As their name implies, Mothmen are mutated moths the size of men. While most are feral and red-eyed, it's believed one amaranth[5]-eyed "Wise Mothman" is benevolent, and harbors some sort of profound intellect. This creature is revered by a cult called "The Enlightened."
The Enlightened believe the Wise Mothman existed before the Great War, and saved them from death by granting Wise Charles the Forewarned the insight to take shelter in the Lucky Hole Mine.[6] In the years following complete societal collapse, there were frequent reports among the Charleston Emergency Government of people claiming to have seen Mothman.[7]
The Summoning[]
On October 22, 2077, the Cult of the Mothman conducted a ritual to summon the Mothman.[8] One member, known at the time as Brother Charles, experienced a brief vision in the periphery of his senses. Supposedly, the Mothman warned him that the cult must seek high ground or perish in a flood.[9] After this was announced to the cult, they suddenly crossed the state and took shelter in the mountainside Lucky Hole Mine, saving them from the fallout.
Decades later, in a tome titled Exodus, the Enlightened would describe this event as a misguided ritual to the red-eyed "Pretender Mothman," but attribute Charles' revelation to the Wise Mothman.[6] They also claim it was Charles who "guided his brethren to safety in the Lucky Hole Mine," a narrative complicated by the details and instructions initially proclaimed in Sermon: Impending doom. Further, they attest that the Wise One warned Charles of "fire and flood," while the preacher at Point Pleasant spoke only of a flood.[6]
Post-War[]
A sect known as the Enlightened would emerge from the mine to seek the Wise Mothman as the true oracle, and condemn the other mothmen as deceivers.[5] Brother Charles spoke of a hidden place beyond the hills they had known, and prevented the group from falling into despair.[6] Somewhere outside the state, they founded a church called the Lantern, and the prophet took on the title of Wise Charles the Forewarned. The Enlightened grew into a large and stable cult.
The Enlightened do not believe the Wise Mothman is a god[10] or supernatural being,[11][12] but a wise mortal, "more alike to us than not."[13] By contrast, they hold the red-eyed "holy" mothmen to be unwise, visionless creatures[14] and refer to their worshippers as "the Dim Ones."[15]This opposing group now call themselves "the Followers of the Winged One." Steven Scarberry, a member of the Followers, belittles the Wise One by calling him a "butterfly."[16]
The Wise Mothman could occasionally be seen across Appalachia in 2102,[17] but has since only been seen when summoned to the Landview Lighthouse or the Mothman Equinox ceremony.
Equinox[]
Seasonally, five members of the Enlightened return to Point Pleasant, the Wise One's home, to hold a ceremony in his honor. The Mothman Equinox is recognized as sacred by both sects.[18] The Followers attempt to disrupt the Enlightened's hourly rituals throughout the two-week festival. After successful rituals, the Wise Mothman will appear on the roof of the Mothman Museum to bless those in attendance.
Observer Marlon constantly hears hallucinatory voices, a condition which the Enlightened associate with the Wise Mothman. Observer Johanna says that her brother Jelle attempted to clone the Wise Mothman, but the hatchlings ate Jelle, for "his wisdom was not his at birth."[19]Oberver Errol seems to believe that the Wise Mothman reveals "prey" to him through some sort of psychic notion. He sacrifices these heretics to the Wise One, but expresses confusion that his benefactor always departs when the victims begin to scream. Contemplating this, he wonders if they, or he, may have been unworthy.[20]
On top of the Museum across town, Charles rests in a wheelchair, blind and apparently unaware of his surroundings. His caretaker Interpreter Clarence explains that he still yearns to hear the words of the Wise Mothman.[1] As Clarence busies himself hosting the festivities, Wise Charles can be heard whispering contextless phrases such as "I... was... mis.. take... en..." and "No... he... wants... them... spared... fool[.]" Although Interpreter Clarence holds Charles in high esteem, he dismisses these cryptic mutterings as "naught but faint flutters of his wings against the window pane of his mind."[21]
Interactions with the player character[]
Interactions overview[]
Interactions
This character ignores combat and cannot be damaged.
Brother Scarberry accuses the Enlightened of following "the false prophet," though the line is structured in such a way that it's unclear if he's applying the term to Wise Charles or the Wise Mothman itself.[16]
Scarberry will complain about the "lilac glow" he detects on player characters, if approached while either blessing of Wisdom is active.[22]
Scarberry still addresses his benefactor as "wise and Holy Mothman" despite rejecting the purple mothman.[23]
Moncrief, who died in the pre-Plague period, referred to his patron as "the wise and beneficent Mothman."
Although mothmen typically only spawn at night, the Wise Mothman may be summoned regardless of the time.
As the Wise Mothman NPC will never engage in combat, it's unknown if the Wise Mothman is capable of the same sonic burst attack as other mothmen.
It hovers in place while granting Wisdom of the Mothman, the same way other mothmen hover while attacking.
During a psychic viewing session, Observer Dave of the Enlightened described an astral encounter with the Wise Mothman. He claimed to see the Wise One eat a Robobrain, say "It's all good, Dave," and fly away. In recording this, Interpreter Walsh dismisses the vision as a result of Dave using chems.
The glow of the Wise Mothman is described as purple,[3] lilac,[22] and amaranthine.[24] In-game, its eyes are distinctly magenta under controlled circumstances, but their harsh bioluminescence and rolling shadows generally make them appear lilac or purple.
The Wise Mothman NPC encountered at the Mothman Equinox uses the basic Mothman wing texture, rather than the unique Wise Mothman wing texture, which is seen on the Wise Mothman NPC encountered at Landview Lighthouse.[verified][bug 2] This is true across all platforms, and was not changed in reruns of the seasonal event. The inconsistency may or may not be a mistake.
A Wise Mothman previously appeared in the Wise Mothman! random encounter, which has been removed from the game. Interacting with it was meant to grant Wisdom of the Mothman, but a scripting error prevented the buff from being applied.[bug 3]
The first time a player activates Fallout 1st, they will unlock the Funky Mothman emote, which depicts the Wise Mothman in its icon. The player performs a lengthy dance, flapping and waving their arms, while the Mothman musical motif plays.
The emote can be unlocked for free during Fallout 1st trial events.
The same motif plays upon activating the cultist cuckoo clock or upon completing the Mothman Equinox. It resembles the Vats of Goo motif and particularly the synth accompaniment of Atom's Whisper.
A backpack flair called the Purple Mothman Eye can be unlocked through the Atomic Shop. It appears to be the gory hanging eyeball of a purple mothman, which would seem to imply either the death of the Wise Mothman or the existence of multiple purple mothmen. Atomic Shop content is not specified to be canon or non-canon.[Non-game 1]
There is no corresponding "red mothman eye" flair item.
One promotional image for the mothman nest 2023 buildable depicts the Wise Mothman watching in the distance. The Wise Mothman has not spawned in the wilderness since 2019, so the photo was either staged using special developer tools or manipulated by image editing software to depict this specific scene.
Filenames for an early version of The Mothman Equinox indicate players would have harvested "EnlightenedMothmanEggs" during the collection phase and deposit them into the Cradle of the Pretenders.[25] Clutches would have held purple eggs, but yielded "perfect mothman eggs," which are black. The phrase "enlightened mothman" is never used in the text of the game.
Though the Wise Mothman cannot be killed, it is configured to drop one mothman egg upon death. Mothmen are not otherwise known to carry or drop mothman eggs.
John Keel, author of The Mothman Prophecies, assigned metaphysical significance to deep red or violet lights, as they are on the farthest ends of the visible spectrum, and therefor represent the literal limits of human perception.[Non-game 2] He associated violet light with knowledge and life.
In False Gods of Appalachia, the glow of the Flatwoods Monster is compared to that of the Wise Mothman, and described as "amaranthine." The word amaranthine refers to a deep red-purple color, named for the amaranth flower, which is strongly associated with moths.
In Elder Scrolls metaphysics, Amaranth is a solipsistic existential concept relating to the Godhead, as studied by the Nibenese Moth Priests.
The Color out of Space (2010)
In-game, the Wise Mothman's eyes are magenta under darkness. Magenta has been used several times in film adaptations of Lovecraft's TheColor out of Space to represent the titular color. In the 2010 adaptation by Vietnamese-German director Huan Vu, the mundane world is depicted entirely in grayscale, but the supernatural corruption is rendered in a hyper-saturated magenta.
In-game text has referred to the Wise Mothman as purple, lavender, and amaranthine, but not magenta or pink.
Gallery[]
Fallout 76[]
Wise Mothman! random encounter (removed)
Several player characters regard the Wise Mothman on the roof of the Mothman Museum
↑ 5.05.1False Gods of Appalachia: "Shun this accursed creature, dear student, should you cross paths with its haunting form. Let not its amaranthine glow fool you - it shares no kinship to the Wise Mothman, and where his Truth sets loose your mind from the fetters of falsehood, this hovering nightmare binds it. There is no Wisdom to be found in such a being."
↑Sayings of Alicia: "They cowered and prayed and made of him a God, but this was not his Truth. But some listened, and understood, and they had no fear and became Wise."
↑On the Thesis of Wallace: "Our benighted brethren among the Dim Ones, even in their misguided worship of the Pretender, seek to know their false god better by increasing their understanding of him as a natural phenomenon. They make of him a supernal being, yet they have clamored and scrabbled for the writings of those who, like us, study the physical reality of the Mothman."
↑Catechism of Hilary: "The ignorant heard of his passing and believed not the witnesses, naming him a figment of delusional minds. Yet the Wise Mothman was no emissary from other realms, nor was he a hallucination of the senses." [...] "The Dim Ones named him God and fell to their knees, calling themselves chosen. Yet the Wise Mothman was no skyborne deity, nor had he come to anoint them elect."
↑False Gods of Appalachia: "As the Wise Mothman's eyes glow with the violet light of his Wisdom, his unenlightened brethren's vision is cloaked in crimson. They and their spawn heed not the actions of humankind, nor care for us, making of us naught but prey and sport. The Dim Ones see them and think them gods, divine and sacred, and fall to the ground in obeisance. Be not deceived, student of Truth. These fire-eyed Lepidoptera are neither god nor angel, and have no Wisdom to share."
↑Interpreter Clarence: "Do not mistake us for the Dim Ones. Followers of the red-eyed pretender. Fools, who flee from his wisdom, and cling to a false god -- a flawed, vision-less "holy" Mothman." (Interpreter Clarence's dialogue)
↑ 16.016.1Steven Scarberry: "Oh, my apologies, I didn't realize that we were discussing the false prophet. When people say "Mothman" I assume they're talking about the "Holy Mothman", and not the purple liar. But please, do go on. Tell me of the the stories of their glorified butterfly." (Steven Scarberry's dialogue)
↑Observer Johanna: "My brother Jelle, he tried to clone him, you know? So foolish. His wisdom was not his at birth. The little ones, they eat poor Jelle." (Johanna's dialogue)
↑Errol: "The Wise One always leaves when they begin to scream. Why? Does he not find them worthy? Or me? Surely not." (Errol's dialogue)
↑Interpreter Clarence: "(Chuckle) Oh, you're going to try to speak to him, are you? You may try, but his mind is on another plane, beyond our own." "Exposure to the Wise One's aura leaves the mind in a place beyond our own." "His vessel offers naught but faint flutters of his wings against the window pane of his mind." (Clarence's dialogue)
↑Equinox model uses mothmanwing.bgsm instead of mothmanwingwise.bgsm
↑The random encounter would not grant the temporary buff because it was scripted to check to see if you were in The Path to Enlightenment and had lit the lighthouse but have not yet communed with the Wise Mothman.
Non-game
↑Fallout 76: Is the Atomic Shop or Creation Club considered canon?: Emil Pagliarulo: "Atomic Shop is a lot...we found that Atomic Shop tends to not be canon so much, it's a lot looser. Just because it's, y'know, stuff that you purchase or use Atoms get into your game that is, like... there's a big fun factor there. There's a lot of stuff in Atomic Shop that we could take out because it's not strictly Fallout canon, and then players would be bummed. Because it's in a live multiplayer game, you... it's always a judgement call, it's tough. There's a lot of stuff that's... the canon rules are a lot lighter with the Atomic Shop stuff. Because we want people to have what they want and just have fun." Note: This video is an excerpt from a longer interview at Gamescom 2020.
↑"Early in my own UFO investigations I noted that some people could see UFOs, often objects of very large size, while others standing in the same location would see absolutely nothing. This is because persons with psychic ability can see over the fringes of the spectrum into infrared and ultraviolet when certain special conditions exist. These conditions include the intensity of the natural magnetic field in the area where the sightings take place. The psychic is not hallucinating. He’s seeing something that is there but that is invisible to normal eyesight.Some UFO contactees, such as Mr Gary Wilcox of Newark Valley, New York, April 24, 1964, have allegedly been told by the entities that UFOs are normally invisible in daylight and become visible at night because they glow with energy within the visible spectrum. These masses of energy are apparently very plastic, capable of assuming an endless variety of forms. The UFO lore abounds with descriptions of objects and entities glowing. The famous ‘little green men’ are usually small humanoid figures surrounded by the distinctive cyan glow. In ancient times, angels were self-luminous, usually white or yellow. Artists conveyed this by creating halos of light around their heads. Paradoxically, in a business filled with paradoxes, one useful criterion in dealing with UFO cases is the fact that if the object or entity is surrounded by a glow or is seen going through the spectrum changes, it is probable that the thing seen was real or at least a real intrusion into our reality. When no glow of any kind is present, there is a good chance that the sighting was hallucinatory. When a mass of energy enters the visible spectrum by turning red or violet, it must somehow be altering the frequency of its ‘vibrations’. These frequency changes are so well controlled that rhe object can vibrate at the exact frequency of the percipient’s brain waves. When the object’s pulsations are synchronized with the percipient’s frequency, a medical phenomenon occurs. The witness lapses into a hypnotic-like trance and hallucinates. If the percipient is psychic, the trance can seem like an extension of reality, and the hallucination will seem like a very real experience." (The Eighth Tower, John Keel, 1975, p. 32)
60 minutes[bug 1]
A Wise Mothman previously appeared in the Wise Mothman! random encounter, which has been removed from the game. Interacting with it was meant to grant Wisdom of the Mothman, but a scripting error prevented the buff from being applied.[bug 3]
The first time a player activates Fallout 1st, they will unlock the Funky Mothman emote, which depicts the Wise Mothman in its icon. The player performs a lengthy dance, flapping and waving their arms, while the Mothman musical motif plays.
Filenames for an early version of The Mothman Equinox indicate players would have harvested "EnlightenedMothmanEggs" during the collection phase and deposit them into the Cradle of the Pretenders.[25] Clutches would have held purple eggs, but yielded "perfect mothman eggs," which are black. The phrase "enlightened mothman" is never used in the text of the game.
.jpg "Fallout Magic The Wise Mothman (Etched Foil).jpg (116 KB)")
