Chell

"You've been wrong about every single thing you've ever done, including this thing. You're not smart, you're not a scientist, you're not a doctor, you're not even a full-time employee! Where did your life go so wrong?"

- GLaDOS

Chell is the silent protagonist of Portal and Portal 2.

Overview
Chell appears to be in her late 20's or early 30's, and of mixed ancestry or possibly Latin descent (Chell's face and body model, Alésia Glidewell, is of Brazilian and Japanese ancestry). Throughout the game she wears an orange jumpsuit and is barefoot. She has mild "bed hair" from sleeping in a stasis pod for an unknown period of time, with Advanced Knee Replacement prosthesis attached to her legs.

Background
Although Chell's origins are unknown, she was one of the people present during GLaDOS' activation in 1998, as GLaDOS locked down the facility after her activation, letting none escape, or be let in from the outside.

Portal
Over twenty years after GLaDOS' takeover of Aperture Laboratories, Chell is awaken from some sort of stasis pod in a "Relaxation Vault" by GLaDOS, who speaks to her as if she is just a mandatory test subject. Chell is released from the Vault through a portal, and begins to progress through a series of Test Chambers, which are showing signs of decay and neglect, and GLaDOS showing signs of instability. By Test Chamber 02, Chell acquires the first model of the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device, which can only shoot blue portals. The gun is further upgraded to create both blue and orange portals in Test Chamber 11. Throughout the test, GLaDOS continues to act like everything is perfectly mandatory, giving apparently scripted responses. Despite this, she lets slip several phrases to suggest otherwise, and malfunctions in the middle of sentences. GLaDOS also continuously promises cake and grief counseling will be available at the conclusion of the test.

When Chell eventually makes it to Test Chamber 16, GLaDOS informs her that the appropriate Chamber has been replaced with a live fire course designed for Military Androids, simply wishing Chell the best of luck and letting her into the Chamber, where she is met with Aperture Science Sentry Guns for the first time. It is in this chamber, that Chell discovers a hidden alcove in the wall, where desperate messages were scribbled on the walls by former Aperture employee Doug Rattmann, who seemed to have gone slightly mad during his testing. The most prominent message is written is several times; "the cake is a lie". Chell proceeds to the next chamber, where GLaDOS introduces her to the Companion Cube, which Chell must carry through the chamber. She once again finds messages from Rattmann, who became insanely attatched to his Companion Cube, and grieved over its "death". At the end of the Chamber, Chell's Cube meets the same fate, where she is forced to incinerate it in order to proceed.

At the conclusion of the test, Chell travels on an Aperture Science Unstationary Scaffold away from the final Test Chamber. But instead of the constantly promised cake, Chell is met with an incinerator. Using the Portal Gun, she narrowly escapes certain death, and journeys through the abandoned maintenance areas, to despite discouragement from GLaDOS. Throughout the decaying and neglected maintenance areas, Chell finds that Rattmann was roaming around the facility for some time, with hints and scribblings guiding her along the right path. After constant admonishment from GLaDOS and a massive Sentry Gun ambush, Chell finally finds herself in GLaDOS' main control room, where the A.I. has been sitting alone for over twenty years. GLaDOS attempts to deploy a "surprise" for to eliminate Chell, but ends up accidentally detaching her Morality Core, which Chell promptly incinerates.

GLaDOS, now free of her morality, begins to flood the Enrichment Center with neuro-toxins, which she once did to kill the Aperture employees she held captive, that resulted in her Morality Core being added in the first place. GLaDOS notes that the Morality Core must have had some ancillary responsibilities, and that she can't shut off the Rocket Sentry in her control room. Chell uses this to her advantage, and uses portals to redirect the rockets back at GLaDOS, detaching and incinerating her Personality Cores one by one. Before the neuro-toxins can kill her, Chell destroys GLaDOS, and the explosion forces her outside to the surface, where she is taken by the Party Escort Bot and put into stasis back inside.

Despite GLaDOS' apparent destruction however, only a part of her was destroyed. GLaDOS reactivates a room full of Personality Cores and re-captures Aperture Laboratories, filing a letter to Chell, telling her that she is still alive and not angry with her, but not before extinguishing a candle on the cake, which was not a lie after all.

Portal 2
Hundreds of years after GLaDOS' partial destruction, Chell is awakened from stasis by Wheatley, a Personality Core who has become concerned with the state of the facility, and convinces Chell to escape with him. Chell agrees, and they set out through the maintenance areas, which along the rest of the facility, are in decaying ruin, overrun with nature. After reaching an elevator, Wheatley attempts to activate it, but is override and the elevator descends. Before Wheatley can stop it, they reach the bottom, which is the remains of GLaDOS' control room. GLaDOS awakens, and is quick to accuse Chell of murdering her years ago. Chell is forced back into the testing area, where she must complete more tests.

Personality and skills


Based on her success in the Test Chambers and subsequent escape, it can be surmised that Chell is highly determined and a quick, inventive thinker. Other than that, little is known about her personality and background. All further information about her comes from comments by GLaDOS, who is by no means a reliable source of information. For instance, according to GLaDOS, Chell's personnel file says she was adopted and is "unlikable" in character. GLaDOS may also just be trying to make Chell feel bad so that she will stop what she's doing.

Chell was in Aperture Laboratories at the time of GLaDOS' takeover, meaning she had some business there, either as an employee or something otherwise is unknown. This is supported when GLaDOS angrily tells her "you're not smart, you're not a scientist, you're not a doctor, you're not even a full-time employee!", suggesting she had some sort of part-time job at Aperture. However, frequent mention of the Aperture Science first-annual-bring-your-daughter-to-work-day, which occurred on the day of GLaDOS' takeover suggests that Chell was one of the employees' daughters, that was captured for GLaDOS' permanent testing cycle.

In an apparent attempt to convince Chell not to kill her, GLaDOS tells her, "I have your brain scanned and permanently backed up in case something terrible happens to you." Later, in a fit of anger, she claims to have deleted this backup, adding, "The part of you that could have survived indefinitely is gone. I just struck you from the permanent record. Your entire life has been a mathematical error... a mathematical error I'm about to correct." It is currently unknown why GLaDOS might have done this, and whether it might be a hint about Chell's origins. On the other hand, the whole idea might well be a complete fabrication, like many of GLaDOS’ other statements.

Chell also has small spring devices on her legs that assist her jumping and walking skills and allow her to fall great distances. These could have been fitted by the Enrichment Center, but it could even be that Chell has some form of walking disability. This is because, as the Aperture Science website suggests that most test subjects have some form of disability or they must to be accepted as it asks a number of questions that suggest this such as "what sort of pain do you feel?" One interesting thing about the spring's fitting is if one were to look at Chell's heel springs through portals, they'd seem to be normally attached to her legs. However, if viewed on the various clipboards scattered throughout the Enrichment Center, they appear to be an entire kneecap replacement. The heel springs are cylindrical, with a curved piece of metal extending underneath the users feet. They appear to be implanted directly into the leg, in the shin or knee. The purpose of these devices is to protect the wearer from long falls. Exactly how they work is unknown, but it seems that the metal can increase or decrease in stiffness dynamically.

Behind the scenes

 * The heel springs were originally used for the female Black Ops and the Combine Assassin, an enemy cut from Half-Life 2. They were added to Chell when playtesters questioned as to how she could survive such long falls.


 * Chell's real life reference model is Alésia Glidewell. She was also the model for an early version of Zoey in Left 4 Dead.


 * As seen on her model, it seems that Chell used to wear earrings. She also has streaks of grey hair.


 * It has been stated by Gabe Newell that "The character [Chell] that you play is a character who has importance in the overall Half-Life universe, and will eventually have a fairly significant relationship with other characters that we're already familiar with" in a 2007 interview.


 * The Biblical meaning of the name Chell is; Ewe, little lamb, or daughter. Daughter might be a reference to "Bring-Your-Daughter-To-Work-Day".


 * Judging by the fact that Chell passes through the Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grid every time she goes to the elevator, she may have little or no teeth, seeing the Aperture Science Material Emancipation Grid in semi-rare cases, emancipate dental fillings, crowns, tooth enamel, and teeth.

List of appearances

 * Portal
 * Portal ARG
 * Portal 2