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- "I'm with you every step of the way."
- ―Russell[src]
Russell is a prominent Resistance member who appears in Half-Life: Alyx.
Biography[]
Background[]
Russell tried to get a job in Black Mesa, but was rejected and asked to come back in a year. This narrowly saved his life, as the Black Mesa Incident occurred before he could reapply.
At one point before the Combine took over he downloaded (most of) the entire internet, allowing him to keep a database on information he could share with Alyx and the Resistance: this includes the information on the material composition of a floppy disk, or the meaning of the word "quarantine."
Appearances[]
Half-Life: Alyx[]
While helping Eli Vance steal a Combine reactor, Russell stumbles upon some images of a mysterious building. This discovery causes a Combine raid that Russell narrowly escapes, but Eli and Alyx Vance are captured. Russell frees Alyx, gives her a communication device with the help of his drone, and escorts her to his lab, where he devises a plan to rescue Eli by sending Alyx through the Quarantine Zone. He then gives her the Gravity Gloves, or "Russells," to assist her on the journey, as well as a gun for her to borrow. For the rest of the game Russell communicates with Alyx over the radio, sometimes commenting on her surroundings or offering helpful information to help her on her journey.
Appearance[]
From Russell's aged appearance and talk of how things were before the Combine, it is clear that Russell was born long before the Resonance Cascade. He wears orange Combine Worker overalls, suggesting this is his disguise/day-to-day job for getting around in City 17 (similar to Barney Calhoun's job in Civil Protection).
Personality and skills[]
Russell is an upbeat and wise-cracking person. He is apparently an expert in decrypting and hacking, having mostly downloaded the entire internet. He is the creator of the Gravity Gloves/Russells. Russell also cares about Alyx, stating that he's proud of her in one scene. He is anxious about her well-being and does his best to keep her spirits up and encourage her when she faces stressful situations. He tends to not have the best filter when speculating about "inappropriate" topics such as whether or not Eli is dead, but doesn't mean to upset.
He has a liking for club sandwiches, made all the more difficult due to the lack of livestock or even bread in a post Seven Hour War world.
Objects[]
Russell is responsible for giving Alyx the Gravity Gloves, devices of his own invention that allow her to pick up objects from a distance. He also lends her a pistol for her journey, which she gradually upgrades until she ultimately declares she has made enough changes for it to be her gun.
Behind the scenes[]
- Early on in development of the game, the one who sent Alyx on her journey was not Russell but Laszlo, "the finest mind of his generation" who is killed by Antlions in Half-Life 2. In the game-files, he is still referred to as "Laz[s]lo".[1]
- Rhys Darby was cast due to the warmth in his voice, which Erik Wolpaw felt was important for a character whose voice is constantly in the player's ear. Darby was unfamiliar with the Half-Life franchise (though his kids were fans) but quickly took to the character. Darby's own curiosity about the script and lore led to Wolpaw adjusting Russell's character to make him more inquisitive, such as wondering what headcrabs taste like or encouraging Alyx to touch and describe things.[2]
Related achievements[]
Image | Description | Chapter |
---|---|---|
Eye of the Geiger |
01: Entanglement | |
Mag-Snagger |
01: Entanglement |
Trivia[]
- Russell's overall appearance (except for the cap) resembles and sometimes acts like an improved HD version of Odell, a cut Borealis engineer from Half-Life 2.
- On his overalls, there appears to a word written in Cyrillic; "интендант", which- when roughly translated- may mean "quartermaster".
Gallery[]
Pre-Release[]
List of appearances[]
- Half-Life: Alyx (First appearance)
References[]
The Half-Life Wiki has more images related to Russell. |