| Gordon Freeman |
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| characters introduced in 1998 | |
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Dr. Gordon Freeman, Ph.D. , is the Silent Protagonist of the '' Half-Life '' series of First-person Shooter Computer Game s. He is a Theoretical Physicist who has been forced to defend himself against hostile aliens and other enemies following an experiment gone wrong. CHARACTER Facts known about Freeman include that he is 27 years old at the time of ''Half-Life'', has no dependents, and is a graduate of MIT , having earned a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics . His thesis was titled ''Observation of Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Entanglement on Supraquantum Structures by Induction Through Nonlinear Transuranic Crystal of Extremely Long Wavelength (ELW) Pulse from Mode-Locked Source Array'' (or how to teleport large objects by shooting radio pulses through crystals of very heavy elements). A native of Seattle, Washington , Freeman harbored an early interest in theoretical physics, such as Quantum Mechanics and Relativity . After observing a series of teleportation experiments conducted by the Institute of Experimental Physics in Innsbruck , Austria , applications of teleportation became Freeman's obsession. Eventually, he became disappointed with the slow pace of teleportation research in Academia and began to search for a job outside the Education Sector . By coincidence, Freeman's MIT mentor Dr. Isaac Kleiner had taken charge of a top-secret research project at the Black Mesa Research Facility and was looking for some associates. Freeman was an obvious choice. He accepted the job offer, hoping that at least part of the immense funding would go towards civilian applications of Astrophysics and Quantum Computing . At the start of the first game, Freeman is employed and lives at the top secret, integrated research facility known as Black Mesa Research Facility, located somewhere in New Mexico . He is assigned to the Anomalous Materials department, located deep inside the facility, doing Nuclear and Subatomic Research . Quite humorously, while having obtained a Ph.D from the prestigious MIT, what work that the player actually does as Freeman (pressing a button and pushing a cart) does not require any intellectual expertise at all. Barney Calhoun pokes fun at this in the beginning portion of ''Half-Life 2'', when Freeman performs similarly "technical" assistance (pushing a switch and attaching a fallen plug back into a socket). Freeman is '', when a character remarks "whatever ... crowbars are for geeky video-game characters." According to the book ''Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar'' the name Gordon Freeman is an homage to Freeman Dyson . ''Half-Life'' ''.]] On May 5, 200-, Freeman and his team perform an experiment that goes horribly wrong (possibly intentionally). As a result, the cleanup team that has been sent to contain the situation, silencing aliens and surviving personnel alike. Against all odds, the untrained theoretical physicist somehow manages to survive the chaos, impressing the few surviving scientists and security guards with his heroic acts while quickly becoming the military's top priority target. After numerous adventures, and after eliminating countless aliens and soldiers, Freeman is eventually transported by a few surviving Lambda Team scientists to the alien home world of Xen , where he manages to eliminate the alien "leader," Nihilanth . Upon recovering from his final encounter, Freeman is finally confronted by the mysterious G-Man , who has been observing Freeman from a distance throughout the entire game and perhaps even manipulating his fate. The G-Man shows Freeman several locations throughout Earth and Xen, before finally offering Freeman a choice: either agree to work for the G-Man and his mysterious "employers," or be left to die on Xen without any weapons and surrounded by hostile lifeforms. ''Half-Life 2'' assumes that Gordon chooses to accept G-Man's offer of employment. Screen messages that players see when Freeman performs an action causing the game to become impossible to finish, such as eliminating a character who must open a locked door, refer to 'subject Freeman', who 'failed evaluation'. Players are left to assume that the G-Man arranged for the whole incident, as he can be seen talking with some scientists before the experiment, and since the sample which caused the accident is described as having "just been delivered that morning." Although it is not explicitly stated in the game, the sample that causes the resonance cascade resembles a fragment of the yellow crystals found throughout Xen. ''Half-Life 2'' '' empire. He soon meets up with Barney Calhoun and Alyx Vance , and joins the resistance against the Combine. During the course of the second game, Freeman battles the forces of the Combine in order to free humanity from its grasp. Already famous for his role in the Black Mesa Incident, Gordon quickly develops a legendary reputation among Earth's surviving human populace, who begin to look up to him and refer to him by such messianic titles as "The One Free Man." After slaying hundreds of Combine soldiers and leading an assault against the Combine stronghold of Nova Prospekt , Gordon eventually sparks a full-scale uprising against the Combine in City 17, in which he becomes a combatant. Gordon infiltrates the Combine's foothold on Earth, the Citadel, and destroys it by detonating its Dark Energy Reactor. Although caught in the reactor's explosion along with Alyx Vance, Gordon is rescued by the G-Man, who tells Freeman that he is impressed with his work and has received several tempting offers for his "services." The G-Man finally informs Freeman that, rather than offering him " The Illusion Of Free Choice ," the G-Man has taken the liberty of choosing for him, and deposits Freeman back in stasis until he is needed once again. Thus, ''Half-Life 2'' "concludes" just as cryptically as its predecessor did, with perhaps even more questions unanswered. ''Half-Life 2: Episode One'' '''' rejoins Freeman as he leads the flight from City 17, doomed by the destruction of the Citadel's dark fusion reactor at the end of ''Half-Life 2''. Information from the official website reveals that apparently, Gordon has somehow escaped from the "malevolent grasp" of the G-Man. This expansion is set to be released on June 1 , 2006 . H.E.V. SUIT In both games, Freeman wears a special full-body suit, known as the H.E.V. suit, H.E.V. standing for ''Hazardous EnVironment''. Designed to protect the user from radiation, energy discharges, and blunt trauma during the handling of hazardous materials. The H.E.V. suit is what allows Gordon, an ordinary human being, to survive the dangers and injuries he faces over the course of his struggles. The HEV Mark IV suit worn by Freeman in ''Half-Life'' has a built-in Flashlight , Geiger Counter , Morphine administrator (which allows Gordon to function normally even after serious injury), anti-toxin delivery system, an optional long-jumping module which allows jumps over large distances, a radio, and a Head-up Display (HUD) which tracks health status and weapon ammunition usage. The suit contains an on-board computer system that constantly monitors the user's health and vital signs, and reacts to any changes in the user's condition. Additionally, the suit has an electrically hardened armor system that can be charged by power modules throughout Black Mesa. While charged, the suit provides greater protection from injury as the charge absorbs more than two-thirds of any damage or trauma experienced by the wearer. With a fully charged suit, Freeman can survive several dozen bullets of small arms fire or even a direct hit from a Rocket Propelled Grenade . The suit also features an optional helmet, as seen on various HEV-enclosed corpses dotted around Xen, mainly at the ruined research camp seen in ''Blue Shift''. Freeman dons the suit at the beginning of the first game, and keeps it until the game ending, when he is allowed to keep it by the G-Man. In ''Half-Life 2'', Freeman nevertheless starts without the suit. After a visit to Dr. Isaac Kleiner, his former professor, Freeman receives a new HEV suit, Mark V (other characters occasionally refer to this suit as Gordon's "old suit," indicating that it may simply have been upgraded). New features include a visual Zoom ing capability, limited enhanced running (sprint) capability, an injector to administer antidote for Poison Headcrab venom, an optional ammo and health counter on the crosshair (enabled by the player in options under 'Mouse'), and the capability to use Combine power nodes to charge the suit. Unlike the Mark IV however, the Mark V uses only one auxiliary power source for flashlights, sprinting and oxygen supply. In addition, the long-jumping module is no longer a feature. Later on in the game, the suit appears to be infused with "Dark Energy" from a Combine weapon destroyer allowing the suit to store twice as much shield energy as normal. It should be noted, that HEV energy chargers in ''Half-Life'' have the trademark (tm) symbol added after the HEV letters, which suggests that the chargers, HEV suit, or both, are produced by a non-government company. An Easter Egg in ''Half-Life 2'', however, reveals an old cover of an HEV charger lacking the trademark logo {Link without Title} . It has been speculated that the HEV suit, despite its name, was not intended simply for protection in hazardous environments and was in fact designed with combat in mind - perhaps intended as a combat Exoskeleton for defense contractors. Black Mesa may have been, after all, a military installation and the PCV worn by the player in ''Opposing Force'' apparently uses the same technology (it's able to replenish its power from Black Mesa chargers). Furthermore, the HEV's capacity to resist munitions damage would seem more than a little excessive if it was designed simply to keep scientists safe during dangerous experiments, in toxic areas or in otherwise harmful situations. The symbol on Gordon's HEV suit is the lower case Greek letter Lambda , λ. This symbol is used by scientists to denote the Decay Constant of Radioactive Element s (related to the Half-life of the element). As well as appearing on Gordon's suit, the symbol replaces the letter "a" in the game title, ''Hλlf-Life'', and is the name of the complex in the Black Mesa Research Facility where teleportation experiments are conducted. The Lambda symbol is also seen in ''Half-Life 2'' as a marking of the human resistance, seen close to hidden supplies and on the arm bands of better equipped resistance fighters. REFERENCES
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