Taking advantage of the excitement surrounding the franchise after the series premiere, a developer who worked on Fallout 4 has wanted to reveal a detail about the video game that has remained secret until now. According to what he expressed through social media, the male protagonist of the fourth installment of the saga is more than an anonymous hero.
The Protagonist of Fallout 4’s Criminal Past
In reality, he is a veteran character from the franchise who appeared in the opening cinematic of the first video game. A situation that, although it promised to be little more than a curious detail, has displeased part of the community.
The story was revealed by Emil Pagliarulo, who has spent the last two decades of his life working at Bethesda. “Taking advantage of the good atmosphere lately and the millions of fans that Fallout has, I think it’s the right time to reveal an unknown connection between Fallout 1 and Fallout 4. Do you remember the opening cinematic of Fallout 1? The scene of the annexation of Canada? It’s the same guy,” he wrote on his social networks. To his tweet, he added two images: one with the ‘default’ face of Fallout 4’s male protagonist and another with the scene in question.
The problem arose when players analyzed the scene, which lasts barely ten seconds and is set in the conflict that takes place before the bombs fall. It begins with the appearance of a sign that says “our dedicated boys maintain peace in newly annexed Canada.” Then two soldiers appear on screen carrying out the execution of a prisoner of war.
Given the great vibes recently, and the millions of amazing Fallout fans (that’s you!) I feel like the time is right to finally share an unknown link between Fallout 1 and Fallout 4. Remember the Fallout 1 opening movie? Annexation of Canada? SAME. GUY. (No, NOT the shooter!) 🤓 pic.twitter.com/9JNWmg7yL0
— Emil Pagliarulo (@Dezinuh) April 13, 2024
The first of them shoots him once in the head, squeezing the trigger again a few seconds after having already ended his enemy’s life. The second, who would be the protagonist of Fallout 4, simply laughs heartily at the situation.
Many Fallout lore enthusiasts have felt somewhat disappointed by this revelation. In addition to the connections not being obvious, they did not expect one of the two protagonists of the fourth installment to have such a troubled past. It is worth remembering that Fallout 4 is an RPG where we take full control of our character, being able to modify their appearance, name, and future decisions. However, both the male and female protagonists have a canonical past that had already been revealed previously.
The boy is officially named Nate and is a war veteran. The woman is named Nora and was a lawyer. The truth is that the situation was serious enough for Emil Pagliarulo to have to qualify his words. “I wanted to reveal what I thought was a cool detail of the saga and didn’t think about how divisive it could be. Not all the Fallout information I share is canonical: Nate is not a war criminal.
When you’re building a world and a character, you have a lot of main canon. You’re always thinking about things. At first, we talked about the guy in that video being Nate. He had gone through hell as a soldier, every day was an unknown horror, and that was one of them. Internally, it was an interesting connection to the original Fallout and a way to frame the character,” he explained.
When developing a story, this “internal canon” that the developer talks about is usually created, as it gives coherence to the universe. The problem in this regard is that Emil’s way of expressing it led to some confusion in the community. It was later when he finished qualifying it: “This was never revealed to the players because we never wanted this to be the Nate you imagined. For players, Nate’s past as a soldier is as everyone thinks it is. That’s the real canon,” he concluded.
For more news find it here in The Premiere of Fallout TV Show Boosts Interest in Fallout Games and Fallout TV Show Review & Impressions
