Dad

 is a resident of Washington, DC. He is a widower and father of the child later known to the Capital Wasteland residents as the Lone Wanderer. James is the project lead of Project Purity and the vault physician of Vault 101.

Biography
In the 2250s, James, a former medical doctor, is the project leader of Project Purity. Project Purity is a costly, risky attempt at converting the Jefferson Memorial into a centralized water purifier. During his time at the Memorial as project leader, James befriends and falls in love with Catherine, a fellow scientist. In late 2257, the two lovers conceive a child. On July 13, 2258, Catherine gives birth to the Lone Wanderer. After seeing her child, Catherine suffers cardiac arrest and, despite attempts at saving her by James, dies. Overcome by grief, James abandons Project Purity and travels to the safe haven of Vault 101 with his child.

By mid-2259, James is hired by the recently appointed Overseer Alphonse Almodovar as the new vault physician. Though the two men disagree on their interpretation of a physician's role in the Vaults, this acrimony doesn't prevent their young children from starting and forming a friendship. Over the next ten years, the relationship between the two men grows more contentious. The Overseer feels that James abuses his position as physician and devotes precious Vault resources for unnecessary experiments.

In 2268, James with the aid of his child's friend, Amata Almodovar, arranges a surprise birthday party for his child in the Cafeteria. During the party, James gifts his child with a BB gun.

James was appointed an assistant by the Overseer in an attempt aimed at curbing the excesses of the vault physician by having the assistant act as a voice of reason. The assistant is named Jonas Palmer and he and James forge a friendship very quickly. Together as partners they work at examining and treating patients, and conducting routine experiments testing the health of the Vault. For an unknown length of time, James deliberately keeps his assistant in the dark on covert experiments aimed at reviving Project Purity. Eventually, Jonas grows suspicious of the physician's activities. Sometime, in mid-2274, for the first time in their relationship, Jonas aids James with experiments related to Project Purity. James hopes that Jonas understands the situation he finds himself in by helping the physician; however, James feels, regardless if Jonas understands or not, that the point of no return has been reached and that Jonas is with the physician to the end.

James, on August 3, 2274, examines his child for sickness after they visited the clinic complaining of not feeling well. James determines their child is in good health and orders them to class for the G.O.A.T..

Nearly twenty years after his child's birth, he abruptly escapes from Vault 101, sealing the fate of his friend Jonas Palmer as the Vault 101 Overseer decides that he, James and the latter's child must die to preserve the secret of the Vault. James left because he learned of the G.E.C.K.'s creator, Doctor Stanislaus Braun, and was determined to locate him. In his travel, he sought out Three Dog of Galaxy News Radio and returned to Rivet City, finally ending back where it all began, at Project Purity in the Jefferson Memorial. Going over all his gathered information, he was able to discover the location of Doctor Braun at Vault 112 and quickly makes his way there.

Confronting Doctor Braun in his virtual reality, James annoys him with his questioning, for which Braun forces James into the amusing form of a dog. He is rescued by his progeny, who manages to defeat the Tranquility Lane programming. Surprised by his offspring's presence (though not ungrateful for the rescue), he brings the former up to speed. Meeting again at Rivet City, he requests help in rebuilding Project Purity. His child obliges, and after several errands (including Commando Pest Eradication, Fed-Ex fixing and pipe-plumbing) they manage to bring Project Purity back to operational status.

At this point, Enclave verti-assault squads arrive on location and secure the perimeter, headed by Colonel Augustus Autumn himself. The Colonel confronts James and demands control of the purifier. After witnessing the death of scientist Janice Kaplinski, murdered by The Enclave Commander, James begrudgingly agrees to activate the purifier... but what he really does is activate a devastating flood of radiation that fills the control room. James dies almost immediately, with only enough time to tell his child and Doctor Li to run, while Colonel Autumn, having injected himself with a special drug, is rushed to Raven Rock and resuscitated.

Behind the scenes
The father's voice is provided by actor Liam Neeson.

"This role was written with Liam in mind, and provides the dramatic tone for the entire game," said Todd Howard, Executive Producer of Fallout 3. "Liam is absolutely amazing to work with". "It’s been a pleasure bringing the father to life and working with the wonderfully talented people at Bethesda on Fallout 3", said Neeson. “I hope the fans of the franchise and the game will be excited by the results."

In a cruel twist of irony, Neeson's wife Natasha Richardson died tragically in March 2009, leaving him a widower in real life.

Appearances
James appears only in Fallout 3. Your father's facial features and race will vary based on the ones you choose for your character.

- For PC users, Dad can even take the appearance of mod-added races (IE the Golden Saint or Dark Seducer races) or mods that unlock otherwise unplayable races (such as ghouls or child races) if the player chooses them.

While the above picture depicts a Caucasian James, depending on the players selections when creating the Lone Wanderer, James may also appear as an African-American, Hispanic, or Asian-American.

Items
There actually is a way of getting your father's outfit. One way to get this item is to reverse-pickpocket an outfit with more protection onto your dad either when he is talking with Doctor Li, or while he is standing in the Jefferson Memorial Rotunda. After that leave the room and return, your father should be wearing whatever you put on him, as long as it has more protection. After that pickpocket it off of him, if you don't mind the slight Karma loss.

Another way to get this outfit is by standing directly in front of the airlock door in the Jefferson Memorial Rotunda right after his death, so that you are right in front to your dad's corpse, then hold down the camera button and slowly rotate the camera about half-way until you see the message "Search Dad" on the bottom of the screen. This is easiest to accomplish if his body falls close to the door but if you do this quick enough you can actually talk to Dad while he dies, he gets up, talks, walks a little bit and then dies again.


 * Dad's Wasteland Outfit
 * .32 Pistol

Related quests

 * Following in His Footsteps
 * Scientific Pursuits
 * The Waters of Life

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