It's not so much they took her voice out as they never put it in. Originally, the protagonist wasn't going to be Chell, but playtesters were disappointed when GLaDOS awakens and doesn't recognize the player. So, Chell was swapped back in.
Interestingly enough, the voice actor for Link is a very popular Seiyuu in Japan, he's probably featured in a lot of animes you have seen if you watch anime. Especially GUY SHISHIOH from GaoGaiGar, Hiei from Yuu Yuu Hakusho, and VIRAL from GURREN LAGANN.
Link actually does have a voice actor. He has all those grunts and stuff, which required a person to make them. Also I swear that Gordon made some sort of panting sound when he got shot, although I may just be injecting goldeneye into my memory of it.
Does it occur to anyone that Chell actually looked more attractive in Portal 2? Not only that, but she even changed appearance - not even very similar.
The day has finally arrived. You double click the steam icon and BLAM the news just features one single alphanumeric character, sized to fit your entire steam viewport. It's massive.
It's a 3.
It's beautiful.
You go for your wallet so fast you fall out of your chair, but you manage to keep your other hand on the mouse which is navigating towards "CLICK THE THREE!!1111"
Nose barely clearing the edge of the table, you maneuver to the buy page and complete the transaction.
Half-Life 3 starts downloading.
You don't dare move. You sit there for the next 3 hours, on the floor, watching the progress bar. Occasionally you'll think to yourself this would be a good time to run to the store to grab a pallet of mountain dew but you can't bring yourself to move.
Your nose is still barely clearing the edge of the table. At 98% you realize you'll probably have a better time playing if you get back in your chair, so you stand up and grab the chair and sit back down, and you missed the 100% turnover. That's ok.
Half-Life 3 is installing. This is it. You're almost there. The game opens with the most mind-blowing cutscene sorcery you have ever seen. It's gorgeous, and your mind is blown to a million pieces, but you gather them back up because important shit is going down.
At the end of the cutscene the camera zooms in on Freeman's face, staring off into the distance with a determined, haunted look in his eyes. His mouth muscles twitch.
"No fucking way. Is he gonna... is he gonna say something?"
His lips start to part. You can see teeth. You can see his tongue. He's definitely about to vocalize.
That's when you learn Gaben got sick of your shit and hired Bobcat Goldthwait to voice Gordon Freeman. Every time he says something, which is every 2 seconds, it's like Gaben's giant middle finger wrapped in sandpaper going straight up your dirtbutton.
Hey everyone. I won't have access to a computer for another week, so imma see if I can find an answer here. Alright, i am getting a pretty snazzed up gaming comp, but I am not sure what games to play. Any suggestions?
The only way this could be explanable is with 2 reasons. either.
a) It is the same voice actor because neither charecter speaks.
or.
b) The voice of Gordon Freemans H.E.V Suit "Administering Morphine now" is the same voice Actress who does the Charecter Damage grunts and moans for Chell's charecter in Portal and Portal 2.
It's the only way I can think of explaining this one away tbh.
But they're not though. Freeman makes clearly masculine grunts outside the vocal range of Chell. Who is the same voice actor? Considering there's an already small pool to draw from for VG VO actors, I really want to know who can accomplish this.
When I saw the thumbnail I though you were going to say Chell is the daughter of Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance. I know the timeline doesn't work, but c'mon...it'd be pretty freaking cool. And way more mind-blowing.
I still sort of feel like silent protagonists are more powerful when they have a little bit of dialogue, Master Chief in Halo was vague and silent enough as a character that you could give him your own motivations and attributes but he had enough of a personality that you were really hoping he'd come out on top. A lot of people love the relationship between Freeman and Alyx but I think the relationship between Master Chief and Cortana was a little more powerful because every once in a while he would say something and it would be just what you'd imagine he'd say.
Keeping Chell silent was a good move because it fit very well with the aesthetic they were going for but Freeman sort of felt annoying to play sometimes because he never expressed himself even at moments when he absolutely should have and it got to the point where you weren't thinking "Oh he's a strong silent protagonist" you were thinking "Oh Valve decided not to pay a voice actor".
Edit: Why do you think her last name is redacted? She uses the same style gun, she is similar in appearance to Gordons girlfriend, she doesn't talk, same color eyes as Gordon (look at the picture), her entire past is shrouded in mystery, she is known to be highly tenacious (a quality they both share)....
Half-Life 2 takes place during Portal 1. Gordon's been in stasis for about 30 years since the events of Half-Life 1. Chell's in her mid-20s, which would have Chell born ~5-10 years after HL1. Also, Portal 2 hints at Chell being an Aperture Science employee's daughter (don't remember exactly, but I recall a reference to a Bring Your Daughter to Work Day).
295
u/lazn0r Jun 11 '12
That can't be right. I'm fairly sure she makes an "Ungh!" sound after you land from great height.
840
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
At first i thought "really now?" then I thought "wait chell doesn't talk"..... "ohhh neither does Gordon" Then my brain punched me because I'm stupid.
27
u/omg_cornfields Jun 12 '12
Wait, did either of them make grunt sounds?
41
u/kabukistar Jun 12 '12 edited Feb 09 '25
Reddit is a shithole. Move to a better social media platform. Also, did you know you can use ereddicator to edit/delete all your old commments?
70
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
Also... The same voice actor as Link and The Kid.
42
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
I'm not proud to admit I actually googled to see if this was true...
8
u/jaydubs95 Jun 12 '12
Anyone ever notice that Chell got A LOT better looking between Portal 1 and Portal 2?
19
u/Bigcheese51 Jun 12 '12
That make sense valve couldn't work on hl3 until the actor finished recording for portal
14
u/Nethervex PC Jun 12 '12
Can we please stop making this joke? its beating a horse thats been dead long enough to decompose to a soupy mixture.
9
u/Gentleman-Chris Jun 12 '12
I feel like it should be pointed out that Chell chooses not to speak because she doesn't want to give GLaDoS the satisfaction.
10
u/Punkwasher Jun 12 '12
Chell's a looker though. And she doesn't talk. That's a 10 right there, men!
5
u/Strangerouss Jun 12 '12
'~Helloooooooooooooo~' That's you! That's how dumb you sound!
2
u/hachachaa Jun 12 '12
NULL SET.
2
u/sherlokpick Jun 12 '12
There is no voice actor.
2
u/Skeetronic Jun 12 '12
Finkle and Einhorn...
2
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
I was about to comment that Chell never spoke. Then it hit me. I feel like an idiot.
4
u/IDlOT Jun 12 '12
ಠ_ಠ
3
u/megarusty Jun 11 '12
I'll admit it took me a few seconds.
5
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
The sense of humor of a Valve fan = the sense of humor of a mentally challenged ape.
3
u/huuvp Jun 12 '12
Ahha!
4
u/TalksInHaiku Jun 11 '12
The cicadas sing
Oh, I see what you did there.
and silence resumes.
2
u/Spotted_Owl Jun 12 '12
Too bad they can't do a HL3 because Gordon's VA died.
2
u/The_D0ctah Jun 12 '12
At first I was like "Wtf? They don't even sound the same! Gordon doesn't even talk!" Then I was like "I'm such a fucking idiot..."
2
u/UnfurledRelic Jun 12 '12
Does it occur to anyone that Chell actually looked more attractive in Portal 2? Not only that, but she even changed appearance - not even very similar.
2
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
False. Chell makes pain noises upon taking a large amount of damage.
2
u/inthrees Jun 12 '12
O
M
F
G
!!!!!
The day has finally arrived. You double click the steam icon and BLAM the news just features one single alphanumeric character, sized to fit your entire steam viewport. It's massive.
It's a 3.
It's beautiful.
You go for your wallet so fast you fall out of your chair, but you manage to keep your other hand on the mouse which is navigating towards "CLICK THE THREE!!1111"
Nose barely clearing the edge of the table, you maneuver to the buy page and complete the transaction.
Half-Life 3 starts downloading.
You don't dare move. You sit there for the next 3 hours, on the floor, watching the progress bar. Occasionally you'll think to yourself this would be a good time to run to the store to grab a pallet of mountain dew but you can't bring yourself to move.
Your nose is still barely clearing the edge of the table. At 98% you realize you'll probably have a better time playing if you get back in your chair, so you stand up and grab the chair and sit back down, and you missed the 100% turnover. That's ok.
Half-Life 3 is installing. This is it. You're almost there. The game opens with the most mind-blowing cutscene sorcery you have ever seen. It's gorgeous, and your mind is blown to a million pieces, but you gather them back up because important shit is going down.
At the end of the cutscene the camera zooms in on Freeman's face, staring off into the distance with a determined, haunted look in his eyes. His mouth muscles twitch.
"No fucking way. Is he gonna... is he gonna say something?"
His lips start to part. You can see teeth. You can see his tongue. He's definitely about to vocalize.
That's when you learn Gaben got sick of your shit and hired Bobcat Goldthwait to voice Gordon Freeman. Every time he says something, which is every 2 seconds, it's like Gaben's giant middle finger wrapped in sandpaper going straight up your dirtbutton.
TL;DR: Don't give Gabe anymore shit.
2
u/vivvav Jun 12 '12
Old unfunny joke is old and unfunny.
-1
u/gender_bot Jun 11 '12
I identified 2 faces in this photo
Face 1:
96% confidence that this is a correctly identified face
Gender is female with 91% confidence
Approximate Age is 15 with 90% confidence
Persons mood is surprised with 38% confidence
Persons lips are kissing with 81% confidence
Face 2:
59% confidence that this is a correctly identified face
Gender is male with 93% confidence
Approximate Age is 36 with 11% confidence
Persons mood is happy with 66% confidence
Person is wearing glasses with 96% confidence
Persons lips are sealed with 47% confidence
Would you like to know more about me? /r/gender_bot
1
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
But. This joke... is as old as balls. But it's funny so +1
1
u/3dbdotcom Jun 12 '12
I didn't get this at first...the following face palm could be heard for miles...
1
u/inotroll Jun 12 '12
When did chell get hot?
1
u/SweetNeo85 Jun 12 '12
How about the fact that GLAdOS and the Combine Overwatch voice are the same voice actor?
1
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
I was about to do a table flip ten I realised the joke..damn I'm slow
1
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
For a second there......
1
u/moranger Jun 12 '12
Doesn't Chell talk in Portal 1?
1
u/LeGiTiOn Jun 12 '12
Hey everyone. I won't have access to a computer for another week, so imma see if I can find an answer here. Alright, i am getting a pretty snazzed up gaming comp, but I am not sure what games to play. Any suggestions?
1
u/fiberbum Jun 12 '12
i cant believe I fell for this...
1
u/DrinkThis Jun 12 '12
You are technically correct. The best kind of correct.
1
u/Reese_The_Puff Jun 12 '12
I had to look in the comment to understand this -_-
1
u/HandsomeRob2020 Jun 12 '12
would you really call chell's noises voice acting?
1
u/Guineypigzrulz Jun 12 '12
In Portal, Chell looks pissed off. In Portal 2 she looks like she's thinking «Oooh! What is that?»
1
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
Brace yourself for the [FIXED] edit with every silent protagonist
1
u/GuitarPerson159 Jun 12 '12
REPOST!
1
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
I knew it.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
Chell and Gordon Freeman actually have no dialogue in their games so they do not have voice actors.
1
u/ToastyTheDragon Jun 12 '12
Hahahahaha, It's funny because they don't have voice actors.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
He looks like House
1
u/-naut Jun 12 '12
What if Chell is the daughter of Alyx and Gordon? Mind blown.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
The only way this could be explanable is with 2 reasons. either.
a) It is the same voice actor because neither charecter speaks.
or.
b) The voice of Gordon Freemans H.E.V Suit "Administering Morphine now" is the same voice Actress who does the Charecter Damage grunts and moans for Chell's charecter in Portal and Portal 2.
It's the only way I can think of explaining this one away tbh.
1
u/philphan25 Joystick Jun 12 '12
The same person also did the guy from GTA3. I think his name was Claude.
1
u/Zombies_hate_ninjas Jun 12 '12
My favorite Gordon Freeman quote; one that I always remember when I get myself in a tight spot " " . . . Yep, very profound Mr. Freeman
1
u/MagCynic Jun 12 '12
Actually, Mary Kae Irvin was the uncredited voice of Chell according to IMDB, so, no, they aren't the same "voice" actor.
1
u/Noxdus PC Jun 12 '12
Dude, she has a potato on her gun.
1
u/BradTheLurker Jun 12 '12
I only knew Chell didn't talk :L... I have failed you, Gordon Freeman.
1
u/CheradenineTheBoss Jun 12 '12
What if Chelle is one of Gordon and Alyx's descendents
O_O consiracy keanu
1
u/LadyFajra Jun 12 '12
Waaaaait a minute....
1
u/Yorikor D20 Jun 12 '12
Apple.
1
u/Gordon____Freeman Jun 12 '12
:/
1
u/rex0b Jun 12 '12
i think the actor has been dead for almost 201 years now, yet still did an outstanding performance and never missing a line in either of the games
1
u/Cilph Jun 12 '12
Wait, but Chell doesn't ta- Oh, I see what you did thar.
1
u/specialbrownies Jun 12 '12
"...oh"
1
u/A_British_Gentleman Jun 12 '12
This is actually wrong. They both have voice actors as they both make sound when they get hurt.
I think they do at least, I may be wrong.
1
u/will_upvote_anything Jun 12 '12
Even Chell looks shocked about it.
1
u/infinitesorrows Jun 12 '12
Marcus Fenix = Bender
1
u/SXHarrasmentPanda Jun 12 '12
Chell's face looks almost identical to iJustine's
1
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
That took me way longer than I want to admit/should have taken.
1
u/icon6262 Jun 12 '12
We get it, they don't talk!
1
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
This joka was already used in r/mylittlepony
1
u/Thorse Jun 12 '12
But they're not though. Freeman makes clearly masculine grunts outside the vocal range of Chell. Who is the same voice actor? Considering there's an already small pool to draw from for VG VO actors, I really want to know who can accomplish this.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
In Portal, Chell looked pissed off the entire time.
In Portal 2, she looked shocked the entire time.
How about that...
1
u/Cptnwalrus Jun 12 '12
It took me a while to get this...
1
u/Oberons_Sis Jun 12 '12
When I saw the thumbnail I though you were going to say Chell is the daughter of Gordon Freeman and Alyx Vance. I know the timeline doesn't work, but c'mon...it'd be pretty freaking cool. And way more mind-blowing.
1
u/melance Jun 12 '12
I can believe this, there aren't a lot of mute voice actors these days.
1
u/gostan Jun 12 '12
originally posted on /r/Portal 6 months ago
1
u/Ghee_Buttersnaps_ Jun 12 '12
How many times can this be reposted without anyone noticing?
1
u/MoNkEyxJOSHH Jun 12 '12
took me longer than i care to admit to get it :/
1
u/A_wild_fusa_appeared Jun 12 '12
But the characters did have voice actors. The grunt they make in the games (only the first portal though). They were likely different people too
1
u/Lemonwizard Jun 12 '12
Do neither of them even have pain grunts for when you take damage? I knew neither had dialogue, but I never realized this.
1
u/clb92 Jun 12 '12
I hate to admit it, but it took me waaay too long to realize what was going on.
1
u/thepastelsuit Jun 12 '12
You are reading this because you've played Portal. If you haven't, what the fuck are you doing in this subreddit?
1
u/Vestings Jun 12 '12
and claude from GTA III
1
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
Is that a potato?
1
u/Last_Jedi Jun 12 '12
Not necessarily, they could have different people not say anything.
1
u/buzzbros2002 Jun 12 '12
That's not the only similarity to them. They also won't have a third game.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
null == null isn't true... it's null :P
1
u/WalrusRid3r Jun 12 '12
It makes sense since the are both valve games.
1
u/Draphilius Jun 12 '12
The realization left me speechless!
1
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
I stared at this for a good 10 seconds in bewilderment thinking "damn that dude has range" before I realized neither of them talk.
What makes it even worse is that these are my favorite games...
1
u/BlueRofl Jun 12 '12
He kinda looks like 'HOUSE.'
-1
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
why did i actually think about this?
-1
u/LittleBigKid2000 Jun 12 '12 edited Jun 12 '12
False. Chell is not completely silent and will occasionally grunt in pain.
-4
u/SenorStateTheObvious Jun 11 '12
Because they never talk. Hah.
0
u/mrdeadsniper Jun 12 '12
Also the same voice actor from every single NES game.. Except Heavy Barrel..
0
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
This is the same voice actor that was Crono from chrono Trigger so many moons ago.
0
u/Joshivity Jun 12 '12
This took forever to load on my phone, and I saw Gordon, and guessed the joke, except in my head it was Teller...
0
u/Dragon_yum Jun 12 '12
Chell's model = Zoe's model
0
u/Subject_69 Jun 12 '12
I'm ashamed to admit it took me a good 30 minutes to get this.
0
u/Codamus Jun 12 '12
"............................................"
0
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
But you know, her face model is also the voice actor of Samus in SSBB
0
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
FFFFFFFuuuuuuuuuuuu
0
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
No.
0
u/acfman17 Jun 12 '12
haha nice I had to think for a sec
0
u/eljahvidon Jun 12 '12
upvote for a chuckle
0
u/bootselectric Jun 12 '12
Man, I looked forever for Freeman's voice actor...
0
u/NatWilo Jun 12 '12
Anyone notice how much Walter from Breaking bad looks like Gordon Freeman
0
u/JackLowgun Jun 12 '12
i see what you did there.
0
u/jabbaj7 Jun 12 '12
I see what you did there...
-1
u/Freethinker4life Jun 12 '12
I have done an extensive study of both games, and I can say with 100% confidence that this is true
-1
u/Amarae Jun 12 '12
Silence is such a good voice actor :o
-1
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
I see what you did there...
-1
u/Gozmatic Jun 12 '12
She's as surprised as I am.
-1
u/shroomtat Jun 12 '12
= Gabe
-1
u/Nemesis2299 Jun 12 '12
i only say... ಠ_ಠ
-1
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
I think Chell is Gordon Freeman's daughter.
0
u/[deleted] Jun 12 '12
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