Charon (Fallout 3)

Charon is a possible ghoul companion NPC in Fallout 3. Brainwashed as a child he is blindly loyal to the holder of his contract.

He resides in the Underworld as a bouncer in The Ninth Circle. His contract can be bought from Ahzrukhal for a sum of 2,000 caps (1,000 caps if your barter skill is high enough). Alternatively, you can also retrieve his contract from his employer, by killing Greta in Carol's Place. Either way he will loyally follow you. His very first act as your new employee will be to have a "chat" with his former employer.

He is also the only NPC (along with dogmeat) that can join you regardless of your karma.

During the final mission, Charon will follow you and you can ask him to enter the control chamber of project purity. He will decline however, stating something to the effect of "Haven't I saved your ass enough times already. Not this time."

Equipments
By default he uses a combat shotgun for his weapon, which appears to have infinite ammo as well as infinite durability. Like default weapons for other NPCs, this shotgun cannot be traded. New weapons given to him do not have unlimited ammo, so you'll have to resupply him with ammo.

You can equip him with new armor which he'll happily wear. He knows how to use power armor even if you do not. If you managed to acquire a suit of power armor early on but are unable to equip it yourself, give it to Charon.

Equipment given to him doesn't appears to degrade with usage just like any other piece of gear.

Combat
Charon seems to fearlessly confront any possible enemies. His perception is very good because he normally says something if enemies are approaching and you have not noticed. Normally attacking from mid-range with his default Combat Shotgun. He seems to be incredibly accurate with his default combat shotgun. There seems to be little to no spread when he fires, enabling him to hit targets at medium range with it. He sometimes randomly runs around and ducks for cover.

Compared to standard combat shotgun, Charon's shotgun has MUCH higher accuracy and longer range with smaller clip size (5 instead of 12). Generally speaking, Charon's shotgun is outclass standard combat shotgun.

Charon rarely uses melee weapons and prefers guns for combat. He is very resilient and is able to take a lot of damage before dying. Most enemies are usually no problem for him to deal with unless its a larger group of Deathclaw or Enclave soldiers.

When sneaking or searching, he might pull out his combat knife sometimes.

He also seems to pump his combat shotgun, despite combat shotguns not being pump action. It would seem to be a unique shotgun, but you are unable to acquire it.

Trivia

 * Charon is most likely a take on the ferryman of the dead, Charon, of Greek Mythology

Bugs

 * Charon can disappear after the the rescue mission during Project Purity. He is located in the tunnels. Go to the Citadel and there is a sewage grate on the ground outside the Citadel near the river. Back track the exact route you took to rescue the NPCs.
 * Charon sometimes on the XBOX 360 + PS 3 will be stuck and fail to kill Ahzrukhal and thus not follow the player. So make sure to save before you buy his contract.