History Fridge / HalfLife2

* '''Gordon''' Freeman, and '''Wallace''' Breen both have a given name of [[UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}} Scottish origin]], that is more common as a surname than a given name. It is the BraveScot vs. ViolentGlaswegian!
** However, Gordon's surname is of English origin, while Breen's surname is of Irish origin, and considering that both are up against each other, Gordon as the leader of the Resistance while Breen is the administrator of the Combine, it could be an allegory for [[UsefulNotes/TheTroubles The Troubles of Northern Ireland]], but with the factions' positions in reverse.

** If we were also to presume that the [[WhatCouldHaveBeen Synth units]] from the Beta are extant in the [=HL2=] setting, then it also raises even more questions about the Combine forces, especially as we had seen the Crab Synth and the Mortar Synth close to the finale as they were being transported on conveyer belts in the Citadel. Including the aforementioned ones, the other Synth units that we have concept art of include the Attack Synth: A giant nine-eyed, two-legged monster with rocket launchers emerging from it's back about the size of a Strider or more. The Combine Super Soldier: A small humanoid Strider with an ArmCannon. And the Assault Synth: A small four-legged creature bigger than a headcrab, with a gun built into it's body. What if all of ''those'' things were used in the Seven Hour War?

* The Nazis dominated most of Europe within a few years. The Combine dominated the entire Earth within ''7 hours''.

* Some the signs that Gordon see are written in Cyrillic, but all of the humans that he meets speak English, which wouldn't make sense at first, given the main setting is in a post-Soviet country, but it is likely that Gordon is multi-lingual, being a scientist and all, required to talk with other academics of different nationalities at any sort of overseas gathering such as the Innsbruck Experiment in Austria for example.
** It is also possible the only reason why that several signs are in Cyrillic, but only some of the more basic signage such as the Warning signs, and the APO signs appear in English to Gordon, is because those types of signs follow an international standard for design, and as a result have a more recognizable design to him, than do place names or old posters for one.

* As suggested by the above example, it is possible to pin down the original nationalities of minor characters that appear in the game:

** The late Lazlo[[note]] the finest mind of his generation who had come to such an end/[[/note]]is an Asian man, but his name is of Slavic origin, which means that he probably originally came from the Russian Far-East, or at least of Asian descent, since that the Soviet Union had spread across many parts of Asia during the Cold War.
** Another character, by the name of Noriko,[[note]] the woman at Shorepoint Base that controls the crane, that is used to pick up the Jeep.[[/note]]may have originally been from Japan, judging by her appearance and name.

* Some the signs that Gordon see are written in Cyrillic, but all of the humans that he meets speak English, which wouldn't make sense at first, given the setting, but it is likely that Gordon had been taught in a few different languages, being a scientist and all, who would have needed to be able to communicate with other scientists of different nationalities in areas such as international organizations for example. The reason why everyone seems like that they speak English is because Gordon is able to understand several sentences in different languages. Thanks, TranslationConvention!
** In many cases, it is much easier for some people to ''speak'' and ''listen'' to the language, than it is to ''read'' or ''write'' it down.
** The late Lazlo for example, is an Asian man, but his name is of Slavic origin, which means that he probably originally came from the Asian parts of Russia, or at least of Asian descent, since that the Soviet Union had incorporated many parts of Asia during it's existence. He could have been a Russian speaker, but he never gets a chance to talk to Gordon, as he was killed by Antlions.
** Another character, by the name of Noriko,[[note]] the woman at Shorepoint Base that controls the crane, that is used to pick up the Jeep.[[/note]] may have originally been from Japan, judging by her appearance and name.
*** It is also possible the only reason why that several signs are in Cyrillic, but only some of the more basic signage such as the Warning signs, and the APO signs appear in English to Gordon, is because those types of signs follow an international standard for design, and as a result have a more recognizable design to him, than do place names or old posters for one.

* Remember the "[=AR3=]" Guy? The radio operator who argues with the instructor about the an "[=AR3=]" gun, and claiming to have killed 20 Hunters a day with just his fists? Well, the instructor dismisses these tales as bogus, but if you hang around with a rebel during the final battle at White Forest long enough, he'd say "[[BrickJoke One time, back in the city, I saw a guy take down a Hunter with his bare fists!]]". If the "[=AR3=]" Guy ''was'' telling the truth, and if he was referring to actual Hunters, then that means that there's ''[[ThereIsAnother another]]'' OneManArmy in the garrison at White Forest, and that Gordon's not the only one in the world anymore. Too bad he wasn't sent out to fight with us...
** Then again, while it is likely that the [=AR3=] Guy did kill a Hunter with his bare hands, it is only plausible that the guy killed only ''one'', as anybody attempting to fight another Hunter after that would get a serious injury or worse, unless that they were wearing a [=HEV=] Suit like Gordon, obviously, so the [=AR3=] Guy was exaggerating his feats.

** Or even better, she was probably attacked by a Headcrab, and it trying to latch onto her face would have blotted out her vision, just before either she or somebody else got it off, and therefore she is scared of the dark ever since, because it reminds her of the Headcrab's attempt.

** The timing of events suggests that Gordon is only indirectly responsible for the dismantling of the Railroad and the assault on Black Mesa East. In the first case, most of the stations are raided or in the process of being raided before Gordon even arrives. This indicates one of two things: either the Combine knew of these bases all along and decided not to take action because the risks were considered negligible compared to the expenditure of resources, or the hideouts were not very well hidden in the first place. In either case, [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom Gordon showing up on the Combine's radar triggered the sweep that took down the network in one afternoon]]. As for the attack on Black Mesa East, Gordon made it incredibly easy for the Combine to deduce its location (assuming they weren't aware all along as Dr. Breen implies later in the game). He paved a trail of destruction right to the base's doorstep and left the airboat he had been riding through the entire canal right out front. It would have been far more surprising if the Combine somehow ''hadn't'' been able to figure out where the rebels were hiding after so many obvious clues were dropped right in their lap.

** Gordon Freeman is also (albeit indirectly) pretty much the reason Alyx's mother and father both died. He triggered the Black Mesa incident and was the reason the Combine managed to track down the White Forest base. Suddenly, Barney cracking jokes about Gordon getting followed don't sound so funny.

** Also, most of the rebels you see throughout the game look quite young - a lot of them would have been children during the Seven Hour War and have never lived a life free from the Combine.

* In the beginning of ''Half-Life'', after you get the HEV suit, you can open Gordon's locker. Inside is a picture of a baby, possibly Gordon's child, or instead either a younger sibling, or a niece or nephew at least. That means Gordon once had a family, who are probably dead now.
** Gordon may also have had parents, aunts, uncles, other siblings, cousins, grandparents, etc. All of which could be dead or not locatable. This is happening to EVERYBODY.
* If you look closely at the "Earth Surrenders" newspaper at Black Mesa East, you can see what looks to be ''flying ships'' in the background of a burning New York City in the aftermath of the Seven Hour War, and ''Half-Life Alyx'' has a higher quality version of the newspaper, that depicts what appear to be [[TripodTerror Striders]] on the streets. Since that Striders can be taken down with half-a-dozen guided rockets each, it might be possible that the Striders had been used as the Combine's equivalent of ''low rank shock troops'' as part of the invasion force, and if so; ''what were the higher rank units, and what did they look like?'' If this is true, then what we would be seeing is only a mere grasp of the Combine's ''true'' military prowess.
* In ''WebAnimation/CivilProtection'', it is mentioned that the language on the walls gives away where City 17 is at. They are some place in Europe in a country that was formerly part of the Soviet-Union. The Combine seems bent on oppressing the human population, so what better way to do that than shuffle us all around the planet, displacing everyone from their homes and taking them to places where the signs on the buildings aren't even written in a familiar alphabet? Granted, it would be better to shuffle people around at random, using a mix of languages as a barrier to uprising, but hey, the combine put loud, audible EKG meters and glowing eyes on their soldiers' uniforms, so they are just a bit stupid.

* If you look hard enough around the gas station in the chapter Highway 17, there's a citizen who shot himself with a magnum that you can pick up. Now think of the implications of why he shot himself.
* The nazis dominated most of Europe within a few years. The Combine dominated the entire Earth within ''7 hours''.

Remember the "[=AR3=]" Guy? The guy who argues with the instructor about the an "[=AR3=]" gun, and claiming to have killed 20 Hunters a day with just his fists? Well, the instructor dismisses these tales as bogus, but if you hang around with a rebel during the final battle at White Forest long enough, he'd say [[BrickJoke "One time, back in the city, I saw a guy take down a Hunter with his bare fists!"]]. If the "[=AR3=]" Guy ''was'' telling the truth, and if he was referring to actual Hunters, then we practically have a '''''[[{{Superhero}} actual superhero in disguise]]''''' on our team. Too bad he wasn't sent out to fight with us...

* One of the quotes you can hear the citizens saying is ''"Sometimes, I dream about cheese."'' This seems random at first but considering [[CrapsackWorld the setting of the game]], it is unlikely citizens are able to get cheese, or any kind of remotely tasty food for that matter hence cheese haunting their dreams.

*** It is also possible that the Combine have mining facilities somewhere across the world, as it is mentioned in ''Half-Life: Alyx'' that some of the blue metal used in the Combine's constructions is made from resources found on Earth, presumably, through the buildings that the [[AdvancingWallOfDoom smart barriers]] crush and crunch up. The Combine ''do'' have mines on Earth, just not like how we have them, that is.

** Similarly, in ''[=HL2=]'', when you are in Black Mesa East, as you look at the photo of the Vance family, Eli responds "That picture and Alyx where all I managed to carry out of Black Mesa.", but in ''Episode 2'', after Alyx says "Prepare for unforeseen consequences." and leaves the room, Eli reveals that it was actually ''the G-Man'' who took his daughter out of Black Mesa. Why would Eli ''lie'' about that in the first game? Possibly when Eli first met Freeman for the first time in two decades, he didn't want to reveal to Gordon too much about the G-Man and his plans, as that would overwhelm a still-confused Gordon. Until he was ''sure'' that the G-Man had plans with Gordon, with Alyx's hypnotization being the substantial moment, Eli finally confessed to Gordon the true details about how Alyx survived the incident, as he would now be comfortable sharing the information with Gordon, valid in that he too has knowledge of the G-Man.

* Alyx has Nyctophobia, which is the fear of the dark, right? Every phobia has an origin caused by something that happened to the victim, and therefore by virtue of it they have a instinctual fear of the object of fear ever since. So, considering that Alyx had been living in a CrapsackWorld for most of her life, ''what'' happened in her early life that caused her to have Nyctophobia?
** Maybe it was caused by the Black Mesa Incident. Imagine being a young toddler in a crib, with your mother by your side, then a sudden loud noise echoes through the hallways outside the room while the lights go out, making the room go completely pitch black, and your mother tries to escape with you, but she is attacked by ''something'' and she screams suddenly, and with nobody to help you, you are trapped in a room that is completely silent, with the sounds of complete madness happening outside in the hallways for 36+ hours, before a light appears, and a strange man in a blue suit that you don't recognize appears from nowhere, and takes you somewhere beyond what you can perceive. Yeah, I guess that being subject to a experience where [[NothingIsScarier she couldn't see anything,]] [[HellIsThatNoise yet can still hear terrifying things]] done it for her.

** Maybe it was caused by the Black Mesa Incident. Imagine being a young toddler in a crib, with your mother by your side, and all of a sudden, a loud explosion echoes through the hallways outside the room while the lights go out, making the room go completely pitch black, and your mother tries to escape with you, but then she screams suddenly, and everything goes completely silent in the room minus the sounds of insane madness in the hallways for 35 hours, before a man in a blue suit that you don't recognize appears from nowhere and takes you to somewhere beyond what you can perceive. Yeah, I guess that NothingIsScarier had something to do with it for her.

** It also adds an example of FridgeSadness: If all Civil Protection Units have a "Beating Quota", that could mean that not all Units are malicious, and are in fact forced to brutalize and beat citizens for fear of reprisal. Yep, across the game, there's a high chance that you may have killed many others who were deep down, just as benevolent as Barney.

* Isaac Kleiner's name for his pet headcrab, Lamarr, seems random at first, until he mentions towards the end of the game that another name for her is "Hedy", meaning she's named after Hedy Lamarr, an actress from the 1930s to the 1950s. At first, it seems like a lame pun (''Head''-y Lamarr), but Hedy Lamarr was also a gifted mathematician responsible for co-inventing a method for frequency hopping and spread spectrum communication that's the precursor to Wi-Fi. Kleiner, being a scientist, probably held her in very high regard for this achievement, and named Lamarr in tribute to her scientific achievements (and partially for the pun).

* In the original game, Freeman is exempt from the one hit kill attacks from Combine sniper rifles and disintegration balls that every other NPC is subject to, instead only taking 20 damage from each attack, just 20% of his full health. The Overwatch Pulse Rifle deals a mere 3 damage when used against him, while it deals 8 damage to anyone or anything else. Also, the anti-personnel guns on the Strider and Gunship deal surprisingly little damage to Gordon for the autocannon equivalents they're supposed to be. What do well these weapons have in common? They're all Combine dark energy weapons that don't work like Earth firearms. Kleiner ''did'' say he upgraded Freeman's HEV suit- ''of course'' he'd do whatever he can to make it specially resistant against Combine weaponry, which wasn't known to exist at the time of the HEV suit's construction.

* Some the signs that Gordon are written in Cyrillic, but all of the humans that he meets speak English, which wouldn't make sense at first, but it is likely that Gordon had been taught in a few different languages, being a scientist and all, who would have needed to be able to communicate with other scientists of different nationalities in areas such as international organizations for example. The reason why everyone seems like that they speak English is because Gordon is able to understand several sentences in different languages. Thanks, TranslationConvention!

** Another character, by the name of Noriko, may have originally been from Japan, judging by her appearance and name.
*** In a lot of cases, it is much easier for some people to ''speak'' the language, than it is to ''read'' or ''write'' it down, which explains why several signs are in Cyrillic, but only some of the more basic signage such as the Warning signs, and the APO signs are in English, since they would have a more recognizable design to Gordon, than do place names or equipment signs for one.

* If you look closely at the "Earth Surrenders" newspaper at Black Mesa East, you can see what looks to be ''flying ships'' in the background of a burning New York City in the aftermath of the Seven Hour War, and ''Half-Life Alyx'' showing a higher quality version of the newspaper, that depicts what appear to be [[TripodTerror Striders]] on the streets. Since that Striders can be taken down with half-a-dozen guided rockets each, it might be possible that the Striders had been used as the Combine's equivalent of ''low rank shock troops'' for the invasion force, and if so; ''what were the higher rank units during the conflict, and what did they look like?'' If this is true, then we would be only seeing a mere grasp of the Combine's true military prowess.

** If you look closely at the "Earth Surrenders" newspaper at Black Mesa East, you can see what looks to be ''flying ships'' in the background of a burning New York City in the aftermath of the Seven Hour War, and ''Half-Life Alyx'' showing a higher quality version of the newspaper, that depicts what appear to be [[TripodTerror Striders]] on the streets. Since that Striders can be taken down with half-a-dozen guided rockets each, it might be possible that the Striders had been used as the Combine's equivalent of ''low rank shock troops'' for the invasion force, and if so; ''what were the higher rank units during the conflict, and what did they look like?'' If this is true, then we would be only seeing a mere grasp of the Combine's true military prowess.

** If you look closely at the "Earth Surrenders" newspaper at Black Mesa East, you can see what looks to be ''flying ships'' in the background of a burning New York City in the aftermath of the Seven Hour War, and ''Half-Life Alyx'' showing a higher quality version of the newspaper, that depicts what appear to be [[TripodTerror Striders]] on the streets. Since that the Striders can be taken down with half-a-dozen guided rockets each, it might be likely that the Striders were used as the equivalent of ''low-level troops'' for the invasion force, and if so, ''what kind of more powerful synths were used during the conflict?'' If that is the case, then we would be only seeing a grasp of the Combine's true military power.