"Good People Don't End Up Here."

[TigerBomb]

I'm merely speculating because of a line delivered by Glados. She did have Chell's file: An unlikable loner. Like by no one. Very formal. Very official.

Well, at the same time we've come to learn that almost everything that comes out of Glados seems to be complete lies, especially when Chell escaped being "Baked."

Glados obviously was saying that stuff about Chell to agitate her.

As for who Chell is personally, we don't know since not enough info is given about her. I think she's merely a Volunteer tester who survived in her cubical chamber when Glados went postal (love the cut emergency phone-line in the boss fight chamber) and awoke years later.

 

[LandStander]

That could be it, but after replaying the game I thought that maybe the creators were giving us insight on the character of Chell. I mean if she did have family and friends that loved and cared for her I doubt aperture would have her detained. It's easier to capture someone without any connections like Ice-T in Surviving the Game.

 

[Narvi]

Not if it was set during or after the Portal Storms.

 

[Cheomesh]

That could be it, but after replaying the game I thought that maybe the creators were giving us insight on the character of Chell. I mean if she did have family and friends that loved and cared for her I doubt aperture would have her detained. It's easier to capture someone without any connections like Ice-T in Surviving the Game.

Unless of course, Glados killed them too

 

[FoolishOwl]

Or maybe it's part of the oh so very mild "dark humor" the game is so famous for.

Yes, but obviously not because the line itself is funny. It's more how pathetically obvious it is that GLaDOS is trying to undermine Chell's self-confidence, and doing it badly. It's a contrast: when GLaDOS is reciting from scripts that are supposed to be encouraging, it's actually subtly disturbing, but when she's actually trying to upset the character, it's childish and clumsy.

 

[nificant]

Couldn't Chell be a clone? A genetic backup of someone (criminal, bydtw)? GLaDOS talks about deleting her backup. GLaDOS was pretty irrational at that time though.

The line about deleting her backup sounded to me like someone who was traumatized and repeating a scolding from their parents, but she could have "meant" it in reference to Chell not being human, or possibly a genetically enhanced human, or a clone. Who knows.

The line about her being adopted really would be funny if she were somehow trapped at Aperture from Bring Your Daughter to Work Day.

 

[Acepilotf14]

I still think she is a criminal kept for testing by Aperture Science, the only way they could humanely test their research.
Back-Up I would guess it simply all her memeories in a 2gb flash drive stored in case she were to die, so that they could research what had happened.

 

[FoolishOwl]

Aperture couldn't get government funding, so it can be assumed that the government didn't approve of their research, methods, or both. Why would they hand over their prisoners to them? If it were leaked that the government had been doing this, there would have been serious consequences for anyone involved.

Aperture Science did have government funding for some of its projects, particularly the portal gun research. That's established most clearly with the backstory on aperturescience.com if you log on as cjohnson/tier3. You're most likely thinking of the slideshow you see in several conference rooms, which pointed out that AS only got a minority of the contracts they bid on, but also, that AS's bid packages were insane.

Also, Portal is set in the Half-Life universe, and whatever you think of the real US government, Half-Life 1 made it abundantly clear that the government was capable of mass slaughter of its own contractors in order to cover up its mistakes.

I don't think that Chell is a prisoner, though. At least, not in the sense of having been a convicted criminal.

 

[MiccyNarc]

I think everyone's reading way too much into it. Glados is simply trying to convince Chell that she's a "bad person" for escaping being "baked", and that she should go back and be a good person.

 

[Cheomesh]

I still think she is a criminal kept for testing by Aperture Science, the only way they could humanely test their research.

Apeture Science. We do what we must, because we can.

 

[Zunni]

I think the ai is trying to say you are a good person, getting on your side, and saying that by escaping you are becoming a bad person.

BING BING BING!!!

Of course this is what she's doing.. Along with trying to persuade you that you are going the wrong way or the other times she lies to you (about the party and caek)

 

[Zunni]

She was a girl. Who was trapped by GLaDOS. And then needed to escape.

I see no "self-sacrificing saints" that the series are apparently spewing. Take any of the characters, they're all in a situation in which they need to escape. They're not doing it selflessly. And Adrian went in there to kill Gordon...

More likely she applied to be an employee (as GlaDOS says in the final battle) "You aren't even a full-time employee" and as either part of the interview testing (which happened to co-incidide with other incidents) or as part of the job acceptance place (aptitude testing combined with long-term stasis). If you go to the Apeture Science website you can apply yourself.

She didn't realize that the 'job' was testing, and then death until after she started the game.

 

[Lukas Alexander]

I think GLaDOS just needs people to test in experiments that are bad and cruel to people and needs to justify that. She says all that stuff about Chell being bad, that nobody liked her, etc. becouse she wanted it to turn out that she isn't doing anything wrong.
At least that's my opinion.

 

[LandHawk]

Now we all know GlaDos to be an accomplished liar, but I don't think she is lying in this case.
Obviously no one would volunteer for such an experiment which leads me to believe that Chell and those that came before her are possibly criminals of the worst kind "contracted" out by the government to be used in testing financed by the Department of Defense.
If this is the case and she does appear in the HL games should would make for a very different and interesting character.

This was my prevailing theory, but then I got into the Aperture Science site.

If you take the debatable content of that site as canon, it's quite probable that GLaDOS makes the "good people don't end up here" statement using her own definition of 'good'. Perhaps to GLaDOS, the bad people are the ones that forget their UID+L. Or that take an extra 4.35 seconds on their break. Or forget to put the required amount of Aperture Science Soluble Sugar-Like Adrenal Granules into their coffee.

 

[Que-Ever]

Obviously, the Aperture Science facilities are Hell.

 

[Narvi]

Android hell or normal hell?

 

[Que-Ever]

Android hell or normal hell?

That depends, is Chell an Android :O

I didn't see any calculators, though.

 

[Zunni]

I think GLaDOS just needs people to test in experiments that are bad and cruel to people and needs to justify that. She says all that stuff about Chell being bad, that nobody liked her, etc. becouse she wanted it to turn out that she isn't doing anything wrong.
At least that's my opinion.

She did that to try to stop Chell from destroying her. Induce a feeling of guilt or perhaps worthlessness. People (and sentient machines) will say anything when they see their own deaths coming.

 

[Xevrex]

Not only is it a way to try to dissuade Chell from destroying GLaDOS, but the first thing I thought of was that good people who stayed and followed testing protocol did not end up there.

 

[Zunni]

Not only is it a way to try to dissuade Chell from destroying GLaDOS, but the first thing I thought of was that good people who stayed and followed testing protocol did not end up there.

Also very true.. GLaDOS would have viewed Chell's behaviour as 'naughty'

 

[Xevrex]

Also very true.. GLaDOS would have viewed Chell's behaviour as 'naughty'

"So I'm naughty if I don't want to be burned to a crisp? Oh its on, b*tch."

 

[Xevrex]

No matter how hard I try, I can really only think about this in a sexual sense.

tbh, if GLaDOS and Chell got it on, it'd be hotter if Chell were the more dominant one.

Just... throwing that out there.

...

...Human + Machine = ? We can never know, because they have no reproductive organs. Scratch that, no organs at all.

And sick.

Oh, and it would be better to say "disobediant, or bad" so that he doesn't get any more ideas. Companion Cube + Turret = No.

 

[Xevrex]

YOU DON'T NEED ORGANS TO ~BE IN LOVE~

p.s. **she doesn't get any more ideas

Woah.

 

[Zunni]

wow, didn't realize my word choice would spawn just 'interesting' posts