Alright fellas, make no mistake, I obviously love the ghouls in Fallout. I've always been a fan of their designs, from 1 to NV, and even their more muted decay in 4, and the overall role they play in the story of Fallout as a whole.
But, I feel like their thematic element is something Fallout as a whole avoids, (though I'm not 100% sure on how they're handled in 1 and 2 due to my limited playtime of those games), with them getting the most attention in 3 and barely any in NV. The games do establish the discrimination of ghouls, but that's really it. There's no one really on their side in any of the games. In FO3, humans in Megaton go out of their way to abuse Gob, and the B.O.S shoot them on sight. In FO:NV, in the NCR, they're allowed to hold positions but they still face heavy discrimination from their human peers, the Legion as a whole disregards them, and overall, people still dislike them despite their far and few appearances. And in FO4, ghouls were straight up left to die after being forced from Diamond City, with the guards having the audacity to call Hancock a "thing" if you have him as a companion when visiting there.
It's one of the things that boggles me most in Fallout, why does it seem that everyone is against ghouls? It's rare to hear someone speak positively of them, and even upon meeting Preston, it was a surprise (and relief) to hear his pleasant stance on them- They're irradiated people, but... They're still people. But my question is, where are the humans who're willing to help them? Why is it that the only thing willing to help ghouls are, well, other ghouls? Sure, it's nice to see them living in their own communities, Underworld, the Slog, and Goodneighbor especially considering both ghouls and humans reside together there. But... all those settlements and communities were established by ghouls in the first place, because they literally had nowhere else to go.
You can't tell me there aren't sympathetic humans in Fallout, because there are. There's got to be some humans out there that are like, "This is bullshit! They're people too!". I love the allegory with the Railroad, I really do, helping synths is great and I do like their involvement in 4, but... You didn't have to make it about synths. You could've totally had a group of people that tried to help ghouls and the message would've been the same. Ghouls have lives and loved ones, they're the hardest motherfuckers in the wasteland, surviving against all odds in a world that made them and then casted them out. And yet, they're ignored by even the people who made the game. Instead of a fleshed out metaphor for what could've an excellent commentary on American racial relations and prejudice, they were undermined and put off to the side, experienced only if you were willing to go out of your way to meet them.
basically, fuck off, i love ghouls, they deserve a more prominent role in the fallout series and some actual goddamn recognition.
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