Portal 2
Saphayla Jul 17, 2017 @ 8:53am
Is Chell the villain in Portal?
This question is really more about Portal than Portal 2, but I figured I'd get a lot more (or any at all) responses on this forum.

So I was wondering if GLaDOS is really the "bad guy" in the Portal series. The main "bad" thing that she did was attempting to kill you, but I think that, due to her being a robot (I'm not sure how the whole Caroline thing fits into this), she lacks morality and therefore we can't judge her actions as good or bad, similiar to how we couldn't consider a bee evil for stinging you.

Alright, so throughout the entire game (that's Portal 1 I'm talking about), there are many instances where GLaDOS talks nonchalantly about your death in the tests, and seems more concerned about you passing the tests, getting positive marks on your files, etc. In the final chamber, it seems like she's trying to kill you with the fire pit, but considering how well designed all the other test chambers were, wouldn't it make sense that she's the one who made our escape from the fire pit possible? Not only that, but after we escape, she tells us to assume the Party Escort Submission Position, which we do not do, even though, in the end we see that there actually was a cake, and there was a robot who would escort us somewhere if we did assume the PESP. Near the end of the game, she says she has a "surprise" for you, but we never get to see what that surprise is, so we can't really judge her on that. She doesn't even start pumping the neurotoxin until we attack her, by destroying her Morality Core in the incinerator.
During the credits we get a song, Still Alive, where GLaDOS sings how she was trying to help you, and how it hurt when she burned because she was happy for you, etc.

Any thoughts on this? I'm not saying that Chell is bad and GLaDOS is good, but I think that most people just assume GLaDOS is bad and don't give it much thought.
Date Posted: Jul 17, 2017 @ 8:53am
Posts: 0