Exploring Portal's Protagonist | Chell | FULL Portal Lore

Chell is the iconic protagonist of the Portal series. Her past is shrouded in mystery - however, over countless years, she battled with GLaDOS, Wheatley, Sentry Turrets and many other robots as she tested the Portal Gun in Aperture Science on her path to escape.
What brought her to the facility? Who were her parents and how did she become Aperture's last hope of survival in a Combine and GLaDOS controlled world? In this video, I explore the lore and story behind the Chell in Portal.
Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
01:05 The Early Years of Chell & Portal (Before Portal)
04:06 The Fall of Aperture Science (Before Portal)
09:02 A New Aperture (Portal)
15:14 Stasis (Between Portal & Portal 2)
16:47 Many Years Later (Portal 2)
24:35 Legacy
26:25 Behind The Scenes & Development
28:43 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)
AUDIO USED
Portal 2 OST: Technical Difficulties
Portal 2 OST: There She Is
Portal 2 OST: 9999999
Half-Life 2 OST: Triage at Dawn
#Chell #Lore #Portal

[@Skyrionn]

Who were Chell's parents?

[@bigbirdy1052]

what if she was a biological experiment made by aperture?

[@serbancoroian]

it is a theory that her parents are cave johnson and Caroline

[@youtubecommentcrackhead0003]

Whoever they are, her birth-parents do not love her

[@thevisitor1032]

Obv Kleiner & Alyx Vance, duh!

[@Esel_com]

Gaben

[@atinofspam3433]

I love the theory that the reason Chell doesn’t speak isn’t brain damage, but simply because she’s annoyed with everyone.

[@Skorpychan]

Kind of like Gordon Freeman. Everyone keeps saying stupidly obvious things about him being late for work, then everything goes to hell in a handbasket. Although I think she lacks Freeman's super-expressive eyebrows.

[@richieflareon3530]

I’ve actually heard that it isn’t a theory but a employee from valve confirmed it something like “she isn’t deaf or can’t speak, she just doesn’t want to be manipulated by GLaDOS”

[@NebsGMD_]

Hello tin of spam how are you doing?

[@flying-magpie]

It was confirmed by the creators she does it out of spite

[@Skorpychan]

@@flying-magpie Ah, so her internal narration is mostly angry profanity?

[@lolglolblol]

For those who don't know: Chell's project diorama reveals that the only reason why almost every kid made a potato battery was that Aperture had ordered too many potatoes and told their employees they had to use them that way

[@lolglolblol]

Here's the exact text: Problem: My dad said somebody at the cafeteria ordered too many potatoes so everybody has to do a science project on potatoes now for Take Your Daughter to Work Day and lunch will be french fries. Mr. Johnson said we could use as many potatoes as we liked for our projects but I'm only going to use one. I asked my dad if I could do a different project because I already did a potato battery project in class last year and he said no, Mr. Johnson would get mad. Hypothesis: Probably the potato will do the same thing it did last year for my class project, except maybe not because I had a new potato last time and this one is pretty old. my dad says his hypothesis is whoever ordered all the potatoes will probably get fired. Conclusions: Last time my potato battery produced 1.5 volts. This time it got 1.6, so I guess it doesn't matter how old the potato is. The current from the potato battery did not produce enough volts to power anything important. If I used more potatoes maybe I could have gotten more volts, but the one dad brought home smelled and I didn't want more. Materials: One potato, a nail, a volt meter, a piece of copper wire, a piece of steel wool Procedures: I did the same thing I did last time.

[@isaacduran2915]

​@Firstname Lastname thank you sir you are goated for this

[@Vizzile]

Ty

[@boney2982]

@@lolglolblolI wonder why chells potato in particular grew like it did if she really did just do what every other kid did

[@kolbayada4938]

@@boney2982 becaiuse she added a special ingridient. Dunno why they didn't include it in their text when out of all ingridients that one is the only one written.

[@danshakulawrence983]

1:13 "Most impressively, artificial intelligence." Oh so we're just gonna ignore how they casually pulled off quantum teleportation, the one thing that neither Black Mesa nor an interdimensional Type III civilization couldn't figure out

[@SerpentNight]

I've considered that the amount of time Chell was asleep between 1 and 2 might not be as long as supposed. It's something of a contrast I suppose that her room was in bad condition when she woke up for the second time but the artwork by Doug Rattman didn't seem to have been weathered despite being in an area with no ceiling, so I don't think he could have been deceased for that long.

[@JamesTDG]

I think that it could have been up to 99 years after portal 1, the degradation is probably the most important part. We have seen 100 year old derelict buildings so we have a good point of reference, the only problem I have comes down to ink and moon rocks, we honestly need something that can test how the elements would treat these together so that we may figure out scientifically how long it's actually been.

[@hoovysimulator2518]

I've seen too many glitched computers repeat numbers, it could just be that Valve tried to say a long time has passed, not 9.. 9.. 9.. 9.. 9.. 9.. 9.. 9.. 9.. 9.. 9..

[@carso1500]

@@JamesTDG personaly i think it's only been a couple of decades at most, without any kind of mantainance most buildings would quickly fall into disrepair because of water seeping on the structure in less than 10 years and the state the aperture laboratory was in screamed to me "decades have passed" not "centuries or milenia has passed" That and the fact that glados was able to quickly patch up the entire facility and get it running at peak performance tells me that most of the damage was superficial at best, the robot likely just glitched and went for the maximun number of years The real reason imo is that valve gave themselves an easy way to put chell in any timeline that they want, they can put her in the near future 20 years to precisely concide with the events of half life 2 and the episodes or farther away in the future is they have other plans for her and have it make sence

[@crazyguy_1233]

I think it was a very long time and the only reason it's not more destroyed is because of the nano bots and automated systems keeping up the facility maintenance until they broke down slowly letting the facility fall into disrepair.

[@TheYouTubeFox]

if we remember at the end there are endless fields of wheat or grass or whatever it is while before, at the end of the first game, there was a forest and a road, it would've have to have been long enough for the concrete to break down

[@newcastleman86]

I did feel the ending of portal 2 was closure. It would be cool to bring Chell back for HL3. Great story and vid.

[@Torrance92]

"hl3" lol

[@tyrtrolas]

you know portal 2 is 50 thousand years in the future from Half Life 2 lmfao

[@Lukazade244]

@@tyrtrolas That was never confirmed.

[@B.L.U.S]

Also "AURORA BOREALIS"

[@scrumpyscrumpy]

​@@tyrtrolasdr kleiner will find a way to invent time travelling

[@terryflaps4492]

Whoever gave the all clear for that neuro toxin on BRING YOUR CAT TO WORK DAY is a super genius

[@shinymk6562]

Let's go; finally a Chell video. Wasn't sure if there would be more Portal videos like this, but I'm GLaD the "dangerous mute lunatic" is getting her cake.

[@anrandomthing7110]

Icee what you did there

[@AngelofGrace96]

I love Chell. One of the best examples of characters that show that you don't need to be able to speak to be intelligent.

[@endo4137]

That was the whole point of Gordon freeman. Valve sure does know how to make a silent protagonist!

[@AngelofGrace96]

@@endo4137 Chell is canonically mute though. Not sure that's the case for Gordon.

[@endo4137]

@@AngelofGrace96 they both don't talk, so in the end it's the same I believe

[@Miss-Ozz]

​@@AngelofGrace96 Actually, according to a developer for the game, apparently Chell can speak, she just doesn't give a shit about anything and just moves on. Wish I had that kind of confidence 😑

[@PepsiPacmanFan123]

Same thing with Samus Aran, 2 badass female characters 🔥

[@MarabouPatriot]

Skyrionn has the ability to make mundane or silly sentences like "The potato grew larger than it should." seem intressting and gripping just by the inflection in his voice.

[@isaacduran2915]

Honestly wish there was more valve games for him to do videos on I hope he is able to strike up valves interest in finally making all the new third installments

[@soontobechannel743]

@@isaacduran2915 In all seriousness (without the “valve can’t count to 3” joke) I do seriously hope someday that we get another portal, hopefully a portal 3 where we see where Chell goes and does (doesn’t even need to be a game, a comic will suffice for me)

[@isaacduran2915]

@@soontobechannel743 literally anything from valve would fill the hole in my heart I need some closure the half life 3 story the writer left, left me feeling pretty empty I wish they could've pulled their heads out their butts and just made the dang games we don't care about the graphics it's all about the story half life 2+ all the episodes including the first half life, portal 2, left 4 dead 1 & 2, are all still beautiful games and they couldn't decide which game engine to run portal 3, half life 3, or left 4 dead 3 which created a lot of internal turmoil inside valve like they've never been next level for graphics they were always next level story telling and I don't think they understood that

[@soontobechannel743]

@@isaacduran2915 Fr, I mean if they can make a sequel to a game not too long after the first game surely they can make a third? I do understand it’s hard and all to make a game (with what all the voice actors, animators, game developers, etc put all their dedication into) but it’s not like they’re totally incapable of making multiple games of the first and second one since they DO in fact create something like a “portal 3” it’s just it doesn’t count as one since it doesn’t continue Chell, Wheatley, or even GLaDOS’s story.

[@mr.handsomecoffeecup2406]

It's not out of the realm of possibility that not only is Caroline the mother of chell, but GlaDos didn't really delete Caroline at the end of portal 2 considering the Lyrics of the opera piece that is sung to chell on her way out: Cara bella, cara mia bella! (Beautiful dear, my darling beauty!) Mia bambina, oh ciel! (My little girl, oh heaven!) Che la stima! Che la stima! (How I adore you! How I adore you!) O cara mia, addio! (Oh my dear, farewell!)

[@crazyguy_1233]

Well she is often called an orphan and adopted. Maybe Caroline adopted her as a child and either raised her with Cave or raised her herself. It is implied that Cave and Caroline were close and GLaDos clearly knew Chell when she was Caroline. Doug probably took care of Chell when Caroline was put into GLaDos.

[@Yesletsgo144]

@@crazyguy_1233But when Glados said that she was adopted she was really mad at chell and wanted to mess with her

[@och8516]

That song is a breakup song so i don’t think so

[@cadavercandy]

in this context, bambina is used in the same way babygirl/babe would be used, and in the portal e-book, chell and gladoses relationship is described as a "twisted romance" and the ending songs for the games as "breakup songs" so Idk.

[@tfcast1977]

​@@Yesletsgo144 the same way that she messes with ratman, talking about him being schizophrenic while he was hiding and scaping from her in the comic, she was trying to injure him where It hurt the most mentaly. And she also do the same with Chell in both Portal games, plus when GLaDOS was a potato battery if i recall correctly she tells Chell that she is adopted. So Caroline being her foster parent wouldn't be so far fetched.

[@2sin2]

3:05 if you go to this area in game, you will find a moldy lemon, (mold turns organics to dirt) that should be proof that the game is not supper far in the Future.

[@2sin2]

I thought of this a while ago, but could not think of a place to say this.

[@2sin2]

Or valve did not think about this when making the game.

[@lucasmonoyasuo130]

2 Games that I need to see 1- Seven war game (Imagine a full combine army on earth) 2 - The day that GLaDOS flooded aperture (Playing with doug or other scientist kinda cool)

[@jen-jen5470]

Imagine a horde mode/last stand game where you have to defend yourself from an infinite amount of waves of the combine which you cannot win without cheating but you could play to see how long you'd last during the seven hour war

[@code-inator4061]

@@jen-jen5470 CURRENT OBJECTIVE: SURVIVE

[@jacplac97]

Both exist as of now (neither being canon, however, as they were fan projects) 1. The one that shall not be named 2. Portal: Prelude

[@scienceteam5984]

@@jen-jen5470 my games would explode that way, too much corpse☠️☠️

[@ryanlozano9086]

@@jen-jen5470imagine to literally playing for IRL seven hours in game just to survive and also beat the seven hour war

[@sean.chiarot]

Cave Johnson doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would bother with any sort of romantic relationship that didn't involve testing something for work. I always figured Chell was just another employee-turned-test subject or possibly one of the homeless people Cave enticed into testing. Love your videos!

[@CFootprints]

Not romantic. Useful. Should the GLaDOS project fail and Caroline's consciousness be lost in the infinite binary, it's always handy to have a secret sleeper agent type heir to be activated and take over. Just in case. I know it might sound far fetched, but just remember that this is a universe where a dude injected people with praying mantis DNA just to see what would happen, and those people successfully turning into an army of mantis men.

[@aidanjamespiggott3377]

Same here tbh. I always thought that she was some homeless person the Cave had brought to the facility for testing. At one point I even had a thought that she had possibly be brought into the facility to be a subject for the mantis DNA project. I could totally imagine helping my friend on hammer to create a portal 2 map about being a mantis DNA subject. That would be cool.

[@funkyfanky]

true, and it actually makes sense if we take note of what glados said that she was abandoned as a child by her parents. maybe they had orphans that were meant to be test subjects when they grew up

[@Doctor_Straing_Strange]

But her name is in the potato battery.. She can't be a homeless person, the has to be the daughter of an employee

[@lewisjnewmanify]

Johnson seems like the person to "make that mistake" with Caroline. Especially given how loyal Caroline was to Cave, perhaps to a point of fantasy. On top of that Caroline wasn't deleted (if you take the opera and closing song literally). The opera very much suggests Caroline/ GLaDOS sees Chell as a daughter given the opera uses those words quite literally.

[@aidanjamespiggott3377]

I've never played half life myself, but I can totally imagine chell(if she isn't completely mute) telling everyone in the resistance about how she had gotten her portal gun and what sort of things she had achieved underground. I don't know if there are any portal references in half life but it would be cool to see chell in the half life series, even if it's just a fan game and not an official one. That would be so awesome to be able to play as her and possibly trick the combine with her portals.

[@906robot9]

There is at least one portal reference in hl2, on the side of a ship or smth there is the aperture science logo. Idk if there are any more, ive also never played them i just saw that clip in a vid

[@ReptilianConman]

ehh, portals have to be made on the surface of moon rocks, they wouldn't have nearly as much utility as they do inside the facility

[@SmolBanana2000]

My fav theory about Chell is that she was the daughter of Rattman. It’s why he felt the need to save her, his mental illness/trauma from GladOs’ “experiment” caused him to suppress memories.

[@kolbayada4938]

Why would she not have her name then? IMO she was biologically daughter of Cave and Caroline but she was essentially given away to one of the employees, that being Rattman hence the reason why she knows her.

[@user-zc4sx9ig6p]

​@@kolbayada4938don't think she's their child Her model is based on a Pacific islander

[@thetruebadevil]

@@kolbayada4938 to agree with the other reply, Chell bares absolutely no resemblance to Cave Johnson and/or Caroline. Both characters are (based off of visual appearances) caucasian/white while Chell (or at least the woman her model is based off of, Alesia Glidewell) is Brazilian-Japanese and was born in Hawaii.

[@garrcarro2063]

@@thetruebadevilTo be fair her model being based on a Brazilian-Japanese woman isn’t really a lore reason for why the theory couldn’t work. I honestly think she shares a resemblance to them. She has the same hair color as caroline and her skin tone looks somewhere in between cave and caroline’s. Unless I missed somewhere that chell herself is confirmed asian/white It’s entirely possible in universe she is fully caucasian. I always thought she was till I learned that her model inspiration was Brazilian-Japanese at least.

[@LucyWhiskers]

@@garrcarro2063She’s not caucasian.

[@Red_Memes42]

GLaDOS: Your entire life has been a- Chell: *n o*

[@da_bloodytanktf5348]

as cool as it may sounds that Chell and Gordon meets, there's too many boundaries in the stories for this to happen, but regardless it sorta feel corny for them to unite like some superheroes multiverse crap, the beauty of Valve's universe is that it's franchises could co-exist independently.

[@Ardent_VX]

this needs to be the best lore videos on the platform. every video is so well made and it shows you enjoy making them as much as we like watching them.

[@dejanjordan]

Agreed my dude 😊

[@xxscribbledragonxx9744]

glados confirms that Chell was adopted, when Wheatley tries to insult her by using the same insults as glados

[@camelsouttahere.]

these videos are spectacular, the amount of work that must have gone into these is just unimaginable, very good work!

[@samuelantoniocastillomeza5034]

Great vid! Wish we get to know what happens to Chell after she and the companion cube wall into the wheat field. If we got to know more of HL characters years later, why not Chell?

[@dejanjordan]

I loved how Portal games made you feeling clever and intelligent and never dove a lot into Chell as a character so this video cleared a lot of missing links for me concerning the whole story, so tnx and I do now hope that she is included into a future Half life universe, it would be awsome. Tnx again for the videos your channel is amazing, peace my dudes ❤

[@djKIR]

By reading many psychology books the whole story sounds like a mother that only wanted to be succesful with her work & also to protect her daughter until the same woman (Caroline) became as Glados a toxic character without the knowledge of Chell being her child - a kind of toxic narcisist mother + stuborn daughter reletionship, both victims of the same system... rejection, manipulation, economics. And the end of Portal 2 is like the mother saying "i am gona let you free when i say so", Chell ist strong & smart enough to use every situation to end "mothers" tyranic behaviour, the act of saving her as PotatOs gave Chell the power to escape this tyranic enviroment - as if the narcisist mother has no use of her daughter anymore and let her away without being interrupted any more. Valve hired psychologists to make their games more deep into players mind - so Half-Life is a story of Gordon as a son that finaly do not obey any more any given rules from "dad" and this is Gman as a symbol to the story and Portal is what Chell as daughter to her mother Caroline/Glados. Those ideas work perfectly cause we all physicaly & mentaly exist thru having a mother & a father - that's a duality system.

[@keyblademasterclark]

So if GLaDOS was ejected to the car park at the end of Portal 1 then how come we find her in the Aperture Science Enrichment Center in Portal 2?

[@unhumanized]

Heck yeah! I remember watching the whole portal black mesa lore timeline and thought portal deserved a little more comprehensive dive. Glad you got to cover it.

[@clampfan101]

I love the idea of GLaDOS essentially being Chell’s mother.

[@Dommy610]

Thanks for answering my question with a video!

[@gamiezion]

never got far with portal since i just can't think with portals, but with these videos i still feel like i did in a way

[@JamesTDG]

I was able to, but holy shit can some of the timing sections fuck me up. I had to cheat a terminal velocity section on portal stories Mel merely because I couldn't fire a portal in time to perfectly fling myself

[@drunkoctopuswantstoplay7029]

I really think that its true that her Parents were Cave Johnsons ans Caroline. In Portal 2 are so much evidence that supports the theory very well. 1. GLaDoS know from the beginning of Portal about Chells parents even she cant remember herself she once was Caroline she felt it that there is something. 2 GLaDoS told her that her real parents gave her up for adoption. How would she know that? Unless Chell's real parents were Cave and Caroline. 3 Over the course of Portal 2, you often hear from Cave Johnson himself how he adores Caroline and she adores him too. At one point he even says "she's beautiful but unfortunately already taken" and laughs very quietly. According to the motto she is my wie. 4. Plus, adoption also makes sense. After Cave Johnson died from the poison of the moonstones, he commissioned Carolin to take over the company and all other projects, including GLaDoS, in his place. Of course, Caroline then gave her daughter Chells up for adoption because she couldn't take care of the company and a child at the same time. 5. The fact that "Take Your Daughter to Work Day" was on the same day as turning on GLaDoS suggests that Chells, as a toddler, still knew who her parents were, Cave and Caroline. Since Caroline was the boss of Aperture, she went there with someone else. Eventually, her memory of her mother may have been erased by the subsequent accident with GLaDoS 6 And probably the biggest clue is the end of Portal 2, more precisely the last songs that are played. The song "Cara Mia" which the turrets play means "My Daughter" and whoever sings it is of course GLaDoS. Following on from the song "Want You gone" comes the line "She was a lot like you, maybe as quiet as heavy but a little Caroline is now in you" here GLaDoS confirms even mor that Caroline was, once like Chells a little bit of her mother is still in her

[@filipporubsky7621]

Thank you for another amazing video... I love all of them

[@leakmybowls]

great video my dude, i love sitting before my computer in late times, sip on my tea and watch some lore, lore is the thing that makes games themselves, any huge game that will take off will have a community lore in a month or so, anyways the titles you put on your vids are deep and interesting, i mean like the video about Cave Johnson titled "The Man That Hated Lemons" is mysterious and somewhat causing you to wanna click on it, anyways thanks for the vids, keep makin´ them and i hope you get well soon

[@thesmilingman7576]

16:50 maybe but in a den in Portal 2 you can hear him rambling

[@J03L157]

Erik Wolpaw (one of the writers of Portal 1 and 2) said in an interview that even he doesn't know how much time has passed between Portal 1 and 2, and the reason they didn't say a specific time was because they didn't want to write themselves into a corner, maybe in case they ever work on a Portal 3 or incorporate Chell in a future Half-Life game.

[@masonr1666]

My impression is that GlaDos collected test subjects that didn't want to be test subjects. If you recall in Portal 2, Cave Johnson talks about getting top athletes, then homeless people, then telling employees that they would become tests subjects. Not sure of the source that suggests Chell volunteered to be a test subject. I admit, I have no known of the comics, or external sources from the game. It just makes sense that GlaDos forced the employees of Aperture to become test subjects. Perhaps the file was GlaDos taking data, and not an application.

[@jarlw5686]

portal 2 was my intire child hood playing this game on repeat for weeks

[@slothysfm1834]

Another Great videos of yours which is nice. What i always wondered about Glados and Aperture is how did Glados managed to keep an entire Alien invasion force which took all of earth in 7 hours alongside rouge Xenian animals/lifeforms out of the facility how and WHAT did she have to do it all of it without it being even unscarred? what does she hide? what Anomalous materials what equipment which we havent seen has been used for the defense of the facility? what made the combine retreat? i guess it will be an eternal question since we wont be getting a new title of Portal anytime soon. I like to believe that she unleashed all the full unforseen power of scientific anomalies at the combine Death rays, Erasure storms, Matter manipulation, Time manipulation, Gravity manipulation, throwable black holes you know the deal (i made these things up obviously but in my opinion these things i think Aperture would actually make) and after that no one of the invasion force would have been left alive to tell the tale and Aperture was left alone unharmed. Now of course this is fanmade but it would be a really cool explanation on how Glados kept everything in oder as the entire world went to hell with her domain remaining unharmed for the entire occupation of earth and after that. Anyways enough headcannon what is cannon is that you make amazing videos and your voice is amazing for these videos please keep doing these videos friend :D (Sorry for my bad english)

[@withiethewither1993]

1 word: Birds

[@slothysfm1834]

@@withiethewither1993 ARCHMEDES

[@yummigummi21]

I personally like the idea of portal taking place back in the 80’s or somethin’ then we could have Chell escape and then become a rebel. I just think that it would be kinda a bit of a missed opportunity to have Chell return to the half life series.

[@chipsdubbo5.56]

Keep up the great videos!

[@Skyrionn]

Thanks, will do!

[@washambi5447]

another skyrionn banger, you legend.

[@CaptainUltimaFTW]

In the time from starting and finishing watching the cremator video this was uploaded! Perfect timing ❤

[@SunlightBlade.]

Awesome video

[@tasteflavored]

Don't think she was meant to be anything more than a 'shell' for the player but that's why theories like this are fun

[@BZEOfficials]

Notice how Portal 2 is a little weird? When he threw Wheatly out, it was night time. And not long after that, when she went up the elevator it was daytime. MAGIK For those who are going to comment "Oh she slept for a long time" so that means GLaDOS took a long time to attach herself to the main thing?

[@beansaresodelicious]

no??? cuz when we wake up the whole facility is fixed so its atleast a few hours

[@ranchdressln]

Chell fell unconscious after being rescued by GLaDOS. GLaDOS waited for Chell to wake up before setting her free.

[@pnbr0014]

I've been binging your videos loll. I think that portal 2 happening so long after HL2 would be perfect for Gordon and chell to work together. We would need some kind of bridge after HL2 EP 2 for Gordon to go back into stasis via G man and for him to be awakened when chell exits aperture in portal 2. Although given epistle 3 that could also be a brand new story after Gordon wakes up so many years later when all of his friends and colleagues have died. Good reason for the 2 of them to find a way to discover who G man is and find him

[@Robin_lambda]

This is some good lore as always. I have a request for alyx lore

[@jacseptionyt]

You messed up the order for when Doug Rattman moved chells relaxation vault placement to one. That was after she had already defeated GLaDOS in Portal 1 and she was pulled into the hotel-looking relaxation vault. The facility was now running on reserve power so he needed to so that she wouldn’t run out of life support.

[@mah4565ify]

Mel as a portal 3 protagonist with Chell serving as a much more visable rattman type of role (maybe even as a secondary in coop as a semi-sequel like in 2) would be super cool

[@dapperostrich7005]

One of the biggest things that really nags at me is the question, "If that project is Chell's, and it was done long before she first became a test subject, why is it still up?" It's always in the back of my mind when I hear people refer to it

[@Tatefootball83]

And Wheatley says 'That one ended well" in obvious sarcasm. Something happened that day... My theory is that was when Chell was taken as an involuntary test subject. They just let her grow up in the facility before she finally is chosen to test in the first Portal.

[@codymcgrath2.3bviews3secon7]

Wow, great work as always

[@DerJott]

It´s quite late at my place now, but I will watch it tmr!

[@Skyrionn]

Enjoy!

[@Nimrood33]

Chell looked at the fire like... "Yeaaaaahhh finally some cake.. i like cakes.." "Wait what the fu-"

[@Dave-with-a-knife]

I was playing portal 2 earlier and in one of the messages cave mentioned black mesa in the recording about other people stealing the products

[@lazolad]

I dont like these videos but i just cant stop watching, its addictive

[@FEATHERTHORN-OFFICIAL-]

great vids

[@somedudewhodraws9377]

What I like about her character is that she might have been born mute basically without vocal chords but her intelligence even at young age was very high and they knew she could stop Glados Reign Of Terror or more specifically Doug Ratmann. Im curious to know what happened to her after Portal 2 as her whereabouts are unknown. I bet she might have found a man and settled down and have a daughter of her own with her intellect as well :). But Glados is still alive in the facility and Im wondering if she considers Chell to be her potential friend now in a sense after Portal 2. Kinda like how Master Chief and Arbiter became allies and friends over time despite thier rivalry in Halo 2 and 3. Even Arbiter considers Chief to be hos friend now as they both fought together for a common cause and to save the galaxy from the Flood taking over the galaxy.

[@OfficerWolfy-]

I feel like portal 3 would take place after the combine were stranded on earth, thats why the earth looks slightly alivevand you see actual living crops and stuff but thats just a small theory

[@torikazuki8701]

Chell being the real Caroliune's Daughter does have a nice conflict resonance, with GLaDOS being an A.I. reproduction of Caroline. Where Valve will go with it (if they ever do), remains to be seen. Half-Life: Alyx, coming 13 years after HL2, pt2, shows that Valve is willing to take their time when it comes to their stories.

[@carrotcommunist9216]

damn this was just 2 hours ago?? I just finished Portal the other day and was wanting to learn more about the lore today after I had my cousin play. What timing!!

[@zipobob1]

Could you use Portal with RTX footage to showcase the Portal 1 scenes? I think it would look really nice, similar to how you showcase Black Mesa for Half-Life 1 events.

[@danfletcher3255]

Heres what i think happened to Chell after Portal 2. After she left the facility with her Companion Cube, she took it on many journeys, fighting headcrabs, zombies, zen creatures and any enemy in her way. After a while she would find herself infront of a small house on the brink of collapse. She was far from Aperture, so she walked into the house to see a figure standing ahead of her. This figure wore a blue suit. It turned around, picked up a suitcase and Chells entire surroundings turned white. This man applauded her for finding him and for all the pain she went through. He explained to her that he had recommended her to his Employers, and they all had agreed she had limitless potential, similar to another person he had hired. Chell had been given a simple decision; either she takes the Quantum Tunneling Device that he had passed her or...she be dropped back in the facility she was found in. Chell would take the Portal gun, and the mysterious man turned the surroundings black, leaving only a small rectangle white. He then told her she would be a great asset and she will be sent out when needed. He picked up his Suitcase and walked into the white rectangle as it turned black. Subject: Chell ■■■■■■■■■ Status: Hired Awaiting Assignment.

[@LollipopWNoChainsaw]

I liked the part where the portal gurl (i thimk her name was shell) said "it's portalin' time", then portaled all over the room. Truly the moment of all time. (Oof. I feel like my brain cells just halved their life)

[@Josh-le6lu]

I heard a theory that a lot of stuff in Valve games (like the G-man) is vague because Valve themselves don't even know and that's backed up by a Portal 2 commentary node that said something like "Suddenly, had an opportunity for a GlaDOS origin story".

[@gamingdevil49]

I think that portal 2 takes place a few years after half life 2 episode 2, so chell was released from aperture after the resistance defeated the combine

[@Ibadullah]

i will be infinite years old when portal 3 comes out

[@tobios89p13]

Nice

[@SGRebooted]

Is that how the portal gun normally is at 9:20?

[@Bombiedude.]

I do like the mel story game too because that event happened between the main 2 games and her final boss agis looked very similar to GLaDOS but different in the way he was programmed

[@HolySilverStrike]

So I remember seeing a moldy lemon in kids project where the giant potato stalk is at. If thousands of years went by that lemon would be dust by now. So I think only a small time went by when chell was sleeping between portal 1 and 2.

[@ek8710]

Hope you feel better soon

[@danielanderson9178]

I've always wondered how Valve would handle the timeline of the Portal games with the Half-Life games. Does Portal, and/ or Portal 2, take place before, during, or after the Combine invasion? Does Chell wake up before, during, or after the invasion for the events of Portal 2? Would love to hear some ideas

[@Andrew08893]

Combine guards when?

[@agreenunderripebanana8901]

ooooooh damn this is gonna be good

[@Mein_zweiter_Kanal]

I feel like I've heard of Fluffy the Dragon from North of the Border's channel(wich also from the patreon)

[@kubakonik9377]

4:16 I just noticed that there is a trabant on the left and a GAZ-24 Volga on the right. Why are there eastern bloc cars in Michigan?

[@Umbra101]

Just a quick question. If Glados opened a portal to the surface in the first game then how in the second game we see that she is back in her chamber again. How did she move from the surface back underground in her chamber?

[@Skyrionn]

It's just one of those unanswered questions. We have a lot of theories but that's all they are at this point.

[@Umbra101]

Oh ok thanks!

[@906robot9]

Maybe the same robot that brought chell back in also took the glados parts back inside too. Idk, just s thought

[@Umbra101]

@@906robot9 that could work but Glados was all plugged in when we see her in the second game. Maybe the robot could’ve possibly plugged her in too. Idk but good theory though!

[@themysteriousstrangerofnow490]

Just realised. If it is CALLED a Lomg term Relaxation, that only implies sleep and given the likely theory that she was there since glados's surprise attack. Thus it would mean that, while the events of portal 2 Definetly takes place after HL2EP2 and beyond possibly (but not by much more) also that portal Also takes place after atleast HL2 or HLA. Why i think it isn't a stasis machine?. Well because It Has to provide life support Meaning that the subject is not in suspended animation Of any kind. While it doesn't realy say How much time had passed between events. It does explain that it is less that 50 years.

[@robuxyyyyyyyyyy4708]

I love the half life series but it feels like I'll die before we get a proper ending

[@musicoreeee]

i want these to happen if there will be a Half LIFE: Shepard game the intro of the game is that Shepard is still in the helicopter realm and he remembers the times that Gman always visited their headquarters ... and then suddenly he heard the voices of the combine soldiers and something lighted up like a box and this is the vault that was used to imprison G-Man in Half Life: Alyx .. he heard the voices of the combine soldiers like this "it's him! capture him !" , "we need to capture him at any cost", they are capturing G-Man using the vault and those voices are heard by Shepard in the realm and he see a vague images of the combine soldiers capturing G-man .. and after they locked gman in the vault, there was a small crack or small portal where Shepard was.. because of the G-man's capture , the force that keeping Shepard unable to move has been weakened and Shepard was freed and able to move again and then suddenly multiple portals comes out from every direction on the realm where Shepard is being freeze .. and Shepard was just staring at the small portal near him that came out and thought to approach it and he got absorbed by it and he blocked out ..( like what happened to Freeman when the Resonance cascade happened .. the screen blocked out and then teleported to xen). When Shepard woke up, he first saw the big xen crystal next to him .. and surrounded by people wearing tribal clothing as if they were worshiping or praying in front of the big xen crystal .. the small portal that Shepard entered was going to the big Xen crystal that where it was prayed by the tribes .. Shepard was teleported to the continent that looks like Africa with tribes living in a big cave like a big city and the combine forces can't track them .. these tribes are praying together in front of the big xen crystal.. these tribes tamed the half life 1 aliens and the aliens became their helpers to survive.. just like the Bullsquids they made like horses because their legs are strong and because they also run quite fast .. and they also have vortigaunts with them who are also praying in front of the xen crystal.. and when they were all praying altogether, suddenly the big xen crystal lit up and Shepard come out or teleported in there .. they think that Shepard was sent to help them and this will be the adventure of Shepard .. I wil continue the story next time I'm still thinking of what will I add hahahahaha sorry for my bad English xD

[@walterbeech501]

They could still have chell play a part in the wider half life story. Perhaps the g-man could approach her after the end of portal 2 and offer her a chance to live in a world that's more like the one she remembered but she had to fight hard to earn that and then she accepts his offer he alters the time-line and stops the party escot bot from dragging her back into the facility and allowing her to potentially fall into the hands a north American resistance resistance force I the portal gun could be a huge help to the resistance

[@UCannotDefeatMyShmeat]

18:29 Despite her core being destroyed, I never got how some switches just turned her back on

[@piyam5948]

It's tenuous, but I think the explosion effectively shorted her out but she could pull herself back together physically once the fuses were tripped back. She isn't back to normal though and that's why the system says she is 80% corrupted and allows Wheatley to replace her

[@Fade2BlackMCfade]

Amazing video ! Out of curiosity will we be getting some left 4 dead lore?😁

[@FightingMachineTripod]

i wonder what the next half-life lore will be the ones that you made but not remade like most ,antlions,hunters,strider, and one more i would like to see is ofcourse the hunter chopper cant wait but i do expect the next one to be a remake lore

[@LadyBern]

It's kinda sad to realize chell kinda let rattmann down. She was able to stop glados for awhile only to end up back in the facility with him dieing to save her, then she and Wheatley revive her, then chel eacapes after allying with glados. The. Glados just goes back to awakening test subjects and testing them to death. But seriously whats up with the cental AI that causes them to go crazy? Glados instantly wanted to kill everyone and wheatly just turned on you.

[@aslanbeats2004]

Wheatly explained that He has to test all the time because he gets a kind of itch that must be hardwired into the system or something

[@LadyBern]

@@aslanbeats2004 yeah but why would it cause that to happen? Either it just does or it was made to do that with 0 foresight as to what happens when you give that urge to something immoral.

[@aslanbeats2004]

@@LadyBern This is Aperture we talking about, they whole way of doing science is "throwing stuff into a wall to see what sticks"

[@HolySilverStrike]

And if I remember correctly after she found all those people she killed them all within a few days of testing.

[@ketanhein]

I always loved the lore of the Portal games despite the simplicity of the games themselves.

[@Fragile_organs]

just like gordan freeman chell will never speak

[@pew9078]

Still waiting for the John Freeman vid, mr Skyrionn.

[@InhalingWeasel]

Portal lore? Oh happy day!

[@ihateyoutube772]

Any chance you could move any text on Thumbnails up a bit? The length of the video overlay often covers part of whatever text is in the bottom right. Hence the thumbnail looking like it said this video was on someone named Chali

[@StarkiiL]

5:15 it sounds more like a fan theory than actual lore, i need a source on that one

[@badunius_code]

This was a triumph

[@Devilish.Kitten]

I’m making a note here

[@snorkdork143]

"Huge Success"

[@Djheffeson]

Another amazing video! I love your channel so muchhhh there is a way to I make subtitles in portuguese BR for those videos? I want to my people here in Brazil watch this phenomenal content(and my friends too) . . . . . . . . if you are reading this: Like subscribe hit that bell and take care of you!

[@Djheffeson]

that is this?

[@SoggyCoffeeAddict]

"and judging by her hand writing she was about 8-10 years old at the time" Me: wait, is it supposed to get better over the years? 😂 I still write like an 8 year old at 22

[@ryanosborne7534]

I so badly want chells story to be expanded more, but after a decade with no portal things outside of silly joke games, unfortunately I don't think that's ever gonna happen.

[@Quick-Silver206]

I still remember when we first made the connections between Portal and Half-Life and people were stoked as hell thinking Half-Life 3 would have been a co op affair with with Chell and Gordon using the portal and gravity guns for combat and puzzles.

[@potatomining4806]

I always found it interesting how when you are escaping in Portal 1 she says "You aren't a good person you know, good people don't end up here"

[@thesmilingman7576]

24:54 think the combine are gone at this point

[@socialaccount0000]

What I want to know is, how come the GMan seemingly showed zero interest in Chell, or Aperture science for that matter? Tl;dr If Gman knew about her existence, he disregarded her for unknown reasons, preferring instead to dedicate his interest in Gordan Freeman and Alyx Vance. People like Barney have also shown the same adaptability as Gordan, but have been ignored by the Gman, so this isn't too out of the question for him. We know the Combine took an interest in Aperture, but were either unable to acquire the portal technology, unable to access the facility, or unable to change the portal gun to use other materials besides moon rocks. Either way, Glados mentions them (albeit not by name), so we know the two factions have interacted at least once. Since the Gman not only has time manipulation abilities, but also has a vested interest in those with the ability to survive and adapt to any situation, it's odd that the Gman seemed to have either A. Never considered Chell, or B. Never knew of her existence. Imo, since the events of Aperture are for the most part self-contained, its likely that, while Gman wanted Gordan to defeat the Combine at some point, he didn't want them defeated too early, and therefore instead of worrying about her, or removing her from the equation like he did with Adrian, he simply just like Aperture take care of her for him.

[@DeafCope]

the ending songs are so good, makes me cri evrytim

[@RUNAWAYDONTSUBSCRIBE]

7:21 they only ever turned glados on 4 times before bring your cat to work day