*SPOILER* Should I kill Paladin Danse?

[gamer posture]

I killed him when I was confronted by Elder Maxson and he made some pretty valid points about synths.... so i killed him with my ray gun. But.... the way he said Ad Victorium as he died... it made me kind of upset. So I restarted on my last save and got Maxson to spare his life. I'm pretty sure im overthinking this I've been trying to decide all day if i should kill him or not, please help!

[SpeedFreak1972]

depends indeed on your stance on synths however it is not possible to get his perk if you let him die. Also be prepared to have a high charisma to spare him first persuade Danse then Maxson.

[kholtby]

Originally posted by Sergeant "STEINZAHN" Harker:

He's a synth and was very likely unknowingly spying for the Institute. At the very least he should have no more contact to the BoS, i.e. to you, from a roleplay perspective.

Being a synth does not equate to being controlled by the institute. If it did, then there would be no runaway synths at all. In fact it isn't clear at all whether the synths replacing people really is the work of the institute (who at least officially seem to want to stay underground and mostly avoid the surface) or whether the railroad or someone else is doing something sleezy, or perhaps the memory den is being less than completely cautious about whose memories they are implanting for the railroad.

[Panda-Bishop]

Originally posted by Sergeant "STEINZAHN" Harker:

He's a synth and was very likely unknowingly spying for the Institute. At the very least he should have no more contact to the BoS, i.e. to you, from a roleplay perspective.

No, he's not an Institute spy. The whole reason the BoS discover he's a synth is because his photo and genetic records show up on a list of escaped synths that was extracted from the holotape you gave them.

He's a synth that escaped, had his memory wiped by the Railroad, and sent off to the Capital Wastelands to live out the rest of his life; his joining the BoS was largely coincidental, but it could hint at an subconscious desire to be in a highly structured organization with little free will and lots of orders.

[Archmage MC]

To be honest, the BoS are racist biggots and the only reasons to keep them around is...

1. Danse
2. Vertibirds in Survival
3. Their lower humanitarian soldiers
4. Liberty Prime

I expect them to be the big bad of Fallout 5 tbh.

[D'Ther]

Kill them all, i'm siding with the raiders. In fact, we are all raiders even if you side with a faction.....

[Evolutionsgemüse]

Originally posted by Bishop:

Originally posted by Sergeant "STEINZAHN" Harker:

He's a synth and was very likely unknowingly spying for the Institute. At the very least he should have no more contact to the BoS, i.e. to you, from a roleplay perspective.

No, he's not an Institute spy. The whole reason the BoS discover he's a synth is because his photo and genetic records show up on a list of escaped synths that was extracted from the holotape you gave them.

He's a synth that escaped, had his memory wiped by the Railroad, and sent off to the Capital Wastelands to live out the rest of his life; his joining the BoS was largely coincidental, but it could hint at an subconscious desire to be in a highly structured organization with little free will and lots of orders.

I always assumed he was replaced during his time in the Commonwealth, not before joining the Brotherhood.

[Undying Zombie]

Originally posted by Archmage MC:

To be honest, the BoS are racist biggots and the only reasons to keep them around is...

1. Danse
2. Vertibirds in Survival
3. Their lower humanitarian soldiers
4. Liberty Prime

I expect them to be the big bad of Fallout 5 tbh.

Maxon's chapter of them are at least. Funny thing is a lot of people overlook the fact that They where all exiled. Its the big reason why this part of Brotherhood of Steel left the captial wasteland.

Originally posted by D'Ther:

Kill them all, i'm siding with the raiders. In fact, we are all raiders even if you side with a faction.....

For all we know the main character could be a synth. Think about that for a while.

[Liberty Prime]

Nope. Danse is the most badass companion in the game. Plus after the mission if you let him live he gets even better power armor and his companion perk is pretty nice. If you just really hate synths then let him live and force him to do something menial in a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ settlement all by himself. That's a fate worse than death plus you still get the perk and can always use him when needed. If any companion should be killable I think it should be Preston Garvey, Strong, or Dogmeat because they are pretty horrible companions and get on my nerves 10x worse than Danse.

[WarMachine]

Originally posted by kholtby:

Being a synth does not equate to being controlled by the institute. If it did, then there would be no runaway synths at all. In fact it isn't clear at all whether the synths replacing people really is the work of the institute (who at least officially seem to want to stay underground and mostly avoid the surface) or whether the railroad or someone else is doing something sleezy, or perhaps the memory den is being less than completely cautious about whose memories they are implanting for the railroad.

How do you know the urge to escape the Institute isn't just some simulated feelings by the programing to match the reaction of the person they are impersonating. Their free will could be nothing more then a simulation of the person they replaced, even in the end they would be a slave to institute programming.

[Liberty Prime]

Originally posted by Archmage MC:

To be honest, the BoS are racist biggots and the only reasons to keep them around is...

1. Danse
2. Vertibirds in Survival
3. Their lower humanitarian soldiers
4. Liberty Prime

I expect them to be the big bad of Fallout 5 tbh.

I didn't know synths were a race lol. If by bigoted you mean they hate super mutants, feral ghouls, and the other many abominations in the wasteland then you're right. However, those "bigots" are the best hope for the wasteland if they can manage to purify the land.

[Undying Zombie]

Originally posted by butters:

Originally posted by Archmage MC:

To be honest, the BoS are racist biggots and the only reasons to keep them around is...

1. Danse
2. Vertibirds in Survival
3. Their lower humanitarian soldiers
4. Liberty Prime

I expect them to be the big bad of Fallout 5 tbh.

I didn't know synths were a race lol. If by bigoted you mean they hate super mutants, feral ghouls, and the other many abominations in the wasteland then you're right. However, those "bigots" are the best hope for the wasteland if they can manage to purify the land.

Maxon's chapter are against any ghoul. Not just ferals. Synths are sentient, therefore they would be considered another type of race/species. So yes, they are bigoted.

[Archmage MC]

Originally posted by Undying Zombie:

Originally posted by Archmage MC:

To be honest, the BoS are racist biggots and the only reasons to keep them around is...

1. Danse
2. Vertibirds in Survival
3. Their lower humanitarian soldiers
4. Liberty Prime

I expect them to be the big bad of Fallout 5 tbh.

Maxon's chapter of them are at least. Funny thing is a lot of people overlook the fact that They where all exiled. Its the big reason why this part of Brotherhood of Steel left the captial wasteland.

Ah, didn't know that. Guess I didn't do the quest where they mention that. Makes sense, Maxon is basically far more evil than the institute or maybe even the Enclave.

Originally posted by Undying Zombie:

Originally posted by butters:

I didn't know synths were a race lol. If by bigoted you mean they hate super mutants, feral ghouls, and the other many abominations in the wasteland then you're right. However, those "bigots" are the best hope for the wasteland if they can manage to purify the land.

Maxon's chapter are against any ghoul. Not just ferals. Synths are sentient, therefore they would be considered another type of race/species. So yes, they are bigoted.

Yep, point in case. There are a lot of fine ghouls out there and Maxon just wants to wipe them all out. A real army would offer conscription and even if they're racist, just segregate their squads. Lots of real world armies do that, or used to do that. Same for synths, Super Mutants, ext... I'm fine with him wanting to wipe out super aggro Super Mutants and Ferals, but not the peaceful types.

I mean, Hancock is probably one of the most benevolent of your companions due to the fact he made goodneighbor to welcome everyone who no one else would accept and his settlement seems to be the most 'happy', if a bit murder happy sometimes. I mean, they even have an Assaultron as a store cleric. Can't think of any other city that would be that open minded.

[Liberty Prime]

Originally posted by Archmage MC:

Originally posted by Undying Zombie:

Maxon's chapter of them are at least. Funny thing is a lot of people overlook the fact that They where all exiled. Its the big reason why this part of Brotherhood of Steel left the captial wasteland.

Ah, didn't know that. Guess I didn't do the quest where they mention that. Makes sense, Maxon is basically far more evil than the institute or maybe even the Enclave.

Originally posted by Undying Zombie:

Maxon's chapter are against any ghoul. Not just ferals. Synths are sentient, therefore they would be considered another type of race/species. So yes, they are bigoted.

Yep, point in case. There are a lot of fine ghouls out there and Maxon just wants to wipe them all out. A real army would offer conscription and even if they're racist, just segregate their squads. Lots of real world armies do that, or used to do that. Same for synths, Super Mutants, ext... I'm fine with him wanting to wipe out super aggro Super Mutants and Ferals, but not the peaceful types.

I mean, Hancock is probably one of the most benevolent of your companions due to the fact he made goodneighbor to welcome everyone who no one else would accept and his settlement seems to be the most 'happy', if a bit murder happy sometimes. I mean, they even have an Assaultron as a store cleric. Can't think of any other city that would be that open minded.

I disagree with you. The entire purpose of the BoS is to eliminate anything that is not an normal human. I wouldn't call it "racist" still because it's not like they're only killing the black ghouls lol. Many find this goal sort of ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up but honestly I don't know how anybody could deny that restoring the land to a homogeneous group of normal humans rather than a hodgepodge of abominations could be bad. If our modern world has taught us anything it's that too much diversity causes poverty, conflict, and stunts any sort of unification.

[⛥ Binli die Schreckliche ⛥]

Originally posted by Undying Zombie:

Maxon's chapter are against any ghoul. Not just ferals. Synths are sentient, therefore they would be considered another type of race/species. So yes, they are bigoted.

Yeah, they dislike ghouls, but that seems to be very common in the Commonwealth. Ghouls are also banned from/not allowed to live in Diamond City.

[Bored Peon]

Originally posted by Sergeant "STEINZAHN" Harker:

He's a synth and was very likely unknowingly spying for the Institute. At the very least he should have no more contact to the BoS, i.e. to you, from a roleplay perspective.

Honestly there is no evidence of which side he is on as a synth. He could be working for the institute but he also could be a synth the Railroad did more of a selective memory wipe due to the relationship with the BOS. Dr. Amari says they do a total wipe for safety and security precautions, that does not mean a selective wipe is not possible. Remember Magnolia and Sturges are synths too.

Just because his name was on a list of synths produced does not mean he worked for the Institute. Also keep in mind ther eis some escaped synths but their actual identities are not know, just their designation numbers.