On The Institute
Ok, so the Institute, right? The Institute, along with two other factions that I’ll probably rant about later, is absolutely Evil and I honestly can’t understand anyone who unironically tries to defend them. Brace yourself for a rant, because I’m absolutely pissed.
The only faction, in the entirety of the Fallout Universe, to come even close to their level of absurd evilness is, of course, the Enclave (that is, as it appeared in Fallout 2. The fallout 3 version is surprisingly mellow), and the similarities are absolutely horrifying. It’s actually one of the many reasons that I hold the firm belief the Institute is actually part of the Enclave.
And even the Enclave is not as bad as the Institute, if only because they’re supposed to be cartoonishly evil and they play their part well. The Enclave is supposed to be evil. Their goal isn’t “helping humans” or “protecting people” or some other vague shit like that. The Enclave’s only goal is to bring back the “good old America”, and by that I mean killing every mutated human on the planet and repopulate it Noah-Style.
The Enclave does not mince words. When they enslave an absolutely intelligent race and then try to exterminate them when they insubordinate, they don’t pretend otherwise. They call it Slavery. (See The Enclave and the Deathclaws in Fallout 2)
The Enclave does not pretend otherwise. They have the biggest arsenal of weapons and armada of Vertibirds, and they don’t pretend that “We’re safekeeping them” (a la Brotherhood), and instead, they openly kill anyone who they want. And their argument is because “We’re the only authority here, and we do what we want”
The Institute, though, claims that its goal is to “Help mankind”. to redefine it, as it were. Which is why I absolutely hate them. IF you think about it, they’re responsible for, a few minor things like Raiders aside, every single problem in the Commonwealth.
They intentionally keep the cities separate, they intentionally keep the people in fear and in an absolutely horrid state of living, and they stop any attempt to improve that. The last time the People of The Commonwealth tried to make life better, the major cities and settlements around in the whole region gathered around, tried to form a Provincial Governemt. Then… you guessed it, The Institute sent up a Synth representative, killed everyone in the gathering, (and presumably replaced them with Synths. We know they did it with McDonough, and I believe Vic from Goodneighbor was also a Synth. sure seems like the Institute’s MO)
They with full knowledge of the fact, abduct people, turn them into Super Mutants (all for the cause of Science, of course), and then release them up when their experiments fail. Had they wanted to help, they’d euthanize the failed experiments. Had their intention been helping, they’d maintain the experiments. And had they been legitimately trying to help, they would send a Synth squad or two to clear the places they take over (since we already know that they have “watchers” up in the sky that can see these stuff)
And of course, the cherry on the top of the sundae of cartoonish villainy that is the Institute: The Synth. The Institute’s repeated insistence that the Synth (particularly, the Third Gen Synth) is nothing but a machine that is built and programmed (and therefore cannot have free will) is not only evil, it’s intellectually dishonest. OF all the people in the Commonwealth, the Institute’s divisions are the only group that can, absolutely and without any doubt, know for sure that the above statement is nothing but a bull faced lie. They actually record this in their fucking Terminals. (Which I guess I could put on Bethesda not being consistent on making their big bad faction). They’re the only ones who absolutely know that the 3rd Gen Synth is for all intents and purposes, the Fallout Equivalent of the Clones in The Clone Wars (with the Synth component replacing the Chip, obviously) and they have already stated that their intention is to release the Synth units to the wild at some point, as the “redefined Man”.
With all that said, I honestly can’t understand people who defend the institute. I can get people who just side with them because they’re evil (OK not really), but honest to god, people who defend the Institute, claiming them not to be absolutely, and without any single doubt, evil, are people I can’t understand.
Which is bad, because as expressed above, it is obvious that the Institute, unlike the Enclave, was not created with the intention of being cartoonishly evil (Bethesda doesn’t do dark comedy stuff like that). It’s just Bethesda being a failure, as usual, in writing a good antagonist faction.
