Fallout 3/Characters

The Lone Wanderer
"Three Dog: ...that crazy kid from Vault 101..."

The Lone Wanderer lived happily in Vault 101 for the first 19 years of his/her life before their beloved father escaped, leaving The Wanderer alone and with the overzealous Overseer's men after them. Escaping the Vault, the Lone Wanderer began their life on the surface.



"(when asked by Moria to detail injuries as part of "research"): "On a scale of one to ten, I'd say it's a 'shut the fuck up and fix me.""
 * Action Survivor
 * And the Adventure Continues: With Broken Steel, at least...
 * Badass: It's part of being a Fallout hero--mutated animals, drug-addicted raiders and murderers, berserk robots, monstrous super mutants and military power-armor clad stormtroopers armed with plasma rifles, all fall before you by the truckload as you scour the wastes. Even an entire spaceship of aliens won't stop you!
 * Badass Normal: S/he's apparently just some kid from a vault.
 * Badass Abnormal: By the end of the game though you can have gotten cybernetic implants, had genetic enhancements with ant DNA, and been mutated in a variety of ways to give you skin like tree bark, regenerate HP and have increased strength in sunlight, gradually absorb small doses of radiation without harm, and more.
 * Badass Bookworm: Intelligence is the most important stat due to the fact that it determines how many skill points you earn, so players are usually this. Given the many skill books you'll find, Intelligence or no you'll be doing a lot of reading too.
 * Submissive Badass: In Broken Steel, you take orders from the Brotherhood, but they will readily acknowledge, next to Liberty Prime, you are the most dangerous thing they could unleash on the Enclave.
 * Ballistic Discount: A favored tactic among Neutral characters to balance their karma is to kill random scavengers and traders out in the wastes (outside of towns so no one will turn hostile) after buying a weapon from them.
 * Barbarian Hero: It's possible to just specialize in melee weapons, but it's not a very good option considering nearly everyone else has a gun, and will likely just back up and shoot you. Better get some Power Armor if you want to survive going melee.
 * Bi the Way: Possible for female characters.
 * Calling the Old Man Out: You can do this once you finally meet up with him
 * Celibate Hero: While flirting with other characters is possible, the Lone Wanderer seemingly never engages in intercourse.
 * It is implied that the Lone Wanderer can take advantage of Nova's services in Megaton when ordering a room. Of course, whether it happens is left to the player's imagination. Unless the game is modded.
 * Charles Atlas Superpower: Have a high enough unarmed skill and the Bloody Mess perk, and your bare hands can literally punch limbs off or even reduce low level enemies to chunks of meat.
 * It's also possible to kill several deathclaws barehanded, provided you have 100 Unarmed and the Paralyzing Palm perk.
 * Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Many quest options, but perhaps the biggest example is helping the Brotherhood capture the Mobile Crawler, then taking control of the Kill Sat and nuking the Citadel, wiping out their organization.
 * The Replicated Man quest--agree to find the android for Zimmer, find out who it is and inform the android of their true nature, agree to kill Zimmer for them, tell Zimmer who the android is, then kill him on his way to reclaim. Actually the optimal way to do the quest, since this lets you get Zimmer's reward while still taking the good ending.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Many dialogue options are very sarcastic.
 * For instance:


 * Determinator: Hunting across the Capital Wasteland for his/her father definitely counts.
 * Heroic Sacrifice / Dirty Coward: Both options are possible at the end of the game. Heroically sacrifice yourself to start the water purifier, or tell your partner to do it?
 * Though the "Dirty Coward" part is downplayed if you get Fawkes to do it--since he's immune to radiation.
 * Improbable Aiming Skills: Hitting a target in the head from fifty feet away, in the dark, while the target is moving, and possibly so are you. You will be doing this.
 * The Messiah: With good karma, and more so than the previous two Fallout heroes. The Vault Dweller and the Chosen One went place to place righting wrongs, bringing order and stopping invading armies. The Lone Wanderer does all that and manages to supply the entire region with clean drinking water.
 * Memetic Badass: If evil enough, becomes one In Universe among the Paradise Falls slavers.
 * Mushroom Samba:
 * The Beast Master: If you have the Animal Friend perk.
 * Odd Friendship: A good karma player has this with Fawkes.
 * One-Man Army: After reaching about level 15 or so, it's entirely possible to just walk into a city or a military base and just kill everything there.
 * Of particular note is the final mission of Broken Steel. The Lone Wanderer is sent to clear out Adams Air Force Base, fight his/her way through the Mobile Crawler crawling with dozens of Elite Mooks, and nuke the base. The base does not go down easily, but at the end of the mission you've pretty much single-handedly annihilated the Enclave, something the entire Brotherhood couldn't.
 * Rule of Symbolism: The Lone Wanderer was born July 13th. In the Bible, Micah 7:13 reads "And the earth will become desolate because of her inhabitants, on account of the fruit of their deeds."
 * Science Hero: Many terminals allow you to turn robots and turrets against your enemies. Most notably the Enclave in the final mission at Adam's Air Force Base.
 * Unresolved Sexual Tension: Hints are dropped the Lone Wanderer had this with Amata.
 * Wise Beyond Their Years: The Lone Wanderer is nineteen.
 * Which really say something that fresh out of Vault 101, one of the first things you can do upon arriving in Megaton is deactivate a nuclear bomb.

Fawkes
"Voiced by: Wes Johnson"

Formerly a security guard living in Vault 87, Fawkes was one day chosen for an experiment involving FEV, which turned him into a super mutant. Unlike his brethren, Fawkes retained his intelligence through the transformation. This caused the other Super Mutants to shun him, and when the player first meets him he's locked up in a cell in Vault 87. He carries a Gatling Laser and can only be obtained with Good Karma.

""Imagine the evil that can be destroyed with this tool!""
 * Always Lawful Good: He won't join you if you're neutral or evil. He always wants to do the moral and right thing.
 * Artificial Stupidity: In combat this is generally averted, but in certain cases he can actually stop following you, requiring you to go back and fetch him. This can be a problem if, say you go into Rivet City's Market, leave just before it's locked, and then have to break in to fetch him (most people will threaten to shoot you and him to pieces- not that they can of course.).
 * Badass: Starts with more hit-points then a Super Mutant Behemoth.
 * The Big Guy
 * Big Damn Heroes: If you rescue him from Vault 87, he'll later show up to help you outside of Raven Rock while he is gunning down Enclave soldiers with a Gatling Laser.
 * But Thou Must!: In the pre-Broken Steel game, he will not
 * BFG: His Gatling Laser.


 * Defector From Decadence: Though he never really was part of it to begin with; he retained too much intellect after mutation to become a raving monster like the other super mutants.
 * Drop the Hammer: His melee weapon is a sledgehammer.
 * Elephant in The Living Room: No one, not even the Brotherhood of Steel, seems to bat an eye when they see the hero of the wastes traveling around with an eight foot tall gatling laser wielding mutant who looks just like the ones who've already tried to kill them numerous times. Fawkes hand waves it with the random line "It's amazing people trust you enough not to attack me", since you can only recruit him with good karma.
 * Eleventh-Hour Ranger: Fawkes can't be recruited until the final quest in the main quest line. While you can still explore the wasteland and complete sidequests with him, by the time you get him you're pretty much at the end of the game's main storyline.
 * Gentle Giant: He has a sort of Zen philosophy... and can rip you apart with his bare hands.
 * Genius Bruiser
 * Infinity+1 Sword: He's by far the most powerful companion in the game, with the most powerful weapon, over seven times more health than a Super Mutant Behemoth, and the fastest run speed.
 * Hypercompetent Sidekick: A popular tactic among players is to have average small guns and energy weapons skills, just about enough to get through most of the story, then let Fawkes do all the work while they put points into science, repair, lockpick, medicine, etc. Fawkes is more than capable of destroying anything in the wasteland by himself.
 * Improbable Aiming Skills: He is ridiculously accurate with his Gatling Laser
 * Insistent Terminology: Fawkes hates being called a Super Mutant. He likes to refer to himself and his brethren as metahuman.
 * Lightning Bruiser
 * Nigh Invulnerable: With Broken Steel, his health is at least 10 times higher than anything in the game.
 * No Indoor Voice: Like all super mutants, however with him its the most noticeable since he talks intelligently, but the tone of it sounds like he's about to go berserk and beat you to death with a hammer.
 * Made of Iron: When you first meet him, he has 3,000 hit points, and that is without installing broken steel so he can level up. The Super Mutant Behemoth, A 20 foot tall boss monster, has 2,000 hit points.
 * It is confirmed he can survive being hit with the Experimental MIRV!
 * Mighty Glacier
 * Tragic Monster: Although he's not berserk like other the super mutants.
 * Video Game Caring Potential: Letting him out of his prison at Vault 87.
 * Video Game Cruelty Potential: You can not only leave him in his prison, likely not to be released for years yet to come... you can actually 'purge' the room with fire, killing him outright.

Star Paladin Cross
"Voiced by: Shari Elliker"

The highest ranking Paladin of the Brotherhood of Steel, Cross is Elder Lyon's cyborg adviser and bodyguard. When the Lone Wanderer was a child, she helped escort James to Megaton. She can be a follower to a player with Good Karma.


 * Asskicking Equals Authority: She didn't become the highest ranking paladin in the brotherhood by giving out free hugs, thats for sure.
 * Badass Grandma: Even 19 years after helping the lone wanderer's father she is still kicking ass and taking names.
 * Berserk Button: She will refuse to follow the player if they try to call James out.
 * The Big Guy: Cross has significantly more health than any other human companion, has the best default armor, and is skilled in the use of Big Guns and Energy Weapons.
 * Drop the Hammer: Her main weapon is a Super Sledge.
 * Lady of War
 * Power Armor: Like all other Brotherhood members.
 * We Can Rebuild Her

Butch DeLoria
"Voiced by: Craig Sechler"

Formerly a bully at Vault 101, Butch has grown into a man tired of living in the Vault and aching for some freedom. If the player has the Vault opened in the Trouble On The Homefront quest, he can be found in Rivet City and can be recruited with Neutral Karma. He has weak default weapons, a 10mm Pistol and his Switchblade Knife.

"Whoa whoa whoa, don't take this the wrong way, but you're a little too... intense. I mean yeah, a gang has to be tough, but you, you're psycho!"
 * Badass Normal: Despite being the least useful companion, one has to remember he's just some kid from the Vault who managed to fight his way through the wasteland with nothing but a pistol and his switchblade.
 * Can't Catch Up: Compared to the more useful Neutral companions RL-3 and Charon, he has low health and very weak starting weapons (Charon has an automatic shotgun and a machete for example, whereas Butch has a switchblade and 10mm Pistol, both weapons that can be obtained before the player even leaves the vault).
 * Delinquents: A 1950s greaser-type one, keeping with Fallout's aesthetics.
 * Enemy Mine / Fire-Forged Friends: Considering he was your childhood bully growing up, he turns friendly after you save his mom and can become your ally later in the game.
 * Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas
 * Even Evil Has Standards: If you try to recruit him with good karma, he'll state that you're too "goody two shoes" to travel with him. If you try to recruit him with negative karma...


 * Freudian Excuse: See next entry.
 * Jerkass: Although he grows into more of a joke, and is far weaker than the player character, he relentlessly bullies the player in his childhood.
 * Moves to Jerkass Woobie when you consider his mother is The Alcoholic and its implied he has to struggle to eat because she spends on their money on booze.
 * Joke Character: He is by far the weakest companion, especially with Broken Steel installed
 * Small Name, Big Ego: After the Tunnel Snakes disband due to one member dying and the other quitting, Butch decides to make a new tunnel snakes gang outside of the vault. "The most badass gang in the entire wastes!" The gang consists of one gang leader, and one member, both are Butch.

RL-3
"Voiced by: Jeff Baker"

A pre-war Mr.Gustsy type military robot armed with a plasma weapon and a flamethrower, RL-3, like many robots, is still running on his fission battery and survived the nuclear war. However, he is not instantly hostile, and as a result was acquired and fixed up by a trader named Tinkerer Joe, who is currently selling RL-3 for 1,000 caps (500 with a speech check). However, RL-3 has his own programmed personality, and will only join people who are not too "extreme" (which means you can only buy him with Neutral Karma).

"Kill 'em all and let god sort 'em out!"
 * But Thou Must!: Despite being a frickin robot, he will not enter the irradiated chamber to start the purify, at least without Broken Steel.
 * Can't Catch Up: Without Broken Steel, he does kick ass at first, but the fact that he does not level up with the player past level 9 makes him much less useful at the end of the game.
 * Drill Sergeant Nasty
 * Infinity-1 Sword: With Broken Steel, he has incredibly high health, but is just below Fawkes due to his lack of killing power at higher levels.
 * Kill It With Fire: Comes with a built-in flamethrower. Toasty!
 * Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner:


 * Non-Human Sidekick

Jericho
"Voiced by: James Lewis"

A former Raider currently living in Megaton, Jericho has decided to leave his life of stealing and killing behind him. He just lounges around Megaton all day, sleeping in his one room shack or getting drunk at Moriarty's bar, but can be recruited by a player with Evil Karma. He carries a Chinese Assault Rifle and a nailboard.


 * Attempted Rape: Reading Moriarty's terminal reveals that he attempted to rape Jenny Stahl once. Moriarty is of course keeping that information just in case he needs to blackmail him later.
 * Badass Normal: Apparently just some random Raider, yet he can easily dispatch entire groups of super mutants. Indeed, the residents of Megaton put up with him because his skills are a key contributing factor in the town's ability to defend against Raider and Slaver raids.
 * Badass Grandpa: He may not look it, but according to the Fallout official game guide, he's 65 years old.
 * Badass Beard
 * Bald of Evil
 * Blood Knight: He's by far the most bloodthirsty companion, and if you stop to talk to him he'll complain that he does not want to stop in the middle of the action.
 * Can't Catch Up: He has a very good default weapon and is a good all rounder the first time you meet him, which can be very early, but later in the game he becomes less useful when more powerful companions like Charon and Fawkes become available.
 * Older Than They Look
 * Pet the Dog: He may be completely devoid of morality and has committed unspeakable crimes, but he still sleeps with his teddy bear by his side in his house.
 * Retired Monster

Clover
"Voiced by: Jan Johns"

Eulogy Jones' personal bodyguard/sex slave, she is nonetheless utterly devoted to her master. She can only be initially purchased by an Evil Karma player, but can then later be re-hired regardless of Karma.


 * Action Girl: Not as strong as many of the other women of Fallout, but she still manages to be a pretty good fighter for a decent portion of the early game.
 * Bodyguard Babe: Though not a very good one...
 * Can't Catch Up: Clover's default weapon is weak (a very short range sawed off shotgun, in contrast to Jericho's assault rifle or Charon's unique sniper shotgun), and her stats are quite average. Along with Butch, she really doesn't have any pluses that make her a recommendable companion.
 * Explosive Leash
 * Happiness in Slavery: Explicitly stated to be in love with whomever that holds her leash.
 * Mind Rape
 * Perky Female Minion
 * Psycho for Hire
 * Shotguns Are Just Better: Inverted. Her sawed-off shotgun has very short range and she lacks the power to deal any real damage with it. Honestly, she'd probably be better off using an assault rifle or even a revolver.

Charon
"Voiced by: Mike Rosson"

A ghoul with a mysterious past, Charon was apparently brainwashed in his childhood to blindly follow whoever holds his contract. He is currently a bouncer in an Underworld bar called the The Ninth Circle, where his contract can be purchased from its current owner, Ahzrukal, or obtained from him by killing off his competition on the alcohol business.


 * Blue and Orange Morality: Fundamentally good when he's on his own, but as long as you hold his contract he'll do whatever he's told regardless of how moral it is or how good (or not) you are.
 * Brainwashed and Crazy: Although he is far saner then most people like this. The only major effect from the brainwashing seems to be complete loyalty to whoever holds his contract.
 * Captain Obvious: Occasionally tosses out "I don't like the looks of this place" and "This place is not safe" when wandering around, somehow feeling the need to warn you even if you're in a Deathclaw lair, a Raider camp, etc...
 * Jack of All Stats: He is a good all rounder, with a good starting weapon, all around good skills, is obtained mid-way into the game, and can be recruited regardless of karma
 * Karmic Death: He delivers one to Ahzrukal.
 * He'll try to do this to the player as well if they're evil enough and he's just been dismissed from service.
 * Shotguns Are Just Better: His "sniper shotgun", which actually has significantly less spread than the normal combat shotgun and thus is more lethal at long-range without sacrificing any power.
 * The Dog Bites Back: Beware if you release him from his contract and also happen to be evil.

Dogmeat
The Lone Wanderer's canine companion (seen in the above picture). Dogmeat is a stray found in the scrapyard, usually fighting off raiders (though, some have reported seeing him in other areas far away from the scrapyard fighting things including Enclave soldiers and Super Mutants).


 * Canine Companion: The best one for any video game ever.
 * Dead Guy, Junior / Someone to Remember Him By: With the Puppies! perk, added in Broken Steel, should Dogmeat get killed in the line of duty, one of his puppies/reincarnation will appear by the Vault 101 entrance a short time later. The puppy is treated as if he were the original and is thus subject to the perk as well.
 * Everythings Precious With Puppies: Awww, did Dogmeat die heroically in combat? Well now your beloved companion is gone forever... or is he? With the Puppies! perk you'll never have to worry about his safety again! Whenever he bites it you'll just have to wait for a new doggie buddy to show up at vault 101. Truly, puppies make everything better.
 * Lost Forever: Yes, Dogmeat can be killed. If he is, he's dead for good.
 * Infinity-1 Sword: Like Fawkes and RL-3, he levels up with the player with the Broken Steel DLC added, and can end up with insane health by time you reach level 30. The only thing keeping him from being Plus One is his lack of a long range attack.
 * Legacy Character: Word of God says he's the descendant of the Dogmeat from Fallout 1.
 * Made of Iron: "Dogmeat! Go rip off that Super Mutant Behemoth's arms!"

Vault 101 Characters
Vault 101 is where the player character was born and spends their childhood. While it only takes up about an hour of gameplay in the main storyline, it can be returned to later for a quest.

The Overseer (Alphonse Almodovar)
"Voiced by: Duncan Hood"

The ruler of Vault 101. Afraid of losing control, he exercises complete control over everyone in the vault, and enforces the rule that "no one ever enters and no one ever leaves." His only soft spot is his daughter, Amata.


 * Establishing Character Moment: Follow him up the stairs during your birthday party to get one for him--
 * Kick the Dog: He has  murdered because he suspected him of cooperating with Dad in his escape, and will straight up try to execute you if you surrender to him.
 * Jerkass
 * Papa Wolf: And how.
 * James' medical notes reveal that he is present during all of his daughters check-ups in order to make sure his daughter hasn't gotten pregnant. If the Lone Wanderer is a male, this definitely adds a whole other level of subtext to why he has developed such an irrational hatred of you.
 * The Password Is Always Swordfish: The password to his terminal is . Not only that, but he keeps a paper with his password on it in the same room as the terminal.
 * Pet the Dog: He does genuinely care for his daughter, Amata. During "Escape!", you can threaten her and he'll back off immediately. During "Trouble On The Homefront" you can.
 * Ungrateful Bastard: Even if you come back and complete "Trouble On The Homefront" in his favor. He does give you a reward... and then basically tells you to get the hell out and never come back.
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: When you're escaping from the vault, you need to get his password to open the door. In this conversation with him, you have the option of surrendering, and giving him your gun. He then tries to kill you. With the same gun.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: He really does mean well. He can even be talked out of doing what he's doing if you can convince him that it's ultimately bad for the residents of the vault.

Amata Almodovar
"Voiced by: Odette Yustman"

The daughter of the Overseer and the Lone Wanderer's childhood friend. She helps them escape after James goes missing and the Overseer wants answers.


 * Childhood Friend Romance: It's pretty strongly implied that you and Amata might have a crush on each other. Though depending on your actions that can easily be stopped.
 * Klingon Promotion: Can be one way of solving the quest Trouble On The Homefront, kill the overseer and promote her to leader.
 * The Overseer's Daughter: Though she isn't used as a MacGuffin, she does get a lot of crap growing up because her dad was in charge.
 * Ungrateful Bitch: While her choice to kick you out of the Vault has some justification in the script, the voice acting makes it come off as very casual and regretless on her part (especially since you have to leave forever). Perhaps Amata and her father are Not So Different.

Jonas
"Voiced by: Gregory Gorton"

A friend of the player's father.


 * Black and Nerdy
 * Reasonable Authority Figure: Seemingly one of the scant few in Vault 101.
 * Reasonable Authority Figure: Seemingly one of the scant few in Vault 101.

Megaton Characters
Megaton is one of the more stable settlements around, with about thirty people, a sheriff, a water purifier, scavenging teams, and a wall to keep Raiders out. However, there is the little problem of an unexploded atomic bomb in the middle of the town, but hey, it keeps those nuts at the Church of the Children of Atom occupied, so how bad can it be? When the Lone Wanderer arrives, Megaton's fate can be decided.

Sheriff Lucas Simms
"Voiced by: Gergory L. Williams"

The de-facto Sheriff (and mayor) of Megaton, and the first person the Lone Wanderer meets on the surface.


 * Asskicking Equals Authority: The reason he is officially in charge and Moriarty isn't? Simms has the better gun and more skill with it.
 * Bald Black Leader Guy: Though you wouldn't know he was bald, unless he's killed and you take his hat off.
 * Cowboy Cop: Subverted Trope. While he does dress up as a cowboy, he's much closer to a By-The-Book Cop.
 * I Owe You My Life: You can save his life when he stupidly turns his back on Mr. Burke after arresting him if you're quick. He thanks you for it, but he doesn't give you any tangible reward.
 * Klingon Promotion: The title of sheriff seems to go to whoever puts on Lucas' duster after he dies. However, his prepubescent son Harden lays claim on the official duties of sheriff if his dad is murdered, and will refuse to recognize you if you put on his dad's outfit.
 * Nice Hat: There's only one other like it in the Capital Wasteland (worn by Sonora Cruz of the Regulators).
 * Reasonable Authority Figure: He's a nice guy with good morals and firm patience. You could make fun of him all you like, and insult his town, and he merely shakes his head and warns you to behave.
 * Too Dumb to Live: If you ask him to arrest Burke, he runs to Burke and tells Burke to follow him. He then turns his back on him and puts away his rifle, leaving him open to a gunshot to the back.
 * Ultimate Authority Mayor: He is both mayor and sheriff, which also seems to entail being judge, jury, executioner, and welcome committee.

Colin Moriarty
"Voiced by: Mike Rosson"

The owner of Moriarty's Saloon. He's got a lot of connections, and has a lot of people who owe him a lot of money. Lucas Simms claims to be the mayor of Megaton, but Moriarty is the one aiming to have complete control over the citizens.


 * Zero-Percent Approval Rating: Everyone wants Moriarty gone. And he knows it.
 * Affably Evil
 * Faux Affably Evil: He'll act all polite and friendly to your face, but one look at his computer tells us what he's saying about people behind their backs...
 * For the Evulz: There's a rumor in town that Moriarty pisses in his drink stills, just because he can.
 * I Own This Town: His connections, information and general power would allow him to take over Megaton if Lucas Simms wasn't around.
 * Jerkass: Keeps information on his terminal to blackmail people with, overcharges on alcohol, and refuses to tell the Lone Wanderer about his father until paid.
 * However, despite being a complete bastard, technically he's not evil, just really manipulative. Because of this, you lose karma for killing him, even if everyone in Megaton would be thankful for him to be gone.
 * Mean Boss: Treats his workers like shit, putting them in so much debt to him that they are essentially slaves. He forces Nova into prostitution, and he regularly beats Gob viciously. When Silver tried to get away from him, he sends you out to kill her.
 * Pet the Dog: Ordinarily, Moriarty would've have thrown James and his child out of his establishment when they met for the very first time, simply because said child's crying annoyed him. but James talked him out of it. In fact, if you read Moriarty's notes, you get the feeling James actually managed the rare feat of getting actual courtesy and respect out of Moriarty. And, in a smaller instance, he does wind up leveling with you and telling you the mostly unvarnished truth even if you fail the speech check. That said, bear in mind this man is a known liar.

Moira Brown
"Voiced by: Karen Carbone"

The owner of the Craterside Supply, a general store in Megaton. She's weird. The Lone Wanderer can help her fulfill her life's dream of authoring the definitive book on how to survive the wasteland. Conversely, the Wanderer can rip her off, hiding out in the saloon all day, then coming back to give her idiotic and dangerous advice.


 * Big Good: Despite her oddities and foibles, her driving motivation behind her actions is to become one of these for the entire Wasteland, courtesy of publishing the definitive guide on how to survive in a post apocalyptic world, and if the Lone Wanderer helps her make the guide as best they can, she succeeds in spades, to the point her guide can prove an invaluable resource to the Courier.
 * Cloudcuckoolander
 * Genki Girl: She's always smiling and cheerful. Even when ghoulified.
 * Mad Scientist: She's always doing "experiments", many of a somewhat questionable nature (such as trying to find out whether Mole Rats can be tamed, or if Mirelurks can be used as mounts).
 * At one point, she says she thought of digging a well with a Mini-Nuke. Wisely, she reconsidered.
 * Nice Girl: Her quirks aside, she really does have no ulterior motives aside from wanting to help people with what she discovers from her experiments.
 * Try Not to Die: She'll send you off on incredibly dangerous missions with friendly advice to this effect - especially the ones where you need to become injured and have a broken limb. She will even cheerily say the trope name word-for-word.
 * The Pollyanna: Especially obvious if you nuke Megaton. She will be turned into a ghoul, but wont care at all, and even thanks you for detonating the bomb because she thinks its nice that "you helped those nice people at the Children of Atom out".

Jenny Stahl
"Voiced by: Shari Elliker"

One of the owners of The Brass Lantern and Moriarty's only business competitor.


 * Big Screwed-Up Family: Andy is incredibly angry and bitter, even chatting with Burke about his little deal, and Leo is a notorious addict. She seems to be the only one with a level head.
 * Doesn't Like Guns: It appears that way, she carries a .32 pistol, but never uses it, even when attacked.
 * Stepford Smiler: You'd never know from talking to her, but Jericho tried to rape her a while back. At night while she's sleeping you can hear her talk in her sleep while having nightmares.
 * Also her brother is a Fortunately, the Lone Wanderer can help him overcome this little problem.

Confessor Cromwell
"Voiced by: Peter Gil"

An old (and possibly senile or insane) old man who spends his entire day standing in a puddle of radiation next to an undetonated atomic bomb. He preaches about the "Children Of Atom" and will gladly except new members and donations.


 * Cloudcuckoolander: Standing knee-deep in radioactive water all day may or may not have something to do with that...
 * Good Shepherd: Whether his message is a good thing to believe in or not aside, he's pleasant enough to the Lone Wanderer if spoken to, and judging by the fact he and his parishioners helped build Megaton, his teachings seem to encourage reaching a helping hand out to others as long as you respect their beliefs.

Gob
"Voiced by: Mike Rosson"

An unfortunate ghoul who came to Megaton from Underworld seeking adventure. He ended up as Moriarty's worker (basically a slave) to pay off a debt he owed, which Moriarty unfairly increases by charging him for trivial things like simply living there.


 * Because You Were Nice to Me: His reason for risking Moriarty's wrath by giving the Lone Wanderer a discount? The Wanderer was the only customer who didn't insult or hit him.
 * Interspecies Romance: Of a sort. He apparently is infatuated with Nova, the town prostitute. She's aware of it, and she does think he's sweet, but she says that even she isn't willing to go there.
 * Under New Management: If you kill Moriarty, Gob will eventually take over the saloon, making it Gob's Saloon. He's likely much happier after this.

Nova
The town prostitute. Working for Moriarty (under duress), she clearly hates the guy like everyone else in town, but otherwise is rather decently regarded by everyone else.


 * Hooker With a Heart of Gold: She herself is rather affable and pleasant to everyone, but what makes her more than just a nice girl is that she can look past the fact Gob is a ghoul and treats him like a person. True, she wouldn't want to sleep with him, but otherwise regards a guy who usually gets The Chew Toy treatment with compassion.
 * Ms. Fanservice: Easily the sexiest woman in Megatown without trying very hard.
 * Under New Management: If you kill Moriarty, Nova will take over running the inn part of the saloon, and will no longer be a prostitute.

Billy Creel
A trader who helps Megaton stay supplied. Raises a little girl named Maggie orphaned after a Raider attack.


 * Abusive Parents: Averted hard. Colin Moriarty believes that he killed her parents and is raising Maggie for unsavory purposes, but examination of his home and Maggie's current well being rather easily prove otherwise.
 * Good Parents: He downplays this, but it's obvious Maggie is doing well under his care.
 * Promotion to Parent: Self-induced after taking her in after a Raider attack. He even lampshades that if wasn't what he intended, but if he had his own daughter, he'd want her to be like Maggie.
 * Totally Radical: His speech is peppered with "hip" expressions.

Tenpenny Tower characters
Tenpenny Tower was formerly a hotel before the war, but since it survived the bombs with next to no damage, it attracted the attention of a man named Allistair Tenpenny. After hiring some people to fix up the place, he moved in and the hotel eventually become a small town, with its own security force, power generator, walls, and merchants. Regardless, it still functions as a hotel, and all but Tenpenny's friends (and guards) must pay to get into the most luxurious place in the wasteland. Ghouls need not apply.

Allistair Tenpenny
"Voiced by: Charlie Warren"

The owner of the tower and local old asshole. He spends his days bored and "on safari", which means sniping things from the top of his grand tower.


 * Affably Evil: He's a very polite and charming old man, who likes to hold conversations with you and will even give you 500 caps if you negotiate a peaceful solution concerning the ghouls.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: On account of being, well, old.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Granted, wanting to see Megaton blown up is a horribly dick move (because it was marring his view), but at least he had the decency to ask Burke to evacuate people before the deed was done. Unfortunately, Burke was willing to ignore this and let everyone die anyway.
 * Expy: One cannot look at him without being reminded of Howard Hughes. Take special note of the milk bottles lining the walls of his penthouse suite.
 * Kick the Son of A Bitch: If you kill him, you get Good Karma.
 * Retired Monster
 * The Mean Brit
 * Orcus On His Throne

Mr. Burke
"Voiced by: Wes Johnson"

Mr. Burke is a shady character. He apparently just came out of nowhere when Tenpenny Tower was first being built, and has acted as Tenpenny's right hand man ever since. Currently, he's working on taking care of this ugly looking town on the horizon with the live nuclear bomb in the middle of the town. The Lone Wanderer first encounters him in Moriarty's Saloon in Megaton, where Burke is trying to find someone to help him with that.


 * Affably Evil
 * Artificial Stupidity: Thanks to the way the game AI works, it is piss easy to foil his assassination attempt of Lucas by simply clicking the talk button repeatedly as soon as Lucas turns around. He will immediately turn to face you and tell you to quit bothering him, and in that time you can shoot him full of holes. What makes this stupid is that he could simply be coded to ignore you as he pulls out his gun like some other characters are for other confrontations.
 * Badass: While in actual game play he goes down pretty easily, certain quests can be taken that end in Burke sneaking into Tenpenny Tower and scaring the living shit out of Roy Phillips so much that Roy decides to make him his right-hand man out of fear.
 * Badass in A Nice Suit: He has a very nice suit, a hat, glasses, and a silenced pistol.
 * Dragon-in-Chief: He seems to be the one who came up with (and executed) the idea for blowing up Megaton, as well as many other of Tenpenny's plots. Tenpenny himself just appears to be a crazy old man.
 * Enigmatic Minion: By Tenpenny's accounts, Burke just showed up out of nowhere one day and started to act as Tenpenny's right-hand man. His actual goals, motives, and background are never revealed, other than a brief line in his love letters to a female player character where he talks about making "necessary sacrifices" to rebuild the world for humanity.
 * Expy: He's basically Fallout 3's answer to Oblivion's Lucien Lachance, even having the exact same voice.
 * Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Emphasis on the "zero soul" part.
 * Nuke'Em: He seems to have some weird love of nuclear explosions. Just listen to him if you blow up Megaton.
 * Nuke'Em: He seems to have some weird love of nuclear explosions. Just listen to him if you blow up Megaton.

Chief Gustavo
"Voiced by: Pete Papageorge"

The chief of the security guards at Tenpenny Tower who has been concerned with a small group of ghouls hiding out in the nearby Metro tunnels lead by Roy Phillips.


 * Fantastic Racism: His hatred of ghouls.
 * General Ripper
 * Hypercompetent Sidekick: He's more or less in charge of running Tenpenny Tower. Tenpenny just sits up in his suite all day.
 * Properly Paranoid: All his talk about how Roy was a violent asshole who was trying to kill everyone with hordes of feral ghouls? It was all correct.

Herbert "Daring" Dashwood
"Voiced by: Paul Eiding"

The subject of the GNR radio play "The Adventures of Herbert Dashwood", Herbert once traveled the wastes, going on adventures with his "stalwart ghoul manservant, Argyle". He has retired from his life of adventures and currently resides at Tenpenny Tower

"Herbert: Did you notice that Chief Gustavo turns a delightful shade of purple when he gets angry?"
 * Cool Old Guy
 * Downer Ending: The real ending to his adventures. It ended with Rockopolis getting massacred by the slavers and his sidekick Argyle dead.
 * Flanderization: In-universe example; he says the radio play made him out to be more of a bumbling fool than he really was.
 * Nice Guy: He's pretty much the only person at Tenpenny Tower who doesn't seem like a complete jerk.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Leading the slavers to Rockopolis. In the Tenpenny Tower quest, he will also give you a key to the generator room and tell you to have fun down there. You can then open the door with the key, blow up the generator and let in Feral ghouls to massacre the entire town.
 * Only Sane Man: He's the only one in Tenpenny Tower who isn't an ignorant asshole.
 * Retired Badass:
 * If Roy Phillips attacks Tenpenny Towers with his army of feral ghouls, Dashwood is the only resident who manages to put up any kind of meaningful resistance. He'll usually manage to bring down several ferals before being overwhelming by sheer numbers.
 * Sidekick Ex Machina: In the radio play, Herbert would often get into trouble and have to rely on his friend Argyle to bail him out. If questioned about this, he will reveal it wasn't completely true, but Argyle most definitely was more badass than Herbert was.
 * Screwy Squirrel: You can often find him playing tricks on people in Tenpenny Tower

Roy Phillips
"Voiced by: Mike Rosson"

The leader of a small gang of ghouls (consisting of him, his two friends, and dozens of Feral Ghouls) who live in Warrington Station under Tenpenny Tower. He has tried to gain entry to Tenpenny Tower, but the residents have turned him away due to their bigotry against ghouls.


 * Dark Is Evil
 * He Who Fights Monsters
 * Not So Different: When talking to him, you have the option of saying that he's an anti-human bigot and basically no different from Tenpenny himself. His only response is a big "screw you".
 * Ungrateful Bastard: If the residents of Tenpenny Tower peacefully let him in, he'll slaughter them all, steal their things, and throw their bodies in the basement. If you confront him about it, he'll tell you to fuck off before he adds you to the pile of corpses.
 * Villain With Good Publicity: Has Three Dog's support and is even marked as a Good character in-game. Three Dog does call him out once he learns Roy slaughtered the Tower's human inhabitants for pretty much no reason, though, and you no longer take a karma hit for killing him if you do so after learning of Roy's deeds.
 * Zombie Apocalypse: His plan for massacring the inhabitants of Tenpenny Tower is to let in dozens of Feral Ghouls to overrun security and kill everyone inside.

Bessie Lynn
"Voiced by: Audrey Wasilewski"

Roy Phillips' girlfriend and one of his two non-Feral Ghoul followers trying to move into Tenpenny Tower. She seems incredibly innocent and frail, and seems to be completely unaware of what Roy Phillips did to get rid of the inhabitants of the tower.


 * I Just Want to Be Loved: She is devoted to Roy because he is the only man in 200 years to make her feel beautiful again.
 * I Just Want to Be Normal: She is over joyed if allowed into the tower, and spends her days trying on fancy dresses, happy to have a "normal" life again for the first time in over two hundred years.
 * I Was Quite a Looker: She comments on how before she became a ghoul she was very pretty looking.

Susan Lancaster
"Voiced by: Karen Carbone"

One of several ghoul hating residents. She is a former slaver who retired from Paradise Falls and bought a spot in Tenpenny Tower. She now seems to make her pay by acting as a prostitute amongst the male residents.


 * Rich Bitch
 * Really Gets Around: She is sleeping with every man in the tower, well, all except Anthony Ling.
 * The Vamp: She uses sex as her security to stay in this lavish home. At night she walks around the tower in sexy underwear just because she can.
 * The Mistress: While she certainly is not in any monogamous relationships, Edgar Wellington II seems particularly infatuated with her, and writes her loves notes behind his wife's back.

Rivet City
A large aircraft carrier ship that has become a relatively safe home for the many survivors who live there thanks to its location, thick steel walls, and retractable bridge. It has its own bazaar, hotel, science lab, and even church. They also have their own police force standing guard and patrolling the city, adding yet another blanket of safety for its civilians.

Doctor Madison Li
"Voiced by: Jennifer Massey"

A scientist working in Rivet City who helped James with project purity. Along with Bannon and Harkness she is a member of the city council and runs the science section.

"LYONS!!! I know you're in there, I know you can hear me! You open this goddamn door right now!! (cue door opening)"
 * Action Survivor: Dammit James, she's a doctor, not a gun slinger! She doesn't have a weapon, or any fighting skills whatsoever, but she can dodge Enclave lasers well enough, and infiltrate the Brotherhood of Steel headquarters just by raging at them over the intercom.


 * All Love Is Unrequited: Word of God says she was in love with James, but put aside her emotions when he got married, instead deciding to put her focus on science.
 * Asian and Nerdy
 * Heroic BSOD: After escaping the Enclave, all the insanity causes her to go into shock, and mentally collapses for a while.
 * Put On a Bus: In Broken Steel, she apparently decides to leave the Capital Wasteland during your coma, and moves to the Commonwealth to pursue her science in a safer environment.

James (Dad)
"Voiced by: Liam Neeson"

The father of the player character. While he claimed to be from Vault 101, in truth he was part of a science team in Rivet City working on something called "Project Purity", a project designed to bring clean water to the wasteland for drinking and agriculture purposes. He was a good father for most of his life, but when his child turned 19, he left the vault to pursue Project Purity once again. The player searching for him is what drives the first part of the plot.


 * Anti-Hero: Type I to a degree. He's one of the most noble characters in the DC Wasteland, but he's not without his flaws.
 * Big Good: In a way
 * Badass Beard
 * Deadly Doctor: He's actually pretty proficient in combat, even if he wasn't invincible due to him being marked as "essential".
 * Disappeared Dad: Jump starts the plot
 * Good Parents
 * Guile Hero/Science Hero: Speaking with people who've dealt with him in the past, such as Moriarty and Dr. Li, reveals that James is extremely charismatic and has a way with words; he was able to convince Moriarty to help him despite the bar owner's normally selfish nature, was able to talk his way into Vault 101 despite the Overseer's extreme isolationism and xenophobia, and was able to convince the Brotherhood to help defend Project Purity despite their doubts over its success or utility. He's quite similar to a Speech-based player-character.
 * Heroic Sacrifice:.
 * Stupid Sacrifice:
 * Manipulative Bastard: Not only did he convince The Overseer to let him into Vault 101, xenophobia be damned (although the need for a doctor did greatly grease the skids of the decision), he actually managed to get Moriarty to put his Jerkass ways on park around him.
 * Mysterious Past: His past prior to starting Project Purity is deliberately vague, although it seems to be suggested in dialogue with other characters that he wasn't originally from Rivet City. A (possibly non-canonical) photograph showing a young version of him and Catherine found in Vault 21 in New Vegas suggests he somehow migrated from the Mojave Wasteland to the Capital Wasteland.
 * Nice Guy
 * Reasonable Authority Figure
 * What the Hell, Hero?: If you nuke Megaton, he won't hesitate to let you know how he feels about it.
 * What Were You Thinking?: The Lone Wanderer can give James a hefty heaping of this after they reconnect.

Chief Harkness/
"Voiced by: Craig Sechler"

The head of the police/security force at Rivet City and a member of the three person council that runs the settlement (with the other two being Doctor Li, who runs the science section, and Bannon, who runs the merchant section). .


 * Disc One Nuke:.
 * Jerk With a Heart of Gold: He's a bit rude when you first meet him, but he does just want to protect the people of Rivet City.
 * Video Game Cruelty Potential:
 * Jerk With a Heart of Gold: He's a bit rude when you first meet him, but he does just want to protect the people of Rivet City.
 * Video Game Cruelty Potential:
 * Video Game Cruelty Potential:
 * Video Game Cruelty Potential:

Flak and Shrapnel
"Voiced by: Gus Travers and Pete Papageorge respectively"

Two merchants who run the city gun store together. Flak is a former slaver, and Shrapnel is a former raider. Depending on your morality, you can help the slavers in Paradise Falls get back at Flak for selling them out.


 * The Atoner: They both were horrible, horrible people in the past who did horrible horrible things. But the two both have put it behind them and are upstanding citizens in the town now, and drop ears to prove it.
 * Gayngster
 * Heartbroken Badass: Sometimes when Flak is enslaved and taken away, Shrapnel will leave Rivet City to wander aimlessly in the wasteland.
 * Allegedly if you follow him he eventually makes his way to Paradise Falls.
 * Heel Face Door Slam: You can personally see to it that Flak doesn't get to have a happy new life, by being paid by Paradise Falls to either murder him or have him enslaved. Considering Shrapnel is almost always by his side, odds are good you'd have to take him out too.
 * Nobody Over Fifty Is Gay: Flak and Shrapnel are both 50, according to the game guide
 * Straight Gay: There's no indication when talking to them, but the two are a couple, and share a bed together in the room they share.
 * Plus a slaver in paradise falls refers to Flak as "an old queen".

Sister
"Voiced by: Gregory Gorton"

A slaver sent by Eulogy Jones to join in on the hunt for the missing android, in order to capture it for use of the Paradise Falls slavers. He decided he liked Rivet City though, and chooses to stay there indefinitely.


 * Gender Blender Name: He refuses to talk to you about his name.
 * Going Native: To an extent
 * Retired Monster: Unlike Flak, Sister is not sorry about his job as a slaver, and is still evil and drops a finger if killed. If you help him enslave Mei Wong, then he'll leave his retirement and go back to the slaving business without question.

Horace Pinkerton
"Voiced by: Gregory Gorton"

An odd man living in the broken bow of Rivet City who plays a major role in the missing android sidequest. As it turns out


 * Guide Dang It: Don't have a strategy guide or the internet? Well, good luck finding him!
 * Magic Plastic Surgery: He can give this to the Lone Wanderer if they want, and with only a 35% chance of fatal infection!

Underworld
A large settlement built into the remains of the museum of history. It is noteworthy as being the only all ghoul settlement in the wasteland as well as possibly their only safe haven from the bigoted humans that roam the outside world.

Mr. Crowley
"Voiced by: Mike Rosson"

A ghoul in a suit who gives the wanderer a task to kill five bigoted humans and retrieve their keys for him.


 * Badass in A Nice Suit: He doesn't seem like much when you first meet him and asks you to do most of his dirty work for him, but once
 * Boom! Headshot!: His quest name is even "You gotta shoot em in the head." Mr. Crowley also won't give you the full bounty unless the target dies from a headshot.
 * Fantastic Racism: The reason he gives for wanting the humans on his list dead.

Ahzrukal
"Voiced by: Mike Rosson"

The proprietor of one of Underworld's two bars. He seems to only care about making money and isn't above using questionable means to get it.


 * Corrupt Corporate Executive: Or at least the closest thing possible to one in a post apocalyptic world.
 * Too Dumb to Live: He tells you himself that he believes that Charon holds no end of animosity towards him, but won't touch him so long as he holds his contract. You can then buy this contract from him for as little as 500 caps with a speech check, causing Charon to walk over and send his former employer into an early retirement.

Cerberus
"Voiced by: Stephen Russell"

A Mr. Gutsy robot who patrols underworld and keeps the residents safe... a task which he despises with every fiber of his being.


 * Ax Crazy: He desperately wants to kill every last underworld resident. The only thing stopping him is his combat inhibitor chip...
 * Comedic Sociopathy: He absolutely wants to murder all the ghouls that he is forced to serve... but can't so long as his combat inhibiter chip is intact.
 * Fantastic Racism: Tells the Lone Wanderer that he pretty much despises ghouls right to his face.
 * Meaningful Name: Cerberus was a three-headed demon dog who guarded the entrance to the underworld. This Cerberus is a robot with three... sensor thingies who also guards an underworld.
 * Video Game Cruelty Potential: A player with the robotic expert perk can disable his inhibitor chip and watch with demented glee as he slaughters the entire town.

Sydney
"Voiced by: Karen Carbone"

A relic hunter originally on a job from Abraham Washington in Rivet City to retrieve the Declaration of Independence. Once the player meets up with her, they can either team up with her, ignore her and finish the quest themselves (collecting her reward while they're at it), or murder her in cold blood to collect her reward as well.


 * Determinator: Not the most enduring of potential allies (you have to trade her stimpaks every time you want her to heal), nor the most powerful (her personal weapon is her own 10mm SMG, which is rapidly eclipsed by a good number of other weapons), but even if she's limping and up against superior firepower, she just won't back down. Also applies even if you complete the quest on your own, ignoring her completely: she will eventually track you down somewhere in the Wasteland, and she's understandably pissed that you took her reward caps. Thus, she and a friend of hers attack you with full fury. Granted, since she's up against the Lone Wanderer, she's got next to no chance, but points for trying.
 * Disappeared Dad: After working with her, she opens up just a bit to the player, admitting that her father went out one day when she was young and never came back, and saying she hates him for it.
 * Expy: Of Sydney Fox from Relic Hunter.
 * It May Help You On Your Quest: Of the more mundane variety; if you deliver her father's Last Words to her (see below), she gives you her customized 10mm submachine gun. Said weapon deals 2 more damage and holds 20 more rounds per clip than the usual SMG; a great weapon in its own right, especially with how easy it is to get 10mm ammo.
 * Alternatively, you can just take it from her by agreeing to team up with her, letting her charge off on her own, and looting her corpse for it.
 * Last Words: Not hers, but her father's. If she survives to the end of the quest she helps you with, and you ask about her father, you can find his final message in the Statesman Hotel. Upon delivery to her,, and presents her unique 10mm SMG as a gift to you, saying that with her relatively safer work in the Underworld, you'd need it more than she would.
 * Retired Badass: After finishing the Declaration heist, she decides to retire to the Underworld and set up shop as a weapons dealer, due to the facts that it's safer work, and because the Ghouls there don't blatantly stare at her ass.
 * Distracted By the Sexy: She lampshades this in one of her quotes when she is a companion.
 * "Focus on the mission and not on my ass, please."

Canterbury Commons
A small settlement to the north that is home to a few wastelanders, merchants, and a couple of crazy people who think that they are superheros. Unfortunately, having these "heros" have been causing the town no end of problems such as the two fighting in the streets and endangering innocents.

Tanya Christoff aka The Antagonizer
"Voiced by: Shari Elliker"

A would-be supervillan who terrorizes the town with her army of giant ants. Luckily, or unluckily, the Mechanist always stops her with his robots and drives her away... until the next day rolls around and they repeat the process.

"Lone Wanderer: "Now that I have your armor you don't have a chance!"
 * Cut Lex Luthor a Check: It's mentioned that her whacky ANTics have kept Raiders and Slavers away from the town. Imagine what her ability to control giant ants could do if she could be convinced to use that power to defend the people of the Wastes. Instead, talking her into a Heel Face Turn only results in her just leaving.
 * Evil Is Hammy: Doesn't get much hammier then dressing up as an ant themed supervillain... especially in a post-apocalyptic world where it just isn't that practical.
 * Freudian Excuse: Her family was killed by ants. For some reason this seemed to cause her to worship them.
 * Hannibal Lecture: Loves to rant about how humanity is inferior to ants and will only destroy itself, unlike the noble ants.
 * Harmless Villain: Her ants are a legitimate threat, but because almost everyone uses a gun their effectiveness is heavily negated. In fact the people of Canterbury Commons view her as an amusing distraction rather than a legitimate threat, at least until the Mechanist started a war with her that involved heavily-armed killbots constantly opening fire in the middle of town.
 * Heel Face Door Slam: Its possible to convince her to give up her life of crime and turn over a new leaf. After she hands over her costume, you then have the option of telling her you just said that to make her easier to do away with.

Antagonizer: "What?! NO!""


 * Villainous Breakdown: If you talk her into giving up, she immediately drops her Large Ham act and begs you to let her go. She sounds about three seconds away from crying.

Scott Wollinski aka The Mechanist
"Voiced by: Pete Papageorge"

A man who defended the town from the Antagonizer and decided to become her arch nemesis. As his name implies, he uses the superior technology of his robots to keep the Antagonizer at bay. Sadly, his efforts seem to be doing more harm then good as the battles between the two often put the other residents in danger.

"Mechanist: "FEAR NOT, CITIZEN!""
 * Cut Lex Luthor a Check: He has the ability to crank out powerful robots to defend human settlements, a skill which would be incredibly useful to a society beset by constant Raider and mutant attacks. Yet he is viewed as an intolerable nuisance, and the best outcome to the Canterbury Commons quest involves convincing him to give up his profession, get lost, and never come back.
 * Frickin' Laser Beams: His protectrons.
 * Hero With Bad Publicity: He means well, but the townsfolk hate him for starting fights with the Antagonizer. Sure enough, if the Lone Wanderer obtains his costume and equips it they'll take a -1 to charisma.
 * Large Ham: He's REALLY into this whole superhero persona thing.


 * Mecha Mooks: Once again, his protectrons.
 * Mr. Fixit: He was the town mechanic before the Antagonizer came along.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: While the Antagonizer was fun and relatively harmless, the mechanist's robots and missiles are a serious threat to everyone's safety.
 * Science Hero: His schtick.
 * SuperZero: The rest of the town sure seems to see him this way.

Girdershade
Girdershade is a small (very small) settlement on the southwest edge of the capital wasteland. Its only 2 inhabitants are a Nuka Cola addict and her protector (who really just wants get with her).

Sierra Petrovita
"Voiced by: Jan Johns"

A strange woman who has the best (and probably only) Nuka Cola collection in the entire wasteland. She gives the lone wanderer a tour and asks them to retrive a large supply of a special rare flavor of Nuka Cola.


 * Cloudcuckoolander: Something is not right in her head. Probably has something to do with her Nuka Cola addiction.
 * I Can't Believe It's Not Heroin!: She needs Nuka Cola. She needs it bad.
 * Improbable Weapon User: She knows how to make grenades out of soda, tin cans, and household cleaning products... and its one of the very best explosive weapons in the game.
 * Room Full of Crazy: As soon as you step into her home it becomes quite clear that she isn't exactly the sanest person around. Her entire one room house is filled with everything from Nuka Cola toys to vending machines, not to mention an assload of the titular drink itself on display. Her collection is so big she'll even offer you a TOUR of the place.
 * Serious Business: Cola. Even more so than Whitaker!
 * Trademark Favorite Drink: Nuka Cola. She'll pay handsomly for a bottle of the rare Nuka Cola Quantum.

Ronald Laren
"Voiced by: Jeff Baker"

A somewhat corrupt man who watchs over and protects Sierra, not out of the goodness of his heart, but because he thinks shes hot and wants to "get to know her better."


 * All Men Are Perverts: The only reason he bothers with Sierra in the first place is because he wants to have sex with her. He is also quite enticed with the idea of a threesome between him, Sierra, and a female Lone Wanderer.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: He's not really evil (especially by wasteland standards), but he is a bit of a sleezeball. He still refuses to force himself on Sierra, even though there is no one around to do anything.
 * Girl-On-Girl Is Hot: He certainly seems to think so.
 * Perverse Sexual Lust: The only reason he even stays in Girdershade.
 * Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: He certainly belives this. While not above trying to buy Sierra's love (or rather, her body) he refuses to cross this particular line.
 * Shotguns Are Just Better: Uses a unique sawn-off shotgun called "The Kneecapper."

East Coast Brotherhood In General

 * Anti-Hero: Possibly a Type 3 for the organization. While they're mostly morally upstanding Paladins, they have a shoot-on-sight policy when dealing with Ghouls, tarnishing their general image.
 * Anti-Mutiny: Lyons decided that it was more important to follow the intent of the Brotherhood Codex (rebuild humanity) rather than the letter (in other words, xenophobic laws). This is what ended up pissing off those who would become the Outcasts, who adhered strictly to said Codex, in turn starting their own Anti-Mutiny.
 * The mutiny itself is treated in an interesting way by the Elders of the West Coast headquarters; unable to come to a consensus on whether his actions were what their Codex intended, they don't actually punish him. Matter of fact, they let him keep his title and status in the order. The catch is, they also cut off any reinforcements to the Capital Wasteland. By the time they are encountered by the Lone Wanderer, their organization is severely understrength and under-supplied.
 * Defector From Decadence
 * Elite Mooks: Lyons' Pride, Sarah's personal handpicked squad.
 * The Extremist Was Right: Lyons and his branch were often criticized by the main branch due to deviating from the original mission, but by the end of the game, they've not only recovered vast amounts of advanced Enclave technology, just like the original mission intended, but also created new technology (such as the Tesla Cannon), re-activated two very important and advanced pieces of equipment (Liberty Prime and the Project Purity water purifier), wiped out the main branch of the Enclave, all while protecting the wasteland population.
 * Meanwhile, the main branch is all but dead.
 * Fantastic Slurs: "Zombies" for the ghouls and "uglies" and "frankensteins" for the Super Mutants.
 * Gas Mask Mooks
 * Kick the Dog: Willow, sentry of Underworld, reveals that the Brotherhood apparently shoots at Ghouls on sight...though they do have the courtesy to miss.
 * Power Armor
 * We Have Reserves: Averted; they don't have reserves, and are constantly stretched thin dealing with the Super Mutants.
 * On the other hand, given how Lyons is willing to recruit Wastelanders into the Brotherhood (part of why the Outcasts bailed), he will eventually be able to play this trope straight, assuming time and resources are merciful enough.

Owyn Lyons
"Voiced by: William Bassett"

Owyn Lyons is the Elder in charge of the Capital Wasteland chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel. Sent out nearly three decades ago to investigate the area, he trekked across the entire continent with his contingent from Lost Hills to the DC region. While originally sent there to collect and store all the technology he could, his branch of the Brotherhood eventually turned their focus to protecting the people of the Capital Wasteland and eradicating the Super Mutants. Recently, due to his deviation from the mission, the Brotherhood has stopped sending extra troops and many of his best soldiers have revolted and become the Outcasts. This has overstretched his forces, and forced him to look to recruiting from the wasteland.


 * Big Good
 * Chronic Hero Syndrome: What arguably has put him at odds with the tenets of the Brotherhood. Developers have said that they liken him to the Vault Dweller in that they were sent out on a specific mission, but after being released from the constant values feedback and insular society, he began to think autonomously and developed compassion.
 * Defector From Decadence
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Cairne Bloodhoof? Is that you?
 * Honor Before Reason: In Broken Steel, Lyons opts to distribute the purified water from Project Purity freely to the people of the Wasteland, instead of selling it for caps. He also refuses to sell the water to Raiders and Slavers, despite them having an abundance of caps to buy it with. These decisions drive the very cynical Scribe put in charge of coordinating the water distribution quite crazy.
 * Then again, it's good PR (let's be honest, you have to get recruits from somewhere), plus...fuck Raiders.
 * Retired Badass: He was a Paladin before he was an Elder, and by all accounts was exceptionally badass even by Paladin standards.
 * Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right: Lyons was willing to disregard the technicalities of the Brotherhood Codex in order to follow the Codex's spirit of protecting humanity, such as by committing his forces to protecting Wastelanders, as well as recruiting from among their ranks. This works out in the end, as his actions end up building the Capital Wasteland Brotherhood into being the dominant power in the region, while the Brotherhood chapters back west who remained faithful to the Codex's xenophobic laws are now on the brink of extinction.

Sarah Lyons
"Voiced by: Heather Marie Marsden"

Sentinel Sarah Lyons is the daughter of Owyn Lyons, who made the trek across the continent when she was a toddler. She now is one of the best combatants under Elder Lyons' command.

"Elder Lyons' Personal Journal Entry: Sarah may have forgotten she's a woman, but I haven't, and neither have the rest of the Brothers, judging by the looks they give her."
 * Action Girl
 * Family Business: And the business is the Brotherhood of Steel. Par for the course for those born into it, but it seems that her father is grooming her to take over the chapter after he passes away.
 * Heroic Sacrifice:
 * One of the Boys: Apparently she's a fighter first, and a woman a distant second. Her father is somewhat concerned.

LIBERTY PRIME
LIBERTY PRIME (all caps and bold necessary) is a 40 foot tall pre-war robot constructed by the United States government, originally intended to be deployed to Alaska as a super weapon to fight the Chinese. The project was scrapped due to the massive power it took to run it, but the prototype of Prime was eventually recovered by Elder Lyons and the Brotherhood Of Steel, who are working on restoring him to working order. They eventually solve the power issues, and he becomes their man advantage against the Enclave.

"DEMOCRACY IS NON-NEGOTIABLE"
 * Awesome but Impractical: In universe. He's nigh-unstoppable, but he requires a lot of energy to power, along with there being, sadly, only one of him, so he can't cover much ground.
 * Badass
 * Badass Automaton
 * Curb Stomp Battle: His battle with the Enclave at Project Purity. Despite having dozens of power armor wearing soldiers with gunships, plasma rifles and automated artillery, they may as well have been throwing rocks at Liberty Prime.
 * Eagle Land
 * Incoming Ham: LIBERTY PRIME IS ONLINE. ALL SYSTEMS: NOMINAL. WEAPONS: HOT. MISSION: THE DESTRUCTION OF ANY AND ALL CHINESE COMMUNISTS!
 * Game Breaker: An in-universe example: If it wasn't for the Lone Wanderer wiping out both of the Enclave's largest bases and Prime wiping out their armies alone, the Enclave would've curbstomped the Brotherhood with very little effort.
 * If the Lone Wanderer doesn't take Raven Rock out, Liberty Prime will do it anyway.
 * Humongous Mecha
 * Hypocritical Humor: Some of his quotes.


 * Large Ham
 * Made of Iron: Laser rifles, plasma rifles, gatling lasers, rockets, and artillery don't even scratch him. All the manpower the Enclave throw at him amounts only to more time spent hosing the gore off the soles of his giant metal feet..
 * One Robot Army: He doesn't need the Wanderer or the Brotherhood's help getting to the purifier... the only reason that they are even there is to witness his awesome first-hand.
 * Shout-Out: Averted, actually, or at least unintentional. Despite a couple of similar lines between them, as well as the impossible-to-miss name and voice, Word of God says he wasn't intended to be a homage to Optimus Prime. However, it's been admitted the parallels may have been done subconsciously.
 * Testosterone Poisoning
 * The Plot Reaper:
 * The Worf Effect:

The Enclave
A powerful militaristic faction who are basically all that remains of the U.S. government. However, they are directly descended from the part that executed all the Vault-Tec experiments, and are not nice people. Their main goal in the Capital Wasteland is to. They have the best technology around and are lead by President Eden and Colonel Autumn.

The Enclave in general:

 * Armies Are Evil
 * Abusive Precursors
 * Broken Pedestal: Any player who hasn't played Fallout 2 is bound to get this feeling, especially after listening to their sincere radio broadcasts.
 * Base On Wheels: Their Mobile Base Crawler in Broken Steel.
 * Eagle Land: Type II, obviously.
 * Elite Mooks: The average enclave soldier is already an elite mook compared to most other factions, and their Hellfire Troops are even better.
 * Expy: They are very similar to Nazis.
 * Enemy Civil War:.
 * Fake Ultimate Mook: Once you are past level 15 and ammo for weapons like the A3-21 Plasma Rifle and Gauss Rifle becomes common, they become very disappointingly easy, only dangerous in large numbers. The higher level troops are still pretty tough though, and usually come in large groups.
 * Knight Templar
 * Kill Sat: They have a nuke launching satellite in Broken Steel.
 * Not So Harmless: Most people regard Enclave radio as a joke, since the messages loop the same things and no one has ever seen an Enclave soldier. Once you rescue James and begin to restart the Purifier however, the Washington DC Invasion begins.
 * Obviously Evil: They're a bunch of guys in black power armor with demonic looking masks and officers who's uniforms look like a cross between the Nazis and The Empire from Star Wars.
 * Oddly Small Organization: Averted in a way as they have a huge army (by the standards of the wasteland) patrolling the wastes, but also played straight somewhat. See Skeleton Government
 * Putting On the Reich: They are very similar to Nazis, as they want to kill off all "inferior" peoples (mainly anyone who's been exposed to radiation), leaving themselves as the sole heirs of humanity..
 * Skeleton Government: Their entire government seems to consist entirely of a president, a military, and a few scientists with no leader.
 * Video Game Flamethrowers Suck: Averted with their Hellfire Troopers. Their Heavy Incinerators have a huge range and do ridiculous damage.
 * Vestigial Empire: They claim to be the rightful heirs to what remains of the United States, despite only holding onto Raven Rock and The Mobile Base Crawler. Even a straighter case than in Fallout 2, since the largest branch of the Enclave, the one in California, was destroyed, leaving only the east coast Enclave and possibly some bases in Chicago.

Colonel Augustus Autumn
"Voiced by: Peter Gil"

The Enclave's field commander and Eden's Dragon who.


 * Badass Longcoat
 * Dragon-in-Chief: Most of the Enclave is loyal to him, and won't hesitate to disobey orders from the President himself to obey Autumn. He's also willing to countermand Eden's authority if he thinks Eden's decisions aren't in the best interest of the Enclave. At the same time, his dialogue during the final battle suggests he's not personally interested in taking over the Enclave himself, and his disobedience of Eden's orders are much more in the vein of "loyal opposition". That changes if you reveal the extent of Eden's insane plans to him, though.
 * Genre Savvy:
 * I AM the Enclave!: Declares this as part of his Villainous Breakdown if you reveal President Eden's treachery to him.
 * Kick the Dog: Shooting an unarmed scientist to get James to talk
 * Also, as revealed in Fallout New Vegas: Lonesome Road,
 * Patriotic Fervor: Autumn views himself and the Enclave as representing the American nation (something which everyone else in the Wastes has forgoten about 200 years after the end of the world), which he uses to justify everything he does.
 * Posthumous Character: Becomes this in the Lonesome Road DLC of Fallout New Vegas.
 * Rewarded As a Traitor Deserves: See You Have Outlived Your Usefulness
 * Southern-Fried Private: He has a noticeable southern accent for some reason.
 * Stupid Evil: He demands James activate the purifir, despite James explaining it doesn't work and never has, as well as interogating the player for the code to activate it later and threatening them if they refuse, when in-universe the player doesn't know the code (it's, but you only know that because the dialogue option to tell Autumn shows it, no one ever tells it to you). He also had no reason to betray Eden in the manner he did, if he wanted to take over he could have just.
 * As with everyone else in the game he's Too Dumb to Live, considering he fights wearing only his trenchcoat and armed with a laser pistol, while you're probably wearing power armor and carrying a plasma rifle, Fat Man, minigun, etc.
 * Villainous Breakdown: If you reveal to Colonel Autumn that President Eden still plans to use Project Purity to exterminate the people of the Wasteland, and entrusted you with the means to do so, Autumn will have a complete breakdown as his faith in America and the Enclave is finally shaken.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: In a way-
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness:
 * Zero Effort Boss:
 * Turn Red:
 * Zero Effort Boss:
 * Turn Red:
 * Turn Red:

President John Henry Eden
"Voiced by: Malcolm McDowell"

The current president of the Enclave.


 * Affably Evil: Very polite, and has a deliciously reassuring voice. You're nearly tempted to trust this guy, especially if you haven't actually heard of the Enclave before.
 * : His plan seems to be fairly in-line with the West Coast Enclave's intentions..
 * Blue and Orange Morality:.
 * Big Bad / Big Bad Wannabe: Although he does lead the Enclave, his Dragon-in-Chief does most of the actual work.
 * Composite Character:
 * Driven to Suicide:.
 * Liar Liar: Eden makes multiple radio-broadcast speeches reassuring the people of the Wasteland and promising to bring them hope and salvation,
 * Logic Bomb:
 * Really Seven Hundred Years Old: The fact he talks about his carefree childhood growing up in rural Kentucky with his faithful canine sidekick, but still discusses the current status of the Capital Wasteland as if he's aware of such, should clue you in that something is definitely off about him.
 * Zero Effort Boss: The speech check to  is surprisingly easy, and he has no combat abilities at all.
 * Zero Effort Boss: The speech check to  is surprisingly easy, and he has no combat abilities at all.

The Brotherhood Outcasts
A large group of Brotherhood members who have revolted against Elder Lyons for his deviation from their original goal, to collect and store technology. Their prime goal is to continue the work of the Brotherhood they feel Lyons has abandoned.

"Enclave trainee: Don't shoot! We surrender! We fragged our lieutenant - we just want some water!
 * A Day in The Limelight: Operation: Anchorage, in which they play a more direct and significant role than the vanilla game.
 * Face Heel Turn:
 * Flunky Boss:
 * Heel Face Turn: How they view their actions, feeling Lyon's faction of the Brotherhood is the traitors faction while they are doing what their Codex commanded.
 * Jerkass: While not outright hostile like many other factions, they are very condescending and insulting to anyone who's not one of them. Strangely, their leaders, such as Protector Casdin, are much more polite.
 * Kick the Dog / Kick the Son of A Bitch: One of the possible encounters in Broken Steel is a group of Enclave trainees who have killed their commanding officer; they no longer attack the player, but otherwise their attitude toward "wastelander scum" has not improved. An Outcast patrol comes by, and:
 * Kick the Dog / Kick the Son of A Bitch: One of the possible encounters in Broken Steel is a group of Enclave trainees who have killed their commanding officer; they no longer attack the player, but otherwise their attitude toward "wastelander scum" has not improved. An Outcast patrol comes by, and:

Outcast: (laughs) We're not softies like Lyons's bunch. We're the real Brotherhood of Steel. This is how we deal with people like you."


 * Mecha Mooks: They use robots far more than any other faction, except maybe the Enclave.
 * The Starscream:

The Super Mutants
Vault 87 was another testing ground for the FEV, and as a result another generation of mutated humans have broken out and are searching the Capitol Wasteland for new members and more of the bubbling green gunk to transform them.


 * Badass Boast: "I'll wear your bones around my neck!"
 * Bonus Boss: There are five Behemoths in the game, but only one needs to be fought, the other four are optional.
 * Drop the Hammer: One of their favorite forms of melee attacks. This includes the Behemoths.
 * Elite Mooks: The Mutants themselves to the human enemies. Broken Steel adds in the Elite Elite Mooks, the Super Mutant Overlord
 * Giant Mook: The standard Super Mutants already tower over normal humans, and Behemoths dwarf them.
 * I Am a Humanitarian: "Hurry up and die, I'm hungry!"
 * Large Ham: They don't talk much, but when they do, they have...
 * No Indoor Voice
 * Made of Iron: The Overlords are obscenely tough to take down. The Masters, one rank down on the power meter, are fairly durable too.
 * More Dakka: Standard armament about their ranks including the assault rifle, Chinese assault rifle, and among higher ranks the minigun and gatling lasers. Overlords are particularly fond of the tri-beam laser rifle.
 * Scary Impractical Armor: Constructed out of bits of scrap metal and rubble, but not a problem since as super mutants they have thick skin. The Behemoth takes the cake, wearing shopping carts for armor and strapping a car door on its arm as a shield.
 * Scenery Gorn: It's easy to tell if a location is holding host to them by looking for the bags of human remains.
 * These "Gore Bags" can even be looted for bottle caps, ammo, and mutilated human remains.
 * The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: Overlords are already obscenely strong with a lot of HP and thick skin, but the tri-beam laser rifles they use have a special algorithm in their coding that gives them a +40 damage boost when the target is the player character. Keep in mind the rifle fires three beams at once, and suddenly you realize why half your HP vanishes in a single hit from these guys.

Talon Company
A company that makes a living off of killing people for money, Burke and some other unknown person will hire them to kill the player if their karma gets too high. They are currently headquartered at Fort Bannister and lead by a man named Jabsco.


 * Mercenaries Are Evil
 * Authority Equals Asskicking: Commander Jabsco is a Made of Iron badass with ridiculously high health and a rocket launcher.
 * Bonus Boss: Commander Jabsco.
 * Big Bad: Jabsco
 * Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Their black combat armor.
 * Elite Mooks: Compared to the standard Raiders, they have much better armor and weapons.
 * Flunky Boss: Jabsco is found in the basement of Fort Bannister backed up by a squad of mercs, as well as pretty much everyone else in the base.
 * Made of Iron: Commander Jabsco.
 * Suicidal Overconfidence: At first when they try to kill you, it makes sense since at this point you're likely pretty fresh from the vault and wearing leather armor and toting a hunting rifle, whereas they have full armor, assault rifles, and laser rifles. Later however, they just get stupid, not understanding that the guy with power armor and the Tesla Cannon who's already murdered dozens of Enclave soldiers who are much better trained and equipped than you are isn't going to be easy pickings.
 * Psycho for Hire

The Slavers
A loosely connected group of heavily armed traders that makes a living off of kidnapping random people and selling them into slavery. Their prime hub of business is the heavily fortified town of Paradise Falls.


 * Affably Evil: Eulogy Jones will remain polite and friendly even as he is offering to sell you child slaves.
 * Big Bad: Eulogy Jones
 * Black Widow: Their former leader, Penelope Chase, was nicknamed this.
 * Death By Irony: Many people choose Lincoln's Repeater as their weapon of choice when killing slavers. Lincoln's Hat is also a popular item to equip while killing them (especially if you're killing the ones at the Lincoln Memorial).
 * Future Imperfect: They intentionally try to invoke this by burning all records of Abraham Lincoln.
 * I Did What I Had to Do: Invoked by Eulogy when you first meet him, commenting that the Capital Wasteland is a harsh place and you do what you have to in order to get by.

Little Lamplight
A small, self-sufficient town within a cave, populated entirely by children. The Little Lamplighters are not trusting of outsiders, particularly adults (or "mungos" as they call them) who are normally not allowed in Lamplight at all.


 * Cluster F-Bomb: Despite being a child, Mayor MacCready is one of the most profane characters in the game.
 * Growing Up Sucks: Lamplighters who turn 16 are forced to leave, usually migrating to Big Town, where the harshness of the wasteland awaits them.
 * I'm a Humanitarian: One way you can "help" the kids with food is buy selling them human flesh without telling them what it is. Also
 * Teenage Wasteland

The Regulators
A group of vigilantes who are dedicated to punishing the wicked. They will pay the player to chop off evil persons fingers and turn them in for a bounty, and will come after the player if their karma gets too low.


 * Badass Longcoat: Their standard uniform.
 * Bounty Hunter: The killing type.
 * Fingore: The only way to claim a bounty for them is by removing the fingers from the people you kill, although you can only take one finger per person...
 * Good Is Not Nice: They ask their members to hunt down and kill people, chop off their fingers, and turn them in for a meager bounty. How are they good? They only target Complete Monsters that the wasteland is much better without.
 * Pay Evil Unto Evil: Their main purpose.
 * Oddly Small Organization: Subverted. If you ask their leader why their group is seemingly so small, she'll respond that the ones you see are only her guards/assistants/bureacrats, whereas the rest are scattered throughout the wastes.
 * Vigilante Man: An entire organization of them!

Reilly's Rangers
A small group of mercenaries who, unlike Talon Company, aren't completely evil money-hungry bastards. Unfortunately, things don't seem to be going well for them as their leader is currently laid up in Underwold and her squad is trapped at the top of a building filled with super mutants. Its up to the player character to rescue them... or leave them to their fate. Led by a woman named Reilly.


 * Action Girl: Reilly herself, and especially Brick.
 * Badass Normal: Despite not having power armor or energy weapons, they are just as good (if not better) at fighting super mutants as the Brotherhood Paladins. The fact that they have the best light armor in the game with action point, attack and luck bonuses can explain that.
 * If you have "Broken Steel" installed its possible to find OVERLORDS among the bodies in the super mutant corpse pile they've amassed.
 * Blood Knight: Brick doesn't seem to care what the rangers do, so long as she gets to kill something she's happy. If you talk to her she'll even admit she's glad they came to Vernon Square because it allowed her to kill so many super mutants.
 * Boisterous Bruiser: Brick is quite exuberant about fighting.
 * Five-Man Band
 * The Hero: Reilly.
 * The Lancer: Butcher, the medic, who's also implicitly in a relationship with Reilly.
 * The Smart Guy: Donovan, the repairman.
 * The Big Guy: Brick, the heavy weapons specialist.
 * The Chick and Sacrificial Lamb: Theo, the quartermaster.
 * The Sixth Ranger:
 * Heroic BSOD: Reilly suffers a small one out of guilt for what happened to her team, especially Theo. You can help snap her out of it.
 * I Call It Vera: Brick, who named her favorite minigun "Eugene."
 * Vasquez Always Dies: Averted, well, if you save them from the Super Mutants.

The Treeminders
A small, peaceful group of tribals inhabiting a tiny village in a place called Oasis, the greenest and most healthy place in the entire capital wasteland. They reject technology for the most part (apart from simple firearms) and worship Harold as a god.


 * Cult: But a small and very harmless one (it has about 7 members). They're also more benevolent than most, as some of their members want nothing more than to share the beauty of Oasis with the rest of wastes.
 * In the Hood: Their druid hoods are probably the least odd thing about their wardrobe.
 * Necessarily Evil: They see using guns to defend themselves as such.
 * Retired Badass: One of their members is a former Brotherhood Outcast who will give you his old power armor for completing the "Oasis" quest.
 * Sideboob: Oddly enough, the female Treeminder robe, despite covering most of the wearer's body, allows for a decent amount of this.

Raiders
Evil, possibly insane wastelanders who only seem to exist to cause pain, suffering, and destruction. They are completely relentless and won't hesitate to kill anything and everything they come across.


 * Always Chaotic Evil
 * Dirty Coward: Occasionally, a raider will attempt to flee if he or she becomes injured enough... aim for the legs.
 * Scenery Gorn: Almost every raider base has a few mutilated corpses laying around or suspended from hooks.
 * Scary Impractical Armor: Their armor, which seems to be pieced together from random bits of junk like leather and scrap metal.
 * Too Dumb to Live: They see no problem with bum rushing the person who may have singlehandedly wiped out the Enclave.
 * The Usual Adversaries
 * Villains Out Shopping: Its possible (but rare) to come across a group of them playing... baseball. Yep.
 * Wacky Wayside Tribe: Really they're just there so you have something to kill en masse.
 * Zerg Rush: Seems to be their only tactic. Even if their target(s) happen to be wearing power armor and wielding a fat man.

General Constantine Chase
The leader of the American forces in Alaska and the player's commander in Operation: Anchorage.


 * Badass Longcoat: Which you can pick up and wear in Mothership Zeta.
 * Eagle Land: Him and his entire troop line-up. Choice slogans include "Better dead than Red" and "Don't mess with the U.S."
 * Executive Meddling: In-universe, the simulation was adjusted according to his demands constantly, and became very detached from the reality. There's no real way to tell if anything you experience in it actually happened or if it was just Chase making stuff up.
 * Four-Star Badass: Literal 4 Star General. Is also quick to remind the player when they don't call him 'sir' that such idle banter between subordinate and his superior officer is unprofessional, and that those stars on his uniform aren't just for show and is something he earned over a long career so his rank deserves respect.
 * Literary Agent Hypothesis: See under Executive Meddling.
 * Mission Control
 * Posthumous Character: He's mentioned frequently throughout the game, and only appears in person in the simulation.

General Jingwei
The leader of the Chinese forces in Alaska and the final boss of Operation: Anchorage.


 * Authority Equals Asskicking
 * Badass Mustache
 * Better to Die Than Be Killed: If you pass a speech challenge you convince him that he's already lost, so he runs himself through with his sword to avoid being taken prisoner. It's recommended that you at least attempt this.
 * Four-Star Badass
 * Kick the Dog: Executing an unarmed prisoner when you first meet him.
 * Made of Iron: Has by far more health than any other human NPC in the entire Fallout series, being nearly as tough as a Super Mutant Behemoth. This is most likely due to him being a character in a computer simulation, which was reprogrammed by General Chase to be significantly divorced from the reality of the real Anchorage campaign.

Werhner
"Voiced by: Mike Rosson"

The character who initiates The Pitt DLC. Formerly Ashur's Dragon, Ashur made him into a slave after Werhner attempted a coup. He eventually escaped, and is currently looking to free the slaves of The Pitt and become it's new ruler.

"You know what? Fuck the slaves, fuck the raiders, fuck Ashur, fuck the pitt, fuck the baby and fuck you too motherfucker. I'm out of here."
 * Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: He betrayed Ashur, lied to the player, and if you talk him out of fighting he'll abandon the Pitt without any concern for the slaves who were relying on him to free them.
 * Cluster F-Bomb
 * Dirty Coward: Has shades, mostly through relying on others to achieve his goals for him instead of doing it himself. It's also very easy to convince him his revolution has failed, in which case he flees.
 * I Did What I Had to Do: When called out on the full extent of his plans, Wernher tells the player that sometimes you have to commit morally questionable acts to create effective social change. It rings somewhat hollow though, due to his previous acts and the completely Jerkass way he talks about it to the player.
 * Not So Different: His speech to the player about having to do evil things for the greater good reveals he's really no different from Ashur.
 * Screw This, I'm Outta Here: If you convince him to abandon the pit.
 * Not So Different: His speech to the player about having to do evil things for the greater good reveals he's really no different from Ashur.
 * Screw This, I'm Outta Here: If you convince him to abandon the pit.
 * Screw This, I'm Outta Here: If you convince him to abandon the pit.


 * The Starscream
 * Rebel Leader
 * Revolvers Are Just Better: His weapon of choice

Lord Ashur
"Voiced by: James Lewis"

The current leader of The Pitt (basically all that's left of Pittsburg). He was formerly part of the Brotherhood of Steel, and was with them when the Brotherhood sacked the city, however he was knocked out in the battle, forcing the Brotherhood to leave him behind. He was eventually found by some locals, who worshipped him as a god. Eventually, using his leader ship skills and combat experience, he unified a large section of The Pitt, and is its current ruler. Although The Pitt has been ravaged by the Trogs disease and has been forced to turn to slavery, Ashur has maintained relative order, and still sees hope in using The Pitt's manufacturing capabilities to turn it into a prosperous city.


 * Anticlimax Boss: If you choose to fight him, you'll find that he's only marginally tougher than a normal Brotherhood of Steel paladin, which is hardly a boss-level character.
 * Anti-Villain: Once you meet him in person, Ashur himself turns out to be remarkably civilized and affable (if somewhat gruff), but rules over an organization that consists almost entirely of complete bastards.
 * Ambition Is Evil: Unlike the inhabitants of the Capital Wasteland who seem content with sitting with their thumbs up their asses for 200 years, he is actively trying to make progress towards making the world better. However, the price of doing so is a society built on slavery as well as raiding resources from surrounding communities.
 * Big Bad: He's set up as the main antagonist of the Pitt, although it's up to the player to decide whether he or Wernher is most in the right. Ultimately it's a choice between a good man ruling over an evil, dangerous, but ordered and progressive society, or a selfish man taking over in the name of the people, freeing them but ruining the good work the other man has done.
 * Evil Counterpart: To your dad James. They've both undertaken a massive reformation project and want to make their respective homes better places, but Ashur is willing to do whatever he has to to make it reality, such as using slave labor and ruling by force. His intensions are also motivated by selfishness as much as by benevolence, as he admits before Marie was born his desire to make The Pitt a better place was to leave his mark on the world. Once Marie was born he wanted it done so she could grow up in a better world, which is the exact opposite of how James reacted when the Lone Wanderer was born, the death of his wife demoralizing him and causing him to abandon Project Purity and live a normal life for his child.
 * I Did What I Had to Do: The Pittsburg area has zero population growth due to the city's unique toxins causing any babies born in the city to be mindless mutants. As a result, Ashur had to resort to slavery to preserve the Pitt as a functioning community. He reasons against simply abandoning the city due to the benefits of the area's only functional steel mill outweighing the human cost of running it.
 * Necessarily Evil
 * Papa Wolf
 * Pet the Dog: When you first see him speaking to one of his raiders, he objects to the use of the word "slaves" and prefers the term "workers", as it not only helps their morale but emphasizes they are doing important work and can earn their freedom.
 * Scary Impractical Armor: Averted with his armor, which is both scary and practical. It is basically a normal Brotherhood T-45b armor, except random objects have been used to repair it over the years, such as random bits of metal, kevlar, and a Brahmin skull.
 * Shotguns Are Just Better: His weapon of choice is a combat shotgun.
 * Step Three: Profit: Ashur plans to transition from brutal slavery to a free society, but doesn't seem to have a clear plan as to how to do this, given that every single one of his men is loyal to his personal power rather than to his ideals. Given his advanced age, the fact that nothing will hold his men back once he's no longer alive to control them is a very real concern.
 * Tin Tyrant: How the slaves see him
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: He ultimately does have The Pitt's best interests at heart, and even intends to end slavery once a cure for Trogs can be developed and distributed.

Professor Calvert
"Voiced by: Craig Sechler"

The main antagonist of the Point Lookout DLC. Formerly a member of the highly influential Calvert family, the professor has outlived his mortal body with the miracles of SCIENCE, and is now simply a brain in a jar. He desires psychic domination of Maryland and revenge against his nemesis, Desmond.


 * Big Bad: Of the Point Lookout questline.
 * Brain In A Jar
 * Black and Gray Morality: The conflict between him and Desmond, with Calvert as the black.
 * Card-Carrying Villain
 * Large Ham
 * Evil Is Hammy: "It is I! Professor Calvert! I have been kept alive through the MIRACLES OF SCIENCE!"
 * Smug Snake
 * Surrounded By Idiots: Have nothing but contempt for his Tribal minions/worshippers. Granted, his distain is fairly justified given how most of them really are complete idiots, since joining the tribe involves having a piece of your brain cut out.
 * Mecha Mook: The only thing he can directly control are the Robobrains, Protectrons, and Turrets in his bunker.
 * Mad Scientist
 * Telepathy: 200 years of existence as nothing more than a disembodied brain has allowed Calvert to develop the ability to communicate with and influence the minds of others over long distance via telepathy.
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: If you help him, he will reward you...with DEATH. Or at least he tries.
 * Zero Effort Boss: He is a literal Brain In A Jar with no combat abilities. His only defense in his room is about 8 Protectrons (the weakest robot-type enemy in the game), most of which don't even work.

Desmond Lockheart
"Voiced by: Jeff Baker"

The main "hero" (for lack of a better term) of the Point Lookout questline. He is the arch nemesis of Professor Calvert. His current goal is to rid the world of Calvert and obtain all of the information Calvert has stockpiled.


 * And the Adventure Continues: If he's still alive at the end of the main quest of Point Lookout, he departs to continue hunting the rest of his enemies.
 * Badass Mustache: Like Raul, it survived ghoulification.
 * Badass Grandpa: Being a ghoul and all, he is several hundred years old. He's also a great shot with a sniper rifle and an expert at setting traps. When you're strong enough to keep up with the Tribals, you know you've got to be badass.
 * Black and Gray Morality
 * Cluster F-Bomb: You'll be hardpressed to find anyone in the history of Fallout who cusses as much as him.
 * Crazy Prepared: He has several turrets and mines set up around his mansion to repel tribals, and he even gives you a perk that increases your defense skills. He also has a bomb shelter under his mansion just in case Calvert decides to blow it up. Calvert does.
 * Good Is Not Nice: See Jerkass
 * "Hero" Of Another Story: You pretty much catch him while he's at the tail-end of his century-spanning feud with Calvert, the details of which are never made clear. And when that matter's resolved, he still has more enemies to deal with.
 * Jerkass: He makes no effort to hide the fact that his goals are entirely self serving, but he's a much better alternative then Calvert.
 * The Mean Brit
 * The Remnant: He and his enemies in intelligence continued their battle (or "The Great Game" as they call it) despite the interests they represent no longer existing.
 * The Great Game refers to the conflict between various spies and the international interests they represented during the Cold War. The term implies an extremely romantic and heroic view of the job of spies, similar to what we expect out of characters like James Bond. As far as the national interests they represent no longer existing doesn't mean that they can't serve their own interests, hell it wouldn't be surprising if Desmond was hunting these enemies of his so that they don't revive their respective remnants.
 * The Spymaster: He's a former high ranking intelligence officer.
 * The Fallout 3 guide even points out that Desmond may even have been directly involved in the decision to launch nuclear weapons during the Great War. Probably worked for the Top Brass of the former United Kingdom of Great Britain.
 * Weak but Skilled: He maintains that the main reasons he's such a good fighter is because he's "got a 100 years of experience on your ass, and don't you forget it".

The Tribals
The main inhabitants of Point Lookout. Unlike the inhabitants of the capital wasteland who live in small towns, the Tribals live in tents/ruins and are very low tech. They usually carry weapons like hunting rifles, double barreled shotguns, axes, and knives, and make most of their money off of trading a sweet tasting, easy to grow, very versatile fruit called the "Punga" fruit. They are currently being manipulated by Calvert into getting rid of Desmond.


 * Authority Equals Asskicking: Inverted; Jackson, their "leader", is the weakest tribal there is.
 * Fake Difficulty: For no reason at all, they get an unblockable + 35 damage boost.
 * Improbable Power Discrepency: Strangely, many of these unarmored tribals are significantly tougher than the Power Armor-wearing soldiers of the Enclave.
 * Made of Iron

The Aliens
Mysterious beings in the Fallout series who directly appear and play a very large role in the Mothership Zeta DLC. They resemble stereotypical "little green men" from 50's and 60's science fiction movies in their appearance, their equipment, and their mode of operation.


 * Aliens Are Bastards: They abduct humans and perform random experiments on them. It is also implied that they were the ones who launched the nukes that started the "Great War" on Earth.
 * Authority Equals Asskicking: Averted to hell and back with the Alien Captain.
 * Bigger Bad: To the Enclave, sort of.
 * Early-Bird Cameo: One of their crashed spaceships and a pair of corpses (where you can find the Alien Blaster) are found in the original Fallout as well as in Fallout 3 (though the ship there looks different than in Fallout).
 * Glass Cannon: Their weapons are capable of truly ridiculous damage, but they are physically weak. Some of them come packing special forcefields, and as a result are significantly tougher.
 * Infinity+1 Sword: Once again, pretty much all of their equipment, especially the Alien Blaster.
 * Shout-Out: As stated above, they resemble stereotypical 50's and 60's aliens.
 * Zero Effort Boss: The Alien Captain has lower health than pretty much everyone else onboard, and when the player has access to things like the Alien Disintegrater, he literally dies in one shot.

Sally
A litle girl and a captive of the aliens aboard Mothership Zeta, her small size lets her crawl through ducts to sneak around the ship.


 * Fish Out of Temporal Water: But having been on-board the ship and frequently out of stasis long enough to explore the ship, she's pretty good about it.
 * Genre Savvy
 * Tagalong Kid
 * Wise Beyond Their Years: She's very smart and sensible, even without her advance knowledge of the ship's layout that lets her guide you around.

Somah
Another wastelander and alien captive, you're locked up with her and the two of you stage a fight to escape.


 * The Engineer: With a Repair skill of 100, she's the best mechanic in the game and can repair anything to perfect condition.
 * The Lancer
 * No Hero Discount: You can ask her why she insists on charging you for repairs, to which she replies you know how hard it is in the wasteland without money, and she's not gonna go home broke.
 * Retired Monster: It's implied she may have been a raider or a slaver before being abducted.
 * Shotguns Are Just Better: She finds one somewhere in the ship and uses it for the remainder of the exploration.

Elliot Tercorien
A member of the the 108th Infantry Battalion deployed to Anchorage, he and his squad were abducted


 * Combat Medic
 * A Father to His Men: He is not happy when he finds aliens dissecting his squad members.
 * Fish Out of Temporal Water: He takes it the hardest of them, partially since he was involved in the conflicts that lead to The End of the World As We Know It. This results in him staying aboard the ship, feeling there's no point to heading back to Earth.
 * Powered Armor
 * The Smart Guy: He learns about the alien technology around you pretty quick, and is able to refine weapons and consumables from the stuff you find.

Paulson
A cowboy abducted by the aliens, he doesn't talk much except to let you know he's looking forward to gunning them down.


 * All Asians Are Alike: He refers to Toshiro as a "chinaman" until he's corrected.
 * Cowboy
 * Fish Out of Temporal Water: Though comparing the Capital Wasteland to the Old West, he'd probably be able to adjust.
 * Heartbroken Badass: The real he's so eager to shoot up the aliens? He wasn't alone when they abducted him, he had a wife and son. He survived to get taken aboard the ship--they didn't.
 * Nice Hat
 * The Power of Hate
 * Revolvers Are Just Better: It's actually quite potent, and the strongest variant of it you can get without nuking the Citadel in Broken Steel.

Toshiro Kago
A feudal Samurai, the language barrier means that talking to him won't get you much anywhere, but he's still an ally.


 * Badass: At one point in Mothership Zeta, you can find him on his own, surrounded by dismembered alien corpses.
 * Badass Mustache
 * Bilingual Bonus: He's actually speaking real Japanese, and most of the time is saying just what you'd think he'd be saying -- "Where am I?" "Where's my sword?" "I must prepare for battle", etc.
 * Everything's Better With Samurai: Can you think of any other reason for his inclusion?
 * Fish Out of Temporal Water: But he's completely unaware of it, seeing as how you're unable to talk to him to explain the situation, and he appears to assume he's just been captured by magic monsters.
 * Katanas Are Just Better: His sword has lower base damage than other melee weapons, but has higher critical damage and lower AP cost, so depending on your fighting style, yes they are.
 * Shown Their Work: His armor and the symbols on it are period-accurate to the time in history the Fallout 3 game guide says he's from. And as mentioned, he speaks actual Japanese.
 * Though slightly subverted at the same time, as feudal spoken japanese (not the case with it when written) did have enough distinctions from modern japanese that the two would not fully be able to communicate, so him speaking modern japanese is a bit of an innaccuracy. However, most non-speakers wouldn't notice the difference anyway (and the Wanderer has no idea what he's saying to begin with).

Three Dog
"Voiced by: Erik Todd Dellums"

The DJ for Galaxy News Radio who strongly believes in fighting what he calls "The Good Fight." He will often report on the various quests the lone wanderer undertakes as well as his/her karma level. He even has a quest of his own that will allow him to broadcast all across the wasteland when it is completed. (Due to a super mutant attack he lost his broadcast disk and is currently confined to the downtown D.C. area.)

""Thanks for listening, chiiiilllldren! This is Three Dog, AHWOOOOOOOOOO! And you're listening to Galaxy News Radio! We're Radio Free Wasteland and we're here for you!''"
 * Brutal Honesty: "Bringin' you the truth, no matter how bad it hurts!" He is not kidding. If you don't complete the wasteland survival guide right he won't hesitate to tell everyone just how bad it is, and chews you out on the air for taking the "evil" ending to quests.
 * Cool Shades
 * Catch Phrase: His signoff before he starts up some music.

""Don't lose hope children; don't ever lose hope. The kid from Vault 101, the Wasteland's one true Messiah still walks among us. Just listen to this...Hey, remember those down-on-their-luck ghouls who wanted to share the luxury accommodations at the fancy shmancy Tenpenny Tower? Looks like that dream has died on the vine. You see, those hapless, homeless irradiated rejects have all been brutally slaughtered in their temporary digs in the tunnels of Warrington Station. The butcher-at-large? Yep, you guessed it -- none other than the kid from Vault 101. Nice going, scumbag."
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Large Ham Radio: "THIS IS THREEEEE DOOOOG! BOW WOW WOW!"
 * Herald: Is this for you and the Brotherhood Of Steel.
 * Horrible Judge of Character: Apparently is sympathetic of Roy's "cause" despite the fact that Roy is anything but sympathetic. In all likelihood he hasn't met Roy in person, and does call Roy out on it once he learns the guy basically slaughtered the entire human population of Tenpenny Tower for no good reason (not that he minds the residents dying).
 * Hypocrite: Has moments of this.
 * He lectures listeners on how Ghouls are just normal people who deserve to be respected, while also gushing about the Brotherhood of Steel for protecting the downtrodden and trying to bring order to the Wasteland--the Brotherhood has a shoot on sight policy with Ghouls, but mostly seem to leave Underworld alone, or at least fire warning shots to scare them off if they cross paths.
 * When the Lone Wanderer first meets Three Dog and asks him about where his Dad is Three Dog explicitly tells our young protagonist that the Wasteland doesn't revolve around you and your Dad. The majority of his broadcasts are all about you and your quests! Hell depending on your karma he either calls you the most evil man in the Wasteland or the last, best hope for the people of the Wasteland. It seems that if he talked about anything other than you then the ratings for his show would decrease significantly.
 * Moral Dissonance: Try playing the game with good karma, but occasionally take the "evil" solution to a quest. He'll begin his segments on you singing your praises as The Messiah of the Wasteland who he absolutely adores, then goes on to recount how, say, you brutally slaughtered some innocent people.

""Don't feed the Yao Guai. That is all.""
 * Also with his testimony that ghouls are still human on the inside and people shouldn't be prejudiced against them, which is somewhat at odds with his warning that Raiders are animals that pillage and kill without reason and cannot be negotiated with, so the only thing to do with them is hide or shoot first. Granted the game doesn't do a lot to contradict this idea, since Raiders are Always Chaotic Evil that attack people on-sight.
 * Non-Action Guy: He's a radio announcer, nothing more. However, given he's good at it and the fact he actually does provide fairly credible news on the goings on of the Capital Wasteland, his current position is invaluable. Also, it's implied that his radio equipment and their signals are being used by the BOS to coordinate their activities, so he's almost certainly their unofficial communications switchboard guy.
 * Nice Guy: Most of the people in the Capital Wasteland like him simply because he's the one guy on the radio they know isn't a possible recording and actually tells them what's really going on and seems to give a damn. The Brotherhood of Steel like him because he sings their praises, gives them shelter (granted, he gains something from it called protection, but he does genuinely sympathize with their cause, at least Lyon's branch), and even hit it off great with your father. That said, unless you go to some epic lengths to be an asshole, he's nice to you as soon as you say your hello's.
 * Nice Hat: Wears a unique item called "Three Dog's Headwrap" that can be looted from his corpse.
 * Public Service Announcement: Gives several of these over the radio from time to time. Most are helpful reminders about how to survive and some are simply small pieces of advice.

""People of the Capital Wasteland, it is I, Three Dog, your ruler! Hear me, and obey! Oh sorry, that's that other radio station.""
 * Sixth Ranger: Given how much he sympathizes with the Lyon chapter BOS, he's practically an honorary member in all but name. Hell, his radio tower is on the list of places the Brotherhood puts guards and turrets around, more or less implying this.
 * Take That: In-universe, he deals several to Enclave Radio.


 * What Are Records: "I'm your friendly neighborhood disc jockey. What's a disc? Hell if I know, but I'm gonna keep talking anyway."
 * What the Hell, Hero?: He won't hesitate to call the Lone Wanderer out even if they have near perfect karma.
 * Worst News Judgement Ever: He even Lampshades it when the Wanderer completes the Nuka-Cola Challenge quest. Seems that some days, the news is just that slow.

Harold
"Voiced by: Stephen Russell"

A recurring character from the earlier games. Harold apparently traveled all the way to the capital wasteland from the west coast sometime before Fallout 3 and at some point Now he is worshipped like a god... much to his annoyance.


 * Beat Still My Heart: Several variants of this are possible. In fact, it's the only way to complete his quest unless you just decide to roast him alive.
 * : Oh yeah.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Especially if the lone wanderer asks him stupid questions.
 * : Although you can persuade him to accept his new life.
 * : What he considers his current form.
 * Kill It With Fire: It's possible, if you want to be complete dick.
 * No Indoor Voice: "His name's Bob, but I call him HERRRBERRRT! 'Cause I think it's pretty funny."
 * : Averted. He is actually one of the nicest people in the wasteland.
 * : Averted. He is actually one of the nicest people in the wasteland.

Uncle Leo
"Voiced by: Wes Johnson"

A wandering super mutant who, unlike his savage brethren, has retained his mind as well as compassion for others. He is not only the nicest super mutant, but perhaps the nicest character overall in the game.


 * Actual Pacifist: He refuses to fight and is polite to everyone he meets. Though he will hit random critters like Radscorpions if they attack him.
 * Gentle Giant: Even more so then Fawkes, the only other sane super mutant in the entire capital wasteland.
 * Nice Guy: The Lone Wanderer can threaten to mug him. His response is to give you some clothes and regret that he has nothing else to give you.
 * Walking the Earth: Although its possible to run into him more than once, which means he probably never leaves the Capital Wasteland.

Agatha
"Voiced by: Diana Sowle"

An old woman who lives by herself out in the middle of nowhere. Of course, the Lone Wanderer can ease her loneliness a bit by paying her a visit and accepting her request to find a very rare musical instrument...


 * Never Mess With Granny: Sure, she's a polite old woman, but she also

Smiling Jack
"Voiced by: James Lewis"

The only decent (well, he doesn't shoot you on sight) raider in the entire game. He runs a shop deep within Evergreen Mills and will gladly trade with the player so long as they have the caps and goods.


 * Only Sane Raider: Seems to be the only one of his kind to realise that attacking the guy with the power armor, MIRV, and fierce-looking companions might not be good for his overall well-being.