Mister Burke

Mr. Burke (Born 2221) is a mysterious man who can be met in Moriarty's Saloon in Megaton. He is the sinister right-hand man of Allistair Tenpenny, and wants the town destroyed via detonating the bomb. However, it is not known whether he is truly under the control of Tenpenny, or if he is manipulating his employer toward his own ends.

He can also be murdered without fear of retaliation from the law in Megaton.

Related Quests
He can give the Lone Wanderer access to Tenpenny Tower in exchange for installing a Fusion Pulse Charge inside Megaton's bomb.

If you do not follow Mr. Burke's method of completing this quest, Talon Company hitmen may show up at random encounters, and try to kill you. If you loot their bodies, you will find contracts to hunt and kill you, signed by Burke. This is different, however, from Talon Company mercenaries, who will come after you when you have good Karma, regardless of your actions in Megaton.

Female players with 'black widow' perk get two special dialog options with Burke - they can claim they live in Megaton and Burke will change his plans, or they can persuade him to pay an extra 500 caps for rigging the bomb without the need to pass a speech check.

Note that The Power of the Atom** quest is still available from Burke even if Roy Phillips has killed Alistair Tenpenny and taken over Tenpenny Towers. After installing the Fusion Pulse Charge and traveling to Tenpenny Towers, you'll find Roy Phillips and Mr. Burke speaking on Tenpenny's balcony. Phillips is intimidated by Burke and his ability to infiltrate the Ghoul-controlled Tower, and allows Burke to detonate the bomb and destroy Megaton. This act impresses Phillips so much that he hires Burke as his new right-hand man. There is a youtube video showing this act.

Corpse Loot

 * 10mm Round (10)
 * Dirty Pre-War Businesswear
 * Pre-War Hat
 * Silenced 10mm Pistol
 * Tortiseshell Glasses

Alternate versions
Mr. Burke does not exist in the Japanese version of Fallout 3, thus disabling the "detonate the bomb" option in The Power of the Atom as the player cannot get the Fusion Pulse Charge under any circumstances. The player can get the love letters if the Black Widow perk is used.

Appearances
Burke appears only in Fallout 3.

Trivia
Burke is the name of an upper-middle class town in Virginia south of Fairfax and Annandale, i.e., roughly where Tenpenny Tower would be.

Burke is also the name of an antagonist in the 1986 movie "Aliens", who is a sinister man who is notably callous towards human life as long as he makes a profit, as demonstrated by the way he attempts to impregnate Ripley and Newt with Alien embryos prior to the departure from the colony. There is a very slight resemblance in the appearance of the two men, but clothing and voice are extremely different.

Mr. Burke was also the name of a well known graverobber and murderer in the 19th century, who sold the bodies of those he killed to doctors.

Mr. Burke also shares a surname with Edmund Burke, an Irish politician in the eighteenth century British Parliament. His views on the French Revolution and the new liberal ideology of the time were decidedly callous.

He may also be a reference to author Andrew Vachss, as most of his books had a Mr. Burke as the lead character, who had a similar personality.

He is voiced by Wes Johnson, who also voiced many characters in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, most notably Lucien Lachance, who speaks in a manner similar to Burke and shares Burke's rather evil alignment and propensity to call on the player to murder people. The other notable character voiced by Johnson was The Mad God Sheogorath in the Shivering Isles Expansion. Other than that, he also voiced all of the male Imperial citizens, as well as most of the guards all around Cyrodiil.

Bugs

 * It is possible that when you first enter Megaton, Burke will be glitched in such a manner that he "sits" outside of Craterside Supply as if there were a chair there, in the same way he's supposed to sit in Moriarty's Saloon. Burke will not automatically engage the Lone Wanderer in a conversation as is the case in Moriarty's.


 * A random bug will cause Mr.Burke to wear nothing. After 1 hour he will appear with his clothes. This bug rarely happens and only occurs in Moriarty's Saloon if you deny his request and come back later.


 * It is possible that upon entering Megaton for the first time, you may witness him sneaking around near the bomb. He can be engaged in conversation normally, as if he was sitting in Moriarty's Saloon. The Lone Wanderer must engage him in this conversation, as he will not automatically talk to the player like in the Saloon.


 * Even if Burke is killed before you ever set foot in Tenpenny Tower, such as during the confrontation with Lucas Simms, you may still find that hitmen specifically from the Tenpenny Tower quest possess notes signed by Burke commissioning your character's termination. You can still find these notes on them even if you used Black Widow on Burke and he is sending you love letters at the same time.


 * It is possible - especially on the PlayStation 3 version of the game - that if you kill Burke, then (after a long while) he may respawn back, and can be found standing beside the bomb if it is disarmed, though he cannot be engaged in conversation.


 * If you use pickpocketing to steal Mr. Burke's ammunition, he will draw his weapon to shoot Simms, then holster it over and over again. When you follow Simms outside, he falls down dead anyway.


 * It is possible when you go up the elevator in Tenpenny Tower that Burke will turn on you and start attacking. Just go down the elevator then back up and he will be friendly.

Quotes

 * "You should be proud of your accomplishment" (talking about the Megaton incident)
 * "It was an inspirational thing you did. Truly" (talking about the Megaton incident)
 * "So, you're a masochist?" (when attacking)
 * "Any moment now, you'll be dead! Are you excited to see what that's like?" (when attacking)
 * [screams in fear] (when attacking)
 * "Why do you knuckle draggers insist on doing things the hard way... very well." (when Simms tells him he's under arrest)