Doug Rattmann

"The cake is a lie."

- Doug Rattmann

Doug Rattmann, also known as the Ratman, is a former Aperture Science employee, and one of the few survivors of GLaDOS's flooding of the Enrichment Center with neurotoxin. Introduced through his murals in Portal, his story was expanded in Portal 2: Lab Rat.

Background
When working for Aperture, Rattmann was charged with the maintenance of the Aperture Image Format, an interactive graphics format created in 1985. He had access to Aperture Science's bulletin board system, with the login "drattmann" and the password "h0nee" (translates from Dutch to "Oh No"). He apparently never directly took part in GLaDOS's construction.



At some point late in GLaDOS's construction, Doug went to see his colleague Henry while he was working on the AI in her chamber. Henry praised their technological advances, stating that artificial consciousness is the next frontier. Doug was not convinced by the progress, since GLaDOS attempted to kill everyone each time she was turned on, forcing them to switch her off. Later, Doug came across Henry while he designing the Morality Core. Henry asked him to turn it on, then Doug asked him what it was, to which Henry answer it was the latest in AI inhibition technology, that it would act on GLaDOS as her conscience. Rattmann believed it was insufficient to stop her murderous intentions, arguing that "you can always ignore your conscience".



When GLaDOS was activated in 200-, she became self-aware, locked down the facility, and flooded the Enrichment Center with deadly neurotoxins. Rattmann was one of the only survivors, and GLaDOS turned onto taunting him about his schizophrenia. She attempted to convince him that his situation was a result of paranoia, but he ignored her, and got a hunch about a Test Subject, Chell, who he thought could make a difference. He fled to the file room and found her file. It said that she should not be tested, as she is abnormally stubborn and never ever gives up. Convinced she is the one he needs to stop GLaDOS, he put her on top of the Test Subject list, so that she would be the first to be picked in the next test.

Rattmann then spent the next several months surviving in the Test Chambers and maintenance areas of Aperture. Having only two pills left, he kept them for the day GLaDOS would wake Chell. Consequently, he slowly lost his sanity, his schizophrenia completely taking over him. He spent hours scribbling on walls, painting murals, graffiti and arrows and hints for the day Chell would wake up and try to escape, and became obsessed with the Companion Cube that his schizophrenia made talk to him and give him advice, acting as his conscience. It also appears he had several Cubes, as his scribblings show him mourning over the loss of one.

Portal


Although unseen for the entirety of Portal, Rattmann is made aware to Chell through his "Ratman dens", where each time he appears to have been living for a while (sleeping on unfolded Aperture Science boxes, eating beans and drinking milk and water), and where his frantic scribblings and graffiti can be seen abundantly. The first den is found near Test Chamber 16, behind a broken wall held open by two Weighted Storage Cubes. It is here that the well-known statement "the cake is a lie" is written in black. The scribblings in Test Chamber 17 reveal further information, notably his obsession with the Companion Cube.

The fact he is eating beans and milk is probably a reference to Isaac Asimov's story "Escape!", where the inhabitants of a computer-designed starship are only given canned beans and milk to eat. This story also involves a malfunctioning robotic brain with a twisted sense of humor torturing a pair of human technicians.

After Chell escapes incineration at the hands of GLaDOS in Test Chamber 19, she finds more and more of Rattmann's scribblings of help and warning, and the directions he previously laid to guide her through the hazardous innards of the facility.

Rattmann's hints stop just before GLaDOS's massive Sentry Turret ambush, suggesting he was unable to go on due to his lack of equipment against the Turrets, and that he trusted Chell to overcome them with her stubbornness and above all her ASHPD.

Portal 2: Lab Rat


In Portal 2: Lab Rat, Rattmann is shown to be observing Chell during her quest through the final stages of Portal, and taking his two last pills he was saving for that day. After she destroys GLaDOS, he follows her to the surface and thinks about taking the opportunity to escape once and for all, but upon seeing her being dragged back inside by the Party Escort Bot, he starts to feel guilty, feeling he is responsible for her predicament (as he put her on top of the Test Subject list), and goes back into the facility to rescue her, despite his Companion Cube's objections.

Back in the facility, he discovers that Chell has been placed in a Cryo-Chamber in the Relaxation Center. He soon discovers that GLaDOS's explosion blew the main power grid, and that all the Cryo-Chambers are off-line. He attempts to reach Cryo-Control to rescue Chell, but without the advice of his Companion Cube, which is no longer talking due to the anti-psychotic pills he previously took, he is incapable of selecting the right way, and is shot in the leg by a Turret, and falls unconscious. Upon regaining consciousness, he is back into his psychosis, discovering that he can no longer rescue Chell. However, the Companion Cube tells him that he can save her by patching her Cryo-Chamber into the Reserve Grid, placing her in stasis for an unspecified amount of time, but saving her from death. After doing so, he goes to sleep in a Relaxation Vault.

Portal 2


Rattmann is said to have died some time after saving Chell, suggesting he died from the wound inflicted by the Turret in Lab Rat. However, Eric Wolpaw refused to confirm or deny that this was the case in an interview.

Additional scribblings are seen in Portal 2, indicating his survival. Furthermore, one of the Portal 2 Achievements requires finding the hidden signal in one of Rattmann's dens. The Achievement icon is similar to that of the "Transmission Received" Achievement added to Portal during the Portal ARG. To complete it, an Aperture Science Radio must be taken into one of the Ratman dens (specifically, the one where the radio is received because the Aperture Science Vital Apparatus Vent is full of garbage). It produces an SSTV signal similar to the radios in the Portal ARG, showing an image of a Companion Cube on the Moon.

It is also clear as you play through the game, that by standing close to one of the murals in a RatMan's den, you can hear a frantic voice crying out jibberish. This voice has been guessed to be that of Rattmann himself, giving a hint that he may actually still be alive and wandering around the facility. This voice can also be heard in the song "Ghost of Rattman" on the Portal 2: Songs to Test By soundtrack.

Appearance
As seen in Portal 2: Lab Rat, Rattmann appears to have a pupil larger than the other. This may be anisocoria, a condition characterized by an unequal size of the pupils. As for his face, his errancies in the Enrichment Center and his slow loss of sanity made it unrecognizable, gaunt and exhausted, with disheveled hair and beard, while he remained in scientist attire (labcoat and shirt), likely the most available outfit in the facility.

Personality and skills


Prior to the activation of GLaDOS, despite already being schizophrenic and taking medication, Rattman was otherwise quite sane and level-headed, and was skeptical and worried with the work on GLaDOS, believing that conscience was not enough to stop her, as opposed to Henry's enthusiasm. However, as time passed when he was trapped in the facility, he grew increasingly insane, and started being obsessed with the Companion Cube, making it work as his conscience.

The results of the Aperture Science Collaborative Disposition Test tell that Rattmann is the quiet, artistic type, happy to ponder the solution to a puzzle in quiet solitude, and that compatible cooperative test partners include introspective loners, deaf-mute invisible people, and mannequins.

The scribblings seen in Portal show that Rattmann is an educated man, quoting both Dickinson and Longfellow to express himself over the loss of his Weighted Companion Cube, as well as a small reference to Auden. Aside from his scribblings, Rattmann appears to have adept technical skills. Apparently using the login name and password he managed to procure, he was able to open up certain wall sections in Test Chambers, make Vital Apparatus Vents dispense more Weighted Storage Cubes, and take pictures of the Companion Cube (probably by using the cameras in the Test Chambers). He is also able to create makeshift stoves out of computer heat sinks.

Behind the scenes



 * The username "cjohnson" and password "tier3" can be used on ApertureScience.com to gain administrator access. It is possible the hacker who posted the message about the lockdown access with the command  is Rattmann himself. However, this website has now been removed and may no longer be canon, due to its timeline being contradicted by evidence from Portal 2.


 * Portal features six Ratman dens. The first can be found near Test Chamber 16 (in " "), the second near Test Chamber 17 (in " "), the third near Test Chamber 18 (in " "), the fourth (in " "), fifth and sixth (in " ") in the maintenance areas.


 * A Portal: Still Alive Achievement named "Rat's Tale" requires to find all of the Ratman dens. Its logo reuses a texture seen in-game.


 * When Portal 2 was officially announced on March 5, 2010, several alphanumerics were underlined in the text, as part of the Portal ARG. When reorganized together, these letters gave the words "drattmann" and "h0nee", which are a second set of usernames and passwords (belonging to Doug Rattmann) for the BBS number (425) 822-5251. Upon entering them, one has access to data that will eventually give access to a program to read Aperture Image Format files.


 * As explained by Valve, originally Chell was to meet Rattmann and help him destroy GLaDOS. However, the developers ran out of time to include him and all the offices in Aperture Science.

Graffiti list
What follows is a list of all graffiti, scribblings and Aperture Science posters left by the Ratman in his dens. The texture files are used for better clarity.

List of appearances

 * Portal
 * Portal: Still Alive
 * Portal ARG
 * Portal 2: Lab Rat
 * Portal 2
 * The Final Hours of Portal 2