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gabriellerudessa · 4 days ago

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HELLO, Fallout Fandom.

I have been Cooking today and have more character analysis, specifically from the show.

So, I know that we fans of the series have pointed a lot about the parallels between Lucy and Coop, and @raventrigonsdaughter also made this excellent post pointing out how the Maclean family also parallels the Howard family - Rose parallels Coop, Hank parallels Barb, Lucy parallels Janey, I really recommend you check the post.

And I have been like "all right, from the characters from the present, Maximus and Norm are the only ones not paralleling anyone from the past, and no one is paralleling Williams/Moldaver? Hu..."

So... I have some Thoughts regarding Norm and Moldaver but I think we need some more about Williams/Moldaver before I can make any more specific analysis on it.

HOWEVER, I was answering a comment on a post earlier and it hit me WHO Maximus is probably supposed to parallel: Maximus is paralleling Barb, SPECIFICALLY her supposed journey inside Vault Tec and with the cold fusion, and Maximus and Lucy's relationship? It's paralleling Barb and Coop's relationship.

BEAR WITH ME.

So.

Vault-Tec. Big organization that tells everyone they're just doing the best to keep humanity alive, but who's inside and high on the chain knows the truths and how hostile it actually it to other companies that it considers a threat to them (hostile buyout of William's company) and with some very dark plans related to controlling everything.

Brotherhood of Steel. Big organization that says they're the good guys, trying to keep order, keep humanity from destroying itself again, but actually priding on controlling everything and very hostile to other factions (attacking NCR on the show, specifically, but we know there's more).

Barb, at the moment of episode 8 reunion, IS NOT top of the ladder, she's answering to someone and parroting the words of her superiors. Also, we can't be sure at which internal rank she started, but I think it's safe to say that she didn't know from the start Vault-Tec's true plans and discovered once she was considered a loyal employee. It really wouldn't make sense to disclose those type of plans to a new employee probably not that high on the rank.

Maximus, we know that he started very low on the BoS, and after a very risky move, was considered enough by Elder Cleric Quintus to hear Quintus' true plans about controlling the Wasteland.

Barb, at some point her division (not specified) bought Williams' company and hid away the cold fusion, much probably under her superior's orders.

Maximus, TRIED to keep the (unknown at the moment) cold fusion out of BoS hands, failed, and ended participating in the attack on the Observatory. Moldaver (Williams) died close enough to him that he was praised by it, Knighted under public clamor, and as such helped to conquer cold fusion for the BoS. The thing at this point is, with what Moldaver told him, and what he learned in his travel with Lucy, will he do as Barb and use the cold fusion only for the BoS, or will he use it for the good of everyone? Will he be able to go against the organization that literally raised him, unlike Barb, that, at least from what we know, never found the courage to go against Vault-Tec?

And now the cherry on cake regarding specifically Lucy and Maximus relationship, and Coop and Barb one.

First: both have very rose colored lenses for each one in their first scenes together. Very they only see the best in each other. The kick is that, with Coop and Barb, we have NOTHING previous to their relationship, we only really have glimpses. How was Barb before Vault-Tec? How was Coop in the war? We don't know. For all we know, they both were always very moral and good. With Maximus and Lucy, however, we have befores: Maximus grew in a cult, left someone to die, is lying about his identity; Lucy grew in a Vault, married, had to fight for her life, left to search her dad.

Second: The core of how they parallel each other that I can most clearly pinpoint, is anchored in two specific scenes: the dinner scene, talking about dogs and freedom, between Barb and Coop, and the scene after Maximus and Lucy leave Vault 4, what to do with the fusion core and Maximus confession.

For Coop and Barb, it's a build up that starts over what will be allowed in Vaults and moves over Barb, manipulating a bit using her own experience while waiting for news if he was alive or not, true, but also being, I think, sincerely raw regarding the fact she's doing this because it's the only way she can see to keep Coop and Janey alive. It's the only Right Thing she can see. When she's leaving, Coop pulls her back and apologizes and they hug, and the scene ends.

Coop's specific words are "I know you always try to do the right thing. That's what I love about you." And Barb... It seems to me that those words stung a bit. Because she knows that things changed and what she's helping to be done in Vault Tec is not right or good, but it's the only thing she can see as possible. She can't care about right or wrong, she needs to care about survival.

For Lucy and Maximus, it starts over the fusion core, and how important it is for Vault 4. It IS something a lot bigger than dogs? Sure, but it also allows us to see well a similar dynamic. Maximus is, well, dead set on keeping the fusion core because it will allow him to use the power-armor and help people, while Lucy argues that no, that wouldn't be right, what's the point? She convinces Maximus, they return the fusion core, and then she invites him to live in Vault 33.

Lucy's specific words to Maximus are "I can honestly say your are the best stranger that I've ever met. You're a good person, Titus". And they clearly HURT Maximus, enought that he confesses he's not Titus and that he let Titus die and that he lied to her and basically saying that he's actually not good. And Lucy, well, she forgives him and tells that she threw acid at an innocent man's face.

Here is how both couples parallel each other.

The essence of what both Lucy and Coop say to Maximus and Barb after the confrontation that is, at its core, about right or wrong regarding how to help people, is "You're good and that's what I like about you". That's it. Different words, but in essence, this. Lucy is the naïve, always try to do the right thing, high morals, slightly blind regarding how things are, optimist, like Coop was, and Maximus is, well, more jaded, lying to protect himself, tries to shield Lucy regarding what his organization is capable of, ruthless, says he's doing to help others but is not very good at it for whatever reason, like Barb.

HOWEVER, here's were they diverge, and it starts already in the talk about how to help people.

Barb, probably because of what she saw in Vault Tec, refuses to see another way of helping people, also probably because Coop didn't provide a way of doing it, just was like "what about freedom", which, yeah, I can understand a bit Barb's answer. He didn't offer solution (and I don't think there WAS one he could suggest, not in the state of things pre-war), just complaining about how things would be done, at least to her ears. As a consequence, she "wins" the argument, the way she has is the only way to ensure survival and that's it.

However, with Maximus and Lucy, the talk ends differently. Lucy, differently from Coop, offers a solution regarding the problem: return the fusion core and keep helping people the way we can, without a Power Armor. And Maximus LISTEN and TRUST HER that it can be done another way.

Then, well... With Coop and Barb, it ends as he apologizes and they hug. He's saying she's good, doing the right thing, she knows it's not the truth anymore, but doesn't confess, undoubtedly expecting Coop to not understand the conundrum she's in with her work and the political scenary. Expecting Coop to be Too Good for Her and send her away.

But, moving to Maximus and Lucy, Maximus confess everything, hoping Lucy to toss him aside, because she is GOOD and PERFECT came from a good place and why she would want a liar like him? Then Lucy surprises him, not only forgiving, but showing that SHE HERSELF is not perfect, because she threw acid at an innocent man's face after just two weeks in the surface.

Maximus is... Willing to be vulnerable enough to Lucy to confess and expect a rejection, probably because, well, they don't know each other that long, it's easier to risk losing something that doesn't even exist yet. Howeve,r Lucy herself is already, well, wise enough to get that good and bad are not that clear cut and that she can't judge him. Lucy is willing to recognize that their contexts are different and still thinks that Maximus is good.

Barb and Coop... It's a more thorny situation. They have been together for years, and one thing we can say is: Coop fought the war, but very clearly never really reflected on its morality and the morality of his own actions, it was all about Freedom. I say this because of how he refused at first killing someone in fiction, thought it was too much. I don't know, I think it's very hard that Coop, in a Power-Armor, never killed anyone during the combats, but I can buy he only really thinking over the morality of killing when filming a movie where he interprets a sheriff.

And why I'm pointing out the thing about killing or not in war and it's morality? Because pre-war Coop comes across as, like Lucy, extremelly good and moral and doing the right thing. And this way of being certainly made Barb all the more aware and afraid of any possible judgments should Coop discover the truth about Vault Tec.

It's harder to make oneself vulnerable and tell your bad actions and lies if you're together for years and build a family. Barb had way more to lose if she was truthful, and Coop's behavior and words certainly gave her just more certainty that she would lose him if she told the truths.

Also, on a expectation note, I'm curious to see how Barb and Coop's separation was, in divorce and possibly after bombs, especially because of how he still calls her "wife" despite we KNOWING they divorced because of the "alimony" and is, apparently, looking for both her and Janey.

We know that, with Lucy and Maximus, there was a first, willing separation, where he told Lucy to go away with the head to give her time, shielding her from the truth of BoS, and then a unwilling one, where he's unconscious and Lucy has to go away for her own life and he awakes not knowing what happened to her, but probably assuming that her father kidnapped her.

I wonder if Coop and Barb will be similar: a willing separation, the divorce, and an unwilling one, after the bombs.

One thing I can say for certain: Maximus and Lucy start similarly to Barb and Coop, but they are both more open to admit they aren't perfect and to be vulnerable with each other, while Barb and Coop were at a point where they didn't thought so possible.

Maybe if Barb had been able to be actually away from Vault Tec for some time, like Maximus was able to be away from the Brotherhood... Maybes maybes maybes.

There is probably more scenes where we can pinpoint how both couples parallel each other, but this is what I was more able to pinpoint for now.

#fallout #lucy maclean #maximus fallout #cooper howard #barb howard #fallout series #fallout prime #lee moldaver

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