Could the Terminator have eventually gotten mad or even turned against John Connor?

Question

We see an evolution of the Terminator throughout Terminator 2: Judgment Day. He develops from a machine programmed to protect John to something more humanized. Although still a cyborg; he is able to adapt to his surroundings so he can fit in better with an all-human society.

We witness part of this development when John tells the Machine how to speak with a more colourful vocabulary.

There are also other moments where we get a glimpse of the Terminator becoming more self-aware of how he feels (e.g. When he smirks at John after picking up the Gatling Gun; when he explains to John the an understanding of why humans cry; to the final thumbs up he gives John as he's lowered into the vat of molten steel). Wow...even thinking about that scene still gives me chill-bumps :)

Anyway, as much as I loved these scenes, I can't help but wonder if the Terminator could have eventually started to feel negative emotions towards John. Emotions that would have eventually made the Machine either "feel" annoyed or angry.

Obviously, there's no code we can look at to determine if this could happen; but is there any evidence in the Terminator Universe that would draw the conclusion that the Terminator in T2 could have gotten angry at John?

Assume that it's with his existing programming; no virus or upgrades.

Answer 1

Regardless of any feelings he might get, he's still programmed to carry out his orders to protect John Connor. His orders usually win out, as we see in T3 in the hanger bay when he's infected with the Nano virus and shuts himself down to avoid harming John Connor.

Answer 2

I would say yes, he could get angry, but no, he couldn't turn against John. In the scene where John and the T-800 rescue Sarah from the mental hospital, a guard hits the Terminator in the face, breaking his sunglasses. The look on his face certainly seems to suggest that he is angry, so I think he is at least capable of feeling something like anger.

Later, when they are in the steel foundry, the Terminator wants John to get in a cart and get out of the area where the T-1000 is. John refuses, and says "We've got to stick together!" They go back and forth like this for a bit, then the Terminator seems to lose patience with John, and almost shouts, "John, GO! NOW!" or something to that effect.

At the end of the movie, John orders the Terminator not to go (into the molten steel), and the Terminator seems to show affection and even sympathy for John. Clearly, he is capable of feeling- or at least showing- something like real emotions.

All of this suggests that he could conceivably be angry with John. I imagine that, if John picked up a baseball bat and began hitting him over the head with it, the Terminator would get annoyed very quickly.

However, his programming definitely requires him to protect John at all times and prevent John from being hurt or killed, so clearly, he would not be able to hurt or kill John himself any more than he could let the T-1000 hurt or kill John.

So as I see it, yes, he could become angry with John, but no, he could not turn against him. He is a machine, and his software would not allow him to harm John in any way.

You specifically said we shouldn't take into consideration the possibility of the Terminator being corrupted by a computer virus or whatever, but it is worth mentioning that when this very thing happens in T3, the Terminator's initial programming manages to override the virus, and he deliberately shuts himself down rather than allowing himself to hurt John. This suggests that the impulse to obey his programming is very, VERY strong, and it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for him to go against it.