Thaddeus is an aspirant of the Brotherhood of Steel and one of the reasons Maximus had a hard time during his initiation. He plays a minor role in the Fallout TV series.
Eventually, he takes a serum, which makes him more immune to pain and completely immune to radiation. While Maximus speculates Thaddeus is becoming a ghoul, it is ultimately unknown if this is true. Thaddeus displays abnormal endurance and regenerative properties when he survives being shot in the neck and his wound instantly heals.
Background[]
Thaddeus grew up on a fly farm; he worked as a "shitter," meaning he would be fed so that he would excrete often, with his feces used to feed the flies, which were then mulched up and sold as protein. Because of this, Thaddeus is self-admittedly somewhat fat.[2]
Among the aspirants, Thaddeus is known to be a "consummate bully" who gets together with his friends to pick on others they see as weak; Thaddeus' main target is Maximus, but this is not personal. Before Maximus came to the base, Thaddeus was the person being bullied by the other aspirants. When Maximus came, Thaddeus saw an opportunity to save himself by proposing that they all gang up on Maximus instead; it worked, and Thaddeus has been popular ever since, seeing it as a sign of his own growth that he is now the bully and not the bullied. Privately, he hopes that one day Maximus will also find someone to beat up, which "only seems fair."[3]
Fallout TV series[]
In 2296, Thaddeus was a Brotherhood of Steel member.[4] As of 2297, he has deserted the organization due to his belief that he may have turned into a ghoul, and his current status is unknown.[1]
The End[]
Thaddeus is an aspirant of the Brotherhood of Steel alongside Maximus, whom he regularly beats up and bullies with his friends; he is first seen during one such occurrence, fleeing with his minions when a cleric spots them. He later celebrates when Aspirant Dane is assigned to leave for the Wilds as Knight Titus' squire. Still, after Dane is mysteriously injured, he is annoyed at seeing that Maximus is reassigned as Titus' new squire. He later gives Maximus sketches of Siggi Wilzig and CX404 before Maximus leaves on his mission with Knight Titus.[4]
The Head[]
Maximus, who has assumed the deceased Knight Titus' identity, is contacted by the Brotherhood of Steel for a status report. To maintain his cover, he tells them his squire died, and Thaddeus is sent as a replacement squire. Maximus pretends to be Knight Titus and, after initially considering killing him, decides to keep Thaddeus as his squire. Under the guise of Knight Titus, Maximus initially bullies Thaddeus the same way Knight Titus bullies him and finds it amusing to bully his former bully. Thaddeus is eager to please "Knight Titus" and tries to be as helpful to him as much as possible. The pair find Wilzig's headless corpse, which they believe to be The Ghoul's doing. Believing Wilzig's head to be a thing of value and in The Ghoul's possession, Thaddeus comes up with the idea to use a device to track The Ghoul's radiation. During their journey, Maximus presses Thaddeus to disclose his opinion of him, and Thaddeus reveals the reason why he bullied Maximus and that it wasn't personal. Although he realizes that "it's the law of the wasteland" and people die all the time, he feels bad that Maximus died before things could get better for him. Maximus tells Thaddeus not to feel bad, as he reiterates that "it's the law of the wasteland."
They eventually arrive on Hollywood Boulevard, where they are attacked by a gulper. Maximus rebukes Thaddeus for leading them to danger but orders him to run to safety while he personally deals with the gulper. While attempting to take the creature down, Maximus runs out of ammo from his pistol and is about to fight in close-quarter combat; Thaddeus aids him and shoots the gulper with a rifle. However, this alerts the gulper to Thaddeus' location, and he is chased down and dragged by the beast. The gulper nearly swallows Thaddeus, but Maximus comes to aid Thaddeus by grabbing him and pulling him out of the beast's mouth from the opposite side. The tug of war causes the gulper to vomit and die. While recovering from the situation, they find the target (Wilzig's Head) to be among the things the gulper vomited and being licked by CX404, who had been searching for Wilzig as well. They celebrate at the sight of this and prepare to return the head to the Brotherhood.[5]
The Past[]
Maximus and Thaddeus
While sitting around a campfire celebrating their success, Thaddeus requests Maximus, who he still thinks is Titus, to brand him. After the branding, Maximus reveals his identity to Thaddeus. Since Thaddeus and Maximus grew close during their journey, Maximus hoped that Thaddeus would corroborate a made-up story that would help him avoid punishment from the Brotherhood. When Thaddeus asks Maximus what happened to Knight Titus, and he reveals that Titus is dead, Thaddeus tells Maximus that the Brotherhood will uncover his deceit and will kill him for it. Seeing that Thaddeus refuses to participate in his scheme, Maximus attacks Thaddeus and crushes his foot, but Thaddeus manages to remove the fusion core from Maximus' power armor. Thaddeus then steals Wilzig's head and escapes, leaving Maximus trapped in his armor to die alone.[6] Lucy later rescues Maximus, and they begin tracking Thaddeus to get the head from him.
The Radio[]
While traveling with Siggi Wilzig's head and an injured foot, Thaddeus stops at a Red Rocket to check on his foot. Seeing it mangled, he realizes that he will die without medical assistance. He decides to leave behind most of his squire equipment apart from a pistol and Wilzig's head. He also leaves CX404 inside a Nuka-Cola fridge to stop her from following him, but only after making sure she can still breathe in the fridge. He then begins looking for a radio tower to contact the Brotherhood for pickup, tracking DJ Carl's signal from the KPSS radio station.
Thaddeus later encounters the snake oil salesman and trades him the fusion core from Maximus' power armor for a "serum" to heal his foot. He initially contemplates shooting the salesman and taking the serums for himself, but the salesman talks him out of it, saying he would not know which serums would harm him and which would not. The serum heals Thaddeus's foot, and once the process is complete, he asks the salesman if there is a radio tower nearby so that he may contact the Brotherhood of Steel airbase. He responds by telling Thaddeus that one is near the ruins of Shady Sands, which the soldier notes as being radioactive. Before slapping his shoulder and parting ways, the salesman says that Thaddeus won't "have to worry about that anymore." Thaddeus eventually reaches the KPSS station and talks Carl into letting him borrow his radio tower to contact the Brotherhood, after which they talk about Carl's music for a while.
Eventually, Lucy and Maximus arrive at the radio station, startling Thaddeus, who fires an entire magazine's worth of rounds at them but misses every shot. He then accidentally sets off a trap, lodging a crossbow bolt in his neck. Surprised that he hasn't died, Thaddeus takes out the crossbow bolt, only for his wound to be instantaneously healed. Maximus suspects that Thaddeus may be turning into a ghoul, causing Thaddeus to be distressed, as the Brotherhood of Steel will surely kill him now. With the Brotherhood already en route to him, Maximus instructs Thaddeus to give him the head, and he'll return to the Brotherhood to slow them down so Thaddeus can escape to safety. Thaddeus thanks Maximus and gives the two abrupt apologies and farewells.[1]
Personality[]
Thaddeus is eager to please his superiors and can be friendly and loyal to people if it doesn't get him in trouble with the Brotherhood. However, like Maximus, he also has his own sense of self-preservation, as seen when he leaves Maximus to die in his power armor after being attacked by him. Thaddeus also did not enjoy bullying Maximus; he did it only because he wanted to fit in with his peers and because he sought to escape being a bullying victim himself.
While initially loyal to the Brotherhoods ideals, he was quick to abandon them alongside his rivalry with Maximus upon discovering he may have become a ghoul. Understanding (and having supported) the Brotherhoods 'shoot on sight' approach to mutants, he willing hands over the Siggi Wilzig's head and flees having lost any hostility to Maximus as there was no longer anything gained by continuing to hold a grudge.
Notes[]
- John Hancock from Fallout 4 is another character who became a ghoul in recent history after consuming a dose of an unknown substance.
- ^ (Note) It is uncertain if Thaddeus is actually becoming a ghoul. Maximus is the only person who suggests that, as opposed to any other circumstance or type of mutation.
- During "The Beginning," when Maximus returns to the Brotherhood, no one questions Thaddeus's disappearance.
Appearances[]
Thaddeus appears only in the Fallout TV series episodes "The End", "The Head", "The Past", and "The Radio."
