David Thorpe

David Thorpe is the former leader of the Cutthroats in Appalachia. He was turned into a Scorched.

Background
David Thorpe was an executive at the Arktos Pharma Company, using ruthless business tactics to ensure Arktos dominated the pharmaceutical market. Depressing wages and aggressive, unwavering commitment to negotiation terms were standard practice at Arktos when David was at the table. Although he was married with a wife and children at home, he also had a mistress, Rosalynn Jeffries, and regularly frequented the Pleasant Valley Ski Resort with her, covering up these escapades as business trips to Washington, D.C. It was during one such escapade that the Great War happened, trapping him, Rosalynn, and scores of other resort guests in the mountains. Although he was already planning to divorce his wife for Rosalynn when the bombs fell, the loss of his wife and child was a savage blow for David and it was only through Rosalynn's constant support that he managed to pull through. Despite that he loved Rosalynn, he still held a lot of love for his wife.

His side as a ruthless executive allowed him to quietly build support among the surviving resort guests, now forming Appalachia's nascent raider gangs after the brutal winter of 2077. David rose to power against the original raider leader Harland McClintock by offering an alternative, more violent path to future success. When David killed two Responders who traveled to Top of the World to offer their help to the survivors there, Harland and his wife Margie tried to put David on trial and exile him for his deeds. This ended poorly for the McClintocks, with the group splintering off to form the gang which would be known as the Diehards. The Responders would ultimately blame David for encouraging the Pleasant Valley survivors' violent tendencies and turning them into fully-fledged raiders. When David became leader, Rosalynn made a trophy for him with a skull and "World's Best Boss" on it.

In 2082, David was prepared to propose to Rosalynn, however, she was captured during a raid on Charleston in pursuit of a Christmas gift for David. David incorrectly believed that the Responders had killed Rose. Mad with grief over losing his family again, David ordered an attack on the Summersville Dam, using mini nukes stolen by the Blackwater Bandits from the Brotherhood of Steel to blow up the dam and flood Charleston. In doing so, he also inadvertently killed Rosalynn, who was actually trapped in the jail cells of the Charleston Capitol Building. This incident would come to be known as the Christmas Flood.



Though he put on the facade of a powerful warlord, David deeply mourned Rosalynn. He created a Miss Nanny in her image, christened Rose, giving her some semblance of Rosalynn's personality, but as Rose notes, only the "fun" and upbeat side of Rosalynn. As he was unable to recover Rosalynn's remains, David also erected a secret shrine to his old flame east of Ripper Alley, not wanting other raiders to view him as "soft" and to give himself a sense of closure on the last personal connection he would ever have. David also began to drink himself into a stupor.

David's raider gang endured and thrived despite the setbacks. A years-long guerrilla campaign waged by the Order of Mysteries took its toll on the raider clans, but David remained in control, attracting more and more recruits. The campaign came to an end when Olivia Rivers, bitter and resentful of her mother's leadership, decided to defect by using Brody Torrance as a way to make inroads with the raiders. As Brody was the sole survivor of Mack Frazier's veteran crew, David was initially skeptical of the proposal. However, without any other leads, he played along and allowed Torrance to work with Olivia to take down the Order. Despite the slow start, the investment paid off with the Order of Mysteries eventually being wiped out in November 2086, with Olivia facing her own mother in a final confrontation that led to Shannon Rivers' death.

By 2087, Harpers Ferry was overrun by Scorched which began pushing through the Mire and into the Savage Divide. David made a fatal mistake when he failed to recognize the threat, continuing his raiding operations. In late 2096, he imprisoned Hank Madigan, hoping to extort the Responders and Free States in exchange for the Scorched Detection System uplink which Madigan was carrying. He paid the ultimate price for his mistake when the Scorched reached the Savage Divide, eventually becoming one of them.

Quests
Key to the Past: The Vault Dweller of Vault 76 is tasked by Rose with mercy killing David and retrieving the Cutthroats' piece of the Raider stash code.

Appearances
David Thorpe appears in Fallout 76. He was expanded upon in Wastelanders with the holotapes Board meeting, Note to self and Thorpe: 10/03/2077 9:34am.