That is the question I pose to you today.

Perhaps he has nothing to say.

But with so much going on, you'd think he'd at least say something, even it is was just "oh-em-gee, the Combine are n00bs lol" or something.

The situation is so overwhelming. He's at a loss for words.

I've got it he never learned how to talk, but only learned to understands people.

He's a "quiet workhorse"...

or

He has seen so many things(aliens killing people, people killing aliens[its like a warzone]) that his mental health is so f-ed up that he doesnt talk.

Maybe he was taught to do as told and not ask questions at Black Mesa.

Since YOU (the player) are Freeman, he says whatever you say

Or he had his voice box extracted.

Its for the purpose of immersion because when you play as a character in your mind you develop a personality for that character. With a character like Gordon Freeman the character he is is entirely of our creation; we choose his actions, we choose how he thinks, etc. Whereas if he were to talk it would take away from him being "our character" because what he says is programmed by the developers so he becomes more their character than yours.

__________________

Veiled Duality

That makes alot of sense.

Perhaps, but this discussion ties into your concerns about HL becoming too NPC orientated. If they want to take us down that road they need to really consider having Freeman talk to these NPC characters. It's starting to look strange that they talk to him yet he ignores them. If you were Alyx, for example, would you not want to ask him why he doesn't talk? Or perhaps give him a piece of paper and say, 'hey how's about some tips on defeating striders'?

True, but Valve will never make Freeman talk as it would entirely screw with the Half-Life image. If he talks it is no longer Half-Life.

Sure, it is a bit weird that he never talks even when people talk to him but I think the NPCs respect him and what he has been through enough to not pester him about not talking. It makes sense. If someone lost their legs in a war do you badger them about not having legs? No. Well some might, but they are arseholes.

__________________

Veiled Duality

Also what is the G-man, what is he for anyways?

No-one but Valve know what/who the G-Man is and what his motives/goals are.

There is endless speculation into it and there has been since Half-Life came out.
I just hope Episode 3 brings some answers... Although the Half-Life series seems to have a 'for every answer you get you will also get 58 more questions' thing going.

__________________

Veiled Duality

Ahh, but this is not true. There are comments to Freeman of 'you're a man of few words aren't you' and 'you don't say much, do you'. So they do mention it, and he's just ignorant.

Yeah, but only Alyx says these things. And both of those comments are near the beginning of Half-Life 2. After that no-one mentions his lack of speech.

Basically I still think it all comes down to what I said earlier about Valve wanting you to feel that the you are the character. If he spoke then it wouldn't be your words making him less you.

__________________

Veiled Duality

Whatever you tried to embed didn't work :/

__________________

Veiled Duality

I know