Complete Wheatley Timeline
I've sorted out his back history as best as I can. When I'm unsure of something or using speculation, I've left notes that give more information.
Anyways, there's MAJOR spoilers for Portal 2 all throughout, so don't look through it unless you've already played or you don't care about spoilers.
Also, if I've messed anything up or if you have a comment on something, feel free to let me know!
References:
Portal 2
The Final Hours of Portal 2
Combine OverWiki
The Portal Wiki
Portal 2 textdump by oblivion from aoc at GameFAQs
--Before Portal and Lab Rat--
*GLaDOS is completed.
*GLaDOS keeps acting up, so the scientists stick cores on her to make her behave.
*At one point, Wheatley was invented as an Intelligence Dampening Sphere for GLaDOS, to generate an endless stream of terrible ideas. In GLaDOS' words: "The engineers tried everything to make me... behave. To slow me down. Once, they even attached an Intelligence Dampening Sphere on me. It clung to my brain like a tumor, generating an endless stream of terrible ideas. It was YOUR voice. Yes. You're the tumor. YES YOU ARE! YOU'RE THE MORON THEY BUILT TO MAKE ME AN IDIOT! You're not just a regular moron. You were DESIGNED to be a moron." "He's not just a regular moron. He's the product of the greatest minds of a generation working together with the express purpose of building the dumbest moron who ever lived. And you just put him in charge of the entire facility."
(GLaDOS COULD be lying, however, she doesn't seem to be and it makes sense, but she isn't always reliable.)
*Bring Your Daughter to Work Day occurred. Something bad happened and it didn't end well.
(It's unknown if Wheatley was actually active and/or on GLaDOS when it happened or if he was just told about it somehow.)
*At some time, Wheatley was removed from GLaDOS and either let roam the facility or he was put in storage with the other cores that were no longer being used.
--During Portal and Lab Rat--
(According to The Final Hours of Portal 2, Portal takes place around 2010.)
*It's currently unknown if Wheatley was active during the events of Portal and Lab Rat.
(For simplicity's sake, until it's proven otherwise, I'm just going to go with that he was deactivated some time before Portal and then was reactivated with the other cores at the end of Portal.)
--After Portal and Lab Rat--
*At some point after GLaDOS was defeated he was awoken with the other cores.
(It's unknown if he was active before then, but he is not present anywhere in Portal, so to keep it simple, I'm going with this until there's evidence otherwise.)
--Before and During Portal 2--
(In Wheatley's own words: "You know who ended up, do you know who ended up taking her down in the end? You're not going to believe this. A human. I know! I know, I wouldn't have believed it either. Apparently this human escaped and nobody's seen him since. Then there was a sort of long chunk of time where absolutely nothing happened and then there's us escaping now. So that's pretty much the whole story, you're up to speed. Don't touch anything.")
*Fifty days after Portal - Chell wakes up for the first time. It's unknown if Wheatley was overseeing the humans at that point.
(Likely he wasn't, but there's no real proof either way.)
*Aperture Laboratories and GLaDOS has been upgraded and changed at some point before Portal 2. It is assumed that the cores, nanobots, and other Aperture robots have done maintenance and upgrades.
(There is no official canon explanation for the graphical upgrade and other changes, but this makes some sense out of it.)
*At some point, Wheatley was told or found out that a human defeated GLaDOS. He was told or assumes that a man did it and then escaped from the facility.
*At some point in time Wheatley was told that if he disengaged himself from the Management Rail he would die.
*Most likely around or at the same point in time, he was told that if he ever used his flashlight he would die.
*Possibly around the same time, Wheatley had some sort of discussion of riding in the tubes and somebody told him that it wouldn't be fun.
*Probably at some point, he was ridiculed for being small.
(Unknown if this happened, however he's quite pleased to be huge and mentions that he's "Tiny little Wheatley".)
*According to lines not in the final game, at one point Wheatley was the assistant to the guy in charge of the neurotoxin release button. He accidentally touched the large button and was let go because of it.
(Because the lines are not present in the final game, it is unknown if this is canon or not.
The lines referring to this are: "Over there is where they used to keep the old neurotoxin release button. BIG responsibility, the guy in charge of the neurotoxin release button. And guess who he WAS? He wasn't me. But I was his assistant, and I did a lot of his admin. You know, in the end, yes, they let me go. It's all politics, to be honest. It's a big popularity contest, it's all about who you know, and whose back you're willing to scratch, who doesn't touch -- or, in my case, who did accidentally touch -- the neurotoxin button. But not entirely my fault! You shoulda seen the SIZE of that thing, it was huge! I should have gotten a raise for all the times I DIDN'T bump into it.")
*Wheatley tried to get a job in Manufacturing, but the foreman gave the job to an exact duplicate of himself. Wheatley was then assigned to the worst job - tending all the smelly humans.
(Likely the foreman was some sort of core. It also appears to be the turret manufacturing line, but Aperture could be making other things down there.)
*Wheatley is in charge of looking over the 10,000 humans in the Relaxation Vaults.
(It's unknown how long he's been there or if he's been in contact with anyone since he's been assigned to watch over the humans.)
*It is possible that at some time (likely while he was in charge of the humans) Wheatley had multiple escape attempts before he woke up Chell. He claims that there were five other humans that all died horrifically before getting the portal gun. He mentions that Chell is a good jumper, so the fact that the others might have not been could have contributed to their death.
(It is unknown whether or not Wheatley actually tried to escape with the other humans. The commentary says that it was an older story idea that they discussed, but wasn't put completely in. They left bits and pieces in, but nothing too big. However, it makes sense that Wheatley would say something like that to disturb Chell during the final battle.)
*At some point in time the reserve power that keeps the test subjects alive fails.
*Unknown but most likely large amount of time after Chell wakes up the first time, Chell is awoken a second time by Wheatley.
(Could be as short as 100 days after Portal (if the test subjects are woken up every 50 days (but due to the disrepair of the facility, among other things, this is quite unlikely)) to as long as hundreds of years after. The Final Hours of Portal 2 says they planned to set the game at least 50,000 years into the future at 52,000 AD or so.)
*Wheatley says that Aperture is about to explode and that him and Chell need to escape. (The announcer says to prepare for emergency evacuation, so he isn't lying. Also, the announcer later says that there are potentially apocalyptic significances.)
*Wheatley moves the Relaxation Vault and then speaks to Chell, saying that she might have brain damage.
*An alarm sounds with the announcer saying that there will be a reactor core meltdown and Wheatley maneuvers the Relaxation Vault clumsily but gets Chell safely to the testing area. He asks Chell to tell anyone that asks that everyone still looked alive. He manually overrides a wall by smashing the Relaxation Vault into it.
*The portal gun is required for leaving Aperture by the testing tracks, so Wheatley takes Chell to as close as he could get to it.
*Wheatley and Chell split up and he says he'll meet her up ahead. He wishes her good luck.
(There are no rails in the older section, so he probably has to find another way around.)
*Chell solves old test chambers 00 and 01 before meeting up again with Wheatley in chamber 02.
*Chell goes to look for the portal gun and falls through the floor, getting separated from Wheatley again. He says that he'll wait for her up ahead for one hour, then come back and attempt to find her body and bury it if she's dead.
*Chell gets around chambers 02 through 06 before meeting up with Wheatley again up in chamber 07.
*Once Chell gets to his side of the room, which is chamber 08, Wheatley disengages from his Management Rail, asking Chell to catch him in case he isn't dead. Chell doesn't catch him and he hits the ground with an "OW".
*Chell picks him up with the portal gun and a panel opens that has a control stick on it.
(Likely Wheatley was able to somehow open the panel wirelessly.)
*Chell plugs him in and he asks her to turn around. When she does so, he opens up the wall so that they can continue.
*Chell picks him up with the portal gun and Wheatley is excited that they don't have to follow a rail and can go wherever they want. However, he shortly realizes that the best path is to simply follow the rail.
(Chell cannot continue without Wheatley, likely he is able to open the door when they get near it.)
*They come across the "I'm different" turret and Wheatley tells Chell to not make eye contact and to keep moving.
*They get near GLaDOS' chamber and Wheatley tells Chell that they have to pass through it in order to escape. Wheatley doesn't want to go into GLaDOS' chamber, but she's off so it's safe. Wheatley tells Chell that a human took GLaDOS down and then escaped and nobody's seen him since.
*They travel across GLaDOS' chamber to a stairwell behind the incinerator. He tells Chell to jump, but then is a little hesitant about the distance to the ground. But, since Chell has the braces on her legs, he says go ahead and jump, but hold on tightly to the portal gun (and him). He yells when they jump and commends Chell for still holding onto him.
*Chell and Wheatley travel behind the scenes for a short bit until they find the main breaker room. They look for the switch labeled "ESCAPE POD" and Wheatley tells Chell to not touch anything else.
*They can't find it, so Wheatley tells Chell to plug him in and he'll turn the lights on. A stick appears for her to plug him in at.
(Likely Wheatley was able to activate it wirelessly.)
*Wheatley turns on the lights and shortly after, the base rotates. A moment later it starts rising. Wheatley tries to slow it but instead makes it go faster. All the switches are flipped in the process.
(It's unknown whether or not the base malfunctioned or Wheatley messed up when he was plugged in and messing around with things.)
*They are taken to GLaDOS' chamber where the power up is initiated. Wheatley attempts to hack the password with "AAAAAA" and "AAAAAC" but fails and GLaDOS turns on and addresses Chell, ignoring Wheatley for the most part, even though he says a few things to her and Chell.
*GLaDOS then uses two robot arms to pick up Chell and pull Wheatley off the control stick. He's terrified for a few moments, but the GLaDOS crushes him and tosses him off to the side.
*Chell is dropped down the incinerator and goes through old test chamber 19. She obtains the dual portal gun and starts testing once more.
*Shortly later, Wheatley is somehow reactivated. The only clues we have to this is what little he's able to tell Chell later: "Hey! Hey! It's me! I'm okay! You'll never believe what happened! There I was, just lying there, you thought I was done for, but -- A bloody bird! Right? Couldn't believe it either. And then the bird--"
(My best guess as to what happened is that a bird got in and was pecking at Wheatley's wires for some reason and a spark resulting from that somehow reactivated him (he can operate on as little as 1.1 volts) and he pulled himself together. He then somehow managed to get to a nearby docking station of some sort and got back on the rail system.)
*After GLaDOS crushes Wheatley and he comes back to life, his surface is much more dirty and dinged, his eye lens is cracked and doesn't seem to work quite like it did previously, and every now and then he'll twitch and send off some sparks (but he doesn't seem to notice that anything wrong, so it probably isn't painful, maybe it's nothing more than a robot shudder).
*Chell goes through new chamber 01 and early on in chamber 02, Wheatley peeks in briefly.
*Wheatley checks in on Chell several times during the other test chambers but doesn't speak to her until chamber 09.
(I've heard he shows up in the other test chambers, but I've only seen him in 02, 03, and 07.)
*In chamber 09, Wheatley hides in the ceiling and tries to explain to Chell how he is still alive. However, because of the Aerial Faith Plate, she cannot hear the full explanation. GLaDOS lowers the ceiling and Chell is unable to meet with Wheatley further.
*At test chamber 12, Wheatley drops bird eggs in the door mechanism to make it malfunction. While GLaDOS is taking care of that, Wheatley speaks to Chell from an observation room. A bird attacks him and he is temporarily distracted, but comes back and tells Chell that they'll break out of there very soon but he needs to figure out how. When GLaDOS turns her attention back to the room, he leaves in a panic telling Chell that she never saw him.
*Wheatley talked his way onto the nanobot crew rebuilding the elevator shaft after test chamber 18.
(It's unknown if he worked anywhere else prior to this shaft or if he planned on meeting Chell there from the start.)
*Chell doesn't see Wheatley again until after she completes test chamber 18. Wheatley talks to her as she travels on the elevator. It seems also as if he slowed the elevator down to give him more time to talk to Chell. He's working with the nanobots on this shaft. A nanobot, Jerry, seems to fuss at him and Wheatley tells him he's on a break. Wheatley says that they're close to being able to escape. Wheatley knocks off a steel beam and tells Chell to hang on for five more test chambers. Jerry fires Wheatley for knocking the steel beam off, and Wheatley protests that a nanobot of his size should be accommodated. He tells Jerry that he'll see him in court for hate crimes and then tells Chell again that he'll see her in five more chambers.
*Wheatley finds Chell again in the middle of test chamber 21. He turns off the lights and opens a panel in the wall. He's speaking in an odd accent, claiming that GLaDOS can't hear him. GLaDOS then says that she CAN hear him and he tells Chell to run, moving the panels so that she could do so. Once she's through, he opens another wall and activates a Hard Light Bridge for Chell to walk on. When she's safely on a catwalk, he deactivates the bridge and closes the wall behind them.
*He tells her that they're escaping and to keep running. His plan is to shut down the turret production and the neurotoxin generator and then confront GLaDOS.
*Wheatley guides Chell through the catwalks behind the scenes. GLaDOS opens up another room telling Chell that she should solve the last test. Instead, Chell uses the Hard Light Bridge to follow Wheatley.
*The two keep running through the back areas of Aperture. Wheatley and Chell are temporarily separated by a room that appears and has several turrets in it. Chell gets rid of the turrets and uses portals to escape the trap and reunite with Wheatley.
*Wheatley warns Chell of incoming turrets and guides her along the catwalks.
*They're split up temporarily when Chell has to take a lift.
(It's possible that Wheatley activated the elevator for her.)
*They meet up again and GLaDOS turns the lights off on them. He tells Chell he's going to do something dangerous and turns on his flashlight and they continue.
*Wheatley tells Chell about the room of screaming robots.
*They travel through the back areas, Wheatley lighting the way and giving advice.
*Wheatley tells Chell about trying to get a job in Manufacturing and then having to tend all the smelly humans. He catches himself and apologizes to Chell, but still babbles about it a little.
*They keep going and temporarily split up, as Chell needs to use the portal gun to continue following Wheatley.
*Wheatley helps Chell out of the room by lighting up a wall on the other side. Then from there, he lights up another wall so that they can keep going. Wheatley then babbles of how much he loves humans: the way they look and their folklore.
(Obviously trying to make up for the comment about them being smelly.)
*Wheatley then goes a back way around a room, telling Chell he'd see her at the bottom.
*Chell goes past the Turret Redemption Lines, turret testing section, and the turret template/response line.
*Wheatley and Chell meet back up near the turret control center. He explains that if they take away the master turret, it'll shut down the whole production line.
*Wheatley asks Chell to turn around so he can hack the door. He hacks it by smashing himself into the glass window.
*Chell removes the master turret, but the computer goes on a stored memory and keeps producing turrets. Wheatley tries to think of options and discuss them with Chell, wanting her to think of ideas too. One of his ideas is that he could pretend to GLaDOS that he's captured Chell and to give her over. He thinks that Chell would probably end up killed, but he could go on living. He asks Chell what her view is on that.
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*Wheatley comes up with the idea of giving the turret scanner something else to scan, and then shortly later suggests putting a crap/defective turret in it to see what happens.
*Chell catches one of the crap turrets and puts it in the scanner. The scanner accepts it and starts saving the crap turrets and throwing away the good ones.
*Wheatley goes to hack the door open, saying it'll take about ten minutes. However, it easily opens as soon as he stops talking. He's surprised at how easily Chell goes through the door
*Now that the turrets are taken care of, they keep going, heading towards the neurotoxin generator.
*They walk through an old Bring Your Daughter to Work Day exhibition. Wheatley looks down upon the potato battery and baking soda volcano experiments done by the children. He points out the huge potato experiment, saying that the whole place was probably overrun with potatoes and that she wouldn't starve.
*Wheatley leads Chell to the neurotoxin generator (getting a little confused on the directions on the way there).
*They go to investigate the neurotoxin control room. Wheatley seems amused that the good turrets are being thrown away, but then says they do feel a simulated pain and that it's real enough for them. Chell rides an elevator up to the room.
(Unknown if Wheatley activates the elevator or if it's automatic.)
*The door to the control room is locked and there's no way to hack it. He says not to bother the laser, since the panels its cutting could be going somewhere important. But, they can use the hum of the laser to relax and try to help them think of a way to open the door. He keeps talking and makes a quick mention of a mysterious button.
*Chell presses the mysterious button and Wheatley freaks out, only then to notice that the door opened.
*Wheatley says he can use the equipment to shut down the system, but there's a password and alarm bells, but it's not a problem. He tells Chell she can relax. He then proceeds to try and convince the computer to let him have control.
*While Wheatley is chattering at the computer uselessly, Chell uses the big laser to cut the tubes to the neurotoxin generator and shuts it down herself. Wheatley reads the computer screen and tells Chell when the neurotoxin is at 50% and 0%.
*The neurotoxin tube implodes and breaks off, leaving an opening for Chell and Wheatley to ride it to GLaDOS. Wheatley is barely holding on and either is pulled off by the pressure or lets go when Chell gets over to it.
*They ride the tube and Wheatley chatters as they do so, excited to be riding in the tube.
*Wheatley tells Chell that the place is huge and they're only seeing the top layer, it actually goes down for miles, but it was all sealed off years ago.
*Wheatley is accidentally sent down another tube at a crossing and he tells Chell to get to GLaDOS and that he'd find her.
*Chell is dropped by the tube to very close to GLaDOS' lair. The original way is blocked, so Chell uses portals and drops into a trap set by GLaDOS. GLaDOS brings her right to the lair to kill her. GLaDOS drops turrets in, but they're the defective crap turrets and explode. When she brings in the neurotoxin tube, Wheatley rolls in from it.
*The Announcer says that the central core is 80% corrupt, but because there's an alternate core (Wheatley) there can be a core transfer and to place the alternate core in the transfer receptacle.
*Wheatley tells Chell to plug him in and she does so. The Announcer asks both Wheatley and GLaDOS if they are ready for the transfer. Since Wheatley says "yes" and GLaDOS says "no", there is a stalemate and the core transfer cannot continue until a stalemate associate presses the stalemate button.
*GLaDOS uses floor panels to try and thwart Chell from pressing the button, but Chell manages to press it anyways.
*GLaDOS is then shut down, but still able to talk, and Wheatley is brought through the floor and swapped out for GLaDOS' core. He is now a forty foot tall robot (according to dialogue in the final battle).
*Wheatley is now in control of the whole facility and very pleased with it. He likes that he's very big and Chell is now small.
*Wheatley calls an escape lift for them to leave. He realizes that he's too big now to fit in the lift and tries to come up with a way to enter it. He finally just tells Chell to get in and they'd figure it out as they go.
*When Chell gets in the lift, he mentions how cool it is to be in charge of everything. He also thinks he's a genius now; however that is proven to not quite be the case when he misuses the translator function.
*He finally remembers to activate the lift, slowly going crazy with power as it rises. He then stops the lift and lowers it back down, not wanting to leave yet, now that he's in control.
*Wheatley says that he did this, but GLaDOS tells him that he didn't do anything and Chell did all the work. He assumes that Chell and GLaDOS feel the same way, so he takes GLaDOS' core and somehow forces her brain into a potato battery. During the process, he claims that Chell bosses him around and is selfish.
*GLaDOS finally recognizes Wheatley and says that the scientists did everything to make her behave, at one point they attached an Intelligence Dampening Sphere to her and it came up with bad ideas. She finally says that he was designed to be a moron and this upsets him. He yells, "I AM NOT A MORON" and swings GLaDOS-potato wildly in his robot claw, smashing her into the glass of the lift. He then beats the lift with the robot claw, punching it further down into the pit.
*The lift shakes, Wheatley says "Uh oh" and Chell and GLaDOS-potato fall down into the deep pit.
*Chell and GLaDOS-potato land with a thud. Chell wakes up some time later to a bird taking off with GLaDOS-potato. Chell makes her way through the mess and into the remains of old Aperture. Chell wanders alone for a while, solving tests, until she comes across a bird's nest with GLaDOS-potato in it.
*While Chell and GLaDOS are underground, Wheatley designed and constructed a handful of simple test chambers, designed and built the turret-cubes, and created video screens so he could watch the testing. He also neglected the maintenance of the facility, causing it to shake with explosions from time to time. He didn't look at the vital maintenance protocols at all and there are quite a few of them. He has very little idea of how the facility works or what all it contains and uses.
*There's an explosion from somewhere above and GLaDOS-potato says that Wheatley doesn't know what he's doing up there and the whole place is going to explode in a few hours if he's not disconnected.
*GLaDOS-potato strikes a deal with Chell, Wheatley gets removed, she gets put back in her old body, she stops them from blowing up, and Chell can go free. Chell puts GLaDOS-potato on the portal gun and she continues making her way to the surface. GLaDOS-potato says that Wheatley is going to cause an atomic fireball.
*Chell and GLaDOS-potato continue making their way through old Aperture. GLaDOS-potato says that they should march right back up and make Wheatley put her back in her body. She says that he'll probably kill them because he's incredibly powerful.
*They make their way to a hatch that reaches the surface. There, the old gel pipes are connected to ones in the newer facility. GLaDOS-potato sees a poster with paradoxes and thinks that she can beat Wheatley with one. She plans on frying his circuits with one. She says that he's omnipotent and power mad.
*Chell and GLaDOS-potato enter the most recent part of the facility. As they walk the catwalk, they overhear Wheatley. He's yelling at the turret-cubes for not being able to walk on buttons. He tries to give them some advice and then results to just yelling at them.
*Wheatley says that he and the turret-cubes have been at this test for twelve hours.
(Either he's wrong about the time frame or Chell was unconscious for hours before waking up and making her way through old Aperture. It's also possible she was out for longer, it depends on how long it took for Wheatley to make the test and the turret-cubes.)
*He gives the turret-cubes an hour to solve the test and turns off the video screen.
*Chell and GLaDOS-potato get down to the test and press the button. When they do so, Wheatley pops back on the screen. GLaDOS-says a paradox, "This sentence is false" in hopes of destroying Wheatley, but he doesn't get it. However, all the turret-cubes short out.
*GLaDOS-potato says that they're going to explode, then the Announcer says that an explosion is imminent, but Wheatley does something to shut the warning off.
*Wheatley is excited to see them, as he needs some test subjects and has them go through to another test.
*He tells them that in this body, he has to test all the time, there's an itch if he doesn't. Wheatley speculates that it's hardwired in and that when he does test, it's the best feeling in the world. So he's going to watch them do tests.
*The Announcer warns again of an explosion and Wheatley yells at it to shut up.
*He designed a simple test with an empty moat because he's still working on filling it. He believes the solution to the puzzle is hard, however the only thing needed to do is press a button and a turret-cube falls on a floor button to activate the door, then Chell can use portals to get to the other side and exit. He also gives the hint "Button".
*Wheatley thinks that making tests is difficult, so he wants Chell to keep solving the same one over and over. He opens the wall and has them go through to the test again. Chell solves it and he feels nothing, so Wheatley digs around for some tests and finds one.
*He takes one of GLaDOS' test and adds the word "TEST" to the wall. Chell solves it and GLaDOS-potato tells her that since they're her tests, they're now deadly.
*GLaDOS-potato says she can't help solve the tests.
*The next test Wheatley says he made out of smaller tests that he jammed together. He gets impatient and tries to tell them how to solve the test, but gets electrically shocked instead. GLaDOS-potato says that's why she can't help. He says that Chell's on her own and to solve it herself. Once Chell solves the puzzle, GLaDOS-potato tricks Wheatley into shocking himself again.
*GLaDOS-potato says that she never stockpiled tests, so Wheatley will run out of tests soon. Wheatley then pops on screen saying that he found a sealed off wing with hundreds of tests. He shook out the skeletons. GLaDOS-potato remembers those, she kept them as mementos. Wheatley stuffs part of a test onto the one Chell is standing in.
*Once the test is solved, Wheatley's enjoyment isn't as great as it had been. GLaDOS-potato says its happening sooner than she had expected.
*He's not happy with the way things are going, so he decides to try things GLaDOS' way, with insults. About all he can come up with is, "Fatty fatty no-parents." GLaDOS-potato, in an effort to confuse him asks what's wrong with being adopted and he can't come up with a good reason and even says some of his best friends are orphans.
(It's possible he is referring to Chell as his friend, as robots probably can't be orphans. However, knowing Aperture, maybe they have created orphaned robots just because they could. None of Wheatley's friends around the facility are shown in-game, so there's no way of knowing who he is referring to.)
*GLaDOS-potato calls Wheatley a moron and irritates him. He still rants about it after Chell completes the test and GLaDOS-potato thinks she might have pushed the issue a little too far.
*In the next test, Wheatley is now playing some classical music. He's also making a page-turning noise and saying that he's reading books. He says he just finished the last one, written by Machiavelli and understood it perfectly. He asks if GLaDOS has read it and this says that he doubts it, even though she says yes.
*GLaDOS-potato says that Wheatley is building up a resistance to the euphoric response to testing.
*Wheatley moves the next test chamber closer to him in hopes that it'll help.
*GLaDOS-potato thinks that Wheatley is getting desperate. This seems to be true, as he's come up with the idea of recording ten tests then, watching them all at once.
*GLaDOS-potato thinks that he's decided to not maintain the functions to keep the facility from exploding. She tells him this at the next test and he claims that he fixed everything and programmed in one or two more explosions for old time's sake.
*Wheatley says that the lift is out of service because it melted. He activates an excursion funnel for Chell to keep on moving through the back way. He starts to give Chell a tour (however, he doesn't know what things are and do), but when a section of wall comes hurtling at her, he turns off the beam, which drops her into an office. Chell follows a catwalk that leads to some open floor panels that take her back to the testing circuit.
*Wheatley thinks that Chell might have died, so he goes poking around for more test subjects. He finds Atlas and P-Body and starts making a test for them. However, Chell comes in. Wheatley gives the room an exit and P-Body runs out.
*Wheatley unsubtly hints that he's got a deadly surprise waiting for Chell and GLaDOS-potato. He then destroys the path they're on but says it's an accident.
*At some point, Wheatley is smashing some steel plates together for a death trap and decides that something is missing and that would be sharp bits welded on. He also wants them to shoot fire, but hasn't gotten that far.
(It's unknown when he starts constructing them, but he didn't plan on killing Chell before this point, so I'm placing it around here.)
*Wheatley says that there are three more chambers until the big surprise. When Chell solves the test, he doesn't seem to care at all.
*At the beginning of the next test, Wheatley says only two more chambers to the surprise. However, he's rigged an Aerial Faith Plate to fling sideways and the surprise is happening now. Chell is flung to another Aerial Faith Plate and then an excursion funnel. Wheatley says he doesn't need them anymore, he found two little robots built specifically for testing (Atlas and P-Body). Chell is launched from another Aerial Faith Plate to a deathtrap created by Wheatley with mashy spike plates. Wheatley has a huge monitor to watch the proceedings from. However, she escapes and finds safety on a catwalk. Wheatley tries to coax her back with false promises of goodies at the bottom of the pit, but Chell doesn't fall for it and runs down the catwalk.
*While Chell is on the catwalk, Wheatley tries to slam her with a mashy spike plate, but misses.
*Chell keeps going and Wheatley moves in another room with a trap in it. With no other choice, Chell goes into the trap. Wheatley's set up turrets to kill her, but forgot that the crap turrets were still what was being created, so she gets through without a scratch.
*Wheatley says that he's never played cards, but he's been meaning to learn.
*He then sets up another turret trap, this time with real turrets. Chell gets past it and uses an excursion funnel to continue on. Wheatley tries to use a spinny blade wall to kill her, but fails. He says this is good, that she is a nemesis worthy of his vast intellect.
*Chell uses another excursion funnel and Wheatley again tries to smash her with a mashy spike plate, talking about Holmes, Moriarty, and Aristotle.
(It is unknown how he knows these people and characters, perhaps since he knows something about human folklore, he was programmed with the knowledge - this is the most likely answer as before this point he knew a few other things about human books and culture. Also possible is that he really did read some kind of books and they were in them (or wrote them in the case of Aristotle). It's also possible that the knowledge about them was in the mainframe and he accessed it.)
*Chell escapes and a pipe falls, nearly hitting her. Wheatley asks about it and if it killed her. It didn't.
*Wheatley then says he had a brainwave and asks Chell to not die until he gets back. There's another turret trap, but Chell gets past that.
*At some point, Wheatley watches the videos of Chell's battle with GLaDOS from Portal and takes steps to prevent himself from being defeated in the same way. His steps are as follows (in Wheatley's own words): "One: No portal surfaces. Two: Start the neurotoxin immediately. Three: Bomb-proof shields for me. Leading directly into number Four: Bombs. For throwing at you. PART FIVE! BOOBYTRAP THE STALEMATE BUTTON!" He modifies his lair and GLaDOS' body to these five parts, adding a bomb tosser and bomb shields around GLaDOS' body. He also places bombs around the stalemate button in the annex that will go off if someone gets too close to them.
*Chell passes by tubes with bombs going through them. She uses the bombs to break a tube of conversion gel and continues on her way.
*Chell walks on a conveyor belt and Wheatley turns it on and gets rid of a catwalk. He addresses her on a screen nearby. He tells her that so far the death traps have been a failure and that she's getting close to his lair. He says that Chell has a chance to kill herself now with the masher. He says she's twenty feet from his lair. Chell evades the trap again and the wall in the next room falls down. Chell uses an excursion funnel to continue on. Chell and GLaDOS-potato find corrupted and broken cores in storage. GLaDOS-potato thinks that if they attach enough to Wheatley, they'll be able to initiate a core transfer. Chell passes by tubes carrying all three gels and bombs up to the lair. Chell puts GLaDOS-potato in and she activates the lift, taking them up.
*They arrive in Wheatley's lair. He talks to them about his plans. The building is going to self destruct in six minutes but he thinks it's a problem with the light, but just in case, he wants to kill Chell and then work on fixing the facility. His plans call for it to take three minutes to kill Chell, a minute for a break, and then two minutes to figure out how to shut down the things causing the fires.
*Chell uses his bombs to break a conversion gel pipe, giving her portal surfaces to fling bombs from. She hits him with his bombs and he goes temporarily unconscious. GLaDOS-potato brings up the first core, the Space Core. The repulsion gel pipe falls and spills some on the floor. When Chell attaches the Space Core, Wheatley wakes up and the core corruption level is at 50%. The neurotoxin goes offline and there will be a reactor explosion in four minutes. Chell hits him with another bomb and Wheatley goes unconscious again. GLaDOS-potato brings another core, this time the Adventure Core, named Rick. Chell puts the Adventure Core on Wheatley and he wakes up. The core corruption is now at 75%. The facility will self-destruct in two minutes. Chell hits Wheatley with another bomb and he goes unconscious. The propulsion gel pipe breaks and GLaDOS-potato brings on the last core, the Fact Core. Core corruption is now at 100%. The core transfer asks to begin and Wheatley laughs. GLaDOS-potato agrees to the transfer and Wheatley accidentally agrees with sarcasm, but then quickly says no, causing a stalemate. A fire starts in the Stalemate Resolution Annex and the sprinklers come on to extinguish it, also clearing most of the conversion gel. Chell uses portals to get to the button and press it, but Wheatley booby-trapped the room and bombs explode, flinging Chell. Chell manages to grab the portal gun. Part of the ceiling falls off, revealing the moon. There's a portal under Wheatley, so Chell fires another one at the moon. It takes 1.4 seconds for the portal to land on the moon. Once it does so, the vacuum of space starts sucking things through the portal underneath Wheatley. The Adventure Core is pulled off first. Wheatley is still attached as he's drug out to the moon, so he's hanging on by a wire. Chell is pulled through, but grabs onto Wheatley and they both fly out to the moon's surface. Wheatley tells Chell to let go and that they're in space. The Space Core hears this and flies out in excitement. GLaDOS says she fixed it and that he's not coming back. She uses a robot arm to grab Chell and to fling Wheatley into space. He yells for Chell to grab him as he flies off.
*An unknown time later, Wheatley is still floating in space with the Space Core. He doesn't seem bothered by the Space Core's constant chatter about space. Wheatley wishes he could apologize to Chell for all that he did.
--After Portal 2 Single-Player--
*Wheatley is seen in the credits of Co-Op on the conveyor belt.
(It is unknown if this is canon, if it's the Wheatley in single-player, an exact duplicate of Wheatley, or another core that happens to look like him. As it is part of a character lineup for credits, likely it isn't canon.)
*Wheatley is nominated for Best Character at the 2011 VGA. He sends a transmission addressing his nomination. He wants a spaceship to come and pick him up. He is at coordinates starting with 1, 1, 1 and the video cuts out before he can finish. There's a red light blinking throughout the video, it is unknown what it is, perhaps the camera. It's also unknown where the camera came from, it's possible it's from a satellite of some sort. The Space Core is nowhere to be seen or heard during the nomination video, but he is present in the potential acceptance speech. Wheatley does not win Best Character, but the acceptance speech is posted to the Internet.
(This means that Wheatley has some sort of built-in coordinate finder.)
(This most likely isn't canon, but it is rather neat.)
*The Playstation Network is hacked and goes down. Wheatley is thought to be the perpetrator.
(There is NO canon evidence whatsoever for this, however the fans have had a lot of fun with this theory and I found it rather amusing.)
Anyways, there's MAJOR spoilers for Portal 2 all throughout, so don't look through it unless you've already played or you don't care about spoilers.
Also, if I've messed anything up or if you have a comment on something, feel free to let me know!
References:
Portal 2
The Final Hours of Portal 2
Combine OverWiki
The Portal Wiki
Portal 2 textdump by oblivion from aoc at GameFAQs
--Before Portal and Lab Rat--
*GLaDOS is completed.
*GLaDOS keeps acting up, so the scientists stick cores on her to make her behave.
*At one point, Wheatley was invented as an Intelligence Dampening Sphere for GLaDOS, to generate an endless stream of terrible ideas. In GLaDOS' words: "The engineers tried everything to make me... behave. To slow me down. Once, they even attached an Intelligence Dampening Sphere on me. It clung to my brain like a tumor, generating an endless stream of terrible ideas. It was YOUR voice. Yes. You're the tumor. YES YOU ARE! YOU'RE THE MORON THEY BUILT TO MAKE ME AN IDIOT! You're not just a regular moron. You were DESIGNED to be a moron." "He's not just a regular moron. He's the product of the greatest minds of a generation working together with the express purpose of building the dumbest moron who ever lived. And you just put him in charge of the entire facility."
(GLaDOS COULD be lying, however, she doesn't seem to be and it makes sense, but she isn't always reliable.)
*Bring Your Daughter to Work Day occurred. Something bad happened and it didn't end well.
(It's unknown if Wheatley was actually active and/or on GLaDOS when it happened or if he was just told about it somehow.)
*At some time, Wheatley was removed from GLaDOS and either let roam the facility or he was put in storage with the other cores that were no longer being used.
--During Portal and Lab Rat--
(According to The Final Hours of Portal 2, Portal takes place around 2010.)
*It's currently unknown if Wheatley was active during the events of Portal and Lab Rat.
(For simplicity's sake, until it's proven otherwise, I'm just going to go with that he was deactivated some time before Portal and then was reactivated with the other cores at the end of Portal.)
--After Portal and Lab Rat--
*At some point after GLaDOS was defeated he was awoken with the other cores.
(It's unknown if he was active before then, but he is not present anywhere in Portal, so to keep it simple, I'm going with this until there's evidence otherwise.)
--Before and During Portal 2--
(In Wheatley's own words: "You know who ended up, do you know who ended up taking her down in the end? You're not going to believe this. A human. I know! I know, I wouldn't have believed it either. Apparently this human escaped and nobody's seen him since. Then there was a sort of long chunk of time where absolutely nothing happened and then there's us escaping now. So that's pretty much the whole story, you're up to speed. Don't touch anything.")
*Fifty days after Portal - Chell wakes up for the first time. It's unknown if Wheatley was overseeing the humans at that point.
(Likely he wasn't, but there's no real proof either way.)
*Aperture Laboratories and GLaDOS has been upgraded and changed at some point before Portal 2. It is assumed that the cores, nanobots, and other Aperture robots have done maintenance and upgrades.
(There is no official canon explanation for the graphical upgrade and other changes, but this makes some sense out of it.)
*At some point, Wheatley was told or found out that a human defeated GLaDOS. He was told or assumes that a man did it and then escaped from the facility.
*At some point in time Wheatley was told that if he disengaged himself from the Management Rail he would die.
*Most likely around or at the same point in time, he was told that if he ever used his flashlight he would die.
*Possibly around the same time, Wheatley had some sort of discussion of riding in the tubes and somebody told him that it wouldn't be fun.
*Probably at some point, he was ridiculed for being small.
(Unknown if this happened, however he's quite pleased to be huge and mentions that he's "Tiny little Wheatley".)
*According to lines not in the final game, at one point Wheatley was the assistant to the guy in charge of the neurotoxin release button. He accidentally touched the large button and was let go because of it.
(Because the lines are not present in the final game, it is unknown if this is canon or not.
The lines referring to this are: "Over there is where they used to keep the old neurotoxin release button. BIG responsibility, the guy in charge of the neurotoxin release button. And guess who he WAS? He wasn't me. But I was his assistant, and I did a lot of his admin. You know, in the end, yes, they let me go. It's all politics, to be honest. It's a big popularity contest, it's all about who you know, and whose back you're willing to scratch, who doesn't touch -- or, in my case, who did accidentally touch -- the neurotoxin button. But not entirely my fault! You shoulda seen the SIZE of that thing, it was huge! I should have gotten a raise for all the times I DIDN'T bump into it.")
*Wheatley tried to get a job in Manufacturing, but the foreman gave the job to an exact duplicate of himself. Wheatley was then assigned to the worst job - tending all the smelly humans.
(Likely the foreman was some sort of core. It also appears to be the turret manufacturing line, but Aperture could be making other things down there.)
*Wheatley is in charge of looking over the 10,000 humans in the Relaxation Vaults.
(It's unknown how long he's been there or if he's been in contact with anyone since he's been assigned to watch over the humans.)
*It is possible that at some time (likely while he was in charge of the humans) Wheatley had multiple escape attempts before he woke up Chell. He claims that there were five other humans that all died horrifically before getting the portal gun. He mentions that Chell is a good jumper, so the fact that the others might have not been could have contributed to their death.
(It is unknown whether or not Wheatley actually tried to escape with the other humans. The commentary says that it was an older story idea that they discussed, but wasn't put completely in. They left bits and pieces in, but nothing too big. However, it makes sense that Wheatley would say something like that to disturb Chell during the final battle.)
*At some point in time the reserve power that keeps the test subjects alive fails.
*Unknown but most likely large amount of time after Chell wakes up the first time, Chell is awoken a second time by Wheatley.
(Could be as short as 100 days after Portal (if the test subjects are woken up every 50 days (but due to the disrepair of the facility, among other things, this is quite unlikely)) to as long as hundreds of years after. The Final Hours of Portal 2 says they planned to set the game at least 50,000 years into the future at 52,000 AD or so.)
*Wheatley says that Aperture is about to explode and that him and Chell need to escape. (The announcer says to prepare for emergency evacuation, so he isn't lying. Also, the announcer later says that there are potentially apocalyptic significances.)
*Wheatley moves the Relaxation Vault and then speaks to Chell, saying that she might have brain damage.
*An alarm sounds with the announcer saying that there will be a reactor core meltdown and Wheatley maneuvers the Relaxation Vault clumsily but gets Chell safely to the testing area. He asks Chell to tell anyone that asks that everyone still looked alive. He manually overrides a wall by smashing the Relaxation Vault into it.
*The portal gun is required for leaving Aperture by the testing tracks, so Wheatley takes Chell to as close as he could get to it.
*Wheatley and Chell split up and he says he'll meet her up ahead. He wishes her good luck.
(There are no rails in the older section, so he probably has to find another way around.)
*Chell solves old test chambers 00 and 01 before meeting up again with Wheatley in chamber 02.
*Chell goes to look for the portal gun and falls through the floor, getting separated from Wheatley again. He says that he'll wait for her up ahead for one hour, then come back and attempt to find her body and bury it if she's dead.
*Chell gets around chambers 02 through 06 before meeting up with Wheatley again up in chamber 07.
*Once Chell gets to his side of the room, which is chamber 08, Wheatley disengages from his Management Rail, asking Chell to catch him in case he isn't dead. Chell doesn't catch him and he hits the ground with an "OW".
*Chell picks him up with the portal gun and a panel opens that has a control stick on it.
(Likely Wheatley was able to somehow open the panel wirelessly.)
*Chell plugs him in and he asks her to turn around. When she does so, he opens up the wall so that they can continue.
*Chell picks him up with the portal gun and Wheatley is excited that they don't have to follow a rail and can go wherever they want. However, he shortly realizes that the best path is to simply follow the rail.
(Chell cannot continue without Wheatley, likely he is able to open the door when they get near it.)
*They come across the "I'm different" turret and Wheatley tells Chell to not make eye contact and to keep moving.
*They get near GLaDOS' chamber and Wheatley tells Chell that they have to pass through it in order to escape. Wheatley doesn't want to go into GLaDOS' chamber, but she's off so it's safe. Wheatley tells Chell that a human took GLaDOS down and then escaped and nobody's seen him since.
*They travel across GLaDOS' chamber to a stairwell behind the incinerator. He tells Chell to jump, but then is a little hesitant about the distance to the ground. But, since Chell has the braces on her legs, he says go ahead and jump, but hold on tightly to the portal gun (and him). He yells when they jump and commends Chell for still holding onto him.
*Chell and Wheatley travel behind the scenes for a short bit until they find the main breaker room. They look for the switch labeled "ESCAPE POD" and Wheatley tells Chell to not touch anything else.
*They can't find it, so Wheatley tells Chell to plug him in and he'll turn the lights on. A stick appears for her to plug him in at.
(Likely Wheatley was able to activate it wirelessly.)
*Wheatley turns on the lights and shortly after, the base rotates. A moment later it starts rising. Wheatley tries to slow it but instead makes it go faster. All the switches are flipped in the process.
(It's unknown whether or not the base malfunctioned or Wheatley messed up when he was plugged in and messing around with things.)
*They are taken to GLaDOS' chamber where the power up is initiated. Wheatley attempts to hack the password with "AAAAAA" and "AAAAAC" but fails and GLaDOS turns on and addresses Chell, ignoring Wheatley for the most part, even though he says a few things to her and Chell.
*GLaDOS then uses two robot arms to pick up Chell and pull Wheatley off the control stick. He's terrified for a few moments, but the GLaDOS crushes him and tosses him off to the side.
*Chell is dropped down the incinerator and goes through old test chamber 19. She obtains the dual portal gun and starts testing once more.
*Shortly later, Wheatley is somehow reactivated. The only clues we have to this is what little he's able to tell Chell later: "Hey! Hey! It's me! I'm okay! You'll never believe what happened! There I was, just lying there, you thought I was done for, but -- A bloody bird! Right? Couldn't believe it either. And then the bird--"
(My best guess as to what happened is that a bird got in and was pecking at Wheatley's wires for some reason and a spark resulting from that somehow reactivated him (he can operate on as little as 1.1 volts) and he pulled himself together. He then somehow managed to get to a nearby docking station of some sort and got back on the rail system.)
*After GLaDOS crushes Wheatley and he comes back to life, his surface is much more dirty and dinged, his eye lens is cracked and doesn't seem to work quite like it did previously, and every now and then he'll twitch and send off some sparks (but he doesn't seem to notice that anything wrong, so it probably isn't painful, maybe it's nothing more than a robot shudder).
*Chell goes through new chamber 01 and early on in chamber 02, Wheatley peeks in briefly.
*Wheatley checks in on Chell several times during the other test chambers but doesn't speak to her until chamber 09.
(I've heard he shows up in the other test chambers, but I've only seen him in 02, 03, and 07.)
*In chamber 09, Wheatley hides in the ceiling and tries to explain to Chell how he is still alive. However, because of the Aerial Faith Plate, she cannot hear the full explanation. GLaDOS lowers the ceiling and Chell is unable to meet with Wheatley further.
*At test chamber 12, Wheatley drops bird eggs in the door mechanism to make it malfunction. While GLaDOS is taking care of that, Wheatley speaks to Chell from an observation room. A bird attacks him and he is temporarily distracted, but comes back and tells Chell that they'll break out of there very soon but he needs to figure out how. When GLaDOS turns her attention back to the room, he leaves in a panic telling Chell that she never saw him.
*Wheatley talked his way onto the nanobot crew rebuilding the elevator shaft after test chamber 18.
(It's unknown if he worked anywhere else prior to this shaft or if he planned on meeting Chell there from the start.)
*Chell doesn't see Wheatley again until after she completes test chamber 18. Wheatley talks to her as she travels on the elevator. It seems also as if he slowed the elevator down to give him more time to talk to Chell. He's working with the nanobots on this shaft. A nanobot, Jerry, seems to fuss at him and Wheatley tells him he's on a break. Wheatley says that they're close to being able to escape. Wheatley knocks off a steel beam and tells Chell to hang on for five more test chambers. Jerry fires Wheatley for knocking the steel beam off, and Wheatley protests that a nanobot of his size should be accommodated. He tells Jerry that he'll see him in court for hate crimes and then tells Chell again that he'll see her in five more chambers.
*Wheatley finds Chell again in the middle of test chamber 21. He turns off the lights and opens a panel in the wall. He's speaking in an odd accent, claiming that GLaDOS can't hear him. GLaDOS then says that she CAN hear him and he tells Chell to run, moving the panels so that she could do so. Once she's through, he opens another wall and activates a Hard Light Bridge for Chell to walk on. When she's safely on a catwalk, he deactivates the bridge and closes the wall behind them.
*He tells her that they're escaping and to keep running. His plan is to shut down the turret production and the neurotoxin generator and then confront GLaDOS.
*Wheatley guides Chell through the catwalks behind the scenes. GLaDOS opens up another room telling Chell that she should solve the last test. Instead, Chell uses the Hard Light Bridge to follow Wheatley.
*The two keep running through the back areas of Aperture. Wheatley and Chell are temporarily separated by a room that appears and has several turrets in it. Chell gets rid of the turrets and uses portals to escape the trap and reunite with Wheatley.
*Wheatley warns Chell of incoming turrets and guides her along the catwalks.
*They're split up temporarily when Chell has to take a lift.
(It's possible that Wheatley activated the elevator for her.)
*They meet up again and GLaDOS turns the lights off on them. He tells Chell he's going to do something dangerous and turns on his flashlight and they continue.
*Wheatley tells Chell about the room of screaming robots.
*They travel through the back areas, Wheatley lighting the way and giving advice.
*Wheatley tells Chell about trying to get a job in Manufacturing and then having to tend all the smelly humans. He catches himself and apologizes to Chell, but still babbles about it a little.
*They keep going and temporarily split up, as Chell needs to use the portal gun to continue following Wheatley.
*Wheatley helps Chell out of the room by lighting up a wall on the other side. Then from there, he lights up another wall so that they can keep going. Wheatley then babbles of how much he loves humans: the way they look and their folklore.
(Obviously trying to make up for the comment about them being smelly.)
*Wheatley then goes a back way around a room, telling Chell he'd see her at the bottom.
*Chell goes past the Turret Redemption Lines, turret testing section, and the turret template/response line.
*Wheatley and Chell meet back up near the turret control center. He explains that if they take away the master turret, it'll shut down the whole production line.
*Wheatley asks Chell to turn around so he can hack the door. He hacks it by smashing himself into the glass window.
*Chell removes the master turret, but the computer goes on a stored memory and keeps producing turrets. Wheatley tries to think of options and discuss them with Chell, wanting her to think of ideas too. One of his ideas is that he could pretend to GLaDOS that he's captured Chell and to give her over. He thinks that Chell would probably end up killed, but he could go on living. He asks Chell what her view is on that.
-
*Wheatley comes up with the idea of giving the turret scanner something else to scan, and then shortly later suggests putting a crap/defective turret in it to see what happens.
*Chell catches one of the crap turrets and puts it in the scanner. The scanner accepts it and starts saving the crap turrets and throwing away the good ones.
*Wheatley goes to hack the door open, saying it'll take about ten minutes. However, it easily opens as soon as he stops talking. He's surprised at how easily Chell goes through the door
*Now that the turrets are taken care of, they keep going, heading towards the neurotoxin generator.
*They walk through an old Bring Your Daughter to Work Day exhibition. Wheatley looks down upon the potato battery and baking soda volcano experiments done by the children. He points out the huge potato experiment, saying that the whole place was probably overrun with potatoes and that she wouldn't starve.
*Wheatley leads Chell to the neurotoxin generator (getting a little confused on the directions on the way there).
*They go to investigate the neurotoxin control room. Wheatley seems amused that the good turrets are being thrown away, but then says they do feel a simulated pain and that it's real enough for them. Chell rides an elevator up to the room.
(Unknown if Wheatley activates the elevator or if it's automatic.)
*The door to the control room is locked and there's no way to hack it. He says not to bother the laser, since the panels its cutting could be going somewhere important. But, they can use the hum of the laser to relax and try to help them think of a way to open the door. He keeps talking and makes a quick mention of a mysterious button.
*Chell presses the mysterious button and Wheatley freaks out, only then to notice that the door opened.
*Wheatley says he can use the equipment to shut down the system, but there's a password and alarm bells, but it's not a problem. He tells Chell she can relax. He then proceeds to try and convince the computer to let him have control.
*While Wheatley is chattering at the computer uselessly, Chell uses the big laser to cut the tubes to the neurotoxin generator and shuts it down herself. Wheatley reads the computer screen and tells Chell when the neurotoxin is at 50% and 0%.
*The neurotoxin tube implodes and breaks off, leaving an opening for Chell and Wheatley to ride it to GLaDOS. Wheatley is barely holding on and either is pulled off by the pressure or lets go when Chell gets over to it.
*They ride the tube and Wheatley chatters as they do so, excited to be riding in the tube.
*Wheatley tells Chell that the place is huge and they're only seeing the top layer, it actually goes down for miles, but it was all sealed off years ago.
*Wheatley is accidentally sent down another tube at a crossing and he tells Chell to get to GLaDOS and that he'd find her.
*Chell is dropped by the tube to very close to GLaDOS' lair. The original way is blocked, so Chell uses portals and drops into a trap set by GLaDOS. GLaDOS brings her right to the lair to kill her. GLaDOS drops turrets in, but they're the defective crap turrets and explode. When she brings in the neurotoxin tube, Wheatley rolls in from it.
*The Announcer says that the central core is 80% corrupt, but because there's an alternate core (Wheatley) there can be a core transfer and to place the alternate core in the transfer receptacle.
*Wheatley tells Chell to plug him in and she does so. The Announcer asks both Wheatley and GLaDOS if they are ready for the transfer. Since Wheatley says "yes" and GLaDOS says "no", there is a stalemate and the core transfer cannot continue until a stalemate associate presses the stalemate button.
*GLaDOS uses floor panels to try and thwart Chell from pressing the button, but Chell manages to press it anyways.
*GLaDOS is then shut down, but still able to talk, and Wheatley is brought through the floor and swapped out for GLaDOS' core. He is now a forty foot tall robot (according to dialogue in the final battle).
*Wheatley is now in control of the whole facility and very pleased with it. He likes that he's very big and Chell is now small.
*Wheatley calls an escape lift for them to leave. He realizes that he's too big now to fit in the lift and tries to come up with a way to enter it. He finally just tells Chell to get in and they'd figure it out as they go.
*When Chell gets in the lift, he mentions how cool it is to be in charge of everything. He also thinks he's a genius now; however that is proven to not quite be the case when he misuses the translator function.
*He finally remembers to activate the lift, slowly going crazy with power as it rises. He then stops the lift and lowers it back down, not wanting to leave yet, now that he's in control.
*Wheatley says that he did this, but GLaDOS tells him that he didn't do anything and Chell did all the work. He assumes that Chell and GLaDOS feel the same way, so he takes GLaDOS' core and somehow forces her brain into a potato battery. During the process, he claims that Chell bosses him around and is selfish.
*GLaDOS finally recognizes Wheatley and says that the scientists did everything to make her behave, at one point they attached an Intelligence Dampening Sphere to her and it came up with bad ideas. She finally says that he was designed to be a moron and this upsets him. He yells, "I AM NOT A MORON" and swings GLaDOS-potato wildly in his robot claw, smashing her into the glass of the lift. He then beats the lift with the robot claw, punching it further down into the pit.
*The lift shakes, Wheatley says "Uh oh" and Chell and GLaDOS-potato fall down into the deep pit.
*Chell and GLaDOS-potato land with a thud. Chell wakes up some time later to a bird taking off with GLaDOS-potato. Chell makes her way through the mess and into the remains of old Aperture. Chell wanders alone for a while, solving tests, until she comes across a bird's nest with GLaDOS-potato in it.
*While Chell and GLaDOS are underground, Wheatley designed and constructed a handful of simple test chambers, designed and built the turret-cubes, and created video screens so he could watch the testing. He also neglected the maintenance of the facility, causing it to shake with explosions from time to time. He didn't look at the vital maintenance protocols at all and there are quite a few of them. He has very little idea of how the facility works or what all it contains and uses.
*There's an explosion from somewhere above and GLaDOS-potato says that Wheatley doesn't know what he's doing up there and the whole place is going to explode in a few hours if he's not disconnected.
*GLaDOS-potato strikes a deal with Chell, Wheatley gets removed, she gets put back in her old body, she stops them from blowing up, and Chell can go free. Chell puts GLaDOS-potato on the portal gun and she continues making her way to the surface. GLaDOS-potato says that Wheatley is going to cause an atomic fireball.
*Chell and GLaDOS-potato continue making their way through old Aperture. GLaDOS-potato says that they should march right back up and make Wheatley put her back in her body. She says that he'll probably kill them because he's incredibly powerful.
*They make their way to a hatch that reaches the surface. There, the old gel pipes are connected to ones in the newer facility. GLaDOS-potato sees a poster with paradoxes and thinks that she can beat Wheatley with one. She plans on frying his circuits with one. She says that he's omnipotent and power mad.
*Chell and GLaDOS-potato enter the most recent part of the facility. As they walk the catwalk, they overhear Wheatley. He's yelling at the turret-cubes for not being able to walk on buttons. He tries to give them some advice and then results to just yelling at them.
*Wheatley says that he and the turret-cubes have been at this test for twelve hours.
(Either he's wrong about the time frame or Chell was unconscious for hours before waking up and making her way through old Aperture. It's also possible she was out for longer, it depends on how long it took for Wheatley to make the test and the turret-cubes.)
*He gives the turret-cubes an hour to solve the test and turns off the video screen.
*Chell and GLaDOS-potato get down to the test and press the button. When they do so, Wheatley pops back on the screen. GLaDOS-says a paradox, "This sentence is false" in hopes of destroying Wheatley, but he doesn't get it. However, all the turret-cubes short out.
*GLaDOS-potato says that they're going to explode, then the Announcer says that an explosion is imminent, but Wheatley does something to shut the warning off.
*Wheatley is excited to see them, as he needs some test subjects and has them go through to another test.
*He tells them that in this body, he has to test all the time, there's an itch if he doesn't. Wheatley speculates that it's hardwired in and that when he does test, it's the best feeling in the world. So he's going to watch them do tests.
*The Announcer warns again of an explosion and Wheatley yells at it to shut up.
*He designed a simple test with an empty moat because he's still working on filling it. He believes the solution to the puzzle is hard, however the only thing needed to do is press a button and a turret-cube falls on a floor button to activate the door, then Chell can use portals to get to the other side and exit. He also gives the hint "Button".
*Wheatley thinks that making tests is difficult, so he wants Chell to keep solving the same one over and over. He opens the wall and has them go through to the test again. Chell solves it and he feels nothing, so Wheatley digs around for some tests and finds one.
*He takes one of GLaDOS' test and adds the word "TEST" to the wall. Chell solves it and GLaDOS-potato tells her that since they're her tests, they're now deadly.
*GLaDOS-potato says she can't help solve the tests.
*The next test Wheatley says he made out of smaller tests that he jammed together. He gets impatient and tries to tell them how to solve the test, but gets electrically shocked instead. GLaDOS-potato says that's why she can't help. He says that Chell's on her own and to solve it herself. Once Chell solves the puzzle, GLaDOS-potato tricks Wheatley into shocking himself again.
*GLaDOS-potato says that she never stockpiled tests, so Wheatley will run out of tests soon. Wheatley then pops on screen saying that he found a sealed off wing with hundreds of tests. He shook out the skeletons. GLaDOS-potato remembers those, she kept them as mementos. Wheatley stuffs part of a test onto the one Chell is standing in.
*Once the test is solved, Wheatley's enjoyment isn't as great as it had been. GLaDOS-potato says its happening sooner than she had expected.
*He's not happy with the way things are going, so he decides to try things GLaDOS' way, with insults. About all he can come up with is, "Fatty fatty no-parents." GLaDOS-potato, in an effort to confuse him asks what's wrong with being adopted and he can't come up with a good reason and even says some of his best friends are orphans.
(It's possible he is referring to Chell as his friend, as robots probably can't be orphans. However, knowing Aperture, maybe they have created orphaned robots just because they could. None of Wheatley's friends around the facility are shown in-game, so there's no way of knowing who he is referring to.)
*GLaDOS-potato calls Wheatley a moron and irritates him. He still rants about it after Chell completes the test and GLaDOS-potato thinks she might have pushed the issue a little too far.
*In the next test, Wheatley is now playing some classical music. He's also making a page-turning noise and saying that he's reading books. He says he just finished the last one, written by Machiavelli and understood it perfectly. He asks if GLaDOS has read it and this says that he doubts it, even though she says yes.
*GLaDOS-potato says that Wheatley is building up a resistance to the euphoric response to testing.
*Wheatley moves the next test chamber closer to him in hopes that it'll help.
*GLaDOS-potato thinks that Wheatley is getting desperate. This seems to be true, as he's come up with the idea of recording ten tests then, watching them all at once.
*GLaDOS-potato thinks that he's decided to not maintain the functions to keep the facility from exploding. She tells him this at the next test and he claims that he fixed everything and programmed in one or two more explosions for old time's sake.
*Wheatley says that the lift is out of service because it melted. He activates an excursion funnel for Chell to keep on moving through the back way. He starts to give Chell a tour (however, he doesn't know what things are and do), but when a section of wall comes hurtling at her, he turns off the beam, which drops her into an office. Chell follows a catwalk that leads to some open floor panels that take her back to the testing circuit.
*Wheatley thinks that Chell might have died, so he goes poking around for more test subjects. He finds Atlas and P-Body and starts making a test for them. However, Chell comes in. Wheatley gives the room an exit and P-Body runs out.
*Wheatley unsubtly hints that he's got a deadly surprise waiting for Chell and GLaDOS-potato. He then destroys the path they're on but says it's an accident.
*At some point, Wheatley is smashing some steel plates together for a death trap and decides that something is missing and that would be sharp bits welded on. He also wants them to shoot fire, but hasn't gotten that far.
(It's unknown when he starts constructing them, but he didn't plan on killing Chell before this point, so I'm placing it around here.)
*Wheatley says that there are three more chambers until the big surprise. When Chell solves the test, he doesn't seem to care at all.
*At the beginning of the next test, Wheatley says only two more chambers to the surprise. However, he's rigged an Aerial Faith Plate to fling sideways and the surprise is happening now. Chell is flung to another Aerial Faith Plate and then an excursion funnel. Wheatley says he doesn't need them anymore, he found two little robots built specifically for testing (Atlas and P-Body). Chell is launched from another Aerial Faith Plate to a deathtrap created by Wheatley with mashy spike plates. Wheatley has a huge monitor to watch the proceedings from. However, she escapes and finds safety on a catwalk. Wheatley tries to coax her back with false promises of goodies at the bottom of the pit, but Chell doesn't fall for it and runs down the catwalk.
*While Chell is on the catwalk, Wheatley tries to slam her with a mashy spike plate, but misses.
*Chell keeps going and Wheatley moves in another room with a trap in it. With no other choice, Chell goes into the trap. Wheatley's set up turrets to kill her, but forgot that the crap turrets were still what was being created, so she gets through without a scratch.
*Wheatley says that he's never played cards, but he's been meaning to learn.
*He then sets up another turret trap, this time with real turrets. Chell gets past it and uses an excursion funnel to continue on. Wheatley tries to use a spinny blade wall to kill her, but fails. He says this is good, that she is a nemesis worthy of his vast intellect.
*Chell uses another excursion funnel and Wheatley again tries to smash her with a mashy spike plate, talking about Holmes, Moriarty, and Aristotle.
(It is unknown how he knows these people and characters, perhaps since he knows something about human folklore, he was programmed with the knowledge - this is the most likely answer as before this point he knew a few other things about human books and culture. Also possible is that he really did read some kind of books and they were in them (or wrote them in the case of Aristotle). It's also possible that the knowledge about them was in the mainframe and he accessed it.)
*Chell escapes and a pipe falls, nearly hitting her. Wheatley asks about it and if it killed her. It didn't.
*Wheatley then says he had a brainwave and asks Chell to not die until he gets back. There's another turret trap, but Chell gets past that.
*At some point, Wheatley watches the videos of Chell's battle with GLaDOS from Portal and takes steps to prevent himself from being defeated in the same way. His steps are as follows (in Wheatley's own words): "One: No portal surfaces. Two: Start the neurotoxin immediately. Three: Bomb-proof shields for me. Leading directly into number Four: Bombs. For throwing at you. PART FIVE! BOOBYTRAP THE STALEMATE BUTTON!" He modifies his lair and GLaDOS' body to these five parts, adding a bomb tosser and bomb shields around GLaDOS' body. He also places bombs around the stalemate button in the annex that will go off if someone gets too close to them.
*Chell passes by tubes with bombs going through them. She uses the bombs to break a tube of conversion gel and continues on her way.
*Chell walks on a conveyor belt and Wheatley turns it on and gets rid of a catwalk. He addresses her on a screen nearby. He tells her that so far the death traps have been a failure and that she's getting close to his lair. He says that Chell has a chance to kill herself now with the masher. He says she's twenty feet from his lair. Chell evades the trap again and the wall in the next room falls down. Chell uses an excursion funnel to continue on. Chell and GLaDOS-potato find corrupted and broken cores in storage. GLaDOS-potato thinks that if they attach enough to Wheatley, they'll be able to initiate a core transfer. Chell passes by tubes carrying all three gels and bombs up to the lair. Chell puts GLaDOS-potato in and she activates the lift, taking them up.
*They arrive in Wheatley's lair. He talks to them about his plans. The building is going to self destruct in six minutes but he thinks it's a problem with the light, but just in case, he wants to kill Chell and then work on fixing the facility. His plans call for it to take three minutes to kill Chell, a minute for a break, and then two minutes to figure out how to shut down the things causing the fires.
*Chell uses his bombs to break a conversion gel pipe, giving her portal surfaces to fling bombs from. She hits him with his bombs and he goes temporarily unconscious. GLaDOS-potato brings up the first core, the Space Core. The repulsion gel pipe falls and spills some on the floor. When Chell attaches the Space Core, Wheatley wakes up and the core corruption level is at 50%. The neurotoxin goes offline and there will be a reactor explosion in four minutes. Chell hits him with another bomb and Wheatley goes unconscious again. GLaDOS-potato brings another core, this time the Adventure Core, named Rick. Chell puts the Adventure Core on Wheatley and he wakes up. The core corruption is now at 75%. The facility will self-destruct in two minutes. Chell hits Wheatley with another bomb and he goes unconscious. The propulsion gel pipe breaks and GLaDOS-potato brings on the last core, the Fact Core. Core corruption is now at 100%. The core transfer asks to begin and Wheatley laughs. GLaDOS-potato agrees to the transfer and Wheatley accidentally agrees with sarcasm, but then quickly says no, causing a stalemate. A fire starts in the Stalemate Resolution Annex and the sprinklers come on to extinguish it, also clearing most of the conversion gel. Chell uses portals to get to the button and press it, but Wheatley booby-trapped the room and bombs explode, flinging Chell. Chell manages to grab the portal gun. Part of the ceiling falls off, revealing the moon. There's a portal under Wheatley, so Chell fires another one at the moon. It takes 1.4 seconds for the portal to land on the moon. Once it does so, the vacuum of space starts sucking things through the portal underneath Wheatley. The Adventure Core is pulled off first. Wheatley is still attached as he's drug out to the moon, so he's hanging on by a wire. Chell is pulled through, but grabs onto Wheatley and they both fly out to the moon's surface. Wheatley tells Chell to let go and that they're in space. The Space Core hears this and flies out in excitement. GLaDOS says she fixed it and that he's not coming back. She uses a robot arm to grab Chell and to fling Wheatley into space. He yells for Chell to grab him as he flies off.
*An unknown time later, Wheatley is still floating in space with the Space Core. He doesn't seem bothered by the Space Core's constant chatter about space. Wheatley wishes he could apologize to Chell for all that he did.
--After Portal 2 Single-Player--
*Wheatley is seen in the credits of Co-Op on the conveyor belt.
(It is unknown if this is canon, if it's the Wheatley in single-player, an exact duplicate of Wheatley, or another core that happens to look like him. As it is part of a character lineup for credits, likely it isn't canon.)
*Wheatley is nominated for Best Character at the 2011 VGA. He sends a transmission addressing his nomination. He wants a spaceship to come and pick him up. He is at coordinates starting with 1, 1, 1 and the video cuts out before he can finish. There's a red light blinking throughout the video, it is unknown what it is, perhaps the camera. It's also unknown where the camera came from, it's possible it's from a satellite of some sort. The Space Core is nowhere to be seen or heard during the nomination video, but he is present in the potential acceptance speech. Wheatley does not win Best Character, but the acceptance speech is posted to the Internet.
(This means that Wheatley has some sort of built-in coordinate finder.)
(This most likely isn't canon, but it is rather neat.)
*The Playstation Network is hacked and goes down. Wheatley is thought to be the perpetrator.
(There is NO canon evidence whatsoever for this, however the fans have had a lot of fun with this theory and I found it rather amusing.)