The games and the series show it: In the post-apocalypse of Fallout, some strange characters walk around. One of them has taken his passion as a scientist a bit too far and implanted chips in the heads of his “patients”.
Who is it about? Those who walk through Fallout 3 eventually stumble upon the Red Racer factory and meet the so-called “surgeon” there. Unfortunately, we do not learn his or her true name (the gender varies). Right from the first encounter, the character behaves hostile toward the player character.
The only exception: If you wear the ghoul mask obtained through the “Tenpenny Tower” quest, the surgeon does not attack you. This also applies to all Wild Ghouls in the game, who do not recognize you as a healthy human because of the mask.
The fact that the surgeon also falls for the masquerade, even though he is actually an ordinary human, is likely due to his passion. He is intensely involved with ghouls and also super mutants. However, his motives are by no means positive.
The surgeon would also fit well into the Amazon series on Fallout – here you can see the trailer for season 2:
Mind Control in the Post-Apocalypse
What does the surgeon intend? The character has retreated to his hideout to experiment with the brains of ghouls and super mutants. Specifically, he implants chips in them.
The surgeon wants to understand the neural connections of these creatures on one hand, and control them on the other. The valuable information he obtains through his research can be sold to interested parties in the wasteland.
To ensure that no ghoul or super mutant goes awry, the surgeon has embedded a detonator in the chip. This can be activated at will. So if a test subject does not cooperate, he can be disabled at the push of a button.
In the game, this is noticeable because the heads of defeated enemies explode upon their death. Before that, a clicking sound can be heard, which also occurs with landmines in the game.
Some of the early chips had a malfunction. They heated up too quickly and exploded randomly. Because of this, some test subjects were lost, prompting the surgeon to revise the implants. In particular, the super mutants were valuable test subjects for whom such an accident should not happen.
A glowing ghoul named Stefan was particularly close to his “master”. He acted as a kind of bodyguard and protected the surgeon from hostile forces – or test subjects with whom the “treatment” did not work.
Is there more behind it? From here, we enter the realm of theories. The YouTube channel Synonymous discussed the surgeon in a video and mentioned an important point.
In the building where the surgeon is located, an eerie-sounding voice can be heard. The exact same voice also resounds in the Dunwich building. There is an altar there that was erected for a mysterious power named Ug-Qualtoth.
Those who think of the divine creatures of H.P. Lovecraft upon hearing that name are not mistaken. And similar to those, Ug-Qualtoth could also slowly drive people insane. According to the YouTuber, it could be the god of the wasteland or radiation.
Super mutants and ghouls would escape his influence since they have become immune to radiation because of the mutation. However, thanks to the chip, they would be brought under the surgeon’s control – who in turn is guided by Ug-Qualtoth.
If one prevents super mutants from simply killing too many people, new ghouls can be created from these people. Theoretically, a whole army of these creatures could be created.
Fun fact: If your character’s science skill is high enough, you can initiate the detonation of all chips at the computer terminal in the Red Racer factory. This way you solve the enemy problem in one go, only the glowing ghoul Stefan survives the whole thing. You can find another exciting fact about Fallout 3 on MeinMMO: A Fallout was almost given a complete subway, but the developers found it too realistic
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