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We need to talk about Deacon

We need to talk more about the Railroad in general, but I’m going to focus on Deacon here. First, some Railroad background:

So, P.A.M’s terminal has entries from the last three Railroad leaders, including Desdemona, that briefly document the challenges and changes the organisation has been through over the last two decades. This includes the creation and implementation of the dead drop system that is in use currently, the Institute destroying their previous Headquarters (three times!), and the discovery that synths were suddenly being programmed to head towards Diamond City and the subsequent discovery of PATRIOT.

-The first entry is from the new leader, Wyatt, in 2266. It is written after the Institute found their Headquarters, and names a runner, John.D, as the only survivor of the massacre that killed off their entire leadership.

-John. D’s role is explained more in the next entry, 2267: “John D has been finding tourists at a pretty good clip. But he keeps their identities to himself. Operational security he calls it.”

-In the 2268 entry the Institute is attacking the Railroad again “They found one of our safehouses, but no one there knew where our HQ is. John D developed a dead drop system we’ve been using.” John D seems to have made contributions to the structure of the Railroad as we currently know it. This is the last time he is mentioned.

-In 2273 the new leader, Pinky, begins making terminal entries after Coursers once again found HQ and killed Wyatt. “Deacon (that’s what he’s calling himself now) had an escape route planned, and most of the survivors owe him their life.” The first mention of Deacon.

-Desdemona is elected as the new leader in 2277.

-In 2281 they find the Switchboard, and P.A.M. An Institute synth managed to find and infiltrate one of their safehouses, but Deacon caught her before PAM did. PAM. The robot specifically designed to predict and calculate possibilities.

-PAM is stated to be working even harder to find the Institute in 2284. “Deacon’s convinced the solution lies in the past, not future. Deacon already knows the big secret - we know nothing about the Railroad before Wyatt was in charge (or is Deacon Johnny D??). Deacon’s been digging into Institute sightings from years, even decades before. Or at least that’s what he says. Getting real tired of his lies.” Even Desdemona doesn’t get the full breadth of information that Deacon works with.

-In 2286, the year before the Sole Survivor leaves Vault 111, Deacon is barely seen at HQ. Since his role in the Railroad is to spy and gather intel, he must have been away a lot for Desdemona to note his absence in the logs. He was apparently “chasing ghosts.”

-In 2287 Desdemona states that Deacon is working on a secret project (a continuation of what he was doing the year before?) She refers to it’s code name Wanderer “Deacon has a wild theory, and an even wilder plan (Tea Party). I agree there’s something strange there, but I’m with holding judgement.”

A lot of things to look at. And some of these had me wondering what the hell I was supposed to make of them for a good long while. But I’ve come up with some things~

I think it’s very likely that Deacon was John.D - Deacon possibly being his last name. Maybe. There are several notable Railroad members whose admittance is noted in terminal entries - Deacon’s isn’t. The first mention of him is of someone changing their name to Deacon after the second time the Institute found HQ. Neither John D’s exit or entry into the Railroad is documented; if Desdemona suspects that Deacon might be John D, then it’s fair to say that his death or disappearance isn’t documented at all. In 2275 Deacon is referred to as ‘face-changing’, but John D never was. This could mean that he only started changing his face after becoming Deacon, after the second mentioned attack by the Institute on their HQ.

It isn’t mentioned when the rail signs were created or who thought them up, but I’m willing to bet it was Deacon. Deacon is the one that we are introduced to all of the secrets of the Railroad through; even though there’s a chart of rail signs at HQ and Glory or Desdemona or even Tom could have explained them to us. But no, it’s Deacon. He is the one that explains all these precautions that they take; talks them up, gives approval when the player plays along and uses code words. In fact, aside from tourists, he seems to be the only person that regularly employs all of the tactics. And they’re all effective: it seems that the only way the Railroad can be destroyed is through player action. It’s entirely possible that the reason they seem to be so effective and well-implemented is because Deacon is the one who created them after his experiences. He is the only survivor from the Railroad that existed 20 years ago, he knows much more than others and, as Desdemona says, rarely gives information to the rest of the group.

Because he knows the risk of information being spread among too many people - the terminal entry for 2266 names members in a safehouse knowing HQ’s location as the reason for it’s destruction by the Institute. Each new leader of the Railroad notes that their predecessor messed up in some way, which led to their death. “I think where Agamemnon went wrong, is that HQ was known by too many people. I’m theorizing here, but once the Institute hit a safehouse and leaned on anyone the HQ would be easy to find.” “I figure you should know how we messed up… if one safehouse goes down assume that all Hell’s coming for your ass, because it probably is.”

He lies so much because he has seen what being under-cautious will get people, he’s seen three HQs destroyed and seen what led to their destruction - he has taken it upon himself to do everything he can to make sure that doesn’t happen again. Even if it means he’s the resident liar, even if it means he has to be someone he doesn’t like. Lying is instinctual to him, it has to be. He is dedicated.

At one point he attempts to lie to the player and tell them that he’s actually the leader of the Railroad and, honestly, I think this might actually be the most truthful thing he’s ever said. He might not be the one making the big decisions, but it seems that he’s heavily involved or influenced them all in some way. _______________ As noticed by many people, Deacon will keep track of the player and appear in certain locations in disguise before they meet the Railroad. Diamond City, Goodneighbour, Memory Den, Bunker Hill. He can even admit that he’s been following the PC through speech checks.

And also I found this

(I couldn’t take a screenshot so I hunted this down)

This is overlooking Vault 111, with a very clear view of the platform, from a perfectly concealed position. It’s location is near the edge of the map, quite out of the way and unlikely to be found by most people.

What the shit does this mean? Let’s explore what we know.

PAM states that the SS was not predicted by her - not predicted to appear, or their involvement was not predicted? - But PAM is not infallible, she has been proven wrong before, she was ‘out-predicted’ by Deacon and she also didn’t predict the Brotherhood finding their HQ.

The Railroad also apparently didn’t view Vault 111 as important; they thought it was destroyed (I haven’t seen this dialogue myself and I can’t find a source so if anyone can point me to one that would be appreciated). It’s odd that, with Vault 111 being the last unopened Vault in the Commonwealth, there aren’t more signs of attempted break-ins - because all Wastelanders know that, if anything, vaults will contain valuable supplies and tech, so it should be a target. But the signs point to the Railroad not viewing it as important. So why is there a small shelter with the rail sign for ‘ally’ overlooking it?

I thought it could be nothing, just a little easter egg for people who go to the edges of the maps - until I remembered that there is a Regional Vault-tec HQ in the city. There is a terminal inside, that isn’t password locked, that states that Vault 111 was to have hundreds of gallons of liquid nitrogen delivered to it, and a note wondering what it would be used for.

The information is out there in the open, easily accessible by anyone who would think to go to the Vault-tec HQ and would be able to put the pieces together. Deacon often jokes around and tries to not put too much emphasis on his abilities, but it’s clear from the above analysis that he is one of the main reasons the Railroad has been able to continue - he’s smart. Very smart, and good with information and drawing conclusions. So, he could have used this completely offhand bit of information and conclude that Vault 111 was using cryogenics in some capacity, and that there’s the chance that there would be people still in the vault.

(Further analysis of the railsign by the vault over here)

But this can go deeper- Deacon knew that there would be someone in there. In the 2284 entry Deacon is looking into sightings of the Institute from “years, even decades before” and in 2286 he is “chasing ghosts”. Remember that Kellogg and the Institute entered the vault 60 years prior - and while the Institute is incredibly enigmatic, they aren’t completely unknown if there are recorded sightings or energy readings that Deacon has access to. Vault 111 was opened 60 years ago “sightings from years, even decades before” and Kellogg hasn’t been heard of for several years “chasing ghosts”.

So, there’s now the possibility that

the Institute was documented near Vault 111 60 years ago

Deacon found this out while working to figure out where they are located

since he’s regularly in the field he would have ample opportunity to look through Vault-tec HQ for any information on the vault

and since the vault was closed up again he concluded that there’s likely someone still in there.

This is Deacon acting independently; he was waiting for the vault to open up again. Actually, he could have even concluded that since it was the Institute that opened the vault the first time, and the Institute is never involved in anything good, the person(s) left inside might be interested in working with them, as opposing the Institute is one of their main goals. This is why he follows the player.

“Deacon has a wild theory, and an even wilder plan (Tea Party). I agree there’s something strange there, but I’m with holding judgement.“

(Some thoughts about the meaning of ‘Tea Party’ over here)

Desdemona knows, but she’s being cautious. But the rest of the Railroad is in the dark; they don’t consider Vault 111 at all. Because that’s how Deacon operates. He has been withholding information since he was John D, and he’s only done it more frequently as the years went on. He knows better than anyone the importance of compartmentalizing information and the possibility of infiltration in the Railroad.

I will say here that I’ve been torn over whether or not his last story is a lie. And after writing this I’m leaning more towards it being a lie- which might be disappointing to people used to the idea of being able to change a character (or at least how they view the PC) at the end of a relationship, but I personally don’t find it so. Deacon’s entire character is built around the fact that he lies, that he has to lie. All of his previous conversations involve him lying right to your face, it’s not exactly subtle that lying comes to Deacon as easily as breathing.

Whether or not he keeps information and plans from the Railroad because he doesn’t trust all of them or because he knows how dangerous the Institute is (or maybe both), he has known them for a while, cares a great deal about them, and even refers to them as family. And he likely even feels a sense of responsibility in making sure the organisation survives, being the only original member from before their decline. But they know next to nothing about him.

I guess it could be interpreted that Deacon feels a kinship with the SS, thus leading to the revelation of his past … but I don’t believe so. It doesn’t fit with what we know about him. There’s also the possibility that the SS is working with other factions, and since Deacon follows them in disguise he would be aware of this. And is it just a coincidence that, while John D is never mentioned as changing his face, both Deacon and his face-changing only appear after the second assault on HQ? If the original interpretation of his final conversation is that he changes his face because of what he did to Synths and what happened to his wife, shouldn’t John D be mentioned to also change his face? It’s only after he survived a second attack that he becomes Deacon and seems to start doing it. “Deacon (that’s what he’s calling himself now) had an escape route planned, and most of the survivors owe him their life.”

What I’m trying to say with all this is: why should Deacon believe that the SS cares about the Railroad and is as dedicated to it as he is?

I don’t believe it takes anything from his character or the friendship the SS can have with him. If anything it presents a more interesting example of a character utterly devoted to their work, and the drawbacks that come with that devotion.

One last thing: Desdemona knows that Deacon is working on a secret project, which is code named Wanderer. When you join the Railroad you have to choose a code name; there are several options- Whisper, Fixer, Charmer … but there’s a hidden name that Desdemona will give you if you refuse one. A name that she thinks fits you best - Wanderer.

I’ve seen complaints that, in addition to not being a romance option (and therefore not as complete as characters that are for some reason??), Deacon has very little story, with most of his content being disposable lies. I have always disagreed - and this just furthers my stance. He is likely to be one of the most interesting and well thought out characters in the whole game.

_______

This post ended up taking a lot longer than I thought it would, and I haven’t really had a chance to look into much meta or analysis of Fallout 4 and god, I’ve missed it ~~

But this is done. And I’m going to be looking at other aspects of the game and getting the other huge post I’ve been working on finally finished. As always, any feedback is welcome - thank you for reading !

Edit: This has turned into a series of meta on Deacon, which I am using this tag for.

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We need to talk about Deacon