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"What's your name, dirtbag? Sound off like you got a pair! Corporal Shephard, huh? Looks more like Corporal "Dog Meat" to me! Seems your name was mysteriously bumped to the top of the advanced training list!" ―Dwight T. Barnes[src]

Corporal Adrian Shephard is a 22-year old[1] US Marine Corporal assigned to the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit from the Santego Military Base, Arizona, where he was trained by Drill Instructors Dwight T. Barnes and Sharpe, and the protagonist of Half-Life: Opposing Force.

He is one of the soldiers sent to the Black Mesa Research Facility to eliminate the Xen invaders. Shephard, however, is not aware of his mission to silence the witnesses, especially a scientist named Gordon Freeman, as part of a classified mission since his squad leader dies before revealing this. Soon Shephard finds himself separated from his unit and ends up fighting solely for his life, aided by fellow Marines scattered around the facility and Black Mesa employees.

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Biography

Background

Shephard's diary entries

The Opposing Force instruction manual features several diary entries made by Adrian Shephard prior to the Black Mesa Incident, giving some insight of his Advanced Training before the disaster and G-Man's interest in him.

Since May was incorrectly changed to March,[2][3][4][5] it is corrected here.

"May 3 - Another typically hellish day at base camp... I'll be glad when this is over and I can finally can get assigned a mission. There has been this really weird civie spotted at the base. Rumor is he's from some government branch looking to recruit; others say he's with some secret research group. I would jump at the chance to join. It would be cool just for the change and the adventure."

"May 7 - I finally saw the government guy today. I am not sure he is a g-man, but he was wearing a really uptight suit and carrying a briefcase. He looked more like a lawyer or insurance agent to me. I did notice him checking me out. Several times throughout the day I spotted him just watching me during training. I wonder what he's up to..."

"May 9 - For weeks our drills have been the same crap day after day. Today we assemble for the morning run and our drill instructor tells us we have one week to become experts at indoor strategic combat. We will be spending every day this week at the combat simulation facility. As far as I know this is a specialized training not taught in boot camp. What I want to know is if this is to test our ability to adapt or if we are being readied for a specific mission? Time will tell..."

"May 12 - The rumors have been flying since our indoor combat training began. Most of my peers are convinced that we are being primed for a mission. No one can agree on what the mission is. I have heard the name Black Mesa Facility thrown around a lot, but I have no information about the place. The rumors are that some top-secret research is going on there. Doesn't sound too exciting to me..."

"May 15 - The rumor has been confirmed. We are being trained for a mission at the Black Mesa Facility. All I know is that the place is being used by scientists who are doing some kind of new research. I can't imagine what we would be needed for. We were told today to be ready in case it happens tomorrow. I don't know what "it" is, but the whole thing is a little strange. I kind of hope it doesn't happen; the mission doesn't seem to have much excitement potential. I'd rather hold out for something with more likelihood of combat."

Appearances

Half-Life: Opposing Force

Shephard was to reach Black Mesa aboard a V-22 Osprey designated Goose 7. With him were other Marines such as Tower and Jackson. When the nearby Osprey, Goose 3, and his are attacked by Alien Aircrafts, it crashes in Black Mesa, killing most of the passengers, including the commander. Shephard must then make his way through Black Mesa to be evacuated. When he arrives at the extraction point however, the G-Man prevents him from catching the last Osprey, forcing Shephard to leave the facility by other means and going through parts of the facilities not seen in Half-Life and dealing with the Race X aliens and the Black Ops to finally defeat the Gene Worm.

Unlike the other Marines, Shephard works with the increasingly distrustful scientists and guards in order to make it out of Black Mesa alive. This is due to the fact that he never received the orders to kill them, as his Osprey was shot down before his commander could inform the squad of their mission. However, he has seen several hints to this. When he first wakes up, the security guard who opens the door for him tells the Corporal that he heard rumors about the marines not being here to rescue them. Later, a surviving scientist informs him that he isn't sure what is worse to encounter, the military assigned to silence all witnesses or the invading aliens. Later still, Shephard sees a scientist who begs him for mercy. It should be noted that not all scientists were killed on sight, as there is at least one scientist being held prisoner at the site of the evacuation.

Shephard and Freeman do cross paths during the game, but at that point Shephard is merely an observer to Gordon's travel to Xen - they never fight against each other at any moment. It should be noted that while Shephard witnesses Gordon Freeman's transportation to Xen, he has the option to follow him through the teleporter before it collapses. However, upon doing so Shephard will find himself teleported several meters away from Gordon, before falling through space. Doing so will produce the message "Evaluation terminated: Subject attempted to create a temporal paradox." and end the game (it actually allows Shephard to enter Freeman's timeline, that is, the original Half-Life, thus the paradox. This also occurs if Adrian attempts to kill Freeman).

The G-Man appears to take an interest in Shephard's movements, even before the Black Mesa Incident occurs: as early as three months prior, Shephard spots him in his training base.[6] At one point, Shephard finds himself trapped in a collapsing room, with toxic waste quickly filling the room; the G-Man observes him until the very last moment, when he opens the locked door to allow him in to safety. However, despite this act of mercy, he directly sabotages Shepard's attempt to leave the doomed facility by closing a hangar door to an HECU evacuation site, thereby preventing any chance to escape. Later, Shephard deactivates the thermonuclear warhead brought in by the Black Ops to destroy Black Mesa, but the G-Man reactivates it. In the end, the G-Man reveals that he has successfully argued for Shephard's life, detaining him in some unknown void. He expresses a degree of respect for Shephard's abilities, even praising him for having abilities to "adapt and survive against all odds" which the G-Man states "rather reminds me of myself."

Half-Life: Blue Shift

Shephard is briefly mentioned in the Blue Shift chapter Duty Calls. When its main character, Barney Calhoun, sees a pair of marines dumping corpses into a sewer opening, he overhears one of the Marines grumbling: "Just because Shephard's team didn't make it, we have to do the crap jobs?"

Fate and possible return

At the end of G-Man's speech in the last Opposing Force chapter, Shephard is said to be "detained", followed by "Further evaluation pending." His fate is currently unknown and it is not known where and how he is detained.

He has not been seen in Half-Life 2 and its episodes, but has, however, retained a large number of fans among players of the game, who have been speculating about his return for years. In 2006, Gabe Newell has hinted that he may one day return, although it is unsure when and how.[7]

When asked about this possible return in May 2007, Valve's Doug Lombardi did not dismiss it but stated that there were no plans of bringing him back at the moment or any time in the future and that for example he won't appear in Portal 2: "There's nothing being built today, there's no secret Adrian Shephard project going on right now, but that's not to say we won't ever come back and tell another Shephard story. He resonated with players really, really well. When we heard the pitch for Opposing Force, he resonated with us too. So we'll see."[8]

In 2009, series' writer Marc Laidlaw also joked on his canon status, saying that Shephard is a bit like Schrödinger's cat: he is neither canon nor non-canon, depending on whether or not the G-Man may or may not have a use for him.[9]

In 2020, Noclip's documentary on Arkane Studios revealed that their cancelled Half-Life spinoff Ravenholm, set sometime before Half-Life 2: Episode Two, would have featured Shepard as the protagonist once again as he escapes Ravenholm with the help of Father Grigori.[10]

Behind the scenes

It was commonly believed that an early screenshot depicting a HECU Marine without his signature gas mask, was Adrian Shephard unmasked in early development. However, it turns out that it was a HECU concept model that Stephen Bahl developed alongside Rob Heironimus. Randy Pitchford refuted this belief on Twitter stating that "The screenshot was just Rob using a cool soldier model that Stephen built. It wasn't really a decision or discussion to show or not to show. It was a result of the art Stephen made in a way he thought was cool looking and fit with Half Life and what we were trying to do." [11]

When asked about the origins of the character's name, Randy Pitchford said: "I picked the name Shephard for a few different reasons. I wanted two syllables, like Freeman. I wanted a name that was also something with literal word meaning (like "Freeman"). [Brian] Martel and I had been talking about Pulp Fiction again and there's the Sam Jackson character's bible quote about the Shepard and that word was sort of floating around in my mind at the time. I added the "h" in the middle to make the spelling unique and because I liked how it created the word "hard" as the second syllable."[12]

"Adrian" comes from the Latin name "Hadrianus," which "Hadrian" is also derived from. Several saints and six popes have borne this name, including the only English pope, Adrian IV, and the only Dutch pope, Adrian VI. As an English name, it has been in use since the Middle Ages, though it was not popular until modern times.[13] "Shephard" is an English surname derived from "shepherd."

In Portal, the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device's acronym is "ASHPD." This bears a striking resemblance to Adrian's name (Adrian SHePharD), which led many players to speculate it is a hidden Easter egg, suggesting Shephard's involvement in Portal or its sequel. In addition, completing Portal unlocks a new menu background which contains a keyboard that has all the letters in Adrian Shephard's name highlighted, and these keyboards can also be seen throughout the game. Kim Swift said in an interview that the ASHPD acronym was actually a complete coincidence and that they added the keyboard highlights after people mentioned the acronym.[14] Valve's Doug Lombardi subsequently confirmed the Portal reference as a complete coincidence.[8]

Trivia

As seen in the game's box art and the multiplayer model called shephard.mdl , Shephard's model is the generic gas mask soldier, with no alterations.

Adrian Shephard was going to be the protagonist in the Source mod Opposing Force 2 , set during the Combine occupation. However development was halted indefinitely. He is also the main protagonist in the GoldSrc Mod The Evasion , continuing his story in a time set somewhere between HL1 and HL2. He is featured as the main protagonist in the Operation: Black Mesa total conversion, a recreation of the original Opposing Force , and Prospekt , an original story set during the HL2 campaign, both using the Source Engine. Shephard is also the main protagonist of the short Internet fan film Beyond Black Mesa , set during the Combine occupation as well. The film retcons Half-Life 's zombies in favour of more traditional "running" zombies.

, set during the Combine occupation. However development was halted indefinitely. He is also the main protagonist in the GoldSrc Mod , continuing his story in a time set somewhere between HL1 and HL2. He is featured as the main protagonist in the total conversion, a recreation of the original , and , an original story set during the HL2 campaign, both using the Source Engine.

In Christopher Brookmyre's "A Big Boy did it and Ran Away," Angelique de Xavier's briefing is taken over by "Captain Adrian Shepherd." Since the book has many references to video game culture, including a terrorist who signs into a hotel as "Gordon Freeman" and the climax of the book taking place at Dubh Ardrain power station (the rough Scots Gaelic translation for Black Mesa), this may be a direct homage.

In the game F.E.A.R., which was also published by Sierra, the Delta Force coordinator the player is working with is named "Shepherd, A."

which was also published by Sierra, the Delta Force coordinator the player is working with is named "Shepherd, A." Like Barney in Half-Life: Blue Shift, Shepard does in fact speak in-universe, as the characters around him react to his speech despite the player not hearing it. In the training mission, Boot Camp, it is made clear Shepard tells his instructor his name when ordered to; the instructor yells "Sound off like you got a pair! .....Corporal Shephard, huh?"

Gallery

List of appearances