Portal 2 Ending *SPOILERS!!!*

[The Aimless One]

I loved it!

I was scratching my head about what to do next and fired a shot at the moon out of boredom.
This made for one hell of a WTF?!-moment. XD

Seldom have I enjoyed a game ending more then this one.

 

[Laughing Man]

Glados saying goodbye to her daughter. aka: Chell if you believe all the speculation.

Okay Caroline IS NOT Glados and Chell is not Glados daughter, although she may or may not be Caroline's daughter. Caroline is a ghost in the shell.

Ill explain, during one of the past Aperture science facility levels, Cave Johnson talks about AI and digitising people's personalities. So let's say that at some point after Cave's death Caroline had this done and she was stored digitally. Now the place starts to decay things start to go wrong and you start to get some cross system corruption. Caroline starts to spread, starts to crop up in a whole host of facilities computer AI systems.

She gains some access to Glados but Gladoses desire to research and do science and the level of power she has over the facility clouds the Caroline effect. We see this when Wheatley takes over from Glados, he goes from being quite nice and jovial to a power mad idiot, in this place power really does corrupt. On the flip side Spud Glados has more chance to be effected by Caroline given that she is no longer being driven by research and science and the power of controlling Aperture.

So what about the turrets, well Glados doesn't actually control the turrets, if she did why would they have the personality loading and testing line you see whilst digging round in the bowels of Aperture? Chances are this 'Caroline effect' has managed to get in to the turret production line at some point along the line, remember you save a turret that claims to be Caroline and then says 'I am different'. Like the defective turrets you see getting trashed some of these faulty Caroline infected turrets would have been caught and destroyed but many would have gotten away. This is further shown by an easter egg of one fat turret conducting a three turret opera in one of the early test chambers.

The final proof is Gladoses behaviour overall. If Caroline was core part of Galdos rather than just a suppressed rouge element of code then Gladoses behaviour is not that of mother to daughter and Glados actually says at the end that the events of saving Chell's life had taught here an even more valuable lesson 'where Caroline lives in my brain' she then deletes Caroline. Sounds like a rough bit of code to me.

That's my theory, Caroline is a ghost in the machine, a rough program that may or may not have resulted from the uploading and storage of the real Caroline's personality at some point Aperture's early history.

 

[Proverbial Jon]

I know right? it's so annyong knowing that this is all happening in the same unvierse and never knowing when its going to collide. What is Chell shows up in Episode 3? OR the Combine discover GlaDoS, or Wheatley crashes to earth and is used by Dog as a fetch ball? the possibilities man!

"So how are you Holding up? BECAUSE I'M A POTATO". = NEW FML expression?

I'm so happy for the Space Core, he's just such a happy little guy. the only one in the game who's actually freakin happy! (despite the fact he's voiced my Nolan North) I love that little guy!

Oh I'm counting on Chell turning up in Ep3, I really am. If it ever sees the light of day of course. There are just too many links to Aperture/Black Mesa in both games for them to stay as seperate entities, the biggest link of course at the end of Ep2. The only problem is that the tone of both games are very different. Although pulling off any sort of merge would be a huge task, I'm confident Valve could achieve it.

I'm thinking that half the game could be quoted now for a very long time! There was a lot of material that made me laugh, even afterwards, just thinking about it. "Well it just goes to show that people with brain damage are the real heroes aren't they, at the end of the day?" Fantastic. Also I LOVE Valve for making me jump when I should have been speaking, really makes me feel like I had legit brain damage there.

Ahh dear little Space Core, he finally got his wish! To be stuck with him was Wheatley's true punishment.

 

[Grabbin Keelz]

Robot choir....best thing ever.

 

[Darby]

In "want you gone", GLaD0S says "She was a lot like you, well, maybe not quite as heavy. Now little Caroline is in here too".
Also, did anyone else find the Borealis easter egg? The two games have been playfully poking each other for a long time, but sooner or later, they'll have to merge in some way.

 

[Pedro The Hutt]

You all need to keep in mind that back in 2007 Chell wasn't meant to be in Portal 2, which meant she was free to go on and play a role in Half-Life 2 Episode 3. But the fan demand to have Chell back in Portal 2 simply killed all chances of that happening. Instead of being free to do her own thing she was dragged back into Aperture Science while she was still too dazed to wrestle her way out of the robot's arms thanks to the powers of the retcon, and was kept in there for (most likely) hundreds of years, so unless Gordon Freeman is kept in a stasis yet again between Half-Life Episode 3 and Half-Life 3, and that the time difference is also hundreds of years, then I really don't think that you'll be seeing Chell appearing in the Half-Life franchise. Neatly avoiding the need for Valve to think of mannerisms for her beyond "Never ever gives up", and the need to find her a voice actress.

 

[Laughing Man]

Hmmm Chell explaining to Freeman the events that took place in Aperture and Freeman explaining the events surrounding Black Mesa and the take over of Earth... boy that is gonna be one long boring and very mute conversation.

 

[bfgmetalhead]

I was really expecting after cell reached the surface when she looked left and right to see a strider step on me but no links to half-life except the boriallis still this has to be on the top-ten endings of games of all time lists near the top 3 at least

 

[slashcross]

http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Half-Life_universe

Portal 2 seems to take place at the same time as the resistance against the combine so i think its safe to assume that the wheat field is maintained by an AI in the facility to keep people in stasis alive. What interests me is the time travel mention in the bottom as well as the missing experiment, links to EP3 perhaps?

 

[AtheistAndProud]

I have mixed feelings.
On the one hand, the moon ending is cool.
I like how the Space core finally made it to space.

On the other hand, I felt that Wheatley's transformation from cool and helpful to maniacally insane was FAR too fast.
It would have helped if it had been foreshadowed, even a little bit.
Maybe a few lines where Wheatley expresses some envy towards GLaDoS, or maybe a bit where he despairs being small and powerless.
This would have made his double-cross more effective, and less jarring.

 

[AtheistAndProud]

My mind is a buzz with what the future possibilities could be. The ending was well done and despite the whole self reflection of Glados was amazing the deletion of Caroline was just amazingly wicked, exactly what she would do.

Gaben has said that Chell is going to be an important figure in the future of the whole half life series or will at least have some significance.


Loved the whole battle the ending, nothing written as an explination could do it justice.


That Space Core is just friggin amazing, he must be a really happy little guy now he managed to reach his dream

Actually, if you listen to the whole sound file, he becomes homesick.
http://soundcloud.com/betarepeating/portal-2-the-adventure-core

 

[Vanbael]

I found it to be a very emotional and happy ending. First the whole SPAAAAAAAAAAACCE deal was great. When I saw the moon I was saying "You have to be kidding me." After I shot the portal up to the moon, I was in awe, what were the chances of the portal hitting near an Apollo landing site? Anyways, I knew GlaDOS had part of Caroline in her but after I heard 'Caroline deleted' I was saying "Wait wait why did you do that?" And finally the lift started to go up, then when it stopped at the turrets I was saying "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-huh?" and they started singing. Then the fat turret sang. I was in awe, and after I found the translation for the farewell song I actually got a little choked up, a message from Caroline to Chell. And then at the end, COMPANION CUBE which made me go
I have to say, Valve, there is no need for a Portal 3. Let her rest, she did well.

 

[Timbydude]

It was definitely a cool ending. I shot an orange portal at the moon even though I had an orange one under Wheatley, so the impact was diminished for me a bit by the fact that I technically didn't "do it right" and was conscious of this fact the whole time. Still, it was an intense scene, and it was pretty touching when GLaDOS reached out to save Chell.

As for the song, I prefer this one. It's much catchier, in my opinion.

 

[Deef]

I half expected the outside to end up being virtual reality. Like a room designed to look like she was outside. I was waiting for a panel to flicker and give it away, but I guess it was real. I figured this would be an easy way to allow them to make a third Portal; "here, you're free! Hah-hah-hah, just kidding. Time to test!"

If you read all the promotional material, there was a little bit that mentioned that Aperture Science made giant underground farms to feed nearby cities or something like that. That's where I think Chell is.

 

[Pedro The Hutt]

http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Half-Life_universe

Portal 2 seems to take place at the same time as the resistance against the combine so i think its safe to assume that the wheat field is maintained by an AI in the facility to keep people in stasis alive. What interests me is the time travel mention in the bottom as well as the missing experiment, links to EP3 perhaps?

That wiki features just as much speculation as the centuries theory. I lean towards centuries since clearly someone tried to breathe new life into the facility for a while with the new elevators and the video walls, and still it decayed to such a degree that there's pretty advanced levels of vegetation growing deep within the facility.

 

[Kyle Roberts]

At the part where wheatly betrayed you i wanted help GLaDOS by not putting wheatly on the button but then again it was fun when she became a potato (refrence to the potato sack) the ending though made me need a pants change..... twice as i didn't expect him to "booby trap" the stalemate button and the part where you go to space was cleverly laid out.

Being told at the Conversation gel (white) was made of moon rocks to the point of shooting the moon.
I was expecting to see ratman but i guess already knowing GLaDOS was evil would just be stupid and wheatly was intending to betray you he went mad with power.

The turret song was funny although i was expecting her to walk out infront of a combine squad.

Epic ending.

 

[tzimize]

It was only until after the credits I realized how exactly that whole moon shot worked. Apparently the conversion gel was made up of moon particles that worked as an excellent portal surface. Was pretty epic because it was so unexpected.

I remember as I was traveling up the elevator and those turrets aimed at me I said "Oh Glados you betraying *****." Then they started to sing, and then all of them performed an opera piece which was beautiful. But the companion cube at the end was a fitting goodbye. Almost like it was begrudgedly saying, "FINE, HERE'S YOUR FUCKING COMPANION CUBE NOW GO AWAY!"

Excellent ending, one of my favourites of all time.

I agree.

I wasnt really expecting Portal 2 to be quite as good as it was (even if the puzzles were mostly way too easy), but they really had to kick it into fifth gear for the ending to be good enough.

The Moon Shot was just what it needed, and it was PERFECT game directing/design. I was lying on the floor in a daze, and the moon presented itself like an opportunity. I actually fired the gun before I even thought about what would really happen or if it would work or anything. Valve nudged me JUST right, it was superbly done. And the result.....pure awesomeness. The turret opera was just fantastic, with a fat turret singing and a potato look-alike bass in the background. I laughed happy tears.

 

[DementedSheep]

Seems weird that you were going up in an elevator for so long and that you emerged in a flat unbroken wheat field. Aperture science is underground? But you shot the moon and there were birds. Are you really free?...I?m probably missing something or over thinking things, maybe you weren?t going straight up?
Other than that the ending was awesome. I love the turrets. That song was beautiful
?Finally I?m free! Hahahahahahaha...ha...now where the hell am I??
And of course it?s set in the same universe as HL, she has been out of it for god knows how long, she likely has brain damage, pretty much everything on the lower levels was poisonous, likely to give you tumours or hazardous to your health in some other way ....ah well I?m sure she will be fine. ಠ_ಠ

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

I literally had my jaw pasted to my desk when she shot a Portal at the Motherfucking MOON! XD

 

[BehattedWanderer]

The potential Cave/Caroline adopting Chell thing, ground up moon rocks being pure poison but great portal conducting surfaces, the possibilities that Chell was sent to some of the Bioengineering stations/rooms from the ARG, SPAAAAAAACCCCEEEEEE, P-body and ATLAS finding the human vault, Chell having an Aria sung to her by a fat turret, GLaDOS telling her to have her freedom while possibly admitting that she thinks of Chell as a daughter, the implications of vitrified caverns almost three miles beneath a complex as enormous as Aperture and how that might affect the stability of the place, the new revitalized Aperture with all three gels available for GLaDOS's use to test...and then a new song?

How can this ending even be debated. One of the best that has ever been, clearly.

Coincidentally, this seems to be a good year for endings.