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quetzalqueen · 2 years

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Portal 2 Through a Critical Feminist Lens

An essay I wrote on how the plot and characters of Portal 2 can be viewed through a critical feminist and queer lens. Essential background reading for any of my Portal fics, as it establishes what I believe are GLaDOS' real motivations for testing and other very important details about the characters in my stories.

Can also be read on A03: https://archiveofourown.org/works/41351046

⚠️Content Warning ⚠️ This essay discusses the oppression of women through sexual, emotional, and physical violence, both real and in-game. It also contains a mention of suicide. Nothing in this essay is described in graphic detail, although it may still be upsetting. I understand that these themes are triggering for many people.

Feminist theory is a critical lens dedicated to studying the depiction of women in media in a world where those who identify with the female gender are discriminated, humilated, and put in lesser positions of power than men. It aims to expose how real-world misogyny in the real world seeps into literature, and show us more progressive forms of uplifting women through media. Valve’s 2011 video game Portal 2 features two characters, that, when studied via a feminist critical lens, challenge norms of male political domination and heteronormativity. Chell and GLaDOS also subvert traditional gender expectations, and work in tangent to take down men that are abusing their power. Such a story is very relevant to human nature and wider society through the feminist lens.

Lois Tyson, a feminist critical scholar, defines the critical theory as examining

‘ "...the ways in which literature (and other cultural productions) reinforce or undermine the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women" [1]

It identifies and analyses various positive and negative depictions of women, ranging on the scale from featuring modern female characters that stand up for the rights of themselves and others, to presentation of women as being ‘meant to stay in the kitchen’ to unnecessary objectification. Critical feminism also reveals damaging discrimination of women and compares to real life issues, such as the lack of women directing top-grossing movies, to draw attention to social injustice. Critical feminism is split into camps with slightly to significantly different motives, viewpoints, and actions. A general consensus on core beliefs in critical feminism, however, was concluded upon by Tyson:

Women are oppressed by patriarchy economically, politically, socially, and psychologically; patriarchal ideology is the primary means by which women are oppressed. In every domain where patriarchy reigns, woman is other: she is marginalized, defined only by her difference from male norms and values. All of Western (Anglo-European) civilization is deeply rooted in patriarchal ideology, for example, in the Biblical portrayal of Eve as the origin of sin and death in the world. While biology determines our sex (male or female), culture determines our gender (scales of masculine and feminine).

All feminist activity, including feminist theory and literary criticism, has as its ultimate goal to change the world by prompting gender equality. Gender issues play a part in every aspect of human production and experience, including the production and experience of literature, whether we are consciously aware of these issues or not. No educated person can deny the fact that rape, objectification, stereotyping, lack of freedom of speech or movement, and other forms of discrimination are a major issue for women across the world. For example, a man in the United States pleaded guilty of raping a 14-year-old girl, yet got no jail time. [2] The newly imposed abortion laws in the US restrict women’s right to bodily autonomy. [3] Moreover, a lesbian couple in London were brutally attacked on the bus, simply for refusing to entertain a gang of teenage boys.[4] Critical feminism exposes how forms of discrimination seep into media, and analyses how women can be better represented and empowered through literature. Such an example of oppression of women in fiction is the common occurrence of female characters being written with less depth than their male counterparts.

Contrary to popular belief, this critical theory doesn’t always brand a text as purely ‘feminist’ or ‘not feminist’. Novels, films, plays, music videos, and other forms of creative expression are made up of a complex web of features, and some aspects of a text may empower women in some way or another, while another may reinforce typical patriarchal oppression. Portal 2 is a prime example of this. Interpretation of the video game’s story may differ depending on what critical lens it is viewed from.

How does Portal 2 relate to feminist theory? Portal 2 is led by two female characters, and takes place in an unspecified (but implied to be very long) after the events of the first instalment. Portal introduces the story with Chell, a woman who is used as a test subject for experiments testing the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Gun Device, and GLaDOS, a sarcastic, sly, and vengeful robot who was built to monitor testing. The dynamic between these characters is integral to the development of plot and theme from the beginning of the series.

GLaDOS appears to be with helpful intentions at first, but as Chell completes more and more tests without dying, she reveals her hatred of the test subject’s existence. Despite the fact that Chell cannnot speak, we can tell through her actions that she will do almost anything to take down GLaDOS and escape from the hellish labs of Aperture. The game concludes with Chell’s murder of the machine and her subsequent ‘cryosleep.’ None of the motivations for GLaDOS’ cruelty are touched upon until the sequel, however; and Portal 2 has a deeper story that allows for a much more interesting analysis through the critical feminist lens. For these reasons, I will be focusing on the second instalment for this essay.

Later on, Chell and GLaDOS are forced to work together to take down past and present patriarchal oppression. They still have their points of conflict, but when they are confronted by the reality of what two men are doing to them, they are no longer enemies. Most players, who originally disliked GLaDOS for her seeming lack of sanctity for human life, find themselves strongly supporting both female characters, feeling angry when the enemy gains power, and sorrow when they experience unnecessary suffering. By the conclusion of the game, the audience can closely identify with who was once the brutal antagonist. Her bitterness towards humans is revealed to be motivated by the fact she was enslaved as an immortal overseer of pointless experiments. We find out that GLaDOS was once human, and that she despises patriarchal ideology. Men robbed her of the freedom to pursue anything that is not for their scientific benefit and the opportunity to die against her will. Therefore, it is clear why she used to show no remorse murdering humans.

When viewed through the critical feminist lens, this part of the game shows us the themes of patriarchal oppression, hegemonic masculinity, and the ownership of women by men. At a cursory glance, the power that men exert over women in Portal 2 appears to be a reinforcement of sexist gender stereotypes. However, the way in Portal 2 depicts patriarchal ideology and gender stereotypes does not praise them. It shreds them apart. Disturbing impacts of toxic masculinity left unhinged are shown front and centre. Such evil has a profound influence on Chell and GLaDOS in particular. A dead man’s craving for power is the reason why Chell has been stuck in a hellish laboratory she’s been trying to escape from for hundreds of years. Even more jarringly, Chell is the only human she loves, yet GLaDOS can’t express her feelings because the Perpetual Testing Initiative installed into her may involuntarily compel her to kill Chell in the name of science at any point. She makes the choice to set Chell free, since the human wants nothing more than to escape, but also because she is frightened that the instinct to test that was forced upon her (by men) will cause her to hurt Chell even more than she already has. Feminism is portrayed as morally right, and patriarchal ideology is shown as being very wrong. As a result, Portal 2 is a feminist text.

Hegemonic Masculinity and control of Women and its role in Portal

During the 50s to 70s, Cave Johnson was the CEO of Aperture Science. He speaks on pre recorded lines addressed to the test subjects in his laboratory, and is heard speaking when Chell traipses through old Aperture with GLaDOS. He conducted questionable experiments on people, such as turning blood into gasoline and injecting test subjects with mantis DNA. [5] Only recordings of his voice are heard. However, it is clear that from his first announcement that he abuses his power in the name of science. He fires an employee who uses a wheelchair because ‘ramps are expensive.’ His lust for scientific knowledge is shown to be bordering on sadistic when he says:

"Good news is, the lab boys say the symptoms of asbestos poisoning show a median latency of forty-four point six years, so if you're thirty or older, you're laughing. Worst case scenario, you miss out on a few rounds of canasta, plus you forwarded the cause of science by three centuries. I punch those numbers into my calculator, it makes a happy face."

From just several quotes, it is obvious he will let very little stop him in his quest to satisfy his curiosity. Cave displays little respect for women and several traits which are integral to the concept of hegemonic masculinity:

Hegemonic masculinities are at the top of the gender hierarchy and exist in relation to subordinated gender constructs. Traditional constructions of hegemonic masculinities include risk-taking, self-discipline, physical toughness and/or muscular development, aggression, violence, emotional control, and overt heterosexual desire. [6]

‘Hegemonic’ is defined as ‘ruling or dominant in a social or political context’ which his masculinity most definitely was over Aperture. His actions and power over the facility also line up with Lois Tyson’s first two uniting beliefs of critical feminism and reinforce traditional gender roles. He says ‘I’m Cave Johnson. I own this place’ implying that his masculinity gives him the right to do what he wants, regardless of whether or not it is morally stable. He also shows significant arrogance, a common trait of the patriarchal ideology and hegemonic masculinity. He insinuates that people identifying as feminine, or expressing themselves as female, are weak and pitiful, a problematic gender stereotype:

"I'm no psychiatrist, but coming from a bunch of eggheads who wouldn't recognize the thrill of danger if it walked up and snapped their little pink bras, that sounds like 'projection'."

It is implied that he has a partner named Caroline. She served as his assistant. Although a relationship between the two was never directly stated, he speaks of her as if he finds her physically attractive (She’s pretty as a postcard’.) A portrait of them is also located in old Aperture. During the time period Cave was alive, it was unusual for a man and a woman to feature in a painting together unless they were in a relationship. Professor G. Christopher Williams, Associate Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin makes a statement on this:

"By fulfilling the expected obligations of a 1950s 'wife,' Caroline sounds as if she might as well be married to Johnson, and after all, given Johnson's alignment with American exceptionalism and what it can achieve through technology, he is the 'science' that she has married herself to." —G. Christopher Williams, Associate Professor of English at University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point.[7]

Sadly, the full brunt of Cave’s abuse of his masculinity and power is forced upon this woman.

In the 1950s, Cave acts in a gentle manner towards her, and holds her in high regard (‘She’s the backbone of this facility,’ ‘She’s a gem.’) His complimenting and allowance of her to hold such a high role is most likely what caused Caroline to gain trust in him. As he is dying of an experiment gone awry in the 70s, however, he becomes aggressive in desperate efforts to continue his research after he is gone.

The point is: if we can store music on a compact disc, why can’t we store a man’s intelligence and personality on one? So I have the engineers figuring that out now. Brain Mapping. Artificial Intelligence. We should have been working on it thirty years ago. But I guess it’s too late for should haves and what ifs. I will say this - and I’m gonna say it on tape so everybody hears it a hundred times a day: if I die before you people can pour me into a computer, I want Caroline to run this place. (Now) she’ll argue. She’ll say she can’t. She’s modest like that. But you make her. Treat her just like you’d treat me. Hell, put her in my computer. I don’t care. Just make sure she’s taken care of. Allright, test’s over. You can head on back to your desk.

Cave’s main motivation for uploading Caroline’s consciousness is not because she cares about her as a person. It is expanding his regime of relentless and dangerous scientific research, blind to moral consequences, after he is dead. If he truly cared about her, he would have offered her the choice to die a natural death. Cave chose Caroline as the most capable candidate for his replacement and gradually manipulated her into her trust until he had the legal power to force her consciousness into a machine in the worst act of his hegemonic masculinity. Caroline assertively states ‘I don’t want this’, but he doesn’t listen to her. Afraid, she says again, ‘Mr Johnson, I don’t want this.’ This has no effect on him, and she is still installed into GLaDOS. He is abusing his power and showing the worst integral traits of hegemonic masculinity: aggression, violence, and emotional control. From the context of the previous quotes, we know that Cave justifies his actions towards Caroline with his status, masculinity, power, and scientific prowess. Perhaps even more disturbingly, it is possible that Caroline was murdered for this purpose, as Cave was still alive briefly after GLaDOS was activated. These events compel the audience to feel loathing for Mr. Johnson. They also draw to our attention the injustice of abuse of power and masculinity. Cave used his hegemonic masculinity as an excuse to abuse, control, manipulate, and gain property rights over women.

Cave also displays ownership over Caroline by forcing her to become GLaDOS for his own ambitions, and Caroline is very passive to this until he tells her what he plans to do. He is determined for his research to continue after his own death, and therefore is very possessive of her. She only speaks to and as a response to Cave. Her tone of voice and the ways in which she addressed him show submission and a sense of being lower in the patriarchal structure of Aperture than he is (‘Yes, sir, Mr Johnson.’) She never gains an opportunity to express her personality, beliefs, morals, or emotions outside of the context of her partner and his actions. From a patriarchal point of view, Caroline is nothing more than a shadow, an assistant to a man who would be useless if not working with Cave. In What’s the story? Feminist story, narrative, address, we can find striking insight into how patriarchy reinforces the idea that women in relationships are owned, controlled, and defined by their partners through a real life suicide account: [8]

Bhuvaneswari had known that her death would be diagnosed as the outcome of illegitimate passion. She had therefore waited for the onset of menstruation. While waiting, Bhuvaneswari, the brahmacarini who was no doubt looking forward to good wifehood, perhaps rewrote the social text of sati-suicide in an interventionist way . . . She generalized the sanctioned motive for female suicide by taking immense trouble to displace (not merely deny) in the physiological inscription of her body, its imprisonment within legitimate passion by a single male. . . . In this reading, Bhuvaneswari Bhaduri's suicide is an unemphatic, ad hoc, subaltern rewriting of the social text of sati-suicide. (308)

The line ‘imprisonment within legitimate passion by a single male’ is especially relevant. We see that by simply being in a relationship with a man, her individual identity was erased, and her right to freedom became restricted by the desires of her partner. She became mentally, and later literally, imprisoned by the hegemonic masculinity and scientific ambitions of Cave, and the audience is angered that the patriarchal system deemed Caroline as worthless without Cave. Caroline would not at first anticipated that he would begin taking control of her for science; for if she did know, why would she be in a relationship with him? As he succumbed to illness, he gradually became more and more crazed about science, and desperate to control her. In 1952, She most likely would have been able to pick up on the warning signs of a heightened desire for control later on in their relationship, but was too frightened to confront him, noting her extreme submission to him in her voice lines. Bhuvaneswari commited suicide because she wanted to free of men controlling and defining her identity on the basis that she had a sexual relationship with a man once. Perhaps Caroline’s fervent distress upon being told Cave desired to transfer her consciousness to a robot after she died was motivated by something similar. It is evident that, for one thing, Caroline is utterly petrified at the prospect of becoming a hyper-intelligent, all-powerful, immortal supercomputer. And rightfully so! Decades of witnessing alarming experiments may have decreased her sensitivity to moral ambiguity; but little apart from Cave’s signs of gradually sliding into insanity could have prepared her for this. In the context of Bhuvaneswari and Portal 2, it is also feasible that she opposed becoming GLaDOS because she did not want to be controlled by the motives of her husband and essentially be owned by him for the rest of her existence. Such a motivation is likely, considering that GLaDOS kills all of the scientists (possibly including her husband) with neurotoxin shortly after she is activated, murders every test subject except for Chell, and states outright that she loves revenge. She also attempts to poison and incinerate Chell multiple times in the first game, and doesn’t begin to show respect for her until memories of being Caroline are triggered, and realises they are both fighting the same ultimate enemy - the patriarchy. Only at the conclusion of Portal 2 does she finally gain the chance to displace (not merely deny) in the physiological inscription of her body, its imprisonment within legitimate passion by a single male.

The consequences of patriarchal ideology given far too much power are portrayed as being very negative, and from this we can uncover a subtext about how men must regulate their hegemonic masculinity. Cave’s actions were justified by his status and power as a male CEO, and his desire to extend his research for his own sake after his own death resulted in an almost constantly tortured existence for his wife. The Perpetual Testing Initiative installed into the mainframe is a notably disturbing action Cave took in the wake of his hegemonic masculinity taking over. During her short time disconnected from the mainframe, GLaDOS’ behaviour changes drastically. She uses less sarcastic, bitter remarks against Chell simply for being human, and instead displays amiability towards working with Chell and a determination to overcome another character reinforcing the patriarchal ideology -- Wheatley -- albeit to a lesser extent than Cave did. A typical statement from GLaDOS regarding Chell before she was taken off the mainframe is:

"This next test involves turrets. You remember them, right? They're the pale spherical things that are full of bullets. Oh wait. That's you in five seconds. Good luck."

GLaDOS is still very frustrated and angry, as she usually feels, as she travels with Chell outside of the mainframe. However, she is strikingly less hostile towards Chell, and even displays concerns for her safety (‘Just remember to land on one foot…’) Co-operating with her was probably something she would very rarely consider under Cave’s mainframe programming, even in dangerous situations where she required help from Chell. As she begins to recognise the recordings of Cave’s voice, she is overwhelmed with memories, and uncovers the emotional part of her - Caroline - that had been buried for thousands of years.

"Look, you're... doing a great job. Can you handle things for yourself for a while? I need to think."

At first, she seems wary of this man, but the recording of Cave shouting about combustible lemons excites her (“I like this guy!”) After hearing about how he abused his employees, possibly dredged up the forgotten trauma of being forced to become GLaDOS, and bringing up to Chell the ‘testing euphoria’ installed in the mainframe, so strong that it often overtakes the conscience, she still wants to return to it.

"The body he's (Wheatley - the secondary antagonist) squatting in - MY body - has a built-in euphoric response to testing. Eventually you build up a resistance to it, and it can get a little... unbearable. Unless you have the mental capacity to push past it."

However, as she makes clear, GLaDOS has some resistance to the euphoria, and therefore has a small degree of free will while attached to it. Her motivation to get back is also motivated by the fact that she is attached to a potato at this point, and must regain her power as soon as possible to stop Aperture from being ripped apart. Wheatley, like Cave, was going insane with lust for power. She had reattach to the mainframe in order to save Chell’s, as well as her own, life. Cave installed the test solution euphoria response in an aim to make GLaDOS do almost anything to achieve what were ultimately not her own goals and desires, but his. This alone is very disturbing. Not until the end of the game do we discover GLaDOS’ true feelings for Chell, and the utterly tragic extent to that a dead man’s selfish hegemonic masculinity affected her.

After Wheatley is defeated by Chell, she shoots a portal at the moon and scrambles through it. Instead of being sucked out into space and dying, GLaDOS, returned to her enormous serpent-like body, yanks her back through the portal and saves her life. This action alone shows us that GLaDOS has enough willpower and determination to overcome the urge to use her for science and listen to her moral conscience instead, at least temporarily. We then are transported to GLaDOS’ chamber, where she composes a heartfelt and touching confession of how she feels for Chell before setting her free.

“Oh thank god, you're alright. You know, being Caroline taught me a valuable lesson. I thought you were my greatest enemy. When all along you were my best friend. The surge of emotion that shot through me when I saved your life taught me an even more valuable lesson: where Caroline lives in my brain."

This is truly feels about Chell without the influence of Cave’s Perpetual Testing Initiative. The identities and emotions of Caroline and GLaDOS, which form one self, both feel immense caring for Chell. She doesn’t want her to get hurt ever again as a result of the desire to do almost anything for science that Cave installed in her. In an act of unconditional love, she decides to let her best friend free. Supposedly, she deletes Caroline, and her voice shifts from oozing with affection to sharp with hostility.

"And then you showed up. You dangerous, mute lunatic. So you know what?" "You win." Just go." [gentle laughter] It's been fun. Don't come back."

Further insight into her next actions reveal to us that it is unlikely she actually deleted Caroline. Instead of shooting her with the turrets, GLaDOS sings a spectacular and compelling Italian opera devoted to her as she ascends to the surface. This is the English translation:

Beautiful dear, my darling beauty! My child, oh heavens (Chell)![note 4] How I adore you![note 5] How I adore you! Oh my dear, farewell! My dear child... Why don't you walk far away? So far away from Science! My dear, dear baby... Ah, my beloved! Ah, my dear! Ah, my dear! Ah, my dear! Ah, my little girl! Oh dear, my dear...

GLaDOS clearly is experiencing great suffering at the loss of Chell, and doesn’t want her to leave, but knows that she must be set free for her own safety. She acts as if all of her emotion has disappeared after she supposedly deletes Caroline because she wants to make Chell feel motivated by fear to step onto the elevator. Once she is inside, there is no going back. GLaDOS, surrendering to her sorrow, takes her last chance to express her love for Chell and let her know she cares before she reaches the surface.

What is particularly incredible about this is the use of the term ‘Mia bambina.’ It directly translates to ‘my child’ from Italian to English. It may seem to imply that Caroline is remembering that Chell is her daughter, but it is not. The context of this term in Italian with the context of the other actions GLaDOS takes towards her tell a different story. ‘Bambina’ is an Italian slang term that can also be used like English-speaking say ‘baby’ to refer to their significant other, and Ellen McLain, GLaDOS’ voice actress, uses ‘bambina’ in the same way. In addition, producers of the game at Valve discuss multiple times GLaDOS’ more than platonically inclined relationship with Chell in the ebook ‘The Last Hours of Portal 2.’

“And the dysfunctional romance that builds between the player’s game avatar and GLaDOS…” chapter 3, page 10

“But part of the charm of Aperture is the sterility of the world and the intimacy of the player’s relationship with GLaDOS” chapter 6, page 5

“Everyone agreed that Portal 2 was going to end with the AI GLaDOS breaking up with Chell” - chapter 11, page 4

It is made evident that GLaDOS has romantic feelings for Chell, at least on her part. This is very significant in the critical feminist lens. In the patriarchal system of old Aperture, a woman loving another woman would have been scorned and prosecuted. Overt heterosexual desire , according to Hinojosa, is a common trait of hegemonic masculinity. In society today, men frequently feel and act as if they are entitled to relationships with women on absolutely no other basis aside from the fact they are men. They attack lesbian and other LGBT+ women due to their own insecurity and jealousy. Some people, particularly men, abuse the rainbow community because they think that their orientations are disgusting, when really their relationships are not much different from those of heterosexual people, okay as long as it is consensual and safe for people involved. The incident on the bus is just one of many cases of homophobia running rampant in the modern world. Most critical feminists stand up for the rights of the rainbow community, regardless of whether or not the people they are fighting for identify as female. The conclusion of the game is where the consequences of Cave’s hegemonic masculinity are made the most evident. GLaDOS is never allowed to fully express her love for Chell because of the constant looming danger of the Perpetual Testing Initiative that Cave installed in her. She is frightened that the partially involuntary and intense pre programmed desire to gain new scientific knowledge will put Chell in danger if she is to stay with her. As a result, GLaDOS realises that the most morally sound and unconditionally loving option is to let Chell free. The crazed lust for knowledge is essentially not hers; it is Cave’s. The heartbreaking effects of hegemonic masculinity and control on GLaDOS is a striking example of how patriarchy can ruin lives if given too much power. Mary Eagleton articulates this incredibly well.[9]

Men must learn to be silent. This is probably very painful for them. To quell their theoretical voice, the exercise of theoretical interpretation. One has scarcely the time to experience an event as important as May 1968 before men begin to speak out, to formulate theoretical epilogues, to break out and to break the silence. Yes, these prating men were up to their old tricks during May 68. They are the ones that started to speak, to speak alone and for everyone else, on behalf of everyone else, as they put it. They immediately forced women to stay silent. They activated the old language, enlisted the aid of the old way of theorizing, in order to relate, to recount, to explain this new situation. May 68. Feminist Literary Criticism - Mary Eagleton

Portal 2 also wants to show us that indeed, men must learn to be silent-- or, rather, they must take control of their worse traits -- arrogance, impulsive and unjustified aggression and violence, and abuse of power for the moral rights of others. This crucial message is becoming alarmingly and increasingly relevant in today’s world. Many men, especially in America, have abused their power and attacked the rights of women, the rainbow community, those with disabilities, and others. Multiple US states have greatly restricted the right of pregnant women to bodily autonomy if they become pregnant, some not allowing abortions if they were raped, or not allowing abortions at six weeks when a baby is very underdeveloped and incapable of feeling pain. The abortion law in Alabama was written into law by a woman and signed by another woman. It is worth noting that patriarchal ideology is not only spread by men; toxic ideas that are ultimately damaging to women and others can also be advocated by those who identify as female. Patriarchy is about demeaning the rights of women and other groups socially, economically, politically, and emotionally, but it does not have to be used by men in order to be harmful.

Donald Trump, former president of the United States, has made multiple misogynistic comments [10] and has been accused by many women of sexual misconduct, [11] but some continue to support him. He is an example of hegemonic masculinity given too much power to hurt others.

These supporters of the patriarchy should learn to regulate their hegemonic masculinity, although with extremists, it is unlikely to happen. Instead, feminists must fight for equity and just social rights across the world, and continue pressing for change when unjustified, bigoted, blind criticism and hatred is thrown at us from those who fail to make an effort to understand why patriacrhal ideology is not right. Portal 2 is a compelling reminder of the importance of feminism. It is a story that will remain relevant now as a telling of what happens when patriarchy takes over, and in the future where this ideology is no longer so common, as a cautionary story warning us not to fall back into the old ways. Portal 2 is more than just a video game. It is a storytelling masterpiece, a work of art, one that also serves as an esoteric statement of why patriarchal ideology needs to be fought against.

Bibliography:

1. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_theory_and_schools_of_criticism/feminist_criticism.html

2. https://abcnews.go.com/US/bus-driver-raped-14-year-girl-prison-time/story?id=62726773

3. https://time.com/5591166/state-abortion-laws-explained/

4. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/homophobic-attack-london-bus-lesbian-couple-speaks-out-after-alleged-hate-crime-melania-geymonat-2019-06-08/

5. https://theportalwiki.com/wiki/Cave_Johnson_voice_lines

6. Hinojosa, R. (2010). Doing hegemony: military, men, and constructing a hegemonic masculinity. The Journal of Men's Studies, 18(2), 179+

7. G. Christopher Williams. ""Her Name Is Caroline": Identifying the Misbehaving Woman in 'Portal 2' < PopMatters". Popmatters.com. Retrieved 2011-05-05.

8. Rooney, E. (1996). What's the story? Feminist theory, narrative, address. differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies, 8(1), 1+.

9. Eagleton, Mary. (1991) Feminist Literary Criticism. Page 5.

10. https://www.self.com/story/sexist-president-donald-trump-comments

11. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/06/trump-allies-react-e-jean-carrolls-allegation/592870/

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turtleblogatlast · 20 days

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Saw your question about musical instruments and fighting styles for the turtles. I don’t have instruments, but I always felt like Leo’s love of fighting with his blades was very akin to a highly skilled ballet dance.

Like, one day the guys saves a women from a Purple Dragon mugging, and when Leo sheepishly turns to her to say “Miss I promise we won’t hurt you.” He doesn’t get the words out because she starry eyed and very obviouslu not afraid. She exciting exclaims how his fightinf looked just like her ballet practice.

Raph, Donnie and Mikey are suddenly stuck listening to the excited rambles of two giant ass nerds talking about the disciplines of their respective practices.

Cuuuute, I imagine these Purple Dragons are more like previous iterations, yeah? Past Leos can definitely get that ballet vibe to their styles I see it I see it.

Though I will say that in Rise I’d argue Mikey’s more ballet than Leo just in terms of canonical mentions! But tbh all of them have some forms that could mesh well with ballet, Mikey’s just the one I think of most when it’s mentioned as he’d been described as a ballet master before.

For Rise Leo, I actually find his style of fighting akin to figure skating. I might actually make a post about this at some point but it’s actually fun to look into for him.

Fighting styles are always fun to look at though because fighting and dancing go hand in hand, and I wholeheartedly agree that dual wielding katana and using them as Leo does is probably one of the biggest examples this in the series.

#non au ask #god I gotta write that post one day #*buries self in loads of dance analysis to properly look at everyone right*#BUT YEAH LEO AND FIGURE SKATING #c’mon the sport involves dual blades - those blades are on the feet but still #the way leo moves is very reminiscent #bro likes those sparkles too man he’d kill it as a figure skater #plus an ice rink is basically one to one with the look of his portals #imagine him skating across portal after portal #PLUS HE’S A SLIDER??? his very name calls for him to slide on the ice fr

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mx-mongoose · 10 months

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I don't know if this is a hottake or not, but Caroline and Cave's relationship is so much more tragic for me when they're not romantically involved and are close friends instead. To be honest, and I don't know if i'm just forgetting something pivotal, but I don't know where it even came from that Cave and Caroline were dating or married. I get that the whole Glados thing can be an allegory for an abusive relationship, which makes a lot of sense don't get me wrong, but there's more types of abusive relationships then just romantically-entwined ones.

"But Goose, it was the 50s, CEOs and their assistants were usually involved sexually or romantically. It was just the norm," Do you think Cave goddamn fucking Johnson conformed to societal norms? You think he would draw the line at a platonic relationship between him and his coworker who happened to be a woman? Plus I get that it's a very popular and very likely headcanon that Cave was a (for lack of better words) "A lady's man", but I feel like there's also a chance that he would think a romantic relationship would be unecessary and that he's also married to science. (Cave and Caroline are in a poly relationship with science)

Anyways- The reason why I say it's more tragic as a friendship for me is because I feel like when people say "tHeY wErE iN lOvE" it just waters their relationship down. Think about it from Caroline's perspective, this was the 50s, women were treated like shit in the STEM and business world. She probably had to deal with a lot of men's sexist and/or creepy bullshit. Then here comes Cave, the one guy who didn't treat her like an object (Which is big considering he treats EVERYONE as an expendable object) and held her in very deep regard. He admired her for her intellect, her passion for science, gave her a lot of power over Aperture even before she turned into a Glados, he saw her skills and said that she was the backbone of the facility. He didn't see her as a future wife but a serious business partner. (Possibly friend?)' (Plus i'v also seen headcanons that they knew each other even before Aperture, so take that as you will)

But then comes the Glados project and then he just ends up using her in another way and ignoring her when she says that she doesn't want this.

I dunno but that's just my POV and I feel like the Cave x Caroline thing only comes from the fact that theyre a guy and woman who happen to be close.

#Portal 2 #Cave Johnson #Caroline Portal 2 #GIVE US MORE TRAGIC FRIENDSHIPS #analysis #character analysis

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givehimthemedicine · 23 days

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#doorway to another world #shitposts #my portals/vaginas analysis post got way too sobering to appropriately keep this meme in it so enjoy a la carte #mothergate

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andromeda-galaxy2877 · 18 days

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Okay this has been driving me CRAZY since I watched the movie almost two years ago so I gotta talk about this. I haven’t personally seen anyone make a post about it but I did see this in a fanfic once (I unfortunately forget the name) which just fueled the fire for how crazy this drives me, so here you go!

I know people love the idea that Leo was in the Prison Dimension longer, that maybe the dimension’s time works differently than it does on Earth. That is insanely creative and really cool to see, the Prison Dimension has so much potential to be explored but…what if it was even more plausible that Leo was in there longer? But it had nothing to do with the dimension itself or its properties?

So at the beginning of the movie, we see Future Mikey make a time gateway into the past to the day the Key got stolen, right? He stretches out his arms, and rips that hole in the fabric of time and space, and sends Casey to the past. And then, y’know, explodes, but that's besides the point.

What does Mikey do to save Leo from the Prison Dimension?

He does the exact same pose, the exact same technique. Of course this was probably just done for the parallel, but…what if Mikey can’t open regular portals?

What if that was another time gateway?

Obviously it couldn’t have been as much time as Future Mikey did, since Leo didn’t look any older. So what if he was in there for just a few extra minutes? A few extra hours? Maybe a few extra weeks, or even a few extra months?

None of them would have any idea. Only Leo would. If it were just a few extra minutes, no one would have any way of knowing. If it were a couple days or weeks, maybe Leo thought it took them awhile to actually get him out and didn’t realize it was the same day. (Sure he could’ve figured it out from the scenery after getting out, but like. He got beat up pretty bad, he could’ve been too out of it to realize)

It doesn’t really make sense to me either to have Mikey be able to make portals like Leo does. I adore Mikey, he is INSANELY powerful and I love all his crazy abilities, but Leo’s like. One thing is that he can make portals and teleport. It feels strange to me to have Mikey also have that. Like it’s cool, but at the same time it would be the EXACT same power then.

So, in other words for all of this, oh my god I cannot wait till I’m done writing my current fanfic and can move on to the next one.

#is that last line spoilers? mmmaybe #him being in there longer makes so much sense when you consider this portal #I'm sure I'm not the only one who realized this beyond that one fanfic I cant recall but I had to put my analysis into words #imagine if he spent months in there just staring at that photo and smiling. knowing his family was safe at least #imagine how Mikey would feel if he found out...the guilt #evil cackling #rottmnt #rottmnt movie #future mikey #rottmnt mikey #rottmnt leo #prison dimension #save rottmnt #rottmnt kintsugi #spoiling the name of my next fanfic in the tag prior to this one :D

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circutive · 1 month

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Plural rep audiences be like: [TW: brief mention of programming]

Yin-Yang (Inanimate Insanity): Plurality for autistic danganronpa fans Cube & Cubic (The Pink Corruption): Plurality for people who are way too concerned with their aesthetic Circubit (The Pink Corruption): Plurality for gender non-conforming EDM fans ENA (ENA): Plurality for Mitski fans, or plurality for WCU fans. Alfred Alfer (Alfred's Playhouse): Plurality for people with problematic introjects who could never catch a break Toko Fukawa (Danganronpa): Plurality for people who want to reclaim the stereotypes [if you're plural and not just "uwu DID = quirky hehe"] Hajime Hinata (Danganronpa): Plurality for BPD mfs Geiru Toneido (Ace Attorney): Plurality for people who wish they could change their appearance to whoever's fronting GLaDOS (Portal): Plurality for RAMCOA-survivor mfs who said they kinned GLaDOS only to find out they genuinely relate to her due to her trauma Eda Clawthorne (The Owl House): Plurality for mfs who want to communicate with their more destructive headmate Crystal, Shyra (Undertale): Plurality for ENFPs who wish they were heard Memoryhead, Reaper Bird (Undertale): Plurality for people who probably saw Head I and were like "mood ngl" Endogeny (Undertale): Plurality for ENFPs who wish they were heard, and are tired of endo discourse. iCEY (iCEY): Plurality for people who want to break free from programming Octocube (Geometry Dash fanmades): Plurality for chaotic-neutral, most likely ENFP, neurodivergent (autistic, schizospec or both) mfs who probably have religious trauma and want to reclaim the evil narrative that was put on them by the rest of society

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th3p0rtalmaker · 5 months

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Took the liberty of capturing that moment - that one FRAME - before Hector chose to launch Adira into a tree. (And then I proceeded to turn it upside down so we could revel in his expression.)

You can see the uncertainty in his eyes. His angry mask has fallen to expose the fear that's been holding him captive for so long. And he's probably a little surprised by Adira offering him a place on her team - that she'd be willing join forces with him as brother and sister after he nearly killed her and her new 'friends.'

This is the moment Hector realized that there was something he cared about more than his oath, more than the Moonstone itself. After all the years he dedicated to doing what he believed was good and right, he finally accepted that killing his sister is the thing that would irreversibly damage his moral compass, and kill who he is on the inside.

He couldn't kill her - but he couldn't let her pass through the Great Tree either.

"I've seen the Sundrop's power first-hand Hector! And so will you when we return to the Dark Kingdom."

"...That'll never happen!"

This is such a loaded dialogue exchange.

Adira is convinced that once Hector sees proof of the Sundrop's power for himself, he'll believe in it just like she does. She remembers who he was before they split, and believes that he's still the same brother she once knew. She's determined to be close with him again, so they can defeat the Moonstone together, once and for all.

But Hector will never return home with his beloved sister. He will never see the Sundrop's power for himself. He will never fight by his sister's side again for as long as he lives. Because he will never let himself break his word to King Edmund.

"I'm sorry it came to this, sister."

#they make me FEEL THINGS guys #THEY PUT ME IN A GLASS CASE OF EMOTIONS #I LOVE THEM AND HURT FOR THEM #SO VERY MUCH #tts hector #tts adira #portal rambling #blorbo gushing #tangled the series #character analysis

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misted-buttercup-enjoyer · 10 months

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A Carolinalysis

Caroline was Cave Johnson’s assistant in the days of Aperture’s glory. We find her in the pre-recorded messages in Old Aperture. Later we piece together she was turned into GLaDOS. Caroline doesn’t show up much, her main appearance being in the pre-recorded messages, besides GLaDOS, who isn’t just a person, but also a supercomputer with programming and a job to do (and no emotional reaction to murder),

So what can we glean about Caroline from these pre-recorded messages?

1: WIT AND PASSION FOR SCIENCE, AND HOW THEY INTERACT:

Caroline’s sense of wit is apparent, with her “Good-bye, Caroline,” joke. It’s even a prominent enough quality that carried all the way over to GLaDOS. In fact, Caroline’s general tone during the pre-recorded messages fits her behavior on Portal 1 quite well. In Portal, GLaDOS is quite businesslike in manner, with the occasional joke here and there, such as when she yelled ‘Weeeee’ during one of the puzzles involving terminal velocity. Cave describes Caroline as the backbone of the facility, which shows when she steers Mr. Johnson away from the topic of Black Mesa with her simple utterance “Sir, the testing?” As GLaDOS puts it, she’s in it for the science. Caroline was passionate about science, like GLaDOS. But even while doing this, she maintains plenty of humor. Despite her businesslike approach to science, she still loves to drop in a joke. (Again, “Good-bye, Caroline.”)

2: HUMAN TESTING AND CAROLINE’S MORALS:

Her time at Aperture also shows that she condoned or at the very least tolerated the less-than-ethical human testing Aperture ran. I saw someone suggest that GLaDOS was subconsciously projecting that onto Chell when she said “You’re not a good person, you know. Good people don’t end up here.”

But what’s interesting is that Aperture Science testing gets less and less ethical as time goes on. It’s never great, but the participants are at least there willingly–astronauts, war-heroes, and Olympians–albeit they seem misinformed about what’s going on, and constantly put in danger without their knowledge, which carries over to all the lower-quality test subjects after them. Once they couldn’t afford to pay these elite testers, however, Cave takes to finding homeless people and dragging them to Aperture, forcing them to sign a hefty, suspicious contract. Finally he makes testing a requirement for all employees, which takes a toll as his company loses workers. He resolves to phase out of human testing.

One could make the argument that, literally being the facility, GLaDOS’s views are not a reliable source. You could also make a solid argument that she approved of it, since she steered Cave Johnson back on track to the topic of testing. Besides, Cave Johnson planned on leaving the facility's in Caroline's hands when he died. If she had just been kept in the dark about it, he wouldn't do that.

9/8/2023 Edit: I discovered that Caroline has unused lines saying "Hide the bodies, Mister Johnson," and "No one will notice a few missing astronauts, Mister Johnson," so it's safe to say Aperture's human testing was both condoned and aided by her. (Well, it's called girl power, not girl ethics!)

3: IN RELATION TO CAVE:

At first, it doesn’t look bad. Cave compliments Caroline, calling her “a gem,” “pretty as a postcard,” etc. But that’s not the only reason he likes her; he also states she is “the backbone of the facility.” The dynamic seems fine at first glance. But as Cave’s life neared its end, we got a glimpse of something darker.

There is unused dialogue in which Caroline protests that “Mister Johnson, I don’t want this!” This is generally accepted to be her protests against running Aperture, or being turned into a computer, since Cave claims she’ll “say she can’t” because she’s “modest.” “You make her!” Cave orders, in a pre-recorded message that will play “a million times a day," adding the scientists could "put her in my computer, I don't care" if he "dies before they can pour him into a computer."

This shows us that, while Cave seemed to have a deep respect for Caroline, she is still the assistant, and he is still the boss. There is a power imbalance in their relationship.

And there’s something so poetic about how this dialogue goes unused. We never hear Caroline’s protests, either out loud or in the pre-recorded messages. We never hear them anywhere without poking around in the code. Her protests are suppressed, hidden, and locked away. In the end, we never hear them because it doesn’t matter to anyone what Caroline wanted. It mattered to them what Cave wanted. But her cries are still there. Untouched. Begging for someone to pay attention.

Caroline is also shown to be admiring of Cave. Throughout the entire game, GLaDOS is nothing but cool and calculating. But when Cave gives his lemon speech, GLaDOS is overcome with zeal, suggesting they “not take these lemons,” that they “march right up there and MAKE HIM [Wheatley] put me back in my body” and that “he’ll probably kill us because he’s incredibly powerful and I have no plan! The odds are a million to one and that’s with some generous rounding.” Just hearing Cave yell about his problems is enough to motivate GLaDOS to do something idiotic and dangerous, despite her usual intelligence. And, once GLaDOS is out of Cave’s direct sphere of influence, she makes a more solid plan, though still not “the most watertight,” due to the difficult circumstances. The reason for Caroline’s admiration seems to be that he “says what we’re all thinking,” according to GLaDOS, in reference to him threatening to burn Life’s house down. This suggests Cave was able to quickly rile up the usually sensible Caroline, due to her intense admiration for his attitude.

They were both passionate about science, but they were two halves of the same coin. Caroline was strategic, sensible, may I say the backbone of the facility; Cave was the spirit of the facility, always enthusiastic, impulsive, and erratic in his interactions with his science.

4: CAROLINE DELETED? WHAT EXACTLY IS GLaDOS?/SHE WAS A LOT LIKE YOU

GLaDOS is made up of Caroline, her program, and whatever cores are attached to her at the moment. If GLaDOS deleted Caroline, she’d be killing herself. It’s like deleting System 34. From this we discover that GLaDOS lied, or tried to delete Caroline and failed, and Caroline is still very much a part of her. It’s even hinted with “Now little Caroline is in here too” in “Want You Gone.”

Speaking of “Want You Gone,” in that very song GLaDOS mentions Caroline was “A lot like you [Chell].” Chell’s most prominent personality trait is her unusual, even deranged, drive and tenacity. From this we can gather that Caroline was probably a determined woman.

CONCLUSION:

In conclusion, Caroline was the witty, tenacious, science-loving assistant of Cave Johnson with iffy morals and a knack for keeping Aperture and Cave on track. Cave forced her to run Aperture and ordered her to be put in his computer. The scientists presumably murdered her and poured her consciousness into GLaDOS, deprived of her memories. After flooding the facility with neurotoxin and testing happily for years, Chell killed her, thus leading to the events of Portal 2, where she journeys to her old home and reunites with her memories of Caroline once again. What a character. Do you think she would have liked the pun in the title?

#wednesday theory/analysis #now. i understand that if you're actually consistently following me you were probably expecting something undertale/deltarune related.#but um. next time #i PROMISE #this analysis was fueled by pure passion and love for my new interest Portal. that's something you won't always get from me. and something #i won't always get from me. so just. savor the love and happiness that went into this analysis.#caroline portal #portal caroline #portal 2 #portal #chell portal #glados portal #analysis #portal 2 analysis #caroline analysis #character analysis #caroline character analysis #the portal series #i'm actually really excited about this one!#updated July 17th 2023 with a little extra Caroline and Cave stuff #updated August 9th 2023 to explain that Caroline is a morally gray girlboss #that's way more rad anyway #i prefer her like that #it's called girl power not girl ethics -my sister #updated August 14th to re-emphasize that caroline condoned the inhumane testing aperture ran because it's pretty clear #anyone who sugarcoats Caroline's morals will be socked in the eye #she's morally gray and we must depict her as such #/lh #but i mean it

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los-ninos-tortugas · 3 months

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Alright maybe I was particularly slow on the uptake but I’ve been wondering to myself for so long what exactly it is that differentiates Leo’s portals from the portals we see other characters use throughout rise? Like, yes obviously the means of making them are different, Leo has his odachi and later his katanas and most everyone else (especially yokai) seem to use those little coin charms/devices to activate portals. So in a world where portals are kinda ubiquitous it seems kinda weird to make that a main character’s power, right? But after watching this I finally noticed the difference (again, was it just me who hadn’t figured this out? 😅).

With the portals we see made with those little coin devices there seems to be some kind of third space or path that connects the two points in space, the starting and end points. So like in the clip, Leo and Splinter start in the hotel lobby, physically fall through this third space, and land in the battle nexus. So A->B->C.

But Leo’s portals don’t seem to have this sort of third space that he travels through. They’re a lot more like, well portals from Portal. Each one is directly linked to to other and allows for instant travel, so A->C, it kinda brings to mind for me the little ant diagram from A Wrinkle in Time

Coin portals seem to follow set paths (which is probably why portal-jacking is a thing. If this space physically exists that means it can be intersected by other paths which would allow portal pirates to steal stuff, so arguably Leo’s portals are probably actually immune to portal-jacking), but just seem to be a speedier method of crossing distances, but you still have to somewhat physically cross a distance using that third space. Whereas Leo’s portals kinda eliminate the distance entirely.

(also seriously go check out @randomrottmntscreenshots blog (hope I’m not bothering you with the ping) I literally never would have noticed this without the video and genuinely a lot of the clips and screenshots from their blog have helped me notice stuff I never would have even on second or third viewing)

#rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rottmnt leo #rottmnt meta #rottmnt analysis #rottmnt headcanons #rise of the tmnt #again I’m probably super late to the party on noticing this #but I still think it’s a cool detail now that I’ve figured it out #I like all the fun avenues for portal physics it opens up #katnip talks

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starryoak · 4 months

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One thing I’ve been musing on for a while is why while I’ve always seen Chell and GlaDOS’s relationship as abusively maternal, I’ve increasingly been made aware that that perception is at least somewhat inaccurate; the creators actually talk about their relationship fairly explicitly as a romance, so I’m fairly clearly in the wrong here.

But I think it’s interesting to dig into why I felt that way and why I can’t help but still somewhat feel that way of their dynamic, even as I grow up (Portal 2 was something I experienced from release as a child!) and recognize that flatly assuming a maternal relationship without much supporting evidence is somewhat sexist.

I think, literally the main reason it comes down to is that the level of power that GlaDOS has over Chell, combined with the very passive aggressive nature of how she insults you, is intensely reminiscent to me of the traditional portrayal of abusive mothers in fiction. Comments about Chell’s weight, her inability to care for herself (“funny story, I forgot how much of a big fat mess you are”), false compliments and niceties, the passive aggressive nature of her commentary to you through most of the game is the type that I’ve really only ever seen used by mothers in fiction, towards their own children or children-in-law.

To be honest, it’s still hard for me not to see it that way when the only other time I see passive aggressive dynamics like that are in Stepford Wives type criticisms of suburbia, combined with the power that GlaDOS has over Chell and their disparate ages, I just wish I could better align my perception of their dynamic with the actually intended one!

#chell #glados #chelldos #analysis #discourse #but not really!#I just want to tag it in case someone doesn’t want to see this #because they see it as disagreement with chelldos when I don’t intend it to be #Clearly I’m the one in the wrong here!#portal #My posts

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putting-wheatley-in-places · 4 months

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Sent him to silent hill

Silent Hill - Silent Hill 1

There’s something in the fog…

#ok but he would actually work pretty well as a Silent Hill protagonist #from what I know about the series you usually go to silent hill because you have this horrible guilt #I could be wrong #I should really rewatch some analysis videos #silent hill #silent hill 1 #portal #portal 2 #wheatley #wheatley portal 2 #wheatley portal #request

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realflowey · 2 months

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I had some mental illness about Chara from undertale and the song still alive from portal, I made these crappy notes for a friend. Anyways! I figured it might spark some interesting conversation or I might find someone with similar thoughts or ideas if I share them here so! Enjoy ^-^ (also sorry my writing sucks)

@radioroxx @glitchpunkz since I promised to share them with you guys <3

(Sorry they're a bit, messy haha)

#undertale #i love comparing music to characters #chara #chara undertale #portal #portal 2 #morality and ethics #video game media #analysis #this is kinda bad but yknow #insane in class thought be upon ye!!

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lisa972kdlz · 3 months

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(Translated from french, sorry if there are any syntax or vocabulary errors. I'll publish the French version shortly afterwards, enjoy your reading!)

Interuniverse portals :

Have you ever wondered how the characters in the Undertale multiverse move from one alternative universe to one other?

Depending on the stories, comics and headcanons, the possibility of access to the AU's is very relative. There is no creator of the Undertale Multiverse, so there is no canon regarding the links that can be made between universes. A number of paths have been observed; firstly, with specific and precise ways:

Through the gates of the Omega Timeline (which is fairly limited, you can't travel anywhere other than your own universe (I think, it's not very clear, so tell me if you're sure of anything)),

Through scientific machines, programmed by Gaster most of the time, as in Chancetale with the plans taken over by Ace and Alphys,

Through characters with the ability to create portals or teleport naturally, like Dream or Nightmare.

Secondly, the paths... Without any explanation. In some stories, the characters can travel from AU to AU without questioning, without rules, without precision, we just know it's possible. Secret passages, teleportations, etc., you can imagine what you want but it will never be mentioned. Frankly, I only agree when it's for One-Shot or crazy stories with no stakes, because... Trying to find logic in everything is my hobby, you'll have to get used to it ＼(☆▽☆)／

But the most interesting way comes from characters who can directly open portals/teleport, such as Ace, Color, Error or Fresh, in the context where this is considered a special power –There are plenty of others, but those are the ones I'm most familiar with–. It raises a lot of questions, especially when Ace gets this ability overnight, even though his creator seems rather thoughtful about consistency. The only solution in line would be his ability to break the fourth wall where he could jump from frame to frame... But that's not what he does, he teleports or creates a portal. But how? Why does he do this? Why all of a sudden?

I thought and thought, and then I found a correlation between these characters that might turn out to be causation.

They are all Outer-Characters. In other words, characters from outside reality, with no AU, no world to merge their codes with.

Ace's universe was destroyed by Error and no longer exists.

Color has been erased from his reality, as has Gaster, so his code has become detached.

Error has been literally expelled into the Anti-void and transformed into a glitch creature (more on that later).

Fresh is a parasite without a maternal universe, so we're not sure where he came from, but in any case, as there is no official Underfresh, we're sure he doesn't belong to any universe.

Like free electrons (free spirit) passing from one current to another, exiled between the blocks that shape universes, no longer possessing a fixed point, they benefit from a freedom of movement that the others don't have. Out of space, and for some (Core!Frisk, Gaster), even out of time.

So, they have a fairly close relationship with the Multiverse, their codes aren't 'stuck' to blocks, and that allows them to zigzag between the AU's. But how?

Simply considering that the AU's are themselves interconnected. The Undertale Multiverse is a web. Timelines that eventually break away to become AU's in their own right (Aftertale, Dusttale, Horrortale), concepts that are similar (Underswap, Storyshift), and even the most distant ones, they are all connected to each other. And it is from this point of view that I propose the theory of gaps.

There are thories in our world to the effect that cracks in reality exist and sometimes allow strange things to enter from other dimensions... Extraordinary creatures, curses... And mystical places with high concentrations of weirdness like the Bermuda Triangle would be just such places. Abracadabrious for our world, but in the world of fiction, why not? Cracks... After all, what story is perfect? What lore is flawless? What game doesn't have any bugs? These anomalies, these little mistakes that we make, would form cracks that it would be possible to open in a portal dimension. The Outer-Characters, by virtue of their nature as free electrons, would be more sensitive to these cracks and would be better able to spot and exploit them. On the other hand, not only are these rifts not found everywhere, but some of them are anomalies beyond our perception of reality, and would have their own place in space-time. This means that they could be present for a certain period of time and then disappear, or only be available in a specific place at a certain time on a certain day. We could also imagine that some universes are more 'closed' and inaccessible than others... (I personally give this to Multiverses/AU's, AU's that brings together the main characters of the Multiverse like Vampireverse, Empireverse, Minuscultale, AU Schools, etc.) That way, we can easily invent stories where the protagonists are confronted with constraints of time and space that prevent them from running away at the drop of a hat!

Script excuses offered by the house, don't thank me (☞◖■ᴥ■◗)⁠☞✨✨ !

It's a pretty big deal, and there's a lot involved... Let's see...

So, does that mean that, for example, all the inhabitants of the Omega Timeline whose AU's have been destroyed by Error would be able to open breaches as they please?

Well... Yes, technically. But you can think of hundreds of reasons why they wouldn't. Opening a breach requires training and experience, it's risky, dangerous, leads to errors of course or coordinates, or then they simply don't know they can do it. Just because you technically have the human capacity to do back somersault doesn't necessarily mean you're bound to do it.

And Geno, is he an Outer-Character? Mmmh... Good question. Technically he's stuck in the Save screen, which doesn't mean he's been kicked out of his AU. More from his Timeline, but that doesn't make him an Outer-Character either.

For Ink, it's quite interesting, there are several possibilities. His AU technically exists, it's just incomplete and forgotten all about. However, he could be an Outer-Character due to the fact that he erased himself when he tore his soul apart, or, given that he seems to open special portals instead and that he also teleports in ink, because that's part of his powers acquired from the Creator via "magic paint", after all some versions say that he can't open a portal without his paintbrush. Personally, I prefer this, because if we subscribe to the theory that he still has a soul (the goppy blue soul in the illustration of "Broken Truce"), but that it's detached from his body, that would solve the paradox.

Unless he's fully an Outer-Character because Error destroyed his AU a long time ago, that's quite possible too.

As for the characters who usually travel between AU's, like the Postman (Post!Sans) or UnderEat's Sans, or even Death sometimes, there are two hypotheses: either they've simply learned to open cracks even without being Outer-Characters (because I think it's possible, you just have to be very talented, very sensitive and very determined), or they have this ability by the very principle of their existence. The Postman and UnderEat!Sans were created TO link the AU's (I don't even know if the Postman has his own universe, actually), whereas Death... Well, it depends, because I've never been able to work out whether his "Grim Reaper influence" was just specific to his AU or whether it extended across the Multiverse. If it's specific to his AU technically he shouldn't have that privilege. But if the gods of Reapertale, whether it's him, Toriel, Papyrus, Gaster or Asgore, are looking after the whole Multiverse, then it makes sense that they should all be able to travel between AU's as they see fit.

What about the others? Well, in my opinion they're just not capable of opening breaches, and characters like Sans, Red or Blue shouldn't have this ability. Least of all those who have no knowledge of universes. Because if anyone could do it, it would still be a big, big mess. Even, scenaristically, it would be a bit annoying if everyone could go where they wanted when they wanted and get away just the same. But that's just my interpretation of things.

But it's not over yet! Let's extrapolate a little. Can we link, in Undertale's Multiverse, this story of cracks and links to something we know? Is there a dimension where all the AU's meet at the same centre? A dimension to be the Core?

Huh?

Of course yes !

I'm obviously talking about the Doodlesph– the Anti-Void.

What really is the Anti-Void? We've never had an exact definition by Crayon Queen. We know it's a mysterious white nothingness where Geno landed when a Determination experiment went wrong. It's called the Anti-Void because the color is white and not black like the Void.... But that's all. And that's not cool, because white Voids are a dime a dozen. Most of the time, they're empty AU's with nothing left, Chancetale, for example. Empty AU's, but not destroyed, because in Undertale during the Genocide route, we know that when you destroy the world there's nothing left, it's the Void. Black, cold, silent. The Void is the darkness that makes up the stars in the sky, the absolute vacuum.

We can deduce from this that these empty, white AU's are more likely to be the result of an AU that is dead of content, but still present, like X-tale or ___tale (this is contradictory with Chancetale, which is destroyed, totally destroyed, but it's normal to have a few contradictions when you're talking about a world created by hundreds of different people). What's certain is that the Anti-Void doesn't fall into this category. It's not an empty shell. It's something else. You can see it in what it does to its tenants, literally turning them into amnesiac, deranged glitches. You can see it in the window that Error opens up, leading into his old memories. You can see it when you realise that it's a way, after a while, of hearing the voice of the Creators.

The Anti-Void is the exact opposite of the Void: it's the Whole, the Link where every path crosses. After all, how many characters have accidentally ended up there? Let's not talk about the hundreds of x-reader stories where the protagonist ends up in the Anti-Void by chance after some twists and turns 😂 and let's go instead to what happened to Geno, or to Ace's machine whose first destination it was. Just look at how Error has learnt to use the rifts... Each time he goes through the Anti-Void FIRST before opening a portal from one AU to another. It's the Central Station for crossings between dimensions. I'd even go so far as to say that it's an OBLIGATORY passage. Each AU is connected to another VIA the Anti-Void. Let's just say that most people take the shortcut instinctively.

But why would the Core be the Anti-Void and not the Doodlesphere? Yet it's a dimension that seems much better suited to this role...

Well... One doesn't preclude the other.

In fact, the Doodlesphere and the Anti-Void are closely linked. I've noticed that there are often two accessible points of view in the Multiverse: the "Code Part" (the Player, the algorithms, glitches and bugs, such as Error, Fatal, Glitchtale, etc.) and the "Spiritual Part (thought, faith, emotions, the Creators, Ink, Faith, Dreamtale, etc.). What if the Anti-Void was the coded Core of the Multiverse while the Doodlesphere was the spiritual Core? The technology part and the magic part?

Because there's the computer web and the painter's canvas 🤣 !

Mhrm-... my humblest apologies :'> (does this joke work in English?)

(Hay, no, shit, it's no "toile" and "toile". Well, now you'll know that the web and the canvas are the same word in french! "Toile d'araignée" and "Toile pour peindre")

Isn't it a strange coincidence that the two greatest enemies of the Multiverse, with similar pasts, should live in two habitats that resemble and complement each other?

The web... Ironic, really, that its tenant is a skeleton who wields wires...

Error is reality's homeless man par excellence, it's in his thematic and his design; alone in the middle of the Whole, it's quite perfect to describe him and understand his character. So it's no surprise that he's probably the most capable of spotting rifts in the Multiverse. He can pretty much do it wherever he wants whenever he wants, to say the least! (Which is why I think it's breakable, the fact that Corrupted finds Error canonically useless when he's precisely THE guy who can open to him the doors to all the AU's he wants, even the positive ones) After all, Error's been trapped within the Anti-Void for an indeterminate amount of time. Canonically, after a certain time spent in thos dimension, anyone can become an "error". No wonder, if you admit that it's the agglomeration of all the codes in the Multiverse! After a while, anything coded ends up jumping left and right, stopping and starting, dispersing and dismantling!

Partially ?

Entierly ?

After a while, would Error just disappear by dint of living in the Anti-void?

Would he suffer less memory loss if he stopped going there?

Er... take your pick. ¯(°_o)/¯ I don't really like the idea of dissolving entirely in Anti-Void, but why not?

Hang on, hang on... If the rifts are spatio-temporally related, and the Anti-Void is an amalgamation of all these dimensions, and Error was able to create a window to his past in his comic, then would Error be able to travel through time???

Uh..............uuh... (＠_＠;) it's true that CQ has already mentioned the hypothesis that there could be several Error at the same time, but...uh....I...

I dunno (⁠•⁠ ⁠▽⁠ ⁠•⁠;⁠)

Dunno...

Maybe not, or at least nobody except Error, given that if they are detached from space, they are not necessarily detached from time? Maybe he can just look at it, but not enter it? Is he even aware of it?

But then... Could he still see any future and past? Or only what concerns him?

Don't

Fucking know.

I didn't get that far xD

But hey, that's not a bad start, is it?

(If you have any theories, headcanons or even if you've spotted any inconsistencies in what I've said, don't hesitate to let me know. It's a headcanon, but it's not perfect, so I'd like to tweak it as much as possible :3

So long!)

#undertale au #undertale #undertale multiverse #error sans #anti-void #void #doodle sphere #theories #theory #analysis #character analysis #lore analysis #breaches #interuniverse portals #Outer-Character #out-character #anti-void analysis #crayon queen

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