Plot Holes I noticed in Half-Life: Alyx

[Wolffman109]

Just a quick FYI, I haven't played the game yet, but I've researched it a bunch and watched Jacksepticeye's videos on it, so I feel like I know enough.

I gotta admit, that ending was pretty cool. However, I noticed a pretty crucial plot hole that I'm amazed Valve didn't notice.

G-Man's reason for replacing the legendary Gordon Freeman with Alyx Vance is that Gordon was supposedly hesitant of doing what G-Man asked him to do. And I'm just like, WHAT?

Gordon Freeman has basically done everything G-Man has asked him to do in the series! In the original Half-Life (and I guess, Black Mesa), Gordon destroyed the Nihilanth, which prompted G-Man's employers to take control of Xen. And don't forget, this happened BEFORE G-Man gave him that job offer!

We enter Half-Life 2. While he's never directly told WHAT exactly his mission is, it's pretty obvious he accomplishes his mission goal by destroying Nova Prospekt and the Citadel.

In Episode One, we see G-Man getting blocked from Freeman by a bunch of Vortigaunts, which might be what G-Man was telling Alyx toward the end, but Freeman had no idea they were coming to save him, and there's no way that was his fault.

In Episode Two, G-Man tells Freeman about how the Vortigaunts were holding him back from talking to Gordon, and tells Gordon to take Alyx to White Forest and deliver the message to Eli Vance. And Gordon does exactly what the G-Man tells him to! He even stops the base from getting destroyed by the Combine and helps close the superportal! And then, Gordon blacks out after getting attacked by the Advisors, which again, was not his fault!

Therefore, what the hell is G-Man talking about? Gordon has done everything the G-Man has asked of him, and therefore, him being replaced with Alyx (who is, admittedly, badass in her own right, as this game undoubtedly proves), makes absolutely no sense given G-Man's excuse.

Also, since Alyx was taken by G-Man when she was nineteen, that would mean she was either twenty-four or twenty-five when she first meets Gordon Freeman in the middle of that raid from Civil Protection. Since she's taken five years before she meets him, does that mean she's never met Gordon?

As a continuation of my last point, since Gordon was replaced before the events of Half-Life 2, and Alyx hasn't met him yet because of the G-Man's interference/abduction, does that mean the events of Half-Life 2 and its episodes never happened, and Gordon just randomly woke up in some hangar he's never seen before, with a suddenly older Eli screaming about his daughter whom Gordon's never met, and all of a sudden a robot gorilla (D0G) jumps down from the ceiling and gives him a crowbar? I mean, if the events of the other games never happened, and Alyx was taken in Gordon's place, does that mean Gordon doesn't know what the hell is going on?

Please respond politely, as I am really confused.

[The deep]

Originally posted by Wolffman109:

Just a quick FYI, I haven't played the game yet, but I've researched it a bunch and watched Jacksepticeye's videos on it, so I feel like I know enough.

I gotta admit, that ending was pretty cool. However, I noticed a pretty crucial plot hole that I'm amazed Valve didn't notice.

G-Man's reason for replacing the legendary Gordon Freeman with Alyx Vance is that Gordon was supposedly hesitant of doing what G-Man asked him to do. And I'm just like, WHAT?

Gordon Freeman has basically done everything G-Man has asked him to do in the series! In the original Half-Life (and I guess, Black Mesa), Gordon destroyed the Nihilanth, which prompted G-Man's employers to take control of Xen. And don't forget, this happened BEFORE G-Man gave him that job offer!

We enter Half-Life 2. While he's never directly told WHAT exactly his mission is, it's pretty obvious he accomplishes his mission goal by destroying Nova Prospekt and the Citadel.

In Episode One, we see G-Man getting blocked from Freeman by a bunch of Vortigaunts, which might be what G-Man was telling Alyx toward the end, but Freeman had no idea they were coming to save him, and there's no way that was his fault.

In Episode Two, G-Man tells Freeman about how the Vortigaunts were holding him back from talking to Gordon, and tells Gordon to take Alyx to White Forest and deliver the message to Eli Vance. And Gordon does exactly what the G-Man tells him to! He even stops the base from getting destroyed by the Combine and helps close the superportal! And then, Gordon blacks out after getting attacked by the Advisors, which again, was not his fault!

Therefore, what the hell is G-Man talking about? Gordon has done everything the G-Man has asked of him, and therefore, him being replaced with Alyx (who is, admittedly, badass in her own right, as this game undoubtedly proves), makes absolutely no sense given G-Man's excuse.

Also, since Alyx was taken by G-Man when she was nineteen, that would mean she was either twenty-four or twenty-five when she first meets Gordon Freeman in the middle of that raid from Civil Protection. Since she's taken five years before she meets him, does that mean she's never met Gordon?

As a continuation of my last point, since Gordon was replaced before the events of Half-Life 2, and Alyx hasn't met him yet because of the G-Man's interference/abduction, does that mean the events of Half-Life 2 and its episodes never happened, and Gordon just randomly woke up in some hangar he's never seen before, with a suddenly older Eli screaming about his daughter whom Gordon's never met, and all of a sudden a robot gorilla (D0G) jumps down from the ceiling and gives him a crowbar? I mean, if the events of the other games never happened, and Alyx was taken in Gordon's place, does that mean Gordon doesn't know what the hell is going on?

Please respond politely, as I am really confused.

It's a video game bro get over it, also TOO LONG DIDN'T READ.
/thread

[andraxius]

reddit vernacular

[Daddy Shark]

Gman is talking about the Vorts keeping him away from Gordon. Freeman is no longer under the Gman's direct control. Alyx is now. Though, being such a friend to the Vortigaunts (she freed them from captivity - and they took the time to save her life in Ep.2) I don't see them leaving her there for very long, either.

HL2 happened exactly as we remember it.

The question is now "are we now in an alternate timeline?" which is very possible being as the first thing we see in Eli's lab in HL2 is a crystal with multi-beams running through it representing super-string theory and multiverses.

If this is NOT a new alternate timeline and we are indeed in the same timeline - then that means Alyx was under the Gman's orders the entire time through HL2 and we didn't know it.

Either way, this is clearly a pivotal point. As you said - Gman snuck by the Vorts to tell Gordon to get to that spot as well as being the point in time he chose to show Alyx. It means something big, we just don't know what it is yet.

[Wolffman109]

Originally posted by Frank Owens:

Originally posted by Wolffman109:

Just a quick FYI, I haven't played the game yet, but I've researched it a bunch and watched Jacksepticeye's videos on it, so I feel like I know enough.

I gotta admit, that ending was pretty cool. However, I noticed a pretty crucial plot hole that I'm amazed Valve didn't notice.

G-Man's reason for replacing the legendary Gordon Freeman with Alyx Vance is that Gordon was supposedly hesitant of doing what G-Man asked him to do. And I'm just like, WHAT?

Gordon Freeman has basically done everything G-Man has asked him to do in the series! In the original Half-Life (and I guess, Black Mesa), Gordon destroyed the Nihilanth, which prompted G-Man's employers to take control of Xen. And don't forget, this happened BEFORE G-Man gave him that job offer!

We enter Half-Life 2. While he's never directly told WHAT exactly his mission is, it's pretty obvious he accomplishes his mission goal by destroying Nova Prospekt and the Citadel.

In Episode One, we see G-Man getting blocked from Freeman by a bunch of Vortigaunts, which might be what G-Man was telling Alyx toward the end, but Freeman had no idea they were coming to save him, and there's no way that was his fault.

In Episode Two, G-Man tells Freeman about how the Vortigaunts were holding him back from talking to Gordon, and tells Gordon to take Alyx to White Forest and deliver the message to Eli Vance. And Gordon does exactly what the G-Man tells him to! He even stops the base from getting destroyed by the Combine and helps close the superportal! And then, Gordon blacks out after getting attacked by the Advisors, which again, was not his fault!

Therefore, what the hell is G-Man talking about? Gordon has done everything the G-Man has asked of him, and therefore, him being replaced with Alyx (who is, admittedly, badass in her own right, as this game undoubtedly proves), makes absolutely no sense given G-Man's excuse.

Also, since Alyx was taken by G-Man when she was nineteen, that would mean she was either twenty-four or twenty-five when she first meets Gordon Freeman in the middle of that raid from Civil Protection. Since she's taken five years before she meets him, does that mean she's never met Gordon?

As a continuation of my last point, since Gordon was replaced before the events of Half-Life 2, and Alyx hasn't met him yet because of the G-Man's interference/abduction, does that mean the events of Half-Life 2 and its episodes never happened, and Gordon just randomly woke up in some hangar he's never seen before, with a suddenly older Eli screaming about his daughter whom Gordon's never met, and all of a sudden a robot gorilla (D0G) jumps down from the ceiling and gives him a crowbar? I mean, if the events of the other games never happened, and Alyx was taken in Gordon's place, does that mean Gordon doesn't know what the hell is going on?

Please respond politely, as I am really confused.

It's a video game bro get over it, also TOO LONG DIDN'T READ.
/thread

Hey, I'm just trying to understand something I was confused about. Don't go harshing on me just because I like thinking about the Half-Life games. This thread is just to try and clarify things for me and anybody else who was confused by the ending and the current timeline of the Half-Life games.

[Wolffman109]

Originally posted by Star Trucker:

Gman is talking about the Vorts keeping him away from Gordon. Freeman is no longer under the Gman's direct control. Alyx is now. Though, being such a friend to the Vortigaunts (she freed them from captivity - and they took the time to save her life in Ep.2) I don't see them leaving her there for very long, either.

HL2 happened exactly as we remember it.

The question is now "are we now in an alternate timeline?" which is very possible being as the first thing we see in Eli's lab in HL2 is a crystal with multi-beams running through it representing super-string theory and multiverses.

If this is NOT a new alternate timeline and we are indeed in the same timeline - then that means Alyx was under the Gman's orders the entire time through HL2 and we didn't know it.

Either way, this is clearly a pivotal point. As you said - Gman snuck by the Vorts to tell Gordon to get to that spot as well as being the point in time he chose to show Alyx. It means something big, we just don't know what it is yet.

Trouble is, we know he explicitly stole away Alyx when she was nineteen, so shouldn't she have disappeared from the original games, too, since she's in her mid-twenties when she first meets Gordon Freeman?

[Kimiko]

They split the timeline out of respect for Marc Laidlaw and Epistle 3 so this story can still coexist with the new story they can bring up for the next game. This is atually a pretty cool way imho.

Split timelines are not uncommon.

[Wolffman109]

Originally posted by Kimiko:

They split the timeline out of respect for Marc Laidlaw and Epistle 3 so this story can still coexist with the new story they can bring up for the next game. This is atually a pretty cool way imho.

Split timelines are not uncommon.

As a Zelda fanboy, I fully understand the concept of split timelines.

However, I'm not sure why you're saying this intersects eith Epistle 3.

[Daddy Shark]

Originally posted by Wolffman109:

Trouble is, we know he explicitly stole away Alyx when she was nineteen, so shouldn't she have disappeared from the original games, too, since she's in her mid-twenties when she first meets Gordon Freeman?

We can't say that for sure. Maybe she was briefed and then put back into the timeline before we meet her in HL2. For all we know, the Gman's "employers" could have access to a place outside of time where Gman keeps all his "recruits". She could have undergone 30 years of training and then been put back in City17 5 minutes after the ending of HL:A. We really don't know enough right now to figure out what's going on.

[Wolffman109]

Originally posted by Star Trucker:

Originally posted by Wolffman109:

Trouble is, we know he explicitly stole away Alyx when she was nineteen, so shouldn't she have disappeared from the original games, too, since she's in her mid-twenties when she first meets Gordon Freeman?

We can't say that for sure. Maybe she was briefed and then put back into the timeline before we meet her in HL2. For all we know, the Gman's "employers" could have access to a place outside of time where Gman keeps all his "recruits". She could have undergone 30 years of training and then been put back in City17 5 minutes after the ending of HL:A. We really don't know enough right now to figure out what's going on.

Valid point, amigo, but if that's the case, then G-Man's already replaced Gordon Freeman with her, so what was the point of sending Gordon into the mix in Half-Life 2 anyway?

[Daddy Shark]

Originally posted by Wolffman109:

Valid point, amigo, but if that's the case, then G-Man's already replaced Gordon Freeman with her, so what was the point of sending Gordon into the mix in Half-Life 2 anyway?

Again, we don't know enough to be sure. He brought down the citadel - so that's something.

[IanL]

Possibly, it's not until G-Man feels his control over Gordon has been compromised by the Vortigaunts that he needs a replacement and he's forced to put the whole plan into action. So he's happy for those events to continue as Gordon is still mainly carrying out his instructions, but in the meantime he has sown the seed for Alyx to take over at some unspecified point in the future after putting her into stasis after saving her father. If he'd gone with Alyx from the start he might just have faced the same situation with her being compromised. It's clear he needs to hide things from the Vortigaunts as much as possible. It's a bit of a game of chess in time.

[Muse Snooze]

Originally posted by IanL:

Possibly, it's not until G-Man feels his control over Gordon has been compromised by the Vortigaunts that he needs a replacement and he's forced to put the whole plan into action. So he's happy for those events to continue as Gordon is still mainly carrying out his instructions, but in the meantime he has sown the seed for Alyx to take over at some unspecified point in the future after putting her into stasis after saving her father. If he'd gone with Alyx from the start he might just have faced the same situation with her being compromised. It's clear he needs to hide things from the Vortigaunts as much as possible. It's a bit of a game of chess in time.

Let's be 100% all the way simple here, Gordan freeman is constantly concious except for being forcibly knocked out hefe and there for the events of HL1, 2, and the two episodes. Through HL1, everyone is panicked, including him, and very few are really aware of the gman. But, after literally 40+hours of being awake and at war with aliens, not only does Gordon get very aware of the gman, he certainly must lose trust, if it was ever trust. Hell, end of HL1, it's forced. You agree with him or he sends you to your death. Gordon NEVER just was 100% gman's puppet, he just was always in the right spot doing what was, by gman's specific needs, the right thing. By ep2, even Eli Vance is aware of Gman and sick of his nonsense, makes plenty sense gordon would even rather just die instead of continuing with gman's nonsense. So, since gman can't just kill a possibly useful person like Freeman, he figured a way to secure Alyx instead, by using himself as bait it seems.

[Roberto008]

Originally posted by Daddy Shark:

If this is NOT a new alternate timeline and we are indeed in the same timeline - then that means Alyx was under the Gman's orders the entire time through HL2 and we didn't know it.

I'm terribly sorry for the necro, but that makes much more sense now.
I think she was let out of stasis right before HL2 on one condition she wasn't aware of: his control over her, as seen in that scene from Episode 2 where the GMan interposes her between Gordon and Eli right as Eli was about to give away further information about him.