David Thorpe

David Thorpe is the Scorched former leader of the Cutthroats in Appalachia.

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 Thorpe was at the table. Although he had a wife and kids, 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 family was a savage blow for Thorpe and it was only through Rose's constant support that he managed to pull through. 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. Thorpe rose to power against the original raider leader Harland McClintock by offering an alternative, more violent path to future success. When Thorpe 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 Thorpe 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 Thorpe for encouraging the Pleasant Valley survivors' violent tendencies and turning them into fully-fledged raiders.

In 2082, Rosalynn Jeffries was captured during a raid on Charleston in pursuit of a Christmas gift for Thorpe. Thorpe believed that the Responders had killed Rose. Mad with grief over losing his family again, Thorpe 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, Thorpe mourned Rosalynn. He created a Miss Nanny in her image, christened Rose, giving her some semblance of Rosalynn's personality. David also erected a secret shrine to his old flame east of Ripper Alley, though he wanted to keep up appearances in front of the other raiders and to give himself a sense of closure on the last personal connection he would ever have.

Thorpe'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 Thorpe 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, Thorpe 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, but Olivia soon joined her mother when Brody mortally wounded her, making it clear Thorpe had no further use for Olivia, and did not want to take the chance that she would turn on him like she had done with her mother.

By 2087, Harpers Ferry was overrun by Scorched which began pushing through the Mire and into the Savage Divide. Thorpe 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 only in Fallout 76.