Danse Danse Revolution.

[Daryl]

Okay. Title Joke aside

Im curious as to what Paladin Danse is.


I mean is he... or was he...

Was he a Brotherhood of Steel member who was kidnapped, and replaced by a Synth with his memory to keep an eye at the Brotherhood?

or

Is he just a 3rd gen Synth made out of fiction by the Institute to observe how 3rd gens be more human-like in their actions and decision making (kind of like what they did with the Prototype 2nd gen Nick Valentine)


or

Is he a 3rd gen Synth which had a dubious purpose but was captured by the Railroad and had his memory wiped after a successful Lobotomy which set him out into the wild... and somehow ended up making a name of himself with the Brotherhood of Steel?

[Shadow The Innkeep]

Originally posted by Daryl:

Okay. Title Joke aside

Im curious as to what Paladin Danse is.


I mean is he... or was he...

Was he a Brotherhood of Steel member who was kidnapped, and replaced by a Synth with his memory to keep an eye at the Brotherhood?

or

Is he just a 3rd gen Synth made out of fiction by the Institute to observe how 3rd gens be more human-like in their actions and decision making (kind of like what they did with the Prototype 2nd gen Nick Valentine)


or

Is he a 3rd gen Synth which had a dubious purpose but was captured by the Railroad and had his memory wiped after a successful Lobotomy which set him out into the wild... and somehow ended up making a name of himself with the Brotherhood of Steel?

I'm gonna repeat myself here from another thread we are on where I used him as an example.

It's really hard to say since his background is very confusing and shady.
We know definitely he is a runaway synth, BUT it's unknown whether there was a human Danse, or was he created from scratch. I prefer to think he was created from scratch, because the very thought of Institute killing human Danse makes me wanna blow them up a 100 times over.

Now, who created his memories and at which point he started forming his own mememories are also two big questions - I side with theory it was RR who had done so and had him as an agent within Brotherhood. He had to be "himself" when he became friends with Cutler and joined BoS. Doesn't make sense for Institute to list him as "runaway" if they were the ones who did it.

I am also wondering how old everyone in BoS thinks he is. He said he knew Maxson for, and I quote, "many years". But how many? Maxson is only 20 in FO4 (hard to believe, huh? Dude look like he is in his 30s or early 40s). So when did they meet and what is their age gap (if there is any)? Now, I get it, Danse is a synth and cannot grow old, but lore-wise, there has to be some age indication for him to identify himself.

Just another example of Bethesda making an epic character but throwing his backstory out of the window because they were too freaking lazy to form it :(

[Yhwach]

Bethesda never went into any further detail about his backstory, and made it up to the player to assume.

[Shadow The Innkeep]

Originally posted by Emil:

Bethesda never went into any further detail about his backstory, and made it up to the player to assume.

Probably didn't expect him to be so popular. Or were just lazy.

[Shadow The Innkeep]

Originally posted by ZM | Dr. Dro:

What makes most sense to me, given his rank of Paladin, and the way he talks about the Capital Wasteland and the campaigns that he took part of, is that he joined sometime during or after the events of Broken Steel.

A runaway synth was already present in Fallout 3 which happened by 2277, and is believed to be a courser who went rogue. You will meet the head of the SRB, who is accompanied by a courser, although none of this is told to the Lone Wanderer in Fallout 3, and he will have you deactivate the unit, alternatively, you are able to deal with the man and give the unit its freedom. Canon may indicate that he was dealt with, given his "long-time absence" from the Institute and lack of intelligence pointing out to a possible defection, although this is not yet established officially..

I would presume that Danse was another synth liberated by the Railroad, and eventually made his way to the Capital Wasteland myself.

I am not too familiar with FO3 events in BoS, but I am trying to learn and figure it out. I always sink my mind into game lore when I join a game.

It seems to me like he rose to rank of Paladin way too fast, no? Especially given that East Coast ranking is a whole lot more complicated than West Coast one. I am trying to figure out how old he is. It's hard to judge by appearance since he looks younger than Maxson, but his BoS experience begs to differ.

[Captain Australia]

He has to have been a settler/trader and joined the BoS consistent with his story, because if his story doesnt jibe with fact (ie is implanted) he would not have his present place and rank within the BoS and they'd detect irregularities in his history and their records.

[DouglasGrave]

Originally posted by Naveena Vice:

We know definitely he is a runaway synth, BUT it's unknown whether there was a human Danse, or was he created from scratch. I prefer to think he was created from scratch, because the very thought of Institute killing human Danse makes me wanna blow them up a 100 times over.

Given that he wasn't anyone particularly important in his pre-Brotherhood life, and he was far away from the Commonwealth at that time, it's very unlikely that there was an original Danse who the Institute would have been interested in replacing.

Originally posted by Naveena Vice:

Now, who created his memories and at which point he started forming his own mememories are also two big questions - I side with theory it was RR who had done so and had him as an agent within Brotherhood. He had to be "himself" when he became friends with Cutler and joined BoS. Doesn't make sense for Institute to list him as "runaway" if they were the ones who did it.

I agree. Since the Institute doesn't seem to have any clue that they already have an agent in the Brotherhood, I'd have to assume that he's not there by their will. That makes him almost certainly an escaped synth who just happened to join.

[Straybow]

Originally posted by DouglasGrave:

Originally posted by Naveena Vice:

Now, who created his memories and at which point he started forming his own mememories are also two big questions - I side with theory it was RR who had done so and had him as an agent within Brotherhood. He had to be "himself" when he became friends with Cutler and joined BoS. Doesn't make sense for Institute to list him as "runaway" if they were the ones who did it.

I agree. Since the Institute doesn't seem to have any clue that they already have an agent in the Brotherhood, I'd have to assume that he's not there by their will. That makes him almost certainly an escaped synth who just happened to join.

I only vaguely recalled Quinlan’s dialogue so I looked up the lines on the wiki.

Quinlan "While I was decrypting all of the data you acquired from within the Institute, I came across a list. It appears that the Institute keeps exemplary records where their synths are concerned, including logging those that were reported missing. As I was perusing this list, I came across an image of Danse under the heading "M7-97."

This strikes me as fairly definitive, unless the Institute were running some sort of elaborate hoax

[Shadow The Innkeep]

Originally posted by Lysimarkos of Ermor:

Originally posted by DouglasGrave:

I agree. Since the Institute doesn't seem to have any clue that they already have an agent in the Brotherhood, I'd have to assume that he's not there by their will. That makes him almost certainly an escaped synth who just happened to join.

I only vaguely recalled Quinlan’s dialogue so I looked up the lines on the wiki.

Quinlan "While I was decrypting all of the data you acquired from within the Institute, I came across a list. It appears that the Institute keeps exemplary records where their synths are concerned, including logging those that were reported missing. As I was perusing this list, I came across an image of Danse under the heading "M7-97."

This strikes me as fairly definitive, unless the Institute were running some sort of elaborate hoax

Idk it just seems like RR is the one behind his memory wipe and enforced personality with an encoded purpose to enlist into BoS to become an agent. Their cagey atpmosphere made me suspicious of them.

HOWEVER, I was reading terminal aboard Prydwen, and have read that Danse suffers from fatigue and constant headaches, trouble sleeping. Something everyone though was form of PTSD due to his heavy combat experiences. I was thinking that maybe it was some sort of outter influence? Instittute trying to locate him maybe? They have to have some system locating escaped synths otherwise how else they track them down.

Also, if Instittute can locate most of their runaway synths, why not Danse? Did I miss something when playing? I mean, dont get me wrong, him being in his underpants in Blind Betrayal was very VERY distracting sight to see

[Lord Poshname Von Plumbingparts]

He's a horse in a man costume.

[Shadow The Innkeep]

Originally posted by ZM | Dr. Dro:

Originally posted by Naveena Vice:

Idk it just seems like RR is the one behind his memory wipe and enforced personality with an encoded purpose to enlist into BoS to become an agent. Their cagey atpmosphere made me suspicious of them.

HOWEVER, I was reading terminal aboard Prydwen, and have read that Danse suffers from fatigue and constant headaches, trouble sleeping. Something everyone though was form of PTSD due to his heavy combat experiences. I was thinking that maybe it was some sort of outter influence? Instittute trying to locate him maybe? They have to have some system locating escaped synths otherwise how else they track them down.

Also, if Instittute can locate most of their runaway synths, why not Danse? Did I miss something when playing? I mean, dont get me wrong, him being in his underpants in Blind Betrayal was very VERY distracting sight to see

Nope, there's no evidence whatsoever, nor any record inside or outside the Institute that Danse was planted in the Brotherhood as an agent, it was simply known that unit M7-97 escaped and its whereabouts were unknown by SRB intelligence. Most plausible explanation is that he was set free by the Railroad, with a predetermined childhood and memories as most of Amari's reprogrammed synths do - and fate led him where he ended.

It is Maxson's extreme hostility towards synthetic life is what makes him so angry with the whole situation.

There is no evidence on many things concerning Danse reason why we are here, so one cannot completely dismiss one fact and accept the other unless stated in-game by factions terminals or Danse himself. Still there is no way to figure out his age and how long he has been with BoS, how long he has known Maxson, and what exactly has made Danse one of the most trusted officers in East Coast BoS. Let's face it, Mr. Elder is not the type who hands out everyone his trust like fresh baked cookies. I would love to know more about both of them. FO seriously needs novels to fill plot holes

Him being RR double agent would be quite a plot twist, but smth tells me we are never to meet him again in next games due to various outcomes with him unless Bethesda does same as CDPR did with Letho betweent TW2 and TW3. As I am sure we most likely will not hear from Maxson either since some people chose to destroy East Coast BoS division.

I was hoping for some hints from RR members (or in their terminals) if you bring Danse to RR HQ or "Follow the Freedom Trail" mission, but nothing happened.

[DouglasGrave]

Originally posted by Naveena Vice:

HOWEVER, I was reading terminal aboard Prydwen, and have read that Danse suffers from fatigue and constant headaches, trouble sleeping. Something everyone though was form of PTSD due to his heavy combat experiences. I was thinking that maybe it was some sort of outter influence? Instittute trying to locate him maybe? They have to have some system locating escaped synths otherwise how else they track them down.

I suspect that the headaches and sleeping trouble are side-effects from a non-Institute mindwipe.