The Combine's Secret Prison | The Vault | Full Half-Life Lore
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- Опубліковано 9 чер 2024
- The Vault is regarded as one of The Combine's most secretive weapons and pieces of technology in the wasteland after their invasion. On Alyx Vance's journey, she discovers The Vault and the prisoner contained inside. How does this ship function, what powers it and who did The Combine intend to use it against during their war with the resistance and meddling forces from other worlds?
Who lives within The Vault, how did they get there and how did the Combine create such a magnificent ship? In this episode, I went to the Quarantine Zone in the land Half-Life to explore the secrets that the prison holds, how the prison runs and what eventually happened to it.
Timestamps
00:00 Intro & Background
02:41 The Formation
04:46 The Exterior
06:56 Power Source
08:22 The Interior
12:55 The Fall of The Vault
17:28 Closing Thoughts
19:11 Ending
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12:42 The Alyx Devs confirmed in commentary mode that the waves of energy is the G-man actively trying to escape
Did they specifically say it was G-man trying to escape? I think it would be a lot cooler if it was G-man trying to help Alyx get him out.
@@eleos5 that's your opinion
damn, id rather them not telling lore in commentary mode
@@Jester4460 that's why Eleos5 said "I THINK it would be cooler".
@@Hecatolite_ that's you statement and plausble counter agiast my fact
I thought the vortigaunt energy is what kept him in place, cause they were able to do the same in HL2 Episode 1
yeah i thought that too
Yeah it looks like maybe that's why they harvested their energy, it'd be the perfect way to stop him from escaping the cage
@@Skyrionn Still a brilliant video, that might just be my interpretation tho!
May be the combine use the vortigaunt energy to trap and send him back to the past?
@@kananchan7995 I agree with the vid, that he went into the past, but I think he was searching for another employee, and chose Alyx Vance, but chose a younger version of her, due to her being naive back then, so he went back in time to “employ” her.
Have to say: G-Man definitely LET himself get captured.
@MetroCop No, the vault prevents him from doing that.
At least, as far as we can tell - yes, the Vault DID hold G-Man. But, to elaborate, I find it much more likely he allowed himself to be captured in the past, to recruit Alyx Vance, after the Vortigaunt collective did it's best to sever Gordon from the G-Man's grip.
@@alexis_electronic That makes a lot of sense to me tbh
@@alexis_electronic I don't think he allowed himself to be captured to recruit Alyx with Gordon and Adrian he just showed up to recruit them it is very easy to recruit. I believe the combine actually did capture him through some weakness we do not realize and Half Life 3 is trying to kill the gman. That's why the ending is Eli talking to Gordon about getting him. I think the vortigaunt energy is much more powerful than people give it credit for. I also think that Gman watching out the window means he still has some influence/power in the vault but it was more of him adapting a plan after being captured
I’m getting tired of people saying he let himself get captured the vault was literally designed to trap him it took away his powers you can even tell this by his eyes when the vault was first opened his eyes were normal for the first time ever then he gained his abilities back after alyx opened it
According to the information deciphered by Eli, the Vault was constructed around the building GMan was found in and, if not stated specifically, implied that it wasn't moved from that spot. If that's true, the Combine didn't choose the location for the Vault. It just worked out that it was in the QZ.
I'd have to imagine it was moved, as the apartment building inside has those phased citizens inside it, and citizens don't live in the QZ.
@@Swaggless there were a few, but very little people inside the building. It wasn't unheard of for refugees and scavengers to show up in the QZ. As Alyx, you cross paths with Injured Vortigaunt and Larry (Or whatever his name was in the Jeff segment). It doesn't seem unlikely that a number of refugees holed up in one of the more livable buildings in the QZ. Considering the resistance was monitoring the actions of the Combine, it seems odd that none of them would have gotten reports of a massive vault structure being moved into the QZ from elsewhere or of an entire apartment building suddenly disappearing overnight.
I think they moved the building in to the vault, then moved the vault.
@@TMHedgehog That's the camp I'm in.
@@Swaggless
I am pretty sure the QZ was established *_after_* the Vault was constructed.
I mean, it was literally stated in the game that anyone who knows about the vault or anybody who knows anybody who knows about the vault would be terminated.
Basically a similar story to Ravenholm, where the Combine just shelled the whole place, hence the zombies.
Before HL:A fans commented on Combine being incompetent and here they are, captured the man who can retcon the game.
And the good doggo DOG
I highly doubt they managed to capture him on their own.
Chances are, after Eli bit the big one, The G-Man went back in time and intentionally got himself captured by the combine, so that he would test Alyx Vance and eventually, manipulate her into splitting the timeline by saving her father.
He was likely disappointed with Gordon's inability to save Eli, and so during the events of HL:A, he's essentially grooming Alyx to replace Gordon, by testing her through his capture.
Tldr; G-Man has everything wrapped around his finger.
@@kikrinman1450 I don't think failing to save Eli is what got the G-Man annoyed with Gordon. He predicted that would happen. That's the unforeseen consequences he was talking about in EP2. He got annoyed when he was stopped by Vortigaunts in EP1. This probably made him realize that Gordon would be siding with the Vortigaunts (and not merciless killing them as he did in HL1), which would hinder him useless. That's why he waited until they were busy to basically tell gordon that Alyx would be replacing him and that he would not be helping him anymore.
And after that they messed up and let a teenager drop down their top-notch prison spaceship. Makes them look even more incompetent lol.
@@user-ce1cu5my4j 😂😂😂
The narrator: "The combine assigned their strongest and most capable transformed humans to guard..."
The scene: *front combine stands up and combine behind him immediately starts shooting right through their head, then stops as the front combine squats again*
to be fair, they were probably stressed as training didn't invole zeus walking down the aisle zapping everyone into dust
Also they're grunts, making them essentially metropolice
Breen: "I must mirror the sentiment of our benefactors and so I let the question fall to you: How have you failed? The man you have failed to capture let alone kill is by all means just that! An ordinary man..."
Combine soldier: "Okay, asshole, maybe WE need to remind YOU that this 'Ordinary Man' you have us after single-handedly put an end to the Resonance Cascade."
The Black Mesa Source perfectly portrays this.
amazing how the combine even put up with Dr. Breen.
@@gamepad3173 keeps the people relatively calm.
"Gordon... Freeman?"
"Oh, Miss Vance. You wouldn't need all of that to imprison Gordon Freeman"
Chills. I hope we're getting more Half-Life soon.
Half life Alyx was in development since 2016 and we got an announcement in 2019if we were to get a new Half life game (which i DO think is likely because of that ending) it'd either be announced in 2023-2025 aside from that i think we'd start loosing hope again
@@epicalworlds2775 that makes sense. Portal 2 came out ~5ish years after the orange box then alyx was developed in 2016 soo either another portal or another half life soon
@@epicalworlds2775 Half-Life 2 will get a remaster before another game
@@kitsun1471 well its getting an rtx remaster
can valve count to 3?
I’m not really sure that he’d be able to escape whenever he wants. In developer commentary they confirmed that the waves of energy was the Gman trying to escape, and we know that while Gman is powerful, so are the vortigaunts, since they were able to hold back the Gman in episode 1. Why would they be able to hold back the Gman in episode 1 and suddenly not be able to in alyx? Just some thoughts.
Just hold back for a little while, G-man still appear in Ep2 mean that Vorts power can't stop him.
@@Vantud391 It's because Vorts were focused on healing Alyx.
Hadn't Alyx get stabbed, Gman can't communicate with Gordon.
@@firstnamesurname2482 You remember we see him later on the bridge after Alyx healed? He's totally free.
@@Vantud391 Whatever Vorts do to Gman, it seems like he got hold in place for sometime.
Since Gman is time jumping, space hopping aliens, he could try contacting Gordon but fail.
11:35 ''Combine has assigned their strongest and most capable transformed humans'' Combine proceeds to teamkill his mate from behind
*🔫 Delet this 😡*
I love how the more we learn about the combines abilities, the more monolithic they seem. They are a perfect example of cosmic horror, something so alien, we don't even have the language necessary to explain how unfathomable they are.
The thing is, I'm sure if Aperture wanted to (ie GLaDOS), they could wipe out the combine in a couple months if fully operational. Of course GLaDOS mentioned she was having a tough time keeping them out of Aperture, but at that point she was restricted by the cores, and then after getting shut down Aperture remained untouched by anything but nature. So I'm not sure if she really was what was keeping them back. With an unrestricted GLaDOS who's done a little potato therapy, and has access to older and restricted science deep in Aperture, I don't doubt she could wrangle up something to delete the Combine from existence entirely. The only question is if the Combine are still around when she woke back up
@@slotzoffuntrue she is a core made for tests, not inventing weapons. As much as she'd like that
@@c1oudsky Although true, glados could decide to test if combine are immune to neurotoxin
@@Nosttromo since they all wear masks, I'd guess they are
@@c1oudsky He is just saying that Glados could invent weapons for the purpose of "testing." Which "AI gone wrong," ultimately does in any sci-fi media anyways: interpreting shit the wrong way.
There’s a popular theory that he let himself be captured to recruit past alyx due to Gordon being protected by the vorts
thats a really good theory
The G man's employers being Valve, makes him the greatest 4th wall breaking character of all time. He is a God . So the combine captured God.
Godman
I had that realization while on 100ug tab of acid on the peak I beat the game it was amazing
@@go-go-rilla4405 try 500ug and youll have some real fun
@@austin2774 Or try none so you are not a real loser.
@@Erik-cl5ff calling people on the internet who weren't even talking to you losers is actually the most loser thing you can do. lol
In this day and age, it's dang near impossible to create images and moments in games that actually stick with you. They did it with Half Life... Half Life 2... Episode 2... and now they did it again years later w/ Alyx. Incredible.
The sound design is the biggest part of it all in my opinion. I LOVE the ambience in the vault to the point it sticks in my head vividly though i still have yet to play the game lol
Because Valve does what other Triple A Companies don't.
Yeah... i just wish they made more games
now lets do it again with HL3!!!
Quality over quantity
Liked how they made his brief case a part of his act. Also love him as a more involved character and agent as the series progresses. Enjoyed this
I really want to know why the cell is in the shape of a bacteriophage. This is obviously an intentional design on the part of valve
It's just a dodecahedron
@@mykalkelley8315 Woah! Jordan D. was right!
@@mykalkelley8315 icosahedron*
Because the G-Man is an infectious disease?
@@MildMisanthropeMaybeMassive bacteriophages are harmless to humans.
Imagine how much of a badass plot twist it would've been if Shephard was in the Vault.
Oh god... That would be bloody amazing.
I would have loved that!
it wouldn't make sense though
@@c1oudsky Yeah the story would be confusing but it would actually be really cool to see it
Adrian... Shephard? Ms Vance, you wouldn't need all THAT to imprison Adrian Shephard.
The G-Man is the only life-threatening opponent that the combine face. Freeman was merely his weapon.
And now Freeman is truly free. Alyx has taken his place within the employ of the G-Man.
damn the Gman is capable of time travel and splitting images and clones of himself now and visiting different timelines and universes
Huge powers
Combine's empire spreads to different universes and timelines so the dude supposedly trying to stop them being able to travel between timelines and universes makes sense.
I didn't even know how to approach putting this in a presentative form for this mystery in my mind. Dr. Breen knew about the Gman but I wonder if that was entirely private from his combine masters. Fascinating that they formulated something to even capture the gman or predicted where he would be. I assume the prison hovered over where the gman was at one point and used the tractor beam to trap him in a building.
At the end you can see he know the future, so he most likely let himself be captured in order to be able to use alyx.
@@ganjaman59650 I agree on this one.
@@ganjaman59650 he doesnt know the future, otherwise he would not let events in episode 1 and episode 2 happen, the events of Alyx happen in a different universe, combine cant teleport into space in the same universe but to the places in different universes (as stated in HL2), the place in Alyx is just another earth probably of many earths that combine captured so far.
@@tezwoacz he does know about the future, when alyx asks for the combine to be removed from earth, gman splits himself off to check on that timeline where he nudged it forward, saw it didnt work out in his benefactors eyes and said no to alyx all in one single moment
if you ever listened to dr Issac Kleiner's speech he says "we have made, in secret, several technological advances which we will do our best to deploy in advance of the Combine's return."
i tried googling and searching some hits on what he might be talking about but i never found anything.
Which game/episode is this in and when
@@Sypitz Episode 1, right after the Citadel part. Kleiner is speaking through a Breenscreen on that plaza, telling everybody to evacuate City 17.
I believe gman was fully capable of leaving the the vault. Perhaps it might be difficult given the raw power driven into it, but even then we've seen first hand his power. I believe he wanted to see who was capable of breaking their way in, after all he states that his employers are searching for a suitable replacement for Gordon
i relised Gordon Freeman and Gman names are both very similar
Gordon Freeman
G------man?
@@joshuagraham2843 dont make me think gordon is just past gman
@@joshuagraham2843 that’s just his model name lol not his actual name. We don’t know his actual name if he even has one
@@theantsaretakingover His name is Gman, even in the half life series characters just call him The Gman
@@Imkyotto the only instance on him being called a "g man" is in opposing force manual where Shephard's diary is, and even that is used to refer to him as a goverment man shortened because he thought Gman was from the goverment.
Other that that, NOONE in half life universe has refered to him as Gman.
I believe that if the Vault had been still getting power from the vort-fueled substations, messing up the docking controls would most likely not have caused the Vault to fall. It was only because the backup forcefield holding up the vault was being generated from the same location and a critical systems failure killed that forcefield.
Also vortesence is in lore the connection of all vortiguants to eachother. That allows their power and conscencness to connect beyond space and time. This collected consence is as powerful as the gman. The stronger the connection to the vortesence the more powerful. That is why only a few vortiguants could use the antloin larvae to gain this desired connection. They use the energy the other vortiguants where trying to use to keep gman secured to heal Alex freeing gman and that is why he chose that time to talk to gordon freeman
Vortigaunts vortescence transcends time too. They are a hive mind and see time not in a line but in 3d space.
The vortigaunt said "alyx father is or will be dead" and when she said yes to save their kin he immediately said "you habe saved us" because with this decision of alyx thr vorts saw the future of being saved.
The most underrated Chanel I’ve ever seen, you deserve more
Thanks my dude. Just keeping up the grind
The most overused claim in modern history. "Do I like it? Then it's underrated!"
This was a great video. There's a lot of valid points here. I agree on the G-Man interview part that you mentioned. I theorize that G-Man could have escaped at ANY time. He simply wanted to test Alex. We all know Adrian Shepard, Gordon Freeman, And Alex are just pawns that stuck out to G-Man. He obviously didn't take interest in in Barney, despite spotting him once(maybe just a cameo).
On other note Alex and the aforementioned two, probably stuck out to him. They were definitely seemed hyper intelligent. They were excelled in killing powerful alien entities and their minions they could fight other humans as well, and use alien weaponry and regular weaponry. Probably from the G-Man's view. They were unusual pawns in what ever he was doing and his "Employers".
For me it's kind of hard to tell who's side the G-Man is on, or his intentions. We just know he's at odds with the combine.
well the combine is at odds with the g-man, but there's no telling the scale this story unfolds to concerning the g-man and his employers
Given that Half Life 2 is at least to some degree an allegory of colonialism, chances are G-Man is just an unaffiliated profiteer of getting civilizations into fights. Since he's definitely not in need of conventional resources, he might even be in it just for recruiting useful people. (Which is also another joke at the expense of capitalisms "use money as to get more money" with "use people as to get more people".)
Plot Twist: Barney IS THE G-MAN!
@@parrot998Barney got hit with the vortussy and aged 30 years, lost all of his cheek fat and travelled back in time. He also took on the name John freeman
I just want the very last Half Life game to end with The Gman saying, "You've won" (Whatever that may be) and The Gman explains he needed you to get things done and never revealing if he is a good guy or a bad guy and ends off with, "Now you can go home"
And the next scene is you waking up in the tram to Black Mesa where it says, "Good morning and welcome to Black Mesa, the time is 8 47 AM"
Id take that its better than any fked woke writing too
Yeah bro that's nuts imagine it ends that way, you do the insertion procedure, and it goes just fine...
@@teeg7078 what
@@teeg7078'woke' -_- ten years old argument or 65 years old conservative stuck in Twitter mindset
@@teeg7078"Woke" LMAOOO
I like to imagine the Combine hasn't bothered putting their absolute best in to any punch towards humanity cause they simply don't see it a big enough threat to do so
(and even then they've probably harvested most of the resources from earth)
I figure creatures far beyond the bizarreness of hunters and advisors operate within deeper combine territory
That sounds very plausible.
Or, in my mind, they DO find use and good in humans, but they captured so many living forms, they hold out to so many struggles, they kind of 'forgot' about the earth.
I believe that might also be the main reason why the resistance was so desperate to stop the super portal from forming, since the events on the Citadel must certainly have attracted the attention of the larger combine empire.
Also its worth a note that the Vortessence gives Vortigaunts the ability to dive into their hive mind that experiences past, present and future at the same time.
With how vortigaunts were able to stop GMan from doing anything during the events of Episode 1, it's not that hard to imagine that the Combine could capture him.
Imagine being able to manipulate time but being stopped by a few vortugaunts
@@airesartz7196 I'm not a fan of HL:A TBH, but I doubt having the ability to manipulate time or whatever makes someone literally unstoppable.
we don't know how powerful the vortessence yet
The GMan most likely doesn’t see time in such a linear way as we do, so let himself get captured to create a “trial” for Alyx. Gordon was useful up to a point, but the Vortigaunts, who have the same nonlinear consciousness, interfered. The Combine don’t have any sort of precognition, but can harness energies in various ways, hence why they could construct the Vault, but not do anything further to the GMan beyond hastily capturing him.
No.
Energy waves on the vault was the result of Gman actively trying to escape, as revealed by the devs. He doesn't have all the answers and doesn't know everything. He is literally just one interdimensional dude, up against an empire which spreads to multiple timelines and universes. Combine is much more powerful and just with the resources on Earth, they were able to capture him.
Gman operates secretly and can't directly interact with the events. If Combine uses all their resources on Gman, I think it will be game over for him. That's why we destroy the portal, that's why Gman uses others to fight Combine.
His importance comes from secretly changing the bits. He doesn't do it because he will immediataly going to be the main target. And the description won't be "some random scientist with a crowbar," but "interdimensional sneaky guy keep fiddling with timeline, report to Combine higher-ups immediately if sighted."
@@fortnight5677 False. GMan let himself get captured. It doesn't mean that he isn't trapped, just that he LET himself get trapped
Regarding if it was teleported to City 17 or built there, I'm convinced they captured the GMan first and then constructed the vault around his prison, as you can see all the appartments inside and even people trapped in there frozen in time
What will really bust your brain is that Alyx disappeared from the original timeline once the alternative timeline Alyx rescued Eli from the Advisor. Yet, everything up until then was still the same and clearly Eli and probably Gordon are still aware she was just there. So what happened the the original timeline Alyx? Is the person that helped Gordon rescue Eli from Nova Prospekt and take down the Citadel no longer exist? Here's my take. I think when Gordon joined with the vorts to heal Alyx from the hunter attack, he was connected to her in such a way that, with the help of the vorts again, he can bring back her original timeline memories again once she's been freed of the GMan's grasp.
I dont think there is any original or alternative timeline, gman very obviously is not limited by the confines of time, so everything happens at the same moment, if that makes any sense. I think alyx just disappears right after the advisor gets killed, with all the same memories and stuff, if i am of course making any sense, sorry, english is not my first language.
I have developed a theory that I have imagined after spotting a comparison image on Reddit of a user of which I can't remember the name, unfortunately. It was a comparison between the virus-shaped prison and the Nihilanth which gave me some ideas on how the G-man entity could be imprisoned. The shape of the Nihilanth may differ from the icosahedron but somehow it's similar even in how it could work.
I'm gonna list some similarities that could be forced but I find them good enough as evidence:
- The vault it's a floating ship and so was the last island in HL.
- The energy crystal spikes in the Nihilant's liar can be represented by the captured Vortigaunts that fill the vault with energy to keep the Vault working and once destroyed they will leave the place weak.
- The time and dimensional shifts in the vault can be somehow compared to the ability of Nihilanth to create teleports to other places.
- Inside Nihilanth's head there's not really a brain but a cristal shaped object which is led me to believe that it could be something else.
So my theory is that the Nihilanth's races were the only beings capable of holding the G-man entity inside their own head and when we met the G-man in Half-life we were actually led to free him from Nihilanth like Alyx did in the last game. Of course, we need to explain why and how G-man would appear multiple times around the game, and that is simply answered by the fact that he can time travel. The reason why the Combine built a vault is that the Nihilanth race is extinct so the alternative was to build an artificial one somehow. Everything ends of course with a person being hired for the "job".
I hope I was clear enough and maybe right in what I just described. If there are any mistakes lore-wise i'll take any insult gladly :D
That's an interesting one. G-Man being the 4th wall between us an valve, maybe the name Nihilant's as some Nitche way of catch the G-Man as we are nilists of valve ahahahaha
Except G-Man is in Garry’s Mod.
My current idea is that as we all know G-man is omnipotent. He can see the past present and future of multiple if not all dimensions, times, and realities. He, and whomever his “employers” are seem to have some sort of grand plan for the plot of reality or at least the one of Half Life, and make great strides to keep the story on that track. However, their plans are potentially ruinable by certain happenings. My theory is that Eli Vance being killed by the Advisor in HLE2 for some reason wasn’t supposed to happen in G-man’s plan, and as a result he jumped to another timeline, and let himself be captured in the vault all in the effort to eventually save Eli, and employ Alyx as a little bonus. Idk it’s weird but I’m sure we’ll eventually find out the true answer
There’s a thought I had when looking at these half life videos. What if the “aliens” in half life are just alternate versions of humans that evolved differently. Like look at that one advisor model made by that one ex valve employee, it looks too human to me for me to think it’s an alien… Like what if the prime world of the combine was an earth where Black Mesa was successful in their Xen experiments in a certain way that they wouldn’t have been able to develop local teleportation.
That's a great theory. Something I'd like to believe
They look human and seem human because humans can’t think up anything that isn’t, human. Or earth-like, more specifically. This is just a design thing.
@@cl570 That's more because you can't rationally have a lifeform without any form of manipulation tools, at least not outside of a theoretical environment. The logical conclusion (the one that ends up being capable of space travel) is something with arms, legs, or something analogous. Convergent evolution is what it's called.
@@cl570 You should read more imaginative sci-fi stories. Tons of creators have come up with totally unearthly creatures.
It's just that mainstream entertainment will use humanoid aliens when they're supposed to look intelligent, and insectoid aliens (headcrabs, Race X) when they're just monsters. It makes it easy for audiences to know what kind of creature this is.
I belive the vault exists in the timeline where Gorden Freeman "Chose a battle he cannot win" at the end of half life 1, the gman looks for a new employee and is somehow captured by the combine.
I love that I know it's possible to recreate those crazy visuals in the vault using vanilla tools in GMod 😁
I believe the Vortigaunt energy was his main goal. Even if he got captured, he has Alyx which had the Russels charged in the vortigaunt energy. So now, he can’t be delayed by them again.
I think that gman got annoyed with Gordon in episode 1 as the vorts helped him escape, so he went back in time and let himself get captured to see who would rescue him. either that or he knew alyx would be able to
That's quite a bet on anyone actually _want_ to break him free, apart from knowing he's in there in the first place.
The only reason the resistance tried is because they thought Gordon was in there, had they known it wasn't would they have tried anyway?
If the gman was really fed up with Gordon, why was Gordon hired in HL2 by him(which is supposed to happen some years after HL:A)?
It's far more reasonable he'd be assembling a team of super agents to deploy for the schemes of his employer in future installments.
Skyrionn is the only YT channel that i watch about half life lores.
Good for you
Thanks my dude. I appreciate the support!
The funny thing is that we don't even know for sure if G-man was truly contained. It's obvious that he allowed himself to be captured to test Alyx so it's entirely possible that he could have escaped from the vault any time he wanted. After all it would be very risky to allow the Combine to capture him if he wasn't confident he could escape on his own, because if Alyx hadn't succeeded, what would he do then? It's funny to think that the Combine may have worked so hard to build the vault, using the most advanced reality bending technology available to them thinking it successfully contained G-man when in reality he could easily just walk out of there and he only stuck around because it served his own agenda.
He can’t do everything, thats why he bends over backwards to get the players help.
My view is that he wasn’t really trapped because he doesn’t exist chronologically, he’s outside how we normally perceive time. This episode while chronological occurs prior to HL2, logically occurs after HL2. Gman is doing this because Freeman is rebelling against him and needs a replacement. Exisiting outside of time gives him insight to create plans like this, but it looks like he still needs someone like Alyx or Freeman to carry them out.
So it’s not like we don’t know if the Gman could have broken out at anytime. We do know, HL:Alyx is exactly how he breaks out
@@SOLOcan He was really trapped. Yes, he doesn't exist chronologically, to us. Capturing Gman means he can no longer intervene. He also clearly doesn't know everything.
If they don't retcon it or forget about it, in the dev commentary they say the waves of energy coming from the Vault is the result of Gman actively trying to escape. So yeah, he didn't expect this and he was trying to escape. He didn't know Alyx was going to save him.
This means trapping Gman makes sense. And he can't just go around change every bit of history as he pleases. He has limits, he doesn't have all the answers. He can be stopped, he can be too late to change something.
Most importantly, he can't directly change anything. He needs others to do things. If he had limitless power and knowledge, he wouldn't let the entire shit go wrong from the start. And Combine wouldn't had the balls to capture him with limited resources. Earth is basically just a small shack on their vast empire and they managed to get his ass, imagine the full force.
Combine is more powerful than Gman. Their empire spreads to other timelines and universes. Even his employers could be Combine and there could be some politics and deep state shit going on. The entire story revolves around bigger shit going on and we are just oblivious to it, to the point that even this multi dimensional dude with a briefcase has EMPLOYERS and he can get captured.
@@fortnight5677 I never said any of that
Love the comprehensive work you put into these mini lore documentaries. Surprisingly informative.
Glad you like them!
This part blew my fucking mind. I felt a mental "pop" when I experienced the inside of the Vault.
It was such an incredible moment.
You might've accidentally called The Exterior chapter as The Interior in timestamps
Whoops. Fixed ☺ thanks!
If HL3 ever comes out and you get the choice to play as Gordon or Alyx *EVERYONE* and I mean *EVERYONE* is choosing Gordon, it's unquestionable.
not even a question
Why? Silent protagonists don't have personality
@@142doddy lies.
Maybe G-Man hired the version of Alyx from the end of Episode 2, not the one from the end of the HL:A. This would explain why in the after-credits scene Eli says to Gordon "she's gone". All of HL2 and chapters 1 and 2 would still be canon up until the last scene, where instead of the combine advisor killing Eli, Alyx kills it and then disappears, leaving Eli and Gordon to go try to find her.
and in the original timeline it would have been Gordon and Alyx heading off for the Artic to destroy the Borealis.
can just imagine the Combine and Breen cooking up a devilish, dastardly scheme to trick the G-Man, knock him out and trap him in the vault, lol
I have to say, I think it's HIGHLY likely the events of Alyx DID happen along with episodes 1 and 2 in the same timeline. The pistol Alyx uses in Half Life Alyx, when fully upgraded resembles the same pistol she uses in the Episodes. Her Hacking device also looks almost identical to "The Alyx" or the Multi-Tool.
I thought that the vortessence energy was being used only to hold in the gman, as we see that they have that capability in episode 1.
Such an informative and well put together video, just subbed for more in the future.
Thanks so much! I hope you enjoy the upcoming content. I do have a huge backlog of content too based on Half-Life and Portal :D
This is super interesting. I've never heard of it before. I like your way of talking about this stuff, so I subbed and gave you a like. I hope you keep up this good content.
Please keep making such amazing videos we love em
Will do. Thank you ☺
The vault always reminded me of the odd giant spheres in Portal 2.
In chapter 6: The Fall. In the old aperture science area.
There are these massive structures that look like vaults sorta.
Be kinda wild if they were connected in some sorta way.
but those are testing chambers, not prisons
@@Oreli welll that's all the sane to GlaDos lol, but maybe combine be using all the knowledge from aperture and elis brain, we know they can't teleport, but can they communicate info thru time? Prolly not, but aperture has been around since black Mesa so who knows
Yes the enrichment spheres, the most scientific shape
I've been using your long form videos to trick my mind into enjoying exercise. Keep it up
I think the next game will be Half-Portal; a combined game that encompasses both Half-Life and Portal into one compound story where you must work in a team of three consisting of Alyx, Gordon, and Chell. The Combine find Aperture and begin to bastardize portal technology by combining it with their own transdimensional portals. GLaDOS, in a fit of rage, tasks the three with retrieving the portal core before the Combine can activate it. If they activate the portal, they can transport troops anywhere in the world.
I doubt it, although you get internet cookies for the creative thought. Valve never operated on making "epic, unforgettable stories" the way most people would imagine it. When they create a concept not seen in other video games, like they did with every Half-Life title, then they set out to create a story one cannot ever predict - excluding the episodic content. Half Life 2 was completely unlike Half Life 1, and Half Life 3 will likely be anything but Half Life 2, otherwise we'd already be playing it.
this would be awesome, but there's no way this is happening. chell is at a minimum hundreds, at most hundreds of thousands of years in the future after portal 2, and i'd assume the borealis would be the most aperture science tech we'll get in the series
Listening to Half-life lore has always been fascinating. :) Every detail of this HL universe has a deep, immersive tale.
17:17 i mean he is helping the humans fight off the combine right? and also stoppet eli from dying.
I always find odd that the Gman let the Combine invade Earth first and 19 (or 18) years later he drops the one guy who started to destabilize the whole Combine regime on Earth.
gman only revived eli to manipulate alyx. i dont think gman is on a single side.
Things like the apartment block lost in the Vault are the reasons why I love half life lore and things that build upon its dark story and world building
"Sounds like an extremely impossible task to aqquire an entire building" well once you saw the Stargate SG-1 guys find the craziest bomb ever...
"The bomb isn't in the building... It is the building." then the Combine running off with it to capture G-Man is entirely plausible.
I need to watch that show!
freeing g man was the best move just on the grounds that the combine see him as an enemy and went to way more effort to catch him than any resistance member including gordon
Theory: Half-Life Alyx does take place during or after Episode 1 when Gordon with the help of Vortigaunts escape G-man's controll which disappointed and decided to focus more on Alyx by creating Half-Life Alyx timeline to test her combat and skills without Gordon Freeman if you deep a little deeper into the lore. Just a thought of mine which could make sense.
No because the citadel is still intact and Gordon Freeman didn't appear until later who they thought was initially in the vault.
now that eli is alive he will start experimenting on vortigaunt energy and discover that it can be used trap the g-man, im pretty sure that he will be building something to trap him again to save alyx in the next hl game
lore is a tool to keep a series alive, right now half life universe have so much potential, so much unknowns, that means more mind blowing half life games will come if we keep staying alive
also modding helps
you know I kinda expected the auto generated subtitles to get alyx right at the start of the video, but apparently this time it's decided it wants to actually get the real words correct this time
It's a weird system 😂
Since we dont see any "alien" combine in the half-life it is entirely possible that "other worlds" they were conquering are just different variations of earth, so they`ve been capturing earth over and over and over again, it is also entirely possible that gman is a human employed by black-mesa in the earth that was NOT captured by combine and DID successfully evolve an ultimate teleportation device.
Have you even played half life 😂
What?
The name Combine comes from the fact that they just transform the dominant species to slaves whenever they capture a planet. They send some "supervisors," to lead the operations. Which are those flying bug like aliens. But we aren't even sure if those are another brain-washed species or their true form.
Vortigaunts also can be counted as Combine, as well as humans. Since they were also used by Combine both in Half Life 1, 2 and Alyx.
As I said, the entire point of Combine is them using other species to the point that nobody fucking knows what they look like or what's their goal is. We only know that their empire spreads to multiple universes and timelines.
Also Black Mesa hiring Gman makes no sense. Combine invades Earth because Black Mesa opened an interdimentional portal. Even if it went smoothly in Half Life 1, Combine was gonna eventually invade Earth anyways.
It might be true that Earth has been conquered in other universes and timelines but it's not the only one.
Gman might very well be hired by Combine themselves and there could be some multiversal, multidimensional deep politics going on. Shit happening bigger than us and we are in the middle of it is the point of Half Life.
Liking the sections throughout the video
Just imagine G-man's employers is Gary Newman and his fellow gmoders
The most curious thing is that alyx asked the Gman if he can put the combine out of earth, he did't say is impossible but just that drive too much far from the interest of his employers. So how the combine manage to capture such a powerful being?
So we gonna forgot that guy called sergeant shepherd? Gman trap him on the void for its use
That's Corporal Shepherd; the G-Man detained both he and Colette Green, and didn't hire them for employment.
11:34 “the combine assigned their strongest and most capable”
* guard in front immediately stands up, directly lining its head with the line of fire *
An alternative feature of the inside of the vault, could be tgat it is designed to isolate prisoners in their own pocket of sorts, as a means to prevent them from teaming up to plan an escape.
Please what is that background music you use? Every time I open a video of yours, I always get so excited!
Thanks for the continued support ☺
You're actually completely wrong about why they imprisoned Gman. He was imprisoned for running around the city and screaming at combine troops while holding a can of >B.
I like to think that it’s in the same timeline. If it’s in another one, I think that completely takes away from the cliffhanger ending. I think the story is a lot more fun and interesting if it’s the same universe.
I would free him just because hes clearly a problem for the combine and letting him loose might weaken the combine enough that they can be removed and the earth reclaimed
even if he himself is no ally he can still be a problem for my enemies and that suits me just fine
If the Combine used their BEST tech to capture the Gman, I can’t wait to see his employers
I just imagine the super Mario rpg intro where the gman is going through some folders, when a combine gunship swoops in and steals him away
I'd say the G-Man let himself captured only to recruit whoever frees him.
In the beginning, you mentioned that the Combine kept humanity around for their teleportation technology, and that's correct, but it's not because the Combine couldn't teleport within the same universe. Humanity was able to invent a nearly instantaneous method of teleportation, whereas the Combine's method took far longer (a whole week to teleport a few miles away, for example).
Thanks, that was the only big plothole I could think of. They want the super efficient Earth science
this game was so good. i was never interested in getting 100% achievement in a game before, but i did for this one. maybe the best compliment i can give it is that it belongs as a half life game. amazing.
Crazy how little we know about Xen and the energy Vorts harness from
Correct me if im wrong, but would've been cool to see Shepard there, since he was kinda of put into "storage" by the Gman. Like, and being a soldier makes me think he is even more combat capable than Gordon.
And as a comment about the combine capabilities, is that people always forget that the main force is away, and that the combine on earth is just a sort of pacifying force, to keep humans on check, they got hold on the entire planet in seven hours, SEVEN FUCKING HOURS.
I think it's only like 5% of the tot invasion force. And that invasion force, in there billions and perhaps trillions, was not even a percentage of the total force of the Combine, or at least it's a small part of it
But that doesn't explain why not (at least a part of) their army returned after seeing the humans overwhelm their pacifying force, multiple times?
@@rey_nemaattori they suck at teleporting, they got the first force thru the portal storms from xen that happened cause the resonance cascade, that's why hl2ep2 was important to close their super portal created from blowing up the citadel, would have been a seven minute war
People also forget that humanity is and at the time of the combine invasion massively weakened from global portal storms and presumably creatures deposited by them or how the combine took any sort of peace deal to slowly eliminate humanity rather then just exterminating them outright.
It's very likely humanity is either enough of a threat to avoid prolonged warfare or that the combine isent just fighting humanity, they are a multidimensional empire and it would not be far out of the question that they have started another war after conquering humanity.
You know, the vault really makes me wonder what the combines space ships look like, giant monolithic shardlike ships pulsing with energy. Crewed with half biological, half cyborg homonculi, psychic aliens and maybe even superintelligent AI.
I think i would have freed him only if i had more knowledge about how time manipulation works. Cuz if he had stayed in the vault freeman would have more likely died after defeating the Nihilanth with no way going back to Earth. But if thats another pathway of this time line like it provably happened as we see at the end of half life alyx. Gordon is oretty much alive and exactly where we have left him. There is a couple possible outcomes but i think we should discuss that another *time*
Two years late I know but I had a thought- people say this time travel to change events changes everything. I don’t think so, I think this does not wipe the slate clean or anything like that. The only thing missing is Alyx and my assumption is Gordon either goes alone to the Borealis or Eli joins him or dog is sent with him. But I think this does not change anything but removes Alyx from the storyline for the time being, we may even get to see Adrian Shepard come into play soon with this.
Or maybe shepherd is the unwilling individual mentioned by Gman, and the unable individual is Gordon. Whatever the case is I don’t think this changes as much as people have been saying.
Been waiting for this vid
There's more to come ☺
@@Skyrionn waiting patiently.
I believe that gman let himself get captured so that vance would come save him, earning her a nudge. He chose for her (as he always does) and used her nudge as his own, "nudging" Eli's death out of canon, or atleast out of one timeline.
This just makes me think, from gordons pov, did he experience ALL of episode 1 & 2 with alyx, and she just dissapeared at the end of ep2? From alyxs pov, she hadnt even THOUGHT of anything that happened in episode 2 yet, so shes just time travelling past that point via stasis? What does she know?
Too much fascination with the vault itself. It is far more amusing as a plot device than on its own.
Here's my two cents: I think the craziness within the Vault is the manifestation of the tug-of-war between the G-Man and the Vortessence powered machines. The G-Man's powers seem to be centered around manipulating space and time. To the point where I don't think he teleports in the traditional sense. I think it's one of the cooler cousins of teleportation. You know, like he's not moving himself, but folding space and time to bring where he is and where he's going to the same point.
Nor do I think we've seen anywhere close to the full extent of his powers.
The Vortigons, likewise, have powers that manipulate space and time. And they can come together to resist even the G-Man.
Where Vortessence is concerned, I think the Combine are still rookies. They've gotten their toes wet in that sweet, green electric ocean, but they don't really understand it like the Vortigon do. So, even though they had the POWER to hold the G-Man, they didn't have the finesse. As a result, the whole building they scooped up was getting pushed and pulled, tugged backwards and forwards through time and space, often folding to overlap on itself, even turning at odd, impossible angles so that it was partway between dimensions.
I also think it's telling that, when he's freed and turns around to face Alex, all the items floating around him just drop, like the tug-of-war is over and gravity is the predominant force in the room, again.
I mean, it was made clear in games that Combine forces that are on planet during HL2 are small security force. Their actual fighting force took down entire earth in 7 hours, with all their nukes etc, genocided many kuch more powerful alien races and enslaved many more. Sauing that combine is weak, based on hl2, is like beating mall cop and saying "US Army is weak!". That, and the fact, that gordon is huge reason for their defeat. Guy that was killing spec ops, marines and aliens even before he was formaly employee of powerful entity of alien origin.
With that, I don't buy into "g-man let himself be captured". I wouldn't underestimate Combine like that. They are powerful, they control many worlds. If g-mans was so op he could easly destroy comhine, he and his employers wouldn't need to use humans in their plans. I think combine is completly capable of capturing g-man, if they put effort in that. And they did so.
But he did willingly let himself get captured.
Which is part of his plan for recruiting Alyx
If valve could release a full standalone where you play the G-man from his beginning to where he got to be the creepy guy we know it would shatter the universe. Unlike the half life series it would be heavy on puzzles, strategy, and exploring instead of fighting…perhaps even stealth mechanics to enter and exit scenarios where you help different NPCs through a situation which ultimately adds up to larger goals. Following that, the release of Sheppard to current times. He comes out of stasis, its now the future of city 17, he meets old resistance and finds out the faith of the US marines attempts to reach an old friend that is in charge of organizing resistance. Then blueshift 2 mini episode where Calhoun is contacted by G-man to help him. He is sent to zen to retrieve a scientist held there by the combine in a facility and brought back to rejoin eli’s team in developing a weapon that can zap combine off world. Then back to the free man. Which picks up at the end of Alyx in traveling to the borealis to get the portal 2 gun and rescue the protagonist as well as capture gladios and bring her out of the facility in assisting with AI strategies for eliminating the combine as an occupying force by promising her world wide control over the recovery and reconstruction of the planet. Wow…talk about a massive amount of work i just thought up that will never get done
Omg just imagine. That'd be great
it would be a point and click adventure, with the bonus of placing ammo drops everywhere along the way for gordon to find.
Rolled a 1 on opening that prison cell.
excellent video!
Thanks my dude!
I would definitely save the gman if I knew beforehand... he seems like a very fantastic person to have owe you a favor.
Just something quick that I didn't noticed anyone commenting. When you reach the final bridge before releasing G-Man, there is an advisor dead on the floor. :)
Security force officer: *Tosses Gman into vault in front of Alyx*
"Pick up that man."
The second the Gman allowed himself to be captured
He knew that he was triumphant
But a question worth of being asked, if the events of half life alyx was conducted 5 years before the citadel explosion and Gordon's appearance and G-man used her to change the timeline, how does she exist in the regular one that we all played HL2 E2 although gordon wasn't there 5 years ago?!... the whole things is confusing and i really love the confusion that valve is making to us and OK with waiting for 13 years more to get another extension for HL universe 🤩
Was Gman consciously aware that he was captured?
It could be that like the phantoms Gman was stuck in time in the moment he was staring out that window. So when he senses that something's off he turns around with a notable facial movement that, to me feels like he's reacting with confusion.
He turns like "Wait- what? Ooohh I see, you'll be of more use than I first thought miss Vance"