#BOS squire Thaddeus

[sealinne]

DJ Carl...

[kirain]

Bethesda came out with official stats for Lucy, Cooper, and Maximus, but I don't agree with them ... so I made my own! I also added Norm and Thaddeus and gave all of them three perks to match their SPECIALs.

Lucy:

Cooper:

Maximus:

Norm:

Thaddeus:

[number1yisuchongfan]

Okay I have two AUs flicking about in my brain and it both deals with the same situation happening:

“What if Norm was left behind by Hank when he went to go get his kids from Shady Sands? Leaving him with Rose and Moldaver because Hank saw no reason to keep him around.”

Norm as part of the NCR:

NCR!Norm has been raised by Moldaver and the rest of those who survived Shady Sands, growing up knowing his mother’s fate and growing to hate his father and Lucy in some extent. He gets to go to Vault 33 with the raiders and Moldaver, getting to see what woman his older sister has grown into, and finally gets to meets his father again. And he’s disgusted, he’s horrified, and most of all, he’s PISSED because Hank made Lucy believe that Norm never even existed.

So he joins in on the raid, but unlike most of the other raiders, he’s not fighting because though he’s been hardened by the life he’s lived under Moldaver; he’s not going to kill innocent people. He hacks doors, takes down security, helps make the bomb, and finally gets to tell his dad off for abandoning him as a baby.

He works with computers, helps Moldaver with her projects and research, beats everyone in the NCR headquarters at arcade and video games, and is still quiet, but now he’s a bit brasher, a bit more of a fighter, and definitely much more depressive. He also wears Rose’s necklace

Moldaver tells him to calm himself, to rather prepare himself to go pick up Wilzig and CX404 from Ma June’s, and he reluctantly agrees. Leads him to go get Wilzig, realizing he’s already left, and then getting tangled up in some BoS bullshit. He’s forced to tag along, seeing how they’re the only people who can help him track them down, and soon learns to let himself get away from all the anger and bitterness that has plagued him for his whole life.

Norm in this AU is a bitter, young man who has gained the confidence and courage he desperately wanted in the show, but at the loss of those around him and the community he desperately craves.

Norm as part of the BoS:

BoS!Norm ended up in the Brotherhood’s care around the same time as Maximus, Rose giving him up for his own safety and leaving him just with her necklace

Norm is a scribe, he never wanted to be a scribe but they put him as one either way, and he’s one of the youngest scribes on the base. He mainly gets coffee and cleaning duties, but sometimes he just likes watching the Aspirants dueling and doing their jobs. He finds it a nice escape away from how boring being a scribe is.

He watches them from afar, wanting to be like them so badly, but this is the job he was assigned and he’s not gonna fuss. Norm likes the safety that just working with numbers and computers bring him.

His name isn’t Norm in this AU, the Brotherhood gave him a new name, Philo (Greek name derived from the Greek word Philos which means “Lover” & “Friend”), and he takes his job very seriously. He’s also got the biggest, fattest crush on Thaddeus, even after seeing him being a bully, and personally requested to join him on his journey with the other man.

He’s idealistic and truly believes in the BoS’s mission and goals but finds himself miserable and disillusioned with the poor leadership and twisting words of its mission for committing  atrocities.

He meets Lucy near the end, and he’s completely taken aback that she recognizes the necklace, and that’s when he learns that she’s his older sister, that he does have family, and then realizes he was left behind and given up. Lil man goes through an entire identity crisis over this realization as Lucy is so awkward cuz she was told Norm died with their mother during the famine. Also I have some art of Norm in his BoS scribe outfit!

In both, Norm is still lonely, the black sheep, the person who constantly questions, but at least he feels wanted and needed within his communities. In the NCR AU, he’s Moldaver’s son and second-in-command despite his age, and in the BoS AU, he’s a scribe who does his part for the Brotherhood and finds peace with it.

He’s just so fascinating to play around with lol

[dust-sound]

I 100% started watching Fallout for The Ghoul, and I'm only half thru episode four but

I actually love the dynamic between Max and Thaddeus and the whole abusive military cult thing BoS has going on.

Max being a dick just because he can (and for some petty vengeance), but then saving Thaddeus when it came down to it (and Thaddeus being surprised? That a knight would save a squire?) is just ticking some v specific boxes for me.

[gabriellerudessa]

What's that theory you mentioned about the All-Male BoS faction?

Oh! Hi!

So. Along the first season this chapter show a lot of weird traits, beyond the being all-male (in the Aspirant camp in the first episode there seems to be some women, but not in Filly).

I don't know if you've played Fallout New Vegas, Anon, but a lot of these traits remember a lot another faction presented in it, the Caesar's Legion, which makes me (and others, there's a reddit thread I'll link in the end) think that this Chapter got mixed up with the Legion in some way.

The first trait: some of the flags in Filly.

There are both white and red flags, what we have come to expect of the Brotherhood, and yellow and red flags. These colors are the ones used by Caesar's Legion in Fallout New Vegas.

The already mentioned all-male: the Legion only allowed men to fight, women were relegated to heal, have babies, cook and so on and, very specifically and only some, be priestesses. There were some female Aspirants in the training camp; it may be that they will be reserved for less combatant ranks, like Scribes.

The treatment of Squires: previously Squires were usually kids that did common and non-dangerous menial labor in the Chapters; in this they are treated as cannon fodder and are branded, something not previously shown for the BoS afair. Caesar's Legion had a similar approach to lower ranks. It may be just be because they wanted to lean into the "medieval aspects", but it may be for other reasons.

The names: Elder Cleric Quintus clearly says that they gave Maximus his name. Both Maximus, Titus and Quintus are roman names. The Legion in Fallout New Vegas has the practice of changing names to roman ones. Thaddeus and Dane seem to be an exception, but overall they fit.

Location: While in the series the training camp location is not mentioned, the filming location is Utah. It may not mean anything, but if it's intended as being the actual location in-series, well, the Legion dominated Utah before attempting to expand in the Mojave (a place we will be visiting in the next season)

In the first episode, Quintus refers to them as "a legion" as the Knights are leaving. It may just be some figure of speech because of the whole soldier thing, but it may also be literal.

Elder Cleric Quintus behavior in general: specifically the last episode, his words to Maximus sound a bit weird on a BoS standpoint. Usually the BoS talks about technology to be feared and kept away. The last Elder we had talking about controlling and using it in such a way was Father Elijah, in FNV DLC Dead Money and the man was fucking nuts.

Titus threat to Maximus: Second episode, I think. He talks about Maximus being hung by his lungs, if I remember correctly. While the Brotherhood is violent, the threat and punishment sounds excessive. On the other hand, the Legion crucified people and others, so...

I'm pretty sure there are more signs I'm forgetting atm, but there's a lot of details that really make this Chapter very weird.

If it is the case, how this happened? I bet on either the Chapter taking in legionnaires after Caesar's death (if they go through the route where there was no one to heal his brain cancer and he did die), or a frumentarii, one of Caesar's spies, that infiltrated in the Brotherhood through some means and ascended the ranks. My bets for this would be Quintus. Considering that the Chapter in New Vegas was declining, I wouldn't find it weird if they decided on taking external recruits, despite being something that the Brotherhood condemns, and ended up with legionnaires that brought a lot of things that they hadn't before.

The reddit thread about it

[syrupwit]

Thinking about Maximus from the Fallout TV series

I think Lucy would have saved Knight Titus and the Ghoul would have gleefully murdered him. Maximus just doesn't help him.

He's the most interesting of the three main characters to me -- my secondary character favorite is Norm -- because he's so unpredictable. There are clear next steps for Lucy and the Ghoul, and it's easy for me to imagine what happens to them in the end; it's not as easy with Maximus, which made me anxious about him for the entire first season lol.

I think he has some absence or emptiness regarding identity. Part of it might be from childhood trauma, living in a military cult that breaks its members down, and abuse/bullying. Then, as a squire, he's Dane's replacement, who still potentially (to the viewer and the Brotherhood) hurt his friend to get ahead and is thus illegitimate. Then he's impersonating Titus, trying to act the way he thinks Titus should have acted, trying on having power and making mistakes. And then he's just some guy -- who Lucy, and even briefly Thaddeus, *like* -- until he has to go back to the Brotherhood and, at the end of the season, take credit for something he didn't do. I'm still developing this thought.

I'm not sure that I ship ship him and Lucy, but they're very sweet and I like that (1) her first thought on seeing him is clearly "a knight in shining armor! my natural ally!", (2) idk they genuinely like each other.

Tangent, and not a convincing argument by itself, but I'm wondering if the names like Quintus, Maximus, Titus, are meant to hint at a Legion origin for this chapter of the Brotherhood or some merging with ex-Legion groups. Previous BoS characters mostly don't have these types of names, although there are a few.

(I am doing a rewatch so i will be adding onto this)

[number1yisuchongfan]

Modern Fallout Tv show AU but Thaddeus is literally just Bo Thompson and Norm is late season Hannah Montana Rico Suave

[number1yisuchongfan]

He’s very silly to me, and yes, he did get his foot stuck in a bear trap, his body is subjected to pain and suffering in all of my AUs. Now he’s just country! (And living in a unsafe environment)

Thaddeus in this AU’s gotta hard life, shitty transphobic father who’s emotionally neglectful and abusive, mentally ill siblings who think less of him, shitty lil town that’s being exploited by colonialist who don’t care about the people they’re exploiting, and a complicated relationship with his religious background that put a wedge between his mother and him

I’ve gone further into how Thaddeus’s farm was like here (x) and here’s to Norm and Lucy’s lil cards for this AU here (x)

[number1yisuchongfan]

Basically this Chapter’s fight scene in a nutshell