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Hey nifty America, it's me, your President, John Hen-- Hahaa, gotcha! Three Dog here, how's everyone doin'?

Three Dog is the radio host, DJ, and news anchor of the Galaxy News Radio station in the Capital Wasteland in 2277, playing music that would have been heard on the radio in the years leading up to the Great War, as well as the immediate post-War era.

Background[]

Born to parents who made their way in the world as members of a traveling theater group, Three Dog grew up listening to rock music, resenting the government that he never knew (but surely caused the Great War) and fully believing in the rights of free speech and communal law. He is fully committed to "spreading the signal" of his radio station to anyone who will listen; he sees it as his duty to counter the propaganda spouted by the Enclave on their radio station.[Non-game 1]

At some point, before he discovered D.C.'s primary news radio, he was experimenting with Jet and stumbled across Oasis during his travels in the Capital Wasteland. He established GNR in 2272, together with his technician and assistant Margaret. Since he began, he has been broadcasting to the Wasteland with public service announcements and music. At times he makes jests at Enclave Radio, going as far as mocking President John Henry Eden's voice.

Three Dog believes in what he calls "fighting the Good Fight," which boils down to any action that opposes and antagonizes the wasteland's various oppressors and thugs, be it raider gangs, bands of super mutants, slaving parties, Talon Company death squads or the Enclave's soldiers. To this end, he actively cooperates with the Brotherhood of Steel, letting them use his fortified radio station as an outpost. However, he avoids direct involvement in the war effort, and instead leaves the defense of the radio station to his Brotherhood entourage. Ironically, one of the radio DJ's friends had entrusted him with a key to a military weapons cache.

By 2287, Three Dog had vanished under unknown circumstances but his legacy lived on. After his disappearance, Phil Goodman, also known as "The Ghoul of Cool," took over his duties as a DJ and the main advocate of the "Good Fight". Goodman recruited a company of like minded mercenaries to carry on fighting in Three Dog's name.

Three Dog has been mentioned by Travis Miles, DJ for Diamond City Radio. After the Sole Survivor defeats the Institute with the help of either the Minutemen, the Brotherhood of Steel or the Railroad, Travis will say that an old friend used to tell him "you have to fight the Good Fight."

Daily schedule[]

He stays in the GNR building throughout the entire game.

Interactions with the player character[]

Interactions overview[]

Interactions
Icon quest starter
This character starts quests.
FO76 ui icon quest
This character is involved in quests.
Icon severed ear color
This character drops an ear upon death (Contract Killer).

Quests[]

  • Following in His Footsteps: Passing a Speech challenge will give immediate information about the Lone Wanderer's father.
  • Galaxy News Radio: Failing, or not taking the aforementioned challenge starts this side quest. If the Lone Wanderer passes that check, they can immediately reinstate conversation to have both quests running at the same time. The Wanderer can also come back later, or see him for the very first time after having made progress otherwise in the main quest to find their father and if the Wanderer can bring support to Three Dog's "good fight," Three Dog will also give the Lone Wanderer this quest.
  • Should Three Dog die before he tells the Lone Wanderer to go to Rivet City at the end of the quest "Galaxy News Radio" starts the quest The Search Continues.

Effects of player's actions[]

  • Three Dog will comment on various actions of the Lone Wanderer through his radio broadcasts.
  • On Galaxy News Radio, Three Dog will constantly refer to the Lone Wanderer by their current Karma title or 101.

Inventory[]

Fallout 3
Fallout Shelter

Notes[]

  • Three Dog pre-records almost all of his broadcasts, and can never be seen actually operating the radio. He even references this in his show, stating that he is "Comin' to you taped from my fortified bunker in the middle of a D.C. hellhole." in one of his intros, and that "we are coming to you loud and proud, in a special live report!" once the satellite relay on the Washington Monument is repaired (this broadcast is also notable in that it is one of the few that doesn't repeat).
  • If Three Dog dies, Margaret will become GNR's broadcaster. However, she will be extremely unmotivated to do this job and mention that Three Dog was murdered, over and over again. She will not mention the Lone Wanderer's achievements or course of action.[Non-game 2]
  • If the player character helps Roy Phillips get into Tenpenny Tower, Three Dog later refers to the "wholesome slaughter" of the former residents, instead of the common expression "wholesale slaughter."
  • If the player character goes to Dr. Li in Rivet City before finishing the quest Galaxy News Radio, he will instead reward the player with a key to Hamilton's hideaway.
  • Three Dog's broadcast expression can change depending on the actions of the Lone Wanderer. Should the Lone Wanderer pursue a noble, good-Karma path, Three Dog will compliment "Nice goin' kid!" at the end of an event-determined broadcast. But should the Lone Wanderer be on an evil, bad-Karma path, Three Dog remarks saying "Not cool kid. Not cool at all" or "what's with that, kid?" If the Lone Wanderer has evil Karma, Three Dog will refer to them as the worst thing to ever happen to the wasteland since radiation poisoning.
  • If the player character has completed a task that Three Dog comments on during a broadcast, but the player character's overall Karma is opposite of what completion of that task would provide, Three Dog's report will seem to refute itself. Example: If the Lone Wanderer has evil Karma but has completed Those! by helping Bryan Wilks, Three Dog will open his monologue condemning the Lone Wanderer, then switch to praising them for their efforts in Grayditch.
  • Having the title "Urban Avenger" makes Three Dog refer to the Lone Wanderer as an "urban defender."
  • Three Dog plays the same songs over and over again because they are the only ones he could find in working condition.

Notable quotes[]

Appearances[]

Three Dog appears in Fallout 3, in Fallout Shelter, in Fallout: Wasteland Warfare, in Fallout Shelter Online, and is mentioned by Travis Miles and Robert MacCready in Fallout 4. He is also mentioned in the Creation Club content "Capital Wasteland Mercenaries."

Behind the scenes[]

  • Three Dog is voiced by Erik Todd Dellums, who also voices Nazir in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
    • Three Dog's name is similar to a character played by Dellums in the film She's Gotta Have It: "Dog 3."
    • Dellums helped develop the character, including his signature howls.[citation needed]
    • Dellums has also expressed interest in reprising his role in a potential future installment.[Non-game 3]
  • In localized versions of the game, Three Dog's voice is dubbed by Masayuki Katou (Japanese), Krzysztof Skiba (Polish) and José Ángel Fuentes (Spanish).
  • During Fallout 3's development, designer Fred Zeleny suggested a quest where an archive of old music tapes could be brought to Three Dog. The music would be taken from a directory on the player's PC or console, so that the player could add their own songs to the rotation of Galaxy News Radio. Although it was within the team's scripting capabilities, the idea was nixed by Todd Howard, who had concerns about music licensing, even on client-based files, as well as its implications for the game's tone.[Non-game 4]

Bugs[]

  • PCPC Playstation 3Playstation 3Playstation 3 Xbox 360Xbox 360 Occasionally, Three Dog will mention events that occur after the ending of the game. He will only do so if the player had downloaded the Broken Steel downloadable content and has not played through the part in the game before it. [verified]
  • PCPC Playstation 3Playstation 3Playstation 3 Xbox 360Xbox 360 Sometimes after starting a new game, Three Dog can be heard stating things that haven't come to pass yet. This has been known to last until you catch up with the event that he's referring to. [verified]
  • Playstation 3Playstation 3Playstation 3 Xbox 360Xbox 360 Sometimes Three Dog will start saying a comment and then quickly switch comments about the player over and over again. This can prevent you from listening to music for the rest of the game. [verified]
  • PCPC Playstation 3Playstation 3Playstation 3 Xbox 360Xbox 360 Occasionally Three Dog will repeat the "News" section of the broadcast 2-3 times over until he later continues playing songs again. [verified]
  • Xbox 360Xbox 360 Sometimes even after killing Three Dog, you can still hear him broadcast the news but it will switch between Margaret and him. This can be corrected by loading a save before Three Dog is killed.[verified]

Gallery[]

References[]

Non-game

  1. Fallout 3 Official Game Guide Game of the Year Edition p. 100: "Three Dog
    Born to parents who made their way in the world as members of a traveling theater group, Three Dog grew up listening to rock music, hating the government that he never knew (but surely caused the nuclear holocaust), fully believing in the rights of free speech and communal law. He is fully committed to "spreading the signal" of his radio station to anyone who will listen; it's his duty to counter the propaganda spouted by the Enclave on their station."
    (Fallout 3 Official Game Guide Game of the Year Edition Wasteland Census)
  2. Fallout 3 Official Game Guide Game of the Year Edition p. 83: "Margaret
    This old engineer works with Three Dog to keep Galaxy News Radio on the air. Should anything unfortunate happen to Three Dog, Margaret takes to the airwaves, doing the best she can considering her lack of enthusiasm and general crankiness."
    (Fallout 3 Official Game Guide Game of the Year Edition Wasteland Census)
  3. Interview on Gamerant
  4. Fred Zeleny on Tumblr
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