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[[Image:Wheatley.png|right|400px|Weatley]]
[[File:Wheatley.png|right|300px|Wheatley]]
{{Quotation|'''Wheatley'''|I'll wait--I'll wait one hour. Then I'll come back and, assuming I can locate your dead body, I'll bury you. Alright? Brilliant! Go team! See you in an hour! Hopefully! If you're not... dead.|sound=Wheatley_sp_intro_03_afterfallalt09.wav}}


'''Wheatley''', {{spoiler text|known by GLaDOS as the '''Intelligence Dampening Sphere'''}}, is a [[Cores#Personality Cores|Personality Core]] of male programming and English West Country accent who first appears in ''[[Portal 2]]''. He is [[Chell]]'s guide through the first part of the game, and helps her to find a way to escape the facility.
{{Quotation|'''Wheatley'''|I'll wait--I'll wait one hour. Then I'll come back and, assuming I can locate your dead body, I'll bury you. Alright? Brilliant! Go team! See you in an hour! Hopefully! If you're not... dead. |sound=Wheatley_sp_intro_03_afterfallalt09.wav}}
 
{{Spoiler|The '''Intelligence Dampening Sphere''', more commonly}} known as '''Wheatley''', is a [[Cores#Personality Cores|personality core]] of masculine programming and English West Country accent who appears in the single-player campaign of ''[[Portal 2]]''.
 
He serves as the game's {{W|deuteragonist}}, guiding [[Chell]] through her efforts in escaping the [[Aperture Science]] Enrichment Center. {{spoiler|However, half-way through the game he and GLaDOS switch roles as she becomes Chell's deuteragonist and Wheatley becomes the game's main antagonist.}}


Wheatley is voiced by British actor and comedian {{W|Stephen Merchant}}.
Wheatley is voiced by British actor and comedian {{W|Stephen Merchant}}.


== Portal 2 ==
== Background ==
{{spoiler|Wheatley was designed to be an Intelligence Dampening Sphere, one of the [[Cores#Personality Cores|cores]] to be attached on GLaDOS in order to "generate an endless stream of terrible ideas" and inhibit her mental abilities. Although it was never explained, Wheatley was disconnected from her and given other jobs (it is possible that he was replaced by the [[Morality Core]]). Sometime before [[GLaDOS]] killed off the entire staff in the ''[[Portal 2: Lab Rat]]'' comic using neurotoxin, Wheatley had worked alongside staffs before he was put into storage with other cores seen at the end of ''[[Portal]]''. After a few years, though under unknown circumstances, he was put into deactivation along with many other personality cores and kept in storage.}}
 
{{spoiler|Thanks to [[Chell]]'s havoc on the Enrichment Center via the destruction of GLaDOS at the conclusion of ''Portal'', Wheatley and the rest of the cores were reactivated in order to maintain the facility. Ironically, this backfired as many cores appear to have been either killed off, gone insane (like the [[Space Sphere]]), or ran low on power.}}
 
{{spoiler|Prior to the events of ''Portal 2'', Wheatley was put in charge of maintaining the [[Extended Relaxation Center]] - which houses test subjects in long-term cryogenic stasis before and after they are put through the testing courses. However, what he did to actually manage the entire wing remains unmentioned. It was only until an unknown amount of time later that Wheatley decided to escape the facility. To accomplish this, he attempted to gather help from any remaining test subject that managed to last a long time after running out of cryogenic supply. Luckily for him, Chell was one of them if not the only one that lasted.}}
 
== Overview ==
=== ''Portal 2'' ===
{{See also|Portal 2}}
{{See also|Portal 2}}
{{spoiler text|Wheatley is first seen early in the game by Chell, attached to a rail on the ceiling. After detaching himself from the rail, he accompanies Chell on a route through the ruined Enrichment Center chambers, using his compatibility with the Center's systems to allow passage through shortcuts. Eventually, they come to [[GLaDOS]]' ruined chamber, where she promptly awakens and appears to destroy Wheatley. However, he survives and meets up with Chell later on. During the course of the game, Wheatley aids Chell into escaping from [[GLaDOS]]' tests. The two eventually sabotage GLaDOS' turret production line and neurotoxin and later confront GLaDOS herself. A core transference occurs and Wheatley takes over the facility. When he is about to let Chell escape, Wheatley becomes corrupted with power and becomes the game's new main antagonist. Wheatley reconstructs GLaDOS' hardware on to a potato battery and knocks both her and Chell into [[Aperture Science|Aperture Science's]] old and forgotten test chambers by accident.}}


{{spoiler text|After returning from the old test chambers, Chell and GLaDOS learn that Wheatley's actions are causing the facility's reactor to approach a nuclear meltdown. After passing through more test chambers made by Wheatley, he attempts to kill Chell and GLaDOS. After escaping his traps, GLaDOS suggests causing a new core transfer by implanting corrupt Personality Cores into Wheatley.}}
[[File:Wheatley intro rail.jpg|thumb|120px|right|Wheatley's first appearance.]]


{{spoiler text|Chell enters Wheatley's lair to begin the final confrontation of the game. By shutting him down temporarily with bombs, Chell corrupts Wheatley enough to initiate a new core transference, saving the facility from destruction in the progress. However, a stalemate occurs when Wheatley does not agree to transfer himself, and Chell must press the stalemate resolution button to finalize the transfer. However, Wheatley had booby trapped it with explosives, and Chell is flung from the button. Chell survives and launches a portal onto the surface of the Moon, causing both her and Wheatley to be sucked into space. GLaDOS then reacquires her old body and rescues Chell while letting Wheatley be launched into the vacuum of space.}}
{{spoiler|Wheatley is first seen during the very beginning of the game during the chapter ''The Courtesy Call'', wherein he removes Chell from her Relaxation Vault and puts her into one of the old testing tracks, so she can find a [[Handheld Portal Device]] and help him escape. After she acquires the device, he meets up with her and detaches himself from his management rail to accompany her to the now-ruined [[Central AI Chamber]], so they can access an escape pod to the surface. He uses his compatibility with the Enrichment Center's systems to allow passage through a testing chamber's backstage.}} {{spoiler|When they reach the ruined Central AI Chamber and he tries to activate the lights, he accidentally reactivates [[GLaDOS]] instead. Wheatley is crushed by GLaDOS' pincers and tossed to the side and Chell is placed back in GLaDOS' testing tracks. However, he somehow survives and is placed back on his management rail, due to an incident involving a bird (Wheatley attempts to explain the events of this incident to Chell, but it is not heard in full).}}


{{spoiler text|Wheatley is last seen in the epilogue after the end credits, with the [[Cores#Space Core|Space Core]] orbiting him, where he wishes he could say he was sorry for all he did to Chell.}}
{{spoiler|Throughout Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 5, Wheatley observes Chell from behind the scenes of the test chambers, trying to figure out a way to break her out. Finally, at the end of Chapter 4, he is successful and they both escape into the manufacturing section of Aperture, just before GLaDOS is about to kill Chell. He hatches a plan to sabotage GLaDOS' turrets and neurotoxin, then confront her, defeat her, and escape. They succeed in sabotaging GLaDOS' [[turret]] production line and [[neurotoxin]] generator.}}
 
[[File:Wheatley takeover.jpg|thumb|150px|left|{{spoiler|Wheatley and his panels.}}]]
[[File:Wheatley extract potatos.jpg|thumb|150px|left|{{spoiler|Wheatley having extracted GLaDOS into a potato battery.}}]]
[[File:Wheatleymonitor.png|thumb|150px|left|{{spoiler|Wheatley.}}]]
{{spoiler|Once this is done, Chell and Wheatley return to the Central AI Chamber through the [[Tubes]] to confront GLaDOS. The [[Announcer]] detects GLaDOS as a corrupted [[Cores#Central Core|central core]] and offers a core transfer. A stalemate is reached between Wheatley and GLaDOS, and Chell has to push the Stalemate Resolution Button. Once Chell does this, the core transfer commences. GLaDOS' head is removed from her body and Wheatley is put in its place, putting him in control of the facility. He summons an elevator for Chell to escape to the surface, but just as the elevator is starting to rise, Wheatley grows corrupted with power and lowers it back down. He says spitefully that all Chell does is boss him around (Ironically, Chell never says a word in either game), but now ''he'' is the boss and she is at his mercy. Wheatley transfers GLaDOS' core programming to a small computer chip powered by a potato battery as an attempt to humiliate her. In her potato form, GLaDOS suddenly recognizes Wheatley's voice. She tells him that he is an Intelligence Dampening Sphere, "producing an endless stream of terrible ideas", essentially "designed to be a moron". In a fit of rage, he accidentally knocks both her and Chell into the bottom of the elevator shaft leading to the depths of the Enrichment Center, Old Aperture}}
 
[[File:Portal 2 Chapter 8 Test Chamber 15 view.png|thumb|right|200px|{{spoiler|The Enrichment Center during Wheatley's control.}}]]
 
{{spoiler|After returning from Old Aperture, Chell and potato-GLaDOS learn that Wheatley's moronic actions are causing the facility's reactor to approach a nuclear meltdown because he consistently neglects the urgent warnings from the [[Announcer]], instead preferring to think of ways to satisfy the testing addiction he gets from inhabiting GLaDOS' body, which he calls "the itch". One such (unsuccessful) endeavor is the creation of [[Weighted Storage Cube|Cube]]/[[Turret]] hybrids, or "[[Frankenturret|Frankenturrets]]" designed to autonomously walk onto [[Super Button|buttons]]. When Wheatley discovers Chell and GLaDOS, GLaDOS attempts to overclock Wheatley's processors by forcing him to interpret a paradox, but the attempt fails as he isn't smart enough to even understand that it is a paradox at all, even his Frankenturrets understand this paradox, as they are seen twitching and sparking after the paradox is mentioned. When this attempt fails, Wheatley puts Chell and GLaDOS into his own testing tracks (most of them stolen from GLaDOS, and usually mashed together with other stolen tracks in a semi-failed attempt to make new chambers.) As they go through the testing tracks, he examines the rest of the Enrichment Center and discovers [[Atlas]] and [[P-body]]. Realizing he no longer needs Chell to continue testing, he sets a trap, with which he can [[Crushers|crush]] her to death. However, Chell evades his trap, escapes the testing area, and prepares for the final confrontation with him.}}
 
{{spoiler|When Chell arrives in Wheatley's chamber, Wheatley employs a four-part plan to destroy her: no portal surfaces, start the [[neurotoxin]] immediately, bomb-proof shields, and [[bomb]] launchers. This backfires, however, when Chell uses a bomb to shatter a pipe of [[Conversion Gel]], then uses this gel to redirect bombs at Wheatley. Each bomb stuns Wheatley for long enough to attach a [[Cores#Corrupted Cores|corrupted core]] onto him. Once this is done three times, Wheatley is corrupt enough for the announcer to initiate a core transfer. A stalemate occurs once more between Wheatley and GLaDOS, and Chell must press the stalemate resolution button to finalize the transfer. However, Wheatley had booby trapped it with explosives before the fight, as the fifth part of his plan, and Chell is flung from the button. The explosion dislodges part of the ceiling, exposing the night sky and the Moon. Chell shoots a portal onto the Moon, causing both her and Wheatley to be sucked into space, both of them holding onto the central core body in order to stay anchored on Earth. While they are suspended here, the core transfer is completed. GLaDOS returns to her original place as Central Core, knocks Wheatley off her body, and rescues Chell. Wheatley flies off into space, accompanied by the [[Space Sphere]].}}
 
{{spoiler|Wheatley is last seen in the epilogue after the end credits, with the [[Space Sphere|Space Core]] orbiting him, where he wishes he could say he was sorry for all he did to Chell.}}
{{clr}}


== Gallery ==
== Gallery ==
{{gallery
{{gallery
|title=Wheatley
|title = Screenshots
|width=192
|lines = 4
|height=108
|height = 200
|lines=3
|width = 150
|File:Portal2 Wheatley E3.jpg|alt1=Wheatley, as he appeared in the E3 2010 trailer.|Wheatley, as he appeared in the E3 2010 trailer.
|File:Wheatley intro door.jpg|alt1=W|Wheatley as he first appeared in the chapter ''The Courtesy Call''.
|File:Wheatley rail.png|alt2=Wheatley attached to his rail.|Wheatley attached to his rail.
|File:Wheatley intro rail.jpg|alt1=W|Attached to the ceiling rail in [[Chell]]'s Relaxation Chamber.
|File:Portal2 Wheatley Boss.png|alt3=Wheatley after taking control of the facility.|{{spoiler|Wheatley after taking control of the facility.}}|spoiler3=yes
|File:Wheatley intro testchamber bust.jpg|alt1=W|Wheatley busting Chell's Relaxation Chamber into the dilapidated [[Portal]] testing track.
|File:Wheatley corrupted.png|alt4=Wheatley in a dirty state, after being crushed by GLaDOS (but somehow surviving). |{{spoiler|Wheatley in a dirty state, after being crushed by GLaDOS (but somehow surviving.) Note what appears to be a cracked lens on his eye.}}|spoiler4=yes
|File:Wheatley rail.png|alt1=W|Attached to a panel arm on management rail.
|File:Wheatley from Personality Test.jpg|alt5=Wheatley image from the official Aperture Science Collaborative Disposition Test.|Wheatley image from the [http://www.thinkwithportals.com/coop_survey.php official Aperture Science Collaborative Disposition Test].
|File:Chell and Wheatley Size Comparison.png|alt1=W|Wheatley compared in size to [[Chell]].
|File:Wheatley Valentine.png|alt6=Wheatley Valentine from Valve's official Portal 2 blog.|Wheatley Valentine from [http://tinyurl.com/3pt4d34 Valve's official Portal 2 blog].
|File:Wheatley breaker room.jpg|alt1=W|{{spoiler|Attached to a core receptacle in the main breaker room.}}|spoiler6=yes
|File:Chell and Wheatley Size Comparison.png|alt7=Wheatley compared in size to Chell.|Wheatley compared in size to Chell.
|File:Wheatley glados awakening panic.jpg|alt1=W|{{spoiler|Panicking during [[GLaDOS]]' reawakening.}}|spoiler7=yes
|File:Wheatley Icon.jpg|alt8=Wheatley icon from the official Steam Portal 2 group.|Wheatley icon from the [http://steamcommunity.com/games/portal2/Avatar/List official Steam Portal 2 group].
|File:Glados awakening grabbing wheatley.jpg|alt1=W|{{spoiler|GLaDOS effortlessly crushing Wheatley with her pincers.}}|spoiler8=yes
|File:Wheatley corrupted.png|alt1=W|{{spoiler|Wheatley after being crushed by GLaDOS (but somehow surviving).}}|spoiler9=yes
|File:Wheatley tube ride.jpg|alt1=W|{{spoiler|Wheatley and Chell travelling in the tubes.}}|spoiler10=yes
|File:Sp a2 core0476.jpg|alt1=W|{{spoiler|Wheatley rolling inside a neurotoxin tube in the [[Central AI Chamber]].}}|spoiler11=yes
|File:Wheatley core transfer.jpg|alt1=W|{{spoiler|A panicking Wheatley moments before the [[Cores#Central Core|central core]] transfer.}}|spoiler12=yes
|File:Portal2 Wheatley Boss.png|alt1=W|{{spoiler|Wheatley after taking control of the facility.}}|spoiler13=yes
|File:Wheatley body excited.jpg|alt1=W|{{spoiler|An excited Wheatley after taking over.}}|spoiler14=yes
|File:BetaWheatleyChamber.jpg|alt1=W|Pre-Release screenshot of Wheatley
|File:Wheatley extract potatos.jpg|alt1=W|{{spoiler|Power-mad Wheatley having extracted GLaDOS into a potato battery.}}|spoiler15=yes
|File:Wheatley monitor finale.jpg|alt1=W|{{spoiler|Using TV screens to communicate with Chell after her escape.}}|spoiler16=yes
|File:BetaBoss.jpg|alt1=W|{{spoiler|Concept art of the final boss battle}}|spoiler17=yes
|File:Wheatley finale shields.jpg|alt1=W|{{spoiler|Wheatley preparing to fight Chell while using [[panels]] as shields.}}|spoiler18=yes
|File:bomb wheatley.png|alt1=W|{{Spoiler text|[[Wheatley]] throwing bombs at you}}|spoiler19=yes
|File:Wheatley vacuum suck.jpg|alt1=W|{{spoiler|Wheatley sucked by the vacuum of space in Chell's [[Portals|portal]] to the moon.}}|spoiler20=yes
|File:Wheatley vacuum moon.jpg|alt1=W|{{spoiler|Chell grabbing onto Wheatley on the moon's surface.}}|spoiler21=yes
|File:Wheatley power mad.jpg|alt1=W|Wheatley, telling Chell that ''he'' is the boss.
}}
 
{{gallery
|title = Media
|lines = 4
|height = 200
|width = 150
|File:Portal2 Wheatley E3.jpg|alt1=W|Wheatley, as he appeared in the E3 2010 teaser trailer.
|File:Wheatley from Personality Test.jpg|alt1=W|Wheatley's portrait from the [http://www.thinkwithportals.com/coop_survey.php official Aperture Science Collaborative Disposition Test].
|File:Wheatley Valentine.png|alt1=W|Wheatley Valentine from [http://tinyurl.com/3pt4d34 Valve's official Portal 2 blog].
|File:Wheatley Icon.jpg|alt1=W|Avatar of Wheatley from the [http://steamcommunity.com/games/portal2/Avatar/List official Steam ''Portal 2'' group].
|File:Steam Sale Winter 2011 Snow Wheatley.jpg|alt1=W|Wheatley being used as the head of a snowman during the Steam Sale in Winter 2011.
}}
}}


== Trivia ==
== Trivia ==
* Appearance-wise, Wheatley appears to be a variant of [[GLaDOS]]' Intelligence Core (the one telling the [[cake]] recipe), with a blue "eye" and three dots, though Wheatley has dots only on his right side and possesses a white light as his iris instead.
* Wheatley's {{W|Cockney#Cockney_speech|Cockney accent}} heard in the [[Meet Wheatley (video)|Meet Wheatley]] video shown at E3 2010 uses a placeholder voice provided by [[Valve]] animator [http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,55298/ Richard Lord].<ref>[http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2010/06/portal-2-wheatley/ ''Portal 2'' Gains a Talkative Companion] on Wired.com</ref> Due to very positive feedback, Valve considered at some point making the voice official.<ref>[http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=21890104&postcount=83 ''Portal 2'' E3 gameplay video (single post)] on the NeoGAF forums</ref> Later Lord himself emphasized that his voice was temporary, saying that "theres no way you will be dissapointed with the final voice - i'm over the moon with who it might be." [sic],<ref>[http://lastoutpostofsanity.com/2010/06/tempvoice/ "Temp voice!"] on Last Outpost of Sanity, Richard Lord's official blog</ref> until it was announced that Stephen Merchant would provide the final voice.<ref>[http://pc.ign.com/articles/109/1095842p1.html Gamescom: ''Portal 2'' gets Stephen Merchant] on ComputerAndVideoGames.com</ref>
* {{spoiler|During the 2011 Video Game Awards, Wheatley was nominated for "Character of the Year". He then made an appearance on the event which depicted him in space as he states that he would be even more honored for a space shuttle rescue.<ref>[http://www.gametrailers.com/video/vga-2011-spike-vgas/724835 Wheatley footage at VGA 2011] on GameTrailers</ref>}} ''Portal 2'' then won the award for "Best Performance by a Human Male" with Stephen Merchant's portrayal of Wheatley.<ref>[http://www.spike.com/events/video-game-awards-2011-nominees/voting/best-performance-by-a-human-male Best Performance by a Human Male] on Spike</ref>
* Wheatley makes a cameo appearance in an official [http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=7375 plugin] (Warning! May contain NSFW content), created by Bethesda and Valve, for ''The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim'', {{spoiler|entitled '''Fall of the Space Core, Vol. 1'''. In it, he can be seen floating around the Skills menu.}}
* In the developer commentary of Portal 2, it is revealed that he was originally intended to have tried escaping with other subjects prior to waking Chell up. {{Spoiler|This still remains in the game, as during the final boss battle, he says that he tried escaping with 6 people prior. However, due to his nature and the heat of the battle, it is unknown if he was lying or not.}}


* {{Spoiler|Appearance-wise, Wheatley appears to be an upgraded version of GLaDOS' Intelligence Core (the one telling the [[cake]] recipe), with a blue "eye" and three dots, though Wheatley has dots only on his right side. From early screenshots and the ''Portal 2'' E3 teaser trailer, the model also appears to have been greatly improved and more detailed, with a wider range of emotions.}}
* {{spoiler|When Wheatley speaks Spanish it translates to "You are using this translation software incorrectly. Please consult the manual."}}


* Wheatley's {{W|Cockney#Cockney_speech|Cockney accent}} heard in the [[Meet Wheatley (video)]] video shown at E3 2010 uses a placeholder voice provided by [[Valve]] animator [http://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,55298/ Richard Lord].<ref>[http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2010/06/portal-2-wheatley/ ''Portal 2'' Gains a Talkative Companion] on Wired.com</ref> Due to very positive feedback, Valve considered at some point making the voice official.<ref>[http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=21890104&postcount=83 ''Portal 2'' E3 gameplay video (single post)] on the NeoGAF forums</ref> Later Lord himself emphasized that his voice was temporary, saying that "theres no way you will be dissapointed with the final voice - i'm over the moon with who it might be." [sic],<ref>[http://lastoutpostofsanity.com/2010/06/tempvoice/ "Temp voice!"] on Last Outpost of Sanity, Richard Lord's official blog</ref> until it was announced that Stephen Merchant would provide the final voice.<ref>[http://pc.ign.com/articles/109/1095842p1.html Gamescom: ''Portal 2'' gets Stephen Merchant] on ComputerAndVideoGames.com</ref>
* Wheatley , alongside GLaDOS and Chell, appears in [[LEGO Dimensions]]; {{spoiler|in the main story of the game, Wheatley attempts to aid the main characters {{w|Gandalf}}, {{w|Batman}}, and [http://lego-dimensions.wikia.com/wiki/Wyldstyle Wyldstyle] obtain [[Cake|cake]] and later escape from a [[Emergency Intelligence Incinerator|room-sized incinerator]]. Later, he reappears with the power of teleportation and again helps Chell overthrow GLaDOS by putting the [[Space Sphere]] in charge of the facility.}}
** {{spoiler| While '''non-canon''' to the ''Portal'' series, in his first ''LEGO'' appearance, Wheatley is still bound to railing (as he was in the early parts of ''Portal 2''), whereas later he is free-floating; both he and GLaDOS reference the events of ''Portal 2's '' ending. This may imply that the two appearances are intended to take place at different points in time with regard to the ''Portal'' timeline.}}


== See Also ==
* {{spoiler|When Wheatley is transferred into GLaDOS' body, his handles are removed. Oddly, when Wheatley is being sucked into space, the handles suddenly reappear despite still being connected to the main frame. This maybe an unintended story fault that the developers doesn't notice while developing the game}}
* [[Collaborative Disposition Test#Wheatley|Collaborative Disposition Test]]
 
* Wheatley makes a guest appearance as a [https://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Spy Spy] weapon in [[Team Fortress 2]] (as the [[Ap-Sap]])


== References ==
== References ==
<references />
<references />
== See also ==
* [[Wheatley voice lines]]
* [[GLaDOS]]
* [[Chell]]
* [[Collaborative Disposition Test#Wheatley|Collaborative Disposition Test]]
* [[Cores]]




{{CharactersNav}}
{{CharactersNav}}

Latest revision as of 20:10, 15 April 2023

Wheatley
I'll wait--I'll wait one hour. Then I'll come back and, assuming I can locate your dead body, I'll bury you. Alright? Brilliant! Go team! See you in an hour! Hopefully! If you're not... dead.
Wheatley

The Intelligence Dampening Sphere, more commonly known as Wheatley, is a personality core of masculine programming and English West Country accent who appears in the single-player campaign of Portal 2.

He serves as the game's deuteragonist, guiding Chell through her efforts in escaping the Aperture Science Enrichment Center. However, half-way through the game he and GLaDOS switch roles as she becomes Chell's deuteragonist and Wheatley becomes the game's main antagonist.

Wheatley is voiced by British actor and comedian Stephen Merchant.

Background

Wheatley was designed to be an Intelligence Dampening Sphere, one of the cores to be attached on GLaDOS in order to "generate an endless stream of terrible ideas" and inhibit her mental abilities. Although it was never explained, Wheatley was disconnected from her and given other jobs (it is possible that he was replaced by the Morality Core). Sometime before GLaDOS killed off the entire staff in the Portal 2: Lab Rat comic using neurotoxin, Wheatley had worked alongside staffs before he was put into storage with other cores seen at the end of Portal. After a few years, though under unknown circumstances, he was put into deactivation along with many other personality cores and kept in storage.

Thanks to Chell's havoc on the Enrichment Center via the destruction of GLaDOS at the conclusion of Portal, Wheatley and the rest of the cores were reactivated in order to maintain the facility. Ironically, this backfired as many cores appear to have been either killed off, gone insane (like the Space Sphere), or ran low on power.

Prior to the events of Portal 2, Wheatley was put in charge of maintaining the Extended Relaxation Center - which houses test subjects in long-term cryogenic stasis before and after they are put through the testing courses. However, what he did to actually manage the entire wing remains unmentioned. It was only until an unknown amount of time later that Wheatley decided to escape the facility. To accomplish this, he attempted to gather help from any remaining test subject that managed to last a long time after running out of cryogenic supply. Luckily for him, Chell was one of them if not the only one that lasted.

Overview

Portal 2

See also: Portal 2
Wheatley's first appearance.

Wheatley is first seen during the very beginning of the game during the chapter The Courtesy Call, wherein he removes Chell from her Relaxation Vault and puts her into one of the old testing tracks, so she can find a Handheld Portal Device and help him escape. After she acquires the device, he meets up with her and detaches himself from his management rail to accompany her to the now-ruined Central AI Chamber, so they can access an escape pod to the surface. He uses his compatibility with the Enrichment Center's systems to allow passage through a testing chamber's backstage. When they reach the ruined Central AI Chamber and he tries to activate the lights, he accidentally reactivates GLaDOS instead. Wheatley is crushed by GLaDOS' pincers and tossed to the side and Chell is placed back in GLaDOS' testing tracks. However, he somehow survives and is placed back on his management rail, due to an incident involving a bird (Wheatley attempts to explain the events of this incident to Chell, but it is not heard in full).

Throughout Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 5, Wheatley observes Chell from behind the scenes of the test chambers, trying to figure out a way to break her out. Finally, at the end of Chapter 4, he is successful and they both escape into the manufacturing section of Aperture, just before GLaDOS is about to kill Chell. He hatches a plan to sabotage GLaDOS' turrets and neurotoxin, then confront her, defeat her, and escape. They succeed in sabotaging GLaDOS' turret production line and neurotoxin generator.

Wheatley and his panels.
Wheatley having extracted GLaDOS into a potato battery.
Wheatley.

Once this is done, Chell and Wheatley return to the Central AI Chamber through the Tubes to confront GLaDOS. The Announcer detects GLaDOS as a corrupted central core and offers a core transfer. A stalemate is reached between Wheatley and GLaDOS, and Chell has to push the Stalemate Resolution Button. Once Chell does this, the core transfer commences. GLaDOS' head is removed from her body and Wheatley is put in its place, putting him in control of the facility. He summons an elevator for Chell to escape to the surface, but just as the elevator is starting to rise, Wheatley grows corrupted with power and lowers it back down. He says spitefully that all Chell does is boss him around (Ironically, Chell never says a word in either game), but now he is the boss and she is at his mercy. Wheatley transfers GLaDOS' core programming to a small computer chip powered by a potato battery as an attempt to humiliate her. In her potato form, GLaDOS suddenly recognizes Wheatley's voice. She tells him that he is an Intelligence Dampening Sphere, "producing an endless stream of terrible ideas", essentially "designed to be a moron". In a fit of rage, he accidentally knocks both her and Chell into the bottom of the elevator shaft leading to the depths of the Enrichment Center, Old Aperture

The Enrichment Center during Wheatley's control.

After returning from Old Aperture, Chell and potato-GLaDOS learn that Wheatley's moronic actions are causing the facility's reactor to approach a nuclear meltdown because he consistently neglects the urgent warnings from the Announcer, instead preferring to think of ways to satisfy the testing addiction he gets from inhabiting GLaDOS' body, which he calls "the itch". One such (unsuccessful) endeavor is the creation of Cube/Turret hybrids, or "Frankenturrets" designed to autonomously walk onto buttons. When Wheatley discovers Chell and GLaDOS, GLaDOS attempts to overclock Wheatley's processors by forcing him to interpret a paradox, but the attempt fails as he isn't smart enough to even understand that it is a paradox at all, even his Frankenturrets understand this paradox, as they are seen twitching and sparking after the paradox is mentioned. When this attempt fails, Wheatley puts Chell and GLaDOS into his own testing tracks (most of them stolen from GLaDOS, and usually mashed together with other stolen tracks in a semi-failed attempt to make new chambers.) As they go through the testing tracks, he examines the rest of the Enrichment Center and discovers Atlas and P-body. Realizing he no longer needs Chell to continue testing, he sets a trap, with which he can crush her to death. However, Chell evades his trap, escapes the testing area, and prepares for the final confrontation with him.

When Chell arrives in Wheatley's chamber, Wheatley employs a four-part plan to destroy her: no portal surfaces, start the neurotoxin immediately, bomb-proof shields, and bomb launchers. This backfires, however, when Chell uses a bomb to shatter a pipe of Conversion Gel, then uses this gel to redirect bombs at Wheatley. Each bomb stuns Wheatley for long enough to attach a corrupted core onto him. Once this is done three times, Wheatley is corrupt enough for the announcer to initiate a core transfer. A stalemate occurs once more between Wheatley and GLaDOS, and Chell must press the stalemate resolution button to finalize the transfer. However, Wheatley had booby trapped it with explosives before the fight, as the fifth part of his plan, and Chell is flung from the button. The explosion dislodges part of the ceiling, exposing the night sky and the Moon. Chell shoots a portal onto the Moon, causing both her and Wheatley to be sucked into space, both of them holding onto the central core body in order to stay anchored on Earth. While they are suspended here, the core transfer is completed. GLaDOS returns to her original place as Central Core, knocks Wheatley off her body, and rescues Chell. Wheatley flies off into space, accompanied by the Space Sphere.

Wheatley is last seen in the epilogue after the end credits, with the Space Core orbiting him, where he wishes he could say he was sorry for all he did to Chell.

Gallery

Trivia

  • Appearance-wise, Wheatley appears to be a variant of GLaDOS' Intelligence Core (the one telling the cake recipe), with a blue "eye" and three dots, though Wheatley has dots only on his right side and possesses a white light as his iris instead.
  • Wheatley's Cockney accent heard in the Meet Wheatley video shown at E3 2010 uses a placeholder voice provided by Valve animator Richard Lord.[1] Due to very positive feedback, Valve considered at some point making the voice official.[2] Later Lord himself emphasized that his voice was temporary, saying that "theres no way you will be dissapointed with the final voice - i'm over the moon with who it might be." [sic],[3] until it was announced that Stephen Merchant would provide the final voice.[4]
  • During the 2011 Video Game Awards, Wheatley was nominated for "Character of the Year". He then made an appearance on the event which depicted him in space as he states that he would be even more honored for a space shuttle rescue.[5] Portal 2 then won the award for "Best Performance by a Human Male" with Stephen Merchant's portrayal of Wheatley.[6]
  • Wheatley makes a cameo appearance in an official plugin (Warning! May contain NSFW content), created by Bethesda and Valve, for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, entitled Fall of the Space Core, Vol. 1. In it, he can be seen floating around the Skills menu.
  • In the developer commentary of Portal 2, it is revealed that he was originally intended to have tried escaping with other subjects prior to waking Chell up. This still remains in the game, as during the final boss battle, he says that he tried escaping with 6 people prior. However, due to his nature and the heat of the battle, it is unknown if he was lying or not.
  • When Wheatley speaks Spanish it translates to "You are using this translation software incorrectly. Please consult the manual."
  • Wheatley , alongside GLaDOS and Chell, appears in LEGO Dimensions; in the main story of the game, Wheatley attempts to aid the main characters Gandalf, Batman, and Wyldstyle obtain cake and later escape from a room-sized incinerator. Later, he reappears with the power of teleportation and again helps Chell overthrow GLaDOS by putting the Space Sphere in charge of the facility.
    • While non-canon to the Portal series, in his first LEGO appearance, Wheatley is still bound to railing (as he was in the early parts of Portal 2), whereas later he is free-floating; both he and GLaDOS reference the events of Portal 2's ending. This may imply that the two appearances are intended to take place at different points in time with regard to the Portal timeline.
  • When Wheatley is transferred into GLaDOS' body, his handles are removed. Oddly, when Wheatley is being sucked into space, the handles suddenly reappear despite still being connected to the main frame. This maybe an unintended story fault that the developers doesn't notice while developing the game

References

  1. Portal 2 Gains a Talkative Companion on Wired.com
  2. Portal 2 E3 gameplay video (single post) on the NeoGAF forums
  3. "Temp voice!" on Last Outpost of Sanity, Richard Lord's official blog
  4. Gamescom: Portal 2 gets Stephen Merchant on ComputerAndVideoGames.com
  5. Wheatley footage at VGA 2011 on GameTrailers
  6. Best Performance by a Human Male on Spike

See also