Alyx Vance
Encyclopedia : A : AL : ALY : Alyx Vance
Alyx Vance is a fictional character and digital actor from Valve Software's 2004 first-person shooter computer game Half-Life 2, and its following episodes (indeed, she is also the focal point of ). Alyx is portrayed as a young woman of mixed ethnicity 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 "Administrator", Dr. Breen.
Family
Alyx is the daughter of Dr. Eli Vance, former colleague of Gordon Freeman at the Black Mesa Research Facility. 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 intimations 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, D0g. Her humour is further developed in where, for example, she impersonates a zombie to tease Gordon Freeman and dubs combine soldiers who have been zombified by head crabs as "Zombine".
Alyx is very skilled at hacking into Combine computer systems, frequently subverting security to open locked doors. 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 , 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, contains many situations where this relationship is developed. Alyx hugs Gordon when her robot, D0g, finds him, 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 Half Life 2: Episode 1, 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.
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). Judging by its clip size and the shape of the gun, one can assume it is a Glock 18C with an extended magazine. This gun is not available to Freeman, although the player can obtain it via the cheat console. 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 sequence 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
Although the official teaser trailer for shows Alyx hanging above a cliff and calling on Gordon for help, before presumably losing her grip, it has been confirmed[Steam User Forums] that she will play a part in the episode and will not be killed off in the immediate future.
Later in the teaser a Vortigaunt is seen carrying Alyx while uttering "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: Valve is not revealing some key information about Alyx's fate, or a model of Alyx's dead body was not created in time for the teaser video.
Whether she suffers any serious injury from her fall or was actually killed and is then revived is currently unknown.
Notes
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.
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). This makes it highly unlikely for her to die during combat. (Compare this approach to that of the developers of the N64 title GoldenEye 007, and its rendition of the character of Natalya.) In Episode One however, she has become somewhat more vulnerable compared to her appearance in Half-Life 2, and can easily die if the player does not keep her from being damaged continuously (as can happen when dealing with Antlion spawn areas, for example).
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.
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.