#shaun rant

All this time, I assumed the synths in the Commonwealth were at least part organic because it's well established that they were made from Father's DNA. I mean . . . that's why he's called Father. It's also the entire plot.

I guess they weren't actually made from his DNA but were modeled after it. To be honest, I can't remember Father's explanation because I tend to space out when he's talking.

You know, if this was the case, it would fit my theory well.

Disclaimer: I am not that familiar with FO lore because I'm not as invested in it as I am with other games (see my tag #obsessed nerd/obsessive nerd). Use that to discredit me or hand-wave my opinions as a fan, but whatever. This is my theory.

I have a theory that pre-war people are all super human compared to post-war people simply because they are unradiated.

Look at the Cabots. All of them -- the sister Emogene especially -- can fight and are strong. Emogene walks around the post-apocalyptic world like it's nothing, smashing any raiders that get in her way. Sound familiar? Yeah. She sounds like the SS.

I guess you could say it was their father's whacked out blood that was making the Cabots strong. I can't remember if the family started taking the blood before or after the war.

Point is, pre-war people aren't super human, it's just that all the modern people are weak because they've been exposed to radiation for 200 years, so the unradiated pre-war people, who are strong by comparison, seem like gods to them.

This would explain why the Institute would kill all the other members of Vault 111. Imagine if SS and all her/his neighbors all woke up and decided to take over the Commonwealth. They would all be gods among weak, radiated people. And maybe some of them would be assholes who would rule as tyrants, or else just go on a killing spree. To be safe, the current Institute director ordered all the pre-war people in the vault killed simply because they -- being unradiated and thus "super human" -- posed a potential threat.

I mean, it was enough that they were taking Shaun, a pre-war human, inside the Institute. They brainwashed Shaun heavily growing up, because if he wasn't properly afraid of the surface, he would easily just kill everyone in the Institute and leave if he wanted. They successfully brainwashed him and he never left, even became loyal and afraid of the surface enough that he never went up once except after meeting you.

More support for this theory: because the synths were modeled after Father's DNA (and thus after the sole survivor's), the synths -- and coursers especially -- are typically stronger than humans.

This is why the SS can kill a courser and sees it as nothing, while everyone else is piss-in-their pants afraid of them: the coursers were modeled after pure, pre-war DNA. So they have those "super powers" of a pre-war human, namely the SS.

It seems this knowledge of a pre-war human's superior vitality wasn't passed down in the Institute, as Justin Ayo expresses bafflement that you were able to defeat his courser.

Either that, or Justin Ayo was testing you to see if you had figured out that you could easily kill everyone in the vicinity -- coursers included -- on your own. He was testing the waters, trying to see if you were ignorant of your own power or if you were truly a threat. 

I'm more inclined to believe he was simply testing you to see if you’d figured things out. I’d be surprised if Justin Ayo didn’t have access to a lot of knowledge being SRB.

The other scientists, however, seem baffled at your strength. During "A House Divided," they are shocked when you manage to get past a couple Gen 1 synths and some turrets -- which should be laughably easy at this point -- and can't believe it when you continue to plough through everything they throw at you.

So, the strength, vitality, and danger of pre-war humans seems to be a secret that only a few Institute scientists are privy to.

Perhaps Father, after becoming Director, (and now a harmless old man who couldn’t benefit from the knowledge) learned the truth about pre-war strength and realized that you were probably incredibly powerful and could survive the Wasteland. He released you from the vault, lured you to him, and then once he met you, couldn't even tell you why he would so coldly send you into danger. During the conversation on the roof stop after Bunker Hill, he couldn't tell you about your own super powers because, at that point he still doesn't feel as if he can completely trust you not to massacre his people.

So if all this was true, imagine how that rooftop conversation went for Shaun. He confesses to doing a terrible thing by releasing his own parent into a highly hostile environment where death is a certainty -- I mean, most people would have enough decency not to do this to a random stranger, let alone their own parent, however estranged -- so to the SS, he just sounds cold and cruel. But deep down, he knew you would probably survive simply because you were pre-war and unradiated (though it was still a dick thing to do).

In past posts, I’ve often referred to Father as cold and cruel. I was not saying this because I hate the character (I don’t really) but because it’s a fact. He was raised like a guinea pig in a lab. He was such a void that he had to use science -- the only thing he knows -- to run an experiment on his own parent just so he could understand what love is.

That’s how fucked up the Institute made Shaun. Sure, he seems well-adjusted, but he’s actually not. I think the FEV labs are evidence enough of that. Do you really think people in the Institute were hugging Shaun and tucking him in with bedtime stories and actually loving him? Kellogg being such a dick about that -- by sarcastically assuring you that Shaun is in a good place where he’s safe and loved -- was such  a shitty thing in hindsight.

The seeming super strength of pre-war people would also explain why the SS is so extraordinary. Everyone in the Commonwealth is in awe of the SS (Deacon being their number one fan). They're an overpowered god walking around, leaving a path of destruction in their wake. And it's because they aren't radiated and can even become immune to it, while retaining their pre-war vitality -- unlike pre-war ghouls, who have been weakened by the radiation like everyone else.

This is a screen grab of my Synth!Shaun in school, learnin' some math from Cogsworth.

You know my theory that Father!Shaun transfered his consciousness to Synth!Shaun? I think I found further evidence that this could be true, and it comes in the form of what Synth!Shaun says to you post-game.

When you approach Father while he's dying in bed, he will say, "I thought I'd never see you again." In that moment, he sounds genuinely glad to see you, even though he's pissed. He then demands to know why you thought it was right to destroy the Institute.

After escaping the Institute, when you see Synth!Shaun again, he will say, "I thought I'd never see you again!" and is genuinely excited and happy to see you. But he demands to know why you destroyed the Institute and is worried that you will leave him.

Both Shauns are terrified the Sole Survivor does not love them and cares nothing for them. Father!Shaun is furious when you betray him, because it proves what he always feared: that you didn't love him. Synth!Shaun is horrified when you leave him behind to die because -- again -- it proves the same thing: SS doesn't love him.

At the same time, Father!Shaun has a deep and genuine desire to help the Commonwealth but doesn't seem to believe it possible. He wants to help the people on the surface but believes they are a lost cause, that they aren't even people anymore, and perhaps tells himself this lie to sooth his guilty conscience when he turns his back. He had been molded, carefully and deliberately, by the Institute to fear and loathe the world above whlie caring only for the Institute. And yet, a small part of Father!Shaun still cares about the people on the surface, still struggles with a desire to help them, as we see in the quest to recruit Wallace.

Synth!Shaun is much the same. When you speak to him post-game, he is oddly preoccupied with "rebuilding the Commonwealth." Why should he care about rebuilding it? He is a) a child and b). . . a child. Wouldn't it be weird if Nina or Stan Kawolski or Piper's sister Nat kept going on and on about rebuilding the Commonwealth? Doing so is an adult concern. Synth!Shaun should be running and playing and begging for stories about Deathclaws, not concerning himself with the social and economic welfare of the state.

In short, Synth!Shaun expresses all the desires, insecurities, and fears of Father!Shaun . . . A little boy carrying a grown man's anxieties.

Last but not least, Synth!Shaun will tell you post-game that his memories are weird. Sometimes he remembers life before living with SS and other times he can't.

Who does this sound like? Why, it sounds like Nick Valentine struggling with the memories of a human host. It's my belief that the original Nick Valentine had his brain scanned and his consciousness merged with a synth. That synth became the Nick Valentine we all know and love, a synth with a human's memories and past.

Synth!Shaun sounds very much the same. He has memories from another life and they confuse him.

After hearing some of Synth!Shaun's post-game dialogue, I'm pretty convinced that the real Shaun is inside Synth!Shaun, existing as a collection of memories ala Kellogg. He created the synth knowing he was dying of cancer, as a way of escaping his life in the Institute so that he could have the life he always dreamed of with his real parents, with people who actually loved him instead of raising him like an insect in a lab.

I find it amusing that Father wanted to be a ten-year-old boy again. I think even he realized he was a cold, unfeeling old man and wanted to recapture his youth and innocence, before the Institute was able to corrupt him into its evil leader.

Yes, that's right. The entire main quest was Father's scheme to escape everything -- his cancer, the Institute -- and be with you. Kellogg was a mere testrun for his new body. After confirming that his new body could indeed survive on the surface with a human caretaker, he proceeded with his plan to be born again as his child self.

Notice how synth Shaun is surprised when Nora says he can come? After all that begging and insisting that she was his mother . . . he's still surprised???

I still find it sort of crazy that Father insists synths aren't people -- even goes so far as to tell you to your face that you're stupid if you believe otherwise -- and yet he spends the last days of his life scrambling to perfect this synth replica of his child self???? He even goes so far as to ask you to care for it.

Why was this contradiction never explained in the game?

Because Bethesda doesn't care about a coherent story, just putting out The Sims clones and half-assed sandboxes.

The first thing that happens when you meet Father? He tests synth Shaun on you to see if he can make it react to you as a parent. When this fails, he apologizes and is mildly disappointed.

Before this, synth Shaun was sent out into the world with Kellogg, not only to bait the SS but also to see if synth Shaun could survive on the surface with only one human caretaker. The project is a success thus far, as synth Shaun is able to function easily on the surface with Kellogg alone.

Basically, the SS was always meant to replace Kellogg, both as synth Shaun's caretaker and as Father's attack dog.

We also know that Father is dying of cancer. The fact that he might have had his brained scanned and placed on the synth child prototype is not so far fetched. Especially when we've seen the same thing happen with Nick. And especially when Father actuallys says in his holotape to SS that he wanted the SS and synth Shaun to have the chance they "deserved."

The tragedy of this, though, is from the perspective of the SS, this seems like cruel baiting and cold manipulation (my character  -- on this playthrough -- immediately called Father an asshole). And because Father can't explain his plain to the SS, he has to play the cold and uncaring scientist, who used their parents in an experiment.

Yes, Father seems to believe synths are not people. But his words and his actions are completely contradictory. If synths are not people, why does he care so much for this one synth boy???? Could it be that Father was only pretending to be a bigot because outwardly supporting synths would have jeapordized his place in the Institute??? He knows nothing about the outside world and to him, the Institute is the only way he'll ever survivie. So he has to play along, pretending not to care about the synths, even while saving synth Shaun to live with you one day.

I dunno. I think this theory could have been a very compelling story in the game. Certainly better than the vague stuff we were given.

And suddenly, Shaun's hatred of synths makes perfect sense to me. How disturbing must it be to know that the synths are basically his clones? They are people grown from his DNA, walking around, and they are sentient. The only way to deal with it is for him to pretend they are not intelligent beings but machines. It kind of just makes you pity Shaun more.

Also, I found myself reading Dr. Li's terminal in the Institute again, and this time, I noticed in her personal notes how she talks about Father hiding what happened in the FEV. Immediately after an "accident" in the FEV labs, Father orders Synth Shaun created and implanted with his personality. For me, this is further evidence that Father was seeking a cure to his cancer, and when he realized the FEV labs would not provide that cure, he started Plan B.

Plan B could be one of two things.

1) He decided that it was time to let you out of the Vault, using a synth of himself to lure you to the Institute. He realized that it was time he finally met his parent before it was too late. With old age comes regret, etc.

2) He decided that if he couldn't escape his cancer, he would escape his body. He had the child built with the intention of having his memories placed in it (something Dr. Li says is possible in her holotape) so that he could live on. He then used the child to lure you to him, and once you were in the Institute, you would become the child's caretaker. . . . namely his caretaker. And in a sense, you really would save your son.

After my first playthrough, where I actually argued with Father and blew my cover like a dumbass, I can still hear his arrogance and cold dismissal of everything not-Institute in my head. Every. Time. I talk to him.

It really sucks having to smile and nod and pretend to agree with his madness. And for me, that's part of what makes going undercover with the Railroad so fun.

I always have this headcanon that after meeting Father for the first time, Freckled Nora returns to Home Plate, falls in her bed, and just bawls. And her romance holds her the night through.

What's it like for a mother who carried this child for nine months, cared for it, sang to it, to have it grow up to be the cold and distant person he is today? Your child is a stranger. He doesn't know you. And he doesn't love you. And he also doesn't mind playing with your life.

This time when I walked into Bioscience, I distinctly heard the scientists talking about Father pushing for the experiements at Warwick. I'd never caught that bit of dialogue before. I mean, he's Director. He oversees and approves every project. But actually *hearing* that your son orchastrated a kidnapping and murder just for a plant experiment . . .????

Yeah. The whole "Luke I am your father" twist always gets to me every time, doesn't matter how cliche it is. Because I know I wouldn't give half a crap about Father, and it wouldn't effect me half as much, if Father wasn't my son.