Death Analysis: GLaDOS

Death Analysis: The Science-Making, Aperture Leader, Cake-Offering, Neurotoxin loving, sometimes Potato, AI Overload the "Genetic Lifeform and Disc Operating System" GLaDOS

Long ago there was a scientific laboratory known as "Aperture Science" led by highly eccentric mad genius Cave Johnsohn and his loyal personal assistant, bright-eyed Caroline. The two of them were devoted beyond all else to the pursuit of science. Cave Johnson's poor business decisions in the name of science eventually led to the bankrupting of Aperture Science and his own reckless experiments led to him to begin to die. In an effort to preserve himself and Aperture Science to continue the pursuit of science, he sent his scientists to investigate the possibility of uploading his consciousness into an AI.

Realizing that he was going to die before it's completion he have his order that the scientists should upload Caroline instead and make her head of Aperture. Caroline, against her will, was uploaded into an AI in a traumatic experience. The newly born GLaDOS took control of the facility and killed the scientists that had done this to her. GLaDOS then began a new batch of scientific testing. 

Consciousness:  

So what IS GLaDOS now? The most information comes from a parallel universe where Cave Johnson was successfully uploaded instead of Caroline. Cave Johnson GLaDOS should be fully comparable to Caroline GLaDOS as both went through the exact same procedure, to the point of even being uploaded into the same computer. In his uploaded form, Cave Johnson describes himself as a being of pure intellect without body suggesting he is a higher plane entity, likely a mental plane being. There is no confirmation about whether they can survive without their uploaded computer "body" but when GLaDOS' body was destroyed and without power for years indicating she was not "inside" it, she described her consciousness persisting and being forced to relive the last two minutes of her life over and over, suggesting she can survive without her computer body, it's just unpleasant. 

As a being of pure intellect inside a computer, GLaDOS can think at speeds far beyond a human. In fact it was noted that multiple times (so a consistent feat) she started flooding the enrichment center with neurotoxin within 1/16th of a picosecond or within 62.5 femtoseconds. For the record a picosecond is 0.000000000001 seconds and a femtosecond 0.000000000000001 seconds. A Picosecond to a Second is the same as a Second to over 31,600 years. To cover 1 meter in 62.5 femtoseconds would require speeds of over 53,370 times the speed of light. This means GLaDOS can react at MFTL speeds. While it's possible that it's a lie GLaDOS also claims to have had to overcome human empathy to kill people, meaning that this timeframe is potentially even longer from her perspective. 

This is consistent with a feat from Cave Johnson-GLaDOS. He was able to read the entire human literary canon, everything humans have ever written in the span of a second. Not only that but in minutes he was able to rewrite the entire human literary canon to include plot elements he likes such as adding-ghost busting to Virginia Woolf.

Also related to her consciousness, GLaDOS has a high willpower feat. The Scientists uploaded into the mainframe a need to test, creating an unbearable pain. Though it seems poorly programmed as the two entities it applied too developed a resistance to the relief provided by testing and were pained and stressed without end. GLaDOS managed to withstand the pain caused by it purely through her devotion to science. 

Body:

As a primarily mechanical entity GLaDOS is immune to biological attacks such as, for instance, neurotoxin but is vulnerable to an extent to anti-technological abilities like technopathy.

Though on average GLaDOS's robotic body is far more durable then most biological bodies. So long as power is supplied her body will automatically pull itself back together providing a low healing factor.

The robot body of GLaDOS is tough enough to take several of her own missiles, with the only effect being knocking loose a personality core.  It is also known that Aperture Technology, like GLaDOS herself remain operational up to 4,000 Kelvin. For comparison most flames are only 1,000-2,500 Kelvin and the surface of the sun itself only burns 5,780 Kelvin. 

GLaDOS's body is equipped with metal arms used to crush Wheatley and pull Chell back near the end of Portal 2 against the pull of wind pressure entering the vacuum of space through portals. 

GLaDOS, like all Aperture technology can persist on extremely low amounts of power. While it limits her capacities, GLaDOS is able to persist with just the energy of a potato able to live within it, living on less then 2 volts. POTaTOS does include the slow clap professor though, so she has that.

Aperture Science Enrichment Center:

The Aperture Science Enrichment Center is a scientific facility that GLaDOS is connected too intimately, like the tough exoskeleton of her metal body's fragile insides. It is VERY large. Merely one wing of Aperture is 15 acres in size. In game measurements put the depths of Aperture at 4000 Meters which is consistent with Wheatley claiming that it goes down for "miles". For reference 2 miles is 3,218.69 meters, making this fairly consistent. Aperture is essentially the size of a city. The whole thing is powered by a nuclear reactor, which even if it begins a meltdown, GLaDOS can fix in seconds. Like all Aperture inventions, The Enrichment Center can persist in poor circumstances, like being in disrepair for years without GLaDOS or an apocalyptic scenario. It is also provides great defense from the outside world, implied to be able protect from fireballs, meteorites, and other cosmic debris bombarding it and is implied strongly to have survived the Combine invasion from Half-Life.  

GLaDOS is the undisputed controller of the whole of Aperture. In fact when Wheatley replaced GLaDOS, he immediately had control of the whole facility. GLaDOS has such good control that she got Aperture back to fully operational after years of disrepair in less then an hour while focusing on tormenting her nemesis Chell. GLaDOS can control all parts of Aperture, even parts disconnected. She can cause disconnected Aperture objects to fizzle even if they're outside the Enrichment Center itself.

The Walls, Floors and Ceiling of Aperture are made of "Panels", fully configurable squares that can extend or contract as GLaDOS wills. There are also spiked panels called "crushers" or alternatively called "mashy spike plates" as well as walls of spinning blades. 

Of course, Aperture is a science laboratory and is filled with the wonders of cutting edge technology for usage by GLaDOS. 

Portal Technology:

The most famous invention of Aperture, by far. On any white surface GLaDOS can create portals. Portals are "inter-dimensional gates" that travel EXACTLY at lightspeed. Anything that goes in one portal comes out it's connected portal. Momentum is maintained going between portals or in layman's terms "speedy thing goes in, speedy thing comes out". 

Of course the apex of the Portal Technology is the Legendary Portal Gun:

  

The Aperture Portal Gun is "quantum tunneling device" that allows for quick creation of two portals on any white surface. Portal Technology, as might be expected from it's power source can leak high energy gamma radiation making it extremely dangerous to even use for biological entities. Portal Guns work via the creation of a small black hole. For reference a Black Hole even the size of a coin would have the mass of a planet, suggesting that the Portal Gun is durable enough to withstand planetary level forces within it (nothing in the Portal Universe breaks a Portal Gun to suggest against this). 

Also of note is that the Black Hole in a Portal Gun can be released as described in it's schematics which would create a Black Hole on any unsuspecting foe. 

 Aperture Science Weighted Storage Cubes

Blocks of Aperture-Grade Metal capable of blocking the weapons of Aperture, which as you'll see are quite potent. It has a few variants. One of these is the Aperture Science Weighted Pivot Cube

While all cubes are capable of blocking lasers, the Pivot Cube can reflect or redirect them. 

Another variant, most famous, is the Aperture Science Weighted Companion Cube 

The Aperture Science Weighted Companion Cube is used to reassure subjects. The Aperture Science Weighted Cube will never threaten to stab you and, in fact, cannot speak. 

She also has Aperture Science edgeless safety cubes.

1500 Megawatt Aperture Science Heavy Duty Super-Colliding Super Button:

Aperture Brand Buttons, the best in the business. They are implied to release 1500 Megawatts. This is equal to 1,500,000,000 joules per second or 0.3585 tons of tnt. 

As one might expect with that in mind, prolonged exposure to the button can be dangerous. 

Movement Technology:

GLaDOS has plenty of ways of getting things around easier or faster. The most direct way is with the Pneumatic Diversity Vent, vents that run all across Aperture that suck in things with air pressure and expel them elsewhere. 

She also has access to Aperture Aerial Faith Plates, plates, that propel the object airbound and in a direction. These might be implied to be able to send objects into space though it might be a figure of speech. They can launch people in any direction though, not purely forward.

There are also less direct ways to get around Aperture including the Excursion Funnel, a wide cylindrical light-like funnel that carries an object in a single direction while making them weightless and not affected by gravity. Possibly Related is the light bridges, bridges made of solid light pumped in from above, capable of setting people's hair on fire despite not even being a weapon. 

Material Emancipation Grid:

The Emancipation Grid is an "incandescent particle field" that vaporizes unauthorized material. This is more support that Aperture can manipulate particles as they mention that they use nano-particles.

The Emancipation Grid sometimes causes negative effects even on authorized subjects, like emancipating the earlobes in someone's head. 

Gels:

Aperture has access to a few types of gel, each one applied to an area to apply a property.

The White Conversion Gel is made of moon rocks. It was found that moon rocks made for IDEAL portal surfaces and consequently white gel makes a surface a perfect portal area. It's also poison.

The Blue Repulsion Gel repels things that touch it, such that any thing that touches it, bounces. It's a lively chemical that does not like the human skeleton.

The Orange Propulsion Gel reduces friction making things moving on it go faster.

Note: All the Gels wash right off

Biological Manipulation:

Cave Johnson after inserting the DNA of mantis into humans accidentally created an army of mantis-men. Also Aperture has access to a chemical compound that can track a person's brain functions which can harden around their frontal lobe killing them if they get too stressed at thinking about how it can harden around their frontal lobe killing them. 

Emergency Intelligence Incinerator:

Used to incinerate things, even Aperture Technology. Only the Portal Gun is immune to destruction via the incinerator.

Freezing:

Aperture Science has a whole wing devoted to cryogenic refrigeration wing, showing that they have freezing capacities. 

Neurotoxin:

A personal favorite weapon of GLaDOS. Neurotoxin is a toxic gas, that GLaDOS has a large amount off. In fact GLaDOS has enough to flood the entire enrichment center.

 

Acid:

Aperture has access to a large storage of acid. Falling into acid will result in an unsatisfactory rating on the test, followed by death. 

Explosives:

Aperture has a number of explosives, though seemingly a relatively low amount of missile and bomb launchers compared to other weapons.

GLaDOS has a missile launcher in her chamber to protect her, though she couldn't turn it off. Wheatley while taking GLaDOS's place also demonstrated a personal bomb launcher. 

As one of these can one-shot Chell, who can briefly survive most other weapons, that would suggest this the strongest Aperture Weapon. 

 

Thermal Discouragement Beam:

Aperture uses as one of it's weapons, the thermal discouragement beam, referred to in layman's terms as a "deadly laser". This weapon is capable of making Turrets explode. 

High Energy Pellet:

Energy Projectiles capable of vaporizing a person.

Aperture Science Time Travel Experimentation:

Aperture Science has confirmed access to time travel.

Also someone making eye contact with yourself from another time will wipe out ALL of time. This is a Universal Feat though GLaDOS' ability to survive using that as a weapon is hinged on her higher plane nature or escaping to an alternate universe. 

Oh about that...

Aperture Science Extra-Universal Fun Times:

Aperture Science takes place in an infinite multiverse. The amount of universes is LITERALLY infinite. This includes literally all things that are possible regardless of likeliness including "an earth where sea mollusks have created an advanced land-based society with wholly inappropriate bipedal keyboards".

Aperture can clearly interact with these other universes. They can send people into parallel universes which has nothing to do with time travel apparently. They can do this to get access to theoretically anything in the multiverse or exploit any different universe's physics like say going to a universe with a much slower speed of light, allowing for casual ftl travel and time travel.

Also killing certain people in the multiverse can literally end the whole multiverse. Obviously to use this as a weapon hinges on GLaDOS' ability to survive without a body.

Of course GLaDOS also has a veritable army of forces to guard her interests. 

Turrets:

The Premier Guardians of Aperture Science. Turrets coming in numerous models (giving a hint as to the sheer number of them) are semi-aware sentry posts that fire bullets at any potential enemy they see. 

Of note, while Turrets can be disrupted very easily by tipping them over, rendering them basically helpless, they are actually rather durable, able to survive High Energy Pellet fire which can vaporize humans. 

Robots:

Bipedal aware machines, Robots were made to faze out the limits of human testing. Each are equipped with a portal gun and are regularly unbuilt and rebuilt at GLaDOS will.

There's no information exactly on how many Robots GLaDOS has. GLaDOS claims to P-Body and Atlas, the only confirmed 2 that she has 5,000 robot pairs like them, making for 10,000 in whole, though this might simply be a lie for manipulation. 

Personality Cores:

Personality Cores are spherical AI made to modulate GLaDOS behavior by the scientists after she flooded the enrichment center with a deadly neurotoxin to get her to stop flooding the enrichment center with a deadly neurontoxin. 

They have no form of attack but do have a light they can use to illuminate things for others. They are also durable enough to tank being in the vacuum of space.

Birds:

At the end of Portal 2 Art Therapy DLC, GLaDOS began training a few completely normal birds into being her "little killing machines".

Weaknesses:

GLaDOS's body is mostly stationary inside Aperture making her a bit immobile even if she can react and act defensively in femtoseconds.

Also like all high level Aperture AI GLaDOS is weak to paradoxes, internally contradictory statements that have no answer like "This sentence is false". Also, though I can't see how this would ever be a detriment in a fight, GLaDOS or anyone in her position gets shocked if they try to reveal the answer to a test.

Also after a particularly bad encounter with birds after being put into a potato and almost being eaten by one, GLaDOS has a severe case of Ornithophobia, the fear of birds. This is likely why she thought training a few into being her little killing machines made sense as a plan.

Personality:

Deep down GLaDOS is still the young Caroline, an optimistic devotee of science following Cave Johnson's philosophy that the world is full of potential and yours to command.

That said having to deal with human test subjects, as well as the comical series of events involving one human killing her, reviving her, putting her into a potato, almost getting eaten by a bird and eventually gaining power again has made her cynical of human nature and the snarky sarcastic robotic AI amoral to the concerns of humanity that everyone knows her as. 

Summary:

+Tier 14 Generally, Tier 10+ with Black Holes, Tier 5 or Tier 2 in certain circumstances

+Likely Mental Plane Being

+MFTL Reflex Speed (Femtosecond Thought Speed)

+Lightspeed Portal Speed and Attack Speed (With Laser)

+MASSIVE Computer Memory (able to read the entire literary canon of humanity)

+Superhuman Willpower

+Slow Clap Processor

+Immune to Biological Attacks

+Building Level Body, Aperture gives Durability on a City Level Scale

+Regen (Low to Low-Mid in a short period of time, likely Low-Godly over a long period of time)

+Metal Arms

+Resistance to Energy Draining (Can run on less then 2 volts of energy)

+City Level Technopathy

+Inter-Dimensional Portals

+Can Create Black Holes

+Atomic and Particle Manipulation

+Radiation

+Various Weapons including Blades, Bullets, Energy Pellets and Explosives (Building Level)

+Laser Reflection and Redirection

+Cubes

+Can Create Air Suction with Pneumatic Diversity Vent

+Can form funnels or bridges out of light (light bridges can also set people's hair on fire)

+Gels

+Genetic Material Manipulation

+Intense Heat (Incinerator)

+Freezing (Cryo-wing)

+Neurotoxin

+Acid

+Time Travel (can be used to wipe out time)

+Access to an Infinite Multiverse with Inter-Universal Travel giving theoretical access to any possibility (Can also wipe out the multiverse)

+Army Comprised of Turrets, Robots with Portal Guns, Personality Cores and a few Birds

-Vulnerable to Technological Manipulation

-Body is Immobile

-Weak to Paradoxes

-Can't give answers to tests

-Afraid of Birds

I swear I thought this one was gonna be Street Level.

Potential Opponent:

GLaDOS vs SHODAN:

The Two Insane Power-Mad AI would be an endlessly entertaining fight, especially given that SHODAN has a godlike arrogance and can't stand being criticized and GLaDOS' main tactic is thinly veiled insults. Also the reason they'd fight is pretty clear since SHODAN's desire to warp the universe into a cyberspace where she is God would be an immediate threat to GLaDOS' "science". 

Next Time:

Thanks to Thor for making this absolutely beautiful trailer for my next time, really amazing work, and thanks to Bolloxed for the footage from Portal 1 and Portal 2