G-Man Evidence and Theories

[niandra]

A compilation of what is known about G-Man, and theories based on the information.
(Some of this info comes from Half-Life, or Half-Life 2: Episode 1/2)

1) He's humanoid, pale, green eyes, and has a suit, tie, and suitcase
1.5) He's often seen adjusting his tie
2) He has superhuman abilities such as stopping time and moving through portals
3) He is immortal, or far stronger than any other human
4) He's technically unnamed, but his NPC file name is GMan
5) He knows much about Gordon Freeman, and relies on him to defeat the Combine
6) He existed BEFORE the portal opened to Xen
7) He has a sense of authority over Gordon, as if he is superior
8) The Vortigaunts distrust/dislike him
9) He speaks English improperly sometimes, as if it were his second language or he didn't understand it
9.5) He elongates 'S' often, like a hissing sound
10) He seemingly doesn't age
11) The Nihilanth in the original Half-Life calls him 'not human' and hints that the G-Man is expecting Gordon Freeman
12) He does exist, and is not a hallucination, as Alyx and Eli have mentioned him at some point
13) He can move in hostile areas, and remain unnoticed by everyone except you, like a hallucination
14) He has technopathic/telepathic abilities, like showing up on unplugged televisions
15) He claims to want to hire you, and that his "employers" want to hire you
16) On top of stopping time, he seems to already know the future

Now for the Theories and the supporting Evidence
1) He's a disguised alien from another universe
-1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
2) He's a government man watching over what happens
-1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 12
3) He's Gordon Freeman's father
-1, 5, 6, 7, 12
4) He's a robot
-1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8?, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
5) He is future Gordon
-1, 5, 6, 7, 12
6) He's an employee with others like him looking to hire you. probably all alien
-1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15
7) G-Man is some sort of God or other all-powerful entity
-2, 3 5, 6, 7. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16

Got more proof or theories? Comment it and I'll add it. I'll probably also make this a guide

[Gobra]

He's an "employee" to some kind of alien beings, that we knew for sure. We are led to believe he (and his peers/employers) possesses the knowledge of using time and space and can predict the future/possible future. And his voice gives me asmr.

Being in our world for him is some kind of a burden. Restricted either by the nature of the phenomenon (of being outside space and time) itself or by his employers, in the story he seem to not be able to see the whole plot through by himself. Thus the contact with many people, appearing in many places and using Gordan as a pawn.

Time is an important theme to the plot. In relativity, time and space are bound together; the plot seem to be using this as the default thesis. In the game portals can be "slow", you can phase out of time; Gordon is phased out for the time between HL1 and Hl2.
So, given everything chaotic when it comes to portals, playing not only with space but with time can prove to be an even bigger problem, one could imagine.

And this was the initial plot, probably. Some higher beings with their interests, plans - to take over Xen, deal with the Combine, who happened to use portal storms to invade Earth - unable or not willing to do things by their own, choosing pawns and creating occasions to set things in motion, to satisfy the ends of their own liking.

Up until it goes a bit out of hands in the "Episodes". Unforeseen consequences, hm.

While delivering his HL2 end monologue, he (or should I say the actor) made the emphasis on two lines: time "span" and the time "coming round again". It's not the "arbitrary imposition" and we are told that we have no choice, for choice is the illusion. In this context, the absence of choice means that things are already laid out in "the course of".. Well, he was really not at liberty to say.

And Gordon was on his way to another out-of-the-loop place, to rest, and wait until G-man/G-man's employers should need him again. But this time the Vorts came along and pulled our hero out. G-man is annoyed by the Vorts and the fact that they intervened with the course of things G-man and the Co. planned to happend. While still being behind the scenes in the Episodes, apart from contacting Gordon when the Vorts are not looking, the only thing G-man does is observing.

At this point Gordon, with the help of Vorts, is out of G-man's use. G-man, and his employers, didn't wake Gordon and didn't put him anywhere they might want him to be. Given what Whats-His-Face posted in his blog, neither G-man nor his peers probably need Gordon anymore. Most likely, many things that happen are just "unforseen consequences" for them.

And that's about it, as far as the higher being go. We don't experience them much in the Episodes - neither through the G-man monologues nor through them revealing their possible interests. The Episodes were about the chaotic struggle between the Combine and the Resistance, and ended with the Borealis plot (assuming more struggle to come; G-man observing, probably). The synopsis posted didn't reveal anything about them, too.

They are the frame of the plot. Not the actual things happening, but the reason behind the things happening.
The plot with Gordon being at their disposal: two big space-time blocks within which the higher beings could manipulate the plot; the Xen, to take control of it, and the Combine, to get rid of them (probably take the Borealis for themselves, too). The Episodic plot - who knows. They're not in it too deep, staying in the back.

Valve jumped the shark, in a way. The first game relied on the first-hand plot experience (and, frankly, could have been the last game in the series), the company probably didn't think much of the story in the long run; in the second game it was mostly the same plot, but more bloated with details and the dialogue, with the combine being the main driving force for things to happen; so in the Episodes Valve sort of put the so-mysterious behind-the-scenes world into the the subplot department even more so.

In the end, pehaps, Valve would've revealed this subplot in the way it presented us with the first game's ending: sometime-something it all had its meaning and came to this and that, they are the masters of time and space and whatever. Combine are defeated, because they are of the minor statute of the plot, Gordon ultimately served what's right, because he's the player, and we can all live almost happely almost ever after, knowing that things had their meaning and it was not all in vain, even when these meanings came from the higher forces of nature than we ourselves.

[megamand0]

mabye he is a valve employee.....
think about for a second , without him we wouldn't get any half life titles , without him there will not be any half life 1 or 2 or ep1 and 2 , he is doing all of this just for the player ( and the money ), but this theory is falls apart when you realazie there is no half life 3

[MrCrayfisho]

For me it's an "hallucination" of Gordon, let me do some explaines..

Gordon see GMan everywhere, GMan can some kind of control every aliens and can teleport everywhere. And when I see it in Half Life 2: he was in a camera and he walked away but when I searched for the gman. There was a big wall.

Second theory, GMan is the boss of the monsters.

In HL 1 you kill a big baby monster but nobody says it's the main boss and GMan can control aliens and teleport you.
I think GMan is sort of the boss of the aliens in a Human form.
The GMan is referring to "Government Man", but in half life 2, the governement is a group of aliens.