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People called me a hero after what happened at HELIOS, but I left that battle scarred by fear, and have allowed that weakness to govern my actions.

Elder Nolan McNamara is the current elder of the Mojave chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel living at the Hidden Valley bunker in 2281.


Background

A Brotherhood Paladin once, McNamara assumed control of the Mojave chapter of the Brotherhood after Father Elijah vanished during the disastrous NCR attack on Helios One. McNamara successfully broke through the NCR's lines and led the surviving members of the Brotherhood to the safety of the Hidden Valley bunker. This act earned him an enormous amount of respect and loyalty from the chapter members, who credit him with saving the chapter from total extermination.

Fearing that the NCR would continue to hunt down the Mojave chapter, McNamara put the Hidden Valley bunker on lockdown, not allowing anyone but small scouting parties to leave, and not allowing any of the BoS who were outside to enter. He still fears the NCR and believes they are still hunting the Brotherhood, when in fact NCR is currently overburdened fighting wars on multiple fronts, and not even looking for the Brotherhood. The extended lock down and resulting attrition of the Brotherhood's sphere of influence has caused some members of the Brotherhood to question the Elder's judgment, and Head Paladin Edgar Hardin is looking for a way to usurp him.

Interactions with the player character

Interactions overview

Interactions
Perk nociception regulator color
This character is essential. Essential characters cannot be killed.
Paving the Way
This character is a permanent companion. They grant the - perk.
25 Strictly Business
This character is a temporary companion.
Icon quest starter
This character starts quests.
FO76 ui icon quest
This character is involved in quests.
FO76 vaultboy firstaid
This character is a doctor.
FO76 ui trading team
This character is a merchant. Bottle cap -
Sells: -
2d20 Jury Rigger
This character can repair items. Max Repair condition: -
40 Weaponsmith
This character can modify weapons.

-

12 The American Dream
This character rents beds. Bottle cap -.

Quests

  • Still in the Dark: McNamara will ask the player to do various tasks for the Brotherhood, such as looking for Brotherhood patrols, getting reports from scouts, and helping repair the air filtration system by retrieving different parts from the Mojave's vaults. He can also be overthrown by Head Paladin Hardin with the help of the Courier in this quest.
  • Eyesight to the Blind: If not overthrown, McNamara will task the player in planting a bug in the radio equipment at Black Mountain and to deal with the super mutants there.
  • I Could Make You Care: Veronica wants to convince the Elder to change and get more recruits.

Effects of player's actions

  • If Elder McNamara is overthrown, he will be demoted to Knight McNamara and can be found working in the Knight's workshop, wearing a suit of recon armor.

Inventory

* Only if the Courier overthrows McNamara.
** Only when the Courier wears the explosive collar.

Notes

  • Elder McNamara is mentioned by Father Elijah if the player traps him in the Sierra Madre vault. This can be heard when listening to Elijah's radio frequency after resolving the quest in the vault and only if the player traps him alive.
  • Elder McNamara is described by Veronica as being one of the Brotherhood's most progressive members. He, under the appropriate circumstances, will even support the NCR. In contrast, Hardin is a conservative, dyed-in-the-wool Brotherhood member who believes in the ideals and mission of the Brotherhood without question.
  • In the Eyesight to the Blind quest, McNamara remarks that under his leadership, the Brotherhood has remained neutral with the neighboring Black Mountain super-mutants out of respect. However, this policy was established while Black Mountain was still under the control of the benevolent Marcus, rather than its current unstable and violent leader, Tabitha.
  • Even after you join the Brotherhood, McNamara will keep calling you outsider, even if he is ousted.

Appearances

Nolan McNamara appears only in Fallout: New Vegas and is mentioned in Dead Money.

Bugs

  • PCPC After Elder McNamara grants you full access of the bunker, heading for his chair, if the player sits in his chair he will stop his action and stand still forever. This can be fixed by going into the console, selecting Elder McNamara with your mouse or typing prid 000e2f87, then disable, then enable. [verified]
    • Note: If you can't find him, type player.moveto 000e2f87 and warp to where he's stuck contemplating a wall/air vent.
  • PCPC McNamara may not respond at all for action/talk call. This can be fixed by loading and trying again. [verified]
  • Xbox 360Xbox 360 McNamara, the Rangemaster, Lars Taggart, Scribe Ibsen and Tapper sometimes end their dialogue with Antony's distinctively voiced "Later." [verified]
    • This is likely just a minor scripting bug. Once you reach this point, exit the entire bunker complex (so, breathe some fresh air), then re-enter the bunker and talk with McNamara again. Exiting and re-entering the bunker flips a trigger switch and allows McNamara to offer you the next quest in the BoS Chain (Eyesight to the Blind) that offers you the chance to become a member of the BoS, which then allows you to ask the BoS for their support in the upcoming battle.
    • NOTE: You may have to wait 3 days or so after exiting the bunker complex before re-entering will work. What's happening in the mean time is the Elder is lifting the lockdown. The 3 day wait corresponds to the universal refresh time that also affects vendor inventories and non-player character respawns. However, this may still not allow the courier to initiate conversation with the Elder.
      • If you have tried above solutions and still lack results, you can open the console and enter this command: /set "000E327C".LockdownLifted to 1
    • On Xbox 360, it seems this may be caused by applying the 1.2 update partway through the game. Clear the update from your Xbox system cache (see Removing patches). This will fix the "lockdown bug." Go talk to McNamara, tell him about the NCR and ask him about joining the Brotherhood. You can then re-patch your game with the update after talking to him, he will remain fixed and you will be able to continue with both quests.
    • PCPC After attempting to receive power armor training from Elder McNamara the screen will turn black then fade back in, leaving you frozen and only able to look up and down, no fixes known.
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