“I've made a lot of tough decisions since I took this position. But none of them harder than this one. You saved us, but you'll kill us. I'm sorry. You're a hero... and you have to leave.”
Jacoren[1] is the Overseer of Vault 13 in 2161. He genuinely cares about the Vault Dweller and everyone in the community, though he can be a bit paternalistic, even condescending, at times.[2]
Background
When the Vault's only functioning water chip was damaged and shut down, he sent one of the vault dwellers, who later became known as the Vault Dweller, into the wasteland to find a replacement chip. In the course of his adventure, the Vault Dweller ended up defeating the mutant threat, and was subsequently expelled from Vault 13, as Jacoren thought that he would ruin the Vault Experiment by convincing people to leave the Vault.
Despite the Dweller's exile, many people chose to follow him into the Wasteland. Jacoren's fate after said event is not made clear. He can try to stop those who want to leave and eventually be tried and sentenced to death for his crime, probably after the dwellers learned about his involvement in the Experiment[3], or he can be killed at the hand of the Vault Dweller after the goodbye speech.[4]
He was fully aware of the Vault Experiment program conducted by the Enclave[5], and therefore tried to do everything to keep Vault 13 closed for 200 years, just as the program dictated. As it is quite unlikely that he could have been more than 100 years old, the knowledge about the experiment was probably passed to him from the previous Overseer, most likely one of his parents.
Interactions with the player character
Interactions overview
| Interactions | ||
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This character is a permanent companion. | |
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This character is a temporary companion. | |
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This character has a talking head. | |
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This character starts quests. | |
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This character is involved in quests. |
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This character is a doctor. | |
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This character is a merchant. | Sells: - |
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This character can modify weapons. |
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This character is allied with the following faction(s). |
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Quests
- Find the Water Chip: Vault 13's water purification chip is broken and has stopped working. Jacoren tasks you with finding another one.
- Destroy the source of the Mutants: The mutant army poses a great threat to Vault 13. Jacoren wants you to neutralize them to ensure the preservation of the vault.
- Destroy the Mutant leader: Along with destroying the army, its leader must be killed as well.
Effects of player's actions
- With the Bloody Mess trait, the Berserker or Childkiller titles, or a low reputation, right after the Overseer's goodbye speech at the end of the game, the Vault Dweller will automatically put away any held weapon, draw a pistol and shoot the Overseer in the back. It is also possible to kill Jacoren by initiating combat just after his speech, and putting him down with one or more shots. If Jacoren is killed, he falls to the ground with his internal organs hanging from his body, with both his left arm and left leg severed and his ribcage exposed, whereupon he uses his remaining arm & leg and crawls in an attempt to move to the Vault door, which he does reach but is unable to open before ultimately succumbing to his injury.
| Death animation |
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Other interactions
If the PC has an Intelligence below four, Jacoren will explain things in a slow and simple manner. At times getting frustrated over doing so.
Tell me about
| Overseer's Tell-Me-Abouts | |
|---|---|
| Query | Response |
| Chip, Water, Waterchip | "It is a critical part that allows us to purify the water. Without it, we'll run out of drinking water." |
| Healing, Library, Medic, Overseer | "We don't have time for this!" |
| Outside | "How would I know? I can barely keep up with what goes on in here! I suspect you're going to find out." |
| Vault, Vault13, Vault-13 | "This is our home. We'd all be dead without it. If we care for it properly, it should last us for a long time." |
| War, Great War | "It was terrible. I hope we learned our lesson and we never do it again." |
Inventory
| Apparel | Weapon | Other items |
|---|---|---|
| Vault jumpsuit | Minigun* | - |
*In the Overseer chair.
Notes
- When the Master is killed and the Mariposa Base blown up, the Vault Dweller (along with their companions) will be near Vault 13. However, the cave is much brighter in appearance.
- Also, when the Vault Dweller kills Jacoren in the end, Jacoren will have a special, more violent animation.
- When Jacoren is attacked with ranged weapons (the Vault Dweller cannot attack him with melee weapons) on his pedestal, two miniguns will come out, similar to the Master's Gatling lasers.
- He is one of the few non-player characters in the Fallout games to not be killable.
- After turning Vault 13 hostile and going near Jacoren, he will say that the Vault Dweller turned against the Vault and that he cannot allow that.
Quotes
"You're back! And in one piece! How goes the search?"
"Do your best. Remember, we're all counting on you."
"We've debated this before. You ought to know now, after being out there! You think the rest of us could survive that? Besides, I'd be out of a job! I'm management! It's not like I know how to do anything useful!"
"Great! Let me have it. We'll see if it works."
"Okey-dokey. One moment, the chip is initializing. Here - here - here - There it goes... Self-test is green... re-boot is good... Hah! It's working! And it looks like we have a winner! Haha! [The overseer sighs with relief.] You -- you've saved us. You've done it!"
"Nothing? No, oh no! It was something. Don't downplay what you've done. You've saved a lot of lives. All right, now we need a report on what's out there. Please go to the library."
"They'll want to leave. What happens to the Vault if we lose the best of a generation? What if we are the only safe place in the world? You just gave us back all these lives... I can't take the chance of losing them."
"I've made a lot of tough decisions since I took this position. But none of them harder than this one. You saved us, but you'll kill us. I'm sorry. You're a hero... and you have to leave."
Low intelligence
- "Oh, that's great! Can I have the chip, please?"
- "No, not that. I want the com-pu-ter chip."
- "No. The chip."
- "Just-give-me-the-chip!"
- "Thank you. Now, go to the library and rest for a while, ok"
- "Yes, you can touch things."
Final speech
“You've done it! It's... wonderful. Amazing! I'm so proud of what you've accomplished, what you've endured. There's no way the people of the Vault can ever thank you enough for what you've done. You've saved all our lives. Who knows, maybe even saved the human race. [The Overseer sighs.] That makes the rest of this even harder. Everyone will want to talk to you. Every youngster will look up to you, and want to emulate you. And then what? They'll want to leave. What happens to the Vault if we lose the best of a generation? What if we are the only safe place in the world? You just gave us back all these lives... I can't take the chance of losing them. I've made a lot of tough decisions since I took this position. But none of them harder than this one. You saved us, but you'll kill us. I'm sorry. You're a hero... and you have to leave.”
Appearances
Jacoren appears only in Fallout, as a talking head.
He was also to appear in the canceled Fallout movie, where he was to be revealed as the founder of Vault-Tec and the man who started the Great War.
Behind the scenes
- I always thought of Fallout's story of drawing straws was something the Overseer thought of. "Look, someone has to go outside, and they may die out there, so let's draw straws". Someone, probably not the Overseer since he wouldn't have gone outside no matter what, demanded that EVERYONE draw a straw in order to be truly fair. But to be honest, the vault dwellers were simply terrified of going outside, and terrified people do not always make the wisest decisions.
Anyway, when big dumb Larry drew the straw, maybe the Overseer saw a way to rid their limited gene pool of some really bad alleles. - Tim Cain at DAC forum - At the end of the quest Trouble on the Homefront in Fallout 3, Amata has the same quote as Jacoren saying, "I'm sorry. You're a hero... and you have to leave", right after she exiles the Lone Wanderer from Vault 101. However this is only if the Lone Wanderer kills the Overseer, if they convince the Overseer to allow the vault to open, she will be thankful for their help but will reluctantly exile them due to the other vault residents blaming them for the problems in the vault.
Gallery
Overseer concept art
Jacoren in the Vault 13 command center
Jacoren headshot
In-game model
References
- ↑ The name appears in Fallout concept art
- ↑ Fallout Official Survival Guide
- ↑ Fallout 2
- ↑ Possibility wth the Bloody Mess trait, the Berserker or Childkiller title(s) or a low Reputation.
- ↑ Fallout Bible
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