Editing Gordon Freeman (section)

==Character design==
[[File:Gordon Freeman concept art.png|thumb|left|150px|An early concept art of Gordon Freeman, wearing a bulkier HEV suit, helmet, and goggles]]

Valve president and ''Half-Life'' director [[Gabe Newell]] coined the name "Gordon Freeman" during a conversation with the game's writer [[Marc Laidlaw]] in his car. Laidlaw had originally named the character "Dyson Poincaré", combining the names of physicist and philosopher [[Freeman Dyson]] and mathematician [[Henri Poincaré]]. The texture for Gordon's head was "too big of a job for just one person", so Valve designers combined references from four people. An earlier model of Gordon, known as "Ivan the Space Biker", had a full beard that was subsequently trimmed. Other iterations of Gordon's concept featured different glasses, a ponytail, and a helmet.<ref name="raising the bar">{{cite book|title=Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar|last=Hodgson|first=David|publisher=[[Prima Games]]|year=2004|isbn=0-7615-4364-3|pages=30–31}}</ref>

Gordon wears a special full-body [[hazmat suit]], known as the '''H'''azardous '''E'''n'''v'''ironment Suit (or HEV Suit). The suit is designed to protect the user from radiation, energy discharges, and blunt trauma during the handling of hazardous materials. The suit's main feature is its "high-impact [[reactive armor]]", an electrically powered armor system that, when charged, absorbs two-thirds of the damage that Gordon would ordinarily suffer in ''Half-Life'' and 80% in ''Half-Life 2''.{{Citation needed|date=May 2012}} A fully charged suit can survive several dozen hits from small arms and even one direct hit from an [[rocket-propelled grenade|RPG]]. The suit can be charged by various means, and has its own oxygen supply and medical injectors, such as morphine and a [[neurotoxin]] antidote. It comes with a built-in [[flashlight]], a radio, various tracking devices, a [[compass]], and a [[Geiger counter]]. The suit contains an on-board computer system that constantly monitors the user's health and vital signs, and reacts to any changes in the user's condition. It also projects a [[Heads-up display (video games)|heads-up display]] (HUD) which displays Gordon's health and suit charge level, remaining ammunition, and a crosshair. As a means of immersing the player in the role, Gordon [[Silent protagonist|never speaks]], and there are no cutscenes or mission briefings—all action is viewed through Gordon's eyes, with the player retaining control of Gordon's actions at nearly all times. The images of Gordon are only seen on the game's cover and menu pages, and also in advertisements, making them marketing tools rather than pictures of what Gordon is "really like". [[Gabe Newell]] has stated that [[Valve Corporation|Valve]] sees no reason to give Gordon a voice.<ref name="no reason">{{cite web|url=http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=241221 |title=Gabe Newell: Next Half-Life won't change Gordon Freeman |first=Tim |last=Ingham |date=April 4, 2010 |publisher=Computer and Video Games |access-date=December 21, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100409061413/http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=241221 |archive-date=April 9, 2010 }}</ref>

In ''Half-Life'', Gordon wears the ''Mark IV'' suit. Later in the game, the suit is equipped with an optional long-jump module so Gordon can leap great distances. It is charged using power modules throughout Black Mesa. In ''[[Half-Life 2]]'' Gordon receives the upgraded ''Mark V'' suit, which lacks the long-jump module but gains several new abilities. It features a visual [[Zoom lens|zoom]]ing capability, limited sprinting, an anti-venom injector, an optional ammo and a health counter on the [[crosshair]], and has been modified to use [[Combine (Half-Life)|Combine]] power nodes to charge the suit.

The ''Mark V'' initially used a single power source for the flashlight, sprinting, and oxygen supply; in ''[[Half-Life 2: Episode Two]]'' the flashlight was given a separate power source to improve gameplay. The symbol on Gordon's HEV suit is the lowercase Greek letter [[Lambda]], λ. This symbol is used by scientists to denote the [[decay constant]] of radioactive elements (related to the [[half-life]] of an element). As well as appearing on Gordon's suit, the symbol replaces the letter "a" in the game title (''H'''λ'''lf-Life'') and is the name of the complex in the [[Black Mesa Research Facility]] where teleportation experiments are conducted in the first game. The Lambda symbol is also seen in ''Half-Life 2'' as a marking of the human resistance, seen close to hidden supplies and on the armbands of better equipped resistance fighters.