Characters / Fallout 4: Brotherhood of Steel

Fallout 4 Main Character Index
Sole Survivor and Family | Companions (Main Story Companions) | Factions (The East Coast Brotherhood of Steel — The Railroad — The Institute) | Commonwealth Citizens (Diamond City — Goodneighbor) | Island Citizens | Nuka-World Citizens

This is a page for the members of the East Coast Brotherhood of Steel within the Fallout 4 Commonwealth.

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East Coast Brotherhood of Steel

Ad Victoriam

"This campaign will be costly... But in the end we will be saving humankind from its worst enemy... itself."

—Arthur Maxson

The same Brotherhood of Steel chapter from Fallout 3. Arthur Maxson has since become the current leader and the chapter has become an amalgam of the Western chapters and Lyons' version of the Eastern chapter. It is still friendlier to Wastelanders like before but no longer considers protecting the public their mandate; rather, the protection of the public has become an indirect benefit due to their emphasis on establishing order throughout the wasteland and attacking violent Super Mutants, raiders, ferals, and other threats that endanger the people of the wasteland. Additionally their recruiting tactics are fairly open compared to the original Brotherhood, who very rarely accept outsiders.

In General

• Absolute Xenophobe:
  • The Brotherhood is dedicated to completely eradicating every form of intelligent life in the Commonwealth aside from naturally born humans — this encompasses synths, non-feral ghouls, and supermutants. They speak of this desired genocide as a just and necessary goal, and even finding out that one of their best soldiers, Paladin Danse, is a synth (who was unaware that he was a synth at all until he was told) doesn't give them pause as to whether or not what they're doing is right or even totally necessary.
  • And since the Outcasts were reintegrated within their ranks, quite a few members look down on human Wastelanders as well, viewing them with Condescending Compassion and telling any "civilian" who wanders into their path to get the hell out of their way.
• Aesop Amnesia: In the interim between games the Brotherhood has gone back to the same agenda that led to the downfall of the West Coast chapter, though they at least keep some of Lyon's old policies such as recruiting wastelanders.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Should the Prydwen be destroyed, the kinder companions, like Piper, Codsworth, and even Nick, whose species the Brotherhood wants exterminated, will express shock and sadness about the lives lost, particularly that of the squires.
• Badass Army: The most powerful faction in a straight-up fight what with the air support, power armor, and laser weapons.
• Captain Crash: Their Vertibird pilots seem to want to plow their vehicles into any structure they can find. This is mostly due to Artificial Brilliance on the part of enemies, who will ignore the armored Vertibird and instead shoot the unarmored pilot, sending the Vertibird and anyone in it to a fiery demise.
• Catchphrase: "Ad Victoriam", which means "To Victory".
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Their only possible defeats come from player intervention. From the beginning it's made clear that the Brotherhood of Steel outmatches any other faction in the game, with the largest army, the best troops, the greatest industrial capacity, (they built a 40,000 ton warship!), the only Air Force, and the option to rebuild the unstoppable Liberty Prime. In a play through where a Sole Survivor sides with them, they suffer no setbacks at all throughout the course of the story and are never in any danger nor does the narrative ever pretend like there's any chance the Institute can ever defeat them; the only reason the story lasts the length of the game is they don't know where the Institute is. When they find out and attack, it's over.
  • This can be reversed if the player goes for the Minutemen ending and decides to wipe out the Brotherhood, in which they can suffer a downright humiliating defeat at the Minutemen's hands. Their Cool Airship is shot down by mere artillery fire, and with fully upgraded defenses, especially with DLC installed, their attacking Vertibirds can be shot down without the Sole Survivor needing to fire a single shot.
• Crippling Overspecialization: When it comes to direct warfare, there is no question the Brotherhood are the strongest faction in the game. But they suck at espionage and covert operations. They can even be subverted by coincidence - see Paladin Danse and potentially the Sole Survivor. The Railroad story shows how even a few impoverished Wastelanders using some clever disguises and planning can completely wipe out their entire expeditionary force in one fell swoop by planting a few incendiary bombs on their hydrogen-filled airship base.
• Deadly Graduation: When Danse is discovered to be a synth, Arthur orders you to execute him in exchange for a promotion. Danse is the entire reason you're in the Brotherhood and if you turn against the Brotherhood, Danse will attack you. So this mission becomes a test of loyalty and devotion to the cause.
• Death Cry Echo: More than any other human faction, in their last breaths the Brotherhood members cry out support for their belief in the sanctity of their cause and organization.
• Death by Irony: The Brotherhood is all about preventing advanced technology from falling into the wrong hands. The Minutemen defeat them using artillery cannons based on 19th century technology. The Institute uses the very same most advanced tech the Brotherhood has been using (Liberty Prime) to kill them.
• Didn't Think This Through: They never consider the dangerous levels of hydrogen within the Prydwen, or the dangers of having all your eggs in one basket by having most of their personnel on the airship. In all endings involving the Brotherhood's destruction, the Brotherhood is defeated when the Prydwen is destroyed since they never spread out their soldiers or conquer areas to use as a base and backup plan^note they say they will do secure and fortify Fort Strong after you help them clear out the Super Mutants holding it in the first proper post-Prydwen Brotherhood quest, but they never actually do so..
• Dramatic Irony:
  • The West Coast Brotherhood was annihilated with the Lost Hills and Mojave Chapters potentially the only survivors (and even the latter can get wiped out by the Courier). This is due to the ludicrously self-destructive policies they followed to the letter. By contrast, the East Coast Brotherhood is at the height of its power and has decided to start following the West Coast Brotherhood's policies.
  • That said, the East Coast Brotherhood is still significantly more open about recruiting than their West Coast counterparts, which was by far the worst of the old Brotherhood's missteps. In addition, it still professes to uphold some of Elder Lyons' concerns for the people, in their own way at least (For example, they do not interfere with Minutemen operations or try to seize their weapons, and the only way they become hostile to the Minutemen is if a Minutemen-aligned player starts attacking Brotherhood patrols or fully commits to the Institute). The best way to describe them is as a mix of the West Coast and East Coast policies.
  • The Brotherhood's whole stated goal is to confiscate dangerous advanced technology for fear of the damage it could cause if left unchecked. A Minutemen playthrough where the Sole Survivor leads them against the Brotherhood has them getting their Cool Airship and the vast majority of their forces destroyed by comparatively ancient 19th-century artillery pieces, which they cannot possibly defend themselves against despite all of their futuristic lasers, power armour and air fleets.
  • They also have a glaring flaw in their doctrine - most notably how they handle the rare case, when reckless science creates sentient life - especially sentient life that is, for all intents and purposes, just as human as the rest of the wasteland. Synths in particular, highlight this flaw spectacularly.
• Dynamic Entry: One method of deploying their power-armored troopers via Vertibird is for them to jump out of the hovering aircraft and land without worry of fall damage thanks to their power armor. They then get right to gunning down the enemy.
• Eagle Land: They see themselves as the "Beautiful" type, while many Commonwealth residents, including Preston Garvey, view them as the "Boorish" type. In actuality they are the "Mixed Flavor" type.
• Expy: With their Powered Armor, drop tactics, use of overwhelming force, hatred of non-humans, increased religious overtones (particularly of the Cult flavor), and status as a technologically advanced military order with Feudal Future elements, the East Coast Brotherhood of Steel is currently doing a passable imitation of the Space Marine Chapters of Warhammer 40,000 fame (primarily the Ultramarines through the Brotherhood's feudalistic rule over the Capital Wasteland being paralleled through the Ultramarines' ultimately positive yet still feudal treatment of Ultramar's 500 Worlds). The comparison only gets stronger when you find out there are cults out west dedicated to worshipping Elder Maxson, which the Elder is not a fan of and deliberately suppresses (mirroring the Emperor's relationship with his Space Marines, most notably the Word Bearers Legion).
• Fantastic Racism: This was previously just an Informed Attribute of the Brotherhood in Fallout 3 and previous titles, but in Fallout 4 it rears its ugly head, with the Brotherhood planning to exterminate all Synths, Feral Ghouls, and Super Mutants (though granted, Feral Ghouls and the "local flavor" of Super Mutant in this region are all violently hostile). Also, while they don't seek to exterminate sane Ghouls, they're still disturbingly racist towards them, viewing them as inhuman freaks, as shown by their interaction with Hancock if you bring him to the Prydwen.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: While they have lots of Eagleland trappings about them, in practice their status as a military order that has grown powerful enough to be considered a nation in its own right along with their Feudal Future design basically paints them as the science fiction equivalent to the State of the Teutonic Order following their invasion of Prussia.
• Feeling Oppressed by Their Existence:
  • The Brotherhood find the very idea of Synths to be a threat to the very existence of humanity and Maxson argues that the Brotherhood are attempting to prevent another apocalypse by destroying all synths. He specifically argues that synths can bring about another human Armageddon if asked.
  • One terminal has a BoS member offer to go "Feral hunting" with his companions, stating that he finds the very existence of feral ghouls disgusting.
• Feudal Future:
  • The Brotherhood's pseudo-Medieval Britain aesthetic is made only more apparent in this game; Not only does the path to becoming a Brotherhood member now intentionally resemble a medieval apprenticeship, but the Brotherhood also openly practices a form of vassalship with local settlements (implied to be how they run things back in the Capital Wasteland), defending settlements from Wasteland threats like Raiders and Super Mutants in return for Pre-War tech, resources, and manpower.
  • Notably, this also gets deconstructed, as their paternalistic tendencies and semi-feudalistic mindset causers them to butt heads with the Commonwealth Minutemen and other local factions in the Commonwealth who have a (relatively speaking) more "democratic" styling of governance; if Preston is in the same room when the Sole Survivor is formally sworn into the Brotherhood, he will outright dismiss Elder Maxson's Well-Intentioned Extremist speech as "self-justifying bullshit".
• Foil: The Commonwealth Minutemen, as an organization, is very similar to how they used to behave in the Capital Wasteland, only lacking technology. The Minutemen have also adopted a Revolutionary War image and iconography while the Brotherhood utilizes Pre-War power armor to adopt a feudal image. Both groups openly recruit Wastelanders, and both have a problem with having bigoted members (though in the Brotherhood's case this is more because of dogma and less because of individual prejudice).
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Most of your Good Aligned companions (including Garvey and Wright) have a mild-to-severe dislike of the Brotherhood of Steel — even if you're a member and traveling with others. Still, for all their faults, the Brotherhood's forces are at least reliably non-hostile towards the player and neutral Wastelanders when encountered out in the Wasteland (so long as you don't antagonize them), and will helpfully fight any Raiders or hostile mutants they come across. Justified as, well-intentioned or not, the Brotherhood are more or less invading the Commonwealth (not unlike how people in the Mojave perceived the NCR), and their paternalism can be both grating and concerningly close to fascism.
• Genocide Backfire: If the PC chooses to side with the Railroad, their stated goal to wipe out all Synths gets them eradicated.
• Genre Savvy: The Brotherhood of Steel is able to figure out the password for The Railroad's headquarters, why? the Brotherhood has an education system. The scribes are extremely erudite and able to figure out the password. Also, the password is "Railroad", because in the post-nuclear society people are largely illiterate due to the erosion of the education system.
• Good Is Not Nice: They're a group of xenophobic, dogmatic Knight Templars who don't hesitate to destroy any group that tries to interfere with or attacks them, (Like with the Railroad and/or a anti-BOS Sole Survivor led Minutemen) are willing to Shoot the Dog if they view it as necessary, plan to exterminate every synth they find and generally tend to look down on human Wastelanders. Despite all of their faults, are good as they genuinely want to bring peace and stability to the Commonwealth and its inhabitants and protect humanity from dangerous threats to its existence (including even human factions like the Institute, Raiders and Gunners). They regularly send out patrols to take out anything that could pose a threat to normal Wastelanders.
• Good Old Ways: The Brotherhood of Steel views itself as an extension of American traditions. Not that they view themselves to be a legitimate legal continuation of the US government, but if there is an American spirit that remains in this country they view themselves to be the inheritors of that Pax Americana. The Brotherhood members are prone to shout off pro-American slogans and how they're bringing back American spirit to the community. They're fiercely anti-Communist, viewing people that even vaguely remind them of the Chinese government with extreme distrust. Notably, Danse refuses to call the Enclave the remnants of the US government, showing that the Brotherhood views the Enclave to be traitors to everything that America stood for.
• Gratuitous Latin: Their Pretentious Latin Motto is "Ad Victorium" a.k.a. "To Victory".
• Guilt-Free Extermination War: Played straight with the super mutants and feral ghouls who, at least in the East Coast, are portrayed as being Always Chaotic Evil monsters with a few exceptions. Zig-zagged with the Synths; while the Gen 1 and Gen 2 Synths are nothing more than emotionless robots on par with Protectrons in terms of intelligence, the Gen 3 Synths seem to be capable of free will, deep emotion, and independent thought, with many even choosing to escape the Institute and seek freedom in the wasteland, even forming colonies for runaway Synths such as Acadia. Despite this, the Brotherhood does not make any distinction between the groups and will send out a patrol to wipe out Acadia if you inform them of its existence.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: If the player sides with the Institute, they turn the Brotherhood's own Liberty Prime against the Prydwen.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Maxson justifies everything the Brotherhood does by hiding behind supposed necessity, no matter how much genocide that involves.
• Mirroring Factions:
  • To the Institute. Just like them, the Brotherhood of Steel is a descendant of a Pre-War organization with advanced technology they intend to use to make the Commonwealth a better place (through force). And the two groups hate each other.
  • Ironically given their history with the group, they've become this trope to the Enclave. Like the Enclave, they are now invading an outside territory that doesn't want them around, (though not out of conquest like the Enclave) claiming they are here as benevolent liberators to bring peace and order to the Commonwealth, and they see themselves as humanity's one true hope to restore civilization. This is accentuated by their prominent usage of Vertibirds and the darker color scheme they've adopted for their power armor; when a player sees a vertibird land in the wasteland and disembark a patrol of power-armored troops to take control of the area, it really echoes Fallout 3 where the Enclave would do the same thing. Fortunately, the key difference between the two groups is that the Brotherhood are trying to be a geniune force for good and they truly mean what they preach as these patrols are done to eliminate threats to Wastelanders and provide safe travel, as opposed to the Enclave who detained random civilians for mandatory genetic scannings and brutally killed them if/when they failed the tests.
  • To the West Coast Brotherhood of Steel. The new Brotherhood of Steel has merged the ideology of the West Coast Brotherhood of Steel and Elder Lyons due to the reformations of Elder Maxson. Elder Lyons came to the East Coast to find a missing contingent of Brotherhood soldiers and to investigate the reports of Super Mutants in the D.C. area, and ended up trying to move his chapter to follow the 'spirit' of the Codex. Elder Maxson's pragmatic enough to retain some of Owyn Lyons' reforms and not stick too blindly to the Codex, allowing the East Coast Brotherhood to avoid the fate that befell the Mojave chapter. This is evidenced by their willingness to recruit outsiders and their work at establishing order throughout a chaotic wasteland.
  • To the Minutemen. Both are organized armed forces that seek to defend the people of the Commonwealth in the Minutemen's case and of both them and those of the Capital Wasteland in the Bortherhood's, from the Death World that is post-apocalyptic America and the monsters that inhabit it, in turn requesting manpower and resources from the people they protect to maintain their ability to do so, differing mostly in that the Minutemen rely on large numbers of relatively lightly-armed militiamen recruited from any who were willing to fight, and are all from the Commonwealth, while the Brotherhood is an Elite Army centered around highly-trained Knights in power armor with much higher recruiting standards and a large force of men from the Capital Wasteland already, leading to a perception as outsiders that their insular and protective attitude can't shake.
  • To Caesar's Legion. Much like how the Legion emulates Rome (or at least cherry-picks what suits them), the East Coast Brotherhood of Steel is evoking feudal/medieval imagery, albeit infused with technology and memories of its US military origins. But whereas the Legion's ultimately unstable and desperate to firmly establish its "New Rome" in New Vegas, the Brotherhood under Elder Maxson have already managed to pull it off in the Capital Wasteland without making life hell for the locals.
  • To the Pre-War United States. Both groups have armed forces consisting largely of heavily armed professional soldiers primarily equipped in Power Armor that take down their enemies through overwhelming force and can even bring Liberty Prime to bear against their foes. The Brotherhood's rather paternalistic militaristic expansions in the name of the "greater good" also parallels how Pre-War America annexed both Canada and Mexico supposedly to better secure themselves against the spread of Communism, and their Fantastic Racism against Synths is even evocative of the hideous levels of racism levied against Chinese-Americans and Chinese POWs during the Resource Wars by the Pre-War US government. Bonus points for the Brotherhood being actually descended from a mutinous US Army Captain and his soldiers.
• Mundane Utility: As uptight as they are, even they can't resist having a little fun with their tech. Among other things they hold contests to see who can withstand the longest drop in power armor (current record holder jumped from the Prydwen), and their pilots apparently like to go Brahmin tipping... using the propellers of their Vertibirds.
• A Nazi by Any Other Name: The Brotherhood soldiers worship Maxson and believe that genocide is the best solution for the synths, supermutants, and ghouls.
• Principles Zealot: The Brotherhood's more or less become this. Still, Elder Maxson insists that it's for the good of the Commonwealth and its people.
• Prodigal Hero: What the East Coast Brotherhood's become compared to its benevolent Renegade Splinter Faction tendencies in Fallout 3. Symbolically, they once more answer directly through Elder Maxson to the original West Coast Elders in the Lost Hills. This split in communication occurred after the Elders of the West Coast learned of the East Coast Brotherhood's new mission of helping the citizens of the Capital Wasteland by support of advanced technology and putting the acquisition of technology on hold.
• Pet the Dog: During the "Kid in the Fridge" quest, a BoS soldier with no scripted dialogue may inexplicably be present in the house with Billy's parents. Not only does he not harm the Ghoul family, he'll even help the Sole Survivor defend them from the Gunner squad that shows up wanting to enslave the kid. Though this is possibly a result of emergent gameplay rather than a scripted part of the sidequest. Danse, however, has scripted dialogue (if he accompanies you) where he makes it clear that he thinks they should protect Billy and his ghoul parents.
• Properly Paranoid:
  • The Brotherhood of Steel believes the Railroad needs to be dealt with before the Institute despite they're a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits, and there is reference (in a terminal) to the Railroad "hampering" their operations. They can blow up the Prydwen without firing a shot if the PC has high Charisma and a suit of Power Armor.
  • Subverted with the Minutemen. While some members of the Brotherhood look down upon common settlers, they aren't considered a threat to be eliminated like the Institute or Railroad, and Kells, in particular, will chew out a player aligned with the Brotherhood but completing the main quest with the Minutemen for needlessly putting human lives at risk. This while the Minutemen have the one advantage even the Institute does not: the capability of bombarding the Prydwen.
• Punch-Clock Villain: If you side against them.
• Stuff Blowing Up: The Brotherhood airship is their primary base and nobody considers spreading out their soldiers or conquering new areas to use as a new base. So when the other factions decide to attack the Brotherhood, they simply blow up the Prydwen. Hydrogen gas is extremely flammable and the resulting explosion eradicates the Brotherhood of Steel.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: The East Coast Brotherhood of Steel has become a great deal like the Neo-Feudalist Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel. This wouldn't qualify for this trope if not for the fact the Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel is Broad Strokes canon for the Fallout First-Person Shooter series. They exist, but in a far diminished state than Fallout: Tactics indicated. It should also be noted the Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel was egalitarian to nonhumans and offered its membership to Super Mutants, intelligent Deathclaws, and Ghouls. The East Coast Brotherhood has adopted an extermination policy toward non-humans except non feral ghouls.
• Tag Along Kid: The Brotherhood intentionally has squires (who are children) tag along on combat missions as a part of that squire's education of the Brotherhood's military tactics, in order for the squire to learn how to survive in a dangerous and inhospitable wasteland.
• Taking You with Me: Should a Minutemen-aligned player choose to launch an artillery strike on the Prydwen, the Brotherhood immediately knows who attacked them and swarm the Castle with dozens of Vertibirds in under a minute.
• Took a Level in Jerkass:
  • They're now much more like the Brotherhood Outcasts and the Midwestern Brotherhood of Steel.
  • Proctor Teagan goes behind Arthur's back and asks the player to secure food from Commonwealth farmers "by any means necessary". Of course, it's still up to the player to decide how to accomplish this task, but Teagan's seeming indifference to what actually happens in the field suggests not everyone in the Brotherhood cares that much about civilians.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: They want to liberate the Commonwealth from the Institute and stabilize it but to do so invading it with military force and intend to exterminate all Synths, including the non-hostile ones, because they view them as a danger to the existence of humanity.
• What the Romans Have Done for Us: In the eyes of everyone else, they're an antagonist faction trying to take over, but they do genuinely secure their parts of the region for civilian use against even the super mutants, who roll pretty much everyone else in the game. They're also the only faction in-game that can and do reliably clear out areas of hostiles as well as protect trade routes, though the Minutemen are able to do so after destroying the Institute, which provides a significant boost to their ranks.
• Would Be Rude to Say "Genocide": The Brotherhood of Steel has made it their mission to exterminate all of the Super Mutants and synths viewing them as a threat to all of humanity. The Brotherhood of course doesn't view this as genocide, considering both to be little more than "abominations" as a result of "technology run amok". With synths it's left up to the player's discretion to decide if they are right or not. Super Mutants on the other hand, borders on being a Guilt-Free Extermination War.
• Zeppelins from Another World: Their headquarters in the Commonwealth is the Prydwen, a high-tech blimp.

Leadership

Elder Arthur Maxson

Elder Arthur Maxson (MX-001E)

Voiced by: Derek Phillips

"Look around you, Danse! Look at the scorched earth and the bones that litter the Wasteland. Millions... perhaps even billions, died because science outpaced man's restraint! They called it a 'new frontier' and 'pushing the envelope', completely disregarding the repercussions. Can't you see the same thing is happening again?!"

The leader of the East Coast Brotherhood of Steel and Captain of the Prydwen, originally seen as a young squire-in-training in Fallout 3. Unlike his predecessor Elder Lyons, he is much more aggressive and favors actively destroying all Super Mutants, Feral Ghouls, Synths, and the Institute itself.

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• A Child Shall Lead Them: He is stated to have been in charge of the Brotherhood of Steel for five years, which means he was fifteen when he took over as Elder.
• A Father to His Men:
  • He cares deeply for his men and one of the ways you can get him to spare Danse is to mention how many Brotherhood lives he saved.
  • Alternatively, he can be swayed if the Sole Survivor makes it clear that they are willing to throw away their position in the Brotherhood, and all the respect that comes with it, if it means sparing Danse. He doesn't like it, but he accepts it and still promotes them upon returning to the Prydwen due to being impressed by their guile and chutzpah.
• A God I Am Not: While he is worshiped as one by many Western Coast Brothers, he denies it, and their cults of worship are suppressed.
• Agree to Disagree: Convincing him to spare Danse pretty much comes down to this. The Brotherhood are staunchly anti-synth, and as such having one in their ranks is completely unacceptable and grounds for execution. However, if you convince him that Danse was just as ignorant of his true nature as the rest of the Brotherhood was, he cannot deny that the Paladin in question was one of the most loyal and accomplished members of the Brotherhood, and callously executing him in direct spite of that loyalty would be a betrayal of the man who had served and looked up to him for all his years of service. Ultimately he concludes that while he cannot accept a Synth in the ranks of the Brotherhood of Steel, neither can he have Danse killed (or kill the Paladin himself) in good conscience, so instead, he spares Danse, on the condition that he become a Persona Non Grata and for all intents and purposes is considered killed in action.^note Which translates into the gameplay as meaning that having Danse as a follower while encountering Brotherhood members will result in them immediately becoming hostile to you.
• The Alcoholic: Implied given how his cabin aboard the Prydwen is absolutely littered with beer bottles.
• Ambiguously Christian: Maxson makes references to humans having souls, and there being a sacred nature to flesh. He views the intertwining of man and machine to be disgusting, and mocks the Institute for trying to play God by making synthetic humans. He specifically points out that synths have manufactured souls, so their ethics are not truly their own and can't be ingrained the same way a human can. No specific mention is made of what religion Maxson or the Brotherhood follows, but given the Christian majority in pre-war America there's a good likely hood that he's Christian. At the very least, it would be odd for a secular humanist to make mention of God and souls if he didn't believe in something.
• Ascended Extra: He was just a kid back in Fallout 3, and a minor extra to boot.
• Badass Longcoat: He wears a unique padded coat, which adds to his presence.
• Baritone of Strength: Surprisingly downplayed; While his voice is fairly deep, it's also noticeably lighter than his appearance might first imply (likely due to him being Younger Than They Look).
• Big Bad: If the Sole Survivor sides with the Institute he'll be their main antagonist.
• Big Bad Ensemble: With Father for a Railroad and potentially Minutemen aligned Sole Survivor.
• The Chains of Commanding: The responsibilities that come with being Elder definitely weigh heavily on him.
• Child Soldier: If Proctor Quinlan's logs are to be believed, he's had quite the career as a soldier ever since he was 10. That scar on his face? He got it from a Deathclaw he killed at age 13 (which according to Danse, he fought with just a knife).
• Da Chief: For you in the Brotherhood of Steel missions.
• Establishing Character Moment: His introductory scene consists of giving a Rousing Speech where he tells the crew of the Prydwen that Synths are the worst result of science gone amok since the atomic bomb before being shortly followed by him quietly turning away and looking over the Commonwealth, somberly tell the Sole Survivor "...I care about them, you know. The people of the Commonwealth." This shows that for all of his bluster and bigotry, Arthur Maxson actually does have a legitimately noble side and isn't just a fanatical conqueror.
• Expy: Of King Arthur. Besides sharing his name, he is the rightful heir to the Brotherhood of Steel, was sent to live with a foster father for his safety, reunited his divided faction, is the implied ruler of the Capital Wasteland, and is on a ship called the Prydwen.
• Fake Ultimate Hero: Subverted. All of his history reads like a Miles Gloriosus list of improbable achievements which talk about how he's the greatest badass who ever lived, which combined with the pseudo cult of personality springing up around him, may make a player think he's a cowardly braggart who can't back up his reputation. However, at the end of the game, he leads from the front in the Brotherhood's attack on the Institute (with a Gatling Laser and no Power Armor), gunning down Synths left and right while having noticeably better stats than the other Brotherhood members. Meanwhile, if fought during the Institute ending, he takes to the field with a Vertibird, Gatling Laser, and tricked out Power Armor, and will still give the Sole Survivor a tough fight even after surviving a Vertibird crash, showing that it wasn't all talk. And even if his fight with a Deathclaw was exaggerated, he still fought one at age 13 and lived.
• Fantastic Racism: Openly despises and wishes genocide upon ghouls, super mutants and synths.
• Field Promotion: It's implied that he rose so quickly to the title of Elder because Sarah Lyons died in battle. His lineage would also likely have something to do with it, as the Maxsons are the founding family of the Brotherhood and are usually its designated leaders. One of the terminals on the Prydwen reveals that he was named Elder by the Lost Hills Elders, who had been out of contact with the Lyons Brotherhood due to the war with NCR.
• Final Boss: The closest thing the game has to one, and only for an Institute questline, since the Institute itself has no real equivalent (the closest being a trio of Elite Mooks with no dialogue or plot role) if you attack them by following any of the other factions. To clarify, in the final Institute mission he attacks you via Vertibird at the very end, and if you shoot him down he'll take to the field personally in a full suit of T-60f power armor, the second-best power armor in the game, which coupled with his enhanced health and customized Gatling Laser, make him an especially tough fighter.
• Four-Star Badass: Because he's not on the Elders Council, he mostly serves as the front line general of the East Coast Brotherhood.
• The Fundamentalist: Arthur Maxson is much more like his ancestors than his mentor Owyn Lyons.
• Good Old Ways: Arthur notably averts this mindset. The Brotherhood at large speaks positively of the pre-war America and views the Chinese communists as the villains who ruined the world. Arthur Maxson does not fall prey to this mindset but blames both pre-war America and China for ruining the world. He views the nuclear war as a problem that was inherent to the sinful nature of all mankind, that humanity's technology had outpaced their morality and restraint, and that's why billions of lives vanished in the nuclear flames. Arthur is also aware that the Super Mutants and other abominations that roam the country side are pre-war monsters that America's elite let loose, so the nuclear war wasn't the only issue pre-war America screwed up on. Arthur does not admit defeat despite knowing that pre-war America didn't live up to its ideals, but takes this as a challenge to get right what their forefathers got wrong.
• He Is All Grown Up: In the decade between Fallout 3 and 4, he's gone from an eager little kid to a handsome Warrior Prince.
• Hunk: He's quite attractive, having a noticeable Heroic Build and sporting handsome facial features accompanied by a Baritone of Strength.
• Hypocrite: He leads an organization that was founded on the principles that a nuclear bomb was not to be used again... Only for him to give explicit orders to recover the warhead-throwing Liberty Prime and use it against the Institute. Furthermore, in his rant against Danse, he says "The ethics it's trying to champion aren't even its own," forgetting the fact that the ethics Danse are championing are in fact Maxson's.
• I Did What I Had to Do: For all of his more Jerkass tendencies, he nonetheless believes that what he's doing is for the good of the Commonwealth and its people.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • Arthur is also right with his fears about science outpacing humanity and how dangerous it can be if mishandled. Humanity was nearly rendered extinct because the leading powers couldn't handle their technology with warfare, and the Super Mutants exist because of the Forced Evolutionary Virus (FEV). In fact, Edward Sallow is the only Big Bad of any Fallout game who doesn't use immoral old world technology in an attempt to destroy the bulk of humanity (the Master and his FEV, the Enclave and their bio-weapons, the Calculator and his robot army, the Institute and their C.I.T. tech, Elijah and the Sierra Madre, Calvert and his psionics, etc.). If this sort of thing continues with the Institute, then the rest of humanity may face another man-made extinction event. Though this also has a bit of hypocrisy given the Brotherhood's over-reliance on technology themselves, and their tendency to go off the rails as seen with the West Coast BOS attacking the NCR, one of the only factions capable of restoring civilization.
  • Considering the Institute's normal "kill-and-replace" attitudes and the Broken Mask Incident in Diamond City, he isn't completely wrong about the volatility of Synths in "Blind Betrayal"; anything from a single order from the Institute to a software glitch can set them off into a murderous frenzy, and with Danse having access to power armor and energy weapons, one could imagine the level of destruction he could cause if set off.
  • While is may be unthinkable to some that Maxson would turn against Danse after his years of loyal service to the Brotherhood, it is perfectly justified from a command perspective. The risk of Danse being a Manchurian Agent is simply too great to ignore, especially considering Danse didn’t even know he was a Synth, and the success of the mission and the lives of everyone else in the unit has to be prioritized over any individual soldier’s life, no matter how dedicated. Danse seems to understand this, he knows too much about the Brotherhood’s operations and accepts that his status as a Synth makes him unable to perform his duties as they are to be expected of him.
• Kick the Dog:
  • His New Era Speech proclaims that Synths are worse than the atomic bomb and that no thinking machine could ever be considered equal to mankind. This speech will always be after the Sole Survivor has met both Nick Valentine and Codsworth.
  • When confronting Danse about his status as a Synth, he goes on an extended rant about the horrifying nature of Synths and refers to him as "it". Even Danse, his most loyal and dedicated soldier up until now, is upset at Maxson's ungrateful nature. If you don't successfully persuade him to spare Danse, but refuse to execute him personally, Maxson will do so himself by slashing Danse's throat with a combat knife.
• Last of His Kind: He's the last known descendant of the Brotherhood's founder, US Army Captain Roger Maxson. And thus bears a significant burden.
• Manly Facial Hair: It seems he steadily grew a beard over the years. It helps emphasize his commanding presence and overall demeanor.
• Mirror Character: He has quite a few similarities to his predecessor's Arch-Enemy, Colonel Augustus Autumn. Given that Autumn represented a slightly more "liberal" version of the Enclave, abandoning the group's original intent to exterminate all "impure" humans (a.k.a. anyone not from the Enclave or a Vault), while Maxson represents a more reactionary version of Owen Lyons' chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel, the two manage to somewhat meet in the middle. Both are conquerors who want to use their army to bring order to the Wastes "for the good of the people" (though Maxson at least seems to have a better grasp of what that actually means than Autumn ever did), and both are notable for their Badass Longcoat. Should you side with the Institute, Autumn and Maxson also both serve as the Final Boss of their respective games.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Arthur has reincorporated some of the West Cost Brotherhood's dogma back in, making it a mix of the West Coast and East Coast policies. This has taken the Brotherhood down a far darker and more paternalistic path.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:He suffers a humiliating Curb-Stomp Battle which destroys the Prydwen if his opinion on Synths, his plans for the Commonwealth and/or his exile or execution of Danse offends the Sole Survivor enough to go against him.
• Noble Bigot: While he clearly has noble intentions and is comparatively better than his West Coast counterparts, Maxson still hates mutants and self-aware AI, though not quite to the point that he'll go out of the way to murder them pointlessly.
• Not So Similar: In spite of the above, Maxson and his version of the Brotherhood are ultimately much more sympathetic than Colonel Autumn and his version of the Enclave. Rather than shooting Wastelanders on sight for crossing their path, they try to maintain at least a neutral relationship with most of them. Maxson also is never cruel just for cruelty's sake, keeps his word when he gives it, and can sometimes be convinced to be reasonable by a charismatic Sole Survivor, whereas Autumn would randomly shoot hostages to make a point and had a habit of pulling You Have Outlived Your Usefulness.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Can be convinced to exile the revealed-to-be-Synth Paladin Danse instead of killing him, sparing his life. He also hasn't forgotten Elder Lyons' lessons and still insists on upholding at least some of those virtues. To a certain extent, even if the player constantly protests and backtalks during the mission against Danse and outright defies his order to execute him, he glosses over it because he knows that they were close with Danse and still gives them a promotion and new Power Armour suit rather than having them demoted, expelled or executed for insubordination. Throughout the quest, he never actually takes sadistic pleasure in Danse's execution, only feeling rage and betrayal.
  • If you tell him that you're only joining the Brotherhood to destroy the Institute because they killed your spouse and threaten the local civilians, instead of out of genuine loyalty to the Brotherhood's ideals, he's understanding and seems genuinely concerned for both the safety of the Commonwealth's people and the depravities of the Institute. He'll even still promote you and call you an exemplar that the other Brotherhood members should look up to.
    Arthur Maxson: Your true reward rests in the hearts and the minds of the people you've saved.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Maxson instructs the Sole Survivor not to harm Dr. Li even if she refuses to rejoin them or cooperate with them, due to needing her expertise to rebuild Liberty Prime and not wanting to kill the metaphorical Golden Goose. The Sole Survivor can still threaten to have her shot to force her to work on Prime. And while he will be very disappointed, Maxson does have a replacement in Professor Scara should Li be killed and/or the Institute be alerted before she is recruited.
• Puppet King: Subverted. It's implied that he's this to the Elders of Lost Hills, but otherwise he wields considerable authority and respect to the point where the men are loyal to him specifically. If nothing else, the fact that Lost Hills is on the other side of the continent and communication isn't always reliable ensures that he has to take plenty of decisions on his own guidance.
• Rank Scales with Asskicking: He has noticeably more health than the other Brotherhood members, and comes with a powerful Gatling Laser to boot. But since he doesn't wear any Powered Armor (unless you fight him as the Final Boss by siding with the Institute for the end of the main quest), he's about as tough as a Brotherhood Knight in armor.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: He's concerned with protecting the people of the Commonwealth and deploys his forces to fight the Synths, Super Mutants, Ghouls, and Raiders that have kept the place destitute. He'll also listen to objections from even low-ranked personnel, and can be convinced to stand down in even his most zealous beliefs such as the case involving Paladin Danse because, past a certain point, he trusts the Sole Survivor's judgement. That said, his attitude towards Gen 3 synths and attitude in regards to the Institute prevents him from being a straight hero.
• Revenge Before Reason: Upon the discovery that Danse is a synth, he demands his execution within a heartbeat despite Danse's years of loyal service to the Brotherhood.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: His status of royalty is sketchy but he's a direct descendant of the BoS' founder, is the ruler of the Capital Wasteland, and has been in charge since he was ten. He participates in the defense of the Prydwen in the Railroad and Institute endings and will join you in fighting inside the Institute if you follow the Brotherhood ending.
• Rugged Scar: Sports one on one of his cheeks.
• Stop Worshipping Me: He is put off by the accidental cult of personality that essentially deifies him and tries to quash it... to no avail.
• Took a Level in Badass: Goes from an unassuming little kid in 3 to the leader of the Commonwealth Brotherhood in 4... over the course of 10 years. Heck, in 3 years time he went from fumbling his gun and accidentally shooting Sarah Lyons (fortunately she was wearing power armor) at age 10, to (supposedly) killing a deathclaw singlehandedly at age 13.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Adult Maxson is noticeably more fanatical than he was in Fallout 3. Justified in that he has probably been indoctrinated over the last 10 years by the Brotherhood, as it's suggested the Lyons both died shortly after the events of Fallout 3. Furthermore, he's also become considerably more cynical due to him struggling to lead the Brotherhood down what he sees as the best possible path.
• Universally Beloved Leader: He leads the Brotherhood of Steel, which absolutely loves him; ambient dialogue from Brotherhood members has them noting that if Maxson asked them to "invade the gates of Hell," they'd kick down the doors personally, and entire cults of personality worshiping him have started out west.
• Unwitting Pawn: Arthur Maxson was appointed by the Elders of Lost Hills to be leader of the East Coast Brotherhood. It's implied he's been taking orders from them ever since and thus "his" godlike leadership is just a façade.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Back in Fallout 3, anyway. He's now definitely less optimistic and upbeat.
• Wasteland Warlord: Played with. On one hand, he is the supreme leader of all Brotherhood forces in the Commonwealth and he commands the unwavering loyalty and support of his troops. On the other hand, he is implied to be a pawn of the Elders of Lost Hills.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: He sees committing genocide against Synthkind and wiping out the Railroad to a man as Necessarily Evils to secure humanity's survival.
• Wham Line: His below line at the very start of "Blind Betrayal" (regarding a list of Synths the Institute has recorded escaping their clutches that the Brotherhood managed to steal) completely changes how both the player and Sole Survivor see a certain important character, and will likely affect what faction the Sole Survivor will decide to ultimately side with.
  Elder Maxson: Paladin Danse is a perfect match for one of the Synths on that list.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • When Paladin Danse is revealed to be a Synth, he presumes that you, having been recruited by Danse, knew all along and were withholding this secret from the rest of the Brotherhood. He decides to chew you out accordingly... when, in reality, this is also your first time hearing about it.
  • Later, if you decide to spare Danse's life instead of execute him, Maxson will confront you and question the wisdom in defying orders and allowing a synth to live.
• Worthy Opponent: Inverted when he finally sees the Institute up close; he apparently overestimated them.
  Arthur Maxson: This is the Institute? I'm disappointed. I expected more from them.
• Younger Than They Look: Despite his grizzled appearance, he's only 20 years old.

Military

Paladin Danse

See: Fallout 4: Companions

Paladin Brandis

Paladin Brandis

Voiced by: Alan Oppenheimer

"I clean up well enough. Gonna to be a while before I get back to my old routine, though."

A Brotherhood Paladin and head of the failed Recon Squad Artemis.

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• Character Death: You can kill him if he becomes hostile when first meeting him. He can also be killed if he rejoins the Brotherhood, he is non-essential and will participate in attacking the Railroad HQ if following the Railroad quests. He can be killed by enemies in The Institute if participating in the Brotherhood ending. He can also be killed if you shoot down the Prydwen in the Minutemen ending.
• Cool Old Guy: If you persuade him to rejoin the Brotherhood, and go through the Brotherhood ending, he will follow you inside the Institute and fight any enemies there. He notably has no level cap, either.
• A Father to His Men: He's distraught that he couldn't protect the other soldiers under his command.
• He's Back!: Can be persuaded to return to the Brotherhood. In his first taste of combat after being cleared for duty, he'll join you in a full set of T-60 Power Armor and a Minigun to fight The Institute.
• He Cleans Up Nicely: He voices this almost word for word if you have him rejoin the Brotherhood.
• Old Soldier: Noticeably older than anyone else in the Brotherhood.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: He's a bit unhinged when you first meet him. He recovers quite a bit if you persuade him to go back to the Brotherhood.
• Survivor's Guilt: He definitely has this after surviving the rest of his squad.

Lancer-Captain Kells

Lance-Captain Kells (KS-390LC)

Voiced by: Tim Russ

"As the captain of this vessel, I won't allow anyone to jeopardize our mission no matter how valuable they think they are."

Captain of the Prydwen and Arthur Maxson's second-in-command.

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• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: The rank of "Lancer-Captain" describes his role in the Brotherhood quite succinctly, he is both The Captain of the Prydwen, and The Lancer of the entire organization behind Maxson. As the overall commander of the Prydwen, his authority on the ship is absolute (and even exceeds Maxson's, who's more like an admiral, who can order the captain to, say, move his ship to a particular place but can't order a crewmember to do any specific task), and he's fairly obviously Maxson's chief subordinate, possibly not including Paladin Danse and/or Brandis, should you convince him to return.
• Cool Airship: Prydwen' his baby.
• Expy: Of Tuvok from Star Trek: Voyager. Same voice actor, same dispassionate logical demeanor, same vocal intonation and mannerisms. As a human, he does have slightly more of an emotional side when really pushed, but overall he tries to remain as professional as possible at all times.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While being almost as rude and curt as Maxson, his passion as a Prydwen commander is clear. He's constantly at his station on the bridge, visibly interacting with his staff, ensuring that the needs of the crew and the ground forces are met.
• Noble Bigot: He's as committed to Maxson's racial policies as Maxson himself, but is (like Maxson) a reasonable and decent person, if a bit of a jerk sometimes.
• Non-Action Guy: Like the Proctors, he's stuck aboard the Prydwen. He's also probably not entitled to wear power armor. Only Knights, Paladins, Sentinels, and Elders get power armor. Kells is a Lancer, who appear to fulfill all the miscellaneous roles that can't be filled by (or for which there aren't enough) Knights, including the role of light infantry.
• The Spock: Maintains constant composure and an even temperament, even if he's ordering you to slaughter an entire village just to get at some synths. The fact that his voice actor is better known as Tuvok might help things.

Knight-Captain Cade

Knight-Captain Cade (CD-440KC)

Voiced by: Dwight Schultz

The medical officer of the Prydwen.

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• Actually Pretty Funny: Should the Sole Survivor fake hearing loss while talking to him after destroying the Institute, he actually chuckle over it.
• Fantastic Racism: Finds the idea of any human having sex with a "non-human" species like ghouls utterly disgusting. Cade also reacts with disgust to Hancock's presence.
• The Medic: He is the head medic for the Brotherhood detachment in the Commonwealth, and is responsible for ensuring the continued good health of the Prydwen' crew.
• Nice Guy: He is one of the friendlier Brotherhood members. Case in point, he takes it in stride if the player chooses sarcastic answers to his questions.
• Noodle Incident: One of his many jobs is to test every recruit for illnesses (both physical and mental); in his years of doing the job he apparently has encountered enough people who have had... romantic relationships with animals or ghouls or even super mutants to warrant that specific question being on his list.

Knight Rhys

Knight L. Rhys (RS-104K)

Voiced by: Noshir Dalal

A Brotherhood Knight in Paladin Danse's team. He's very distrusting of the player.

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• Character Death: If you're siding with the Railroad, you'll have to kill him at the Cambridge Police Station as part of a quest.
• The Engineer: Serves as the team mechanic for his squad.
• Fantastic Racism: Applies to most of the Brotherhood, but his moment arises in a banter-exchange between him and Haylen during "Blind Betrayal." Haylen is concerned about Danse despite the revelation he's a Synth. Rhys is considerably less so, even accusing Haylen of "siding with it." Though even he feels bad for said outburst and apologizes.
• Hidden Depths: If you tell him you're joining the Brotherhood to find your son, he briefly drops his Jerkass act. He also apologizes to you for his previous obnoxious behavior if you complete the main quest with the Brotherhood.
• Jerkass: He initially treats the player with contempt, in sharp contrast to Haylen. This is due to him viewing the Survivor as a mercenary, and Rhys suspects that they may have ulterior motives for joining the Brotherhood. If you destroy the Institute, either with the Minutemen or Brotherhood, he'll apologize for being such a jerk... before continuing being rude to you. Outranking him as a Paladin or Sentinel doesn't change his attitude, either.
• Married to the Job: When Haylen's asked about her relationship with Rhys, she tells the Survivor that she thought Rhys might have feelings for her, but when she questioned him he claimed that serving the Brotherhood was the only thing that mattered and that anything else was a distraction.
• Morality Pet: Scribe Haylen is generally about the only person he treats decently. And Danse up until he learns Danse is a Synth.
• Pet the Dog: When the Sole Survivor first joins the Brotherhood, Rhys is constantly grilling them over why they joined with clear distrust. If the Sole Survivor admits the Brotherhood is the best option of finding their son, Rhys walks back his foul temperament for a few seconds and admits it's a very good reason for joining.
• Properly Paranoid: Should the Sole Survivor does end up betraying the Brotherhood, Rhys' suspicions about them and paranoia about letting them into the Brotherhood so easily would turn out to be well-founded.
• Those Two Guys: With Scribe Haylen.
• Ungrateful Bastard: No matter how many quests you do for him or the Brotherhood, whether it's helping the BoS rebuild Liberty Prime and destroy the Institute, he'll still be a dick to you, even if you become Sentinel.

Scribes

Proctor Ingram

Proctor Ingram (IG-444PR)

Voiced by: Kari Wahlgren

Proctor (chief) of Engineers aboard the Prydwen and in the Commonwealth.

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• An Arm and a Leg: Missing both legs above the knee. As a result, she's confined to a power armor frame.
• Deadpan Snarker: One of the few characters (and even fewer Brotherhood characters) who can keep up with a snarky Survivor.
• Fiery Redhead: She's even got the same hair color and style as Cait. She petitioned Maxson for field duty, but was denied. She defies those orders if you follow the Brotherhood questline and participate in the "Spoils of War" quest. Maxson acknowledges that completing the quest would have been very difficult without her, but warns her against disobeying future orders.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Ingram is a master of the kluge, fashioning inventive solutions out of insufficient parts. The Prydwen's an excellent machine, but requires a huge amount of maintenance, all of which ultimately falls on her.
• Handicapped Badass: She's got no legs, relying on her power armor to get around, and she joins the Sole Survivor on the Mass Fusion mission and invades the Institute alongside Maxson and the Survivor. And should you try to destroy the Brotherhood with the Institute or Railroad, she demonstrates her true strength with you.
• Hero of Another Story: Keeping the Prydwen operating comes off as a full-time struggle. She's just about the only Brotherhood character other than Maxson and the Cambridge PD gang who seems to have her own story. The other Proctors just kinda stand around.
• Jerkass Has a Point: While she is unfortunately on Team "Danse Must Die" and will assure you executing him is the right decision, she will add that Danse would have agreed with his execution if he had any Brotherhood spirit in him. True enough, Danse does eagerly submit himself to be executed and still faces death with dignity and accepts the Brotherhood's verdict even if talked out of his suicidal ideation.
• Non-Action Guy: Her lack of legs means she's off combat duty, which is probably a good thing, because the Brotherhood can't really spare her.
• Nerves of Steel: Bears up under huge responsibility and a lack of legs with considerable grace and outstanding competence.
• Science Hero: Nominally, Proctor Quinlan is the chief of the Prydwen's scribes, but he's more of a civilian academic. Ingram is a military scientist and uses her skills to great effect, proving to be a match for the great Madison Li, should you convince her to return to the Brotherhood.
• Super Wheelchair: Uses a power armor frame for mobility.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Like her other factional equivalents, she'll call you out for leaving the Synth version of Shaun to get nuked in the Brotherhood ending. However, she'll be more understanding if you tell her that he's actually a Synth.

Proctor Quinlan

Proctor Quinlan (QN-448PR)

Voiced by: Nicholas Guy Smith

Proctor of Scribes aboard the Prydwen and in the Commonwealth.

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• British Stuffiness: One wonders how he crossed the Atlantic.
• For Science!: He's a civilian academic dedicated to squeezing as much knowledge and technology out of the Commonwealth as possible. He assigns you to hunt down technical documents and to accompany his scribes on research patrols.
• Kick the Dog: If you take out the Institute with the Minutemen, he refers to them as cannon fodder and never seems to get the idea that maybe you attacked the Institute with them because you have faith in their abilities as their General.
• Non-Action Guy: To the extent the Brotherhood has a civilian side, he's it. He appears never to leave his office.
• Not So Above It All: He's a huge fan of Grognak the Barbarian and his scribes have standing orders to salvage any comics they find.
• Right-Hand Cat: Emmett, who, by himself, manages to humanize the Brotherhood considerably.
• Only Sane Man: Quinlan is one of the few Brotherhood members to respect you for choosing to side with The Minutemen in taking out the Institute. He believes that if the BoS were to do it, there would be a lot more casualties than anticipated. He isn't wrong.

Proctor Teagan

Proctor Teagan (TG-477PR)

Voiced by: Greg Baldwin

Proctor of Logistics aboard the Prydwen and in the Commonwealth.

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• Arms Dealer: He sells equipment to members of the Brotherhood, including the Sole Survivor after joining the faction. He carries mostly energy weapons, plus the odd minigun. After certain quests, he carries the unique plasma gun "Sentinel's Plasmacaster" that has the "Instigating" legendary effect and the legendary T-60 legs "Honor" and "Vengeance", which have the and "Powered" and "Punishing" effects, respectively.
• Catchphrase: Teagan is fond of ending his sentences with a promise to "put a smile in your face." Ingram's terminal also reveals that he used it as a pick-up line when he invited her to a romantic dinner.
• Corrupt Quartermaster: He's a deal shadier than most of the Brotherhood, going behind Arthur's back to assign a unofficial mission to 'requisition' the harvests of local farmers for the Brotherhood, though not quite a bad guy.
• Jerkass: He speaks very condescendingly about the people of the Commonwealth and thinks they ought to be glad to give all their crops to the Brotherhood, encouraging the Sole Survivor to intimidate the farmers into giving them for free. (Luckily you have the option to buy them for a fair price instead.)
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He has a hard time empathizing with Wastelanders, but he's affable enough to the survivor. Speaking to him after destroying the Institute explains quite a bit of his bitterness.
• Non-Action Guy: Like all Proctors, he's there to give orders and supply you with aid, not to participate in daily battles alongside the grunts.
  • Glass Cannon: If you fight him he is one of the most dangerous Brotherhood members. He doesn't take much punishment, but you really don't want to be hit by his Gauss rifle.
• Pet the Dog: He's a lot more humanized when revealing there was this Wastelander recruit whom he befriended and who, upon gaining his own Vertibird to pilot, gave him a bottle of whiskey to celebrate. Said recruit shortly afterwards got killed during a mission in the Commonwealth. He'll share a bottle with the Survivor after telling them about this, and then let them get back to enjoying their victory.
• Pragmatic Villainy: For a given level of villainy. He suggests defending some caravans with vertibirds to gain their favor to get better prices for supplies for the Brotherhood.
• Victory Through Intimidation: He assigns the Sole Survivor a unofficial mission to 'requisition' the harvests of local farmers for the Brotherhood, by any means necessary. He's clearly hinting that you should intimidate them into doing so. You can pay them for the harvests, but they can cost more than 1000 caps, and you only earn about 100 for each mission.

Senior Scribe Neriah

Senior Scribe Neriah (NR-490SS)

Voiced by: Kat Cressida

Senior Scribe of Biomedicine aboard the Prydwen.

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• Evilutionary Biologist: She plays this straight and averts it. Averts, because Arthur Maxson's Brotherhood believes tampering with evolution to be a massive crime (they see ghouls, mutants, and synths as the product of unnatural and monstrous evolution). Plays straight because she exploits that evolution to help the Brotherhood's regular humans adapt, albeit with pharmaceuticals and only for a limited time per dose. And to do the latter, she notably experiments on live specimens, including synths and Super Mutants.
• For Science!: Less so than Quinlan, as her experiments on various Commonwealth flora and fauna are dedicated to synthesizing an advanced radiation therapy for Brotherhood troops in the field, a project in which she succeeds. She sends you to collect blood samples from dead organic enemies to help her create the therapy.
• Nice Girl: She's notably perky and excited about her work.

Scribe Haylen

Scribe Haylen (HN-118FS)

Voiced by: Jan Johns

A Brotherhood Scribe in Paladin Danse's team. Haylen was born outside of the Brotherhood and was sponsored to join by Rhys.

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• Blind Obedience: Subverted. While she never outright defies the Brotherhood, she clearly puts her friendship with Danse over his potential execution, suggesting the player do the same.
• Character Death: If you're siding with the Railroad, you'll have to kill her at the Cambridge Police Station as part of a quest.
• Fire-Forged Friends: With Danse and Rhys.
• Hidden Depths: Although she appears completely loyal to the Brotherhood, the player can find one of her audio logs, which reveal that she has serious misgivings about their methods and wonders how long she can stomach serving it.
  Haylen: I originally signed up seeking protection and comradeship but I'm worried that I've traded away a bit of my humanity in the process. The Brotherhood's message of hope for the future is idealistic and noble but their methods leave a lot to be desired. The leadership seems especially misguided. Instead of diplomacy, they wield violent confrontation to exert control... I suppose only time will tell how long I can stand the sight of spilled blood over my own moral fiber.
• The Medic: She's the medic of Paladin Danse's squad, and is first introduced giving a wounded Knight Rhys medical attention.
• Nice Girl: She's openly welcoming to the player, unlike Rhys. She's also one of the few who supports Danse despite him being a synth.
• Only Sane Woman: During "Blind Betrayal," she takes you aside and requests for you to spare Danse as opposed to execute him.
• Support Party Member: Scribes are mainly tasked at studying and research rather than combat. She's mainly tasked with acquiring tech for the Brotherhood, as well as providing medical assistance.
• Those Two Guys: With Knight Rhys.
• We Used to Be Friends: If Danse is dead at the end of "Blind Betrayal," her opinion of the Sole Survivor plummets, even violating protocol to make clear that just because they're colleagues doesn't mean they're friends. To her, the player is nothing less than a murderer.
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…: The summary of Haylen's issues with the Brotherhood of Steel is that they seem to go to military force as the first option too often, foregoing diplomacy. Organizationally, the Brotherhood descends from the US Army, which wasn't in the purview of diplomacy and political administration to begin with. The Brotherhood is also falling back from the days of Elder Lyons' outreach efforts back to the traditional perspective of suspicion of outsiders.

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