Half-Life/The G-Man

The following deals with some of the theories about the G-Man and his allegiances.

Theory 1
Remember that this is a theory.

The G-Man wanted the Black Mesa incident to occur, as he was seen arguing with a scientist, possible telling him to boost the anti-mass spectrometer 105%. Since he was seen governing where the main characters when in each of the three Half-Life games, it can be theorized that Black Mesa was a sort of test for each of the three characters (Freeman, Shephard, and Calhoun), since each would be directly or indirectly carrying out the G-Man's motives later (not Shephard yet).

Theory 2
Again, another theory. The G-man did NOT want the Black Mesa Incident to occur. This is supported by a specific line in the Half-Life 2 script that said that the G-Man was telling the scientist back in Half-Life NOT to boost the spectrometer. Although all acknowledge that the G-Man has been more or less governing the main characters since Half-Life, these theorizers do not believe that the Black Mesa incident served the G-Man's purposes. A possible reason for the G-Man's intervention was to make sure that the portal to Xen was closed. The G-Man most likely hired Gordon because he viewed him as a valuable tool for later on.

Previous Theories
The original theories about the G-man were that he was the mysterious administrator of Black Mesa, judging by the Black Mesa logo on his briefcase. This was shot down when Half-Life 2 was released.

The Bottom Line
Most likely, Valve did not have everything planned out at the time of Half-Life. They may have intended the G-Man to be the administrator, but then later thought it would be an interesting twist if he weren’t. However, Valve plans to release more information about the G-Man and the Combine throughout their new episodic content.