Dr. Wallace Breen was a male human from the Golmar Earth, he was the former head of Black Mesa, and later Golmar Earth's Administrator under the Combine occupation. From his headquarters on his homeworld in the Citadel of City 17, he was the representative of his people within the Combine. He was killed during the Golmar Earth Uprising.
Breen was the administrator of the Black Mesa Research Facility at the time of the Black Mesa Incident, and during the end of the Seven Hour War, he bought Earth into the Combine and remained a near-constant presence of their rule. Breen also has ambiguous relationship with the G-Man and his employers and was aware of their activities. During the return of Gordon Freeman and The Uprising, Breen tried to escape Golmar Earth as the Resistance assaulted the Citadel, but seamlessly vanished when the portal platform blew,
Biography[]
Wallace Breen was the Administrator of the Black Mesa Research Facility at the time of the Black Mesa Incident in 2006 (1344 N.E.). During the occupation, Breen had neither been seen nor directly mentioned by name, instead always referred to as "the Administrator". At the end of the Seven Hour War, he "negotiates" a peace agreement with the Combine that saves humanity, but at the cost of their freedom.
Breen is first appointed "Interim Administrator" (as seen on newspaper clips in Black Mesa East), then simply becomes ruler of his Earth - mostly a puppet of the Combine who have little physical presence on the planet. Some speculate he may have orchestrated the events at the request of the Combine, with the rule of Golmar Earth promised as reward (this, however, would also suggest that he or the Combine had control of the G-Man at least up to the point where he handed over Xen crystal sample GG-3883 to the Black Mesa scientists which caused the Resonance Cascade); others believe that he may have been under the impression that introducing the Combine would have brought about a cosmic unity between the two, and would have been ultimately beneficial for the human race (something that he still clings on to despite the evidently large amounts of humans suffering at the time of the Uprising). Whether or not he was the one who introduced the Combine to Golmar Earth, his intentions seemed to be noble and he sounded quite sure that he was doing the right thing - though it is possible that he is simply a very convincing liar. Even if he had selfish reasons for doing so, the human race would have most definitely been completely destroyed or assimilated by the Combine had he not surrendered his world at the end of the Seven Hour War.
Another unanswered question surrounding Breen, was that he was about to go into the test chamber, the two scientists briefing him say that the Administrator "went to some lengths to get it [the sample, also known as the crystal Gordon pushed into the Anti-Mass Spectrometer during the Resonance Cascade]." This statement remains unaddressed until Freeman travelled to Xen and sees crystals similar to the one he pushed into the Anti-Mass Spectrometer. Next to these crystals are often corpses of Survey Team members, perhaps explaining the "great lengths" mentioned in the beginning of the game. However, the G-Man unusually stole a Xen crystal, thus hinting that he provided Breen with the sample.
A giant Breencast is one of the first things Gordon Freeman sees upon arriving in City 17 and remained a near-constant presence as he made his way to Isaac Kleiner's lab. Breen himself was alerted to Gordon's return when the latter had accidentally teleported to his office in the Citadel twice for a few seconds each. Breen informs the Combine and immediately dispatches the forces at his disposal to capture (or kill) Freeman and break the associated Resistance movement in City 17.
Following Gordon's one-man attack on the Citadel, Freeman is temporarily placed in the custody of Breen, until Judith Mossman turns against him. During this brief time, Breen makes a very notable statement: He mentions while in the presence of Alyx Vance and her father, Eli (who are also in his custody) that Gordon "has proven a fine pawn to those who control him." He also comments that Gordon's services are "open to the highest bidder," and says he would understand if Gordon does not want to discuss it in front of his friends. These remarks imply that Breen is aware of the mysterious G-Man and his influence over Freeman, something only Eli Vance seems to know about. Another possible reference to the G-Man is in one of the Breencasts broadcast in Nova Prospekt: "I have good reason to believe that in the intervening years, he was in a state that precluded further development of covert skills," suggesting Breen knows about Freeman having remained in stasis between the Black Mesa Incident and his resurgence around 20 years later.
With the Resistance at his doorstep and the odds stacked against him, Breen attempts to flee using a Combine teleport. Freeman manages to stop him by destroying the Citadel's dark fusion reactor, which then destroys the teleport in a massive explosion. After the destruction of the reactor at the top of the Citadel, the platform that Breen is seen riding up to the portal collapses, and he is seen falling to his presumed death, his last words being "You need me!".
Dr. Breen's fate remained unknown at the time after he fell into the monitor, While being plucked out the wreckage, one of the few things Alyx remembered was Breen falling. Another occasion of Breen's appearance was during a video recording of a conversation made, where he mentioned being transferred into a "host body". After seeing Breen on the monitor, Alyx was surprised, questioning how it is possible, but was then relieved when she realizes that it is an old recording.
Personality and Traits[]
Dr. Breen is a man who praises himself as the savior of humanity, which in-part could be considered true as it was him who negotiated the peace treaty with The Combine. Breen is very prideful in these achievements, bordering on or even showing traits of narcissism in his manner of speech, how he interacts with other people, and the way he manipulates Judith Mossman. Betraying a promise to leave Eli alone and unharmed during the raid on Black Mesa East, claiming she waited too long to green-light him for an attack. He is often smug, especially when the odds are in his favor such as when he captured Eli and Alyx Vance along with Gordon Freeman himself. His cruelty backfires on him when Judith Mossman turns on him, and he is forced to retreat to a teleport. Gloating to Freeman while he tries to get to the top of the spire, before eventually trying to reason with him when he attacks the Citadel's reactor. Offering a feeble "you need me!" before plummeting to his supposed death.
Despite his supposed selfish reasons for doing so, Breen believed he had saved humanity as a whole when he ended the Combine invasion by negotiating Earth and humanity's surrender, as the only alternative result would be complete extinction. Due to this, he believes that complying with the Combine is necessary for the survival of the species, even stating that this may bring about benefits such as immortality, despite the Combine's harsh treatment and synthetic augmentations to its soldiers. During the Uprising, he repeatedly implored Freeman and the Resistance to stand down, stating that their actions would doom the human race. His messages became increasingly more desperate when the Combine began to view even him with suspicion, and he is even heard berating the Overwatch for their repeated failures to apprehend Freeman.