The cake is not a lie? [duplicate]

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Playing through Portal, I like most other people found several of the hidden rooms where Doug Rattman wrote all sorts of things, including that the promised cake is a lie.

"the cake is a lie" inscription on a wall

I realized that GLaDOS was just using the cake as false motivation. But then I beat the game and watched as the ending credits rolled, and in the very last scene, we see a cake, surrounded by personality cores and a companion cube!

Does this mean that the cake was not a lie?

The Cake in a storage room, next to the Companion Cube



Best Answer

While it's questionable whether it's canon or not, GLaDOS's song "You Wouldn't Know" from Lego Dimensions implies heavily in its lyrics that the cake in Portal really was a lie.

How? By repeatedly insisting that the cake she has now is real... as if she had lied about it in the past.

Warning: Spoilers for the plot of Lego Dimensions since it's the End Credits theme.

However, this isn't the only evidence. Portal 2 made everything after the Intubation Associate brings you back in the facility non-canonical. If you don't know what I'm talking about, this is part of the ending that was patched into the game in early 2011 in order to bridge Portal 1 with Portal 2.

Other than a few cores, the entire facility is shut down when you kill GLaDOS at the end of Portal 1. You bring GLaDOS and the facility back to life during the events of Portal 2.




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What does the cake is not a lie mean?

The cake is a lie is a 2000s meme based on the video game, Portal, and used for a false promise, temptation, or trap deluding someone into their own ruin.

Was the cake actually a lie?

Although the dens frequently claim that the cake is in fact a lie, the ending of Portal shows the actual cake. This implies that GLaDOS really hid the cake very well for "Cake and Refreshments".

Why is baking a cake called the lie?

The original context of "The cake is a lie" was to convey the message that a reward is being used to motivate Chell, the player character of Portal, without any intent of delivering.



The cake is NOT a lie. (Easter egg)




More answers regarding the cake is not a lie? [duplicate]

Answer 2

What Rattman was trying to say was not that there isn't any cake; more that the (implied) idea behind the cake is a lie.

[Test Chambers 5-8] GLaDOS: As part of a required Enrichment Center protocol, the previous statement that we would not monitor the test area was a complete fabrication. We will stop enhancing the truth in three... two... zzzt

[Test Chambers 12-16] GLaDOS: Cake, and grief counseling, will be available at the conclusion of the test.

[Test Chamber 18] GLaDOS: At the end of the experiment, you will be baked, and then there will be cake.

Source

So it's not so much about whether or not there will be cake, just that the cake isn't what you think it is.

Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Images: Jep Gambardella, Arina Krasnikova, Arina Krasnikova, Karolina Grabowska