I can assure you that this is not wild speculation, but is in fact evidence based. In one of my earlier comments on this thread, I have provided links to two interviews with Brian T Delaney, the voice actor for the male protagonist. During the first interview, he makes a comment about the protagonist's family members that strongly suggests they are both still alive during gameplay. In the second interview however, he makes a big point of not revealing the very same information he mentioned in the first. This would suggest that he was asked not to speak about this in subsequent interviews.

I play dual simultaneous characters in all of Bethesda's games. I've been doing it since 2003. My first attempt was to play two sisters, one of whom began Morrowind's main quest and then disappeared under mysterious circumstances. I recreated her an an NPC and dropped her in a random spot on the exterior Vvardenfell map. I then created sister number two, who arrived on Vvardenfell to search for her missing sister.

Neither my character nor myself knew where the sister was located. I only knew she wasn't in an interior. So it could take some time to find her. It was kind of like the old Kung Fu TV show, where Caine spent episode after episode searching for his brother. She would get involved in the lives of the people she met along the way, do side quests, whatever felt right at the moment. It was very open-ended.

Every time I have done this it is different. Sometimes we never find the missing sister, sometimes we find her relatively quickly. If we did find her she would join up with us and we would become an adventuring party of three.

I've used this basic idea in all of Bethesda's games since then. I'll start characters on opposite sides of a map with the "main quest" of trying to find each other. Sometimes I'll have them almost meet...but not quite. Or one may pursue the other as the other flees. Or they may be working toward a common goal but in different parts of the map. There's all sorts of variations that can be done. Using the editor I can have one drop incriminating evidence that the other finds. Or they may pass notes to each other, giving each other tips, warning of dangers, ect (this can be a good in-game way of working around the player knowledge/character knowledge dilemma).

I can actually have more fun creating these scenarios with two protagonists than I do playing Bethesda's game.

This sounds like an awesome idea! Certainly a very different take on conventional gameplay

If the spouse is alive, then perhaps they are elderly (due to leaving earlier) and that frees you up to romance others. The other option is that the spouse is actually one of your companions ... which makes all the time I spend making her look like Scarlett Johansson worth it.

Since I prefer playing the female PC, I'm tempted to ~start~ the game with my first playthrough as the male PC. That way when I play the character I "want" to play, I'll have the edge of already knowing SOME stuff. Granted, there will be differences in a second playthrough but just playing the game will teach me a lot, I'm sure, and make subsequent playthroughs better. The later plays will not have the same "surprise" factor as the first, granted (unless I find different/new areas/events/NPCs)... but I'd rather have my less-favorite male character pick perks I'm not sure about, and try them out and find out if I like them and then ~later~ make a character that will be more fine-tuned based on the experiences of the first character.

Of course, since I'll be playing a character I don't really fully like, at some point I may throw up my hands and say, "Okay, I've learned enough: you're a poorly-built Frankenstein creation and have made poor choices and I'm going to do things RIGHT the next time!"

It might be possible to play as both characters or all 3 characters. Half the game involves the character you select, then you find your family and can choose to play the husband, wife, or son. It would be funny if your character romances a companion only to realize their spouse is still alive especially if it is a more interesting companion like Fawkes, Lily, or Raul.

More than likely, I'd eventually enjoy playing one character more than the other and simply give up on the other. So I will not attempt this feat. However, it will be done in subsequent playthoughs as I do enjoy seeing differences. I've found that my memory serves me pretty well when gliding down different paths than I previously played... for a time. After multitudes of replays I tend to go back to whichever character I enjoyed playing the most and basically just remaking that character over and over.

From what I heard, it could have referred to a missing son and the SS morning the spouse.

If anything the spouse being dead would only make the SS more determined to find the last of his or her family.

So I still think the spouse is there to help build a link to the son and to have the son's advlt appearance be a mix of the Spouse and the SS.

Still I guess we will find out shortly after 11/10/15.

I like the idea. Not much more to say.

Hi guys, just wanted to let you know that I have refined each protagonist's skill set a little more, and the result is as follows:

Jack

As you can see, both protagonists are now very different from each other. Jack mainly uses stealth, hunting, and infiltration, as well as depending on 'low-tech' methods, and Nora is now a far more formidable character, using power armor, as well as heavy and energy based weapons, and will also focus on trade and interaction. In addition, Nora will make full use of advanced tech throughout the game.

It would be nice to have both firearm and enegry weapon cause there are different resistances to them. That's pretty well known by now.

For Nora, one of her advantages is the focus on plasma weapons, which dish out both types of damage. For Jack, he will also be using explosives, which will allow for tactical planning and setting traps. Also, I'm quite sure the game will be balanced enough to allow for a single focus between the two main damage types.

Plasma does good amounts of damage according to videos, but it most probably will eat all your ammo very quick. As it was in New vegas. Explosives, again, won't be as much as needed to consider them all purpose weapon. Traps were one of my favorites in previous games, but it often requres knowledge on where and when (and what) to plant and it's not always possible to know. Sometimes you have to act very quick and against hard foes. These radscorpions on the video came out of the ground in a meter from you.

And, of course, balancing game with different types of damage\armor the way you could afford focus on one is something to avoid, i believe. It's already been there in previous games. Why to split them now?

I guess you'll have to reconsider your loadout one way or another. And it doesn't take more of game's knowledge than we have by now.

I'm more than happy with the way that both characters are balanced. And I'm sure that Bethesda will have allowed for those who wish to use a single weapon type

Just wanted to post up my SPECIAL stats for both characters:

Jack

S 3 Armor Crafting, (Strong Back)

P 8 Rifleman, Awareness, Lockpick, Explosives, Night Person, Sniper

E 6 Toughness, Lead Belly, Marine Boy, Rad Resistance

C 4 Attack Dog

I 3 Gun Nut

A 3 Sneak

L 1 Fortune Finder, (Scrounger)

Nora

S 5 Big Guns, (Strong Back)

P 1 -

E 3 Life Giver

C 8 Cap Collector, Man Hunter, Local Leader, Inspirational

I 8 Medic, Hacker, Science!, Robotics Expert

A 2 Gunslinger, Commando

L 1 Fortune Finder, (Bloody Mess)

Perks shown in brackets will require addition points in the respective stat

I like the updated builds. I'm also looking forward to Nora's conversation with her husband, assuming she finds him, when she shows up with Preston Garvey.

"Oh him, he's just a friend... I thought you were dead."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aofoBrFNdg

It would be funnier if it was someone like Fawkes.

Howard: Why did you end up with a rotting corpse?

Nora: Don't be racist. Besides he is bigger and smarter than you.

SPECIAL stats have now been added to OP