TheFalloutseries has long allowed players to embody many different roles throughout its games. From becoming the savior of Vault 13 inFallout 1to a leader within Caesar’s Legion inFallout: New Vegas, players in theFalloutgames can fill multiple roles depending on the choices they make affecting the various wastelands. However, one role inFallout 4was removed prior to the game’s official release: the role as Elder of the Brotherhood of Steel. While this option was removed fromFallout 4’s Brotherhood of Steel storyline, Bethesda should strive to bring the role of Elder back in the eventualFallout 5.
Fallout’s Brotherhood of Steel Elders Explained
The Brotherhood of Steel in theFalloutseriesis a faction of militaristic technocratic personnel initially derived from rogue remnants of the United States military. The Brotherhood’s primary goal is to locate, repair, and withhold dangerous pre-war technology from the many inhabitants of the wastelands in order to prevent the misuse of said technology that caused the apocalypse in the first place. To achieve this goal, the Brotherhood’s founders reorganized the military’s remnants to be more structured akin to medieval orders of knights and monarchies. At the top of the Brotherhood’s leadership were the Elders.
High Elders served as the Brotherhood of Steel’s supreme leaders, with every chapter and member of the Brotherhood being forced to swear allegiance to them and follow their every command. Typically, there’s only one High Elder active at any given time, such as theBrotherhood of Steel’s founder, Roger Maxson. Directly below the High Elders are the Elders, who serve as leaders for individual regional chapters of the Brotherhood. Despite their medieval hierarchy, Elders can be elected via votes by members within an individual chapter, such as the appointment of Arthur Maxson to Elder following the death of Sarah Lyons. Notable Elders encountered in theFalloutseries include Owyn Lyons, Nolan McNamara, and Arthur Maxson.
Fallout 4 Removed the Option to Become an Elder of the Brotherhood of Steel
The following contains spoilers forFallout 4’s Brotherhood of Steel questline.
InFallout 4, the Lone Survivor can joinArthur Maxson’s chapter of the Brotherhood of Steeland serve directly alongside Paladin Danse. Eventually, players can discover that Danse is actually an Institute Synth, subsequently forcing the player to either kill Danse per Maxson’s orders or convince Maxson to have Danse leave the Brotherhood in exile. However, a third option was removed from the game which would have allowed Danse and the player to challenge and kill Maxson for leadership. Once Maxson was dead, Danse would have appointed the Lone Survivor as the new Elder of this chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel.
This option to become Elder withinFallout 4’s Blind Betrayal quest line could be played through with the mod The Danse Dilemma by DavidTheFalcon.
Fallout 5’s Potential of Becoming Elder of the Brotherhood of Steel
While it’s currently unknown when or where the eventualFallout 5game will take place, there’s still a lot of potential for players to become Elder of the Brotherhood in the next mainlineFalloutgame. Similar toFallout 4’s original Brotherhood storylineending,Fallout 5could have one potential ending for the player becoming an Elder for a certain chapter of the Brotherhood alongside other potential endgames. With the Western chapter restricting its ranks to those found only within the Brotherhood itself and the Eastern recently reuniting with the West in theFalloutshow,Fallout 5’s Brotherhood may have to be a new unknown chapter or be a relatively unseen chapter in order for the player to become Elder.
InFallout Tactics: Brotherhood of Steel, a chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel is shown to have been developed from survivors of crashed airships around the Chicago wasteland. This Midwestern chapter was cut off from both the Western and Eastern chapters and served to help defend the local populace from Super Mutants and other threats. Due to their limited numbers and goal of helping locals, this chapter often recruited locals into their ranks, even those who were turned into Ghouls and Super Mutants. While most of this game is considered non-canon, a new survivor could easily become Elder of this Brotherhood chapter if the nextFalloutgame is set in Chicago.
