Sandy and Laszlo

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Sandy and Laszlo
Biographical information
Homeworld	Earth
Died	202-; day 2 after Gordon's arrival (Laszlo)
Function(s) / Belongings
Rank / Occupation	Rebel
Weapons	Submachine Gun
Physical description
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Hair color	Brown (Sandy) Black (Laszlo)
Eye color	Brown
Chronological and political information
Era(s)	Combine occupation
Faction	The Resistance
Game information
Voiced by	John Patrick Lowrie (Sandy)
Modeled over	Michael S. Smith (Sandy) Art Min (Laszlo)
Designer(s)	Marc Laidlaw Moby Francke
Entity	npc_citizen (male 7, type 2 [Sandy]) (male 5, type 2 [Laszlo])
Voice sample(s)
(Sandy)

 

"Dear God! Poor Laszlo! The finest mind of his generation, to come to such an end!"

― Sandy

Sandy and Laszlo are Rebels 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. Some time later, Gordon Freeman arrives on the scene, and Sandy tells Gordon to stay off the sand, as it is walking on it that attracts the Antlions. Unfortunately, even if the player heeds this warning, Laszlo begins writhing in pain, and Antlions immediately attack the trio of humans. Gordon and Sandy attempt to fend them off, but the wounded Laszlo will inevitably be killed. Sandy mourns his friend, 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 that he will stay with Laszlo for a while because there is "something [he] has to do" (implied to be some form of last rites, though if one comes back to the spot after leaving Sandy simply disappears). 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 and Laszlo's names appear in the Half-Life 2 sound file names, the Half-Life 2 subtitles file, the Half-Life 2 Prima Guide, and Marc Laidlaw's blog. Sandy's entity name and animations indicate he was originally to be named "Stanley", while Laszlo's entity names and animations indicate he was originally named "Tobias".

According to Marc Laidlaw, the scene with Laszlo and Sandy was created to teach the player to stay off the sand and keep on top of 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 nonetheless inevitably die. This also showcases that, while Laszlo's death is not important to the player, it is to Sandy. This was meant to highlight the fact that other NPCs do not necessarily share Gordon's goals and care about other things than that of Gordon's journey and the death of the final boss.

During the development of Half-Life: Alyx, the storyline of which was set five years before the events of Half-Life 2, the character of Russell was originally intended to be Laszlo. Described as a "friend-to-the-family uncle guy" and "a little kooky", he would have been the character who gave Alyx a gun and permission to go into the Quarantine Zone as there was a message from a lone Vortigaunt cut off from the Vortessence directed towards her. The internal filenames for Russell still often refer to him by the name "Lazlo". (Note the different spelling from "Laszlo".) In the final game, a post-it note in Russell's Lab has the password "lazl0" written on it.

Trivia

• Laszlo will still die even if the player is quick enough to dispatch all the Antlions Laszlo startled. As his death is scripted, Laszlo will suddenly jerk and fall over dead as if hit.

• Right before heading out of the small path, a trigger named "lr_killtobias" makes Sandy disappear (contrary to the trigger's name). There is no hint as to an explanation behind his offscreen disappearance.

• "Sandy" may be a play on the term "sandy", related to the chapter title, "Sand Traps", and the importance of the sand during it.

• Laszlo is mentioned in Laidlaw's BreenGrub story as being among the finest minds that has been stored by the Combine.

Gallery

• 

  Half-Life: Alyx concept art for Russell when he was still known as Laszlo.

• 

  Sandy stopping Gordon.

• 

  Sandy and Laszlo both dead.

• 

  The password "lazl0" written on a post-it note in Russell's Lab.

List of appearances

• Half-Life 2

References

Combine OverWiki has a list of quotes for Sandy and Laszlo.