Alyx Vance

Alyx Vance is a major character in the Half-Life series. She is the deuteragonist of Half-Life 2 and its episodes, and the protagonist of Half-Life Alyx. 
==Canon Background==
Alyx Vance is the daughter of Eli and Azian Vance; the former is a scientist working for the Black Mesa Research Facility (where the entire Vance family lives on-site). During the "Resonance Cascade" event of the original Half-Life, Azian is killed, while Eli escapes and Alyx is saved by a mysterious figure known to fans as "the G-Man". 
Alyx is a small child when the Resonance Cascade occurs, and is likewise very young when the Combine empire takes over Earth. Eli Vance becomes a leader in the Resistance movement, and Alyx grows up to become a prominent Resistance member in her own right. 
===Half-Life Alyx===
In this game, a 19-year-old Alyx travels through City 17 to save her father from the Combine, before going after a superweapon to steal it before the Combine have a chance to use it. The superweapon ends up being the G-Man, who takes Alyx into the future so she can prevent the death of her father, before "hiring" her. 
===Half-Life 2===
In Half-Life 2, Alyx saves Gordon Freeman and proceeds to fight the Combine alongside him. Over the course of Half-Life 2 and its episodes, she and Gordon destroy major Combine facilities and save Resistance members. Alyx is temporarily put out of commission when she is near-mortally wounded by a Combine hunter, though she is saved from death and healed by Gordon and several friendly Vortigaunts. 
She eventually learns of the existence of a lost ship called the Borealis that may be useful in the fight against the Combine; however, she, Gordon, and Eli are ambushed by Combine advisors before they can leave to find it, and Eli is killed. This plot point was later retconned by the time travel in Half-Life Alyx, with Eli being saved at the cost of Alyx vanishing. 
==Personality==
Alyx's being so young during the Combine's initial invasion means that she barely remembers a pre-apocalyptic world. As such, she is a generally cheerful optimist, a rarity in the Half-Life universe. 
She is notable among Half-Life protagonists for having a distinct personality at all; Gordon is a silent protagonist, Adrian Shephard's words are unheard by the player, and Barney Calhoun is not given a personality while he is a playable character. 
==Fandom==
As one of the most important characters in the series, Alyx is featured in a large number of Half-Life fanworks. As of June 2021, over 250 works on AO3 have the character tag "Alyx Vance". 
The most common ship featuring Alyx is Gordon Freeman/Alyx Vance (Freemance), with over 70 works on AO3. She has also been shipped with Chell of the Portal franchise. One fic and some art of the polyship "Barney Calhoun/Gordon Freeman/Alyx Vance" also exists. 
She is notably absent from most HLVRAI fanworks, as that series takes place in the first Half-Life game, where Alyx is not present. 
==Example Fanworks==
===Fics===
* Side Effects May Include Distraction by squeequeg
===Art===
* excited! by galoogamelady 
* a half-life game? in this year of our lord 2019? stranger things have happened by caramujotan
* She’s babysitting Lamarr... by prettycoolducks
* So There's This enemy of the state by wathion 
* yea by forestfolke
* Epistle 3 alyx by franmagali
Category:Half-Life