Half Life 2
"Rise and shine, Mister Freeman - rise and... shine. Not that I wish... to imply that 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. The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world. So, wake up, Mister Freeman... wake up and... smell the ashes."
— The G-Man
"This is the Freeman. The Combine's reckoning has come."
— Vortigaunt
"Let this war end in either total victory or our extinction. No further compromise shall we allow. We take our stand beside you, here, upon this miserable rock."
— Vortigaunt
"It has come to my attention that some have lately called me a collaborator, as if such a term were shameful. I ask you, what greater endeavor exists than that of collaboration?
In our current unparalled enterprise, refusal to collaborate is simply a refusal to grow—an insistence upon suicide, if you will. Did the lungfish refuse to breathe air? It did not. It crept forth boldly while its brethren remained in the blackest ocean abyss, with lidless eyes forever staring at the dark, ignorant and doomed despite their eternal vigilance.
Would we model ourselves on the trilobite? Are all the accomplishments of humanity faded to be nothing more than a layer of broken plastic shards thinly strewn across a fossil bed, sandwiched between the Burgess shale and an eon's worth of mud?
In order to be true to our nature, and our destiny, we must aspire to greater things. We have outgrown our cradle. It is futile to cry for mother's milk, when our true sustenance awaits us among the stars. And only the universal union that small minds call 'The Combine' can carry us there.
Therefore I say yes, I am a collaborator. We must all collaborate, willingly, eagerly, if we expect to reap the benefits of unification.
And reap we shall."
In our current unparalled enterprise, refusal to collaborate is simply a refusal to grow—an insistence upon suicide, if you will. Did the lungfish refuse to breathe air? It did not. It crept forth boldly while its brethren remained in the blackest ocean abyss, with lidless eyes forever staring at the dark, ignorant and doomed despite their eternal vigilance.
Would we model ourselves on the trilobite? Are all the accomplishments of humanity faded to be nothing more than a layer of broken plastic shards thinly strewn across a fossil bed, sandwiched between the Burgess shale and an eon's worth of mud?
In order to be true to our nature, and our destiny, we must aspire to greater things. We have outgrown our cradle. It is futile to cry for mother's milk, when our true sustenance awaits us among the stars. And only the universal union that small minds call 'The Combine' can carry us there.
Therefore I say yes, I am a collaborator. We must all collaborate, willingly, eagerly, if we expect to reap the benefits of unification.
And reap we shall."
— Dr. Breen
"How could one man have slipped through your force's fingers time and time again? How is it possible? This is not some agent provocateur or highly trained assassin we are discussing. Gordon Freeman is a theoretical physicist who had hardly earned the distinction of his Ph.D. at the time of the Black Mesa Incident. I have good reason to believe that in the intervening years, he was in a state that precluded further development of covert skills. The man you have consistently failed to slow, let alone capture, is by all standards simply that - an ordinary man."
— Dr. Breen
"Well, Dr. Freeman, under other circumstances I like to think we might have been able to work together in an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect. Certainly, judging from your brief tenure at Black Mesa while I was its Administrator, you showed every promise of becoming a valuable and productive contributor to the scientific process. And yet... I'm not sure what spurred you to it... but there is really no place in this enterprise for a rogue physicist.
Your mentors are partly to blame, of course. My disappointment in Eli Vance and Isaac Kleiner is far greater than my sorrow over your unfortunate choice of career path. In a way, I suppose you could not have done otherwise. Who knows what seeds of iconoclasm they planted when you were young and gullible. But while they certainly share a great part of the responsibility for the recent troubles, it is you alone who have chosen to act with such willful disregard for humanity's future.
Tell me, Dr. Freeman, if you can. You have destroyed so much. What is it, exactly, that you have created? Can you name even one thing? I thought not."
— Dr. Breen
"Dr. Freeman, you really shouldn't be out there. At the moment of synapse as I teleport, this chamber will be bathed in deadly particles that have yet to be named by human science. Perhaps when I'll have the leisure to do the work myself, I'll name one of them after you. That way you won't be completely forgotten! When the singularity collapses, I'll be far away from here; in another universe, as a matter of fact. You, on the other hand, will be destroyed in every way it is possible to be destroyed and even in some which are essentially impossible!"
— Dr. Breen
Time, Dr. Freeman? Is it really that time again? It seems as if you only just arrived. You've done a great deal in a small time-span. You've done so well, in fact, that I've received some interesting offers for your services. Ordinarily I wouldn't contemplate them, but these are extra-ordinary times, hm? Rather than offer you the illusion of free choice, I will take the liberty of choo-sing-for-you... if, and when, your time comes round again. I do apologize for what must seem to you an arbitrary imposition, Dr. Freeman. I trust it will all make sense to you in the course of… well, I'm really not at liberty to say. In the meantime, this is where I get off.
— The G-Man
Half Life 2: Episode One
*Adjusts tie angrily*
"We'll... see about... that."
— The G-Man
"So much for 'better living through science.'"
— Unnamed Rebel
Half Life 2: Episode Two
We're done running. This is our chance to take back our world. We're not going to lose it a second time.
— Eli Vance, teaser trailer
"Ah, a puzzling predicament of the sort which the Freeman is famed for swiftly solving."
"Fear not, Freeman, for I follow."
"Ahah! No pit would be complete without a Freeman climbing out of it."
"Fear not, Freeman, for I follow."
"Ahah! No pit would be complete without a Freeman climbing out of it."
— Victory Mine Vortigaunt, Half-Life 2: Episode 2
"Doctor Freeemaaan. I realize this moment may not be the most convenient for a 'heart-to-heart', but I had to wait until your... 'friends' were otherwise occupied. Hm. There was a time they cared nothing for Miss Vance... When their only experience of humanity was a crowbar coming at them down a steel corridor. When-I-plucked-her from Black Mesa, I acted in the face of objections that she was a mere child, and of no practical use to anyone. I have learned to ignore such naysayers when... quelling them... hm? was out of the question. Still, I am not one to, squander my investments... and I remain confident she was worth far more than the initial... appraisal. That's why I must now 'extract'... from you, some small repayment owed for your own survival. See her safely to White Forest, Doctor Freeman. I wish I could do more than keep an eye on you, but I have agreed to abide by certain... restrictions. Mmm.
[to Alyx] Well... now... listen carefully, my dear. When you see your... father... relay these words: Prepare for unforeseen consequences."
— The G-Man
Vortigaunt 1: Farewell!
Vortigaunt 2: Go safely!
Vortigaunt 3: Travel well!
Sheckley: Good luck out there!
Griggs: All right, Freeman! Be adequate!
Sheckley: What the hell does that mean, anyway?
Griggs: Ah, I dunno. Sounds like something the vorts would say.
Vortigaunt 2: Go safely!
Vortigaunt 3: Travel well!
Sheckley: Good luck out there!
Griggs: All right, Freeman! Be adequate!
Sheckley: What the hell does that mean, anyway?
Griggs: Ah, I dunno. Sounds like something the vorts would say.
— Half-Life 2: Episode 2
