Fallout (video game)/Characters: Difference between revisions

== Vault 13 ==

[[Player Character|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. [[Blatant Lies|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...

'''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.

* [[BFGBig Freaking Gun]]: If the [[Fallout 2|''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 [[Eye Scream|eyes]] and [[Groin Attack|groins]]. Also, in the game's climax, it's possible to {{spoiler|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 Protagonist|Featureless Protagonists]]s.

* [[Dude, Where's My Reward?]]: {{spoiler|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 [[Squishy Wizard|physically weak character]] that, with some leveling and patience, can eventually [[Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards|defeat the most powerful enemies effortlessly]] (with words rather than magic here).

* [[Guile Hero]]: ''Fallout'' was one of the first computer [[RPG|RPGs]]s 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 [[The Dev Team Thinks of Everything|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.

* [[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.

{{quote| '''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. {{spoiler|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 [[Crapsack World|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.}}.

* {{spoiler|[[Karmic Death]]:}}: {{spoiler|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 : {{spoiler|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]]: {{spoiler|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"."}}

* {{spoiler|[[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness]]}} : {{spoiler|He at least showed some remorse for using Vault Dweller as his tool like this before exiling him.}}.

== Companions ==

A no-nonsense merchant guard and your first recruitable companion. Was canonically [[Kill It Withwith Fire|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.

* [[The Lancer]]: The Vault Dweller's first and closest companion.

* [[Only in It For Thethe 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 [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] during his [[Dummied Out]] conversation with the Chosen One.

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--- [[Too Dumb to Live|DOGMEAT,]], [[Big No|NOOO]]"!!

* [[Badass Family]]: Given the badassery of his [[Identical Grandson]] and ''his'' pups, it's safe to say that ass-<s> kicking</s> biting is [[In the Blood]].

* [[Canine Companion]]: A loyal one.

* [[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 [[VideogameVideo Game Caring Potential|a warm fluffy feeling]].

* [[Shout -Out]]: To hero's [[Canine Companion]] in both ''[[Mad Max]]'' AND ''[[A Boy and His Dog]]''.

* [[VideogameVideo 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. *Sniffsniff*

* [[Badass Longcoat]]: Implied to wear one, which might be required for his job as a Ranger.

* [[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 (Videovideo Gamegame)|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''.

* [[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]].

* [[Nun -Too -Holy]]: She is a member of the quasi-religious pacifistic Followers Of The Apocalypse. Doesn't make her any less prone to sticking a knife in someone's eye.

* [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair|You Gotta Have Green Hair]]: PossiblyGreen, possibly due to [[Rule of Cool]]. Or maybe she just found an old bottle of hair dye.

{{quote| '''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.

* [[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.

* [[Reasonable Authority Figure]]: In ''Fallout 2''.

== Town Inhabitants ==

{{quote| '''Voiced by:''' Tony Shalhoub}}

{{quote| '''Voiced by:''' Richard Dean Anderson}}

* [[By the -The-Book Cop]]: Surprising, given the setting. He's perfectly aware that Gizmo and the Skulz gang are up to no good, but he won't move against them unless he gets solid evidence.

{{quote| '''Voiced by:''' [[Jim Cummings]]}}

* [[Orcus Onon His Throne]]: Justified to a degree in that it seems he couldn't get up from his desk if he tried.

{{quote| '''Voiced by:''' [[Jim Cummings]]}}

* [[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.

* [[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.

{{quote| '''Voiced by:''' Pamela Adlon}}

* [[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.

{{quote| '''Voiced by:''' [[Charlie Adler]]}}

* [[Action Survivor]]: Pretty much the only person to have survived an expedition to {{spoiler|the Mariposa Military Base before the Unity formed.}}.

* [[Cool Old Guy]]: Some [[NPC|NPCs]]s 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 {{spoiler|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]]'', {{spoiler|he pretty much ''becomes'' a tree.}}.

* [[Self -Deprecation]]: Uses this a lot as a coping mechanism.

== Brotherhood of Steel ==

{{quote| '''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.

* [[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... [[Lampshade Hanging|kinda like me]], huh?"

{{quote| '''Voiced by:''' CCH Pounder}}

{{quote| '''Voiced by:''' [[Clancy Brown]]}}

* [[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).

== The Unity ==

{{quote| '''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.

* [[Body Horror]]: [https://web.archive.org/web/20061115224007/http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/df/The_Master_Fallout.jpg Oh yeah.].

* [[Driven to Suicide]]: See [[Heel Realization]] below.

* [[Enemy Summoner]]: He summons his followers in the battle against him.

* [[Heel Realization]]: If you opt to [[Talking the Monster Toto Death|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 (trope)|The Master]]

* [[Prophetic Name]] / [[Sue Donym]]: Originally Richard [[The Island of Doctor Moreau|Moreau]], he picked up the alias Grey after being exiled from Vault City, forcing him to head south.

* [[Utopia Justifies the Means]]: He just wants to ''unite'' the world.

* [[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.

{{quote| '''Voiced by:''' [[Tony Jay]]}}

* [[Cold -Blooded Torture]]: Takes a little too much delight in torturing the player.

* [[Gorn]]: The game has plenty of violent deaths, but the Lieutenant's death animation is probably the goriest one in the game: Hishis 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.

* [[Red Eyes, Take Warning]]: Has a bionic red eye.

* [[Skippable Boss]]: As the [[Big Bad]].

{{quote| '''Voiced by:''' [[David Warner]]}}

* [[Big Bad Wannabe]]: Believes himself to be a vital part of the Master’s plan, but in reality, he is just an expendable pawn.

* [[High Priest]]: Of the Children of the Cathedral.

* [[In the Hood]]: Wears one.

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

* [[Religion of Evil]]: Leads one.

* [[The Brute]]: It's the only thing he can be.

* [[Dumb Muscle]]: Strong and dumb as they get.

* [[Too Dumb to Live]]: He is just that dumb.

[[Category:Video Games/Characters{{ROOTPAGENAME}}]]

[[Category:Fallout 1{{SUBPAGENAME}}]]