Fallout (2024) / Characters

open/close all folders

Main Characters

Lucy

Lucy MacLean

Portrayed by: Ella Purnell, Luciana VanDette (young)^{Foreign V As}

"I may end up looking like you, but I will never be like you."

A dweller from Vault 33. After her Vault is sacked by raiders, Lucy heads out for the Californian Wasteland to search for her father Hank, who was kidnapped by their leader.

Action Girl: Lucy was classically trained in fencing, martial arts, and shooting as part of her Vault hobbies. While she's at first unwilling to harm anyone upon going into the Wasteland, she later becomes a Martial Pacifist who can kick ass as well as any other person in the Wasteland.
Audience Surrogate: Just like first time players of the games, Lucy leaves her comfort zone from the Vault (that are shaped and worked to function more or less like a regular comfortable life), and gets into the wild Wasteland completely blind, learning the ropes little by little, often with zero to no time for preparation.
Badass Adorable: She's cheery, a bit awkward, and cute as a button, but is still more than capable of holding her own in a fight.
Badass Bookworm: In her introduction, she mentions she teaches American History in Vault 33's school, and while it takes a while she grows to become quite the ass-kicking Wasteland survivalist.
Big Sister Instinct: She saves her brother Norman from a raider and is clearly the more courageous of the two.
Blue Is Heroic: The most heroic and compassionate character out of the protagonists while wearing the iconic blue Vault jumpsuit.
Brainy Brunette: The brunette Lucy is knowledgeable about pre-war American history including teaching it for the children of Vault 33.
Break the Cutie: Originally chipper, optimistic, and hopelessly naive about the surface and its dangers, she ends up far more jaded, cynical, and violent after only a couple weeks of wandering around on the Wasteland.
Broken Pedestal: To say the least that finding out her father is responsible for not only destroying civilization twice over, but also killed her mother for daring to flee from the grasp of Vault-Tec, Lucy's loving image of her father takes a plummeting nosedive quick.
Character Catchphrase: "Okie-dokie!" Her usual chirpy affirmation whenever something is presented in front of her. Gets a Alternate Catchphrase Inflection when she chooses to go with The Ghoul in the season finale after discovering that her father was partially responsible for instigating the end of the Old World and personally responsible for nuking Shady Sands and dealing a potentially mortal blow to the NCR in the process; it's still an affirmation, but one now made with the knowledge and weight of what she's discovered about the wasteland coloring it.
Composite Character: Her quest for a lost family member borrows elements from both 3 and 4.
- Like the Lone Wanderer, she leaves her vault looking for her father, who she eventually finds out is not an original vault dweller and actually has a long history in the outside world. And similar to the Wanderer, her father's actions catapult her into a crucial role in introducing a life-altering and heavily embattled piece of technology to the Wasteland.
- Like the Sole Survivor, her immediate family (in Lucy's case, her Father; and in the Survivor's case their son) turns out to be Evil All Along and considerably older than she thought he would be. Additionally, Lucy also finds her mother, who just like Shaun, is sick beyond saving, in her case being severe ghoulification.
Contrasting Sequel Main Character: By virtue of being a character with an established name, gender, and backstory beyond the Inciting Incident, Lucy stands out from the previous protagonists of the Fallout games, who were mostly blank slates projected onto by the player.
Daddy's Girl: She adores her father and spends a lot of her personal time in Vault 33 with him. Her love for him is the biggest motivator for her to go on a one-person rescue mission after he's kidnapped. But when she finds out all the atrocities he has committed, the love she had for him becomes severely estranged.
Deconstructed Character Archetype: Lucy is very much the classic Naïve Newcomer to the Fallout world thanks to knowing only life in the Vault compared to the harsh reality of the Wasteland, as a result, she is so overtly trusting that everyone means well and will treat others kindly that she is taken for granted and abused fairly quickly until the point she's practically facing the barrel multiple times in worse and worse shape until she finally does snap and becomes a lot more mistrusting at anyone who's even being remotely sincere as shown when she believes the actually compassionate Vault 4 is hiding some deep horrible, malevolent secret. This only gets further destroyed when she finds out her whole goal to rescue her father, who she believed to be a loving, compassionate man wrongly kidnapped by a monstrous bandit turns out to be one of the evilest people in the setting who was taken to face justice for his crimes and killed his wife and Lucy's mother out of jealousy. By the end of the season, while she does try to keep her idealism alive, it's clear that whatever innocence she had to the Crapsack World of the Fallout universe is long dead.
Do You Want to Copulate?: Apparently sex was one of the many ways the people of Vault 33 passed the time, so she doesn't really have a lot of hang-ups about it. She rather abruptly asks Maximus if he'd be up for it, but he doesn't know what "sex" is.
Establishing Character Moment: Lucy is introduced happily listing her qualities to the Vault managers, showing that she's confident, intelligent, dedicated to her vault's success, a crack shot, though she downplays her skill, and her genital organs are healthy. When Chet tries to sabotage her wedding out of love for her, she gently fixes the situation by reasoning with him without hurting his feelings, showing that she's very empathetic and prefers solving conflicts with communication. And lastly, she shows herself to be a competent fighter during the raider attack, establishing that she could defend herself in the Wasteland.
Expository Hairstyle Change: Lucy's hair changes helps to quickly identify how she's going through the series mentally:
- While she's in the Vault, she usually has her hair done in a very tidy ponytail, showing how applied, correct, practical and innocent she was, and she keeps this hairstyle for a long time after leaving the Vault.
- The hairstyle gets more and more messed up after going through her first traumatic experiences and her first killing of a Ghoul, showing she's slowly getting adjusted to the Wasteland.
- After she ends up in Vault 4, she lets her hair down, and we see it's really long, showing how at home she (initially) felt. She keeps her hair down up to the final episode, but now that she's in the Wasteland, she looks more savage, like some of the regular long-hair Wastelanders we've seen through the series.
- By the final shot of Season One, Lucy went back to the ponytail, now a little looser and longer, showing how she's finally attuned to the hardships of the Wasteland but she will not jump off the deep end, just like she told The Ghoul, keeping her humanity in check.
Fish out of Water: Lucy has lived in a Vault all her life and once she treks outside to find her father, she quickly (and often violently) finds herself out of her depth. Her arc for season one is to trying to adapt to surviving out in the Wasteland.
Foil: She is the Wide-Eyed Idealist acting as the counterpart to the Ghoul being The Cynic. He comments that given time on the surface, she will eventually turn into a cynic herself.
Gosh Darn It to Heck!: She's very averse to swearing, often using euphemisms like "shoot" and "fudge." When she finally drops a Precision F-Strike, you know it's Serious Business.
Heroic BSoD:
- Having to kill a feral ghoul she was trying to save from the Super Duper Mart leaves her deeply shaken, and it takes her a while to get back on her feet and leave. For good measure, it's around this point that Lucy makes it clear that the Wastelands are really doing a number on both her will to continue and her willingness to trust others.
- The final confrontation with Moldaver and the discovery that Hank was responsible for the destruction of Shady Sands and her mother's transformation into a feral ghoul all but shatters Lucy's spirit; consequently, she's left silently weeping as the revelations stack up, and by the end of it, she's left so shell-shocked that she doesn't even seem to notice the massive battle royale playing out just below her.
Incorruptible Pure Pureness: She is told repeatedly from the moment she leaves Vault 33 that she is not built for the surface and that her kindness and altruism is a weakness that will get her killed. The Ghoul even tries to break her by using her as bait, tying her up like an animal, depriving her of water, and selling her into slavery. Even then, she ends up getting him the medicine he needs and sparing his life.
Innocence Lost: Her wide-eyed innocence of the Wasteland doesn't last long during her two weeks traveling through it, resulting to her becoming more jaded and cautious while still struggling to hold onto her idealism.
Irony: She doesn't let Maximus keep the fusion core he stole from Vault 4, despite how useful it would be, stating that her father would be heartbroken if she saved him only through ruining an innocent community. When Lucy finally finds her father, she is heartbroken to learn that he himself destroyed an even larger community.
Knight in Sour Armor: A mere two weeks in the wasteland has made Lucy incredibly cynical and violent, but she refuses to abandon her morals and principles.
Kissing Cousins: She and her first cousin Chet had some "experimentation" going on in their younger years, but Lucy never went further out of fear of tainting Vault 33's gene pool.
Matricide: Ends up killing her own mother, albeit as a Mercy Kill as she's become a feral ghoul. She plans to complete the set by the season finale.
Missing Mom: Her mom died when she was still young. She's actually not dead, but when Lucy finally encounters her, it's apparent death would have been preferable.
Naïve Newcomer: Being a Vault dweller, she has no real idea how the surface world works. In the trailers, she is briefly startled by a tumbleweed and she politely asks Filly-resident Ma June what's happened in the past 200 years after the Great War, who then laughs at her obvious naivete. A Promo Clip shows her trying to non-violently de-escalate a conflict between the Ghoul and the Filly residents, speaking very formally and warning him not to harm others otherwise she'll shoot him (with a tranquilizer gun). Unsurprisingly, neither the Ghoul or Ma June are impressed, with the latter even groaning "Fucking Vault Dwellers".
Nice Girl: Her primary defining feature is her kindness, even after resorting to violence. When the Ghoul essentially sells her into slavery she still ends up getting him the medicine he needs to survive. Later after being banished from Vault 4 she still ends up begging the residents to let Maximus stay when noticing he had grown accustomed to the luxuries there.
Pet the Dog: When Maximus reveals his real name to her (and that he has thus deceived her and isn't as good a guy as she thinks), she replies only that she too has done questionable things on the surface, and still wants to be with him.
Rape as Backstory: Downplayed, but her "husband" being revealed as a savage Raider instead of a fellow vault-dweller is technically rape by deception.
Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She ends up falling for Maximus as he's the only person in the Wasteland who ever treated her with unconditional kindness and respect, and never once tried to take advantage of her despite multiple opportunities to do so.
Skilled, but Naive: Her hobbies including teaching American History, fencing, engineering, and firearms training. When it comes to surviving the Wasteland, however, she's woefully out of her depth.
Tank-Top Tomboy: Twice:
- The first time is when she's still in the Vault, with the top half of her jumpsuit hanging down as she's helping a fellow resident work on the Vault systems, showing she's not above doing hard work.
- The second time prominently shows her transformation from an idealistic, naive Vault Dweller into a hardened wasteland survivor, with the top half hanging down again, only now both her jumpsuit and tank top are dirtied with visible bloodstains and she's donned some leather Post-Apunkalyptic Armor.
Tomboyish Ponytail: She puts her hair up in a ponytail when she ventures out of Vault 33 to rescue her father.
Took a Level in Badass: Not that she wasn't good with the shooting and the fighting before, but after the market incident, she finally knew what has to be done to survive the Wasteland.
What You Are in the Dark: After he tortured her, used her for bait, and sold her to organ thieves, Lucy finds the Ghoul on the verge of turning feral. She could (and has every right to) leave him to his fate since only she has the vials that could save him, and nobody was around to watch her or judge her, but she still chooses to save him, vowing to not become as cynical and cruel as him.
Lucy: Golden Rule, motherfucker.
White Is Pure: Lucy is shown wearing white as she wears a white wedding dress, a white tank top, and a white bandage/armband on her upper arm. This is to reflect how she and her fellow vault dwellers are naive and detached from the wasteland, as the series forces her to adapt to the dog-eat-dog society America has turned into.
Wide-Eyed Idealist: Zig-zagged. Lucy is a morally good, compassionate and giving person who strives to see the best in people. It doesn't take long for her wide-eyed innocence to be eradicated from all the traumatic experiences she goes through in the Wasteland. However, she still holds onto her values and won't resort herself into becoming a monster.
Wrench Wench: One of the first scenes shows her fixing pipes with a wrench in her hand, establishing her expertise in fixing machines.

Maximus

Portrayed by: Aaron Molten, Amir Carr (young)^{Foreign V As}

"I'd be grateful to the Brotherhood for giving my life meaning."

A squire of the Brotherhood of Steel sent on a solo mission to find a researcher, running into Lucy and the Ghoul on the way.

Be Careful What You Wish For: Maximus starts the series as an unimpressive, frequently-bullied Aspirant in the Brotherhood who dreams of fighting for justice and attaining glory as a Knight. He ultimately gets his wish in Season 1's finale, with the Brotherhood's forces cheering his name and declaring him a Knight for killing Moldaver... after his time spent with Lucy and the brief time of peace he experienced in Vault 4 make him want to abandon the Brotherhood and live out his life with her in her Vault instead. He's not even the one who killed Moldaver, who only meets him when she comes back to die next to Rose's body and has a few words for him before expiring.
Because You Were Nice to Me: Maximus has a habit of becoming rather attached to people after they've shown him unambiguous kindness. He decided to join the Brotherhood after they rescued people from Shady Sands, he incorrectly believes he and Thaddeus have become Fire-Forged Friends after saving each other from the Gulper, he becomes fast friends with Lucy after she helps him out of his power armor, and he almost immediately wants to stay in Vault 4 after they give him a luxurious welcoming gift-basket.
Bully Magnet: He's regularly hazed by other Brotherhood Aspirants at boot camp, and they're all quick to blame him when someone slips a razor in Dane's boot when the latter is promoted to squire.
Broken Pedestal: Maximus joined the Brotherhood believing he could become a Knight in Shining Armor who could bring peace and justice to the Wasteland. His service alongside Titus and seeing the comfort of the Vaults leave him disillusioned with the Brotherhood, to the point where he considers deserting to live with Lucy in Vault 33. This is before he learns her father was the man who destroyed his original hometown, Moldaver entrusts him to safeguard her cold fusion generator, and Elder Quintus names him his new Second in Command to reform the Brotherhood into a more helpful and proactive force in the Wasteland.
Character Development: Starts out a selfish and foolish wannabe hero whose only concern is his own priorities and childish version of justice. After several humbling experiences, some poignant words from Lucy, and starting to see the Brotherhood's brutality for what it is, he starts to (slowly) change for the better. Between letting Thaddeus go so he doesn't get executed by the Brotherhood for turning into a ghoul despite the latter leaving him for dead, and his final conversation with Moldaver, he seems to be shaping up to potentially be the hero he wants to be, though time will tell on that.
Chaste Hero: Not entirely through his own volition, but he doesn't understand sex. When Lucy suggests that they do the deed to pass time while prisoner, he sincerely asks what all it would entail, and seems extremely uncomfortable with the entire idea.
Deconstructed Character Archetype: Maximus is a person more obsessed with the Rule of Cool aesthetic of the Fallout world, as he grows up with an idealized image of the Brotherhood of Steel after being rescued from the ruins of Shady Sands, seeking to one day be a Knight like the one who saved him, only to find out that life as an initiate of the Brotherhood isn't what it cracked up to be and he grows envious and resentful, but until he gets a lucky break after his best friend deliberately maimed themselves to move up in the order and seems to be giddy at the possibility to actually do service with the people he looked up too, only to find out he's working under the most hilariously incompetent and cowardly Knight of the Brotherhood who gets himself fatally injured trying to run away from danger, leaving Maximus in a precarious but tempting offer to don Power Armor and live out his fantasy while seeking to complete the mission entirely on his own against Brotherhood protocol. The end result leaves him continuously making impulsive mistake after mistake that has him nearly left for dead multiple times as overconfidence keeps putting him in worse positions, and while he does get better through Character Development, he clearly still is too foolhardy for his own good as shown when he makes the impulsive decision to break Hank MacLean for Lucy free before he finds out from her he was Evil All Along.
Fake Ultimate Hero: After letting Titus die, Maximus takes his power armor and masquerades as him. In the finale, he is forced to take credit for Moldaver's death and become the hero of the final battle in order to fulfill her last wish in using the cold fusion reactor for good.
Failure Hero: Maximus' attempts at saving the day usually end up doing more harm than good. Between stopping an altercation involving a farmer and the Snake Oil Salesman only to find out the "victim" was violating the farmer's chickens, to brutalizing the revealed to be kind members of Vault 4 before realizing they were just letting Lucy go and not harming her, to letting Hank out of the cage only to find out he was the genocidal mastermind of his hometown's demise.
The Gunslinger: Although he's not the most adept Brotherhood candidate, he is skilled with firearms. He manages to kill the Yao Guai attacking Titus with a well-placed headshot, and when encountering a duo of fiends, manages to outdraw them with a gun in Lucy's holster and score lethal hits on both, albeit getting shot in the arm for his trouble.
Horrible Judge of Character:
- Maximus makes the incredibly foolish mistake of thinking Thaddeus would keep his identity a secret. Predictably, Thaddeus freaks out and runs away, incapacitating and nearly killing Maximus in the process.
- Maximus immediately believes Hank and frees him from his cage, allowing Hank to steal a suit of power armor and nearly kill him.
Innocently Insensitive: After the incident where Lucy propositions him with sex, a later scene has him become more comfortable with Lucy and ask if she'd still like to make his "cock explode". He phrases this in about the most playful, innocent way imaginable.
Made of Iron: He's violently bullied by fellow recruits, later on gets beaten by wastelanders fighting over the armor he needed to leave for repairs, gets shot through the arm and manages to shrug it off for quite a while before Lucy realizes how severe it was, and in the end even gets beaten by Hank while Hank was wearing a suit of T-60c armor, yet still manages to get back up, despite lacking the Ghoul's inhuman durability and healing factor.
Miss Conception: He apparently doesn't really understand how sex... works, thinking that ejaculation is a harmful process that could seriously hurt him. Understandably as the Brotherhood probably doesn't have a good education system, especially when it comes to sex ed.
Nice Guy: Downplayed, but still present. Maximus isn't above performing Murder by Inaction on an Asshole Victim, or vindictive bullying against former tormentors. Still, he shows surprising levels of kindness, compassion, and honor, and he generally seems rather desperate to make friends and be a hero. He never once tries to betray or take advantage of Lucy (nor does he blame her when the Fiends shoot him), listens to her when she makes moral arguments, and eventually tells her the truth about his identity.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: He's very prone to taking action before knowing the whole story. His very first heroic act after donning power armor is to save a man from getting beaten up, only to afterward find out the man was an animal molester. Later he trashes the Vault 4 atrium after they had already agreed to let Lucy go, and in the final episode, he frees her father from his cage right before he could find out that Hank is actually a fascist Vault-Tec executive responsible for destroying his hometown.
No Social Skills: Being raised by the Brotherhood has made him pretty good at navigating dangerous social interactions. Everything else, not so much.
- Multiple scenes show he has Poor Communication Kills, and doesn't know how to stand up for himself or explain his perspective to authority figures. This is something he gets past by the finale.
- He doesn't understand how sex works, and refuses sex with Lucy because he thinks his erection and ejaculation will gross her out. He doesn't even seem to know what sex is, seemingly thinking it's called "making his cock explode". Later, he uses this exact wording when he asks Lucy if she's still interested.
A Tragedy of Impulsiveness: One of Maximus' defining traits. He often acts rather than thinks which results in rather dire possible consequences for himself:
- When Knight Titus is killed, Maximus appropriates his armor rather than report back to the Brotherhood of Steel. As a pseudo-religious, highly militarized organization, this would reasonably result in Maximus' execution if he were caught as he did not have the qualifications to don the T-60c power armor.
- Maximus reveals to Thaddeus that it is him in the suit rather than Titus. Unsurprisingly, Thaddeus, who does not regard Maximus well, does not risk any liability of his own and abandons Maximus.
- He quickly buys Hank's insistence that he's a good guy and frees him before going to comfort Lucy, only for Lucy to tell him Hank's the Big Bad and the man responsible for nuking his hometown. By the time Maximus processes this, Hank has already stolen a suit of Powered Armor and quickly overpowers and nearly kills Maximus.

The Ghoul

Cooper Howard/The Ghoul

Portrayed by: Walton Goggins^{Foreign V As}

"Us cowpokes...we take it as it comes."

Born Cooper Howard, a pre-War US Marine turned actor, now an infamous mercenary.

Acquired Poison Immunity: He's immune to Lucy's tranquilizer darts due to being a Ghoul and already having a vast cocktail of drugs flowing through his veins.
Alternate Company Equivalent: In a roundabout way to the Undead from Dark Souls, at least moreso than most ghouls are; The Ghoul is cursed with Immortality and routinely needs to take a remedy to keep himself from degenerating in mind and body, much like the Undead are functionally immortal but need to consume Humanity to stay sane and prevent themselves from Hollowing. Cooper's attachment to the memories of his daughter is implied to be the thing that has truly kept him sane throughout the years compared to other ghouls who've gone feral due to completely losing their goals, aspirations, and sense of self before degenerating into a violent subhuman monster, much like how clinging to a purpose or goal can work just as well as consuming Humanity to stave off Hollowing in an Undead and, in many cases, an Undead NPC in those games will go Hollow and try to attack you after you help them complete their questline since they no longer have a purpose to strive for.
Adaptational Attractiveness: Other than his baldness and lack of nose, the Ghoul barely has any signs of the radiation-induced decay that most other ghouls have had in the games, with perfectly normal teeth, lips and eyes. Even his burned skin looks merely aged and leathery, not outright rotted.
And Starring: Walton Goggins gets billed with an "and" in the closing credits.
Anti-Villain: As he stated in the first episode, he lives for the hunt. However, he only kills when on the job or out of necessity. He will sell people to be harvested, but only if his survival is at stake and not out of enjoyment. He is not looking to save the world, nor avenge it, but survive. He can respect an opponent who bested him and show kindness to others that do little to serve him, but also shoot down a son in front of his father to prove a point. The Ghoul is not looking to save anyone, but after two hundred years still loves his daughter fiercely and is determined to find her no matter the odds against him.
Badass Bandolier: Wears a bandolier with the ammo for his firearm around his shoulder.
Badass Longcoat: Wears a dark, extremely tattered duster, and is the toughest and most experienced of the three protagonists.
Became Their Own Antithesis: Cooper was formerly a morally upstanding family man who wasn't even comfortable shooting a disarmed villain in a movie. As a result of the apocalypse and 219 years of living death, Cooper has become a deeply cynical bounty hunter who won't bat an eye at killing or using dirty tactics to further his goals. The only thing that still remains of his former code is his love for his family.
Berserk Button: Anything concerning Vault-Tec is quick to get a violent rise out of him, which is best shown how nonchalantly he shoots a hole through the billboard with the Vault Boy on it. There's a pretty damn good reason for this, given what he really knows about them, plus the Vault Boy is based on him.
Blessed with Suck: As a Ghoul, he's functionally immortal, immune to radiation and toxins, pretty damn tough thanks to a minor Healing Factor, and heavily resistant to chems. This comes at the cost of being horribly deformed and on the verge of losing his sanity and going feral.
Bounty Hunter: He's after Dr. Wilzig for his bounty, though he admits nowadays he mostly does it for the thrill of the hunt.
Broken Ace: Despite his insane durability, almost-supernatural gunslinger skills, and having a reputation as one of the most dangerous people in the wasteland period...Cooper is ultimately an extremely broken drug-addict; who lives only to kill his targets and dream about a family he's lost and will never find again.
Broken Pedestal: Cooper deeply loved his wife and thought the world of her, and with his growing suspicions of Vault-Tec, thought she could have been a Morality Chain to them and keep them grounded in reality—only to have it shattered when he realizes she is actually in favor of pushing the end of the world for their own gain, something that was hinted to have completely torn apart their family apart and led to a divorce given his lack of a wedding ring.
Canon Character All Along: It's revealed he was the model the Vault Boy was created from.
Celebrity Survivor: A preview article from Vanity Fair and the countdown livestream for the reveal trailer establish "The Ghoul" as this — once named Cooper Howard, he was a famous actor who starred as the gunslinging lead character of "The Man From Dead Horse", a hit western film released just before the war. After the bombs fell, centuries of fighting for survival in the wasteland forged him into an actual gunslinger making a living in the wasteland as a Bounty Hunter, though his backstory establishes that he was also a Marine before he turned to acting, and saw active service using the T-45d power armour.
Chekhov's Skill:
- Cooper is seen in a flashback complaining to Bud Askins about the design flaws of the T-45d Power Armor. This comes into play when he confronts the Brotherhood at the observatory and muses about whether or not they ironed out the faulty weld on the chest plate of the T-60c, right before he exploits it to drop one of the Knights dead on the spot.
- As an actor famous for Westerns, he shows off some lasso tricks at the start of the series, before the bombs fall. He repeatedly makes use ropes or chains in the wasteland, using the chains on his casket to take out one of the bounty hunters, using a Chain to lasso a fleeing Maximus after their fight, and using rope to lasso Lucy after she tries to escape him.
Composite Character: Takes elements from the Sole Survivor from Fallout 4, the Courier from Fallout: New Vegas, and Dean Domino, a character from the Fallout: New Vegas DLC Dead Money:
- Like the Courier, The Ghoul is a seasoned Wastelander and a force to be feared. Both begin the story buried but are rescued and go hunting for a person who wronged them.
- Like the Sole Survivor, The Ghoul is a pre-apocalypse war veteran (should the player have chosen Nate in Fallout 4) seeking out his child after being separated from them.
- Like Dean Domino, The Ghoul was a pre-war entertainer who was turned into a ghoul. They are also both the mostly amoral Token Evil Teammate of their barely functioning groups who will betray their allies to further their goals. The difference being Dean's obsession is based on petty jealousy while The Ghoul is motivated by survival and finding his family.
Cowboy: Prior to the war, he was an actor in Westerns, implied to routinely play clean-cut, honorable men — he's even shown uncomfortable with the idea of gunning down an already incapacitated villain in one of his movies. Post-apocalypse, he is a ruthless and amoral bounty hunter in tattered dark clothes. Rather fittingly, his hat appears to have once been white but has now darkened over the centuries.
Deconstructed Character Archetype: The Ghoul, or Cooper Howard, compared to Lucy and Maximus, is the more storied individual much like the Courier who has had a role in shaping the history of the Wasteland and knows his way around; but the consequences of having been the person who has seen and done many things to survive for over two hundred years in the harsh Crapsack World they live in does not make him a cheery, people-pleasing person, but instead a massive misanthrope who skirts the line of being a living nightmare for practically anyone who crosses him on even a pleasant morning as shown with how systematically he murders anyone in the way of his path because he firmly acts on a "me or them" mentality without any hesitation, even goading people who would rightfully be angry he killed people they cared about so he can have an excuse to kill them back. This is coupled with the Blessed with Suck he has as a Ghoul where he's doomed to be a functionally drug-riddled addict to stave off the inevitable fate of turning feral given how just ancient he is. All that together reveals the Ghoul to be living an absolutely miserable life being alone and bitter as he desperately clings to the possibility of maybe, somehow, finding some nugget of what happened to his family after the apocalypse is the only thing keeping him marginally sane and motivated to keep moving forward.
Deducing the Secret Identity: From the smallest clue that Lucy's last name is MacLean, Cooper deduces her father is not only Hank MacLean, but the very same Henry MacLean he briefly met 200 years ago who worked for his wife.
Does This Remind You of Anything?: The Ghoul's dependency on the serum that keeps him from going feral is a clear allegory for drug addiction, with his health declining everytime he goes too long without it resembling withdrawls. His uncontrollable coughing also alludes to the heath effects of smoking cigarettes, an extremely addictive substance that was very popular when he was a pre-apocalypse human.
The Dreaded: In the present day of the setting, it is clear that anyone who knows of him is very wary of actually wanting to deal with him given how deadly he is, to the point a former NCR Veteran Ranger, who are legendary badasses in their own right, is scared shitless his family will be caught in the crossfire with him that he doesn't even try to fake any bravado and gives him exactly what he asks for.
Drowning My Sorrows: He goes on a chem bender after Lucy destroys the organ harvesting operation, putting on one of his old movies and reflecting on what he's become.
Empowered Badass Normal: As a Ghoul, he is functionally immortal in all the ways that matter as, outside of the need for drugs to keep him from going feral, he needs very little in the way of food or sleep to maintain himself, has a powerful Healing Factor that can withstand gunshots that would down ordinary people (if not outright kill them) unless they aim for his head, and is more or less immune to radiation that allows him to traverse dangerous regions caked with fallout, all of which by themselves make him a terrifying bounty hunter who is essentially a Super-Persistent Predator for whoever he's tracking; but as he is also a USMC veteran of the Battle of Anchorage back before the Great War, he has more than enough skill to complement his power set which lets him steamroll an entire contingent of Brotherhood Knights in full Power Armor without breaking a sweat.
Enemy Mine: He and Lucy do not get along, but they do collaborate against a few more powerful foes and ultimately team up to hunt down Hank when he flees to New Vegas.
Everyone Has Standards: During his pre-War life, he might have been fiercely patriotic and was willing to overlook some of the shadier practices of Vault-Tec for the sake of business as an actor, but once he learns that the company he's been advertising for is talking about ending the world as they know it after eavesdropping, he is positively horrified and in a cold sweat for the remainder of his visit.
Experienced Protagonist: Was already a war veteran before the apocalypse, and he's had over two-hundred years of fighting through the wasteland to hone his edge.
Expy: The Ghoul's appearance, attire, personality, nihilistic view of humanity, and past of once being a good man all draw inspiration from Man In Black from Jonathan Nolan's other show Westworld.
Facial Horror: Like all Fallout Ghouls, he still bears the scars from when the bombs dropped; his skin is tinted red, his face is sunken and skull-like (even lacking a nose), and from what others have said he can have small bits of himself hacked off and still function just fine.
Face–Heel Turn: Cooper Howard was a good man, loving father, and supportive husband. Two hundred years of pain, suffering, and losing his family, as well as witnessing civilizations fall and all the horrors that came with it, turned him into a ruthless bounty hunter who lives for the hunt.
Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job: Downplayed. While a famous actor before the Great War, by 2077 Cooper Howard had been struggling to find good acting roles due to his association with Vault-Tec, being forced to perform at wealthy clients' birthday parties just to make ends meet. On later viewings, this is revealed to be the result of him stumbling upon Vault-Tec's secretive plans and his wife's involvement in them.
Famed In-Story: Twofold. First, he was a famous actor before the bombs fell as Cooper Howard. Second, his skill as a bounty hunter since the bombs had fallen was such that a trio of other bounty hunters track him down to recruit him in the hunt for Doctor Wilzig.
Functional Addict: He's addicted to various chems and requires a very large dosage to feel anything, on top of the natural resistance to chems that comes with being a Ghoul. This addiction makes him immune to Lucy's tranquilizers, as they're small potatoes to what he's used to using.
The Gunslinger: Incredibly fast and deadly with his weapons. Sometimes not even looking where he's shooting. He's even shown using the V.A.T.S. during the second episode shoot-out, showing he's an absolutely experienced badass.
Hand Cannon: His long-arm weapon appears to be his secondary weapon, on account of how ridiculously powerful his four-shooter is. Its projectiles look the size of big game rifle rounds and have the penetrating power to match.
Heroes Love Dogs: One of the Ghoul's redeeming traits is his love for dogs. After Wilzig's death, he adopts CX404, and when he was pre-War television actor Cooper Howard, he had a dog named Roosevelt and starred in A Man and His Dog. One of the many things that makes Cooper suspicious of his wife's line of work is that she says that dogs are not allowed in the vaults, which makes him question who makes those rules and why.
Heroic BSoD: During the final flashback of the first season, the realization that Vault-Tec was planning to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike to kick off the Great War and his own wife proposed the idea in the first place left Cooper sitting in stunned silence, barely able to react when a secretary called for his attention.
Heroic Willpower: While the chems have helped him stave off his fate, Cooper's willpower is cited as a reason he's managed to keep his sanity as long as he has while many other younger Ghouls around him have gone feral.
Hidden Depths: He still deeply misses his dog Roosevelt and grieves for him, sadly remarking that Dogmeat will "never be him" but petting her anyways when she lays her head on his leg.
I'm a Humanitarian: After giving his friend Roger a Mercy Kill, the Ghoul starts carving up his body for rations and coerces Lucy to help him. From his dialogue, it's not the first time he's resorted to cannibalism to survive out in the Wasteland.
Kick the Dog:
- After Lucy bites off his finger in an attempt to escape him, he pettily cuts off her index finger as payback. This is despite the fact that the loss of the finger is something he can easily fix, while she only gets a new finger through blind luck.
- His murder of an ex-NCR Ranger's two sons, especially the second. He goads the Ranger's younger son into grabbing a weapon to avenge his older brother, only so he would have an excuse to kill him.
Leitmotif: His theme has distorted cowboy yodeling in it.
The Mentor: A very dark version. After capturing Lucy, he puts her through many lessons that teach her the kind of ruthlessness she'll need to survive the Wasteland- making her strip meat from his friend's corpse, drink radioactive water, and indirectly leading her to take her first life. He also seems genuinely impressed when Lucy bites off his finger, and while he cuts her's off in repayment, he calls it the "first honest exchange we've had."
Mirror Character: To Hank. Both are Papa Wolf characters willing to do anything to protect their children and survive the Wasteland. But while the Ghoul has been turned into a monster as a result of his experiences in the Wasteland and has suffered for 200 years, becoming a dreaded outcast with a hidden heart of gold in the process, Hank lived for 200 years first in cryosleep and then in luxury, retaining his outward humanity while committing monstrous actions such as having Shady Sands nuked off the map as petty revenge for harboring his wife. While the Ghoul faces his opponents down in combat and outwits them, Hank steals a suit of Power Armor and runs away immediately, establishing him as a coward.
Monstrous Cannibalism: He's willing to make "ass jerky" from a fellow ghoul named Roger.
No Celebrities Were Harmed: His pre-War background of a military vet turned Hollywood cowboy actor makes him resemble both Clint Eastwood and Ronald Reagan. Also like how Ron was sponsored by General Electric, Cooper became the mascot and spokesperson for Vault-Tec. Furthermore, his namesake Cooper is a reference to a famous Western actor, Gary Cooper. In Episode 6, he's shown giving a speech on a black background reminiscent of Rod Serling's famous style from The Twilight Zone
Old Soldier: Was a former Marine who served on the Alaska front prior to the bombs being dropped and has retained all his combat skills despite the passage of the centuries.
One-Man Army: Very quickly, people find out that this Ghoul is perhaps one of the single deadliest beings to walk the Wasteland if they cross his path, as a whole town and the Brotherhood of Steel learn the hard way.
Only Known by Their Nickname: His real name has been lost to time since the bombs dropped, so most Wasteland dwellers refer to him as "the Ghoul" rather than "Cooper Howard".
Papa Wolf: He immediately springs into action when Janey is threatened, pulling her onto his horse and riding off in an attempt to escape the bombing. It turns out Cooper's been searching for Janey for centuries, only holding onto his sanity to try to gain any information about her whereabouts.
Pet the Dog:
- Despite having stabbed CX404 after the dog attacked him, he patches the dog up with a stimpak after the fight is over rather than letting her die. He also rescues the dog from a container Thaddeus locked her inside after recovering the head, and the two set off once again to find the head.
- When his associate Roger starts to go feral the Ghoul reminds him of the good old days and of his mother and her apple pie. Roger starts to smile at the memory before the Ghoul shoots him in the head.
- Unbeknownst entirely to Lucy, he pays her back for her act of kindness at the end of episode 4 at the start of episode 5 by showing no hesitation claiming sole responsibility for the deaths of the organ traffickers in the Super Duper Mart; he could have been on his way by just explaining the truth of what happened to Booker, but instead decided to protect Lucy from having a bounty put on her head, something she almost certainly wouldn't be ready to handle.
- Despite all the shit he puts Lucy through from being live bait to a potential organ sale to recoup his loss of the drugs when Lucy decides to abide by the Golden Rule regardless and saves his life by giving him the drugs he needs to fend off going feral, he does show consideration to her next time they meet and decides to help her in tracking down her father after he reveals himself to be an evil piece of work, even if it partially is because he benefits from finding out the fate of his family with what Hank knows.
Phlebotinum Dependence: His advanced age means he's at a near-constant risk of going feral, a fate only kept at bay by a serum he has to take at least daily before suffering from withdrawal.
Pocket Rocket Launcher: His pistol fires explosive bullets that are shaped like miniature missiles, explaining his ability to blow a hole in people's chests with a single shot.
Pragmatic Villainy:
- He initially saves CX404 because she can act as a bloodhound and lead him to Siggi before growing genuinely attached to her and renaming her Dogmeat.
- He kills Roger because the latter was becoming feral, but afterwards seizes the opportunity to make himself some jerky.
- He explains to Lucy that torture is an ineffective means of extracting information or cooperation from someone. Using them as bait, however...
Pre Ass Kicking One Liner: Being a former actor, Cooper has no shortage of sassy quips before he unloads into whatever is in his way, including one about a flaw in The Brotherhood's suits of power armor before he exploits that very weakness.
Pulling Themselves Together: After Lucy bites his finger off, he holds onto it and sews it back on, and it starts working again just fine.
Race-Name Basis: Is credited simply as "The Ghoul". Flashbacks to when he was human show his name used to be Cooper Howard, however after two centuries and being forced to work as a Bounty Hunter, chasing and often killing people just to scratch out a living, he doesn't seem to have much attachment to his old name.
Radiation-Immune Mutants: Being a ghoul, he's able to drink irradiated water just fine, and taunts Lucy about it while she's dying of thirst.
Red Baron: He's known to the Wastelanders only as "The Ghoul".
Sealed Badass in a Can: He's kept buried in a chained coffin by a wasteland warlord at the start of the series, only bringing him up once a while to cut pieces off him. A trio of bounty hunters dig him up for a job, and they immediately get a taste of how badass he is.
Semper Fi: He was in the USMC before he was an actor, and his combat training has allowed him to stay ahead of most of the Wastelanders he fights on a regular basis. He even uses his old military experience to get the upper hand on the Brotherhood, having familiarity with the kinks in the Powered Armor they're so fond of using.
Sour Outside, Sad Inside: He's greatly cynical and very unpleasant to almost anyone on a good day. Once you learn that his whole life fell apart because of Vault-Tec and that they themselves caused the Great War and destroyed his family in more ways than one, it's pretty obvious that the cynicism hides over two centuries of anguish.
Spell My Name with a "The": To the other inhabitants of the wasteland, he's not a Ghoul, he's The Ghoul.
Still Wearing the Old Colors: Beneath his duster, he's still wearing the tattered and worn remnants of the cowboy costume he had on when the Great War happened.
Took a Level in Jerkass: In the past, Cooper Howard was one of the nicest guys you could've met, a loving dad and husband, a friendly man who treated his co-stars like friends, and someone who would never kill anyone even if in a movie. The Ghoul, however, is more vicious, ruthless, and cynical, and doesn't hesitate to torture or kill anyone to survive.
Trophy Husband: While Cooper had a successful career outside of his marriage, Barbara was a senior member of one of the biggest MegaCorps on Earth. Notably, after the divorce, Cooper's acting prospects seemed to have dried up.
Tuckerization: Named for Todd Howard, executive producer on several Fallout games.
Ungrateful Bastard: He's introduced being freed from being buried alive for decades and having meat intermittently stripped off of him by three thugs wanting his help on a bounty. He repays them by killing all three and going after the bounty himself. A far cry from the white-hat cowboy he used to play.
Villain Protagonist: At first, The Ghoul is absolutely not a nice person, mowing people down at the smallest provocation and selling Lucy to organ donors because she accidentally smashed his chems.
Villain Respect: While he's initially dismissive of Lucy and even enjoys making her suffer, he grows to appreciate her tenacity and determination to survive as well as her maintaining her dignity. By the end of season 1, he encourages her to come with him to find her father.
Wild Card: The Ghoul is initially antagonistic towards Lucy because they both need the head (and her naivety also disgusts him). However, by the end he encourages her to come with him to track down her father as they both need answers from him.
Would Hurt a Child: To further showcase how far he's fallen from his more compassionate days as an actor struggling with the concept of killing someone before the apocalypse, the Ghoul demonstrates how amoral he is when shoots the younger son of a former NCR Ranger he was interrogating on Moldaver's location in cold blood after goading him to try and avenge his older brother.

Vault-Tec

For tropes about the company as a whole, check their folder on the franchise's character page.

Vault 33

In General

Built beside the Santa Monica pier, Vault 33 is unique in that it is connected with two other Vaults, 32 and 31, with contact between them only happening every few years.

Close-Knit Community: As can be expected from a community that is isolated from the outside, save for occasional personnel exchanges, Vault 33 is extremely tight-knit.
Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: Despite all the harm that the raiders have visited upon Vault 33, the dwellers make continued (and futile) attempts to "educate" their raider prisoners. Only Norman and Stephanie are able to even imagine that it would be best to just execute the raiders.
Institutional Apparel: Dwellers constantly wear blue jumpsuits modelled after Cooper's heroic cowboy character suit.
Rule of Three: Vault 33 is one of a trio of vaults, the first time in the series that shows Vaults being interconnected. Posters in the Vault show of a triangle with 31, 32, and 33 at each angle.
Skilled, but Naive: They are supremely positive and friendly, making them incredibly naive compared to the wastelanders. However, they have a better diet and education and greater safety than can be found aboveground. As they need to maintain their home, it's not unusual for them to be skilled with repairwork or other scientific fields, and common Vault activities include fencing, hand-to-hand combat training, and riflery. In the first episode, despite the raiders having the element of surprise and being far more brutal, the Vault residents manage to kill or detain a large number of them.
Town with a Dark Secret: Vaults 31, 32, and 33 were a combined experiment to breed a perfect middle management class for the Post-Apocalypse. Vaults 32 and 33 were used as a stable gene pool, while 31 is populated by cryogenically frozen pre-War vault tech trainees and the Brain in a Jar behind the experiment. Vault 31 engineers crises in 32 and 33 to ensure that a Vault 31 transplant takes control as overseer, then breeds into the population over time to produce ideal managers.
Trademark Favourite Food: They all seem to really like jello cake, even serving it up to their raider prisoners.
Wide-Eyed Idealist: They are sheltered idealists who have been taught to believe in the good of people and maintain this mindset even in the face of the violence brought about by the raiders.

Betty

Betty Pearson

Portrayed by: Leslie Uggams

A former Overseer of Vault 33 who now sits on the governing council. After Hank is kidnapped by the raiders, she runs to become the new one.

Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She appears to be a kind, understanding, motherly leader but she is one of Bud's management trainees and complicit in everything they've done.
Iron Lady: Despite her grandmotherly kindness, she's the one genuinely tough councilor who actually demonstrates real authority and expects to be obeyed, to the point that she point-blank refuses Lucy's requests to leave the Vault while her fellow councilors either dither or defer to Betty's example. As such, she's easily picked as the new Overseer in the election.
Puppet King: Like Hank, and all of the previous overseers of Vault 33, she was a transfer from Vault 31. As such, she was a member of a pre-War group of Vault-Tec management trainees.
Universally Beloved Leader: Everyone likes Betty as a former Overseer and votes for her to be the new one following Hank's kidnapping, including one of her rival candidates. She wins with 98% of the vote.

Woody

Woody Thomas

Portrayed by: Zach Cherry

A member of the governing council for Vault 33.

Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: A platonic example. Some tension comes into his friendship with Reg when they start competing for the title of Overseer, but neither of them get it and when Woody is reassigned away from Vault 33, he looks devastated to be separated from his buddy.
Those Two Guys: Woody is close friends with Reg, and they're not often seen apart.

Reg

Reg McPhee

Portrayed by: Rodrigo Luzzi

A member of the governing council for Vault 33.

Butt-Monkey: Of the three council members, he's the only one to suffer a serious injury following the raider attack (being seen in a neck brace), is made to look pathetic in official debates, ends up getting crushed in a landslide election, and every attempt to apologize to him for voting for his opponent just ends up hurting his feelings even more. And he's separated from his good friend Woody, leaving him worse-off than ever before.
Those Two Guys: Reg shares an amiable relationship with Woody and they're almost always seen together.
Obviously Not Fine: He continuously insists that he's okay with whatever results from the election, but when Davey guiltily admits that he voted for Betty over him, his composure starts to look increasingly strained to the point that he gets sarcastic with him.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Of the three council members, he's the dutiful-yet-optimistic follower to Woody's anxious ditherer and Betty's confident leader; however, when it becomes clear that he's going to lose to Betty in the election and Davey keeps apologizing for voting against him, Reg's submissive good nature starts to look really tested, to the point that he actually gets a little sarcastic with him. Then, when it's Reg's turn in the voting booth, the poor guy can't even bring himself to put his own name on the ballot and despairingly votes for Betty.

Norman

Norman MacLean

Portrayed by: Moises Arias

Woody: Are you aware that at every job you've been assigned to, your performance review has been "lacks enthusiasm"?

Norm: No, but that sounds accurate.

Lucy's younger brother who grew up alongside her in Vault 33. After Hank's kidnapping, he helps Lucy escape and resolves to figure out what really happened to the residents of Vault 32.

Annoying Younger Sibling: Subverted. He teases Lucy about her new husband and what she thinks he'll look like, but its clear it's all good natured and the two get along incredibly well.
Batman Gambit: Norman shows his quick intelligence when social engineering the Overseer of Vault 31 over Betty's terminal, despite having no direct evidence that confirms anything malicious going on over there that's as conspiratorial as he believes, which allows him to both discover a complicit plan and gain direct access to Vault 31 to discover the truth for himself.
Be Careful What You Wish For: In episode 3, he's the only one to suggest killing the captive Raiders (on the ground that they tried to kill them all so it would be doing to them exactly what they tried to do to the Vault Dwellers and they clearly show no interest in any kind of rehabilitation). He gets his wish in episode 7, when he finds the raiders dead from rat poison. But seeing their corpses clearly shocks him, as does the casualness with which the other Dwellers take the news.
Brilliant, but Lazy: He's frequently noted to be lackadaisical in his assigned work placements, but he's actually a very shrewd investigator who finds out at least most of the truths about Vaults 31 and 32. He's also a skilled hacker, playing the famous hacking minigame of the video games to break into the overseer's terminal and gain access to Vault 31.
Cowardly Lion: Spends most of the attack on Vault 33 hiding, and brands himself as "too chicken" to follow Lucy out into the Wasteland... and yet, he has the bravery and gumption to walk back into the charnel house of Vault 32 to conduct his own investigation, even continuing after his much bigger friend wimps out on him and Betty does her best to sabotage him.
Deuteragonist: Next to the three protagonists, Norm is the closest to a fourth lead where a good portion of season 1 focuses on his perspective within Vault 33 and investigating its secrets, with larger ramifications on the show as a whole.
Grew a Spine: He resents his cowardice and how he ran and hid during the raider attack, leading to him becoming more assertive and risk-taking in his investigation.
Hidden Depths: Norm is far more insightful than he lets on. He realizes before Lucy that the Vault Council is not interested in finding their father because they can be Overseers in his place. In "The Head", he uses their ambition against them, sparking a divide between them when he apologizes to "the Overseer" for his suggestion to kill the captured raiders. He even puts uncertain suspicion in the newly elected Overseer Betty Pearson's mind that he's on to her machinations without even saying a word to that end when he asks for a slice of cake at the inauguration party.
My Greatest Failure: He's utterly disappointed in himself for hiding away when the raiders attacked his vault, leading him to Grow A Spine over the course of the series and begin to investigate things for himself. Furthermore, even if he's displayed and told that he despises doing any work, he's absolutely Brilliant, but Lazy, as he's extremely intelligent in planning, being very cunning, and he even knows how to hack.
Phoneaholic Teenager: Would rather play games on his Pip-Boy than join the family book club.
Shorter Means Smarter: He is the shortest of the Vault 33 characters with a speaking part and displays outstanding detective and hacking skills.
Too Clever by Half: Discussed by Betty, who sees how clever Norm is and warns him against doing anything in anger, remarking that clever boys get into serious mischief when they're angry. Norm is the one who unravels The Conspiracy and first discovers the Awful Truth about Vault 31.

Chet

Portrayed by: Dave Register^{Foreign V As}

Lucy's cousin, who assists in her escape and becomes the surrogate father to Stephanie's child.

Butt-Monkey: Falls in unrequited love with his cousin Lucy, then fails to sabotage her wedding. Helps her escape the vault but gets tranquilized before he can come with her. Gets fired from his job as Gatekeeper and openly weeps. Has sex with Stephanie but only after she dresses him in her dead husband's clothes and calls him "Bert". Then her water breaks before it goes too far. Then he's roped into investigating Vault 32 with Norm. Then he's the Henpecked Husband to Stephanie and surrogate father to her baby.
Comforting the Widow: Has sex with Stephanie not long after her husband is killed by raiders. Although it wasn't his idea, and his going along with it only illustrates his lack of a spine.
Extreme Doormat: He's reluctantly pressured into a bunch of things including helping Lucy escape the vault, helping Norm investigate Vault 32, and being the Replacement Goldfish to Steph's husband Burt and the surrogate father to their baby. He eventually refuses to help Norm because the only thing that can make him stand up to someone is his fear of someone even more powerful.
Gentle Giant: He's quite tall and imposing, especially since he's often paired up with people who are shorter than him, and he certainly looks like he could hold his own in a fight if he'd actually be inspired to use his fists... but he's an absolute pushover who chickens out at the first sign of a Raider taking a hit of Jet and is easily bossed around by people far smaller than him.
Henpecked Husband: It's clear that Stephanie wears the pants in her new relationship with Chet, often bossing him around or tasking him with heavy workloads. Chet, for his part, meekly accepts when his snooping with Norman doesn't interfere.
Hidden Depths: Despite his cowardice and apparent willful blindness, it's implied that Chet knows just how empty life in the Vault is, extremely lonely, and is in denial about how corrupt the leadership is as a way to cope. He accepts his new role as Stephanie's "husband" out of desperation for affection, as he clearly doesn't like this new role, implying that a lot of his feelings for Lucy were out of loneliness.
Hopeless Suitor: He's deeply in love with Lucy and even briefly tries to sabotage her arranged wedding, but for Lucy, their kinship is a dealbreaker.
Incest-ant Admirer: Is in love with his first cousin Lucy. She doesn't return his feelings, though she's not as disgusted by it as most people would be since "cousin stuff" is common in their small community.
Kissing Cousins: He has a crush on Lucy, his first cousin. It's implied that she experimented with him when they were younger, but refused to have sex with him for fear of harming the Vault's gene pool with inbreeding.
Lovable Coward: He is much less willing to defy the Overseer and investigate Vaults 31 and 32 than Norm, but he's ultimately a loyal and sympathetic character.
One Head Taller: He's much taller than most of the people he interacts with, a fact that becomes apparent when Stephanie breaks down crying in his arms. This becomes even more apparent when he joins forces with the scrawny Norm.
Replacement Goldfish: Stephanie quickly makes him her new husband to replace Bert, even dressing him up in his clothes and calling him "Burt" when attempting to have sex with him.

Stephanie

Stephanie Harper

Portrayed by: Annabel O'Hagan

A Vault 33 resident who's Lucy's closest friend, who was also transferred over from Vault 31. She's married to Bert and is pregnant with their child at the start of the show.

Ambiguously Evil: Steph comes from Vault 31 and is selected to become the new Overseer of Vault 32, heavily implying she's in on the plans to control and manipulate Vaults 32 and 33. She also encourages Norman to murder the Raiders, insisting it's what his father would have done. Despite this she seems to have been a genuine friend to Lucy and seems to have loved her husband Bert.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She is the only person to agree with Norman that they should Pay Evil unto Evil on the raiders. And like all transfers from Vault 31, she was a Pre-War Vault-Tec management trainee, placed in cryosleep.
Eating the Eye Candy: Steph is easily distracted by Lucy's new Arranged Marriage husband, Monty, even whispering "lucky" into Lucy's ear once he reveals himself.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Played with. While she is likely in on the Vault-Tec conspiracy providing the evil part, it can be debated whether she truly loved Bert. She is clearly devastated by his death and mourns him. That being said, she did often mock him while he was alive and eventually replaces him with Chet - albeit she clearly is trying to model him into a new Bert.
Eyepatch of Power: After losing an eye in the wedding massacre, she gets a fashionable eye-patch in Vault-Tec blue... and quickly establishes herself as a lot more ruthless and commanding than she initially appeared while she still had two eyes. For good measure, she becomes the new Overseer of Vault 32 after Betty reassigns her and Chet.
Pregnant Badass: Manages to take one of the raiders' submachine guns during the attack and turn it back on them, all while pregnant.

Davey

Portrayed by: Leer Leary

A resident of Vault 32.

No Social Skills: He's incapable of not telling Woody and Reg he didn't vote for them and why, despite them making it extremely clear that they do not want to know. At least he's apologetic about it.
Save Our Students: He tries to do this by offering to teach Shakespeare and Marlowe to the captured raiders. He never gets a chance after they're all killed by poison.

The Raiders

Vault 32 Raiders

A band of raiders hired by Moldaver to attack Vault 33 and help her kidnap Hank Maclean.

The Apunkalypse: Many of them sport shaved heads, tattoos and beards, contrasting greatly with the clean cut appearances of Vault 33's residents and providing the first clue that they're not what they seem.
Even Evil Has Standards: Even they, a gang of psychotic bandits, were disturbed by what they saw in Vault 32 - to the point that one of them coldly snaps that whatever was going on there "wasn't innocent."
Lack of Empathy: They all display a total lack of remorse for what they did to Vault 33, continuing to act out and insult their jailors whenever they get the chance, which eventually costs them.
Post-Apunkalyptic Armor: After they reveal themselves, many of them don pieces of leather and other improvised armor over their jumpsuits, not that it does them much good against Lucy's tranquilizer gun.
Psycho for Hire: They're a bunch of depraved, deviants that Moldaver hires to cause as much chaos in the vault and kill whoever gets in her way. After the raid is done, she never tries to rescue the ones that were left behind.
Rape, Pillage, and Burn: They all go on a violent rampage during Lucy and Monty's wedding, brutally and mercilessly killing the Vault's residents.

Vault 4

In General

Located just outside of Los Angeles, Vault 4 was originally inhabited and governed entirely by scientists, who were free to conduct whatever kinds of experiments they wanted. They were also unique in that they intended to go underground even before the Great War happened, as a trial run for the Vaults in general.

Apocalypse Cult: The wasteland refugees have one dedicated to the Flame Mother/Moldaver, taking part in disturbing rituals where they rub the ashes of people killed at Shady Sands into their skin and drink blood whilst ominously chanting.
Close-Knit Community: While the native-born residents are seen as a little leery of the transplants, the community is quite friendly and accepting. Even if the natives find the surface dwellers "rambunctious" and the surface dwellers aren't quite happy with the blase attitude, there's no real strife apparent.
Creepy Good: The mutated denizens of Vault 4 are disfigured and clandestine about their past, all with a Stepford Smiler attitude, leading Lucy to believe they are involved in some sort of conspiracy. It turns out they are the test subjects of the original denizens of Vault 4, their lifestyle is perfectly harmonious, and their cheery attitude is legitimate.
Innocently Insensitive: The vaultborn residents of Vault 4 are remarkably friendly and accepting of the surface-dwellers they admit into the Vault, but apparently have a hard time embracing them as equals and respecting their collective trauma following the nuking of Shady Sands. Overseer Benjamin gripes to Lucy about getting in trouble over referring to them as "surfies" and making "bomb" jokes, and an unnamed Vault scientist dismissively refers to the surface-dwellers' elaborate Shady Sands memorial ritual as "a little rambunctious for my tastes".
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While the vault-born residents had negative views of surface dwellers, especially Ben, they nevertheless accepted them and even allowed them to be citizens.
Pay Evil unto Evil: Played with. Unlike Vault 33, they don't have a naive belief that they can reform violent outsiders, and the assembly wherein Lucy is punished for her crimes cheers when she is sentenced to death. However, their actual method of execution is merely banishment to the surface with two weeks' worth of supplies, meaning Lucy would have left the vault with more than she had come in with. Lucy herself is confused that they're letting her go.
Sheep in Sheep's Clothing: Vault 4 comes off as immensely shady and has multiple mutated people in its ranks - but it turns out that they really are as magnanimous as they present themselves to be; those mutated people are the former test subjects that mutinied and took over, making the Vault a true haven for both those test subjects and refugees from Shady Sands. The worst that can be said is that they worship Moldaver, but even she turns out to be a Big Good. When they punish Lucy for sneaking onto floor 12, they just banish with two weeks of supplies to boot.
Town with a Dark Secret: Subverted Trope, Vault 4 used to be a place where the scientists ran unethical genetic experiments until the test subjects revolted and the rest of the staff were eaten by their captive Gulper. People were only told to keep away from Floor 12 to prevent mistaken assumptions on their residence and harming the patients who were placed in cryo chambers due to serious conditions.

Benjamin

Portrayed by: Chris Parnell

Vault 4's one-eyed Overseer.

Accidental Misnaming: He refers to Lucy as "Goosey" and remains oblivious to her attempts to correct him.
Cyclops: Has only one eye in the middle of his forehead, due to being a descendant of mutated test subjects.
Innocently Insensitive: He has a habit of cracking bad jokes about Shady Sands' destruction, even though they usually bomb.
Noble Bigot: He privately tells Lucy of his disdain for surface dwellers, and has gotten in trouble for making offensive jokes to survivors of Shady Sands of their hometown's destruction, but he still integrates them into the Vault, allows them to engage in their own rituals and keeps his private view to himself... for the most part. Much as he dislikes them, he's not willing to let the surface dwellers leave the Vault to what he believes is certain death. Also despite his disdain for surface dwellers Birdie, who was born on the surface, is almost always around him and shown to have quite a bit of influence. She even accompanies him in explaining the Vault's Dark Secret once Lucy breaks into level twelve and co-officiates Lucy's banishment.
Sheep in Sheep's Clothing: Lucy suspects that behind his kindly, welcoming behavior, Ben and the other residents of Vault 4 harbor a dark and unseemly secret, especially when she stumbles upon a lab full of Humanoid Abominations. It turns out that her fears are misplaced; Ben doesn't run the lab, he's the descendant of the test subjects who rose up and overthrew the immoral scientists who originally ran it.
Token Good Teammate: When the secret of Vault 4 is revealed, Ben becomes this in relation to the majority of other Vault overseers. He's not a mad scientist or some other variety of crazy, despite initially being suspected as such, but instead a Reasonable Authority Figure whose worst trait is (fairly understandable) prejudices against "surfies." He's there with Overseer McNamara in being one of the most well-adjusted and truly benevolent Overseers in the series.
Unishment: After Lucy intrudes on level 12 and is captured, he grandly announces that her penalty will be death... by exile to the surface. (Or, from Lucy's point of view, just letting her go.)

Birdie

Portrayed by: Cherien Dabis

A resident of Vault 4, born on the surface.

Dark and Troubled Past: Like all the surface residents, she came to Vault 4 with trauma of Shady Sands destruction.
Good All Along: Despite the cult-like practice of her group, she along with the Vault 4 residents are generally benign and her punishment to Lucy after she discovered floor 12—which turned out to be a traumatic trigger for the test subject's descendants (like Ben) and cryo-storage for those being too malformed to survive on their own—was...banishment with 2 weeks worth of supplies..

Brotherhood of Steel

For tropes about the Brotherhood as a whole, check their folder on the franchise's character page.

Leadership

Quintus

Elder Cleric Quintus

Portrayed by: Michael Cristofer

The leader of the chapter of the Brotherhood whom Maximus, Thaddeus, Dane, and Titus all belong.

Ambiguously Evil: Quintus makes a lot of ominous statements but he's absolutely right about a lot of the flaws in the Brotherhood of Steel and that it is in need of reform.
Badass Bookworm: Despite being an Elder and willing to wade into the thickest of the fighting, he seems to have been a Scribe rather than a Paladin.
Church Militant: Easily the most dedicated to the Brotherhood's mission, albeit he has begun to feel the Brotherhood as an organization has lost its way.
Composite Character: Quintus combines elements of Owyn Lyons from 3 in his desire for change, approachability and bravery, and Father Elijah from New Vegas in his resentment, scheming against his fellow elders, and a desire to build a new Brotherhood.
Everyone Has Standards: When interrogating Maximus on his complicity towards Dane's injuries, when he admits that while he didn't cause them, Maximus very much felt like he should be happy their fellow brother is suffering thanks to his jealousy. Quintus immediately chastises him on the spot for wishing another's suffering for such callous, self-centered reasons.
Evil Old Folks: "Evil" might be a stretch; He is aged and limping, and by the finale, perfectly willing to launch an all-out assault to ensure that the power of the fusion generator is under the Brotherhood's control, however he's fair with his command and gives Maximus a number of second chances to prove himself.
Front Line General: Quintus is no coward, and even in his advanced age he is right there in the thick of the fighting leading his Knights into battle, all without the safety of Powered Armor.
Internal Reformist: He is disgusted by the current state of the Brotherhood and seeks to change it.
Pet the Dog: When Quintus questions Maximus on what actually happened to his knight after sparing him for his deception with the artifact, learning that Titus died because he was a Dirty Coward doesn't drive Quintus to a rage against Maximus for leaving his knight to die but instead acknowledges the Brotherhood has lost their way and Maximus's judgment was perhaps for the best, enough to consider making him his Number Two once he acquires the artifact.
Reasonable Authority Figure: Comparatively. He is not unnecessarily cruel to subordinates like Titus and recognizes that the Brotherhood is in dire need of reform.
The Starscream: To his unseen fellow chapter leaders within the Brotherhood. He privately informs Maximus of his intention to seize power and begin a new Brotherhood.
Quintus: We once ruled the Wasteland. And yet power is taken, not given. A lesson you seem to have learned. So, if what you say is true, and you can lead us to the relic, then together, you and I, we will take power. And with it we will start a new Brotherhood.
Visionary Villain: Quintus feels that the Brotherhood has become too set in its ways and lost focus on its original mission, and so he plans to reform his chapter to be more proactive within the Wasteland, and he feels that Maximus might make for a great Number Two.

Knights

Titus

Knight Titus

Portrayed by: Michael Rapaport

"This fucking place. There's always something to ruin your fuckin' day."

A knight of the Brotherhood of Steel who takes on Aspirant Maximus as his squire. He proves to be abusive and cowardly, and is killed after an encounter with a Yao Guai.

Asshole Victim: He gets mauled by a Yao Guai, but after seeing how he treated Maximus, Maximus's decision to let him die comes off as understandable.
Dirty Coward: Despite being clad in T-60c Power Armor, he orders the unarmored Maximus to scout for any dangerous creatures for him, which even Maximus points out should technically be his responsibility since he's well-protected; it's obvious Titus is doing this because he doesn't want to put his own neck on the line. Then when a Yao Guai appears and ambushes them, Titus could have used his power armor to let him out-muscle the mutated-bear had he stayed his ground and actually fought, but instead he runs for the hills once he loses his gun, which only gets him violently mauled to the point his injuries end up being fatal.
Entitled Bastard: Even when Titus continues to abuse and insult Maximus, even stating he's going to have him executed, he's still surprised and outraged that Maximus doesn't want to save him.
Hate Sink: Titus is the textbook-example of how not to embody the Brotherhood's ideals. He's abrasive, arrogant, abusive, cowardly, ungrateful, and entitled. Even the most devout and/or extreme members of the Brotherhood at least have some respectable qualities. Titus has none of them. When Quintus confronts Maximus on his death, he's not even remotely surprised he turned out to be a Dirty Coward, which implies that even his fellow brothers hated him enough to excuse Maximus for letting him die despite the prior punishment of a Squire failing their Knight being punished with a death sentence in the Brotherhood.
Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: It'd be easy to assume that being a Brotherhood Knight, Titus embodies the order's more noble traits, with his abrasiveness simply coming from the Brotherhood's tough but fair ethos. Yet underneath his abrasive exterior, Titus is nothing more than an arrogant coward who thinks his position as a Knight allows him to abuse, insult, and threaten those below him. Once Maximus sees Titus for what he really is, he lets him die from his wounds.
Laser-Guided Karma: It turns out that the guy Titus spent a whole lot of time humiliating, mistreating, and demeaning probably isn't going to want to do him any favors when he's in a pickle. Rest in Hell, Titus.
The Neidermeyer: Despite being the knight in the suit of nigh-invulnerable power armor, he enjoys bullying his squire Maximus and making him take point in dangerous situations.
Never My Fault: When he's mortally wounded by the Yao Guai, he claims his current situation is entirely Maximus's fault because he didn't help him fast enough, despite the fact that it was Titus's decision to get off the Vertibird when they didn't need to in the first place.
Not So Stoic: For most of his screen time, Titus is an intimidating presence who barely says anything, setting him up to be a quiet, no-nonsense badass. His stoic demeanour begins to slip when he realises he's standing outside a Yao Guai's cave, and when he eventually comes face to face with the beast, he reveals his true colours and immediately runs away like a coward.
Shadow Archetype: To Maximus. Unlike Maximus, who at least has the potential to become a good knight of the Brotherhood,Titus is an established knight but lacks any of the positive qualities of one. Rather tellingly, when they both encounter an abomination with their squire, they both panic saying "fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck," but for completely different reasons – Titus runs to save himself, while Maximus rushes to save Thaddeus.
Sir Swears-a-Lot: Titus swears almost constantly, repeatedly shouting "fuck" or "shit" or adding it into his sentences, especially when he's scared.
Too Dumb to Live: He threatens Maximus with execution, even though he's the only person who is in any position to save him. Predictably, this leads to Maximus letting him bleed out.
Ungrateful Bastard: After Maximus saves him from the Yao Guai (and is about to provide him with life-saving medication), Titus starts calling him useless and blames him for their situation, then tells him he's going to have him executed for not doing his job properly. Predictably, Maximus just opts to let Titus die instead.

Squires & Aspirants

Shortsight

Petty Officer Shortsight

Portrayed by: Brendan Burke

A petty officer in the Brotherhood and commander of the Aspirants.

Sergeant Rock: Isn't afraid to lead the Aspirants he was training into battle himself.
Bald of Authority: Sports a bald head and is a commander of the Brotherhood's new recruits.

Thaddeus

Portrayed by: Johnny Pemberton

A fellow Aspirant who is seen bullying Maximus at boot camp, who is later reassigned to be "Titus'" Squire after Maximus' "death", initially unaware that Maximus has assumed the identity of Titus.

And Then John Was a Zombie: He ends up being turned into a Ghoul, the very thing the Brotherhood seeks to exterminate from the Wasteland.
Asshole Victim: Non-lethal variant. He ends up being turned into a Ghoul right after leaving Maximus for dead and trapping Dogmeat in a Nuka-Cola cooler.
Bad People Abuse Animals: He locks Dogmeat in a Nuka-Cola cooler for no other reason than Dogmeat was annoying him.
The Bully: He is one of the Aspirants that abuses Maximus at boot camp. Though later it's revealed he was a victim of bullying himself and pushed their Brothers to bully Maximus to get the heat taken off himself.
Chain of Harm: He was bullied as a new recruit and, when Maximus came along, goaded the other Brothers into bullying him instead. But he still expresses respect for Maximus and wishes he'd lived long enough to find his own new recruit to bully.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: As much of an Extreme Doormat and oddball as he is, he proves to be surprisingly competent in a fight, such as when he discovered Maximus functionally killed and took Knight Titus' armor, he's able to out-maneuver Maximus in power armor and take out his fusion core, leaving him trapped in his own armor (though he does pay for it with his foot being crushed to an almost fatal degree).
Everyone Has Standards:
- He bullied Maximus but when Maximus—disguised as Titus—orders Thaddeus to insult him, Thaddeus is uncomfortable badmouthing Maximus now that he thinks he's dead.
- Downplayed when he locks Dogmeat in a Nuka-Cola cooler for annoying him. Thaddeus tries to rationalize it by telling her she'll have air and will be fine, apparently to soothe his guilty conscience, but he's still leaving her to almost certain death and is clearly aware of that.
Extreme Doormat: He's turns out to be this when he's put into the service of "Titus", revealing to him that he only bullied Maximus because the other bullies who were bullying him previously moved on to Maximus instead, and is fervently dedicated to the Brotherhood's doctrines, leaving Maximus for dead when he reveals he commandeered Titus' armor for himself and fears for his own life when he finds out he's starting to become a ghoul.
Fantastic Racism: As the Brotherhood loathe ghouls, Maximus talks Thaddeus into deserting when they conclude the Snake Oil Salesman's cure for his mangled foot set him on the path to ghoulification, and they both know that would be a death sentence if he returned to the Brotherhood.
Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Towards the end of episode seven, he empties his handgun at Lucy and Maximus, failing to hit either one despite cover. He even lampshades this, saying he sucks shooting without a scope—he had earlier had much more success hitting the (much larger) gulper with a scoped rifle.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Introduced as a one-note bully, he ultimately shows himself to be a lot more genuine in his heroism, noble in his intentions and capable of self-reflection than Maximus. Subverted when he leaves Maximus to starve to death trapped in his power armor and similarly traps Dogmeat in a Nuka-Cola container for inconveniencing him.
Karmic Transformation: When he first become "Titus'" squire, he talks enthusiastically about how all the ghouls and mutants will one day be exterminated from the wasteland. By the end, he's become ghoulified and goes on the run from the Brotherhood as a result. Downplayed in that it doesn't seem his hatred of ghouls is particularly deep-set, and more just because he uncritically parrots Brotherhood doctrines.
Kick the Dog: He traps Dogmeat in a Nuka-Cola container, leaving the dog to die simply because he found her presence distracting.
Major Injury Underreaction: All things considered, he took an arrow through his neck with surprising nonchalance. He was more confused why did didn't kill him than anything.
Screams Like a Little Girl: He lets out quite a few high pitched shrieks when he's nearly eaten by a Gulper in Episode 3.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Once he realizes he's becoming a ghoul as the Brotherhood arrives to pick him up, he gladly takes Maximus up on his offer to run away before his fellows can kill him for his mutation.
Transhuman: The snake oil salesman gives him a drug that puts him in an early stage of ghoulification, while also giving him a potent Healing Factor that quickly repairs his mangled foot and later saves his life when he's shot in the neck by a crossbow trap. Of course, this also puts him on the Brotherhood's radar for being a soon-to-be ghoul, but Maximus takes his place at the Brotherhood rendezvous so he won't be killed.
Ungrateful Bastard: He traps Maximus in his Power Armor and leaves him to die upon learning that Maximus had assumed Titus' identity despite Maximus having saved him from a Gulper a few hours prior.

Dane

Portrayed by: Xelia Mendes-Jones ^{Foreign V As}

A fellow Aspirant and Maximus' Best Friend. They are initially chosen to be Knight Titus' Squire, but is crippled by a razor planted inside their boot.

Ambiguous Gender: They are played by a non-binary actor, and are androgynous overall, but at one point Elder Cleric Quintus calls them "her". So it could be that Dane is a masculine woman, or that Quintus doesn't recognize Dane's gender identity. Though, the recap for the finale has this moment edited to have Quintus say "them", implying this was just an error during filming.
Best Friend: With Maximus. They are also more of a realist as they gently shoot down his dream of leaving the Brotherhood, correctly informing him that is not an option. They also save Maximus' life when they plead with the Elder Cleric to give Maximus a second chance to find Wilzig's relic, and finally claims Maximus is responsible for Moldaver's defeat so that he'll be promoted to proper Knighthood.
Getting Sick Deliberately: In the first episode, someone puts a razor blade in Dane's boot right after they get promoted to squire. It's revealed that Dane booby-trapped their own boot because they were scared about going into the Wasteland.
Odd Name Out: The only member of their incarnation of the California Brotherhood without a Roman name.

Enclave

For tropes about the Enclave as a whole, check their folder on the franchise's character page.

Wilzig

Dr. Siggi Wilzig

Portrayed by: Michael Emerson^{Foreign V As}

"You come from a world of rules, of laws. This place is indifferent to all of that."

A defector from the Enclave who flees to California, bringing nothing but his dog and a mysterious chip embedded into his neck.

Defector from Decadence: While his theft of the chip was the main reason for fleeing the Enclave, he also generally covertly bent the (amoral) Enclave guidelines with his adoption of CX404 via fudging its weight instead of elimination being a main example.
Developing Doomed Characters: He gets several minutes of backstory when he enters the plot but gets killed in the same episode.
Driven to Suicide: After realizing that he'll never be able to make it to Moldaver in time before getting caught by the Ghoul or the Brotherhood , he takes a Vault-Tec brand Plan D suicide pill (banana-flavored) and tells Lucy to cut off his head and take it with her.
Establishing Character Moment: Wilzig is seen weighing the Enclave's attack dogs in the breeding center, and rather than sentencing CX404 to death for being underweight, he fudges the numbers and adopts the dog instead.
Facial Horror: His decapitated head, which slowly decomposes over the course of the series until it barely resembles him anymore.
I Will Only Slow You Down: Gets his leg shot off by the Ghoul and commits suicide over his impeded mobility soon afterwards. He specifically takes his own life because he knows Lucy is a No One Gets Left Behind kind of person.
Living MacGuffin: Wilzig put the key component for the cold fusion reactor into his neck, making him a target for many different factions who are very interested in potentially infinite energy. Played With, since he kills himself after being too wounded to make his journey, but he convinces Lucy to decapitate him since people are really just Demanding Their Head, making his head the MacGuffin.
Nice Guy: Though he presents himself as off-putting, he's introduced adopting the dog that was supposed to be put to death, and his first proper meeting with Lucy has him watching over her while she sleeps and protecting her from Radroaches. When she wakes up, he gives her a warning to go home where she'd be safe. And when he realizes he's not going to survive, he grants her his head (with the precious chip), as she is the least jerkass of the parties who are pursuing him.
Treasure Chest Cavity: In order to smuggle the necessary component for the cold fusion reactor out of his lab, he injects it into his neck.

CX 404 / "Dogmeat"

CX404 / "Dogmeat"

Portrayed by: Lana5, Nunaya Business de la Forge

A Belgian Malinois^note raised by Siggi Wilzig and brought with him into the wastes.

Canine Companion: Originally raised by Dr. Wilzig as a companion during his days at the Enclave before he escapes into the Wasteland. She bounces around from group to group before finally settling on Lucy and the Ghoul as their travelling companion to New Vegas in the finale.
Dog Stereotype: While she's a Malinois rather than a German Shepherd, she displays the extreme loyalty and competence in tracking associated with the similar but better-known breed.
Evil-Detecting Dog: She attacks any threat to Siggi. Inverted when she befriends Cooper despite him having previously attacked Siggi, somehow detecting there was still goodness in him.
Legacy Character: The latest of a series of different dog companions by that name in the Fallout franchise.
Morality Pet: Her presence around Cooper and his treatment of her shows he's not completely lost to evil. She further shows that Thaddeus is Beyond Redemption when he locks her in a Nuka-Cola cooler and leaves her to die despite having done nothing to harm him.
Post-Apocalyptic Dog: Accompanies various characters across the post-apocalpytic wasteland.
Sickly Child Grew Up Strong: She was underweight at birth by the standards the Enclave held its dogs to, and as such should have been incinerated. Dr. Wilzig recorded her as being exactly at the weight cutoff and personally took care of her. She escapes the Enclave with him and does a terrific job surviving in the wastes.
Team Pet: Of a sort for the whole cast. All of the major characters spend time with the dog following them. As of the Finale, she is following Lucy and the Ghoul on Hank's trail.
Undying Loyalty: Displays this to Siggi, killing an Enclave scientist who attempted to detain him, and following him, and later his head, all the way from Filly to Shady Sands.

Wastelanders

Filly

Ma June

Portrayed by: Dale Dickey

"The vaults were nothing more than a hole in the ground for rich folks to hide in while the rest of the world burned."

A shopkeeper in Filly.

Ambiguously Gay: She's shown to live with another woman and they act Like an Old Married Couple towards each other. However, if they are in fact a couple or not is never made clear.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Grumpy, bigoted and unpleasant, but surrounding her venom towards Lucy is a genuine plea for her to go back to the Vault, where she'd be safe. She's very abrasive about it but the intention is there.
Never Mess with Granny: She might be in her later years, but you don't survive to her age in the Wasteland without being seriously tough, which she proves when she takes the Ghoul on in a gunfight and lives to tell the tale.
Pet the Dog: Is immensely surly and unpleasant to Lucy, but she does warn her to get back to Vault 33 the moment she learns just who it is that Lucy is after.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives a brief and scathing one to Lucy in episode 2, capped by double middle fingers, telling Lucy that, at best, Wastelanders see Vault Dwellers as naive fools who will get themselves killed for no reason, and at worst are despised as the descendants of the "rich fucks" who hid from the apocalypse and lived in comfort and luxury while letting everyone else suffer and die.
Uncertain Doom: Doesn't appear after the second episode, even when Maximus is in Filly and sees the town cleaning up the remains from the Ghoul's shootout. Considering the Brotherhood forcefully take over Filly later in the season and are implied to have killed a good number of its citizens, it doesn't look good for her.
Wasteland Elder: She's very old and living in the hostile Wasteland, and is given a good amount of respect in Filly.

Other Wastelanders

Snake Oil Salesman

Portrayed by: Jon Daly

A bizarre man offering medical cures out in the wasteland.

Bestiality Is Depraved: We're introduced to him being threatened with death by a farmer... who explains he caught the Salesman fucking his chickens.
Cassandra Truth: Dr. Wilzig ignores his promises of being able to grow him a new foot. Turns out one of his serums really could do that.
Power at a Price: His serums really can cure people. However, this power comes at the cost of turning them into a Ghoul.
Snake Oil Salesman: Literally credited as "Snake Oil Salesman", he appears throughout the series attempting to sell many of the characters his concoctions. However his cures are a bit more legitimate than worthless, as they do heal Thaddeus's horribly mutilated foot in moments. However, the side effect is apparently ghoulification.

Snip Snip

Portrayed by: Matt Berry

A Mr. Handy who harvests the organs of human beings.

Affably Evil: He tends to Lucy's missing finger and is chipper and upbeat despite intending to harvest her for organs. Justified as he's a robot following his masters' orders.
Blue-and-Orange Morality: Like most Mr Handy's he's extremely polite, totally loyal to his employers, and perfect happy to cut up innocent people for them. He doesn't seem to understand why anyone would get upset about this.
Dragon-in-Chief: He is the only one in the organ-harvesting operation that is seen actually doing anything, as his two owners are strung out and watching television, leaving Snip Snip to handle negotiating with clients, evaluating the "merchandise", subduing them and strapping them to gurneys, and doing the harvesting.
Even Evil Has Standards: He was horrified when Lucy thought the Ghoul sold her to be a Sex Slave. He will harvest her organs, though.
Organ Theft: He is owned by an organ-harvesting operation, and serves as their "surgeon".

Huey & Squirrel

Portrayed by: Matty Cardarople & Elvis Valentino Lopez

A pair of organ-harvesting layabouts.

Dull Surprise: They don't have a huge reaction to Lucy busting up their operation, although they get a little more animated when she aims some bleach in their direction.
Karmic Death: They're killed by their own prisoners once Lucy frees them.
What Measure Is a Non-Human?: They're believers in this, reacting incredulously when Lucy takes Snip Snip as a hostage (reasoning that she might as well take an air conditioner hostage) and keeping ghouls locked up for organ harvesting. Then again, considering humans aren't exempt from their operation, they might just be a pair of sociopaths in general.

Booker

Sorrel Booker

Portrayed by: Glenn Fleshler

"Somebody's got to step up and bring some order around here."

The "president of the Governmint", a local boss of a protection racket whom the Ghoul has had dealings with in the past.

Ambiguously Evil: The only "villainous" thing we see him do is have his goons arrest the Ghoul, who to be fair seems to be responsible for shooting up the Super Duper Mart and is a legitimately dangerous and violence-prone individual. His gang may run a protection racket, but considering the lawless state of the Wasteland this might be a Necessarily Evil.
Authority in Name Only: Despite calling himself "president", Booker doesn't have any real authority over more than just his hired goons and those within his protection racket and mostly appears as a very small-time player compared to Moldaver or the Brotherhood.
Faux Affably Evil: His chummy veneer doesn't do much to hide his contempt for others and ruthless attitude.
Fat, Sweaty Southerner in a White Suit: Booker is an overweight Corrupt Hick with delusions of style and culture, so the off-color white suit is more than fitting.
Know When to Fold 'Em: When Cooper kills his goons Booker simply accepts it, knowing he stands no chance of defeating The Ghoul himself.
Nerves of Steel: Compared to others who have ended up on the wrong end of The Ghoul, Booker shows no fear and seems more annoyed that his goons got killed than anything else. Even the distinct possibility that The Ghoul will kill him next doesn't seem to faze him.
Skeleton Government: Exaggerated, to the point it's essentially a gang of him and two goons running a Ghost Town.
Shout-Out: The character name is strikingly similar to that of the actor who played Boss Hogg in The Dukes of Hazzard. Both characters are Fat, Sweaty Southerner in a White Suit low-level authority figures with incompetent minions.
Villain Respect: He has a past with The Ghoul and is pretty friendly with him even when The Ghoul insults him and he himself intends to have The Ghoul killed, and urges his "Sheriffs" not to let The Ghoul goad them into doing something stupid.

DJ Carl

Portrayed by: Fred Armisen

"Like most weeks here at KPSS, this week is fiddle week, when all of my airtime will be spent luxuriating in my small but mighty collection of fiddle tunes."

The operator of KPSS, a radio station out in the wasteland.

Actor Allusion: The lethally snobbish wasteland radio host DJ Carl is played by Comedian and multi-instrumentalist Fred Armisen, who regularly integrates his wide array of obscure musical knowledge into his work.
Beware the Nice Ones: He's perfectly happy to let Thaddeus use his radio equipment to get in touch with the Brotherhood and cheerfully talks up his beloved fiddle music. However, his radio station is surrounded by an assortment of deathtraps to deter less-polite visitors.
The Last DJ: While he does direct his detractors to send feedback via postcard rather than coming to his station, it's pretty clear he loves his collection of fiddle music and won't stop playing.
Mythology Gag: The Fiddle Music he's so proud of and his critics are so hostile to are also played in Fallout 4 on Minuteman Radio... and were not very popular with the fanbase there, either.
Serious Business: For him and his listeners, his music taste is worth killing and/or dying over.
Trap Master: Apparently built the insane number of death traps around his station by himself.

Adam

Portrayed by: Erik Estrada

A retired NCR Ranger turned lead farmer, who has a history with The Ghoul.

Ain't Too Proud to Beg: When confronted by the Ghoul, he immediately starts begging the bounty hunter not kill his remaining children, and when the Ghoul says he wants information from his youngest son he starts begging him to give the Ghoul what he wants.
Outliving One's Offspring: The Ghoul kills both of his sons, the eldest offscreen in Filly and the youngest right in front of him before he leaves for Griffith Observatory.
Retired Badass: He is a former NCR Veteran Ranger and the Ghoul implies he's had many shootouts with him in the past.
Still Wearing the Old Colors: Despite being retired and the NCR no longer having a foothold in southern California, he and his son still wear the combat armour and leather dusters of the Veteran Rangers.
The Worf Effect: The Ghoul is so dangerous that even a Veteran Ranger is terrified of him.

Gulpers

The Gulper

Mutated creatures resembling giant salamanders.

Adaptational Ugliness: The Gulpers depicted in Far Harbor and Fallout 76 basically resemble giant salamanders that walk on two legs. They're radically redesigned in the show, now resembling grotesquely massive axolotls with frog-like proportions, giving them spindly back legs and oversized heads, and have a maw filled with human fingers. The sixth episode shows that they're actually human/creature hybrid mutants created through experimentation in Vault 4. Given the notable differences, they may be created from a different breed of salamander indigenous to the West Coast that just so happen to share the same name as the East Coast variant.
Escaped from the Lab: The Apocalyptic Log in episode 7 shows how a Gulper escapes from the containment of Lab 4 and starts wreaking havoc on the lab staff.
For Science!: They are a morally questionable crossbreed between humans and rad-resistant species. It's a case study of what happens "if you give scientists unregulated control".
Half-Human Hybrid: The Gulper's new design is this. Instead of being mutant giant salamanders, the Gulper fought on Hollywood Boulevard is the result of horrific genetic experiments conducted on Vault 4's test subjects. Lucy finds recorded footage of a female subject giving live birth to an entire pod of Gulpers, and Overseer Benjamin proudly refers to the escapee that devoured the Vault's original scientists as his great-uncle Peter.
Sea Monster: The protagonists encounter a Gulper hunting for prey in a lake.

Pre-War Characters

Janey

Janey Howard

Portrayed by: Teagan Meredith, Avery Reed (younger)

Cooper and Barbara's young daughter.

Cheerful Child: Even Just Before the End she is fairly happy and well-adjusted, and clearly enjoys helping Cooper out in his cowboy act.
Daddy's Girl: Is the apple of Cooper's eye.
Uncertain Doom: She's with Cooper when the bombs drop, and it is unknown what happened to her since. The Ghoul's demand to Henry in the season 1 finale implies that she and her mother are still alive, or he at least has good reason to believe they are.

Sebastian

Sebastian Leslie

Portrayed by: Matt Berry

"Hollywood is the past. Forget Hollywood. The future, my friend, is products. You're a product. I'm a product. The end of the world is a product."

An old actor friend of Cooper's, and the voice for the Mr. Handy robots.

The Jeeves: He played one of these in Hollywood named "Bartholomew Codsworth", which Robco then used as the basis for the personality and naming scheme of their Mr. Handy robots.
Sell-Out: He justifies licensing out his voice to the Mr. Handy by saying the age of stars is out and the age of products is in, and only those celebrities who have enough business savvy to turn themselves into marketable icons will be able to thrive in the future.

Charlie

Charlie Whiteknife

Portrayed by: Dallas Goldtooth

"What happens when the cattle ranchers have more power than the sheriff?"

One of Cooper's actor friends who introduces him to Moldaver.

Magical Native American: He frequently played these roles in Cooper's westerns. He doesn't think too highly of them.
Charlie: You remember that movie we did with Johnny Morton... you were the sheriff and I was some generic Indian?
Coop: Come on, man, don't say that. Tallhand Mudlake could talk to horses. You played him with grace and with dignity. It was a great role for you.
Red Scare: He's a target of a new Red Scare sweeping pre-War Hollywood.
Soapbox Sadie: He lectures Cooper on the dangers of Vault-Tec getting too much power and he's a follower of Lee Moldaver, another activist.

Spoiler Characters

Due to these characters being various shades of Walking Spoiler, they've been separated into this section. All spoilers are unmarked.

Hank MacLean

Henry "Hank" MacLean

Portrayed by: Kyle MacLachlan

"Lucy, I had to make a choice between their violent world and our peaceful one."

Lucy's father, and the Overseer of Vault 33. Originally a Vault-Tec Assistant from before the Great War, Hank, like other Vault 31 residents, was cryogenically frozen to continue Vault-Tec's work, and was sent to Vault 33 as part of its triennial vault exchange program.

Big Bad: The closest thing the series has to one; Hank is actually a Vault-Tec executive who may have had a hand in orchestrating the Great War, and definitely had a hand in nuking Shady Sands and crippling the New California Republic for his own petty gain.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Hank is presented at first as a loving, doting father, and a well-loved Overseer who practically sacrifices his own well being for his daughter's and fellow dwellers safety, allowing himself to be kidnapped by Moldaver in the process—it is only in the finale he is revealed to be one hell of a Manipulative Bastard who is profiteering off the apocalypse for centuries alongside the rest of the higher ups within Vault-Tec, up to obliterating the capital of the NCR for absolutely petty reasons and is not above killing anyone who gets in his way, as he seems to be gearing up to do once Lucy refuses to side with him.
Broken Pedestal:
- He becomes this to Lucy with the reveal that he's been alive since before the war as a Vault-Tec higher up who nuked Shady Sands, resulting in her mother becoming a feral ghoul, all out of petty jealousy and a need to control others.
- He's implied to feel this way towards Cooper Howard/the Ghoul, excitedly asking him for an autograph when they first meet, but glaring at him hatefully when he's confronted by him two hundred years later.
Control Freak: Not only does Hank control Vault 33 as its Overseer, Hank has a need to control his family, deciding Shady Sands should be nuked for harboring his wife after she flees Vault 33 and demanding Lucy return to the Vault despite everything she's learned and been through.
Corrupted Character Copy: He has similar characteristics to James, as they both left their vaults with their children coming to find them, and it gets revealed that they are not originally from vaults, but from the outside world. However, while James generally is a Good Parent, and somebody who genuinely wants to make the Capital Wasteland a better place, Hank is a Knight Templar Parent who ended up nuking an entire town in order to "protect" his children.
Didn't Think This Through: Shady Sands was founded by Vault 15 vault dwellers with their GECK, meaning he blew up one of the things Vault-Tec was trying to create in a world run by Vault-Tec. He also didn't imagine that the survivors, including Moldaver (who already had a grudge against all things Vault-Tec), might come looking for revenge.
Dirty Coward: Not only does he steal Maximus' power armor and attack him despite Maximus having just freed him from his cage, he flees from Cooper and Lucy at the earliest opportunity rather than fighting or giving them answers.
Disproportionate Retribution: He has Shady Sands nuked as revenge for his wife leaving him to go live there and trying to take their children there, not to mention said nuking turning her into a Ghoul.
Dystopia Justifies the Means: Hank genuinely believes the world would be better off under Vault-Tec's iron-fisted rule, and the mere idea that people could be happy and prosper without the company is anathema to him. He tells Lucy that he didn't even consider her mother a person when she escaped Vault 33 and considered the peaceful residents of Shady Sands to be nothing but savage barbarians deserving of being nuked for not fitting Vault-Tec's mold.
Evil All Along: Turns out he was part of the organization behind the apocalypse in the first place, and the one behind the destruction of Shady Sands.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Hank seems to think Lucy would immediately agree with him that the people of the Wasteland, even her own mother, are beyond saving and need to be wiped out so Vault-Tec's "perfect" society can arise from the ashes. He doesn't stop trying to reason with her, even when she has a gun to his head, insisting that she knows he's right and they should just go back to Vault 33.
Evil Is Petty: His wife took their children and ran away to Shady Sands. His response? Blast it into a crater.
Entitled to Have You: Non-romantic variant. Hank seems to consider Lucy and Norm to be his property, wasting no time in arranging for the destruction of Shady Sands and the horrific mutilation of his wife for daring to take them away from him.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: He's left with a nasty, ragged wound across his left cheek after Cooper nearly blows his head off and runs him off, making his appearance line up better with his true villainy.
Human Popsicle: Like the Sole Survivor, he's at least over 200 years old thanks to having been in cryogenic suspension.
I Did What I Had to Do: When confronted by Lucy about dropping a nuclear bomb on Shady Sands, his only response was that it had to be done. However, it's apparent to Lucy and the audience that Hank is just a monster who nuked Shady Sands out of spite and a desire for control.
Knight Templar Parent: How far does Hank go to keep his children safe and under his care (or rather his control)? As far as subjecting his wife to a Fate Worse than Death and dropping a nuclear bomb on the city of Shady Sands.
Lack of Empathy: He's entirely unbothered by seeing his wife's been turned into an extremely decayed feral Ghoul by his actions. Furthermore, he didn't give a damn that over 30,000 people were peacefully living in Shady Sands when he nuked it, or that nuking Shady Sands devastated the NCR, the wasteland's only functioning democracy.
Mirror Character: To Cooper/The Ghoul. Both are Papa Wolf characters willing to do anything to protect their children and survive the Wasteland. But while the Ghoul has been turned into a monster as a result of his experiences in the Wasteland and has suffered for 200 years, becoming a dreaded outcast with a hidden heart of gold in the process, Hank lived for 200 years first in cryosleep and then in luxury, retaining his outward humanity while committing monstrous actions such as having Shady Sands nuked off the map as petty revenge for harboring his wife. While the Ghoul faces his opponents down in combat and outwits them, Hank steals a suit of Power Armor and runs away immediately, establishing him as a coward.
"Not So Different" Remark: Hank tries to convince Lucy that Moldaver is no better than him, and just wants cold fusion for her own sake. By this point, Lucy isn't buying it.
Oh, Crap!: His look after Cooper shoots him and asks if he still wants an autograph is one of pure fear. He flees shortly after.
Papa Wolf: Hank saves his daughter from the still-not-dead Monty, and takes the time to drown him in a barrel of pickles. When given the choice by the raider's leader, he chooses to keep Lucy safe over the safety and security of the Vault, as well as letting himself be taken by the raiders to the Wasteland. Deconstructed in that those same instincts led him to nuke Shady Sands and cripple the NCR, one of the few bastions of civilization in the Wasteland, because he didn't want Lucy to be "corrupted" by the outside world.
Puppet King: Overseers are elected but every Overseer in Vault 33's 200-year history has been a transfer from Vault 31. He, along with everyone else from 31 is a cryogenically frozen member of Bud's management trainees who are sent to 33 and 32 and elected in rigged elections.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When he's held at gunpoint by the Ghoul, who demands to know where his family is, Hank chooses to turn and flee towards New Vegas rather than face down his daughter and the Ghoul at the Griffith Observatory, despite wearing a suit of Powered Armor.
Til Murder Do Us Part: He as good as murdered his wife when he nuked Shady Sands, resulting in his wife becoming a feral ghoul. He even has the audacity to tell Lucy that he loved her mother, but the day Rose abandoned them, she stopped being Lucy's mother.

Moldaver

Lee Moldaver

Portrayed By: Sarita Choudhury

An enigmatic woman who leads a group of raiders in an attack on Vault 33 before kidnapping the Overseer. Also the main contact of Dr. Wilzig.

In actuality, Moldaver is a pre-war fusion scientist and the head of a remnant group from the New California Republic after its devastation several years prior due to a nuke being detonated in Shady Sands. She simply wishes to bring the NCR back to its former glory and complete her cold fusion reactor project.

Ambiguously Gay: In the flashbacks to Shady Sands, she was shown to be incredibly close to Rose MacLean during her time in the town, and after activating the cold fusion generator she speaks to Rose's corpse in the same tone a lover would. Ultimately nothing is confirmed, as both women are dead by the time credits roll.
Big Good: Turns out that she was actually the hero all along as the local head of the devastated New California Republic, and she had a soft spot for Rose, Norm, and especially Lucy.
Chummy Commies: ZigZagged. She ends up as the Big Good, but is a decidedly a case of Big Good Is Not Nice. Before the War, she was the leader of a group that was described as communist, but she said she didn't consider herself one, and it was unclear whether the group was actually socialist or it was just a smear campaign by Vault-Tec.
The Dreaded: The mention of Moldaver strikes fear into the face of the shopkeeper at Filly and she explains that everyone knows her and that she's bad news.
Face Death with Dignity: Having been mortally wounded in battle with the Brotherhood of Steel, she calmly sits down next to Rose and watches as LA regains power for the first time in two centuries, sharing some final words of encouragement with Maximus before she dies of her injuries.
Fling a Light into the Future: In her last moments, she manages to activate the cold fusion reactor that could bring the New California Republic back to civilization, and implores Maximus to at least try to influence the Brotherhood to use that potential for good.
Good All Along: Turns out she's a former fusion scientist who is leading the last remnants of the New California Republic in the region, and her actions are in opposition to the true Big Bad of the series, Hank MacLean.
Good Is Not Nice: Despite being a sincerely noble individual trying to reintroduce energy to the dying New California Republic and attempting to drag Vault-Tec's machinations into the light, she is not exactly either a forthcoming or merciful individual, and is not above aligning with vicious, bloodthirsty Raiders to achieve her goals, which leads to the absolutely colossal bloodbath in the pilot on Vault 33.
Hope Bringer: Acts as this to the survivors of Shady Sands, who believe she'll be able to restore the NCR.
Human Popsicle: Just like Hank, she was preserved in cryogenic stasis since before the Great War.
Hypocrite: Her methods of fighting Vault-Tec have a number of similarities to Vault-Tech's own tactics, which Coop notes. Might also have something to do with how she survived for two hundred years, like Vault-Tec.
Lee: Hypocrisy is like violence in your movies. If you only let the bad guys use it, the bad guys win.
Kick the Dog: Her plan to infiltrate Vault 33 involves setting up her close friend's daughter to be sexually assaulted (via deception) and murdered along with a bunch of other innocent Vault Dwellers, either as a cover for her escape or simply as revenge against Hank.
Messianic Archetype: She's worshipped as the "Flame Mother" by the survivors of Shady Sands' destruction, who believe that she will return one day and restore their home to its former glory.
Pay Evil unto Evil: It seems she intentionally wanted to make a bloodbath of Vault 33 as revenge on Hank for Shady Sands, even if most of the vault-dwellers were innocent and unaware of his crimes.
Phrase Catcher: "Everyone knows Moldaver."
The Remnant: She runs what is effectively the last vestiges of the New California Republic army in the region.
Really 700 Years Old: She was around in the pre-apocalypse era just like Coop and the Vault Tec members of Vault 31. However unlike Coop she is not a Ghoul, and seeing as how Hank didn't recognize her it's unclear if she made use of Vault 31's cryogenic freezing pods. Ultimately the truth of how she survived this long is never revealed by the time of her death at the end of the season.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Her introduction of Raiders into Vault 33 was horrifically destructive and designed to inflict as much pain on Hank as possible, probably by deliberately targeting his daughter.
Sadistic Choice: Makes Hank choose between the Vault Dwellers he's in charge of caring for and his daughter. Played With as she lets the former go after he chooses the latter.
Science Hero: Before the Great War, Moldaver worked on a cold fusion project that managed to achieve infinite energy right before Vault-Tec bought the rights and buried the tech. Now, she is desperately seeking that same technology in the hopes of using it to rebuild the NCR and the rest of the world.
Took a Level in Jerkass: Prior to the Great War, she was a nonviolent scientist and activist who remained on civil terms even with people who disagreed with her politics, and the worst thing she got up to was anti-corporate espionage; later, in the brief flashback to Shady Sands, she seems rather pleasant when living in the heart of the NCR. Following the destruction of Shady Sands, the ghoulification of Rose, and the final downfall of the NCR, though, Moldaver has become a cold-hearted warlord more than happy to let a brutal gang of raiders loose on the population of Vault 33 if it means getting her hands on Hank. The only thing keeping her from being a full-blown Fallen Hero is the fact that she has genuinely humanitarian goals, particularly in comparison to the Vault-Tec remnants she opposes.
The Unfettered: There's nothing she won't do if it means accomplishing her goals, including the slaughter of innocent people and hostage-taking.

Rose

Rose MacLean

Portrayed by: Elle Vertes

Hank's wife and the mother of Lucy and Norman. She's believed to have died when Lucy was a child due to a crop blight in Vault 33 leading to a widespread food shortage. In reality, she fled to the surface and was nearly killed when Hank had Shady Sands nuked—though in her case, death might have been preferable.

Ambiguously Bi: She had two children with Hank, but the flashbacks to her time in Shady Sands show that she and Moldaver were very close and possibly in a romantic relationship before Hank nuked the town and left Rose a feral ghoul. Since both she and Moldaver are dead by the time the credits roll, there's no one to confirm or deny what exactly their relationship was.
Body Horror: Easily the most horrifically-mangled ghoul in the series, even compared to the other ferals. She has blackened skin, a significant portion of her skull is exposed, her eye sockets are empty, and she's missing an arm.
Defector from Decadence: She fled Vault 33 with her children once she learned the Awful Truth of her Vault and her husband's identity.
Fate Worse than Death: As a result of her husband detonating a nuclear bomb in Shady Sands, she was not only horrifically injured by the blast, but was ghoulified by the radiation and survived. It left her a burnt, decaying, mindless, barely recognizable husk of a person as a result. Lucy is only able to recognize her due to her necklace.
Uncanny Valley: Unlike Cooper, Rose looks like nothing so much as a burned corpse. However, her movements when we see her for the first time make her look like a skeleton animatronic. Somehow, that makes it worse.

Monty

Portrayed by: Cameron Cowperthwaite

"Just so you know, this was the best day of my life".

Initially appearing to be a resident of Vault 32, Monty is actually a Raider from the surface who is part of the Vault 32 Raiders (see above) who attack Vault 33. Like the others, Monty was working under Lee Moldover. He also acted as the groom in Lucy's Wedding.

Asshole Victim: After exploiting Lucy and trying to brutally mutilate and kill her, he gets beaten up by Overseer Hank with a shovel, who then proceeds to drown the raider in a barrel of pickles.
Ax-Crazy: Once the pretenses of being a vault resident disappear, Monty is shown to be an especially violent raider who tries to cut and stab Lucy with his dagger, and even tries to strangle her to death.
Evil Is Petty: Before it's revealed he's a raider, Monty uses Lucy's window drapes to wipe his privates after having sex with her.
Faux Affably Evil: At first, Monty seems cordial and friendly enough, and appears eager to be with Lucy and sleep with her. Of course, it's only because he just wants to have a bit more fun before he and the raiders try to kill the Vault 33 residents.
Hate Sink: There's a special despicability for anyone to marry an eager young woman, sleep with her, then try to violently kill her and her community immediately afterward.
The Hedonist: Implied. Monty apparently wanted to have a good time while in Vault 33 before the attack truly began. He engages in the wedding, dances, parties, eats some decent food, and sleeps with a beautiful young woman... and once he's done he attacks the Vault 33 residents with the rest of the raiders.
Love-Interest Traitor: As Lucy's new Vault 32 "husband", Monty tries to kill her after they consummate their "marriage", revealing that he and the other residents of Vault 32 are actually hostile raiders.
Slashed Throat: He's on the receiving end of this. As Monty strangles Lucy, she desperately breaks a glass and slashes it across his neck & face. Though it enables her to escape, It doesn't kill him.

Vault 31 Overseer

Bud Askins

Portrayed by: Michael Esper

"...the future of humanity comes down to one word: Management."

A Vault-Tec executive and Barb's supervisor, whose only loves in life are protecting the company and innovating new and improved management processes.

And I Must Scream: Bud is currently nothing more than a brain in a jar left with no one to talk to for hundreds of years except the odd executive he thaws out and sends to one of the other Vaults. When we see his current form he's gotten stuck against a broom for who knows how long and he proves completely unable to subdue or restrain Norm. He's clearly unhappy with his current form but has no alternative and no way of even going to sleep, much less ending his miserable existence.
Brain in a Jar: When Vault 31 is sealed, he reduces himself to a Robobrain, so he can continue supervising Bud's Buds and oversee the experiment to its completion, even if that takes centuries. The subtitles refer to him as "Brain-on-a-Roomba."
Butt-Monkey: His post-war state, despite being effectively the Overseer of Vault 31 and thus the ruler of the three interlocked Vaults and the future of the world as Vault-Tec sees it, his condition of being a Brain in a Jar leaves him completely and totally inept at actually handling his new mechanical body, being unable to move a simple broom in his path, which Norman exploits to walk right past him as he tries to threaten him away from seeing the truth.
Corrupt Corporate Executive: He's willing to do anything to ensure Vault-Tec's dominance over the market and outlasting all the competitors, up to and including provoking World War III.
Dystopia Justifies the Means: He views starting the Great War, eradicating life on Earth, and subjecting the Vault dwellers to bizarre and inhumane experiments as perfectly justified because it gives him the opportunity to create a society with a perfect managerial structure.
Faux Affably Evil: Both during pre-War time and during his reign over Vault 31, Bud comes across as an overly chipper and upbeat sort of executive who can't help but smile at every opportunity when talking with Cooper or his various partners and even comes across as a little awkward given how much of a Workaholic he is in conversation... which all dissuades from the fact he is a deeply amoral Manipulative Bastard who is actively planned the Great War for profit, gain, and the eventual control of all of mankind with his fellow suits at Vault-Tec, up to nonchalantly stating Vault-Tec's plan to purge surface clean 200 years later to Norman in the same breath he makes a comparison how his "buds" are kind of people that will sell lemonade.
Greater-Scope Villain: Barbara Howard and Hank MacLean both worked under him at Vault-Tec, and he most likely influenced many of their ruthless decisions to better himself and the company at large.
Laughably Evil: Possibly one of the most twisted and evil members of Vault-Tec's retinue of corrupt executives...and also easily one of the funniest and most pathetic. To wit, post-War, he's only alive because he's attached his brain to a Roomba-like device, which makes him hilariously incapable of stopping Norm when he discovers Vaupt 31.
"Wait! I am the Overseer here! My orders must be followed! (Beat) ...why isn't this working? This is Conflict Resolution 101."
The Man Behind the Curtain: Bud is the latest in a venerable tradition of Pre-War executives who have preserved themselves through technology, leaving them with incredible influence over their private worlds but zero physical power of their own. In his case, he has directed almost the entire course of history within Vaults 33 and 32 through his executive assistants, but in person, he's just a brain on a Roomba and therefore easily trapped by a mop fallen in his path. Amusingly, he was in partnership with Robert House and a representative of Big MT's Think Tank, and given his position at Vault-Tec, likely worked with Stanislaus Braun to at least a certain extent; all three went on to become more powerful variations of this trope than Bud.
My Beloved Minions: He speaks very highly of his "Bud's Buds" program for young executive assistants, where he acts as their mentor and compares them to his children. He even goes as far as to guarantee their survival by putting them all in cryo-storage in Vault 31.
Not-So-Harmless Villain: When first introduced, he comes off as a benign empty suit whose only threat is talking people's ears off. But it becomes increasingly clear that he's very influential and very amoral, which is a very dangerous combination when the entire world's at stake. Even in his pathetic Brain in a Jar state, he still retains enough remote control over Vault 31's systems to trap Norman inside the cryo-vault and force him into a Sadistic Choice of either going in a cryo-storage unit or dying of starvation as his prisoner.
Smug Snake: A slimy, smirking, self-important, self-promoting scumbag, Bud clearly thinks he's the hottest shit that Vault-Tec has to offer. However, it's made abundantly clear that he's not as clever or as capable as he believes: the biggest point in his career prior to "Bud's Buds" was overseeing the rollout of the T-45d power armor, which turned out to be full of hidden design flaws; his big presentation to the CEOs is immediately reduced to shouted arguments, and it takes Barbara - the woman that Bud is supposedly supervising - to get the various company heads on-board with Vault-Tec's plan; he remained ignorant of the massacre of Vault 32 and Moldaver sneaking in two years later; and Norman not only tricks Bud into letting him into Vault 31, but Bud's attempts to stop him from snooping further are foiled with hilarious ease. Ultimately, Bud's only victory is achieved because Norman was so shell-shocked at the truth behind Vault 31 that he took his eyes off him for a moment too long.
Workaholic: He has no kids, and seemingly has no hobbies or interests outside of Vault-Tec; at Barb's dinner party, he only talks about management strategies to Cooper. He even agrees to be turned into a Brain in a Jar to supervise Bud's Buds for the next two centuries, with no companions beyond text communication with his chosen Overseers.

Vault-Tec Representative

Barbara Howard

Portrayed by: Frances Turner

"We have conflict, and we have war. And war, well... War never changes."

Cooper Howard's wife and the mother of his daughter Janey. She's a senior employee at Vault-Tec, and convinces her husband to start doing advertisements for the company.

Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: After so many flashbacks with her as the Morality Chain for Cooper and the one good person on the company board, Barbara turns out to be the one who suggested the nuclear war in the first place. It's no wonder Cooper turned out so bitter after realizing how twisted his love was.
Broken Pedestal: Much like how Lucy is disillusioned to find out what a monster her father is, Cooper is heartbroken to realize Barbara isn't the compassionate Morality Chain for Vault-Tec that he thought, but someone who suggested dropping the bombs to ensure the future wasteland is controlled by Vault-Tec.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The closest thing she has to a redeeming quality is her apparent love for her husband and daughter, even if she is manipulating and gaslighting them.
Evil All Along: Cooper hopes that she's a moderating force among the Vault-Tec executives and can act as their Morality Chain, but it turns out that she's behind the most extreme and horrific suggestions they propose.
Gaslighting: Barbara did this to Coop when he started to question things about Vault-Tec, manipulating him by using guilt about his military service and accusing him of being irrational for being concerned about "trivial" things. She also claims that the vaults are a last resort for survival, but he later finds out that she actually wants the world to end for the sake of profit.
Barb: I don't even know what planet you're on.
Love-Interest Traitor: Is revealed to be in on the conspiracy of not only Vault-Tec's unethical (and sometimes lethal) experiments, but also proposed dropping the bomb in the first place. It's implied that Cooper divorced her after discovering her plans.
Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: She's the one to put forward the idea of starting the Great War, though there are hints she may be speaking for another and is simply relaying the idea. However, she also claims to Coop that the vaults are only a last resort, when in reality, she wants the end of the world to happen. Any rationalizations she makes about her daughter shows that she only cares about herself.
The Sociopath: Although starting the Great War may not have been her idea, she still went along with it and is largely responsible for starting the Great War. She pretends that she believes nuclear war would be terrible and that the vaults are a last resort, but she actually wants this to happen, showing that she cares little to nothing for the billions of innocent people that will die, and only cares about her immediate family. Not only that, but she even suggested the human experimentation practice without any restrictions, showing she has zero empathy for the people who will suffer because of this.
Uncertain Doom: Like her daughter Janey, it's not established what happened to Barbara after the nukes fell. The Ghoul certainly believes both of them are alive (and, by implication, that she presently has custody of Janey), and his motivation is to find a Vault-Tec executive who can tell him where they are.

RobCo Representative

Robert Edwin House

See his folder here.

Big MT Representative

Frederick Sinclair