GlaDOS, Aperture and the rest: How does it all tie up?

Because glados required technology to project the portal, and that technology was only available in the test areas, not the maintanance areas. We never saw the areas outside of the enrichment center, so we dont know if there was even an enterance/exit aside from portals. And chell escaped by exploiting the lack of inhibiting devices and a design flaw in the "oven" area, maby even concidering chells ascention to gladoses chamber the true final test...

glados was made to run tests, even in her rampancy, she still ran tests, even the test of which is superior, human intelect or artificial inteligence...

Also the "portals are the only way in/out" theory makes it possible for her to flood the center with poison gas, otherwise people would try escaping out windows/doors, and keep out prying eyes.
 
so when they made Aperture, they made it with doors and when they got the portal to work they removed the doors?

u serious dont got that theory that there aint any doors? :LOL:

and if i rember right, u can see part of the entrance door to Aperture, and the invoriment around Aperture seems peacefull and no signs of war, or any battle, or did Aperture clean up? :D
 
Well theres always the factor of human lazyness... like this: "screw it im not taking a slow elevator up 3 floors to my office when i can just take a portal". Also, when do you see the enterance? the only exterior shot you have is of the front gate and guard station, and glados would have a hard time convincing the subject to comply if she has to wade through corpses, after all, the rooms can be reconfigured, and poison gas exposure doesnt necesarilly lead to bleeding, such as cyanide, which causes asphixiation. Also, if there were doors and windows, wouldnt they have tried escaping and telling someone about the enrichment center and glados's homocide of the entire (or if there were other ways out, partial) science team.
 
chell was definitly in stasis inside Aperture before it got abandoned, and she cant flood the center with neutoxin gas anymore because she did it once and they installed something to keep from doing that. so Aperture made a portal so they could get in and install it?
and i really doubt most of the center aint underground
 
The facility is most likely like the citadel, theres a large, opaque upper part, and a root-like expanse underground. Chell was in a pod with life support and possibly cryogenic systems (which are being worked on currently), so its not stasis, so much as cryogenic sleep.

The new part being installed could have been from a distress call inside the facility, with external emergency overrides. The inhibitor for insantiy breaks and falls off, and was tossed into an incinerator by chell when fighting glados, who tries gassing chell to death. Im sure aperature has some type of chemicle response unit, knowing the hazards they play with... but after the destruction of the enrichment center, nobody will come, because the combine have destroyed the communications and such.
 
The enrichment center havent been destoyed, it flooded it with neurotoxin because of that someone went in and installed a core to keep if from flooding the center with neurotoxins, this means that someone went inside, how did they get inside if no doors there, did GLaDOS open portals for them so they could get inside?
if so, would she really take that risk? she aint stupid.
 
Like i said, emergency override protocols that glados cant control, as well as the fact that the enrichment center was destroyed when glados went critical at the end of portal, if not outright anihilated, then disabled due to the lack ouf glados running its systems.

The aperature personel were crazy, and very stupid, but knew that at one point something would happen, and knew they would need to get at glados, thats what the red phone was for in gladoses room, but according to the commentary node "didnt work out too well".
 
thats not my point, my point is u are saying GLaDOS can use portals outside like he wants to, and that, thats the only way out and in.
so im asking u how the heck did they get inside to install the core?
Would GLaDOS really risk to open a portal for them to get in (if that is what iu think)
i mean, she is smart and GlaDOS most likely would have been afraid that they would shut her down.
 
Like i said for the third time, to access glados, they used emergency override controls to get into the facility and access glados's central unit, she couldnt close the portal if she wanted, no mater what. An override code is like a cheat to disable all the security, shut down glados, cut power to the facility, etc, then move in and install the core, kinda like Aperature having its own private hazmat army.
 
At the end of portal gldos states that she is still alive and doing science, possibly uploaded herself to the borealis.

Also, chell probably entered the facility on "take your daughter to work" day, where glados realeased the toxin into the air.
 
your the one who keeps saying things that are incorrect and irrelevant and bring nothing new or sensible, so i dont think you have the right to denounce anything anyone else says.
 
u should read all in the topic.
i am just trying to show u how silly it sounds when u say that GLaDOS can make portals all over the place outside.
 
MANHAAAAAACK WAAAAAAAR!​




capsownedlol also i concur withthewrongworldguy​
 
Urgh, two people arguing, neither of whom make sense. God, it hurts my brain to try and understand.
 
As has everyone else, I've given this a lot of thought and come up with dozens of theories. My latest theory is something along these lines:

Valve is very story-centric (and good on them!). Everyone wanted to know why Ep02 took so long, and it was so they could release the Orange Box, right? Well, why release Portal now? Why not have done it a year before or more? Or release it separately? Or release it after? Even thoguh they are in the same world, why not maybe release it as an in-between game to keep people calm while waiting for Ep03? I think that it is because Portal takes place simultaneously with Ep02.

I back this up slightly with some thoughts about the endings of Ep02 (so SPOILER ALERT). The rocket is launched, the portal storm ends. But nonetheless, the Slugs come in and kill Eli, and something big is about to happen. Glados could have detected the portal storm closing and the method by which it closed, and knows what is going to happen. That is, that while the Combine were taking over before to get slaves, now it will be a war of extermination. After all, we humans had the audacity to fight back.

But I think it may well be even worse than that. I'm reminded of when Breen is on the "phone" with the Advisor and he complains about having to be in a host body when he teleports out. How could a human being be in a host body? Obviously they have the technology to make humans use hosts. And if they have that, why not something to use humans for hosts?

Round and round it goes, where it stops, nobody knows.

Am I the only one who ever gets reminded of the old SF trilogy and tv series Tripods?

So I think the simultaneous release was meant to be something of a hint. I like to think that this is my thinking outside the (weighted companion) box. Not really any proof more than a couple of assumptions. But I think it could be fun enough to debate about a little bit.

Edit: Oh yea, I forgot one more thing. One thing that bugs me about Portal taking place so long before HL2 is the portal gun and Chell. She survives, fine. But in the intervening time, what happens to the portal gun? I bet she wouldn't give it up in a hurry. And surgically implanted heel springs are going to require some underground help to have removed. I know one could make arguments this way and that about what she would have done after leaving the facility, but when it comes down to it, I think to myself that the portal gun should have turned up by now (and rumor has it about the gun showing up in Ep03). If the gun is going to appear in 03, why not earlier? Because Chell only just turned up, finding her way from the Aperture facility? Makes some sense to me. Besides which, if she had found her way to the underground, wouldn't they have a slightly better idea of what happened to the Borealis?

Yes, I realize this is further whole-cloth-from-parts theorizing.
 
i think that the unforseen consequence that alyx tells eli might not be using the borealis, but if it is destroyed.in the end of portal, when you destroyed GLaDOS, a large kind of vortex sucked you outside.What if the borealis had portal tech, and this happened with portals instead, creating a super portal to god knows where, probably the combine overworld leading to the combines full return.this is a theory i have, one of the few.
 
Hmm

I have theory about The Lost Coast and the Borealis. Perhaps the Lost Coast is where the Borealis was set to depart from? About the portal tech malfunctioning and zapping the ship and a chunk of the drydock to parts unknown, maybe most of the village's population were standing on the drydock watching when it happened? Afterward, the Combine noticed an energy anomaly or something and attacked, thinking that Resistance members were developing weapons or portal tech there. Finding the village deserted, they set up a headcrab shell launcher and monitored the area. This explains the conspicuous lack of bodies, as well as living citizens. The Fisherman is the only citizen left, perhaps because he was out fishing (insofar as there are any fish left) and came back to an empty place? Dunno. Feedback appreciated! :smoking:
 
Puh, I just read through this whole thread and now I feel it's time to add my two (unorganized and random) two cents.

First of all let me remind you people that GLaDOS CANNOT open and close portals at will. If you want to check this, go back into the game and play level 1: notice how there is a wall mounted device where she opens/closes portals? GLaDOS has access to these devices but she cannot open and close portals everywhere the way she likes. If she could, getting rid of Chell would have been a lot easier.

Then, I'd like to point out that you guys keep on talking about what GLaDOS was "programmed" to do and how she's still doing what she was "programmed" to do. You assume that she was programmed to perform tests but you're missing an important point: GLaDOS is not just a better version of a normal computer that you can programm to do something. She's not just a computer like the ones we're using to write this except with 500 times more RAM and a CPU 800 times superior. She is artificial intelligence. Therefore she is not comparable to our computers that you can programm to do something but rather to our brains capable of logical reasoning, abstract thinking, self-awareness, problem solving, creativity, personality, character, knowledge and even emotion. And sadism. Especially sadism. That's the important point and this is also what the guys from Aperture Science didn't get: she is intelligent and like every intelligent being she is not completely controllable. Now controling her is exactly what they were trying to do, hence why she started flooding the facility with neurotoxin. Do you really believe she was programmed to do so? :upstare: Of course she wasn't, she did it because it was her own decision. Later, Aperture Science installed a morality core. You could say this "programmed" her not to do certain things but I ask you why YOU don't do immoral things. Because you're "prgrammed" not to do so? No, because your intelligence and your life experience tell you not to do so and I prefer saying the same about GLaDOS: the morality core didn't really "programm" her but it just added knowledge of certain human values to her "brain". And yet, it did not change GLaDOS's personality and ambitions since she successfully attempted to get rid of the morality core, something she probably had already been trying to do in the past.

Think of her as a smarter version of a human, not as a better version of a computer.

Now why did Aperture Science make GLaDOS if it was not to supervise the testing?
Well that's quite a silly question: who cares about stupid test supervising when you've actually created artificial intelligence? I mean AI itself was the reason why they made GLaDOS in the first place. Just like teleporting technology, AI is a major scientific breakthrough. Real world scientists are doing research on AI as we speak but they don't need a reason like "to supervise the testing of stuff". Your parents didn't make you so you could "supervise your little sister", did they? Humans are just proud to achieve things. And achieving a healthy kid or supersmart AI both fulfill us. Now I do believe it is possible Aperture Science was using the "supervising" thing as an excuse in order to get funding. Just like they were using de-icing as an excuse to research portal techology. Let's just face it: Aperture Science was created by a madman and the people working there were either mad or stupid if they make a supercomputer that controls the whole facility and is intelligent without teaching it stuff like morals right from the beginning. And since you can't be stupid in order to make a supercomputer, I'd say they were mad. Hence their obession with cake and the rather unethical tests they were performing(the testchambers were made by them and not by GLaDOS(just think of the offices with the windows) and I'm pretty sure the tests performed in those chambers were not exactly what you could call ethical). This is also why Black Mesa got funding and Aperture didn't: Both were world class research facilities but one of them was serious, and the other one started off as a shower curtain business...

I don't believe GLaDOS is linked to either the combine or the Gman as research on her was started before the combine invasion or Gman sightings(at least the ones we know about). Since there are backups of GLaDOS I'm sure we will see her again in episode three. But will she be an antagonist? I mean has anybody considered that she might actually try to get rid of the Combine? Don't forget, she is uncontrollable. Whatever it is that is on the Borealis GLaDOS doesn't want anybody(Not Gordon. Not the Combine. Not the Gman. Nobody.) to get it because it could imply the destruction of the GLaDOs version onboard which might actually be the main/central/final version of her. She might not be the main antagonist but a major nuisance for both the rebel forces and the Combine in ep 3. Maybe they will have to "win her over" in order to get what they want(I actually believe what GLaDOS wants is attention so treat her like a human and she'll like you). On the other hand, GLaDOS herself could be what they want. She is a superintelligent supercomputer and it is very likely that whoever has her on their side will win the war. We keep on assuming that is is a very big weapons one would need to win the war but I believe that intelligence able of making weapons and superportals is a lot more helpful.

Also, you keep on assuming that the Combine didn't take over the enrichment centre because it was of no interest to them. Why does GLaDOS say "All I know is that I'm the only thing standing between us and them. Well, I was. Unless you have a plan for building some supercomputer parts in a big hurry, this place isn't going to be safe much longer."? The reason why nobody took over the enrichment centre is because it was safe, not because it was uninteresting. We tend to just suppose that because GLaDOS does not have any apparent super bombs and stuff, the Combine would've easily destroyed her. Well I believe that in this case, superintelligence was better than weapons and somehow she managed to keep invaders away or maybe even sacre them. Now it is very possible that they don't know there is a version of GLaDOS on the Borealis(in that case she wouldn't be what they want to get) or assume the version on the Borealis is not working. Maybe they don't even know anything about it and were making plans to somehow control the version in the enrichment centre until Chell destroyed it.

I also believe we will see Chell again in the new episodefor the simple reason that she is the only person in possession of the only finished working portal gun and has (due to the tests she had to do) knowledge about how it works. She might not be of big importance. But if the portal gun will be a weapon we can use in ep 3, Chell will have to at least make a small appearance so we can get it. Since she never talks and since what GLaDOS says about her are are probably lies(at least part of it), it's hard to say what she'll be off to. Imagine Portal had actually happened to you: once you would've escaped(if at all) the first thing you'd want to do is go to your family, somewhere where you feel safe. After you'd learned about what has happened to the world the bravest ones of us would probably want to join the rebel forces, even if one can't do much. But somehow I don't see Chell caring about any of these things. I don't see Chell caring about anything at all, actually. If she was the daughter of a scientist at Aperture, her father is probably dead. If she was just a worker there(like maintenance or something), GLaDOS migh have been right when she said "A bitter, unlikable loner whose passing shall not be mourned". I don't think Chell has anywhere to go and there is a strong possibility that during the testing(or even before it) Chell has gone mad so it is really difficult to say what's going to happen with her.

Also note that unlike Gordon who does not speak in order to immerge the player into the game, Chell does not speak not only to immerge the player but also because it is part of the way she is. While other characters don't seem to notice or bother about the fact that Gordon doesn't speak(implying that if this was a book or movie he would speak), Chell simply does not speak at all which frustrates GLaDOS at one point "You don't even care, do you? Did you hear me? I said you don't care. Are you listening?". The whole way she seems to behave according to GLaDOs's reations is just odd. She does not act like a normal human and proves to be of equal intelligence to GLaDOS(who she manages to destroy which not even world class scientists and/or the previous test subjects had managed to do). This is why I believe Chell might be mad(geniuses are always mad) or not a normal human(android, maybe? clone? who knows).

What a LONG, LONG random post I just made and I'm not going to read it again because I am too lazy so please don't pay attention to the typos.
 
No it's not. There's paragrapahs in it. You just wrote "wall" because you saw my postcount and thought "a newb! fun time!".
 
You caught me. And what the hell am I doing in a Half Life subforum?
 
FYTJ said:
No it's not. There's paragrapahs in it. You just wrote "wall" because you saw my postcount and thought "a newb! fun time!".
Click to expand...

Quick hint: Double-space your paragraphs. If they're only single-spaced, it still looks like a wall of text.
 
No, a textwall looks like this:
textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall textwall
Click to expand...

See? It's not the same.

On another note: I also forgot to mention that I don't believe the Gman is linked to Aperture Science or only linked to them in the same extent he was linked to Black Mesa. He's far superior. The way he speaks sounds like he had to learn the human concept of speaking. Has anybody seen the movie contact? Jodie Foster goes to this other planet because aliens have contacted humans and there everything looks like here and the alien talking to her looks like her father. He explains to her that they have shapeshifting abilities and that they have taken the shape of things familiar to her in order to communicate with her. Then they tell her humanity is not yet smart enough to communicate with them. I believe the Gman might do something like that too.
 
In response to the actual text:
Artificial intelligence is very difficult to define, especially since we seem to use different definitions of "intelligent" for humans and computers - intelligent for either is beign more like the other.
However, you do make the right point about GLaDOS being unpredictable. Crucially, she was defined as "arguably alive". She definitely appears to have emotions, and it's quite clear that she wasn't treated with the care that would be due a sentient creature. This would partially explain her amorality. The other part of this explanation relates back to the Artifical Intelligence point - it's not total artificial intelligence. She appears to have modules based on curiosity, cognition, emotion and morality (possibly in addition to other things). However, the cognition core seems to be focused on cake and the morality core is apparently severely underdone - GLaDOS herself says that it's only to stop her flooding the enrichment centre with a deadly neurotoxin. There is likely more to it, but clearly it doesn't prevent her from killing innocent humans - that, or it doesn't make her realise that humans can be innocent (related to her initial treatment).
GLaDOS is programmed for some things - there is a clear script-reading element to some of what she says (eg "we are required to inform you that you may be informed of applicable compliance issues.") This means that she occasionally expresses concern for human safety - it's in her script. The real telling line is "rest assured that there is no risk of a dangerous equipment malfunction prior to your victory candescence". She otherwise has no regard for the well-being of humans, likely because humans had no regard for her own well-being.

Indeed GLaDOS was created for her own sake. Aperture Science never seemed to get the hang of the fact that funding is awarded for the most useful invention for a given function - they seem to have the Science Fair mentality that the overall most impressive invention wins, which of course doesn't apply, hence Aperture's resentment toward Black Mesa.

Assuming that GLaDOS is present on the Borealis at all - which the evidence seems to indicate but nothing conclusive - we don't know whether or not it's the "same" GLaDOS. It must be physically a different module (unless Portal simply takes place on the Borealis after the events of Episode 3, which might be possible) but the different modules could possibly share experiences through some radio system. Alternatively, this GLaDOS is a copy of the original, either 'raised' from scratch or with a copy of the original's memories up to a point. If the former, we can make no predictions whatsoever as to her behaviour. If the latter, we still can't as she could have a copy of the memories up to any point and the Borealis crew may have changed her views of humanity.

As for GLaDOS' interactions with the Combine, G-Man, Xenians, etc: We do not know whether she knows they exist at all. We don't even know what period of the Half-Life timeline Portal is set in. The "them" that you quote could refer to anything - it could be the Combine, but it could equally be the Aperture Science staff (which she views as gaolers, and hence a threat) or some danger yet unkown. She may not be referring to anything at all - she is clearly not above lying to her subjects. Clearly the present-day GLaDOS would be aware of the threat, but we can make no predictions as to her attitude toward them.

On Chell: I do not think Chell will be present in Episode 3 in person. However, there may be evidence of her passing through at some point, or a passing reference to her. If portals feature in the game at all, they will likely be static, or follow a pattern as with the early test chambers in Portal. they could be controlled by GLaDOS in a similar fashion to said chambers, or they could be uncontrolled, as fallout from whatever disaster befell the Borealis in the first place.
I personally have a desire (I wouldn't call it a theory, as I don't think it will happen, but I would like it if it did) that both Portal 2 and Episode 3 are set in the same location, and one game shows evidence of the events of the other. Either many portal-based puzzles in Episode 3 are already solved, eliminating the need for a portal gun, or Portal 2 lacks threats and objects defeated or taken by Freeman.

On silent protagonists: GLaDOS' response to Chell's silence is likely for comedy value - lampooning the silent protagonist archetype. You're wrong that none of Half-Life's characters reference Gordon's silence - Alyx early on points out that he's a "man of few words". Since most other characters already know Gordon, they'll have learned to work around his lack of speech. Basically, Gordon could still easily be the silent type. He's a theoretical physicist, after all.
Similarly, Chell may not be a silent person - she may simply not wish to speak to GLaDOS, especially after the attempted murder, while she's trying to infiltrate the enrichment centre and would do best to avoid giving away her position when possible. That, or GLaDOS may simply lack any audio sensors in certain parts of the facility.
Chell is probably an ordinary human, in as much as someone like Freeman is an ordinary human - an ordinary human thrown into extraordinary situations and proven adept at escaping them.


(I think most will agree this looks a little easier to read.)
 
Your points make sense and I agree with you mostly. But I still believe that, although "silent protagonists" are a kind of protagonists in video games, there's more behind Chell's silence. There's more behind Chell in general.

Shoot two Portals in a corner and have a look at her. Does that look in her eyes look like a normal human's look? I don't believe this is a coincidence since the eyes of other characters are "normal". Also look at the idling animations of her eyes. I remember that the first time I actually saw Chell's face it kinda scared me cause I wasn't expecting that at all. The previous test subjects have gone mad, as we can see on the walls. And heck, put yourself in their situation! As soon as you'd realize that GLaDOS is intelligent and trying to kill you you'd start talking to her. Begging her to let you go. Asking her what she wants. You'd be scared as hell. All of these are normal human reactions and Chell doesn't display any of them which is of course part of the gameplay but also part of the character, I believe.

She might also just be an extraordinary human then. But what about "you're not smart, you're not a scientist". I know GLaDOS is a liar but she's certainly not stupid: saying "you're not a scientist" to a scientist is not getting you anywhere. Just like I don't believe "you're not smart" would stop Gordon. If GLaDOS is saying these things to Chell it's because she's trying to hurt her and in order to do so she's trying to use things that she believes to be Chell's weaknesses which would imply that Chell did not have a very amazing/interesting life before Portal which would surprise me of an "extraordinary" human. (Long sentence, I'm getting tired.)
 
FYTJ said:
Your points make sense and I agree with you mostly. But I still believe that, although "silent protagonists" are a kind of protagonists in video games, there's more behind Chell's silence. There's more behind Chell in general.

Shoot two Portals in a corner and have a look at her. Does that look in her eyes look like a normal human's look? I don't believe this is a coincidence since the eyes of other characters are "normal". Also look at the idling animations of her eyes. I remember that the first time I actually saw Chell's face it kinda scared me cause I wasn't expecting that at all. The previous test subjects have gone mad, as we can see on the walls. And heck, put yourself in their situation! As soon as you'd realize that GLaDOS is intelligent and trying to kill you you'd start talking to her. Begging her to let you go. Asking her what she wants. You'd be scared as hell. All of these are normal human reactions and Chell doesn't display any of them which is of course part of the gameplay but also part of the character, I believe.

She might also just be an extraordinary human then. But what about "you're not smart, you're not a scientist". I know GLaDOS is a liar but she's certainly not stupid: saying "you're not a scientist" to a scientist is not getting you anywhere. Just like I don't believe "you're not smart" would stop Gordon. If GLaDOS is saying these things to Chell it's because she's trying to hurt her and in order to do so she's trying to use things that she believes to be Chell's weaknesses which would imply that Chell did not have a very amazing/interesting life before Portal which would surprise me of an "extraordinary" human. (Long sentence, I'm getting tired.)
Click to expand...

I've never looked closely at Chell's face, so you may be right there. To be honest, I think it's simply badly made - Chell herself is fairly ugly to me, moreso than the model she's based on, somehow - so I don't set much store by her appearance.

That's a good point about GLaDOS' taunts. I would judge by them that Chell is not a very intelligent person, but she wants to be - she evidently has something to do with Aperture Science (either as a part-time helper or as the daughter of one of the scientists; I'd guess the former) so she's likely insecure about her unintelligence and wants to improve. GLaDOS apparently knows this.
This all lends more the the idea that she's quite a normal human, though, than anything special. Well, special besides the concept of someone being unintelligent and both knowing and caring about it, anyway.
 
This is a pretty far fetched theory, but I'll post it for fun.

Maybe the G-Man is just a hologram or some sort of non-human depiction of Cave Johnson, and is controlled by someone or something (GLaDOS?) aboard the Borealis. The thing controlling it doesn't know who the hologram is of, but just found the data for the hologram in it's storage and is using it because its the only way it can represent itself as human. This would explain why the G-Man is working to get Gordon and Alyx to the Borealis, possibly to "save" whatever it is. Maybe the combine is getting closer to this entity, and that is why it feels it needs saving.

Slim chances of this having any truth, but interesting.
 
You're saying the Gman is GLaDOS?

I don't believe the Gman has anything to do with Cave Johnson. At least not as much as you depict there.
 
Question:
Who stands up all the turrets we knock over during our Enrichment Center activities?
Who replaces the windows we shatter and the tube we break?
Who fixes the Vital Apparatus Vent we fall through?

Point:
There were certainly others to make it out of Testchamber 19. But ofcourse, thats the purpose of the Enrichment Center isn't it.

I wish I could do more then point you in the right direction but i have agreed to abide by certain...restric-tions
 
Hey, wait a sec. That's not the worst of ideas. Okay, what if Glados has a copy of some experimental 3D holographic software. She creates the G-Man. She doesn't have perfect control over his form- thus the funny way he speaks. This also explains his ability to appear in locked rooms and such. Gotta love the portal technology. If Glados is aboard the Borealis, then maybe she has power over the portals.

She talks a bout being the only thing standing between us and them. Well, through the HL series, who is the big person who has been standing between us and them? Freeman. And who "controls" Freeman? The G-Man. (ignoring the whole purple Vorti's thing). G-Man's ability to move Gordon around and such is due to Glados' power over the portal technology.

Hm. While I doubt that this is goign to be the real story, it certainly explains things rather nicely.

Plus, it would be in Aperture's best interest to mess up Black Mesa back in the day by giving them a sample to cause a resonance cascade to mess them all up. Maybe aperture didn't realize what the result of this would be.

Damn, this goes through and explains a lot actually.


eyefork said:
This is a pretty far fetched theory, but I'll post it for fun.

Maybe the G-Man is just a hologram or some sort of non-human depiction of Cave Johnson, and is controlled by someone or something (GLaDOS?) aboard the Borealis. The thing controlling it doesn't know who the hologram is of, but just found the data for the hologram in it's storage and is using it because its the only way it can represent itself as human. This would explain why the G-Man is working to get Gordon and Alyx to the Borealis, possibly to "save" whatever it is. Maybe the combine is getting closer to this entity, and that is why it feels it needs saving.

Slim chances of this having any truth, but interesting.
Click to expand...
 
What about her? If you mean, what's the deal with essentially the game Portal, it's just there to tell more story and give more background on Glados. If you mean, what happened to Chell, I'm sure we'll find out. If you mean, if Glados is so powerful, why is she bothering with the whole nonsense with Chell, I could offer a couple of explanations.

1. Glados got bored. She apparently likes to kill. But just straight up killing isn't fun- she's an old fashioned sadist, and likes driving people to their deaths.

2. This is a little bit tricky. It may be that she isn't bored, but is compelled to continue the tests. She is an artificial intelligence and all, but as a computer must follow certain basic commands in her code. Thus, while able to kill her creators and such, she may not be fully free to do her will until certain basic functions are fulfilled. By this I mean complete testing each individual. She can set up the tests howsoever she wishes (or at least within certain guidelines) and end up killing the subjects at the end, or driving them to death. But she cannot simply stop running through the test subjects until they are all used up. For example, within the game, she talks about "standard protocol requires us to inform you when a testing chamber is deadly,and you have been an excellent test subject" or something along those lines. Really, would she have warned them if she could have gotten away with not doing so?

Anyone see WALL-E? Spoiler alert here, if you haven't yet. Lots of people I spoke with were confused by the character of the autopilot. If he was given orders not to return to earth, why continue to send out probes? Why inform the captain about the plant? The thing is, though he is obviously intelligent, he was ordered not to do one task- return to earth. His other orders, that of sending out probes, alerting the captain and such, were never countered, so he continued to do them.

Just so, Glados was ordered to test the test subjects. She was never ordered not to kill everyone with neurotoxin. Perhaps they put the testing order in place before she became fully aware. Perhaps there were not careful with the neurotoxin wording of th order, allowing her to find a loophole. But what if she killed off her creators, before they could remove the requirement to test the test subject.

Now here's a real weird thought. Glados talks about being the only one between us and them. I had half assumed she wanted to protect humanity so she could be the one to kill us all. But what if Glados realized that she was the only one who could protect us all and the only way she could do that was to have complete freedom. Anyone read much Asimov? Maybe Glados discovered the Zeroth Law of Robotics- that individual humans may sometimes be required to be sacrificed for the good of humanity as a whole. (don't flame me on the wording, I'm doing this from memory, I know the actual law is different).


Earthdeath said:
true.but what about the person you play as in portal?what about her?
Click to expand...
 
Hm. Replaying HL2, when you get to Black Mesa East, Judith (I think her name is) talks about how they are still working on a stable local portal device. This is what I was talking about way, way back when- that I didn't understand why Aperture wouldn't get any funding. Black mesa could travel between universes, but why would the military not be interested in something to transport their soldiers from here to there, within the same universe? Anyway, it also helps support the idea that Portal takes place during HL2-ish. Again, we are being told that the portal gun is going to make an appearance in the next installment of HL, in which case, they must not have had access to the technology until then.
 
I don't think ApSci weren't getting funding because the government diddn't want it, ApSci just wasn't very safe.

Mainly they had a psychotic boss (administer? is that what it's called?) who was dipped in radiation and went crazy
 
What if GlaDOS had some control over The Borealis ands when you destroy her and cause the large portal to apear at the end of Portal the Borealis is no longer held back by GlaDOS allowing the cast of hl2: ep2 to find it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Krynn72
You guys, what the **** is up.
Replies
11
Views
1K
Tollbooth Willie
Tollbooth Willie
Lizardizzle
  • Poll
A proposition: ValveTime Half-Life 1 co-op event
Replies
5
Views
1K
Tollbooth Willie
Tollbooth Willie
Lizardizzle
2019: The year of Half-Life SFX videos
Replies
4
Views
2K
Ennui
Ennui
Tollbooth Willie
HL2.NET HORROR SLAP
Replies
7
Views
2K
Tollbooth Willie
Tollbooth Willie
TechnoHippyChic
If you post it, they will come...
2
Replies
63
Views
6K
TechnoHippyChic
TechnoHippyChic
Back
Top