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 Gordon
Freeman, age 28 at the start of
Half-Life
1, is a scientist, MIT
graduate with a Ph.D. in theoretical
physics. Native from Seattle, WA, he has
no dependents.
Gordon Freeman has been accepted as an
Associate Researcher with the
Black Mesa
Research Facility in New Mexico.
Half-Life 1 starts with Gordon's first day
at Black Mesa on the
Anomalous Material
Department, where he will conduct
nuclear and subatomic research with his
former MIT mentor
Dr. Isaac Kleiner.
Prior to his Black Mesa assignment, he
is a visiting fellow at the University
of Innsbruck. His scientific interest
comes from observing teleportation
experiments, thus later becoming his
obsession. Gordon has no experience with
weapons before Black Mesa.
Events
Gordon
Freeman works with a routine
experiment when he unintentionally causes "The
Black Mesa Incident", seriously damaging
the Black Mesa facility and opening
dimensional seams enabling teleportation
of intelligent creatures and wildlife
from the
border world Xen, which invade
Black Mesa. Gordon is now fighting his
way through Black Mesa to the surface
and is then teleported to Xen, where he
defeats
Nihilanth, the
controlling intelligence behind the
invasion of Earth.
While Gordon Freeman is fighting his way
through Black Mesa and Xen, he is
observed by a
mysterious figure; G-Man. After defeating Nihilanth on Xen,
G-Man gives Gordon a choice: Die on Xen
or work for G-Man. This is where Half
Life 1 ends.
Even if Gordon Freeman isn't a main character
in the
Half-Life: Decay,
Half-Life:
Opposing Force or
Half-Life: Blue Shift
he is visible a far, to the observant
gamer, a few times.
G-man then puts Gordon into stasis (a
slow-time-warp where he does not age).
At the beginning of
Half-Life2, G-man
awakens Gordon from his stasis, calling
him into assignment by putting him on a
train arriving at the Central Station of
City 17, somewhere in Eastern Europe. Twenty years has
passed, and it is now 2020 and earth has
been invaded by
the alien Combine. Freeman is
assigned for "The Human Rebellion"
against the Combine-rule of earth.
The
former Administrator of Black Mesa, Dr.
Wallace Breen, is now the Administrator
of the earth, under the Combine
Overwatch. Once Freeman is discovered,
Breen makes it top priority for the
Combine forces to catch or kill Gordon.
Gordon evades the Combine and strikes
a huge blow against the
Nova Prospect,
critical to the Combines. This feeds and
inspires a massive human revolution
among citizens enabling "The Human
Rebellion" against the Combine. Gordon
makes his way in to the
Combine Headquarter fortress, the
Citadel,
unleashing utter chaos all over City 17
and inside the Citadel. In the end he
destroys the
core of the Citadel. G-man
then pulls him back into stasis again,
ending Half-Life2.
The story continues with
Half-Life2:
Episode One, which begins with the
aftermath of the events in Half-Life2.
Gordon Freeman was put in
stasis by G-man, but is then almost
immediately pulled out again by the
Vortigaunts.
The core of the Citadel is unstable and
about to blow. Gordon gets much help
from
Alyx
Vance, when re-entering the Citadel
to stabilize the core enough to rescue
the citizens from City 17, before the
Citadel incinerate the city.
In the end Gordon and Alyx themselves,
among the last of the rebels, escape
from City 17 on an outbound train. This
is where the story will continue in
Half-Life2:
Episode Two.
Environment
The
surroundings of Gordon Freeman is at first
the, partly underground and very large,
Black Mesa Research Facility, through which
he fights his way before being teleported to
the border world Xen.
Black Mesa is a compound of laboratories
and factory-like environment, with deep
shafts, internal railway systems and
stunning mountains surrounding the mesa, on
which it lie.
The Xen world is not a planet, it is more
like a collection of small asteroids
containing something of an inter-dimensional
subway station, a crossing between
dimensions, time and planets. The
teleporters from Black Mesa end up on Xen.
Xen is also containing a lot of
extraterrestrial life forms, that finds
their way to earth.
Later, in Half-Life2
and in Episode One, Gordon
finds himself in City 17, located somewhere
in Eastern Europe. City 17 is renamed by the
Combine, as many other cities over the world
and its real name is unknown. In City 17 the
Combine Overwatch has their headquarter, the
Citadel. Gordon travels through large parts
of the City 17 and its surroundings,
covering the canal system and the coast
where the main events take place. Nova
Prospect is formerly a prison, turned into
something even more frightening by the
Combine, lying in the immediate vicinity of
City 17.
Gordon is not alone. He is helped and
accompanied by scientists and guards and in
Half-Life 1, he fights the Vortigaunts,
which later allies with him. In Half-Life2
and Episode One
there are several friends, survivors of "the
Black Mesa Incident", the most prominent
are
Alyx Vance,
Barney Calhoun and
Alyx father,
Eli Vance and of course
Dr. Isaac Kleiner.
Read More about Gordon Freeman...
Wikipedia: Gordon Freeman
The Valve Developer Community: Gordon
Freeman
Half-Life 2 Knowledge Base: Gordon
Freeman
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Gordon
Freeman