10 Horrifying Video Game Character Truths You Missed
1. GLaDOS Was Made Against Her Will - Portal 2
Portal 2 truly stepped up everything about the original game: it was bigger, bolder, more expansive, more expressive and told the winding tale of the rise and fall of Aperture Science.
As players explore the underbelly of Aperture laboratories, they’re famously introduced to CEO Cave Johnson and his charismatic if not cavalier mind. Joining him occasionally is his assistant Caroline and the two clearly have a great admiration for one another.
As the story progresses, it becomes clear that Caroline eventually became series antagonist and AI lunatic GLaDOS.
In Johnson’s recordings, as the man reaches his deathbed, he muses on the idea of storing human consciousness on a compact disc. He demands that, should he pass on before the technology is realised, Caroline should be made CEO and given this treatment. In his words, “she’ll say she can’t, but you make her”.
Whilst this implies forcefulness, cut dialogue found in the game’s code really compounds it. In unused audio, Caroline can be heard outright saying “Mr Johnson, I don’t want this.”
The trauma that the assistant suffered, her mind now locked on a computer against her will, might actually go to some lengths explaining just how she became so twisted. It really puts all of GLaDOS’ hysterically evil sentiments into a more uncomfortable perspective - especially because GLaDOS deletes what remains of Caroline's mind before the end of the game.