In the Fallout universe, there's nothing more frightening than finding out someone's a synth impostor. It's a common theme that's seen throughout the Fallout series and which is especially explored in Fallout 4 through various quests and even one of its DLCs. Just entering Diamond City alone will reveal to the player how many locals are afraid of synths.
While some characters are openly synths, like Nick Valentine and DiMA, others either reveal their true selves when the time is right, or fans have discovered their identities later on by finding synth components on their corpses. Sometimes, surprisingly human characters turn out to be complete fakes.
Fallout: The Difference Between Synths and Humans Explained
Fallout 4’s Gen-3 Synths are neither human nor machine, and there remain a lot of misconceptions about what they are and how they work.
Updated May 11, 2024, by Benjamin Joe: In recent times, Fallout 4 has seen a major increase in player count, mostly due to the hit Fallout TV series. With so many new players choosing to install Fallout 4, it's a good time to give this article a little update. The Commonwealth is a place of death, destruction, and deception where even seemingly trustworthy people are hiding deep, dark secrets. It's always important to be vigilant and to never trust someone based on words alone, as there could be something more sinister going on behind the scenes.
10 Art (The Other One)
The Art Of Decision-Making
- Random encounter
One of the many random encounters the player might face is the battle between two identical NPCs. This can happen almost anywhere in the Commonwealth, and it features a random wanderer named Art, who can be seen fighting a copy of himself. Since this is a random encounter, there is no exact location where this situation takes place. Players can hop around various random encounter trigger locations in the hopes of coming across Art and Art.
It's impossible to tell with the naked eye which one is the real deal. Only by killing the synth can the player find out their true identity by looting the corpse for a synth component. In any case, one of these two is most definitely a fake, and it's up to the player to figure it out.
9 Amelia Stockton
There's Something Strange in Covenant
- Hidden in an underground base near Covenant
It's easy to assume that Amelia Stockton is a synth due to the quest that she's related to. Moreover, players who are part of the Railroad will easily be able to interrogate Old Man Stockton at Bunker Hill about her true identity, but otherwise, it's hard to know for certain. Should the player want to trigger the questline that involves Amelia Stockton, they will need to head to Covenant and follow the Human Error quest. It is a fascinating quest that involves the player making a difficult decision.
She's actually a runaway synth, but won't know about this herself since she's had her memory wiped. She can be found at the Compound randomly if the player isn't on a quest and will vehemently keep on denying that she's a fake. There's no fate more cruel than hers, not knowing what she really is.
8 Roger Warwick
A Friendly Family Man (Supposedly)
- Located at Warwick Homestead
Humble farmer Roger Warwick at Warwick homestead doesn't seem like an important character. He's just there, tending to his crops, and the only information given about him is his children stating he's become a kinder man as of recently. That's probably because he's no longer the real Roger Warwick.
The Institute is actually using him for bioscience research and might even have plans to kill him and his family once the research is finished. It's possible to find out the truth about him when meeting an NPC called Cedric Hopton, who is tasked with finding someone to assassinate Roger for being an impostor.
Roger is an interesting hidden synth, as he is one of the few who works in one of the settlements that players can take over. It just goes to show that there are secrets hidden all over the game.
7 Mayor McDonough
Diamond City's Secret Synth
- Located in Diamond City
Upon first meeting the mayor, the last thing anyone would imagine is that he's actually a synth working directly for the Institute as an agent. He is the eyes and the ears of the Institute in Diamond City, and when he eventually gets caught for his identity, the Sole Survivor can choose his fate.
The sad part about this character is that he's a replacement, an identical copy of the original mayor who was kidnapped and most likely killed. As such, this synthetic version knows it's doing the work of an evil science corporation rather than being oblivious to its own nature.
The quest to discover Mayor McDonough's true identity can be activated after the player has completed the quest Political Leanings. If the player's decisions don't lead them down that questline, then it will become active after completing The Nuclear Option, the finale of the main storyline. Once this quest is active, players will see Danny Sullivan, a gatekeeper in Diamond City, slowly dying due to two gunshots to the stomach. This unravels the whole McDonough synth situation.
6 Shaun
The Decoy Missing Child
- Can be found the first time the player enters the Institute
The entire main quest of the game centers around chasing after the past. More importantly, it focuses on finding out what happened to little baby Shaun, who, as it turns out, has grown up quite a bit and is being held by the Institute. Well, not quite. As soon as the Sole Survivor enters the Institute for the first time, they're in for a surprise.
Child Shaun is actually a synth, and his true nature is revealed quickly enough by the real Shaun, who now goes by the name of Father. This is one of the most shocking and tragic revelations in the game, one that forces the player to make some extremely difficult decisions.
5 Captain Avery
A Very Sad Story
- Captain Avery greets the player when they arrive in Far Harbor.
The Far Harbor DLC deals quite a bit in synths. In fact, the island is a battlefield of sorts between the local humans, the synth refugees of Acadia, and the Children of Atom. No matter what side the player takes, the truth about one of the central characters in the DLC will eventually come out.
Fallout 4's Far Harbor Has No Good Ending
Fallout 4's Far Harbor DLC features some difficult narrative choices for players to make, and none of the outcomes have a satisfying ending.
Captain Avery is the first person to welcome the player into Far Harbor. She's a strong individual and a leader to the village, but has no idea about her true self until the player brings it up. She's a replacement without any knowledge of who or what she actually is, which makes her tale even more tragic. When players find out what happened to the real Captain Avery, they will be taken aback, as it is one of the most shocking moments in the whole Far Harbor DLC.
4 Gabriel
The Synth Raider
- Located at the top of Libertalia
The cool thing about Fallout 4 is the abundance of unique raider leaders that inhabit the various locations all around the Commonwealth. Gabriel, the lead raider at the floating city of Libertalia, is one of such characters. Byt as it turns out, he's much more than just that.
During one of the Institute quests, it's revealed he's actually a runaway synth with no memory or knowledge of who or what he actually is. This was all achieved thanks to the help of the Railroad, who gave him a new chance at a normal life. The revelation of his true nature completely shocks his lapdogs when the Sole Survivor arrives to catch him. While most players won't have much sympathy for him due to the fact he's a raider leader, it is still a surprising turn of events.
3 Paladin Danse
A Synthetic Companion
- Found during the Call To Arms quest
The Brotherhood of Steel is no doubt the last place in the Commonwealth where any undercover synths would be located, right? Well, that's a false assumption. In fact, one of the most prominent characters of the faction and a companion who often goes on and on about evil synths is a synth himself.
Paladin Danse's true identity is unknown to everyone, even him, but once the player arrives at the Institute, they'll uncover some interesting files about his true nature. This launches a new side quest, which puts Danse's fate into the player's hands. Although this can't be discovered earlier, there's just something a bit strange about the way Danse speaks in general that might catch the attention of quick-witted players.
2 Magnolia
The Singing Synth
- Located in The Third Rail
One of the major revelations in Fallout 4 was the true nature of Magnolia, the sultry jazz singer of Goodneighbor's Third Rail. She appears perfectly human, especially since she's talented in her art form and doesn't seem as tense as many regular synths often would.
There's no actual way to find out her true nature without killing her or using cheats. However, it's definitely true that she's a third-generation synth with a highly realistic appearance. It's unclear how she made it to Goodneighbor, but she was probably given a proper chance at life by the Railroad. Since there's no quest or story around her, Magnolia is a fairly boring secret synth. And, unless the player is willing to kill her, she will continue living a 'normal' life as a synth.
1 Sturges
For The Minutemen
- Located in Concord, but goes to Sanctuary Hills after the player finds him.
Another highly mysterious and debated case is that of Sturges. At no point during any quests in the game is it revealed that Sturges is a synth. The truth is only found out if the player manages to kill him with console commands despite him being an essential NPC, as he drops a synth component when killed. Since he is an essential NPC who can't be killed without the help of console commands, there's a good chance that Sturges, being a synth, was originally going to be a questline, but it got cut.
Fallout 4 Cheats And Console Commands
A lengthy list of console commands have been discovered so far in Fallout 4, allowing players to grow huge, slow down time, or even complete the game.
It's assumed that he's another one of those synths who managed to escape, but he doesn't come across as one, nor is this ever talked about in the Minutemen faction quests. And yet, everyone's favorite handyman seems to be more machine than flesh.
Fallout 76
- Released
- November 14, 2018
