More theories than you can shake a stick at!
Well, everybody and his dog have different theories about the G-Man. The question is whether ultimately he is evil.
The Poll
Poll Question 106 – Is the G-Man Evil?
10th January 2009
Good question!
I voted no, but I want to add a qualifier – I’ve gotten the impression that the G-Man is essentially just an employee doing his job and it’s his employers who have an interest in manipulating Gordon (and Eli and Alyx, and possibly Mossman also) for their (the employers’) own ends. If this is true, I suppose that the G-Man could be considered evil-by-extension, but I don’t think he’s evil on his own. Whether the employers are evil remains to be seen, though…
The Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying system has what I think is one of the best ways of summarizing the alignment of any character. Under that system, I believe that G-Man is “Lawful Evil”.
Here is the definition of that:-
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Lawful Evil
Lawful evil is referred to as the “Dominator” or “Diabolic” alignment. Characters of this alignment show a combination of desirable and undesirable traits: while they typically obey their superiors and keep their word, they care nothing for the rights and freedoms of other individuals.
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I think that fits G-Man pretty well – so I vote YES.
Hmmm, I am out on this one.
Why would he implant the warning in Alex’s head, “Beware of unforeseen circumstances”, if he was evil.
But then again he uses Freeman to do his dirty work then puts him into limbo until he is needed again.
Maybe the G-man has his own agenda.
So I am a “don’t know”.
lol
Well, I don’t suppose he is evil but extremely cynical, maybe he’s employers are worst. Gman must have a good plan
I was under the impression the G-Man is Gordon from the future !!
i think Gman is good, but not sure about Gordon. He never talks and just follows the path he sees. How did he graduted from a school in the first place? Something smells fishy around here. Gman just trying to use Gordon in the right way, without Gman he would be dead by now anyway. Maybe Gordon is a Cyborg? That seems acceptable, and Gman is his creator or adjuster or something like that. Like I said, Gman is not a big mystery, Gordon is. For gods sake he didn’t even talk to Alyx.
I hope Valve answers all questions in Episode 3 or i’ll be really upset. They should just finish it, without any doubt in minds. It’s time for Half Life to have an end.
Is he evil? Hard to say, but I do think he is amoral. There is a difference. He doesn’t seem to have any particular allegiances or any sense of remorse or empathy for his actions or their unfortunate (but perhaps not unforeseen) consequences. After all, since he’s the one who dropped the sample off at Black Mesa in the first place, he is indirectly responsible for everything that transpires afterward, including the precarious situation mankind appears to find itself in.
But we don’t know what his larger plan is either. He may have very good reasons for what he does.
There is also definitely a part of me that thinks G-Man is Gordon from the future and that Half-Life will end back at Black Mesa, with the player-as-G-Man giving the sample to the scientist, as if Gordon is trapped in a never ending Möbius strip of trying to right the wrongs he caused, with each incarnation of Gordon advising the next as the G-Man. There are the physical similarities and the fact that the G-Man has never been given a name.
Up until Episode 1, the G-Man’s role was a lot more ambiguous. He was, for all intents and purposes, Rod Serling from the Twilight Zone, bookending each game and seldom messed with the fates of characters. But there’s no doubt from the Vortigaunt sequence in Episode 1 that the G-Man certainly has an agenda of his own design and he is awfully angry when things don’t go according to plan.
That said, I wouldn’t presume anything. In fact, I’d be willing to guess that Valve may not even know what the G-Man is up to. 🙂
I think Kyouryuu said it best. Valve is probably still working that one out. I think in HL1, G-Man was intended to be evil. But now that the story has progressed, Valve may put in a twist or two.
Btw, the scenario that Kyouryuu put forth would indeed make an interesting story. It reminded me of a si-fi novel written many years ago called “The Man Who Folded Himself”. It too involved multiple generations of the same man moving through time…
It has been always in my mind that the Gman is a government employee from the future who is using Gordon to correct mistakes made during this era.
Of course, this opens the door for multiple possibilities in next episodes…???
He’s cynical and Gordon appears to him as almost expendable. I definitely share the idea he’s coming back from the future to clean the mess.
Besides, really evil guys usually have good tailors.
Just because G-Man reminds me of a math teacher I had in school I think he’s gotta be as evil as hell Muahahaha 🙂
Now seriously, I think it’s hard to tell whether or not g-man is evil… He’s done some good things as well (those of you who played Opposing Force may remember that g-man saved Adrian Shepperd from death once).
And yes, I did have a professor (in college) who looked like g-man’s twin brother (believe it or not).
GMan is totally just a contractor. He works for the highest bidder, and since he’s clearly alien we can’t even begin to imagine what motivates him and what he would consider “evil” if anything. It seems that GMan is working towards ridding the earth of the combine, or at least destabilizing their position. I wonder why? It seems unlikely that humanity could have the means to motivate him, so either he has a client unknown to us with an interest in earth, or something about the Combine’s presence is an obstacle that he is removing of his own accord.
Dun dun dah……
Well in my book the Gman is one of two things:
1=he is either someone from the future who has come and triggered all these events(from the resonance cascade to the combine invasion)for some reason that will be revealed at the end of the game(in this case he disappears so quicly as he appears because of his ability to travel in time) or
2=all the game is just an experiment and you are asleep.Gman is just the one who watches your progress throughout your ‘dream” and quides you through it(in this case he DIS-appears so quicly because he can get in the dream whenever he wants)
If the second one is true then wtf worst story ever…I hope either the first is true or something else!
I’m not sure… He wanted to kill freeman…
The whole issue with HL and the GMan reminds me a lot of Babylon 5 where two ancient alien races were using younger races to fight for them. In HL1 it was clear to me that the GMan provoked the Xen aliens into attacking earth to have them conquered by humans in the counter-attack. It’s less clear now after HL2 but the Combine may be one of the races fighting and GMan obviously works for the other side. It’s a bit like Dr. Who and the Timelords as well.
It’s hard for me to tell exactly what “evil” is in the Half-Life universe(s). I’m not even sure that the Combine are entirely “evil”. The most I can say on this is that I don’t like him, but he seems to have done more good during the course of the story than anything else(Even if he accomplished these things through coercion and force). So, no, he doesn’t strike me as being bad, he’s just an asshole.
At first, in HL1 I thought he was just evil, maybe even a halucination through all of the trauma of a ressonance cascade. I remember where g-man presses a button to rise toxic green acid in a room where you were trapped (i think) but finally were able to get out. Maybe he knew you were capable of getting out but was just testing you, then employ you and wasnt just being evil.
gman has always been a neutral character. Probably lawful neutral. He follows orders and works to achieve whatever goal he has, but helping one group or destroying another is purely incidental.
I know a valve employee who has told me the main idea that they’ve been playing with.
Quite simply everyone overlooks the title Half-life, it has two meanings, not only the scientific meaning, but the fact that Gordon’s life is guided and his actions are decided by Gman…. He merely performs these acts.
Gordon manages to go back in time using the portal found at the borealis where he confronts Gman at the black mesa facility. At the end of the game you will be inside the train seen at the end of half-life 1-2 as Gordon and somehow you have overpowered Gman (they don’t know yet hashing it out for the release in 2013). Gman pleads with Gordon explaining he really had no choice in the affair and he agrees it was rather unfortunate that things occured the way they did. Gman explains that he was merely provided with the job of preparing Gordan for the “business” and that this was a test that he succeeded in completing.
Gordon for a moment questions shooting gman, but ultimately does in fact shoot him. Gman screams inside gordan’s head and the view switches from Gordon to Gman. Gordan talks (for the first time!) and explains to Gman that all of his life he felt like he had no choice and that he was merely walking and letting someone else (the player) control him, but this time he would control his life and live it fully.
G-man is utterly shocked at this decision and gasps out for Mr. Freeman… Mr. Freeman… something like that my friend doesn’t really know what he will say yet because this will be the full circle of the half-life series and they’ve been working on this since the beginnng.
Gordon turns to the G-man as he steps to the door to enter the time period he began in half-life 1 and brushes off his suit. He throws the crowbar to G-man and says, “The right man… In the wrong place… Can make all the difference in the world.” Gman screams to Gordan as he exits the door, and only the blackness of the closed train answers him.
So in fact my friend was telling me that the entire game G-man was really the player and was the reason Gordon never spoke. G-man controlled Gordan’s life, and in doing so meant that the player was controlling Gordan’s life….. Complicated, but he said this was the sort of idea they aimed for.
You may ask why Gordan decided that the blackmesa time period was the best idea? Alyx dies in Half-life 3 getting Gordan through the portal in the borealis, Gordan realizes that he has to stop G-man from giving the crystal in the first game, and that is why he goes and (possibly?) kills gman. He does this to save alyx’s life as well as Eli’s wife. Gordan sacrifices his chance of ever being with alyx to know that she is safe and well.
Half-life 3 ending in a nutshell. Looking forward to it’s announcement.