Even with all the evidence against it, I always hoped his “employers” were the combine and everything Gordon goes through is just some elaborate trick and we’ve been getting messed with the entire time.
Yikes… Thirty pages down. That took a lot longer to read than I expected… And some pretty interesting theories so far.
It’s worth noting that the G-man appears to have superiors, though HL2 casts some doubt on them being a fixed organisation with mentions of “The highest bidder”. As has been mentioned numerous times in this thread, there are seemingly inconsistencies with his character between his début in the original and his present form, namely the implication that he works for the earth’s government (in what capacity is unclear) with his insistence that the weapons be confiscated (as they are government property), whereas in HL2 he comes across as more of a mercenary working for whatever clients suit his whim. Whoever he works for displays some degree of control over the actions he might take, perhaps implying a protocol system not unlike that found in Earth governments.
It’s also probably worth noting that his teleportation is similar to that displayed by the Vortigans… The reason I bring this up at all is because the halflife universe utilises many different forms of teleportation, each with their own graphical signature… The Vort kind (or more specifically, the Nihilinth kind, to give credence to the assumption that the Nihilith was the source of their teleportation ability, as well as their enslavement) uses a green lightning effect which is visually different from the other kinds, and is used throughout Halflife 1 to spawn Xen-based lifeforms (such as Headcrabs and Vorts) into Black Mesa. Interestingly, as far as I’m aware, G-man doesn’t use this power until the Nihilinth is defeated and Xen falls under his (or his company’s) control, perhaps suggesting that the teleportation ability belongs to whoever controls Xen.
This, at a stretch, could also justify his opening of the resonance cascade as it may provide an exit for the Xen teleportation (thinking of the teleport as some sort of inter dimensional tunnel system, or even shudder Stargate like wormhole), though that is pure speculation.
Its late so I’m not laying out all my observations on the table right now, but still, there’s a lot of possibilities of who or what the G-man is, and I look forward to reviving this debate 
(oh, and hey, I’m exion 
1st post on new forums, woo!)
that is a prittayyy long stretch. The combine hires G-man to have Gordon take down Breen and cripple their forces on Earth. Nuh uh 
Yeah, but with the combine being such a big interdimensional empire you’d think they wouldn’t mind losing a few soldiers just so they could mess with someone who thinks they’re making a difference. Maybe they’re so powerful they think they can pull it off.
I know it’s not true but I wish so bad it was.
But following the same logic, isn’t it likely that an interdimensional empire would have better things to do than fuck with someone? So far a sense of humour, warped or not, doesn’t appear to be one of the combine’s displayed traits…
Not if it’s the Umgah we’re talking about…
I’m pretty sure I’ve already stated that I know it’s not true and it’s just something I hoped for. Obviously that’s not how it’s going to play out, all I said is it would be cool.
maybe he’s with the aliens from opposing force
Why do you hope so badly that the combine is his employers?
yeah, that doesn’t really lead on to many interesting plot twists as far as I can imagine… in fact that would be pretty dull and would make little sense with the existing plot.
If G-man is revealed to be under the employ of the Combine then I’d be wondering “Who fired the writer?” whilst being quite angry that THAT’s the best they could come up with in 3 years!
Of the factions we know of in HL we have the humans pre invasion, the Nilianth(dead), the combine and the vorts/human resistance. The fact that Breen knows of Gordon’s employment “situation” and how his “Contract” was available to the highest bidder opens the possibility and to a lot of people, it just makes sense.
So the Combine are employing a strange suited man to set in place many events that eventually lead to the destruction of their Earth Garrison? Seems kinda counterproductive.
Breen was a HUMAN in Half-Life, monkey boy.
EDIT: SHIT NINJA’D
I still think it’s strange how in HL1 there seemed to be allusions to him being affiliated with the US government, like a “man in black.” I used to see him as being a member of some sort of shadow government like the “the Syndicate” from the X-files, who have some interaction with alien affairs (and of course Gman was originally based on X-files’ cigarette-smoking-man, ).
There was no Breen in half life. Just Hl2 and the episodes
my point exactly.
I’m of the train of thought that his employers are someone we’ve not met yet… it makes little sense that the G-man himself is like a freelance agent who works for the highest bidder directly, but rather works for another organisation who perhaps assists particular clients (the bidders if you will).
This doesn’t solve anything, instead it adds another party to further confound the mess, but it also makes more sense than G-man being a standalone antagonist who goes around ripping holes through reality and kidnapping people who he finds interesting whilst obeying whoever gives him the most space cash.
Indeed, has it yet been supposed that G-man gains his powers through earth technology? Black mesa had a lot of interesting tech, and it is a reasonable assumption that perhaps scientists were able to devise some sort of means of making a government agent invulnerable to bullets and giving him a portable teleportation device (bare in mind there’s a lot of different labs in the halflife universe), maybe the time dilation and teleportation he has at his disposal are derived from the experiments on the Vorts (late in one of the campaigns from the original HL games, be it HL, BS or OF (I think it was HL) there’s a lab full of dissected Vorts), or maybe, as I earlier suggested, these powers were put in his hands by Gordon defeating the Nihilith and further experiments by his organisation on the Nihilith body… (as I earlier mentioned, I don’t recall him using the teleport prior to the Nihilith’s defeat).
Just some further conclusionless thoughts.
Ok, but why? That’s a simple question. Why would they do it? Moron.
without a doubt, Gman was gaining something from xen’s “capture”
That was in Decay.
He does, in the Lambda Core.
But he doesn’t teleport with his own abilities. He uses one of the wormholes caused by the dimensional instability of the lambda core area.