Vault Dweller

In a general sense, a vault dweller is any person who lives in one of the Vault-Tec vaults.

When capitalized as a proper noun, the Vault Dweller is the player character in Fallout. One of the most pivotal figures in wasteland history, the Vault Dweller is most famous for defeating the Master and his super mutant army, helping Shady Sands grow into the New California Republic, founding the small village of Arroyo and fathering its elder (who too would bear a child; "the Chosen One").

In-game, the player is free to create a character of either gender, aged between 16 and 35, and focusing on any of the skills in the game. However, in subsequent games, certain facts have been established as canonical and this article serves as a summary of these facts, serving as the canonical history of the Vault Dweller.

Background
Regardless of which gender is chosen and how old the Vault Dweller is chosen to be on a scale of 16 to 35 (making the Vault Dweller born around 2126 to 2145), the Vault Dweller is canonically male as shown in the Book of the Elders, and is implied to canonically be Albert Cole due to Interplay's concept-art for the Vault Dweller and his appearance in Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, suggesting that the Vault Dweller is twenty-seven years old at the beginning of Fallout 1 (making the Vault Dweller born in 2134).

The Mission
Vault 13's overseer, Jacoren, sent the Vault Dweller out on a mission to find a replacement for the vault's broken water chip. After striking a deal with the Water Merchants of the Hub and obtaining a water chip from Vault 12 in the ruins of Bakersfield, the overseer told him that the amount of super mutants located in the area did not match up with natural rates of mutation.

Believing that someone must be artificially creating the super mutants and fearing for the safety of the vault, he ordered the Vault Dweller to find and destroy the source of the mutants. The Vault Dweller soon found an old military base where humans were being dunked into vats of Forced Evolutionary Virus in order to be converted into super mutants. He destroyed both this base and the Master of the super mutants beneath the Cathedral in the Boneyard before returning to the vault, only to be told that he saved the lives of the vault and maybe even the human race but is forced out because of Jacoren's fear that everyone in the vault would want to leave.

In Exile
After leaving the vault for a final time, the Vault Dweller wandered the desert but never moved far from the mountains that shielded the vault from the rest of the world. Some other members of the vault, upon hearing of what happened, decided to leave the vault and join the Vault Dweller, following him soon afterwards. The Vault Dweller eventually found and rejoined this small group of former vault dwellers. Knowing little of the outside world, the group would almost certainly have died had it not been for the Vault Dweller's assistance.

Two months later, the Vault Dweller headed north, to the great canyons, with a small group of vault dwellers and wastelanders and founded a small village. Initially, they would send scouts back towards the vault, to help others who thought like themselves, but that slowly came to an end. The Vault Dweller taught the others the skills they would need to survive and grow strong. Hunting, farming and other skills to feed them, engineering and science to build their homes, fighting to protect what was theirs. Slowly, they took the knowledge that the Vault Dweller had learned on his adventure and together, they learned to thrive. Over time, their rag-tag group had turned into a tribe. The Vault Dweller fell in love with one of them, named Pat, and they raised a family, like all of their tribespeople. The construction of Arroyo was completed on August 18, 2167.

The Vault Dweller and Pat led the tribe which grew larger and stronger. In 2188, their daughter, who would later become the village elder, was born. Eventually, she and the other children became the leaders of the community.

Departure
On January 16, 2208, several years after Pat's death, the Vault Dweller wrote his memoirs. Soon after that, he vanished from Arroyo and was presumed dead. The Vault Dweller left the vault suit behind, folded on the bed, later to be placed inside the Temple of Trials. Some say the Vault Dweller was taken by the sky spirits, others say that the Vault Dweller felt it was time to move on and leave the elders to guide Arroyo to its destiny. After the One-Moon (Month) Cycle of mourning for the Vault Dweller ended, activity in Arroyo began to return to normal. Years later, the Vault Dweller's grandchild, later called the Chosen One, was born.

After leaving Arroyo the only known place where he was spotted was the town of Carbon, where he is known simply as the Wasteland Stranger. There, he helped some of the people to hide from raiders and also helped the Initiate trace the remnants of the Master's army and some Brotherhood of Steel paladins, directing him to Los. What became of him afterwards is unknown, but it is certain he left Carbon and continued his travel in the Wasteland.

Interactions with the Wasteland Stranger during his stay in Carbon can result in the Initiate receiving from him a Red Ryder BB gun. Additionally, the Initiate may find a Vault 13 flask in the Carbon Mill, at which the Wasteland Stranger remarks at being a "sentimental old fool" and offers a trade for it.

Legacy
Besides Arroyo and the Chosen One, the Vault Dweller's journey lived on to the extent that he is still revered by a fair portion of the people in the Wasteland. His statue is prominently displayed in the New California Republic capital, Shady Sands. Additionally, during the events of Fallout 2 in 2241, the Chosen One can encounter Gordon who keeps a shrine in honor of the Vault Dweller's achievements.

He is remembered under several names, including "the Vault Dweller" and "the Stranger" (used by those who - while believing in his greatness - doubt he ever could have come from a vault). He refers to himself as "the Wanderer" at the end of his memoirs. Children who heard of his story would often play at finding Vault 13, some of these children even grew into adults obsessed with proving the Vault Dweller's former home existed. For a time, President Tandi would even sponsor such adventurers, until giving up after many years of failure.

Even 120 years after the Vault Dweller walked the wasteland, his actions are still felt throughout places as far as the Mojave Wasteland. Super mutants such as Marcus, who had been a companion of his grandson, recount how the Vault Dweller defeated the Master.

Appearances
The Vault Dweller is the player character in Fallout. Aside from the original game, he also makes a cameo appearance in Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel as an unlockable player character.

Although he only personally appears in two games out of the Fallout series, the Vault Dweller has been mentioned in every other Fallout game up to date, except for Fallout 4 and Fallout 76.
 * In Fallout 2, he is mentioned by several characters such as Tandi, Marcus and Lenny
 * In Fallout 3, he is mentioned in a terminal at the Citadel.
 * In Fallout: New Vegas, Ezekiel references the destruction of the Khans by "one of those itinerant heroes," referencing the Khans' "Destroyed as a fighting force" ending in Fallout and possibly the Vault Dweller.


 * In Fallout Tactics, Latham references him in one of his journals.

Behind the scenes
He was also to appear in the canceled Fallout movie (referred to as "Hero" in the story treatment), accompanied by three other people from Vault 13 - the Female Officer, Techy and Scholar.