GLaDOS: Difference between revisions

{{See also|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 [[Panels|wall panel]]s 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.

{{spoiler|After several insults on how the birds were "abandoned" for how worthless she deemed them, she immediately saw potential in them when one of the birds cracked the glass casing housing them with its beak. GLaDOS begins to show compassion toward the birds as she realizes their ability to use hostility and makes use of them as test subjects, as she reveals a more motherly bonding with the birds than she ever did with the bots. The fate of the birds will remain unknown until further test courses are added.}}

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. {{spoiler|She also mentions that she cannot resist thinking of paradoxes if one would happen to be brought up.}} 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 [[Cores#Personality Cores|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. {{spoiler|In ''Portal 2'', she becomes extremely bitter after the events of ''Portal'', frequently insulting Chell until the very end - where she realizes that Chell was "all along [her] best friend".}}

{{spoiler|It was eventually revealed in ''Portal 2'' that GLaDOS was also able to reconstruct the components on her own body as well, now without the cores restricting her thoughts. She had replaced most of the broken and or missing components on her body since her awakening in the chapter, ''[[Portal 2 Chapter 1 Her Chamber|The Courtesy Call]]''. Her newer components are sleek and black, and is of little resemblance to the original ones from her body during the awakening and ''Portal''.}}

During Anime Midwest 2011, voice actress {{W|Ellen McLain}} 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 [[hl2:Combine Overwatch|Combine Overwatch]] throughout the [[hl2:Half-Life 2|''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.

* 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".

== See also ==

* [[Chell]]

* [[Aperture Science]]

* [[Collaborative Disposition Test#GLaDOS|Collaborative Disposition Test]]

* {{Spoiler|[[Caroline]]}}