GLaDOS



GLaDOS, known in full as the Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System, is the central core designed to control, guide, and oversee the Aperture Science computer-aided Enrichment Center. With the ability to shift and move facilities and various chambers, she is able to achieve a seamless and almost infinite testing design.

She is the antagonist of Portal and the first half of the single-player campaign in Portal 2. In the latter game's cooperative campaign, GLaDOS is the testing supervisor of Atlas and P-body.

GLaDOS is voiced by opera singer and voice actress.

Background
After a decade's worth of hard work, GLaDOS was officially activated in 1998, as part of one of the many events during the company's "Bring Your Daughter to Work" day. Since she was able to take control of half of the facility's features, GLaDOS began killing most of its inhabitants by flooding the Enrichment Center with neurotoxin. However, only few if not only one of the staff such as Doug Rattmann had survived her attacks. The destruction of the company also coincided with an invasion of Earth, which had occurred two days after at Aperture's rival company, Black Mesa. This ultimately led to the negligence of the outside world from realizing Aperture's fate, as all attention had been diverted to Black Mesa and the aforementioned invasion.

Since the attack, she has managed the company to her limits. Her first test subject and the series' main protagonist, Chell, was given a warning of GLaDOS' true colors with the help of Rattmann. She confronts GLaDOS in her chamber at the end of Portal, which allowed GLaDOS to develop an even deeper hatred for her after she was awakened in the beginning of Portal 2.

Portal


Prior to the events of Portal, one of Aperture's technicians, Doug Rattmann, successfully evaded her attempts to flood the Enrichment Center with neurotoxin. He then took refuge in several departments throughout the facility and began tampering with the initial test subject roster, rearranging Chell to the top of the list as Test Subject #1 instead. Since GLaDOS initiated a lockdown, Rattmann was forced to live his whole life in hiding between the backstages of Test Chambers in the Enrichment Center. He then left various warnings of GLaDOS through graffiti that could only be found behind several corrupted wall panels in Test Chambers, in hopes that Chell would later stumble upon them. GLaDOS was able to operate the company all while residing in her Central AI Chamber, despite lacking full control over the facility.

She then awakens Chell for her mandatory testing of the Handheld Portal Device, which began the events of Portal. During these time periods, she had constantly intimidated Chell during her performances and given bitter yet innocent sarcastic notions by simply acting out like conveniently placed pre-recorded messages. Several tests later where the Turrets are finally introduced for testing, Chell would later discover the various graffiti left behind by Rattmann and immediately became aware, but was forced to played along with GLaDOS' plans.

After Chell completed the final test chamber, GLaDOS immediately revealed her true colors as she attempts to lower her into a pit of fire. Chell was able to escape her attempt to incinerate her and from there, Chell makes her way throughout the facility to escape. She later had no choice but to confront GLaDOS in her chamber as there was no chance of escaping, a conflict which Chell won. At the conclusion of the conflict, GLaDOS was heavily damaged, and remained in a dormant status for an unspecified amount of time as the facility degraded over the years.

Reawakening era


Beginning the major events of Portal 2, GLaDOS is reactivated through the accidental efforts of both Wheatley and Chell having tried to access an escape lift to the surface in the Central AI Chamber, as both of them were previously trapped in the building following GLaDOS' destruction.

GLaDOS then decides to return Chell to the facility's science experiments to further her cause of science, but often makes various taunts in hopes to crush her morale.





From then on, she conducts tests on the two robot test subjects; Atlas and P-body.

Cooperative testing era
GLaDOS has been primarily focusing on her two new android test subjects, Atlas and P-body. Typical to her nature, she would constantly find a way to crush their spirits via sarcasm and rarely having much hope in them.

Abilities and Traits
As the overseer and operator of the facility, GLaDOS is seemingly omnipotent, able to reconfigure rooms and carry out actions at her will. She monitors the facility and its test chambers through cameras mounted on walls. GLaDOS had displayed little to no emotion within her voice tone in the first half of Portal, due to being bound by the consciousness of other personality cores attached onto her for the sole purpose of restricting her control. She then becomes increasingly more agitated and is portrayed as intimidating near the end of the game.

GLaDOS' consciousness had been controlled by personality cores throughout the events of Portal.

Development and Acting
During Anime Midwest 2011, voice actress revealed that the concept of GLaDOS had always been a robotic voice that would pretentiously guide someone and often intimidates them. At this time, the developers had used copyrighted voice samples as a placeholder (temporary placement). As Ellen McLain had voiced the radio communications dispatcher of the Combine Overwatch throughout the Half-Life 2 saga, the developers had chosen her for the role of GLaDOS. During this time, developers had kept the project a secret and had left Ellen unaware what game it is that she is voicing for. Ellen was later made aware of her work and success when Portal was finally released.

In Portal, GLaDOS' initial designs prior to the game's release vary greatly. The earliest known design of GLaDOS was a large disc with a red eyeball in the center, with the disc surrounding it and welded onto the eyeball. This concept of GLaDOS appears to be the most favorable version towards several community members and was then recreated for use by a new character entirely for the community-made machinima series, The Underground. Later on in development, the design of the large eyeball was then scrapped into a robotic body hanging upsidedown from the ceiling, with four discs surrounding above it this time. This concept has since been kept for the release of Portal, with minor adjustments such as the addition of personality cores.

The earliest known concept of GLaDOS in Portal 2 demonstrates that her body's plating was completely torn and scrapped, leaving only her head the most intact - nearing the design of her spherical-cylinder shaped head in the game's release. She had also been given a red eye color in this concept rather than her trademark yellow that was given to her in Portal. Not much else is known of her design changes for the sequel, except that the developers established that the current design of GLaDOS in Portal 2 was to signify a more antagonistic appearance and shape.

In addition, a reskin of GLaDOS' design from Portal can be found in the game files of Portal 2, presenting rust stains and scratches possibly to be used for her components scattered around in her chamber.

Trivia

 * The acronym "GLaDOS" is a pun of the name "Gladdys" and the term DOS (Disc Operating System).


 * Ellen McLain, the actress that voices GLaDOS, also provides the voice for the Administrator in Team Fortress 2 and the Combine Overwatch in the Half-Life series. This makes Ellen McLain the only voice present in every game included in the The Orange Box.


 * The most favored character that Ellen McLain has voiced is none other than GLaDOS. She reveals that despite the hard effort in pulling off the voice of the Administrator from Team Fortress 2 and her unique way of ordering things, GLaDOS' character had a greater impact on her through her popular passive-aggressive behavior and subtle insults.


 * During the development of Portal 2, playtesters were uncomfortable with GLaDOS as she was far too vindictive in the single-player campaign, and the developers concluded that some of her dialogue was too extreme. Due to this, elements of her dialogue were reworked, which resulted in the creation of a more amicable, passive-aggressive personality for GLaDOS.


 * The acronym "GLaDOS" was never pronounced or spoken in full in the entire series. The only instances of her name are through in-game captions during Portal 2, and one of her disc generators from which the acronym was only present in Portal. During dialogue in Portal 2, Wheatley would only refer to GLaDOS as "her" or "she".