Characters / Half-Life: Other Antagonists

Half-Life Character Index
Player Characters | Supporting Characters | Xen Aliens | The Combine | Other Antagonists

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HECU

Hazardous Environment Combat Unit

"Well, I don't really give a damn what we're going in for. Long as I get to kill me somethin'."

^{Click here to see the HECU engineer} "Who needs a locksmith, eh, Shephard? Heh heh heh."

^{Click here to see the HECU medic} "Keeping you in one piece is proving to be quite a challenge!"

Voiced by: Kelly Bailey, Mike Shapiro and Harry Robins (Half-Life 1)

Jon St. John (Half-Life: Opposing Force)

"We will kick your ass!"

"Government cover-ups were not in my job description."

The Hazardous Environment Combat Unit is a special forces branch of the United States Marine Corps which was sent to Black Mesa to deal with the invading aliens. It turns out that they are also under orders to silence all the Black Mesa personnel... with bullets. They end up having to pull out, leaving behind dozens of their own troops in the process, while the Black Ops took over the operation.

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• Achilles' Heel: The Marines in the original Half-Life and its expansions couldn't move and shoot at the same time, so they were vulnerable when repositioning or coming around corners, though they normally had a squad providing covering fire for them when they advance to compensate for this.
• Anti-Villain: The more noble ones are this. They are trying to thwart an alien invasion, and they are willing to stay behind and die just to kill as many of them as they can. Many of them strongly disagree with killing the staff and only do so because they are afraid of being executed themselves. It's not hard to sympathize with some of them.
• Anti-Hero: The ones featured in Opposing Force are this. While they still treat the scientists and security guards harshly, their more redeeming features are emphasized, namely their determination to fight their way out of Black Mesa, killing any more Xen or Race X Aliens invading the facility, and their loyalty to one another.
• Armies Are Evil: Zig-Zagged Trope.
  • On one hand, many of them remorselessly massacre unsuspecting Black Mesa personnel. Others, however, openly question as to why they're engaging unarmed civilians as opposed to dealing with the aliens, and by the time they pull out of Black Mesa, are more concerned with getting out the facility together.
  • In Opposing Force, it is shown that many of them aren't even aware they'll be killing scientists when they deploy, and others are told that the Black Mesa staff intentionally caused the Resonance Cascade, and that even the scientists are enemy combatants.
• Artificial Brilliance: They were praised as being the first tactically intelligent enemies in video games. They regularly throw grenades, take cover, and work as a squad to attack from multiple angles.
• Artistic License – Military:
  • The HECU medical personnel are referred to, both in-universe and out, as medics. The U.S. Marines, which make up the HECU's foot soldiers, do not use medics. They have corpsmen, who are actually from the Navy and have been specially trained to work and fight alongside the Marines.
  • Although they're identified as marines, HECU soldiers deploy various types of military hardware that are not used by U.S. Marines in real life.^note A Watsonian approach might justify this, since - as noted elsewhere on this page - the HECU may actually be a multi-branch effort that pulls equipment on its own terms, while a Doylist explanation is that they are Marines because Marines means they are more elite
    • For vehicles - they deploy the U.S. Army's M2 Bradley IFVs and AH-64 Apache helicopters, as well as U.S. Air Force F-16 fighters. The real-world Marines use LAV-25s, AH-1W Super Cobras and AV-8B Harrier II fighters, respectively.
    • Equipment-wise, their use of load-out is heavily outdated, such as using the Mk2 Grenade (which had been replaced by the 1960's, today's U.S. military are now issued with M67 grenades) to never being fielded by a real-world military force, such as the infamous Desert Eagle. Their main weapon (the H&K MP5), is a part of the US arsenal, but is not used as a primary service weapon, being instead reserved for SOCOM (that is, assuming, if they're supposed to be another branch within the group or a fictional version of the unit).^note The HD pack replaces the MP5 with a more appropriate Colt Model 727 assault rifle, but because it's simply a change of model it still fires an incorrect 9x19mm round instead of the actual 5.56x45mm NATO round it fires in real life
  • Played with in their individual uniforms, the HECU uses a white-and-grey camouflage with a black vest. While the US Military never used that kind of uniform ^note At the time the game was made, they used the M81 Woodland or the Three-colour desert, this gear was a prototype developed in the 90s for urban warfare program called Operation Urban Warrior◊, showing that Valve did a little bit of research. That being said, US Marines don't wear berets. A Maroon beret, used by one of the models, would indicate they are from the Army's airbone troops.
  • Many times, the HECU troopers refer to themselves as "soldiers", which is a huge Berserk Button for US Marines, who insist to be called "marines" rather than a "soldier". Even the drill instructors, who are supposed to literally drill the corp's internal culture into the new recruits, refer to them as "soldiers". Like many other terms used by the Marines, this one is a holdover. The USMC used to allow corporals to be junior drill instructors which are a rank lower than your bog standard Sergeant.
  • The Marines also never call a Sergeant "sarge" which is considered an insult. Due to having ranks like, "Sergeant first class", the army uses "sarge" as a shorthand for anyone ranked Sergeant or above. Marines insist on using their full rank when being addressed. Two exceptions is you might get away with calling an E7 Gunnery Sergeant "gunny" or an E9 Master Gunnery Sergeant "master guns", but only if you have a close relationship and are in a casual environment.
  • Marines will also never refer to each other by their first names. Several of the HECU call Cpl Sheppard "Adrian" on a few occasions. This is a breach of protocol especially a subordinate doesn't use his rank. Marines will call lower ranked Marines (rank) (last name) or just (last name) and higher ranked Marines as (rank) (last name). Soldiers will use first names when off of work, but this is also seen as taboo among Marines who will continue to use last names and probably rank as well. The only exception is when talking over the radio where a Marine will use a basic call sign such as (rank) (phonetic of last initial) (phonetic of first initial). For example, Corporal Adrian Sheppard would be referred to Corporal Sierra Alpha over the radio.
• Asshole Victim: All of the ones that feel no remorse or hesitation in killing the staff. When they themselves end up being betrayed and marked for assassination, it's very satisfying.
• Badass Army: Consists of highly trained marines with a full repertoire of US Military hardware, including M1 Abrams tanks, M2 Bradley IFVs, Apache attack helicopters, and even F-16 fighters. Unfortunately for them, they're a mere battalion-sized unit facing an entire alien invasion. Not to mention Gordon Freeman.
• Band of Brothers: Subverted and played straight. Many soldiers throughout Opposing Force are shown to care for their squadmates, but the same can not be said for many other members of the unit, particularly the commanders, who abandon several dozen soldiers in their attempt to escape from Black Mesa in blatant violation of the "Never Leave a Man Behind" policy. In fact, two of the soldiers refuse to turn Gordon over to their bosses because they don't want to see him alive after he'd killed so many of their compatriots.
• The Big Guy: Yet another class introduced in Opposing Force is a tall, muscular soldier toting an M249.
• Book Dumb: They tend to come off as a bunch of macho idiots, yelling "We will kick your ass!" and leaving behind misspelled messages such as "YORE DEAD FREEMAN." Even so, they are among the few enemies in Half-Life to employ squad tactics, among other surprising strategies.
• Cavalry Betrayal:
  • You rather quickly find out that they are not at Black Mesa to help the employees and especially not Gordon.
  • They later end up on the receiving end of one when the Black Ops show up and start killing them along with the facility staff.
• Cigar Chomper: One variant of their original Half-Life lineup sports a flat-top haircut and a cigar in his mouth.
• Cold Sniper: A handful of them wield sniper rifles in the original Half-Life. Shephard himself can wield one of these rifles in Opposing Force, and even receives specialized training for use of one beforehand.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Opposing Force features Senior Drill Instructor Dwight T. Barnes and Drill Instructor Sharp, the latter of whom oversees Shephard's training alongside other unnamed instructors. The former takes inspiration from Gunnery Sergeant Hartman, complete with a Shout-Out:
  Barnes: Where are you from, soldier? ...Texas?! Holy cow! You know what comes from Texas, don't you?
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: The original models in the first game had more of a comic book stylization, with fictionalized combat gear and urban camoflage based on the Swedish M90 pattern, along with vests resembling studded SWAT vests rather than military body armor. Opposing Force and subsequent ports of the first game based their appearences on infantry seen in the 'Operation Urban Warrior' US military trials of the late 1990's, with gear better resembling real-world equipment. Their camoflage was updated to an urban camoflage version of the M81 Woodland pattern, along with replacing the original's full-fingered gloves to their iconic fingerless gloves and introducing the Powered Combat Vest.
• The Engineer: He gets introduced in Opposing Force. While engineers are meant to fix vehicles, the engineer in Opposing Force is more useful for just opening locked doors with his blow torch and fighting with his Desert Eagle.
• Faceless Goons: The shotgun wielding ones wear balaclavas, while some wear Gas Masks.
  • Averted in Opposing Force for the most part, where they actually have their faces shown.
• Fiery Cover-Up: Their entire mission was to make sure that knowledge of what happened in Black Mesa doesn't leak to the outside world through any means necessary, at least until they were ordered to pull out.
• Gas Mask Mooks: Some of the most common models wear gas masks. Justified as they are part of the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit, and the disaster in Black Mesa can have exposed various radioactive, chemical and biological hazards.
• Hate Sink: The more evil soldiers, specifically the ones who not only show no remorse or hesitation in killing the Black Mesa staff, but state that they are happy that they get to kill someone and complain about how easy it is to kill the Black Mesa staff due to them not putting up a fight. The ones who hate Gordon for killing their buddies are also this, since they don't care that it was in self defense after they had betrayed and started killing many members of the Black Mesa staff. The commanders who leave their troops to fend for themselves are also this. While many of the others can be seen as punch clock villains, these other assholes deserve to be killed and serve as good human antagonists that serve the role of someone the audience can hate.
• Highly-Conspicuous Uniform: Their urban and woodland camo patterns clash with the desert environments that they're deployed in, though this was a conscious choice by the developers to make them more visible to players, especially on the lower-resolution monitors of the time.
• Jerkass: Some of them are happy they get to kill people, find it annoying that the staff don't put up much of a fight, feel no remorse for their actions, and hate Gordon for killing their men despite it being completely justified.
• Laser-Guided Karma: They think nothing of being what is essentially a government cleanup force, or slaughtering innocent scientists and security guards when ordered to. However, when they fail to contain the alien invasion, the HECU themselves are marked for cleanup by the Black Ops.
• The Medic: Another class introduced in Opposing Force. While he isn't very effective with his Glock 17 handgun, he is the only thing in the game that can heal your teammates.
• Mook Commander: Beret-wearing Marine squad leaders provide coordination for their squad, and also make good usage of their MP5's undermounted grenade launcher.
• Moral Myopia: Two soldiers that capture Gordon seemed rather outraged at him for killing so many soldiers, even though 100% of those guys were trying to kill Gordon.
• More Dakka: Many of their weapons, such as the M249 and Flash missile launcher. Hell, even their standard issue sub machine gun has a 50 round magazine.
• Oh, Crap!: Occasionally they will yell "Oh SHIT!" when a grenade is thrown at them.
• Punch-Clock Villain: Many of them find their objective of neutralizing Black Mesa's staff questionable, and are only doing so because they're following orders.
  "I didn't sign on for this shit. Monsters, sure, but civilians? Who ordered this operation, anyway?"
  "Government cover-ups were not in my job description!"
• Retcon: Originally, they were only called "soldiers" or "the military" and lacked the Powered Combat Vests. They received their current name and equipment in Opposing Force. In the original Half-Life, their helicopters even had a US Army logo on them.
  • Given this, and some other facts (HECU grunts are recognized as marines, land vehicles have Army markings, the F-16 is a plane used by the USAF) some fans have theorized that HECU is a multi-branch effort, like SOCOM in real life.
• Radio Voice: They spoke this way, and it sounded extremely robotic. May have something to do with most of their Enemy Chatter being Mad Libs Dialogue. Averted in Opposing Force to make them more relatable as Shepard's comrades.
• Red Shirt Army: Zig zagged. They're actually capable of soaking up more damage than the aliens or Black Mesa personnel thanks to their PCVs and are more than capable of taking them in a fight. On the other hand, Gordon slaughters them by the score and their AI leaves a lot to be desired in Opposing Force, where they can often be easily killed by Black Ops troops and Race X Shock Troopers.
• Semper Fi: The unit is first referred in the original game only as "the military". In Opposing Force they are given the name of Hazardous Environment Combat Unit and stated to be part of the US Marine Corps. Although as noted in Artistic License – Military and Retcon, a lot of individual details don't make sense for a Marine unit. The most likely reason is that the HECU became a Marines unit to emphasize their Badass Army status.
• Shotguns Are Just Better: The ones who wear balaclavas certainly think so, and they can reduce Gordon's health to zero in a matter of seconds if the he isn't careful.
• Shout-Out: To the rogue Marine unit in The Rock, given that both share overall villainous roles as Marine units clad in urban camoflage and black combat vests.
• Sociopathic Soldier: A few of them seem to take joy in killing innocent scientists.
  "I killed twelve dumbass scientists, and not one of 'em fought back! This sucks!"
• Suicide Mission: After the Marines evacuate, they leave several soldiers behind. These soldiers, despite essentially being doomed men, still fight on to kill the more powerful aliens and therefore prevent them from ransacking Earth. Especially noticeable in Opposing Force, when the corpses of dead marines can be found in the area where you fight the pit worm. Also in the final boss battle, when the security guard tells Shephard that some other marines went down to fight the Gene Worm and never came back.
• Taking You with Me: When critically injured, Marines will often drop a live grenade at their feet. Often, they just end up blowing themselves up instead of letting you finish them off, though suicide doesn't seem to be the objective, because they do make an attempt to run away from the grenade if you don't kill them immediately.
• White-and-Grey Morality: Their main job is to prevent an alien invasion, which means protecting Earth. Plus, it is hinted at in their conversations that they mistakenly believe Gordon (and by extension all the scientists at Black Mesa) intentionally caused the Resonance Cascade.
  "So, who is this guy, Freeman?"
  "They say he was at Ground Zero."
  "Science Team? You think he was responsible? Sabotage, maybe?"
  "Yeah, maybe. All I know for sure is he's been killing my buddies."
  "Oh yeah, he'll pay. He will definitely pay!"
• With Catlike Tread: The beret-wearing commanders have a tendency to shout out "SQUAD, QUIET DOWN!" in the same loud radio voice as the rest of his comrades. This will occasionally alert Gordon to their position, resulting in their deaths.
• You All Look Familiar: They had exactly four models in the original game, which just changed the head: the caucasian officer who wore a beret, the normal mook who wore a gas mask, the shotgun using soldier who wore a balaclava and goggles, and the grenade launcher using African-American soldier who wore no hat or mask, and smoked a cigar. The latter was changed to simply being an African-American version of the officer with a mustache in the HD pack.
• You Have Failed Me: After they fail to defeat the aliens and start pulling out, the Black Ops come in to deal with the situation themselves by blowing the facility up to kill the aliens and ensure the incident is covered up. They not only have no interest in rescuing any of the HECU troopers still present at the facility, but in fact start killing any of them they come across, as they have decided that the HECU stragglers could be just as much a liability as the Black Mesa staff if they were to survive and don't want to risk them getting word of the incident to the public. Also, the Black Ops just don't like the HECU and look down on them.

The Black Ops

The Black Ops

"Be careful with that thing! One false move and this whole facility is gone."

"Why do we always have to clean up a mess the grunts can't handle?"

A very shadowy unit sent to Black Mesa after the HECU failed their tasks, the Black Ops are there to remove everything in the facility, including the dozens of HECU stragglers left behind. Their purpose is only explained in Opposing Force.

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• All for Nothing: Their way of preventing an Alien Invasion by nuking the Black Mesa Facility and closing the rift between dimensions ends up being for naught when "portal storms" similar to the one in the Resonance Cascade end up raging all across the planet. Not only does this bring more Alien wildlife onto Earth, but this attracts the attention of the Combine and leads to Earth being subjugated in a war that lasts seven hours.
• Armies Are Evil: Played straight. Unlike the HECU, who are shown to at least be a Band of Brothers and show bravery and camaraderie against all odds, these soldiers are straight-up evil, massacring anyone who isn't part of their unit remorselessly.
• Bad Boss: HECU soldiers find this out in a bad way.
• Badass Army: They use the same equipment as the HECU, but are also far more competent in combat, managing to hold out far longer against the Xen and later Race X hordes, not to mention having more health than the HECU soldiers. Also, the fact that they never make noise is pretty impressive when they're being shot constantly.
• Black Helicopter: They use black AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, in contrast to the green ones used by the HECU.
• Cavalry Betrayal: Shephard, and by extension, the remaining HECU soldiers in Black Mesa, realize that they're not there to help them pull out, but are ordered to silence them along with any surviving Black Mesa personnel as well as the aliens.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: In Opposing Force, after defeating a bunch of Black Ops in a garage, Shephard finds an engineer who is bleeding and mortally wounded. He has to bring the nearby medic to him in order to save his life so he can open a door for you. It is clear the Black Ops tortured him for information.
• Cold Sniper: Some of them (or rather one of them) have sniper rifles.
• Dark Is Evil: They wear all-black combat suits, and are absolutely ruthless in their containment of the Black Mesa disaster.
• Deus ex Nukina: The way they eventually take care of Black Mesa, though the G-Man ends up helping them when the Black Ops charged with the nuke are gunned down by Adrian.
• Doom Troops: the HECU may be a diverse lot, but these guys are a straight Legion of Terror.
• Elite Mooks: In addition to being completely silent, the male black ops use powerful spin kicks at close range, run much faster than the marines, and have a little more health. They also all seem capable of using their MP5's undermounted grenade launcher, instead of only squad leaders and demolitionists doing so like the HECU. The female black ops on the other hand prefer to flip and jump around wildly while pelting the player with pistol fire and kung-fu kicks.
• Evil Versus Evil: Technically, their main goal is to stop an alien invasion and keep Earth safe. However, they are still sociopathic brutes who have no problem ordering the execution of all the Black Mesa staff just to cover-up the incident, and they are absolutely ruthless, merciless, and amoral in their methods. They have no problems torturing others for information, and they are ready to execute the Hazardous Enviornment Combat Unit troopers still present as punishment for failing to cover-up the incident themselves and because they now consider them a liability. Unlike the HECU, they display no real redeeming traits. The best that can be said about them is that they are still ultimately A Lighter Shade of Black compared to the Race X and Xen aliens.
• Faceless Goons: They all wear balaclavas, and the female black ops, as well as some male black ops, also wear night vision goggles. Referenced in Opposing Force when one Marine refers to them as "masked freaks".
• Fiery Cover-Up: Same mission as the HECU, except this time, their coverup also includes the HECU themselves.
• Fragile Speedster: The female variant can move very fast, and do a lot of damage with their pistols to both Freeman and Shephard. However, they're easily taken down in one-two Magnum pistol hits.
• Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: The Female Black Ops' appearances in Half-Life aren't explained at all. It was often assumed that they worked on behalf of the HECU soldiers. Opposing Force explains their presence in greater detail.
• Hate Sink: While some of the H.E.C.U. troopers could be seen as Punch Clock Villains, the only redeeming quality about the Black Ops is that they look cool.
• Highly-Visible Ninja: Their pitch-black scheme does stand-out in well-lit areas. Unless you play on Hard (at least in the first game), in which case the female ones have Invisibility Cloaks.
• Jerkass: All of them. They order the deaths of all of the Black Mesa staff without any hesitation or remorse, and move on to kill their pawns when they are no longer needed. Unlike the H.E.C.U, none of them have any redeeming qualities outside appearance.
• Karma Houdini: Though Shephard manages to kill dozens of them, in the end they still killed dozens of Shephard's colleagues and other innocent witnesses of the Black Mesa incident, successfully blew up Black Mesa and everyone left there, and they got away with the full support of the government.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: If they took part in the Seven Hour War, it's safe to assume the Combine soundly defeated them, and even if they didn't, they were most likely promptly disbanded following Earth's surrender.
• Lean and Mean: Even the male Black Ops are noticeably leaner than the bulky HECU Marines. They also tend to stand straight instead of hunching over in combat like the Marines do.
• Leave No Witnesses: And that includes the H.E.C.U. marines who are already doing just that.
• Lightning Bruiser: Male Black Ops move much faster than their HECU counterparts, and are tougher to take down.
• Make Way for the New Villains: They naturally assume this position, being the second cleanup crew sent into Black Mesa to wipe out everything, including the first cleanup crew.
• Ninja: They are ninjas in all but name, complete with silent, fast movement and using karate kicks and punches at close range. Even their uniforms have a "kabuki stagehand" vibe to them.
• Radio Voice: Averted, even though you only hear them speak once (they're completely silent the rest of the time).
• Silent Antagonist: Most of them never speak a single line in and out of combat, and are antagonistic towards both Black Mesa personnel and the HECU.
• Sinister Spy Agency: Game-files reveal they are a CIA paramilitary.
• Shotguns Are Just Better: Averted, they never use them. Almost every basic Black Ops soldier uses an automatic weapon instead.
• Sociopathic Soldier: Unlike the HECU, played completely straight. They show absolutely no remorse when executing survivors of the incident and are perfectly fine with killing the HECU left behind as well.
• Spy Catsuit: The female soldiers are well-known for wearing these. Downplayed with the male soldiers, as their outfits are a bit more modest, but still relatively form-fitting.
• Van in Black: Well, M35 truck in black.

Race X

Security Guard: "What is that Doc?"

Scientist: "I don't know! I've never seen that species before!"

A mysterious alien race from another dimension they only appear in Opposing Force, where their invasion is repelled by Adrian Shephard, and finally ended when the US government nukes Black Mesa. Their main soldiers are the Shock Troopers but they also have other creatures at their disposal such as the Pit Drone, Shock Roach, Voltigore, Pit Worm, and Gene Worm.

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• Aliens Are Bastards: Between them and the Xen aliens, they're the worse of the two. The Xen aliens are attacking everyone in the facility out of instinct and use Earth as a hiding place from the Combine, and despite their antagonistic status, they can be pitied to some degree given the suffering they endured from the Combine. Race X on the other hand want to wipe out all life on Earth and steal the resources for themselves.
• Arc Villain: They serve as the main antagonists of Opposing Force, continuing to exploit the Resonance Cascade even as the Nihilanth is killed.
• Big Bad Ensemble: Form one not only with the HECU and Xen aliens but also with the Black Ops later on.
• Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Haven't been seen since Opposing Force, and Marc Laidlaw has said that they were purely a Gearbox creation and don't figure into his thinking about the universe. He also wanted to leave them alone to allow Gearbox to freely use and develop them in any potential future Half-Life titles they might make.
• Easily Thwarted Alien Invasion: Their invasion is pretty much stuffed by one Marine with small arms (with occasional back-up from small groups of comrades), and unlike the Xenians their defeat doesn't cause damage to Earth by proxy.
• Eldritch Abomination: The Gene Worm is a gigantic monstrosity which has the power to convert any natural resource and by extension an entire planet in order to suit Race X's needs. It also houses an exit portal for reinforcements in its abdomen. The manual for Opposing Force implies that it's several miles long and that the portion you fight in-game is just its head.
• Elite Mooks: Their units tend to be tougher than their Xen equivalents. Pit Drones are much faster and more aggressive than Vortigaunts, have a much higher rate of fire, have slightly more health, and tend to attack in larger groups. Shock Troopers have about 50% more health compared to Alien Grunts, can throw spore grenades, and move quickly and use squad tactics.
• Eye Scream: Shooting the eyes of the Gene Worm with the conveniently placed laser turrets blinds it...
  • Attack Its Weak Point: ...if blinded in both eyes it opens its midsection revealing a portal, making it vulnerable to attack.
• Fragile Speedster: Pit Drones. They're incredibly fast, agile, and can kill Shephard and other human soldiers in a few hits. However, compared to the larger Race X troops, they die rather quickly from just a few shotgun blasts or submachine gun rounds.
• Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: They're essentially an entire race of this since they're not connected to the Resonance Cascade nor the Xen aliens, and only appear in Opposing Force to take advantage of the whole incident in an attempt to raid Earth. They're not even given a backstory and any relevance to the main plot beyond that.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: The Shock Roaches will attack anything close to them, including their own handlers (like Adrian). Heck, the idle animation shows Adrian teasing the Roach and it wanting to attack his fingers.
• Interim Villain: They serve as antagonists just as the Xen invasion begins to peter out thanks to Gordon Freeman's actions, and before the Combine make their invasion of Earth.
• Lightning Bruiser: Shock Troopers move fast, take a lot of damage from both bullets and explosives, and deal a lot of damage in return. In fact, they have even more health than the Male Assassins, already known for being Lightning Bruisers themselves.
• Made of Explodium: The Shock Roaches also eventually explode after being released.
• Made of Iron: Shock Troopers take about twenty MP5 shots to kill, or just three Desert Eagle shots. That's twice as much as the average human soldier.
• Make Way for the New Villains: They take over from the Xenians as the dominant alien threat midway through Opposing Force, in the same way that the Black Ops become the dominant human threat.
• Mighty Glacier: Voltigores are this, being able to soak up a ton of bullet and even explosive damage before dying.
• Planet Looters: Their goal regardless of origin and affiliation is all very much the same: conquer a planet while also plundering all of its resources, and then terraform it so it can be of better use as a more suitable colony.
• Plasma Cannon: Much like the Alien Grunts, all Shock Troopers come equipped with a creature that they use as a weapon: the Shock Roach. While it can regenerate ammunition like the Grunts' Hivehand, the Roach doesn't fire homing hornets; rather, it functions as an organic plasma cannon, producing slightly stronger, much faster, and strictly linear electric bolts. Meanwhile, when not attached to a host, the Shock Roach can only impotently lunge at threats, which is exactly what helps Shephard gain one of his own when it detaches itself from the first Shock Trooper that he encounters and kills.
• Shock and Awe: The aptly named Shock Troopers which carry a weapon called a Shock Roach, insect-like creatures that shoot deadly electricity. Also, Voltigores, large creatures which shoot powerful bolts of purple electricity.
• Starfish Aliens: Even more so than Xen's occupants which is saying a lot. For example, Shock Troopers, in their infantile stage, are green amphibious fish-like organisms; by the time they reach maturity, they gain a humanoid stature, two pairs of arms, and have more in common with insects than fish.
• The Spook: Infamously known for this. The only things we do know about them is that they're interested in conquering and colonizing other planets, and that they have already mastered teleportation technology. Even in-universe, the higher-ups at Black Mesa didn't fully know about their existence despite the countless research expeditions made on Xen.
  Security Guard: What is that thing, doc?
  Scientist: I don't know, I've never seen that species before!
• Ugly Cute: In-Universe, Shephard seems to think so of the Spore Launcher, since he can't help but pet the cute thing (which is actually a larval infant of the Shock Troopers, according to Word of God.)
• Zerg Rush: The preferred tactic of the Pit Drone, taking advantage of their speed and numbers to overwhelm HECU and Black Ops positions.

The "Employers"

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

—The G-Man

An unseen group of entities whom the G-Man serves, and who authorize him to interfere in the games' events on their behalf.

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• Ambiguously Evil: What they want is unknown, but while they oppose the Combine, they do not want them removed from Earth. Through the G-Man, they caused the Resonance Cascade that brought the Xen aliens and Combine to Earth, but the Combine was implicitly aware of Earth beforehand. The "Employers" also help the human resistance by preserving Gordon Freeman, but destroying the Citadel’s reactor was considered good enough for their purposes. Whether they're helping humanity or using the conflict on Earth as part of a larger plan is unclear. Whatever the case, they initiated the games' conflicts and remained in the background as humanity was conquered.
• Ambiguous Situation: Everything known about them, which is very little, is based on what the G-Man says, which is unreliable information at best. Perhaps he's their Mouth of Sauron and Dragon, or maybe they don't even exist and he's lying to the player characters.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: They're heavily implied to be the U.S. Government in the original Half-Life, given that their underling is called "The G-Man" and he calls Gordon's weapons at the end of the game "government property". Needless to say, Half Life 2 and onwards push them more into Mysterious Backer territory.
• Mysterious Backer: Of the G-Man and multiple player characters. Freeman only survived Black Mesa because they encouraged the G-Man to save him for future use.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: The label "Employers" is one used by the G-Man, no other name for them has been given.
• Pragmatic Villainy:
  • Although the Employers can and will "hire" strong individuals to serve their causes, that doesn't necessarily mean they're going to hire anyone. While Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance were chosen by the Employers personally to complete the assignments, Barney Calhoun was not, and thus the Employers had "no further comment" on him after he escapes their range in Blue Shift.
  • Downplayed with Adrian Shepard however. While the Employers initially wanted to have him killed to prevent any witnesses from revealing what happened at Black Mesa, the G-Man was able to convince them to detain him instead, due to his ability to "survive against all odds".
• Screw Destiny: According to the G-Man, they believe in this idea, refusing to accept the inflexibility of fate.
• Spock Speak: If the texts that appear during game introductions and credits (ex. Barney, Shephard and Gordon's age, occupation and education, etc.) is their own way of keeping tabs on people of interest, assuming it isn't the G-Man's own observations being relayed to them. These also appear if the player fails in a specific way (Assignment Terminated: Failure to preserve mission critical resources. when Gordon's buggy is destroyed) or before the credits roll for a final word on a character's status.
  Subject: Freeman
  Status: Hired. Awaiting assignment.

  Subject: Shephard
  Status: Detained. Further evaluation pending.

  Subject: Calhoun
  Status: Out of range. No further comment.

  Subject: Alyx Vance
  Status: Hired. Awaiting assignment.
• Would Hurt a Child: Even pushing the fact that their manipulations caused the occupation of Earth and got most of mankind oppressed and driven to near-extinction, the G-Man specifically goes out of his way to point out that his employers wanted to leave Alyx to die in Black Mesa like everyone else. Granted, the G-Man rescuing her was for his own intentions, but it does paint a good image that they will let anyone die to achieve their unknown goals.

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