Alyx Vance

Alyx Vance
Biographical information
Homeworld	Earth
Date of birth	N/A
Physical description
Rank	Resistance leader
Species	Human
Gender	Female
Weapons	Alyx's Gun ; Shotgun ; Mounted AR2 ; Gravity Gun ;
Equipment	Multitool
Hair color	Brown
Eye color	Green
Chronological and political information
Era(s)	The Uprising
Affiliation	The Resistance
Game information
Voiced by	Merle Dandridge
Modeled over	Jamil Mullen
Designer(s)	Dhabih Eng
Entity	npc_alyx

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Warning! This article contains spoilers. Read at your own risk!

"When I plucked her from Black Mesa, I acted in the face of objections that she was a mere child and of no practical use to anyone. I have learned to ignore such naysayers when quelling them was out of the question."

―G-Man^[src]

Alyx Vance is one of the main protagonists of Half-Life 2, Episode One and Episode Two. She is portrayed as a woman in her early to mid twenties, and is a prominent figure in the Resistance against the rule of the Combine.

[edit] Biography

[edit] Background

Alyx and her parents.

Alyx, like many of the human leaders of the Resistance based at Black Mesa East, is a former resident of the original Black Mesa Research Facility.^[1] She is the daughter of Dr. Eli Vance, a scientist from Black Mesa, who appeared briefly in the original Half-Life.

Alyx's mother, Azian Vance, is never encountered in-game due to her death, but can be seen in a family photograph in Black Mesa East. Azian lived in the facility's dormitories with Alyx, but died during the Black Mesa Incident.^[1]

[edit] Appearances

[edit] Half-Life 2

Alyx meets Gordon for the first time.

Alyx is arguably the most important character in Half-Life 2, as she helps Gordon Freeman more frequently and directly than any other character. Her first appearance is in the first chapter of the game, Point Insertion, in a scene where Gordon has been intercepted by Civil Protection units while he is still an unarmed civilian, due to a miscount detection. Alyx rushes in the room and apparently takes down the CPs by herself (although this is not explicitly shown on-screen). Subsequently, she escorts Gordon to Kleiner's Lab, there they meet up with Barney and Kleiner. After Gordon puts on his HEV suit, they enter the teleporter room to be teleported to Eli Vance's lab in Black Mesa East. However, the two unintentionally part ways after Kleiner's teleportation device malfunctions, forcing Gordon to continue through City 17 on his own.

When Gordon finally arrives in Black Mesa East, he is welcomed by Alyx and her father. Later, she gives Gordon the Gravity Gun and demonstrates its use. Alyx is also shown having a heated argument with Dr. Judith Mossman, a hostility that appears justified as Mossman is revealed a traitor in the chapter Entanglement, where Gordon helps Alyx search Nova Prospekt for her captured father.

In the chapter Anticitizen One, she fights alongside Gordon through a section of City 17 during the armed uprising but they are again separated when Alyx is kidnapped by Overwatch Soldiers while scouting an escape route from a rooftop vantage point. They are reunited later in the chapter Dark Energy, when Gordon reaches Breen's office in the Citadel. There she provides indirect assistance to Gordon during the final confrontation with Dr. Breen in the Citadel's dark fusion reactor. Alyx also seems to have made peace with Dr. Mossman after seeing her turn on Dr. Breen and release Gordon Freeman, Eli and Alyx herself from their imprisonment.

In the ending scene of Half-Life 2, Alyx is with Gordon 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.

[edit] Half-Life 2: Episode One

Alyx debating with Dog.

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 at the foot of the Citadel and briefly revisiting it to postpone the destruction of the Citadel Core, 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.

[edit] Half-Life 2: Episode Two

Alyx being held by the Vortigaunt.

Alyx appears in Episode Two throughout the game, and is almost always with Gordon. She once again rescues Gordon at the beginning of the game by using the Gravity Gun to free him from the remains of their crashed train, which fell off a bridge that was destroyed because of the Citadel explosion at the end of Episode One.

After making a first communication with White Forest, a large Resistance base, she is severely injured by a Hunter, but Gordon and a Vortigaunt manage to steal Antlion extract and use it to save her. During the process of reviving her, the G-Man reappears and informs Gordon that the reason Alyx remained alive during the events of Half-Life 2 and its expansions is because he "plucked" her from Black Mesa before the Resonance Cascade destroyed the facility, ignoring the orders from his superiors - that she was a mere child and of no practical use. He tells Gordon to escort her to White Forest safely, telling Alyx to relay the words "prepare for unforeseen consequences" to her father. She then accompanies Gordon on their journey to get to White Forest. Throughout the journey, she helps Gordon at many points, by providing sniping support for him using a mounted Combine sniper rifle as he makes his way through a Zombie-infested industrial complex to get to the Muscle Car or by using her gun on enemies while he is driving.

Alyx kneels over her father's dead body.

At the end of the game, her father Eli is killed by an Advisor before she and Gordon get into a chopper to go looking for Dr. Mossman. While she and Gordon watch, helpless, pinned down onto the walls by the Advisors' psionic powers, Dog jumps through the roof and attacks the Advisor before it can do the same thing to Alyx and Gordon, severely injuring it causing both Advisors to flee. Alyx cries over Eli's body as Gordon passes out and the credits roll. Being now a complete orphan, her full reaction to that loss and its influence on the subsequent events is yet to be revealed, likely in Episode Three.

[edit] Appearance

Alyx at White Forest.

Alyx has brown, short hair with streaks of red (a reminiscence of her original fully red hair,^[5]) a headband and green eyes. She wears worn-out clothes, as most of the Half-Life 2 characters: a brown leather jacket with the right sleeve attached to the rest with duct tape, jeans and brown work boots, with a grey hooded sweater bearing the Black Mesa logo, with the words "Black Mesa" under it. She has black fingerless rappelling gloves and a tensor bandage around her right hand (it is unknown if it is for the looks or if she was previously hurt). She also wears a green belt where her gun and hack tool are attached; purple panties can also be seen from behind. Around her neck is a little box-like jewel, made out of wood or metal, which probably belonged to her mother, according to the Vance's family picture.^[6] A nevus can also be seen at the stem of her neck. At the beginning of Episode One, she gains a small scar above her right eyebrow; presumably inflicted at the end of Half-Life 2 and having been dug "out of the rubble". During Episode Two, her jacket is damaged when the Hunter wounds her.^[7]

[edit] Personality and skills

Alyx's Multitool.

Alyx's Multitool open.

Eli kisses his daughter.

Alyx is a skilled hacker: she is able to operate and manipulate Combine-based objects such as turrets with the help of her gear. Alyx wields an electronic Multitool, which she utilizes in order to perform a variety of tasks, such as bypassing security systems and opening locked doors. In Episode One she also uses it to re-program Rollermines to attack Combine troops, Zombies, Overwatch Snipers and Stalkers.

She is also very proficient with a pistol and in unarmed combat, and helps fight alongside Gordon briefly during both the chapters Entanglement and Anticitizen One in Half-Life 2. In Episode One, Alyx accompanies the player for most of the game and demonstrates fighting skills previously unseen, such as using a shotgun and kicking off Zombies when they get too close.

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.

Alyx also has a good sense of humor, as evidenced by the jokes she makes about various things, including the Combine and Gordon's silence ("Man of few words, huh?"). An example of this can be seen in the chapter Lowlife of Episode One, where she and Gordon navigate a series of Zombie-infested tunnels. During lulls in combat she imitates a Zombie growl to scare the player, then will laugh and say "Gotcha!" when they find out it is her.

She tries to make another joke shortly after when entering a Combine troop train. She spots a dead Overwatch Soldier with a Headcrab over its head. She tries to be funny, naming it a "Zombine", but quickly gets serious when Gordon does not react to her joke.

Alyx is also a very sensitive person, giving some heart and realism to the series. She does not believe her eyes when she sees how is the Citadel inside, is affected by the Stalkers' fate and behavior at the start of the Episode One chapter Lowlife, and cries over the loss of her father at the end of Episode Two.

[edit] Relationship with Gordon Freeman

Although Alyx was a child at the time of the Black Mesa Incident (at which point Gordon was 27 years old^[8]), Gordon's almost two decades long stasis after Half-Life has more or less erased any age gap between the two.

At several points during Half-Life 2 (as well as in Episode One and Episode Two), it is suggested that there is a growing relationship developing between her and Gordon.