Charon (Fallout 3)

Charon is a possible companion and the ghoul bouncer of The Ninth Circle in 2277.

Background
A quiet and intimidating ghoul, Charon is Ahzrukhal's personal bodyguard and soldier. Every couple of days, Ahzrukhal sends Charon out to run some kind of errand. He always leaves packed with weaponry, and returns with a bag of caps. He's loyal to who ever holds his contract beyond question, and will do whatever his employer orders. Charon never sleeps - a strange trait even for a ghoul - and when he's in Underworld, he hangs out in the bar. There are rumors that he is unhappy with his position but can't leave Ahzrukhal's employ.

Although little is said about Charon's past, Ahzrukhal will tell the Lone Wanderer that he was raised by a group of people who brainwashed him into obeying whomever has his contract. Ahzrukhal insists that he is not a slave, and implies that Charon did something in the past to deserve his "employment" with Ahzrukhal. While the terms of the contract are never shown, if Charon is asked to retrieve the G.E.C.K. in Vault 87, he says that he is only good for combat services, and that he is "nobody's errand boy."

Daily schedule
At The Ninth Circle, he is the bouncer. He stands in the corner until needed. If fired by the Lone Wanderer, he will return there and sit in a nearby chair.

Quests

 * Hired Help: One can receive Charon's contract for free by killing Greta for Ahzrukhal, or by paying a large amount of caps.
 * Take it Back!: With Broken Steel installed, Charon can be ordered to activate the purifier, despite his previous refusal to retrieve the G.E.C.K. in Vault 87.

Effects of player's actions

 * The player character can obtain Charon's contract by paying Ahzrukhal 2,000 or 1,000 caps (Barter 50), or by agreeing to kill Greta. Acquiring Charon's contract makes him a potential companion. Once he is no longer bound by honor to serve Ahzrukhal, Charon will kill him, because Ahzrukhal has "very evil" karma.
 * Charon follows a personal moral path. Stealing in Underworld turns him hostile. If the Lone Wanderer kills a good non-player character in Charon's presence, Charon will become upset and, if subsequently fired, go hostile.

Appearances
Charon appears only in Fallout 3.

Behind the scenes

 * In Greek mythology, Charon (or Kharon) is the ferryman of Hades who carried souls of the newly deceased across the rivers Styx and Acheron, which divided the world of the living from the world of the dead.
 * Charon will occasionally remark that he finds happiness in a warm gun, alluding to a song called 'Happiness is a Warm Gun' by The Beatles.

Bugs

 * When buying Charon's contract from Ahzrukhal, a bug can occur during their interaction that leaves one, or both of them, unable to respond to the player (i.e. Charon will not follow you and/or Ahzrukhal will not talk to you). This bug may happen if Ahzrukhal is asleep. When Charon goes to wake him, Ahzrukhal will say his first line of dialog and Charon will stay in place. Ahzrukhal will then go to the area he is in originally when you walk in during the day. It can be solved on the PC by using the in-game console command "resurrect" to reset the problematic non-player characters. On the Xbox 360 this bug can sometimes be solved by exiting and re-entering the game.
 * This bug can be avoided altogether by simply waiting for Ahzrukhal to wake up before telling Charon you now own his contract.
 * Charon cannot be recruited if Ahzrukhal is killed before his quest is completed, as Charon's contract can only be obtained through completion of the quest. Charon will simply tell the Wanderer talk to Ahzrukhal, even if Ahzrukhal is dead.
 * If you hire Charon as a follower, he may not follow you through the concourse but will appear again outside the museum entrance.
 * Sometimes Charon will not follow you outside of underworld but will still appear outside of the Museum of History. This can be fixed by saving out side of underworld then loading the save game and he will appear.
 * Charon may not be able to leave the Ninth Circle, even into Underworld.
 * If you equip Charon with only the Chinese stealth armor and leave the dialogue, he will equip it and be able to become cloaked. If while cloaked you talk to him and give him power armor (possibly any armor) while he is cloaked and leave the trade equipment screen, he will put the power armor on and still be able to sneak allowing you to grab the now unequipped Chinese stealth armor and wear the Chinese stealth armor yourself.
 * At times, he may shoot dead bodies the same way he shoots Ahzrukhal.
 * If fired he may become stuck on something while walking and be unable to return to the Ninth Circle.
 * If Charon is equipped with a power armor helmet, his dialogue options 'cut out' due to a bug related to the sound files of Charon's voice and the voice modulation of the power armor helmet. (requires further confirmation for xbox 360)
 * If Charon dies when he is still under the contract you cannot fire him or drop his contract from your inventory, this result makes the player permanently unable to acquire a human companion. This bug can be fixed by loading an auto-save or save file.
 * If you enter the Outcast Base from Operation:Anchorage, Charon will disappear and not come back. The game will still act as if he is still in your party, so you cannot get another companion. A fix to this is to fast travel to Underworld, wait for 24 hours, then fast travel back to the Outcast Base. Charon will be outside the lift and act as if he was told to wait. Simply talk to him and tell him, "Let's go" to get him to follow again.