Todd points a gun at gkk7z. "See this gun?"

BANG!

"It just works."

Watch out for the Mysterious Stranger!

Let's get back on topic just in case!

And besides, too many witnesses on here lol

Um, the entire form? Don't worry, my Lone Wanderer and my Khajiit (he's in my avvie) will protect you from harm.

In my defence I did put a fairly obvious spoiler warning at the top of the page!

Rofl, so Todd =)

The John Hancock you mention, as referenced in the concept art, would seem to be https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hancock individual who apparently died in 1793. Of particular interest, other than his being a patriot, is his suggested status as a smuggler! For the record, there is also a building bearing his name near to the Charles River as seen https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/John+Hancock+Tower,+Clarendon+St,+Boston,+MA+02116,+USA/@42.350124,-71.07566,4803m/data=http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1527024-jack-and-nora/!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x89e37a0ceab1c1ed:0xab39ce53f62cb1c3!6m1!1e1 and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hancock_Tower. I don't know how this ties in with the protagonist at this stage, but remember that in the leaked document, at the start of the speech intended for the Vet's Hall, he mentions his great great-grandfather during WWII, and so there may be some kind of historical link.

That would be why I found the name as strange choice (if it is an assumed name) him being a well known figure on the opposite side, although he may be named for a building or a wrecked US Navy ship.

It could also just be a bit of Fallout humor. "Ha ha, that Ghoul dressed as a Redcoat doesn't realize that the man himself was wholly supportive of the not-Redcoat side." Here's hoping we can enlighten him on that.

Maybe there will be some star wars moment were its "I am your father"! But in reverse?

Maybe this means the song Choo Choo Ch'Boogie will appear in game. It has the line ''...take me right back to the track, Jack...''

I'm sure there is a connection there somewhere. I will have to do a bit more digging!

In the meantime, here's something else I noticed regarding the OP. Tinfoil hats at the ready:

In the nursery rhyme, as I stated earlier, we are told of not one but two stories, which relate to the pre and post-war segments of gameplay. Looking at this again, it is possible that this could also be a nod to another two stories. Namely the two most recent games in the Fallout series. After all, both games were produced by Bethesda, even though New Vegas was obviously coded by Obsidian. Fallout 3 had a very strong family connection, and involved us 'losing' someone very close to us, which ties in with the first verse (pre-war). And New Vegas tasks us with venturing out on our own and forging new alliances with the various factions of the Mojave, who could be considered our 'brothers' in a very literal sense. And this ties in with the second verse (post-war).

Now here is the tinfoil part. Seeing as both verses (and effectively both 'stories') are exactly the same length, it is possible that this could be suggesting an identical duration for both stories as told through the two most recent games. We already know that the timeframe between Fallout 3 and New Vegas was four years. And so following the same logic, we can assume that Fallout 4 will take place four years after New Vegas, which would bring us to my previously predicted start date of 2285. Note that this is 208 years after the Great War, and not the 200 year approximation we have been told so far (a few reasons for this prediction explained http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1523978-fallout-4-timeline).

In closing, and putting aside the various tinfoil jokes (including my own), I leave you with this thought, as quoted from one of my posts on another thread:

"Even the apparent 'coincidences' [with dates] that I have demonstrated are things that game developers often use, but don't necessarily reveal to the public. They are quite often discovered by fans at a later date, and so I have simply pre-empted a few of them."

Considering we are talking about Bethesda, I am quite certain that there will be literally dozens of similar references in the final game

I believe "Jack" will be brother to Roger Maxson. This would make for a very interesting story, especially when Arthur Maxson gets to Boston. Can you imagine, playing as brother to Roger Maxson!

It would certainly send shockwaves the BOS Chapters to have a brother of Roger Maxson return from the dead.

Hope you're doin' well, too, friend.

Amazing theory you have here. The evidence stacks up to be possibly true.

Or maybe it's.... just absolutely true?!

gkk7z = Beth Employee Confirmed.

Or, the male PC could be named Nick, because the writers really liked Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist. Honestly, it's a neat theory, but you're playing connect the dots with a handful of pocket sand.

I like your theory.

On a slightly unrelated topic- why do you think the Institute would want to take Shaun? What do they want with those in cryostasis?

Maybe they wanted to conduct some sort of experiment on Shaun seeing as he was one of the remaining pre-War survivors of Vault 111 (before you awoke, of course.) Maybe see if they could make him to a cyborg?

apart from having slighty different perks(black widow etc) and voice there wont be much difference between the playable couple. take my word for it.

Hi, I'm good. Definitely not Bethesda though, at least not yet anyway!

Shaun and his parents have very unique DNA, especially as I believe they will be the last three remaining survivors of vault 111. When the pod with our spouse and child is taken (which I believe is in 2258), every other human being alive could have been affected by either the nuclear holocaust or the http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Forced_Evolutionary_Virus virus, or a combination of both. Either one of these could have resulted in genetic mutation in previous generations, which would affect current bloodlines. And so the pure DNA of our protagonist's family makes them incredibly valuable. As for which pod is taken, the pod containing the child would sadly be the preferred choice, due to the Institute's plan to weaponise the child as detailed above.

Note that the reason the pod would be completely removed is due to the immense pressure required to properly maintain a body in stasis. This high pressure (my guess is around 24 atm, similar to that outside of a submarine at 800 feet) would prevent water from expanding, which would otherwise kill whoever was inside the pod. The liquid coolant in the outer layer of the pod would rapidly reduce the temperature inside until cell progression completely stops, effectively preserving those inside indefinitely. If the pods were to be opened in this environment, whoever was inside would be instantly crushed to death.

Also, the reason why our protagonist would be left inside the vault is to allow for the unlikely event that anything should happen to the other two subjects either during or after transportation back to the institute. They would effectively act as an insurance policy so that the Institute could still carry out their work. Finally, how does our protagonist end up waking from stasis? After our spouse escapes from the Institute (following many years of torturous experimentation), they realise that we are the only hope for Shaun being recovered alive, and so they remotely trigger a system failure inside the vault that deactivates the cryo pod and unlocks the controls to the vault door.

That's an interesting theory, being related to the Maxsons. Unsure of the ramifications, if there are any, besides being Arthur Maxsons maybe great great uncle/cousin from some side of the family.

If Shaun doesn't make it into the vault, he might become a ghoul. In that case, we might see him leading a faction of ghouls. Taking into account the name some occupants of Tenpenny Tower have for ghouls (i.e. zombies), we could see an oblique reference to Shaun of the Dead.

Or worse perhaps Gk should take the Test....

Hand slowly drifts to holster. "No really take the test."

(waiting on Gkk7z's full theory of exactly what the speech at the veterans hall would be about. )

Dude's from the UK. Doubt he really works for Bethesda.