Preston Garvey



Preston Garvey is a senior officer of the Commonwealth Minutemen, a volunteer defense militia operating in the Commonwealth in 2287. He is also available as a companion of the Sole Survivor.

Background
Preston Garvey originally enrolled with the Minutemen under Colonel Hollis at the age of seventeen. An avid believer in the espoused justice of the Minutemen cause, Preston rose through their ranks to become an officer under the direct command of Hollis himself.

Regrettably, as Preston states, the Minutemen settlements grew complacent. Freed from the greater concerns of the erstwhile dangers of the Commonwealth, settlements increasingly neglected their obligations to the collective in favor of petty self-interests.

In 2287, Sturges - an inhabitant of the influential trading hub at Quincy - requested the aid of the Minutemen after having heard one of Mama Murphy’s visions, which foresaw the town being surrounded and massacred (the terminal of a Quincy shopkeeper indicates that the other townsfolk saw Mama Murphy as a burnt-out drug addict; but Sturges went behind his fellow citizens to invoke the protection of the Minutemen). Preston joined Hollis on a mission to rescue Quincy, where they found the Gunners besieging it.

The Minutemen dispersed the Gunner lines and were welcomed by the battle-weary citizens of Quincy; the Gunners temporarily retreated. The Minutemen quickly moved to fortify the town but their efforts proved insufficient as, according to a terminal in the northwestern part of the town, the Gunners reformed their lines and relentlessly probed the town's defenses for weaknesses.

The last recording in the terminal indicates that an ex-Minutemen officer named Clint revealed himself to Colonel Hollis as the leader of the invading force. Hollis notes extreme anger at this betrayal, while the terminals of the citizens express confusion and frustration. Clint sought to establish terms of surrender for Quincy and its defenders; these terms were summarily rejected by Hollis.

While the subsequent events are not explicitly recorded in text, the outcome for the Minutemen is broadly established by dialogue with Preston and various other wastelanders: the Minutemen requested support, which did not arrive; the Gunners overwhelmed the defenders; and murdered nearly all of the civilians; Col. Hollis, the linchpin of the long-dwindling Minutemen cause, died fighting.

The event is known as the Quincy Massacre, and it catalyzed the disintegration of the remaining Minutemen settlements.

Consequently, Preston gathered the few remaining Quincy civilians and loyal Minutemen and fled to Jamaica Plain. However, they were eventually caught up to by Clint's Gunners, who killed some of the settlers and drove the rest from their camp. The refugees next moved to Lexington. Regrettably, as Preston testifies, Lexington was filled with feral ghouls; the hardships of the town gradually whittled the group's numbers down to just over ten. Eventually the group moved to Concord where they took shelter in the Museum of Freedom, only to find themselves under the constant predation of raiders.

By the time the Sole Survivor arrives to help Preston, he is the temporary leader of the Minutemen. His group numbers only five - a mere fraction of the original twenty who escaped Quincy under his guidance.

Post-Quincy
Preston hopes to rebuild the Minutemen with aid from the Sole Survivor. After appointing the Sole Survivor as the new General of the Minutemen, he assigns quests that slowly extend the influence of the organization by capturing new territory and defending the settlements already loyal to the cause.

Once the Sole Survivor reaches a high enough level of prestige with the Minutemen, Preston will notify the Sole Survivor of an old stronghold known as "The Castle". Taking the Castle will unlock the final quest line for the Minutemen and ultimately the Artillery piece improvement.

Quests

 * When Freedom Calls: Preston asks of the Sole Survivor to equip properly and clear out Concord so he and his people can move away to a safer place.
 * The First Step: Preston asks the Sole Survivor to help out a settlement. If this quest is completed, Preston will become available as a companion.
 * Taking Independence: Preston asks the Sole Survivor to help take back The Castle (Fort Independence) previously occupied by the Minutemen.
 * The Molecular Level: If the Survivor chooses to build the Relay Interceptor with the Minutemen, Garvey will tell them to ask Sturges for help, since he's the best engineer he's ever met.
 * Defend the Castle: If played as part of the Minutemen quest line, Garvey will assist in defending the Castle from the Institute attackers.
 * The Nuclear Option: Garvey, along with Sturges and a few other Minutemen, will assist the Survivor during their attack on the Institute. Garvey will also be present when the Survivor sets off the nuclear blast from atop the Mass Fusion building.
 * Radiant Minutemen quests: Garvey will assign the Sole Survivor up to three radiant quests every time he is spoken to, provided none of the quests mentioned above are currently active.

Effects of player's actions

 * Maximizing approval with Preston Garvey grants the United We Stand perk, which increases damage dealt by 20% as well as increasing damage resistance by 20 points when facing 3 or more enemies at once. Maximum affinity can be achieved after attaching 67 weapon modifications; read the United We Stand perk page for more information.
 * He will instantly leave if the Sole Survivor attacks a Minuteman.
 * He is one of the possible love interests for the Sole Survivor.

Appearances
Preston Garvey appears in Fallout 4 and Fallout Shelter.