc. fled to Xen to escape the Combine doesn't entirely square with what's said in HL by the Nihilanth and in HL2 by the vortigaunts (which surely counts as canon). My guess is that they've not decided where the story's going yet (HL3 and/or Aftermath might force the issue), so either give inconsistent answers when questioned by journalists, or are deliberately muddying the waters.  Certainly, the stuff in the Xen article about fleeing to Xen doesn't make much sense to me.  The "original" interpretation (for all its own plot holes) seems most consistent for now.  --Plumbago 17:29, 31 October 2005 (UTC)


 * Yeah, I would agree with that! The original plotline (Xen being part of the Combine Empire) makes a lot more sense, but there's a little hole in that plot revealed by Dr Mossman, when she says that unlike Earth and Xen which have entanglement teleporters, the Combine has string teleporters. If the Combine had been in control of Xen in the first place, wouldn't they have access to both types of teleport? Just a thought.... Rusty2005 19:37, 31 October 2005 (UTC)


 * The Xen Race was conquered even before the Resonance Cascade Scenario, possibly even before Black Mesa. The Combine was able to contact the administrator of Black Mesa before the accident.  The Combine learned of earth after we found the xen world, and Breen made a bargain with the Combine allowing them to take over the world in turn for power.  He arranged for the incident.  Now apart from many theories ariving around why Freeman was to be the guiny pig for the "experiment," he inevitably helped the Combine eventually gain control of earth.  Twice Freeman helped them by launching the satelite into space which they used to help control portal storms while invading earth.  The GMan tried to stop the Incident but failed.  Freeman made his first blow against the unknown existance of the Combine by destroying the Nihilant, and the Combines control over the Xen race.  Terrel  11:24, 25 February 2005 {UTC}


 * The Combine controlling Xen is pure theory and should not be taken as fact. Also, the soldiers are not an indication of a human assault on Xen. The dead HECU soldiers could have arisen a number of ways.
 * 1: Xen invasion
 * 2: resonance cascade/portal storms
 * 3: it is actually on Earth and the sky is because of the portal storms

Why would the Combine need to make a deal with Dr. Breen? Surely they could take over the whole planet with very little effort and wouldnt need to make a deal with any of Earth's inhabitants?


 * No doubt they didn't need to. It was apparent the Combine could have achieved their goals of plundering Earth whether the nations's governments surrendered or not. It was our idea to surrender, and since the Combine wasn't intent on simply wiping out humanity...well, a willing slave is better than an unwilling one--whatever trifling "liberties" the Combine agreed to allow nonwithstanding. As G-Man said, the Combine provided "the illusion of choice".


 * From what I understand, the combine's weapons in regards to a new world, while devestating may not be suited for an extended occupation. So they hit a world as hard and as fast as they can (7 hours war) then they quickly set about harvesting manpower and weapons so that they can create an army that is idealy suited for control of a particular world, at the same time they look over they're inventory of weapons and find other, already existing, weapons (e.i. striders and gunships) that would work well in the new enviroment. With this in mind, they need to keep the populus as blind as possible to the fact that they are ruled by something not of this world, which is why they install puppet leaders (breen), besides that since he is a puppet breen is, at least in theory replacable. puting a grub-like combine advisor in charge and in the pupblic eye would have sparked the rebelion much sooner, at least in my opinion. -manwithbrisk


 * I've got an insanely odd theory that I just thought of as I read this...I do hope some people notice and respond to it...Anyways, let's say that the G-man is, in fact, working for the Combine. Perhaps he's doing it in an odd, undercover way...Right, well, let's say the G-man gets Gordon to come and kill Nihilanth because he wants the Combine to know where Earth is, so they can take it over. The Combine go and nearly take over, but Breen appears and surrenders Earth. The G-man doesn't like this, so he gets Gordon to do the dirty work, yet again. This time, his mission is to kill Breen and cause a rebellion in the Human race. This would anger the Combine, who would then eliminate all of humanity. All this adds up to a fun little line: "The G-man is using Gordon Freeman to destroy humanity." Any thoughts/ideas/comments on this? It's not very well thought up, sadly, but I just though of it, and it's like past midnight, and I should be asleep... --BrokenTripod, Unregistered User.


 * Some of the Dr. Breen's monologues indicate that the Combine are not entirely happy with his work, and his comments at the end of HL2 may indicate the the G-Man intends to use Gordon as a figurehead to quell the rebels. However Breen's discussion with the advisor involving a 'host body' could be said to show that the Combine are happy with Breen for the time being. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.238.39.56 (talk) 09:14, 21 November 2007 (UTC)


 * About the HECU (as well as the pesents of a few dead scientists) on xen, perhaps the portal storms work both ways? Maybe some of the HECU were teleported to xen at random and killed by xenian forces, much like how xenians teleported to earth were killed by the Security Team and the US Military. The only difference is that the Nihilanth exploited these portals and invaded Earth, something the US Military wasn't able to do to xen. 68.39.248.115 (talk) 01:27, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

Inside his briefcase?
Is there really anything inside the G-mans briefcase? I used the Source Model viewer to look inside it, and I saw nothing! Am I missing something here?


 * I believe there's only contents inside his briefcase in the original Half-Life. Nufy8 00:32, 6 November 2005 (UTC)


 * Yup, there's nothing in it in HL2, the inside isn't textured.Jetro 21:35, 2 December 2005 (UTC)

Can anyone make a screenshot of this easter egg? just for prove and for those who don't know how to use the model viewer?


 * You don't use the model viewer,you use the noclip cheat.(86.104.186.206 10:22, 20 August 2006 (UTC))


 * I only did this once a while ago, so my memory may not be great. But I think he had a Pistol, Ammunition, a Laptop, and an ID card. 68.39.248.115 (talk) 01:26, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

Worked in Black Mesa?
Was playing a 'bit' more hl2 the other day, and was looking around the first lab, and found this:

It's clearly taken at the entrance to the old Black Mesa, and is it just me, or does the guy all the way to the right look like G-man? Bjelleklang 18:36, 12 December 2005 (UTC)


 * I believe that's the "Slim" scientist model from Half-Life.


 * Yeah, I think is was already commented on in the article somewhere. ... But now I'm wondering who's the guy who got crossed out. (Possibly Dr. Breen, I'd imagine ...) --Yar Kramer 20:03, 12 December 2005 (UTC)


 * The guy who was crossed out was none other than Dr. Breen, the reviled "administrator" of Black Mesa, who sacrificed his humanity in favor of a comfy office in the Citadel. As far as that photo containing G-Man, I tend to disagree. G-Man is shown various times within the Black Mesa facility, sometimes even talking to other scientists, but never wearing the labcoat every other scientist is wearing. ---Jackel 00:57, 13 December 2005 (UTC)

The guy who looks like the G-Man is one of the scientist models from the original HL. He does look a lot like the G-Man, but when you put them together side by side, you can clearly see the difference. Does anyone have pictures of both?


 * I dont have the original hl copy installed right now. But when I purchased HL2, I played HL1 first and that picture didnt remind me of a scientist model from HL1, but the G-man. His stance, his eyes. Of course, I'm not sure. The crossed out person is surely Dr. Breen, since Eli and Kleiner don't have good feelings for him.. By the way, G-man being in coats doesn't necessarily mean he was a physicist. He could be there for some kind of control and given coats (which do happen sometimes). He could even be from another department (like bio-techolongies or space-time research) and this could be a photo from the very days of Black Mesa's foundation.


 * G-Man does not work for Black Mesa, nor did he ever. However, it is apparent that his "employers" had some sort of deal with them. Something that might suggest that he did indeed work there is that during his monolouge during Episode 2 he appears at a desk with a large TV with the Black Mesa logo on it.

Source code
I just spotted this line at the end of the conjector section:

Also, in the comment section of the "npc_gman.cpp" file of Half-Life 2's source code, Valve writes the following: "// Purpose: The G-Man, misunderstood servant of the people."

Is this officially released code or from the illegal source code leak pre-launch? - Doug1984 @ 21/2/2006
 * Official code. Nufy8 02:39, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

Do they actually write it with a dash in-between "G" and "MAN", or is it just "GMan", like in the credits?

It's exactly like this: "// Purpose: The G-Man, misunderstood servant of the people", I confirmed it. 155.207.254.21 09:36, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

GMan not Acknowledged?
"He is never identified, referred to, or even acknowledged to exist by other characters in any of the games to the player, despite interacting with other characters in the games."

At the beginning of HL1, before the resonance cascade, GMan can be seen arguing with a scientist, Not sure if you forgot this, or if you just meant something else by 'acknowledged'.
 * Acknowledged by a character to the player. He does acknowledge other characters in the game, like that scientist, just without inclusion of the player. Nufy8 04:07, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

Also, near the beginning of HL2, when you're beginning the canal trip, the first rebel station you come across with living people, you see a Vortigant fixing a TV with an image of G-Man clearly filling the entire screen. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.207.89.21 (talk) 03:32, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

G-Man is acknowledged by Eli Vance in Episode 2, and refers to him as, "Our mutual friend." —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.248.135.16 (talk) 02:50, 15 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Am I the only one who thinks that he might have been arguing with Eli in that room? I mean, it was a black man.  There's no way to know for sure though, just some speculation on my part after I just got done playing Episode 2. AnotherSchmoe (talk) 00:22, 14 March 2009 (UTC)

Stride
Why did we get rid of the description of the G-Man's awkward way of walking? In the original at least, he seems to stalk around in a very awkward and inhuman way. No-one else picked up on that? Rusty2005 03:31, 17 March 2006 (UTC)


 * Hmmm, he does walk differently in Half-Life 2 too. One scene that I can't seem to forget is in Water Hazard, right in the beggining - the G-Man is seen walking inside a storehouse calmly, and when you reach it, it's full of headcrab zombies (as a side note, I'd love to have seen one of the zombies in a blue suit and with a briefcase in its left claw). Yeah, we should refer that.

In case you haven't noticed, ALL of the NPCs in the original Half-Life stalked around in a very awkward and inhuman way. That's just the way the game worked. And I always thought that the G-Man walked perfectly normal in HL2.


 * Well, he walks like a robot (not a good comparision to mention, but it's true). While other NPCs, like Kleiner or Alyx, move their arms and react accordingly to the situations, the G-Man just moves his legs when walking, never seemingly stressed or reactive. That's what I was refering two (I'm the guy who commented about his HL2 way of walk)

That's not true about the NPCs in HL1. The scientists and security guards either run or walk normally, while the soldiers run around like headless chickens. The G-Man, though, does seem to stalk in a very peculiar way Rusty2005 17:01, 17 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Odd. You think that the G-man's walk is odd because he only moves his legs? I'm the G-man then. Hah, I walk the same way, for no particular reason. I'll go check on that later, I never noticed...Though I must note that most people don't swing their arms very visably when they have a briefcase in one hand. --BrokenTripod, Unregistered User.

"Status Report"
I think we should mention that the "status reports" also appear throughout the games, when a character dies. It appears in HL and its expansions, AND also in Half-Life 2. In Highway 17, I accidentaly drove myself into the sea (it was the turbo!) and I was surprised to see a "Status Report" image. If you wish, try that yourselves. I think it also works when you throw yourself from a cliff in the buggy (I think it happened to me once too; the turbo caused it, heh).

Yes, in Half-Life, a "status report" will appear saying that "subject: Freeman/Shephard" failed evaluation by, "failing to effectively utilize personnel to achieve goals" if you kill someone that you cannot proceed without, such as someone to open a locked door for you, or the scientist that powers the teleporter to Xen. Likewise, in Half-Life 2, while it is impossible to kill friendly NPCs yourself, if you allow characters like Alyx or Barney (who are both necessary to continue the plot) to be killed by the Combine, a similar status report will display, without the "evaluation" part, because of course Gordon passed evaluation in the first game. And if you manage to lose the dune buggy, something will come up saying you failed because of "failure to preserve mission-critical resouces", i.e. you can't continue the level without the dune buggy.


 * "The G-Man also makes a cryptic reference to a report which he has been compiling for his employers, and that a "great many" circumstances in Black Mesa required his attention before he could complete his evaluation."


 * It must be connected to the "Status Report" we see througout the game. The G-Man's employers possibly wanted the G-Man to supervise either Gordon Freeman personally (which I doubt, since Shepherd has the same kind of "Status Reports") or the Black Mesa incident. Should we refer this (theoretical) connection of the "Status Reports" and the report he was making?

Perhaps the whole Black Mesa Incident is comparable to a lab maze, with "Subject: Freeman" and "Subject: Shephard" being fancy ways of saying, "Lab-rat 1" and "Lab-rat 2". Not that I actually think they're rats. This is only an analogy =). But yes, I think this should definitely be added to the article.

There Also is a status report if you fail to stop breen from going through the teleporter. Something like "Subject: freeman" "status : Terminated due to failiure to complete time-critical objectives" or something.

I know the G-Man ignores Barney, but does Barney get any status reports if he does something like killing someone neccesary to move on?

ya barny does get those status reports also.... i thought it was just a balck mesa thing saying why you were fired.. but that doesnt work with half life 2(explaine why it is in hl2 is what i mean). Chardrc 01:01, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

I managed to kill one of the NPCs with the buggy, it was the guy who opens the gate at NLO( i hit him with turbo) and got the same status report as if you let barney or alyx get killed

You can get a status report if you want to follow Gordon Freeman when you see him going through a portal in Opposing Force.Also,you get a status report at the end of the game(not hl2 and ep. 1,just hl1,opfor,and blue shift)

Official Storyline
Hope it is ok with everyone - I added an external link to the Episode One website that does a synopsis of the HL series so far. Didn't want to infringe on copywrite so I didn't add the text to the Wiki. It explains G-Man's interactions with the plot in interesting language and I thought it was useful after reading the entire article here. Verbiage such as calling him an "official" with "sinister", "malevolent" and "murky" intentions fleshes G-Man out more IMO. The link might be in a bad spot - move it if you think it is. Shmooove 06:57, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

Change of Title
Hey, instead of calling this article "G-Man (Half-Life)", who's up for changing it to "The G-Man", thus more accurately reflecting what people call him as well as removing the need for adding "Half-Life" in parenthesis?
 * That wouldn't fit Wikipedia naming conventions. Nufy8 18:12, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

Possibly important information?
In a recent interview with IGN PC, Valve employee Erik Johnson plainly detailed some of the G-man's intentions. It went as folows:

"IGNPC: In the last little audio clip in the recently released trailer the G-Man seems a little… upset. What's going on with him? Is he losing his grip on Gordon? Erik Johnson: The G-Man used the events of Black Mesa to transform Gordon into a powerful tool, and he used that tool to overthrow Dr Breen. In Episode One, the G-Man loses control of Gordon due to the rise of a third power. Clearly, he's not very happy about this."

Is this information incriminating enough to start removing some of the theories in "Conjectural background" regarding the things mention above? JimmyBlackwing 06:32, 28 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Well, HL2 : Episode 1 is out in less than two months. It might be worth waiting till its secrets are revealed.  Might save a(nother) tedious rewrite in late June.  Cheers, --Plumbago 07:29, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

Sound files
Can someone upload/link to gman sounds, like the unreleased one mentioned ? Jackpot Den 00:10, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

could sheperd and gman be the same person?
it just dawned on me that this may be the case, the gman does mention that shepard reminds him of himself its a long shot i know but it is possible


 * Or you could just read it absolutely, straight-down-the-line literally, i.e. that Shephard reminds the G-Man of himself. It's just a theory ...  --Plumbago 17:14, 4 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Lots of people have made similar predictions...Most of which believe that Gordon is the G-man. I personally believe (If I had to choose one) that Barney = G-man is the closest. The G-man fears creating a temporal time paradox, causing him to loose his powers, and thus stays as far away from himself as he can. I personally don't believe that the G-man is any character from the game, though I may be wrong. --BrokenTripod, Unregistered User.

no i personally beilve no because of the fact he only said he remeinds him of a younger self he never actualluy gives any sign of it being him apart from him reminding him of his younger self so this doesn't mean naything with time travel in the game yet apart from the spoiler ending spoiler end that doest mean anything because it never happened and besides remember if you go back in time touch yourself yo cause a time pardoux which means the gman wouldt be there or anything to do with black messa or anything elading to that infact there might not be black messa incident. so the chances of that are very slim but possible in a way.

Sound file

 * Also, before the release of Half-Life 2, certain .wav files circulated around the Internet with quotes of the G-Man from Half-Life 2 and their Russian dub. However, one of those .wav files, "us_gman03.wav," is never heard during the game and cannot be found in the game's files.

I searched the leaked Half-Life 2 "Beta" files and found this file. Though it is not called "us_gman03.wav" but "gman_12.wav". It resides in "\hl2\sound\vo\gman_misc\" (assuming you have the "beta"). I have yet to verify its presence in the official Steam release.

I have uploaded this file at http://media.putfile.com/gman_12/.

P.S. The file does not exist in the official (Steam) Half-Life 2 distribution.

P.P.S. I'm new to Wikipedia so please, don't flame me too hard if I did something wrong. ;)


 * It sounds very choppy and faked, I think it should be removed.

What are you talking about? G man is always choppy, and its not fake. Also, please sign with four ~ symbols in the future, this paragraph looks messy Jackpot Den 15:14, 17 June 2006 (UTC)


 * "us_gman03.wav" was intended to be use in Half-Life 2 in the Hazard Course tutorial that was cut from the game. Apparently a new Hazard Course had been created by the resistance somewhere and Gordon was supposed to go through it monitored by Dr. Kleiner. A map for the cut Hazard Course can be played in the leaked HL2 beta (Although this might not be the same version of the Hazard Course that this G-Man line was supposed to be used in, but we can't really be sure). Anyway, pertaining to "us_gman03.wav", it seems that Gordon could discover an easter egg in the Hazard Course by finding the G-Man in a supposedly inaccessable area, who would promptly inform Gordon that he's "not supposed to be here." (In the leaked beta, this wave file is actually titled "haz_gm0*.wav", split into four parts. "Haz" referring to Hazard Course and "gm" referring to G-Man.) As such, the theory listed right now in the article about "virtual-reality" or whatever is totally wrong. The line has no meaning at all to the plot. It was just meant to be used in a secret area that was cut from the game. I have removed the part of the article pertaining to this since it's really misleading. MarphyBlack 18:45, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Goverment property weapons
"Interestingly, the G-Man reminds Freeman that most of his weapons are government property (although government of what remains unsaid)"

I don't get that last bit. I thought it was pretty obvious that they're the US govt property, seeing as Black mesa is in the US and the HECU are US forces. Nitpicking a bit, but I don't see the need for the last bit. Mysticflame 02:25, 4 June 2006 (UTC)
 * I agree, and removed that bit of pointless mention, along with a couple other tweaks in that section.---Jackel 15:00, 4 June 2006 (UTC)


 * Actually, I see the point - why would he mention that if he didn't work for the government? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 212.25.59.14 (talk) 10:09, 9 May 2007 (UTC).


 * He was giving a reason for taking away Gordon's weapons. Funny though, seeing how most of the time the "G" is said to stand for "Government" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.248.135.16 (talk) 02:55, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

The Osprey in Opposing Force is destroyed?
Say wha?! Am I missing something obvious here? The osprey that Shephard misses takes off successfully and leaves with no interruptions. That's how I always remembered the scene, but just to make sure I went to map of1a6 and stood by that hanger door for a while, just trying to make that osprey explode. However, it didn't, and I certainly looked for around the room to hit some sort of trigger to make it explode somehow. I removed the two mentions claiming the osprey is destroyed by Xen aliens after take off, but I'd like to know, where could this idea have possibly come from? MarphyBlack 23:18, 20 June 2006 (UTC)


 * An Osprey in the beginning of OF is destroyed by a Manta creature. Perhaps that's what you're getting mixed up on? TCL 19:58, 18 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Nope, that's a different osprey. The osprey I'm referring to is the one that Adrian misses after G-Man closes the hangar door, thus preventing his escape. A few times now someone added the claim that this osprey was destroyed somehow shortly after taking off, thus implicating that the G-Man may have saved Adrian's life. However, no such event occurs in any of the versions of Opposing Force that I've played. The osprey merely takes off without incident. MarphyBlack 04:55, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Supposedly the theory of this happening is brought up by a radio that shepard passes while continuing through the black mesa facility. when you click on it, you'll hear something about a military group/firng team/helicopter taking fire. Chances are the Black ops shot down the osprey before it could escape, thus leaving the secrets to the better of the fighters, the black ops.

The Briefcase (or Lack-Thereof)
I hope nobody minds, but I decided to take out the bit about the G-Man not having his briefcase with him in HL2: Ep1. There was just no way to fit it in without interrupting the flow of the article. But the picture of the Vortigaunts holding him back still mentions it, so it hasn't been completely erased from the page.


 * He also lacks it in Episode 2 during the first time he shows up, but afterwards he can be seen walking around and vanishing as he used to do with the briefcase yet again. It's interesting, the briefcase could symbolize his control over Gordon...

Image
We've got an image with the G-Man as he appeared in Half-Life 1 and Half-Life 2, but it lacks an image from him from Half-Life 1 with the High Definition pack. Could someone somehow modify the already existing image to add a full-body image of him with the HD pack?
 * There are actually two versions of the high definition model for the G-Man. He looks different in Half-Life and Opposing Force for some reason. However, I don't think it's necessary to include pictures of the high definition models because, if we did that, we should also be including pictures of the improved HL PlayStation 2-version models too for fairness. That would mean five pictures of the G-Man: the original model, the hd model in HL1, the hd model in OpFor, the PS2-version model, and Half-Life 2. Somewhat overkill, in my opinion. :P MarphyBlack 21:42, 1 July 2006 (UTC)
 * For the curious, I put together a big collage picture of all the G-Man's. MarphyBlack 00:44, 2 July 2006 (UTC)
 * Why the heck does his head look like it was based off the moai. CABAL 03:49, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

That actually looks pretty cool. While it probably shouldn't be put in place of the current full-body shot of the G-Man, it would be cool to put it in the article somewhere.
 * Well, I could create a much more appropriate picture for the article if necessary, using in-game screenshots of all the G-Man's rather than model viewer pictures. Still, I believe this is more of an oddity rather than something that needs to be included here. MarphyBlack 19:27, 2 July 2006 (UTC)

Yes, you're right. There doesn't seem to be a place for it anywhere in the article. Rather unfortunate, since as far as oddities go, this is a very interesting one.

Is it just me, or the one from the PS2 version is taller and larger than the other ones? Anyways, all of them are quite hideous. 86.121.44.71 (talk) 08:32, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Anyone else notice how his tie changes. Those models were from games that took place within the same time frame. does this mean that the G-man carries multiple ties with him in his briefcase?75.121.36.237 (talk) 19:11, 28 March 2008 (UTC)Arbiter099

Hey, I just thought of something...what if the G-Man is not one guy, but a whole BUNCH of G-Men. There's an announcement system message in Half-Life for an "Agent Sixteen" somewhere in the pak file under audio. It wouldn't explain how he's able to vanish in dead ends, but it would help to explain why so many different characters see him in so many different places just before the incident. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Chris Mathers 3501 (talk • contribs) 05:47, 4 July 2008 (UTC)

Conjectural background
At the risk of undoing many hours of fantasising, perhaps we could trim this section to :


 * "Fans of the game have come up with a number of theories to explain the G-Man's origin. These include the G-Man being God or Satan, or even Gordon Freeman himself traveling through time. However, the sheer mystery surrounding the G-Man throughout the Half-Life series makes it impossible to determine who or what the G-Man is for certain, and it is unlikely Valve will reveal his nature any time soon."

That would at least remove some rather rampant original research from this article. Eventually Valve will reveal enough to sort the wheat from the chaff, but there's altogether far too much chaff in there at the moment, and Episode 3 (let alone Half-Life 3) is still a long, long way off. Cheers, --Plumbago 16:38, 4 July 2006 (UTC)
 * I would agree that something should be done to the section. I wouldn't really even mind if it was entirely disemboweled, as it's filled with utter nonsense. The idea of the G-Man possibly being a time traveling Barney Calhoun is beyond words, and the "interstellar alliance" garbage is from the total farce that is the so-called "Half-Life Saga Story Guide". Simply being from that guide should be enough to dismiss that theory entirely (Which fails to even spell "G-Man" properly). Anyway, I think your concise summary works well. However, I believe we should keep the short bit taken from the Source SDK that the G-Man is the "misunderstood servant of the people" since this is actually something from Valve. MarphyBlack 01:47, 5 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Oh, I wasn't complaining about the extra information section. That, at least, ties its speculation to sound files or hidden content from the game (on the whole; though a slight trim might be in order).  My beef is with the increasingly bizarre (God/Satan; future Freeman; future Barney; immortal) speculations in the main section on conjecture.  Filleting that down to what I cut-and-pasted above (basically the first and last paragraphs of the existing screed) sums it up nicely I think.  It'd be a shame to completely hack out the accreted conjecture, but there are plenty of other places on the web for this sort of stuff (and they could be "External link"-ed to).


 * I should add, however, that the Half-Life Saga Story is, to my mind, the explanation that best links together the various tidbits of information from the games and from Valve. It's certainly very speculative (so far, so similar to here) but also far more parsimonious and self-consistent than other explanations.  Anyway, either way it doesn't belong here either (it has got its own website after all), but I do think that it at least has some merit.


 * Anyway, will I get killed if I hack out the "offending" text? I'll wait for some more comments.  Cheers, --Plumbago 08:19, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

You have my wholehearted blessing to flush the whole thing down the toilet if you should so desire. There really is way to many theories that are completely unnecessary for an article such as this. I also think that the Half-Life Saga Story Guide has way too much crap surrounding too few kernels of truth. For instance, how can we possibly know if the Combine had contacted Breen even before Half-Life? Or what the relationship between Nihilanth and the Combine was? And how can we know for sure whether the G-Man was for or against the Black Mesa Incident? And that bit about the G-Man, "putting Gordon in a slow time-warp": what the **** is that supposed to mean?!


 * Accually, if you read through that entire site, it clearly states that the Half-Life Saga Story Guide is Italic textextremelyItalic text close to the real story, so you could say that it is probably the closest thing there is until Valve finally reveals the G-Man's role.


 * Much of the Half-Life Story Saga Guide contradicts simple and proven facts. It even conflicts with statements given by Marc Laidlaw, who I would consider the definitive source of info since he wrote the story. The guide's theories on the G-Man are nothing more than baseless speculation, and in many cases, downright wrong. MarphyBlack 18:02, 30 July 2006 (UTC)


 * Thanks! Regarding this section, does no-one want to defend it?  If not, I'll trim it over the weekend.  Cheers, --Plumbago 13:19, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
 * While an interesting read, it's clear that this section constitutes entirely original research. Without any verifiable sources, it does not belong in the article. ---Jackel 14:10, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

'Tis gone. But for reference ...


 * Proponents of this last theory point out that "G-Man" could come from Gordon Freeman, and that both characters have almost unnaturally bright green eyes. Notably, the G-Man has a very distinctive style of speech, while Gordon Freeman hasn't spoken yet in the series. Opponents of this hypothesis ask that if the G-Man is Gordon from the future, then why would Gordon need to help himself if he ended up surviving without any help the original time? This, of course, assumes that he did initially reach his position without his own anachronistic assistance; otherwise, the G-Man's story may be like that of the main character in Robert A. Heinlein's short story By His Bootstraps.


 * Another argument against this theory is that in the end of Half-Life, the G-Man seemingly sends Gordon Freeman to his death if he does not work for him. On the same note, it has been conjectured that the G-Man might be a future version of Barney Calhoun who has travelled back in time. This comes mainly from the fact that Barney and the G-Man share the same voice actor in HL2, but the characters do share facial similarities as well, and it would explain why the G-Man is almost a non-factor in Blue Shift. However, Half-Life, Blue Shift, and Opposing Force are all happening at roughly the same time and there is only one G-Man. Seeing that Barney wasn't really linked to the experiment in any way, the G-Man might have seen him as just another Black Mesa employee. It has also been pointed out that the G-Man has a widow's peak, which is a life-long trait. Freeman does not.


 * There has also been some discussion that the G-Man may be an agent of a yet-unknown interstellar alliance, whose purpose may be to overthrow the Combine Empire. Given that the G-Man may have at his disposal technology which far surpasses that of Earth's, this is quite possible. Also, at the end of Opposing Force he refers to "the irresistible human temptation of telling all"; this may be a clue to this theory, as he describes it in a way as if he wasn't human too. Adding to this theory is the fact that, on the Half-Life 2: Episode One website, he is called "a sinister interdimensional bureaucrat." An alternate theory is that the G-Man is a double agent for the Combine: he arranges the Black Mesa incident to allow the Combine to conquer Earth, in order to allow Freeman to deal a humiliating blow to their Empire.


 * His comment from Half-Life 2: Episode One could reveal that he is in fact loyal to the Combine, having arranged the Black Mesa incident to allow the Combine to invade and conquer Xen and Earth, and is displeased that Gordon has crippled the Combine presence on Earth. However, the most plausible possibility is that his comment refers to the fact that he supposedly lost control of Gordon Freeman. Also, the theory above mentioned, on the other hand, is contradicted by the obvious question of why he would allow Freeman and the human resistance to overthrow the Combine presence in City 17, were it not to serve his interests; not to mention the fact that he sounded very approving of Gordon's actions at the end of HL2. His various references to his "employers" offer even more theories - that he works as a freelancer or agent who simply hires his talent or Gordon's out to the highest bidder, a theory supported by certain interpretations of Doctor Breen's comments towards the end of HL2. Under that same theory, it is possible that Gordon had been hired by the Vortigaunts to aid in the rebellion in Half-Life 2, only to have him hired away by the Combine at the end of the game. This might explain why the Vortiguants felt it necessary to steal Gordon from the G-man's interdimensional tupperware when they did; if Gordon could be freed from the G-man's control, he wouldn't be forced to aid the Combine. However, at the beginning of Half-Life 2, the G-man tells Gordon to "Wake up and smell the ashes" suggesting that the Combine regime is a negative result of the Black Mesa incident.


 * The curious prologues and epilogues, especially with the "status reports" that appear in the first games' respective ends have lead some to speculate that virtual reality could be involved. That is, the Black Mesa incident might have been an elaborate VR construct, modelled to evaluate the contained people. Perhaps to unleash Gordon Freeman's full potential, which his education would not do. One could connect this theory to the game nature of the first Half-Life; a non-real virtual reality would offer the subject as many tries as is required to get him trained in combat and to successfully complete the simulation. However, this would seem to be contradicted by HL2, as similar "status reports" appear if, for example, the player fails to protect a major character from being killed (such as Barney Calhoun or Alyx) or if other "mission-critical resources" such as the scout car are destroyed.


 * One last possible theory is that he is in fact simply an employee of an Earth government, or possibly in the employment of the company behind the Black Mesa Facility. One puzzling fact is that in the original Half-Life and its expansions, his briefcase bears the logo of the Black Mesa Research Facility. It is likely either that the G-Man's character evolved as new games were released, or that Valve added clashing characteristics so that all possible theories could be attacked or supported using evidence from the games. Supporting the theory that he works for the U.S. government, he confiscates Gordon Freeman's weapons at the end of Half-Life, stating that they are government property. In Half-Life 2, he no longer refers to his employers; presumably, with the Combine having near-total control of Earth, if the U.S. government were his employers they wouldn't exist any more, hence the lack of a mention.


 * In all instances, the G-Man is regarded as fairly supernatural or even godlike in nature. Many views hold him as a neutral force who does not care about the fate of the human race as long as his interests, or his "organization" do not suffer. Why such a powerful figure would place so much interest (not time, since he seems to be able to control it) in the fate of a few humans is unknown. It remains unclear whether or not the G-Man is himself a human being, and so his views on or loyalties during the Combine invasion of Earth remain unknown.


 * Contrary to what some may think, the G-Man is not in a picture of the Black Mesa scientists in Dr. Kleiner's lab. The scientist who appears is merely the "Slick" scientist model from the original Half-Life, who appears similar to the G-Man. However, some believe that the G-Man and the "Slick" scientist model are one and the same although the fact is that at points you can see the "Slick" model at the same time as the G-Man and, more to the point, "Slick" can be killed.

Cheers, --Plumbago 14:45, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

Just wanted to add here that besides the fact the so-called "Half-Life Saga Story Guide" is self-contradictory and many things stated there are in contradiction to what happens in the game and what VALVe employees have stated during the past, there was a STEAM news stating that the site has an "interesting interpretation of the story". 155.207.254.32 15:30, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

Quotes
Add a list of everything said by the Gman. Of course, this requires some work. I feel sad about requestiong this and not being able to do it myself, but whatever. A total list with Gmans quotes would be good to study him, rather than having to read the therories. Please. Add them :) . Cybesystem 11:29, 5 July 2006 (UTC)


 * You might find a list over at Wikiquote already. There's certainly an article on Half-Life there with quite a number of quotes on it.  We could probably do with a link from here to there.  Cheers, --Plumbago 11:48, 5 July 2006 (UTC)


 * His Half-Life 1 quotes are here and his Half-Life 2 quotes are here. Both articles could use a lot of cleanup now that I've looked at them, though. MarphyBlack 11:50, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Who is G-Man
Does G-Man stand for Gordon Freeman? Best Gamer 1 August 2006


 * This is generally accepted as being unlikely. As for "Who is the G-Man and wat are his motives?", only time will tell. --Colossus 86 08:59, 2 August 2006 (UTC)

Is G-Man either an antagonist or an alien in disguise? Best Gamer 10 August 2006


 * Look at the section I deleted from the main article just above here. This contains some of the speculation (hence why deleted) about who the G-Man is.  --Plumbago 17:26, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

"Conjecture" section moved here
While interesting, the very fact that this info is conjecture makes it unsuitable for inclusion in this article. I've moved it here for posterity and further discussion. ---Jackel 02:15, 4 August 2006 (UTC)
 * I think that the section listing the contents of his briefcase in HL1 should be kept as this part isn't conjecture; it's actually a texture included in the game. Someone added some speculation that the 'real' content of the briefcase was possibly teleportation equipment, but that part doesn't have to be reinstated. MarphyBlack 03:16, 4 August 2006 (UTC)
 * Agreed, I didn't notice that section contained verifable info. I added back to the overview section, minus the speculative bits.---Jackel 12:24, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

Conjectural background
Fans of the game have come up with a number of theories to explain the G-Man's origin. These include the G-Man being God, a supernatural being working for an interstellar alliance (assuming a human form), or even Gordon Freeman himself traveling through time. However, the sheer mystery surrounding the G-Man throughout the Half-Life series makes it impossible to determine who or what the G-Man is for certain, and it is unlikely Valve will reveal his nature in the near future.

Dialogue
Certain G-Man speech files of interest can be extracted from the data packs of HL1. These selected sound files can be heard when the G-Man is speaking to a scientist in an inaccessible room at Sector C, though they are muffled and barely audible. (See above appearance list.) Note that these transcriptions are merely guesses after repeated listens, since the sound files are deliberately muffled.


 * We should not let the system commence.
 * The G-Man may have known that something bad would happen if the experiment proceeded, and was trying to convince the scientist not to follow through with the experiment.


 * I want to give you an offer you won't regret.
 * This implies that the G-Man may have offered the scientist something (similar in fashion to his offer to Gordon Freeman at the end of the game), but the exact meaning of any offer is mysterious. That same scientist later dies in that very same room after the accident.


 * If I had wondered why I'd chosen him, I would certainly...
 * The end of this sentence fades into inaudibility. Some speculate that the G-Man is Gordon's "Administrative Sponsor" (since the Administrative Sponsor is listed as "Classified"). The G-Man might have been asked something in regard to Freeman's position on the science team.


 * My employers don't agree!
 * The meaning of this is difficult to interpret. The scientist must have said something that contradicted the plans of the G-Man's "employers," whoever they are.


 * You're a scientist, and a fraud.
 * Presumably, the G-Man is angry because he has failed to make the scientist understand his point of view.

New Trailer Dialogue
The article states that the G-Man's dialogue is part of an unused voice clip for HL2. But while what he actually says is the same, it isn't the same recording. It seems to be something completely new for HL2:EP2. Now, is that important enough to be included, and what's the best way to word it if it is? 67.172.204.135 22:27, 29 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Listen to it well. You'll notice that, when he says "You're not supposed to be here", he enphasizes the "be" ("... to BE here"). It sounds exactly the same in both. If you need to, compare the two audio clips running at the same time. It IS the same, but cut.

You're right, I hadn't listened to it in a while, and I remembered it differently. However, "forget about all this" is a new recording. 67.172.204.135 18:37, 31 August 2006 (UTC)


 * Initially I thought so too, BUT then I heard it again and I noticed - it's the same. You just have that feeling because the G-Man seems to sound more "sweeter" (sorry, don't have any synonym that's better to define it) because of his facial expressions and also because the expression is imcomplete; if you heard the "and" before it you would recognize it. Compare them if you wish, they're the same. Also, why would Valve record again a line they already had recorded? It's not even logical.


 * No, the second recording is REALLY new. Compare:

http://media.putfile.com/gman_12/

Who the ztype...
Some vandal replaced Michael Shapiro with "HOMER SIMPSON". Fixed it. This topic should be locked, since it's MingeBag prone.

Mr / Dr Freeman
Hmm...

I'm not sure if anyone has noticed this but...

At the beginning of the game, G-Man refers to Gordon as "Mr Freeman", he does this several times in the intro.

Then, after Dr Breen is presumably destroyed / beaten and the explosion occurs, G-Man says, and I quote, "Time, Doctor Freeman?"

Now... doesn't anyone else here think it's kinda funny that he's now referring to him as Doctor instead of mister? This might be hinted at when Breen claims "Gordon Freeman is a theoretical physicist who had hardly earned the distinction of his Ph.D. at the time of the Black Mesa Incident." in his motivational speech to the Guards at Nova Prospekt.

Perhaps G-Man chooses to adress Gordon as "Dr" because, in his eyes, Gordon has finally earned the distinction of Doctor? I don't know really... and this should probably not be posted here, but I thought it was an interesting observation none the less.

On the briefcase
In HL and its add-ons, he have a symbol on the briefcase's G-Man : the same that we can see on the up and right image there : http://www.jeuxvideo.com/affpic.htm?images/pc/h/l/hlf2pc0r.jpg (behind the box of the game). The image with the combines in Nova Prospekt against Antlions. It didn't appear in HL² but maybe is working for Combine in spite of we think...


 * It's not the same symbol, though. In the original Half-Life and its expansion packs, the symbol on the G-Man's briefcase is just the Black Mesa logo. I don't know what the origin is of the symbol on the Combine soldiers' uniforms, but it's definitely not the Black Mesa logo. Here's a picture if you would like to compare: http://www.nextdimension.org/other/gman_logo.jpg MarphyBlack 21:45, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Additional HL:2 appearance
Im not sure if this is relevant for inclusion or not, but in Half Life 2, in one of the several in-game menu 'backgrounds' which appear G-Man can be seen.

In a scene showing a largely devestated and burning part of City 17, if you wait for a short while, his head can be seen behind a bank of fallen rubble in the distance. After a little while longer he emerges fully, straigtens his tie, looks around and walks out of sight behind one of the few remaining 1st storey walls. Trask

American accent

 * Some of his words are spoken with a very slight American accent, but due to the awkward way in which he speaks, most of his words are pronounced in a flat, mechanical tone with no accent.

Okay, what exactly is meant by this? I'm speaking (as it were) from the point of view of an American, who speaks with an "American accent" that, from my point of view, is presumably "no accent". &mdash;Yar Kramer 23:37, 25 January 2007 (UTC)
 * That simply sounds stubborn. I speak as an Argentine, and I know I have an General Argentine accent. Sure, people from Córdoba, Santa Fe, Santiago del Estero, etc don't speak with the same accent as a Porteño, but one can still recognize that they are Argentine. I say we add the note about him speaking with a General American accent. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 190.18.50.6 (talk) 20:21, 27 November 2007 (UTC)
 * Believe it or not, most americans (unless you count brooklyn or southern) dont consider themselves to have an accent. Our voices sound as plain and accent-less as they can get to most... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.92.11.49 (talk) 03:14, 5 January 2008 (UTC)
 * That does seem vague to the point of being meaningless. Americans from Chicago IL, Brooklyn NY, Boston MA, Charleston SC, Fargo MN and Austin TX will each have a distinctively different accent. —Erik Harris 16:53, 26 January 2007 (UTC)
 * The Gman certainly speaks with a General American accent. His speech has some odd phonological features, but those are attributed to his odd idiolect.  I'm going to go ahead and edit.  Quadrophrenic 00:07, 13 March 2007 (UTC)
 * The fact that he speaks with a "General American" accent hardly seems notable for an American game with voice-overs. That's pretty much the rule in games (or movies, or newscasts, or any other media) with speaking parts that are made and/or primarily marketed in America.  It might be worth mentioning if he spoke in some other (less usual) accent, but this seems kind of like pointing out that he has to arms and two legs. —Erik Harris 11:50, 14 March 2007 (UTC)
 * I can respect that, yeah. I don't think leaving it out constitutes a cultural bias.Quadrophrenic 07:34, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
 * I think it's worth mentioning his accent since it's part of the background for explaining his odd intonations and way of speaking (and not just a non-American accent). And FWIW, I wouldn't say it's a slight American accent but is pretty strong to my English ears. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.5.81.143 (talk) 13:40, 18 March 2010 (UTC)

Nightwatch?
Half-life came out years before Terry Pratchett's 'Night Watch' therefore there is no way the Gman's motions are inspired from the book. --72.145.228.67 06:45, 2 April 2007 (UTC)
 * I don't think it says it was inspired; I think it was just making a comparison. I admit the exact phraseology is kinda confusing on that point, though. &mdash;Yar Kramer 15:37, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

Second Ep: 1 Sighting
Whoever found a G-Man sighting in Ep: 1 needs to elaborate further on it in the article, and make it into another bullet point, instead of tacking it onto the end of the first sighting. 76.184.12.173 17:03, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

Episode 2
Maybe it's time to write something 'promotional' about he G-Man's appearance in Episode 2, don't you think? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 193.225.194.254 (talk • contribs)
 * I ... have no idea what you're talking about. &mdash;Yar Kramer 01:37, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Has the G-Man made any new appearances in promo Episode Two material? Has there even been any new promo Episode Two material released recently? I haven't quite been keeping up with it. MarphyBlack 03:06, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Actually, there was some "concept art" from Episode 2 in Steam News a week or two ago, and the G-Man featured prominently in one of the images, but really, all that means is that the G-Man's gonna be in Episode 2. Anything else you might say about it is speculation. &mdash;Yar Kramer 03:32, 17 May 2007 (UTC)

pictures of sightings.
it would be cool to have some pictures of sightings. i found some at flickr: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=+Gman+sighting&m=text this is just so ppl can se them, if they did not see them in the game..

Getting to the G-Man without cheating in OpFor
I don't think this should be in the article, but it's interesting information nonetheless. I found it by accident in this walkthrough, in the "Easter eggs" section.

To summarize: In "The package", when you disarm the bomb and get in through Barney's door, if you use the Displacer on yourself (the alt-fire), you'll go to Xen, as usual. But if you enter the portal back to Earth from there, you'll be teleported near the truck - and you can go to the G-Man and look at him tampering with the bomb. It's obviously a glitch, but it's interesting, being the only way to reach the G-Man without cheating so far.

Name met in other sources ?
Gor a lot of names, such as A.Shepard and B.Calghoun - there were appearances of those names (or their clear references) before and after Half Life. However nothing told about G-Man, as if the name was never met before, nor after. However at least it can be found in lyrics of Manfredd Mann's song "Spirits in the Night" :-) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Special:Contributions/ (talk)


 * Uh ... I have no idea what you're talking about there, since your post is very incoherent; the names you mentioned are of Adrian Shephard and Barney Calhoun, and I have never listened to "Spirits of the Night" so I haven't the faintest idea what that's supposed to mean ... &mdash;Yar Kramer 18:41, 21 August 2007 (UTC)

Episode 2 diaolge
Here is all of G-man dioalge from Episode Two, obtained using the closed captioning feature provided by the game. Enjoy!

Docter Freeman. I realize this moment may not be the most convenient for a heart-to-heart, but I had to wait until your friends were otherwise occupied. Hm. There was a time they cared nothing for Miss Vance… When their only experience of humanity was a crowbar coming at them down a steel corridor. When I plucked her from Black Mesa I acted in the face of objections that that she was a mere child, and of no practical use to anyone. I have learned to ignore such naysayer when quelling them was out of the question. [breathing] Still, I am not one to squander my investments… and I remain confident that she was worth far more than the initial… appraisal. That’s why I must now extract from you some small repayment owed for your own survival. See her safely to White Forest, Doctor Freeman. [breathing] I wish I could do more than keep an eye on you, but I have agreed to abide by certain… restrictions. Mmm. Well… Now… Listen carefully, my dear. When you see your father relay these words: Prepare for unforeseen consequences. Xargon666x6 00:48, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

Alyx's "unforseen consequences"
The section at the bottom describes Alyx's forwarding of the message and speculates that it might be a controll word or a taunt by the G-man towards Eli. Eli mentions himself that the G-man said those same words to him before the resonance cascade of hl1, and the level immediately after the cascade was titled "unforseen consequences". I think that section should be amended to add the particular speculation that it's a warning of impending doom; either his own, which he does not interpret correctly, or eli's own speculation that it's about the Borealis and the possibility of another resonance cascade. Does anyone else have any thoughts about this? -darkeye11547 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Darkeye11547 (talk • contribs) 21:21, 14 October 2007 (UTC)

I agree with this theory; however, it is all pure speculation, and when I put this in the article once, it was deleted for that reason. Keep this in mind, it may be useful in the future. CPTGbr (talk) 17:35, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
 * uhh, Eli died, Alyx Told Eli, i think it was part of GMan telling Eli that he was gonna die soon--70.190.36.152 (talk) 20:19, 10 October 2008 (UTC)

Name
The credits of Half-Life 2 refer to him as "Gman" (instead of "G-Man"). Should this be taken into account? Masquatto 04:01, 26 October 2007 (UTC)


 * Valve is very inconsistent with the name. Most of the time, their official material (Such as the Prima game guides or their websites) refers to the G-Man using the hyphenated version. MarphyBlack 04:17, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

Slight rewording of Little Odessa appearance
As originally worded it made it seem as if Gman's "through-the-binoculars" cameo at New Little Odessa is only visible in the Orange Box version. I played an original PC copy from 2004 and saw the sequence, so I amended the wording accordingly, noting that Prima's guide doesn't mention the sighting as it was evidently produced using a console version of the game. 68.146.41.232 14:37, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Gman-AffectAlyx-HL2Ep2.jpg
Image:Gman-AffectAlyx-HL2Ep2.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

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BetacommandBot 02:17, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Gman-AffectAlyx-HL2Ep2.jpg
Image:Gman-AffectAlyx-HL2Ep2.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 13:58, 19 November 2007 (UTC)

Sighting in T minus 10
I didn't notice him the first time, and played through it again and still couldn't find him. Brought it up with some other people, they couldn't find him either. Anyone have a picture to confirm, or something else?Skeith (talk) 23:51, 26 November 2007 (UTC)
 * Im having the same problem in HL2 Ep2 mission "Under The Radar" where he is supposedly walking into the white forest in, i went by and looked at the whole building during one of my 10 go throughs, and he was nowhere to be seen, i would just like to know what entrance he goes in from75.92.11.49 (talk) 03:18, 5 January 2008 (UTC)Baconator96

G-Man's real life face?
Has anyone noticed this before? In my opinion, G-Man looks a lot like this pic of Robert Oppenheimer. Coincidence? -- Stormwatch (talk) 08:38, 28 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Actually his appearance is supposedly based off of Frank Sheldon. http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/6196/franksheldonwj9.jpg Oppenheimer looks nothing like G-Man compared to Frank Sheldon. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.122.217.205 (talk) 19:48, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Gman routekanal.jpg
Image:Gman routekanal.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to ensure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 06:24, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

Desperately needs sources
While this is well written and an interested read, it seems to put forth a lot of theories and ideas which aren't being attributed to any reliable sources. The entire article only has a single reference and a couple of mentions to contents from the Raising the Bar book. Any theories about what something may mean, or anything of that nature needs to come from a reliable source and be cited. Fan speculation, while interesting, doesn't belong on wikipedia. See WP:V and WP:RS for greater detail.--137.186.84.54 (talk) 22:49, 11 May 2008 (UTC)
 * This seems to be the one underlying problem with the article as there are no sources which would ever give the information relevant to the article. However, this information is not speculation, it is objective observation. Could the actual videogame(s) be used as a source? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.40.117.32 (talk) 16:59, 2 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Common sense is a source. This isn't science or a widely debated and formal subject, it is most commonly discussed on forums and such, sites that are not recognized as "reliable source". I suggest leaving any speculations as long as they are logical and constructive. Hammering on "reliable sources" to reach a false sense of perfection is a common madness on wikipedia, and it kills the spreading of information on subjects like these. If you only wish factual information from Valve regarding g-man's purpose, then why don't you delete the entire article. The concept of g-man was never created to be understood, the most you can do is try to speculate what they wanted him to be. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.207.42.63 (talk) 01:28, 2 March 2013 (UTC)

Hobson's Choice?
This article covers just about everything necessary, but in the Half-Life section, it makes a reference to a "Hobson's Choice". I don't think that the ending qualifies as a Hobson's choice so much as it does extortion, so is it worth editing? To be clear, a Hobson's Choice would basically be the G-Man saying "Join me", and upon refusal, nothing happening, for better or for worse, so Gordon would be left there- Extortion, on the other hand, is to have two options, with one being undesirable and almost certainly not a good choice at all. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.111.251.45 (talk) 06:51, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

I don't understand your statement... The example you give of a Hobson's Choice is EXACTLY what the G-Man says. In a way, I guess a Hobchoice IS extortion. -Damn, forgot to sign in... F50 Man —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.67.104.217 (talk) 04:19, 29 July 2009 (UTC)

No, G-Man's choice is not a Hobson's choice at all. Hobson's choice is applicable when the choice is between something or nothing. Eg. You can have this cake, or not. What G-Man does is offer a choice: Gordon can join him, or he can die at the hands of the aliens. I would have to disagree: I don't think this is a Hobson's choice, it may be a very obvious choice, but there is still a choice between 2 possible outcomes. 86.130.201.164 (talk) 02:54, 24 September 2010 (UTC)

Spoiler Warnings [Episode Two spoiler warning]
I was reading this article and because there was no spoiler warning I ended up reading about Eli Vance's death before I got that far. Just so other users don't make the same mistake should we add a spoiler warning? -- Murray —Preceding undated comment was added at 19:51, 24 September 2008 (UTC).
 * of course we should, but ive never seen a spoiler warning on wikipedia. I ahve on other wikis before though, its pointless trying.--70.190.36.152 (talk) 20:16, 10 October 2008 (UTC)

Easter egg
I was looking at this article a while back, and I noticed that there was an easter egg in one of the Half-Life 2 games that there was an elder vortigaunt that referred to G-Man numerous times, along with other prophecies. This might have been part of this article, or most likely part of the Vortigaunt article. --Arcai 10-5-2008, 1:12 PM —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.28.21.39 (talk) 17:12, 5 October 2008 (UTC)

Gordon's Father?
I was reading through a recent interview with Doug Lombardi and to my surprise:

So is it all coming to a huge end after Episode III?   Lombardi: We're gonna wrap it all up, put a bow on it - the G-Man is Gordon's father... it's all good. Source: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=198032 —Preceding unsigned comment added by MastaFighta (talk • contribs) 17:53, 5 October 2008 (UTC)


 * That was intended as a joke. Read the rest of the interview. -- LightSpectra (talk) 20:07, 5 October 2008 (UTC)

Bah, I didn't see that. Thanks for pointing it out. MastaFighta (talk) 02:13, 6 October 2008 (UTC)
 * That would be funny though "Gordon freeman, I am your father". lol 193.157.242.51 (talk) 16:50, 22 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Seriously, think about it. Gordon Freeman. G-man. Their names even sound alike. They even look alike. It's too obvious--75.216.34.148 (talk) 07:27, 25 April 2010 (UTC)::

OMG Look at this: The G-Man is Gordon's father
We're gonna wrap it all up, put a bow on it - the G-Man is Gordon's father... it's all good.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=198032

I think he was just making fun of Star wars or something like that. If he had been serious I think the interviewer would have asked a bit more about that 86.145.95.93 (talk) 16:10, 8 October 2008 (UTC)


 * Check the post right above this one. -- LightSpectra (talk) 19:58, 8 October 2008 (UTC)

Stupid line
"...the main screen in the control room briefly flashes the image of the G-Man, which Alyx notices, marking the first time someone other than the player notices him."

Not quite true. After all, we see G-Man talking to a scientist all the way back at the start of Half-Life one. --81.206.214.43 (talk) 15:39, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Appearances Redux
Is there any plan to source the Appearances section, or has a consensus been established to leave it entirely as original research? Personally I'd rather see sourcing. Doniago (talk) 19:04, 7 October 2010 (UTC)
 * Adding the OR here pending feedback from other editors. Ideally sourcing would be nice.
 * I presume that Wiki editors could just use walkthroughs from a reputable source as references for the appearances section? Crashdown13 (talk) 02:16, 8 October 2011 (UTC)

{| class="collapsible collapsed" style="width:100%;font-size:88%;text-align: left; border: 1px solid silver; margin-top: 0.2em;" ! style="background-color: #CFC;" | Appearances ==In-game appearances== The G-Man appears several times in each game while the player is freely moving, though often in out-of-the-way locations so that it may be difficult for a first-time player to see him. It is almost universally impossible to go directly to where he is standing – before he has an opportunity to disappear from that place, at any rate. If fired upon in the few areas in which he could be, the bullet will ricochet as if the player has shot metal. Many of his appearances seem to correlate around significant plot points of each game, some more directly than others.
 * style="border: solid 1px silver; padding: 8px; background-color: white; " |
 * style="border: solid 1px silver; padding: 8px; background-color: white; " |

Half-Life
The G-Man is first seen standing in a stopped tram adjusting his tie (which he is usually seen doing), and he arrives at Sector C before Gordon. Before the experiment begins, the G-Man can be seen through a window arguing heatedly with a scientist in a locked room of Sector C, despite the fact that he was on a tram heading in the opposite direction to Freeman. Following the catastrophic resonance cascade, which commences the game's action through Black Mesa, the G-Man can be seen quietly observing the player in several out-of-reach areas as the game progresses. In several cases, the player arrives in rooms or locations where the G-Man was previously seen, even though the areas are often inaccessible to other characters or swarming with monsters, and personnel in the location do not seem to have noticed him. Other times he will disappear into corridors that are seemingly dead ends.

After Gordon defeats Nihilanth, the ruler of Xen and the final boss in Half-Life, the G-Man brings the player to "safety" in an inexplicable, abstract sequence, appearing beside Gordon, having stripped him of his armaments and showing him various areas of Earth and Xen. Eventually the scene changes into what appears to be a tram (like the one from the beginning of the game) traveling through hyperspace at an incredible speed. The G-Man tells Gordon that he has been observing him very carefully and praises him on his actions in Xen, which, following an attempted invasion by the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit, is now in his "employers'" control. The G-Man then informs him that he has recommended Gordon's services to his "employers" and offers him a job. The player is presented with a Morton's Fork; declining the offer results in the unarmed Freeman facing a horde of hostile aliens as the screen fades to black with the G-Man's final words; "No regrets, Mr. Freeman.", then the player is taken back to the previous scene and presented with the question again. Ostensibly, canon states that Gordon takes the job, with G-Man stating, "Wisely done, Mr. Freeman. I will see you up ahead." In Half-Life 2, the game lifts off, assuming you took the job.

Uplink
In the final portion of the Half-Life demo Uplink, G-Man is seen calmly watching from a vantage point as a Gargantua massacres several humans. He is unfazed when the glass in front of him shatters; he then calmly walks away.

Opposing Force
In the expansion pack, Half-Life: Opposing Force, the G-Man plays a slightly more direct role in the story, alternately hindering and aiding the player, Corporal Adrian Shephard, as well as simply observing.

During the boot camp training sequence, the G-Man can be spotted at a window speaking with an officer, and occasionally glancing at the player. Since the drill instructor mentions that Shephard's training has been mysteriously accelerated, the implication is that the G-Man had an interest in Shephard before the Black Mesa incident for reasons unknown. The game manual also suggests that the G-Man warned the Marines of the upcoming Black Mesa incident.

The G-man can also be seen interacting with a security officer in one of the secured receptions at Black Mesa in the first chapter. At one point Shephard is trapped on a small walkway, with deadly corrosive/radioactive liquid rising steadily towards him. The G-Man opens a door allowing him to escape, saving his life. One level later, as Shephard attempts to evacuate Black Mesa with the rest of the Marines, the G-Man closes a hangar door, forcing him to remain on the base. However, all of the Marines die seconds later when their aircraft is shot down, so this action ultimately saves the player from certain death. Later on, the G-Man is seen re-arming the nuclear bomb that destroys Black Mesa, which Shephard had deactivated moments prior.

After Shephard defeats the Gene worm at the end of Opposing Force, the G-Man appears again. On this occasion, Shephard finds himself on board one of the HECU's Osprey aircraft, facing the G-Man. The G-Man informs Shephard that, contrary to his employer's original wishes, Shephard is to be spared, but detained in a way where "he could do no possible harm" and "no harm could come to him." The G-Man says that he has been impressed by Shephard's ability to "adapt and survive against all odds" in the Black Mesa facility, and comments that these are traits that remind him of himself. As the G-Man delivers this closing monologue, the plane carries them away from Black Mesa, shortly before a nuclear blast flashes outside confirming its destruction. The aircraft's location then suddenly switches to the skies of Xen, then finally to an emptiness similar to that encountered by the Black Mesa tram at the end of Half-Life. The G-Man then leaves Shephard via a teleporter in the cockpit, and the screen fades to the closing titles. " Subject Shephard. Status Detained. Further evaluation pending".

Blue Shift and Decay
In both Half-Life: Blue Shift and Half-Life: Decay, the main characters of each game, Barney Calhoun and Doctors Gina Cross and Colette Green, see the G-Man on one occasion near the beginning of each game, but he does not seem to notice any of them. Barney sees the G-Man in a transport carriage, whilst Gina and Colette can see him riding an elevator.

Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2 begins with Gordon being greeted approximately one to two decades in the future by the G-Man, while seeing a dream-like montage of images such as the Black Mesa test chamber, and interior areas of The Citadel. In his speech, the G-Man hints that he put Gordon into stasis for his own safety, and that an opportunity has now arisen that will allow Freeman to begin his campaign against the Combine forces on Earth, saying "the right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world."

The G-Man continuously refers to Gordon Freeman as "Mr. Freeman" throughout the introductory sequence, forgoing Gordon's proper title of doctor, to which he is entitled as a Doctor of Physics. However, during the ending sequence, he refers to Gordon as "Dr. Freeman."

The G-Man is briefly visible at various other points during the events of the game, including along the different vehicle sequences, but these are only from a great distance or as seen on video terminals until the game's finale. One notable sighting is through a pair of binoculars, where the G-Man can be seen conversing with Colonel Odessa Cubbage, of which Cubbage makes no mention.

Later, after an uphill battle in the cloud-penetrating Citadel skyscraper, Gordon causes critical damage to the structure's dark fusion reactor, resulting in an explosion that would most certainly cause his death. The G-Man stops time in order to extract Gordon to await further "employment offers." The game ends with travel through the same emptiness that was Half-Life's ending, and with the G-Man stepping through some sort of doorway, stating, "In the meantime, this is where I get off.", as if he were exiting a train; though not before adjusting his tie.

The G-Man, at this point, makes it clear that he will once again be placing Freeman in stasis while he entertains some "interesting offers" for Gordon's services, this time making no mention of his employers as he had in Half-Life, though he does state that he is not at liberty to inform Gordon of something yet to come.

Episode One
The G-Man is only seen once in Half-Life 2: Episode One. At the beginning of the game, which begins at the point when Half-Life 2 ends, the G-Man walks back into the black void in which he left Gordon and opens his mouth to say something, only to notice a purple, glowing Vortigaunt to his left. He appears to be slightly amused at the sight, until several more show up chanting, at which point he is clearly annoyed when he realizes what is happening. As two Vortigaunts move to free Gordon, the G-Man violently straightens his tie and responds to their chant with a single sentence: "We'll see... about that." Gordon is then immediately teleported away and found by Dog and Alyx in a pile of rubble just outside the Citadel.

A commentary node in Episode Two confirms that the G-Man makes no appearances in Episode One to convey that he had lost track of Gordon after the Vortigaunts took him. Even the objective failure messages are altered: whereas those in Half-Life and Half-Life 2 were written in a cold, business-like manner evident of the G-Man's point of view, those in Episode One and Episode Two use the Vortigaunts' romantic English mannerisms.

Episode Two
In Half-Life 2: Episode Two, the G-Man first appears to Gordon while a group of Vortigaunts are occupied healing the recently injured Alyx Vance. Just like in Half Life 2, he appears in a surreal, dream-like sequence taking place in several locations. In this sequence, the G-Man comments that he was unable to contact Gordon until the Vortigaunts were distracted. He then explains that he was the one to "pluck" Alyx Vance from Black Mesa, despite objections from unidentified naysayers that she was "a mere child" and "of no practical use to anyone." He then instructs Gordon to safely escort Alyx to the White Forest, as repayment for the G-Man's previous ensurance of his survival, stating he wished he could do more than simply monitor Gordon, but he has agreed to "abide by certain restrictions." While Alyx is still unconscious, he then whispers into her ear to tell her father to "prepare for unforeseen consequences" when she sees him. He seems to be less rigid during the sequence and is depicted as more human.

Following this sequence, observant players can again spot the G-Man in several locations as they play through the game. When Alyx and Gordon eventually reach White Forest, the main screen in the control room briefly flashes the image of the G-Man, causing her to relay his message to her father in an uncharacteristically monotonous tone. She seems to forget doing so afterward.

Eli is noticeably disturbed by the words, to the point where he almost collapses. After making an excuse for Alyx to leave the room, Eli reveals to Gordon that he is aware of their "mutual friend" as well. He explains that the G-Man delivered the sample that ultimately caused the Black Mesa Incident, and whispered in his ear to "prepare for unforeseen consequences" shortly before the resonance cascade. Eli begins to express hope that he and Gordon will be able to take some unknown action, but is interrupted by Alyx's return. Shortly after, Eli tells Gordon he believes the message is a warning regarding the Borealis, and reiterates his belief that it should be destroyed lest the events of Black Mesa repeat themselves. Eli hints that he knows more about the G-Man when he relates to Gordon that he has more to share, but is interrupted by Alyx and later dies before getting a chance to explain.
 * }

Top 25 Evil Masterminds
The link is dead. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 205.206.132.20 (talk) 23:27, 6 August 2011 (UTC)


 * I couldn't find a replacement mirror of the list (the site was bought by Joystiq) and I couldn't find G-Man on any other "evil mastermind" list either. I propose the removal of the entire section. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Crashdown13 (talk • contribs) 02:20, 8 October 2011 (UTC)


 * It's pretty much the only reliable third-party source we have, so keeping it would be preferable. Fortunately for us, it got archived on the Wayback Machine. – Harry Blue5 (talk • contribs) 12:32, 9 May 2012 (UTC)

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