Warning: There be Spoilers Here

Hello, everyone. I'm not new to the forums, although it's been so long that I forgot my former username! ... Ahem. So, I searched and couldn't find a topic for a theory that's been bandied about other places -- but apologies if a similar thread has been posted already. Anyway, put on your tinfoil hats, kids, and ask yourselves:

What if the main character is actually an android?

I know, I know, but just hear me out. The survivor wakes up 200 years after the Great War, alone. Now, either that ends up some exceptional genes and napping power, or there's something else going on. Now, you're probably saying, "But tinker_tailor, isn't it more likely that the main character wakes from some kind of stasis sleep? That's pretty much a locked deal."

Maybe. But that's common sense country, and we can't stop there. And anyway, stasis doesn't preclude this android theory. (More on that in a bit.) So. Let's say that you get lowered into Vault 111 with your family, as mentioned in Bethesda's showcase. But Vaults, they were never really meant to save anyone. And most of them come with the added "bonus" of involving experiments, the kind of experiments that can drive people literally crazy ... or worse. So what is this particular vault's experiment? Why, an advanced and unproven technology that is going to be unleased on the vault population, of course!

Some of you are no doubt skeptical. "The tech of 2077 wasn't anywhere near the level it needed to be for androids -- and besides, everyone knows that the Institute invented them!" Tech in the Fallout 'verse wasn't up to snuff, you're right ... if you ignore canon. Canon that included a little thing called Skynet, for instance. I won't give away any big spoilers, but let's just say that Skynet's existence could provide a way of getting around certain technological limitations. That's not the only way to play with what exists. According to what lore there is on computers, microchips do actually exist but they're just very, very rare. (I'd post a link to the right sources if I could, but the "Computer" entry of the Fallout pages on gampedia are ones I can't link to as a noob.

(But search engines do exist for a reason. So.)

"Ah-ha," you cry at your screen at this very moment in triumph, "tinker_tailor, you poor, deluded fool. An android would know she's an android. They're not like humans at all!"

To you I say, "Harkness," and drop the mic I keep next to me at all times.

Anyhow, to get on with this post, you're lowered into 111. You and your family survives. But you wake up 200 years later, alone, all other vaulties gone or dead. Why?

You were an android created in a vault experiment and filled with memories of a human advlt because Vault-Tec needs its lulz. (Did Dr. Braun design this one too? Did you relive your "life" through a simulation, like those people in 112? Maaaaybe.) Could be you weren't the only android made, either. Could be other ones were activated and sent into the wastes before you believing that they just came out of stasis too, but that doesn't matter. Your "family" is long dead ... and, worse, they weren't yours anyway. You're an echo.

(Also, in this scenario, the Institute totally found androids from 111 wandering the wastes and reverse-engineered the technology before crowing about how they invented it.)

Not a bad theory. We all know vaults were giant laboratories. Androids were rather new technology so building androids in a vault is perfectly reasonable. It would also allow our player to have something unique (implants and such) much like the Dovah's shouts in Skyrim. Now you lost me when you started saying Skynet is cannon but....the basis of your theory could make sense.

I think this is a strong possibility. I expect that even if we prove to be human, Beth will tease us with the possibility.

Maybe the dog is an android, too? I wonder if a real dog wouldn't sense you weren't human.

I wish I could say you were first to this party, but that was like, the first or second character theory out the gate.

Im hoping my character Will be an undercover Wookie.


For roleplaying purposes of course.

Forgive me for not being clearer. I can't post links since this account is new, but Skynet is a particular character in the Fallout 'verse, one undoubtedly named as an homage to Terminator. The technology involved in Fallout's Skynet is another possibility on how an advanced robot (well, more like a cyborg in this case) could exist in a world with very limited computer technology.

Ah, but I never suggested I was the first. As I said above, the android theory has been "bandied" about other places. I just didn't find it in the Fallout 4 forum here.

The theory is old... and would be way to obviously. Many theories except just this... And it would be boring and annoying...

I see no problem with cyrostasis. This would be the experiment. Cyrostasis.

I just highly doubt it. The whole "android" thing would be too much, I think. It would, I think, disassociate me from my character. There could very well be options to convert oneself into an android or cyborg through various technological upgrades, let's not forget that Boston is home to MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and they could most likely offer these upgrades.

But where is the delicious psychological mayhem in that?

As for boring, nothing new exists under the sun, to use a familiar phrase. Despite that, it's what you do with old tropes that count. There are so many places a story like this could go. If the character's origin if revealed relatively early in the story, or if it's merely suggested as an ambiguous possibility, it allows for a degree of interesting questions. What makes a person a person has been debated for as long as there have been people around to debate the issue. How much do any of us have free will? How much do any of us have "programming?" How many differences are there between a human being and an android indistinguishable from one?

We've been imagining what would happen if we created life since at least Pygmalion's statue. The theme isn't going anywhere.

And it would make joining various factions in this game -- if factions can be joined -- very intriguing indeed.

I read (i think it may have been IGN or maybe Game Informer) that the rumour is you wake up in a cryotube. If that is the case then it reduces the likelihood of electric sheep dreams. Even so things may not be what they first appear. /shrug

I said this in the last one, but if you are an andriod, wouldn't you be immune to radiation? Completely bypassing the need for rad-x/away, and well, radiation itself.

Unless your andriod body was designed to detect and simulate it's effects, which would just be silly.

I addressed that in my post up top -- the character only believies that she or he awoke from stasis as part of a simulation. Since those rumors stem from the alleged Kotaku leaks and those are from the point of view of the main character ... well, no one ever said a narrator had to be reliable.

People have speculated (in the most cynical of fashions) on this ever since Boston was rumored to be the setting; for years now.

Unless you are programmed to be affected by it.

Quite frankly I would be pissed off. I'm not some damned synthetic copy. My characters are grade a humans.

People forget

don't they?

Edited: formatting. Twice.

Am I the only one who thinks that Codsworth would be the first to notice if you were an android or not?

Frankly, I don't care if they do pull the android card, but I still hope we're human. I don't think there is any time to make an android version of our character in the vault. Everyone, from what speculation has brought us, is put into a cryo-state. There is literally no one around to make an android. Because remember, androids were never human in the first place, all machine. Cyborgs were once human. I just don't think the timeline for the events of the game could fit the theory. That's just my personal opinion though.

Sure why not. But I also want 'our' kid to be the antagonist for like the meatiest ~dramatic look~ cliche story ever.

Zany Institute scientists enter vault, procure specimen (you), take it to the institute, duplicate it, implant memories, return it to the vault.

Why? Maybe there's an enemy they want infiltrated and your assassian programming will kick in when you see a certain target (maybe a descendant?).

Codsworth could easily be reprogrammed to treat you as human.

For the record, I hope we aren't an android but I can live with it. If nothing else it will explain our insane skills progression.

In Fallout 3

If they couldn't notice anything "off," I doubt a metal butler left in the apocalypse for 200 years is a reliable gauge of simulated humanity. As for the rest of your points, I addressed them above: it was a vault experiment, stasis was part of simulation, etc.

All cliches exist for a reason: they were told effectively at least once. But as far as the "evil son" theory goes, that is a bridge too far even for me.

It's not exactly concrete, but Pete did say something that could hint at cryostasis in http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1522752-cryogenics-confirmed thread I posted up a short while ago. Just sayin...

Vaults are harder to get into than most old world things. Even if they did, they don't have any information on what could be inside the vault. Whatever inside could be hostile, and I really don't think scientists would take that chance. It would be easier to use a raider or kidnap some other wasteland native. Also, I just don't see the point in bringing the specimen back and putting them back into stasis all for a future plot. I understand the theory, but it would be too much of a 'oh-what-a-coincedence- to accept. They wouldn't know who Codsworth is. I doubt he is in some obscure registry. That too, would be too much of a coincidence. Narratives are meant to flow. Like I said, I would accept if they made us an android (as silly as that would be), but it has to make sense.

(Oh, and if they put the android back into stasis, extreme cold could disable it or make it less capable than it was before. That certainly isn't something the Institute wanted.)

Cutting yourself shaving is one thing, and a complete non-issue. But if you were going to program an andriod to suffer the effects of radiation, you would also have to have it ultimately "die" from too much exposure I would imagine. I mean you might as well go the whole way. I just have to question why you would do that, it just seems like a monumental waste of time, if the android has been programmed for some purpose to give it such a weakness.

I understand your point, but Harkness was programmed to avoid/ignore the subject. Sure, Codsworth may be 200 years old (I definitely see your point here), but he is "free' in a sense. As a housebot, his duty is to adhere to the master of the home and his family. They can't do their job well if they can't recognize their master.

I do believe Vault 111 deals with stasis, but androids are not likely to be a part of it. If they are, there should be a better reason than 'we-are-doing-this-for-the-heck-of-it'.