"Never you mind that. Just solve science!" - Virgil
Virgil is the deuteragonist of Portal Stories: Mel. He aids Mel throughout Aperture, and the game itself.
Biography[]
Before Mel[]
Not much is know about Virgil before the events of Chapter 2, other than that he was a Maintenance Core who fell off his management rail and into the depths of Old Aperture, where he laid for a long time until Mel was reawakened.
Meeting Mel[]
Upon Mel's reawakening, at first he pretended to be Cave Johnson, attempting to convince Mel nothing had changed, until he admitted Mel wasn't stupid enough to fall for that and then revealed who he really was and what was really going on. Mel made her way up to the section where Virgil was and eventually found him, bringing him along.
Virgil's Testing Track[]
Virgil's Testing Track are test chambers that are constructed by Virgil. He guides Mel through them in an attempt to escape to the surface, but was quickly hijacked by AEGIS, who attempted to kill them both. In an effort to save both their skins, Virgil helped Mel escape higher in the facility, where plant overgrowth in certain testing tracks could potentially hide Mel.
Organic Complications[]
Virgil's plan worked: AEGIS was blind in the overgrown chambers and couldn't detect them. He noticed some debris blocking the elevator path and quickly activated the emergency brakes. He meets up with the player in an old surveillance room and then proceeds to start hacking into the systems. Attempting to "hack" into the system, he guessed passwords including "override", "admin", and "letmein". The password "admin" opens up a panel with a button labeled "Admin Override", in which he reacts in disbelief if the player chooses to push it.
Confronting AEGIS[]
When approaching AEGIS, Virgil will not accompany you due to there not being any management rails. He then reassures you by saying he will "give support as needed". As you confront AEGIS, the player must destroy all of his servers. A quarter of his servers are destroyed by electrified water that was pumped up previously, and the player must then utilize the new turrets in order to destroy the rest of the servers. Eventually, AEGIS uses the old turrets' programming against you prompting you to get under pressure. When defeated, you must go into AEGIS's Central Hub, and deactivate the Toxin Pumps and AEGIS.
Saying Goodbye[]
By the end of the journey, Virgil has changed quite a lot. He is emotional to see Mel go, but still calls an elevator to the surface for her to escape. He admits he's not sure what's up there, but it must be better then what was down here in Aperture. He wishes Mel luck as the elevator arrives and watches it go up.
After Mel[]
Meet the Cores 2[]
In Meet The Cores 2, Virgil is shown to indeed be alive and is back at his old job, which is being a maintenance core. He shows off how he does his job by fixing the eye of a core, nicknamed "Glitchy". Glitchy is thankful until his lower handle falls off, and then he explodes. Virgil then states that that happens a lot.
Meet the Cores 3[]
At a point in Meet The Cores, it cuts to a film known as Star Cores. After, it shows Fact Core and Virgil on chairs watching the show. Virgil asks how good quality is even possible in shows after the destruction of society, and Fact Core answers saying that it's all computer generated.
Appearance[]
Virgil is a core with an orange and yellow, the yellow part seems to have a floral pattern, decorated case and an eye that resembles the older Aperture Science logo.
Fun Facts[]
- Virgil is voiced by Stig Finsen Sydtangen
- In Portal Stories: Mel, Virgil claims to be completely WiFi capable.
- In Meet The Cores 3, Virgil is watching TV with the Fact Core and says that he's amazed by the newer shows.
- Virgil is implied to be homosexual or bisexual, as he shows attraction to Rainbow Core, a male personality core, further evidenced by him saying "Uhm u- did you by any chance get that cores uhm...serial number? U-uh- i-i- i-i'm.. asking for uh.. uh- uh- a friend! Yes. Friend."
- Virgil may be named after the Roman Poet who helped Dante through hell in The Divine Comedy. (the poet is also depicted with a floral crown, possibly inspiring the core's floral design.)
- If you let him stare long enough, Virgil actually can hack the computer screens in the beginning of Organic Complications.
- Virgil does a "pretty bad Cave Johnson impression".
- It is speculated that many players suspected Virgil to be like Wheatley, to betray the player somewhere in the game, but this was subverted at the end.
- Cave Johnson is voiced by Harry Callaghan in the mod, who sounds nothing like Stig Sydtangen- explaining why Virgil does such a terrible impression of him.
- Virgil has an anti Black Mesa logo on the bottom right of his eye. Cave Johnson has always hated Black Mesa, but it is unknown why he- or someone else- put the sticker on Virgil specifically.
- He says that one test needs to be tested 3 times, after which he says “Some people just can’t count further than three, I guess.” This is a reference to the running joke that Valve can’t count to 3, as they only have 2 games per franchise.