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
Published
10th January 2009
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18 Comments
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…
10th January 2009
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.
10th January 2009
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
10th January 2009
Well, I don’t suppose he is evil but extremely cynical, maybe he’s employers are worst. Gman must have a good plan
11th January 2009
I was under the impression the G-Man is Gordon from the future !!
11th January 2009
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.
12th January 2009
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.
12th January 2009
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…
14th January 2009
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…???
14th January 2009
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.
15th January 2009
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).
16th January 2009
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……
19th January 2009
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!
21st January 2009
I’m not sure… He wanted to kill freeman…
10th February 2009
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.
21st July 2009
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.
24th August 2009
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.
2nd December 2009
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.