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For a list of player characters in the Fallout series of games, see player character. |
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The Sole Survivor is the player character and main protagonist in Fallout 4. Depending on the player character's sex, the Sole Survivor is either the husband or wife in a pre-War family and has a son, Shaun.
Background
The Sole Survivor is either a male retired Army veteran or a female law school graduate. According to pre-War records of the Lookout at the USS Constitution, the husband served in the 2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry Regiment, while the wife was a lawyer.
At some point during the Sino-American War, the Sole Survivor married, had a son named Shaun, and bought a robotic butler named Codsworth. On October 23rd, 2077, the Sole Survivor was preparing for an event at the Veteran's Hall[1] in Concord[2] when a Vault-Tec representative approached the family and approved them for the papers that allowed them access into Vault 111. A few moments later, a newsreader announced that nuclear detonations were being reported, forcing the Survivor and their family to rush to Vault 111. They were then trapped in cryogenic stasis under the pretense of being "decontaminated." The Sole Survivor is kept in this state from 2077 to 2287.[3]
In 2227, the Sole Survivor and their spouse are reawakened by two seen unknown individuals and one off-screen, who open the spouse's cryogenic tube with the intent of kidnapping Shaun. Though conscious, the Sole Survivor is trapped in their tube and is powerless to do anything but watch their spouse being shot and their child abducted. The Sole Survivor is re-frozen, awakening in 2287 and escaping the cryogenic tube. Learning that they are the sole survivor of Vault 111, the Sole Survivor emerges from the vault and vows to avenge their spouse's death and locate Shaun.
Returning Home
The Sole Survivor heads home to Sanctuary Hills, now ruined from the bomb blast, where they meet a distraught Codsworth, revealing to the Survivor that over two hundred and ten years have passed since they were frozen in the vault, also telling the player character to go to Concord for help. The Sole Survivor then meets Preston Garvey - one of the last of the Commonwealth Minutemen - and assists him in protecting settlers from a group of raiders and a deathclaw, later helping them to travel to, and settle into the remains of Sanctuary.
The Search For Answers
After helping Garvey and his group, the player character is instructed to go to Diamond City, a settlement based in Fenway Park where they meet Piper Wright, the city's reporter, who tells the player character to seek out the city's detective Nick Valentine who is revealed to have been missing two weeks prior to the Sole Survivor's arrival in Diamond City. After finding Valentine, they learn the identity and location of their spouse's killer, a man named Conrad Kellogg. Tracking him down, Kellogg reveals that Shaun is in The Institute, a secretive organization feared by the people of the Commonwealth, that is based below the ruins of the Commonwealth Institute of Technology. The player character then kills Kellogg and retrieves a cybernetic implant from his brain. After some consultation with Nick and Piper, they head to Goodneighbor where they first encounter John Hancock, the self-appointed ghoul mayor of the town, and get help from Doctor Amari, a scientist skilled in neuroscience. The doctor assists the Sole Survivor in viewing the dead mercenary's memories and discovering that the Institute uses teleportation as the means of travel between their facility and the surface. During their hunt for Kellogg, the Survivor also witnesses the arrival of the Brotherhood of Steel in an airship called The Prydwen, their mobile airship HQ.
The Threat Within
After viewing Kellogg's memories, the player character is then tasked to go to the Glowing Sea - the ground zero of the nuclear blast during the intro sequence - to find Brian Virgil, an ex-Institute scientist who specialized in researching the Forced Evolutionary Virus, who has escaped and gone into hiding, to get help in infiltrating the shadowy organization. Virgil, now mutated into a super mutant by prolonged FEV exposure, mentions that the player must kill an Institute Courser - one of the most advanced creations of the Institute, designed to be stronger, faster and smarter than average human beings - to get a special chip from it in order to access the Institute. Once the chip is retrieved, the player character is directed to find The Railroad, a secret organization that works to free synths from the Institute's control and give them normal lives in the Commonwealth, since only one of its members, Tinker Tom, can decode the chip and get the frequency code used by the Institute to teleport.
A Meeting Long Overdue
The player character then heads back to Virgil, who gives them a blueprint of a device that hijacks the frequency of the Institute's Molecular Relay. After retrieving the blueprints, the Survivor must seek assistance from one of the three factions: the Minutemen, Railroad or the Brotherhood. Once the device is built, the player character infiltrates the Institute to find their son. After finding a synth based on a young Shaun, it is revealed that the real Shaun was kidnapped in 2227, sixty years prior to the Survivor's release from cryogenic sleep, and is now an old man, entitled Father, and the current leader of the Institute.
The Fate of Humanity
From now on the Survivor faces a choice that will significantly affect the Commonwealth and its people. They can side with Shaun and help the Institute in securing the Commonwealth by destroying the Railroad and the Brotherhood of Steel (The Minutemen can be persuaded to ally with the Institute after passing a few difficult speech checks). Alternatively, they can work against Shaun by assisting one of the factions; the Railroad in destroying the Institute and the Brotherhood in order to free and protect the synths; the Brotherhood of Steel in destroying the Institute and the Railroad in order to exterminate all synths; the Minutemen in destroying the Institute (and the Brotherhood of Steel if made hostile to the player character) in order to protect the Commonwealth. Any of the four choices results in Shaun's death, this being due to either the cancer he'd developed by then, or by the Survivor's hand.
At the very end, the synth child Shaun will refer to the Sole Survivor as its parent and asks them if he can go live with them anywhere in the Commonwealth to be a family. If the Survivor agrees, the synth child then gives the player character a holotape from the real Shaun with a message that differs depending if the player character sides with the Institute or not. In the holotape, the real Shaun tells his parent that he wishes they would give the synth child a chance to live as a family since Shaun himself never had the chance to with the Sole Survivor. The Sole Survivor then contemplates on the events that transpired and says that "This isn't the world I wanted, but it's the one I found myself in" and that they are now ready for anything comes ahead because they know that "War. War never changes."
Notes
- Like the Lone Wanderer from Fallout 3, the Sole Survivor is seen being accompanied by a dog in promotional material for the game.
- The Sole Survivor is the first fully-voiced protagonist in the Fallout series.
- In a departure from previous games, character customization is done without slider options. During the opening portion of the game, the character stands in front of a mirror and alters facial features using a cursor. While making changes, the spouse stands behind the Sole Survivor and makes comments about the alterations. It is here where sex can be changed, having the default male character step aside allowing the female to be altered and become the protagonist.
- Once the Sole Survivor's sex is chosen, the other will become a non-playable character.
- In the character creator one can choose facial hair called "Lone Wanderer" which is a reference to the protagonist referred to with the same name from Fallout 3.
- The Sole Survivor's appearance affects the appearance of their son Shaun.
- Codsworth can refer to the player character by name as Bethesda has recorded over a thousand popular names for use in-game. This includes both real names and joke names.[4] A list of names can be found here.
- The Sole Survivor has the option to romance many of their human companions, except Deacon and Old Longfellow. In addition, the Survivor may romance some synths, such as Curie and Danse, as well as the ghoul Hancock.
- It is not possible to romance the super mutant Strong.
- As of Nuka World, player characters can romance Porter Gage.
- The default character build for the male Survivor is called Nate, and the female is called Nora.
- The Sole Survivor is the first player character to have lived in the pre-War era.
- According to dialogue from Jack Cabot and their past accomplishments in pre-War life, the Sole Survivor's birth date is reasonably anywhere between the early 2040's to mid 2050's.
- Prior to the release of the game, the universal default name for the male Sole Survivor was Mr. Howard. This was due to Bethesda Softworks director Todd Howard using this name during Bethesda's first E3 presentation.
- The title of Sole Survivor is never actually used in-game. In-game radio refers to the protagonist as the Vault Dweller. However, they do sometimes call themselves the "only survivor," notably while in Vault 81.
- If one lets Desdemona pick a Railroad code name for the Sole Survivor, her choice will be "Wanderer," a possible reference to the Lone Wanderer of Fallout 3, or the song "The Wanderer," played on Diamond City Radio.
- When interacting with the dog bowl in the intro to the game, the Sole Survivor will quote "Never gonna find that dog," implying that the Sole Survivor owned a dog before the Great War.
- Dialogue between the Sole Survivor and their spouse reveals that Shaun was conceived after the two had sex at a park. When Nate suggests going to the park, Nora's sarcastic response option is, "Oh, right. The park. With you. Because I want to get pregnant AGAIN."
- If one skips dialogue during conversations they may hear the Survivor mumble sarcastic comments about the NPC they are talking to instead of just "mmmh" and "alright"-for example they might say "Nice hat" when talking to Nick Valentine, "Minutemen, jesus" when talking to Preston Garvey or "Ugh, old people" when talking to Mama Murphy.
- After consuming alcohol, the Sole Survivor will attempt to initiate dialogue with NPCs in a slurred and stereotypical drunk fashion.
- Depending on the character's gender, certain dialogues will change accordingly: for example when Preston tells the Survivor they are a one of the "good guys," a female character has a choice to say "I don't know how to break this to you, but I'm not a guy."
- The Sole Survivor is chronologically the oldest playable character in the Fallout franchise.
- In Far Harbor, DiMA questions if the Sole Survivor is really a synth instead of a human. The response can vary from complete denial to a staggered admittance of truth.
- The Sole Survivor's title is somewhat ironic as they aren't the only survivor of Vault 111, seeing as how Shaun also left the vault alive.
- The Sole Survivor refers only once to their spouse by name, during The Memory Den ("Oh my god. Nate/Nora... I can't watch this again...").
Notable quotes
- "Everything can change in an instant, whether or not you're ready. This wasn't the world I wanted, but it was the one I found myself in. This time I'm ready. Because I know... War. War never changes."
- "I'll find who did this. And I'll get Shaun back. I promise." – To their spouse's corpse
- "I'm calling it right here. This world can officially bite my ass." – To Wolfgang during Order Up
- "In 100 years, when I finally die, I only hope I go to hell just so I can kill you all over again you piece of shit." – Right before the confrontation and fight with Kellogg
- "It was just me and a thousand guinea pigs. They turned... Carnivorous." – To Piper
- "I'm here to pick up an order. Two large pepperoni and a calzone, name's "fuck you"." – To Z2-47
- "Let's go, pal."
- "Ready to fuck some shit up?"
- "It's good to be back." – To Dogmeat
- "Look dumbass, that's not how baseball was played." – To Moe Cronin
- "Goddamn it you mercenary motherfucker. Where. Is. My. Son?" – To Kellogg
- "Commie bastard! You destroyed my country! Die!" – To Captain Zao
- "Eddie! It's me, your old pal, Shamus/Marie McFuckYourself!" – To Eddie Winter
- "I eat danger for breakfast. Tastes like chicken." – To H2-22
- "Vault-Tec calling! But I, ah... guess you guys are all set." – To Edward Deegan
- "Me? Playing a game. First idiot who grabs my ass gets his arm broken. Ten bonus points if he's drunk." – Female only, to Magnolia
- "Unless it's "keep-dumb-assholes-away-from-me" insurance, I'm not interested." – to Finn
- "Could you say that like Doctor Frankenstein? "Igor, fetch me the brain!"...Sorry." – To Doctor Amari
- "I don't have time for a dick-measuring contest. What do you actually want?" – to Ronnie Shaw
- "Well, I was going to connect your head to Liberty Prime's body, but I decided to do a little arts and crafts instead. Disappointed?" – To Jezebel, after completing Liberty Reprimed
- "We should try plugging you into a toaster next... Mmmm, fresh toast." – To Nick Valentine before entering Kellogg's memories during Dangerous Minds
- "A magic boat ride! Will there be sea monsters?" – To Kenji Nakano
Appearances
The Sole Survivor appears only in Fallout 4.
Gallery
References
- ↑ Nora: "You're going to knock them dead at the Veterans' Hall tonight, hon."
- ↑ Fraternal Post 115 terminal entries: Speech Memo
- ↑ GameInformer: August 2015 edition, page 48
- ↑ Lengthy Look at QuakeCon: Page 1, paragraph 7
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