Judith Mossman

Doctor Judith Mossman is portrayed as a caucasian woman in her late thirties or early forties working in a hidden research facility, Black Mesa East, with Dr. Eli Vance. Judith's voice is that of actress Michelle Forbes.

Half-Life 2
Dr. Mossman first appears briefly in the Red Letter Day episode, in which she is attempting to stabilize Gordon Freeman's damaged teleportation. Her first major appearance is in the Black Mesa East episode, where she meets Gordon Freeman at the entrance to facility and tells him of the research that is being conducted there. She appears to be very excited about their scientific experiments and respects and envies Freeman, though she is a bit jealous over him. She envies him because he worked with Eli and Kleiner when they were at the top Although she is obviously very fond of Dr. Eli Vance, she briefly quarrels with his daughter, Alyx Vance. Dr. Mossman disapproves of Alyx's light-hearted approach to science, like calling the Zero Point Energy Field Manipulator the gravity gun. It is clear that the two women dislike each other. Eli relates that Judith and Gordon Freeman applied for the same job at the Black Mesa Research Facility, but Freeman got it over her, due to his experience with the Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck teleportation experiments. Due to this, she harbors a bit of resentment, stating that she should have been in the test chamber the day of the Black Mesa Incident, not Freeman.

Alyx's dislike is seemingly justified when Judith betrays the resistance. Mossman had revealed the location of Black Mesa East to the Combine, allowing them to sweep the area and take Dr. Vance prisoner. This is due to a bargain she made with Dr. Wallace Breen. In exchange for Eli's safety, she would hand Gordon Freeman over to the Combine. Dr. Breen grew suspisicious of her loyalty when she took her time to contact him, and ordered the Overwatch to attack the Resistance base. It is unknown how or why she first came in contact with Dr. Breen. Alyx does not become aware of Judtih's betrayal until she and Gordon overhear a conversation between Judith and Breen at Nova Prospekt.

Later in the game, Alyx and Gordon capture Judith. They planned to rescue Dr. Vance via a Combine teleporter that Judith had been helping the Combine to construct, and is needed to operate it. Dr. Mossman starts the machine, which requires several minutes to charge up. While Alyx and Gordon are distracted, Judith climbs into the teleport with Eli, telling Alyx that she is sorry, and that it is "the only way." She and Eli vanish. Moreover, Dr. Mossman has changed the teleport's destination coordinates &mdash; instead of Doctor Isaac Kleiner's lab, she has sent Dr. Vance and herself into the Citadel, the near-impregnable headquarters of the Combine, presumably hoping she could keep Eli safe there. Alyx and Gordon barely manage to escape the overwhelming Combine forces by teleporting to Dr. Kleiner's location just before the teleport explodes.

Later, in the chapter "Dark Energy", Dr. Vance rejects Dr. Breen's ultimatum. As a result, Dr. Breen tries to send Eli and Alyx Vance to a distant Combine off-world. Realizing that she has misplaced her trust in Dr. Breen (or perhaps, with Gordon present, finally in a position to act against him), Dr. Mossman switches sides again. Threatening Dr. Breen with Alyx's EMP Device. (the small electrical device used by Alyx to open doors or hack into computers) and telling him he is "all out of time" (a referance to the conversation she had with him when Breen says "So sorry, Judith. I'm all out of time."), she quickly moves to free Gordon. While she is disabling his restraints, Dr. Breen takes Gordon's Gravity Gun (affected by the Citadel weapon stripper) and fires it in the general direction of Judith and Gordon. As Breen makes his escape, the dust clears, revealing everyone to be dazed, but unharmed. Judith and Alyx finally make peace, as Judith stays behind with Eli to guard him while Alyx and Freeman ascend an elevator to catch up with the fleeing Dr. Breen.

Trivia
In Half-Life 2, Dr. Mossman wears a gold bracelet which reads "Progress".

Half-Life 2: Episode One


Dr. Mossman appears in Half-Life 2: Episode One through a video recording stored in the Citadel. She has survived the teleporter explosion along with Dr. Eli Vance and is now somewhere outside of City 17. In the recording, she is dressed in cold weather gear and is apparently sending back a report about a "project" she had been sent to investigate. The substance of the "Project" is not mentioned, but it is apparently not Combine in origin, as Mossman does not yet know if what she's looking for at the site will compromise certain work done by the Resistance "should the Combine discover its location." She is interrupted by an exploding Combine Door, through which a Hunter and several Combine Elite soldiers pour through. Mossman successfully flees the scene before the Combine soldiers burst in, but her fate afterwards is currently unknown. Additonally, her two Resistance bodyguards are killed by Combine Elites.

Half-Life 2: Episode Two
In a recent trailer, Eli Vance and Isaac Kleiner are seen watching Judith Mossman's recording the player watches in Half-Life 2: Episode One (because we hear Mossman say "... then it should be no more than...", and we see the Hunter leaping towards the camera). Her fate remains unknown. However, another trailer shows Eli Vance mourning over somebody while being comforted by Isaac Kleiner. This is likely Mossman, as Eli refers to the person he is mourning for is a she.