Odessa Cubbage

Odessa Cubbage
Half-Life series character
File:HalfLife2 OdessaCubbage.jpg Colonel Odessa Cubbage, as seen in New Little Odessa, Half-Life 2. Cubbage also wears what appear to be ribbon bars on his jacket.
First game	Half-Life 2

Colonel Odessa Cubbage is a minor character in the first-person shooter computer game, Half-Life 2, appearing briefly in a Highway 17 (Chapter 7) level of the game. Cubbage is part of the Resistance against the Combine, speaking in distinct Received Pronunciation. He wears a jacket with emblems on it indicating that he was possibly once a security officer as part of the University of Rochester Security Services. According to the behind-the-scenes book Raising the Bar, his model was based on the martial arts instructor for one of the game's developers, and the name was found in a spam filter.

Odessa's model was originally intended for a character named "Odell" in Half-Life 2. Odell was the engineer of a science ship-vessel that was stranded in the sea. In Raising the Bar, it is not made clear if the sea was drained by Combine forces, thus stranding the ship, or if the boat was locked in ice. Odell was the only remaining crew member of the ship, called the Borealis, and was the leader of a small group of rebels that Gordon would meet.

Appearance and role

Half-Life 2

Odessa Cubbage leads a small Resistance base and town, dubbed "New Little Odessa", in a coastal region outside City 17. When Gordon Freeman arrives at New Little Odessa en route to Nova Prospekt, he is directed by a resistance fighter into a basement of a building, where Cubbage is briefing members on the use of the rocket launcher against Combine gunships. Looking for a volunteer to test it, and spotting Gordon's arrival, Cubbage hands him the weapon.

With the base saved from defeat, Odessa Cubbage sends him on his way, by allowing members of his team to open a gate, thus allowing Gordon to travel further along the coast. Cubbage can be last seen communicating via radio to Lighthouse Point, another resistance base where Gordon will have to abandon his dune buggy and resume his journey to Nova Prospekt on foot. His fate after Gordon's visit, and Half-Life 2, remains unknown, although it is mentioned later that he held the credit of taking down the gunship himself.

Before arriving at New Little Odessa, the player can see Cubbage speaking with the G-Man by looking through a spotting scope.

In Half Life 2: Episode One, Alyx Vance is asked if she's Dr Kleiner's daughter. She sarcastically replies that her father is Odessa Cubbage.

He is not seen in Half Life 2: Episode Two, but is mentioned disparagingly on one occasion by Resistance personnel.

References

• Hodgson, David. Half-Life 2: Prima Official Game Guide. Prima Games, 2004. ISBN 0-7615-4362-7.
• Hodgson, David. Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar. Prima Games, 2004. ISBN 0-7615-4364-3.