So, I still have a bit of reading to do, but the Dr. Li bit is WAY too far out in the left field...It's just a contradiction to everything she has done and worked towards. You mean to tell me that this minor character in Fo3 sabotaged James' wife's delivery, orchestrated a vault escape for James (whose wife she allegedly killed), gave the green light on another Vault assault 8 hours due north-east, reverse-engineered the Geck to use it in tandem with a baby's DNA, and finally assembled a synthetic army with Shaun, the now much older baby, leading it in the Institute's bid for total domination?

This is like a Star Wars film written by George Lucas with nobody to creatively challenge him. This is just way too surreal. Dr. Li was never part of the institute, and this is compounded on by Dr. Zimmer being in the same room she is at Rivet City. Not once does he make any mention of her nor does he ever recognize her. There's just no way she has any involvement with the Institute before Fallout 4.

Yeah, no. http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Wan_Yang. Why would Doctor Li be tied in any way to a 200 year old, pre-war plot? She wasn't even alive.

Really interesting theory, good work.

I think the first half of your theory is pretty strong, based on what we have seen in the trailers and such, but I am skeptical about the Dr. Li connection. I am confident that she will play a role in the game, but to be that integral to this game and also the previous one seems a bit unlikely if you ask me.

Also unsure about your "Old City," theory, but it would be cool if that is the case.

my point was more along the lines that she may very well be the descendant of whoever it was, (or shes a ghoul that has access to one hell of a plastic surgon, or shes a pre war Android that was a bit more advanced than what MIT had, or shes a clone)

Or...

Codsworth: Sir.. mam... you should come see this!

News anchor: Their have been reports of nuclear detonations... my God...

Howard: Well... s&!3 happens...

NUCLEAR DETONATION! GAME OVER!

Yeah, I'm gonna have to agree with this one, OP. Dr. Li sounds like a mustache-twirling villain, and it would seem wholly unlikely that she'd orchestrate any of these events as you've outlined. I've already addressed them, but to reiterate:

? Why would she murder Catherine? What purpose would that serve? How would knowing that Li was from the Commonwealth make Catherine a dead woman walking? Even if Li were suspected of doing nefarious things, just what was Catherine going to do about it? Yell at her? Call up the Brotherhood of Steel who was well past getting tired of the whole Project Purity thing by that point? If Li really wanted Catherine gone, all she'd have to do was wait for you to be born and convince her and James that they'd be better off living in Megaton rather than Super Mutant-infested territories. Murdering Catherine (which I don't see how she'd be able to pull it off, seeing as she was surrounded by fellow scientists) seems counter-productive and needlessly cruel and stupid.

If she really were orchestrating a Synthetic army, how would Catherine's death help her? Again, Catherine was a scientist, not a law enforcer. What could she have done? All Li would have to do is simply not say, “Oh, I'm raising an army of Synthetic people” and she'd be fine. Hypothetical!Li managed to do just fine when living for almost twenty years on a rusty battleship without people asking questions, I don't see how she would feel the need to murder one (1) woman to keep her secret.

? How was she even responsible for James' escape in Vault 101? I thought it was made pretty clear James did all that on his own. The Overseer overreacted according and thus the chaotic mess we found ourselves in at the beginning of the game. Dr. Li didn't even know he was escaping until he showed up in front of her. If she did,

In fact, why would hypothetical!Li want James to escape? If she were afraid he'd start playing Wasteland Detective to discover the truth behind his wife's death, letting him out would be the LAST thing she'd want.

? How would Dr. Li even know about a random baby in Vault 111 that had been floating in stasis for almost 180 years at the point you've stated? Just because she's from the Commonwealth doesn't mean she's aware of this sort of thing. For all she knows, Sole Survivor and his family all perished during the Great War nearly two centuries ago. She doesn't know, and she probably doesn't care. She's not the sort of person to obsess about the past.

? Why would she want to help take over the world? No really, WHY? What purpose would that serve her? When had she ever demonstrated world-domination desires?

Interesting theory but...no, I don't really buy that. This is sounding like something Dr. Doom would do, not Dr. Madison Li./

Nora and Jack sounds like good people, which means it will be awkward to play as pure evil character

Not to mention the voice acting.

Don't underestimate the psychological trauma that exiting the vault alone and seeing what's become of the world could inflict on a person.

There's also a good reason not to get between a momma bear and her cubs.

Impressive. I quickly read through the entire post and I am going to need more time and another read through and check out all of the links before I comment. My first impression is ...

You'd be surprise what severe trauma can do to a person who was once a generally nice, upbeat, friendly person. A nuclear war AND the possibility of the spouse and child being dead may equal a person who decides that only merciless strength can keep them alive, since clearly being an upstanding citizen didn't stop the world ending and his/her life being plunged to hell.

Half of the points seem like padding (thanks for telling us that Vault-Tec is evil) and the rest are just pure conjecture of the baseless or mindless kind. Especially all that guff about Dr Li.

Well its certainly a large and indepth grand theory....i'll enjoy pocking holes in it. MMMWWWHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!

Pretty much, if anything I'd find a good character who became evil because he had been totally screwed over and lost everyone that mattered to him more interesting than a 'lets be evil' character who evil just for the sake of being evil.

I love Bethesda, but that is funny.

BTW your FO passion is showing gkk7z

Any chance you could motivate George R. R. Martin to get writing?

Like we're gonna trust the enclave.

Well I read it all and I have to applaud your work on it (and your sanity). Very interesting.

But it all sounds so much like those shows where they try to convince you that aliens made the pyramids and they use the phrase "but what if" over and over again until you start to think they must be correct.

Whatever becomes of the story I hope that Bethesda spent half as much time writing it as you did trying to figure it out.

Pretty much this, some of these theorists connect the dots in a way that puts the actual Bethesda writers to shame.

The aliens made us too...

And they shall return in F4.

I think that's sorta selling Gk's Post short, Its not letting us know there evil, But Just how dang methodical and evil. Heheh Not calling you out, but I happen to be an american (waves flag and acts like an ass in foreign countries) with a dabblers love of history, Particularity the bits that well are a bit embarrassing to the states. See here we have a CYA policy (cover your bum for you britts) which pretty much means It takes close to 50 years, before you get to know what actually happened as by then people who could be held to account are dead. (Chinese exclusion act, Census Bureau involved in Japanese Internment, Mcarthy commie hunt, Tuskegee experiments you get the idea not uhh conspiracy, stuff we really did and now admit). Since "I" never want it to be repeated , Sure love even if its a spoof in game to show exactly how insidious we can be.

Uhh damn sorry, not like me......

Or one night with Fisto.

(ahh thats better)

Everyone is already familiar with Vault-Tec's activities, it's just included like pseudo-waffle to fill out some posts on the "theory".

I would disagree with you, But you are the Enclave and the last post of mine in hindsight did seem a bit subversive...

Instead let me poke at what bothers me about the Dr. Li. As I recall in the tunnels she would not move on when the fellow was having heart troubles , kind of opposite of heartless. ( I may remember it wrong) Though I do think she is the only character that actually had a goal of heading to the commonwealth (asides from Zimmer if not dead). If the time line permits I do expect to see her, just not sure how.

(also since i watched this Funky movie called Dark city hehe) Do you think Synth memories are just programmed in, or could the institute actually copy them from a person and slap em in ?

Yeah, that and absolutely no indication anywhere in the entire of Fallout 3 that suggests she is actually evil and willing to spend 20 years living in the Capital Wasteland as a sleeper agent for the Commonwealth (and having nothing to do with the only quest in the game that actually references them, i.e. Harkness). Nothing to say that she poisoned the Lone Wanderer's mother. Absolutely nothing at-all.

Pinkerton seems to believe that he actually programmed memories into Harkness from scratch, can't remember where they came from though.

I believe he mentions that they came from Vault 112. Which doesn't really make sense since everyone there is pre-war.

He also says that he told Harkness that he was asleep for a long time...

"IS that enclave fella gone?

Ya hes dead wrong. I am thinking about 15% (and this might be lowball) Might actually be THEIR Very first fallout game, and them tenderfoots wont know squat about vault Tec. Unless it is in game. Now true or not if you can honestly read those first thready things and call it all fluff, well I cant convince ya. But something like it in game would sure help the newcomers get that the world is off right away. No need ta go spreading it around though."

Goes back to spray painting "Who watches the watchmen ?" on the wall.

That sounds like a really bad porm movie.