Doug Rattmann

"The cake is a lie."

- Doug Rattmann scrawling

Doug Rattmann, also known as the Ratman, is a former Aperture Science technician and AI programmer, and one of the few survivors of GLaDOS' who managed to evade the neurotoxin nerve agent (who GLaDOS released). 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". He apparently never directly took part in GLaDOS' construction.



At some point late in GLaDOS' construction, Doug went to see his colleague Henry while he was working on the AI in his chamber. Henry praised their technological advances, stating that artificial consciousness is the next frontier. Doug was not convinced by this 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 was designing the Morality Core. Henry asked him to turn it on, then Doug asked him what it was, to which Henry answered that 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 nerve agents. 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 his paranoia, but he ignored her.

Rattmann 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 gives up. Ever." 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, factory and maintenance areas of the massive facility. 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 him over.

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 source of logic. It also appears he had several Cubes, as his scribblings show him mourning over the loss of one.

His scribbles and artwork on the walls could be a temporary fix to his illness. This can be inferred from Rattmann reading a book called, "Art Therapy" in the comic Portal 2: Lab Rat.

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 along with 4 stolen detached "vital testing apparatus" cameras), and where his frantic scribblings and graffiti can be seen abundantly.

The first den is found near the Test Chamber 16 containing 11 strange black ingots that possibly originated from other test chambers, 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.

After Chell escapes the incineration at the hands of GLaDOS, in the 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' massive Sentry Turret ambush, suggesting that he was unable to go on past this point.

GLaDOS tells Chell that the Companion Cube does not talk, and that if it ever did, to not believe what it said. This is a connection to Portal 2: Lab Rat where Rattmann's schizophrenia causes him to consider his Companion Cube as his consciousness which told him how to avoid turrets and where they were positioned.

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, 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' explosion blew the main power grid, and that all the Cryo-Chambers are off-line. He attempts to reach the 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. Early during the game, Chell is required to enter one of his dens to find the single-portal ASHPD, in a room covered in murals detailing the events from GLaDOS's creation up to the end of Portal, as well as a large mural of Chell.

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 Rattmann 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. The Turret Quartet can be found in another Ratman den.

It is also clear as progressing through the game, that by standing close to one of the murals in a den, it can be heard 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 (indeed, the title of the song implies perhaps a dark ending for Rattmann).

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


Rattman has obsessions over objects such as the moon, cats and Companion Cubes. Shown in one of his drawings, he was trying to use science to combine a cat and a companion cube (likely reference to Schrödinger's cat, which was explicitly mentioned on page 21 of Lab Rat).

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 a conscience would not be 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 source of logic.

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. Rattmann's drawings range from simple scribbles to more elaborate artwork, such as a giant mural of Chell in Portal 2.

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.

Trivia

 * The fact that Rattmann was talking to the companion cube might be a reference to the fact that in Portal, GLaDOS states it can not talk to you or stab you.


 * The fact that 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.


 * 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.


 * 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.


 * 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.

List of appearances

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