The True Citizen | Beta Consul | FULL Half-Life Lore

The Half-Life 2 Beta had so many amazing characters and concepts that were cut or adapted during development. Luckily, we are able to see a lot of what was adapted from the Half-Life 2 Leak. One of these was the original version of Dr. Wallace Breen.

How was The Consul different to Wallace? Why did Valve change him?, and was this leader better or worse than the character we received? In this video, I explore the history, lore and development of The Consul from the Half-Life 2 Beta.

Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
00:49 The Fall of Earth & Rise of The Consul
03:21 The Fear & Propaganda of The Consul
09:21 The Fate of The Consul
13:09 The Consul & Dr. Wallace Breen
15:09 Legacy
16:54 Closing Thoughts

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Standard Sources
Game Manuals
Half-Life Series Playthrough Research
Portal Series Playthrough Research
Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar
Half-Life: Alyx Playthrough
Portal/ Half-Life Fandom
Old Valve Forums
Marc Laidlaw's Twitter
Breengrub Twitter
Reddit AMA (w/ HL: Alyx Developers)
Portal 2
Aperture Desk Job

AUDIO USED
Half-Life 2: OST: Escape Array
Black Mesa OST: Catalyst
Half-Life 2 OST: Lab Practicum
Black Mesa OST: Xen
Half-Life 2 OST: Triage At Dawn

#HalfLife #Beta #Consul

[Skyrionn]

Which version do you prefer?.
The Consul or Dr. Wallace Breen?

The true citizen likes and shares the video for engagement!

[Jasmine__]

personally, I'd like to see a full rundown of the beta story, even if its fractured and scattered. would make for interesting visual mock-ups and interpretations

[togrulhuseynli]

Despite BETA being fractured, you really made it sound like complete and it didn't feel like anything vital from the lore was missing

[AJ-poup]

I really like the consul he feels more evil and cunning than Breen, I don't know why but Breen always looked kinda goofy to me and he had a sort of "kind grandpa" face that even made me feel sad for taking him down while with the consul I probably would've loved every second of it.

[anouktruog]

'Beta Consul' has the same ring to it as 'Better Call Saul'

[weavorjjohanna]

9:12 that caught me off guard tho, jesus, the way you transit it into your own words legit make me thought the video is sentient

[paleimitator]

Ah, yes, my favourite Breaking Bad spin-off show, Beta Consul

[SirGingerOfKnight]

Your use of "The True Citizen..." had "all hail hypnotoad" vibes :D

[DrHotelMario]

Breen's motivations are endlessly fascinating to me. My interpretation is that Breen made some sort of deal with the G-Man to create the resonance cascade, and bring the Combine to earth. He was rewarded with power and knowledge, but ultimately G-Man collected his debt using Gordon in HL2. I think Breen was ignorant and deluded about the Combine, and what they were truly doing to Humanity. I think he genuinely believed they were the next step for Humanity, if even just as a coping mechanism. Breen stuck me as a megalomaniacal narcissist, who ultimately couldn't cope with the reality that he sold out his species, so he denied reality entirely.

[scarletcrusader]

I adore these Beta lore videos, please keep up the amazing work Skyrionn

[XanderNiles]

The Consul is like a more menacing, darker and mysterious character than Breen. Though, we have a lot hints of what the intentions of Breen were but c'mon I'd have loved to see the Consul in his mutated form. It would have been epic.

Anyhow, fascinating lore. 👍

[MMF-com]

Despite being a year late, this video is my favorite on the platform.

[Stumpgod]

This really reminds me of the film equilibrium. Great video as always!

[atariboy]

What I would like to see as not many on the Half-Life fan pages talk about are the voice actors who plays each of the characters like Dr. Wallace Breen voice by the late Robert Culp who I grew up watching him on films and TV shows from the 70s and 80s.

[frostburn]

Can't wait for a full release of a fanmade beta HL2. Definitely would be worth playing

[MFODelta-]

The true Citizen knows that chocky milk is better than the Normal milk

[gibusgaming]

A consul is actually a title for a Roman leader, consuls would always work in pairs, and both shared equal power and ruled over Rome together. They were democratically elected by a senate. In times of war the consuls would transfer their power to a dictator, to lead for (if I am correct) a maximum of 6 months. If the dictator was able to solve the problem the consuls could not the dictator would step down and a new set of consuls would be elected to rule over Rome again. However if they do not solve the problem a new dictator is elected for another 6 months. So the title of "Consul" not only implies that there is another second Consul, but there could possibly even be a dictator that could be placed into power by the combine. And not just that, since the existence of both 2 consuls and a dictator that could be placed into power implies that there is an entire senate that the combine has at it's disposal.

[TechSpiritedZ]

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[Eliasdbr]

I like to believe that HL2 beta happens in a more advanced time, when the combine had a lot of time to settle and Gordon Freeman appeared a couple more decades later, hence the darker tone, and heavier surveillance.
As to the working children and the suppression field, I think that in beta, there wouldn't be a suppression field at all, they would use the children to do forced work, now that humanity is more controlled in this reality

[SgtBean]

Love the beta content!!! Another great video sir