Throughout the game there are hints and outright statements/examples that someone can be a synth and not even realize it, with a full set of back-dated memories. The whole Blade Runner problem with Rachel and Deckard (yes, he's clearly an android), which was repeated in the reboot of Battlestar Galactica.

In Fallout 4, Danse is one example of an unwitting synth, the mayor of Diamond City is another, those farmers, etc. Hell, when shooting up the Institute I noticed an awful lot of the scientists were also synths (black blood)(yes, I mowed down a room of unarmed scientists because screw those guys), and earlier tours of the place didn't give any hint that they knew they were synths. There WERE humanoid synths in the Institute who DID know they were synths, but none of the scientists ever behaved that way.

So why do we assume that the Sole Survivor himself/herself isn't an unaware synth? All of his/her memories pre-war could have been fabricated. The thawing-out sequence could have been staged, and the Sole Survivor set loose to (hopefully) wreak havoc on the Institute's enemies. Really, the only evidence I see that Sole Survivor is NOT a synth is the fact that going that route doesn't present any obvious upsides for the institute. What was the Sole Survivor intended to do? What was the mission the Institute wanted completed?

The thing is, that same problem applies to the decision to leave the Sole Survivor alive and then thaw him out if he IS real. All of the same risks of unpredictability were there, as was the lack of a clear upside for the Institute. When I did my playthrough I kept expecting Shaun to reveal that he was running an elaborate long con and that he'd thawed his dad out so that revenge would be taken against the SOBs that killed Shaun's mom and kidnapped him. That would've made the rationale for thawing pops out more clear, but they (Bethesda) didn't go that route. Then again, if Shaun just wanted revenge on the Institute he could've played along until he got the necessary access codes and then set the reactor to go critical. No need for dad to get involved.

Seems to me like playing around with the Sole Survivor's true nature could make for a really cool DLC.

Thoughts?

It cant be fabricated because we experience it.. it isnt a flash back. You see him in pre war times, and you control him as his life plays out after that. Sure if you never played during that part it could be made an assumption, but we have.

Plus, the gen 3 synths were not created until long after his cryostasis.

I was really wondering this too after I got into the institute. It dawned on me that wait maybe I am a synth too! Father keeps asking questions about synth experience and a few key scientists seem to remark how lifelike the generation 3 synths are....I'm like wait are you talking about me!?

You THINK you experienced it in real time, but that could be fabricated. Danse had an entire fabricated life he remembered. As for when Sole Survivor went into cryo, if he's got false memories he was NO idea when he ACTUALLY went under. It could have been MINUTES before he thawed out, but since he had "memories" of going in centuries earlier he thinks a lot of time passed.

I honestly believe that this is where Bethesda wanted to go with the story. If anyone has watched http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0212720/ by Stanley Kubrick and Steven Spielberg, the robot boy, David is trying to become a real boy so his owner/mother can love him again. His journey leads him back to an institute like place, sheltered from the rest of humanity, where they focus on creating robots.

The lead scientist there has an extremely similar exchange of words with David (the robot boy) that father has with you in terms of going through all these obstacles to find him.

The only thing that doesn't make sense on Fallout's end is why Father would have that exact same exchange in conversation with you, the player. Isn't it obvious that he would try to find his son against all odds? Why is Father so surprised.

My guess/theory is that they decided to just write out the part where they reveal that you're a synth because it's more of a mentality than having any sort of physical or characteristic impact and that a lot of people would freak out, similar to what's going on with having a voiced protagonist, streamlining skills, etc..

I think that exchange of words that father has was never properly tailored to reflect something more human.

There has been plenty of theories like that before game release, but to be honest it wud be kinda boring if it was true.

Btw they do explain why they left you alive, also i assume you eather didnt play out the story with joining institute or it wud become pretty clear that you arent a synth unless ofcourse no rules that apply to all other gen 3 synths apply to you.(wont go into details so you can enjoy playing it for yourself but lets just say you being synth taking into account all the rest we know about Institute, its pollicies about synths etc.. just doesnt fly - it cud semi work if going with other factions but there wud still be problems with it being viable theory)

I don't really have any thoughts about the subject, but I wanted to add/clarify a couple things. First, the Mayor definitely knows that he is a synth. Talk to Ayo after a certain point, and you'll get a quest that involves him and shows you so. Second, I don't think that black blood is proof that someone is a synth. It's more likely just to be badly created blood. The most reliable way to tell is if they have a synth component on their body after you kill them.

Black blood has nothing to do with them being synths or not(it eather lighting effect or simply badly made texture), there is a quest ingame that tells us that Gen 3 synth is virtualy same as human and even performing standard medical exams wont show anything non human about them(blood works, x-rays etc... i guess MRI/CET machines eather dont exist in Fallout or none of the factions has em working cuz those should show the few small synthetic parts), so basicly what that quest tells you is that only way of telling someone is a synth is with a full disection which is why they are trying to develop reliable psychological tests for determining it with very limited succes even after years of experimentation.(not very effective though since they still often mistake humans for synths using that method).

Ingame marker of somebody being a gen 3 synth is a synth component you can loot off their body once they are dead.(that is there for game mehanic purposes rly since it shouldnt rly be there considering the rest we learn about gen 3 synths.

I didn't read all the comments, but the first thing that came to my mind was "Can synths use stimpacks? How would the institute replicate human reactions to chemicals so perfectly? And wouldn't the lone survivor be immune to radiation?".

This coming from me, I haven't touched the main story yet. I'm level 26 and still just wandering around doing random side quests, so if dealing with the institute in game answers these questions, I wouldn't know. lol

As said in previus post Gen 3 synths are virtualy human only real diference is they have few small cybernetic parts, so sure stimpacks work on them normaly as do all the chems/addictions/deseases/radiation and even aging, ofcourse all that applies only to Gen 3 synths previus types are completly diferent story.

Yoooo sorta big spoiler? But not really.

I honestly prefer the "Man Out of Time" concept to being a sleeper android. It's more open ended and the SS's fate isn't tied to the Institute but what he chooses to do with it after that chapter of his life is dealt with. Does he conquer the Wasteland as the next Elder of the BoS? Does he pull a George Washington and create a new nation on the remnants of Massachusetts with his pre-war wisdom? Does he fade away into obscurity? Being an android would tie the sole survivor too closely to the Institute and indirectly the Rail Road.

The Instatute was unable to turn Shawn into a Synth before he died and was unable to alter the memories of the Synth pretending to be Shawn so he wouldn't freek out when he saw you like he did, how would they turn you into a Synth without your knowlage if they cannot turn a human into a Synth or implant fake memories from a human to a Synth?

It's weird because they CAN upload memories into Synths.

Hell, the RAILROAD can upload memories into Synths.

I honestly had this thought when I embarked into the Institute.

Seriously, you go in, and suddenly you're welcomed with open arms and given free access to the surface. I couldn't help but wonder - did I port in here, get captured, my memories uploaded into the Synth and then they "switched it on" at the relay station and proceeded to act as though it was my first time there?

I thought they just whipped their memories like they said and when the detective gets calog's memories he cannot make sence of them on his own, he needs your help.

No the railroad can definitely implant memories. Deacon mentions that he was one of the Synths freed before the Railroad perfected implanting memories into Synths. He ended up with a blank slate - no memories at all.

And yeah, the Mayor of Diamond City knows he's a Synth. If you pay attention, you can discover he has regular meetings with the Institute. And he has career ambitions inside the organization.

Which the Institute doesn't like. SRB gave him two weeks till termination.

It's just a shame you can't talk to the Mayor about it. Dude's a Synth, but he takes his cover seriously and deserves to know he's made SRB's crap list.

Deacon lied to you lol

Remember the nervous synth that you helped at the church near Bunker Hill? If you continued that storyline, he gets his memory's replaced in the Memory Den. At that point, you could even go into the basemant and see he has the memories of a completely different person and doesn't even remember you.

Which is one of the reasons the Railroad has some really really [censored] up policies.

They're essentially murdering every Synth they free.

Well, the Memory Den process is completely optional and voluntary for each synth. They have a choice. They could also not get their minds wiped. HZ1 or w/e he's called didn't want to remember any of his time in the Institute. It also helps them survive more if they don't remember, just in case they somehow slip up. I don't really agree that erasing their memories is like killing them, but under your definition, it's more like voluntary assisted suicide.

What if you downloaded someone else's save game from Nexus just as the SS is leaving the Vault. Surely in this case the SS could be a Synth.

Wouldn't doubt it.

When I was tasked with eliminating the Railroad leadership by the Institute, I felt bad about killing Deacon, since we had traveled together a lot. Then I remembered he had given me his recall code, and asked me not to look at it. I never did, out of respect for him.

As I crouched, unseen in the shadows, gun aimed at the back of his head, I remembered the code. Realized I may have a way to eliminate him without "killing" him. So I read the recall code. And was immediately over taken by bittersweet sadness. "You can't trust some people." You were right, Deacon. You were right. BLAM!

I think they made the Sole Survivor a human being because making him a Synth would overdo the plotline.

Like how mages and templars were done to death in Dragon Age.