enter image description here

Is the player character in Fallout 4 a synth?

The game doesn't answers this question directly, as far as I know.

It would feel kinda like it makes sense, the Institute making Synths and you

as a Synth becoming the new leader of the Institute.

Is the player character in Fallout 4 a Synth? What evidence exists (either in-game or comments of developers) that support the answer?

  • 14
    How could you be a synth? You, as the player character, predate the war. The Institute was founded afterwards. – Vemonus Jul 30 '17 at 17:59
  • 3
    This is a valid question, unworthy of DVs. And the comment above is the answer. First time I played, I blew his head off as soon as I regained control of my character; pretty sure he wasn't a synth either, so anything goes for who leads them. – Mazura Jul 30 '17 at 18:25
  • 5
    Do you have any reason to think you are? What evidence can you provide that makes this anything beyond a random thought? – Frank Jul 30 '17 at 18:30
  • 4
    And as you've said, the game doesn't answer the question. This is more a discussion question, or asking for dev information, both of which are off-topic. Give us some evidence that leads you to believe there is some credence to this theory; otherwise we might as well just ask if he's a ghoul, too. – Frank Jul 30 '17 at 18:53
  • 3
    @Swizzler, Frank isn't against you, he's simply stating that the question, in its current form, is very poor because it has no good citations of why this theory should be considered. Your character, from simple understanding of the game, pre-dates Synths by many years. You need to start posting evidence against this, not just some random NPC paranoia. – Nelson Jul 31 '17 at 13:35

In the Automatron DLC quest, Restoring Order, when you gain access to The Mechanist's lair, over the speaker you hear "incoming robot detected, opening security doors" (you have a robot with you during this quest) but then you hear "no bio signs detected, proceed".

That is the biggest piece of evidence I have seen to support the main character being a synth. The character was scanned and there were no traces of bio life. I didn't want to believe I was a synth either but that really opened my eyes to the idea. Hard proof.

| improve this answer | |

Evidence for being a synth:

  1. Father refers to letting you out as "an experiment of sorts", and "there was no longer a reason to keep you suspended."

  2. Every other cryo pod's occupant died due to life support failure. Why didn't you?

  3. The only reason Father can give for keeping you on ice for his entire life is "there wasn't really a reason to let you out."

  4. The "experiment of sorts" referred to whether or not you'd track him down - but consider: what exactly are the odds of someone emerging from a vault with a 10mm pistol and taking on the Commonwealth? IF the experiment was about whether you'd track him down, then your survival was not a variable, it was guaranteed. Guaranteed by the fact that you're pre-programmed with enhanced combat protocols, and can be rebuilt if destroyed.

  5. Father "knew" you'd survive. As his successor, he "knows you'll do the right thing". He "KNOWS" an awful lot about your behavioral practices.

  6. When you tell him you love him, his response is "I can see that you do. It's remarkable." Another line of his is "As remarkable as our synths are, they can be... dangerous without proper supervision." Another, "You mean the child? It's a fascinating project, really. There are issues to be solved, of course, but we've made remarkable progress."

When talking about synths, he sure uses the word "remarkable" a lot.

  1. "Did you think we would not see what you have done?!" - unless the Institute has developed a scientific crystal ball and built sophisticated fortune telling robots, they saw what you did because your synth brain is transmitting its input data to the Institute.

  2. In the Institute, information presented in one of the computer terminals describes the Gen-3 synths' perception of combat, and it is identical to how the player experiences "VATS". It also makes a great deal more sense than a bulky Pip-Boy somehow slowing time during combat.

This response is just me exploring the idea. I hadn't thought about it before. There's definitely evidence to back up the theory. And while it would be easy to say "there's no evidence that you're human, either!" - how could there be?

The fantastic journey of the player is not, to me, evidence that they are synth or human. The game stars them because if it starred a feral ghoul perma-locked in a shipping crate, it wouldn't be a very fun game. The game stars you because you're the hero of the story - so it's not evidence either way.

The biggest piece of evidence:

The hero accepting the "I kept you frozen because there wasn't a reason to let you out" line is like the synths in Westworld saying "It doesn't look like anything to me."

Here's one reason: because you survived the life support failure of every other pod, the Institute must have been monitoring your pod, or supplying it with power. If Father is really so emotionally disconnected (a concept his character seems to frequently not adhere to) then pressing the "thaw" button is less of a drain on Institute resources than supplying your pod with power. There's your tiny friggin' reason, sonny.

I talked myself into it. Player is a synth. 100%. Okay... 99%.

| improve this answer | |
  • 12
    Downvotes are for "this answer is not useful", not "I don't like the evidence presented to me." – Paul Nardini Aug 13 '17 at 4:50
  • 1
    Upvoted and marked as answer. Sorry that it took that long, I kinda gave up on this SE. Others SE are Q&A, this specific SE has become "Q&f*ck you, your question is bad, we don't want to improve the question but just screw you over". Not only in this question. – Swizzler Aug 15 '17 at 12:20
  • 2
    There are some really interesting conversations with DiMA in Far Harbor too that can further imply you may be a synth, such as your limited supply of pre-war memories. – jhawes Jan 19 '18 at 23:13
  • 4
    I don't think that BGS games do have THAT level of deep story telling. It's almost painful to watch how much time and effort people spend to come up with an explanation for things that can be quite easily interpreted another way. – metaphor_set May 17 '18 at 13:16
  • 5
    There is a very strong counter argument to be made that SS is a Synth. If they were, the moment they start working against the Institute, the Institute would hit them with recall codes. Finally, SS has pre-war knowledge that would be impossible for the Institute to create. Such as how Shaun was conceived, what the rules of baseball are and government actions. – Mandemon Sep 3 '19 at 9:50

If you get heavily irradiated, you become a super mutant... robots can’t do that

| improve this answer | |
  • 2
    Well you become a super mutant on exposure to the FEV. But synths do not take damage from radiation so there is that. – Lore Friendly Apr 23 at 13:47
  • 2
    It is not possible to become a super mutant in Fallout 4 without modding the game. Therefore, this answer is not conclusive as to whether or not your character is a synth – PausePause Apr 23 at 16:32

Your Answer

