I believe his employers are Valve, so they can give him authorizations to do things that can alter the future for their benefit to keep the story expanding
I also like this theory, a 4th wall break that doesn't quite actually break it. At the end of HL:A he hints at being able to nudge the timeline, but flat out removing the Combine from Earth wouldn't be a satisfying ending so that isn't one he could do. But replacing Eli's death cliffhanger with the "employment" of Alyx cliffhanger, maybe that's how they would like to handle a possible HL3, but require a nudge to the existing story. Almost everything works as a just Valve making happen what they want to happen in the story, even his annoyance in HL2:E1 reflects how they wanted to change pace to be more episodic rather than a single big title every decade or 2.
To me, this always made the most sense. The GMan can alter time, teleport, he knows the script, he guides the player with subtle influence, and he sets key events in motion. He's basically an in-game representation of a game developer in god mode. He 'recruits you', which is an analogy for keeping the attention of the player.
I'm almost certain GMan is a metaphor for Valve. When he says that his employer agrees that Gordon Freeman "has limitless potential" it pretty much means Valve is happy with the game and character they created and they consider it the beginning of a franchise. So how long Gordon Freeman will be gone and when will the sequel come? Well, Valve / GMan is "really not at liberty to say". GMan doesn't actually have any place in the storyline nor is he connected to the game universe. He's more of a cameo. Even when Alyx busts him out of his holding cell, it's still more of a cameo. It's also pretty obcious that GMan's doesn't have any consistent agenda that would make sense in the game world. But you can notice that he has an agenda to make next chapter or next game happen.
The "GMan = G(ordon Free)man" is also stupid, because gman is the name of the character model of the gman, but he's never referred to as such, only as "He" and "our mutual friend" (and Mrs. X in Epistle 3). He's so mysterious people don't even know what to call him, so they just go back to his model name.
He is referred to as the G-man in the opposing force game manual I believe. It has pages from Adrian Sheppards diary and he references him as a "G-man" which Is slang for government man. Now technically speaking I don't think opposing force is canon (not sure if valve have confirmed this)
I know G ordon free Man is a good theory but i'd like to say he is more of a barney than gordon first: same voice actor (I know that is stupid but still) second: if you saw any barney model without the helmet in blue shift. He looks so similar he never shows up in blue shift I'm sure that time you saw him in the tram entering black mesa he wasn't there for you it was for gordon he didn't talk to barney or hire him or anything I reckon when Barney left c17 in ep1 you never see him again because of whatever happened to him that turned him into gman also barney didn't show up in Alyx game my theory is that Alyx happened after hl2 in gman timeline that's why there's no barney and i guess there is no more barney forever and I have a lot more to support that Gman is Barney
He's called the gman in the opposing force, episode one episode two and hl2 prima guides. And he's called the administrator in the opfor Prima guide and the half life audio script
I have a personal theory that g-man is slowly losing it throughout the games. During Half Life he is cold and detached yet after saving Alyx during ep2 he appears spitefull after his plans were ruined by the Vortigaunts. This lead to HL:Alyx where he did something as rash as timetravel and appears highly emotional showing that he has truly gone of the deep end.
What's even crazier is one theory says G-Man traveled back in time from the events of Episode 2 to the events of Half-Life Alyx because the Vortigaunts ruined his plans, and doing so allowed him to achieve his goals while changing the rest of history.
The latest theory is he is an evolved form of the Shu'ulathoi - an alien species capable of telepathic, psychic and spacetime manipulation abilities. Same as Gman. Both are also "species" the combine wish to enslave and thus, are the enemies of the combine. Currently we only see the Shu'ulathoi as larvae form - aka the Combine "Advisor". It is said that once fully grown, they are capable of physically manifesting the form of whatever abilities and knowledge they have "extracted". In Gman's case, he manifests himself as a human being, yet remains Shu'ulathoi by essence and ability.
@@vibaj16 WRONG, the Shu'ulathoi are an enslaved species by the combine just like striders and gunships and the like, you can see their implants straight into their brain which is how the combine controls them
@@vibaj16The “Combine” are not a singular species or race. They are an abstract faction. An ideology. A super organism. The Advisors, as their title would imply, aren’t even at the top of the “pecking order”, if you could even call it that. They are simply another cog in the machine that is the Universal Union.
This is sad because gman used to be mysterious and creepy but now he's just a head in a toilet and says skibidi Dom dom Yes all day(I can't believe I almost started a comment war)
@@TheVicar *(Proceeds to shoot the hole, any hole... Overall defying unexplainable physics and creates something else even more unexplainable)* Well... That was easy.
My theory is that his employers are a race more powerfull than even the combine and are pitting potential future rivals against eachother In hl1 they hoped that xen and humanity whipe eachother out The combine was more powerfull then humanity so gman probably gage a little help so the scores would be a little more even. Gman in hl1 speaks like he's trying to remember certain words.
my theory is the g in G-man stands for Gabe, and valve is his employers. He keeps characters in stasis until his "employers need him" saved freeman and alyx from certain death in the explosion in the citadel. I think its a creative way to break the 4th wall
If that’s the case do you think the ending to half life Alex is a way of winking towards more future things? Or is it kinda like the employers need a game to test this new technology so rise and shine?
i have a theory. The employers are a race of beings so powerful, they are bored. Nothing poses a chalenge to them and they want something entertaining. so they created gman to sniff out planets with sentience and make them wage war on eachother. The employers were entertained by this. Must like greek mythology gods were entertained by watching and placing bets on which faction wins. The gman found combine. a bit later earth. You know where this is going. but since combine was op earth went down too quickly for the employer to have enough so gman employed some humans like gordon and alyx. gave them advantage and started resistance to stir up the action. And my guess is that when the employers have enough of earth vs combine. they will eaither revert it back or yeetus deletus both.
IMO the employers are humans so far in the future they are essentially gods. So they hire someone who can jump not netween dimensions or space. But also time.
i feel like hes some sort of interdimensional being. in fact i dont see anywhere that this game has space travel in it, it all seems to be other dimensions
He's the director "directing" things. I like to think that the G in G-man means many things, which is why they named him G-man. Galaxy man, Gaia man, Greater man, Gods man, Gabe man, Gladiator man, G-String Theory man etc. As others have commented, his origins derives from X-Files Smoking Man which adds intrigue and mystique. But ultimately, he assists Valve to take their IP Half-Life places. Turn it towards other planets, atmospheres and enemies if so much wanted, go back, forth, do and undo.
"G-man (short for "government man", plural G-men) is an American slang term for agents of the United States Government. It is especially used as a term for an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)" That being said, deep state feds are definitely aliens.
according to breengrub the shu'ulathoi (Advisor) that we see is only it's larval state, and that when it grows it turns into what ever it shall want, keep in mind that the advisor is shown as a very strong creature in ep2, imagine how strong it will be when grown up, this information backs up my theory that G-man is a shu'ulathoi
G-man seems like he is based off Nyarlathotep from HP love craft, Nyarlathotep is a messenger to the outer gods and G-man upfront says he is working on behalf of his “employers” Nyarlathotep has many abilities that G-man has, although far more
my theory ? remember all those black mesa bodies found trough Xen lvls ? I do belive all bodies are actually Gordons bodies from other dimensions , other time variations or ramifications, that's why Nyth say : Last, you are the last... the Gordon Freeman that the players controls is the last of the Gordons , so last shot for humanity or Gman plans , etc... maybe portals don't just cross space but dimensions too.
Mhh, I don't think he's "fate" incarnate. 1. He and his employers are at war with the Combine. 2. He told Alyx that he can't just "nudge" the Combine away from Earth bacause his employers don't "want" him to. (Maybe to keep the combines attention on earth for now). 3. His employers "disagreed" with fate beeing set in stone. 4. He and his employers can teleport and see into the future (and probably saw their own extinction through the combine) 5. He easily changed the ending of HL ep.2 by having Alyx kill the combine who (would have otherwise) killed her father. For now, the strongest theory in my mind is: He's using "capable employees" to slowly "nudge" the course of history to "their" advantage. The Combine invasion of earth (which he totally was to blame for by giving Eli the crystal for the resonance cascade) is necessary for the greater picture to (change fate) and to win the war.
I don't think he and his employers are "at war" with the Combine. They seem to be far more powerful than something like the Combine, given that he implies his employers could easily remove the Combine from Earth if they wanted to. This all seems more like a form of entertainment to him and his employers. "Yo, I bet you if I move just a couple of these humans around in just the right way, they could fend off this Combine race that's taking over their planet."
Is there some of you there who watch Umbrella Academy ? In this TV series, there is an organization called "The Commission". We discover later that the objective of this organization is to manage the space-time continuum by making sure that all events that are supposed to happen, happen. For example, in the story, JFK the murdered ex-president has beeen killed because "The Commission decided of it". Now, going back to Half-Life Series, when I look at the G-Man, I think his purpose has something really similar to "The Commission" ! Controlling the world because like PazTheBhatt said at the end... HE is is the FATE !
I've been thinking about this too (the suitcase?!). It's a fact that the G-Man works for more powerful entities that seem to have great plans - unknown to humankind. But he's not perfect or omnipotent.
but he cant be Fate because fate means something that will happen, but there is another force at play, free will, embodied by Dr FREEman. GMan is trying to "nudge' events in a certain way, but another being capable of "nudging" events in a certain way is also opposing the GMan, this force being Dr Freeman.
Before HL:A my pet theory was that he is a Shu'ulathoi and part of some extrauniversal resistance effort that has managed to harness some crazy technology and is set on toppling the Combine in revenge for enslaving his race. Now after HL:A and Ross Scott's Freeman's Mind 2, now I think he's part of a kind of "CIA" of some other group warring with the Combine that tries to destabilize them through powerful troublemakers like Freeman. Not to the point of making them collapse, but just enough to preserve an equilibrium in the multiversal power system. Part of my change in opinion is because he doesn't seem at all phased by the killing of a subjugated Combine species (the Advisor being a form of Shu'ulathoi)
Freeman's mind is just a show dude,it is made for fun . G-MAN is being which we don't know what it is exactly and what is his aim and his employers yet. He is just disguising as part of the government and human ,but in reality he isn't.
I believe that he's the "last" shu'ulathoi(that is free) and the advisors are a more advanced species and are in an cold war with the combine, so they may also use other species abilities to their advantage, and they are making a "trade" with Gman: "you help us defeat the combine and we help you get your species freedom" and Gman is accepting everything that may help his kind.
I believe the G-Man is one of the Shu'ulathoi that escaped the Combine, who's end goal is the liberation of his fellows enslaved. The Shu'ulathoi are immensely powerful creatures in Half-Life lore, to my recollection, they take the form of the Advisors and Breengrub. Shu'ulathoi in the larval stage (the grub-like appearance of the Advisors) are incredibly intelligent according to Breengrub and Epistle 3 (written by Laidlaw), essentially trapped in a network of thought with other larval Shu'ulathoi. Powerful enough to dictate their cells, and shape their ultimate form. While powerful, the Shu'ulathoi had a weakness. Some parasite, which the Combine exploited, described presently as "a kind of common software" they use now, hence the grubs being taken over. Hijacked. This is why Advisors take such a prevalent role, likely Combine leaders taking over a Shu'ulathoi grub. Also how Breengrub came to be, Wallace Breen having to make a 'tortured copy' of himself as a condition of surrender. A few Shu'ulathoi managed to escape this exploitation, one of which could be the G-Man. Who resolved to free his others, by abstract and uncomprimising means to us inferiors. As for his employers, it could be either a cover or other free Shu'ulathoi, much like the Vortugants' Vortessence. Although, that part's a bit out there. Regardless, the G-Man recognizes employees to help his cause. Usually strong, intelligent, or otherwise capable of great things. Manipulating these employees to eventually lead to his kind's freedom, or even the downfall of the Combine. This could be why the Combine attempted to capture the G-Man in Half-Life: Alyx the way they did. Recognizing his power as a free Shu'ulathoi. That's my theory.
I love how he is used in the beginning and ending of Half-Life 2. He drops you into this new world and then basically doesn’t show up until the end, only showing up at a distance being easily missable. So when you beat Breen you pretty much forgot about him before he stops time to basically go “don’t forget that you were just here to do this job, now back into the toolbox you go, I’ll take you out when I need you to do something for me again.” Showing that this was his plan from the beginning, that the entire game you just played was almost completely planned by him and you were just a pawn to him the whole time.
I've always felt like in these theories we often forget about what Dr. Breen says, which tries to imply that the G-Man is following orders from a certain someone, we'll never know if that's the case tho, but we know that all of half-life history is just a contract to G-Man employers, also, we never know how Eli AND Breen know about the contract of Gordon, we could say that G-Man told them but, it would've collisioned with his plans, or could it? I like to think that the Vorts told Eli, but who knows about Breen, probably the combine, which We already know that they have a lot of information about him.
I always felt like the GMan is and adult Adviser, all of his actions could potentially lead to the demise of the combine, in order to free the Adviser species from the grasp of the combine as futile as it may be.
An interesting take on his mannerisms I've seen is that he's an alien trying to speak human, having to translate foreign concepts on the fly, choosing words that are the closest match but not exact, hence the stuttering and occasional hesitation
I replayed half life 2 recently and in highway 17 when the combine are spying on little Odessa with the binoculars you can see the gman speaking to Odessa cubbage. Cubbage then gives gordon the rocket launcher, interestingly enough, it’s the only rocket launcher in the area. My theory is that the gman gave it him to give to you so you could defeat the gunship and continue. Even something as small as equipment is pivotal to events transpiring as per to the interests of the ‘employers’. It’s similar if Gordon loses the buggy at any point. The fail screen displays something along the lines of “failed to preserve mission critical assets” or whatever, like the buggy is crucial to events also.
There is an uncomfrtable hl2 theory The combine pretends to lose They let c17 blow up In white forrest they could've easily flown in a gunship and use it's belly laser to destroy magnusons silo... They (the combine) have an alterior motive They let the resistence (from before gordons arival until the raid on black mesa east) operate to a certain degree The combine probably had more spies thwn just judith Also there's a tracking device on gordons suit (confirmed in hl1)
The most important words in the entirety of half-life 1 is spoken by Gman in the final minutes of the game. “I have Recommended your services to my- euheuhueheuh-employers” “Employers” That’s what this is all about. This, teleportation master organism, it’s not the bottom of the iceberg, it’s running scared from some all-powerful alien conglomerate, that all-powerful alien conglomerate isn’t the bottom of the iceberg either. We can pinpoint a lot of key facts about it just in this first game. Then you’ve got Gman. This, godlike thing, that we really don’t know anything about. We don’t know if it’s a friend of humanity or an enemy. We have no idea what it actually looks like. We have no idea if it caused the resonance cascade or if it’s just some, black mesa employee who was subject to about a million scientist breakthroughs, Or if it’s an alien? Or what. We are absolutely clueless about this thing and yet, this final spine chilling moment, we learn that EVEN this thing has “employers “ and you know what? I bet that this thing’s employers are just subcontractors to some even bigger space conglomerates, and that even they have forces that they bow to, and so on and so on and so on. Humanity Might have been able to invent teleportation, but we’re single-celled organisms compared to the questions out there in the universe, we will NEVER know what is truly going on behind the scenes of the world half-life, because the world of half-life is one in witch-humanity opened the door to questions-that absolutely no human could ever answer.
I love HL and love theorising about this, but if you watch the HL documentary by valve from late last year you'll realise that there is no G-Man lore. They literally added him last minute and the voice actor did another voice at first and they asked him to try something different so they could choose and he came up with the weird way to talk himself. So there was never any lore behind him to "imitate" a human because he is an alien or whatever. They just added him to make the story more mystical and less arbitrary. Everything after that was added on the fly and he became a vessel for the devs to pretty much do whatever they want and use him as the puppetmaster in the background (that's pretty much how HL:A worked). I'm paraphrasing from the documentary, but if I remember correctly some dev added him in like 5 minutes and didn't know what to call him, so he just named him gman.mdl and used Gordons player model purely out of convenience. Valve is a good gaming company, but they certainly did not plan like 25 years ahead with VR games and an all surrounding lore in the background in mind. All theories and explanation videos are community-made.
The “G” in his name actually stands for “Garry” which is a reference to “GMod” as he is the Admin of the server “Half-Life” and its just one big server.
I have a theory that Half Life universe is based using a blueprint of the Lovecraftian universe, that lead writer Marc Laidlaw used to create a story for the game. Marc is famous for creating other similar fiction like those books showcased in the HL1 locker, 37-th Mandala and Orchid Eater. Why am i thinking this, well, G Man is in my oppinion based, or at least inspired by the cosmic entity from the Lovecraftian stories called Nyarlathotep one of the outer gods and antagonists in the Cthulhu Mythos. You can read about this character in the H.P. Lovecraft wiki, its backstory is basically a perfect match with that of a G-Man. Yithians are similar to Vorts, and there are many other examples of HL and Lovecraft universe mirroring each other. But the most striking resemblance is the G-Man and Nyarlathotep. Look it up.
my canon is that the employers are players of Gmod and the gman is their creation, as garry himself saw this creation he felt a purpose in it: and send it into the main series to do stuff the "employers" want to happen. The big amount of time between half life 2 and 3 is actually due to gmod players ordering gman to freeze any further events to consider their options, aswell as to have time to play darkRPs.
I remember one fan theory was that the G-Man is a member of Nihilanth's race, which explains his powers and spite towards the Combine, so that's the theory I stuck with since then.
Game Theory made a theory that Nihilanth means "Not Man", meaning he is not a normal human, but a Nihilanth in human form. Not to mention, he always holds his tie, which is a third hand that Nihilanths have.
I know a lot of poeple will disagree, but I feel it will be the best if the G-Man's true identify of who he really is and how he does the thing he does remains a mystery. In the end that's what truly makes him such an interesting entity. Once that is taken away, the mystery and people scratching their heads will be over. Also I think after becoming such legendary mystery amoung players and theorists for almost 3 decades, raises the bar so much that it will be extremely difficult to create a truly unique and satisfying answer of who he is without polarizing people. For sure there will be many people who will say "so that's it?" or "we theorized that for some time now, we expected more" or something completely bonkers that may throw people off. Even if Valve had an idea and answer of who he is, it may be too late now to reveal it without being something obvious or too unbelievable. I think the mystery is what made him so iconic and memorable.
To this day I'm amazed by visual jump from HL1 to HL2 when looking at G-Man. To me, it went beyond simple progress of visual between release years and into pure "wow" territory. Couple that with source's sinister but attractive rendition of light and photo textures on simple models and even after twenty years it is still enthralling. It is like when you were used to running from cops into a safe house and saving in GTA:SA and then not understanding that such trick is gone in GTAV (I skipped GTA4, know nothing about it) trying to find a save diskette, getting shot through the door by cops and dying with a feeling that future is here - the indoor-outdoor world is seamless. It is rare, but such things just stay with you.
After reading the comments and studying points in the video, i am in agreement in that G-Man has some sort of Lovecraftieon/extraterrestrial form.This, imo is also backed up by simply his dialog. The way his sentences are structured and paced sound as if he is struggling to speak (at least in a comprehensive manner). Another note, his eyes in HL2 and beyond, are glowing. Edit: After further thinking, maybe he is some sort of demi-god....or maybe a demon. Honestly, i hope the truth is never revealed. Maybe far, far into the future or a strong hint, but never confirmed. But for now, the mystery must be left up to our imagination.
playing all the games as they came out and the frustration waiting for the next one and im not getting any younger 😢 the G-Man is one of those mysteries i like to see resolved as i agree with ya not enough has been given.❤✌️
Theory: G Man mean Gravity Man. He can travel through time and space effortlessly. To do such things, a race would need to master their manipulation of gravity to achieve G Man's abilities. Take a black hole: the singularity at its core can warp space and time. Multiply it by s factor that's close to infinite, and you teleport through the universe by increasing your density (and, as a consequence, your gravitational pull). You could bend time to such a degree that you could literally go back and forth (explaination is actually extremely more complex, not gonna elaborate further for the sake of keeping this comment short). This makes our mutual friend different from the Nihilant as well: manipulating time and space is one thing, manipulating the very thing that can modify space and time to your liking is another. My theory is that the GMan belongs to a race that comes from another universe which is able to manipulate gravity in ways we can only imagine and he can do it to such a degree even interdimensional travel becomes reality. This is why he tries his best to avoid Gordon falls into Combines hands. He could give the secret about G Man's existance away, de facto endangering the G Man's race as a whole (cause Combines CAN travel through dimensions but cannot teleport within the same universe).
My theory is that he’s a member of some sort of competition to the Combine, a civilization that’s discovered time travel, and his goal is to disrupt combine presence in the HL universe to push back the Combine. There might be an infinite amount of GMen in an infinite amount of universe, waging a war of multiversal intrigue
One of my favorite G - Man related things: even if you noclip to observe a location where the G-man is waiting for you, he will keep tracking you with his eyes, like he's aware. Almost unsettling and creepy :D
From Portal 2 it seems that Black Mesa has, or one of the Black Mesas has, stolen Cave Johnson's patents. Therefore it makes sense he'd hire someone to get them back. The G-Man could be an agent of Cave Johnson sent to get revenge on Black Mesa, and Half Life could be running in one of many worlds like the many worlds mentioned in Portal 2. This would explain why the Nihilanth refers to Freeman as "The Last One."
In HL Alyx. G-Man was inside a containment unit specially created by the combine to keep him there using a large amount of energy. How the Combine managed to imprison him is something I don't know, but for the amount of security and energy that was necessary to keep him captive; I think it's something that's far beyond the Combine empire.
My theory on the nature of the G-man 1)Is a metaphysical being existing naturally in another plain of reality 2)Has access to all information 3)Has limited control over space and unlimited control over time 4)Answers to beings of a similar nature but higher power to him 5)Can communicate with the real world by projecting a physical form which dispite having the body of a human (as evidenced by the unusual breathing) can be spawned and dispawned by the being that controls it. 6)This form of communication can be prevented by the vortencence, limiting the G-man to his natural state or even a physical space. This prevention requires constant attention and output of energy in order to remain effective. 7)Despite having unlimited control over time, he (most likely) cannot predict the future, as otherwise he would have prevented the vortigaunts at the start of episode 1 or at least wouldn't be surprised. 8)Is capable of feeling emotions but only when the plans of his employers are disturbed, and he has to nunge them back into the correct order.
The G-man is NOT man. He's a 6th or 7th dimensional entity at LEAST. And he has "The Employers" who are above him. There is no way he could be "future Gordon". The G-Man entity has control over all time and space in this universe, and he can teleport you to other universe's as well. It is unknown if this entity uses some sort of technology to do this, but the briefcase could be just that. There are also rules he has to follow which are beyond our understanding so he does follow a superior authority. He also struggles to say the word : Employers" which indicate that they are something even the G -Man finds complicated and hard to fully understand. For some reason, The Employers have a vested interest in disrupting Combine operations on Earth. They probably gave the G-Man entity no choice in the matter just like the G-man gives the player(s) no choice. The Employers may be at war with the Combine, or maybe they just want to irritate them and cause them trouble and Earth was chosen as the place. I prefer to think of the G-man and the Employers as the good guys in this conflict, even though the entity appears sinister to the player.
I'm not sure if my input will be found among the mass of comments but I believe G-man might be a post larval(grub) stage Shu'ulathoi. G man being one of the Shu'ulathoi's which escaped the combines grasp, and his employers being other Shu'ulathoi's(maybe the escapees are "employing" the next generation (gman and others(g man not being one of the escapees in this case)) to fight back against the combine ). And the reason for G man's interference with Earth is to maybe form a home base on Earth or possibly disrupt combine forces.
I've seen doors open out of nowhere, but only in the Matrix, where everything makes sense. if the G-man plan was to open that crystal to get the power of the Matrix (real world), he has to find someone to do it for him and his employees, which is why he gave it to black mesa and then went on with his plans with Gordon Freeman as the closest guy to the crystal.
Gman has always fascinated me since I was very young. I watched my father complete Half-Life 2 many many years ago, and even then I had no idea who he was or what he was and what his goals were.
I forgot were I heard this but I remember hearing that gman could be in a war with the combine and using earth (and Gordon) as a pawn to destroy the combine somehow
I think, that even Valve don't or didn't know who the G-man really is. 1st game and OF suggest that he is just a government employee from some MIB/CIA agency with super secret high tech. The further it goes, the more supernatural he is and it can end up in him beeing an alien from a species far more developed than both Earth and Combine. I wouldn't be suprised if HL3 didn't give an answer and it never got revealed.
G man is the MAN in the future where humans advanced so much with the technology Gman has in his case. And Gman is trying to change the fate of humanity by going to past where everything started either portal technology. Eventually going to fix everything for better interest of humanity fighting against the Combine. Gman is an agent of future human civilization fighting against Combine. Gman and Gordon Freeman and Nihilant are the same.
Im just starting to learn more about hl story cause i just finished alyx on vr and man, that ending was one of the best endings of any games ive played before, i literaly had goosebumps. I started a new game save just to finish getting the trophies and was struck by the fact that everything was foreshadowed from the start 10/10 would recommend
12:05 OH DAMN IT VALVE WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR MORE THAN 20 DAMN YEARS, it would be funny if in Cough HALFLIFE 3 Cough the g man said: Time, Is it that Time? and showed his identity
I honestly think the absolute worst thing the series could do is answer who the G-Man is and what the Employers want. It would completely ruin the mystery and intrigue, and anything Valve comes up with will never be as good as what we theorise about.
Gman is a narrative tool. It is basically a modern version of the ancient Greek _Deus_ _ex_ _machina_ or an omnipotent divine being that is summoned conveniently to alter anything anytime. As such, it allows to fill the obvious plot holes and story limitations.
G-MAN's employers are (US) the collective gamers who controls, commands and direct the universe from which the HALF-LIFE takes place. Without the interference of the person who plays the game, there will be no story to begin with, there is no progress in HALF-LIFE, so we are the EMPLOYERS. On the alternative, the other theory is that the developers (DEVS) and creator of the game are the true (EMPLOYERS) of G-MAN. The employers refers to a shadow organization that the G-Man is ostensibly employed under, who works BEHINDS THE SCENES.
I personally believe that the G-Man is an escaped Shu'ulathoi (Combine advisor), He can warp time, Teleport, and Maybe even shapeshift. (As advisors did before they were turned into Combine Leaders) He also is slowly losing it throughout the Franchise. Even going back in time to hire Alyx Vance
I think all this talk about fate is pretty interesting when taken into the context of hard sci-fi and the concept of time travel as it is entertained in pop culture. Maybe Half Life’s take on fate is much the opposite to how our culture portrays the concept of time and causality as things for humanity to one day overcome through technological development and science. To become masters of our own destiny is the grand narrative we would hope humanity is manifesting. But perhaps Half Life almost twists this and adds a bit of cosmic horror to the idea that the whole reason fate exists at all is because there are greater powers at work that keep us in this state; and any hopes of “advancing” will just result in us competing against a greater corporate power that has had its hand in the game far longer than we can imagine.
Based on his conversation with Shephard at the end of Opposing Force, I think G-Man was, at one point, like Gordon or Alyx or Adrian, forced into an impossible situation with no hope of survival and somehow coming out on top. Of course, being what he is, it was on a far greater scale than anything either of them could comprehend, but he nonetheless could relate to their plight.
My theory is that Half-Life 3 already exists in the form of Skibidi Toilet and the reason why G-Man Toilet is so prominent there is becuase is becuase the Astro Toilets are the combine.
i wonder if the "employers" are actually the cast (gordon. alyx and eli). The g-man doesn't move through reality and time the same as we perceive it that's why the g-man was waiting for alyx he already knew she would free him as to him it already happened. For freeing him though i believe he was "hired" by alyx to save everyone and to make that happen he traveled trough time to "correct" situations to benefit this "job" and he was given restrictions to not alter the time line to much as it would have unforeseen consequences. Of course thats only half the story he does appear to have his own agenda too maybe to destroy the combine once and for all.
![Prey: How an ending no one picked contextualizes eldritch horror [Fixed Audio]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/StjI5nKqdsY/mqdefault.jpg)
I believe his employers are Valve, so they can give him authorizations to do things that can alter the future for their benefit to keep the story expanding
I also like this theory, a 4th wall break that doesn't quite actually break it. At the end of HL:A he hints at being able to nudge the timeline, but flat out removing the Combine from Earth wouldn't be a satisfying ending so that isn't one he could do. But replacing Eli's death cliffhanger with the "employment" of Alyx cliffhanger, maybe that's how they would like to handle a possible HL3, but require a nudge to the existing story. Almost everything works as a just Valve making happen what they want to happen in the story, even his annoyance in HL2:E1 reflects how they wanted to change pace to be more episodic rather than a single big title every decade or 2.
@@TinBryn This has been my exact theory for years.
To me, this always made the most sense. The GMan can alter time, teleport, he knows the script, he guides the player with subtle influence, and he sets key events in motion. He's basically an in-game representation of a game developer in god mode. He 'recruits you', which is an analogy for keeping the attention of the player.
I'm almost certain GMan is a metaphor for Valve. When he says that his employer agrees that Gordon Freeman "has limitless potential" it pretty much means Valve is happy with the game and character they created and they consider it the beginning of a franchise. So how long Gordon Freeman will be gone and when will the sequel come? Well, Valve / GMan is "really not at liberty to say".
GMan doesn't actually have any place in the storyline nor is he connected to the game universe. He's more of a cameo. Even when Alyx busts him out of his holding cell, it's still more of a cameo. It's also pretty obcious that GMan's doesn't have any consistent agenda that would make sense in the game world. But you can notice that he has an agenda to make next chapter or next game happen.
He's a Q!...man...
The "GMan = G(ordon Free)man" is also stupid, because gman is the name of the character model of the gman, but he's never referred to as such, only as "He" and "our mutual friend" (and Mrs. X in Epistle 3). He's so mysterious people don't even know what to call him, so they just go back to his model name.
He is referred to as the G-man in the opposing force game manual I believe. It has pages from Adrian Sheppards diary and he references him as a "G-man" which Is slang for government man. Now technically speaking I don't think opposing force is canon (not sure if valve have confirmed this)
I know G ordon free Man is a good theory
but i'd like to say he is more of a barney than gordon
first: same voice actor (I know that is stupid but still)
second: if you saw any barney model without the helmet in blue shift. He looks so similar
he never shows up in blue shift
I'm sure that time you saw him in the tram entering black mesa he wasn't there for you it was for gordon
he didn't talk to barney or hire him or anything
I reckon when Barney left c17 in ep1 you never see him again because of whatever happened to him that turned him into gman
also barney didn't show up in Alyx game
my theory is that Alyx happened after hl2 in gman timeline that's why there's no barney
and i guess there is no more barney forever
and I have a lot more to support that Gman is Barney
He's called the gman in the opposing force, episode one episode two and hl2 prima guides. And he's called the administrator in the opfor Prima guide and the half life audio script
He is so mysterious that we don’t even know his real name and let alone knowing who and what he is, we can’t even imagine…
Valve confirmed his name as g man
I have a personal theory that g-man is slowly losing it throughout the games. During Half Life he is cold and detached yet after saving Alyx during ep2 he appears spitefull after his plans were ruined by the Vortigaunts. This lead to HL:Alyx where he did something as rash as timetravel and appears highly emotional showing that he has truly gone of the deep end.
What's even crazier is one theory says G-Man traveled back in time from the events of Episode 2 to the events of Half-Life Alyx because the Vortigaunts ruined his plans, and doing so allowed him to achieve his goals while changing the rest of history.
So TTIIRREEDD of that trope
Interesting
It was all in le head
It was all a dream
Ppls tha *real*monster
Uh oh he's slowly losing his mind
@@dylanmonstrum1538 I know especially when it's the cannon ending I see it as a lazy way out
Valve created something truly great. Something people still love, talk and speculate about after twenty years.
That is a huge accomplishment.
Gman stands for Gaming man.
Garrysmod Man
Government man
Gaben Man
Gay Man 🌈
@@TehUltimateSnake no
Honestly I think G-Man has some horrifying eldritch form and makes himself look like a businessman to appear formal and more presentable to humans.
G-man is Nyarlathotep?
it's all just archons
@@chrisplumb4284Hwat is that?
he is actually inspired by the smoking man from X-Files, thus hinting he's an alien probably. Idk i haven't watched the show till the end.
Probably the most likely theory, but then it begs the question of who his "employers" are.
The latest theory is he is an evolved form of the Shu'ulathoi - an alien species capable of telepathic, psychic and spacetime manipulation abilities. Same as Gman. Both are also "species" the combine wish to enslave and thus, are the enemies of the combine. Currently we only see the Shu'ulathoi as larvae form - aka the Combine "Advisor". It is said that once fully grown, they are capable of physically manifesting the form of whatever abilities and knowledge they have "extracted". In Gman's case, he manifests himself as a human being, yet remains Shu'ulathoi by essence and ability.
Actually love that theory! Seems pretty logical
Shu'ulathoi seem to be the Combine species, not just one that they enslave, and thus not an "enemy of the Combine"
@@vibaj16 WRONG, the Shu'ulathoi are an enslaved species by the combine just like striders and gunships and the like, you can see their implants straight into their brain which is how the combine controls them
Makes sense, but I hope we never get confirmation. The mystery is so much fun.
@@vibaj16The “Combine” are not a singular species or race. They are an abstract faction. An ideology. A super organism. The Advisors, as their title would imply, aren’t even at the top of the “pecking order”, if you could even call it that. They are simply another cog in the machine that is the Universal Union.
This is sad because gman used to be mysterious and creepy but now he's just a head in a toilet and says skibidi Dom dom Yes all day(I can't believe I almost started a comment war)
Ignoring skibidi toilet:
thats male07 bro
@@seanbhzit’s both
@@JjIsow9 not the main one
Indeed, male07 or Gordon Frohman@@seanbhz
"You can shoot any living soul but you can never shoot the messager."
But nobody can ever shoot a hole
@@TheVicar
*(Proceeds to shoot the hole, any hole... Overall defying unexplainable physics and creates something else even more unexplainable)*
Well... That was easy.
My theory is that his employers are a race more powerfull than even the combine and are pitting potential future rivals against eachother
In hl1 they hoped that xen and humanity whipe eachother out
The combine was more powerfull then humanity so gman probably gage a little help so the scores would be a little more even.
Gman in hl1 speaks like he's trying to remember certain words.
"Gman in hl1 speaks like he's trying to remember certain words"
Gman speaks like I do in a job interview.
@@cyqry
Boss at interview: "So where do you see yourself in 5 years?".
Me: "I wake up.......wake up and smell the ashes."
my theory is the g in G-man stands for Gabe, and valve is his employers. He keeps characters in stasis until his "employers need him" saved freeman and alyx from certain death in the explosion in the citadel. I think its a creative way to break the 4th wall
That's what I believe in too
If that’s the case do you think the ending to half life Alex is a way of winking towards more future things? Or is it kinda like the employers need a game to test this new technology so rise and shine?
Government man
Garry
@@jasonmurdoc9533 valve needed him to retcon the timeline
G-Man is seriously one of my favorite characters in gaming. I feel like you could make an endless amount of theories with him.
im pretty sure that he's just my uncle chris, that guy is up to all sorts of shenanigans.
Caught him touching me yesterday 😔
Who is Gman video in 2024 getting over hundreds thousands views.. What a legend this game
i have a theory. The employers are a race of beings so powerful, they are bored. Nothing poses a chalenge to them and they want something entertaining. so they created gman to sniff out planets with sentience and make them wage war on eachother. The employers were entertained by this. Must like greek mythology gods were entertained by watching and placing bets on which faction wins. The gman found combine. a bit later earth. You know where this is going. but since combine was op earth went down too quickly for the employer to have enough so gman employed some humans like gordon and alyx. gave them advantage and started resistance to stir up the action. And my guess is that when the employers have enough of earth vs combine. they will eaither revert it back or yeetus deletus both.
I'm thinking the same dude
IMO the employers are humans so far in the future they are essentially gods.
So they hire someone who can jump not netween dimensions or space. But also time.
Lol there is no theory. Valve just create a mistery NPC and dats it. U trip 2 much
I don't know, if they are just up for the entrtainment, why those 'restrictions' then? I see him more like Q from Star Trek
@@grantavakjan9488 but thats just a theory. A N LSD O W E R D O S E THEORY.
When Alyx in Half life Alyx asked G-man "who are you?", he said "perhaps WHAT I am..." Clearly not a freaking human.
"Is not as important as what I can..offer you in exchange for coming all this way.."
I think it's pretty obvious he's not human considering he can teleport and has trouble speaking.
i feel like hes some sort of interdimensional being. in fact i dont see anywhere that this game has space travel in it, it all seems to be other dimensions
He's the director "directing" things. I like to think that the G in G-man means many things, which is why they named him G-man. Galaxy man, Gaia man, Greater man, Gods man, Gabe man, Gladiator man, G-String Theory man etc. As others have commented, his origins derives from X-Files Smoking Man which adds intrigue and mystique. But ultimately, he assists Valve to take their IP Half-Life places. Turn it towards other planets, atmospheres and enemies if so much wanted, go back, forth, do and undo.
Garry perhaps?
@@commentsonly2142lol Garry came way later
"G-man (short for "government man", plural G-men) is an American slang term for agents of the United States Government. It is especially used as a term for an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)"
That being said, deep state feds are definitely aliens.
according to breengrub the shu'ulathoi (Advisor) that we see is only it's larval state, and that when it grows it turns into what ever it shall want, keep in mind that the advisor is shown as a very strong creature in ep2, imagine how strong it will be when grown up, this information backs up my theory that G-man is a shu'ulathoi
G-man seems like he is based off Nyarlathotep from HP love craft, Nyarlathotep is a messenger to the outer gods and G-man upfront says he is working on behalf of his “employers” Nyarlathotep has many abilities that G-man has, although far more
Maybe gmans employees will be revealed
my theory ? remember all those black mesa bodies found trough Xen lvls ? I do belive all bodies are actually Gordons bodies from other dimensions , other time variations or ramifications, that's why Nyth say : Last, you are the last...
the Gordon Freeman that the players controls is the last of the Gordons , so last shot for humanity or Gman plans , etc... maybe portals don't just cross space but dimensions too.
Your video gave me chills multiple times
Awesome video awesome topic to talk about good job man!
Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed the video 🙌
"Who is G-Man? Lets have a the-"
*Some random 8 years old* : "Boss from Skibidi Toilet!!!"
If you find that annoying, then why did you also mention it
@@PurpleBroadcast nobody in this world said that I found it annoying lol
@@DrKleinerIsaac skibidi yes yes skibibi PREPARE FOR UNFORSEEN *toilet*
@@TheDifferenced 💀
@@DrKleinerIsaac Alyx after 9 months later :(
Mhh, I don't think he's "fate" incarnate.
1. He and his employers are at war with the Combine.
2. He told Alyx that he can't just "nudge" the Combine away from Earth
bacause his employers don't "want" him to. (Maybe to keep the combines attention on earth for now).
3. His employers "disagreed" with fate beeing set in stone.
4. He and his employers can teleport and see into the future (and probably saw their own extinction through the combine)
5. He easily changed the ending of HL ep.2 by having Alyx kill the combine who (would have otherwise) killed her father.
For now, the strongest theory in my mind is: He's using "capable employees" to slowly "nudge" the course of history
to "their" advantage. The Combine invasion of earth (which he totally was to blame for by giving Eli the crystal for the resonance cascade)
is necessary for the greater picture to (change fate) and to win the war.
I don't think he and his employers are "at war" with the Combine. They seem to be far more powerful than something like the Combine, given that he implies his employers could easily remove the Combine from Earth if they wanted to. This all seems more like a form of entertainment to him and his employers. "Yo, I bet you if I move just a couple of these humans around in just the right way, they could fend off this Combine race that's taking over their planet."
Is there some of you there who watch Umbrella Academy ?
In this TV series, there is an organization called "The Commission". We discover later that the objective of this organization is to manage the space-time continuum by making sure that all events that are supposed to happen, happen. For example, in the story, JFK the murdered ex-president has beeen killed because "The Commission decided of it".
Now, going back to Half-Life Series, when I look at the G-Man, I think his purpose has something really similar to "The Commission" ! Controlling the world because like PazTheBhatt said at the end... HE is is the FATE !
I've been thinking about this too (the suitcase?!). It's a fact that the G-Man works for more powerful entities that seem to have great plans - unknown to humankind. But he's not perfect or omnipotent.
but he cant be Fate because fate means something that will happen, but there is another force at play, free will, embodied by Dr FREEman. GMan is trying to "nudge' events in a certain way, but another being capable of "nudging" events in a certain way is also opposing the GMan, this force being Dr Freeman.
Before HL:A my pet theory was that he is a Shu'ulathoi and part of some extrauniversal resistance effort that has managed to harness some crazy technology and is set on toppling the Combine in revenge for enslaving his race.
Now after HL:A and Ross Scott's Freeman's Mind 2, now I think he's part of a kind of "CIA" of some other group warring with the Combine that tries to destabilize them through powerful troublemakers like Freeman. Not to the point of making them collapse, but just enough to preserve an equilibrium in the multiversal power system.
Part of my change in opinion is because he doesn't seem at all phased by the killing of a subjugated Combine species (the Advisor being a form of Shu'ulathoi)
Freeman's mind is just a show dude,it is made for fun . G-MAN is being which we don't know what it is exactly and what is his aim and his employers yet. He is just disguising as part of the government and human ,but in reality he isn't.
I believe that he's the "last" shu'ulathoi(that is free) and the advisors are a more advanced species and are in an cold war with the combine, so they may also use other species abilities to their advantage, and they are making a "trade" with Gman: "you help us defeat the combine and we help you get your species freedom" and Gman is accepting everything that may help his kind.
and yet this man worked as a janitor in valves officices lol
awesome video! really makes me think about what the gman is, and what his employers could be. subbed
With all the things i know now, as a 36 years old researcher, i think the G-man was a representation of an Archon.
Thank you for including the Half Life Alyx portion. It was the weirdest contact with him and terrifying in VR. I love it.
Plot twist: He literally does just work for the US Government.
I believe the G-Man is one of the Shu'ulathoi that escaped the Combine, who's end goal is the liberation of his fellows enslaved. The Shu'ulathoi are immensely powerful creatures in Half-Life lore, to my recollection, they take the form of the Advisors and Breengrub. Shu'ulathoi in the larval stage (the grub-like appearance of the Advisors) are incredibly intelligent according to Breengrub and Epistle 3 (written by Laidlaw), essentially trapped in a network of thought with other larval Shu'ulathoi. Powerful enough to dictate their cells, and shape their ultimate form. While powerful, the Shu'ulathoi had a weakness. Some parasite, which the Combine exploited, described presently as "a kind of common software" they use now, hence the grubs being taken over. Hijacked. This is why Advisors take such a prevalent role, likely Combine leaders taking over a Shu'ulathoi grub. Also how Breengrub came to be, Wallace Breen having to make a 'tortured copy' of himself as a condition of surrender. A few Shu'ulathoi managed to escape this exploitation, one of which could be the G-Man. Who resolved to free his others, by abstract and uncomprimising means to us inferiors. As for his employers, it could be either a cover or other free Shu'ulathoi, much like the Vortugants' Vortessence. Although, that part's a bit out there. Regardless, the G-Man recognizes employees to help his cause. Usually strong, intelligent, or otherwise capable of great things. Manipulating these employees to eventually lead to his kind's freedom, or even the downfall of the Combine. This could be why the Combine attempted to capture the G-Man in Half-Life: Alyx the way they did. Recognizing his power as a free Shu'ulathoi. That's my theory.
arent they combine ruling class
I love how he is used in the beginning and ending of Half-Life 2. He drops you into this new world and then basically doesn’t show up until the end, only showing up at a distance being easily missable. So when you beat Breen you pretty much forgot about him before he stops time to basically go “don’t forget that you were just here to do this job, now back into the toolbox you go, I’ll take you out when I need you to do something for me again.” Showing that this was his plan from the beginning, that the entire game you just played was almost completely planned by him and you were just a pawn to him the whole time.
You’re editing is hilarious, love this
ive never been into half life personally but this got me interested
I’m glad! It’s a phenomenal series of games and there’s just so much to talk about!
I've always felt like in these theories we often forget about what Dr. Breen says, which tries to imply that the G-Man is following orders from a certain someone, we'll never know if that's the case tho, but we know that all of half-life history is just a contract to G-Man employers, also, we never know how Eli AND Breen know about the contract of Gordon, we could say that G-Man told them but, it would've collisioned with his plans, or could it? I like to think that the Vorts told Eli, but who knows about Breen, probably the combine, which We already know that they have a lot of information about him.
It’s me, I’m the g man
😱
Damn.. I didn’t know Gman had youtube account 🧐
It’s me Gordon! G-Man from Skibidi Mesa !
Tut tut. Please pay attention double-oh-seven.
gayman pls make half life 5
I always felt like the GMan is and adult Adviser, all of his actions could potentially lead to the demise of the combine, in order to free the Adviser species from the grasp of the combine as futile as it may be.
An interesting take on his mannerisms I've seen is that he's an alien trying to speak human, having to translate foreign concepts on the fly, choosing words that are the closest match but not exact, hence the stuttering and occasional hesitation
I replayed half life 2 recently and in highway 17 when the combine are spying on little Odessa with the binoculars you can see the gman speaking to Odessa cubbage. Cubbage then gives gordon the rocket launcher, interestingly enough, it’s the only rocket launcher in the area. My theory is that the gman gave it him to give to you so you could defeat the gunship and continue. Even something as small as equipment is pivotal to events transpiring as per to the interests of the ‘employers’. It’s similar if Gordon loses the buggy at any point. The fail screen displays something along the lines of “failed to preserve mission critical assets” or whatever, like the buggy is crucial to events also.
There is an uncomfrtable hl2 theory
The combine pretends to lose
They let c17 blow up
In white forrest they could've easily flown in a gunship and use it's belly laser to destroy magnusons silo...
They (the combine) have an alterior motive
They let the resistence (from before gordons arival until the raid on black mesa east) operate to a certain degree
The combine probably had more spies thwn just judith
Also there's a tracking device on gordons suit (confirmed in hl1)
I like to think that the G-man and his employers are just something that is beyond what our minds can understand and comprehend
someone wrote him bro
The most important words in the entirety of half-life 1 is spoken by Gman in the final minutes of the game.
“I have Recommended your services to my- euheuhueheuh-employers”
“Employers”
That’s what this is all about. This, teleportation master organism, it’s not the bottom of the iceberg, it’s running scared from some all-powerful alien conglomerate, that all-powerful alien conglomerate isn’t the bottom of the iceberg either. We can pinpoint a lot of key facts about it just in this first game.
Then you’ve got Gman.
This, godlike thing, that we really don’t know anything about. We don’t know if it’s a friend of humanity or an enemy.
We have no idea what it actually looks like.
We have no idea if it caused the resonance cascade or if it’s just some, black mesa employee who was subject to about a million scientist breakthroughs,
Or if it’s an alien? Or what.
We are absolutely clueless about this thing and yet, this final spine chilling moment, we learn that EVEN this thing has “employers “ and you know what? I bet that this thing’s employers are just subcontractors to some even bigger space conglomerates, and that even they have forces that they bow to, and so on and so on and so on.
Humanity Might have been able to invent teleportation, but we’re single-celled organisms compared to the questions out there in the universe, we will NEVER know what is truly going on behind the scenes of the world half-life, because the world of half-life is one in witch-humanity opened the door to questions-that absolutely no human could ever answer.
I love HL and love theorising about this, but if you watch the HL documentary by valve from late last year you'll realise that there is no G-Man lore. They literally added him last minute and the voice actor did another voice at first and they asked him to try something different so they could choose and he came up with the weird way to talk himself. So there was never any lore behind him to "imitate" a human because he is an alien or whatever. They just added him to make the story more mystical and less arbitrary. Everything after that was added on the fly and he became a vessel for the devs to pretty much do whatever they want and use him as the puppetmaster in the background (that's pretty much how HL:A worked).
I'm paraphrasing from the documentary, but if I remember correctly some dev added him in like 5 minutes and didn't know what to call him, so he just named him gman.mdl and used Gordons player model purely out of convenience.
Valve is a good gaming company, but they certainly did not plan like 25 years ahead with VR games and an all surrounding lore in the background in mind. All theories and explanation videos are community-made.
The “G” in his name actually stands for “Garry” which is a reference to “GMod” as he is the Admin of the server “Half-Life” and its just one big server.
I have a theory that Half Life universe is based using a blueprint of the Lovecraftian universe, that lead writer Marc Laidlaw used to create a story for the game. Marc is famous for creating other similar fiction like those books showcased in the HL1 locker, 37-th Mandala and Orchid Eater. Why am i thinking this, well, G Man is in my oppinion based, or at least inspired by the cosmic entity from the Lovecraftian stories called Nyarlathotep one of the outer gods and antagonists in the Cthulhu Mythos. You can read about this character in the H.P. Lovecraft wiki, its backstory is basically a perfect match with that of a G-Man. Yithians are similar to Vorts, and there are many other examples of HL and Lovecraft universe mirroring each other. But the most striking resemblance is the G-Man and Nyarlathotep. Look it up.
my canon is that the employers are players of Gmod and the gman is their creation, as garry himself saw this creation he felt a purpose in it: and send it into the main series to do stuff the "employers" want to happen.
The big amount of time between half life 2 and 3 is actually due to gmod players ordering gman to freeze any further events to consider their options, aswell as to have time to play darkRPs.
That is so stupid
I remember one fan theory was that the G-Man is a member of Nihilanth's race, which explains his powers and spite towards the Combine, so that's the theory I stuck with since then.
Game Theory made a theory that Nihilanth means "Not Man", meaning he is not a normal human, but a Nihilanth in human form. Not to mention, he always holds his tie, which is a third hand that Nihilanths have.
@@Koyumasa_ArtNihilanth third arm is implanted with cybernetics. You could see in the original model.
I think the biggest mystery in gaming is why we never got Half Life 3
The haunting music under the bridge is just amazing ❤
Yo I had sleep paralysis and then I heard the G Man saying, make my day mr.freeman
Isnt that THE GUY from skibidi toilet
No
I'm happy, i'm not the only one who can't grasp who he is 😐
It’s very sad that one of the best characters in gaming will forever be remembered as ‘the skibidi toilet man’
Gman is the Yoda of Valve
I know a lot of poeple will disagree, but I feel it will be the best if the G-Man's true identify of who he really is and how he does the thing he does remains a mystery. In the end that's what truly makes him such an interesting entity. Once that is taken away, the mystery and people scratching their heads will be over.
Also I think after becoming such legendary mystery amoung players and theorists for almost 3 decades, raises the bar so much that it will be extremely difficult to create a truly unique and satisfying answer of who he is without polarizing people. For sure there will be many people who will say "so that's it?" or "we theorized that for some time now, we expected more" or something completely bonkers that may throw people off. Even if Valve had an idea and answer of who he is, it may be too late now to reveal it without being something obvious or too unbelievable. I think the mystery is what made him so iconic and memorable.
Mate, your narration and choice of footage (and topic) is sick. Subbed.
Keep up the good work!
Great video, hope we find out soon
To this day I'm amazed by visual jump from HL1 to HL2 when looking at G-Man. To me, it went beyond simple progress of visual between release years and into pure "wow" territory. Couple that with source's sinister but attractive rendition of light and photo textures on simple models and even after twenty years it is still enthralling. It is like when you were used to running from cops into a safe house and saving in GTA:SA and then not understanding that such trick is gone in GTAV (I skipped GTA4, know nothing about it) trying to find a save diskette, getting shot through the door by cops and dying with a feeling that future is here - the indoor-outdoor world is seamless. It is rare, but such things just stay with you.
This game franchise needs to be remastered like dead space, HL is one of the best shooters in its time.
After reading the comments and studying points in the video, i am in agreement in that G-Man has some sort of Lovecraftieon/extraterrestrial form.This, imo is also backed up by simply his dialog. The way his sentences are structured and paced sound as if he is struggling to speak (at least in a comprehensive manner). Another note, his eyes in HL2 and beyond, are glowing.
Edit: After further thinking, maybe he is some sort of demi-god....or maybe a demon. Honestly, i hope the truth is never revealed. Maybe far, far into the future or a strong hint, but never confirmed. But for now, the mystery must be left up to our imagination.
playing all the games as they came out and the frustration waiting for the next one and im not getting any younger 😢 the G-Man is one of those mysteries i like to see resolved as i agree with ya not enough has been given.❤✌️
8:47 it's impossible that it's because of radiation like...why did gordon wear the suit in the first place?
Theory: G Man mean Gravity Man.
He can travel through time and space effortlessly. To do such things, a race would need to master their manipulation of gravity to achieve G Man's abilities.
Take a black hole: the singularity at its core can warp space and time. Multiply it by s factor that's close to infinite, and you teleport through the universe by increasing your density (and, as a consequence, your gravitational pull). You could bend time to such a degree that you could literally go back and forth (explaination is actually extremely more complex, not gonna elaborate further for the sake of keeping this comment short).
This makes our mutual friend different from the Nihilant as well: manipulating time and space is one thing, manipulating the very thing that can modify space and time to your liking is another.
My theory is that the GMan belongs to a race that comes from another universe which is able to manipulate gravity in ways we can only imagine and he can do it to such a degree even interdimensional travel becomes reality.
This is why he tries his best to avoid Gordon falls into Combines hands. He could give the secret about G Man's existance away, de facto endangering the G Man's race as a whole (cause Combines CAN travel through dimensions but cannot teleport within the same universe).
My theory is that he’s a member of some sort of competition to the Combine, a civilization that’s discovered time travel, and his goal is to disrupt combine presence in the HL universe to push back the Combine. There might be an infinite amount of GMen in an infinite amount of universe, waging a war of multiversal intrigue
Awesome Video man. I love half life and i love the secret about the gman. u got my sub
One of my favorite G - Man related things: even if you noclip to observe a location where the G-man is waiting for you, he will keep tracking you with his eyes, like he's aware. Almost unsettling and creepy :D
His employers are Valve.
From Portal 2 it seems that Black Mesa has, or one of the Black Mesas has, stolen Cave Johnson's patents. Therefore it makes sense he'd hire someone to get them back. The G-Man could be an agent of Cave Johnson sent to get revenge on Black Mesa, and Half Life could be running in one of many worlds like the many worlds mentioned in Portal 2. This would explain why the Nihilanth refers to Freeman as "The Last One."
G-man is like an alien Employee of the Employers that took a human looks to communicating with human who are worthy to the Employers
In HL Alyx. G-Man was inside a containment unit specially created by the combine to keep him there using a large amount of energy. How the Combine managed to imprison him is something I don't know, but for the amount of security and energy that was necessary to keep him captive; I think it's something that's far beyond the Combine empire.
It sucks that skibidi toilet has completely ruined how people think and look of/at this character
but now at least we knew that G Man is Valve's janitor.
9:08 I think that's unused voice lines for the earlier scene that is interrupted by the other scientist
My theory on the nature of the G-man
1)Is a metaphysical being existing naturally in another plain of reality
2)Has access to all information
3)Has limited control over space and unlimited control over time
4)Answers to beings of a similar nature but higher power to him
5)Can communicate with the real world by projecting a physical form which dispite having the body of a human (as evidenced by the unusual breathing) can be spawned and dispawned by the being that controls it.
6)This form of communication can be prevented by the vortencence, limiting the G-man to his natural state or even a physical space. This prevention requires constant attention and output of energy in order to remain effective.
7)Despite having unlimited control over time, he (most likely) cannot predict the future, as otherwise he would have prevented the vortigaunts at the start of episode 1 or at least wouldn't be surprised.
8)Is capable of feeling emotions but only when the plans of his employers are disturbed, and he has to nunge them back into the correct order.
The G-man is NOT man. He's a 6th or 7th dimensional entity at LEAST. And he has "The Employers" who are above him. There is no way he could be "future Gordon".
The G-Man entity has control over all time and space in this universe, and he can teleport you to other universe's as well. It is unknown if this entity uses some sort of technology to do this, but the briefcase could be just that.
There are also rules he has to follow which are beyond our understanding so he does follow a superior authority. He also struggles to say the word : Employers" which indicate that they are something even the G -Man finds complicated and hard to fully understand.
For some reason, The Employers have a vested interest in disrupting Combine operations on Earth. They probably gave the G-Man entity no choice in the matter just like the G-man gives the player(s) no choice. The Employers may be at war with the Combine, or maybe they just want to irritate them and cause them trouble and Earth was chosen as the place.
I prefer to think of the G-man and the Employers as the good guys in this conflict, even though the entity appears sinister to the player.
I'm not sure if my input will be found among the mass of comments but I believe G-man might be a post larval(grub) stage Shu'ulathoi.
G man being one of the Shu'ulathoi's which escaped the combines grasp, and his employers being other Shu'ulathoi's(maybe the escapees are "employing" the next generation (gman and others(g man not being one of the escapees in this case)) to fight back against the combine ).
And the reason for G man's interference with Earth is to maybe form a home base on Earth or possibly disrupt combine forces.
I've seen doors open out of nowhere, but only in the Matrix, where everything makes sense. if the G-man plan was to open that crystal to get the power of the Matrix (real world), he has to find someone to do it for him and his employees, which is why he gave it to black mesa and then went on with his plans with Gordon Freeman as the closest guy to the crystal.
Gman is just playing 6D chess.
Gman is definitely alien, his human appearance is just a show
G MAN IS ASTRO 😈
Gman has always fascinated me since I was very young. I watched my father complete Half-Life 2 many many years ago, and even then I had no idea who he was or what he was and what his goals were.
I forgot were I heard this but I remember hearing that gman could be in a war with the combine and using earth (and Gordon) as a pawn to destroy the combine somehow
It looks like he loves his job
I think, that even Valve don't or didn't know who the G-man really is. 1st game and OF suggest that he is just a government employee from some MIB/CIA agency with super secret high tech. The further it goes, the more supernatural he is and it can end up in him beeing an alien from a species far more developed than both Earth and Combine. I wouldn't be suprised if HL3 didn't give an answer and it never got revealed.
i heard he is the baby monster in hl1 final boss, (you can hear a voice recording backwards in the game)
7:06 wasn't that proven a couple games ago in Opposing Force (Shepard a completely different guy not only saw him but impeded his progress)
The gooning man….
fuck it, g-man is a employe of valve, his higher ups are are the workers that worked in half life, G-man means Gabe's man
1/10
just crazy
G man is the MAN in the future where humans advanced so much with the technology Gman has in his case. And Gman is trying to change the fate of humanity by going to past where everything started either portal technology. Eventually going to fix everything for better interest of humanity fighting against the Combine. Gman is an agent of future human civilization fighting against Combine.
Gman and Gordon Freeman and Nihilant are the same.
God everyones asking who is he not HOW is he. Gman has feelings has anyone ever thought hes just shy and doesnt want to be known
Im just starting to learn more about hl story cause i just finished alyx on vr and man, that ending was one of the best endings of any games ive played before, i literaly had goosebumps. I started a new game save just to finish getting the trophies and was struck by the fact that everything was foreshadowed from the start 10/10 would recommend
12:05 OH DAMN IT VALVE WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR MORE THAN 20 DAMN YEARS, it would be funny if in Cough HALFLIFE 3 Cough the g man said: Time, Is it that Time? and showed his identity
The original Gaunter O Dimm
I honestly think the absolute worst thing the series could do is answer who the G-Man is and what the Employers want. It would completely ruin the mystery and intrigue, and anything Valve comes up with will never be as good as what we theorise about.
Gman is a narrative tool. It is basically a modern version of the ancient Greek _Deus_ _ex_ _machina_ or an omnipotent divine being that is summoned conveniently to alter anything anytime. As such, it allows to fill the obvious plot holes and story limitations.
Great vid bro-subbed
the little timmys are gonna go wild
G-MAN's employers are (US) the collective gamers who controls, commands and direct the universe from which the HALF-LIFE takes place. Without the interference of the person who plays the game, there will be no story to begin with, there is no progress in HALF-LIFE, so we are the EMPLOYERS. On the alternative, the other theory is that the developers (DEVS) and creator of the game are the true (EMPLOYERS) of G-MAN. The employers refers to a shadow organization that the G-Man is ostensibly employed under, who works BEHINDS THE SCENES.
I personally believe that the G-Man is an escaped Shu'ulathoi (Combine advisor), He can warp time, Teleport, and Maybe even shapeshift. (As advisors did before they were turned into Combine Leaders)
He also is slowly losing it throughout the Franchise. Even going back in time to hire Alyx Vance
I think all this talk about fate is pretty interesting when taken into the context of hard sci-fi and the concept of time travel as it is entertained in pop culture. Maybe Half Life’s take on fate is much the opposite to how our culture portrays the concept of time and causality as things for humanity to one day overcome through technological development and science. To become masters of our own destiny is the grand narrative we would hope humanity is manifesting. But perhaps Half Life almost twists this and adds a bit of cosmic horror to the idea that the whole reason fate exists at all is because there are greater powers at work that keep us in this state; and any hopes of “advancing” will just result in us competing against a greater corporate power that has had its hand in the game far longer than we can imagine.
Based on his conversation with Shephard at the end of Opposing Force, I think G-Man was, at one point, like Gordon or Alyx or Adrian, forced into an impossible situation with no hope of survival and somehow coming out on top. Of course, being what he is, it was on a far greater scale than anything either of them could comprehend, but he nonetheless could relate to their plight.
My theory is that Half-Life 3 already exists in the form of Skibidi Toilet and the reason why G-Man Toilet is so prominent there is becuase is becuase the Astro Toilets are the combine.
i wonder if the "employers" are actually the cast (gordon. alyx and eli). The g-man doesn't move through reality and time the same as we perceive it that's why the g-man was waiting for alyx he already knew she would free him as to him it already happened. For freeing him though i believe he was "hired" by alyx to save everyone and to make that happen he traveled trough time to "correct" situations to benefit this "job" and he was given restrictions to not alter the time line to much as it would have unforeseen consequences. Of course thats only half the story he does appear to have his own agenda too maybe to destroy the combine once and for all.