Alyx Vance

**Alyx Vance** is the main deuteragonist from the *Half-Life* series.

## **Charactah Account**

Alyx helped Gordon Freeman time and again in his work with the Resistance.

Despite Alyx's friendly nature, she shows some hostility towards Dr. Mossman because of Mossman's somewhat patronizing attitude towards her, as well as Mossman's interest in her father. At the end of Half-Life 2, this hostility has seemingly vanished, when Dr. Mossman helps to free Alyx and her father from the clutches of Dr. Breen.

Alyx is also a rather cheerful, optimistic person, showing some sense of humour. This is evidenced by the jokes she makes about various events. For instance, she playfully mocks Gordon's silence at the start of Half-Life 2, telling him "Man of few words, aren't you?" Another example can be experienced in the chapter Lowlife of Episode One, where she and Gordon navigate a series of Zombie-infested tunnels. During lulls in combat she imitates a Zombie growl to scare the player, then will laugh and say "Gotcha!" when they find out it is her. She also attempts another "joke" shortly after when entering a Combine troop train. She spots a dead Overwatch Soldier with a Headcrab over its head and tries to lighten the situation, by naming it a "Zombine."

## **Appearance**

### **Video Games**

* Half-Life 2
* Half-Life 2: Episode One
* Half-Life 2: Episode Two
* Half-Life: Alyx

## **Trivia**

* Unlike other games that feature extremely vulnerable mission-critical characters, *Half-Life 2* gives Alyx the ability to absorb a large amount of damage before death (due to the fact that her health regenerates extremely rapidly). It is still possible for her to die during combat however, and at several points the player is required to protect her from taking damage. Her death will result in a black screen fade and failure message, then the game will reload. It takes five simultaneous Overwatch Sniper Rifle shots to kill her, indicating that she can absorb an extremely high amount of damage. Alyx can often successfully defeat several enemies at once without the player's assistance, but she is vulnerable to multiple enemies mobbing her at close range, or to individual Combine Soldiers equipped with shotguns.
	+ All games have unique messages when Alyx dies. For example: In *Episode One*, if she is killed, a message will say, "Alyx died." In *Episode Two however*, a message will say, "The Alyx Vance has died. Without her we cannot persevere." In *Half-Life 2*, the message is similar to *Half-Life*’s message: "Subject: Gordon Freeman. Status: terminated. Reason: Subject failed to preserve mission critical personnel." However, if Barney dies in *Episode One* after he boards the train (via cheats) the message will remain the same.

* Just before Alyx and Gordon meet with Barney, a rebel asks Alyx if she is Kleiner's daughter and she sarcastically claims that she is the daughter of Odessa Cubbage, mirroring somehow the early stages of *Half-Life 2*’s production when she was to be the daughter of another military man, Captain Vance.[4]
* Unlike other games with NPCs that often engage in repetitive behaviors, Alyx Vance is programmed to engage in more context-sensitive behaviors. For example, when Alyx is in hand-to-hand combat; she and her enemy may preform a certain type of dynamic interaction where she would either struggle or succeed. While Alyx is fighting, she might say easter eggs that are unexpected and satisfying to the player.
* In the complete darkness areas of the *Episode One* chapter *Lowlife*, Alyx will protect her eyes when Gordon directs his flashlight directly at her face (it is also seen in *Episode Two*). Furthermore, as she cannot proceed in complete darkness without Gordon and his flashlight, she will call in fear when the player turns it off and suddenly moves away from her.
* At one point during *Episode 1*, Alyx will comment that "We really need to talk to Dr. Kleiner about getting a new battery for that flashlight.", referring to the fact that that flashlight is dependent on the same energy bar Gordon uses to sprint and breath underwater during both *Half-Life 2* and *Episode 1.* In *Episode 2*, the flashlight has its own, separate energy bar, which both runs out more slowly and recharges more quickly than the original energy bar. This change can be interpreted as a response to Alyx's comment during *Episode 1*, even though they didn't actually reach Dr. Kleiner prior to this.
* Alyx is referred to in Overwatch announcements as the "Vance Subprime."
* When Alyx and Gordon first meet, she asks him "*Doctor Freeman, I presume?*", probably a nod to the famous quote "*Dr. Livingstone, I presume?*".
* In Dr. Kleiner's lab, on one of the walls, there is a crude image of Dr. Kleiner that Alyx drew when she was very young.
* With the exception of when she first meets Gordon in Half-Life 2, Alyx always refers to Gordon by his first name.