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- "Dear God! Poor Laszlo! The finest mind of his generation, come to such an end!"
- ―Sandy[src]
Sandy is a Rebel seen briefly during the Half-Life 2 chapter Sandtraps.
Appearances
Half-Life 2
While Sandy and his friend Laszlo were traveling from Lighthouse Point to the Vortigaunt Camp to get some Bugbait, they were attacked by Antlions, leaving Laszlo severely wounded. Sometime later, Gordon Freeman arrives on the scene, only to see Antlions attack Laszlo a second time, killing him. Gordon then proceeds to help Sandy in defeating the remaining Antlions. Subsequently, Sandy tells Gordon to stay off the sand, as it is walking on it that attracts the Antlions. He then tells Gordon that there is no point for him to continue to the Vortigaunt Camp now that Laszlo is dead. He then acknowledges Gordon's effort to help and says that he will stay with Laszlo for a while because there is "something [he] has to do" (though if one waits or comes back to the spot after leaving, it appears that Sandy never actually does anything, or disappears entirely). He finally tells Gordon he hopes he has better luck than them. Gordon then leaves and continues his journey to the Vortigaunt Camp. During the brief encounter, Sandy never elaborates as to why he considers Laszlo to be "the finest mind of his generation."
Behind the scenes
- Sandy's name appears in the Half-Life 2 sound file names related to him, the Half-Life 2 subtitles file, the Half-Life 2 Prima Guide, and Marc Laidlaw's blog.
- Sandy's animation names in the map hints he was originally to be named "Stanley."
- According to Marc Laidlaw, the scene with Laszlo and Sandy was created to tell the player to stay off the sand and keep to the rocks to avoid being swarmed. It went through many iterations before the final version: At first, it simply consisted of a Rebel standing on the rocks, telling the player "Stay off the sand or the Antlions'll hear you!." The next version, slightly more elaborate, added a dead body on the sand, and had the surviving Rebel saying: "Poor Tobias, he forgot the Antlions could hear him if he stepped on the sand." The team continued to iterate, eventually leading to a scene where Laszlo was still alive, but would still inevitably die. This also showcases that while Laszlo's death is not important to the player, but it is to Sandy; other NPCs do not necessarily share Gordon's goals, and care about things other than Gordon's journey and the death of the Combine.[1]
Trivia
- If the player does not help Sandy when the Antlions attack again to kill Laszlo, he will die and never make his speech.
- Right before going out of the small path, a trigger named "lr_killtobias" (instead of "Ir_killsandy") makes Sandy disappear. There is no hint about whether he was killed by Antlions, shot himself or left offscreen as he just walks off and disappears.
- If the player startles the Antlions by stepping on the sand before Laszlo can move, he will yell at Gordon "You idiot! Walking on the sand brings Antlions after you!"
- Even if all the antlions are killed the second they arrive from the sand through methods such as timing a grenade explosion and killing all spare antlions, Laszlo will still die, as he has a trigger kill on him, and Valve did not want/plan a survival option for him.
List of appearances
- Half-Life 2 (First appearance)
References
- ↑ "The Hypermodern Muse" on Marc Laidlaw's official blog
