The Brotherhood of Steel has been a staple of the Fallout franchise ever since the first game was released way back in 1997. Of the many factions we’ve seen over the years, they’re one of the most interesting and have themost detailed history.
Whether or not the Brotherhood is good, bad, or just misguided has been a hot topic among fans for many years and their portrayal in Fallout 4 was particularly controversial for some. Lots of fans, especially those who were first introduced to the Brotherhood in Fallout 3,wantthem to be the good guys. But the truth is, the Wasteland is a violent place and no one keeps their hands clean for long - arguably, the Brotherhood has more blood on its hands than many.
9It Split In Two
West Vs. East
When players meet the Brotherhood inFallout 3, they certainly come across as being the good guys. They have cool armor, they don’t shoot you on sight, and Elder Lyons seems like a nice guy. After all, he’s willing to give the locals aid and charity and is working on getting them purified water. However, Elder Lyons' actions helped lead to the Brotherhood splitting into West and East Coast factions.
Lyons and his followers were essentially kicked out of the Brotherhood for being too nice to the other Wastelanders. The “Outcast” Brotherhood of Steel members players run across in the Wasteland (who seem like jerks) are really the true members and Lyons and his crew are the real outcasts. This split led to the West Coast chapters becoming increasingly fanatic and while the two sides eventually reconciled, the result was the extreme version of the Brotherhood seen inFallout 4.
8It Hoarded Technology At The Expense of Others
So Many Toaster Ovens
The Brotherhood of Steel loves technology - it’s kind of their whole thing. One of the faction’s founding principles was the idea that humanity was likely doomed, so someone should try to collect and preserve what technology was left. Also, only the Brotherhood of Steel could be trusted to look after said technology.
The problem with this is that all that technology could have done a lot of good. We’re not just talking about the fact the Brotherhood hoards away some ofFallout 4’sbest weapons. Over time, the Brotherhood became increasingly obsessed with possessing technology and forgot to use it to help others. On the rare occasion they do use it to help others, it’s clear they always have an ulterior motive.
7It Extorted Settlers For Supplies
Not So Voluntary Donations
In fact, the Brotherhood doesn’t just fail to help wastelanders. Sometimes, it actively harms them. InFallout 4, the Brotherhood of Steel arrives on the Prydwen and quickly gets to work “liberating” the Boston wasteland. Except this liberation quickly starts looking like more of an invasion.
If the Sole Survivor speaks to Proctor Teagan on the airship, the player will be tasked with visiting a loyal settlement to “procure” supplies. TheBrotherhood has some great quests,but this isn’t one of them. It’s made pretty clear the Brotherhood doesn’t care how the player gets the job done - buy them, extort the settlement, or kill the settlement’s leader. Just get the supplies. Extorting wasteland survivors who already live hand to mouth isn’t a good look.
6It Rebuilt Liberty Prime - Twice
The Ultimate Nuclear Deterrent
One of the Brotherhood’s big gimmicks is that only they can be trusted to look after the world’s advanced technology. Their reasoning being the last time technology was easily available mankind almost nuked itself into extinction. Seems like a fair point until one realizes the Brotherhood built a nuke-lobbing murder machine, twice.
Liberty Prime is undoubtedly very cool - it’s one ofFallout’s best non-human characters- but it does make the Brotherhood look a bit hypocritical. This wasn’t such a problem when Liberty Prime was under the command of Elder Lyons and being used against the cartoonishly evil Enclave. Now that it’s under Elder Maxson’s control, though, it’s much more scary.
5It Persecuted Sentient Beings
Ghouls Are People Too
From Deathclaws and Mirelurks to Super Mutants and ghouls -Falloutis full of mutated monstrosities. But not all of them are hostile.Fallout 3’sUnderworld is full of great characters- all of them ghouls.
Try telling that to the Brotherhood of Steel, an organization obsessed with human purity. The Brotherhood has it out for all ghouls and Super Mutants, sentient or not. When Virgil the intelligent Super Mutant is done helping the player take down the Institute inFallout 4, Elder Maxson tells the player to exterminate the friendly mutant. Some thanks.
4It Indoctrinated Children
Child Soldiers Are Never A Good Sign
Even in a world as hopeless and violent asFallout, hopefully, everyone can agree that using child soldiers is bad. Yet that’s exactly what the Brotherhood does. It takes young children, indoctrinates them into its extreme worldview, and then trains them to become killing machines. The fact they often take these children from the regions they’ve “liberated” is even more troubling.
The more one learns about the Brotherhood, the more it feels like a militaristic cult. It isn’t just that the Brotherhood has children in its ranks, it’s that it is willing to put them in harm’s way. One ofFallout 4’smore irritating radiant quests has the Lone Survivor escorting a squire through the wasteland.
3It Attacked Bunker Hill
A Total Massacre
Bunker Hill is one of the few locations inFallout 4that feels safe. It’s an established settlement with good defenses, strong trade links, and lots of friendly settlers. For many players, finding out it’s part of the underground railroad helping escaped synths is just icing on the cake.
Then the Brotherhood of Steel comes along in itsimpressive power armorand starts shooting everything up. Not only are their reasons for doing so deplorable (at least to some fans) but so is the way they go about doing it. The Battle of Bunker Hill is in no way a fair fight and taking the Brotherhood’s side in the battle feels like participating in a slaughter.
2It Wiped Out The Institute And The Railroad
Show No Mercy
Bethesda games havesome dark endings,but siding with the Brotherhood inFallout 4has to be one of the darkest. Alongside other Knights, the player is tasked with wiping out both the Railroad and the Institute. Much like the battle at Bunker Hill, the fighting at Old North Church in particular feels like a bloodbath.
Whether the Brotherhood’s quest against synths is right or wrong, its take-no-prisoners approach is disturbing. The Brotherhood never really tries to reason with either faction, opting to wipe them out instead. The Institute was home to families, the Railroad good if overly idealistic people. The Brotherhood killed them all.
1It Tried To Commit Genocide
The Synths Don’t Deserve It
It’s no secret that the Brotherhood of Steel hates Synths and, to be fair, they are pretty problematic. Not only did the Institute play God in creating them but, it used them to replace and spy on unwitting settlers. A major theme inFallout 4is the player never knows who’s a synth and who isn’t. Whether Synths count as living beings inFalloutis a major point of debate among fans.
However, the gen three models are sentient, as well as some older versions (like good old Nick Valentine). All these Synths want to do is escape their Institute masters and live peaceful lives - something the Railroad tried hard to help with. The Brotherhood, however, makes it clear throughoutFallout 4that the only solution to the Wasteland’s Synth problem is total annihilation. This includes members of its creed - Maxson doesn’t hesitate to have Paladin Danse executed after learning he’s a synth.
