The Consul
From Combine OverWiki, the Half-Life Wiki
 | The content of this article has been cut.
|
| This article is about the early character. For his successor, see Wallace Breen. |
| |
| The Consul | |
|---|---|
| Biographical information | |
| Homeworld | |
| Function(s) / Belongings | |
| Physical description | |
| Species |
Human |
| Gender |
Male |
| Cybernetics |
Later to have an artificial life support system covering from the upper torso and down |
| Chronological and political information | |
| Era(s) | |
| Affiliation | |
| Game information | |
| Designer(s) |
|
- "They call him the Consul now. It worked fine for him. He speaks for the Combine; he shares in their power. As for the rest of us..."
- ―Eli Maxwell[src]
The Consul[1][2] is a character cut from Half-Life 2. He is the predecessor to Wallace Breen.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Overview
- In the early stages of the game's production, Breen was not known as the "Administrator", but rather as the "Consul", who was a different character,[1][3] more in the vein of Big Brother from the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.
- In the playable Half-Life 2 Beta files, no Consul model can be found, apart from a giant statue,[2] a prototype of his Citadel's office based on concept art by Viktor Antonov, where screens were to be seen turning around his chair,[3] sound clips for the early Breencasts, all starting with "The true Citizen..." (in the folder /sound/C17/), and sound clips for the final Citadel confrontation (in the folder "/temp/alyx/"), where Alyx Vance lectures the Consul about him being "just another cog in the Combine machinery" and not part of the humanity anymore, while sound clips from other characters are missing.[2]
- During the course of the game, the Consul was to become immortal through Combine artificial life-support technology, and the player would not discover this fact before the end of the game, seeing only Breen's face on the monitors, while his body was more and more transformed.[1] The concept might have merely delayed, as theories made after Half-Life 2: Episode One support the fact that Breen's "mind" was moved into a Combine Advisor body or any other Combine vessel.
- The Consul was to be seen in Eli Maxwell's slideshow, at the foot of a radio tower, wearing a headset, hands raised high to Dropships as he proclaimed Earth's surrender.[1]
- The Consul statue might be inspired by that of Lenin that was to stand above the never completed supertall skyscraper Palace of Soviets in Moscow. The Skyscraper is also inspired by Stalinist architecture, being based on the Palace of Culture and Science in Warsaw.
- The Consul may be a reference to the consul title used in the Roman Republic and Empire.
[edit] Gallery
[edit] Consul
 The Consul calling for reinforcements. |
 Gordon Freeman holding the Consul at gunpoint while Helena Mossman is holding Alyx Vance. |
 The transformed Consul. |
 The Consul statue. |
 "It's great to be part of the greater good" - Consul / Metropolice propaganda poster, partially based on the black and white concept art bust portrait. |
[edit] Early Breencast
 Early Breencast device with cluster-like compound eyes. |
 Early Breencast. |
 Fixed map of the same early Breencast, located near the Manhack Arcade. |
 Screen image for the early Breencast, based on the black and white concept art bust portrait and used in the previous concept art. |
 Ditto. |
 Ditto. |
[edit] Consul's office
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
[edit] Notes and references
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Playable Half-Life 2 Beta files
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 WC mappack
