God in the Machine: Parting Thoughts on Portal

Wow, these “Parting Thought” bits actually got views… and at least one got a response, and an insightful one at that. Perhaps I should do more of these in the hopes of elevating myself into some kind of internet wise man who explains all unclear parts of games and movies that none understand or that are left up to MASSIVE amounts of interpretation. We’ve already put Elsa and Clementine under the looking glass and I feel a trend going here. I want to spend an issue talking about how GlaDOS from Portal is God.

Bold accusations to make, I’m sure. But let’s not kid ourselves, machines becoming gods is a theme gaming has touched before in Deus Ex and hinted at in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Plus the phrase “deus ex machina” means “god from the machine” in Latin. And, also, look at Skynet. Therefore GlaDOS wouldn’t be the first mechanical monster to be looked at for a potential deified examination. Now that I’ve convinced you to listen, let’s actually look at some real evidence about GlaDOS being a God. 

I’m assuming, given that this is the internet, you know all about Portal already where I don’t have to summarize the entire game and explain everything. For those that need a refresher: you lay as Chell who is trapped in Aperture Science Labs, which seemed to be a normal testing facility. GlaDOS is the voice that constantly tells you what each test is and gives various lines of dialogue with a variety of possible purposes (more on that later). In the end, it turns out GlaDOS was planning to kill you all along and you have to fight her/it to escape Aperture. Now that we have that out of the way, let’s get to the evidence I mentioned earlier (for which, we’ll borrow from both games, but I don’t feel the need to summarize the second game AS MUCH but I might later if needed).

Let’s start with how Aperture Science operates outside of the testing chambers. In Portal 2’s opening scene, we see that Aperture Science (the modern version) operates on a series of rail systems that move various facilities to wherever the operator needs them or desires them. Since GlaDOS is the only entity in the facility with the authority to operate those systems (Wheatley does too, but not for very long) it can be assumed that these rooms only move on her desires.

Taking this a step farther, when Wheatley is in control of the facility and moving the chambers around, he can move segments of the test chambers around independently, mixing testing chambers that GlaDOS claimed to have pre-planned for Chell at some point. Meaning that not only could these chambers be moved at her will, but they can also be changed and formatted to whatever GlaDOS desires. Even creating something like the Franken-Turret (hybrid of a cube and a turret) is possible within Aperture Science. 

What this bit shows us is that not only can GlaDOS monitor the whole building much like how God can monitor the whole cosmos, but she can move and manipulate objects in whatever and at whatever time pleases her. On top of that, she can create all kinds of new machines and testing facilities at her  leisure, similar to how God can create anything it wants according to various scripture. So the ability to create and manipulate her universe (which is Aperture Science for the purpose of this discussion), that’s certainly a sign that she’s a God.

Next item on the agenda is communication. In modern times, God doesn’t really speak to people, at least not directly like it shows in the Bible. In the Old Testament especially, God seems to enjoy conversing with his people, even if it is just to put the fear of itself into them. GlaDOS is much in the same way in both respects. The way she talks is meant to make us both uncomfortable and comfortable at the same time, making us somewhat afraid of what we’re going to experience ahead. On top of that, we also have the fact GlaDOS is constantly lying to us or manipulating the truth for one reason or another, which makes her communication indirect because the truth behind what she’s saying isn’t always known.

Throughout the game, as you complete chambers, GlaDOS will constantly give reassurances when you succeed and will sometimes tell you that you’re doomed to fail or that the test ahead cannot be passed, imposing doubt into you (or at least Chell). There are also times when she’ll tell you that certain things in testing chambers will kill you. Keep in mind SHE put those hazards there herself in designing the test. While we don’t know it in the first game, we learn that in the second game, meaning she’s attempting to put the fear of her and her power into Chell. GlaDOS is very Old Testament, if anything. 

Then there’s the lying. As I said a moment ago, the lying is her way of indirectly communicating with the player to put them at ease or misdirect them. Ignoring cakes, there’s the companion cube. MattPatt did a whole video on the secrets of the cube, so I won’t go into it here, but GlaDOS (true theory or not) DOES give conflicting information on the companion cube calling it useless and saying it can’t speak and then later claiming it has sentience and was trying to tell you something. While we don’t know which is which, we can tell that at least one of these statements is false and that the lies and misdirection are her ways of providing you information without directly providing information.

This goes a step farther when GlaDOS (as a potato) is forced to be lugged around by Chell in Portal 2. During one of the chambers Wheatley has forced you to solve, GlaDOS tries to help provide you an answer to the puzzle. But her programming prevents her from doing so because her voice cuts off the moment she tries to tell you the solution. This could very easily be a reference to how asking God questions does not get one direct answers. I mean, when you ask God why you’re put on this Earth, does a voice tell you that you’re role is to be a writer or farmer or assassin? Of course not, unless you’re crazy. And that’s what this moment is referencing here. It’s not that she doesn’t WANT to give you answers, but it’s that she CAN’T. No direct assistance from the almighty.

Then there’s the testing. As many who practice a religious faith (any of them), they often say that the trials of life are God’s way of testing his followers. This is then further exemplified by the stories of the Bible and how God pushes people like Noah, Moses, and Abraham (to name a few) with daunting demands and trials that most people would be well within their right to just give up because it’s too much. But the stories show these characters persevering and overcoming those trials and becoming better people for it and even (in some cases) saving lives in the process. 

I shouldn’t have to draw a diagram to explain how this similarity works. After all, all GlaDOS is programmed to want to do is to test her subjects. Chell is clearly a Moses or Noah figure that is thrown into the belly of the beast (Aperture) chosen by GlaDOS to go through a series of tests that will push her to the limits physically and mentally. Not only that, it will put her faith in GlaDOS into question (reasonably so) with the constant lies, attempted killing, and how the facility seems to have its bugs and maintenance issues. Because as any religious person will tell you, the point of God’s tests are either to test your faith or to test yourself in some way. All of the tests Chell is put through CLEARLY match that case.

But unlike God, GlaDOS was trying to kill Chell. In fact, it is safe to say that putting faith in GlaDOS would be more akin to worshiping the corpse god Mantarok from Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem. After all, it’s understood that Chell isn’t the first test subject to go through GlaDOS’ tests since there are A LOT of test subject storage units in Portal 2 and drawings by Ratman give us an indication that Chell and Ratman weren’t the only two humans at the mercy of GlaDOS at one point in time. It could be that GlaDOS is like a God, but only one that a cult worshiper would follow. One that tests you to the limits, manipulates you into trusting them, and then sacrifices you in the end for its own sick pleasure. 

And while that seems like an easy way to end this by saying GlaDOS is a metaphor symbolizing a Pagan God, I honestly think there’s more to that. GlaDOS is, from my estimation, represents the Christian God (or maybe just God) in general. But, specifically, she feels like a strong case for being “Old Testament God” who was known for killing, horrible tests to his worshipers, and being kind of a dick to anyone. Not to belittle the religion in any capacity, but he became a lot nicer to humanity once Jesus was born. I guess kids will do that to you.

So what proof do we have that this is specifically what GlaDOS is? There’s two bits of evidence that point to the entirety of Portal 1 being a story similar to Noah’s Ark, but more like the aftermath than the actual story. In that story God floods the world for 40 days and nights to purge the world of evil. Noah is called by God to get two of every animal and his family onto a big boat so when the floods subside, the world can basically do a reboot. For more details, see Russell Crowe’s Noah next year because I probably glossed over some details, but none of which should be important for this discussion. 

In Portal 1, GlaDOS, prior to the events of the game, flooded the testing facility with a deadly neurotoxin that wiped out all of the humans in the facility except for Chell and Ratman (which isn’t fully explained in game, but in the comics leading into Portal 2). The key word there is “flooded” because even GlaDOS uses that word in this quote to Chell, “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.” That’s some specific word choice to describe filling the facility with a poison that wipes out humans.

And I’ll take this moment to remind you that, throughout the course of both games, GlaDOS spends a good portion of time telling you how expendable, worthless, and useless humans are, even equating them to trash. By her logic, humans could be considered evil and that’s why they require purging during her variation of the great flood. Okay, fine, but what else do you have to prove this?

Look who survived the great flood. One man and one woman. Ratman survives the flood of neurotoxin as shown in the comic, but if we need in game proof, we can see that he still has artwork in Portal 2, well after the events of the first game which depict Chell as a hero and an idolized god by Ratman. This artwork is proof that he lived long enough to see what Chell did to GlaDOS in game one to return and show his reaction to her taking action against GlaDOS. And, of course, we have Chell as the other human who I don’t need to prove is very much alive. And given that this is a testing facility, we have no other organic life forms in the building. Thus, the only two literally living creatures in the world (as far as GlaDOS is concerned) are Ratman and Chell. 

Okay, this might all be coincidental. But here’s one more bit of proof that is undeniable and can finally confirm that GlaDOS is, in fact, a representation of God within the Portal universe. In Christianity, it is the belief that God and Jesus are on in the same (along with a Holy Ghost, but he’s not really important at the moment). Therefore we can agree that anything that happened to Jesus, in a sense, happened to God, right? Let’s hope so because that’s what this theory relies on heavily.

In Portal 2, GlaDOS is stripped of her power by Wheatley and Chell and is then banished to the bowels of Aperture. She is installed into a potato-battery and tossed into what is essentially Hell or maybe more like Purgatory only to be followed closely by Chell. You then spend most of act two trying to escape “Old Aperture” to then come back and face Wheatley in the final act. This is a representation of the sacrifice of Jesus and his resurrection all in one go with the only difference being that Jesus willingly sacrificed himself while GlaDOS really didn’t have a choice in the matter. Proof? 

GlaDOS, much like Jesus, loses all power she has demonstrated thus far during what is essentially her own crucifixion. But, like I said earlier, Jesus willingly forgoes using his powers whereas GlaDOS loses it to Wheatley, courtesy of Chell. Furthermore, Jesus is nailed to a cross, which we’ve come to know as his crucifixion. GlaDOS was installed in a potato-battery). While that seems like small potatoes (lol) consider the fact that there was limited power in that battery, meaning GlaDOS was only function for so long while there, which is probably terrifying to an AI that requires a lot of energy to function normally. . Not to mention the insane level of embarrassment she must have felt going from an all-powerful god to being a potato. Physically, not as much of a crucifix, but for her it might as well have been the same.

In the story, Jesus is then buried or sealed in a cave (as is my understanding/what I remember it being). In a very similar situation, GlaDOS is thrown into a big hole in the ground which doesn’t lead to hell, but the old Aperture narrated by the amazing J.K. Simmons. The entire area is often described as cavernous, which fits the bill there. And, here, Chell undergoes more testing originally created by J.K. Simmons character, Cave Johnson. Back to Jesus, after three days, he rises from his grave not as a zombie like you’d expect, but as Jesus Christ with humanity’s sins all now gone (or so he said). GlaDOS makes her return as well, but not as Christ. Instead, she and Chell team up as they make their way back, and their combined strength certainly makes them more powerful than before and enough to deal with Wheatley. 

But the most damning evidence that this is the story of Jesus Christ AND that GlaDOS is/was Old Testament God in Portal 1 is the end of the game. Prior to then, she still views humans as evil and expendable. Prior to then, she wanted to kill Chell for attempting to kill her. But her going through the Jesus story within her own story caused her to have a change of heart. She saw that Chell wasn’t all bad and that she was even a good person. GlaDOS then, essentially, FORGAVE Chell for trying to kill her (absolving her of her sin) and then peacefully allowed Chell to leave Aperture and never deal with GlaDOS’ bullshit again.

In short, going through her experiences in the Old Aperture and forgiving Chell was her way of transcending from Old Testament (wrathful and vengeful) into New Testament (loving and caring) God. You don’t have to believe this theory if you don’t want to, but there’s a lot of strong evidence that supports this claim (again, as stated above). GlaDOS is God. She’s a wrathful vengeful god in her first game (much like God is in his first book) but through experiences she learns with Chell in Old Aperture, she changes and allows Chell to leave (much like God/Jesus in the second book). That’s pretty similar and perhaps too much so to be just a mere coincidence.

That’s all I really have to say on the matter. Portal is pretty much the Bible of the future. I can’t wait to see if Portal 3 takes cues from either the Book of Mormon or the Qua’ran. Anyway, that’s my look into the meaning and symbolism of Portal. See ya next time for more insane theories and deep thought on games, movies, and more.