The world of the Fallout games is one of the darkest Bethesda has ever created. There's death, suffering, loss, and yearning for a time that was lost following the war-mongering of a few people. It's all painted on the backdrop of greedy corporations that refuse to be limited in their search for scientific excellence, namely the horrible Vault-Tec experiments and the questionable actions of major factions like the Institute. As a result, the post-war wasteland is gruesome and unforgiving, and that brutality is also reflected in a lot of the companions that players meet during their adventures.
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While most of us are familiar with the names and tales of companions who have the most tragic stories of all in Fallout, from Fawkes to Cait, and Boone, we're not talking about the worst of the worst today. There are a few companions that fly sort of beneath the radar, either because they aren't as popular or as talked about as the rest, but they still have incredibly dark backstories that are worth highlighting. These are the ones you might not even remember suffered quite a bit before the player character walked into their lives.
5 Curie
Witnessed The Slow Withering Of Human Lives
Starting off with everyone's favorite robotic doctor from Fallout 4, Curie. A resident of Vault 81's hidden area, her job, along with her long-dead human colleagues, was to develop a cure against the mole rat disease. The plan was to use the Vault's residents as guinea pigs in the name of science, but the Overseer, being skeptical of Vault-Tec's greedy and unethical plan, decided to work against them by sabotaging their work. This led to the scientists slowly dying away one by one while Curie hopelessly watched from her side. Despite this, she still finished developing the cure according to plan, and when the Sole Survivor eventually finds her, she's been spending the last several decades simply "scanning the walls."
No matter what you think of the experiment for Vault 81 and how justified the Overseer may have been in her actions, you have to admit it's pretty grueling what Curie had to go through. She's obviously a synth, but there's something incredibly sad about how optimistic and naive she is as a companion despite what she went through. It's hard not to feel sorry for her, not to mention imagine just how powerless she must have felt, not being able to save her human colleagues.
4 Porter Gage
The Raided Becomes The Raider
Countless characters in the Fallout universe endure loss and pain at the hands of raiders. Some of them choose vengeance, others simply move on. Porter Gage from Fallout 4, however, has a rather unique path. Gage's life was unremarkable when he used to be a settler, and he remembers his parents bending backwards to accommodate the local raiders. He eventually grew sick of this and decided he was better off on his own, rather than being a victim for the rest of his life. He ran off, and after working here and there, he landed a spot in a gang and became a raider himself. Essentially, he became what he had despised, the very thing he had seen his parents endure. What could be darker than that?
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However, Gage's time in the gang wasn't easy. He was betrayed by his leader, who had likely started to feel threatened by Gage's wits and ingenuity, thinking that he would eventually steal his spot as the top dog. Following the betrayal, he went from gang to gang before landing in Colter's group in Nuka-World, where the Sole Survivor ends up as well. While his story isn't a tear-jerker, you would think that, as a settler who has suffered for years at the hands of raiders that you would choose a path that wouldn't, well, turn you into that very thing. It's a highly ironic story, one that makes you think of what his parents might have thought of him if they saw him now.
3 Lily
A Grandma's Life Turned Hellish
The Master is known as one of the most heinous characters in the Fallout universe for its desire to create a supreme human race with the FEV, and through its super mutant forces, the Unity, and Lily Bowen is one example of this ultimate cruelty. Previously a resident of Vault 17, where she had led a rather idyllic life as the grandmother of two grandchildren, Lily was taken by the Master's forces on one fateful raid and turned into a Nightkin with the FEV. Turned into her new form, she was nothing more than a military pawn to the Master and his Unity, forced to kill. Luckily, following the events of Fallout, she was able to leave the Unity and can be found in Jacobstown in Fallout: New Vegas as the Courier arrives.
Her time in the Unity, however, has left its mark on her, as it would on any soldier. Lily suffers from schizophrenia, which developed over time as she was forced to use Stealth Boy during her time serving the Master's whims. It manifests itself as a dark, evil voice that encourages her to do bad things. Unfortunately, the cure for this condition isn't much better, either, because Lily is at risk of losing the dear and near memories of her grandchildren. It's absolutely disgusting and gut-wrenching to see just how much she's lost following the Master's actions, and it's infuriating enough to hope we could go back to the first Fallout and destroy the abomination over and over again. Justice for our sweet grandma.
2 Lenny, Myron, And K-9
Fallout 2 Was Really, Really Dark
The early Fallout games had "no chill" when it came to dark storylines, which is why I'll do a triple-whammy by introducing three companions from the second game that personally left a pretty big impression on me with their backstories.
Let's start with Lenny. When the war eventually came, he became a resident in Vault 12, which on the surface seemed like the perfect safe haven. However, as we all know, Vault-Tec can't be trusted. This particular Vault's dark quirk was that it was meant to conduct research on the effects of radiation, and to do so, the Vault doors were never fully closed. Lenny was turned into a ghoul, a fate that he could have never predicted even in his wildest dreams. Imagine that: trusting that everything will be alright, only for your body to reach this bizarre state of near-immortal decay.
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Next, we have Myron. Myron's story isn't dark because he suffered a lot or had a hard time, but because of the implication he and his backstory had for the rest of the wasteland. Myron is actually the genius behind Jet, an iconic chem that all Fallout fans will be familiar with. As part of the Mordinos, he conducted a ton of research to create what we now know as Jet, the cost of which was countless slaves used as test subjects. Fortunately, he does meet an end fitting for someone of his kind: at the hands of a violent Jet addict.
Finally, there's K-9. This dog isn't your usual Dogmeat, with the ability to speak and the intelligence of a human being. Indeed, he's a cyberdog, and this added layer of intelligence is what led to his tragic backstory. When K-9 had had enough of watching his superior, Dr. Schreber, conduct his morally questionable research, he bit the man. His punishment? He could no longer use his legs. Unable to move, he was condemned to watch Schreber carry on his evil ways until the player arrives.
1 Clover
A Slave Who Never Questions
Clover doesn't get much love in Fallout 3, mainly because in order to get her in the first place, you need to pass an Evil Karma speech check to quite literally buy her. You see, Clover is a slave, and she's under the rule of the infamously horrible Eulogy Jones found in Paradise Falls. Personally, I don't like to go for evil playthroughs because I find it hard to stick to my evil ways, but what's cool about Clover is that once you've bought her for whatever amount of caps you managed to negotiate, she doesn't really care what way your Karma moves.
One would think that saving her from Eulogy would be a good thing, which is probably true given the physical and verbal abuse she's endured at his hands. However, Clover is long gone mentally. She has no sense of self and will blindly follow whoever happens to be her owner at the time. She never questions this absolute loyalty, not while under Eulogy, and not even while under the Lone Wanderer's rule. She's been through a harrowing life as a slave and a woman, and the worst part is that she doesn't even seem to realize this at all, given all the brainwashing she has suffered throughout the years, but especially underneath Eulogy. She doesn't even commiserate or feel a sense of camaraderie with Crimson, who's in the exact same situation as her. I can't think of anything more horrible than a fate like hers.
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