The Clone, the Cube, and the Construct: Part 1

April 13th, 2008 · 38 Comments

Okay, so this clone, a cube, and a construct walk into a bar...

Thanks to all of the great comments in the previous threads, I decided that I wanted to do one more final analysis of the entirety of Portal after the previous two articles, mainly so that I could either convince myself one way or the other regarding my theory on why GLaDOS tortures Chell (and therefore the player) into wanting to kill her at the end of the game. What I was looking for was some concrete evidence; something that could not be hamstrung by differences of opinion.

I thought I had my answer when I realized that GLaDOS could open and close portals at will, as she does in the first couple of levels of the game. This, it would seem, was the lynch pin of the argument that she could have killed Chell at any time she chose, but then when I went to go grab screenshots of it, I realized that GLaDOS could only create portals where an in-wall portal device was located (the walls are marked with protrusions on either side of where a portal will appear).

So while I am still left with the problem of how GLaDOS removed the dead bodies of previous test candidates (and presumably the previous inhabitants of the Aperture Science Labs), I did stumble across what I think was the intended narrative of the short Portal story. It quite literally is a tale of The Clone, the Cube, and the Construct. It’s a story about a woman, enslaved, and her attempt to break free by proxy. It’s a long ride, so curl up with a blanket while I attempt to unravel the big picture in three parts. Today, it’s all about:

Chell, the Android Clone

We begin the game with no clues as to who we are. We emerge from a cocoon-like device only to find out we are in a glass cage of a room with no doors. As a gamer we identify with this “blank slate” by projecting our own thoughts, perceptions, and behaviors onto the protagonist, but we need to attempt to look at what Valve was telling us about the protagonist herself in this situation.

We were in some sort of hibernation state. This suggests we were previously “stored” somewhere.
We are not trusted enough to be allowed freedom without limits.
We have no idea who or what we are.

These things lead me to believe in the clone theory: that Chell (our female protagonist) is actually a clone. Besides the implications of the meanings behind Chell (namely that it is another term for a sheep), we learn throughout the game that she is certainly not human. She is, in fact, an android (GLaDOS indirectly tells us as such later), and has been modified with bionic jump boot implants. While Chell was probably the daughter of founder Cave Johnson at one point, it does not appear that she is that exact individual any longer.

We are almost immediately informed as to what we are there to do, by the voice of the Antagonist, who we later find is named GLaDOS, the sentient AI who is here to run what we are led to initially believe is a series of tests regarding portals and our use and understanding of them. However, GLaDOS immediately slips up and gives us our first “clone” clue in her opening line to Chell:

Hello, and again, welcome to the Aperture Science Computer Aided Enrichment Center.

On the surface, this line seems harmless enough. The line is there to trick the first time player into thinking that they are just another test subject in this neat little puzzle game. However, GLaDOS says “and again.” This implies that she has greeted Chell in some manner before her/our first awakened moment. The only way this is even possible is if Chell’s memory has been wiped or if there were previous versions of Chell.

Later, in the 2nd test chamber, GLaDOS says to us

Remember, Take Your Daughter ot Work Day is the perfect time to have her tested.

Tested for what? Some people have speculated, I think incorrectly, that it was currently Take Your Daughter to Work Day, and that Chell is just someone’s daughter volunteering running the course. Anyone who has gotten 3/4 of the way through the levels could tell you this obviously is not the case. However, I believe that GLaDOS is revealing a bit of a secret here, and that is that she now views Chell in a maternal sense. Everyday is “Take Your Daughter to Work Day” for GLaDOS and Chell. GLaDOS believes herself to be Chell’s mother, if she is not in fact Chell’s creator, as I will attempt to explain later.

At two points in the story, GLaDOS refers to Chell’s performance with a form response. It is missing two key points of data when said aloud to the player: “SUBJECT NAME HERE,” and “SUBJECT HOME TOWN HERE.” While being an excellent (if not hilarious) game-ism in that it avoids attempting to tell the player what town their character is from (and therefore does not break the illusion that the player is the avatar), it possibly tells us something more about Chell. It is entirely possible that GLaDOS did not make an error when reporting the line as heard. If Chell is indeed a clone, it means she does not have a “home town.” While she does seem to have a name, it is also possible that Chell was Cave Johnson’s daughter’s name, and the Chell we are playing as may no longer have any memory of that name. She could just be the genetic inheritor of Chell, not Chell in name, and therefore would not need to be addressed as Chell by GLaDOS.

Additionally, if Chell is indeed “from” the Aperture Science Labs, it makes a logical fallacy out of the statement:

The device is now more valuable than the organs and combined incomes of SUBJECT HOME TOWN HERE.

Because if Chell’s “hometown” is ASL, the portal gun could not be more valuable than the individuals who made it. Not only does Chell not really have a hometown, it is far easier to just leave the line blank rather than fill it in and make the statement false. Additionally, GLaDOS probably doesn’t want to tell Chell that she is a clone (the testing data is no doubt hampered by world-wrending truths), and therefore would not show her hand by giving this information away in a congratulatory statement.

Another line from GLaDOS which, while hilarious on the surface, clues the player in to Chell’s cloned nature is the line

Any contact with the chamber floor will result in an unsatisfactory mark on your official testing record, followed by death. Good luck!

Again, while hilarious, there seems to be a clue here, and that is that GLaDOS is more concerned about the performance evaluation than you dying. She is letting you know that you should already know how to beat this section of the course, and if you fail, will mark it as an error on your testing record. Death seems to be of little, if not lesser, consequence. Probably because she will simply reactivate another clone of Chell and download the latest brainscan of Chell’s last run through the course.

Further evidence of Chell being a clone can be found when the player discovers all of the little hide-outs that previous testing candidates have left behind:

The handwriting is always the same.
The hash marks on the walls are 90-100 days long. It is unlikely that multiple people were allowed to stay in the testing environment that long while people still inhabited the ASL.
The name and password login written on one of the walls is: cjohnson. The odds of someone other than Chell running this course previously and knowing Cave Johnson’s name and password is astronomically small. More to the point, this is probably not Cave Johnson’s name and password, as previously thought, but the original Chell Johnson’s name and password, from an earlier clone iteration who could remember who she was.

One could counter-argue that it’s “just a game” and that the handwriting on the wall is just an artist throwing the same textures up on multiple hide-out hole walls, but that would be over simplifying what was displayed on those walls. The fact that the login written on the wall actually works on the Aperture Science homepage tells me that those words were carefully crafted and thought out.

Now, remember when I said I would attempt to prove that Chell is an android now? I think GLaDOS tells us indirectly during testing chamber 16.

Due to mandatory scheduled maintenance, the appropriate chamber for this testing sequence is currently unavailable. It has been replaced with a live fire course designed for military androids. The Enrichment Center apologizes for the inconvenience and wishes you the best of luck.

Again, on the surface, the player has a laugh at this and thinks “oh that wacky AI making these crazy mistakes!” When in reality, she has just hidden a larger truth: You are a military grade android. This course has been designed to test the latest and greatest version of you, Chell, who has by this iteration been upgraded to the status of a military android. You have jump springs growing out of the back of your legs with some kind of bionic attachment joint holding them in place. You can handle a radioactive portal gun with no ill side effects, and you don’t need shoes, for crying out loud. Raise your hand if you’re a human and would even think of running that course without shoes. Normally I’d rest my case on such granite-solid logic, but fortunately GLaDOS backs me up with another line once you finish the course:

Well done, android. The Enrichment Center reminds you that android hell is a real place where you will be sent at the first sign of defiance.

The line is intended to throw players off and make them think that GLaDOS has made a critical error and is giving you the android line for when androids complete the course, but in reality, she has delivered the proper line for when an android completes the course, meaning you.

Furthermore, it is one of the first signs of foreshadowing that GLaDOS is threatening to kill the player. On the surface, it is an idle threat. But if we explore her motivations for doing so, we can see that it is merely a pawn in the greater game of getting Chell to destroy GLaDOS.

I’ll talk about that a bit more later. This piece has been running super long and I’m going to break it up into three parts. Tomorrow, I’ll talk about how I think I’ve figured out the meaning behind the Weighted Companion Cube.

And you thought it was just a silly old cube!

Close this Window Bookmark and Share This Page

Save to Browser Favorites / Bookmarks

Email This to a Friend

Copy HTML:

If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed.

Tags: casual · critique · multiplayer · nitpicking · uncategorized

38 responses so far ↓

1 Gregory // Apr 14, 2008 at 4:56 am

I’m unconvinced that Chell is an android. For one thing, she wouldn’t technically be a clone then, just a copy, and I like the clone theory. Second, she bleeds, eliminates (if we believe there’s any purpose to the toilet in her cell), eats (assuming the BEANS and such in the hidden rooms are for her), and can be killed by goo and poison gas.

And if she is a combat android, she’s a lousy combat android. She’s a combat android that’s less useful than a regular person wearing a bit of body armor and shoes. She has no action kung-fu grip. I think that the android course was actually prepared for combat androids, and that GLaDOS either sent Chell there unplanned or, more likely, to get her shot at by turrets.
2 Lee Thompson // Apr 14, 2008 at 5:03 am

some interesting points, looking forward to the next section
3 Connor Graham // Apr 14, 2008 at 8:13 am

I disagree entirely. Chell is not an android.
“Due to mandatory scheduled maintenance, the
APPROPRIATE CHAMBER for this testing sequence is currently UNAVAILABLE.” This seems to me like clear proof that the Android chamber (test chamber 16), and along with it, the “Well done, Android,” line at the end are NOT a correct part of the test. If she was an android, why would the hibernation cocoon in the relaxation vault have to be connected to air supply tubes?
4 Wendy // Apr 14, 2008 at 8:17 am

Interesting read, the one thing I would point out when considering anything to do with portal is Glados is a known lier, so sadly you can’t tell when to trust her comments. Even the comments that might be slip ups are hard to trust, because Glados is damaged and clever. Still it’s fun to see this kind of thought put into portal.
5 Connor Graham // Apr 14, 2008 at 8:17 am

In addition, the handwriting is the same in every chamber because it is likely that only one person has ever previously escaped from the test chambers (and into the hide-outs). This could also be proof that the people that inhabited each hideout were clones, though I would say probably not clones of Chell. If you listen to the developer commentary, they refer to the person who left behind the hide-outs as “the rat-man” (this may not be 100%–I’m basing this on my memory of the commentary from months ago). If it was intended to be clones of Chell, it would have to be the rat-woman.
6 Ed Borden // Apr 14, 2008 at 8:37 am

I have to say that I agree with the other comments here, although I thoroughly am enjoying your Portal articles and don’t think you should change a thing. I agree that Portal has an awesome, compelling story, but I actually think the majority of what makes it intriguing is the amount of stuff that is deliberately left out. The problem is that outside of the “game world” I’ve read too much from Valve that points to much of the story being purposely undeveloped. So, while it’s fun to speculate on what “could” be, I have a bad feeling we’ll all be generally unsatisfied in the end
7 Jake // Apr 14, 2008 at 9:06 am

I disagree on the andriod issue. There are several points to make which shoot holes in that theory, though, not nessicarily, the clone theory. The majority of levels are in good repair. Several are not, specifically 16 and later. And, the only time se see tools is in 16. I beleive that, 16 is more around the point of showing that GLaDOS cannot infact repair the facility that she is a part of. Its allways been my oppinion that 16 was being repaired when she decided to nerve-gas the place.

Also, one point no-one seems to notice is that PEOPLE survived the Nerve-gas. If I remember right, its been a while so forgive me. But She declares that the module used to inhibit the release of nerve gas was added AFTER she tried to kill everyone that lived. One last important (possibly Conspiricy theory crazy) idea. Maybe GLaDOS wasn’t trying to get Chell to kill her, maybe she was designing the Chell frame into one that GLaDOS could inhabit. So she could be free.
8 Connor Graham // Apr 14, 2008 at 9:13 am

Jake, about the nerve-gas survivors: not necessarily true. it’s possible, and even likely, they installed the morality core AS they were dying, and passed away shortly after.
9 Michael Nelson // Apr 14, 2008 at 1:06 pm

Whoa there, Connor! While that’s just as valid as any other theory around here, it raises a few more questions. If the ASL was being flooded with a deadly neurotoxin, would your first instinct be to somehow conjure supercomputer parts in a moments notice to fix the problem? Mind you, Shell only has about five minutes before she’s overtaken by it (GLaDOS says she’s only “warming them up” but you can see the gas pouring in), so an average human, even in a chemical suit, wouldn’t likely have the kind of time to to build and install such a device. If they had any real time at all, I bet they’d use common super-science sense and try to escape.

Unless, of course, the morality core was already constructed and they just decided not to install unless there was an emergency (due to it possibly hampering GLaDOS too much), but that’s something else altogether :p.
10 Kris // Apr 14, 2008 at 1:34 pm

Um… Neurotoxin…

Surely that wouldn’t affect an android?
11 spitfire // Apr 14, 2008 at 1:39 pm

The term android has several meanings. Some of them mean a strictly robotic nature, others can mean a bio-engineered artificial human.

For instance, the replicants in the movie Blade Runner are called androids in the original novel the movie was based on: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android
12 Polecat // Apr 14, 2008 at 2:22 pm

Okay, I was with you for a long while on this one… save your last conjecture about Chell being an android. I can believe she might be a clone, but an android? That seems a stretched in the logic department for me. More, your arguements about going through the live fire course would implicate, if GlaDOS is trying to commit a sort of assisted suicided, a far simpler reason: GlaDOS needed Chell to know how to handle the turrets. Since GlaDOS on defenses seemed largely out of her control, she needed Chell to have experiance with the Turrets _BEFORE_ being let loose into the back chambers where they were far more frequent, and even had traps set up to get her.

Also, the comment about the “things” on her feet is explained in the commentary track. They had designed a lot of long falls and jumps for Chell in the game, and the play testers kept noting no HUMAN could survive those falls. Thus the folks who did portal added those odd sping things to her legs. If you look, they’re shackled on just between the calf muscle and the knee, and the pants are rolled up to that point. The lack of shoes, while troublesome, isn’t as bad when you look at the simple fact that no shoes were provided, thus Chell wasn’t given a CHOICE in that matter.

However one thing sticks out to bug me about the whole “assisted suicide” theory for GlaDOS, and it was pointed out by the previous entries. The “Deadly Neurotoxin”. Huh? Why would GlaDOS, after getting that morality core finally destroyed by Chell (which one must admit was at least a secondary goal of GlaDOS, even if she couldn’t outright say it) attempt to flood the area with the Neurotoxin and there-by DESTROY any chance f being killed? If she flooded the entire place with the “Deadly Neurotoxin”, how would the next clone be ready to go if this one failed in the “final battle”?

- Polecat
13 kost // Apr 14, 2008 at 4:58 pm

An important point about the writings:

In an interview of Portal’s creators, when asked about the writings on the walls, they mentioned “The Rat”, another test subject who went through the course.. they said that some of the writings (notice that there are 2 colors to the writings, probably by seperate people) were done by him. they even said you would meet him at mid chamber 19 in the beta tests, but they excluded him in the end to make the “lonely” feeling complete..

So that’s a fact that at least one more test subject went through the course.. (if we believe the people that MADE the game)

Further more, the beans and radios (and even the login info) are, at least to me, indicators that while GlaDOS was starting to go crazy, some of the scientists in the facility broke into the course to try to get to GlaDOS, and SHUT HER DOWN.. didn’t she want to die? why didn’t she let them kill her then?
14 kost // Apr 14, 2008 at 5:01 pm

And just as a question to you all:

I still didn’t figure out how 1 thing fits in ANY theory - when you come to GlaDOS, you pass on a glass bridge, where you can see the size of the “empty room” surrounding the “GlaDOS” room..

Why THAT big of an “empty room”? What for?
15 kost // Apr 14, 2008 at 5:14 pm

thanks Jake, sorry i missed your comment -
“Also, one point no-one seems to notice is that PEOPLE survived the Nerve-gas. If I remember right, its been a while so forgive me. But She declares that the module used to inhibit the release of nerve gas was added AFTER she tried to kill everyone that lived.”

that supports the theory that the scientists (or maybe even engineers) were in the course (probably broke in) and they even got up to GlaDOS (and installed the core)… meaning that all the tools/food/radio things could be theirs’
16 Necronner // Apr 14, 2008 at 9:28 pm

Ok, Ive read through this, and I think you are missing some things.

One:

“Hello, and again, welcome to the Aperture Science Computer Aided Enrichment Center.”

The testing area is not the Enrichment Center, instead the whole COMPLEX they are in is the Enrichment Center. Being that GLaDOS runs the whole place, I would think it natural that she also greet people entering the Enrichment Center. When Chell originally entered the complex it probably said;

“Hello, welcome to the Aperture Science Computer Aided Enrichment Center.”

After she woke up, she repeated the line adding “and again” to show she already said this too her some time before.

Two:

“Remember, Take Your Daughter to Work Day is the perfect time to have her tested.”

I believe that when GLaDOS finally took over the whole center and captured test subjects it was on “Take Your Daughter to Work Day” that explains why Chell was there. She is not an android, instead she was someones daughter that got caught up in the ‘takeover’, the springs on her heals do not look grafted on, not part of her original body, and tell me, why would they make android that can only take a few shots before dying? “Well we want them to be able to take out the robots and then study the technology themselves then send a better more resistant version after us”? I dont think so.

That statement about an unsatisfactory mark, fallowed by death? It was more of a reason NOT to touch the floor, its like “Whats the correct procedure when stepping on a land mind. Answer: fling yourself 100 feet in the air and scatter yourself over a 1 mile radius” its just another way of saying you touch it you die.

As for the handwriting, this link will clear that up:

http://kotaku.com/359961/portal-devs-reveal-the-glados-that-never-was-inspiration-behind-weighted-companion-cube

if you do not wish to look at it, this is the part that I want to direct your attention.

“The Portal team’s limited resources also forced them to “trim the narrative fat” elsewhere. Swift talked about a proposed scene involving “The Rat Man” the fellow escaped test subject whose writing and sketches appear in the game’s later levels.”

There IS another person lurking in the testing areas. My belief is that he got to the last chamber with all the turrets and unfortuneatly couldn’t get out without the turrets blasting him to death. This also goes against “Chell and Android” why have another guy running around the test chamber, when Chell could just run it over and over and over again.

Then you talk about the course with the turrets, the ending is NOT to say that you are an android, even if its not GLaDOS F***ing with you and it is a real android course, that ending line could be a prerecorded message for when an Android finished the level.

I do hope that valve team that made portal will finally tell us if Chell is an Android. I say no but I could be wrong.

For one thing, being an android kind of takes the, darkness, out of the game.

I also believe that you are kind of wrong about how you see GLaDOS, contact me if you want my opinion on how I see her. Yes she is haning, but I think you are seeing her in the wrong way, she isn’t chained and gagged, shes in control and taunting you from on high.
17 spitfire // Apr 14, 2008 at 9:58 pm

The problem with literature and film, is that if it isn’t shown, hinted or suggested, it didn’t happen. To say that “Ratman exists” because they toyed with the possibility that he would have written those messages is not accurate, just as GLaDOS is not a clear cube, nor is she a chase scene, as they originally intended.

The game shipped with no ratman. Ergo, he does not exist at this time, and I am extrapolating a narrative I see (intended or not by the developers) based on the events that unfold before the player.

There is evidence that someone ran the test course previous to Chell. There is no evidence in game to suggest that the individual was not Chell.
18 Necronner // Apr 15, 2008 at 3:02 pm

But thats just it, the creators ‘trimmed the fat’ and couldn’t include ratman, he was supposed to be in the game and even though it may have not happened in game.

To fallow your logic, Eli Vance was never in Black Mesa, even though Half Life 2 says he was in there, because he was never in Half Life 1.
19 Razz // Apr 17, 2008 at 4:14 pm

I love reading all your theories about “Portal”, but I can’t help but think that they’re too complicated to be the real story. It might just be me, but I thought the back story was pretty simple, cut and dry (though there are some questions left unanswered that make for lots of fun speculation). A lot of the evidence you list to support the theory of Chell being an android or clone (that I read; very work-dead at present) implied to me that she was a part-time employee (likely on the janitorial staff) and that the people who designed the ASCAEC had motives that were, from the beginning, much darker than they wanted anyone to believe (I just can’t really believe that GLaDOS built an incinerator onto the end of a test chamber; it looks far too man-made and everything we see of her in the game suggests that she cannot physically manipulate her surroundings in any extreme way).

Regardless, “Portal” is constructed such that all of us players can make up our own stories behind it, which is half the fun right there.
20 Jason Anderson // Apr 22, 2008 at 10:53 pm

I agree with everything except the android thing.
21 David // Apr 26, 2008 at 4:36 am

A friend pointed me at this and I think it’s a lot of fun. However, a couple points.

As with everyone else (it seems), I disagree on the android thing. Clone, definitely. Android, doesn’t make sense. During the commentary there’s even a mention that the jump things were meant more to be shock absorbers to allow for a rationalization of the fact that the character can fall from incredible distances and not suffer harm because of it.

For my second point, I think with what you’ve talked about and with the clone idea, it strikes me as very similar to the scenes in “Resident Evil: Extinction” where the clones of Alice have to run the gauntlet of tests to see if she can perform like the real Alice. It takes a while, but eventually it does happen.
22 MemBrain01 // May 17, 2008 at 11:20 am

Dude but sorry, this is too whacky. It seemed to me, while reading, that you simply don’t have any humor. You are indeed *over*stretching the content of the game. While on a much, *much* more shallow (but nonetheless interesting) level there is more hidden than we first realize, and i even agree that to some extent your ideas cover it, it’s not as deep, complicated, and as i believe, overlapping with what you are trying to show. I was very excited about your earlier texts about GLaDOS appearing like a woman trying to free herself, but this text (Clone, Cube, Construct Part 1) is just way off the track.
23 MemBrain01 // May 17, 2008 at 11:31 am

I’m going to back up a little what i’ve said with quotes:

“Again, while hilarious, there seems to be a clue here, and that is that GLaDOS is more concerned about the performance evaluation than you dying.”

Yes, this is *obvious*, but only for the joke of it; i seriously don’t believe there is an even deeper meaning of why she is “more concerned” (<- this really stretches it too far) about your record than your death. It’s simply funny, that’s it.

Next:

“You are a military grade android.”

This one you are just making up. There is _nothing_ to support the fact that you are a military grade android; what you are in fact creating is a circle or “backreference” (sorry I lack the proper english word for this construct): You *assume* that she is an android, so that GLaDOS statement makes sense, but the other way around there is really no obvious connection, not by far. Again, it’s only for the funniness of the statement. (”You have jump springs growing out of the back of your legs with some kind of bionic attachment joint holding them in place.” *Growing* out of the back? Where’d you get that from?)

(As a sidenote: If you believe that by intentionally overstretching the text you think you’ll make the coin drop on heads or tails: It’s a really, really bad mechanism. You should instead make your ideas up independently of the game, then stick as close to the game as possible, without free interpretations, and then see if the game backs your theories up, and *not* mix your theories and game content as you are doing now. Bad, bad, bad!)

Continues in comments to Part 2.
24 Drenks // May 24, 2008 at 8:36 pm

GlaDOS says that the *appropriate* testing chamber was unavailable. This means that the course for androids is inappropriate, meaning Chell is not an android.

Also, the Valve commentaries state that Chell is wearing footgear that lets her fall from any height, not that it is implanted/part of her.
25 kormyen // May 28, 2008 at 6:37 pm

As others have said I am unconvinced of Chell being an andriod theory. I don’t believe the foot springs to be implanted, to me they look quite attached on, not internal - as the commentary does say they were simply added because playtesters wondered why they wernt being hurt by the huge falls as they do in HL.

I am however surprised at your cjohnson theory, very interesting

I will continue to read the next parts… ^-^

`kormyen
26 Dozer // Jun 5, 2008 at 5:45 pm

The Valve commentary states that the heel-springs were added because
a) they didn’t want fall-damage
b) play-testers didn’t understand why there wasn’t fall-damage
c) adding the heel-springs ‘explains’ why there is no fall-damage, in some mysterious way, and stops the playtesters asking.
27 Axion // Jun 13, 2008 at 2:35 pm

Glados seems to try to take advantage of, what she believes are human weaknesses (Motivating her, offering cake, and trying to hurt her feelings/self esteem later in the game.
28 Cable // Jun 13, 2008 at 10:51 pm

I cannot believe that anybody can think of this.

The ‘Android’ bit, GLaDOS is referring to the Turrets as Androids. Not the player. Wikipedia (not the best resourse but it is a start) says that a rough translation of the original greek word andeides “Man, of the species; alike”. Which means that it is attempting to be like human. Which you can tell from the Turrets voices are trying to be human-like (although far from the process).

I also believe that they were working on a rough AI on the Turrets, because GLaDOS tells them “Well done, android. The Enrichment Center reminds you that android hell is a real place where you will be sent at the first sign of defiance.” GLaDOS needs to tell this to insert Religon into their lives, to help keep in control and for them to have meaning. (think about this comment and apply it to regular religons and you will know what I am talking about)

So my point in summary. When GLaDOS says ‘Android’ she means ‘turret’. All the extra stuff is for people who look too deeply into context.
29 shannon // Jun 15, 2008 at 3:48 pm

Androids do not like cake. It is a proven, irrefutable fact. Fact. Says so right here. “Androids do not like cake.” And they don’t need grief counseling either.

Chell is a person. A resolute, cake-eating, technologically-toe-enhanced human. Probably in need of counseling at this point.

But she’s not an android.
30 Andy of Comix, Inc. // Jun 25, 2008 at 3:46 pm

The cube was thrown in so players wouldn’t ignore it through Test Chamber 17 and consequently get smashed by the energy ball.
31 Daniel // Jun 30, 2008 at 11:00 pm

I do not think Chell is an android, especially because when I saw all the developer commentary they said she wasn’t. The things on her knees are to make the long drops with out injury believable.
32 Gashel // Jul 2, 2008 at 10:34 pm

Terry. Yes you Terry Wagar. We know you are here. We know so much now.
This time we will succeed. No more games Terry. No more spying on Joan and I.
No poison this time, this time it will be quick and easy. Framing you as a pedo
was small compared to what we have planned.
33 Yay, an ARG Visited! // Jul 3, 2008 at 12:12 pm

[...] comment in question was posted by one “Gashel,” who uses the email addy gashelandjoan@rocketmail.com. The [...]
34 Chris Tonks // Jul 9, 2008 at 3:20 am

We know Chell isn’t an android because of what Kim Swift said in this interview: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2007/11/01/rps-interview-portals-kim-swift-and-jeep-barrett/

‘Well, as far as the android thing goes, that was a joke.’

Simple as that.
35 Drasken // Jul 16, 2008 at 3:39 pm

I have to say that once I beat the game I went back and actually looked at the game from the perspective of the content instead the mindset of,”Yay solve puzzles!” I came to the conclusion that Chell is a clone. The first emotionally charged word in the game is the word, “detention” when referring to your stay in your pod.That was a red flag for me that something wasn’t aright. I figured that all the clues in the latter part of the game were in fact written by Chell to help her make it farther each time. Maybe something happens after 90-100 days. Or maybe her first existence was placed there with prior knowledge of what was going on so to retain any knowledge Chell wrote important information such as the logon information down. Even though the evidence supports that the writer on the walls went crazy. Think of the movie Memento. I don’t believe that Chell is an android. The biggest clue to Chell being a clone at least is the way that GlaDOS talks to Chell during the fight to destroy GlaDOS. She says that even if Chell dies she has a back up scan of her brain in GlaDOS’ memory banks. She also threatens and says that she deletes the scan so Chell really is going to die. GlaDOS also says that Chell isn’t even a FULL-time employee. The ratman may even be Chell’s father! BTW I don’t put too much faith in finding definitives in a commentary track. They have to avoid ruining any story progression for further Portal installments. I apologize for any grammatical/spelling errors I tend to let my brain run ahead of my hands.
36 Drasken // Jul 16, 2008 at 3:42 pm

I apologize for this also but I completely forgot to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the article. : )
37 Myk // Jul 31, 2008 at 5:43 pm

I don’t Know if this has been brought up already, but just saying Chell’s name could be a clue to her nature as an android/clone/cybernetic organism, living tissue over metal endoskeleton. ‘Chell’ may actually be a typo of ‘Shell’, implying that there indeed have been many versions of her before and she is just the most recently activated model.
Maybe even a shell for GlaDOS once she’s free from imprisonment?
38 Tstek // Aug 1, 2008 at 6:59 pm

Chell is neither an android nor a clone.

I and most people I have spoken to believe that she is the daughter of a aperture science employee, brought to the lab at aperture science’s bring your daughter to work day, and probably some time ago. this is proven when GLaDOS states that “the world has changed since you last left the building”, meaning that she probably has some memory of being outside, but the “bring your daughter to work day” in question was before the incident at black mesa, and now it is sometime after the portal storm has started, between HL1 and HL2 most likely.

The answer to what she is being tested for is quite obvious since she is moving through a set of test chambers.