Villainpedia: GLaDOS

video games dating back to their earliest days  have been modeled on the basic structure of   trial and error a task is given to the player  with the expectation that the individual will use   all tools available to eventually find a solution  outlast the enemies save the princess solve the   puzzle get the banana whatever the case may be  and hey if you fail not the biggest deal man   just insert another quarter press continue and try  again you might even consider this entire process   of playing a video game as testing testing out  different tactics and strategies until something   works you find success and you can progress to the  next level with all the knowledge you have gained   now zooming out a little bit from this structure  in the abstract it almost sounds like work what   if i told you that that formula is kind of the  blueprint for today's villain i mean someone or   something could easily exploit this cold ladder  of advancement in the very structure of our games   to doom us to perpetual testing purgatory well  in that rough idea lies the genius of the portal   series developed by val the masterful marriage  of video game structure scientific advancement   and dark humor into one lonely sterile heartfelt  cryptic yet straightforward and challenging pair   of video games that are guaranteed to make you  feel make you think and make you laugh and as   i alluded to it's also the perfect setting for  a memorable evil doer or two or three well my   friends today's episode of the villainpedia is  all about glados the antagonist from this now   legendary series a sadistic cruel and damn  charming artificial intelligence whose very   code compels her to test you must really really  love to test i love it too of course strictly in   the name of science and after that test how about  just one more and then maybe a few more until her   subject has failed died and joined the growing  pile of victims and her current test subject   is of course you you are her game her current  experiment so really quick i have to make a note   here about the pronunciation of this character's  name i personally have always said glados kind of   like os operating system i know many people say  gladys but the name itself is never said in game   some developer commentary is all we really have to  go on and there you have people saying gladys and   glados and then the voice actress of the character  herself says glados so look i don't know don't get   too hung up on it man just say it however you want  there seems to be no consistency on the matter but   glados is far more than just a cold uncaring  testing machine i don't think i would be going   out on a limb here by saying she has become one  of the shining pillars of video game antagonism   in recent years and surprisingly boasts one of  the more interesting and tragic origin stories   to date in my villainpedia series and beyond just  that i mean you got artificial intelligence power   progress control the ghost in the shell what it  means to be alive to feel glados is a vehicle   for so many potent narratives that i just know  this video is going to be a ton of fun but before   we get started i just want to take this moment to  thank all of my awesome patrons who helped me out   so much by supporting the channel away from the  tyranny of youtube you're all beautiful people and   i also really want to just thank everyone at large  for helping me reach 100 000 subscribers recently   that number is still ridiculous to me i don't take  it for granted whatsoever i hope you know that so   thank you from the bottom of my heart i am ghost  your host as always and without further ado what's   going on with glados what does her name stand for  what is her endgame and how does she eventually   end up stuck in a potato let's go ahead and dive  in well with any character we talk about here on   this channel you gotta begin of course with the  lore the background now to be fully transparent   portal lore contradicts itself in places retcons  were made between the games and other external   sources of information kind of complicate  things so everything you hear in this section   will honestly just be my interpretation of the  chronology of all of this lore well naturally our   story begins with a man named cave johnson and his  dream to produce shower curtains back in the 1940s   hey i can hear you don't laugh this is no joke i'm  not kidding at all shower curtains baby now bear   with me here all right sounds crazy it's all going  to make a lot more sense soon so cave johnson is   a fascinating character in his own right and  really the most vital part of the entire plot   of portal he is the founder of and force behind  aperture science the big research corporation   that acts as the setting here in game cave johnson  here introducing the consumer version of our most   popular military-grade product the turret how  do we get so many bullets in them like this   plus we fire the whole bullet that's 65 more  bullet per bullet now unfortunately our boy cave   is long dead by the time portal actually takes  place but his posthumous villainy and ruthlessness   is just about everywhere you look but we will get  to all of that and how it relates to glados in due   time for now shower curtains alright so why shower  curtains look i don't know but i mean someone's   got to make them right so cave one day woke up  and said why not me well cave johnson was an   enterprising man and he sought deals with  big fish namely the main branches of the   armed forces you see he wanted to become the  shower curtain supplier to america's finest   and so eventually he was he became a billionaire  on these contracts and quickly rose up the food   chain of american business but let's be honest  here shower curtains were only ever meant to be   the launching pad and cave had much bigger things  on his mind next he purchased a massive salt mine   in northern michigan and inside of it deep under  the earth built a subterranean research facility   and headquarters for aperture once this place  was complete he pivoted his corporation sharply   away from shower curtains and toured what else but  experimental physics now that's quite a change of   pace if i do say so myself and i don't think it's  a stretch to say they probably had to do a little   bit of rehiring don't you think now speaking of  rehiring today's video is sponsored by linkedin   nah it's not i'm just kidding this video is not  sponsored by anybody so in that following decade   aperture reached new heights they entered  the science business with a boom they won   awards for their research and sat firmly on  the cutting edge of the industry developing   and testing everything from household products  to military grade tech and beyond but one of   the most intriguing projects being the quantum  tunneling device which would eventually evolve   into portal technology big big things were  happening at aperture but let's be honest   science can be a rather competitive and fickle  field and throughout the 1960s aputure would   begin to seriously lag behind its rival company  black mesa now if that sounds familiar to you   you probably know them from the half-life  series as the employer of a certain famous   silent protagonist physicist and i just think  it's so cool that these two valve properties   happen kind of simultaneously between warring  corporations i wish they still made games   son what the hell are they doing gabe get it  together now in many ways the story of portal   and everything that occurs here is about corporate  mismanagement of assets and a lot of malpractice   so as cave saw his company finishing second  to black mesa across the board he began to cut   corners something he had absolutely already been  doing from the jump because this guy is a total   scuzz bag but now at a dizzying and dangerous  rate abandoning morality totally for progress   the company in cave's words once had war heroes  retired astronauts olympians volunteering to act   as test subjects but now aperture was having to  answer for some of these treasured individuals   going missing and even turning to experimenting  things on their own employees as volunteer lists   grew shorter weird stuff too like putting praying  mantis dna inside of people and firing invisible   lasers at subjects to turn their blood to gasoline  just for shits and giggles so as that gap widened   between aperture and its competitor things  just declined exponentially work conditions   were worsening and cave was becoming more and more  ruthless and disconnected from reality by the day   but all this time from the very first steps  into the scientific field to the company's   boom of success and then eventual decline  one person remained at cave johnson's side   unwavering intelligent patient his most treasured  assistant confidant and i would say friend who   cave lovingly referred to as the backbone of the  company that eager voice you heard is the lovely   carolyn my assistant isn't that right carolyn yes  sir mr johnson carolyn was fiercely loyal to cave   and to aperture regardless of what occurred within  the test chambers she was again in cave's words   married to science well her loyalty was certainly  tested in 1968 when aperture declared bankruptcy   and then started stealing homeless people off  the street to test stuff on and eventually even   orphans mental patients and the elderly good  lord cave my boy where is the line but still   through all of that and worse carolyn held on  strong it was painfully obvious that aperture   needed a breakthrough a big winner a new product  to show the world it could get back on top and   there was still one very very promising project  in the pipeline the quantum tunneling device you   guessed it this obviously was revolutionary stuff  potentially world changing but remained imperfect   you see the surface for a portal to kind of  take was something that cave just couldn't get   right plain concrete was serviceable but more  complex terrain always proved to be completely   unstable and unsafe but in the midst of aperture's  struggles cave discovered that of all things moon   rocks held a potential solution to that roadblock  if converted into a sort of silicate gel paint or   goo one could splash some of this substance down  just about anywhere and have a habitable area for   a portal perfect in fact so with additional news  that black mesa was now hot on the portal tech   trail cave had to move quickly so bankruptcy  be damned he went out and purchased 70 million   dollars worth of moon rocks now something that  the company absolutely could not afford but it   was a boomer bus move to say the least then in  the early 1980s cave began experimenting on these   rocks himself doing everything he could to beat  black mesa to the punch and develop this tech   at all costs but unfortunately for cave johnson  that cost would be his health working with this   stuff caused severe poisoning from the moon dust  affecting his lungs and brain badly and guess what   ground up moon rocks are pure poison i am deathly  ill still it turns out they're a great portal   conductor so now we're going to see if jumping  in and out of these new portals can somehow leech   the lunar poison out of a man's bloodstream  when life gives you lemons make lemonade   carolyn please bring me more pain pills that  illness would only worsen with time until he   was deemed terminal and really quick for some real  life science moondust can absolutely and easily   kill you during the apollo 17 mission astronaut  harrison schmidt reportedly inhaled a tiny bit of   dust that he tracked back into the living module  and was ill for days to weeks this just from like   the tiniest fragments that stuck to his damn boot  so it's estimated that a small scoop of dust would   be toxic enough to kill like 90 or more of lung  and brain cells exposed to it this is because   of course the moon has little to no atmosphere to  protect its surface from the radiation of the sun   meaning all the particles here have a crazy  electrostatic charge and can really easily   accumulate in airways and even in the brain  they're also super duper small but abrasive   kind of like crushed glass this stuff is more  toxic than my ex-girlfriend boys so cave johnson   all of a sudden was looking at the end of  his life and being a scientific mogul and   egomaniac did the only thing that made any  sense attempted to build a supercomputer to   upload his consciousness into living forever  and leaving his pathetic diseased body behind   and that project would be called genetic  life form and disc operating system glados   and it was cave's last hope but he seemingly knew  that it might not get done in time i will say this   and i'm gonna say it on tape so  everybody hears it a hundred times a day   if i die before you people can pour me into  a computer i want carolyn to run this place   now she'll argue she'll say she can't  she's modest like that but you make her   now put her in my computer i don't care now i  gotta mention there's a very very interesting   new portal game for free on the steam deck i don't  have one i just watched the thing on youtube but   you get to meet a giant head-shaped computer which  indeed has a limited version of cave johnson's   consciousness inside of it but for the purposes  of this being a video about glados let's just   stick with the fact that it was not completed in  time for cave to be uploaded and cave johnson died   sometime in the 1980s so that left everything  here to fall on the shoulders of carolyn the   long-standing steady hand of cave johnson the  loyal patient scientifically minded assistant   was now set to take over operations of aperture  and would eventually be the genetic life-form   component of the glados project ensuring that the  facility would be watched over far into the future   and the portal technology would be properly  tested developed and released ahead of black mesa   alright so a really important question here  regarding carolyn do you viewer think that   she was willingly uploaded into this computer  was she prematurely i guess you could call it   physically killed in that process was she  excited at this prospect was she all about   cave's vision and wanted to be an eternal sentient  machine no one knows for sure i suppose however   cut voice lines from the game and some of the  pre-recorded materials in portal 2 you come across   feature carolyn very clearly stating mr johnson mr  johnson i don't want this i don't want this i am   no listen to me sir i do not want this now listen  of course unused content cannot be considered part   of the story because well it just ain't didn't  make it in there but it can be considered possibly   the intention of the writers regarding glados's  origin at least at some point in development i   wouldn't be surprised whatsoever if they just felt  these lines were a little too on the nose or they   wanted to leave carolyn's thoughts on the matter  more up for fan interpretation and discussion   but i personally kind of choose to believe that  this was carolyn's threshold for cave's [ __ ]   right here she had no interest in being uploaded  becoming meshed with a computer and essentially   ending her life cave himself was a brutal man  he didn't care about anything except progress   and beating the competition he killed volunteers  employees and probably friends alike with reckless   abandon he hardly seemed to give a [ __ ]  that he was dying other than it just annoyed   him because he couldn't continue his research  so i think that there is very little to suggest   carolyn was anything but a sweet devoted  scientist who happened to be serving a madman   and that she is really kind of the first victim  of all of this now before we continue it all i   want to talk a little bit about artificial  intelligence and the themes kind of being   explored here with this character so of course you  know this is nothing new the human construction   of a simulated consciousness or the transfer  of a human mind into a machine these things   have been pillars of science fiction since the  genre was popularized in the early 20th century   dating back to stories like the infinite brain  by john scott campbell published in 1930 where   an inventor as he's dying constructs a machine to  act as his duplicate in all ways replacing himself   mimicking the electronic pathways and  cores of personality that made up that man   or in 1956 arthur c clarke's novel the city and  the stars features the inhabitants of a city   kind of uploaded as patterns of information in the  central computer of that city creating a massive   kind of communal experience and database but  since those early days there have been hundreds of   explorations of this phenomenon what might happen  to the human mind if it were married with machine   would the lack of a physical form change the being  to no longer be human at all does the computer   have an inherent albeit rather dull personality  that the human mind would have to contend with   would you just go insane would it be bliss freedom  expanses of knowledge without the cravings of the   human body obviously it's a lot of fun to talk  and think about right gladly i don't think i'm   going to live long enough to have myself uploaded  to anything thank you very much but let's remember   here that glados is a villain by and large spawned  from the hubris of cave johnson and his docile   assistant carolyn so we'll get back to the lore  in a minute but it's obvious that things didn't   go according to plan right i don't think anyone  envisioned her becoming a killing machine so then   is this carolyn as she was as a human angry  insane in charge of glados or perhaps carolyn   is gone buried in the depths of the machine and  the sinister programming is all that remains   we'll get to it we'll get to it who knows but it's  a fascinating take on what might happen in this   sort of scenario these themes are going to keep  popping up in the video but i just want to mention   them here so they're all in your head as we  continue so imagine for me if you will being one   of these scientists working on the glados project  your insane abusive boss is dead from moon rock   poisoning and now you had to spend years putting  his really nice sweet assistant unwillingly   into his computer pretty strange resume material  that's for sure but upon the first activation you   would probably be expecting something at least  resembling the caroline you knew patient smart   science first type of woman maybe that is what  they got but definitely not in the way they all   expected but regardless this was probably a pretty  big moment for aperture this was a massive project   years in the making so glados was set to be  activated as part of the celebrations of bring   your daughter to work day which holy smokes is  the worst [ __ ] idea in the history of america   and upon waking up unsurprisingly was incredibly  hostile violent and immediately self-aware within   microseconds she locked down the facility and  started funneling deadly neurotoxin into it   killing untold amounts of people probably several  daughters included glados was shut off but the   damage was done the remaining staff had to come  to grips with what they were dealing with here   something was deeply unstable within this  project so work had to be done to fine-tune   glados a bit and after being set up with various  personality cores her behavior was altered to be   slightly more agreeable but the major key here was  the morality core which attempted to give glados   a conscious when powered back on she appeared to  be as pleasant as possible since the installation   of my new morality core i've lost all interest in  killing now i only crave science though she still   did not resemble carolyn in the slightest glados  is behaving rather well and anticipating another   work holiday known as bring your cat to work day  she is somehow able to convince her staff that she   would like to mark the occasion by conducting  a little friendly experiment and all she needs   a little neurotoxin and for some god forsaken  reason she has granted this power and in the   name of science of course immediately locks down  the facility again flooding it with neurotoxin and   killing pretty much everyone else at last taking  total control of aperture now it is pretty funny   that glados wants to conduct this experiment on  bring your cat to work day as this is an obvious   nod in kind of easter egg regarding the famous  thought experiment known as schrodinger's cat   it is meant to illustrate a paradox of quantum  superposition where when the toxin is released   within the closed box that cat may be dead  alive both or neither until it is exposed to   the observer and that superposition collapses  into one of the two possible states it's uh   interesting if not concerning stuff for glados  to be thinking about and proof that she does   not view human death as anything to really give a  [ __ ] about if it's simply part of an experiment   so now with much of the staff either deceased or  captured by glados for her portal tech testing   things were pretty firmly under her control from  her physical position in the central ai chamber   she had a rather generous amount of power over the  entire facility in all of the endless corridors   constructed for testing deep under the surface of  michigan so i know from reading all of my comments   on my channel that a lot of the viewers here are  pretty practical thinkers they like to poke holes   in the narratives of the video games and say why  didn't the guy just do this or do that so you   might be wondering critical thinkers where are  the cops i mean all of these people who work at   this hugely famous science company are suddenly  missing i would estimate what thousands and   thousands of people and some of their daughters  well let me tell you across the yard at black mesa   some things happen to be going down at this exact  moment in time the events of half-life one yeah   that's taking place now this to say the very  least is taking the limelight away from aperture   a resonance cascade resulting in extra terrestrial  monsters charging into our realm yeah that's   going to be a bigger deal than just a rogue  computer underground gas in some people right   so the timing is certainly on glados's side here  as well she's kind of free to now use this stock   of employees and stashed subjects to test and test  and test and test as long as she can now there are   some interesting other things happening behind  the scenes here with these events with a certain   rogue schizophrenic scientist but we will circle  back to that later on for now it is finally time   to get to the events of portal 1. now in many ways  i would say the first portal game feels a bit like   a tech demo you know a proof of concept and  setting that sets the stage for portal 2 which   is a much larger game in scope and narrative by  far but that does not diminish the master class   of game design we have here in the original  whatsoever so we have to ask that question now   what is glados doing here in portal why are  we opposed well of course she is testing   it is her sole goal to do so to conduct science  now given everything we have just covered and   learned together you might think this is in an  effort to improve the portal technology and then   get ready to release the product to the world but  brother plans have changed the humans who would be   benefiting from that are long gone plus the black  mesa incident already made aperture the winners   competition was no longer an issue but glados  having been testing in that mission constantly   became addicted to the very process you see a  small bloop of satisfaction was programmed to   release a drop of digital dopamine whenever  one of her tests were completed this created   an endless feedback loop of perpetual testing  long after all the practical benefits fell away   and glados being an unhinged sadistic son of a  [ __ ] is exhausting her stock of human beings   doing just that stretching that feedback loop  as far as she possibly can thoroughly enjoying   herself as the bodies pile up so who then are you  well you wake up as chell a female test subject   having been kept in a relaxation vault and it  is a robotic monotone voice that rouses you   and again welcome to the aperture science computer  enrichment center we hope your brief detention in   the relaxation vault has been a pleasant one  your specimen has been processed and we are   now ready to begin the test proper before we  start however keep in mind that although fun   and learning are the primary goals  of all enrichment center activities   serious injuries may occur for your own safety  and the safety of others please refrain from you have the misfortune of being next on her list  and so you begin the trials she starts you off   nice and slow encouraging you and introducing the  mechanics of the test chambers and the portal gun   gradually but as you progress what it first seems  like a pre-recorded colorless boring voice begins   to show spots of personality and i would say  mal-intent that you are in control of both portals   this next test could take a very very long  time if you become lightheaded from thirst   feel free to pass out an intubation associate  will be dispatched to revive you with peptic self   and adrenaline under the guise of system errors  and chamber malfunctions glados tests you in   increasingly sinister ways totally cool with  you dying in the process she doesn't give   a [ __ ] and that overly robotic voice  over time deteriorates little by little   all subjects intending to handle high  energy gamma leaking portal technology   must be informed that they may be informed  of applicable regulatory compliance issues no   further compliance information is required or will  be provided and you are an excellent test subject   so of course your promised reward for finishing  is twofold grief counseling that's very ominous   and cake hmm those two things certainly sound  like a fine afternoon glados but i am beyond   skeptical now i just have to say overall  there is an extremely unsettling atmosphere   specifically in portal 1. you notice all these  little observation rooms with glass windows where   it seems scientists at one point sat chatting with  their cups of coffee and notepads out but they are   all obviously empty all there seems to be  is security cameras that very coldly follow   your every move and just the white lighting  the voice of glados it all makes you feel   tremendously alone yet closely observed and really  like a lab rat and impressively there are multiple   layers and tactics of villainy at work here  reverse psychology manipulation abuse of   power deception and she is very delicately  handling you making sure to not address you   too personally or give away at all that she  is a little more sentient than she appears   there's just so many great cruel subtle moments  like the infamous chamber with the companion cue this weighted companion cube will accompany you  through the test chamber please take care of it   the symptoms most commonly produced by enrichment  center testing our superstition perceiving   inanimate objects as alive and hallucinations the  enrichment center reminds you that the weighted   companion cube will never threaten to stab you  and in fact cannot speak you did it the weighted   companion cube certainly brought you good luck  however it cannot accompany you for the rest   of the test and unfortunately be euthanized she  using her masterful reverse psychology gets you   to feel attached to a stupid box and then forces  you to destroy it to continue ah it's just so good   and it gets more extreme as you go along  when you get to chamber 16 glados has this   to announce due to mandatory scheduled maintenance  the appropriate chamber for this testing sequence   is currently unavailable it has been replaced  with a live fire course designed for military   androids the enrichment center apologizes for  the inconvenience and wishes you the best of luck   so we very quickly go from getting little boxes  and feeling good about how smart we are to sentry   turrets shooting to kill this as before make no  mistake is not an error or any planned chamber   maintenance and it is no coincidence that in this  very chamber you come across a shocking discovery   the first signs of another person a human the  scroll of a madman perhaps but legible words and   arrows and signs the most harrowing being the  blood-red help on the floor and the repeated   phrase on the wall the cake is a lie i figured as  much these are the work of a particular scientist   known as doug ratman a survivor of the neurotoxin  attack that escaped into the walls battling his   own mental illness and paranoia he is actually  the one responsible for chell being selected as   the most recent test subject but we will get to  that towards the very end of the video welcome   to the final test when you are done you will  drop the device in the equipment recovery annex   enrich the center regulations require  both hands to be empty before any cake   now as you near the conclusion  of the 19 chambers when you've   successfully overcome all these obstacles  and you're getting ready for that sweet ass   moist chocolate cake well what did you really  expect congratulations the test is now over all   aperture technologies remain safely operational up  to 4 000 degrees kelvin best assured that there is   absolutely no chance of a dangerous equipment  malfunction prior to your bitter incandescence   thank you for participating in this extra science  computer aided enrichment activity goodbye we are pleased that you made it through  the final challenge where we pretended   we were going to murder you we are  very very happy for your success   we are throwing a party in  honor of your tremendous success   place the device on the ground then lie on  your stomach with your arms at your sides   a party associate will arrive shortly to collect  you for your party make no further attempt to   leave the testing area assume the party escort  submission position or you will miss the party   now do note that little bit she said about  assuming the position on the floor and the party   escort bot will be along to claim you because that  is very important in just one minute but when you   are able to escape her loop of testing for the  first time we can hear glados stumble in her   little robotic act she reveals herself fully as  this sort of villainous presence and now the chase   is on you are in the very skeleton of the facility  behind walls and control rooms themselves and you   find more and more signs of this ratman his notes  his path is the one that you follow and all the   while glados is calling out to you wondering  where you are and why you're being so mean to is here there somebody cut the cake i told them  to wait for you but they cut it again anyway remember when the platform was sliding  into the fire pit and i said goodbye that was great it's really in these moments  of panic and concern that you can see the   true villain come forward sarcastic snarky  hilarious and dreadfully evil this is your fault   it didn't have to be like this i'm not kidding now  turn back or i will kill you i'm going to kill you   and all the cake is gone you don't even care do  you but for me anyway there's still something   oddly sweet about her i don't know it's like the  cadence and the way she sometimes says hello or hi   before she speaks i always from the beginning  kind of pity glados it's like i'm hearing that   lost part of carolyn way deep down in there  or something it's just so masterfully written   and acted and edited but at last you locate the  central ai chamber itself and inside we finally   get to come face to face with the star of the show  well you found me congratulations was it worth it   because despite your violent behavior the only  thing you've managed to break so far is my heart   maybe you could settle for that and we'll just  call it a day i guess we both know that isn't   going to happen you chose this path now i have a  surprise for you deploying surprise in five four   but her morality core falls off while she's  talking [ __ ] to you and you are encouraged   to pick it up and bring that puppy over to the  incinerator conveniently placed directly behind   her this all is of course another very clever use  of her tactic of reverse psychology she instantly   claims that she doesn't know what the thing  is never seen it before and has absolutely no   important function making us the player think oh  that thing's probably pretty important it compels   me to destroy it in hopes of kind of weakening her  but oops you just unlocked the full lethality it   was a morality core they installed after i flooded  the enrichment center with a deadly neurotoxin to   make me stop flooding the enrichment center with  a deadly neurotoxin so get comfortable while i   warm up the neurotoxin emitters by redirecting  her missile turrets back at her you can knock   off her remaining cores incinerating them one  by one until she is just breaking into pieces thank you for assuming the  party at submission position now this is kind of interesting so in the launch  edition of portal way back in the day the ending   was right here fading to black in the parking lot  but an updated version was patched in in 2010 to   actually restore the original idea of the ending  and having chell dragged back inside the facility   by none other than the party escort bot because  here you are lying on the ground and assuming   that position so here comes your attendant and  i'm sorry to say it turns out you didn't quite   win after all we see a warehouse seemingly  full of cores and backup systems for glados   and of course your cake the end credits here are  even incredible featuring an extremely adorable   song penned by glados just for you claiming that  she is indeed still alive this was a triumph i'm making a note here a huge success it's hard  to overstate my satisfaction now like i mentioned   portal 1 is very short and it's more like a proof  of concept but the characterization of the villain   is superb and by far the strongest aspect of that  game to this day what's especially interesting   though is that glados apparently didn't even exist  when the game was like over halfway finished in a   really good interview with pc magazine developer  robin walker said that when they were play testing   a huge portion of the final product players had  kind of a hard time understanding what the point   was so they knew they had to add a sort of guide  and more so a villain so they created exactly that   an overseer who helps you along in the beginning  and then eventually pushes against your progress   i would say the final result is absolutely  glorious but to be honest i think it's really   portal 2 where the character and her role as  a villain become really really interesting   nuanced and timeless so the sequel opens with you  again taking control of chell and being awoken   every 50 days inside of your new prison i mean  long-term relaxation chamber excuse me so you   get up stretch and lie back down but something  goes terribly wrong and when you are awoken next   the amount of time elapsed is unknown but you can  be sure it's a long ass time years and years and   years some people even say thousands of years so  in portal 2 same question where is glados what is   she up to well technically she's dead because you  killed her and it's actually wheatley a sprightly   little bastard who looks strangely similar to  some of those personality cores who wakes you up   for emergency evacuation stay calm stay calm  prepare that's all i'm saying prepare it's all   fine all right don't move i'm gonna get us out of  here oh you might wanna hang on to something word   of advice up to you this guy becomes a huge  character here in the sequel he's a really   charming little dickwad i gotta admit i like him  and together you make your way through a decaying   overgrown aperture that has absolutely seen better  days and it's really cool to see those early test   chambers from the original game but all busted up  and then before you know it you are moseying past   the broken body of what was once glados wheatley  carefully guides you through and in an attempt   to find an escape pod to a room full of switches  well of course the little spit ball bungles this   [ __ ] up terribly and turns everything back  on including restoring power to you know who   uh power up initiated okay don't panic all right  stop panicking uh i can i can still stop this   oh there's a password okay it's fine  i'll just i'll just it's not a problem a a a a um all right it's you you know her it's been  a long time how have you been   i've been really busy being dead you know  after you've murdered me you did what ah oh no no no no no no no no no no no okay  look we both said a lot of things that   you're going to regret but i think we can put  our differences behind us for science you monster i will say though that since you went to all  the trouble of waking me up you must really   really love to test i love it too there's just  one small thing we need to take care of first   now this is a great little reintroduction but  it's kind of unclear to me why she looks different   pretty different in fact now of course in real  life it's because they made a second game and   kind of want to do overhaul things spruce up the  designs and make make it a full-fledged experience   here you know but in game i always think it's fun  to try to justify things like this so last time we   saw her she looked quite a bit flatter and was  left up on the surface in the parking lot so i   think it's safe to say if chell got dragged back  down there all those little backup cores and other   bots around the place probably also retrieved her  pieces and reassembled her here so we can just say   there was a new design involved too i buy that  don't you but this is immediately a more spiteful   bitter and absolutely petty glados she  mentions that she saved herself by using   a little bit of a quick save feature so for the  last x amount of years again possibly thousands   she has been replaying the last few moments of  her life over and over and over so needless to   say she is delighted to see you now  of course you know what this means   back to the old grind just like the glory days  gotta get those dopamine hits going for her again   but it's interesting to me how this character  being sort of a combination of human and machine   really sort of balances these things pretty well  sure she's bitter and upset but she doesn't let   it cloud her vision or execution much like a  machine her programming and purpose is still   simply to test she has to do it and if anything  she seems to exude a sort of dark excitement   like a hungry predator finding her meal it's  a really neat characterization that i think is   pulled off perfectly and my good lord glados is  absolutely [ __ ] hilarious in this game it's   insane for this first section of portal 2 she just  roasts the absolute daylights out of chell at the   beginning and end of each of these chambers colony  of fat and stuff i'm just gonna play some of my   favorites for you now please enjoy these here  come the test results you are a horrible person   that's what it says a horrible person we weren't  even testing for that congratulations not on the   test most people emerge from suspension terribly  undernourished i want to congratulate you on   beating the odds and somehow managing to pack on  a few pounds remember before when i was talking   about smelly garbage standing around being  useless that was a metaphor i was actually   talking about you know that people with guilty  consciences are more easily startled by loud noise   i'm sorry i don't know why  that went off this next test   does require some explanation  let me give you the fast version let's give your parents a call right now i'm going to laminate your skeleton and pose you  in the lobby that way future generations can learn   from you how not to have your unfortunate bone  structure so all this time that you're back and   you're sent through these chambers glados is  attempting to repair the facility a bit clean   things up and wanting to restore it to its former  glory but it's clear that the place is in well   i guess you could say ancient shape and what was  once pristine coke white and pretty is now just a   rust jungle so stuck in the loop again you must  test but slowly wheatley starts appearing again   damaged but not dead by any stretch he's  trying to reach you and help you out   wanting to escape together but fearing glados's  wrath understandably until a moment presents   itself and you are able to sleaze your way back  into the long forgotten back rooms of aperture   now here we get to find some really interesting  lore nuggets i mean this is really the first time   any sort of solid backstory is shown to the  player across both games and it hits pretty   hard you come across the remnants of the  bring your daughter to workday celebration   and fascinatingly the most successful little  potato of all the dumb battery projects belongs   to a child named chell holy [ __ ] man don't worry  we'll talk about some theories at the very end so   the new plan involves disarming glados and you've  probably learned her two most favorite weapons are   neurotoxin and turrets so you throw a  defective turret as the model in the factory   and then satisfyingly give a nice neurotoxin  generator haircut just like that bada bing   glados should be nothing more than a glorified  gaming pc and it's time to confront her yet again i honestly truly didn't think you'd fall for  that in fact i devised a much more elaborate trap   further ahead for when you got through this easy  one if i'd known you let yourself get captured   this easily i would have just angled a turkey leg  on a rope from the ceiling let's get to business   i hope you brought something stronger than a  portal gun this time otherwise i'm afraid you're   about to become the immediate past president  of the being a life club i gotta say glados is   looking mighty fine here i really think that's  one of the main strengths that this villain has   across both games visually the manner in which  she just hangs in this chamber it gives her a   real sense of power a resonance of control and  intimidation and every time you come in here you   feel like a lowly meat bag tiptoeing into her lair  to try and stop her it's very effective design   and extremely memorable but in this meeting  but when she's unable to use her usual means to   intimidate or in this case kill you she  realizes that damn she might be in a bad spot   they're talking about to initiate a core transfer  please deposit substitute core in receptacles but holy smokes do we not understand how  poorly this is about to go stalemate resolved please return to the core transfer here we go  wait what if this hurts what if this really hurts   ah i didn't think of that oh  it will believe me it will no stop no no no no would you look at this not too bad a giant robot  massive it's not just me right here i am bloody   massive of course that damn wheatley lets the  power go to his head and turns completely into the   villain himself really for the rest of the game i  did this tiny little wheatley did this you didn't   do anything she did all the work oh really that's  what the two of you think is it well maybe it's   time i did something then what are you doing no  no no see that that is a potato battery it's a toy   for children and now she lives in it it's then  revealed that wheatley is one of the cores   designed for glados to keep her under control  namely an intelligent dampening core i mean my   boy is literally built to be an idiot now if that  ain't built different i don't know what it is but it is here in her new spud form where  the character really shines the brightness as you fall down into the ancient sealed off  chambers of aperture's heyday you see her get   grabbed by a bird and carried off but don't worry  are able to find her sitting in that bird's nest   and the poor darling seems to have  really developed a bit of a phobia   now we have a wonderful interesting companion  version of glados stripped of her seat of   dominance and with considerably less wattage she  offers really nice commentary talks to you and   honestly softens up a lot now this is just my  interpretation but when she is in this state this   seems like carolyn or at least as close to her as  we get in the series just as wheatley is corrupted   by the programming of the master system and now  desires to test and act evil as hell glados when   removed reverts to a more normal state she's funny  charming and really at no point threatening to   kill you or trick you it's very interesting now  down here in the original aperture test chambers   is where we finally get to learn all about cave  johnson it's his pre-recorded greetings for the   old test subjects of the golden years that teach  us about the history of the facility the struggles   against black mesa the progression of his illness  and the plan to have carolyn take his place those of you helping us test the repulsion gel  today just follow the blue line on the floor   needless to say it's an extremely haunting  experience to explore all these old wood paneled   lobbies and work areas amidst the rust and rock  of what is surely an area miles below the surface   you progress from what seems to be the 50s era  to the 60s the 70s with the nice aperture logo   redesign and eventually potato glados takes  note of cave the testing area is just up ahead   the quicker you get through the  quicker you'll get your 60 bucks   carol are the compensation vouchers ready yes sir  mr johnson who is that what the hell is going on   here and even takes note of carol carolyn  carol and carolyn why do i know this woman   did i kill her oh my god look you're doing a great  job can you handle things for yourself for a while   i need to think when life gives you lemons don't  make lemonade make life take the lemons back   get mad i don't want your damn lemons  what am i supposed to do with these   demand to see life's manager make life  rule the day and thought it could give   cave johnson lemons do you know who i am i'm  the man who's gonna burn your house down with   the lemons i'm gonna get my engineers to invent  a combustible lemon that burns your house down all right test's over it's a strange thing to witness  sort of sweetly sad to be honest   but glados at this point feels less  like a villain more like a friend   all of that evil and attempts at murdering  you feel like a lifetime ago and she genuinely   wants to work with you to take control back over  the facility because well frankly wheatley's too   goddamn stupid to be trusted and all of you are  gonna die if something isn't done so after some   pretty challenging goo based puzzles you at last  get the hell out of the basement and work your way   back up toward wheatley and the enrichment center  but he is now in like massive supervillain mode   and of course because he's connected to the  main system has an overwhelming need to test   this is where we get some really interesting info  regarding that urge the itch i have to test all   the time or i get this this itch you know it  must be hardwired into the system or something   oh but i'll tell you when i do test oh man  alive nothing feels better it's just i just   got a test so i've got a test so you're gonna test  and i'm gonna watch so now in the home stretch of   portal 2 you have to complete wheatley's shitty  poorly designed test chambers and glados now talk   [ __ ] solely to him instead of you which is  highly entertaining and before long the place   really starts to fall apart in his uh not so  expert hands poor little guy i mean even though   he turns evil you can't help but feel bad for him  too he's really just a sweet dingus who got given   way too much juice in that new rig but of course  he tries to kill you saying that he doesn't need   you anymore because he found some old robots to  use for tests instead and the final chase is on   escaping and heading back for the final time  to the central ai chamber the finale awaits let me just plug something up according to the  control panel light up there the entire building   is going to self-destruct in about six minutes i'm  pretty sure it's a problem with the light i think   the light's on the big but just in case it isn't i  am actually going to have to kill you as discussed core corruption required oh i see substitute  core are you ready to start   corrupted core are you ready to start what  do you think interpreting vague answer as yes are you still alive you are joking you have  got to be kidding me but i'm still in control   and i have no idea how to fix this place   oh you had to play bloody cat match  didn't you or people were trying to work space and you are not coming back oh no change of plans  hold on to me tighter and would you look at that   it's glados lovingly and carefully pulling you  back to safety and waiting patiently for you to   recover and when chell finally awakens glados  is in quite the good mood seems to have come   to a place of peace regarding her long-time  nemesis and part-time friend oh thank god   you're all right you know being carolyn taught  me a valuable lesson i thought you were my   greatest enemy and all along you were my best  friend the surge of emotion that shot through   me when i saved your life taught me an even more  valuable lesson where carolyn lives in my brain you know deleting carolyn just now taught me a  valuable lesson the best solution to a problem is   usually the easiest one and i'll be honest killing  you is hard you know what my days used to be like   i just tested nobody murdered me or put me in a  potato or fed me to birds i had a pretty good life   and then you showed up you dangerous mute  lunatic so you know what you win just go it's been fun don't come back of course what would the end be without  another beautiful original song or two i mean what a fantastic end to the game and  appropriate conclusion for glados and shell they   really were never able to fully kill one another  but god damn they went back and forth like crazy   and at the end of it all glados really just wants  you gone so she can get back to it and although   there is a hint of kindness i kind of feel like  she never really changed but it ain't over yet   with her best friend of me gone glados returned  her attention to a little project that she had   been working on the cooperative testing initiative  this involved using robots instead of humans for   her testing purposes seeing as all the meat bags  were now dead and gone it was the only option to   have her eternal itch scratched but unfortunately  she slowly grew bored as robots would just be   rebuilt after death and she missed witnessing the  fear and terror of the good old days who wouldn't   man i feel it she sent them on a quest until  at last atlas and peabody find the jackpot baby   an entire sealed off vault of human test subjects  perfectly preserved and ready for death with that   the robots are disposed of and glados relapses  big time what a rush that must have been for her   so really our final piece of the glados puzzle  is the co-op dlc that was added later on called   peer review here glados states that a hundred  thousand years have passed and all those humans   they found in the vault are alive and happy but  in reality it's been a week and she already killed   all of them on behalf of science but a concerning  issue has forced her to call again on atlas and   peabody there is an unknown intruder deep within  aperture messing with an early glados prototype   and she wants you to go figure it out turns out  it's just a goddamn bird oh god and glados wants   it destroyed including the eggs but in a last  moment change of heart decides to raise the   little buggers conquering her fears and showing  that maybe just maybe carolyn isn't fully gone   simply wonderful alright so first off i just gotta  say how much i obviously adore this character   i think of all the villains i have covered to  this point she has the best writing by far the   funniest dialogue and the most interesting in-game  portrayal i usually don't go step by step through   the whole game like that for a villain but for  glados you really have to to see her progression   and all that humor now i would say one of the most  intriguing things the character says ever is right   at the end there that she located carolyn and then  promptly deletes her that really makes me think   like i mentioned earlier that any hint of the  human that remained was buried deep deep within   the machine still may be influencing decisions or  personality traits but not remotely in control of   glados the way the project was probably planned  but do you think she really deleted her for some   reason i'm not so sure about that now listen to  my theory gather around children gather around   so the glados project was something being built  specifically for cave johnson right in fact it was   being rushed to attempt to finish before his death  something that didn't work out now let's just say   for the sake of argument that it was 85 percent  completed when cave died and then that last 15   was under the posthumous order for carolyn to take  his place we know that both glados or carolyn and   wheatley are subjected to an overwhelming urge  and need to test when they're hooked up to the   main system this instantly causes both of them to  go mad needing to practice science in this exact   form or else but really quick look at the man that  cave johnson was it was him and his insane malice   that led to the entirety of aperture existing his  lack of care for human life desire for progress   knowledge and advancement his ego really made  him feel like a failure if he and his company   was not number one so if they were constructing a  computer to put that personality into it makes a   lot of sense to me anyway to make the programming  compatible with those tendencies right perhaps   i'm just saying this is a system that only cave  johnson would have been able to run without losing   his mind because in many ways he kind of already  had lost it i would go so far as to theorize that   the main villain of portal is the system i guess  you could still call that glados but it's really   the entire thing the brain of the company is  inherently ruthless cold and evil just like   its founder carolyn being who she was and having  such a vital role in the completion of the project   obviously gives us the villain that we end up with  but theoretically and wheatley sort of proves this   it could have been anyone it is the throne that  is corrupt not the queen now as we always do in   these videos we gotta ask why our villains did  not prevail what weaknesses were there for the   hero to exploit what oversights led to their  demise well glados is rather interesting to me   in this regard because if you ask me many  of her failures can simply be attributed   to chell shell is exceptional where other test  subjects break down give up or straight up die   she pushes through the hardest tasks thrown at her  now i personally have always thought of this as a   little bit of a commentary on video game design  itself yet again that the player always has to   be something special if not some npc test subject  could just do what we did then the game wouldn't   even occur would it also remember that this is  a puzzle game and at times a kind of tough one   so chell being seen as an unstoppable strong  smart and tenacious person that overcomes the   killing machine is a little wink at you you have  overcome this machine as well and you're special   not to mention and i really like this aspect of it  too we are a tool using primate glados at the end   of the day is a machine a machine with programming  and assignments built into her with a powerful   weapon like the portal gun a human who is able to  think critically about what they're doing and why   can assess change tactics and improvise but also  within the narrative the first domino to fall is   doug ratman there is an awesome little official  comic i will throw in the description below   called lab rat and in it we see doug as one of the  scientists working on the morality core meant to   control glados way back in the day he is able to  survive that initial neurotoxin attack and once   he escapes actually alters the test subject master  list to put chell at the very top and on the last   frame we see doug taking refuge in a relaxation  chamber and shell's exceptional level of tenacity   when compared with the other test subjects so  from a certain point of view it's little old doug   who is the one responsible for stopping glados  the moment he sets us loose in the test chambers   now of course this is ghost charm baby we gotta  mention a theory now if you're a long time fan   of these games you probably know where i'm going  with this the hugely popular theory that chell   is the daughter of cave johnson and carolyn  now this was once a fringe idea but over the   years since portal 2 has come out more and more  details point to this being a very possible and   even implied connection between the characters  and i gotta admit there are some pretty compelling   pieces of evidence and they are as follows  number one at the very end of portal 2 that   beautiful song that is sung to you by the turrets  actually has lyrics and they are in italian now listen i'll admit it's pretty interesting  and pretty sweet too number two is that famous   easter egg portrait of cave and caroline in the  background on the left side is a strange face   hidden in the darkness now this seems to be a  child many point to this and say that's gotta   be chell but who can say for sure number three  we mentioned this earlier the chell potato at   bring your daughter to work day her parents had  to have worked at aperture or at least one of them   for her to participate of course and she seems  to have had a significantly stronger potato so   if cave was her father i'm sure he wouldn't mind  helping the little tyke cheat to win right that's   his style slipping her some growth hormone  to shake on that spud something along those   lines is certainly possible and finally the potato  glados mentions at one point that chell is adopted   and really has no reason to lie at this point  in the game meaning that she has some intimate   knowledge about her origin also the melancholy  tone in which she shares this information has   had many people scratching their heads since the  game came out now this theory of course is firmly   rooted in things that valve wanted us to try to  connect i mean this is the developer that created   a massively complicated arg when portal 2 was  coming out i would say they know exactly what   they're doing when it comes to stuff like this  so if you believe this theory good on you more   power to you but allow me now to offer counter  information to each of those points of evidence   the song at the end certainly has a maternal  quality in the lyrics but to me it seems more   like a motherly love that glados has developed  for her test subject think about it in a way   a subject that has never failed would be like  her greatest nightmare and her most prized child   it doesn't have to literally mean hey by the  way on the way out i'm your mom see you later   next the portrait well i have news for you my  friend this is absolutely not chell but in fact   a separate easter egg all together so this face  here is acyclis an ancient greek writer known as   the founder of tragedy okay i admit this branches  out to other theories and kind of crazy stuff but   portal 2 has an undeniable undercurrent of greek  mythology and asakulis is the author of a famous   dramatic work known as prometheus bound prometheus  being the titan that defies his god zeus well in   portal glados can be considered to take on the  role of prometheus in that legend prometheus   attempts to share knowledge with mankind but was  punished by being cast down into the underbelly   of earth being diminished in power and getting  pecked by birds it's not super overt and it's a   bit imperfect i admit but there's another easter  egg of an oracle turret which confirms this sort   of connection so the portrait easter egg is meant  to simply be a shout out to anyone who possibly   connected those dots themselves and happened to  know what acyclist looked like in that painting   is pretty nuts so back to our list the chell  potato project now this one i'm not so sure but   i like the idea of her parents just being random  employees at aperture who were killed by the   neurotoxin and the strength of the potato  being due to chell's inherent tenacity that   makes her such a great subject later on then  as a kid was simply stashed for later testing   and finally the adoption thing well i don't  think it's far-fetched to say that glados has   every ounce of information at her fingertips  regarding all of her test subjects right   maybe in her potato moment of vulnerability  she was simply trying to connect with chell in   an awkward way listen i'm not saying the theory's  wrong and i'm not saying it's right but valve the   sons of [ __ ] sure make it fun for people to talk  about it going on over a decade now okay i'm glad   i got that all out of my system sheesh oh man this  has been a pretty long video hasn't it whoops well   to be honest this is kind of an odd villain for  me to have a look at in this format considering   she was created as a character for portal 1 but  was rather simplistic but effective and then   with the sequel was expanded to an absurd degree  with a really interesting backstory tragic origin   the history regarding the entire facility cave  johnson and everything else but i would say   it's rather impressive how expertly they expanded  glados into what she would finally be now needless   to say glados has had a substantial cultural  impact in the years that followed this series   spawning shoutouts and other games like fallout 3  and herself even appearing in the lego dimensions   multiple times all of that praise is appropriate  given that glados was originally inspired by those   that came before her in fiction characters like  hal from 2001 a space odyssey as well as shodan   from the system shock series i really think rogue  artificial intelligence is always going to be   one of the most compelling antagonists in human  stories now and especially into the future there's   something primal in the fear that it strikes  in us machines that we made surpassing us in   intelligence and ability it's timeless really  and hopefully remains completely fictional but   if you remember an hour ago in the intro to this  video i talked about the structure of video games   and trial and error all that stuff and i really  think that that is also one of the major strengths   of the writing and the design going on with this  character i mean these are legitimately incredible   games the linearity of going from test to test  and building your knowledge base of the various   obstacles until you're really challenged towards  the end it's extremely rewarding stuff and it's so   cool to me that the antagonist is exploiting that  very structure for her dark enjoyment i would even   say she could be considered commentary on us the  players of games now again bear with me here but   when i'm playing oh i don't know super meat boy i  have kind of a detachment from the little meat man   himself to me he isn't real he isn't alive he's  simply the vehicle to my understanding the game   and its mechanics more i don't care if he dies is  ground into putty or falls to an unthinkable splat   next subject please i'm trying to conduct  science here for the sake of dopamine hits in   my brain when i succeed god damn it so it's with  confidence that i conclude glados is a gamer but   of all the things that make this character up the  most memorable aspect of glados and what sets her   apart from others like her is that touch of humor  the writing overall is spectacular in portal but   man the humor across the board streaming out  of glados really lands for me i think it's   universal it's absolutely perfectly timed and  appropriately clunky coming from such a voice   it's really what elevates the tone from scary  computer to something truly unique and lovable glados is a tragic character a being that  never asked to be powered on in the first place   a horrible union of human and computer the final  act of an egomaniac and the sacrifice of his   lovely assistant with an insatiable desire  to capture to kill to manipulate to torture   to test and test and test what becomes of  her after portal 2 is largely unknown maybe   her newfound bird children give her a sense  of purpose new pleasure to replace her need   to test but i have a feeling it's back to  the same old routine so if you ever wake up   in a relaxation chamber to the sound of  a cold robotic voice get ready for hell   thank you so much everyone for watching and  listening to the end as always it means a lot i   probably took on a little more than i anticipated  making this video right after a very relaxing   vacation but hey what are you gonna do i seriously  can't put into words how grateful i am to hit that   big 100k milestone and it's all because of people  just like you clicking on my videos and sticking   around i have several more projects i'm working on  here for the next month or so and i look forward   to sharing them all with you remember to let me  know down below other video game characters or   universes you want to see explored analyzed  and see you all very soon until next time peace

Channel: Ghostcharm

Views: 825,259

Keywords: GLaDOS, portal, aperture, sciences, quantum, tunneling, device

Id: YU7kDswoWnc

Length: 71min 41sec (4301 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 22 2022