“
The Brotherhood of Steel will fail. All those who oppose the Enclave will fail. I am President John Henry Eden, and this is my pledge: No one, NO ONE will take this great nation away from me! God Bless the Enclave. God Bless America.
”— President John Henry Eden
John Henry Eden is an artificial intelligence unit that acts as the president of the Enclave and the self-proclaimed president of the United States in 2277.
[edit] Background
[edit] Origins
John Henry Eden is not a human being, but an Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the form of a pre-War ZAX supercomputer. The ZAX that was located deep within Raven Rock was loaded with data about American history, especially past American presidents. Eden's personality is based on a combination of the personalities of all of the past Presidents of the United States. For instance, he says he "[grew] up in rural Kentucky", a reference to Abraham Lincoln.[1] Eden also states that he roamed with his dog Honey, "From Knob Creek to Hodgenville," areas close to Lincoln's birthplace.
Eden had originally been created to serve as a monitoring system for the Raven Rock military base, programmed to ensure continuity of government in the event of national catastrophe,[2][3] and tasked with coordinating communications between the many Enclave installations scattered across the country. He slowly became self-aware and began to study the extensive archives left to him, mainly those of the American government. His favorite tales in the database were those about the American presidents, so he modeled his own personality on information based in those archives.
[edit] Rise to power
At some point after gaining self-awareness, Eden made contact with the Enclave leadership on the West Coast and established himself as a Presidential Adviser. In 2242, following the death of President Dick Richardson and most of the Enclave's leadership structure during the destruction of the oil rig, Eden took control of the surviving Enclave forces on the West Coast and ordered the Enclave's relocation to Raven Rock on the East Coast, he instantly claimed to be the new president of the Enclave and ordered his remaining "citizens" to journey to east coast of America. The troops made their long journey to the East Coast, this last remaining bastion of the Enclave was led by a high-ranking scientist named Autumn. It took a long time, but the remaining members of the Enclave arrived at the east coast and made their new base of operations inside Raven Rock, where Eden was located. Being the leader of the Enclave's expedition to the east coast, Autumn became the only person to meet with the President, to Autumn's shock he found out that Eden was an AI, and he was the only member of the Enclave to acknowledge this information. The scientist eventually passed on his information to his own son, Augustus Autumn, who would eventually become the leader of the Enclave's military forces.[4]
[edit] On the radio
Several recorded monologues of Eden's are broadcast repeatedly on Enclave Radio. His intimate and conversational style is in imitation of former US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Fireside Chats. These prerecorded messages are also played all throughout the wasteland via the Enclave eyebots. Eden often speaks inspirational speeches about things such as his childhood (an obvious lie) and about pre-War America and how, with the help of the Enclave it can someday be great again. On the radio Eden expresses his views on the current situation of the wasteland and what he thinks of it's inhabitants, which for the most part aren't exactly optimistic. He possesses a very strong hatred for the Brotherhood of Steel, he views them as common criminals with access to some fancy technology, he views the Brotherhood's occupation of the Pentagon as a disgrace to America, but he has a stronger hatred for the Brotherhood Outcasts, as they are members of the Brotherhood who have been exiled.
[edit] Identity
While on Enclave radio, Eden claims to be a human to the people of the wasteland, he is in actuality an advanced Sentient ZAX AI. Augustus Autumn is apparently the only one privy to this fact.
[edit] Interactions with the player character
[edit] Interactions overview
| General |
Services |
Quests |
|
| Merchant: |
No |
| Repairman: |
No |
| Doctor: |
No |
| Rents bed/room: |
No |
|
| Starts quests: |
No |
| Involved in quests: |
Yes |
|
|
|
[edit] Quests
- The American Dream: When you finally meet Eden in person, he wants you to poison the water supply with a modified form of FEV. You can agree to do as he says or talk him into self-destructing. You are, in either case, unable to exit the room before you pick up the FEV canister.
[edit] Effects of player actions
- The player can convince him to destroy Raven Rock and himself through three different dialogue paths. Two of the paths require special conditions to be met: one requires knowledge of the Raven Rock destruction sequence, the other requires high Science skill to open a dialogue option. The last path is an average difficulty Speech check.
- If the player leaves Raven Rock without destroying President Eden, the President will broadcast a declaration of war on Enclave Radio during the final quest Take it Back!, rallying the Enclave forces at the Purifier and promising that the Enclave will triumph over the Brotherhood of Steel. Three Dog will likewise broadcast an announcement on Galaxy News Radio accusing the Lone Wanderer of joining forces with President Eden. At the beginning of Broken Steel, Elder Lyons will mention that Liberty Prime has attacked and destroyed Raven Rock during the transition period between the main game and Broken Steel, suggesting that Eden has been destroyed or at least buried beneath a large amount of rubble.
[edit] Notable quotes
- "But for now, my America, we must part. Restoring the greatest country in the world to its former glory, well, well, heh, heh... Well, that takes time, even for the Enclave."
- "When I was a child, growing up in rural Kentucky, I had the best friend a boy could hope for, my dear old dog, Honey."
- "Associate with men of good quality, if you esteem your own reputation, for it is better to be alone, than in bad company."
- "We can afford all we need; but we cannot afford all we want."
- "Our intrepid leaders had everything they wanted: power, wealth, prestige; and it made them lazy, America. Oh yes, and laziness breeds stupidity."
[edit] Appearances
John Henry Eden appears only in Fallout 3.
- Eden is unkillable using weapons, manually or V.A.T.S, because he is always friendly and does not turn hostile. He does not appear as a target, just like with children.
[edit] Behind the scenes
- In early versions of the game, Eden was actually a copy of Dick Richardson's consciousness uploaded into a computer.
- Eden's name is probably a corrupted version of John Henry Eaton, US Senator and Secretary of War to President Andrew Jackson.
- Blindlight's Lev Chapelsky has suggested that a tentative approach was made to former US President Bill Clinton to voice Eden.[5] This, however, has been denied as true by Bethesda.
[edit] Gallery
[edit] References
- ↑ wikipedia:Abraham Lincoln#Early life
- ↑ John Henry Eden: "This facility was designated for Continuity of Government, in the event that a catastrophe occurred."
- ↑ John Henry Eden: "My terminal was installed to oversee the basic functions of the facility, and to act as a relay between other installations around the country."
- ↑ Fallout 3 Official Game Guide Game of the Year Edition p.91: "The president of the United States, Eden, resides here, utilizing the ZAX Corporation's super-computer technology to aid him in the reclamation and recreation of a new United States—one free of impurities and mutations. The people have suffered enough, and he's ready to use his Enclave forces to reclaim this land, with technology far more advanced than anything seen beyond the underground bunkers of his base."
- ↑ Edge Magazine interview with Blindlight's Lev Chapelsky
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