By Emily Lengel
Introduction
Villains. Whether they’re basic baddies like Bowser of Mario fame whose power is defined by their physical appearance and actions, or charismatic crooks like Handsome Jack from Borderlands 2 whose personality is what makes them a formidable antagonist, they’re an integral part in any videogame that seeks to tell a story of good vs. evil. The strongest villains in videogame history are compelling; they leave a lasting impact on the player long after the final boss battle, and even emerge as recognizable pop culture icons even beyond the realm of gaming. They become prime examples of videogame villainy, often presenting novel ideas that influence all those who come after them. Nowhere is this clearer than with Portal 2’s beloved British sphere, Wheatley.
Wheatley brought something to the videogame villain scene that had rarely been seen until then–that being, his nature as a “twist villain.” In the first half of the game, he serves the role of deuteragonist, helping Chell achieve her goal of leaving Aperture Laboratories once and for all. He is the first and only friendly robot, with his amiable personality and comic relief leading players to believe he can be trusted. But by Portal 2’s halfway point, after a long plan in which Wheatley proposed to help Chell shut GLaDOS down for good, he takes her place controlling the facility and becomes the game’s antagonist.
To fans of Portal 2, there has always been one aspect of Wheatley as a villain that has stuck out to them the most: His references to Niccolo Machiavelli, the famed Italian author of the Renaissance of the magnum opus, The Prince. The book was a treatise on political philosophy, detailing many different qualities a prince should have if he were to rule a kingdom effectively. The traits–detailed in The Prince, mostly boiling down to a very cunning and deceptive character who does whatever they must in order to gain and maintain power (Merriam-Webster)–have had a marked influence on villains across all forms of media, so many have taken to applying this label to Wheatley as well. However, many do so using only this shallow understanding of what it means to be Machiavellian: he deceives the player by becoming the villain by the game’s second half, and he does whatever he can to kill Chell after the fact. Therefore, he must uphold the Machiavellian idea of a so-called prince. . . Right?
But what many fail to account for is that there’s more to The Prince than a simple verdict that one must be duplicitous and cunning in order to achieve their goals, and there’s more to Wheatley that traces back to the ideas presented in The Prince. When one looks closer at the ideas presented in The Prince and connect them to Wheatley, there are lines and parallels that can be drawn that add a whole new depth to this already compelling character.
Valve’s Portal 2 took the world by storm upon its release to Steam on April 19th, 2011. It was the much-anticipated sequel to 2007’s Portal, the cult classic that took players through the sterile halls of Aperture Laboratories and challenged their brains in a series of physics-based puzzles in its many test chambers. Using their mouse and keyboard, players could move, jump, pick up objects, and use the Dual Portal Device on any portal-able surface in conjunction with the game’s surprisingly accurate physics simulator to solve the puzzles in each test chamber using only the objects and tools presented to them. Portal 2 has the player returning to Aperture and conducting the same science of solving problems with portals, but with a bigger scope than ever before. Its story, voice acting, environments, and witty humor all contributed to the game’s immediate critical acclaim from critics and fans alike. Wheatley himself received much of the high praise, with his voice actor Stephen Merchant receiving the Spike’s Video Game Awards award for “Best Performance by a Human Male” (IMDB) in 2011.
“Just Reading… Ah… Books. So I’m not a Moron.”
One character trait of Wheatley’s that comes to light upon him taking control of Aperture Laboratories is that, according to GLaDOS, he was intentionally designed to be a complete “moron.” The very nature of his programming is to come up with the worst ideas possible in every situation, and his sole purpose was to dampen GLaDOS’ intelligence in order to make her behave rather than want to kill the engineers and scientists in Aperture Laboratories.
“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 … You’re not just a regular moron, you were DESIGNED to be a moron.”
-GLaDOS, to Wheatley
Valve, 2011
Wheatley’s nature as a moron becomes a key element during his time in control of Aperture, where he begins to destroy the facility from the inside out and frequently bickers with GLaDOS trying to prove that he is, in fact, not a moron.
A few test chambers into his time as mastermind of the facility, Wheatley becomes so fed up with GLaDOS calling him a moron that he takes matters into his own hands and tries to prove he’s not a moron. How does he do this? By reading Machiavelli, of course. The sudden use of electronic-infused classical music in the track “Machiavellian Bach” and the very crisp sound of pages turning sets this one test chamber apart from the rest, further contrasting Wheatley with the cold and science-focused GLaDOS (see Figure 1).
While coming across as just another one of Wheatley’s quirks and sparking the whole discussion about Wheatley’s Machiavellian nature at a glance, there is a surprising hidden depth to the scene. By reading Machiavelli and desperately trying to prove he’s not a moron, Wheatley inadvertently acts according to one of the traits brought up in The Prince. According to Machiavelli:
“A prince must strive in his every action to give the impression of himself as a great man and one of exceptional intelligence.”
Machiavelli, 95
The idea that a prince must strive to appear to be a man “of exceptional intelligence” perfectly encapsulates Wheatley’s desire to prove to Chell and GLaDOS that he isn’t a moron. He takes to reading books for the sole purpose of proving them wrong, making a genuine attempt at appearing more intelligent than he might seem in order to prove that he is a worthy leader of Aperture Laboratories.
“Must be Hardwired into the System or Something”
The first important trait for any successful Machiavellian prince must have is to dedicate all his time to war and the study of it. Machiavelli states:
“A prince, therefore, must have no other object or thought, or take up anything as his profession, except war and its rules and discipline, for that is the only art that befits one who commands.”
Machiavelli, 63
This trait connects back to Wheatley, but the context must change according to the situation he is in. While there are no mentions of war in Portal 2, any bots that get plugged into the Laboratory’s mainframe become consumed with a need to test and uphold the goals of Aperture Laboratories. Wheatley describes this new impulsive need to test as an itch that needs to be scratched:
“You have no idea what it’s like in this body. I HAVE to test. All the time. Or I get this… This ITCH. You know? It must be hardwired into the system or something. Oh! But when I DO test… Ohhhhh, man alive! Nothing feels better. It’s just… Why I’ve gotta test, I’ve gotta test!”
Valve 2011
Although the context changes from war to testing, the main idea presented in The Prince is still preserved in Portal 2: For any leader to be successful, they must dedicate everything they have to the study and practice of whatever will help them be an effective and prosperous ruler.
“Being Civil isn’t Motivating Enough”
Perhaps the most well-known yet misunderstood tenet to come from The Prince is the idea that it is better to be feared than loved. The true sentiment Machiavelli proposes is that it’s best to be both loved and feared, but it’s often difficult to be both at once. In those situations, he claims, “it is much safer to be feared than loved if one of the two has to be lacking,” (Machiavelli 72). In other words, it is both safer and easier to be feared because it’s much harder to make people love you and stay in their good graces.
Wheatley seems to get a grasp on this concept almost immediately. When the player first emerges from Old Aperture after an arduous climb into Aperture Laboratories proper, they are greeted by the sound of Wheatley yelling at “boxes with legs” for not being able to walk onto a button. They can then observe Wheatley observing his new Frankenturrets- amalgamated bots made from two Turrets and a Weighted Cube- from a small observation window, where he continues to berate them for being useless (see Figure 2).
Figure 2: Wheatley and his Frankenturrets, ©2011 Valve 2011.
Wheatley becomes much more forceful upon taking control of the facility, even yelling at the player if they loiter too long after solving the puzzle for the Frankenturrets. He realizes that being a friendly companion does not pay off if he wants to get what he wants. This idea is similar to how GLaDOS acted while she was in control, which is something Wheatley acknowledges later on as he grows more frustrated with Chell (see Figure 3).
He understands that “being civil isn’t motivating enough” and pivots to more forceful techniques that will get others to fear and loathe him rather than love him, thus aligning with Machiavelli’s belief that it is better to be feared than loved in situations where a leader cannot be both.
“Actually, Why do We have to Leave Right Now?”
The Machiavellian ideal of a cunning and duplicitous character comes from chapter 18 of The Prince when Machiavelli lays down two key things a prince must know: when they should keep their word and how to pretend to be righteous while remaining able to be the opposite whenever necessary. Machiavelli states that “a prudent ruler cannot, must not, keep his word, when keeping it would work against him, and when the reasons which made him promise it have been removed, (Machiavelli 75). Furthermore, he states that it is best “to appear– and to be– merciful, loyal, humane, forthright, and religious, but have your mind disposed so that, when it is necessary not to be that way, you will be ready and able to change to the opposite,” (Machiavelli 76).
Wheatley’s very nature as Portal 2’s twist villain displays these duplicitous qualities front and center. While appearing very friendly and honest with Chell in the first half of the game, making promises to help her shut GLaDOS down and escape Aperture, he later reveals a hidden potential for cunning once he has achieved his goal of taking control of Aperture. He obscured his true goal of taking over the facility from her because, if he had told her the truth right then and there, she may not have been so willing to help him. Furthermore, once he’s in control of the facility, his need to keep that promise to Chell has been “removed,” as Machiavelli claims; therefore, he has no reason to hide his more villainous tendencies. He calls the lift that was carrying Chell out of Aperture back down, taking back that false promise of freedom (see Figure 4).
Figure 4: Wheatley bringing Chell back down to him, removing her hopes of freedom, © 2011 Valve.
“You Know What You Are? Selfish.”
While not directly related to the idea of Machiavellian traits and the kind of man an ideal prince should be, Machiavelli brings up one idea that can be connected to Wheatley. That being, the kinds of people a prince should have to advise him and what makes a good minister. He claims that any minister or secretary to the prince must wholly dedicate themselves to the prince, and if a minister acts in their own self interest instead of serving the prince, they are not worthy of the position. He states:
“When you see that your minister thinks more of himself than of you, and that in all his actions he pursues his own self-interest, a man such as that will never be a good minister, nor will you ever be able to trust yourself to him.”
Machiavelli, 99
Throughout the whole first half of the game, Chell is working to achieve her own goal of escaping from Aperture, and Wheatley is seemingly just tagging along. As a companion to Wheatley–the so-called (future) “prince”–Chell could be seen as his “minister” in this instance. However, since Chell acts in her own self-interest and not dedicating herself to Wheatley, she would be seen as unfit for the position. Wheatley calls her out directly upon taking control of the facility, claiming that she is selfish and didn’t sacrifice anything to help him get to where he is now (see Figure 5).
Figure 5: Wheatley calling Chell selfish, ©2011 Valve.
Conclusion
Wheatley was not lying when he claimed that he understood Machiavelli perfectly upon his first read of The Prince. Much of his behavior, both before and after taking control of Aperture Laboratories, comes straight out of the book and aligns with the examples of Machiavellian traits. His adherence to a clear-cut idea of what an ideal prince should be like according to the original text of The Prince shows an often overlooked depth to his character, making him all the more compelling as a villain and sets him apart from other villains in the gaming scene. In a sense, Wheatley proved himself to be more of a Machiavellian than a moron.
Works Cited
EuropaGamer. “Wheatley – I Read Machiavelli (Portal 2).” YouTube, 21 Apr. 2011, youtu.be/N06OE0REDKE?si=HN5zCIJ-V3351Ln2.
KNiL. “Portal 2 OST Volume 3 – Machiavellian Bach.” YouTube, YouTube, 30 Sept. 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrnmgMdvI6U. (original song by Mike Moransky/Aperture Science Psychoacoustics Laboratory. Published by Valve)
Machiavelli, Niccolò. The Prince and Other Writings. Translated by Wayne A. Rebhorn, Barnes & Noble Books, 2003.
“Machiavellian Definition & Meaning.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Machiavellian. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
“Portal 2.” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/title/tt1648163/awards/. Accessed Apr. 2024.
