If Valve ever decides to bring back Shephard for Half Life 3, you know what they could do with him? Actually do the premise of Hunt Down the Freeman right.

Let’s say during the events of HL3 Gordon and Eli take Alyx away from the G-Man. Maybe through some circumstances Gordon and Alyx are totally going against the G-Man’s plans (likely through the help of the Vorts) and everything is going out of his control. Now the G-Man has no choice but to call upon Adrian Shephard to act as an opposing force to get things back on track. The G-Man could tell Adrian “now it’s time to finish the job you were supposed to start 20 years ago” and let him go.

The excuse for not using him before until now would be that G-Man didn’t ask his employers to save Shephard, and they were worried that because of his profession as a soldier before that he wouldn’t listen to the G-Man, but now they’re desperate and let Adrian be officially hired.

I’d say give Adrian a voice, and instead of wanting some petty revenge against Freeman, he just follows orders because 1. he’s lost and confused in this horrifying new world. 2. He’s a soldier and he’s inclined to follow orders, and 3. He figures “Hey this G-Man guy saved my life, he must have my best interests in mind even though he blew up Black Mesa,” because he’s simply not aware of the full scale of the G-Man’s actions. Adrian’s not a bad guy, he’s just not been given the full picture. Now a Shephard is actually “hunting down the Freeman” and the G-Man has an actual reason for doing it.

So Adrian goes and fights the Resistance for a while, until a big showdown later both parties communicate with each other and Adrian realizes he’s been a puppet and tries to break free from the G-Man.

The only problem is figuring out how to naturally reintroduce a character that hasn’t been seen in 20 years IRL. Considering that Half Life 2 Episode 2 randomly put Magnusson in the story with no prior introductions, it shouldn’t be too hard. Have Eli be like “Gordon, it’s an HECU guy again, remember how they tried to kill us at Black Mesa?” and I think people unfamiliar with Adrian will accept it.

Same energy

I like how Gman was like “Hmmm I need someone to replace Gordon” and instead of pulling out Adrian, a military professional who was at Black Mesa when the Cascade happened, who’s just been floating in the void since then, he’s like “let’s make a teenager unknowingly sign a job contract”

Holy fuck, the Gordon model from hl:a has been datamined.

Someone please get this man to a hospital.

NO

every single time i see gordon’s official, real, designed by valve model, i almost cry. i have wanted to know what he really looked like for so long and now we know. we don’t have to go by ancient concept art anymore, he’s here and he’s real and HE HAS FRECKLES AND A SOFT FACE. HE LOOKS HIS ACTUAL AGE. HE LOOKS SO SWEET AND KIND. I WILL SOB MY EYES OUT AGAIN

shepard? wheres the door?

As promised

More to come

So... Half Life Alyx...

SHIT

SHIT SHIT SHIT I CAN’T BELIEVE THEY DID THAT

WHAT THE FUCK

When he did this face and said INFLEXIBLE I had a fucking stroke

TFW the Combine interrupt your morning coffee and rations to beam you and your entire kitchen into their vault

Another version with some chromatic aberration added because it was suggested to me and I liked the idea! (also made the eyes a bit more greenish)

What if I could offer you something you dont know you want?

From here to there in under a second… Well, not quite. 12 years, to be exact. Still, at least we’re actually hearing about our little science man in 2020, even if he’s not showing up in the game. A mention is all I needed! 

"Gordon, this is D0g. My dad built him to protect me when I was a kid"

The d0g model eli felt was capable of protecting his child:

GORDON, SEEING G-MAN OUT OF THE CORNER OF HIS EYE, RUNNING OFF IN THE MIDDLE OF ELI'S SENTENCE ABOUT TO BEAT G-MAN'S CRUSTY ASS

tinder profile pic vs when you meet him irl