Doug Rattmann

"The cake is a lie."

- Ratman

The Ratman is a character from Portal who, although not actually seen in-game, leaves cryptic messages and helpful directions to Chell in his wake.

Background
Absolutely nothing is known about him, except for his obsession with the Weighted Companion Cube. The Ratman seems to only live off of beans, milk, and water (though a coffee cup can be found near one of his handprints). The bean cans have an Aperture Science logo on them, meaning that it's possible that they and other food supplies were obtained from a cafeteria or similar area within the facility. The Ratman has left many clues in small spaces that help Chell survive in the Aperture Science laboratories. In order to find his hidden dwellings, one must look out for his handprints. They always mark either the entrance to his dwelling or that he somehow altered the facility (i.e. breaking a Weight Storage Cube dispenser).

Portal


All of what is known about the Ratman's character is revealed in his den in Test Chamber 17, and is as follows going from left to right starting at the entrance of the den:

"The Vital Apparatus vent will deliver, oh it will WILL. The weighted companion cube DOES speak. Superstition, perceiving inanimate objects as alive, and hallucinations. I'm not hallucinating. You are. The companion cube would never desert me. Dessert. So long... Cake, ha ha Cake. A lie. The companion cube would never lie to me. NEVER."

"Login: cjohnson Password: tier3"

"Trust me"

"Where are you? I will find you." (Separate words mixed with hearts and pictures of the companion cube)

"You said to take care of it. How can I you wouldn't let me. I should disregard your advice.  Leave me alone! STOP WATCHING. Though earth and man are gone, I thought the cube would last forever. I WAS WRONG." (Italicized phrase is a possible reference to the Combine rule over Earth. Excluding the italicized portion, this is a pastiche of W.H. Auden's "Funeral Blues". He may also be quoting GLaDOS, saying "I should disregard YOUR advice.")

"Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me The cube had food and maybe ammo and immortality" (Pastiche of Because I could not stop for Death by Emily Dickinson)

"Why?" (written in red 18 times with several question marks)

"Not in cruelty, Not in wrath, The REAPER came today; An ANGEL visited this gray path, And took the cube away" (Pastiche of The Reaper and the Flowers by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

(The letters in bold seemed to be underlined to spell the first letters of Aperture Portal Gun The login name and password (which are referring to Cave Johnson and his 3-tier plan) give an explanation as to how the Ratman opened up certain areas of the Test Chambers, gained access to other areas of the facility, etc.

The Ratman's fate is unknown. His hints stop just prior to the big sentry ambush near the end of the game. This could mean one of several things: It could mean that he was killed due to the ambush, that he got past the ambush only to be killed by GLaDOS, that he escaped without facing GLaDOS, or that he simply hadn't gone into the area yet and is still roaming the facility, with the last one being the most probable, since he seems to know that "The cake is a lie".

Personality and skills
The scribblings show that he is possibly an educated man, quoting both Dickinson and Longfellow to express himself over the loss of his weighted companion cube.

Aside from his scribblings, the Ratman appears to have adept technical skills. 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 (likely using the cameras in the testing chambers). Other than that, he seems able to create makeshift stoves out of computer heat sinks, upon which cooking pots are set.

Behind the scenes

 * The Ratman wrote the infamous sentence "The cake is a lie" and the arrows that show Chell the way.


 * In the commentary, Valve hints out that there are other people trapped in the facility.


 * One writing on a wall shows a picture of one of the cameras and above it the words "she's watching us", "she" referring to GLaDOS.


 * The username "cjohnson" and password "tier3" can be used on the website ApertureScience.com to gain administrator access.


 * When Portal 2 was officially announced on Steam on March 5, 2010, several alphanumerics were underlined in the text. When reorganized together, these letters give the words "drattmann" and "h0nee", which are a second set of username and password for the BBS number (425) 822-5251. Upon entering them, one has access to the Aperture Image Format program, created by Aperture Laboratories in 1985 and maintained by Doug Rattmann. This Doug Rattmann may be the Ratman, although it has to be confirmed. He may appear in Portal 2 as he was to appear in Portal, but again it has yet to be confirmed.

List of appearances

 * Portal
 * (425) 822-5251