Fallout: 7 Underrated Characters

Highlights

• Easy Pete in
  New Vegas
  offers dynamite and NCR insights, adding depth to the game’s early stages.
• Preston Garvey’s backstory in
  Fallout 4
  sheds light on his desire to help settlements, despite being overshadowed.
• Randall Clark’s inspirational survival story in
  New Vegas
  should be better recognized among players.

Once players set out to begin their journey in a Fallout game, they’ll have the opportunity to meet hundreds, or even thousands of characters along the way, some of which will turn out to be friends, most of whom are enemies. Needless to say, the series has produced plenty of fan-favorite characters over the years who have made quite an impression on players.

Whether it’s the quirky Yes Man from Fallout New Vegas or the lovable Marcus from the first game, there’s a ton of amazing Fallout characters that players have taken a liking to, but there’s also a few who are often overshadowed, or forgotten about entirely. This is a real shame, since a lot of these individuals are actually well-written and play important roles within the wider story, but regardless, they are rarely brought up in discussions among fans, with some considering them to be ‘underrated’ as a result.

7 Easy Pete

It’s Brief, But Easy Pete Provides New Vegas Players With Plenty Of Info And A Few Sticks Of Dynamite

After being patched up by Doc Mitchell at the beginning of Fallout New Vegas, the player will be free to wander around Goodsprings, though not everyone there seems thrilled about having a tourist in their presence. Luckily, there is one character who shows some hospitality to the Lone Wanderer, that being Easy Pete, who even offers to give the player a batch of dynamite if they have a high enough explosive skill.

While Easy Pete may initially come off as just one of the many NPCs who occupy the area, there’s a lot more to him than meets the eye. For example, before players are even aware of the NCR, Easy Pete will be the first person to talk about them in-depth, since he himself has had numerous interactions with them in the past. Compared to a lot of the more moody and irritable citizens of Goodsprings, Easy Pete’s laid-back personality helps to liven up the place, and while he only makes a brief appearance, he’s still a ton of fun to be around.

6 Pete

A Clever & Witty Kid That’s More Impressive Than Annoying

In all honestly, it’s hard not to hate the Boomers upon seeing them for the first time, especially after they try to bombard the player with an endless barrage of missiles just for getting close to their base. If players do manage to enter the Nellis Air Force Base still in one piece though, they’ll get to meet a few of the group’s key figures, including a plucky young man by the name of Pete.

In fact, it turns out Pete had been promoted to the position of “Keeper of the Story” after the man who previously assumed the role, Don, killed himself after mixing whiskey with land mines. Despite being a literal child, Pete is extremely smart and witty for his age, and is shown to possess an unwavering loyalty to his group, along with an extensive knowledge of their history. As mentioned before, the Boomers can easily come off as a group that’s easy to hate, but Pete is one member of the group who deserves a lot of credit for just how unique he is as a child character.

5 Preston Garvey

Garvey’s Well-Written Character Is Overshadowed By Other Fallout 4 Companions, & His Desire To Help Other Settlements

Despite being so kind and considerate towards the player at the beginning of Fallout 4, Preston can come across as a little uninteresting and even annoying at times compared to the other available companions. Considering players can recruit characters like the suave detective Nick Valentine or the super-mutant powerhouse known as Strong, it means Preston often doesn’t receive the same amount of attention as his peers.

Despite this, he is still a fantastic character with a fascinating backstory where he barely made it out of the chaotic Quincy Massacre in one piece. After learning about his tragic past, Preston’s determination to protect those around him starts to make a lot more sense, and the constant errands that he gives the player won’t feel as monotonous anymore. As an added bonus, he also offers the United We Stand perk when he becomes a companion, which drastically increases damage resistance.

4 Captain Zao

A Chinese Navy Ghoul, Hidden Away In An Elusive Side Quest In Fallout 4

It’s shocking that Captain Zao is a character who can only be found in a niche side quest, as he’s without a doubt one of the most important individuals in the Fallout lore. Back in 2077, at the beginning of the Great War, it was Zao who fired off the nuke which can be seen going off at the beginning of Fallout 4. Shortly after this, Zao’s submarine hit a sea mine and began leaking radiation, turning him and the rest of his crew into ghouls. Though Zao would escape the submarine with his life still intact, he would go on to wander the wasteland he created for over 200 years.

During this time, he felt an immense amount of guilt for his decision to set off the bomb, even though he was simply following orders, and once players meet him, he’s a shell of who he once was. With that being said though, Zao does still hold onto the traditions of the old world, with the dream of one day returning to his home country of China, where he hopes to rest his soul. It’s criminal that this character can be missed out on so easily since he’s a guy who has one hell of a backstory to learn about.

3 McClure

McClure Tries To Put His Biases Aside To Become The Level-headed Spokesperson That His People Need In Fallout 2

Unlike Lynette who often lets her aggressive ideologies get in the way of policies, McClure comes across as a more level-headed and compassionate spokesperson for Vault City. In fact, there are even times in Fallout 2 where he expresses a level of sympathy towards the ghouls who roam outside the city walls, but even though he’s shown to have more of an open mind than his peers, he’s still first-and-foremost dedicated to protecting his people by any means necessary.

McClure only appears during two quests in the game, and his dialogue sections can be quite brief, but he’s still a fascinating character to learn about because of how realistic he seems as a key figure within the city. Underneath it all, he also has his own biases, but he still tries to be as fair as possible, since he knows how many people look up to him, and for that, he deserves a lot more credit than he gets.

2 Lily Bowen

Lily Can Be Hard To Find, But It’s Well Worth Seeking Her Out So She Can Tell her “Deary” All About Her Intriguing Life And Backstory In New Vegas

Lily can only be recruited by venturing all the way to Jacobstown which is up near Mount Charleston, meaning it’s all too easy to go through the game without even knowing about her. With that being said, though she’s not as beloved as other New Vegas companions, it’s still clear Obsidian spent a lot of time and care to present her as being different from the other Super Mutants. The truth is, Lily was once a loving grandmother before the Great War started, but after being thrown into a Vault, she was then injected with a Forced Evolutionary Virus which would turn her into a Nightkin.

Over the years, Lily is forced to work as a spy, but she soon starts to develop schizophrenia due to her heavy use of Stealth Boys. Though she had been prescribed medicine at Jacobstown to tone down the voices in her head, this also came with the side effect of long-term memory loss, which caused her to start forgetting about her grandchildren. All of this is slowly revealed throughout the game, and it results in Lily being one of the most sympathetic and tragic characters in the entire series, who unfortunately often gets overshadowed by the other companions.

1 Randall Clark

Randall Clark’s Journey To Survive Is A Truly Inspirational Tale That All New Vegas Players Should Know About

Randall Clark may only be a collection of bones by the time players see him in Honest Hearts DLC for Fallout New Vegas, but it’s still made very clear that he was once someone who was greatly admired by the people of Zion. Players can learn through notes and conversations with other characters that Randall was once a U.S. marine who decided to find shelter in the Zion National Park once the Great War started kicking off.

During the conflict, Randall would lose his entire family, and the disillusioned soldier would go to extreme lengths just to survive, but along the way, he would come to help other survivors by teaching them how to protect themselves in the face of danger. Over the next few years, Randall would struggle with controlling his emotions after coming back to see that his allies and friends had been butchered by ruthless savages. However, after running into a group of children who were wandering into Zion, he dedicated the rest of his life to protecting them, turning him into a mythical ‘savior’ among the people, who sadly isn’t talked about among fans quite as much as he probably should be.