Will All Ghouls Turn Feral Eventually?

[@joeywaters5559]

Of note are two Ghouls who stayed in isolation past the bicentennial and avoided feralization - Dean Domino and Valery Barstow. Both credit their sustained lucidity on having a singular goal to focus on - the Sierra Madre heist for Dean, and Vault-Tec's mission for Valery.

[@agus_pax8796]

What about the Vault Tec guy in fallout 4, the overseer from that vault dlc (fallout 4 too) or the ghoul who ran a shop at goodneighbor

[@zevvez_]

Or Eddie Winter, the prewar mobster and where the line "Eddie, its me, your old pal Seamus McFuckyourself!"

[@rustyjones7908]

Or the fridge kid?

[@sleven1160]

@@rustyjones7908 We don't talk about Billy

[@CRAZYHUNTER7429]

@@rustyjones7908 the kid in the fridge fucked up lore so a lot of people don’t count it

[@dyslegein]

I love hearing BoS saying we need to kill all ghouls because 'they'll turn feral' meanwhile you have guys just chilling for 200+ years.

[@ThatOneGuy-iv9sn]

Yeah and the knowledge they could pass on having lived so long is so useful especially to the bos that is all about technology and who would know how to use it better than a ghoul who used in to fight commies or a scientist who actually has a decent education and the potential to pass on useful survival knowledge

[@the_neo_crusader]

That's a good point but a lot ghouls haven't been a ghouls for 200 years so they might in fact have not turned feral yet

[@mrmaple4235]

BoS don't kill non feral ghouls doe

[@dyslegein]

@@mrmaple4235 The game doesn't confirm either way but there's a lot of dialogue that makes their prejudice very clear.

[@mrmaple4235]

@@dyslegein Yeah certainly prejudice, but if the BoS (which in my head canon game it does) just holds a policy of segregated containment, and only kills ferals, I don't see how the BoS would be anything but justified

[@aceskeletonne7446]

ive always wondered why all feral ghouls are hostile, like if some had their mind deteriorate that they just become like a mindless passive animal as oppose to an aggressive one. though i think the answer is for gameplay

[@joeyjojojrshabadoo7462]

Maybe the passive one ones allready got picked off by other mutants in the wasteland? But yeah it's gameplay.

[@joeyjojojrshabadoo7462]

@@g0reypigs3 maybe some of the dead bodies you see a just a living ghouls who found somewhere with a lot of background radiation and decided to take a long nap?

[@Umbra_Ursus]

Forget behavior, what possible evolution could happen that would create the glowing one (A walking radiation beacon with near Arch-Vile powers) or the reaver (Basically an organic T-800)?

[@HoboHunterRik]

@@Umbra_Ursus glowing ones are FEV exposed. Remember if it doesn't make sense it's probably FEV or scientific mumbo-jumbo like in Big MT

[@Umbra_Ursus]

@@HoboHunterRik That's actually in the Fallout bible, I think. If memory serves, though it probably doesn't, apparently the team never nailed down amongst themselves if it was FEV or rads that turns people to ghouls.

[@berestkai]

My brain has rotted so badly that when I saw the thumbnail i thought it was one of those chad vs. virgin memes.

[@brendanthebomber.]

You’ve been depicted as the feral ghoul and me as the non feral one argument won

[@MonsterSniper_SCRILLIX_OFFICAL]

@@brendanthebomber. your the soyferaljack in the chadghouljack we are not the same

[@AnonGreene]

You are turning feral my friend, soon you will only be reduced to think in funny internett images

[@dynomitejec]

​@@AnonGreene he'll be speaking tiktok tongues here soon... ☹️

[@zerovalon6243]

Chad vs Rad

[@gunproofgrandad]

“Tbh town drunks do resemble ghouls” caught me off guard and i laughed my brew through my nose

[@tristanfitzgerald98]

And crackheads are when they go feral lmao

[@warlord1114]

@@tristanfitzgerald98 Meth heads can give em a run for their money.

[@gunproofgrandad]

@@SimuLord ghouls are my fave ngl. If you could pick between all the “races” from all the fallout. Human, dwarf, ghoul, slag, super mutant, psyker, cyborg and android id always play as a ghoul. The mechanics could be rads heal you but of your rad meter fills you become a feral ghoul Don’t know if you play tabletop RPG’s but me and my friends have been making our own fallout version. If you do play I’ll send you what we have so far if you’d like

[@Motorcyclechariotracing]

British

[@gunproofgrandad]

@@Motorcyclechariotracing correct. Originally from Isle of Man 👊🏻

[@TexanIthorian]

Turning into a ghoul is winning the lottery, turning into a non-feral ghoul is winning the lottery twice in a row, turning into a glowing non-feral ghoul is winning the lottery three times in a row.

[@tranz2deep]

Although a non-feral Glowing One may look like that Powers goof from Batman Beyond and is radioactive enough that normal humans can't be near, the Ghoulish, Ghouls, Ferals (natch), and anything else radiation-immune like most Wasteland critters, the Children of Atom who would probably revere you, and Dogmeat hang around with no trouble at all.

[@Ian-bf4yk]

So Jason Bright then

[@Aiconversationtopic]

What’s a glowing ghoul

[@tranz2deep]

@@Aiconversationtopic The Glowing One is a far more radioactive and mutated Ghoul. With the right mods, that glow is much more pronounced and noticeable in-game. While virtually all Wasteland critters can have glowing variants and several do, the Glowing One is infamous for the ability to flare radioactivity around itself.

[@nothanks9503]

@@tranz2deepNah you can absolutely be around them Jason Bright from new Vegas is a non feral glowing one and you do get some rads from being around him but it’s not enough to make much of a difference even for the human who thinks he’s a ghoul you can find some anti radiation meds on a shelf though so at least with some medication you can spend long periods of time around them

[@Alexalmo]

Well, for those who played Dark Souls, remember the difference between an undead and a hollow? It was pretty similar to ghouls and ferals. Although technically all of them were undead, the "hollows" would refer to those who lost their minds and now just attack everyone on sight, just like ferals. In Dark Souls, it wasn't a matter of the intensity of the curse, or the time being undead, etc, but it was more psychological, like losing hope, or not having any purpose anymore, that turned you into a hollow What if the same logic applies to ghouls and ferals? We already saw in this video that technical or scientific matters like genetics, isolation or radiation weren't enough to explain why some ghouls turn ferals and others don't. Maybe it has something to do with them losing any hope or purpose, or just being extremely angry. Lots of ghouls that should have turned feral for logical reasons and just didn't, actually had an important mission or objective, such as Billy trying to find his parents (also Bethesda writting lol), Jason Bright being a religious leader trying to help his folk to escape the Mojave, and Oswald trying his best to find a cure. Also none of the ghouls that live in a city turn feral, because something as simple as working, owning and taking care of a store and a house, or just having friends to talk to, seem to be enough to keep their minds sane. At least, I don't remember a ghoul NPC from any city turning feral all of sudden, correct me if I'm wrong. And those who do turn feral, normally are found in the wasteland roaming free, in subway tunnels, in destroyed places no one wants to go, and places that would make any non irradiated human go crazy if they stayed there long enough My conclusion is that being a feral has more to do with your mind than your body, and your capability of staying sane despise having a zombie like body that just rottens slowly. I mean, most of us would become insane if we looked into a mirror and saw a decaying body staring back at us, wouldn't we?

[@dragonfell5078]

That is an amazing theory, the parallel between Undead and Ghouls is such a nice touch! I think any human would go insane in those conditions. Ghoulification just makes it more extreme

[@MithriAK]

Yaboii should pin this or something!

[@MR.LMR1996]

I myself thought this too in the past. A Ghoul whose constantly exposed to a state of violence, isolation and dealing with other traumatic experiences is far more likely to lose their shit and turn feral compared to a Ghoul who is living a more stable and safer lifestyle that they enjoy having.

[@fedorustimenko3057]

"Goodbye now. And dont you dare go fera-... I mean hollow, yes, hollow"

[@CallMeElwis94]

I was about to state the exact same theory. But glad still someone beat me to it way sooner.

[@MrKroogur]

The exposure to extreme levels of radiation was hinted at in Fallout 76 by Digger (a ghoul you meet in Vault 79) he was concerned about going in to fix the reactor because he felt if one dose of rads turned him ghoul a stronger dose would turn him feral.

[@walesjedi9217]

importantly, that's just speculation from a relatively recent ghoul

[@maximusd26]

so 76 is canon now ?

[@vonfaustien3957]

@Wales Jedi we also see none feral glowing ones in fallout 2 new vegas and nukaworld meaning high rads can't be the only factor. Shit the Geko ones live right next to and inside and leaking reactor

[@marcellodeltoro5772]

@@maximusd26 when has it not?

[@MrMoose-bl7jv]

@@marcellodeltoro5772 he's memeing because people still think 76 is shit, which it isnt anymore, its just okay

[@monkewithinternetaccess6107]

I kind of have this concept in my head. Imagine an old woman who was turned into a ghoul when the bombs fell. The thing is, she has dementia, and has no idea the world has ended.

[@luska5522]

Listen to "everywhere at the end of time"

[@Notimportant3737]

This would be an interesting concept if it were implemented in a fallout game. Maybe you should work for Bethesda lol

[@trainman5675]

Be a interesting quest. You tell her. And she goes feral. Or you keep her in the delusion. She stays a kind old woman from 2077. Or a high Stat check like 9 charisma and 7 int or something you give her the will to keep going despite what happened

[@nicotinepoisoning]

Maybe ghoulification would heal her dementia

[@zogbot5103]

Just a normal day in chicongo

[@whitechapel8959]

Well, my great great grandmother lived to 112 years old and still had here mentle factuallys as she was when she was in her middle age. She told me: "Eat healthy, take vitamins when your body is loosing its edge at making its own to Kickstart it agian. Never stop working at something, don't strain yourself excessively, never cut yourself from the sun and other people."

[@haylei2804]

Aww. Thanks Grandma

[@whitechapel8959]

@@haylei2804 she was born in 1891 and died in 2003 at 112.

[@whitechapel8959]

@@SimuLord she sadly lost her faith after loosing 7 family members in WW1 as well as half her village being whiped out by the nazi's in WW2. BUT your grams words are good to live by, faith and willpower can keep a person going long past they were said to go. Your Grammy was bad qss.:3

[@CountingStars333]

@@whitechapel8959 she saw everything from industrial revolution to planes to space flight to early internet... What a woman.

[@whitechapel8959]

@@CountingStars333 indeed. she was also a Red Cross medic from 1914 till her forced Retirment in 1990. she also Served as a German Red Cross in the Trenches of the Western Front as a volunteer in the Military branch from 1914 to 1918, her job was to go into no-man's-land and look and take back wounded and dying soldiers, most of the time in battles. she never got credit though because she was not Legally a military personal. she was in Germany, but she was alive in the wild west era (ended in 1914). so she saw the end of the wild west into a west of laws. she also did not have electric wiring in her home till 1928 and running water till 1930 also lastly a bathroom till 1931, she also lived in three countries and never moved from her house. She was Imperial German/Polish/Russian then USSR Puppet Poland then moved to America. She had 4 son's, one was executed for Treason for smuggling jews out of Europe, another Died In Stalingrad, another died in the defense D-Day, last one survived the war. she also lost 7 family members in WW1. in a word. She was a survivor.

[@lexxstrum]

Currently in Fallout 76, you have an ally that is a ghoul in a space suit. He claims to be a Zebulonian scout/realtor, with a powerful gamma gun. But his spaceship is a kids ride, and he apparently was an actor on a sci fi show back before the war. It's kinda cute to see a delusion as a symptom of the ghoul process, as opposed to mindless aggression or depression in the ghoul.

[@Korija2029]

Ghoul process ends with human becoming ghoul, rest is insanity and brain damage. Ghouls are not rotting, or falling apart.

[@supergoji7511]

@@Korija2029 Except they are falling apart. I mean in fo3 you literally have a ghoul ask you to help him find his falling parts

[@Korija2029]

@@supergoji7511 ghoul are not immune to disease resistant yes but not immune. Ferals are suffering from dementia and/or insane what stops ghoul from being lepper? Most ghouls are zombies lore strerms from ingame racists and rare cases looked upon trought racist philosohpy. There are more cases about ghouls not turning feral that ghouls turning feral. Quolting scientist from tempenny tower about ghoul is like quolting hitler about jews. It is sickening how people are stupid. Ghoul companion is at risk of feralizations becouse of drugs. Even those ghouls that seems to go trough feralization screams "dementia".

[@supergoji7511]

@@Korija2029 I don't know why you tagged me. I never mentioned anything about ghouls being immune to disease.

[@Korija2029]

@@supergoji7511 Ghouls can suffer from disease so that one ghoul could suffer from leprosy.

[@theodorebear6714]

I see sentient ghouls the way I see fantasy elves. They are hundreds of years old and they know far more than most around them. They should be respected as elders. Clearly not as beautiful as elves but still as incredible with their long lives.

[@soulstealer1667]

I think they're rather beautiful from a morbid sense

[@AndyJP]

I've always thought about that too. But I think that the big difference is that pre-war Ghouls probably don't know much more than they did before the bombs dropped, since having to be in survival mode every day is probably not very conducive to learning new things aside from survival tips. So aside from possibly being survival experts and being able to tell people about what life used to be like, they may not be a fount of wisdom or knowledge in the way a fantasy Elf might be. But certainly pre-war Ghouls that were already well-educated should be an important figure in the wasteland. There's also some indication that ghouls can suffer from memory loss, but there's not enough information in the games to know the circumstances or severity.

[@allenaju1856]

I mean in 3 you meat Harold who wasn’t a pre war ghoul but met almost every protagonists antagonist and side characters and now he is a tree that gives life

[@Blowtorch87]

There are a lot of ghouls among ncr veteran rangers. Some of them were original desert rangers and probably even american soldiers before the war. Imagine how much fighting expirience they have.

[@fedorustimenko3057]

@@Blowtorch87 I imagine this dudes saw Legion recruits charging at them and thought "owww, thats cute" and later "kiddo, I've been fighing since before the bombs, do you really think you could defeat me?"

[@Notto-tn9dy]

Hancock says that he became a ghoul by taking some radiation drug. I wonder if that drug is related to the process Eddie Winter underwent.

[@greazypozer]

I hope it shows up in the next game. Always wanted to be able to play as a ghoul without mods tbh

[@wilderking8476]

I wouldn't be surprised if Hancock basically just injected himself with pure polonium or something. I don't think the two events are related, however, it's possible.

[@charlie-yp2oq]

Would suck if he ended feral tho

[@0311Mushroom]

@@greazypozer of the people, by the people, eat the people.

[@LucyWest370]

Dont forget Desmond

[@Peluceus]

With the 'slowing down the degredation to a snails pace' analogy in mind, it may be possible that Feralization is a form of dementia, which is itself hugely genetic. Older people with dementia are largely restricted by their brittle bones and whatnot due to age. There are instances of able-bodied people w/ dementia causing some form of violence. (Not saying dementia is an inherently violent disorder, just that it is a possible genetic vector for the clinical insanity)

[@BONERCRUSHER]

Dementia isnt a violent thing, BUT.... most people with dementia become fearful of their surroundings/people. And fear gives fight or flight. It could be that ghouls do all suffer from dementia or some sort of degenerative disease like dementia (possibly a new form or variant only present in ghouls due to their regeneration abilities) that causes them to become violent and Feral.

[@pennydime4562]

@@BONERCRUSHER maybe the mix of goulification and dementia (or any other degenrative disorder) is what makes it violent. each by itself isn't inherently violent but together they are

[@pluto8404]

dimentia is like de-evolution. they lose their memories and human charactertics, only retaining survival/natural instincts like an animal. They hoard and hide items like a dog hiding a bone, and dont understand their surrounding like a human would so become timid and potentially dangerous.

[@mimic3646]

hell we know they can have cataracts why not dementia

[@stevenschnepp576]

This... actually sounds plausible. Even if it's not real-world dementia, it might be kissing cousins with it.

[@jefthereaper]

Short answer being "yes" as becoming feral is not a disease, just a stage in the lifecycle of a ghoul. More precisely, from the moment somebody becomes a ghoul, they start slowly rotting away. Ferals are the stage where their brains are so rotten that most of their memories are gone completely, just died off with only violent, primal instincts remaining. For all intents and purposes, the person they were before is already "dead" at this point, its just the body acting on destructive instinct. And it will happen to any ghoul sooner or later, warning signs are memory starting to fail badly. Though Bethesda's depiction of feral ghouls is scarier but kinda bad. in the original series, feral ghouls and normal ghouls could usually not run or wield weapons with a strong punch PRECISELY due to their body being in a rotting stage. too much force could break their bones or make them lose a limb entirely. If Bethesda's fallout feral's were more realistic, they would run up to you, and halfway their trip over due to their legs breaking off. then clawing their way over to you only to break their arms when trying to hit you. They were supposed to be more of the slow shambling zombie types that did weaker hits and bites, but would instead harm you with radiation and diseases (teeth getting stuck in your skin where they bite causing infections, nails breaking on your skin and their blood mixing with your wounds)

[@brettalexander220]

thats why i use zombie walkers and set health and damage really low.

[@brettalexander220]

@@SimuLord yeah but in 4 they do that wild lunge and sprint. In the lore they can only trudge

[@TimTime10]

I think in Nuka-world they explained that the body doesn't excactly just rot. It also changes in a way that makes it resist and adapt to radiation better.

[@jefthereaper]

@@TimTime10 Its been like that for way longer then just Nuka World. Heck in fallout 3 there is even a baby that's completely immune to radiation while not a ghoul at all. Supposedly a rare thing that happens, likely evolution in humans trying to adapt to radiation. Most of them end up joining the church of Atom though, rationalizing it as a blessing from Atom.

[@TimTime10]

@@jefthereaper No, the person in Nuka-World did ghoulify and he recorded how the transformation was. It was like his skin wasn't rotting as much as it was folding into itself and repelling the radiation. I think that's supposed to be different from atoms blessing on acount of the chimdren of atom not being ghouls themselves.

[@jackgrove4621]

bethesda nonchalantly gave us the answer in fallout 76 with the secret service ghoul. He said "maybe im just genetically tougher" or something along those lines.

[@sunsetman22]

he's simply built different

[@release_the_Diddy_list]

@@sunsetman22Built different, built stupid.

[@bigboi7817]

I want to see ferals work like pack hunters. Kill the big ones and the smaller ones run off. More like rats or wolves than zombies.

[@AndyJP]

I guess they are just never intelligent enough for that. It is a shame we never get to see ghouls in a near-feral state, though that could be because the condition doesn't occur gradually and instead happens rather instantly like with Rachel in Nuka World.

[@bigboi7817]

@@AndyJP I mean yes but self preservation has to be a part of it to survive long enough to get as decrepit as they do. I like the idea of a feral trying to skitter off to survive rather than fight to the death every time. That AI takes work so its probably not gonna happen.

[@Shoxic666]

@@bigboi7817 There are games with AI that does similar to that, in Dishonored the lower ranking guards are more likely to flee if caught alone or witnessing their allies die, in Shadow of War killing captains ir performing several brutal kills cause orcs to flee, in Overlord 2 empire troops scatter when their centurion dies etc. I guess Bethesda went for a more mindless zombie approach with ghouls.

[@LucyWest370]

@@bigboi7817 ghouls aren’t all long living. Some could be weeks old while others could be centuries. Self preservation doesn’t really matter when swarming everyone and killing them works perfectly fine

[@groovyhoovy2606]

@@Shoxic666 Bethesda is kinda mindless with their approach to everything so it makes sense

[@MCrewDude]

Great analysis. Something I’d like to note is that the age of the person might be a factor as well. If you blow up Megaton in Fallout 3 after Broken Steel, both Moira and Brother Gerard become ghouls immediately but maintain their intelligence. Mother Curie, who is much older, becomes a Ghoul Reaver and is immediately hostile to everyone, including Moira.

[@pennydime4562]

thats quite odd since the ferals in vault 88 didn't turn hostile to the overseer despite her not being feral. this might have been because they turned feral slowly while she was around or because of curies old age

[@LobsterLadyyyy]

@@pennydime4562 it’s also possible that feral ghouls are more “feral” when they first transform, maybe due to disorientation or something similar.

[@brovusmarillian3303]

Yes. Except for Harold. He's a special kind of ghoul. Technically a tree now.

[@Birdsflight44]

IIRC its been confirmed that he's technically not a ghoul, but a mutant who resembles a ghoul. My speculation is that he's the chill plant reflection of the Master's angry flesh madness.

[@JGCO115]

Harold isn't a ghoul he's a unique type of mutant resulting from him being exposed to the Mariposa FEV Strain.

[@jackofastora8962]

I heard a pretty nice line a while back “everyone needs to be high on something to keep on running.” Isolated ghouls may lose their goals and will to live, leading to rapid feralization, while others may remain steadfast and persevere even if forced to isolate. And why some may randomly snap, they’ve lost their will to hold on and simply let go. Depending on the goals of some, this may enable them to live to the very limit of their sane ghoul life, which may very will be forever. But that itself would be impossible, as after an eternity of suffering one would inevitably lose their will to live. If you’ve read up to this point, thanks for reading through this mindless rant lmao

[@jimmyjimmerson3748]

Kinda like dark souls

[@jimmyjimmerson3748]

I just saw your profile pic lmao

[@Korija2029]

Isolated humans go bonkers too, they just die easier.

[@mw9688]

It was a great and enjoyable rant but I seem to have gone feral in the duration. Hmmm. Nonetheless great comment.

[@the25thprime]

I agree I tried to say it but you couldn’t have said it better. Good mind rant haha. But you’re right.

[@EighmyLupin]

8:29 The confusion on how ghouls and ghoulifaction works, was a thing long before Bethesda came into the picture. The original devs could even agree if they were created from rads, FEV or both. They even had a city of ghouls die without water, but also had a ghoul who was buried alive for years without food or water and he was fine.

[@HyakuSh1ki]

I remember reading on an enclave terminal (Fallout 3) about a certain feral ghoul, one that started following an enclave soldier around, even after being shot at. He wasn't hostile, he probably couldn't even feel pain anymore, maybe he was feral but was slowly gaining back his sanity? I don't know, It's a great detail nonetheless.

[@WorldWalker128]

Might have been someone he knew. Or looked like someone he knew. An old friend, or a sibling, or a parent. Some last twitch of familiarity and fond emotional connection. Even bees will recognize their caretakers after awhile and will be less hostile to them to the point that they can stand right next to the hive safely as opposed to someone they don't recognize.

[@voidseeker4394]

@@WorldWalker128 anyone can stand right next to a hive(at least for normal domesticated bees, not some crazy wild killer bees) if one know how to behave near bees. Also, bee aggression depends on many factors (mostly their food supply both in the hive and in the wild). Also, bees have a lifespan of few weeks in average(few month during winter anabiosis, but that doesn't count because they see no beekeeper during winter sleep).

[@hardlyanydiggity3953]

@@voidseeker4394 Bees are a hivemind. The entire hive will eventually recognize a specific person as not being a threat.

[@voidseeker4394]

@@hardlyanydiggity3953 where did you get this information? There is no telepatic connection between bees in the hive. There is limited pheromone sharing that can send simple signals, for example, bees can sense if another bee has stung someone. Also, they can share azimuth towards food source by special "dansing" moves. But they are not a single mind.

[@bertellijustin6376]

No. No. No. the hive is a million individuals all competing against each other. The queen is a slave with loyalists. If you can wrap your mind around that. Her loyal workers care for her and her brood but will also kill her and replace her if she starts fucking up, meanwhile she running around trying to murder any other queens or potential queens to ensure her “rule”. And this is happening while workers who are not fully enthralled by her pheromones will attempt to lay their own eggs which the queen must attempt to hunt down and eat before they are sealed in. Yeah defiantly not a “hive mind”. And bees are generally only aggressive if you mess with the hive or you got some bad genetics in the hive. Bees don’t know their keeper, the keeper knows his bees. Huge difference. I have 12 hives, 2 package bought the rest feral swarms captured and hived.

[@llorsstories3300]

Recently an interview of a developer said they lose their eyelids and have chronic insomnia, that drives them mad, smart ghouls notice this

[@DoomShroomMC]

Ooh nice

[@gameboyjacks]

makes you think how many could have done with a sleep mask 🤔

[@CalvinNoire]

​@@gameboyjacks You just saved the entire ghoul population.

[@annieetc.563]

from a narrative perspective they force the player to think critically about discrimination. someone playing a fallout game for the first time can easily find themselves agreeing with wastelanders that ghouls (or super mutants) are enemies who are simply untrustworthy. however as you explore the world you meet characters that defy these stereotypes and force the player to rethink their ideas about these groups. maybe a little heavy handed to make the discriminated groups ugly monsters, but the message still stands: don’t judge the many by the actions of a few.

[@zionistjew2050]

Its a obvious stab and Gunshot to the head to how main stream media(games, books, movies, music, any form of media) portrays people as objects(race, creed, religion, or color). Its the old "divide and conquer" while else would they slander and ban books like Catcher in the Rye and To Kill a Mockingbird, because a Literate Public is a hard to control Public.

[@zionistjew2050]

And Jesus Christ transcends these petty fools, Joshua Graham knew it.

[@AVERYhornyMrDinosaur]

well, it's more "don't judge the FEW by the actions of the MANY" because most of em' are feral. and then on top of that, not every non-feral ghoul is a nice upstanding person. so it IS fair to be cautious of them when like 90% of them are going to be a bad time for you.

[@Stenny833]

@@AVERYhornyMrDinosaur i feel the same about black people

[@themonsterunderyourbed9408]

@@AVERYhornyMrDinosaur exactly. I'd even increase it to 99%.

[@cosmogcrusader5546]

Only Harold surpassed the Feral stage because he unlike all the other ghouls experienced a lethal dose of both radiation and the Forced Evolutionary Virus when he first ventured into Mariposa with Richard Grey, now known as The Master. After Mariposa, Harold basically became a mutant-ghoul hybrid, constantly having a tree growing out of his brain which occurred for 3 fallout games until he was finally rooted to the ground in one spot in Oasis in 2277. We learn from this that passing the Feral stage is while nearly impossible is doable if you are granted the right mutations and enough doses of FEV.

[@aprofessionalgamer5355]

Wait isn't harold just a mutant tho? Like he looks a lot like a goul but his whole deal was that he was knocked out by a crane near FEV right?

[@JRYYD]

I wonder if something like Mr House life support tech could be used to improve a Ghouls abilities to resist the effects feralization or how do you think his life support tech could be advanced both for himself and others, maybe House could create a Power Amour Suit based version of his chamber both to allow him to move to different location and as a last line of defence for himself and allow him to live for increased timeframes without harm or turn the penthouse of the L38 into a large scale chamber and if he used implants to improve his health.

[@brettalexander220]

Ortal already said the tech is too wild and complex to reverse engineer

[@courier6960]

Well his chamber has to stay completely and utterly sealed, otherwise he’s just straight up dead due to the microbial infection (the game touches on this after you open his chamber and attempt to put him back in, opening him up just makes it a matter of time: about a year to be more specific). We don’t really know how he gets the nutrients and liquid he needs, as its not something that’s really touched upon pr showed at all. The items he’s attached to are: some kind of pelvic filtration system that gets rid of waste (so he must be getting food or nutrients that are disposed of in some way), some kind of device attached to his stomach to give nutrients, something to keep his heart and maybe respiratory system pumping, and a device around his head the connects him to the mainframe. The chamber might provide oxygen or he has wired it all in a way that he is now an anaerobic organism (without oxygen) My best guess is that he has some kind of either self sufficient or extremely large nutrient storage created pre-war. His waste probably gets pumped somewhere that either helps the self-sufficient nutrient storage or piped somewhere out of the way. No idea what he has done to make his heart work or to replace it, but it must in some way pump blood around his torso and more importantly his brain. My point about all of this is that it isn’t something that you can just pick up and move around, even if he was able to make a smaller better version later (which is something he says he plans to sell to the members of the strip at a later date), and even if he could fix the microbial problem, he can’t use the newer version, he’s effectively locked into what he has now. That all being said, his brain is connected to a supercomputer of some sort (however not the ZAX AI units seen in older fallout games / talked about in the scrapped van Buren game / EDEN from fallout 3). We also know that he does have the capacity or capability to scan brains (as he did so with his model girl now secretary Jane as Raul discusses that it was a big gossip point pre-war. Victor might have also been based on a human brain at one point… perhaps even houses crazy brother talked about at H&H tools factory). It’s entirely feasible that he plans to go full AI at one point, or upload his consciousness into another separate biological or mechanical being. Effectively, imagine if each securitron was its own separate house, managing its own goals and setting up different plots. Of course it could cause an Asimov cascade of truly disastrous proportions, but I’m getting way to far ahead of myself there. My point is that although house couldn’t move or do what you want, he could CERTAINLY multiply himself to solve this issue and have contingent selves that allow him to become even more immortal (with much less risk of death might I add)

[@JRYYD]

@@courier6960 Very interesting ideas of House making more copies of himself in order to give him a further sense of immortality. If House made it to the East what do you think he would do in a post F04 would where the MM won and the brotherhood and Railroad still operate?

[@courier6960]

@@JRYYD If we were going off the assumption that fallout 4 will still be considered canon in the future. There’s a different course of action for each faction ending Institute ending: My assumption is that he would try to integrate himself in the institute in some way if they were the canon ending and still around. He would likely mock their lack of ambition and goals and either take as much for himself as he can, or simply override them with force and capabilities. Then he would have teleportation, new cryosleep technology, coursers, synth making technology, gorillas (I guess, not really interesting compared to all this other stuff), as well as super mutant making technology (likely with a little bit of FEV around for him to use as he wished…). All of that would heavily accelerate his advancement to the stars, and with all these extra geniuses lying around he could have himself a massive team. Synths would be an easily manipulatable army, either serving as a new infiltration unit, a new kind of lawful task force (like securitrons), or with him just putting his consciousness in them as well. He would slot them into every position of power he could, effectively making them secret loyal puppets for whatever causes (while still making the people believe that they still have choices or influences on their power). BOS Ending: House would certainly continue his trend of wiping out the BOS here and considering that he MADE LIBERTY PRIME he would have some kind override code and probably destroy their airship without much trouble. He would then have liberty prime around to do whatever the hell he likes with nothing in his way. He would probably try to scavenge what little remains of the nuked institute and try to reverse engineer synth technology from whatever Gen 3 and 2 synths are still around. After that he might hear about the G.E.C.K in the capitol wasteland and control project purity from the brotherhood (it fits since now he owns both sources of purified water with both Hoover dam and project purity). There’s probably some neat tech he can get in D.C. too, considering that remnants of the east coast enclave, the U.S. government, and that there’s that one fort with an ICBM still in its silo. Railroad and minuteman: The railroad and minuteman endings are by far the least interesting. He probably tries to scavenge what remained of the institute and BOS (maybe even reassembling liberty prime?), he would see the railroad as a bunch of hippie losers and the minutemen as a bunch of possible customers that he could profit off of like the NCR (albeit less effectively). Chances are he wouldn’t even go to Boston in these realities and skip right over to the capital wasteland instead for the G.E.C.K / project purity. The Pitt wouldn’t interest him that much (maybe he might find Ashur’s project and try to advance it, or he likely just wouldn’t know about it at all). The zetans are a different story however. House seems smart enough to a point where he would know that the Zetans exist, he could get a hand on some of their tech. Addendum: But at this point I’m putting house on a pedestal as if he is some omniscient intellect god. That’s the problem with making genius archetypes like house, it’s that they have all of the plotarmor of Superman, it is genuinely a plot superpower. There’s no real kryptonite to contain their ambition of prowess and if you let them go on long enough, they‘ll win any battle you try to put them in or any enemy you could possibly throw at them. That’s why I think that Obsidian had house limited in a major way in-game having only securitrons as his force on the world and no humans to really help him (so he was stuck and couldn’t go after Benny or enable the securitrons at the fort or even take over the dam). Because if you gave house his full mobility and manipulation back there would be no enemy you could really throw at him that would be an interesting match up. The only conflict I could think of that would be interesting to see house fight would be the zetans, because he would simply be outscaled in both intellect and technology for once. That’s how OP house would be if his ending is canon and we went to this point, you have to throw actual space age aliens at him to make a battle plot line that would be even remotely entertaining. House became one of the most powerful men pre-war and post-war, and literally SAW THE APOCALYPSE COMING BEFOREHAND AND PLANNED AROUND IT TO A POINT WHERE HE WAS ONLY OFF BY A FEW DAYS. You can really make an argument for house to win anything so it’s hard to say anything about his future when you could pull anything out of a hat with him and it would make just as much sense

[@JRYYD]

@@courier6960 Your ideas make sense with how he would react to different factions, and I do you House was balanced in a good way to not make him to OP in FNV until the end & you are right that the zetans would be the only faction that could be a long term threat to him, how do you think he would handle them? In my mind he would use his resources to build up New Vegas and the area around it into a massive fortress capable to defend against the zetans and in other areas of intreat place copies of his defence system if only to stop the zetans from achieving land fall and take or copy all the tech of interest in the wasteland into New Vegas. Then he would seek to build up space defence maybe by making use of Enclave tech and producing Synths to be "test subject" for the zetans to learn from them if overtake there ships for himself in signal ship encounters. Also if there was a Big Bad/Thanos in a future game apart from the zetans who do you think could fit that role? In my mind it would be Vault-Tec who could have started the great war and been hidden using Tech more advanced the House and waiting to return and reclaim the wasteland and then go into space and they could have been using the games events to there own goals or set them up themselves.

[@musingartisan]

The possibility that social isolation can advance a non-feral ghoul into a feral state makes me think of links to dementia and Alzheimer's where lack of social interaction can increase the devolvement of mental faculties. Maybe, in-game-world terms the "genetic factor" is actually a person's likelihood to have developed some form of dementia in a non apocalypse setting.

[@puppykitten4779]

People had sacrificed more in the hope of achieving immortality. Being ugly is really a low price for most to pay for immortality.

[@Pink_Noodle]

It's a little more than being ugly. Imagine the pain of having no skin and your connective tissue breaking down. Your bones sliding against each other and your muscles exposed. Sounds like hell. No wonder so many are feral.

[@puppykitten4779]

@@Pink_Noodle most sane ghouls are pretty tame, not even new ghoul shows any sign of pain from having no skins. Evidence being that kid ghoul, and that survival guide chick who would turn into ghoul if you blow up Megaton. We are talking about science fiction here, there's no explain to why they even work let alone the no skin issue, if they don't say anything about being in pain, then they are no in pain

[@Kalenz1234]

Being ugly, infertile and risk turning feral*

[@puppykitten4779]

@@Kalenz1234 Why have babies, and hope they can continue your legacy, when you can become an immortal legend yourself? And who doesn't go feral from time to time? Even kratos go feral from time to time, great pass time killer

[@evil_bratwurst]

@@Kalenz1234 honestly, being infertile imo is something I want even if I don't get anything else in return.

[@danielgraves5389]

I think fo3 and nv ghouls do a lot better job of showing the body decay than fo4. All ghouls in fo4 look the same

[@DocMitchell69]

FO4 ghouls also look like burn victims, not walking and decaying people.

[@lick28]

But fo4 does ghouls as enemies way better. Ghouls are a joke in any other fallout game. In fo4, any area which has ghouls turn into a horror game.

[@Adam-zv8jz]

Do ghouls in fallout 3 and New Vegas have a lot of variety? I really remember them mostly looking the same as well, but it’s been a while.

[@DocMitchell69]

@@lick28 Eh, I never had a problem with fighting ghouls in F4. I always took my combat rifle, turned it into a .45 SMG and decimated a crowd. Although I like their animations and movements way better.

[@lick28]

@@Adam-zv8jz they don't. The non ferals have some variety but the feral ones are usually just decayed walking naked corpses.

[@tinyveil]

when yaboiii uploads, its a good day.

[@gigabits6151]

Agreed

[@courier8365]

yaboiii and Albert Cole upload in one day. Best day in a while

[@enchantedbananas]

I wish the series would explore the concept of a ghoul joining your settlement and tragically going feral and leaving you with putting down a charming and good-natured character with no payoff except more questions about ghouls.

[@morris5525]

It would be pretty cool if there was a dlc where you have a story line as a ghoul if you don’t reach vault 111

[@90sFan141]

y e s

[@TheHegetzu]

Modding community go!

[@PelemusMcSoy]

"Fallout 4: Vault Tech Guy"

[@Lantern_Larry]

The idea of waking up a hive of 100 feral ghouls hibernating around a glowing one is terrifying.

[@basicsimp8798]

I actually like how the show handles it. Ghouls aren't just lucky immortals but are literally running on a timer

[@James_Bee]

In the games it's an unknown factor. Nobody really knows when a ghoul will go feral or how. The show says "screw that, take drugs!" It doesn't fit game lore at all, unless they add dialogue to the show that says ferals are an unknown, but this drug is a secret they keep in order to make sure they don't, but maybe has the side effects that if they become dependent on it, it basically guarantees they turn. Either way, it messes with game lore but they are separate, who cares.

[@godofnewts5750]

@@James_BeeI think you’re assuming that the show is saying all ghouls are taking the drug, which may not be the case. Remember The Ghoul’s friend that he kills after talking to about food in order to clear his mind? While he said that he began showing signs 50ish years ago, he never expressly stated that he was showing signs becoming a ghoul. He also talks about his mother making foods that do not seem common postwar. I do not remember what exactly they were, but I remember noticing them in my first watch. It could be that he is a prewar ghoul as well and that the drug is only taken once a ghoul starts showing signs of going feral. This is all still speculation though, so I could be wrong

[@teathomass]

@@godofnewts5750this is my interpretation too

[@sirchip7070]

​@@godofnewts5750 Haven't watched the show but sounds like the drug is fake to scam ghouls out of their stuff. Wouldn't make sense at all for there to be a halt on going feral with a pill since most research that I remember from ghouls in the lore is "lots of rads could make you one...or kill ya". Plus a pill that you should take if you 'care' about your health/a dependent pharmaceutical consumer, sounds like a metaphor for modern medical practices instead of something from a Fallout reality

[@CallofFreaky]

@@godofnewts5750Considering he took a bunch at the super duper market I think it might be like a sort of temporary vaccine and taking a lot at once prolongs the effect. Maybe it just keeps the mind sharp so they don’t lose it

[@ReaverTheSurvivalist]

Sinjin is interesting to me for the same reason Winters is, and more. He’s a raider, savage but intelligent. Functionally immortal too. Imagine how many people must have died to him in his long existence. What he even went through to think and act the way he does.

[@ExpensiveYNo]

Ghouls in fallout have always been fascinating to me and I like the choice in the 3D fallout games to have feral ghouls look slightly different from their non-feral counterparts.

[@laernulienlaernulienlaernu8953]

When I first started playing Fallout 4, feral ghouls, especially big groups of them used to scare the shit out of me because unlike zombies they can move really fast and they often lunge at you or jump scare you.

[@Dervraka]

It's never really made clear how or why some Ghouls turn Feral and other's don't. We know many humans got turned into ghouls at the time of the big war and are just fine 210 years later, "Vault Tech Rep" in Fallout 4 comes to mind, while others (from various holotape logs) seemed to turn feral rather quickly after being ghoulified (weeks or months after the bombs fell). However, not all ghouls are 210 years old, we know some humans still get ghoulified if they stumble into a high radiation area. Perhaps the Ghouls that are still sane after 210 years have something that protects their brain from deterioration, and the ones that do turn feral are "newer" ghouls. So, no, I personally don't think all ghouls will eventually turn feral, I think the 210 year old ones are pretty safe at this point.

[@agus_pax8796]

What about the Vault Tec guy in fallout 4? Or the ghoul who ran a shop in goodneighbor? Both are pre war ghouls who avoided becoming ferals

[@cephalonplant4087]

Personally i like to see a side story on the vault tec guy we get some hints of what happened but i feel like for him to have survived for all those years alot of story could be added

[@jasperspearl2768]

I think the process is just slower for others. Most likely it is determined by radiation exposure. But then in Nuka-World it's outright said it's only a matter of time before a ghoul goes feral.

[@brettalexander220]

@@jasperspearl2768 correct. Their day will come to turn feral, its inevitable. Once the brain damage reaches a certain threshold the decline becomes obvious

[@ThesmartestTem]

@@cephalonplant4087 I've always wanted to give poor vault tec guy a pack of steak knives. Just to make him happy.

[@JuliusCaesar2005]

and kent connolly, cant forget the nicest guy around lol theres also the one in the basement of croup manor(i think thats what its called?) who was prewar and surrounded by ferals for ~200 years. but hes dead when you come across him, so, maybe we wont count him.

[@GrowlieDave]

They missed a chance in FO4 to have you become a ghoul. Gain some perks, loose others, have the brotherhood turn against you. Could have been fun and with a solid story behind it, quite the emotional trip

[@brettalexander220]

mods

[@GrowlieDave]

@@brettalexander220 PS4.... Im shamed

[@brettalexander220]

@@GrowlieDave Theoretically since ghouls are internal assets someone could make a play as a ghoul mod

[@monkewithinternetaccess6107]

I don’t think the brotherhood is hostile towards non-ferals. Just intolerant. You probably wouldn’t be allowed to join, but they most likely wouldn’t shoot you on sight.

[@brettalexander220]

@@monkewithinternetaccess6107 West coast brotherhood regularly takes potshots at non ferals.

[@MeanAndPristine]

Something I don’t see a lot of people mention is that in Fallout 4, the mayor of Diamond City expells ghouls not just because they turn feral, but because they’d live long enough to recognize that the mayor was a synth

[@viktormichael821]

I absolutely love, that the community keeps pumping the heart, of the almighty Fallout!!

[@auraparty3335]

The devastating heat of your soft creamy voice trickling into my ears...

[@organ5899]

relax

[@BoinguMcGoingu]

ಠ_ಠ

[@rustkitty]

Some feral ghouls are basically a senile brain in a virile body. others are pretty much normal violent psychotic breakdowns. But I think the most horrifying "life" is of the ferals that curl up near irradiated areas and seemingly live off the healing properties of radiation alone in F4. Just think about being constantly starved, but also barely kept alive by the gamma rays. It's an existence of constant intense hunger pain. No wonder they turn into ravenous cannibals that either attack wit desperation or try to not even move to preserve energy when there is nothing around to eat.

[@Korija2029]

Best description of feral ghouls ever :D

[@jamesruth100]

I always assumed that the healing properties of radiation were due to some kind of radiosynthesis metabolism. Radiosynthesis would allow them to absorb radiation and convert it to nutrition, much in the same way a plant does via photosynthesis, which then would allow them to heal themselves. If this is the case then they would have more than enough energy to move around and hunt prey, though they'd still likely feel as if they're starving since they'd be bypassing the stomach entirely and the brain doesn't like that. There have been instances of people receiving intravenous nutrition to keep them alive but they still feel the sensation of starving although I've also heard that this can fade over time; perhaps for feral ghouls the sensation never fades.

[@rustkitty]

@@jamesruth100 Sure, but I doubt they can metabolize enough energy to be healthy from radiation-only. Ferals are weaker than an equivalent level normal ghoul NPC, and I think that's because they are malnourished. (In Fallout 4 a stock Feral Ghoul is base level 3 and base HP 35 while the Roamer variant is level 9 with 70 HP. Compare that to a ghoul dude like Arlen Glass from The Slog, who is only level 4 and only wearing farmhand clothes, but is base HP 150. Ferals are far from healthy.) Also they definitely lose essential minerals and other nutrients that the body still expels and can't synthesize. Ghouls must still do their business, otherwise they couldn't eat without becoming bloated things. So as they lose nutrients their body malfunctions and atrophies from deficiency-diseases (besides the regular ghoul necrosis, although that would mask many obvious symptoms like rashes or discoloration). For example vitamin B1 deficiency causes beriberi disease: numbness in the extremities, confusion and pain. Magnesium-deficiency wreaks havoc with the brain's ability to control aggression. Etc. An IV solution contains the necessary supplements for our body, but radiation is just energy. It's like when a plant can't thrive in depleted ground, no matter how well watered and sunlit it is. Energy alone is not enough for a multicellular organism.

[@jamesruth100]

@@rustkitty The reason I went with radiation somehow being able to support them alone is because, as much as I wish he wasn't canon, Billy the fridge kid somehow survived over 200 years with no source of food or water. Because of his existence, I have to assume that ghouls are somehow capable of synthesizing every essential vitamin and mineral that their body requires via radiation alone, even though that makes no sense whatsoever and basically breaks the fundamental laws of physics. It's possible that Billy is a freak of nature and that he alone possesses these traits, but we can't necessarily know that. If he was non-canon I'd 100% agree with you. Truthfully I still agree with you anyway because Billy is the single worst fucking plothole that Bethesda has brought to the franchise and I wish he didn't exist.

[@rustkitty]

@@jamesruth100 Billy is problematic for a bunch of other reasons too. Why did a slaver just hang around conveniently? How come his parents didn't find him over that time? How didn't anyone find him yet in 2 centuries when he is just by the road? etc I heard a theory that Billy isn't a pre-war ghoul, we are just lead to this impression. He is a little kid, so what he said can be taken as exaggeration based on his perspective. He and his parents lived in Quincy, and the Quincy Massacre happened just weeks before the player character woke up. Quincy was under Minuteman protection but while they were weakened after the general's death, the Gunners rolled in at night guns blazing and killed everyone they could put their hands on. Yet some escaped, including Preston's group. It's completely plausible, that other civilians ran in different directions too. Everyone thinks Billy is pre-war, just because he said "Everything's so different. It's all blown up.", but if you lived in a working settlement that was just shot up and massacred that fits too. Also he said he heard warning sires, but you can build those in any settlement. Nothing is pre-war exclusive in what he says. So Billy is just a sheltered post-war kid who had a relatively safe life in a Minuteman settlement. He tried to hide in a fridge from the Gunners, which ended up irradiated by car explosions or radioactive weapons used in the takeover. Since then it's common knowledge that Quincy is gunner territory, that explains why nobody has looted the fridge in the preceding weeks. Also his parents were too busy turning into ghouls themselves, but they likely would've found the kid in a few more weeks on their own. Bullet the slaver was there because he is looking for Quincy Massacre survivors. Everything makes sense if Billy was born around 2275 instead of 2065. Failing that we have to assume that Billy was eating his own output inside his icebox prison, and I just don't want to go there!!

[@SheppardOfNumenor]

Another well-crafted video fleshed out of observance. Great video!

[@yaboiii6562]

Thank you very much!

[@colbyschweikert9932]

Hear me out Bethesda let us play as ghouls and super mutants

[@RAAAH96]

Skyrim fallout

[@colbyschweikert9932]

@@RAAAH96 would give the franchise more replayability

[@nunyanunya4147]

long enough timeline everyone's survivability reaches 0

[@atlanticsquib7232]

I often wonder how ghouls don’t rule over the wasteland. If you were a fallout 4 ghoul who existed pre war and then lived for 200 years, you’d have developed survival skills, both close quarters and gunfighting, a lot of wisdom too. You’d think ghouls would be amongst the most intelligent people and the best to work with. And the worst to work against

[@popdogfool]

Yeah. It seems Bethesda always tried to ignore how much can happen in 200 years. Like how the pre war vault sales man for some reason still wears the same clothes.

[@insertname7325]

Don't overestimate the capabilities of people who are trying to survive. If anything most people regardless of how long they live are going to try and never fight in their life, and prefer to hide and/or run than getting in a shootout with some drugged up raider. If the average person doesn't become a rocket scientist even though they have the opportunities to do so and it doesn't take centuries to achieve, the average ghoul isn't going to become some badass just because they potentially can do so.

[@atlanticsquib7232]

@@insertname7325 that’s another great take on it. I guess the ghouls who took up the life of fighting, raiding and protecting died within the 200 years you were unconscious. Those kinds of professions do tend to have shorter life expectancies I guess. Now those still alive are probably the ones who just hide and stay alive through being as invisible as possible. Besides a few exceptions of course

[@startingbark0356]

@@popdogfool maybe he just likes those clothes or atleast clothes like that, it doesnt have to be the exact same clothes tho, just the same type could be aswell

[@theseukonnen1200]

Bigotry's part of it. Ghouls look monstrous, a lot of surface dwellers are uneasy or superstitious of them at best to murderously prejudiced against them at worst, and there are more humans than ghouls. Being a 200 year old badass might keep you alive but it doesn't mean people won't try and run you out of 90% of the towns you pass.

[@drinkinbuddy8264]

Seeing this in my sub box made my day, your vids are always quality 👌

[@ItsMeLuke69]

Anyone else thinks it's weird that we often enjoy learning about fictional roads rather than our own?

[@symbiotesoda1148]

I like how we all love ghouls but can agree that we would NEVER want to be one.

[@InquisitorXarius]

There some issues with this as you mentioned as even within circumstances of the most extreme and sudden exposure to ionizing radiation there have actually been some ghouls who have kept their mental faculties. To use a example you had in this video there is Pvt. Edwards in Camp Searchlight who despite being in a house that is quite close to the source of the radiation has kept his sanity. This in itself is probably due to genetics. However if we are going to whether all ghouls will go feral there is another element to the Fallout Universe I am surprised you didn’t mention here despite the fact it had demonstrated on many a occasion a link to Ghouls. What I speak of is the lovecraftian esque entities and deities that were for most of the game series the only Non-Terran Beings besides the Zetans to have made significant appearances in the Fallout Universe. Whether it be the Krevbeknih or the various Dunwich shrines you will find ghouls never sane only feral around them. It’s also been hinted that even people who may not have the X factor that’s causes ghoulification under Radiation are transformed into and often become feral around these Lovecraftian shrines. This to me in itself may suggest that the X factor that’s causes Ghoulification may be not be as unknowable as once thought but could’ve been a dormant genetic condition implanted by Lovecraftian entities shortly before the Great War that would only begin its manifestation when they saw it most enjoyable to do so at Humanities expense. This would explain why Ghouls never appeared for all Human History before right before, during, and after the Great War as Humanity was never in such dire straits thus the Malice of these Dark Gods chose in their Malice and Sadistic pleasure to activate their gene to rob those of their ability to die in dignity but were instead forced to deal with a process that was in sanity or madness a unpleasant one to experience.

[@empyrean5183]

This is way more entertaining than scientific reasoning

[@The_Stumbler]

The only issue would be Eddie, and the experiments that led him to wanting to become a ghoul. The only aspect around that is the idea that the said experiment got close, but not there. Problem is we don't know to much about general science outside of the items that have left a record.

[@brendandonohue2398]

Hancock and Eddie just existing kinda disprove this? Still cool tho :D

[@InquisitorXarius]

@@The_Stumbler Well I may have wrote a typo but I did take both Eddie and Hancock into account as I did day right before the Great War. I probably should have specified that I meant events that were shortly before, during, and after the Great War. As both Eddie and Hancock did the drugs and experiments shortly before the Great War thus suggesting that the activation of ghoul gene had occurred right before the war as we know not of any ghouls of other nuclear events before the 2060s

[@The_Stumbler]

@@InquisitorXarius no but Eddie was aware of ghoulification, it's why he spent tons of his money on the experiment to begin with. It was vaguely known prior to the bombs dropping. Hancock doesn't matter though, since his brother is the mayor of diamond city, even with the replacement, the mayor was only around say 40 years. Gen 3 haven't been around until after Shaun was kidnapped, and all of the institute stuff is close to a 100 years prior to fallout 4's time. The only real difference would be maybe a total of like 30 to 40 years for Hancock, which is way short of 210.

[@thattubechannel]

Hot take: It simply cannot be bigoted for a wastelander to dislike, fear, and shun ghouls. Most wastelanders will have experienced feral ghouls at some point, and if it is known that some non feral ghouls become feral then it is only rational to not open yourself up to the risk. It is the same logic behind not letting someone with a zombie bite stay in your camp even if they claim they are immune. Even if it was the case that some ghouls will never turn, it is impossible for wastelanders to know that. There is also the societal issues that integrating ghouls would bring. Having an immortal person brings with it the issue of that person accruing wealth and power over time, and never dying to redistribute it. In a society that has ghouls, they will inevitably be the ones with all the power and resources unless they are forced (it's human nature to not give it willingly) to have their possessions periodically redistributed and have other restrictions in serving positions of power. This unavoidable socio-political tension ghouls bring would inevitably bring the end of any society. If ghouls are also able to reproduce, that drastically accelerates all issues.

[@sovietshoes952]

You predicted it I guess, the show confirmed they will.

[@MrKezzerdrix]

I've always had the theory that ghouls that maintained their mental abilities where people that experienced high exposure to lead. More than likely in paint and water.

[@SteveAdmienn]

Tl;DR: If you become a ghoul but isolated in a single space, you get to keep your nomal eyes like Billy, and/or even your hair like Eddie Winter.

[@korncron1592]

The show threw a wrench at this

[@Haru-spicy]

i have a suspicion that when trapped in isolation, ghouls can actually enter a state of hibernation for years or decades that preserves their mental state, explaining how Eddie Winter avoided feralization, and while i don't consider the Kid in a Fridge quest canon, it would explain why Billy isn't feral. We see some ferals doing this too, basically 'sleeping' until you come near them, perhaps to conserve energy when they go long periods without food.

[@poorlydrawnwizard]

I like how they showed deterioration in the show. Although the asthma inhaler thing was a bit dumb, I liked how you can see Martha snap and just flip the switch from normal to feral.

[@dominicesquivel3901]

Something Iv always thought about is perhaps being a ghoul in it of it’s self is a natural human ability that has lied dormant for years due to there never being enough radiation to trigger it

[@sasaki999pro]

If this theory is true then Ghouls are more identical to the Hollows of Dark Souls than originally given credit

[@levihommelhoff4787]

I wonder if, because of the use of nuclear energy for so long in the verse before the war, humans in that world had biological adaptations in order to withstand radiation (ghoulification) due to how much radiation they were exposed to in daily life, compared to our own world, where nuclear energy is sparse, if that makes sense?

[@dominicesquivel3901]

@@levihommelhoff4787 like an evolutionary trait? Probably a gene selected for in the population since so much of there Shit is atom powdered.

[@besewaxe4985]

need a part 2 of this now that the fallout series has come out

[@starchking765]

And then the show comes out and retcons everything…

[@royrus7711]

The quality of you're videos surpass that of many larger channels; you deserve way more subs and views!

[@zoriononline]

I'm thinking that the ghouls will die of when all the background radiation from the unfortunate 2077 event is totally gone. Since the nukes in Fo operate different than what our reallife counterparts, the halflife of the Fo-nukes is way longer. Most nukes we use in rl, is or was detonated above ground, for "maximum spread" etc - this however means that the radiation is soaked up fast by the atmosphere etc, and the area below isnt irradiated for that long. Vs in Fo-nukes they mostly are impact detonated, so they hit the ground and irradiate it for a very very long time. Naturally our nukes have only been used 2 times in rapid sucession over Japan in 1945, which is a scale you cant compare to the nuclear holocaust of Fo's 2077 event where there was alot going of. This would also impact things like the ozone layer, so the sunsrays would also irradiate on top of the nukes so it would take longer + the whole atmosphere is irradiated and not just a small localized area etc. I still think that in the Fo lore that it will take several more hundreds of years(unless someone invents a new tech to clean the atmosphere, or they recreate the GECK-technology and massproduce/distribute it). As for who turned into ghouls during the 2077 event vs most other humans who just died. I'm thinking that was more due to FEV-strains in the shot they got against that virus going on back then, so the experimetn they put it in some of the shots, and others not, thus some flipped ghouls and others not.

[@modelnanpresident]

Great video as always.

[@thebiss1846]

Funny how this video popped up after I've seen people complaining how the show is "breaking lore" by having ghouls becoming feral & trying to prevent that.

[@Arson_Oakwood]

They complain on behalf of newly introduced necessity of Rad-Away application as prevention method. In show it is a common knowledge, but ther is no single games mention of such thing, that's what they are pissed about. It is not even like misinterpretation of 2277 shady sands incident, which obsidian fans thought of nuclear bombing. Rad-Away method is simply never mentioned once before, and contradiction is of having common knowledge in movie and non common (totally absent) knowledge in games. That's what they are pissed about, and you can tell that most of them also are Obsidian fans.

[@Romanticoutlaw]

it would be cool if someday we get partial ghouls who are still going through the ghoulification process

[@Zerum69]

Ghouls sounds very similar to the concept of Hollowing in the Dark Souls franchise it would seem that as long as the ghoul keeps something to drive them forward, an idea or some goal, they will never turn feral because their brain stays active and focused As soon they fulfill/fail said goal, the ghoul will feel empty and their brain will cease to function properly, being feral would be something akin to chronic depression mixed with alzheimer's disease

[@jartotornroos4897]

Thanks, to you yaboiii👍 Once again, entertaining and interesting...

[@MR.LMR1996]

After seeing the Fallout Show, and how it potrays the way a Ghoul can turn Feral, and how some Ghouls have the means to stave off the symptoms, I suspect that Ghoulification operates on a spectrum. A spectrum divided into 3 different stages one can find in Ghouls. Like all mutations in the Wasteland of Fallout, Ghoulification operates on a spectrum with its symptoms. This spectrum being divided between High-Functioning Ghouls, Mid-Functioning Ghouls and Low-Functioning Ghouls. Low Functioning Ghouls are those who are doomed to turn Feral in mere hours or days after mutating into a Ghoul. They're literal timebombs. Ghouls who have full-blown lost their minds and/or will to live, or lost the genetic dice roll in their mutation into a Ghoul are most likely in this spectrum. Mid Functioning Ghouls are on the clock like Low Functioning Ghouls. However with proper treatment they can stave off and reduce the risk of going Feral. Ghouls who live chaotic and isolated lifestyles where they're in constant danger tend to fall in this category. Much like 'The Ghoul' is in the show. High Functioning Ghouls are those lucky few who won the genetic mutation lottery just enough where their chances of turning Feral are next to none. Ghouls that also have very stable lifestyles, such as those living in safe communities that don't antagonize them for their mutated state - such as Ghouls that live in Goodneighbour in Fallout 4 - fall in this side of the Ghoulification spectrum.

[@marxiststoner__]

I love the subtle attention to detail by adding film grain whilst showing the barrels with radioactive goo

[@theolastnameagain8697]

Thank goodness the tv show cleared this up.

[@ileiad]

I appreciate the fact that this is an actual video essay.

[@TheMetalAllfather]

Short Answer: Yes. Kill them all. (Except Raul and Hadrian) Long answer: Yes, eventually, but it will take so long that it eventually won't matter. Kill them all. (Except Raul, and Hadrian.)

[@warlordofbritannia]

Raul and Hadrian are “the good ones”

[@ratmondshaw3921]

Hancock you monster

[@bigboss4178]

based and God Bless the Enclave

[@Lalle524]

@@bigboss4178 God Bless America!

[@CountingStars333]

no. They won't.

[@Son-of-the-Mother-Aya]

Completing the First Chapter of the Wasteland Survival guide in fallout 3will turn you into a ghoul. You'll gain a perk that heals broken limbs when exposed to radiation, and Moira will remark that you've began to mutate, but only a little.

[@DLibera]

With all I've seen in fallout games, I've always thought feralization is a mental illness. Although it makes perfect sense that genetics and radiation levels play a part. However, we will never know (without someone doing a proper study of the process) if it is inevitable or not. The ghouls who could potentially not turn feral at all will never see the end of forever, or will die of unnatural causes eventually so, there's no way to get empirical proof. Aside from this, I wanna say ... Why are Fallout 4 ghouls so pretty? (Compared to fallout 3 for example)... Also, Dr. McDermot said his skin got thicker and leathery to fight the radiation, not that it fell off. What's up with that?

[@DLibera]

@Insomnia_Gaming They are... Indeed they are

[@BambisBoneyard]

a few theories suggest not only is ionizing radiation exposure crucial to be ghoulified, it also takes a certain exposure somehow to the FEV virus to keep the host from turning feral for quite some time.

[@wilderking8476]

I think it's extremely likely that it is completely genetic-based, with the other effects having little to no influence on the actual mechanism of ghoulification. While I know it's not literally possible for a condition like this to exist in mammals (it's a fantasy game after all), genetics is by far the most likened mechanism to the explanation of why feralization is so random. It could be related to gene expression during splicing, in which some exons that code for the "ghoul gene" that produces the rejuvenating proteins used to sustain themselves may be spliced as introns for alternative forms of the same gene (I.e: The proteins encoded are different strengths that have different effects, with one tautomeric nucleic acid causing feralization and the others being a null version that does not activate and one being a form that causes a "lucid ghoul state." Alternatively, the loci that codes for the phenotypic expression could just be an incompletely dominant gene (although I doubt it because there are more feral ghouls than there are lucid ghouls). Instead, it would make more sense for the gene to be a dihybrid series where both genes are either codominant for feralization or recessive epistasis is occurring with the gene that encodes the distribution of the nucleic acids formed by the loci. Either explanation could work (I'm not a master geneticist though so I could be wrong idk).

[@natedrake7163]

Looks like I'm going feral

[@freeguy3894]

Well, the show has an answer to this question and it is a resounding yes.

[@CursedMohawk]

I’ve always seen it as like Alzheimer’s like they just got to old and their mind was lost

[@lofkii]

that's honestly such a great way of thinking about it

[@CursedMohawk]

@@lofkiiI mean it kinda make sense how we find them in places normal humans would be like the stores and stuff just don’t know why they are there

[@retconned4092]

4:23 fun fact Billy was not in the fridge for 200 years, the games sets it up for you to believe that from his mention of hiding in it from the bombs (every other ghoul in the series up to this point mentioning "the bombs" is talking about the nukes) however if you take him to his families home...*Spoiler alert* His mother and father are there and also ghouls and the bombs he was hiding from were explosions from some raiders fighting near his home just shortly prior but the devs certainly intended for players to assume otherwise, not an important quest but a funny moment when you go from 100% certain this kids family has been dead for hundreds of years to his family yelling at you for telling their kid they were dead

[@dutchpatriot17]

Billy hid in the fridge ''before everything got wrecked'' and he hid due to the nuke sirens. Just because his parents also turned into ghouls due to the nukes being dropped does not mean this was a recent event.

[@AzegZterb-ii2ed]

I think, introduced by the Amazon series, it will be able to play a ghoul-lifepath or something (like in starfield) and you’ll have unique dialogue options, RAD bonuses but also the possibility to „die“ by turning feral. So you have to look out for yellow-inhaler-fluid merchants everywhere who in general have very limited supplies. At least I think that would be really great and actually not hard to make possible.

[@ItsCoderDan]

the fallout show seems to show that with enough radiation they start to become feral, although it’s treatable. although just because you are a ghoul that doesn’t mean you suffered through enough radiation to become feral The difference between Cooper and the kid in the fridge is that cooper was directly exposed to serval bombings and has been kicking around in incredibly radioactive LA for 200 years when the kid only got an initial blast and was protected in the fridge this whole time a scene in the show backs this up. Cooper kills a fellow ghoul who is about to go feral, before dying he says he’s only been a ghoul for a couple years meaning it can happen faster then others the treatment being available explains how gouls that are literally glowing are still mentally stable, even if they say there is no cure. they are technically right, it’s just a drug that treats it for a little bit and like any drug you can become resistant to it over time

[@mysampleid]

And now it's because of not drinking some magic juice

[@pablo_giustiniani]

Nice way to call "drugs"

[@EnclaveSOC-102]

You and WiseFish are two of my favorite Fallout Lore content creators.

[@simonholmes6473]

That was remarkably well put together, I kept forgetting I wasn't listening to a real biology lecture.

[@ThatOneGuy-iv9sn]

Imagine the knowledge they could pass on having lived so long is so useful especially to the bos that is all about technology and who would know how to use it better than a ghoul who used in to fight commies or a scientist who actually has a decent education and the potential to pass on useful survival knowledge or better to anyone they work with

[@ThatOneGuy-iv9sn]

I think a good example is Desmond for f3 point lookout who teaches you one of the best perks in the game superior defender and he is a man of science the only reason he isn’t really helping anyone is because he has his own rivalry’s and well he has the old world blues that so many of the people with great potential have in fallout

[@mappingshaman5280]

maybe its like dying light where if you're exposed to light you won't turn but if you're in complete darkness you turn. I mean look at where we seee ghouls. Vault 34, dark buildings like the dunwich building, metro tunnels, sewers etc

[@burntgrahamcracker2866]

That’s more a matter of circumstance as radiation doesn’t have any negative correlation to light exposure. It’s likely they gather in tunnels for shelter and is dependent on location as ferals in Vegas aren’t found in any buildings

[@AndyJP]

nah... kid trapped in a fridge for 200 years, remember? Eddie Winters and Valerie Barstow, too. 😋

[@Soler4485]

This hits different in 2024

[@amethystrose2671]

Due to the randomness of being feral; maybe becoming feral can be done through a folded prion; similar to wasting disease in reindeer

[@redrave404]

The human brain is finite. It's theorized that if you could live forever you'd eventually be incapable of forming new memories, forgetting the previous day everytime you go to sleep. So even if not all Ghouls go feral, the sane ones are doomed to be trapped in the past of their own minds.

[@brettalexander220]

DIMA has to keep upgrading his drives just to function

[@brettalexander220]

thats also similar to late stage alzheimers, you eventually forget you forgot and just look at the wall all day

[@ashmoleproductions5407]

This is false

[@livesinsewersirl]

@@ashmoleproductions5407do you know an immortal person to prove that this is false?

[@lofkii]

​@@ashmoleproductions5407how so?

[@rolandorodriguez9625]

I always wondered why ferals don't kill each other. Then I realized that what keep them together as a pack is the radiation of each. So the became a new species and not just a brain deteriorated human.

[@Grimpy970]

There's actually some real-world info that might support your idea of ghouls brains only being effected by rapid, high doses of rads! During criticality accidents in the refining of nuclear fuel, those dosed the heaviest have reported confusion, dizziness, and sometimes just pass out or faint immediately. It's clear that high doses of gamma or neutron radiation does have an effect on the human brain, and even psyche. The full extent of these effects however, is unknown. There's only been a handful of reported cases over the decades

[@nywolf9798]

Your videos are topnotch.

[@kimberlyjames556]

Isolation only depends how long they just stay in contact with other ghouls or people that are like during trade just talking without contact isolation they slowly start to lose their insanity and start to turn feral that's what I believe

[@vinegar3617]

I always saw whether or not a ghoul would go feral a bit like hollowing in Dark Souls: when a ghoul doesn't have any goals or a purpose to follow their mind is more susceptible to degeneration. Dean Domino stayed focused for the entire 200 years of his existence on spiting his old enemy Sinclair, who had been dead long since then, and he never went feral.

[@PsychoTy1998]

Now that the show has given us another means of Feral ghouls and their "illness" we know that eventually Yes, all Ghouls will turn feral, if they do not maintain some quid pro quo. In the show, The Ghoul has to consume this liquid in rare vials which might be a form of Rad-X or Radaway combination. We don't really know what's in the vials. It could be some form of Ultra Jet. However this can prevent Ghoulification. Ghouls ofc need to eat, sleep and drink, like normal humans despite having to do it far less. They also need to be around people and memories of their past to prevent Feralization. So its fair to say that with all my examples. All Ghouls will inevitability turn feral. But Stress and further radiation in large doses can speed up the process. Hence why see glowing ones. Their mutation is different but I imagine their bodies soaked up more than normal rad exposure.

[@GuerrillaPM]

Since they don't attack you in fallout 3 if you wear the Ghoul mask, I think they just see you as the monster.