Charles "Charlie" Whiteknife was a Native American actor in the Fallout TV series.
Background[]
Charlie Whiteknife formerly served in the Marine Corps with Cooper Howard during the Sino-American War. Afterward, he would become a movie actor, where he would get typecast as Native American characters in Westerns, many of which were in Cooper Howard films.[1]
By 2077 he lived in Tarzana, Los Angeles, where he owned five acres of land.[2] Cooper was disappointed to learn that Charlie had been attending alleged communist meetings, but was persuaded to attend one himself. Despite being labeled a communist and blacklisted in Hollywood, he seemed primarily concerned with the rise of corporate power to rival that of the government, particularly that of Vault-Tec, which he pointed out "had a fiduciary responsibility" to their shareholders first and that their business was the end of the world. However, he admitted he lacked explicit evidence to back this up. As an analogy, he highlighted an old film he, Cooper Howard, and Johnny Morton starred in which he played a "nameless Indian," and Johnny played a cattle rancher that owned half of Missouri. The lesson he wanted Cooper to understand was that when the cattle ranchers (corporations) have more power than the sheriff (government), anarchy ensues.
Fallout TV series[]
The Trap[]
During a conversation between, Cooper Howard and Sebastian Leslie, Sebastian mentioned Charles being a Hollywood Red too, which surprised Cooper as he served with him.
Eventually, Charles meets Cooper at a bar, where Cooper apologizes to Charles for not being able to attend his party because he had to attend one of his "meetings," or, as he puts it, his communist meetings, which Charles smiled at. Cooper then opined his disapproval toward Charles for being a part of something they fought against during the Sino-American War. Charles rebuts the idea as to why they participated in the war, which Cooper retorts was to protect the American Dream and that they're actors who make movies. Jokingly, Cooper says that said dream has him getting shot in the ass by him all day.
On the other hand, Cooper remarks that he's got five acres of land in Tarzana. However, Charles remarks that it doesn't matter, and calls Vault-Tec Corporation the devil, but Cooper notes that his wife works there and questions if Charles thinks his wife is the devil. Defensively, Charles denies that notion and says he likes Barb but then asks Cooper if he knows what a "fiduciary responsibility" means. Which Cooper has no idea, so Charles explains it to Cooper, detailing that the United States government had outsourced all of its survival to Vault-Tec. Said corporation has a fiduciary responsibility to make money for its investors, by selling Vaults. Cooper snaps, that's how Capitalism works, but Charles argues that if the peace negotiations continue, then Vault-Tec can't continue selling Vaults. Hence, it's Vault-Tec's fiduciary responsibility to ensure that the peace negotiations don't work. So, Cooper asks how they'll accomplish this, but Charles doesn't know.
Charles then asks Cooper if he remembers a movie they did with a man named Johnny Morton and reminisces about his role in the movie as a generic Native American. Agitated by the comment, Cooper rebukes it and says that Charles' character, Tallhand Mudlake, could speak to horses and compliments his performance as the character. Still, Charles states that Morton's character once owned half of Missouri, and what happens when someone is more powerful than the "sheriff?" Cooper answers the whole town burns down, which Charles confirms. He goes on to state that Vault-Tec is a trillion-dollar company that owns half of everything, and after the ten-year war, the U.S. government is more than a joke. Charles finishes with the "Cattle Ranchers" are in charge, which Cooper downplays, and Charles continues stating that's unless the people do something about it.
In light of that remark, Cooper asks if that means everything is a conspiracy, and notes his statements make him sound like he's in a cult. However, Charles argues that Cooper is sitting there defending the system that's set to set the world on fire, and maybe he's the one in the cult.
Before leaving, Charles leaves Cooper a card for the Hollywood Forever group and should attend a meeting to learn about where his wife works, for her sake.
The following day, Charles met Cooper at the Hollywood Forever building just outside of the meeting place and personally greeted and thanked Cooper for attending. However, Cooper claimed that he hoped that he'd stay, while Charles confidently claimed that he'd stay and said there was someone he should meet, which Cooper asks who may that be. It was then that Miss Williams approaches Cooper and claims that she's a big fan of his and goes on her way.
The Radio[]
Charles sits beside Cooper as Miss Williams talks to the Hollywood Forever meeting attendees about the falsehoods of the American Dream. Once Miss Williams starts to talk about the soldiers who fought abroad, Cooper loses his cool and abruptly tries to leave, which Charles tries to stop him. Miss Williams instead stops him by asking said before trying to leave, Cooper answers it and gets into a debate with Cooper. As it starts to get heated, Charles apologizes, claiming it was a mistake bringing Cooper there, and tries to leave with him, but Miss Williams stops him. She states that she was glad that Charles brought Cooper, as she knows his wife.
Appearances[]
Charlie Whiteknife appears in the Fallout TV series episodes "The Trap" and The Radio."