Sole Survivor

The Sole Survivor is the protagonist and the playable character of the 2015 video-game Fallout 4. Depending on the player's choice of gender, the Sole Survivor can either be the husband or the wife in a pre-War family, and has a son named Shaun.
Nate was voiced by , who voiced Tom Popper's father in , and the Australian Mercs in .
Nora was voiced by , who voiced Natalya Ivanova in , Jack in , Ada Wong in & , and Starla in Regular Show.
==Biography==
The default name of the male Sole Survivor is Nate, who's a retired army veteran. The female's name is Nora, who's a graduate from law school. According to the notes found in the game, Nate served in the 2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry Regiment during the Sino-American War, whilst Nora was a lawyer. At some point during the Sino-American War, the Sole Survivor married and had a son named Shaun, and bought a robotic butler named Codsworth.
=== Prologue ===
On 23rd October, 2077, Nate was preparing for an event at the Veteran's Hall when a Vault-Tec representative approached the family and approved them for the papers that allowed them access into Vault 111. Only a few minutes later, it was announced by a newsreader 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".
In 2227, 150 years later, the Sole Survivor and their spouse are reawakened by two unknown individuals (one of them being Kellogg), and a third one off-screen. They 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 infant child abducted.
The Sole Survivor is re-frozen, awakening 60 years later in 2287 and escaping the cryogenic tube. Realizing 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 210 years had passed since they were frozen in the vault, also telling the player character to go to Concord for help.
In Concord, 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 Hills.
=== Searching for Answers ===
After helping Garvey and his group, the Sole Survivor 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. Just a few minutes after escaping Kellogg's fort, the Sole Survivor also witnesses the arrival of the Brotherhood of Steel in an airship called The Prydwen, their mobile airship HQ.
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.
=== The Threat Within ===
After viewing Kellogg's memories, the Sole Survivor 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 Sole Survivor 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, the 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 ten-year-old 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 who goes by "Father", as well as the current Director of the Institute.
=== Humanity's Fate ===
From now on, the Sole Survivor faces a choice that will significantly affect the Commonwealth and its people. They can work against Shaun by assisting one of the factions; the Railroad in destroying the Institute and liberating synths, the Brotherhood of Steel in order to exterminate all synths along with the Institute, or the Minutemen in destroying the Institute (and the Brotherhood of Steel if made hostile to the Sole Survivor) in order to protect the Commonwealth.
Alternatively, 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. 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 the Sole Survivor 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 never changes."
==Quotes==
=== General ===
Condition 	Quote
Nora's tape to Nate. 	"Hi, honey! Listen... I don't think Shaun and I need to tell you how great of a father you are... but we're going to anyway. You are kind, and loving... and funny! Ha ha. That's right. And patient. So patient. Patience of a saint, as my mother used to say. Look, with Shaun, and us all being at home together... It's been an amazing year. But even so, I know our best days are yet to come. There will be changes, sure. Things we'll need to adjust to. You'll rejoin the civilian workforce. I'll shake the dust off my law degree... But everything we do, no matter how hard... we do it for our family."
Nate's tape to Nora. 	"Hi, honey! Listen... I don't think Shaun and I need to tell you how great of a mother you are... but we're going to anyway. You are kind, and loving... and funny! Ha ha. That's right. And patient. So patient. Patience of a saint, as your mother used to say. Look, with Shaun, and us all being at home together... It's been an amazing year. But even so, I know our best days are yet to come. There will be changes, sure. Things we'll need to adjust to. I'll rejoin the civilian workforce. You'll shake the dust off your law degree... But everything we do, no matter how hard... we do it for our family."
Nate's speech. 	"War. War never changes. In the year 1945, my great-great grandfather, serving in the army, wondered when he'd get to go home to his wife and the son he'd never seen. He got his wish when the US ended World War II by dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The World awaited Armageddon; instead, something miraculous happened. We began to use atomic energy not as a weapon, but as a nearly limitless source of power. People enjoyed luxuries once thought the realm of science fiction. Domestic robots, fusion-powered cars, portable computers. But then, in the 21st century, people awoke from the American dream. Years of consumption lead to shortages of every major resource. The entire world unraveled. Peace became a distant memory. It is now the year 2077. We stand on the brink of total war, and I am afraid. For myself, for my wife, for my infant son - because if my time in the army taught me one thing: it's that war, war never changes."
Nate sees Shaun's wrecked crib.	"I'm coming, buddy."
Nora sees Shaun's wrecked crib.	"I'm coming, sweetheart."
Fraternal Post 115's terminal. 	"We're overjoyed to have such a decorated war hero like Nate giving a speech in Concord. We should try to get him down here, too. It always brings in people (and funding)."
=== Examining the House ===
Object 	Quote
Comic 	Nate: "'Grognak the Barbarian and the Jungle of the Bat Babies.' My favorite!"
Comic 	Nora: "'Grognak the Barbarian and the Jungle of the Bat Babies...' *Chuckles*"
Tapes 	"Bunch of our old Holotape recordings."
Cigs 	"Now, who left those here?"
Wine 	"It's a little early to be drinking."
Cola 	"Nuka Cola. Ice-cold."
Milk 	"Looks like the milk got delivered."
Bottles 	"Hm. How can someone so small drink so much?"
Steak 	"Saddle-Up Salisbury Steak. Graded A+."
Cereal 	"Sugar Bombs. A hundred per cent daily value of sugar."
Paper 	"Hm. More of the same."
Dogbowl 	"*Sigh* Never gonna find that dog."
Food 	"InstaMash, Fancy Lad Snack Cakes, BlamCo Mac n Cheese. Expires in... never."
Abraxo 	"Abraxo, for all your cleaning needs."
Washer 	"Another fine product of General Atomics International."
Washer 	"Let Codsworth take care of it."
Teddy 	"Oh... How'd you get on the floor, Mister Bear?"
Tricycle	"Can't wait to teach him to ride this."
Glove 	"Hm... Glove's a little big now, but... Shaun will grow into it."
Baseball	"Should get this signed next time we're at the park."
Blocks 	"*Chuckles* He'll either be great at spelling, or great at smashing blocks together."
Toy Car 	"To think, one day, he's gonna learn how to drive."
Book 	"Wonder what Shaun will grow up to be."
Flag 	Nate: "Good ol' USA."
Flag 	Nora: "Good ol' US-of-A."
Diploma 	Nate: "I'm so proud of her."
Diploma 	Nora: "Lot o' late nights, but it was worth it."
Fatigues	Nate: "War never changes... Got that right."
Fatigues	Nora: "I'm so proud of him."
Clothes 	"No need to get dressed twice."
Camera 	"We really need to get those vacation photos developed."
=== Magnolia's Comments ===
Condition 	Quote
Intro 	"Now there's something special about you isn't there? Don't tell me. Let me guess..."
Strength 	"Ah, of course. It's those powerful muscles of yours. My... I could get used to looking at those."
Perception 	"It's your eyes. Quick and... intense. I bet you never miss a detail, hmm? *Chuckle* Like what you see?"
Endurance 	"You're a survivor, aren't you? I bet the whole world could stand in your way, and you'd just keep going."
Charisma 	"Hmm... I think I know a fellow performer when I see one. Good with your words? Know just the right thing to say at the right time?"
Intelligence	"Ah, that's it. You have that "I'm the smartest one here and I know it" posture. There's something so irresistible about intelligence, don't you think?"
Agility 	"Huh. It's your hands. They move even when you aren't thinking, right? Quick on the draw? *Chuckle*"
Luck 	"You've got the cocky smirk of a gambler. *Chuckle* I can relate. Lady Luck is probably my second-favourite lover."
==Trivia==
=== General ===
*The Sole Survivor is the first fully-voiced player-character in the Fallout series.
*The appearances of the Sole Survivor and their spouse will alter the appearance of Shaun.
*Wearing a vault jumpsuit will alter conversations with Piper Wright, Gwen McNamara, and Overboss Colter.
*Having lived during the pre-War era, the Sole Survivor is chronologically the oldest player-character in the series.
*According to the holotape "Hi honey!" given by Codsworth, Nora's mother says that she and Nate have the patience of saints.
*If a follower (except Curie, Dogmeat, Deacon, Ada and Strong) is taken to the spouse's body in Vault 111, they each have a unique comment on it.
*The Lone Wanderer and the Sole Survivor are inverses of one-another; the Sole Survivor lost their son, whilst the Lone Wanderer lost their father.
*Nate's pre-War outfit is "T-Shirt & Slacks" (a white t-shirt, khaki slacks, and brown loafers). Nora's is "Casual Outfit" (a cyan blouse, khaki pants, and white shoes).
=== Nate ===
* On the Executive terminal in Fraternal Post 115, there's a speech memo mentioning Nate being a decorated war hero.
* His name in the E3 demo was Mr. Howard, which is the name of the executive producer of Bethesda Softworks, Todd Howard.
* In the intro, he and his platoon wore combat armour; the sturdy legs, heavy arms, standard chest piece, and combat helmet. Nate carried a scoped laser rifle with a beam splitter attachement.
* If he is chosen as Sole Survivor, his time in the military is referenced in some instances in-game.
** When nearing the USS Constitution and is approached by the lookout, the lookout will mention Nate's time in service with 108th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion.
** If one chooses to join the Brotherhood of Steel at the end of the quest "Call to Arms", upon entering Cambridge Police Station to start the quest Semper Invicta, there will be a dialogue option in which the Sole Survivor can speak with Danse about his service in the army.
=== Nora ===
* If she is the Sole Survivor, then when she is approached by the lookout near the USS Constitution, the lookout will mention that her profession is a lawyer, according to their pre-War records.
** Her diploma from the Suffolk County School of Law can be seen on the shelf at the right of the house's main door in 2077. Her profession is also mentioned in the holotape "Hi honey!" given by Codsworth.
=== Behind the Scenes ===
* Taylor also voiced Jas Wilkins, Morgan Blake, Gloria Van Graff, and Janet in Fallout: New Vegas.
*Delaney started work with Fallout 4 on 9th July, 2013. His work consisted of four hours a day for four days, then a break for four, five, or six weeks. This schedule was repeated for two years, totalling approximately 13,000.
* Delaney had not heard of the Fallout series prior to landing the role of Nate. The first line he recorded was, "War... War never changes..." whilst he was unaware of this being the series' most well-known phrase, as well as a hint to the scope of the project he was working on.
* As he began working on Fallout 4, he purchased Fallout 3. He has joked that he loved the game, but due to his busy life, he "only made it to Moira's second chapter in her book." On his first playthrough of the game, Brian blew up Megaton, much to the distaste of his coworkers. He responded by exclaiming, "I needed caps, and I didn't know how to get caps. I wanted caps, but I didn't know what caps were!"
* When recording for Fallout 4, Delaney found himself slipping into his natural Philadelphia accent during some of the more quiet, intimate lines. He joked that voice director Kal-El Bogdanove would often have to remind him not to be so regional and "take a little Philly off".
* Delaney has stated that one of his favorite moments from his time working on Fallout 4 was when he spent a night with the developers, on the day before the launch party. He was "blown away" by the developers' work, especially those who made the game's environment, as well as the programmer who ported the game to consoles.
==Licensing==
This article contains content derived from Nukapedia, licensed under CC-BY-SA.
== External Link ==
*Nate - Fallout Wiki
*Nora - Fallout Wiki
*Sole Survivor - Villains Wiki
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