| Chell [Redacted] | |
|---|---|
 ' | |
| Vital Statistics | |
| Title(s) | Test Subject 1 |
| Gender | Female |
| Race | Human |
| Faction | None |
| Relatives | None Living |
| Alignment | +1 |
| Level | One |
| Status | Still Alive |
Chell is the silent protagonist of Portal and Portal 2, where she is required to solve a series of deadly puzzles using only her wits and a hand held portal device, all while being mocked and insulted by an insane, power mad computer. Chell entered the multiverse in October 2011 as an alternate for Sarah Kerrigan and Serina, and has only been played by one player.
Background[]
GlaDOS just prior to coming online.
Chell was born to homeless war veteran and his wife, who abandoned her as an infant after they were both critically injured in the Aperture Science testing courses. One of Aperture's scientists took pity on the young child and took her home to raise as her own. Later, at the age of 11, the intelligent and somewhat snarky Chell attended Aperture's Bring-Your-Daughter-To-Work-Day. This was also, unfortunately, the day GLaDOS came online and locked down the facility.
Now fitted with the Morality Core, GLaDOS ended her murderous spree and instead moved on to simply testing people until they died, starting with Aperture's employees under mandatory volunteer testing. Meanwhile, she tested, trained and raised the young trapped children to become test subjects later in life, when they were old enough to legally sign the Aperture Computer Assisted Testing Volunteer Form. Chell excelled at this time, though her increasing frustration caused her to often refrain from speaking, in order to keep from GLaDOS the satisfaction of her response.
In order to preserve the integrity of the testing, however, GLaDOS used amnesia drugs applied during Extended Relaxation to keep Chell or any of the other children from remembering who she was, leaving the girl with a number of skills and tendencies with no real idea where she got them from. After Chell turned 18, GLaDOS forced her to complete the Aperture Computer Assisted Testing Volunteer Form, although she left many of the questions blank in a form of mild protest. Finally, she was put into Extended Relaxation to await testing, when GLaDOS had finally run out of Aperture Scientists.
A few years later, GLaDOS awoke Chell from her stasis induced hibernation to complete another round of her obsessive testing of the Aperture Science duel portal gun, as well as Chell's own problem solving abilities. GLaDOS's liberal application of amnesia drugs effectively eliminated the young test subjects memories of earlier test chambers, but not of skills acquired. Chell quickly and expertly solved the series of test chambers put before her, for which GLaDOS rewarded her with a slow and inevitable death as her platform descended into an incinerator.
Refusing to succumb to panic, Chell made clever use of the Portal Gun to escape the death trap and make her way into the backrooms of the Aperture Science Facility, where she discovered the truth of GLaDOS' violent takeover of the facility. Her exploration of the facility in search for an exit lead her to GLaDOS' chambers, where she caused the AI to short circuit and was thrown from the facility in the resulting explosion.
Knocked unconscious by the explosion, Chell was dragged back into the Aperture Science building by a Party Escort Robot that was activated when GLaDOS lost control of the facility. There she was placed in an extended relaxation chamber (stasis room) and slept for a number of years. During this time, entropy and plant-life got the better of the massive location, and it decayed almost to ruins.
It's been a long time.
Finally an AI core known as Wheatley, who had been placed in charge of the Extended Relaxation Vaults, was alerted that the reactor core was going to explosively fail and decided to make his escape by waking the only remaining living test subject, Chell, to carry him out. His escape plan, however, involved passing through GLaDOS's old chambers, where he accidently reactivates her. She quickly deactivates Wheatley, recognizes Chell and sends her back into the laboratory for "additional testing".
Wheatley finally recovers, and manages to extract Chell from the testing course and into the main facility again. On their way to the exit, Chell sabotages the turret production line and the neurotoxin supply so they can't be used against her later. At her chambers, they eventually confront GLaDOS again to tries unsuccessfully to kill Chell with turrets and neurotoxin. She still retains enough control of the facility to prevent Chell from leaving, however, which forces her to initiate a core-swap, putting Wheatley in charge of the facility in GLaDOS's place. He quickly goes mad with power and instead of freeing Chell, knocks her and GLaDOS (now installed in a potato) deep into the Aperture underground.
Chell, with GLaDOS along for the ride, eventually climb their way up through 50 years of test chambers for Repulsion, Propulsion and Conversion Gels to make it back to the "modern" aperture science facility. There they discover the place is falling apart under Wheatley's control, and the reactor is still about to explode. There Chell and GLaDOS come up with a plan to escape testing (again) and initiate another core transfer to put GLaDOS back in charge.
Despite several death traps created by Wheatley, Chell and GLaDOS manage to make it to Wheatley's lair and begin the core transfer. In a final act of surprising cunning, Wheatley booby-traps the Stalemate Resolution Button and prevents the transfer. Exploded but still barely alive, Chell fires a single portal through the roof and onto the Moon, where she and Wheatley are sucked through, distracting Wheatley long enough for GLaDOS to resume control, end the reactor melt down, and in an unexpected display of compassion, saves Chell from an ugly death in space.
The last view of Aperture
Chell passes out from the experience, and when she finally awakes, GLaDOS frees her, saying it's simply too difficult to kill her, and that letting her go is easier. With that she is released through a back door, accompanied moments later by her Companion Cube. Instead of where she was expecting to be, however, Chell found herself accidently sent through a naturally occurring portal and into a wide open field in an alternate dimension. She picked a direction and started walking, finally arriving in Gaia's Rocket Town, where she was introduced to the Shy Guys and started her new life in the Multiverse.
Involvement[]
This seems entirely possible.
After Chell was picked up by the local Shy Guys and a brief interview revealed she was clearly new and unadjusted to the Multiverse, she was sent to the Multiverseal Adjustment Center to get housing, food and be counseled in the shock of everything the multiverse has to offer. In time she was released to make her own way, and having no particular skills, took a job working in one of the plentiful lunar warehouses. In time she found herself craving a more challenging occupation, a desire fueled by her discovery of a recovered Portal Device.
Stretching her legs as an independent adventurer/problem solver, Chell was hired by a mysterious person to infiltrate an abandoned laboratory on Earth and recover any data she could find. She successfully entered the facility, defeated the biohazards that had been let loose and escaped with the data. While there, however, she stumbled on to an email that hinted that something worse was going on.
With the help of a more technically skilled friend she met at the Multiverseal Adjustment Center, Chell was able to follow the email’s trail. That path lead her to a Mysterious Space Station, in the darkness of space.
Powers and Capabilities[]
At her core, Chell is an expert problem solver, particularly for the types of problems placed before her in the Aperture Science testing facility. She is intelligent, observant, and possesses a keen eye for visualizing chains of events. In addition, she has developed the significant gymnastic ability and split second timing that is required to pass through some of the test chambers. Most importantly, she is incredibly tenacious, able to stand in the face of seemingly impossible challenges and the endless taunting and demotivation of GLaDOS.
Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device (ASHPD)
Chell is also in possession of two extremely useful (and expensive) pieces of equipment. The first is a pair of Aperture Science Long Fall Boots, which aid in mid-air orientation and allow Chell to land a fall of any length and speed without injury (or even the pain of cybernetic knees). The Second is the more notable Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device (ASHPD), which is used to create a pair of linked portals on nearly any reasonably flat surface. The ASHPD also contains an integrated zero-point gravitational manipulator, allowing Chell to (after the Sixense upgrade) lift, move and rotate objects remotely.
In her time after entering the multiverse, Chell has found herself more and more often in physical, violent confrontations, and has taken several self-defense classes, including one at the Multiverse Garden in an effort to better prepare herself for future combats.
Quotes[]
- "Subject refused to answer." – Response on Chell’s Testing File
- “Actually… I have no idea how it works.” - after Pascal asked about the Portal Device
Trivia[]
- Although they are both from the Portal series, Chell and Cave Johnson are from different dimensions. In Chell's dimension, Cave Johnson died when Chell was a young child.
- Chell still had the A.S. Companion Cube. It’s currently acting as a night stand in her apartment.
See also[]
- Sarah Kerrigan, Serina and Shui Zhu: Chell's other characters.
- Cave Johnson and Wheatley: Other characters from the same universe/game.