Preston Garvey



Preston Garvey is a member of the Commonwealth Minutemen, a group of people living in The Commonwealth. He is also available as a companion of the Sole Survivor.

Background
Preston Garvey originally enrolled with the Minutemen under Colonel Hollis at the age of seventeen. An avid believer in the espoused justice of the Minutemen cause, Preston rose through the ranks of the Minutemen to become an officer under the direct command of Hollis himself.

Regrettably, as Preston states, the Minutemen settlements grew complacent. Freed from the greater concerns of the erstwhile dangers of the Commonwealth, settlements increasingly neglected their obligations to the collective in favor of petty self-interests.

In 2287, Sturges -- an inhabitant of the influential trading hub at Quincy -- requested the aid of the Minutemen after having heard one of Mama Murphy’s visions, which foresaw the town being surrounded and massacred (the terminal of a Quincy shopkeeper indicates that the other townsfolk saw Mama Murphy as a burnt-out drug addict; but Sturges went behind his fellow citizens to invoke the protection of the Minutemen). Preston joined Hollis on a mission to rescue Quincy, where they found the Gunners (a ruthless mercenary organization) besieging it.

The Minutemen dispersed the Gunner lines and were welcomed by the battle-weary citizens of Quincy; the Gunners temporarily retreated. The Minutemen quickly moved to fortify the town but their efforts proved insufficient as, according to a terminal in the northwestern part of the town, the Gunners reformed their lines and relentlessly probed the town's defenses for weaknesses.

The last recording in the terminal indicates that an ex-Minutemen officer named Clint revealed himself to Colonel Hollis as the leader of the invading force (Hollis notes extreme anger at this betrayal, while the terminals of the citizens express confusion and frustration). Clint sought to establish terms of surrender for Quincy and its defenders; these terms were summarily refused by Hollis.

While the subsequent events are not explicitly recorded in text, the outcome for the Minutemen is broadly established by dialogue with Preston and various other wastelanders: the Minutemen requested support, which did not arrive; the Gunners overwhelmed the defenders; and murdered nearly all of the civilians; Col. Hollis, the linchpin of the long-dwindling Minutemen cause, died fighting.

The event is known as the Quincy Massacre, and it catalyzed the disintegration of the remaining Minutemen settlements.

Consequently, Preston gathered the few remaining Quincy civilians and loyal Minutemen and fled to Lexington. Regrettably, as Preston testifies, Lexington was filled with feral ghouls; the hardships of the town gradually whittled the group's numbers down to just over ten. Eventually the group moved to Concord where they took shelter in the Museum of Freedom.

By the time the Sole Survivor arrives to help Preston, his group numbers only five -- a mere fraction of the original twenty who escaped Quincy under his guidance.

Post-Quincy
Preston hopes to rebuild the Minutemen with aid from the Sole Survivor. After (eventually) appointing the Sole Survivor as the new General of the Minutemen, he assigns quests that slowly rebuild the influence of the Minutemen by capturing new territory and defending the settlements already loyal to the cause.

Once the Sole Survivor reaches a high enough level of prestige with the Minutemen, Preston will notify the Sole Survivor of an old Minutemen stronghold known as "The Castle". Taking The Castle will unlock the final quest line for the Minutemen (and ultimately the Artillery piece improvement).

Quests

 * When Freedom Calls: Preston asks of the Sole Survivor to equip properly and clear out Concord so he and his people can move away to a safer place.
 * The First Step: Preston asks the Sole Survivor to help out a settlement. If this quest is completed, Preston will become available as a companion.
 * Taking Independence: Preston asks the Sole Survivor to help take back The Castle (Fort Independence) previously occupied by the Minutemen.

Effects of player's actions

 * Maximizing approval with Preston Garvey grants the United We Stand perk, which increases damage dealt by 20% as well as increasing damage resistance by 20 points when facing 3 or more enemies at once. Maximum affinity can be achieved after attaching 67 weapon modifications; read the United We Stand perk page for more information.
 * He will instantly leave if the Sole Survivor attacks a Minuteman.

Appearances
Preston Garvey appears in Fallout 4 and Fallout Shelter.

Bugs

 * There is a known bug where after the quest to reclaim the Castle it becomes impossible to get him as a companion.
 * This can be fixed on PC by opening the console, selecting Preston Garvey and inputting.
 * A possible fix for this is to have Preston as a companion while initiating the assault on the Castle.
 * Another possible fix is if the Sole Survivor sides with The Minutemen against The Institute in the endgame. After activating the bomb in The Nuclear Option, Preston will talk and can be asked to follow the Sole Survivor.
 * Another possible fix is if you attach a generator to the conduits and wires already setup in the castle the power requirements will turn green in the workshop menu and he will be able to act normally again.
 * When destroying the institute with the Brotherhood of Steel and when talking to Preston, he will keep saying the that the Institute is gone and one could have helped the innocent unless there is a settlement in need or reporting that one helped that settlement.
 * Preston may become unavailable to recruit before the siege on the Castle. If the Castle is then retaken, he will no longer engage in dialogue past a greeting or a settlement quest.
 * It's possible to bug his quest exchanges so that he continues to give a quest complete marker with no xp and the quest stays in the log. The only way to fix this is to reload.
 * Sometimes if there is any weapon near Preston even if it is weaker than his laser musket he may equip it.
 * If the player destroys the Institute without issuing the evacuation order, Preston's dialogue will always be his immediate reaction to seeing it go up. You will be able to have the conversation with him repeatedly with no way of moving on. Though the final quest can be concluded by fast traveling elsewhere, you will not be able to recruit Preston again. You will be able to do minute men missions, however.
 * If ordered to use a suit of power armor and either dismissed or if he leaves due to quests requiring him to leave (e.g. meeting at the Castle), it can disappear, with Garvey later found no longer wearing it.