Master The Master ( born Richard Moreau and also known as Richard Grey ) is the horribly mutated brain behind the Mutant Army that roamed California in 2161 . He was worshiped by the Children of the Cathedral ; however , he was eventually defeated by the Vault Dweller . At times , the Master was referred to as the " Dark God , " especially by those opposed to the Children of the Cathedral . By his Children , he was referred to as the " New God , " " the Holy Flame , " and " Father Hope . " A hideous FEV - mutated creature that has somehow hybridized with not only other human mutants , but also computers , turning him into a rather strange monster who speaks in multiple voices . Apart from his appearance , one of his most notable features is his unique way of speaking . His voice is computer - generated and sentences are composed , apparently in real - time , from samples of several people ' s speech . Background . Origins . Richard Moreau was a resident of Vault 8 , later known as Vault City , where he worked as a doctor . In 2092 , he was exiled from the city for murder , although the circumstances surrounding the murder are unknown . He changed his name to " Richard Grey " and headed south , eventually settling in the Hub , where he met Harold , a prominent trader . Following ever increasing attacks on Harold ' s caravans by mutated creatures , the pair teamed up on May 22 , 2102 , and led a team of scientists who mounted an expedition to the northwest to investigate the source of the mutated animals , which were attacking the survivors of the nuclear war . On June 23 , 2102 , Grey and his party stumbled upon the Mariposa Military Base , in which the U . S . government had been mass producing and experimenting with the Forced Evolutionary Virus ( FEV ) . With the exception of Grey , Harold , and Mark , the party was cut down by the mutated creatures and the base ' s internal defense systems . Grey and Harold made it to the central core , a room full of vats . Grey was plunged into a vat of FEV by a robotic arm . Floating in the vats for almost a month , the FEV transformed Grey into the amorphous , blob - like being that would eventually become known as the Master . This entity expanded its biological mass by absorbing other creatures and people that came near the base , and bionically merging itself with computer equipment from the base . The ones he consumed also became part of his multiple personalities . It also began capturing humans that stumbled upon its lair , and intentionally exposing them to the FEV . These initial mutated humans were incredibly flawed , and the newly named Master consumed them rather than letting them live . As he began to feel stronger and more capable than ever before , he came up with the idea to " unify " the wasteland , to make it as perfect as he believed himself to be . In January of 2103 , the Master perfected his method of infecting , or " dipping " humans , and began creating the super mutant s , who followed the Master ' s every command . Unfortunately for him , as he began to dip others in the vats he found the resulting creatures were not like himself : most often , they mutated into brutish soldiers , losing much of their brain function . It became apparent that only those with low total radiation count would not suffer this fate . In 2130 , the Great Winter occured , causing a scarcity of human subjects for dipping , making it difficult to expand his army further . From 2131 to 2135 , the Master started to abduct caravans for human subjects . Most of the caravan disappearances are blamed on desert monsters , steering away suspicion . Starting in 2137 , the Master began to mass produce super mutants with 1 in 6 being successful super mutants . Only half of these successful super mutants became soldiers of the Unity . The Cathedral . In 2152 , as the influence of the Master ' s army began to spread throughout the wastes , the Master came into contact with a group of human Doomsday cultists , led by a man named Morpheus . Realizing the benefits of retaining unaltered humans in his service to act as spies throughout the region , the Master recruited Morpheus ' s cult into his service , thereby expanding his power . In 2155 , the Master discovered the location of an unnumbered experimental Vault - Tec vault prototype , located just south of the center of the ruins of Los Angeles , California , now called the Boneyard . Seeing great opportunity there , the Master relocated to the vault with his human cult followers and a portion of his ever - growing super mutant army , and oversaw the building of a large cathedral on the surface above the vault the following year . The cult became known as the Children of the Cathedral , and continued to be led by Morpheus , who reported directly to the Master . The cathedral was guarded by the nightkin , which were super mutant elite troops equipped with Stealth Boy technology . While the Children appeared to be a fervent religious order - and , in fact , some of the low ranking members may not even have been privy to the more sinister reason behind the cult ' s existence - in reality , the Children and Morpheus were simply a front that the Master uses to advance his plan for the future of mankind : " The Unity . " In 2162 , a human from Vault 13 known as the Vault Dweller destroyed the mutant army by defeating the Master and destroying the Cathedral , and then later causing an explosion in the FEV vats at Mariposa . The Unity . The Master is the creator and leader of the super mutants . He is also the mastermind behind a movement called " The Unity , " the aim of which is to turn every human into a super mutant by means of the FEV , by force if necessary . He claims that those who cannot be mutated by the virus , as well as those that choose not to , will be allowed to live - - provided they submit themselves to sterilization . Those that resist the Unity outright will be executed for trying to stand in the way of the Master ' s " progress . " In theory , the Unity is for humanity ' s own good , as super mutants are better adapted to live in a post - nuclear wasteland . Also , according to the Master , turning all living beings into one single race would finally eliminate the differences and the " human " fallacies that ultimately brought about nuclear war . However , the Master ' s plan is odd as all super mutants are sterile . The Vault Dweller can help Vree , a scientist of the Brotherhood of Steel , come to this conclusion , and later use this information to convince the Master that his endeavor has no chance of success . Or if they decide to join the Unity , the ending will show the Vault Dweller being turned into a super mutant , then show the Vault 13 residents being killed by the super mutants . This ending is non - canon however , as it would undo and prevent the events of " Fallout 2 " . The Master ' s Destruction . One of the main objectives in " Fallout " is to destroy the Master . The Vault Dweller has three options to choose from . They can either kill the Master through combat ( an extremely difficult task ) , convince him to abandon his plan ( in which case the Master commits suicide ) , or bypass the Master entirely by manually setting off a nuclear device , located on the fourth floor of the vault in which the Master lives . If the dweller encounters the Master , he also has the option of joining forces with the Master instead , giving a non - canonical ending . Unless the Vault Dweller joins the Master , the end result remains the same . The Master ' s death would trigger the nuclear device anyway , resulting in the destruction of the Cathedral . Returning to the Cathedral after the Nuclear Device is detonated , the Vault Dweller simply sees a gaping black crater . Legacy . Several mutants led the armies after the fall of the Master . Remnants of the Master ' s army , such as those led by Tabitha , were found to relocate to inhospitable regions such as Black Mountain . However , despite their lacking numbers and remote locale , they were still found to pose a threat to the populace of the Mojave Wasteland due to frequent and brutal attacks carried out against travelers . In his attempt to become master of all humanity , the Master tried to create guardians through gene splicing , but was stopped by the Vault Dweller before he could complete his plans . However , some of his creations have outlived him and continue to roam the wasteland . These abominations include centaurs and floater s , which are often found together as though they feel some sort of kinship for one another . The Master ' s Powers and Abilities . The Master has extremely powerful psionic abilities , able to project extremely vivid hallucinations that easily break the mind of any enemy without some form of mental protection . Besides his psionic abilities , the Master also has a genius - level intellect and incredible natural charisma , having rallied an army of sycophantically devoted human and super - mutant followers around him . He has mastered genetic engineering through his experiments with the Forced Evolutionary Virus . The Master is also hard to kill in combat without specializing in such , due to the Master ' s bio - electrical integration with the Cathedral Vault ' s Overseer Chair , giving him access to its twin gatling lasers , providing the Master with considerable firepower , though the real danger in the fight comes from the repeatedly spawning super mutants . If , on the other hand , with the proper equipment , such as a turbo plasma rifle , hardened power armor or Tesla armor , a few stims and high stats in Energy Weapons , Endurance , etc . , then the Master is fairly easy to defeat . Aiming for the eyes while going back to cover improves the chances of success . Because the Master is integrated into the Vault Overseer ' s chair , he counts as a robotic enemy and is highly vulnerable to pulse grenades ( which are a viable way for non - combat oriented characters to still defeat the Master in a straight fight ) . The psychic nullifier ( which is possibly based on alien technology ) can dampen the Master ' s psychic attacks . Appearances . The Master appears only in " Fallout " as a talking head . His " male " voices are provided by Jim Cummings , and his " female " voice by Kath Soucie . However , although he appears only in the first game of the series , the Master is mentioned in most " Fallout " games ( with the exception of " Fallout 4 " ) .