Vault 77

Vault 77 was one of the Vaults created by Vault-Tec, and part of the Vault Experiment. Only one man entered this Vault, which also contained a crate of puppets. Its location is unknown, however it is most likely in the vicinity of the Capital Wasteland around Washington, DC.

During the first months, the Vault 77 Dweller went through the initial panic and depression caused by being locked alone in a Vault while the world ended outside. He didn't actually open the puppet crate until one year, three months and twelve days after the lock-up.

After opening the crate, he takes particular interest in a dog puppet (which he named Reverend Hound, and also decided to make Sheriff), a king puppet, and a grandmother puppet.

These puppets appear to give him something to do and keep him company for a while, until he finds a Vault Boy puppet in the crate that he'd missed earlier. This puppet seems to have a mind of its own and to speak directly to the Vault 77 Dweller, which the other puppets do not; it is never specified if it truly does possess its own (evil) consciousness, or if this is just a symptom of the Dweller's further descent into insanity. One night, the king puppet is found "dead"; when the Vault 77 Dweller confronts the most likely suspect, the Vault Boy puppet tells him that in fact they did it together and must flee before Reverend Hound comes for them.

The Dweller opens the Vault door, only to find an gigantic Radscorpion holding up a car in each claw. The Dweller decides they should sleep on the plan. Later, he somehow manages to leave the Vault, befriending a giant ant which he takes as a mount.

Some time after sharing a campfire meal with an unnamed but civil Ghoul (possibly from Necropolis, as he also wears the tatters of a Vault Suit and hints he originally came from a Vault), he is captured by Slavers who are uncertain whether to make him a slave or just eat him. The Dweller tries to warn them not to hang around him as his puppet is an insane killer. Later that night, the threat becomes a reality as the slaver home camp is razed, with the Vault 77 Dweller standing amid the carnage afterwards, both he and the puppet covered in blood.

The comic ends with a conclusion that Vault 77 didn't turn out so good but reminds the reader that "the Vaults were never meant to save anyone."

List of puppets
List of known puppets from the crate and the names given to them by the Vault 77 Dweller:
 * The King
 * Grandma
 * Reverend Hound
 * Vault Boy

Appearances
Vault 77 appears only in the official Fallout 3 Penny Arcade Comic, written by Jerry Holkins and illustrated by Mike Krahulik, in cooperation with Emil Pagliarulo.

A Vault 77 Jumpsuit can be found in Fallout 3, alongside an audio recording of an obviously worried slaver, saying how it scares the others and it should be burnt, and that 'he' may be back for it. The jumpsuit appropriately boosts one's melee and unarmed skills (given that these were the Puppet Man's ways of murdering). However, despite this suggesting that Vault 77 can be found somewhere in the Capital Wasteland, it is not in any current version of the game. It is unlikely that Vault 77 is very near the Capital Wasteland, being that it is not mentioned on the Vault-Tec Computer in the Citadel and it does not appear on the Citadel's map of Vaults.

Inconsistencies
Despite the comic clearly being a joke, and many of its elements being inconsistent with canon in general, the inclusion of the Vault 77 Jumpsuit and associated slaver's recording in the actual game argues for some sort of canonicity. Any such treatment must get around these issues:


 * The Vault Dweller who emerges from Vault 77 is the same one who went into it in 2077. Time has elapsed sufficient for radscorpions and giant ants to have appeared, which should be much longer than "one year, five months and seven days" (which is where the comic ceases to track the passage of time).
 * The car-wielding radscorpion in the comic far exceeds the size of any canon radscorpion.
 * "Mr. Pinch", the Vault Dweller's personal steed, likewise exceeds the size of other giant ants, though not as drastically.

Possible explanations are that the Dweller is the recipient of an PVP/FEV-related test drug intended to arrest the aging process (which miraculously worked), that he was frozen at some point in cryostasis (perhaps voluntarily, in order to stave off his impending madness), or that he is simply a Paul-Bunyanesque figure of legend much like the original Vault Dweller. In the latter case, he was probably the last survivor of a Vault with few original inhabitants, as opposed to one with only a single resident.