ok sorry but i just replayed Portal 2 and this has been consuming my mind
i feel like at this point everyone knows about the potato battery that kid Chell made, but what i noticed this time was what Wheatly said about it
"Look at that, it's growing right up into the ceiling. The whole place is probably overrun with potatoes at this point. At least you won't starve, though."
at which point i think: oh! this is probably where Wheatley got the potato to trap GLaDOS. it grew from right here. i already figured that this area was where he got the idea to trap her, but this was still a really neat detail!
and then i got to the first core transfer and Wheatley's betrayal, and i realized: what would have happened if Chell's potato battery didn't grow like that? well, Wheatley likely wouldn't have a potato, right? he wouldn't be able to trap GLaDOS in a potato battery.
so then what would he have done with her?
would Wheatley have just killed GLaDOS? did Chell's potato battery save her life?
but no, i told myself. i was probably overthinking this. just because wheatley doesn't have a potato doesn't mean he wouldn't find some equally insulting perdition for her. maybe he would just use a normal, actual battery.
and then i got to the scene where Chell saves GLaDOS from the bird.
GLaDOS says: "No tricks. This potato only generates 1.1 volts of electricity. I literally do not have the energy to lie to you."
a quick google search tells me that even a double a battery generates 1.5 volts, and given the nature of the machinery present in aperture, i'm guessing that most of the batteries they have lying around output even more
i don't think Chell would have trusted GLaDOS if she didn't reveal this. GLaDOS lies as easily as she speaks, so the knowledge that she is physically no longer capable of doing so heavily inclines the player, and the character, to believe what she has to say.
it's because her energy is so low that Chell agrees to GLaDOS's plan, and eventually completes the second core transfer and sends Wheatley into space.
it's because she is trapped in a potato that GLaDOS makes is back to the lab and her chassis.
it's because Chell made a potato battery - one that grew to "overrun" the facility - that GLaDOS survives the events of Portal 2. even if Wheatley would have otherwise spared her following the first core transfer, she wouldn't have made it back if Chell didn't trust her, which necessitates her being trapped in a potato.
Potatoes are a source of energy - of life! sustenance for Chell, the bird, and any other living thing condemned to reside in aperture, but also a kind of life raft for GLaDOS as well. in its restrictions, it forces her to be a better person. to be honest. and that saves her!
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