Alyx Vance

Alyx Vance
Half-Life series character
File:HalfLife2 AlyxVance.jpg Alyx Vance after Gordon's early encounter of her. Alyx's grey hooded sweatshirt bears the logo of the Black Mesa Research Facility.
First game	Half-Life 2

Alyx Vance is a fictional character and digital actor from Valve's 2004 First Person Shooter computer game Half-Life 2, and its following episode: Half-Life 2: Episode One. Alyx is portrayed as a young woman in her early or mid-twenties, and is a prominent figure in the human resistance against the rule of the alien race called the Combine and their human representative, Dr. Breen.

Family

Alyx is the daughter of Dr. Eli Vance. Her mother, Azian, can be seen in a family photograph in Black Mesa East with the face of Alyx's voice actor, Merle Dandridge. Azian lived in the facility's dormitories with Alyx, but died during the Black Mesa incident.

Personality and skills

From her appearances early in the game, Alyx quickly emerges as a very sympathetic, likeable character. She is obviously very intelligent, working alongside three doctors in advanced physics (her father Dr. Eli Vance, Dr. Judith Mossman and Dr. Isaac Kleiner) as an equal. She also displays a fiery, independent spirit; not only does she choose to oppose the Combine, but she refuses to be intimidated by Dr. Mossman's insinuations that she is to blame for a failed experiment. Alyx also retains a youthful enthusiasm and sense of humor, referring to the "Zero Point Energy Field Manipulator" by the more memorable name "Gravity Gun" and using it to play fetch with her robot, Dog. Her humour is further developed in Episode One where, for example, she impersonates a zombie to tease Gordon Freeman and dubs Combine soldiers who have been zombified by head crabs as "Zombines".

Alyx wields an electronic multitool that uses an electric charge in order to bypass security systems, open locked doors and, in Episode One, re-program rollermines to attack Combine troops and Stalkers. She is also very proficient with a pistol and in unarmed combat, and helps fight alongside Gordon briefly during both the Entanglement and Anticitizen One chapters of Half-Life 2. In Episode One, Alyx accompanies the player for most of the game and demonstrates fighting skills previously unseen, such as kicking a headcrab zombie in a fight.

Despite Alyx's friendly nature she shows some hostility towards Dr. Mossman because of Mossman's somewhat patronizing attitude towards her, as well as Mossman's interest in her father. At the end of Half-Life 2, this hostility has seemingly vanished, when Dr. Mossman helps to free Alyx and her father from the clutches of Dr. Breen.

At several points during Half-Life 2 it is suggested that there is a growing relationship developing between Gordon Freeman and Alyx. Continuing this theme, Episode One contains many situations where this relationship is developed. Alyx hugs Gordon when her robot, Dog, finds him (and becomes clearly embarrassed afterwards), and at one point she jokingly asks Gordon if there is room for two in Gordon's Hazard suit. Barney Calhoun additionally mentions that Gordon is a "lucky dog" to travel alongside Alyx. The game commentary that is given during the "elevator scene," in which Gordon waits for the elevator that would take him down to the core, verifies that such a relationship was intended.

Alyx is deeply sympathetic towards other people and the victims of The Combine. She laments for a group of "stalkers" that she and Freeman stumble upon during Episode One, and hopes that these unfortunate creatures no longer remember who they used to be when they were human. She exhibits a rare moment of emotional vulnerability after a more intense encounter with a stalker, the experience visibly traumatizing her. In the game files an extra speech from Alyx can be found in which she elaborates, under stress, on why she can't hold herself together in front of a stalker. However, this speech is not heard in the game, suggesting that it was cut to allow for more fluid gameplay.

Appearances

Alyx helps Freeman more frequently and directly than any other character in Half-Life 2. In the first chapter (Point Insertion), Alyx saves Gordon from Civil Protection forces when he is unarmed and not yet wearing his protective HEV suit. Later, in Black Mesa East, she gives Gordon a gravity gun and demonstrates its use. During the chapter titled Entanglement, she helps search Nova Prospekt for her captured father. She fights alongside Gordon through a section of City 17 during the armed uprising in Anticitizen One, and provides indirect assistance to Gordon during the final confrontation with Dr. Breen in the final areas of the Citadel in Dark Energy.

In Black Mesa East, Alyx argues heatedly with Dr. Judith Mossman. Alyx's hostility towards Mossman is seemingly justified: Freeman and Alyx learn in Entanglement that Mossman has betrayed the resistance and given away the location of their hidden facility. Nevertheless, in Dark Energy, Dr. Mossman explains her actions and the two women finally make peace.

In the ending scene of Half-Life 2, Alyx is with Gordon Freeman at the time of the dark energy explosion. While the G-Man saves Gordon from the enormous blast, Alyx is apparently left behind, frozen in time with one arm shielding her eyes.

Alyx manages to survive, being rescued by Vortigaunts, who also free Gordon from the influence of his employer, the G-Man; after being teleported away to just outside the Citadel and briefly revisiting it, Alyx and Gordon stick together for most of Episode One, finally getting to the exit from City 17 and jumping on the last resistance train wagon heading out of the City just as the Citadel explodes.

Weapons

In Half-Life 2 and most of Episode One, Alyx is seen with her unique weapon, an automatic pistol, known simply as "Alyx's Gun" (from its entity name, weapon_alyxgun). This gun is not available to Freeman, although the player can obtain it via the cheat console, and it is also an available weapon to the player in the Japanese made Half Life 2 modification "Smod". However, late in Episode One, Alyx grabs a shotgun (identical to the one available to the player, which resembles a Franchi SPAS-12) and wields it throughout the hospital in Chapter 4. At one point, she also uses an Overwatch sniper rifle, although she is not actually seen when sniping (neither are Combine snipers), and twice in the game she uses mounted Combine machine guns to provide cover fire for Gordon.

Alyx's fate

File:Alyxfate.jpg

Alyx hanging on for her life (top), and later (bottom), a Vortigaunt carrying a limp, unconscious (or possibly dead) Alyx.

Although the official teaser trailer for Episode Two shows Alyx hanging above a cliff and calling on Gordon for help, before presumably losing her grip, it has been confirmed that she will at least play a part in the episode.

Later in the teaser, a Vortigaunt is seen carrying Alyx while a vortigaunt is heard saying "This is more than anyone can bear, but we will persevere". Her body, however, is free of any injuries consistent with a traumatic fall from a cliff; aside from being limp and unresponsive in the Vortigaunt's arms, there is no apparent sign of any trauma whatsoever. Therefore, two possibilities are most likely: either Valve is not revealing some key information about the form of Alyx's death, or that Alyx is not dead but merely unconscious.(Note: The second trailer showed similar footage of Alyx, and different footage of Hunters and environments).

Whether she suffers any serious injury from her fall or was actually killed and is then revived is currently unknown. However, according to the Episode Two preview article in the August 2006 issue of PC Gamer magazine, Alyx will be available as a gunner in a new vehicle, which suggests that she survives.

File:G-Room.jpg

G-Man standing over Alyx, apparently in the place Gordon is kept in stasis

In a new trailer for Episode Two released recently, we see Alyx, presumably unconscious, lying in the darkness; the G-Man walks to her and says "You're not supposed to be here", bending to take a look at her and continuing his speech telling Alyx (or possibly the viewer, which is the same as to say Gordon Freeman) to "forget about all this".

Notes

Actress Merle Dandridge provides Alyx's voice, while her face and body are modeled after Jamil Mullen. At the beginning of Episode One, Alyx gains a small scar above her right eyebrow; presumably inflicted from the blast of Half-Life 2 and having been dug "out of the rubble".

It is worth noting Alyx's appearance, importance to the story, and mannerisms in comparison to those of NPCs in the original game. All Half-Life NPCs were interchangeable within their "class" (e.g., scientist, guard, soldier) and most were completely expendable. Every guard looked, sounded, and acted exactly like every other one; there were a few different "scientist" models, but they all shared the same voice files. It is quite likely, however, that this was attributable to limitations inherent in the Quake engine used rather than a deliberate design decision. In Half-Life 2, there are several unique NPCs including Alyx, Dr. Eli Vance, Barney Calhoun and Dr. Isaac Kleiner.

Alyx bears a striking resemblance, in both physical appearance and personality, to Jade, the main protagonist of Beyond Good & Evil, which was released a year before Half-Life 2.

Unlike other games which feature extremely vulnerable mission-critical characters, Half-Life 2 gives Alyx the ability to absorb a large amount of damage before death (due to the fact that her health regenerates extremely rapidly). It is still possible for her to die during combat however, and at several points the player is required to protect her from taking damage.

While it is possible for Gordon Freeman to fire on friendly NPCs, this causes no visible reactions and it appears that it is impossible to injure Alyx even indirectly with the Gravity Gun. This applies for all "friendly" characters. This is a switch from Half-Life, in which any and all NPCs (except the G-Man) could be easily killed by the player. It is mentioned in Half Life 2: Raising the Bar that friendly NPCs could be killed at one point, but this was removed because an NPC needed for an important trigger could be killed. It is possible to kill the resistance members in the "Highway 17" chapter and the one who is meant to open the gate by running them down with the scout car