Charon (Fallout 3)

, (pronounced 'Share-on') is a possible ghoul companion NPC in Fallout 3. He is noticeably larger than other human or ghoul characters, standing a full head taller than a normal NPC. Brainwashed as a child, he is blindly loyal to the holder of his contract.

Location
Charon resides in the Underworld as a bouncer in The Ninth Circle. He is beholden to the one who holds his contract for "employment", and acquiring this contract is the essence of the unmarked quest Hired Help. See that quest article for details.

Charon is the only NPC (along with Dogmeat) who will join the player regardless of karma. His very first act as your new employee will be to have a "chat" with his former employer, actually blowing Ahzrukhal's head off.

Equipment

 * Charon's default equipment includes a special shotgun: Charon's Shotgun, a Combat Knife and a Leather Armor.


 * Charon is specialized in small guns, sneak and explosives. But still can use powerful big guns and energy weapons. His unique weapon, Charon's Shotgun, has infinite ammo as well as infinite durability. Like default weapons for other NPCs, this shotgun cannot be traded. Compared to the standard Combat Shotgun, Charon's Shotgun has far higher accuracy and longer range, at the cost of a smaller magazine size (5 instead of 12). Generally speaking, Charon's shotgun outclasses any other shotgun in the game.


 * Despite the fact that its look is identical to standard combat shotgun, Charon's shotgun appears to be functionally identical to Lincoln's Repeater. Charon pumps it after each shot, and it even ejects rifle shells similar to Lincoln's Repeater. If you give him a standard combat shotgun and ammo, he will use it and not pump it.


 * Charon can be equipped with alternate armor, and any armor given to him does not appear to degrade with usage. He knows how to use Power Armor even if the player does not. Giving him the T-51b Power Armor can be a good choice. His total carrying capacity is 183.5 pounds.

Combat

 * Charon is very resilient, able to take significant damage before dying. Most enemies are usually no threat to him unless those enemies are Deathclaws, groups of Giant Radscorpions or Enclave soldiers. Due to Charon aiming for the torso instead of the face, Mirelurk Hunters can also greatly harm him if the player does not assist.


 * Charon seems to fearlessly confront any possible enemies and will often notice them and speak out before the player does. He is incredibly accurate with his own shotgun. Occasionally, he will randomly run around and duck for cover.


 * While Charon can hold and use weapons he has ammunition for, it is quite difficult to get him to put down his shotgun. This is due to the fact that a companion will not use a weapon less powerful than their default, and Charon's shotgun is quite strong. He will use a Scoped .44 Magnum, Chinese Assault Rifle or the Shishkebab over his shotgun. If you subsequently order him to use ranged combat, he will switch back to the Chinese Assault Rifle. A fully repaired Chinese Assault Rifle is deadly in Charon's hands. However, he will sometimes apparently switch over to a melee weapon without warning despite orders.


 * There is a trick to make Charon reload without time delay. Simply talk to him when fighting, ask for trade(force reload) or just close the dialog when he is about to reload. This can save him from dangerous situations.


 * Charon is the only follower who is expert in sneak and explosive weapons.

Quotes

 * General
 * "Talk. To. Ahzrukhal." -- when the player attempts to make conversion with Charon before getting the contract.
 * "I don't care, talk to Ahzrukhal." -- rarely when the player says "I Just" in reply to his rudeness.
 * "This place is not safe."
 * "I don't like the look of this place."
 * "There may be danger here."
 * "Be cautious."


 * Combat
 * "What's the matter, can't stand the sight of your own blood?"
 * "That's it! That's it!"
 * "You want some of this?"
 * "You like that? You Bastard!"
 * "Where?"
 * "Bring it!"
 * "Over here!"
 * "Flank'em!"
 * "Had enough?"
 * "Did I hit him?"
 * "I've got your back."
 * "Yeah! Yeah!"
 * "Keep firing."
 * "Help me."
 * "I am hit."
 * "Damn!"
 * "Need help on this one."
 * "What do we have here?"


 * "Physical violence on your part invalidates our contract." -- After turning Charon hostile and trying to initiate dialogue
 * "Fire in hole!" -- When throwing a grenade.
 * "Duck" -- when throwing a grenade
 * "Come out, come out, wherever you are ..." -- when searching for enemies.
 * "I am sure I heard something." -- when searching for enemies.
 * "Hello, anybody there?" -- when searching for enemies.
 * "Better him than me." -- when you performed one-shot kill (snipe without being detected).
 * "Good riddance." -- when you performed one-shot kill (snipe without being detected).
 * "Holy shit!" -- when you shoot a grenade in the air (that was thrown at Charon, though it might not matter).


 * End of fight
 * "Good enough."
 * "Phew...that's end of that."
 * "Glad that's over."
 * "Rather him than me."


 * "Well whatever it was, its gone now." -- when giving up search
 * "Oh well, I've got better things to do anyway." -- when giving up search

Statistics

 * Health: 240 &rarr; 315
 * SPECIAL: 6ST, 7PE, 5EN, 3CH, 3IN, 6AG, 5LK


 * Skills
 * Barter: 11
 * Big Guns: 15
 * Energy Weapons: 19
 * Explosives: 51 &rarr; 100
 * Lockpick: 19
 * Medicine: 11
 * Melee Weapons: 17
 * Repair: 11
 * Science: 11
 * Small Guns: 49 &rarr; 100
 * Sneak: 49 &rarr; 100
 * Speech: 11
 * Unarmed: 15

Trivia

 * Charon is the name of the ferryman of the dead in the underworld in Greek Mythology. Charon is also the name of the ferryman of the river Acheron in Dante Alighieri's "The Divine Comedy", the name being a reference to the bar the character appears in titled "The Ninth Circle", as in Dante's "Inferno" Hell contains nine circles. In these instances, the name is pronounced "Kare-on".


 * Charon will tell you a thing that makes him happy if you tell him to switch his combat strategy to melee, then back to ranged weaponry. He tells you that he "Finds happiness in a warm gun", an allusion to the Beatles song "Happiness is a warm gun".


 * If you look closely at the image of Charon's Employment Contract in the Pip-Boy, you can read what is written on it: "Note - A piece of paper with some writing on it." This is probably placeholder text, and not meant to be canon.

Bugs

 * Charon can disappear after the Project Purity rescue mission. He is located in the tunnels. Go to the Citadel and there is a sewer grate on the ground outside the Citadel near the river. Backtrack the exact route you took to rescue the NPCs.


 * It is possible that Charon will fail to kill Ahzrukhal and thus not follow the player, especially if Ahzrukhal is not tending the bar when Charon goes to confront him. Therefure it is recommended that the player save before acquiring his contract. Sometimes it also happens that Charon gets stuck after killing Ahzrukhal and stands still beside his corpse. On the PC you can use the console to reset the variable that tells Charon to kill Ahzrukhal. Click on him in the console and use sv to see what variables he has. Set any that are set to 1 to 0.


 * Sometimes after the PC performs a one-hit kill sneak attack on an enemy, Charon will call the enemy the opposite gender while commenting. Confirmed on Xbox 360


 * Not a bug per se, but unexpected and repeatable. If you blow up a car with Charon a bit too close and have Sydney with you Charon will pop a one-hit-kill shotgun blast to the back of her head.  This had me laughing for a while when it first happened.  I assume he blamed her for the blast.