History Characters / Fallout4TheRailroad

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* AmbiguousSituation: Their status in 2296 is rather ambiguous. A line in the Fallout TV show reveals that the Brotherhood of Steel still maintains a heavy presence in the Commonwealth several years after the events of Fallout 4. This likely means that the Institute was destroyed in either the Brotherhood or Minutemen endings, since those are the only endings where the Brotherhood survives in the Commonwealth. It's less clear what happened to the Railroad, as they are destroyed in the Brotherhood ending but survive in the Minutemen one. It's also unclear what their purpose would be if they indeed managed to outlive the Institute, though it's possible they could've transitioned to helping surviving Synths avoid being purged by the Brotherhood forces in the Commonwealth.

** Subverted if the player only meets the Railroad while looking for the Courser Chip code and doesn't return to answer Desdemona's questionnaire. Upon learning you travelled with the Institute, Desdemona will accuse you of joining them and refuse to work with you further, even if you shot Father the moment you entered. Double Subverted if you do end up joining the Institute or the Brotherhood of Steel and end up massacring the Railroad, although that may be a case of HoistByHisOwnPetard or a MistreatmentInducedBetrayal if the Sole Survivor did want to help the Railroad but joined the Institute or Brotherhood to seek revenge due to Des abandoning them.

* ProperlyParanoid: She was vocal about her predecessor's lax attitude towards Operational Security. Her tenure as Railroad Alpha has been one of the most effective of the organization on record, even counting the Switchboard massacre.

** She will also turn on you if [[spoiler:you visit the Institute without working with her, believing you are working with them, and threatens you to stay away from the Railroad afterwards.]]

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Deacon defends [[ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish their HQ's password, "Railroad"]] by noting that most people in the Commonwealth are illiterate. [[spoiler: One of their enemies, the Brotherhood of Steel, are neither illiterate nor native to the Commonwealth, and will easily get past the Railroad's defenses during both of their storylines.]]

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Aside from ''maybe'' [[OfficerAndAGentleman Preston Garvey]], she's probably the nicest out of the game's faction leaders. This doesn't stop her from leading the Railroad (with the Sole Survivor's help, of course) [[FromNobodyToNightmare on a crusade]] that end with them [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomping]] both the Brotherhood of Steel and Institute.
* BigGood: She's the leader of the only faction opposing the Institute at the beginning of the game.

* {{Expy}}: Of [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Delphine]], albeit being considerably nicer to the PlayerCharacter than Delphine ever was. Both of them are older women who are TheLeader to mysterious intelligence organizations and are ProperlyParanoid {{Principles Zealot}} {{Reasonable Authority Figure}}s that're initially skeptical of the skills of the PlayerCharacter before being later proved wrong.
* TheHeart: A rare example of this also being TheLeader.

* PetTheDog: Offers to use the Railroad's resources to help the Survivor find their son if they ask for help (even before discovering the Institute's involvement).

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Desdemona is perhaps the nicest of all of the faction heads (unless you count Preston Garvey). She's also extremely competent at her job and never asks more than the player is willing to give. If you tell her you're looking for your son before you have confirmation that he was kidnapped by the Institute, she even vows to help you find him whether or not it's Railroad business.

* TeamMom: Seems to be about halfway between this and CoolBigSis.
* ThisIsUnforgivable: If you [[spoiler:do not issue the Evacuation Order during the Nuclear Option quest]], Desdemona will lose any and all respect she had for you and the entire Railroad will turn against you.