Vault Dweller

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

Fallout
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
An old man referred to as Wasteland stranger by 2208, the Vault Dweller used to be in the Brotherhood and arrived in the town of Carbon just recently. He recalls several events from his past life; from living underground, to the fate of the ghoul city of Necropolis, and his encounter with the Master at the Cathedral. If shown a Vault 13 flask by the Initiate, he recognizes the item and its vault colors, and will buy it out of nostalgia.

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

Behind the scenes
Feargus Urquhart: "Во второй части игры вы оказываетесь в том же самом мире. На этот раз вы будете потомком 'того самого парня'. (In the second part of the game you find yourself in the same world. This time you will be a descendant of 'that same guy.')" Game.Exe: "Если так, то, может быть, и мучиться не стоит? Просто перенести персонаж из первой Fallout во вторую? (If so, then maybe it's not worth the trouble? Just transferring a character from the first Fallout to the second?)" Feargus Urquhart: ''"Плохая идея. Мы думали об этом, но все-таки отвергли ее. В этом случае нам будет очень сложно сбалансировать игру. Во-первых, мы не имеем понятия, с каким героем вы начинаете игру (его уровень, способности). Мы также не будем знать, какое оружие и оборудование у вас есть. Чтобы перенести героя из предыдущей части, нам придется отнять у него все вещички. Ну и какая польза от переноса такого героя? Нет, вам придется создавать нового 'себя'. К тому же вы вряд ли захотите стать папой самому себе. Не так ли? (Bad idea. We thought about it, but still rejected it. In this case, it will be very difficult for us to balance the game. First, we have no idea what hero you start the game with (his level, abilities). We also won't know what weapons and equipment you have. To transfer the hero from the previous part, we will have to take away all the little things from him. Well, what is the use of transferring such a hero? No, you will have to create a new 'you.' In addition, you are unlikely to want to become a dad to yourself. Is not it?)"'' ([https://web.archive.org/web/20200517215828/http://game-exe.org/index.php?n=Exe.Exe031InterviewFalloutFallout2 "За того парня! (For that guy!)" Interview with Feargus Urquhart on Game.Exe])
 * 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.
 * During the development of Fallout 2, the developers considered an option to import the Vault Dweller from the first game, but decided against it for various reasons, instead choosing to turn the game's protagonist into a descendant of the Vault Dweller.Game.Exe:"Здорово! А будут ли игры связаны друг с другом? (Great! Will the games be related to each other?)"
 * 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.
 * While the Vault Dweller can be either female or male in Fallout, 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.