122 responses so far ↓

• 1 Gregory // Apr 4, 2008 at 6:30 am

  Woah. pareidolia or not, that’s pretty insightful. I have to wonder, though… you seem to assume freedom means she’s Still Alive. For a terminally bored, trapped, childlike AI, death could also be a sort of freedom she would crave.

• 2 Norm // Apr 4, 2008 at 10:46 am

  A very impressive observation…I didn’t make that connection while listening to the commentary, but after reading your explanation (and even before seeing the drawing) it became startlingly obvious. Bravo!

  I’d be curious to see just how “on target” your drawing is - might be fun to bring this to the Portal team’s attention. Valve tends to be a lot more responsive than most development studios so I would be surprised if you heard back from them.

  @Gregory: I would agree with you except for the fact that she claims to be Still Alive at the end and the Portal team has made explicit references to her being alive for a possible sequel.

• 3 Norm // Apr 4, 2008 at 10:47 am

  Wouldn’t…I wouldn’t be surprised if you heard back from them.

• 4 Gregory // Apr 4, 2008 at 1:37 pm

  @Norm: Going just from the information in the work, since anything outside of that is, I’m sure, subject to change, I’m more inclined to bet she’s gone. The fact that she sings “Still Alive” is evidence for her death, in my opinion. GlaDOS does nothing but lie through the whole game, and a song during the credit sequence is sufficiently meta that I’m inclined to think it’s GlaDOS speaking magical-realistically from beyond the digital grave.

  Alternately, there’s the possibility that, like the OP says, death is not binary for a binary being, and GlaDOS has failed at her attempt to die. She wanted to die permanently, but with “Still Alive” she discovers that she has failed. The song is clearly sarcastic, but maybe it’s lamenting not only Chell’s lack of triumph but also GlaDOS’s. She wanted to be free (dead), but she’s still trapped (alive).

• 5 N // Apr 5, 2008 at 10:57 pm

  there’s a hole in your theory that GlaDOS wanted to die and in doing so killed off the entire apeture science facility staff. During the boss battle, you destroy GlaDOS’s inhibitions unit, the unit which kept her from killing everybody working in the lab. If GlaDOs killed everybody working in Apeture in an attempt to control her own demise, she would have had to have somebody destroy her inhibitions unit first. Yet, clearly it was still there.
  There’s no doubt that GlaDOS is a woman or some feminine creature, the entire game of portal has something unmistakenly female about it. Yet I do not think that GlaDOS is somebody who yearns to die in order to be free. I think instead that it is strongly implied that Portal is “training” for the newest Half-Life Episode. GlaDOS, much like Master Hand from SSB64 was a meta joke in that she is a computer testing Chell’s ability to complete a maze like course just as one might have to practice at a video game mulitple times before completing it. I also think it is implied that GlaDOS survived when at the end of the credits, you find the cake and a mechanical arm puts it out while GlaDOS’s eyes glow in the background.
  Durandal Forever.

• 6 spitfire // Apr 5, 2008 at 11:09 pm

  I thought she said they installed the inhibitor after she already gassed the inhabitants of the lab (the same gas she uses on you after you remove the inhibitor). Which, admittedly, makes one wonder why the inhibitor is still on and nobody’s home. However, if you look at the red phone on the way in to GlaDOS’s room (the one that’s supposed to be used to call out if she gets out of hand) the cord is cut to the headset, so it won’t work. I figured the reason nobody is home is because everyone left the facility because GlaDOS had completely taken it over after killing everyone off. Re-entering it would mean certain death.

  The beauty of the whole situation is we’ll never know what the real reasons were behind the facility being empty or even Chell’s ratmaze adventure ’till Portal 2 (or HL3) comes out.

  I think she survived as well, but I think she’s upset that she survived. More on this later.

• 7 this is another test » Blog Archive » links for 2008-04-06 // Apr 6, 2008 at 9:30 am

  [...] Still Alive? She’s Free. (tags: portal videogames glados) [...]

• 8 Psuedonym // Apr 6, 2008 at 10:17 am

  This is a very interesting way of seeing GlaDOS. I always thought of her as a unstable being that is just falling back on routine as comfort for (her) problems.

• 9 Joe // Apr 6, 2008 at 1:21 pm

  Just stumbled here, great read. Nice rendition of the humanized GlaDOS, too. I played through a bunch of times and never noticed this but wow, that’s really compelling.

• 10 Wherein I Overanalyze Song Lyrics // Apr 6, 2008 at 4:07 pm

  [...] to the great comments in my last post where I waxed all philo about what I think GlaDOS is supposed to look like, I think I’ve changed my tune on why GlaDOS wanted to be free. While I still think she wanted [...]

• 11 Justin // Apr 6, 2008 at 4:18 pm

  Your premise behind glados’ maniacal behaviour is that chell would not destroy her if asked to, but you didn’t say why. Therefore, I cannot conclude that your argument has any merit.

• 12 OldManLever // Apr 6, 2008 at 4:33 pm

  You know a blog post is good when it makes you reinstall the game to see for yourself. Simply amazing. This reminds me of the first time I read the explanation of what was in the suitcase in Pulp Fiction.

• 13 Chase // Apr 6, 2008 at 7:57 pm

  Wow, that is awesome! I wish I had those kind of observational skills.

• 14 Dylan // Apr 6, 2008 at 8:00 pm

  Very interesting indeed. I didn’t notice GlaDOS’s similarities to a bound woman until I saw your drawing, however it makes tons of sense now.
  I did find it odd that the final boss sings a song of light-hearted joy after being all-but destroyed. This leads me to believe that while her physical body is indeed dead, the rest of her lives on in freedom, for which she is grateful. How software can exist outside of the hardware that allows it to run, however, remains to be seen. The final song shows a computer screen, maybe she’s now a parasitic program that will make appearances in many different places?

• 15 louie // Apr 6, 2008 at 9:22 pm

  you would think that GlaDOS has had many humans to experiment and was just using them as a toy and it just so happens one of her toys made it to far and she became angry. The song at the end could be a warning to chell that she is still alive and will try to kill chell.

• 16 Floyd // Apr 6, 2008 at 11:04 pm

  Actually… If you look at it, GlaDOS’ figure looks like a pregnant woman hanging upside down.

  That’s just what I see.

• 17 Amazing Anaylsis of Portal’s GLADoS | Simple Drops // Apr 6, 2008 at 11:55 pm

  [...] possible on what Valve was trying to convey with the personality and mysterious depth of GLADoS.read more | digg story addthis_url = [...]

• 18 Ehrgeiz // Apr 7, 2008 at 12:19 am

  Good read I do think you are right on some points. I figure she/it is still alive as we know HL3 will have we well get to see the something with the portal gun so I figure she will also have something to do with it.

  As for the center being empty that is simple, this takes place in the HL world and we all know that after HL the portal storms came then the combine came. Most human life moved into numbered cities leaving homes and work after the war. Also when the song plays GLaDoS says “when I look out there it makes me GLaD I’m not you” so I’m pretty sure she has seen all that has happened to the earth.

• 19 » My friend Corey has sent me an interpret … Demonic Angelicism // Apr 7, 2008 at 1:29 am

  [...] Read here.   [...]

• 20 SomeAudioGuy // Apr 7, 2008 at 1:56 am

  Spot on!
  I loved the game. It’s crazy how a little nugget of game like this, has spurred on months of play and discussion.
  Just like euthanizing your WCC, it kinda hurt at the end taking down GLaDOS. The end credit song was one of the most satisfying game endings ever.
  I’m really looking forward to what’s in store for HL2:Ep3 or Portal 2.

• 21 Amazing Anaylsis of Portal's GLADoS - StrafeRight Forums // Apr 7, 2008 at 2:06 am

  [...] that GlaDOS has been suffering in this whole time if they were around, now, would they? Still Alive? She’s Free. This is a great write up that definitely gave me a whole new perspective on the game and the whole [...]

• 22 Análisis psicológico de GLADoS (Portal) [en] // Apr 7, 2008 at 6:25 am

  [...] Análisis psicológico de GLADoS (Portal) [en]www.game-ism.com/?p=91 por estilo0 hace pocos segundos [...]

• 23 Bob // Apr 7, 2008 at 6:30 am

  N,

  You have to remember that all the information about what the player-character destroys is controlled by GlaDOS.
  There may be no such thing as an inhibition unit, just a lie by GlaDOS to push the player-character to carry out GlaDOS’s will.

• 24 Professor Cornelius Woot // Apr 7, 2008 at 7:22 am

  I want to respond to the person above who refers to this as literary criticism. I want to advise caution on this.

  Basically I’m a bit confused by this piece - are you (the author of the piece) saying that this is a hidden plot thread that the game’s producers are aware of but choosing to hide?

  While an interesting attempt, and supported at least superficially by evidence from the song, this isn’t terribly effective *as a piece of literary criticism*. It seems you’re trying to prove something about some kind of hidden authorial intention about GlaDOS’s desires within the story itself. Which is fine, of course, but very limited (and limiting) and it strikes me that it could be closed down by a pretty simple “no, that’s not what it’s about” from the game’s creators.

  In short, you’re not using your talents in a way that could really produce fruitful readings of the text. It’s good you’re opening up texts, so please don’t stop doing that, but it seems to me that it’s increasingly important for the analysis of videogame texts to embody the same remit of the analysis of more traditional texts (informed by literary/cultural theory, self aware and also aware of intertextual and cultural resonance and influences outside of the text itself), so that people don’t think that the only kind of readings possible of videogame texts are plot-based speculations.

  Further to this, there’s a kind of wider impulse (which isn’t your fault of course) to list Portal as being somehow more culturally significant than other games because it happens to be well-written and put together. Of course it makes Portal a more appealling text to study, and of course it means that it is enjoyable and satisfying to play and to experience, and that undoubtedly prompts these kinds of examinations.

  However this privileging of Portal for its supposed extra significance is an attempt to make video games seem “worthy of study” by aligning them with ‘traditional’ (modernist or realist) literature, sharing the perceived, culturally valorised feature of depth.

  Unfortunately, by doing so, efforts to make videogames appear worth analysis shoot themselves in the foot. They’re suggesting that instead of every game having cultural significance that is worth mapping, there are just some games worth talking about - because they’re like books. Which means that games will always continue to be seen as platonically inferior copies of books when it comes to reading them analytically.

  Sorry to rant here, I’m not knocking the decent enough interrogation of the lyrics you make here on the level of close reading. That is fine. It’s just not really enough. You haven’t overanalyzed the song at all, you’ve underanalyzed it. You’ve taken the most superficial element of any text (diegetic ‘events’ within the story space, whether explicitly revealed or not) and analysed that, when there’s so much more that could be done. The task of a literary critic isn’t to describe the story. It’s not enough to ask “what?” - it helps to ask “why?”.

• 25 Professor Cornelius Woot // Apr 7, 2008 at 7:23 am

  Sorry, this was meant to go on your article about the song lyrics.

• 26 randomguy // Apr 7, 2008 at 8:36 am

  @Professor Cornelius Woot… you remind me of Buzz Killington from family guy

• 27 Analyse von Portal’s GladOS - I am Jeriko // Apr 7, 2008 at 8:39 am

  [...] wurde, dass Portal ja eigentlich ein durch und durch feministisches Spiel ist gibts jetzt auch die passende Analyse von GladOS. Take a look at GlaDOS. She’s a woman hanging upside down from the ceiling, in a straight [...]

• 28 Weighted Companion Cube // Apr 7, 2008 at 8:44 am

  She seems so sad, hanging upside down cut off from the outside world.

• 29 Lateral // Apr 7, 2008 at 9:37 am

  The game mentions ‘bring your daughter to work day’ as well as a pseudo-charity within Aperture for the support of young girls. Then there’s the fact old GLaDOS allegedly has the player’s character ‘on file’ during the final battle. In my mind these particular points of data draw the beautiful line that GLaDOS’ AI is based on mind of the daughter of one of the scientists, perhaps the C. Johnson who occurs in the game’s backstory… and Chell is that very daughter. This ties in nicely (no pun intended) with the images of a mind trapped in an inhuman form and a desparate longing for cake. And freedom. Cake and freedom.

  Anyone for cake?

• 30 Bukowski // Apr 7, 2008 at 11:13 am

  The cake is Chell!

  “You will be baked, and then there will be cake.”

  Not to overstate the obvious, but the ramp descending into the wall of flames (oven).

  And… the cake only appears AFTER the final showdown. Granted, the last image you see through Chell’s eyes is the post-final battle image, when Chell briefly wakes up on the ground oustide amidst the wreckage of the Aperature Science labs. (Although, admittedly, this idea is problematic when using the literal interpretation of Chell being baked into the cake shown during the game’s final images.)

  It’s also interesting to note that the candle on the cake is snuffed out by a mechanical arm (GLaDOS?) Symbolic, literal, or something else?

  I also wanted to point out another couple of interesting tidbit that supports the notion of Chell being a clone. First off, since “Chell” means “daughter,” if GLaDOS cloned chell, it would make her Chell’s mother.

  There are a couple of moments when GLaDOS doesn’t seem to have all of Chell’s info (even though she has her information “on-file”). For example, when collecting the orange part of the portal gun, GLaDOS mentions that the device is now worth more than the entirity of “subject hometown here.” If Chell is indeed the daughter of GLaDOS (a clone), she wouldn’t really have a home town.

  Great thread.

• 31 | Team Teabag! // Apr 7, 2008 at 12:10 pm

  [...] are absolutely loads of theories and interesting analyses of the story of Portal, but I found this one particularly interesting. In it, the anonymous game design type behind the excellent Game-ism blog [...]

• 32 Still Alive? She’s Free. // Apr 7, 2008 at 12:31 pm

  [...] If you’ve played through Portal: READ IT. [...]

• 33 Richard // Apr 7, 2008 at 3:24 pm

  That could be one way of looking at it. Another could be as simple as loneliness. Instead of a woman bound upside down, imagine if she was put into a cage all alone. She becomes angry at her captors, kills them, but then becomes lonely. She then uses test subjects, putting them through rigorous test of her own (now demented) design. Any who finish, she kills them, analyzes their personality and traits, and turns them into another AI for her to communicate with. If you think about the companion cube, GlaDOS examines how quickly you destroy it, seemingly making a comparison between you destroying it and herself killing the Apature Science staff.

• 34 McGrude // Apr 7, 2008 at 4:43 pm

  I’d always figured that the Chell clones represented the players’ die-and-retry cycles as they worked through the game. Each time the player reloads after a death it represents another cloned Chell.

  Great analysis. Thanks for the thought provoking post.

• 35 links for 2008-04-07 | Past is prologue // Apr 7, 2008 at 5:15 pm

  [...] Still Alive? She’s Free. For those who played Portal, read this to get a different look on GlaDOS (tags: portal games article) [...]

• 36 Amazing Anaylsis of Portal’s GLADoS | Universe_JDJ's Blog // Apr 7, 2008 at 5:45 pm

  [...] read more | digg story [...]

• 37 Drew // Apr 7, 2008 at 5:48 pm

  @N: She did mention that they installed the morality core *after* her attempt to gas everyone in Aperture. This too is a mystery– how could they have installed it on her under fire from neurotoxins? Just as well, how did she purify the chambers so that the Chell clones could get through– let them sit for a long time, I suppose, I did see one thing in one of the ‘Ratman’s Den’ areas that was copyrighted 1983. Hmm, one year before 1984 eh? Also, since the cake was always intended to be a reward at the conclusion of the test, it could be inferred that the point of Chell’s being revived WAS to kill GLaDOS’s body, and perhaps the newly-freed woman inside is now using her mental link to the test facilities to move the robotic arm, lighting up the ‘eyes’ in the process. Lastly, there were two things which were to be provided at the end of the test: Cake, and grief counseling. Now of course there’s cake… but there’s also the companion cube in that VERY last scene! Grief gone!

• 38 Portal’s GlaDOS As Bondage Slave [Valve] // Apr 7, 2008 at 7:06 pm

  [...] Still Alive? She’s Free. [Game-Ism] [...]

• 39 auntie pixelante › glados bound // Apr 7, 2008 at 7:06 pm

  [...] find game-ism’s metaphor of portal’s glados as a bound woman necessarily intriguing, even if the author is, as third-favorite gamer’s quarter editor m. [...]

• 40 » Blog Archive » links for 2008-04-08 // Apr 7, 2008 at 8:50 pm

  [...] Still Alive? She’s Free. (tags: analysis valve portal subtext bondage technology scifi artificial intelligence) [...]

• 41 YvMvidcast » Blog Archive » Portal Philosophy // Apr 7, 2008 at 9:57 pm

  [...] GlaDOS [...]

• 42 Still Alive? She’s Free. // Apr 7, 2008 at 10:09 pm

  [...] Read This [...]

• 43 NerdyRage.Com » Blog Archive » GladOS: Tormented Soul Driven To Assisted Suicide? // Apr 8, 2008 at 12:44 am

  [...] has posted a Portal plot theory that, if correct, really turns the the entire experience on it’s ear. What they are proposing [...]

• 44 Morning Gaming News with Cooper Hawkes! » Blog Archive » Morning Gaming News Podcast: 4/8/2008 // Apr 8, 2008 at 4:38 am

  [...] GlaDOS in bondage? It’s almost too perverse to be true.. and yet… the author makes a com… [...]

• 45 shad0walker // Apr 8, 2008 at 4:59 am

  It could just be one of those coincidences in the design which by putting alot of time towards thinking about it gives you the idea, but if you look at the modules being attached, they don’t form any real part of the main shape. they are tacked on outside of the bulk of the equipment and don’t cause a major change to the look/feel of GLaDOS when you remove them. It may again be a coincidence but I doubt it was done to make targets easily spotted, they fall off in order where ever you manage to hit GLaDOS with a rocket so it wouldn’t have change the gameplay to just integrate them into her main body. If the targets were builtin to her main ‘body’ then it would have wrecked the overall design of her ‘body’ when they were destroyed.

• 46 rosicrux // Apr 8, 2008 at 5:08 am

  That is a fantastic observation. I knew there was something more than a generic endgame boss at the end, I just couldn’t put my finger on it. And the fact that the ending was timed doesn’t give one alot of time to smell the roses, as it were. I’ll admit I only played the boss sequence once, while returning to individual levels many times.

• 47 drzy » GladOS in bondage // Apr 8, 2008 at 5:30 am

  [...] within it. It reveals that Valve tried to give GladOS a female form, but not exactly which. Game-ism proposes GladOS wanted you to find her all along, to free her from her bondage. .gallery { margin: [...]

• 48 HYPERPOWER! // Apr 8, 2008 at 6:31 am

  Awesome article. I think your GlaDOS would look even more unsettling if you’d change her hair bun to something long and unkempt, to show just how long she has been confined.

• 49 |[Sacred]| // Apr 8, 2008 at 7:19 am

  Very nice observation. I agree with your observations. Notice how she flails about when you hit her with a rocket; she looks as though she’s trying to break free. I noticed that she looked blindfolded and wearing ear muffs when I played but I thought I was seeing things. I never noticed the straight jacket proposal though and it makes sense. I can’t wait to see what Valve does with her. GLaDOS is by far one of my most favorite characters in any game.

  Maybe she becomes somewhat of a virus and infects machines in the world, spawning a war between Aperture Science and Black Mesa to help free humanity; just as Chell helped free GLaDOS. I’m confident that Gordon Freeman and Chell meet up.

  HOLY CRAP! Just thought of this! What about Dog! What if she infects him or something! Ok, that is a little too extreme…

• 50 Solarmech // Apr 8, 2008 at 8:15 am

  A very good observation about GLaDOS. I caught on to the fact that she had a woman’s form in profile several months ago. But there is one problem about the whole bondage thing. To be bound up, both her arms should be tied up behind her. They aren’t. GLaDOS’s right arm is bent at the elbow and is out in front of her (holding a cable). This is clear when you get over to her right side over by the catwalk. Sorry.
  (I do think that GLaDOS is being controlled, but not to the point of the bondage thing) sm

• 51 Still Alive? She’s Free. « PC Game News .co .uk // Apr 8, 2008 at 11:46 am

  [...] Still Alive? She’s Free. 8 04 2008 All I can do is show these two pics and hope you want to read on: [...]

• 52 Rule 34 - GlaDOS | vazio.org // Apr 8, 2008 at 4:50 pm

  [...] Link [...]

• 53 GlaDOS - bondage i cosplay | Polygamia // Apr 8, 2008 at 5:20 pm

  [...] game-ism.com znajdziemy duży tekst analizujący postać GlaDOS z Portala. Autor napisał sporo ciekawych [...]

• 54 XAM » Blog Archive » GlaDOS - bondage i cosplay // Apr 8, 2008 at 7:09 pm

  [...] game-ism.com znajdziemy duży tekst analizujący postać GlaDOS z Portala. Autor napisał sporo ciekawych [...]

• 55 Adam // Apr 8, 2008 at 7:25 pm

  For someone who isn’t into bondage, you sure drew a sexy picture of GLaDOS!

  But listen to her. This isn’t this voice of some chick. This is a (physically, not mentally) mature woman. I personally think it’s sexist to represent only sexy women. It may seem like good marketing, but it’s degrading. I guarantee that sketch is going to turn some guys on, and that’s extremely disturbing.

• 56 Rhontos // Apr 8, 2008 at 9:17 pm

  I realize that its an easter egg, but one of the clipboards in Portal reveals that subject 042 was a chicken. So they couldn’t have all been Chell clones :P

• 57 GlaDOS as a bondaged slave: Now you’re thinking with boners | Free Games Center Blog // Apr 8, 2008 at 9:18 pm

  [...] thing. Like for instance, when I look at a cloud, I sometimes see kittens and bunnies. This writer over on game-ism is the same way. Except, instead of clouds and kittens, he sees GlaDOS as a woman hanging upside [...]

• 58 Tom // Apr 8, 2008 at 10:00 pm

  A previous commenter said: “the entire game of portal has something unmistakenly female about it.” Hmm . . . a game about opening up smooth, rounded “apertures” and pushing things through them? What could possibly be female about that? I’m not seeing it.

• 59 the P.Pole v.2.1 » Totally Tweet 2008-04-08 // Apr 8, 2008 at 11:11 pm

  [...] Browsing: http://www.game-ism.com/?p=91 [...]

• 60 Mewe // Apr 9, 2008 at 3:38 am

  I don’t think it is anytihng. Just your imagination. I mean woman in shape of a Giant? Really in HL-universe?

• 61 Mewe // Apr 9, 2008 at 3:42 am

  I doubt there’s any women…I mean that huge? A giant? Doesn’t fit a Hl Universe to me.

• 62 PCGameNews.co.uk » Still Alive? She’s Free. // Apr 9, 2008 at 6:03 am

  [...] All I can do is show these two pics and hope you want to read on: [...]

• 63 Portal: A game for tied-up lesbians? // Apr 9, 2008 at 7:06 am

  [...] according to two different blogs, which in today’s world means it’s as good as a fact. Game-Ism’s art below is pretty hard to argue with, especially since Portal’s designers said they were [...]

• 64 Osama // Apr 9, 2008 at 9:37 am

  This is a BRILLIANT observation! I think Mewe missed the point entirely!

• 65 MarkoPolo // Apr 9, 2008 at 1:15 pm

  I didn’t see it on Amazon - but there is a book about Valve’s art and art process called “Above the Bar” - I think that somewhere in the art reference file there is probably a woman hanging upside down in a straight jacket pretty much as rendered.

  Check out the book if you can find it…it is one of my favorite game art refernece works.

• 66 Baines // Apr 9, 2008 at 5:00 pm

  Someone has taken an image of the base model of GlaDOS and placed it on an image of Bottichelli’s Venus and found they pretty much match up.
  http://forums.selectbutton.net/viewtopic.php?p=312160#312160

  That pretty much kills the artistic impression above.

  Plus, the argument itself has a major issue that is never addressed. The article’s argument revolves around GlaDOS treating Chell so badly in order to get Chell to destroy her. Why couldn’t GlaDOS just ask Chell to shut her down? Or even offer her something (information, help, whatever) for the same?

• 67 GLaDOS Followup: She’s Your Venus. // Apr 9, 2008 at 9:14 pm

  [...] James posted an interesting image earlier about his own research he started doing after seeing the GLaDOS Bondage piece from earlier this week, and I wanted to link it here, because as it turns out, Valve did use [...]

• 68 Solarmech // Apr 10, 2008 at 9:46 am

  In response to Baines qustion about why GLaDOS did not explain anything to Chell is simple. She couldn’t. The restriction AS put on kept her from doing certain things (like trying to free herself or let herself be destroyed) and forced her to do other things (such as keep running the Enrichment Center). Despite wanting to be free and get Chell outside, GLaDOS’s porograming forced her to try to stay alive (and a slave) and not let Chell outside. But while she went through the motions of following her programing, she (intentionaly) made mistakes that Chell could exploit to achive her (and Chell’s?) goals.
  And on the pic of GLaDOS in the thread that Baines linked to, you can cleary see that GLaDOS’s right arm is in front of her (sorry no bondage folks). But I don’t think there is much of resemblence between Venus and GLaDOS. Remember that artwork was an idea they didn’t use. sm

• 69 Fun Link Friday » Games News and Reviews » Binary Joy // Apr 11, 2008 at 5:28 am

  [...] GlaDOS still alive? One gamers thoughts about the robot behind Portal [...]

• 70 t3h w31rd: Week of April 13th, 2008: // Apr 12, 2008 at 10:02 pm

  [...] GlaDOS is a Kinky Girl [...]

• 71 Beyond the Portal | observatory // Apr 15, 2008 at 3:29 am

  [...] Related: Still Alive? She’s Free. [...]

• 72 FPSB | Burrito // Apr 15, 2008 at 3:18 pm

  I think she was only lying to Chell and forcing her to destroy the companion cube just to get her angry enough to kill her. I don’t actually think she was just lying.

  P.S. Great picture!

• 73 FPSB | Burrito // Apr 15, 2008 at 3:19 pm

  I believe she was only lying to Chell and forcing her to destroy the companion cube just to get her angry enough to kill her. I don’t actually think she was just lying.

  P.S. Great picture!

• 74 Merci Les // Apr 15, 2008 at 10:13 pm

  Very interesting =o.
  However, i dont believe GLaDOS felt trapped or wanted to die.
  Though admitedly, she is a liar on all accounts, i do believe she was telling the truth in the end, and that she wanted to test Chell in order to see if she could survive in the world outside.

• 75 Razz // Apr 17, 2008 at 4:21 pm

  This is a neat theory and I love the art, even though I can’t fully agree with it. But I did want you to know that you inspired a bit of GLaDOS fanart:
  http://razzek.deviantart.com/art/Portal-GLaDOS-83088924

• 76 Chris // Apr 18, 2008 at 6:08 am

  After thinking about it for a while, I believe that that when GlaDOS sings “Still Alive” at the end she is being completly truthful.

  In the beginning when she says ‘This was a triumph…it’s hard to overstate my satisfaction’ I think she was talking about Chell’s triumph in beating the game and how she is happy for her.

• 77 Zak // Apr 21, 2008 at 11:03 am

  Is it possible that even the eyes Chell put into the incinerator aren’t even destroyed? Think about it, as GLaDOS attempted to put you into the fire at the end of stage 19, she mentioned that all Aperture Science equipment could withstand temperatures of up to 4000 degrees kelvin, which is very hot. Sending the eyes into that incinerator probably wasn’t enough to destroy her, thus the song ’still alive.’
  Most would hear this theory and bring up the companion cube.
  Isn’t the companion cube in the room with the cake?

  Just food for thought.

• 78 Chris // Apr 22, 2008 at 6:36 am

  When did she say that Aperture equipment could withstand 4000 degrees?

• 79 Razz // Apr 22, 2008 at 3:32 pm

  Right as Chell is heading for her “victory candescence” at the end of the test chamber in the last level.

  “All Aperture technologies remain safely operational up to four thousand degrees kelvin.”

• 80 Overdose40 » GlaDOS, deeper than we thought // Apr 23, 2008 at 10:23 am

  [...] analiza geniala a personajului din Portal facuta de game-ism.com. Kudos to Valve. design, gaming   SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: “GlaDOS, deeper than we [...]

• 81 Chris // Apr 25, 2008 at 6:11 am

  Oh okay. Mabey you’re on to something there.

• 82 Chris // Apr 25, 2008 at 6:17 am

  Although…

  “Equipment” might not refer to GlaDOS’s eyes. She could have just ment that even though Chell will be baked into a delicious chocolate cake-the portal gun will be safe.

• 83 Amazing Anaylsis of Portal’s GLADoS « Food Weblog // Apr 27, 2008 at 3:03 am

  [...] read more | digg story [...]

• 84 Chris // Apr 28, 2008 at 6:01 am

  Hey Razz, if you are almost completly blind-
  how do you play portal?

• 85 Daniel Page » GLaDOS - Toujours vivant ? // May 3, 2008 at 4:20 pm

  [...] Un article très intéressant (en anglais) fait un peu le psychanalyse du personnage du jeu. Tout d’abord en comparant l’ordinateur suspendu à une femme en camisole - plus précisément Vénus, de Botticelli, le ressemblance est assez frappant, cela m’a amené à réfléchir à pourquoi l’ordinateur a tué tout le monde - sauf le joueur - et à la fin, malgré sa déstruction, annonce dans le jeu, qu’elle est toujours vivante ? [...]

• 86 Pornstar Quiz // May 5, 2008 at 4:37 pm

  That girl you drew is too hot for the internet.

• 87 Bcortizo // May 15, 2008 at 7:07 pm

  Well, like Floyd said earlier, I’m seeing more of a pregnant, upside-down woman than a bondagesque figure.

  I’ve just read your articles about Portal and found them very interesting and cohesive, despite not playing it not even a single time.

  Furthermore, while Botticelli’s Venus may be a source of inspiration, the motherly-figure you paint GLADoS as finds a more fitting image in a capture mother-to-be, don’t you think? (and after just writing that I started to worry about my mental health… =p)

  Also, seeing its relationship with Chell as a mother-daughter relationship, leading Chell to “kill” it (whatever that means for a AI/construct of its kind) also means giving Chell the means to surpass it, “preparing” Chell, in a sense, for the worst GLADoS could conceive of and, thus, protecting her “daughter” from harm.

  Then again, I may only talking a load of non-sense here and ressurrecting an old topic.

• 88 panzerbourne // May 29, 2008 at 4:29 pm

  Its very strange to see GlaDOS embodied like that. Her entire demenour is really haunting throught the game. To see her manifest is kind of creepy considering the game context. A tribute to the creative and artistic genious employed at Valve. Salute

• 89 Photrius // Jun 1, 2008 at 12:58 pm

  I would like to observe that if you watch GLaDOS’ reaction to increasing damage throughout the fight with that image in mind it is exceptionally…unnerving. And pitiful. Poor GLaDOS. Note specifically the motion of the ‘head’.

• 90 Deus Ex Machina // Jun 1, 2008 at 7:53 pm

  For those of you talking about it:
  When she says that they installed the morality core after she released the neuro-toxins, remember one thing from the Half-Life series: Gordon Freeman’s suit can administer an antidote for the neuro-toxins inside the poison headcrabs, so is it possible then that Aperture Science employees (if not all, then higher-ranking officials) might have this same technology in their suits?

• 91 Panther // Jun 2, 2008 at 4:22 pm

  Awesome drawing.

• 92 Veridas // Jun 3, 2008 at 5:08 pm

  I don’t think this philosophy is entirely accurate given some of the evidence in-game.

  GlaDos is ultimately designed to regulate and oversee the testing process for the Portal gun. Her purpose is most likely to cumulate data on the subject’s pulse, blood pressure and breathing patterns whilst filming the exercises (this can be deducted due to the spare metal feet producing from Chell’s legs. There’s no reason to think that this is the limit of the modifications made to her)

  The possibility that GlaDos became malevolent is only possible if we consider that she was not content with watching people succeed at these tests, which they would inevitably do after a certain time, and thus pushed to add her own level of difficulty. This is evident early in the game when GlaDos insists that a particular challenge is impossible despite its nature.

  Since her keepers would have disagreed with this, GlaDos would have had to spread her influence to the few places where it did not already exist, and then remove the crew designed to draw scientific conclusions from test data.

  This would have sparked the use of neurotoxins, which we know the scientists at AS (Aperture Science) attempted to stop, but must have failed to do so entirely.

  GlaDos’ happiness at the end of the game could be genuine if we consider that she has now become frustrated with failure.

  There is evidence to suggest that one more person made it out before Chell as this person is intent on scrawling directions everywhere, this person’s obsession with gathering items found in the offices could point to it being a former scientist for AS.

  Its a safe assumption that this person, if he or she took the same route as Chell, failed when they encountered GlaDos. Either due to GlaDos’ missiles or the neurotoxin.

  Therefore, this person too was a failure. Unable to compete with GlaDos renewed testing facility that lead the subjects to GlaDos themselves. What better difficulty to add to a deadly testing process than to force the subject to fight against something that cannot feel fear, cannot feel pain and is as cold and calculating as, well, as a machine.

  GlaDos must know on some level that she would, if defeated, simply be restored in another location. Thus to her death has no meaning.

  To that extent, Chell is the first, and most likely the only person to truly defeat GlaDos. What happens to Chell afterwards is irrelevent given GlaDos’ ultimate purpose: To test people’s ability to use the portal gun under extreme conditions.

  GlaDos’ morality core could have only kicked in after she disposed of the AS scientists or regulators, or only after people began to die in front of her because of her deadly tests. The fact that she has no problem with sending people to their deaths must mean that she can, to some extent, ignore the morality core but the fact that her purpose is to test people for potential success must also mean that death is not necessarily her desire, either on her part or on the part of her test subjects.

  Therefore, for GlaDos to watch Chell, in spite of having nothing to use but the portal gun and her own mind, march stoicly and silently through one puzzle after another and then after that to defeat GlaDos herself must be something of a relief.

  The assumption that all GlaDos can do is lie doesn’t hold much water given that GlaDos lies have only been distractions, never any information of true meaning. The fact that GlaDos also informs the player of what the Portal Gun does and how the weighted companion cube comes into play also proves that she only lies to test the player, and once the test is over, she has no reason to lie any more.

  If we assume that the test lasts until GlaDos’ death, then that would mean that GlaDos’ ending song can’t be a lie.

  This is a fantastic article, its ideas are wonderful, but frankly I just disagree.

• 93 Deus Ex Machina // Jun 12, 2008 at 6:29 pm

  You need to look at this, http://img66.imageshack.us/img66/9343/boralsicopyws2.jpg and read the 4th. paragraph down:
  It’s about the ship, BOREALIS, (owned by Apeture) and it says how it was TRANSPORTING A GLaDOS UNIT RIGHT BEFORE IT WAS TRANSPORTED COMPLETELY OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH for unknown reasons.
  It also mentions here http://members.shaw.ca/halflifestory/timeline.htm that the ship had on-board a “portal technology much more advanced than Black Mesa’s”
  So, what I am basically trying to say is this:
  When Chell destroyed GLaDOS on Earth, GLaDOS was came back into consciousness aboard BOREALIS, and on the BOREALIS, there is another Portal Gun which Gordon Freeman will most likely acquire in either Half-Life 2 Episode 3, or Half-Life 3, when they go in search of the ship, as it is hinted to in Episode 2.

• 94 Deus Ex Machina // Jun 12, 2008 at 6:40 pm

  oh, and, they just announced portal 2,so wah, wah, wahhhhh…

• 95 Deus Ex Machina // Jun 12, 2008 at 6:42 pm

  here’s a link to a video:
  http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/article.asp?CIID=104102

• 96 Digital Sextant :: Portal // Jun 17, 2008 at 8:13 am

  [...] bits of graffiti left by previous “test subjects,” and blood splatters. I read an interesting article with provocative commentary on the controlling computer, but I wouldn’t suggest you read it [...]

• 97 episode 001 - punching children at Bleeding Pixels Podcast // Jun 19, 2008 at 11:29 pm

  [...] Things mentioned in the show~! Industrial Gamers Zelda Marathon - Time Lapse Shadow of the Colossus Animation Portal - GLaDOS as a Bondage Slave [...]

• 98 Andy of Comix, Inc. // Jun 25, 2008 at 6:39 am

  Finding this late at night, I could barely sleep, finding the link on Garry Newman’s blog… that humanized GLaDOS scared the hell out of me cos it looks SO RIGHT.

  I think GLaDOS probably wanted to die, she was a trapped woman, but I don’t think she was fully aware of her surroundings. She’s crying, and in pain, but she’s also completely insane (http://www.aperturescience.com) and so she killed everyone in the complex.

  Ye olde mad crying computer.

• 99 Zefiro // Jul 2, 2008 at 7:00 pm

  Very interesting analysis (including your follow-ups). Thanks for this! I wouldn’t have thought about those details, dismissing quite some elements as “That’s how it’s done in games” and not as actually being part of the story.

  Since I didn’t find it in your texts nor the comments, the whole storyline - the way you explain it - has a very strong touch of “Neuromancer” from William Gibson. (see e.g. here: http://project.cyberpunk.ru/idb/neuromancer.html )

  And thanks for this picture, as I *am* into Bondage ;)

• 100 unome // Jul 4, 2008 at 3:48 pm

  I thought the same way you did. i wanted to know what GLaDOS looked like so i searched google images and i found what i was looking for then i saw it i thought it looked like someone that was hanging. then i saw this and thought it was amazing to see someone who thinks the same way i do. Great minds think alike.

  remember her motto “there is a whole in the sky in which things can…fly”

• 101 Favourite Portal Quotes (Spoilers) - Page 2 - Overclock.net - Overclocking.net // Jul 21, 2008 at 1:10 am

  [...] amazing anaylsis of portal’s GLADoS __________________ Vista.x64.FAQ ‡ MP3 Server ‡ Boost.IE.in.Vista ‡ Shortcut.Overlay.Remover ‡ HR.Wallpaper.Websites linskingdom’s Official VMark BETA Testing Thread OCN’s Finest Blogger: Technical Joe-Pinions Be friendly and polite to your fellow OCN members Quote: [...]

• 102 Critic // Aug 2, 2008 at 5:42 am

  I don’t know why you think you’ve stumbled upon something so fantastic with your own little personal epiphany. Like, woah dude, you managed to see what Valve was trying to convey the entire time and which most of us saw straight away? Well congratulations. You’re a little slow, but at least you got there.

  Unfortunately for you, that’s just a credit to Valve for creating the strong symbolic imagery, not to yourself for being able to see it.

• 103 Axl // Aug 2, 2008 at 10:28 pm

  @Critic: I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but most everyone here has either never thought of his points before, or has formed their own separate theories already, and do not agree with his analysis, to varying degrees.

  As far as we know, he could be completely wrong. He could be completely right. We have no idea, and won’t unless Valve gives us more evidence to use. Plus, saying that it’s what Valve was trying to convey the entire time can’t be true with your knowledge, since you can’t know what Valve is thinking.

• 104 Critic // Aug 4, 2008 at 1:49 am

  The only significant thing that he has painstakingly pointed out is that GLaDOS looks like a trapped woman, which the rest of us could already tell at first glance.

  This is no revelation.

• 105 spitfire // Aug 4, 2008 at 7:21 am

  Remember, folks, there’s no point in feeding trolls who are incapable of reading!

  Love, the management.

• 106 Brent Wong // Aug 5, 2008 at 10:02 pm

  What you said is truly remarkable and I honestly couldn’t have come to that conclusion. I mean her feminist appearance is an obvious but the many minor details are seemingly very convincing. The clones would be supported by ” I have kept a copy or your brain” or something of that sort at the boss battle of GlaDOS would support the clone idea. In addition to that the BOREALIS incident could be colaborated with GlaDOS in ways more then one(with the red phone etc.) And to those asking about the gas that I have noticed, could easily have been avoided with either A.) Airing out the facilities then planting the chip, or B.) Using special suits to plant the chip or lastly C.) The employees of the facility had all died ( don’t know how their bodies disappeared) but Chell’s cubical was protected ( you could see a filtration system inside). However something I disagree upon is that already stated by Veridas (kinda) is her intent upon being freed was not based upon sorrow or to gain freedom but was mainly based upon the main gain of scientific evaluation. Obviously her malcontent at the end of the song saying ” I’m still alive while you die” is an exact response that she does not care if Chell lives or not ( maybe ungrateful but I doubt that) as well as her feelings that this “experiment” was a great success, and her ranting about how she wanted to create a gun for those that alive. Your insight is very creative as well as amazing and if not said would not led to my observation but sorry I must say no to your conclusion.

• 107 PORTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL // Aug 9, 2008 at 9:44 pm

  Is that Dr. Mossman?
  I know she made some mistakes but she doesn’t deserve that!