This is an updated version of the wildest Half-Life theory unexplored and unspoken for almost two decades generating new ways to interpret the story in ways that were never attempted before, tying in all original inconsistencies of the game’s lore, opening up a possibility of a new story element presence potential that is still in question and could as well be the story-twist that was planned originally. Reuploaded for Half-Life 2 Steam Guides, originally posted on Half-Life: Alyx forums. Minor edits and bits of new information were added.

The theory aims to fill in the gaps, answering major mysteries and inconsistencies raised in the Half-Life Lore, starting from HL1 and it’s expansion packs to EP2, while also debunking common misconceptions that persist within the community. At this point, the retcon story of Half-Life: Alyx isn’t taken into an account, except some of the new lore elements that were introduced with the latest installment. This text conclusively answers commonly related questions such as: «Who is the G-Man and what’s his purpose in the story?», exposing which possible entity he originates from, the character’s goals and motives, while debunking the «Combine» being an «Universal Union» and existing in a shape that people were led to believe, drawing a parallel to the potential inspirations the lore of the game was drawn from.

In short words, «Combine» faction is described to be a secretly established on Earth organization originally created on behalf of an Earth shadow government for which the G-Man was working for the whole time, to wipe out the majority of civilization and bring a new phase of «evolution» under the U.N. sanctioned New World Order seen in Half-Life 2. Certain story and design decisions made during the game’s development process, typical Valve’s excuses and the potential, yet very distinct inspirations serve as keys for explaining the story’s elements that still, for many, are tangled in mystery.

In order to get a new set of answers, the nature of portals, teleportation techniques must be analyzed. A part of the portals explanation is also tied with the Half-Life: Blue Shift expansion pack that tells the player more about how the portals work.

The portals developed in Black Mesa are a one-way tunnel. Once the connection with the end destination was established, there are no ways on returning back, unless the connection is held through a local portal from the start destination to Xen, the satellite array, however, has to allow such connection establishing the teleportation range to happen. Such portals can be held only for a limited amount of time, as they’re too power consuming.

The crystal, originating from the Xen border-world is the item, that can let the teleportation from Xen to Earth be active, the other way around is achieved by using a satellite array tied in with the «Xenium Resonator». The crystal does not open the getaway to their border-world by it simply succumbing to Anti-Mass Spectrometer laser power, instead it opens up a connection within Nihilanth’s mind opening a portal from Xen to Earth specifically, while teleportation from Earth to Xen has to be held using conventional methods through a small portal from the Lambda Complex connected to the satellite array and it’s own crystal connection and to successfully teleport on Earth, there has to be a direct connection triangulation device, that has a direct link and presence on Xen, operating together with the teleportation equipment at the same time, if one of them does not operate – the portal will not be opened. The launched satellites on rockets can be used to create a portal of a one way path to Xen and at that point of the story, the older technology was used and the independent teleportation emulating the Xen relay was not yet developed and the «Combine» were still dependent on a local transportation, unable to quickly and efficiently transport themselves back, also unable to transport themselves anywhere they want, they’ve used similar string-based portals. They can tunnel through the rift, but coming back to the start point requires the local teleport held active which is a source allowing for teleportation possibility.

The rocket satellite cannot help open the both-way destination at the same time to teleport on Earth, it is directed to Xen specifically, «Xenium Resonator» connected to the actual satellite is used, holding a connection with Xen. This is exactly the reason as to why Xen is an expressed axis one must pass through, they had no other methods to teleport on Earth, Xen is specifically involved. The satellite streams data and the signal strength to the Black Mesa teleportation device interface, but the teleportation to Earth is limited by a triangulation device that can only be placed on Xen, using it’s crystals and an attached antenna that transmits it’s signal back to the interconnected Earth equipment allowing to open an accurate portal. This device isn’t reliant on the coordinates, it only holds a signal connection with the specific Black-Mesa teleportation equipment on Earth, while it’s attached crystals aid a direct teleportation with set coordinates by activating an instant connection with Xen crystals, that in favor, hold the connection with the Xen itself and allow to teleport on Earth by using Earth-only teleportation equipment to which the signal transmits back.

Another way to open a portal from Earth to the end-destination of another Earth portal can only be achieved by passing through Xen, from there, to another portal that was opened from an Earth teleportation equipment, since at that point, it is an expressed axis that must be passed through. The direct A to B teleportation in the context of two local portals wasn’t at this time possible. The portals from Xen to Earth specifically, were held open by the Nihilanth, the indefinite connection that was achieved through a crystal, up until it was closed after his death, while the portal from Earth to Xen still persisted due to the rocket that was aborted by the military and launched by Gordon Freeman. The rocket is the source that can teleport people from Earth to Xen using it’s satellite to fully take control over the border world, which is the reason it was built for, while the crystal created a teleport other way around, but only with a direct connection on the Earth side through the Anti-Mass Spectrometer experiment. Prior to the events of Half-Life, not only the specimens were taken from Xen, but also the creatures in order to contain them, experiment and at some point, use.

The triangulation device with the crystals is used as a relay to accurately teleport outside of the facility while both the teleporter that can take you there and the device are online at the same time, otherwise an Earth destination to escape the facility cannot be targeted, as stated by Dr. Rosenberg, since no other methods were developed to teleport on Earth, as an older equipment is used that couldn’t emulate the Xen relay, which proves that the satellite array is a one-way algorithm. The teleport equipment is later used to place a teleport point on Xen to get Barney out of the border world, since no getaway was ever built there and the Earth teleport equipment had to be operated to place it. This device can only be placed on Xen to create a direct connection during the very stage of teleportation from Black Mesa to another point on Earth.

The payload rocket launched by Gordon Freeman in Half-Life 1 wasn’t launched with the reason to close a portal as it is initially believed, it’s purpose was to let the Lambda Team open a portal from Earth to Xen specifically. As soon as the rocket is launched, the «gates» both from Xen to Earth and from Earth to Xen persisted. Rocket tied in with the Xen crystal allows Gordon Freeman to get to the border world, there are, however, two currents of a «Xen to Earth» way still present, one of them is closed via a «Resonance Reversal» in Half-Life: Decay, another one, open via Nihilanth’s mind is eventually closed by Freeman.

A piece of evidence from a developer commentary about the purpose of the rocket:

Gary McTaggart: «The launch of Magnusson's rocket ties directly into the rocket Gordon launched at Black Mesa. Here, the portal satellite array that opened a gate to Xen in Half-Life One has been repurposed to shut the Combine out. This is just another example of the way we constantly try to weave the old threads of the Half-Life story into the new episodes.»















That story element was planned originally, which is backed up by the security guard seen right before the "On A Rail" chapter.

Security Guard: «He said something about a Lambda team needing the satellite in orbit if they were ever going to clean up this mess.»

Dr. Rosenberg: «You see, Mr. Calhoun, teleportation isn't as easy as going from point A to point B.»

On Earth there are no sources of teleportation found, it has no means of teleportation unless the technological teleport equipments are built. Xen, however, has crystals. The «Dark Energy» that Black Mesa employees have found a way to manipulate can let the trick happen. The teleportation itself as a whole is achieved through numerous ways.

The Anti-Mass Spectrometer equipment is built to specifically scan samples and project properties of an object they can use to their advantage. However, Black Mesa employees knew the purer the object – the more unstable it is. It’s instability can trigger a «Resonance Cascade», a cataclysmic event causing a teleportation of interdimensional beings randomly on Earth. The reason of such a phenomenon to take place, is because Xen itself is involved in the teleportation process as a whole.

Dr. Rosenberg: «We've discovered a strange borderworld that was somehow involved in the process.»

Xen holds an energetic teleportation connection in it’s ecosystem, loads of crystals in it’s environment and the Nihilanth’s spike in the head. Xen and crystal connection together is so powerful, that Anti-Mass Spectrometer laser essentially cutting through the crystal, slots through Xen as a whole, opens up a connection current in the Nihilanth’s head and takes the creatures from Xen, triggering a Resonance Cascade. In our world, on Earth, we don’t have the items that do an exact same thing. The only source of teleportation is the actual teleportation equipment, even then there needs to be an access to a Xen crystal. The Earth system is different to that of Xen and has no sources of teleportation originally, apart from the Dark Energy that has to be manipulated and exploited through the teleportation equipment. The payload rocket is connected to a «Xenium Resonator», which is how it allows the active teleportation to Xen.

Kleiner: «Magnusson designed a xenium resonator that once in orbital range will activate the old array and effectively turn it into a shield.»

It is important to remember that the crystal, which actually is «xenium» in other words is connected to Xen only. That also explains certain hidden story elements. Satellite is not responsible for teleportation on Earth, as Xen wouldn’t have been an expressed axis if that would be the case. A one way connection takes you to Xen, from there, to a portal held open from Earth. Otherwise, if there is no connection, it wouldn’t be possible.

To go in more depth with the triangulation device, the one turned on by Barney, it being a relay means the teleportation process from Earth equipment, for a split time essentially takes you to Xen triangulation device crystals, from there, back to set coordinates on Earth with the equipment held by the signal of the Xen device’s satellite itself. That is a replacement of having to pass through Xen physically. The connection of the device’s satellite, however, after the events of Half-Life 1 would be completely lost, as Black Mesa is destroyed, unmanaged at the same time either way. Even if someone would somehow manage to reprogram the triangulation device, which would be irrational, as establishing the whole teleportation technique through one old triangulation device is not reliable, but even if someone would build a teleport equipment on Xen and connect it together with the triangulation device, the Earth system is still closed and has no sources active, while the signal would instead transmit to Xen teleport equipment with the crystals of Xen origin, holding a connection with Xen only. None of it would work either way, which completely excludes the possibility of a triangulation device active after the events of Half-Life 1.














Dr.Rosenberg: «Unfortunately, this older technology does not have the ability to target an Earth destination in its current state.»

By the «older technology» it is meant that certain discoveries made by the Lambda Team weren’t a part of the old laboratory seen in Blue Shift. Lambda Team figured out how to emulate a Xen relay, but their developments were at the very early stage even during the events of Half-Life 1, they couldn’t emulate a Xen relay opening up a portal outside of the facility even back then. The small energy concentrations seen in Lambda Core the Gordon is forced to jump around are the very first prototypes of a Xen relay emulation. Such developments were imagined and practiced by Dr. Kleiner himself. Their range was limited, it’s compression allowed only for a short distance teleportation. That is backed up by the Mossman’s statement:

Mossman: «Dr. Kleiner compressed the Xen Relay far beyond anything he imagined at Black Mesa.»

It took Kleiner and Eli to develop a teleportation equipment that would let the user travel very far many years, they’ve only had a breakthrough shortly before Half-Life 2, but the double transmission was necessary, as the older teleport was broken.

The teleportation inconsistencies unravel the problem, the portal from Xen was completely closed and all the connection except the unmanaged from Earth satellite array was sealed, it however would only hold a one-way path to Xen. It is worth noting that the satellites were launched before the resonance cascade to an array for a successful portal opening from Earth to Xen. If Combine were to exist none of the events in Half-Life 2 would take place, granted, their limited ability to teleport. In order to reside on Earth they would need to be established on Earth first. There is nothing both on Xen and Earth side that holds the portal to Earth anymore after the Nihilanth’s death and no sources are managed at the same time and active, the Citadel would have to exist prior in order to hold a connection, built to establish the connection with their Overworld and portals they have supposedly came out from. The rocket method is later used to cut the connection of their portal from the malfunctioning reactor of the Citadel, for them to not be able to come back. In order to figure the loophole out, further investigations must be made.

Talking about the Citadel, the center of the building above the core, at the very top where Gordon prevents Breen from escaping is the "dark fusion reactor" that powers the tunneling entanglement device from Earth specifically. During Half-Life 2, Citadel is the only source that holds the connection from Earth.

Alyx: "This is the Citadel's dark fusion reactor. It powers their tunneling entanglement device."

Long before the events of Half-Life, the experiments were conducted, a border world was discovered and the means of getting there were already developed in the Lambda Complex before the Incident. The specimens were stolen and brought back to our world as such successes were directly reported to the Administrator, from there, to the shadow government, from whom it was funded by. As described in one of the Half-Life Alyx newspapers, Black Mesa Research Facility is «little-known», most likely referring to it being secret for the ordinary population, as no facility like that would end up being «little-known» unless it is secret for most.

The purest sample of the Xen crystal was discovered, brought to the facility and the order was orchestrated from the Administrator Breen to replace the old sample with a new one for scanning, deceptively marking the specimen as «the one found during an expedition», to avoid blame for the unforeseen consequences for the crystal that was brought to him and stolen by G-Man, to get the right analysis however, the Anti-Mass Spectrometer had to be pushed beyond it’s safety limits. The G-Man is the key figure behind all the events of Half-Life, that were all pre-planned beforehand. His nature is a reflection of how the government handles business, creating terror and establishing new order out of it, exploiting the mass disorder. Sent by his many employers from the syndicate that is the shadow government, he has persuaded and possibly threatened Wallace Breen, opening up a contract he could not refuse. This is the parallel of «the battle Gordon has no chance of winning». Breen was promised a higher position and power, if only the experiment would not undergo the standard safety procedures and instead, the purest sample would be used. That, however was a limited time contract and as soon as it would be over, under a strict timing, Gordon would be emerged from the stasis to take the power of the Earth administrator away from him, ultimately endangering humanity even more. At that very day, when the experiment was about to start, Breen was missing from his place of work, as he was already prepared and sheltered for his new position in the future.

After the experiment has gone south, G-Man was looking for a potential candidate-pawn investment that would be used in the grand scheme. A close eye was kept on Gordon Freeman and at that time, a security guard Barney Calhoun was looking to find ways to escape the facility by going out to the surface. Freeing Dr. Rosenberg held hostage they’re starting to look for a teleport equipment that would get them out of the facility. He quickly briefs Barney with the details on how portals work and sends him to turn on a device. After the device was turned on and the signal has reached it’s maximum signal, Rosenberg opens a limited time portal to Xen for Barney to escape the border world and with the device active, soon after powering up a teleporter they teleport outside of the facility and eventually escape. When Gordon Freeman managed to successfully battle through military sent to take control over the situation and cover it up, he is briefed in the Lambda Complex that the concentration of a singular being holds a massive portal to Earth and in order to close the Xen portal to Earth, he is sent to kill Nihilanth and ultimately does so closing Xen to Earth connection completely. Gordon is then taken by G-Man offering him a deal for a new pre-planned job in the future, he has proven himself a fine pawn to roll out the ultimate plan, as he is threatened by death should he decline the offer. At that point, Gordon receives important information that pushes lore forward. It is stated, by G-Man, that most of the weapons used by Gordon Freeman are a government property, he had to requisition it and his potential was already discussed with his «employers» of a one tongue that he would be a fine investment that would help their cause, which is exactly what he meant by required «services», since he would be used as nothing but a tool. It is also stated that the border world Xen «is in our control for the time being» which confirms that everything of what has already happened was a part of a government interest, one of those interests is to take a control of Xen, essentially handing it over when the preparation is finished. At the time when Adrian Shepard is also taken for him being a witness, G-Man working in government interests is also proven by him having to preserve Adrian, as his employers aren’t trustworthy on keeping him free, opposed to what he would have done, had he not been tied to the interests of his employers. G-Man is forced to ensure a lose end that is Black Mesa is destroyed and everything that has happened there – gone, as if it never happened so that the report could be finally closed and sent to the base of their operations. With Xen in control of the government specifically, everything went according to plan.

G-Man calls the Black Mesa an embarrassment, he refers to the failed cover-up of the marines that provoked Black Ops to step in to the conflict, eventually with them too, nearly failing, as a bomb that was supposed to destroy the facility was deactivated by Adrian. G-Man had to enable it again manually by himself and the whole situation was nearly a failure.

Speaking of Race X which contradicts teleportation nature later described in Blue Shift and Half-Life 2, it is confirmed by an original writer that their existence in the game doesn’t figure in his thinking of Half-Life universe and is a Gearbox creation added as new enemies for gameplay purposes opposed to the new dialogues and established lore of the expansion packs that he was involved in.

The «Combine» show up seemingly out of nowhere. Gordon is emerged from stasis two decades later and thrown right into confusion, with no idea as to what’s going on, with the humanity at the brink of tasting a total extinction under the guise of an unspecified «immortality». With the breencasts of mass propaganda and a combine spy at the time, Mossman at his ear, Gordon is led to believe that the Combine is an Universal Union with them being the only figures in Half-Life 2 ever referencing it to be the case. In Eli’s labs, at the Black Mesa East, the newspaper clips give him only a rough idea of what has happened decades ago. Mossman proceeds stringing Freeman along as soon as he steps through the gate of the facility, expressing her envy towards his work experience with Kleiner and Eli. She has no concern towards the Freeman’s safety. To her, he is nothing but a puppet, an easy brawn to control and lie to, however attempting to keep the middle ground between the humanity and the Combine, persuading Breen to not indulge into an unnecessary genocide.

Mossman: «Freeman, yes! But he's already someone's puppet. Use him however you like, but not Eli, he's only worth anything with his intellect intact.»

«You would have had Freeman if you'd been patient and just waited for my signal.»

Mossman uses Gordon’s lack of knowledge about the recent events as a potential to hitch him up, also a trickery on being his ally. Informing Freeman on Kleiner’s recent progress with emulating a Xen relay in teleportation, usage of Xen as an unexpressed axis, pulling the need of passing through Xen, teleporting directly to another teleporter from A to B with no need of using Xen crystal and the device on Xen, she states that the «Combine» can «tunnel through», but once they’re getting here – they’re dependent on a local transportation.

Mossman: «Dr. Kleiner compressed the Xen Relay far beyond anything he imagined at Black Mesa. We've figured out how to use Xen as an unexpressed axis, effectively a dimensional slingshot, so we can swing around the borderworld and come back in local space without having to pass through.»

«We're closing in on a reliable local teleport technology, something the Combine still hasn't mastered. Eli thinks their portals are string-based, similar to our Calabi-Yau model, but they've failed to factor in Dark Energy equations. They can tunnel through from their universe, but once they're here they're dependent on local transportation. If they knew what we're doing with entanglement—»

There are many inconsistencies with that statement. The teleportation isn’t as simple as just by «tunneling through» one place to the other, teleportation doesn’t work that way. First, if the Combine’s teleportation methods are that limited, they wouldn’t be able to transport large armies back that have supposedly invaded Earth and you’re not seeing any non-humanoid Combine present on Earth that would be intelligent and capable enough of transforming people into large armies of brainwashed soldiers. Even decades later, their abilities to teleport are limited and not reliable enough. The Combine portal you’re seeing in Nova Prospekt is still at it’s early stage of development, also, notably too small to transport more than two people, only reprogrammed by Mossman to emulate a Xen relay when Gordon and Alyx just got there. Such teleporter is limited to the point of delaying the teleportation progress by a week. Second, if the «Combine» is an Universal Union, their teleportation methods to conquer other worlds wouldn’t be that limited for them to serve such a label, they also wouldn’t be that dependent on Xen and especially Eli’s research that Breen is thirsting for. At last, they can’t teleport randomly or from nowhere, there has to be a connection on Earth for them to be able to get here, a connection that was cut after Nihilanth’s death, the humanity had no idea and wasn’t informed about. Their Citadel that opens a portal to their «Overworld», nor any connection with the Earth wasn’t in place, the Citadel that is only under construction during Half-Life: Alyx had to be in place before the invasion happened, even back then the «Combine» are humanoid and creatures are only being reprogrammed to serve on their side at that time. If closing their Citadel teleporter was as easy as launching a rocket to cut the connection, with them not being able to come back, they wouldn’t stand a chance on getting to Earth during a 7 hour war in the first place, nor would they even be able to transport themselves with the «portal» storms. How did the Combine get to Earth? The answer is: they never did. There is no Combine.

Eli: «So this is the Combine portal. It's smaller than I imagined.»














The “Portal” Storm

There was a massive confusion and panic in the humanity. The government has succeeded at taking over Xen border world with the help of Gordon Freeman. When things got into control, all portals were closed, the game has reached a new phase. Strange occurrences have happened, the cataclysmic meteorological events causing chaos, destruction took place in the world, stretching the government's abilities to protect their citizens to the breaking point, breaking down communications, forcing the stock market to close entirely, with millions deprived of fresh food. The catastrophic weather events brought a massive loss of life. These so-called «portal» storms coming from an unknown source are soon believed to be the means that the external forces use to get here with all the newspapers and news coverage telling the same story. Gordon Freeman – a witness and one of the only survivors of the Black Mesa Incident has seen what happened at the facility from his own perspective, how the creatures kept spawning out of a thin air from Xen, simply by a crystal opening a connection with Xen held by Nihilanth afterwards.

Most importantly, none of the portal storms actually occurred during a resonance cascade, suspiciously the creatures were never limited by «portal» storms, while the erratic teleportation events never influenced the weather, haven’t even caused quakes, regardless of it being the epicenter of the incident, suggesting that these cataclysms took place after the events of Half-Life 1, while the creatures aren’t tied to the «portal» storms spawning at random locations. The «portal» storms have to resonate from somewhere, in that instance, from the Black Mesa facility, or from Xen externally, however by the time when they could appear, even if they would already be present, Nihilanth would already be killed and the facility eventually ending up a crater. Such «portal» storms, if portal storms, all around the world have no place to exist, given their nature at popping up randomly without a link that actually triggers it, which as it is already known, isn’t possible with the connection between the border world and Earth closed. That raises questions about the «portal» storms origin, what was their purpose and if they really serve a role of teleportation.

Eli: "Black Mesa is a crater now." - Half-Life 2: Beta

In Half-Life: Alyx «terminal» newspapers it is revealed that during the storms it took days for Combine to even show up and no one was still certain about the portal storms origin, which suggests that neither the Combine and the Xen creatures came from their effect even if unreliable information continued it’s distribution. Xen creatures spawned separately after the resonance cascade up to the very end, the storms that caused mass destruction however, haven’t abated at the time of Earth surrender, they had to be engineered by someone else, as their continuous presence on Earth is inexplicable, not during the war, the surrender and even the events of Half-Life 1, especially after freeing the vortigaunts. The humanity had continued sharing their doubts about these events, questioning who was behind the weather events and at a growing consensus, some have accepted that the Combine aren’t responsible for instigating the «portal storms». The speculations were rising and varied with explanations ranging from «meteorological consequences of climate change to clandestine scientific experiments”. If all of the above-mentioned references aren’t responsible for creating the weather events, then who is? The Combine, notably were taken as a «military force», suggesting that the «invaders» were too, humanoid. Notice how the portal creatures and the «Combine» are separated in that article, suggesting that the «Combine» might not have actually come from portals, because if they would, the humanity wouldn’t have any distinction among them.

At the end of the 7-hour war, due to the contract deal accepted by Breen at Black Mesa, he was elected and put in place «at the right place, at the right time», while he denied such accusations and lied that he found a way to communicate with the Combine, if Universal Union, that would be impossible, as an administrator of a little-known facility, he would not be able to negotiate on becoming the leader, not even contact U.N to receive a sanction during the breakdown in communications all around the world. He was deliberately put in place by the government due to the deal he made, but only for a limited time, which only confirms that the 7-hour war, was indeed, staged.

Man-made cataclysms and weather events have helped achieving an ultimate goal. The goal of these weather events is to spread massive fear, distort the humanity and shake it to the point that they would accept anything just to be safe, even if the information spoon fed to them is a lie in plain sight. Cities were devastated and millions were killed, the less people there are in the world, the easier it would be to control them. When this is the only reliable way of creating a one-world government to have an ultimate control, the destructive methods are carried out.

After the war, when Breen was put in place on a role of the Earth administrator, through deception and lies, an equivalent of breencasts seen in Half-Life 2, he generated a false hope that he and the Combine are there to protect the humanity from a threat that is the Xen creatures, the teleportation of which was already prevented by Gordon long ago, since no one would be strong enough to reestablish the way of life. He pushed out a false narrative and a false flag that they are an «Universal Union», so that him and the government would not take a blame and responsibility for all that is done on Earth afterwards. When the humanity was brutally hit and in hunger, they were afraid to such an extent, that they would let one singular face create peace while Combine faction was viewed as the one that would save them from the creatures, cataclysms and the ongoing massacre. After such distress, the control and order is exactly what the humanity wanted and to their own sorrow it happened.

The entire 7-hour war is just an excuse to control the humanity by harsh force, drain resources, devalue old values and keep the humanity in slavery under one wing. A new world order has come to a fruition with one face, continuously lying to people with his face put all around the screens on Earth, while his speeches, his voice reached all quiet corners. People were encouraged to serve Combine, eventually get brainwashed with their memories, emotions and instincts erased, turning them into robots, which is exactly what the next phase of «evolution» the government would have in mind. 7-hour war is an order out of chaos scenario where chaos is provoked by teleportation of Xen creatures, along with the destructive manipulated weather events engineering a reason to condition the population and control it.

In Half-Life 2 there is an old security prison called Nova Prospekt that Gordon has to break into. One of the most important moments that are revealed in the lore of the game, is that people are transported to it for brainwash, to turn them into Combine, or stalkers, if they resist. Such operations are done by other Combine forces. The main question is, how far back do these operations trace back? The only Combine in Half-Life are the humanoid military force and creatures, caught by them and turned into bigger killing machines. No one would be intelligent enough to turn people into Combine, which conclusively suggests that the Combine is not an Universal Union, they don’t come from anywhere else but Earth and that before the 7-hour war such augmentation and brainwashing technologies were developed and used on prisoners first. Augmented people would not be able to question or think by themselves, just follow orders. This also explains why it took days for Combine to show up during the weather manipulation, people were massively on a quick hand turned into Combine, while the outcome of war was planned, as the Earth, realistically wouldn’t be conquered in just 7 hours unless it is manipulated from within the government, which is why Gordon has an easy time defeating «Combine» in the first place.

Marc Laidlaw has stated about the Combine that «The combine is a combination of different species (including humans) working (or forced to work) together. Other than that, you’ll have to stay tuned for more information as we work it into the games.» They aren’t classified as Universal Union and the «more information» has a potential to reshape the picture of their existence.

Their «Overworld» is just a border world that they have taken control of after the rocket was launched and opened a passage, specifically Xen, after Gordon has liberated it and the control over it was given out to the government, which is why their teleportation techniques are so limited even at the time of Half-Life 2, they’re dependent on Xen where they have established their base of operations, possibly beyond, all with the help of Gordon Freeman. Because separate Combine forces couldn’t actually get back to Earth after teleportation to Xen, since the teleportation back, as described before, has to be held from Earth teleport equipment, they had to build an actual both-way portal that is the Citadel powered by a dark-energy fusion reactor, which is exactly why it’s under construction in Half-Life: Alyx. This also explains why Mossman was blurry in her statements about «tunneling through» and «their Universe». They never had one and Gordon wouldn’t know.

In order to build New World Order, first, an old order must break.

Digging further through, a departure must be made. The story of Half-Life, just like many stories in the 1990-s is inspired by the conspiracy theories from that time frame. A secret underground facility, an «invasion», the government man, teleportation, theoretical dark energy. All comes together.

The story of Half-Life as a whole has a very distinct parallel between one of the theories on the outcome of the world and the humanity from that time that is still prevalent. One that touches same schematic the events in the story underwent.

Blue Beam conspiracy is the conspiracy of a government using technology to orchestrate a fear based scenario that would unite masses of people to side with a desired faction. The goal is to unify all governments into a One-World government, «a political authority for all of humanity, giving way to a global government and a single state or polity with jurisdiction over the entire human world. Such a government could come into existence through violent and compulsory world domination or through peaceful and voluntary supranational union.» That’s done through a false flag doom scenario, deception and false promises. There are many more elements that tie one and two together.

1. Activation of a weather modification for weather warfare («portal storms»)

2. Internet shutdown (a breakdown in global communications, stock market crash)

3. Induced trauma (through the earthquake weaponry and cataclysms)

4. Fake invasion (in that instance, of Combine)

5. Implant a chip into the people’s hands. (Citizens putting their hand up to the scanning camera before walking through a forcefield)

6. Advanced AI (Overwatch voice commanding forces and giving orders to citizens)

7. A singular public face to control all of Earth claiming he knows how to end recent troubles (Breen as an Earth administrator, claiming he «found a way to communicate»)



It suggests that one singular face with the power of speaking to the masses will “explain” that the various scriptures “have been misunderstood”, ultimately tying all of humanity to one cause, ditching old traditions and habits. In this instance, it is Breen encouraging the humanity to accept this new «evolution» by expunging instincts, take down all impulses and overcome the compulsion, also justifying the stop of reproduction.

The theory suggests that the face, speaking to all of humanity will also speak on different languages at the same time, so that other nations would understand. In Half-Life 2 beta the Consul broadcast is translated to another language as he speaks, resorting to that, however would be unnecessary if the rest of the world ended up being a wasteland.

A multinational army would be established, such as the Combine, that would rule the world in a threatening manner. Those that reject the New World Order, by a theory, will be forcefully reeducated, in this instance through Breencasts, while the public figure will belittle old accomplishments of humanity, lying that only now the humanity «has begun to see the light» and that «immortality» is at hand while people, refusing to turn into Combine are near dead.

One of the stages of such events in the conspiracy is projected as an attempt to mislead people into believing that the «invasion» was already happening in other «planets» and that the «rapture» is about to take place. The «Combine» are marked as an «Universal Union», but little do the ordinary citizens know how limited they are.

The Earth surrender during the 7-hour war, as described in the Half-Life: Alyx is U.N sanctioned. According to Project Blue Beam theory, the implementation of the New World Order is also done through the help of United Nations. «7 days» a daily newspaper in Half-Life universe, edition titled «Breen and the «Catastrophe at Black Mesa»: what has really happened?» expressing it’s doubts about Breen, have attempted to contact Breen and the U.N directly, but in a complete silence haven’t received an answer, which confirms that his election was just a play.

Project Blue Beam theory dates far back as 1994 touching upon all of these aspects, including simulation of an invasion, unexplained sky anomalies, the weather events.

Speaking of weather events…

At the point when Half-Life 2 was only in development, some of the the story, artistic direction, appearance, gameplay decision plans have changed, one of those is an interesting one.

One of those chapters is a «Weather Control» chapter that was supposed to take place in a weather station. This is the only chapter for which neither the map or scripts exist. The purpose of it planned to be in the game is unknown, that however might suggest that the destructive meteorological events posed as «portal» storms were man-made and existed long before the 7-hour war coming specifically from the station. The only material providing small details of it’s existence are found on an old «weather control» page originally written for the story of the game.

































This is a plot point that wasn’t in any way explored in Half-Life which indicates, that someone might have manipulated the weather, causing cataclysms in the world during the war.

Weather control is also known as weather manipulation and is also an important element of a theory, it is an act of manipulating the weather. The weather weaponization dates back to the «Operation Popeye» by the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War. Planes were used to drop substances into the air to increase precipitation, increasing an amount of rain. As it is written in the page, as soon as the sunlight started striking through, the planes have appeared and the clouds swallowed them up.

Over the years, weather control has come a long way. HAARP, which is a near Arctic circle facility, the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program is theorized to be a potential weapon of mass destruction, «capable of causing droughts, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and lighting the skies with immense power.» also capable of breaking satellites and signals. Even though it’s posed as a scientific research institute, it’s capabilities suggest that it is «a part of the weapons arsenal of the New World Order.” that can destroy a nation’s economy. This might be an exact described «weather control» facility that Gordon has seen and was the main instrument used during a 7-hour war.

Another, even more plausible explanation of the portal storms and the portal presence during the 7-hour war, without throwing the existence of portal storms out of the loop, if the weather control doesn’t condition the conclusion and has no place in the final game: after Gordon has launched the rocket and has opened a possibility of directly teleporting to Xen, sending it to an array of satellites that were used for opening portals on Xen prior, as stated by Laidlaw – «We knew that some immense threat had chased the Nihilanth and its creatures out of their own world and into Xen, from which location they were all glad to seize the opportunity to continue on to earth with suppression through the citadels.» Notice that the «immense threat» could be anything, even human and most likely is. It isn’t known how long Black Mesa conducts it’s research, especially regarding other border worlds, but it is known that the creatures were forcibly caught off from their world and studied on at Black Mesa, which is revealed in the «Questionable Ethics» and «Vicarious Reality» chapter.

Creatures, present on Xen at the time of Half-Life 1 could have been scared off by people, attempting to catch them using all kinds of weaponry, that’s the reason of Xen being their main focus at the time of the incident, as they were interested in many more creatures that fled to Xen from another border world, including Nihilanth.

The existence of portals during the 7-hour war would only confirm that the «Combine» is a faction, established on Earth, backed up by the government. After Nihilanth was killed, when groups of «Combine» have transported themselves to Xen, liberated by Freeman and handed over by G-Man, separate from each other «Combine» forces begun developing a connection setting unstable teleports in different parts of Earth, continuing teleportation of Xen creatures with the teleport transmitting cataclysmic events, all as a prelude to an attack at which they have revealed themselves blurring their intentions in the eyes of the humanity, establishing order through Breen as public face and a puppet, eventually containing creatures, the teleportation of which they themselves were responsible for, after the surrender, as Breen is giving false hopes that he has saved the humanity.

With the Half-Life having clear parallels with the old theories, G-Man ties in to one of them. It is openly and heavily implied that he is from the government, but what is also implied is that he is not a man. The pre-release Half-Life model also featured the United States Department of Defense logo on his briefcase. The shadow government he works for secretly has it’s hands on U.S government as a whole. It is a secret, invisible government, one of the highest branches. Such government can’t directly change the course of action, but they can put actions in to influence certain aspects that would gradually get them to an ultimate goal, as stated in Half-Life: Alyx «nudge things into a particular direction from time to time», which is all planned with the other «employers» he’s working with. These actions are authorized if they are a part of their interest. G-Man has no realistic free will and works on behalf of his «employers» and all the choices he makes must be negotiated if they’re useful. The events at Black Mesa was a push towards the New World Order, with Xen secured, events covered up and new distractions made.

The game subliminally hints as to who G-Man actually is with the infamous high emphasis on the letter «S» made. As funny as it is, it fits the Half-Life universe pretty well, with all the exotic biomes and the unusual creatures. G-Man is a reptilian entity that works from within the government along with the others of the same race to destroy a majority of human race and bring a new phase of evolution, a more dominating force built from humanity that would be more mechanical, less emotional and more advanced as species, eventually pushing them out to Xen to expand, but the core of this decision is that even they have to be kept in control.

These «employers», given his pause before saying it is a hint they’re of the same race as him. They can’t freely use their original form, as that would reveal who they are, instead, they change shapes and turn into human, like a chameleon changing color. The shadow government he works for is not on the side of neither the humanity or the Combine faction. They are manipulating the outcome of the world in a way they see fit, relations and situations change over time, when there are too many people their amount has to be reduced with destructive actions, at times, the humanity is conditioned and limited for an easier control. At some point, in the Half-Life universe they’ve created a human race or breached Earth government and from now on, they are there to shake things up. – «Some believe the fate of our worlds is inflexible. My employers disagree. They authorize me to… nudge things in a particular direction from time to time.» By «our» worlds he means that Earth is not their only possession, it is now Xen and most likely more, unspoken of. Each world in their possession is regulated, changed, but they never publicly show themselves as they would be considered a threat and lose all possibility of controlling their worlds from the shadow, whether it is Xen that Combine took a hold of, or Earth. The outcome in both instances would be exactly the same, they would lose their authority and would be counted as enemies, that’s also shown by him being imprisoned in Half-Life: Alyx.

Everything they’re doing is nothing but a game, but in their nature it is a necessary principle. Combine are too, secretly owned by that government, but just like the ordinary human race, they don’t know that. There are no «sides» that anyone picks, each faction is independent, but influenced by the government G-Man is in secretly. Their race prefers to wipe the humanity and the Combine faction off Earth, eventually killing each other and leaving a place for them as an open playground, so that they can start all over again. Getting Combine off Earth at the time of Half-Life: Alyx would be a request too large, especially if their existence of both the humanity and the Combine can assert the goal of them getting rid of each other on Earth and they haven’t even expanded enough to exist in their «another» world at the time of Half-Life: Alyx, which is not the case during the events of Half-Life 2 where the power must be taken from Breen at all costs.

Gordon Freeman is taken out of stasis by G-Man specifically to kill Wallace Breen, as his contract is over and his thirst for Eli’s research, a will for total control meddles with the government interests, this is something they can’t afford, as even the «Combine» has to be held in control and organically controlled by that government. Giving such freedom to Breen and the Combine, by research of Eli and Mossman, ability to dictate terms of any bargain with the Combine would be risky and at the time when breakthrough at a reliable teleport technology was made, Gordon was sent to take all of their plans down, destroying the Citadel and forging a way to the end times. Breen never had a real power, but when he was about to, thinking he has tricked everyone, Gordon crushed his ambitions and the government reminded him of his place.

Wallace Breen, formerly a Black Mesa administrator, an Earth administrator at the time of Half-Life 2 cynically got through to that position. That characteristic of his, however, never changed. He isn't some anti-hero, he is a backstabbing, rank-opportunistic fool. Breen was searching for Eli and Kleiner since the very first days as an Earth administrator, but the situation got tighter as the years went on. The quieter the zones all around the world have got, the more wastelands turned up, the narrower was the search. Breen knew that Eli and Kleiner are in City 17, he was specifically targeting their research. He was aware of their whereabouts due to Mossman being his close contact spying on the resistance and «Combine» both.

Beta Breen: «This is a significant development. As soon as I hear from my contact, we can make our move. The only potential drawback is that man, the one I saw!»

The significant development is that of teleportation. An urgent call from the Combine Advisor confirms that Breen is nothing more but a puppet forced to take a hold of Eli’s research, as the «Combine» can’t stay on one spot only and they have to advance. Even though, later on, in Half-Life 2 Beta he lies about his intentions to make portals «safe for human use», lying to Freeman and Eli for them to get on his side, Mossman’s statements prove that it’s specifically in «Combine» interests and their limitations, the earlier call, too, implies that. Breen wants to take «Combine» trust completely and eventually control them without the shadow government influence:

Wallace Breen: «Having both of you in my keeping ensures I can dictate the terms of any bargain I care to make with the Combine.»

When Gordon’s in his office, he talks about how Gordon will now be the leader of humanity on Earth, as Breen’s time is running out and he has to run, untangle himself and the Combine both from the G-Men influence.

Wallace Breen: «Fortunately, the resistance has shown it is willing to accept a new leader. And this one has proven to be a fine pawn for those who control him.»

«Those who control him» is the shadow government, G-Men. Breen is completely aware of the situation and wants to give Freeman a deadened wasteland that Earth ended up to be in Half-Life 2 and run away, leave Freeman in the hole when Mossman finishes Eli’s research. G-Man knows that, all efforts would then go to waste, so Freeman is there to stop him, after all, they would not want the Earth to be left a completely isolated from any life form place. G-Men are not there to destroy whole of humanity, just moderate human amounts, while secretly controlling «Combine» and their expansion in other worlds. It is easier to control soldiers that follow orders, «Combine» would then serve as their militia, a private army of sorts. Breen does want to bring the rest of the humanity with him, «Combine» are interested in that, but they will not actually retain their humanity, all the human’s efforts will still go to waste if Breen is not stopped, as these are the last days for humanity:

Wallace Breen: «Those unfortunate days are almost at an end. Our transformation is nearly complete.»

G-Man: «Not that I wish to imply you have been sleeping on the job. No one is more deserving of a rest. And all the effort in the world would have gone to waste until...well, let's just say your hour has come again.»

Right before Gordon reaches the office, he can overhear Breen’s voice echoing:

Wallace Breen: «Carbon stars with ancient satellites colonized by sentient fungi. Gas giants inhabited by vast meteorological intelligences. Worlds stretched thin across the membranes where the dimensions intersect... Impossible to describe with our limited vocabulary!»

Breen is aware of other worlds, neither he, or the «Combine» can actually reach it yet, which is why he’s telling that to Eli attempting to persuade him to work together. Eli, however, knows that the «Combine» are not an «Universal Union» and that would only help them enslave more races:

Beta Mossman: «Eli, the stars are in our grasp. All of creation laid out before us. If you would just help us, we are almost there.»

Beta Eli: «Their only use for this technology is to enslave more races.»

When Mossman frees Freeman, chasing Breen with Alyx, yet again, player overhears a distant conversation between the Advisor and Breen:

Wallace Breen: «It's me you should be concerned about! I can still deliver Earth, but not without your help. The portal destination is untenable. Surely you can set the relay elsewhere. There's no way I can survive in that environment. A host body? You must be joking, I can't possibly-»

Not much of an «Universal Union» it is then.

At the beginning of Episode One, when Gordon is about to get sent to another job by G-Man, vortigaunts intervened and took Gordon away from his possession. That angered him and he has already started planning his revenge and a new potential investment.

In Episode Two, a shock-wave reaction is coming from a malfunctioning reactor of the Citadel, it being a portal storm, however is arguable. At the times of 7-hour war Alyx was very small, she wouldn’t remember what the portal storms looked like, only the feel of the cataclysms that were caused. It is not a portal storm, as it isn’t responsible for teleporting anything, not to mention that it never occurred when the Citadel rift was just open in Half-Life 2, a reaction that never took place during the Episode One apart from the separate core explosion due to the critical malfunction of the reactor, only happens once during the entirety of Episode Two triggering a delayed one-time shockwave reaction. Even if they still would continue, it would only imply that the weather control is still in progress. As seen in Half-Life 2, the rift they can only travel through using aircrafts was open and held by the Citadel, which means it was still open until the rocket was launched to stop the Citadel they were dependent on, holding the rift open, it confirms that if the Earth source isn’t holding the portal – they have no means of getting to Earth, it leaves them unable to open a portal, as there is no link on Earth, if they wouldn’t have required an Earth source, they would be able to open another portal, which is not the case and never was during the 7-hour war in the first place. If portals were truly responsible for the storms, the getaway beams holding a rift open had to be intentionally placed and configured by someone, yet existence of such portals is impossible and Combine wouldn’t be dependent on the Citadel, such portals would have been open a lot sooner in the time of history. If «portal storms» actually existed, as described in a «separate» bit of a theory, «Combine» originating on Earth kept placing teleports connecting with Xen, to which, a separate group of «Combine» has transported themselves to, using a connection with a satellite Gordon has launched to an array that helped with the teleportation to Xen, to open bigger portals on Earth and backwards transport «Combine» from Xen to Earth as an «invasion» act, that is after holding a deliberate connection continuing placing Xen creatures at random locations to contain them and trick the humanity.

During Episode Two when Gordon is contacted once again, he expresses his disappointment in Gordon, that he isn’t surviving on his own and is always in need of help from the others. The tone of G-Man’s voice is reminiscent of Half-Life 1 if Gordon declines his offer essentially making him regret of looking up for Freeman. G-Man is now interested in Alyx, as she was a significant help for Gordon Freeman. When he plucked Alyx from Black Mesa, he was questioned by his «employers» as she was, at the time, seen impractical, yet G-Man was still confident about his investment in her, he couldn’t directly quell them about these matters on how they rate their «investments». G-Man was still forced keeping an eye out on Freeman, even if he isn’t as interested in him anymore.

Episode Two ends with the rocket launched successfully creating a barrier between the portal and the malfunctioning Citadel reactor stopping it powering the portal through. «Xenium Resonator» is used, suggesting that their Overworld is on Xen. He manages to give out an information to the «Combine» of the resistance whereabouts as a revenge and encourage Gordon to survive on his own. Eli dies with the advisors extracting the information from his head, eventually letting them know of all their plans and the research he carried, an ending, retconned in Half-Life: Alyx. She is taken by G-Man to work for him as he is desperate after the previous investment has faded away.











It is worth noting that in Epistle 3, written by Marc Laidlaw, it is revealed that the Combine can also «save consciousness» and imprint the personality into other bodies, in this case, Breen is transported into a Combine Advisor that is originally a «biological blank», suggesting that the Advisors are possibly certain high-ranking humans that served Combine interests and were transported to increase their lifespan or save them from a certain threat.

At the end of Epistle 3, Gordon is seeing a Combine world and the vastness of their power, it is important to notice that before he had a chance to see it he armed Borealis creating a time-travelling missile, suggesting that over the time they have finally increased their impact after they’ve took control of Xen and took Eli’s research information out of him which in favor helped them expand teleportation capabilities, all because Gordon was pulled out of stasis by vortigaunts in Episode One conflicting with the G-Man’s plans.