Preston Garvey

Preston Garvey is among the last of the Commonwealth Minutemen, a volunteer defense militia operating in the Commonwealth in 2287. He is also available as a companion of the Sole Survivor if they decide to become the new general of the Minutemen.

Early life
During his childhood, the Minutemen were personal heroes of Preston Garvey, as he observed them to be the only "good guys around." Because of this, Garvey himself originally enlisted with the Minutemen company under Colonel Hollis at the age of seventeen. He grew to be an avid believer in the espoused justice of the Minutemen cause, and he felt like he was really making a difference with his friends, claiming to have "a few good years there," fighting for a cause bigger than just himself. Things began to change for the worse in 2282, when the last Minutemen leader, General Becker, was killed in combat, leading to the start of infighting across the inner workings of the faction. The erupting chaos led to Hollis' company, including Garvey, being one of the last active groups of Minutemen still protecting settlements and answering calls for help put out by the Commonwealth citizens.

Quincy Massacre
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. Although the majority saw Murphy as a burned-out chem addict, 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 besieging the town.

The Minutemen dispersed the Gunner lines and were welcomed by the citizens of Quincy while the Gunners temporarily retreated. When arriving, Preston was one of the Minutemen who helped the settlers build up more proper defenses for the town. An ex-Minutemen veteran named Clint had revealed himself to Colonel Hollis as the leader of the invading force. Hollis felt extreme anger at this betrayal. The citizens expressed confusion and frustration. Clint sought to establish terms of surrender for Quincy and its defenders; these terms were summarily rejected 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 settlements under Minutemen protection.

Post-Quincy
Consequently, Preston gathered the few remaining Quincy civilians and loyal members of the Minutemen and fled. Several of the refugees lost their lives at the hands of the Gunners before the group shook their pursuit at Jamaica Plain, reducing his group to just over ten. The refugees next moved to Lexington. Regrettably, as Preston testifies, Lexington was filled with feral ghouls. This led to only eight survivors making it out. Eventually, the group moved to Concord, where they took shelter in the Museum of Freedom, only to find themselves under the constant predation of raiders, who unbeknownst to the group were under orders from their leader, Jared, to acquire Mama Murphy.

By the time the Sole Survivor arrives to help Preston, he is leading the last pocket of people under the protection of the Minutemen. His group numbers only five - a mere fraction of the original twenty who escaped Quincy under his guidance. If Preston Garvey is saved he will mention he is the last Minuteman standing, and he also mentions he is not literally the last Minuteman alive as there were many former Minutemen out there who gave it up in disgust or turned away from the faction's ideals (examples of this being Clint, James Wire, and Ronnie Shaw).

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.
 * The Molecular Level: If the Survivor chooses to build the relay interceptor with the Minutemen, Garvey will tell them to ask Sturges for help, since he's the best engineer he's ever met.
 * Defend the Castle: If played as part of the Minutemen questline, Garvey will assist in defending the Castle from the Institute attackers.
 * The Nuclear Option: Garvey, along with Sturges and a few other members of the Minutemen, will assist the Survivor during their attack on the Institute. Garvey will also be present when the Survivor sets off the nuclear blast from atop the Mass Fusion building.
 * Radiant Minutemen quests: Garvey will assign the Sole Survivor up to three radiant quests every time he is spoken to, provided none of the quests mentioned above are currently active.
 * After appointing the Sole Survivor as the new general of the Minutemen, he assigns quests that slowly extend the influence of the organization by capturing new territory and defending the settlements already loyal to the cause.

Effects of player's actions

 * When reaching the highest affinity with Preston, he 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.
 * If the player character attacks a member of the Minutemen, Preston will instantly and permanently disassociate from the Sole Survivor as a companion.
 * Preston can be romanced.
 * When the Sole Survivor becomes the overboss of Nuka-World, Preston Garvey becomes angry at the player character, asking them to repent their actions and to leave the Nuka-World raiders. If the Sole Survivor ignores the request, the Minutemen will turn hostile; if the player character accepts, he will simply no longer be an available companion. He will temporarily revert to being friendly during any main quests involving the Minutemen.
 * Preston Garvey will remain friendly (as will the rest of the Minutemen) if he is not present during Taken for a Ride. However, establishing a raider outpost and planting the flag for a raider gang will immediately drop his affinity to the lowest level, even if he is not present.
 * However, should the Sole Survivor become the overboss of Nuka-World prior to becoming the general of the Minutemen, Preston will not drop his affinity to the point he will be unattainable as a companion since he was not recruited yet. Instead, the next time Preston is spoken to, he will be upset at the Sole Survivor for supporting the Nuka-World raiders. He will ask them to repent their actions and eliminate the gang, saying that "the last thing the Commonwealth needs is another gang of Raiders." Regardless of accepting or ignoring his request to leave the raiders, Preston will simply tell the Sole Survivor that in order to work with the Minutemen more, they must eliminate the Nuka-World raiders first, thus blocking further access into the Minutemen questline.
 * Accepting Garvey's request to eliminate the Nuka-World raiders will start the quest Open Season, where the Sole Survivor has to execute the Nuka-World raider gang leaders and fight a massive horde of other raiders to free Nuka-Town's traders from slavery. This is the same quest the Sole Survivor gets when they meet Mackenzie Bridgeman.
 * Even though Preston Garvey orders the player character to eliminate the raiders, they do not have to be eliminated. The player character must become an enemy of the Nuka-World raiders, and doing so returns Preston's dialogue back to normal.
 * If the player character becomes overboss and completes Open Season prior to meeting Preston, he will never mention anything about the past actions.

Fallout: The Board Game
Preston Garvey can be found randomly when taking a card from the loot deck. While Preston is the active companion, the player character can exhaust him to ignore the movement penalty of walking through difficult terrain.

When the player character performs the camp action, he will become unexhausted. However, if there are any Vault 84 or Vault 109 quests currently active, he must be discarded.

Appearances
Preston Garvey appears in Fallout 4, Fallout Shelter, Fallout Shelter Online, and Fallout: The Board Game.

Behind the scenes

 * While designing Preston Garvey, character artist Dennis Mejillones used several film characters for reference, including the scientist Miles Dyson in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
 * In promotional content for Fallout 76, a hostile player with the nickname "PGarvey" can be seen.
 * There is an unused test character in the files of Fallout 76 named Preston Garvey. It has the editor ID of DebugKurtActor (a reference to designer Kurt Kuhlmann) and the form ID of.

Bugs

 * 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 a settlement has been helped.
 * This can be fixed by opening the console, selecting Preston Garvey and typing.
 * 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.
 * This can be fixed by selecting him, then using the console command.
 * Preston may pick up and equip nearby weapons, even if they are weaker than his default laser musket.
 * If the player character destroys the Institute without issuing the evacuation order, Preston's dialogue will always be his immediate reaction to seeing it go up. One will be able to have a conversation with him repeatedly with no way of moving on. Though the final quest can be concluded by fast traveling elsewhere, the Sole Survivor will not be able to recruit Preston again. The player character will be able to do Minutemen missions, however.
 * This can be fixed by opening the console, selecting Preston Garvey and typing.
 * 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 one attaches a generator to the conduits and wires already set up in the Castle. The power requirements will turn green in the workshop menu and he will be able to act normally again.
 * Preston's perk can be obtained without being able to get him as a companion. Assign him to an Artillery piece so he stays put, then build a Weapon Bench nearby. Modify a weapon at the bench and one should see the message "Preston liked that". Quicksave the game, load the quicksave and modify a weapon again. Repeat the Save/Load/Modify sequence until he idolizes the Sole Survivor, then go over and speak with him to get the perk.
 * 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.
 * If after choosing the Brotherhood ending and destroying the Institute, to collect the holotape for Sturges from Proctor Ingram Preston may be "stuck" in the Museum of Freedom in Concord and enemies will continue to spawn inside. There is no known fix for this issue.
 * After the player character gains max relationship with Preston he will stop offering new radiant quests and he will keep looping the last affinity speech over and over every time the player character returns to Sanctuary; this will also happen with every male companion the player character has full affinity without choosing the romance option.
 * When equipped with a piece of clothing, after a certain amount of time he will take it off and equip the colonial duster without being instructed to.
 * In rare cases Preston may not have any dialogue options to discuss options to build the signal interceptor during the Molecular Level even though the quest marker indicates him as a quest target. This is a hard bug that cannot be fixed by console commands or any other means other than restarting the entire quest.