Odessa Valdez

Odessa Valdez is a scribe in the Brotherhood of Steel who came to Appalachia as part of the Brotherhood First Expeditionary Force. She is usually found on the second floor of Fort Atlas.
==Background==
===Life on the West Coast===
Valdez is the daughter of a couple of early recruits in the Brotherhood of Steel known as the "Knights Valdez" and was enlisted by her parents into the organization as an apprentice scribe at a young age. She spent most of her life in bunkers and raised by the Brotherhood. Under the tutelage of Scribe Hailey Takano, Valdez learned to perform her role satisfactorily, taking a special interest in the operation of vertibirds and other flying machines.Fort Atlas terminal entries; Scribe Valdez's terminal, Brotherhood: Chapter Scrolls, SCRIBE Valdez, Odessa She is also skilled at programming code.Odessa Valdez: "Well, you know. Just trying to help where I can. Rusty nails and live wires are fun and all, but sometimes it's also nice to write code without having to get my hands dirty."(Odessa Valdez's dialogue) She feels, however, that being a scribe is merely the role her parents raised her into, instead of something she wishes to do as a life choice.Odessa Valdez: "Believe it or not, I didn't choose to be a Scribe. I was born into it. My parents chose this life for me. I've gotten used to it, but it isn't mine."(Odessa Valdez's dialogue)
===The expedition to Appalachia===
At some point prior or around 2103,Fort Atlas terminal entries; Scribe Valdez's terminal, Brotherhood: Chapter Scrolls Valdez volunteered for an expedition to Appalachia in the East Coast, excited at the chance of having an adventure like her peers. She took the place of Scribe Takano, who was unable to join due to health concerns. Valdez insisted Takano stay behind for her health as well.
Valdez became the official scribe and keeper of the Scrolls of the Brotherhood First Expeditionary Force, and joined the original members of the expedition (Paladin Rahmani, Knight Connors, Knight Thornberry, and Knight Shin) east across the wasteland. After many months of hiking, the team finally made it to Fort Atlas, although Connors was killed in an incident while Thornberry went back to Lost Hills. Valdez took the loss very hard because Connors was like a fatherly mentor figure to her.
===Life at Fort ATLAS===
Valdez maintains her scribe duties and is in charge of repairing and monitoring technology. Marcia Leone, despite her dislike of the Brotherhood, is known to respect Valdez. Valdez also plays hide-and-seek with her brother Max. She heard of the Rust Eagles and sent Initiate Pappas to investigate the Metal Dome. Later, she sent Initiate Ellison to investigate the reason for the Vertibird flying near The Whitespring Resort. Valdez also once met with Grandma Junko and asked her about appliances.
Valdez had to deal with the infighting between her two commanding officers, Paladin Leila Rahmani, and Knight Daniel Shin regarding the Brotherhood First Expeditionary Force's primary objective after arriving in Appalachia to rebuild the Brotherhood of Steel's influence in the area after it was wiped out previously with the deaths of Paladin Elizabeth Taggerdy's Brotherhood chapter about 10 years prior. Aided by the Vault 76 residents, Valdez is able to investigate the older workings of Fort Atlas, formerly the ATLAS Observatory, recovering an ultracite fuel cell that is later used by Rahmani and Shin to try and use an Enclave long-range transmitter to reestablish contact with Elder Roger Maxson and Lost Hills, but Rahmani, fearing punishment from the elders for what happened on their way to Appalachia, and Shin having remained ironclad to spilling that mistake to them once they could contact them again, destroys the transmitter, much to Valdez's shock and anger when they return to Fort Atlas later to deal with a super mutant assault on the base from the underground tunnels.
===Confronting Blackburn===
After the attack is repulsed and further evidence of the super mutants attacking other areas of Appalachia is found, Valdez joins a Vault Dweller with hitting Vault 96 to capture Edgar Blackburn, one of the civilians who came to Fort Atlas earlier for assistance from the Brotherhood, but was turned away by Shin, and has been using unwilling volunteers in his experiments to improve the Forced Evolutionary Virus. Rescuing several survivors including Cassie Halloway and getting them medical attention and evacuating them back to places like Foundation and Fort Atlas, Valdez and the Vault Dweller confront Blackburn who surrenders without a fight. When he later reveals that his colleagues are about to finish the F.E.V. at the West Tek research facility, Valdez is horrified by the consequences of if they are allowed to succeed. The Vault Dweller, along with Paladin Rahmani and Knight Shin, prevent the plan from coming to fruition, but only one of Valdez's superiors returns to Fort Atlas afterwards with the Vault Dwellers, revealing what became of the other one following the events at West Tek, and names the Vault Dwellers "Knight-Errant" in the Brotherhood.
If the Vault Dwellers sided with Rahmani and spared Blackburn's colleagues Dr. Farha, Nellie Wright and Dr. Jain, they and their research will be placed under Valdez's supervision.
==Interactions with the player character==
===Interactions overview===
===Quests===
* Mother of Invention: Valdez challenges the Vault Dweller to investigate the lower area of Fort Atlas and its machinery to see how capable the Vault Dweller is of accurate analysis. This is the beginning of the Vault Dweller's recruitment into the Brotherhood.
* Forbidden Knowledge: Valdez is the recipient of the technical data if Mother of Invention is completed.
* A Satisfied Conscience: Valdez and the Vault Dweller explore Vault 96 in search of the caravan survivors and Edgar Blackburn.
* The Catalyst: Valdez appears at the very beginning and end of the quest.
===Other interactions===
* Valdez has her own terminal in Fort Atlas. She adds a new entry after The Best Defense is completed.
* The Vault Dweller's performance during Mother of Invention can result in two different letters of recommendation. If the "poor" letter is received, Valdez writes "nonexistent" for the Vault Dweller's technical ability.
* Valdez may be the target of flirtation. She may react positively or negatively depending on interactions with her. She may also flirt back at a Vault Dweller regardless of gender, suggesting Valdez is LGBT+. The same applies to Rahmani and Shin.
==Inventory==
==Notable quotes==
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==Appearances==
Odessa Valdez appears in Fallout 76, introduced in the Steel Dawn update and expanded upon in Steel Reign. She was also added to Fallout Shelter.
==Behind the scenes==
* In the character reveal trailer for Steel Dawn, Valdez can be seen wielding a Crusader pistol instead of the .44 pistol she uses in the final release.
* While discussing ideas for the endings of Steel Reign during development, Carl McKevitt proposed that Valdez could expel both Rahmani and Shin. However, this idea was not accepted by the rest of the development team and was not implemented.BGS_Carl (Carl McKevitt) on Bethesda Game Studios' official Discord: "Many endings were discussed. No one liked my Valdez kicks them both out idea."
* Voice actress Michelle Bonilla was nominated for a 2022 Sovas Voice Arts Award for her performance as Scribe Valdez in Fallout 76, in the "Outstanding Video Game Character" category.Michelle C. Bonilla on Twitter
==Gallery==
FO76 Atlas arrival.png|Valdez, Rahmani and Shin arrive at Fort ATLAS
FO76SD Odessa Valdez.png|Valdez in Fort ATLAS
FO76 atlas chronicsonictonic01.jpg|Valdez in Fort ATLAS
FO76SD Valdez tinkering.png|Scribe Valdez tinkering with the Ultracite battery
FO76SD Fort Atlas (Scribe Valdez near Isaac Hammond).jpg|Valdez beside the remains of Isaac Hammond during Mother of Invention
FO76 steelreign chronicsonictonic 15.jpg|Valdez in Vault 96 during A Satisfied Conscience
FO76SR Valdez explores.png|Valdez exploring Vault 96
FO76SR Valdez aims.png|Valdez fighting with her pistol
FO76SR Blackburn Valdez.png|Valdez finds Blackburn in Vault 96
FO76 steelreign chronicsonictonic 08.jpg|Valdez during The Catalyst
Lynette Valdez art.png|Valdez playing a video game while being watched by Joanne Lynette as part of the Fallout 25th Anniversary
==References==
Non-game
Category:Fallout 76 Brotherhood of Steel characters
Category:Steel Dawn human characters
Category:First Expeditionary Force characters
Category:Fallout Shelter characters
ru:Скриптор Вальдес
zh:敖得萨·瓦尔迪兹