Randall Clark

Randall Dean Clark (known as The Father in the Cave by the Sorrows), was a survivalist inhabiting Zion National Park in the aftermath of the Great War of 2077. The notes he left on computer terminals around Zion detail his experiences in first losing his family to the bombs, his subsequent survival in living off the land when the radiation in the area clears and vegetation and wildlife begins to form anew, and the eventual encountering of a new civilization of humanity, later known as the Sorrows Tribe.

Background
Clark, born February 5, 2053, was a soldier prior to the Great War. He served in Canada during its annexation, describing the experience not as frightening, but "just sickening, the criminality of it". He had a wife and son in Salt Lake City, both of whom were killed when the city was destroyed in the war. When the bombs fell, Clark was driving home from one of his frequent solitary hiking trips in the wild. Guilt over the fact that he did not die with his family would haunt him for years to come.

His truck rendered useless by the EMP blast associated with the bombs' detonation, Clark hiked back to Zion and took shelter in a cave. Fortunately for him, the cave in question was a USGS research site that the associated scientific team hastily abandoned after the bombs fell, ostensibly trying to get back to their families. The abandoned food stores left by the team proved invaluable to Clark, as the radiation levels outside forced him to remain in the cave for several months. This duration surprised him as the Army had told him that nuclear fallout took only 2-4 weeks to clear.

Once it was safe to go outside, he was astounded by the new life forms that had developed, not the least were his sightings of other humans in Zion. In his observations of a group of Spanish speaking refugees, having initially been skeptical of these new inhabitants, he ends up feeling compassion when one of the men breaks their leg. Clark secretly calls for help and leaves medicine. He tries to intervene directly when a Vault 22 expedition, escaping their mutagen infected home, visits Zion and kills or captures most of the refugees. Clark, unable to save the captives from the cannibalistic Vault 22ers, eventually kills the intruders using traps, explosives, and his own rifle from the War, along with a recovered set of Desert Ranger combat armor.

His journals detail his reminiscing of his first family, as well as his romantic relationship with Sylvie, a vault dweller from Vault 22 who was caught in one of Clark's bear traps when escaping from the infection. Over time the two fall for each other and Sylvie becomes pregnant. In tragic circumstances his would-be new son, Michael, dies during childbirth in a breech position, along with Sylvie who was 'put out' with chems during birth and never woke up. Clark's new found reason for living is once again shattered, the loss of now two families causing him to regularly contemplate suicide but never finding the courage to go through with it.

Eventually he acknowledges humanity's 'blind drive onward' of life, becoming a God-like figure to a new group of children who enter the valley, to whom he preaches the value of kindness and how he would be 'silent but still watching and still caring'. Clark leaves them weapons manuals, medical books, and practical supplies, as well as extra equipment in his caves before finally passing away some time in January 2124, aged 70, on Red Gate; staring at the sky during his final moments.

In his final accounts, he attributes his long years of survival as being a result of him not wanting to let his loved ones go, their memories in his mind the best and 'only life' he could have provided them with.

Appearances
's remains appear in the Fallout: New Vegas add-on, Honest Hearts.

Behind the scenes
The Survivalist was designed by J.E. Sawyer, and his diary entries were written by John Gonzalez. He was conceived as a clever ex-military man without a lot of formal education.