G-Man

## Evil-Doer

* Half-Life Alyx
* Half-Life 2
* Half-Life 1

### Goals:

Unknown. (Possibly to please his employers, and/or cover up the Black Mesa incident)

### Hobby:

Manipulating people, it's unknown whether or not he's this skill for his own benefit or for his employers and his presumed business.
Watching certain people from the shadows.
Watching TV.
Observing Gordon Freeman.

### Crimes:

Instigating The Black Mesa Incident
Interfering With Military Operations
Incrimination
Destruction
Vandalism
Stalking
Kidnapping
Conspiracy
Espionage
Corruption
Mass Murder (Indirectly)
Genocide (Indirectly)

### Type of Villain:

Enigmatic Manipulating Distorter

The **G-Man** is one of the few main antagonists, (Alongside The Combine Advisors), of the science fiction first-person shooter video game series *Half-Life*. It remains a mystery who or what he truly is or what his true motives are. Appearance-wise, the G-Man appears as an aging businessman who is encountered throughout the series in various forms and places, often delivering cryptic messages to the main characters, and seemingly controlling them, or at least observing them at all times. He is usually seen with a mysterious briefcase.

While not strictly opposing the protagonists or even confirmed to be truly evil, he alters a chain of events in history and in turn is responsible for inciting several primary conflicts in the *Half-Life* universe; he is the instigator of the Black Mesa Incident, and the indirect catalyst of the Seven Hour War, which led to the Combine Empire's brutal occupation of Earth, out of the interest of his enigmatic "employers".

During gameplay, the G-Man often makes appearances in areas that are out of the player's reach, only confronting the player directly at the end of second game where he has taken away the access to their weapons. In between *Half-Life* and *Half-Life 2*, he seems to put Gordon Freeman in stasis until the Earth has been successfully taken over by the Combine, all for unknown reasons though he believes this has a major impact on something unknown that he want's.

The G-Man's motivations and backstory are a complete mystery, with only small hints towards his backstory. As hinted to Adrian Shephard, the G-Man was once forced to adapt and survive in his past, hinting that he was involved in a similar incident to the Black Mesa Incident. In March of the year 2000, G-Man oversaw Adrian Shephard's training, two months prior to the Black Mesa Incident.

He is voiced by Michael Shapiro, who also voiced the Nihilanth in the same game.

## Appearance:

The G-Man is seen throughout the games either watching the player, or tending to another task such as talking to other characters or simply walking through the area. His appearance is that of a businessman always wearing a blue suit, tie, and carrying his signature briefcase which upon close observation contains a handgun and photo.

Other distinct features being his rough and sandy face, flat hair cut and widow's peak, and his abnormally light blue eyes. However, his most distinctive feature is his calm and raspy voice, often slurring, pausing between words, and stretching syllables in a way that makes his voice more distinct than others. This is implied to be that he is not used to speaking English.

This all falls together with his uptight look, he constantly maintains his appearance as he is commonly seen straightening his tie or wiping dirt off his coat, this mixed with his twisted ideals makes him a perfect villain, giving him a calm trust-able façade over a cold monstrous personality.

## Personality:

As the G-Man's name implies, he acts similarly to an agent of the FBI, with his calm clever personality, and his concerns in taking care of the Black Mesa incident in a professional and clean way, leaving Gordon Freeman and Adrian Shephard to do that for him. The G-man does not appear to work alone, rather he works for his "employers" as he calls them, saying that he is simply doing what he's told. His job in the incident seems to be simply setting up the dominoes and knocking the first one down, leaving the reaction to occur as he intended in an ultimate effort not to elevate the situation, but to end it.

However, he does not seem to be out to stop the problem but to stop it and silence it, leading him to nuke the entire facility and discard of all witnesses except for those he finds useful later on. Though he has a human appearance he is anything but, as the G-Man possesses many supernatural powers such as teleportation, inter-dimensional travel, and even the ability to stop time, and is apparently invulnerable.

## Storyline:

### *Half-Life*

For most of the game, the G-Man watches Gordon Freeman as he attempts to survive in Black Mesa in out-of-reach areas.

Once Gordon prevails against and defeats the Nihilanth, the G-Man teleports Gordon to a strange, elevator-like place and removes all of his weapons and tools, claiming they were "government property", and begins rambling about his "employers", how Xen is now under his "employers" control and of Gordon's "limitless potential", teleporting them around various places of Xen as he does so, once he is done rambling, he will teleport both of them to a Black Mesa tram that appears to be flying through space at high speeds, giving him an offer to work for him, opening a portal to an unknown location.

If Gordon refuses to enter the portal, the G-Man sees this as Gordon refusing his offer, enraged but keeping his calm, the G-Man teleports Gordon in front of an army of Alien Grunts, leaving him with the phrase "No regrets, Mr. Freeman.", in the files there is an extended version of this phrase, "No regrets, Mr. Freeman, but there are a few survivors of your personal holocaust, who would like the chance to meet the man responsible for the total annihilation of their race.", meaning the G-Man knew the Alien Grunts would murder Gordon out of revenge for their race, and to ensure this, never returned Gordon's weapons, leaving him defenseless against the army.

If Gordon does enter the portal, the G-Man will congratulate Gordon for his choice, putting him in stasis in his realm to wait for the up-coming Combine invasion to use Gordon as a tool to effectively silence the Combines.

### *Half-Life: Opposing Force*

While Adrian Shephard is training in boot camp, the G-Man accelerates his training without anyone knowing, the drill instructor commenting about it.

Meanwhile, in Black Mesa, it seems Adrian is doomed as radioactive liquids steadily rise towards him. However, the G-Man opens a door, allowing him to escape the dangerous liquids, saving his life.

However, later in the game when trying to escape Black Mesa, before Adrian can escape, the G-Man closes the door on him, forcing him back into the facility.

The G-Man reappears to re-arm the nuclear bomb Adrian had disarmed earlier in order to destroy the Black Mesa facility, leaving the Alien Invasion problem to Gordon Freeman to clean-up.

After Adrian kills the Gene Worm, the G-Man teleports him to safety on a HECU V-22 Osprey helicopter. The G-Man once again monologues about his "employers" and their wishes to effectively silence all witnesses of the Black Mesa incident, but decides against their wishes and decides to spare Adrian, but mentions that he must be detained. However, G-Man begins musing about the fact of Adrian's ability to "adapt & survive against all odds" in Black Mesa, a giant explosion is then seen in the background, signaling Black Mesa's destruction, G-Man then teleports the Osprey to Xen before finally teleporting it into the same void seen at the end of *Half-Life*, describing it as a place where Adrian can "do no harm" and "no harm can come to him", he then opens the cockpit door and summons a portal before leaving Adrian in the empty void.

### *Half-Life: Blue Shift*

The G-Man appears momentarily at the beginning of the expansion pack, appearing to either not notice Barney Calhoun, or is just completely ignoring him. The ending text of the game does imply that G-Man (or his employers) did have some sort of interest in Barney Calhoun, although were unable to observe him any further as Calhoun managed to successfully escape Black Mesa with a team of scientists. G-Man was likely preoccupied with Gordon Freeman and Adrian Shephard to keep an eye on Barney Calhoun.

### *Half-Life: Decay*

Similar to *Half-Life: Blue Shift*, the G-Man only appears momentarily at the beginning of the expansion pack, appearing to either not notice doctors Gina Cross and Colette Green, or is just completely ignoring them.

### *Half-Life 2*

The G-Man awakens Gordon from stasis twenty years after the Black Mesa incident. During the events of the game, he once again observes Gordon from inaccessible areas.

The G-Man appears at the end of the game after Gordon does critical damage to the Dark Energy reactor, resulting in a giant explosion that would have undoubtedly killed Gordon. However, time slows to a halt around Gordon as the teleporter at the top of the Citadel explodes, and the G-Man appears out of thin air. The G-Man talks about how much Gordon has accomplished in such a small time frame, mentioning that he received "interesting offers" for Freeman's services. He then talks about how instead of offering him "the illusion of free choice", he would choose for him. This is in reference to the events of the first *Half-Life*, where Gordon Freeman was put in stasis if he accepted the G-Man's offer, and slain by a horde of Xen monsters if he refused. They then teleport to a black void similar to that of *Half-Life*, where they were in a tram car hurtling through the void. The G-Man apologizes, acknowledging that it may seem like an "arbitrary imposition". He starts to explain that Freeman will understand it in the course of something, but stops himself, saying that he is not at liberty to say what. He says goodbye to Freeman and exist through an opening in the void, which closes, leaving Freeman in stasis again.

### *Half-Life 2: Episode One*

The G-Man appears at the beginning of the game, appearing through the same door seen at the end of *Half-Life 2*. Suddenly a cohort of glowing Vortigaunts with blue eyes appears. The G-Man seems amused by this sight, but another purple Vortigaunt appears, wiping the smirk off G-Man's face. More and more Vortigaunts appear, a look of irritation now on the G-Man's face. His irritation shifts to barely veiled anger as he realizes that the Vortigaunts intend to take Gordon Freeman out of the G-Man's stasis dimension. Straightening his tie, the G-Man replies to the Vortigaunts, saying "We'll see... about that.", however before the G-Man can break free, the purple Vortigaunts successfully teleport Gordon out of the G-Man's realm and away from his grasp, after this the G-Man is not seen for the rest of the game.

### *Half-Life 2: Episode Two*

Before the Vortigaunts could begin healing Alyx, time suddenly stops. The G-Man calls out to Gordon, and explains the Vortigaunts have somehow been preventing him from telekinetically talking to Gordon. He also explains how the Vortigaunts used to care nothing about Alyx as all their experiences with humanity ended with a crowbar coming to them through a steel corridor, reflecting on how Gordon killed multiple Vortigaunts in Black Mesa. G-Man then reveals he "plucked" Alyx from Black Mesa and used to think of her as nothing more than a child, however, he learned to ignore the "naysayers", and explains that he remains confident that she has more worth then the appraisal, he then explains how he wishes for "repayment" for saving Gordon's life in *Half-Life 2*, this repayment is safely escorting Alyx to White Forest, then expresses his wishes to not be able to just keep an eye on Gordon, but has agreed to abide by certain "restrictions", before leaving, he tells Alyx to relay these words to her father, Eli Vance: "Prepare for unforeseen consequences."

Once Gordon, Alyx, and Eli meet up, Alyx walks up to her father and relays G-Man's words before holding her head. The G-Man briefly appears on a nearby TV screen before she speaks. Eli is disturbed by her words and makes up an excuse for her to leave the room. After Alyx leaves, Eli reveals he is aware of the G-Man's presence too and reveals that the G-Man supplied Black Mesa with GG-3883, a substance that ultimately caused the Black Mesa incident and whispered into his ear "Prepare for unforeseen consequences" shortly before the Resonance Cascade.

Eli tells Gordon he believes the phrase is a warning regarding the Borealis and reiterates his belief that it should be destroyed lest the events of the Black Mesa incident repeat themselves. Anything else Eli knew about the G-Man is left unsaid as he is killed by a Combine Advisor some time later.

### *Half-Life: Alyx*

Five years before Gordon Freeman's arrival in City 17, a 19-year-old Alyx goes to search for her father Eli after he was captured by Combine forces for spotting a strange structure at the City 17 Quarantine Zone. After Alyx and a Vortigaunt save Eli from a crashed train, Eli reveals that he learned in custody that the Combine were storing a superweapon called the "Vault" in the Quarantine Zone. He orders Alyx to find the weapon and get it before it can be moved to a safer place.

Alyx finds the vault, which is revealed to be a high tech cell. Eli assumes that it contains Gordon Freeman, as previously a Combine scientist mentioned it contained a survivor from Black Mesa. Alyx opens the vault, only to reveal that it contains the G-Man, who had been imprisoned there by the Combine as he was deemed a threat towards them. G-Man thanks Alyx and offers her his services, revealing to her that he is able to modify reality. Alyx requests that G-Man removes the Combine from earth, although he states that it is too big for him to handle. However, G-Man offers Alyx a chance to save Eli and shows her a future event in which he is killed by the Combine Advisor. Alyx uses her gravity gloves to kill the Advisor and spare Eli's life. Afterward, G-Man reveals to Alyx that she has proved herself capable of replacing Gordon, whom G-Man has grown dissatisfied with for not carrying out his given mission. G-Man then places Alyx into his stasis, having gotten her into his "employment".

In the post-credit scene, Freeman awakens in the hanger from *Episode Two*, in which an alive Eli informs him that the G-Man has taken Alyx and vows to kill him. G-Man can be seen on a balcony observing the pair of them, before walking off and disappearing.

## Trivia:

* Originally The G-Man was intended to be the mysterious "Administrator" mentioned in the original *Half-Life* and its expansion packs, with even a cut audio file referring to him as such. This led to mods of *Half-Life* placing him in the role of the Administrator and online guides calling him that. It wasn't until *Half-Life 2'*s release when the administrator was revealed to be Dr. Wallace Breen, making the G-Man's role even more of a mystery.
* In the video game the Henry stickmin collection in chapter 4 "fleeing the complex" in all the routes a character named Gary Mann will appear, clicking on him in all the routes will unlock an achievement.
* *Half-Life: Blue Shift*, *Half-Life 2: Episode One* and *Half-Life 2: Episode Two* are the only games in the series that don't end with G-Man putting the player into stasis. Also *Half-Life: Blue Shift* and *Half-Life 2: Episode One* are the only games in which G-Man doesn't oversee the player's actions during the course of the game.
	+ However it is possible that he was somehow overseeing Barney Calhoun's journey in *Half-Life 2: Blue Shift*, as the ending of the game gives Barney's status as "Out of Range" (as he managed to escape Black Mesa).
* His ability to disappear and his strange mysterious behavior has often been parodied in *Half-Life* related media, most notably the Half-Life 2 webcomic *Concerned: The Half-Life and Death of Gordon Frohman*. A disavowed and hard to find web-comic *Catching the G-Man* (which could have been found on the Concerned forums) dealt with the main character whose life goal was to try and catch G-Man, but always ended up failing.
* Originally in *Portal 2* when Wheatley (known as Pendleton at this time) awakens Chell, he informs her that "A man with a briefcase was just here to see you!", which could possibly mean that the G-Man also has an influence over Aperture Laboratories, and could also possibly be the reason Chell was awoken from her simulation, as he has awakened Gordon from stasis in the past.
	+ He could also possibly also be the reason for Chell's bump up in testing in *Portal*, as he has influenced characters like the Ratman before and has also bumped up Adrian in his training from a simple soldier to a special HECU soldier.