Does anyone know, or have a theory on who lived in the rat man dens and wrote the graffiti on the walls? Were they former test subjects like Chell? Do you think they were adults or children? Were they former employees of Aperture Science? I find the story of this game very interesting, but haven't been able to find many answers as to the origins or details of the story.

 Archivist777 wrote:

Does anyone know, or have a theory on who lived in the rat man dens and wrote the graffiti on the walls? Were they former test subjects like Chell? Do you think they were adults or children? Were they former employees of Aperture Science? I find the story of this game very interesting, but haven't been able to find many answers as to the origins or details of the story.

The only thing we know for sure was the character of the Rat Man was supposed to appear in the original PORTAL and did not for reasons likely related to time and/or money. He was a test subject, like Chell.

"The Portal team's limited resources also forced them to "trim the narrative fat" elsewhere. Swift talked about a proposed scene involving "The Rat Man" the fellow escaped test subject whose writing and sketches appear in the game's later levels." - from an interview with Kim Swift of Valve

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I want to take the person I am now and find the courage to throw that all away. Strip down to nothing.

Another theory about this is that chell is the ONLY test subject (or the only one left) and is cloned by glados from one death to another and so she goes further and further in the chambers leaving some clues on her way out of some of them ... like the well known 'the cake is a lie' wich is ultimately wrong since cake iss,in fact, real, proving the player is incarnating the last and most reliable of the 'chells' since you're supposed to go to the end of the game, meet glados and get out...

This explains the 'hello and again, welcome" at the start of the game ....

It could also explains why she has a 'subject name ' and 'subject hometown' instead of a real name and hometown since she's a clone she technically has none ....

And also, the unsatisfactory mark on her test report followed by death , seems like death's subject is a routine ...

 

Some other think she's an android because of the combat android test chamber ...well i prefer the clone version :)

 

 

Oh and sorry if this has already been posted somewhere ...

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 X Lobo wrote:

Some other think she's an android because of the combat android test chamber ...well i prefer the clone version :)

Oh yeah and didn't Glad0s say to Chell something like "android h ell is a real place that you will be sent to"

All the theories are really interesting... I hope that when/if Portal 2 comes out, it will give more story information.

The Rat Man explanation isn't a theory, though. Kim Swift of Valve confirmed that the Rat Man was another test subject, and that he was the one that left the messages and lived in the hidden dens. They had to cut his appearance due to lack of resources.

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I want to take the person I am now and find the courage to throw that all away. Strip down to nothing.

I still prefer the clone version that goes further and further in the maze until ultimately finding/creating those holes in some of the walls ...

Oh well, if there really is a ratman then so be it , it's a little less 'glamour' though :)

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You should quit while i'm ahead...
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 Kimieva wrote:

The Rat Man explanation isn't a theory, though. Kim Swift of Valve confirmed that the Rat Man was another test subject, and that he was the one that left the messages and lived in the hidden dens. They had to cut his appearance due to lack of resources.

yeah don't worry, I believe that what you say is true (and thanks for the info!) I just enjoyed hearing what theories people had come up with.

I never thought of any of this and lets me just say that you guys blew my mind........got to pay more attention

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 X Lobo wrote:

Another theory about this is that chell is the ONLY test subject (or the only one left) and is cloned by glados from one death to another and so she goes further and further in the chambers leaving some clues on her way out of some of them ... like the well known 'the cake is a lie' wich is ultimately wrong since cake iss,in fact, real, proving the player is incarnating the last and most reliable of the 'chells' since you're supposed to go to the end of the game, meet glados and get out...

This explains the 'hello and again, welcome" at the start of the game ....

It could also explains why she has a 'subject name ' and 'subject hometown' instead of a real name and hometown since she's a clone she technically has none ....

And also, the unsatisfactory mark on her test report followed by death , seems like death's subject is a routine ...

I don't care what Valve said about Rat Man... your analysis is far better than what they could have planned it to be. Goes to show how good this game is that such a relatively small element of the game (an achievement, and 5 'hidden areas') can be put under such scrutiny and come up with theories like this. Can't think of another game with that capability.

I do suspect though that it may have had something to do with the multiplayer element that they tried and didn't go with. Perhaps 'player 2' would be rat man... although that still doesn't explain why or who that is.

 Archivist777 wrote:

 X Lobo wrote:

Some other think she's an android because of the combat android test chamber ...well i prefer the clone version :)

Oh yeah and didn't Glad0s say to Chell something like "android h ell is a real place that you will be sent to"

All the theories are really interesting... I hope that when/if Portal 2 comes out, it will give more story information.

The Android thing was just a funny statement because she went through the chamber that was designed for androids, so it was like an automatic response for what would usually be an android.

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