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Fictional character
GLaDOS
Portal character
GLaDOS, as she appears in Portal 2
First appearance
Portal (2007)
Created by
Erik Wolpaw
Kim Swift
Designed by
Michael Spinx
Voiced by
Ellen McLain
GLaDOS (Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System)[1] is a fictional character from the video game series Portal. The character was created by Erik Wolpaw and Kim Swift and voiced by Ellen McLain. GLaDOS is depicted in the series as an artificially superintelligent computer system responsible for testing and maintenance in the Aperture Science Computer-Aided Enrichment Center in all titles. While GLaDOS initially appears in the first game to simply be a voice that guides the player, her words and actions become increasingly malicious as she makes her intentions clear. The second game, as well as the Valve-created comic Lab Rat, reveals that she was mistreated by the scientists[2] and used a neurotoxin to kill the scientists in the laboratory before the events of the first Portal. She is apparently destroyed at the end of the first game but returns in the sequel, in which she is supplanted by her former intelligence dampener and temporarily stuck on a potato battery, while her past as the human Caroline is also explored.
The inspiration for the character's creation extends from Wolpaw's use of a text-to-speech program while writing lines for the video game Psychonauts. Other game developers working on Psychonauts found the lines funnier as a result of the synthesized voice. GLaDOS was originally intended to be present solely in the first area of Portal; she was well received by other designers and her role was expanded as a result. Play testers were motivated to complete tests in the game due to her guidance. While the game was initially designed with other characters, they were later removed, leaving GLaDOS as the only character players encounter. The physical appearance of GLaDOS went through several designs, one of which featured a large disk below her. McLain imitated dialog read aloud by a speech synthesizer with her own voice, which was then processed to sound more robotic, and performed songs in character during the closing credits of both entries in the series. "Still Alive" became hugely successful, notably appearing in the Rock Band game series, and has been a popular song for YouTube users to cover. GLaDOS later appeared in The Lab and Lego Dimensions.
GLaDOS received critical acclaim from critics and gamers alike, some of whom called her narcissistic, passive-aggressive, sinister, and witty. IGN considered her one of the greatest video game characters, particularly among those created in the 2000s. Universally praised for her contributions to the caliber of Portal's narrative, GLaDOS received multiple awards for being the best new game character in 2007 from GameSpy, GamePro, and X-Play. A number of publications listed her as one of the all-time greatest video game villains, including IGN and Game Informer, both of which ranked her first. She has been the subject of significant critical analysis from both journalists and game developers, who have compared her to other villainous computer systems in fiction, including HAL 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey and SHODAN from System Shock, with GLaDOS meeting the former in Lego Dimensions.
^Schedeen, Jesse (February 2, 2010). "Big Boss of the Day: Portal's GLaDOS". IGN. Archived from the original on September 8, 2017. Retrieved July 5, 2015.
^"Lab Rat". Archived from the original on April 12, 2011. Retrieved January 16, 2017.
Shock, with GLaDOS meeting the former in Lego Dimensions. GLaDOS welcomes the player to the Aperture Science Enrichment Center in Portal GLaDOS's voice is...
backstory and subplot about GLaDOS's creation. The writers panicked when they realized that their plans to have Chell and GLaDOS play off each other would...
information is known about Chell; while GLaDOS makes many statements to Chell's background and history, GLaDOS herself admits she is unreliable. The only...
an American voice actress. She is best known for providing the voice of GLaDOS, the primary antagonist of the Portal video game series, the Combine Overwatch...
work with teleportation, allowing him to use it to reassemble and activate GLaDOS. The protagonist enters the device control room and Stirling instructs her...
of both Portal and Portal 2, appearing as part of an ending gag. While GLaDOS has suggested the Companion Cube may be sentient, it is unclear whether...
its planned release by playing games under the pretense of powering up GLaDOS, the sentient computer antagonist from the Portal series. The ARG's theme...
McLain, who voiced the Portal antagonist and in-game singer of the song, GLaDOS. The song originated in a meeting between two Valve developers and Coulton...
Portal. Initially left behind as graffiti by Doug Rattman to warn that GLaDOS, the game's main villain, was deceiving the player, it was intended to be...
in gaming. SHODAN has been compared to other famous AI characters, like GLaDOS from Portal, and praised for her unforgettable personality and omnipresent...
player to navigate test chambers created by the artificial intelligence GLaDOS, using a portal gun, a device able to create portals that link two points...
September 2022. Zwiezen, Zack (18 January 2021). "Website Lets You Make GLaDOS Say Whatever You Want". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 17 January...
Webber), and Claptrap from the Borderlands series (voiced by David Eddings). GLaDOS (voiced by Ellen McLain) from the Portal series takes a supporting role...
GLaDOS, all of which are significantly less sentient and lucid than both her and Wheatley, are still killed from hearing the paradox. However, GLaDOS...
(from the 12th audio file) will show text saying "Aperture Laboratories GLaDOS v3.11", followed by "Copyright (c) 1973–1997 Aperture – All Rights Reserved"...
communications, interacting with the player in a manner Burch called similar to GLaDOS. His arc throughout the game is growing to hate the player, while the player's...
Ghostbusters, the space ship Defender, and GLaDOS (Ellen McLain) to their cause. While the Doctor, GLaDOS, and X-PO work on a plan to seal Vortech in...
spirit that feeds on fear. Lowe further appears in Mech Quest as GLaDERP, a parody of GLaDOS from Portal. Lowe narrated the AQW second year birthday event...
from a variety of media sources was released. Initial characters included GLaDOS from Portal, Twilight Sparkle and Fluttershy from the show My Little Pony:...
typically gave different voltages. In the video game Portal 2, the antagonist GLaDOS is embedded into a potato-battery-run computer for a significant part of...
reach an exit point, while being ordered by an AI-programmed robot named GLaDOS. The portal system and the unusual physics it creates are the emphasis of...
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