Barney Calhoun

Barney, as seen in (l-r) Half-Life, HL with the Hi-Definition Pack, and Half-Life 2

Barney Calhoun is a fictional character in the Half-Life series of first-person shooter computer games by Valve Software. Although initially considered a "throwaway" character (in fact, an entire class of throwaway characters), Barney has played increasingly prominent roles as the series has progressed.

Note: whilst Barney Calhoun is the name of a specific character in the Half-Life story, the name "Barney" also applies to Black Mesa security officers in general.

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Background

Barney Calhoun, an undecided two-year major from Martinson College, is employed as a mid-level security officer at the Black Mesa Research Facility, with Level 3 security clearance. His duties include guarding assigned sections, performing general maintenance, and assisting the Science Team as and when he is required. His "Disaster Response Priority" is to protect the Black Mesa facility and its equipment in the event of an emergency. His secondary priority is to safeguard members of the Science Team, whilst his own personal safety is of relatively low importance. During the course of his daily duties, he is required to repair an elevator in Sector G of the Black Mesa compound, and, while travelling in the elevator with two scientists, witnesses first-hand the effects of the resonance cascade on the facility. After the elevator plummets to the ground, killing the two scientists and knocking Calhoun unconscious, he wakes up and fights his way to the surface, seeing the panic of facility personnel desperate to escape Black Mesa by any means available. Whilst fighting his way through the facility, he stumbles across Dr Rosenberg, a high-ranking researcher working on teleport technology. Rosenberg takes Calhoun to an abandoned area of Black Mesa filled with prototype teleporter machinery, and with the assistance of two other scientists, Rosenberg teleports Calhoun to Xen, where he reactivates an old triangulation device. When Calhoun returns to Earth, he and the three scientists are able to teleport to an overlooked entrance to Black Mesa. A momentary malfunction leads to Calhoun being rapidly transported through the facility, but he is ultimately able to escape with Rosenberg and the other two scientists in a Black Mesa SUV.

Half-Life

In the original Half-Life, "Barney" was the collective name for a class of identical NPC security guards. Never referred to by name in the game, the internal name of the character model was "monster_barney", and in the multiplayer version the model was named simply "barney". The name was born in the earlier alpha versions of the game where the model for the security guards held a resemblance to actor Don Knotts (screenshot), which combined with the status of being a security guard, inspired comparisons with Knotts's character "Barney Fife" from The Andy Griffith Show, which in the U.S. has long been a disparaging term for an inept policeman or security guard.

Multiple guards could be encountered and allied at once, with up to three "Barneys" following the player at any one time. In this game, the Barneys served a role much like the equally ubiquitous scientists: providing conversations that revealed small parts of the story. Additionally, they could support the player as allies in combat. However, although each Barney carried a handgun, their effectiveness could often be hampered by poor pathfinding and slow response times.

Half-Life: Opposing Force

The first Half-Life expansion, Half-Life: Opposing Force, confirmed Barney's first name in dialogue. Barney was joined by his co-worker Otis (named after another character from The Andy Griffith Show); both Barney and Otis helped Adrian Shephard, the protagonist of Opposing Force, in much the same way that Barney had helped Gordon Freeman in the original game such as opening authorized access doors, and killing some enemies along the game.

Half-Life: Blue Shift

Barney Calhoun gained a starring role in the following expansion, Half-Life: Blue Shift. Barney was finally given a surname (Calhoun) and an improved appearance. Unlike Gordon Freeman and Adrian Shephard, Barney lacked any form of power armor and was equipped only with a simple armoured vest. Thus, instead of utilizing HEV recharging stations, Calhoun would restore his damaged armor by picking up fresh vests from fallen comrades along the way.

Notably lacking any encounters with other security guards, Barney, along with a few scientists, managed to escape from the Black Mesa Research Facility. It should be noted that the Barney Calhoun from Blue Shift never actually meets Gordon Freeman in the course of the game, although Gordon's tram passes by Barney at the start of Blue Shift as he is trapped outside a locked door, in a humorous nod to a scene from Gordon's perspective during the tram ride at the start of Half-Life. Gordon can also be spotted being greeted by a co-worker through a camera. After these encounters, Gordon can be seen for the last time in the end of the game as two marines are dragging Freeman away. However, if the player attempts to talk to a security guard before the resonance cascade, one of the responses possible is: "Hey, catch me later, I'll buy you a beer." In Half-Life 2, Barney states: "Now, about that beer I owed ya!"

At the beginning of Blue Shift, the player may notice strange material in the character's locker: books titled The Truth About Aliens and Government Conspiracies that show that Barney may be paranoid, or at least something of a conspiracy theorist. This could also be foreshadowing, since the game centers around aliens and government conspiracies. Also seen in Calhoun's locker is a picture of a young woman, which suggests, along with the fact that the Blue Shift manual says "Buy flowers for Lauren," that Calhoun has a wife or girlfriend.

Half-Life 2

Barney is one of the primary characters in Half-Life 2. How he ended up in City 17, or what has happened to him since the events of Half-Life, is not explained. Barney is undercover as a Civil Protection officer for the Combine. He is first seen in the beginning of Half-Life 2 and provides insider information to Gordon Freeman and company on the Combine. It becomes gradually clear that Barney is one of the leaders of the rebellion against the Combine.

Toward the end of the game, Barney participates in City 17's armed uprising against the Combine and briefly fights alongside Gordon Freeman through a Combine command center. Barney's health regenerates extremely rapidly; although he is not invincible, it is highly difficult for him to die unless the player sends him in against overwhelming odds.

A recent screenshot from Half-Life 2: Aftermath shows Barney after presumably fighting off a large Combine invasion (due to the bodies of many resistance soldiers and a Combine APC), proving that Barney is still alive after the Citadel collapse.

Voice and model

Michael Shapiro provided Barney's voice in Half-Life and its add-ons as well as Half-Life 2. Scott Lynch, Valve Software's Chief Operating Officer, lent his face to the game for use in-game as Barney in Half-Life 2.