Counterparts: deconstruction and analysis throught he use of characters in the Fallout universe It is common occurance in fiction for a character to be used to embody an idea or question that the writer wants us to consider. In this essay I will argue that the Fallout games, New Vegas in particular, use characters as opposing counterparts in order to critique both real world issues and tropes of the genre. While many pairings are equally valid, I will focus almost solely on the characters of Edward Sallow and Arcade Gannon, and then on Father Elijah and the Vault Dweller. The former two I believe the writers of New Vegas intended, to some degree, as opposing avatars of their respective ideologies in addition to the roles they play in the player’s story. The latter two I believe merely represent some of the themes present in the Fallout games and in games generally, and my comparison is much more creative and speculative.*1 Arcade Israel Gannon and Edward Sallow. Most striking about these two very different characters, a mild-mannered doctor and a merciless dictator, is not their differences but their similarities. Both lost their fathers at a young age, and both were attracted to academic, intellectual pursuits, developing keen interests in politics, philosophy, literature and history. Both became members of the Followers of the Apocalypse*2 and gained a degree of cynicism with regards to the effectiveness of the work they were doing. The fundamental point of divergence occurs in how these two frustrated, intellectually-inclined and idealistic men responded to the problems they encountered. Presented with sickness, poverty and ignorance, the Followers of the Apocalypse might give a person medicine, offer them shelter for a night, and open a school. For Arcade Gannon, small acts such as these are not going to solve these problems permanently but are ultimately worthwhile for the way they benefit individual lives. For Edward, they are worthless because they do nothing to prevent these problems coming back the very next day. Only more permanent solutions (culling the weak, removing economic freedoms, strong government) are worthwhile. Edward Sallow sees humanity as a collective to whom the needs and happiness of a single individual are insignificant, and the betterment of humanity cannot be held back by consideration of individual needs. To Gannon, humanity is made up of individuals; the ‘people of Vegas’ he wishes to help gain independence are the individual patients he treats in his clinic. In setting these characters up as counterparts to one another as well as enemies, New Vegas is able to explore and critique differing philosophies and ideologies. In a similar sense to Caesar’s ‘thesis, antithesis and synthesis’ speech, the philosophies of Arcade Gannon and Edward Sallow are held up side by side and the player is asked to make a judgement. This is reinforced by dialogue restored by a patch, in which Arcade Gannon overhears Caesar’s lecture to the player outlining his philosophy and plans to conquer the West, and gives a damning rebuff. These characters, as counterparts, become champions of two opposing ideologies and thus nemeses, even if the two have virtually no contact. Gannon’s suicide by disembowelment following his possible enslavement and Caesar’s victory further drives the point home. To Edward Sallow, Arcade is an intellectual sparring partner and ideological rival, an opposite equal. Arcade Gannon has no interest in debating ideology while real people are suffering, and he has no interest in dissociating himself from this. His violent suicide emphasises this very real bloodshed resulting from Edward Sallow’s ideas and actions, bloodshed that cannot be brushed aside with abstract theorising or justifications of the ‘greater good’. Where Edward thinks in terms of concepts and grand narratives, Arcade Gannon sees only the human cost; this is the crux of why these men took their separate paths. Both Edward Sallow and Arcade Gannon were born under a system of government they would come to despise. During their youth, their work with the Followers of the Apocalypse gave them first-hand experience of social deprivation and other such problems associated with a modern capitalist state, and came to opposite conclusions on how these problems should be dealt with. In a quirky irony, each man embraced aspects of the ideology the other had been born into and rejected; Gannon rejects the fascism of the Enclave in favour of social libertarianism and a policy of low-level, limited intervention toward social deprivation and hardship, while Sallow rejected the liberal capitalism of his home country, along with the compassionate interventionism of the Followers, and gradually became sympathetic to fascism and authoritarianism. Father Elijah and the Vault Dweller In Fallout 1, you take on the role of the Vault Dweller as you set out to recover a water chip for the Vault’s purifier, thereby saving your people from destruction. The added pressure of the time limit gives the protagonist’s quest a sense of urgency, and what’s more the player is given free reign with regards to the methods used to obtain the water chip; the player can use diplomacy and the goodwill of the people the protagonist has aided to advance their quest, or, conversely, they can steal from and kill those who stand between them and their destination. Wanton murder, though inadvisable, does not impede the player’s ability to complete their quest, even if such actions did little to nothing to advance their main goal. Flash forward to circa 2276, and, after a devastating military defeat, the exiled leader of the Mojave Brotherhood of Steel embarks on a similar quest to ensure the survival, and revival, of his people. This time the means of salvation is technology, and Elijah is ruthless in his pursuit of that which he believes will save his people not only from their enemies, but also themselves. Father Elijah may serve as an antagonist to the player of New Vegas, but his journey from the rubble of Helios One, across the Mojave and California, and intersecting with the player’s story at Big Mountain and the Sierra Madre, is as action packed and littered with moral quandaries as those of any Fallout protagonist. Elijah is the protagonist of his own story, his own main questline, one that can only be ended for good once it comes into conflict with the goals of the player character in New Vegas. While his explicit desire for vengeance against the NCR could put his goals closer to the Courier’s at the start of New Vegas than any other Fallout protagonist, his implicit end goal is most likely the Brotherhood of Steel’s revival using the technology obtained at Big Mountain and the Sierra Madre; the vending machines in particular would enable self-sufficiency and Elijah’s commitment to the Brotherhood’s advancement prior to embarking on his doomed expedition is noted by those who were closest to him, namely Veronica. While his goals become warped over time, shifting more towards a radical restructuring of the Brotherhood and vengeance against their enemies rather than mere survival, this central desire to see his own tribe survive and flourish is one shared by the Vault Dweller of the original Fallout.*3 The comparison between the methods used by Father Elijah and those of the Vault Dweller does draw attention to some major differences, which I will address. Most importantly, the Vault Dweller is controlled by the player, and the amount of choice and non-related quest content available means that it is impossible to conclude that everything the Vault Dweller does in Fallout is tied to their goal of recovering the water chip. Elijah, by contrast, seems to have a one-track mind when it comes to his own quest. For instance, while the Vault Dweller may kill an NPC without any reason or provocation besides the whims of the player, Elijah can justify all his victims as worthy sacrifices in the cause of the Brotherhood’s revival. Secondly, the Vault Dweller’s quest is one with a definite goal and time limit, while Elijah’s is wrought with confusion and with no end in sight; his quest is impossible to finish, as much as a bugged quest in the player’s inventory. But supposing that the Vault Dweller’s quest did not have its ending bound by gameplay mechanics and the constraints of the RPG medium, and considering the Vault Dweller as a character within the narrative as opposed to a player-controlled avatar; how long would the Vault Dweller persist in their endeavour? Would they keep searching after the time limit had passed in the vague hope that a few survivors can be saved? How long before the Vault Dweller abandons all hope, or, like Elijah, go mad denying the obvious futility of their quest? Furthermore, if I as a player were to slay innocents and engage in otherwise nefarious activities without a motive directly pertaining to my quest, could I not rationalise my Vault Dweller’s actions as part of a psychosis resulting from desperation, or sociopathic disregard for any cause but my own? Fallout is, after all, a role play game. If my character were to slay every citizen in a town which I believed (or, in my role play, he or she believed) contained a water chip or a means by which I could obtain one (for instance, a nice big expensive gun which I could use to kill all the radscorpions between me and my destination), then I could put it down to my character’s duty to his or her mission utterly trumping any and all other moral considerations, just as Father Elijah is willing to sacrifice anyone who stands in the way of his own mission. The player may not care about the water chip or vault 13 themselves, but the character of the Vault Dweller clearly does, or else this entire mission could be relegated to a side quest and the player be able to continue playing after the time limit is reached. Both the Vault Dweller and Father Elijah both, to some degree, care about their respective tribes. Both embark on long and difficult missions to obtain some promised means of salvation, and both have the capacity to commit horrendous acts of cruelty in pursuit of this arguably noble goal. I am not suggesting that the writers of New Vegas’ story had the Vault Dweller in mind when creating Elijah (or at least, I have no evidence to suggest so), but I do believe that Elijah’s long and bloody adventure can serve as a counterpart to that of every Fallout protagonist prior to New Vegas, and as a deconstruction of the hero’s journey in games and in stories. Conclusions New Vegas has a narrative focused around deconstruction. The characters of Edward Sallow and Arcade Gannon are set up as counterparts to one another for the purpose of deconstructing a set of ideas and informing the player’s decisions with regard to the late-game choices affecting the world of New Vegas. The personal quest of Father Elijah, and arguably those of Ulysses and Joshua Graham, serves the purpose of challenging and deconstructing a familiar trope in role play games and of fiction in general: that of the hero who embarks on a quest to save his or her people or put right a great wrong. Graham’s also serves as a journey of self-discovery, while Ulysses’ role in the player’s narrative is to make the player question their own role in the story, their own status as the ‘hero’. To further analyse these characters in comparison to the player character themself would require another essay (and let’s face it, few of you will have read all the way to the end of this one), so that shall be left as food for thought. The Fallout universe consistently explores themes through the use of its characters, and these themes and characters often have much to say about our own world as well as theirs. *1 Translation: Made up bullshit and probably not what the writers intended, but still something worth considering, at least for the fun of it. *2 No information exists as to how Followers of the Apocalypse apply the term ‘doctor’ to their staff, if at all, and we are lacking information as to Edward’s other duties with the group. For convenience Arcade Israel Gannon will be referred to as a medical doctor and Edward Sallow a member of the Followers. *3 The Chosen One of Fallout 2 also applies, but given the lack of time pressure for the main quest and range of character customisation and ‘distractions’ available in the sequel, the comparison would be too long and difficult to include. By Joe Peake
Posted on: Wed, 02 Oct 2013 19:02:16 +0000
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