Randall Clark

Randall Dean Clark, known as "The Father in the Cave" by the Sorrows tribe, was a survivalist and former soldier inhabiting Zion National Park in the aftermath of the Great War of 2077. Through notes Clark left on computer terminals throughout Zion, a sort of autobiography unfolds, beginning with the war and the loss of his family to the bombs. Clark's tale details how he waited out the worst of the radiation, then set out into the light once more, adapting to the new flora and fauna as it, too, adapted to this new world. It shows him helping others survive, as well as raining vengeance on those who would butcher innocents. It shows him becoming The Father, his life ending with the rebirth of a group of children into the Sorrows tribe, Clark unwittingly immortalized as their deity.

Background
Clark, born February 5, 2053, was an American 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 ended up feeling compassion when one of the men breaks their leg. Clark secretly called for help and left medicine. He tried to intervene directly when a Vault 22 expedition, escaping their mutagen infected home, visited Zion and killed or captured most of the refugees. Clark, unable to save the captives from the cannibalistic Vault 22 dwellers, eventually killed 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. Tragically, 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.

It would appear Randall suffers from survivor guilt, a mental condition where a person perceives him- or herself to have done wrong by surviving a traumatic event when others did not. In Randall's case, he blames himself for surviving the Great War while his wife and son, Charlotte and Alex, did not. This hypothesis is further reinforced by the aid he provided to the school children, as many divert their survivor guilt into helping others deal with traumatic situations.

Eventually he acknowledges humanity's 'blind drive onward,' becoming a godlike figure to a new group of children who enter the valley, to whom he preaches the value of kindness and that 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 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.