The Story of Half-Life's Tragic Hero | Dr. Eli Vance | Full Half-Life Lore

the twisted and often brutal timeline of the half-life universes have been home to the most deplorable acts you could imagine but on the other side of this it has also shown just what humanity is capable of when backed into a corner after the combined enslavement of the human race only few were initially brave enough to stand up and fight back and the select few would grow in numbers over the years to change the course of history that their dominating rulers had set for them one of these men not only disobeyed their orders but he also discovered those with revolution in mind and set up a resistance against the combine who was this man what part did he play in the resonance cascade and how does his story end here we explore in the law and story behind dr eli vance way back before the fall of humanity a young scientist by the name of dr eli vance graduated from university where he began his path into the scientific field although it is not confirmed what his chosen field of study was or which university he attended it is presumed from a harvard university sweater he would wear over the following years that this was the place he graduated from skilled in physics and research eli and his work were noticed by those around him where he would later be offered a position at a top secret research facility in the new mexico desert the black mesa research facility as eli prepared for this life-changing opportunity something else great happened eli met asean as a result of the destruction of black mesa under the combined control of human history whatever information of asean that did exist was lost over time due to black mesa having been a top secret facility those who worked there were required to live on site with their families and with eli and asean having formed a relationship and later married they lived together it is unknown what role asean played at the facility if any whether she was actually a scientist there just like her husband or a stay-at-home wife regardless as the years passed their relationship grew stronger as eli progressed on the scientific track moving into the early 2000s eli had cemented his position as a research and physicist in sector c the anomalous materials lab in here eli and his team were tasked with analyzing exotic materials procured from zen a border world that had been discovered by black mesa during that experimentation with teleportation in his team he worked with other renowned scientists who had each made great waves in the scientific community out of all of these he would grow closest to dr isaac kleiner over the years and their friendship would help them get through many tough situations with his career excelling and his life seemingly going on the right track more great news came asean fell pregnant where she would later give birth to their daughter alex with more work the anomalous materials team welcomed new members to work with them one of which was dr gordon freeman freeman had come highly recommended by dr isaac kleiner as he had taught him during his time as a professor at the massachusetts institute for technology although gordon's work appeared to be impressive his time keeping was not where he would arrive late at work on multiple occasions on what should have been a standard day of testing the anomalous materials team were given another sample taken from zen but something was different about this one they were told that the administrator of black mesa himself dr wallace breen had gone to great lengths to acquire it in their briefing for this sample gg-388 they were told that they needed to achieve a conclusive analysis and that they would need to go outside of the standing testing procedure to achieve it this resulted in many power failures across black mesa during the stressful morning of preparation gordon was once again running late but this allowed the scientists to make use of the extra time to continue setting up the experiment as they waited some scientists noted that the administrator was acting strangely and out of character like something was off furthermore a government man was also spotted wandering the facility watching the personnel at work despite eli and his team's concerns that this experiment may be too dangerous one scientist even suggesting the possibility of a resonance cascade wallace ignored them and pushed for the experiment to continue as gordon arrived he was briefed on the situation and moved into the test chamber as the anti-mass spectrometer started something strange occurred the government man that had been wandering the facility came to eli and warned him prepare for unforeseen consequences with this strange warning eli had the urge to stop the experiment but did not voice his concerns and chose to go through with it anyway as the team instructed gordon to push the crystal sample into the beam of the anti-mass spectrometer everything changed the crystal shattered as it hits the powerful beam of energy where the test chamber was flooded with exotic energy not only did this destroy the anti-mass spectrometer but it also formed a resonance cascade connecting earth to the border world of zen as the facility exploded and fell around him injuring those within eli had one thought in mind to get to his wife and daughter black mesa had fallen into chaos and in an attempt to help he tried to reach the surface using a telephone but was discouraged to discover the lines were down while helping a wounded colleague eli was surprised to see that gordon had survived the explosion in the test chamber noticing his resilience he asked gordon to go to the surface and get help for the scientists trapped within the facility over the following hours the black mesa research facility became increasingly more dangerous as creatures from zen flooded in through portals and shady government squads were sent in to clean up the mess including any witnesses to the catastrophe unfortunately asean did not survive this incident but alex did some say she was plucked out of black mesa by the g-man to safety which would begin a tumultuous relationship between the dream man and the vance family with alex safe on his way out through the chaos eli managed to grab a picture of his family to remember asian bai having survived this nightmare eli and alex's bond would grow increasingly stronger over the years as a new nightmare began the aftermath of the resonance cascade was felt across the whole planet as portal storms brought in vicious creatures from zen earth's armies fought hard to hold them back but a second invasion came in the form of the combine empire over the next seven hours humanity fell to their knees and submitted to this empire in return for the survival of the human race although the black mesa incident had claimed many lives eli and alex were not the only survivors of note dr isaac kleiner and dr arnie magnusson had also made it out alive there was also dr wallace breen but humanity had turned their back on him after he had sided with the combine during the invasion the discovery that breen had joined and collaborated with the combine disgusted eli he had subjected humanity to genocide and would see breen's later actions as beyond words and indescribable evil eli was known to those around him for his calm and empathetic nature but this would not quell his hatred for breen as the new normal began eli isaac and alex were relocated to city 17 a combine-controlled settlement located somewhere in eastern europe on his way there it is said that he was attacked by a bull squid in which he lost the lower part of his leg luckily he survived this encounter and crafted a prosthetic leg to allow him to move around unwilling to submit eli and the other black mesa survivors decided they needed to do something to fight against the combine here the resistance was born over the years the resistance grew where bases were set up scattered across city 17 and the wasteland dr arne magnusson managed to make his way out into the safety of the outlands where he and a small team set up a secret base to study portal technology dr isaac kleiner decided to stay within city 17 where he set up a secret lab here he could observe and gather information on combine activity and finally eli made the decision to set up a base inside of city 17's canals in which he named black mesa east safe and secure from the constant combine raids and patrols eli and his team focused on developing technology under the freedom of those trapped inside of city 17. over the years alex grew up inside of a safe environment in an unsafe world where eli taught her as much as he could although the combine had destroyed humanity's normal way of life they did at least bring one benefit with them technology that was far more advanced than what humanity had as the resistance grew they became braver and began to raid combine facilities to gather whatever technology and any information they could with this they would then dissect learn how they worked and then adapt them for use with young alex's safety in mind eli constructed a robot as a guardian when he went out on these raids as humanity at this point had jumped up the technological ladder eli was able to successfully develop an ai system inside of this robot here the robot named dog would protect alex and as she grew he grew with her and would become a part of their little family over the years the resistance grew stronger each day having set up an underground railroad consisting of scattered resistance bases over the wasteland leading to black mesa east eli took in these refugees and he later agreed to expand their base into the local abandoned mining town of ravenholm having been forced to attack the black mesa research facility by their master the nylanth the vortigorn species have been freed from its rule after its death only to be then forced back into slavery by the combine seeing the good in the vortigaunt species now trapped on earth eli reached out to them and built up trust where an alliance formed between the species this began a peaceful existence between the species as the vortigaunt joined the resistance as allies and furthermore where the vortigaunts would look on eli with the highest regard although the underground railroad did allow the refugees of city 17 to navigate through the wasteland to black mesa east the dangers of the wasteland sometimes took the lives of those on this journey to this eli and isaac took it upon themselves to work on teleporters based on the technology that black mesa had used to jump instantly between isaac's lab and black mesa east but this technology was difficult to perfect with the resistance gaining traction someone knew of significance joined dr judith mossman as eli and judith worked closely together they developed a strong relationship where both appear to care about each other deeply but judith had a secret unknown to the resistance judith was a spy for the combine and had bargained for eli's life with wallace breen so that he could continue his work with teleportation technology the combine in all their might had conquered many universes at this point but they lacked one thing the ability to jump from one location to another within a single universe and so eli's ability to complete his work was essential to them due to increased resistance activity the combine became more aggressive in their measures to capture and interrogate the members of this movement unfortunately the combine became aware of the resistance town of ravenholm and attacked where they bombarded it with headcrab shells although many of their friends and resistance team members were in this town eli made the difficult decision to lock down the tunnels to raven home leaving those trapped inside to the fate of the headcrabs this decision had led to the death of many but it also meant that black mesa east could fight another day over time the resistance rebuilt and eli continued to develop new technology to aid the resistance one of which being the zero point energy field manipulator essentially a gun that allowed its user to manipulate the gravitational fields around it eli had worked hard to keep his daughter safe and grow a strong community around him the resistance was almost ready to strike back at the combine all they needed was a spark to begin a revolution approximately 20 years after the combine invasion of planet earth in a train station in city 17 gordon freeman appeared opening a video call from dr isaac kleiner's lap eli and judith were surprised to see gordon standing there completely unaged the resistance wondered where he had been all of this time how he had managed to simply appear on a train and how he had not aged in two decades but eli had an idea this was the g-man's work the man that had warned him of unforeseen consequences with a plan to get gordon to blackmail the east eli and isaac attempted to use the teleporter that they had been working on for years after successfully bringing alex through it was gordon's turn but as the teleporter powered up isaac's headcrab lamar disrupted the process leaving him to undergo the trip from city 17 to black mesa east on foot through the underground railroad waiting anxiously in black mesa east eli continued with his work gordon was the saviour of black mesa and surely he could help remove the combine from their planet using all of the resources eli and his team had set up over the years of captivity upon his arrival eli greeted his old friend but this meeting would be short-lived unknown to eli judith had sold out golden and during an invasion of black mesa east to capture this symbol of revolution eli was captured instead as gordon escaped taken to nova prospect eli waited trapped inside of a combine holding cell to his luck his brave daughter had discovered his location and travelled with gordon to save him as he was pulled out of prisoner storage he was surprised to see that judith was also free as a double agent for the combine judith believed it best that she sent herself and eli to the citadel to this she distracted alex and gordon as she set the coordinates for the teleporter to her desired location and jumped in through this commotion eli still watched extremely confused just hoping to be reunited with his daughter and then he teleported over the next week the resistance would hear of the destruction of nova prospect as a result of the unstable teleporter led by bani calhoun the resistance believed that if a major combine stronghold could be destroyed then the combine were not as indestructible as they had once thought at the top of the citadel in breen's office the man he had once called a boss berated eli and attempted to convince him to call off the resistance as one of their leaders in response to this eli expressed his disgust for this man that he had committed his own species to genocide only his resistance could give back humanity what the combine had taken unfortunately the arrival of golden inside of a combine pod left eli deflated the symbol of revolution was now in the hands of the combine once again breen attempted to convince eli to call off the resistance and when he refused again green brought out another prisoner alex just like her father she refused to comply with breen's demands and so in frustration he instead chose to send both eli and alex to the combine homeworld although she had essentially betrayed a man she cared deeply for the thought of losing him was what judith needed to snap out of her control of wallace from his pod eli watched as judith ignored wallace's instructions and unlocked the part of freeman in this chaos wallace grabbed the gravity gun that eli had constructed and fled leaving his captors free to fight another day still weak from his capture judith promised that she would stay with eli and get him out of the citadel as alex and gordon went off to fight wallace although judith had betrayed him eli's kind heart still warmed to her and together using one of wallace's escape pods they made their way to white forest where dr arne magnussen had been working away for years over the following days eli judith and even isaac made it to white forest with the explosion at the top of the citadel the scientists theorized that a super portal would soon form allowing the combine to send in reinforcements to recapture the planet luckily arnie and his team have been preparing for this very moment working together just like they had at black mesa the remnants of the anomalous materials team worked against time to finish off the construction of a rocket inside of white forest silos if they could attach a relay device to this rocket and fire it at the super portal as it matured they could neutralize the portal and lock out the combine from planet earth nearing completion eli was amazed to find that alex and gordon had arrived at the base safely with his family back together the team moved on to a data packet that his daughter had managed to acquire from the citadel before its destruction inside eli isaac alex and gordon discovered that judith had come across not only the combined homeworld portal codes in the north but she had also discovered information on a lost research vessel the borealis with technology on board that could potentially aid the resistance in their fight the discovery of this ship and apparent attack on judith instantly upset eli he argued that the technology on the borealis could potentially lead to another black mesa incident feeling immense guilt about the fact he had not stopped the experiment when he had been told to prepare for unforeseen consequences he did not stop that but he could stop this arguing that nobody should have that sort of power on the other hand isaac argued that the ship could help the resistance and their goal to remove the combine from the planet following this heated discussion eli decided that he would go after judith and save her himself and asked for the borealis to be destroyed upon discovery but as a leader of the resistance alex argued that if the combine were to get their hands on him they could use their advanced technology to acquire resistant secrets with all hands on deck isaac was pulled away to continue work on the rocket as eli attempted to calm down from being riled up by this news he would only become more irate and upset as alex repeated the very words he had regretted ignoring two decades before prepare for unforeseen consequences the g-man had somehow got to alex again and used her to relay this message to him this only confirmed that he needed to have the borealis destroyed he and gordon both knew of this mysterious entity and over the years since the black mesa incident eli had learned more what he did know is unknown but he did plan to tell gordon as the rocket was completed shortly after and feeling better eli watched from the missile control room with the other leaders of the resistance as the rocket launched his hard work loss and stress in growing this rebellion had all come to this moment where they could finally have a big win against the combine and get one step closer to removing them completely from the planet on his way to watch the rocket hit the portal eli pulled gordon aside out of earshot of alex he was proud of this man that had survived the most dire situations and some say he saw him as the son he never had someone that could give him grandchildren with alex as the rocket hit the super portal the relay device was activated under the portal dispersed their mission had been successful but they still had work to do planning to go to the north to save judith and seek out the borealis eli alex and gordon made their way into the hangar where alex had fixed up an old helicopter at this moment of happiness their lives would change forever on a lift down to the bottom level of the hunger combine advisors attacked using their telekinetic powers they penned alex and gordon to the wall as eli attempted to swing at one of them with a pipe but was unsuccessful in retaliation to this an advisor lifted eli into the air fully aware of what was about to happen in the coming seconds he asked alex not to look and told her he loved her as the advisor stuck its tongue into the back of his head killing him dog would jump into the hangar shortly after and save alex and gordon but the damage had already been done eli was dead and the resistance he had helped form over the years would mourn him jumping into an alternate timeline or alter timeline five years before alex met the dream man in person as she released him from an advanced combine prison in response to this he offered her a vision into the future in this vision alex watched as her father died and in his true manipulative behavior the g-man allowed her to change the future this change resulted in the death of the advisor holding her father saving his life but in return for alex becoming his latest recruit five years later the event played out just as alex had seen as eli looked at the dead advisor he noticed alex disappear as the dreamman claimed his recruit instantly eli knew who was behind this strange event and in anger he handed gordon his crowbar they had work to do dr eli vance was once a simple scientist in a top-secret research facility but after the invasion of the brutal combine empire he chose not to submit instead he became a key leader of a resistance against the dominating force and did not take no for an answer regardless of which timeline his fate is left in his actions always revolved around the safety of his daughter under those he cared about and at this moment he's both alive and dead if the adjusted timeline is the direction in which his legacy will continue now his mission will be to save his daughter from the g-man and the judith from the combine with the help of gordon eli vance is a video i have wanted to recreate for a while now he is probably my second favorite character in the series barney will always be my favorite sorry it is clear that his love that alex and his chosen family guided his actions and that is something i can completely relate to family is everything half-life would not have been the same without him his death hit hard and i do understand why valve chose to kill him it meant that anyone could die in my personal opinion it is a shame they went back on his death in half-life alex his death meant something i did also want to mention his counterparts in the half-life 2 beta briefly i will be making a dedicated video on beta content but i do find it extremely interesting that eli was a combination of two cut characters eli maxwell and captain vance each of these have great lore briefly maxwell was still a scientist but he was not alex's father captain vance was one of earth's last military leaders that had survived the combine invasion he was alex's original father again i don't want to go too much in depth into these characters but i did like that they were merged into one my final note is that i did try something new with my voice over this week i did try to go for a faster pace let me know if you prefer this version or my old kind of slower version now if you enjoyed this episode i would really appreciate it if you could leave a like and a comment on your thoughts to boost that algorithm i would also like to thank my patrons and channel members who are on the screen right now and an extra special thank you to my goal tier patrons and channel members jonas lewis queen arby fluffy the dragon and mr m791 what did you think of this lore where does eli rank in your favorite half-life characters and which ending version of eli's life do you prefer let me know in the comments below now resistance member enjoy your day bye [Music] you

Channel: Skyrionn

Views: 36,292

Keywords: eli vance, half-life, half-life 2, alyx vance, half-life 3, half-life alyx, half life alyx eli vance, eli, vance, half-life song eli vance, half-life alyx eli vance song, valve, half-life: alyx eli vance song, lore, halflife, half life eli vance, half life 2 eli vance, half life eli vance song, half-life 2 (video game), half life alyx eli vance song, half-life song eli, half-life: alyx eli song, eli vance song, eli vance death, eli vance noise

Id: 7ZhU5Vvo-AQ

Length: 28min 0sec (1680 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 14 2022