Poll: What is Chell's race?

[Lilani]

A while back when all of that Portal and Portal 2 concept art hit the Escapist, I got to talking with one of my friends about it. At one point, he said "Did you see that they had a few drawings of Chell being black?"

I replied with, "But, she is black, right?" I mean, that was the impression I got when I forced the portals in Portal 1 to show me her face.

And I liked the idea of a black female lead. I liked the idea of Valve just slipping her in there and not making a big show of it. Instead of being like "HEY! LOOK! WE CAN DO GENDER AND RACIAL DIVERSITY!" they just plopped her by default in there like any other white character.

But that wasn't the impression he got after seeing the same thing I did. And after seeing the Portal 2 artwork, I can sort of see why he thought that.

In this picture, she looks more Asian than anything else.

I understand this all amounts to nothing in the grand scheme of things, but I think it's still interesting to ponder. So I ask you, what race do you think Chell is?

Adding all the evidence up, I'm going to settle on a mix, but I think there's definitely quite a bit of black in her.

And here is Chell from Portal 2, in her full in-game form.

0

Dem eyes.

 

[Enrathi]

What is Chell's race?

Human.

Damn, ninja'd.

 

[GodsAndFishes]

I always thought that she looked fairly Native American to me.

 

[mireko]

Chell's face and body model, Alésia Glidewell, has a Brazilian-American father and a Japanese mother.

What is Chell's race?

Human.

Also that.

 

[Vampire cat]

Honestly, doesn't seem like she's any particular race... Just as well, I guess.

 

[imnot]

Shes proberly paler in portal 2 having spent 230 or so years in suspension in a dim room

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Chell's likeness is actually based off of someone at valve, although the name escapes me.

Edit: Damn ninjas!

 

[RobCoxxy]

Human.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

I'd hazard a guess at a mixture between Caucasian, Pacific/Far Eastern, and Indian.

Edit: I've always wondered about her name. Is it just Chell? Is Chell short for Michell? Or is it short for something else entirely?

 

[Wintermoot]

she looks Caucasian(with maybe a hint of Hispanic) in Portal 1 and a mix of Asian and Caucasian in Portal 2 (then again allot of design things got retconned in Portal 2)

 

[nukethetuna]

Racially ambiguous to allow as many people to identify with her as possible.

 

[LaughingAtlas]

Err... Due to extensive exposure to GLaDOs (not sure if that was capitalized correctly) and friends, Subject Chell has experienced minor fluctuations in her skin pigmentation and facial constitution. Please do not be alarmed, Aperture Laboratories intends to make sure she stops changing. Permenently.

 

[Sudenak]

I always got the feeling that she was just a little bit of everything, because her race and gender didn't matter. She was a human being, she needed to escape. There was no need to make her relatable because she was the only human you came in contact with that was still alive. You related with her by default, simply because she wasn't a robot. Or dead. So there was no need to make her very obviously anything.

 

[Wintermoot]

Shes proberly paler in portal 2 having spent 230 or so years in suspension in a dim room

but look at her face it,s entirely different in Portal 2

 

[imnot]

Shes proberly paler in portal 2 having spent 230 or so years in suspension in a dim room

but look at her face it,s entirely different in Portal 2

Proberly just graphical, But I dont know, I guess valve figured hell you barley see her up close lets just roll with it.

 

[Someone Depressing]

Accoring to Combine Over-Wiki, Chell's a Brazilion Born Japanese.

So, she's probally either Hispanic, or Asian, at least that's what I think.

 

[TheIr0nMike]

I say she's a who gives a shit. If not, I'd say she's part of the race that will form if we keep mixing.

 

[mireko]

Shes proberly paler in portal 2 having spent 230 or so years in suspension in a dim room

but look at her face it,s entirely different in Portal 2

The second picture is concept art and has a different angle/lighting.

It would be a lot easier to compare if somebody had some similar screenshots from both games.

 

[irani_che]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al%C3%A9sia_Glidewell
http://handshape.com/document/128b4c4149e744b492817ac5656ef2a1
/thread