Employers

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Employers
Political information
Type of faction / organization	Unknown, possibly an Extradimensional Metaphysical organization.
De facto leader	Unknown
Affiliation	The G-Man
Societal information
Species	Unknown
Eras	Black Mesa Incident (behind the scenes) Seven Hour War (possibly) The Uprising (behind the scenes)
Historical information
Date of establishment	Unknown

 

"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."

―The G-Man to Alyx Vance

 

The "Employers" represent the enigmatic, shadowy organization that the G-Man is ostensibly employed under. Though they are never directly seen or interacted with during the course of the Half-Life series, The G-Man makes repeated references to his 'employers' throughout the games, acting on their behalf to interfere with many of the events taking place in the Half-Life universe from behind the scenes.

Overview

Very little is known about the mysterious 'employers', with what little information there is given to us by the equally cryptic and enigmatic G-Man, who may not be entirely trustworthy given that his motives, identity, and overall goals remain almost entirely unexplained. However, it can be reasonably assumed that they are higher beings of great power and influence, given the characteristics of the reality-warping, space-time bending G-Man - himself only an employee.

Their existence is first referenced by The G-Man at the end of Half-Life, where he recruits Gordon Freeman following his slaying of the Nihilanth. He reveals to Freeman that the border-world of Xen is now under the temporary control of his employers, and explains that he has been authorized to offer Freeman a job, the nature of which is not explained. Freeman is pressured to accept regardless under threat of immediate death, with the only alternative offered being a battle that Freeman "has no chance of winning". Freeman acquiesces to the G-Man's terms, and is placed into stasis for approximately two decades, now under the employ of the G-Man and, by extension, his employers.

The G-Man also rescues Corporal Adrian Shephard after he kills the Gene Worm, sparing him from the destruction of Black Mesa with a nuclear device that the G-Man personally armed. The G-Man mentions that although his employers weren't particularly interested in Shephard, he overrules them and spares his life, demonstrating that the G-Man himself may hold a significant degree of influence within the hierarchy of his employing organization, is allowed to operate independently to deliver results, or simply has a disregard for the rules set before him. Without the explicit authorization from his employers to recruit Shephard as he did with Freeman, the G-Man detains him indefinitely, apparently to prevent the young Corporal from revealing the truth of the Black Mesa Incident.

It is assumed that the in-game text messages that are displayed during certain sequences, such as introductions, endings, and game over scenarios in the Half-Life series, are in fact reports that are submitted to the Employers by the G-Man as an evaluation of certain individuals who are considered for employment. The reports showcase qualifications, education, employment and other characteristics of individuals who undergo the evaluation. In certain game-over scenarios, the reports also showcase postmortem messages and the reason for failed evaluation should the player fail his task, while in Half-Life 2, instead of failed evaluation, the report displays that the assignment has been "terminated" since Gordon Freeman was already hired by the time he failed his task. So far only four people are known to have been evaluated, namely: Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance, both of whom were "Hired", Adrian Shephard who was "Detained" and Barney Calhoun who was "Out of Range".

When Gordon Freeman had failed to deliver the "tasks" set out by the G-Man due to the interference of the Vortigaunts, the G-Man manipulated a younger Alyx Vance (whom he had an interest in since she was a small child back in Black Mesa) to come under his employment. The G-Man once again demonstrated a degree of autonomy in defying the wishes of his employers, implied to have objected that Alyx was "a mere child, and of no practical use to anyone".

The Employers have an uncertain relationship with the Combine. The G-Man, and his Employers by extension, provided Black Mesa with the crystal sample which started the Resonance Cascade and lead to the Combine takeover of Earth; and yet, also played a pivotal role in overthrowing the Combine occupation some 20 years later by releasing Gordon Freeman from stasis. Likewise, in the interceding years, the Combine went to great lengths to capture and imprison the G-Man, for reasons that are never elaborated upon.

G-Man's Job

 

"I have recommended your services to my... e-e-e-employers... and they have authorized me to offer you a job! They agree with me that you have limitlessss... potential."

―The G-Man to Gordon Freeman.

 

After being released from the Vault, the G-Man explains to Alyx what he does for the Employers. He "nudges" things on Earth that causes the fate of that world to change. An example is his delivery of specimen GG-3883 and telling the Anomalous Materials team to boost the Anti-Mass Spectrometer to 105%, both of which causes the Resonance Cascade, and by extension, kicks off the entire Half-Life series. This would later lead to the Combine invasion.

Other examples of nudges include:

• Aiding or hindering Adrian Shephard's progress throughout the Black Mesa Facility.
• Placing Gordon Freeman in stasis, then taking him out, to oppose the Combine's rule over Earth.
• Manipulating Alyx into killing the Advisor that would kill her father, Eli Vance.

Interestingly enough, when G-Man asks Alyx what she would like "nudged" and she requests the Combine's removal from Earth, he declines, citing it was "too large, given the interests of my employers", implying that the Combine's presence on Earth may be integral to some grander design, or that it was too early in the timeline, being five years before the return of Freeman. The G-Man elaborates that he can only do so much at any given time or at all, further implied during his monologue in Episode Two, where he says he wishes he "could do more than keep an eye" on his 'hires', further elaborating that he has "agreed to abide by certain... restrictions". Ironically, releasing Gordon Freeman out of stasis to fight the Combine with the aim to "nudge" them off Earth contradicts what he said to Alyx, however, G-Man could be saying this to manipulate her. It could also be that releasing Freeman when he did was considered a "small nudge" and removing the combine when Alyx asked would have required far more changes.

Trivia

• Although not directly encountered by any of the protagonists, they take the role as the overarching antagonists of the Half-Life universe, due to pulling the strings behind major events throughout the series.

• The comedic comic Concerned: The Half-Life and Death of Gordon Frohman appears to depict other groups of G-Men working under the employers, who are shown to be envious of the main G-Man from the Half-Life series. They are also shown to all look the same.

List of appearances

• Half-Life (First appearance) (referenced)
• Half-Life: Opposing Force (referenced)
• Half-Life: Alyx (referenced)