This section deals with characters that appear in
Half-Life,
Opposing Force,
Blue Shift, and
Decay.
Gordon Freeman Gordon Freeman, PhD, is the
silent protagonist of the
Half-Life series and the
playable character in
Half-Life and all games in the
Half-Life 2 series. He is a
theoretical physicist and holds a PhD from
MIT in that field. At the time of
Half-Life, he works at
Black Mesa Research Facility, a facility in
New Mexico, conducting nuclear and subatomic research. After being at ground zero during the "resonance cascade", Gordon fights his way through Black Mesa and eventually reaches the Lambda Complex where a group of surviving scientists are getting ready to teleport him to
Xen in order for Gordon to kill a large entity (The "Nihilanth") holding the portals open in Xen. In doing so he frees the alien race of
vortigaunts from slavery and is hired by the
G-Man for an unknown future job. In
Half-Life 2 he is re-awoken from stasis by the G-man and meets up with the resistance on Earth against the
Combine. The resistance view him as a very important figure due to the mythos surrounding what he did in Black Mesa. He eventually becomes one of the leading figures in the resistance, almost single-handedly destroying the Combine prison,
Nova Prospekt, and signaling the uprising to begin. During the uprising, Gordon fights his way through the ruined streets of
City 17 and enters the Citadel. He and
Alyx Vance attempt to stop Dr. Wallace Breen from teleporting to a Combine Planet and blow up the teleporter he was trying to use. In
Episode One, Gordon and Alyx head back into the Citadel and slow the inevitable explosion so that they can get away before it explodes and so that the resistance can evacuate more civilians. In
Episode Two, Gordon and Alyx make their way to
White Forest and activate a rocket to stop any more Combine Portals from opening, stopping another full scale Combine invasion of Earth. Originally, Gordon's character model was much different, sporting a big beard and much larger head as well as the
HEV suit being an olive green colour instead of the iconic orange, this earlier model has since been dubbed "Ivan the Space Biker". Gordon Freeman's final character model is based on
Valve employee
Chuck Jones including his, at the time, pony tail in Half-Life 1.
G-Man The
G-Man (voiced by
Michael Shapiro) is a mysterious recurring character. He is known to display peculiar behavior, and capabilities beyond that of an ordinary human. His identity and motives remain almost entirely unexplained. He plays the role of an overseer and employer, both observing the player as the games progress and pulling strings to control the outcome of specific events throughout the
Half-Life saga. The G-Man's constant appearances in the
Half-Life games, as well as his revealing monologues with series protagonist Gordon Freeman, imply that he is of great importance and somewhat anchors the efforts of the player. His mysterious nature has made him an icon of the
Half-Life series. During the development of
Half-Life, after the designers discovered the usefulness of allied NPCs, the development team began to cast for characters who were "neither allies nor outright enemies, but existed mainly to create a sense of intrigue", which eventually led to the creation of the G-Man. According to
Half-Life writer
Marc Laidlaw, G-Man was inspired by the character Slowstop in
Synergy's computer game
Gadget: Invention, Travel, & Adventure (1993), which Laidlaw had adapted into a novel in 1996.
Barney Calhoun Barney Calhoun is the player character in
Half-Life: Blue Shift and a major character in
Half-Life 2 as well as
Half-Life 2: Episode One. Michael Shapiro provided Barney's voice in the games of the
Half-Life series. Scott Lynch, Valve's
chief operating officer, lent his face to the game for use in-game as Barney in
Half-Life 2. Barney's name stemmed from the earlier
alpha versions of
Half-Life in which the
model for the security guards held a resemblance to actor
Don Knotts, inspiring comparisons with Knotts's character
Barney Fife from
The Andy Griffith Show, which in the United States has long been a disparaging term for an inept policeman or security guard. Initially, the "Barneys" were intended to be hostile NPCs who would attack the player. In
Half-Life: Blue Shift, the playable Barney progresses through Black Mesa to escape the events of the Resonance Cascade and is able to do so, in contrast to Gordon Freeman and Adrian Shephard, who are held in stasis. In
Half-Life 2, Barney works as a mole for the Lambda Resistance in the Combine Civil Protection Forces. He provides the player information in the first chapter, leading him to Kleiner and Vance, and in the end of the second chapter, he provides the player with his crowbar. The fact that Barney owes Gordon Freeman a beer is a
running gag in the series.
Adrian Shephard Adrian Shephard is the protagonist of
Half-Life: Opposing Force. He is a 22-year old
corporal in the
United States Marine Corps (USMC) stationed at the fictional Santego Military Base in
Arizona who is mysteriously transferred to the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit (HECU), a special USMC unit. Three months after his transfer, he is sent to the
Black Mesa Research Facility (BMRF) to defeat the Xenian invasion and summarily execute all BMRF personnel. However, the
Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey transporting him is hit by a Xenian energy blast and crashes; he is rescued by a group of Black Mesa scientists, and due to never making it to his designated landing zone, Shephard remains unaware of the secret orders to kill all BMRF employees. Making his way through the facility while being observed by the
G-Man, he eventually comes across a
thermonuclear weapon brought in by the
Central Intelligence Agency and deactivates it, but the G-Man later reactivates it, leading to the eventual destruction of Black Mesa. In the end, the G-Man reveals that he has successfully argued for Shephard's life, detaining him in some unknown void. The G-Man expresses a degree of respect for Shephard, offering praise for his ability to "adapt and survive against all odds" which "rather reminds [the G-Man] of [himself]". Shephard is briefly mentioned in
Half-Life: Blue Shift, where a HECU marine grumbles about taking over some of Shephard's squad's duties. Shephard was planned to be the player character of
Arkane Studios'
Ravenholm spinoff game, developed around 2007 to 2008, a project which Valve later cancelled. Valve also affirmed that Shephard had no connection to
Portal after players found that the keyboard images in game showed the lit characters "ASHPD" and believed that hinted at Shephard's return; the letters instead referred to the long name of the "Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device" a.k.a. the "portal gun", with the nearness to Shephard's name a "total freak coincidence" according to Valve's Doug Lombardi.
Rosenberg Dr.
Rosenberg (voiced by
Jon St. John) is a scientist and a survivor of the Black Mesa incident. He first appears in
Half-Life: Decay. When Gina Cross and Colette Green first arrive at the test chamber's control room and are receiving instructions from Dr. Keller, Rosenberg interrupts and voices his concern to Keller over having the anti-mass spectrometer run above 90% capacity, which is past the safety buffer zone for the equipment. Dr. Keller, however, dismisses his concern and states that the administrator's orders for this were clear. He tells Rosenberg that he can either stay and watch the experiment or return to his labs by the train yards. Rosenberg remains, and shortly thereafter the Resonance Cascade occurs. Immediately after the disaster, Rosenberg converses with Dr. Keller and makes it clear that he believes their greatest responsibility should be the safety of the people at Black Mesa. Although Keller thinks that they should attempt to reset the displacement fields first, he eventually agrees with Rosenberg, and they come up with a plan to contact the
military, so that they can help and evacuate the facility as soon as possible. Gina and Colette escort Rosenberg through the Hazard Course to a satellite communications center on the surface, where he is able to transmit a distress signal. Dr. Rosenberg decides to wait there for the military, and this is the last time he is seen in
Decay as Gina and Colette return below to assist Dr. Keller. However, his voice is heard once more in the game later on. In
Half-Life: Blue Shift, Rosenberg makes his first appearance during the Hazard Course tutorial, long before Calhoun encounters him in the train yards. He can be seen behind the observer's window during the duck-jump portion of the training. Sometime between Gina and Colette's last sight of Rosenberg in
Decay and Calhoun's eventual rescue of the scientist in
Blue Shift, he tries to enact an escape plan to get out of Black Mesa with the help of several other scientists. During this time, he is captured by soldiers and held captive in a freight car for questioning, while a colleague, Harold, is cornered and fatally wounded. Before Harold dies, Barney Calhoun discovers him, and he instructs Calhoun to find Dr. Rosenberg to help him with his plan. Calhoun is able to reach the train yards and free Dr. Rosenberg. Rosenberg informs him that their plan is to use the equipment in the prototype labs to teleport to safety. He leads Calhoun to the unused part of the complex where two other scientists, Walter Bennett and Simmons, are already preparing the machine. Rosenberg instructs Calhoun that he must activate and align a relay device on
Xen in order for them to be able to accurately set their destination. Calhoun travels to Xen and is successful in accomplishing this task, but after returning through the portal back to Earth (it is here that Gina and Colette in
Decay, temporarily caught in a harmonic reflux, hear Rosenberg's voice calling Calhoun through the portal), they discover that they need another power cell to replenish the teleporter's power for their escape. Calhoun acquires a newly charged power cell from the lab's sub-basement and delivers it to Rosenberg and the others. Dr. Rosenberg then initiates the system and brings it online. They all narrowly avoid the military's invasion of the prototype labs, teleporting to the safety of an unnoticed access tunnel. They get into an
SUV and leave Black Mesa. Rosenberg's fate remains unknown.
Gina Cross Dr.
Gina Cross (voiced by Kathy Levin) is a Black Mesa scientist who first appears as the Holographic Assistant for Gordon Freeman in the Black Mesa's Hazard Course and then later as one half of the protagonists in
Half-Life: Decay. In
Decay, Cross is the one who delivers the GG-3883 crystal sample to the delivery system and then heads to an area below the test chamber, where Dr. Colette Green is stationed, to fix a jam in the lift that allows the specimen to be delivered up to Gordon. After the Resonance Cascade occurs, Cross teams up with Dr. Green to battle their way through the now alien-infested facility. They first escort Rosenberg to the surface to contact the military, and then under the guidance of Dr. Richard Keller, they succeed in starting a resonance reversal to help lessen the effects of the dimensional rift. In
Half-Life: Blue Shift, Cross can briefly be seen on a security camera in the surveillance room, delivering the GG-3883 crystal. In
Half-Life: Opposing Force, Adrian Shephard finds Cross's corpse in Xen after being teleported there by the Displacer Cannon, which implies that she died sometime after the events of
Decay.
Randy Pitchford, the president and CEO of
Gearbox Software, had since confirmed this fate. However,
Valve themselves never confirmed anything about Cross's fate after the events of
Decay. Cross was originally planned to be Gordon Freeman's spouse as well as another playable character in the original
Half-Life, but this idea was cut from the final game.
Colette Green Dr.
Colette Green (voiced by
Lani Minella) is a Black Mesa scientist and one half of the protagonist team in
Half-Life: Decay. In
Decay, Dr. Green's role in the experiment is to make preparations in a room below the test chamber and initiate the Anti-Mass Spectrometer to run at 105%. Dr. Gina Cross also enters the same room to fix a jam in the specimen delivery system's lift mechanism, meaning they are both in the same place when the Resonance Cascade finally occurs. Following the disaster, the two team up to fight their way through the facility for survival. They escort Dr. Rosenberg to the surface to call the military for help and then, with the help of Dr. Richard Keller, manage to start a resonance reversal to prevent the dimensional rift from becoming too large to be repaired. The outcome for Dr. Green, along with the rest of the survivors in
Decay, is unknown to the other Black Mesa survivors.
Richard Keller Dr.
Richard Keller (voiced by
Brice Armstrong) is a Black Mesa scientist, working with Colette and Gina. He appears in
Half-Life: Decay. He is a 55-year-old, senior scientist in a wheel chair. He gives missions to Colette and Gina during the game. Keller also condemns Gordon Freeman and asks himself what Kleiner sees in him. His final fate is unknown.
Walter Bennett Dr.
Walter Bennett (voiced by
Harry S. Robins) is a Black Mesa scientist. He is seen in
Half-Life: Blue Shift. In
Blue Shift, Dr. Bennett is seen fixing a battery in Dr. Rosenberg's office, along with Dr. Simmons. The three scientists soon get it fixed with the help of Barney Calhoun, and they start their teleportation out of Black Mesa. The four successfully make it out of the facility, making Dr. Bennett one of the few known survivors of the incident. They open the gates and start their journey to the outside world with an SUV. Dr. Bennett is briefly mentioned in
Half-Life: Opposing Force. As Adrian Shephard traverses within Sector E of Black Mesa, he enters a testing laboratory where Xen specimens were being experimented on prior to the Resonance Cascade. He opens up a transmission intended for Dr. Bennett, revealing a hologram of a scientist talking about the results of an experiment conducted on a Barnacle, which was one of the Xen creatures being examined. Following the transmission, Shephard takes a nearby Barnacle specimen that was intended for Dr. Bennett to experiment on before the Resonance Cascade. Dr. Bennett's final fate is unknown.
Simmons Dr.
Simmons is a Black Mesa scientist. He is seen in
Half-Life: Blue Shift. In
Blue Shift, Dr. Simmons is seen fixing a battery in Dr. Rosenberg's office, along with Dr. Walter Bennett. The three scientists soon get it fixed with the help of Barney Calhoun, and they start their teleportation out of Black Mesa. The four successfully make it out of the facility, making Dr. Simmons one of the few known survivors of the incident. They open the gates and start their journey to the outside world with an SUV. Simmons does not talk at all in the game, and his first name is unknown. Furthermore, his final fate is unknown like all of his colleagues.
Otis Otis (voiced by Michael Shapiro) appears in
Blue Shift and
Opposing Force. In the latter, Otis helps Shepard fight through areas of the Black Mesa Research Facility, opening a door and is not seen again. In
Blue Shift, Otis appears at the shooting range at the start of the game. He is trying to eat a donut and pull out his weapon. ==Introduced in
Half-Life 2 and episodes==