The Secret Resistance Leader | Arne Magnusson | Full Half-Life Lore

[Music] with every invasion there will always be a resistance to fight against it every step of the way to return things back to the way they were before the unwanted rise in power during the 21st century the combine discovered planet earth and shortly after came through to the planet using the sudden volatile portal storms to seize control of the planet and its military forces and population within a mere seven hours within this resistance composed of various species the people fought hard to save those captured by the combine and across the wasteland worked together to form a plan to remove the inter-dimensional conquering force from the planet once and for all as with every group with a seemingly impossible agenda the resistance had many members of significance whose names spread across the wasteland giving hope to many but unfortunately some identities spread to the combine themselves names such as dr eli vance gordon freeman and dr isaac kleiner became known to the combine during the events leading up to the resistance uprising aware of the potential power these individuals could form and the trouble they could cause for their occupation of the planet the resistance members became a high target to the combine where their names would be announced by the combine overwatch systems to search for them on their patrols through the populated controlled regions while the combine focused on the more threatening names on their list there were other names even some resistance members were not aware existed these secret members could bring great change to the resistance agenda and their bright minds and vast knowledge could potentially bring an end to the combine occupation and cut them off from planet earth entirely one of these members could change everything who was this man why was he so important to the resistance and how did he stay hidden from the combine for so long during their reign here we explore in the law behind ahn magnuson way back before the combine invasion and hostile occupation of planet earth a top secret research facility within the new mexico desert the black mesa research facility specialized in various advanced branches of scientific endeavors for this they required the best and brightest that planet earth had to offer in their search for reliable and qualified scientists they came across an application from dr ahn magnusson to which they brought him on to be a part of their team within sector c the anomalous materials team as a part of this team ahn worked along the likes of dr eli vance and dr isaac kleiner to test the samples brought through to them from an alien border world called zen to test these samples the team used a giant piece of technology the anti-mass spectrometer the names ahn and magnuson appear to be of scandinavian origin suggesting on to be of scandinavian descent working within a high-pressured environment to succeed and move forward with their own personal research studies magnuson was said to have clashed with many of his fellow scientists when in competition for grant applications one person he was said to have clashed with mostly was dr isaac kleiner both brilliant minds but they each had their own scientific endeavors they had chosen to focus on aware of his own intelligence magnuson began to grow an ego seeing himself as better than his fellow scientists which in turn made him a fairly unlikable man he was also viewed by his fellow colleagues as rude to those he did not care for or believed to be inferior to him while these traits to most would appear as unappealing these traits also pushed him to fully dedicate his time and apply pressure on himself to succeed in his own endeavors truly a double-edged sword one moment standing out when anne had placed a microwavable casserole into a microwave while on a break at black mesa taking his eyes off of his meal for a couple of minutes his co-worker dr gordon freeman messed with the microwave increasing its power multiple times destroying the casserole while this would have been a minor inconvenience to some ahn would remember this for years to come as the research continued on the same day as the casserole incident on may 16 in the early 2000s ahn's day would continue to get worse on this day the anomalous materials team prepared for another day of testing exotic mata from the border world of zen although this time they were working with a zenian crystal sample much larger than usual and is origin classified in order to examine the specimen efficiently the anomalous materials team had to deviate from their normal procedure to accommodate the sample they understood that deviating from general procedure was a gamble due to the power of the technology they were using but the administrator had put pressure on the scientists to test the specimen with this eli and isaac deemed it worthwhile to enhance the power of the anti-mass spectrometer from 100 to 105 percent to keep administrator breen happy after they believed he had gone to extreme lengths to acquire it while this experiment appeared to be a bad idea due to the facility beginning to malfunction to support the additional parameters of the anti-mass spectrometer the team proceeded regardless the team watched as dr gordon freeman entered the test chamber activated the giant anti-mass spectrometer and then moved the material handler to move the zenian crystal sample into the firing line of the powerful beam as soon as the beam hit the crystal it shattered flooding the area with exotic energy which in turn created a resonance cascade with this a link between earth and zen was formed only this time the zenian creatures flooded into the facility attacking the scientists on site from the observation bay some scientists managed to escape the destructive volatile beam of the damaged anti-mass spectrometer while they had escaped the technical difficulties they still had to avoid the hostile creatures that had begun to murder their fellow scientists and friends not only were the creatures dangerous but the facility had also brought in the hazardous environmental combat unit to take out any witnesses of the devastating event to keep it hidden from the outside world when their plan began to fail as they could not comprehend the magnitude of the situation they had found themselves in another force the black ops team were brought in to not only take out all black mesa personnel but also the hecu that had failed to complete their task with the black mesa research facility at this moment being one of the most dangerous regions on planet earth few scientists did manage to escape every threat who would later have to deal with something much worse the most notable escapees of this escape were dr ahn magnusson dr eli vance dr isaac kleiner and barney calhoun while it is unknown how these managed to escape such a dire situation their survival meant everything for the future of the human race having escaped the facility the scientists came to understand that their nightmare was not over and the events of the resonance cascade had opened up the whole of planet earth to portal storms while gordon freeman had stopped the resonance cascade and closed the rift between zen and planet earth the damage had already been done alongside this gordon had disappeared without a trace after defeating the nylon this whole event had alerted the combine an inter-dimensional force of earth's presence and with their goal to conquer all sentient life within the multiverse they used their vast technologies to travel across universes to planet earth where they would successfully defeat planet earth's strongest forces within a mere seven hours as humanity began to fall dr wallace breen the old administrator of black mesa became humanity's savior after he brokered a deal with the combine where the humans would submit to them in exchange for their lives although this deal had saved the lives of the remainder of the human race their quality of life suffered under the combine reign as the years advanced some of the humans joined the combine force in return for benefits from their rulers some accepted their fate and lived under their strict control and there were others that still had a strong will and believed that one day they would once again fight against the combine and rid planet earth of their habitation and free humanity with this in mind the resistance was formed composed of some of the surviving members of the black mesa incident and the leaders set up bases across the wasteland hidden away from the eyes of the combine within these bases the members communicated with each other in secret to plot against the combine rescue those under their control and above anything else survive as the resistance grew the combine became aware of them and some of their actions to this they had their civil protection units interrogate any they believed were either members of the resistance or had information on them and for years the resistance would continue to grow within the heart of city 17 one of the combine's major settlements believed to be in eastern europe dr isaac kleiner set up a base this location being the perfect place for the resistance to plant their roots due to it being the home of earth's administrator wallace breen and the point of contact to the combine overworld with a strong base in city 17 dr eli vance constructed his resistance base just outside of city 17 within the canals here his team used the underground tunnels to rescue victims from the combine savage nature and later they developed the local mining town of ravenholm into a strong resistant base and home to the combine survivors with both eli and isaac residing within the city 17 region anne magnuson and a select few ventured further afield with the perfect location in mind where they could work undetected by the combine for a long time these two bases appear to be the main point of operation for the resistance but there was one more way before the invasion of the combine the black mesa research facility had purchased a piece of land within the alpine region now known as the outlands within this land resided an old cold war base as she planned the corporation had intended to use the base as another location to conduct their research now after the combine invasion the base lay empty and its existence a secret known only by few members of the original black mesa research facility one of these being anne magnuson aware that this location would be perfect for a strong resistance base on left eli vance and isaac kleiner within the city 17 region and he took members of the resistance which he would then refer to as the staff and under his leadership they would turn it into another resistance base he believed that here they could work in secret without the threat of the combine accidentally coming across them the cold war base itself consisted of large structures a hunger a radio tower and multiple silos all of these features would be useful to ahn and his team as they would discover more about the combine and in turn develop new technologies in peace this setup worked perfectly for the resistance as the bases within city 17 could focus on saving and recruiting members while ahn could experiment without the fear of discovery alongside this the facility was able to run off generators allowing any who resided there to be completely self-sufficient as the years went on ahn and his team were able to stay undetected from the combine as the dominating force had used super portals to overwhelm planet earth during their invasion ahn and his team researched how these portals formed and how they worked in order to gain a better understanding insight and a way to manipulate them in the event that the combine were to use them in the future alongside this the resistance made use of the silos connected to the old cold war base where they worked on rockets based on information and research from the black mesa incident in this incident gordon freeman had attempted to use a satellite delivery rocket to close a rift between earth and zen a technique ahn and his team would research at magnuson's side a voter gun named uriah became arn's trusted research assistant and with their relationship it appeared uriah truly cared for ahn and believed him to be of great importance where he named him the magnuson as ravenhum later fell and the combine became more aware of the resistance ahn and his team continued to work in secret alongside this the white forest resistance base attempted to capture combine forces that did come their way so that they could in turn dissect and research ways to destroy them giving them a strong advantage against their attackers in the event that the combine did become aware of their location with more and more people coming to the resistance base patrol units secured the land around the base the watchtower allowed members to see incoming danger and alarm systems triggered by movement kept the base in a secure position always ready for an attack through his leadership of white forest ahn became one of the best unknown members of the resistance even to the point where the vortigaunt themselves held him in a similar regard to that of eli vance someone else they viewed as a strong leader and a potential savior to not only the human race but also the vortigunt although he had been working in close proximity to his group of resistance members for a while ahn still maintained his egotistical nature and displayed anoint and disdain to those around him where he would announce his issues through the intercom system and placed aggressive notes around the base to remind them of their incompetence with their work continuing to go on and with making vast strides in their technological advancements in tools and weapons against the combine ahn and his strong resistance base simply prepared for an uprising and searched for the codes to the combine overworld so that the rockets they had been working on would close a super portal if it were to form after gordon freeman's return and the later events that led to the destruction of one of the combine's most guarded locations nova prospect the many members of an extremely strong resistance saw this as a signal to attack the combine and reclaim their planet with an uprising the resistance were able to take control of city 17 allowing gordon to enter the citadel within the citadel gordon eli vance judith mossman and alex vance confronted earth's administrator wallace breen this confrontation resulted in gordon destroying the dark fusion reactor on top of the citadel surviving the onslaught in the streets and with the citadel becoming unstable eli and judith escaped city 17 and travelled to the white forest resistance base anticipating the meltdown of the citadel to wipe out city 17 and form a super portal arriving at the base anna welcomed his old friends and surely after following resistance intelligence sent judith north in an old helicopter believing she would find the last piece of his puzzle the combine overworld portal code with judeth away eli vance and the newly arrived isaac liner helped arn and his team with the construction of the rocket although they had not seen each other for years ahn and isaac began to bicker with each other just like they had when they worked at black mesa years before in the north judith discovers the code but is shortly attacked by combine forces where they took her transmission intended for the resistance along with the data stream within it within the now unstable citadel alex and golden reenter it against the worries of eli so that they can slow down its destruction in an attempt to save the lives of many of the refugees escaping the city within alex activates a terminal and discovers the combine's plan to use the destruction of the citadel to form a superposal and send a message to their overworld to their look she also discovers judith's lost transmission and the data alongside it one of these pieces being the code on required from white forest ahn and his team watched as city 17 fell and from its ashes a super portal began to form where the citadel had once stood aware that the destruction of the dark fusion reactor had cut off the combine's contact from their overworld the scientists theorized that once the super portal came to maturity it would allow the combine to send through more reinforcements to claim the planet and take out the resistance if this were to happen dr eli vance worried that humanity would last merely seven minutes instead of seven hours all are needed were the codes that judith had acquired in the north to close the super portal just like gordon had attempted to do back during the black mesa residence cascade to the resistance his luck gordon and alex successfully escaped the destruction of city 17 and had arrived at the white forest base with the codes they needed now ahn and his team could see the finish line and pushed forward to complete the rocket before the super portal could completely form with this the remaining combine forces on earth would be cut off from their overworld indefinitely although everything was going to plan ahn continued to complain about everything isaac and his team were doing even to the point of complaining about not getting any quiet to work as he believed crows were continuously tripping the detectors for the alarm systems of the base believing his own team within the silo to be incompetent he ordered gordon to figure out what was actually causing the alarms to continuously go off they later discovered that the combine had become aware of their location and after surviving the first wave of an assault ahn impatiently waited for the super portal code to be decoded by isaac as the resistance came together in preparation to fight off the combine forces to protect the rocket refusing to allow the rocket to launch with striders within the vicinity on tasks gordon with destroying them all making use of his research through the years on gives gordon access to one of his own creations which in his own egotistical nature had named the magnuson device this bomb had the ability to destroy striders with ease one of ahn and uriah's inventions that had come from experimenting with the combines forces that had ventured too close to the base over the years in his petty nature magnuson also offered to forgive gordon for blowing up his microwavable casserole years before if gordon could successfully destroy the striders before they destroyed his precious rocket after surviving the assault the team managed to complete the rocket and it was ready to go this rocket showing years of hard work solitude and survival from the combine a true beacon of hope watching from his control room ahn communicated with eli isaac and gordon as they set the rocket to launch with anticipation and angst the rocket successfully launches overwhelming magnuson with joy on its trajectory the rocket hits the forming super portal as magnuson activates the resonator within closing the portal and giving humanity a future a future still with a fight against the remaining combine forces but now a future where they could win with the rocket having launched successfully and the strong display of happiness from on it would be safe to assume that a part of arn's cold exterior is simply an act to push those around him to work to their full potential the combine invasion hit everybody hard and with the stress of being a leader of the resistance and running a whole base it would be unfair to simply write off ant's fussy and petulant nature when in reality he truly cared about the resistance and did whatever he could to play his part his strong work ethic is both his greatest and worst asset i asked resistance member which main resistance base would you have rather worked at city 17 black mesa east or white forest with anne magnussen on my original play through of the half-life series back in 2007 what stood out to me the most was how great the characters were portrayed in the games i had played around that time cut scenes were thrown in to push the narrative forward and introduce the characters goals and needs and while these cutscenes were great to look at what i really loved about half-life was that we did not get any cutscenes what we did get were sequenced events that we could interact with when entering white forest and meeting anne magnuson for the first time i took an instant dislike towards him simply because of how he spoke to isaac one of my favorite characters within the series as a 14 year old back then i could not really appreciate the quality and subtlety of the writing within their relationship there was a reason their relationship was so frosty and now i understand it to be because they were both in stressful jobs when they knew each other and even when meeting after all of these years they were back again stressed with the tasks they had to do alongside arn's massive ego anna also seemed to want to prove something to the newer members that had arrived after he had been here almost alone with the few members that had come with him to white forest playing the game as an adult i had completely changed my perception of ahn and his goals and needs even when we see him for the final time on our way up to the rocket launch we see a completely different side of him as all of his years of hard work at white forest would seem to finally come to an end in the near future he's a great character that i sadly did not appreciate enough until writing this episode that was the law behind dr ahn magnusson in half-life after your suggestions from the last half-life videos i feel like i can finally say that i'm happy with the audio in this episode even though i have been doing this whole youtube thing for maybe two years at this point what i have found is that there is always something to learn and improve upon for me i learned that when house hunting try not to pick the room in the flat that has the biggest echo as you can see here i have added what i can to the walls and the furniture to reduce the echo but for now i'm fine with sticking with my box and just fixing the lower tones in the editing process again thank you so much for the suggestions they truly did help if you enjoyed this episode i would really appreciate it if you could leave a like and a comment on your thoughts if you really liked it then go ahead and subscribe i know you've already watched a couple of videos by now so why not subscribe get notified when i post and never miss an episode if you would like to stay up to date with everything i get up to outside of youtube then go and follow my twitter and instagram links are in the description i also stream on both youtube and twitch every friday where we are currently playing through fallout new vegas and alien isolation the link is also in the description if you are interested finally i would like to thank my patrons who are helping to support the channel i really appreciate you thank you to the old gods detroit avw arco brunette janas and jojo scotia and an extra special thank you to the elder wants tier scrushroom jonas lewis and queen arby thank you guys so much what did you think of this lore episode i personally loved working on this one ahn was not really a standout character for me initially but after doing some research and learning a part of why he is the way he is i absolutely appreciate him more i ask you did you like dr ahn magnusson during your playthrough would you like to see a half-life game from arn's perspective way out in the outlands and do you think secretly deep down he actually liked isaac kleiner let me know below if you have any suggestions for future half-life lore videos please let me know too i do have a long list to get through the next few i am thinking about are the resistance the quarantine zone adrian shepard and maybe even jeff if i can find enough information i may put larry in with that episode again any suggestions are welcome i did grab these last few from your comments that was everything i wanted to cover in this episode now resistance member enjoy your day bye [Music] you

Channel: Skyrionn

Views: 102,071

Keywords: Arne Magnusson, Half-Life, Half-Life 2, Half-Life: Alyx, Episode 1, Episode 2, Half-Life 3, Gordon Freeman, Valve, Lore, Skyrionn, Eli Vance, G Man

Id: svoYwLejXis

Length: 25min 57sec (1557 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 06 2021