Vault Dweller

The Vault Dweller is the player character in Fallout and an unlockable playable character Brotherhood of Steel.

Fallout 1
The Vault Dweller lived in Vault 13, and was chosen to set out on a mission to find a replacement water chip for the vault. Without spare parts or the possibility of a workaround system, the overseer was forced to send one of the inhabitants out to find one. The Vault Dweller was chosen and subsequently set out to find the water chip, investigate the super mutant threat, with the ultimate goal of defeating the Master.

After succeeding in these endeavors, the Vault Dweller returned to the vault but was exiled. The group of dwellers followed after and together they founded the village of Arroyo. The Vault Dweller and their partner Pat had a child, the future Arroyo elder, and when the Vault Dweller left Arroyo and moved on, they left their vault suit and memoirs behind.

Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel
Having lived a life well traveled, the Vault Dweller decided to move to the town of Carbon in hopes of finding peace from the rest of the wasteland. However, he discovers that the town is being threatened by raiders.

The Vault Dweller always kept the Vault 13 flask with them, out of sentimental value. The Vault Dweller managed to lose it somehow, but will trade the Initiate for it, giving them 100 caps and 100 XP.

The Vault Dweller subsequently helped the inhabitants repel a raider attack on the city before continuing on with their travels, helping the Initiate travel to Los. Before their departure, the Vault Dweller mentioned they have experience with super mutants, and was reminded of the leader, the Master. If the Initiate also helped save everyone during the attack, the Vault Dweller will give the Initiate a Red Ryder BB gun.

In Los, the final enemy of the Gladiator Pit happens to be a man who uses the exact same model as the Vault Dweller. It is never clarified if this was simply an asset reusual or intended to be the Vault Dweller. He wields a very powerful turbo electric plasma rifle to kill his opponents. The reward for defeating him is 50000 caps. This opponent says no words and is given no name, and it is unclear if he is killed by the Initiate or simply beaten unconscious.

Quests

 * Vault 13 flask: The Vault Dweller wishes to obtain the flask which is found in Carbon Mill's storage area.
 * Rescue Innocents: Impressed by the Initiate helping Vidya and the townspeople, the Vault Dweller will award the Initiate the Red Ryder BB gun if the 37 townspeople were saved during the raider attack.

Other interactions
The Vault Dweller will makes unique comments depending on who the Initiate is:
 * If Cyrus, he says, "I'm just an old wanderer. But you... too tough for the vaults, too big for the city, where food is hard to get. I'd say you're a farm boy... joined the Brotherhood because rats killed your family... or something worse?"
 * If Nadia, he says, "I'm a stranger, girl. Didn't your folks teach you not to talk to strangers? No, you never knew your folks. You're a child of the bomb, raised by rats, adopted by the noble knights of the Brotherhood."
 * If Cain, he says, "Heard your name's Cain, just like the first murderer, the brother-killer. Do you think of other ghouls as your brothers? Have you killed any brothers lately?"

Appearances
The Vault Dweller appears as the player character in Fallout, and as an unlockable playable character in 'Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel and is also mentioned in Fallout 2, Fallout 3, and Fallout: New Vegas.

Behind the scenes

 * Tim Cain described the situation where the Vault dwellers drew straws to determine who had to search for the water chip as the overseer's idea. He explained that the overseer would demand everyone draw a straw in order to be truly fair. However, the overseer himself would be exempt from the process.
 * In the early stages of the development of Fallout 2, it was planned that the main character would again be the Vault Dweller. However, this idea was abandoned due to being difficult for developers to explain the loss of equipment and skills of the hero of the original game. The developers decided to create a new character, a descendant of the Vault Dweller.
 * In an interview, Leonard Boyarsky mentioned seeing promotional artwork of the Vault Dweller which was outsourced by Interplay's marketing team that dev team never approved of.
 * In Fallout the Vault Dweller could be either male or female. They are referred to with male pronouns in Fallout 2.     Chris Avellone clarified that the Vault Dweller's gender was intentionally written to be ambiguous.
 * The Vault Dweller's journey is described in the Fallout Bible.