Ancient Greek Myths, Secret Location, and Lemonade

I'm still not letting go of all the oddities in the game that, in my opinion, could lead to something. Either it’s my paranoia, or Valve really hid something in the game. Updating the previous post with theories doesn't make sense; today there's a lot of information, and I’ll focus on a different part of the game than the "family" one.

So, yesterday we, together with ultravix, began to think about what's happening in [Portal 2](/games?search=Portal 2). We tried to gather pieces of the puzzle, found some interesting signs, and came to one conclusion. Well, let's go step by step.

Did you notice or not, but the game makes references to the myths of Ancient Greece. This is first mentioned by the turret in Chapter 5. The turret that we save from retribution. For helping, it starts saying strange things:

- I’m not that...

- Get angry.

- Don’t make lemonade.

- The gods punished Prometheus for bringing knowledge to humanity. He was imprisoned in the depths of the earth and birds pecked at him.

- That’s not enough.

- The answer is beneath us.

- Her name is Caroline.

- Remember that.

- That’s all I can say.

Let’s pause for now on Prometheus. Prometheus - (in ancient Greek mythology) a titan, protector of people from the arbitrariness of the gods.

Cave Johnson even had a saying.

- They say science stands on the shoulders of giants.

At the very beginning of Chapter 6, you can see this on one of the buildings.

09 TARTAROS

Tartaros - (ancient Greek Τάρταρος) — in ancient Greek mythology — the deepest abyss, as well as its divine personification, located beneath Hades, where after the Titanomachy Zeus cast Kronos and the titans.

It’s a dark abyss, as far from the earth’s surface as the sky is from the earth: according to Hesiod, a copper anvil would fall from the earth’s surface to Tartarus in 9 days.

So, already 2 parallels. If the abandoned Aperture in Chapters 6-7 is Tartaros, then who is Prometheus? GLaDOS or Chell? Most likely GLaDOS, because Chell did not bring knowledge to the people, and a bird did not peck her.

It’s worth noting that Prometheus had several brothers: Atlas, Epimetheus, and Menetius. Prometheus's parents are father Iapetus and mother Clymene.

Iapetus was also cast into Tartaros, even earlier than the titans were cast -> Iapetus - Cave Johnson?

You can also assume that Atlas (the co-op robot) - Atlas (the titan). Epimetheus - P-Body. Menetius - Wheatley. I’m not sure about the last two.

Okay, let's move further along the ancient Greek path.

Remember the portrait? Well, if you lighten it, you can see a man on the left side of the painting. When I was given the lightened version, I didn’t believe it. I decided to check it myself, and the chills almost made me tear up.

People on the Steam forums found this man in the painting from 1884. The author of this painting painted Prometheus.

By the way, if you know the location of the portrait by heart, you know that the portal hole to the room with the painting is between the 2 test chambers, right? Well, in the chamber that is left behind, there is the number 09. I think we should pay more attention to this number. Tartaros 09 hints at something.

So, what do all these connections to Ancient Greece give? So far, nothing but interest and further conviction in Valve's genius. We can’t ignore all this, can we?

Let's move on to the second part of the post. This is the very theory-conclusion that we came to with ultravix. We believe that there is a secret location in the game that can be accessed by making lemonade.

Let's try to figure it out.

Let’s return to the turret's words.

- Get angry.

- Don’t make lemonade.

- That’s not enough.

- The answer is beneath us.

The answer is beneath us. Did it mean abandoned Aperture? Or is there something else that we won’t discover just by going through the game?

It’s hard not to notice Cave’s words about lemonade in the game. If life gives you lemons - make lemonade.

A few chambers later.

Cave: Well, I thought, if life gives you lemons - don’t make lemonade. Make life take them back! Get mad! "I don’t need your damn lemons! What am I supposed to do with them?"

GLaDOS: Yes, take the lemons...

Cave: Demand a refund from the manager responsible for life! Make life regret the day it decided to give Cave Johnson lemons! Do you know who I am? I’m the one who will burn your house down! I’ll make my engineers invent a fiery lemon to burn your house to the ground!

GLaDOS: Yes! BURN THE HOUSE TO THE GROUND!

A bit more time later.

GLaDOS: I know the situation looks grim, but that crazy guy was right. We aren’t taking the lemons! We’ll rise up and make him bring me back into my body!

After this, the words about lemonade and lemons end. I re-played chapters 6-7 a couple of times and tried to understand - what is lemonade? I couldn’t figure it out; the only theory that came to my mind is that lemonade is the result of creating something by mixing several gels. Making lemonade - will we unlock a hidden location? Or will something else happen that will provide answers? Perhaps the hidden location reveals the secret of Caroline, or maybe we will even see the Turret Queen from the ending video. Why not? She wasn’t shown for nothing.

After the words "we aren’t making lemons," pipes with gels follow in the story. With all three. And then, after passing them, a big door opens, and ahead awaits us Chapter 8. If we base it on my theory about lemonade, then it makes the most sense to make it (lemonade) right at the end of Chapter 7.

If you remember, we need to get to the top, and to get there, the white gel must get into the ventilation, which will then spread throughout the location. So I thought, maybe we need to get all 3 gels into this ventilation? Or 2? Or just one, but which one? In what order? According to my theory, this is the only way to mix 3 gels. Otherwise, gels just replace each other on the surface. So far, I have only checked with all three gels. Unfortunately, nothing worked. But the point is that next to the ventilation there’s again the number 09.

So that’s the situation. We need to experiment and think about how to make lemonade. Throughout the game, UltraVix and I found several interesting signs that may lead to something, but we are not sure.

8+1=9

09?

Also, I nocliped outside the locations where I saw several ERROR. The same inscription appeared in L4D2 instead of the necessary objects when I incorrectly installed additional maps for the game. My friend ultravix insisted that if there’s something hidden, it can only be found with cheats off and correct actions.

That's all for now; feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, and until next crazy theories in the world of Portal. Bye.