Did Father Really die?

[StormWolf01]

Spoiler warning. The following thread will contain spoilers, player theory, and just plain BS. IF this bothers you, or is going to ruin your gameplay, stop right here.

 

So here is what I was thinking, and I thought that I would throw this out into the pile for debate. We all love that :)

 

What if the whole story about Father dying is another Institute lie?

What if he faked his death, and decided to disappear?

What if the "dying" father is just a synth, and father has transferred his conciousness into "Young Shaun"?

What if the "dying" father is just a synth, and father has transferred his conciousness into the sole survivor?

What are some other ideas or possibilities that you've thought of, as far as the whole death of Father?

 

Your thoughts?

 

[HeyYou]

I could see transferring to another synth body. (adult) That would make the most sense. After all, who wouldn't love immortality? I think he actually expressed some reasoning against that though.... but, don't recall for sure. (been a while since I played the institute ending.) As for then disappearing....... I can't wrap my head around that one......

[StormWolf01]

Not that I'm doubting what you're saying about him expressing that. Simply cuz I've never played the institute ending.

But... Father's a lying drek bag. I'd say about half of what he says to the player doesn't match up to what's in his documentation in the terminals. Per some of the vids I've seen. So yeah...he's got stuff that he's keeping secret. Even from his own parent.

[HeyYou]

I think it would be difficult, at best, to keep him living as a synth a secret though.... Too many people would have to know about it, and with the limited population there...... I don't think his secret would last long. Plus, while it was a secret, what would he be doing? The same drudge work the rest of the synths get stuck with? I really can't seem him going from in charge of the whole thing, to scrubbing toilets. :D

[Zorkaz]

Good idea and unsettling. Yet being a synth does pose a problem for him. The BoS wants him destroyed, the rest of the commonwealth might too. Still better than dying I guess.

[StormWolf01]

Ok, here's my train of thought. The people who are at the top of the list (meaning the people in charge) of big companies and organizations in this game (along with many others) always think that they can get away with anything that they want to do. And in many cases, they can.

Ok so here is my main thought. Father, and their parent have a high compatibility rate as far as body organ transfer. Parent and Child usually do, as do siblings.

What if, as his time to die grew near, he started to think about a brain transplant between himself and his parent? Or at least even a partial one. Thinking that if he transferred his memories into the parent body, that he would still somehow survive.

I mean, his made it clear on a couple of occasions that he's not that attached to them. He also has a pretty limited understanding of emotional response.

 

Part of what it is, to me that might support that, is the timing. The parent shows up at the Institute just as he's about to die. If you knew the technology was there, wouldn't it be a really huge temptation to use it? Especially with him passing control of the Institute.... to the parent? Who...previous to this, has no real information about the Institute?

 

Ok, real life experience here.... I was separated from my own parents when I was 2 1/2 years old. No sob-story there, just saying... it gives a person a different perspective and experience as far as parental detachment. There isn't a lot of emotional connection, or even family type familiarity.

Now, here's a guy that IS the highest on the totem pole, in one of the most powerful organizations in this area of the country. That's a lot of power.

If the chance was presented to him, would he give that up?

That... and it might add some meat to the question of "Why did he wait so long to release them from the Vault, and choose This point in time, to do so?"

 

But as for the BoS, if you side with the Institute, (Following along with Father's potential plan) you're wanted to destroy them. Along with the railroad. Pretty much any Outside source, that might come after you, or even be able to detect you.

 

Another point in this train of thought, is that nobody in the Institute knows how the sole survivor thinks or reacts. The sole survivor is a stranger to them. That would be even better of cover for Father. You can't tell if somebody is acting differently than they normally would, if you don't know how they'd act in the first place.

 

There is also so much conspiracy theory that the player is guided, and helped, with finding the Institute. They've done what nobody else has been able to do in 200 years. Something that they shouldn't have been able to do. Father expresses surprise that they made it there, but again... he's a liar. The words coming out of his mouth don't match what he's got in his computer. "So much effort" to paraphrase.

[AeonsLegend]

If this were true and I'm not saying it isn't possible then what is the reason for keeping it hidden. For Father to become immortal would be in the Institute's best interest and he wouldn't give the Institute to you either if he wasn't actually dying. Transering himself into a boy synth. No that simply makes no sense.

 

Also he'd have to have transfered himself into the synth boy he shut down when you first meet him for this to be true, because you can actually shoot him right there and then. None of that makes sense. It "could" be true, but then it could also be true that the entire commonwealth are synths and that only the institute has actual people in it. That also makes no sense.

[StormWolf01]

As for why to keep it hidden. That's a good point. I'm thinking it's because they think of synths as property. That there might be opposition to him doing so, or that he might not be accepted as himself, it it was public knowledge. There's also the shutdown code which could be used against him. Nobody reigns forever, eventually somebody else would want to take over and could try to find out his code and shut him down.

 

As a person gets old, they start to stack up a lot of regrets. About some of the choices that they've made, and about missed opportunities. I don't buy into that whole "My mom/dad didn't have a chance to raise their son, so I'll give them a replacement" theory. But who knows, maybe he was tired of running the place? I mean, the guy's never married. He has no romantic relationship going on. Maybe he was just at that point in time where he wanted to have a family, and not have his duties to the Institute bogging that down. In short, maybe he was wanting to retire.

 

Ok, on the other theory, think about this, how do immortals do this in storylines? They "create" a new identity for themselves, and transfer all their worth to their inheritor, the new identity. Father passes control of the institute to his inheritor if you play that storyline.

 

LOL yeah, getting shot before the plan has a chance to go into action would definitely be a big monkey wrench! :laugh:

Tho, storyline wise, the bad guy (and sometimes even the good guy) there's big holes that they overlook, or didn't consider, or were too vain to think of it as a possibility.

An that note, I know that sometimes when tabletop gaming, a dungeonmaster/gamemaster can spend weeks or even months throwing and planning out a story. Then one random thing from a player can crash the whole thing, and throw the DM/GM for a loop.

[HeyYou]

No battle plan survives contact with the enemy. (Helmuth von Moltke the Elder)

 

I used to DM Dungeons and Dragons games, and no matter how carefully I planned, considered alternatives, and other paths the players may follow, more often than not, the players would do something I had NOT anticipated....... Then I was forced to improvise from that point on during that session... and re-plan between then, and the next time we got together..... Lather, rinse, repeat. I am sure it is the same with open world games, though, the options are a bit more limited, there are still a fair few options, and the game won't have a path for all of them. It simply isn't possible.

 

As for father. DID he initiate the release of the sole survivor? Or was it simply an accident the systems failed when they did? (and he is taking credit for it....)

 

Also, I agree with Stormy. There would be pretty much zero attachment on fathers part, to his.... erm.... father.... He was taken at a VERY young age, and likely has no memories of his dad at all. The folks at the institute would be all he knew, and the whole 'blood relation' thing is likely irrelevant to him. He could kill you without batting an eye, have no remorse for it, and not lose any sleep over it.

[StormWolf01]

"The first thing to die in a fight is the Plan". That's how I learned the variant of that quote. And in quite a few of my experiences, it's definitely held to be true. Very, very good point HY.

 

Oh man, there's so many tabletop stories about where the plot got screwed up by us players or by my players that I can't even remember them all. Tho some of those turned out to be all kinds of funny as hell. Gawd I miss having a good group of players.

 

As for did Father release the PC.... I don't remember this 100%. But I'm pretty sure that the terminal there with the cryo units has a record that the manual override was in effect. I've got a character there at the vault, I'm gonna go check.