Fallout (video game)/Characters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Vault 13

The Vault Dweller

That's you: a poor schmuck from Vault 13, chosen by the Vault Overseer to be sent out in the radioactive wasteland. Your mission: to find a new water chip for Vault 13 or else everyone you know and love will die. Simple enough job: there's another Vault nearby, and they'll surely be able to spare you one. But as you'll travel across the radiated desert, you'll learn that nothing is that simple, and everything comes with a price...

The game comes with three pre-made Vault Dwellers you can select instead of creating a character from scratch: Max Stone, Natalia Dubrovhsky and Albert Cole.

Note: In the original Fallout, the protagonist is a blank slate character whose name, age, gender and personality is fully customizable. In all subsequent games, the actions of the first game are attributed to a male character known only as "the Vault Dweller", hence the name.

  • Action Survivor: Through a combination of guile and badassery, they survive impossible odds and change the world.
  • Badass Normal: Just some kid from a Vault sent out into the world with little more than a handgun, a jumpsuit and some water flasks. Ended up becoming one of the most influential figures in post-apocalyptic history.
  • Big Freaking Gun: If the Vault Dweller's Memoirs recap in the Fallout 2 manual is to be believed, s/he stormed the Mariposa Base wielding one.
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Take the Junktown main quest for instance: stop Gizmo's assassin from killing Killian, then agree to gather evidence against Gizmo. Tell Gizmo while wearing a bug you'll take the job in place of the dead guy, rat him out to Killian, then when you go to confront Gizmo with Killian, you can kill them both.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Not above aiming for eyes and groins. Also, in the game's climax, it's possible to skip boss fights with both the Master and Lieutenant by making their bases explode under their feet.
  • Cutting Off the Branches: As with the rest of the game, Fallout 2 set in stone many optional aspects of the Vault Dweller's character and actions, a contrast to later games in the series where the previous player characters are glossed over enough to still be Featureless Protagonists.
  • Dude, Where's My Reward?: Thanks to your efforts, the West Coast is spared from the Master's evil plan. Thanks to the Overseer, you are forever banished from Vault 13 for becoming "too different".
  • Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Retroactively in the sequels, see Retcon below.
  • Fighter, Mage, Thief: The three pre-made characters fill this archetype: Max Stone (fighter), Natalia Dubrovhsky (thief) and Albert Cole (mage). Given that the Fallout setting lacks magic, the "mage" is rather a diplomat. The basic function is the same though: a physically weak character that, with some leveling and patience, can eventually defeat the most powerful enemies effortlessly (with words rather than magic here).
  • Guile Hero: Fallout was one of the first computer RPGs where it was possible to play as one of these through the entire game.
  • Hello, Insert Name Here: You get to name the protagonist at the start of the game, and since most of the dialouge is in text only most other characters will call you by that name.
  • Idiot Hero: Playing a character whose INT score is lower than 4 gives you rather hilarious results. The full effects arguably count as a Deconstruction: your character is functionally retarded and learning new skills becomes extremely slow. Most of the Wasteland treats you as a joke, and many quests can't be started since your speech is by far too impaired for normal conversation.
  • One-Man Army: If his memoirs are any indication then he had few allies with him in his journey, most of whom died at some point or another. He also indicates that the way he resolved problems, typically with super mutants, involved him going guns blazing.
  • Protagonist Without a Past: Averted if you pick one of the three pre-made characters, who each have a short backstory. Otherwise played straight. Justified for the most part since you have never been outside Vault 13 before in your life and before that were likely just like any other citizen living a normal life.
  • Retcon: No one actually calls you "Vault Dweller" in the game. In fact, almost no one know that you come from a vault, and if you decide to tell anyone, they won't belive you. The nickname was made up for the sequel, where they talk as if it was the only name you were ever known by.
  • Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: If his reluctance towards writing his memoirs is believed, he begins doing this in his old age.

Vault 13 Overseer

Voiced by: Kenneth Mars

The leader of Vault 13. It is his job to see that Vault 13 continues to function peacefully, effectively and unopened. After the Vault's water chip broke down, he was forced to choose one young Vault Dweller to find a new one. He is also well aware of the Vault Experiment and intends to keep it going for the designated 200 years. After the Vault Dweller had saved the day, he prepared a present for his champion: a banishment. He argued that had the hero stayed in the Vault, the other Vault Dwellers would have gotten it into their heads that outside world wasn't completely uninhabitable and left the safety of the Vault to the cold, unforgiving wasteland. This decision came to bite him in the ass when the entire Vault turned against him for exiling their hero and executed him after finding out about the Vault Experiment.

  • Karmic Death: He exiled the Vault Dweller to keep the Vault from tearing itself apart. In the end, he was overthrown by the residents of Vault 13 for exiling their savior and executed before the Vault was divided between those who followed Vault Dweller into the outside and those who stayed in the Vault.
    • In an Alternate Ending (if you have bad karma or the Bloody Mess trait), the Vault Dweller shoots the Overseer in the back before leaving.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: Subverted: while he appears to be both reasonable and well-meaning, he is also willing to keep the insane Vault Experiment going and exile the Vault Dweller after s/he wasn't needed anymore.
  • Retcon: In Fallout 2, his motives for exiling the Vault Dweller were changed from "not wanting to disrupt the Vault's order" to "not wanting to disrupt an Ancient Conspiracy started by his predecessors."
    • It's more reasonable to assume that he lied to the Vault Dweller so s/he would not know and spread word of the Vault experiment.
  • Ungrateful Bastard
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: He at least showed some remorse for using Vault Dweller as his tool like this before exiling him.


Companions

Ian

A no-nonsense merchant guard and your first recruitable companion. Was canonically burned to death while fighting super mutant alongside Vault Dweller. Dummied Out content in Fallout 2 shows that he faked his death and asked the Vault Dweller to help with the cover-up. He is still alive and kicking, living just outside Vault City.

  • Artificial Stupidity: He has a bad habit of trying to shoot enemies through friendly targets.
  • Can't Catch Up: He's a pretty good fighter in the early-to-mid game, but since you can't upgrade his armor, he's pretty much cannon fodder by the time you start facing Super Mutants and Deathclaws.
  • The Lancer: The Vault Dweller's first and closest companion.
  • Only in It For the Money: Unless you have good speech skill, he will only join you if you pay him for his services.
  • Really Seven Hundred Years Old: Ian was probably already older than the Vault Dweller by the time of the first game, but he is still doing well 80 years later. His improbable age is Lampshaded during his Dummied Out conversation with the Chosen One.
  • Weapon of Choice: Give Ian a SMG and get out of his way.

Dogmeat

One day, a shotgun-toting man in leather jacket walked into Junktown with his dog. The man was killed by thugs, and the dog was left all alone. When another traveler walked into town a month later and befriended him, Dogmeat decided to follow the traveler to the ends of the Earth. Too bad about there were forcefields on the way...

  • Artificial Stupidity: "You are standing in my line of fire. That's better now watch out for that forcef--- DOGMEAT, NOOO"!!
  • Badass Family: Given the badassery of his Identical Grandson and his pups, it's safe to say that ass-kicking biting is In the Blood.
  • Canine Companion: A loyal one.
  • Fragile Speedster: Dogmeat has tons of action points per turn and a nasty bite. Too bad he can't wear armour...
  • Self-Imposed Challenge: Keeping Dogmeat alive can be a bit frustrating, especially in the last few levels where he's constantly in harm's way. To make matters worse, you can't give him any kind of instructions or tell him to stay put, meaning that he'll be the first to run into a fight. It is possible to make him survive the entire game, but it's tricky. Then again, by that point, he is more trouble and there isn't any other tangible reward other than a warm fluffy feeling.
  • Shout-Out: To hero's Canine Companion in both Mad Max AND A Boy and His Dog.
  • Suicidal Overconfidence: "Dogmeat, don't get too close to that Deathclaw/Super Mutant wielding Minigun/forcefie--" **ZAP** "DOGMEAAAT!"
  • Team Pet: He's often the only animal you can get to follow you. Fallout 2 has other dogs you can acquire, but none of them are as famous (or powerful) as Dogmeat.
  • Video Game Caring Potential: You can pet him, treat his injuries, feed him yummy food and prevent him from dying horribly while he tries to defend your life. *sniff*

Tycho

A gas mask wearing Nevada Ranger with years of experience under his belt. If recruited, he helps the Vault Dweller mop the floor with the local crime boss and save the Core Region from super mutants.

  • Badass Longcoat: Implied to wear one, which might be required for his job as a Ranger.
  • The Big Guy: Easily the most heavily armed and armoured of all companions.
  • Crazy Prepared: Years of traveling in the wasteland has made him quite a survivalist. He wears a gas mask at all times, just in case.
  • Gas Mask Longcoat: While you can't see his gas mask on his character model, his description text mentions it.
  • Genius Bruiser: Both the strongest, and most intellectual and well-spoken of your companions.
  • Hidden Depths: Keeps to himself and rarely provides any location-specific commentary, unlike Ian. But use the "tell-me-about" text phraser to ask him about various key words, and you will get some very informative, intelligent and educated opinions from him on many subjects.
  • Mythology Gag: Tycho's entire backstory is a shout out to Wasteland, the game which inspired the Fallout series.
  • Plot Tumor: His off-hand mention of the Desert Rangers was picked up and expanded upon in Fallout: New Vegas.
  • Ranger: A Nevada Desert Ranger, to be precise.
  • Weapon of Choice: Double-barreled shotgun, but will settle for any rifle he is given. Giving him anything with burst fire function results in A-Team Firing.

Katja

A Scavenger who joins the Vault Dweller on his/her journey if asked. She hangs around with Followers of the Apocalypse, although she doesn't share their ideas.

Tandi

Voiced by: Cree Summer

Aradesh's daughter who is kidnapped by the raiders. She accompanies the player for a short time after rescuing her, or permanently if you don't return to Shady Sands. In Fallout 2, she is the President of the New California Republic.

  • 100% Adoration Rating: There is a reason why she's President for life, they keep voting her in.
  • Ambiguously Brown: Which makes sense, given that Vault 15 was deliberately made as multi-ethnic as possible as part of the Vault Experiment.
  • Big Good: In Fallout 2, being largely responsible for building up the NCR into the Wasteland's only known functional post-war democracy.
  • Guest Star Party Member: You can actually keep her around until the end of the game, but although she does act as an extra handy gun, she really doesn't offer anything special and has somewhat lower stats than your "real" party members.
  • I Was Quite a Looker: The 80 years between games did not do her well.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: In Fallout 2.

Town Inhabitants

Aradesh

Voiced by: Tony Shalhoub

The leader of Shady Sands, the village built by the survivors of Vault 15.

Sheriff Killian Darkwater

Voiced by: Richard Dean Anderson

The mayor of Junktown and proprietor of the local general store.

Gizmo

Voiced by: Jim Cummings

The owner of Junktown's casino, he aims to take out Killian and seize the town for himself.

  • Fat Bastard: Somehow managed to become morbidly obese to the point he can't move by himself in a scarce post-apocalyptic world.
  • Orcus on His Throne: Justified to a degree in that it seems he couldn't get up from his desk if he tried.

Set

Voiced by: Jim Cummings

The leader of the Necropolis mutants.

  • Good Is Not Nice: He's extremely unpleasant and a massive jerk, but as a leader, he's actually quite just and reasonable. He makes sure his people have a steady supply of water, he lets the underground ghouls live in peace despite rejecting his rule, and even tolerates outsiders in town during the day. Searching through his desk will reveal that he outright refused to turn in unmutated humans to the Master's Army despite their military presence in the town. Considering the contempt he shows towards "normies", that's saying something.
  • Jerkass
  • Meaningful Name: "Set", as in the Egyptian god of chaos, deserts and darkness. Head of a city of ghouls in the middle of the wasteland, yup.
  • Pardon My Klingon: His dialogue infamously uses many strange euphemisms ("Dirtnap!" "Makes my shadow grow!"), done in an attempt to show that he's attempting to form a new "ghoul culture" distinct from that of humanity.

Nicole

Voiced by: Pamela Adlon

The leader of the Followers of the Apocalypse, a quasi-religious pacifistic group dedicated to educating the wasteland on the past to avoid repeating it. They're also suspicious of the Children of the Cathedral.

  • Dummied Out: She was supposed to play a bigger role in the game, but like much of the content in the Boneyard, it had to be cut down due to the developers running out of time.
  • La Résistance
  • Saintly Church: She and the Followers are probably the most unambiguously good people you encounter in the game.

Harold

Voiced by: Charlie Adler

A mutant beggar in the Hub who provides information to the player for a price.

  • Action Survivor: Pretty much the only person to have survived an expedition to the Mariposa Military Base before the Unity formed.
  • Body Horror: Comes with the territory of contacting FEV.
  • Cool Old Guy: Some NPCs remark that he has a lot of interesting stories to tell. They're not lying.
  • The Grotesque: Even by comparison with ghouls, Harold is unpleasant to look at.
  • Mr. Exposition: He provides a lot of Backstory for the game, especially about Richard Grey, before he became the Master.
  • Plant Person: In Fallout 1, he just looks like a ghoul. In Fallout 2, what appears to be a tree starts growing out of his head. In Fallout 3, he pretty much becomes a tree.
  • Self-Deprecation: Uses this a lot as a coping mechanism.

Brotherhood of Steel

John Maxson

Voiced by: Frank Welker

The High Elder of the Brotherhood of Steel. He is one of the few people in the organization who wants to do something about the imminent Super Mutant threat.

  • Cool Old Guy
  • Hypocritical Humor: "I'll help you out as long as you don't start flappin' your gums too much. You know, outsiders are like that, always jawin... kinda like me, huh?"
  • Only Sane Man: He's pretty much the only Elder (and possibly member) in the Brotherhood aware of the threat the Super Mutants pose.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: He's willing to speak openly to an outsider like the Vault Dweller, and will offer Brotherhood support if the Military Base is found.

Vree

Voiced by: CCH Pounder

Head scribe of the brotherhood of steel.

  • Bald Woman: Well, except for her ponytail.
  • Meganekko: Which may be the reason she is unbelievably cute despite the above trope.

Rhombus

Voiced by: Clancy Brown

The Head of the Paladins who would later become Elder after the death of John Maxson. He doesn't like talking to you.

  • Berserk Button: One wrong word said to him, and he'll quickly snap. Since he's not, if not barely, relevant to the story, it's better not to even talk to him at all (lest he throws you out of the Brotherhood of Steel).
  • Knight Templar

The Unity

The Master née Richard Grey

Voiced by: Jim Cummings, Kath Soucie

The main antagonist of the game and the mind behind the super mutants. The Master is a horribly mutated thing made up of bits of dead flesh and machinery, hooked up to a vault computer. He was formerly a resident of Vault 8 named Richard Moreau, but an incident at Marisopa Military Base ended in him being horribly mutated by the Forced Evolutionary Virus inside. After this, he found out a way to turn normal humans into super mutants via the same virus. His main plan is to convert all of what remains into humanity into super mutants because he believes that they will only tear themselves apart with infighting over petty differences and that super mutants are better adapted to survive in the world the nuclear war created.

  • Anti-Villain: He really does think he's doing the right thing, and considering the state of the wasteland, his aggressive agenda make sense.
  • Apocalyptic Log: The diary detailing his transformation.
  • Assimilation Plot: The Master's ultimate plan, even more literally than his followers think. They think he plans to bring all of humanity under the control of his faction, the Unity. They're right, but they don't realize that he also plans to consume and assimilate everyone. "Unity" indeed.
  • Authority Equals Asskicking: As the final boss of the game, he's appropriately very tough, being integrated into a Vault Overseer chair and having access to its twin gatling lasers.
  • Big Bad: His machinations and crusade are the driving force behind the plot of Fallout 1, and the chief and most dangerous threat to the recovering human civilization.
  • Body Horror: Oh yeah.
  • Driven to Suicide: See Heel Realization below.
  • Eldritch Abomination: Okay, he's not alien, but he's nothing short of incredibly weird, with his Psychic Powers, lack of a real true form, and all the Body Horror involved in his creation.
  • Enemy Summoner: He summons his followers in the battle against him.
  • Final Boss: You can either fight your way through him or talk your way through him, but the Master is your ultimate opponent.
  • A God Am I: He doesn't refer to himself as such, but his mutants view him as a "dark god".
  • Heel Realization: If you opt to talk him to death, you can reveal to him that his super mutants are sterile and that his plan will never work. He's so stricken with grief upon realizing that all his work has been for nothing that he kills himself and blows the vault he uses for a base up with a nuke.
  • The Master
  • Mix and Match Critter
  • Noble Bigot: He has genuinely good intentions and sympathetic motives, but he is also quite smug and condescending during your encounter. You can call him out on this.
  • Prophetic Name/Sue Donym: Originally Richard Moreau, he picked up the alias Grey after being exiled from Vault City, forcing him to head south.
  • Psychic Powers: Is an incredibly powerful psychic, to the point that without a psychic nullifier or a special perk that protects against psychic assault, the Vault Dweller will be mentally crippled upon going down the corridor leading to his chamber.
  • Skippable Boss: If you got the Lieutenant's key, it's quite possible to complete the game without ever seeing him.
  • Utopia Justifies the Means: He just wants to unite the world.
  • Villainous Breakdown: If you manage to convince him his plans will fail.
  • Visionary Villain: The Master actually intended to save the future by creating a race of super mutants well-equipped to trek the barren wastelands. It was a cunning plan, but tunnel vision and desperation made him overlook an obvious flaw.
  • Voice of the Legion: His speech is composed in real time with slightly digitilized samples of the voices of everyone he has absorbed. The voices switch intermittently, even within the same sentence.
  • Was Once a Man: Remember the story Harold told you about his friend Richard Grey? That was him.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: He honestly believes that converting everyone into super mutants is the only way to ensure humanity's survival in the post-apocalyptic world. He's even willing to allow people to opt-out of being mutated, provided they allow themselves to be sterilized and live the rest of their lives under super mutant control.
  • Wetware CPU: Sometime after taking his dunk in the F.E.V. tank, the remains of Richard bonded with Vault Overseer's chair.

Lou Tenant (Lieutenant)

Voiced by: Tony Jay

The Master's second-in-command. One of the few supermutants gifted with both extraordinary intelligence and extraordinary strength, he represented the Master's vision of how the supermutants should be perfectly and was chosen as his right hand man. He is in charge of the Master's army and oversees the mutation process at the Mariposa Military Base.

  • Authority Equals Asskicking: He's the second-toughest enemy in the game, next to The Master himself.
  • Badass Baritone: He's voiced by Tony Jay. This is inevitable.
  • Beam Spam/Gatling Good: Wields a Gatling Laser.
  • Cold-Blooded Torture: Takes a little too much delight in torturing the player.
  • Cyborg: Has a red cybernetic eye and several other implants.
  • Dragon Their Feet: You can confront and kill the Master before him. In fact, the memoirs in the Fallout 2 manual state this is exactly what the Vault Dweller did.
  • Evil Brit: Well, he is voiced by Tony Jay.
  • Evil Sounds Deep: It wouldn't be Tony Jay otherwise.
  • Faux Affably Evil: Keeps a polite, mocking tone through all of his conversations.
  • Genius Bruiser: Has high intelligence stats and he keeps an intellectual tone throughout his conversation. There's a reason he's the second in command.
  • A God Am I: Subverted. He mentions that the children of the cathedral view him and the Master as gods. If you ask him if he believes himself to be one, he simply replies "Of course not!".
  • Gorn: The game has plenty of violent deaths, but the Lieutenant's death animation is probably the goriest one in the game: his flesh slowly, painfully melts away until nothing remains but a deformed, bloody skeleton which stumbles around for a second before dissolving into a puddle of goo.
  • Hypercompetent Sidekick: While he lacks his charisma and vision, the Lieutenant seems far less deluded than the Master about their goal. If you bring up the supermutant sterility to him, he acknowledges it to be a problem, but assumes the problem will eventually be corrected.
  • In Game Nickname: Called "Lou Tenant", "Lou" or "Loo" by his minions. Called "The Right Hand of God" by the Children of the Cathedral.
  • No Name Given: Unless Lou is actually his name.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: Has a bionic red eye.
  • Skippable Boss: As the Big Bad.

Morpheus

Voiced by: David Warner

The high priest of the Children of the Cathedral. A former gang member recruited by the Master to lead the fake religion constructed around his persona as a means to win over the hearts and minds of the people in the wasteland. He believes himself to be far more important to the Master than he actually is.

"Father Morpheus. That's a real peaceful sounding name. Who's his assistant, Brother Murder? Brother Death? Sister Kill maybe?"

Harry

Voiced by: Brad Garrett

A shining example of super mutant intelligence. If the Lieutenant perfectly exemplifies how the super mutants should be, then Harry is the perfect example of how wrong the mutation process can go. Sadly for the Master, Harry represents the vast majority of his subjects.

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