Nora

**Spoiler alert**

This page may contain major spoilers. Proceed at your own risk.

General

Initiate

Knight

the sole survivor

the Vault woman

the woman out of time

Shaun - son

The Minutemen

Neighborhood Watch

The Railroad

militia leader (from "Between Fire and Flood")

mercenary ("Long Road Ahead" - "Castling")

**Nora Smith**, serial number NA-647K, is a **Brotherhood of Steel** Paladin, a Minutemen Lieutenant General, a Railroad agent, and the main protagonist of **Fallout 4 Novelization**.

## Background

At some point before 2077, she married Nate and had a child, Shaun. She earned a law degree at Suffolk County School of Law and planned to get a job with her degree following Shaun's birth.

On the morning of October 23rd, 2077, Nate was preparing to go to an event at the Veteran's hall in Concord. While getting ready, a Vault-Tec representative visits the family with pre-approved admission into Vault 111.

Mere moments later, a news bulletin warns of an imminent nuclear attack, which forces Nate, Nora, and Shaun to rush to the vault prior to a nuclear bomb detonating nearby, leaving their Mister Handy, Codsworth behind. After entering the vault, the family, alongside the other admitted residents are placed in cryo-sleep.

## Appearance

> "*There was a scar on the right side of my stomach, a memory of my encounter with Kellogg. But all that time spent on running, carrying heavy supplies and physical work had also hardened me in a way that no gym exercise ever could. I had muscles now, and there was some kind of strength in my posture, too. My steel grey eyes were no longer soft.*"
> ― Nora analyzing her reflection in the mirror
>
>

Nora is a medium height woman in her mid-twenties, with jet black hair and steel grey eyes. Over the course of the story, her physical appearance changes on numerous occasions, but it's stated that she's never been very physically strong.

She has a scar on her right side.

In "To You, 200 Years From Now", Nora received a blue and yellow Vault 111 jumpsuit, which became her main outfit for the next six chapters. In "Jewel of the Commonwealth", Piper offered her a set of her own clothes; a linen shirt, denim pants and a leather jacket. In "Shadow of Steel", Nora changed that for an orange Brotherhood of Steel uniform. Paladin Danse gave her his bomber jacket in "Setting a Foundation".

## Personality

> "*Nora... You're an exemplary soldier and you have the makings for a good officer, but at the same time you're so naïve it's endearing.*"
> ― Danse patronising Nora
>
>

Nora is a selfless, passionate young woman. One of her defining traits, trust, has gotten her into trouble on several occasions - causing Danse and MacCready to remark bitterly that she's "naive to a fault". Despite that she continues to believe in people's good intentions, even if that isn't the case. As a rule, Nora believes that there's good inside every person and usually doesn't treat those who approach her as hostile. This behavior changes slightly as she gets used to life in the Wasteland.

Nora had a strong sense of justice, believing that all crime should be punished. She never did have moral problems with killing those she deemed criminals, including raiders, although she was against harming an innocent and tried not to kill unless it was necessary. She also believed that humanity had gone in a wrong way and that the Wasteland was the effect of mankind's mistakes, causing her to immediately trust the Brotherhood of Steel who uphold a similar code of ethics.

Nora's devotion to the past was something she tried to deny and embrace at the same time - she sought out help from the Brotherhood because of her husband's military background but she didn't want to admit how much Piper reminded her of her sister, seemingly wanting to leave the past behind her.

In "Human Error", Nora experiences a severe anxiety attack after subconsciously mistaking Danse for her late husband, Nate, and Piper for her sister. This has been a singled out incident so far, but it may be a hint at Nora having post-traumatic stress disorder or a similar problem.

## Relationships

### Nate

> "*I miss Nate... He would know what to do. He always did.*"
> ― Nora
>
>

Having been married and had a child, the couple definitely shared romantic feelings. Nate and Nora were a young married couple and very much in love with each other, still playful and teasing each other regularly at the point when the story begins.

Nate's death was in Nora's eyes more devastating than Shaun's kidnapping, indicating how strong her devotion to him had been. However, she very quickly began looking for a new love interest, which may seem inconsistent. It is later revealed by MacCready that she only did that because she was trying to heal the hurt from losing Nate.

During the later chapters and as her relationship with MacCready grows stronger, Nora begins to question her relationship with Nate. She wonders whether it had been love at all and if she had ever experienced that feeling before, leading to her criticizing the way their marriage had been.

### Piper

> "*Sorry to break this to you, Pipes, but I'm exactly what you deserve.*"
> ― Nora and Piper share both good and bad traits
>
>

Piper and Nora were fast friends from the moment they first met. Although at first Piper made a rather brash impression on Nora, she found the reporter's easy-going attitude something comforting and they quickly formed a rather strong bond. Piper was very moved by Nora's story and immediately decided to help her, even more so when she understood it would mean going after the Institute.

Nora often referred to Piper as her best friend or even her only friend (during the earlier chapters), not hiding the fact that they were very close. She and Piper shared many heartfelt moments, very often at the end of a chapter. They were also shown to have several shared interests and traits, such as their simple sense of humor and the common use of sarcasm. They often make jokes together and have fun like schoolgirls, including jumping in place and squealing with happiness.

Nora and Piper are the two characters who have spent the most time together of all the major characters, and are usually both present in any major event.

### Danse

> "*Funny thing: losing Danse was like losing a limb. The instant he was gone, I felt that something was missing.*"
> ― Nora is surprised by her attachment to Danse
>
>

When they first met, Nora was awestruck by Danse's technical and tactical knowledge and looked up to him, often embarrassed when he explained to her some things he took for obvious.

When he offered her to join the Brotherhood of Steel, Nora didn't hesitate. She continued to feel as if he was patronizing her even when that was no longer the case. From the moment their partnership began, Nora got under the impression that Danse hated her and she tried her best to prove that she was a good soldier. When he confronted her about his feelings and apologized, she was quick to forgive him.

Nora's devotion to Danse was visibly stronger than her devotion to the Brotherhood of Steel and she viewed him as a friend and someone to confide in more than her commanding officer. The two of them often find a common language which other people don't seem to understand and they share many inside jokes. While they are made out to be best friends, on several occasions their relationship edged slightly towards the non-platonic.

Danse is confirmed to have romantic feelings for Nora. It's not clear if she returns them.

### Valentine

Nora was at first very cautious towards Nick as a synth, but she warmed up to him very quickly thanks to her appreciation of his witty sarcastic comments. While at moments she didn't understand or follow his motivations, Nora very quickly learned to trust Nick and his judgement, often letting him make the more important decisions. She also often asked him about the Wasteland and other things she didn't understand about how the world had changed.

After the two of them expeerienced Kellogg's memories, Nora beame more reserved and afraid of Nick and avoided meeting him altogether for almost a month. It wasn't until Piper pointed out that asking him was the only was the only way to move on with their investigation that Nora found the courage to face him again. Seeing that he didn't hold any grudges, she felt embarrassed and quickly mended their relationship.

Even after Valentine left their travelling party, Nora still highly regarded him as a friend and an important ally.

### Cait

Nora's relationship with Cait was rocky from the very beginning, when Nora refused to accept the girl into their group, causing Cait to feel anger and spite towards her. They worked together to save Danse and Piper later, but they were only working as allies and clearly not friends.

Their relationship warmed up a bit after they got to spend more time together and they learned to share some of their problems with each other, but Nora was still feeling spite towards Cait because she had Danse's affection which Nora had had to work hard for. The two tolerate each other and share certain common interest, but they're not shown as close friends.

### MacCready

MacCready and Nora first met in circumstances visibly different than in the case of other major characters, for he bought her a drink at Goodneighbor's Third Rail. Nora was surprised by this gesture from a stranger, especially his concern for her well-being.

A few chapters later, Nora hired MacCready as a mercenary, hoping he would replace Paladin Danse. Instead, she found that he was a completely different person and soon learned to accept and respect him for that. After hearing about Duncan, she immediately made the decision to help him.

At some point, Nora developed romantic feelings for MacCready, ones that he did not return, although it's not clear if it was purely erotic interest or a deeper feeling. After realizing he's not interested, Nora moved on from that feeling, suggesting it wasn't very strong.

### Shaun

Nora's attitude towards her long-lost son was very sceptical from the very beginning. She explicitly vocalised her disagreement with everything he was trying to push onto her. She even clearly said that she disapproved of his involvement with the Institute so much that she didn't consider him her son anymore. That behaviour from both sides led to clash of ideals and eventually, a showdown leading to Shaun's death at Nora's hands.

## Trivia

* "Nora" is the default name given to the player's wife in the video game, should they decide to play as a male character. If playing as female, the character's name is up for the player to choose.
* Nora's regard of herself as "extremely charming" in the earliest chapters, backed up by her high social skills, decreased drastically as time went by, to the extent that she often let others "do the talking" in fear of saying something wrong. This change is unexplained in the book, but it could be contributed to changes due to the level of trauma Nora went through during the story.
* Although Nora mourned Nate's death as the most tragic event in her life, she began looking for a new boyfriend almost immediately. In fact, her actions and words conflicted very often - it could be a sign of clinical hypocrisy.
* Looking for a boyfriend among the men she knew, Nora probably subconsciously eliminated Paladin Danse and Nick Valentine from those she deemed possible romantic interests. Despite that, some of her conversations with Danse bore uncanny resemblance to the "flirt" dialogue from the video game.
* It's possible that Nora has post-traumatic stress disorder or a similar illness. She experiences many symptoms thereof - including insomnia, flashbacks of traumatic event, denial, self-blame, overly reckless behaviour, and exaggerated startle response. This would mark her as the third character in the book to experience the disorder.
* Although Nora had been a lawyer before the War, it didn't seem to bear much significance in her life afterwards. In fact, she often chose violent solutions or stood by her opinion instead of looking for a subjective point of view.
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