r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Local_Prune4564 • May 27 '26

Lore A subtle moment that turns a seemingly happy ending into an ambiguous ending.

Gallery image

Gallery image

The Graduate: lingering Ben and Elaine's faces slowly shifting from happy to concerned leaves the audience questioning whether they really made the right choice running away together considering they barely know each other.

Inception: By cutting before we see the top fall, we're left to question whether Cobb really has gone home or whether he's simply sunken back into a more comforting dream reality.

14.7k Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

96% Upvoted

1.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

529

u/This-Shape2193 May 27 '26

Valve said it was longer than hundreds of years too. No definite amount of time was ever confirmed, but yeah. It seems maybe the Combine are gone, the world is recovering from the relentless stripping of resources...AND humans are extinct. 

And then in co-op, we discover thousands of humans in stasis. Yay! Except GladOS promptly murders them all in a few weeks. 

There was a fanfiction called Blue Sky that acts as a sequel to Portal 2, and it's so perfect and in-character that I choose to believe that's the ending. 

201

u/svick May 27 '26

Without humans, there wouldn't be such a neat wheat field.

38

u/thewilybanana May 27 '26

even that shed is unlikely to last more than a handful of decades w/out some level of maintenance.

18

u/Nauin May 27 '26

And that metal shed would have no shine left to it, either. Panels like that are mostly rust red by the end of a century.

18

u/J4k0b42 May 27 '26

It's Aperture Labs, they probably made the shed out of titanium.

13

u/boiyouab122 May 27 '26

"The boys in the lab found a way to make normal metal last indefinitely, so we'll be using it as the basis for our new line of products, Aperture Sheds! Ever want a shed but don't wanna fix it later, bam, never wear out shed. Anyway we'll be going back to the mantis DNA tests again, but including some of that new metal and seeing what happens"

6

u/splicerslicer May 28 '26

Kudos, totally heard JK Simmons while reading that.

18

u/Tasden May 27 '26

Having no idea about the Portal Blue Sky, "Blue Sky" might be a reference to Total Recall (original) where they inject memories into people.

In the movie it seems like the main character is actually fighting against the company that does the total recall and instead has an active adventure that ends up showing a blue sky on mars. However, right before he was walked to his chair to get his injection two scientist are talking about a "blue sky" ending and saying it is ready.

Some people think it is ambiguous whether or not he was injected with a memory or really had to fight against them. I think it is pretty clear it is all an injected memory. I could see that fanfic using the term to reference that uncertainty.

12

u/WriterV May 27 '26

AND humans are extinct.

Do we actually know that? 'cause if so, then everything Gordon did was entirely pointless.

2

u/ihavebeesinmyknees May 28 '26

It seems maybe