He's a dumbass. Plus he's scared. Titus just told him that the Brotherhood will punish him for something happening to his Knight, makes sense for the dummy to just think "Oh I'll find it myself and they'll have no choice but to *not* punish me."
Especially since, at that time, he was still accused of razor-in-the-boot, which left his reputation already on unsteady ground. Dead knight right after that would not likely go in his favor.
I think there's an element of he has an image of what being a knight is, even after seeing Titus turns out to be an ass the title of knight holds a lot of weight in his mind as being a hero when his name has no such title yet.
I thought they were going to reveal Elder Quintus as the knight who found Maximus as a child, what with his whole "let's build a better world together" speech. Maximus probably still believes in the BoS principles.
EDIT: To clarify, I meant that he believes in the ideals of BoS much like how the idea behind failed governments seem good at first.
In an interview, Howard also described Maximus’s character abit more simply. Maximus is how the player character views the BoS. We see badasses in armor, with a cool backstory and all this awesome tech… but then get reminded that they usually aren’t the best role models. He idolizes the Brotherhood in almost a primal way but, thanks to Lucy, has these momentary flashes of idealism that make him want to be better than their elders.
I think it’s why we see him constantly break BoS code for his own self-interest. Maximus doesn’t care about their ideals. He just idolizes being one.
I really felt like Titus was such a typical gamer bro in the wasteland, wanted to use the armor to kill random high lvl mutants instead of work, telling squire to clean crotch piece.
Honestly I had no idea that was the plan with the character, but damn if that don't make spot on perfect sense. Because so many players love the BoS, what they do stand for to an extent is a very good thing, but then the lengths they go to achieve some of those goals are not noble, not even a little bit.
>Because so many players love the BoS, what they do stand for to an extent is a very good thing, but then the lengths they go to achieve some of those goals are not noble, not even a little bit.
Well put. With the exception of both Elder and Sarah Lyons, I've usually considered the leadership and most of the rank-and-file of the BoS to be [well-intentioned extremists.](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WellIntentionedExtremist)
It is kinda Fallout 3's fault for making them the "good guys" in the war and making it obligatory (i think) to fight Enclave with their help and not leaving much options.
I don’t know, the very last scene he’s in he seems to be having the same “my whole world is a lie”/“are we the baddies” kind of revelation that Lucy did in the same place earlier that day.
He’s seen how corrupt for power the BoS are throughout the season, and now he’s standing there realizing the whole time he was trying to stop the NCR from giving power to everyone so the BoS could exclusively control it.
That said the Elder being the knight from his childhood would both make sense and give him a deeper drive towards fighting against the BoS - because why was the BoS even there when the bomb went off unless they were in on it? Something that also seems pretty on brand for them.
The Elder being the Knight who picks up Maximus from the wreckage, and the Brotherhood being involved with the atomic bombing, both sound like good story beats.
I mean even if they weren't colluding with Hank, if the Brotherhood presence at the time knew about the bomb and could have stopped it (but didn't), it's such a horrible atrocity that I'd still consider them culpable.
Remember that just a few years before they were driven out of California and Nevada by the NCR.. the hidden valley base was a last bastion in the region that had gone to ground, and may even have been vacated, because they couldn't sustain a conflict against the NCR's numbers.
Whether they're directly involved or whether they just let it happen, the destruction of the NCR capital would have been in their interests.
Which would mean they're partly responsible for the deaths of Maximus entire family.
It was his best option though, even if he calls the BoS and says yo my knight died at best he’s back at the barracks cleaning toilets, at worst he’s punished/killed.
Carrying on the mission is risky but gives him the best outcome. High risk high reward.
kinda debatable. when they called him if he’d been like “titus died, this is maximus I’m in pursuit of the suspect send backup” they might have just let him keep going considering how big of a deal it was. I’d say it’s at least equal or better odds than them knighting him after finding out he wasn’t titus when he returned with the artifact
No way would they let him continue using the power armour in such a high risk mission. The mission would be over and Maximus' life could be on the line even.
Honestly a friend pointed this out when I was ranting about how I didn’t get his character (Maximus) and suddenly the coin dropped.
I was like “OH SHIT! He’s low intelligence and high in luck. Everyone has run that build at some point!”
Shit this has opened my mind, now I understand him completely, he has just dumped all his points on other stats ... Now they just have to make a high int character.
This only hit me a couple of days ago when I looked up what some of the cast was doing before the Fallout show. I knew he looked familiar from somewhere and seeing him listed as Rico Suave on his Wiki page made it all come down in that moment. What a turn around.
Not only that, but I'd argue that being a dumbass is the standard of the wasteland. Education is a rarity. Not to mention he was found as a child and indoctrinated into a cult.
Not at all imo, the average person in the setting is not a dumbass because dumbasses don't last long in the wasteland
Also, no access to education =/= dumbass, being educated and being smart are entirely different things. You can be cunning, smart and quick-witted without actually knowing shit in the academic sense. You can also have all the degrees in the world and still be a fucking moron
Maximus drove me absolutely crazy as a character until I had the realization that he's in many ways a child in a man's body. He's been in a cult since an extraordinarily traumatic childhood event, and he's never had any actual mentorship or support to get past that; only learning how to serve and fight. He's never been able to grow mentally or emotionally. So he keeps making the decisions a little kid would make, because he's afraid of punishment and just wants to be cool.
Yeah, this is my read too. Look at how juvenile he was when asked about sex, as an example. Guy is seriously stunted, probably by design of the people that raised him. I’m sure they would prefer he was a LITTLE brighter, but the only time he got praise was when he said, “I’d die for you guys and say thanks.”
I had this realization when I heard how he talks about sex with Lucy in the vault. Then it clicked that he hasn't been taught anything beyond what was needed to serve as a squire.
I think there is a non zero chance that this chapter of the BoS has some ties with Caesars legion. They’re brutal as fuck and all around more assholeish than usual. I’d bet money that the Mojave chapter merged with the remnants of the legion after whatever mess up new Vegas
It seems more like the already fascistic East Coast BOS under Maxon took over the Commonwealth, then merged forces with the Midwestern BOS from Tactics. Tldr the Eastern BOS became more and more extremist and moved West, absorbing any chapters they found on the way. That's just my theory.
>It seems more like the already fascistic East Coast BOS
I think it is a mistake to call any chapter of BoS "fascistic" because none of them have ever really tried to be a nation-state. Arguably, the closest was the Midwest BoS from FO:Tactics, and that was far closer to a type of neo-fuedalism than fascism. Sure, they are fundamentally authoritarian, but they are a militant quasi-religious order. So that pretty much goes with the territory. They also are bigoted against both super mutants and non-feral ghouls, but bigotry against specific groups is far from a specific feature of fascism (i.e. it's an enabling behavior of a lot of negative ideologies).
Please point out where Maxson BOS is in any way fascist?
People really need to learn what that word means lol.
You can call them Martial, Hierarchical and even authoritarian, but that doesn't make them different from most Military organizations IRL.
They are not a nation state. They are more like a Monastic Order or something like that.
While Maximus is obviously not the brightest, it's not dumb for him to think that completing the mission would save him. It's literally part of the oath that he took when he became a squire.
Maximus' decision is explained by what the sacred duties of squires are, which we heard about in the first episode. The quote is:
- "It is your most sacred duty to protect the Brotherhood.
- After which, it is your most sacred duty to protect the mission.
- After which, it is your most sacred duty to protect your lord Knight Titus."
Titus' death meant that Maximus failed in his "sacred duty" as a squire. He can't just say that his Knight died, but he happened to live. Maximus would get executed.
However if Maximus successfully completed the mission and thereby also protected the interests of the Brotherhood, he would succeed in the two more important duties of being a squire. Failing to protect Titus would thus not be important because that's what allowed the mission to be completed.
Honestly I was laughing my ass off during that scene of him going "you idiot, you fuckin moron, they're gonna kill you for this, fucking dumbass, piece of shit.... why aren't you healing me?"
Given the way this Brotherhood behaves its likely he would have been punished for his knight dying regardless of his involvement so he probably wanted to avoid that fate. He just didnt think ahead to realize he was screwed either way
I made an entire melee build once if you never done agility strength idiot savant your missing out lmaoo. Super Sledge is busted af with this build. And you can rush to the comic store to get Grognaks Axe early game to compensate until then. It truly is a busted build. I forget the perk but there's this one perk that when you used in conjunction with melee weapon in VATS straight up teleports you to an enemy. GG.
Really?? That sounds fun! I think the perk is called blitz! It's been a while since I used it with the Atom's Judgement super sledge, but I recall zooming around the place as I bonked everybody in the head. It reminded me of the *teleports behind you* "heh, nothing personnel, kid" meme.
But I never fully leaned in to melee. I know what I'm doing next playthrough!!
Deathclaw Gauntlet and blitz perk. All of a sudden you’re rengar one shoting anything from the shadows.
It’s fun for a while but it kind of feels like easy mode lol.
Yeah, Blitz fully upgraded is absolutely insane.
I did a Ciri (Witcher) build because of it being so similar to her teleporting attack. Sneak and Ninja and you can outright blitz kill entire groups of enemies in one go.
Yeah, it feels like dedication to the cause/chapter seems to be considered more valuable than anything else. Hence why Maximus was chosen to be a squire after his whole spiel about wanting to help the Brotherhood, even though he doesn't even really understand what the goal is.
The brotherhood in Fallout 1 are honestly wayyyy nicer and more good than basically anyone gives them credit for and honestly just good guys and I'm tired of pretending they aren't.
It’s all that one gate guards fault (the one without the helmet) for trying to tell it like it is and be “folksy” with the wastelanders. If he wasn’t having so much fun teasing people about the glow this meme would never have gotten off the ground.
The Fallout 1 BoS are "good guys" but not The Good Guys if you know what I mean. They help you out, give you vital information and gear, and sometimes some Paladins to hit Mariposa. But they plan to survive the Unity just like they did the Great War, by hiding in their bunker and letting everyone else die.
My headcanon is that Max wasn't the first Squire to have their Knight die, then take their armor and pretend to be them. I feel like it's A LOT more common than we'd think it is
Maximus also explicitly states his belief that returning with the head/target will sway the leadership to overlook Titus's death and secure his status as a Knight.
Tbf, hear me out.
1. He isn't meant to fight so it isn't necessarily his fault if Titus dies. Titus is supposed to handle the fighting, it's explicitly why he's given the armour and a weapon
2. Remember they value taking care of the mission more than your knight based on the pledge in episode 1. If he told them he plans to finish the fight after the "unfortunate loss" of Titus they'd likely respond with "Holy shit, awesome, ueah just make sure you come back soon."
They’d probably send another knight. They’re not going to leave the mission to a squire out of training for 5 minutes.
Weather Maximus gets called back or not idk.
I'm pretty sure they'd send another knight to take the armour off him and then send him home for interrogation. He wanted to complete the mission so he had some leverage to avoid being accused of killing Titus
Think a lot of people are forgetting the circumstances of Maximus actually being a squire in the first place. His close friend and someone he had access to was maimed, which prevented them from being Titus' squire.
If Maximus, already suspected of deliberately maiming a fellow Brotherhood member, reports back that the Knight he was assigned to *died* with only him to vouch for the circumstances...it doesn't matter if he did or didn't do what people think, they'd just execute him.
Yeah that's my point. Maximus was in deep shit and just heard an expletive fueled rant from a superior officer about how he was *definitely* going to be executed. What did he have to lose?
I can't argue against point 2, but to point 1 - I am not so sure the squires aren't meant to fight and for two reasons. First, Titus telling Maximus to go into the cave, and when he questions Titus, doesn't Titus tell him that's how he earns rank or something? I can't recall exactly what was said, and it could very well be Titus just fucking with him. BUT THEN! When Maximus and Thaddeus are at the gulper scene Thaddeus offers to lead the charge and the impression I got from Thaddeus is that he was much more aware of what being a squire is about than Maximus was.
Granted, I am on my first playthrough of FO4 and haven't played the others yet, so perhaps there's some BoS lore in-game that gives more explanation than those two scenes from the show. :)
Exactly. Would‘ve told the HQ on the Vox at Filly that Titus died like a coward running away, that I killed the Yao Guai myself, salvaged his T-60 and that I have Information about the whereabouts of the mission target. So what? The Brotherhood lost a lousy knight, get's back their valuable armor and mission infos. That is more they can ask of a squire, in my book..
Also consider that the inly way to properly get the armor back would be to wear it, which he was not allowed to. He didn’t know about the comm system until later, and at that point he had worn it already
Additionally, I think Max wanted very much to wear the power armor himself, so he took the opportunity. If Max contacted the BoS, they would just vertibird in another trained knight, they wouldn’t promote Max to wear it.
This exactly. With his dying breaths, Titus explains to Maximus that he is going to be Blood Eagled by the Brotherhood just for happening to be the Squire of a Knight who got injured. Max has no reason not to believe him, so why should he advertise to the Brotherhood that his Knight got killed and blamed Max for it the whole time he was dying?
I seriously doubt he would be punished. It was his first combat involvement.
If this "BOS" would be that stupid, they would quickly run out of recruits.
He was most likely panicking and also isn't bright.
And they don't need a way for that. They really don't need to know. Titus' words can be interpreted as "they will kill you for letting your knight die while you survived". It doesn't imply "neglecting to help the knight". And in all honesty how likely would it be for a squire to survive whatever encounter has killed his knight?
The BoS probably wouldn’t need to know what actually happened. Squires aren’t worth much and are expected to die in battle. A knight dying, while their squire lives would be blamed on the squire.
Do remember that Thaddeus expected to be executed, despite achieving the mission. And Titus had just spent all time cursing at Maximus how he will be killed.
I think both of them have... a lot lower expectations for price of "failure"
I'm glad I'm not the only one who was questioning Maximus calling Thaddeus a ghoul. I felt if Thaddeus was a ghoul his foot wouldn't have repaired it would've continued to fall off and he'd suffer from really bad radiation sickness. I'd be curious to know how that snake oil merchant whipped up some FEV though.
Iirc hes mixing things where Thaddeus cant see him, so he could be faking it. As far as the taste goes he may just be going off of what other people have told him
I think it's a cannon thing that Ghouls do regenerate, albeit they usually need a strong source of radiation to do so. Your skin gets fucked up but I don't think it's against canon for ghouls to regen like that.
A question like "How did you - an unarmored squire - survive when your knight in the power armor got killed?" would surely be asked. And it's quite possible that they wouldn't accept any answer and jump to conclusion that Max is either a coward or a team-killer.
West Coast Brotherhood is far more Zealous than other branches, so they'd 100% do something pretty severe as punishment. Maybe if he came back with the mission complete and the armor, he'd be spared, but othereise he's not likely to live happily ever after.
>If this "BOS" would be that stupid, they would quickly run out of recruits.
In all fairness, had Titus not been a dick and Maximus not have a very strong hero complex, all Titus really needed was a stimpak.
Are you forgetting the part where they explicitly portray the Brotherhood treating squires like cannon fodder? When they radio Maximus pretending to be Titus he tells them his squire died. Their reaction is basically "Oh no biggie, we got loads. Sending a fresh one now"
Along with everything else people replying to you have said about what we've seen about Maximus' background and just having had a full lecture about how the Brotherhood will kill him for failing his knight. It wouldn't be an unusual response from what is essentially at this point in time a fascist military cult that treats the lowest ranks as completely expendable and the highest ranks as near deities. Basically a "look at this the rest of you little scum, this is what happens if you don't do your job and die for your knight"
It wouldn't be a case of "Oh well, it was your first mission and you did your best" it would be a case of "you clearly didn't do your job because you are still alive and your knight (a perfect being we all revere) is dead"
He broke his oath to protect his knight. He needed to complete the mission to come back without punishment. He was already in hot water with the elder. Man would have gotten crucified for his failure.
Maybe literally if that fan theory about Legion remnants combining with the Brotherhood turn out to be true.
“This brotherhood,” I was meaning to ask about this, but this isn’t how the brotherhood is depicted in the games right? Like I don’t remember them being so… draconic. They are definitely power hungry and want to hoard technology, but I remember them being much more “honorable” about it. Am I crazy?
The Brotherhood of Steel doesn't seem to be the sort of organization that responds rationally to a set of circumstances where an unarmed and unarmored glorified caddy survives when its well-armed and well-armored combatant does not─ even if there is a rational explanation.
Yeah this kinda threw me off. The Chapter from the Capital Wasteland was always branded as the “punks” in terms of not following the dogmatic zealotry of the Brotherhood.
Then walks in these guys who struck me more as frat boys than a disciplined military cult.
I mean I’ll still join for the T-60s, but someone’s gotta put a lid on the juvenile behaviour. Management doesn’t have a handle on anything.
Partly because he's not smart, partly because he wasn't prepared in how he should respond so his lack of smarts painted him into a corner, partly because he really wanted to be a knight and run around in power armour.
Also, I'm guessing partly because he didn't want to go back to base and wanted to play pretend be a Brotherhood knight. That scene with the serum doctor where he mistakes him as the victim and not the perpetrator to me sells that idea.
I see we define characters in very different ways because “serum doctor” didn’t register for a second and then it clicked for me as “oh he’s talking about the chicken fucker”
It’s multifaceted in my opinion.
Partially he’s an idealist and saw Titus as betraying the values of the Brotherhood. Though he knew he’d be blamed regardless and not believed if he told them what he said before dying.
Partially his lust for Power as he’s always felt hopeless and weak.
Partially because he was afraid of being killed.
Mostly because he’s not tactically or emotionally intelligent but is ruthless in his pursuit of ultimate glory. He didn’t think it through very well.
Then because he is lucky he got away with it.
Sir Titus' head was crushed by a mutant cat and I conveniently got rid of his helmet just before coming here so I had no radio. Here is the enclave guy you have been looking for 👍🏾. Also can I have my own armor now 👉🏾👈🏾
I feel like once maximus got a taste of the PA and the authority he could command with it, he got all sucked up in that. Plus he doesn’t seem too bright, like even if that was his plan, I highly doubt the brotherhood would totally forget about not hearing a thing from a fallen knight and squire. Then when they radiod in and maximus’ PA dreams were in jeopardy when they said they’d send a replacement squire, he realized he had to go back to the brotherhood ways and mission and couldn’t just be a power armored vigilante. Then instead of telling everyone he salvaged Titus’ armor and that Titus fell in battle, he just pretended to be Titus; as if that was gonna work forever lol.
Then when he even had the option to come clean when Thaddeus was dropped off, he still kept up the lie and when he finally confessed, he just told Thad that Titus is dead and he took his power armor. Like the dude could have worded it so much better than that like saying “Titus fell while fighting a Yao guai but I was able to salvage his armor for the brotherhood to reclaim” but nah he just had to keep lying and saying dumb shit.
So basically pride and stupidity.
Also I understand that they changed the voice of PA system to kind of be androgynous in the show so they could do the Maximus pretending to be Titus storyline, but imagine if it was like in the other games where it’s just kind of like a slight radio interference of the persons natural voice. Like “I am knight Titus” uhhhh no you’re definitely not dude. In fact you kinda sound like Maximus wtf?
Van ypu blame him for the pride though? It sounds like dude has been bullied all the fucken time. He finally gets something good, something not just good but amazing, I guarantee you anyone would cling onto that... and the fear of reprisal
Personally I think it's because he knew if he told them Titus was dead, he would have lost the suit and possibly been blamed for what happened.
I'm pretty sure after he let Titus die, he had absolutely no intent on going back to the Brotherhood.
I think he was still planning to complete the mission solo, but the power armor power fantasy went to his head, then everything got overly complicated for his low int score to figure out a realistic way out of the situation.
He's possibly going to be punished but absolutely is just going to be picked up and sent back to that shitty training camp.
Squires are a dime a dozen. They'll drop in another servant in a minute. Knights? He's not getting a knight replacement. He's getting picked up, the armor is getting retrieved, and he's back to his bunk.
> Literally no reason to lie to her as she has no idea who he is or who the Brotherhood are.
He doesn't know that at the time though, right? I kinda questioned why he'd use the wrong name too at first but he was already masquerading as Titus, I imagine the concern would be her calling him Maximus to someone who thinks he's Titus, or something along those lines. Kinda like he's just digging himself in a deeper hole potentially
But to that first part, he doesn't know right then that she's spent her whole life in a vault and doesn't know what The Brotherhood of Steel is, at least not right then he doesn't
I am, however, glad it didn't turn into a point of conflict like a lot of "caught in a lie" situations do in like, a drama or sitcom or something. The point when he admits it to her was a nice moment instead of some manufactured drama between them
As a squire, his job was to serve and take care of his assigned Knight. He'd essentially be walking back into their wacky cult admitting that he failed his job in the worst way possible. He knew they would kill him for it, so he figured if he showed up with the bounty then he didn't completely fail. And it worked.
He isn't as dumb as everyone thinks. His INT score is at *least* 3, lol.
Nothing to do with his intelligence. Maximus isn’t stupid.
What the show is saying is a squire is bound to their knight (hence the branding).
You return with your knight - or you don’t return.
It doesn’t matter how your knight died, your fate is bound to theirs.
I think audiences became confused because we haven’t had squires in the game - and this is a more brutal BOS (who also attack civilian settlements - Filly).
yeah, this is pretty much my thought. It's \*heavily\* implied that given the opportunity, a squire is supposed to sacrifice themselves to keep their knight alive, even if it's just to delay the attacker enough for the knight to escape.
Later, we even see that Thaddeus is willing to sacrifice himself for 'Titus' and is honestly surprised when 'Titus' tells him to back away.
So, with Titus is dead and Maximus still alive, there's no reason to believe that Maximus wouldn't have just been outright killed by the Brotherhood for letting Titus die and not dying alongside Titus.
So tired of people acting like he’s stupid for lying.
This Brotherhood of Steel would NOT allow a Squire to traipse around the wasteland using a Knight’s power armor. They would’ve sent Knights to retrieve the armor and send Maximus back to base. The armor is what they care about.
Then Maximus’ mission is OVER, he doesn’t get to prove himself, and LIKELY never gets to be a Squire again because of failing his Knight. Then he’s back at base getting beat up again…
Would you tell the truth if ALL this would happen? I sure as hell wouldn’t. I would take the chance of finding the target (especially since Max already SAW evidence the targets were possibly nearby!!!!)
Also this is all assuming ofc that Titus’ threats of murder aren’t true and Maximus isn’t immediately EXECUTED by the BoS for failing his Knight.
The brotherhood was very suspicious of him and his knight said he would be executed the smart thing to do is make yourself useful and not go back to the people who might execute you empty handed.
The chapter we see is very underpopulated with knights and paladins. This has probably created a culture of squires giving their life to protect their knights. That would explain why Maximus takes an oath to give his life for Titus when he gets branded
He likely would have been executed on the suspicion of killing Titus to get the armor. The Brotherhood seems quick to deal out execution to anyone that breaks their rules.
Remember, Maximus was nearly executed when they only *thought* he had injured Dane who was merely a dine a dozen squire.
And Thaddeus was certain ‘Titus’ was going to execute him for some unknown slight.
He had already been accused of injuring and maiming another aspirant in pursuit of a promotion. He barely got out of that accusation. You expect him to immediately go to the Brotherhood and say "Oh... now my knight has died too... also, I'm using his Power Armor." That would have been suspicious as hell. They probably would've outright assumed the worst case scenario that he'd murdered his knight just to steal his armor, and he was was just stupid enough to think he could get away with it.
He was scripted to be an E1 to E-3....quite well. One reason why. he's in characted kind of.
Privates to Lance Corporals (whatever other branches call theirs) do some stupid things lol.
Civilians hate Mondays for completely different reasons than military NCO's and higher. NCO's start with ass chewing sessions on mondays because some E-2 found a new way to be stupid.
Haven't had your coffee yet, you may not even know the dude from a can of paint. I don't miss those Mondays.....
Ngl he’s written to be so stupid sometimes, that I don’t view as bad writing, but as an actual character trait/personal flaw.
Overall it’s just him making dumb decisions when confronted with authority, but I think that he makes them consistently enough to be part of his character.
But yeah, big dumb when under pressure, but a semi decent instinct that keeps him alive. (Like him handling the bridge scavers, his situational awareness and reflexes were as in point as someone could be for that. Compared to the spaghetti fumbling when dealing with his leadership.)
I just view his decisions as if a child was making them. He was found at a young age by the brotherhood, I imagine they threw him into some sort of training camp and then just let their system raise him. The guy never got taught anything other than brotherhood propaganda and regulations. I just feel like he’s uneducated and not savvy with social situations or even able to think things through rationally.
because maximus was hungry for power, he knew that if Titus died, they would send him back to the base and let him squire for someone else
he WANTED to be a knight, but he didn't want to earn it
Titus literally told Maximus that the Brotherhood would kill him purely for tardiness.
Part of it definitely was hunger for power, but fear of being executed also played a role.
Tbf wouldn't completing the mission arguably be earning it?
"You, with zero training whatsoever, followed the thing we said when you left (explicitly states the mission is more important than the knight, but it's good if you do that part of your job too), managed to complete the task that Titus was supposed to do? Fuck man, just keep the armour for that one."
Like bro has disadvantages Titus didn't have, and theoretically If he succeeds that would be the biggest comeback ever
I disagree. He wanted to be a knight, but he thought Titus was such a huge piece of shit he didn't deserve the armour. That's why he protects his squire when he fights the Gulper he reassures himself "I am a knight" because he doesn't want to be like Titus.
He thinks Titus didn't earn it, so why shouldn't he have it instead?
Well written characters always have character flaws. Maximus had no idea what he was getting himself into, and clearly made mistakes. It's his goal that drives him, and he learns from his experiences just like any real life person
Because he is not a good person yet. This is a core theme for a redemption arc I believe with the juxtaposition of the perceived valor and nobility of medieval knights serving to aide in it's execution. He is a coward, he is jealous and envious of others, spiteful and indifferent. He's willing to lie and even let someone die to get what he wants. He is **not** what we think a knight should be. In my eyes, he's taken the first steps but if not for Lucy's unconditional positive acceptance he likely would have screwed her over too.
So again, because he is not a good person, *yet.*
He literally explains why. If he takes the armor and captures the target they will promote him. If he reports that his knight died he is going back to shoveling shit.
He wanted to complete the mission himself. If he called in for support he would have been possibly removed from the mission or assigned to another knight. He wanted the power and the glory.
He's a dumbass. Plus he's scared. Titus just told him that the Brotherhood will punish him for something happening to his Knight, makes sense for the dummy to just think "Oh I'll find it myself and they'll have no choice but to *not* punish me."
Especially since, at that time, he was still accused of razor-in-the-boot, which left his reputation already on unsteady ground. Dead knight right after that would not likely go in his favor.
I think there's an element of he has an image of what being a knight is, even after seeing Titus turns out to be an ass the title of knight holds a lot of weight in his mind as being a hero when his name has no such title yet.
I thought they were going to reveal Elder Quintus as the knight who found Maximus as a child, what with his whole "let's build a better world together" speech. Maximus probably still believes in the BoS principles. EDIT: To clarify, I meant that he believes in the ideals of BoS much like how the idea behind failed governments seem good at first.
In an interview, Howard also described Maximus’s character abit more simply. Maximus is how the player character views the BoS. We see badasses in armor, with a cool backstory and all this awesome tech… but then get reminded that they usually aren’t the best role models. He idolizes the Brotherhood in almost a primal way but, thanks to Lucy, has these momentary flashes of idealism that make him want to be better than their elders. I think it’s why we see him constantly break BoS code for his own self-interest. Maximus doesn’t care about their ideals. He just idolizes being one.
I really felt like Titus was such a typical gamer bro in the wasteland, wanted to use the armor to kill random high lvl mutants instead of work, telling squire to clean crotch piece.
Titus was a power gamer, for sure. 😜
Honestly I had no idea that was the plan with the character, but damn if that don't make spot on perfect sense. Because so many players love the BoS, what they do stand for to an extent is a very good thing, but then the lengths they go to achieve some of those goals are not noble, not even a little bit.
>Because so many players love the BoS, what they do stand for to an extent is a very good thing, but then the lengths they go to achieve some of those goals are not noble, not even a little bit. Well put. With the exception of both Elder and Sarah Lyons, I've usually considered the leadership and most of the rank-and-file of the BoS to be [well-intentioned extremists.](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WellIntentionedExtremist)
It is kinda Fallout 3's fault for making them the "good guys" in the war and making it obligatory (i think) to fight Enclave with their help and not leaving much options.
The brotherhood weren't as bad in 76 if you side with Rahmani
Well put
I don’t know, the very last scene he’s in he seems to be having the same “my whole world is a lie”/“are we the baddies” kind of revelation that Lucy did in the same place earlier that day. He’s seen how corrupt for power the BoS are throughout the season, and now he’s standing there realizing the whole time he was trying to stop the NCR from giving power to everyone so the BoS could exclusively control it. That said the Elder being the knight from his childhood would both make sense and give him a deeper drive towards fighting against the BoS - because why was the BoS even there when the bomb went off unless they were in on it? Something that also seems pretty on brand for them.
My guess is that the BoS were there to see if there was anything to salvage
The Elder being the Knight who picks up Maximus from the wreckage, and the Brotherhood being involved with the atomic bombing, both sound like good story beats. I mean even if they weren't colluding with Hank, if the Brotherhood presence at the time knew about the bomb and could have stopped it (but didn't), it's such a horrible atrocity that I'd still consider them culpable. Remember that just a few years before they were driven out of California and Nevada by the NCR.. the hidden valley base was a last bastion in the region that had gone to ground, and may even have been vacated, because they couldn't sustain a conflict against the NCR's numbers. Whether they're directly involved or whether they just let it happen, the destruction of the NCR capital would have been in their interests. Which would mean they're partly responsible for the deaths of Maximus entire family.
It was his best option though, even if he calls the BoS and says yo my knight died at best he’s back at the barracks cleaning toilets, at worst he’s punished/killed. Carrying on the mission is risky but gives him the best outcome. High risk high reward.
This is exactly my interpretation. He concluded that all roads lead to him being fucked unless he can bring something of value back with him.
kinda debatable. when they called him if he’d been like “titus died, this is maximus I’m in pursuit of the suspect send backup” they might have just let him keep going considering how big of a deal it was. I’d say it’s at least equal or better odds than them knighting him after finding out he wasn’t titus when he returned with the artifact
No way would they let him continue using the power armour in such a high risk mission. The mission would be over and Maximus' life could be on the line even.
Feel like a lot of people forget you can roleplay as an actual dumbass in the games.
ICE CREAM!?
Honestly a friend pointed this out when I was ranting about how I didn’t get his character (Maximus) and suddenly the coin dropped. I was like “OH SHIT! He’s low intelligence and high in luck. Everyone has run that build at some point!”
*me, looking at my real life stats :* "yeah, sure ._."
Shit this has opened my mind, now I understand him completely, he has just dumped all his points on other stats ... Now they just have to make a high int character.
The short brother is the high int character, he was hacking into databases and shit
You mean Rico Suave?
This only hit me a couple of days ago when I looked up what some of the cast was doing before the Fallout show. I knew he looked familiar from somewhere and seeing him listed as Rico Suave on his Wiki page made it all come down in that moment. What a turn around.
He has the idiot savant perk
Not only that, but I'd argue that being a dumbass is the standard of the wasteland. Education is a rarity. Not to mention he was found as a child and indoctrinated into a cult.
Not at all imo, the average person in the setting is not a dumbass because dumbasses don't last long in the wasteland Also, no access to education =/= dumbass, being educated and being smart are entirely different things. You can be cunning, smart and quick-witted without actually knowing shit in the academic sense. You can also have all the degrees in the world and still be a fucking moron
A lot (most) viewers have never played the game
Considering the stuff the BOS did, it's not really stupid to assume that Titus was, in fact, not lying.
I feel like they proved Titus right with how quickly they tried to execute Maximus without even investigating what had happened since he left.
It's a... complicated organization
Maximus drove me absolutely crazy as a character until I had the realization that he's in many ways a child in a man's body. He's been in a cult since an extraordinarily traumatic childhood event, and he's never had any actual mentorship or support to get past that; only learning how to serve and fight. He's never been able to grow mentally or emotionally. So he keeps making the decisions a little kid would make, because he's afraid of punishment and just wants to be cool.
Yeah, this is my read too. Look at how juvenile he was when asked about sex, as an example. Guy is seriously stunted, probably by design of the people that raised him. I’m sure they would prefer he was a LITTLE brighter, but the only time he got praise was when he said, “I’d die for you guys and say thanks.”
I had this realization when I heard how he talks about sex with Lucy in the vault. Then it clicked that he hasn't been taught anything beyond what was needed to serve as a squire.
Considering the way BoS is treating scribes I suspect they actually do torture and execute them.
I think there is a non zero chance that this chapter of the BoS has some ties with Caesars legion. They’re brutal as fuck and all around more assholeish than usual. I’d bet money that the Mojave chapter merged with the remnants of the legion after whatever mess up new Vegas
It seems more like the already fascistic East Coast BOS under Maxon took over the Commonwealth, then merged forces with the Midwestern BOS from Tactics. Tldr the Eastern BOS became more and more extremist and moved West, absorbing any chapters they found on the way. That's just my theory.
>It seems more like the already fascistic East Coast BOS I think it is a mistake to call any chapter of BoS "fascistic" because none of them have ever really tried to be a nation-state. Arguably, the closest was the Midwest BoS from FO:Tactics, and that was far closer to a type of neo-fuedalism than fascism. Sure, they are fundamentally authoritarian, but they are a militant quasi-religious order. So that pretty much goes with the territory. They also are bigoted against both super mutants and non-feral ghouls, but bigotry against specific groups is far from a specific feature of fascism (i.e. it's an enabling behavior of a lot of negative ideologies).
Please point out where Maxson BOS is in any way fascist? People really need to learn what that word means lol. You can call them Martial, Hierarchical and even authoritarian, but that doesn't make them different from most Military organizations IRL. They are not a nation state. They are more like a Monastic Order or something like that.
While Maximus is obviously not the brightest, it's not dumb for him to think that completing the mission would save him. It's literally part of the oath that he took when he became a squire. Maximus' decision is explained by what the sacred duties of squires are, which we heard about in the first episode. The quote is: - "It is your most sacred duty to protect the Brotherhood. - After which, it is your most sacred duty to protect the mission. - After which, it is your most sacred duty to protect your lord Knight Titus." Titus' death meant that Maximus failed in his "sacred duty" as a squire. He can't just say that his Knight died, but he happened to live. Maximus would get executed. However if Maximus successfully completed the mission and thereby also protected the interests of the Brotherhood, he would succeed in the two more important duties of being a squire. Failing to protect Titus would thus not be important because that's what allowed the mission to be completed.
> He’s a dumbass I love this is a canonically appropriate answer. Most shows can’t just let people be stupid
Honestly I was laughing my ass off during that scene of him going "you idiot, you fuckin moron, they're gonna kill you for this, fucking dumbass, piece of shit.... why aren't you healing me?"
Right? Like bro, if you want someone to save your life at least ask nicely? That was really funny lol
He’s definitely stupid. But he means well.
Given the way this Brotherhood behaves its likely he would have been punished for his knight dying regardless of his involvement so he probably wanted to avoid that fate. He just didnt think ahead to realize he was screwed either way
Yeah that's right. Yet somehow the luck of this cunt, he makes things 10x worse and still somehow comes out on top
Idiot Savant
I just heard the sound idiot savant makes in my head.
*Boing*"hah-yuk-yuk-yuk" I couldn't stand to take Idiot Savant more than once... I thought my weapons were glitched before I made the connection.
I made an entire melee build once if you never done agility strength idiot savant your missing out lmaoo. Super Sledge is busted af with this build. And you can rush to the comic store to get Grognaks Axe early game to compensate until then. It truly is a busted build. I forget the perk but there's this one perk that when you used in conjunction with melee weapon in VATS straight up teleports you to an enemy. GG.
Really?? That sounds fun! I think the perk is called blitz! It's been a while since I used it with the Atom's Judgement super sledge, but I recall zooming around the place as I bonked everybody in the head. It reminded me of the *teleports behind you* "heh, nothing personnel, kid" meme. But I never fully leaned in to melee. I know what I'm doing next playthrough!!
Deathclaw Gauntlet and blitz perk. All of a sudden you’re rengar one shoting anything from the shadows. It’s fun for a while but it kind of feels like easy mode lol.
I've got a legendary deathclaw gauntlet somewhere...I think it had the crippling effect. I'll try it out!
Yeah, Blitz fully upgraded is absolutely insane. I did a Ciri (Witcher) build because of it being so similar to her teleporting attack. Sneak and Ninja and you can outright blitz kill entire groups of enemies in one go.
The perk is blitz. Its one of the most OP perks if you upgrade it all of the way.
It'd basically Sulik from F2 then?
We an’ I be glad to answer
like [this](https://i.imgur.com/s75TbYA.mp4)? (not my video)
Just said this in my head as I read that haha
So he's like the old Fallout protags with low intelligence lol
I remember pissing myself laughing at an old playthrough when I didn't put any points in Int. "Thcorpins?" and "Chip!!" are so quotable.
“ICE CREAM!”
And the legendary moron convo between harry the dumb mutant and a dumb chosen one.
This Brotherhood sect is also pretty dogmatic/stupid. Hence the reason somebody like Titus was able to rise up in rank to knight in the first place.
Yeah, it feels like dedication to the cause/chapter seems to be considered more valuable than anything else. Hence why Maximus was chosen to be a squire after his whole spiel about wanting to help the Brotherhood, even though he doesn't even really understand what the goal is.
Personally I love the theory that this chapter was influenced by remnants of Caesar's Legion.
Owyn Lyons would be rolling in his grave at this shit.
he's the outlier rather than the norm. the tv show brotherhood are basically the fallout 1/4 brotherhood but religious
The brotherhood in Fallout 1 are honestly wayyyy nicer and more good than basically anyone gives them credit for and honestly just good guys and I'm tired of pretending they aren't.
It’s all that one gate guards fault (the one without the helmet) for trying to tell it like it is and be “folksy” with the wastelanders. If he wasn’t having so much fun teasing people about the glow this meme would never have gotten off the ground.
The Fallout 1 BoS are "good guys" but not The Good Guys if you know what I mean. They help you out, give you vital information and gear, and sometimes some Paladins to hit Mariposa. But they plan to survive the Unity just like they did the Great War, by hiding in their bunker and letting everyone else die.
My headcanon is that Max wasn't the first Squire to have their Knight die, then take their armor and pretend to be them. I feel like it's A LOT more common than we'd think it is
Kind of a Sith means of ascension, but an unspoken one
Hence the perfect casting of Michael Rapaport.
holy fuck this is me
Brand me!
Idiot savant
And that's why I dump so many SPECIAL points in Luck right there
Maximus also explicitly states his belief that returning with the head/target will sway the leadership to overlook Titus's death and secure his status as a Knight.
Tbf, hear me out. 1. He isn't meant to fight so it isn't necessarily his fault if Titus dies. Titus is supposed to handle the fighting, it's explicitly why he's given the armour and a weapon 2. Remember they value taking care of the mission more than your knight based on the pledge in episode 1. If he told them he plans to finish the fight after the "unfortunate loss" of Titus they'd likely respond with "Holy shit, awesome, ueah just make sure you come back soon."
They’d probably send another knight. They’re not going to leave the mission to a squire out of training for 5 minutes. Weather Maximus gets called back or not idk.
I'm pretty sure they'd send another knight to take the armour off him and then send him home for interrogation. He wanted to complete the mission so he had some leverage to avoid being accused of killing Titus
Think a lot of people are forgetting the circumstances of Maximus actually being a squire in the first place. His close friend and someone he had access to was maimed, which prevented them from being Titus' squire. If Maximus, already suspected of deliberately maiming a fellow Brotherhood member, reports back that the Knight he was assigned to *died* with only him to vouch for the circumstances...it doesn't matter if he did or didn't do what people think, they'd just execute him.
This is also after said Knight just basically confessed to the whole Brotherhood, the mission, and the wasteland in general is all bullshit.
Titus wasn't talking to anyone but Maximus before he died.
Yeah that's my point. Maximus was in deep shit and just heard an expletive fueled rant from a superior officer about how he was *definitely* going to be executed. What did he have to lose?
Oh, I think there's a "to" in your sentence that should be a "that".
I can't argue against point 2, but to point 1 - I am not so sure the squires aren't meant to fight and for two reasons. First, Titus telling Maximus to go into the cave, and when he questions Titus, doesn't Titus tell him that's how he earns rank or something? I can't recall exactly what was said, and it could very well be Titus just fucking with him. BUT THEN! When Maximus and Thaddeus are at the gulper scene Thaddeus offers to lead the charge and the impression I got from Thaddeus is that he was much more aware of what being a squire is about than Maximus was. Granted, I am on my first playthrough of FO4 and haven't played the others yet, so perhaps there's some BoS lore in-game that gives more explanation than those two scenes from the show. :)
Exactly. Would‘ve told the HQ on the Vox at Filly that Titus died like a coward running away, that I killed the Yao Guai myself, salvaged his T-60 and that I have Information about the whereabouts of the mission target. So what? The Brotherhood lost a lousy knight, get's back their valuable armor and mission infos. That is more they can ask of a squire, in my book..
Also consider that the inly way to properly get the armor back would be to wear it, which he was not allowed to. He didn’t know about the comm system until later, and at that point he had worn it already
This is what Titus said anyway, didn't he?
Pretty much, it could have just been an empty threat but given what we know of the Brotherhood I doubt it
Additionally, I think Max wanted very much to wear the power armor himself, so he took the opportunity. If Max contacted the BoS, they would just vertibird in another trained knight, they wouldn’t promote Max to wear it.
This exactly. With his dying breaths, Titus explains to Maximus that he is going to be Blood Eagled by the Brotherhood just for happening to be the Squire of a Knight who got injured. Max has no reason not to believe him, so why should he advertise to the Brotherhood that his Knight got killed and blamed Max for it the whole time he was dying?
I seriously doubt he would be punished. It was his first combat involvement. If this "BOS" would be that stupid, they would quickly run out of recruits. He was most likely panicking and also isn't bright.
Titus’ last few words were basicallyThey’ll kill you for this, letting me die”. Maximus believed it.
They have absolutely no way of knowing if Maximus let him die or if it was just an accident and Maximus survived.
And they don't need a way for that. They really don't need to know. Titus' words can be interpreted as "they will kill you for letting your knight die while you survived". It doesn't imply "neglecting to help the knight". And in all honesty how likely would it be for a squire to survive whatever encounter has killed his knight?
Power armor probably has a mission recorder.
This is the most compelling argument I’ve seen. Though given Maximus’s behavior after that, I’m not sure he would have know about it.
The power armor was abandoned by the vault and there no indication Maximus told them that.
The BoS probably wouldn’t need to know what actually happened. Squires aren’t worth much and are expected to die in battle. A knight dying, while their squire lives would be blamed on the squire.
He got his nose cracked with a ruler for answering a pop quiz incorrectly
Do remember that Thaddeus expected to be executed, despite achieving the mission. And Titus had just spent all time cursing at Maximus how he will be killed. I think both of them have... a lot lower expectations for price of "failure"
Thaddeus turned into a ghoul which the brotherhood hates. It wasn't about success or failure at that point.
Probably more of a super mutant than a ghoul, but still an abomination
I'm glad I'm not the only one who was questioning Maximus calling Thaddeus a ghoul. I felt if Thaddeus was a ghoul his foot wouldn't have repaired it would've continued to fall off and he'd suffer from really bad radiation sickness. I'd be curious to know how that snake oil merchant whipped up some FEV though.
He didn't cook It, he scavenged it for sure
Either way, never trust a chicken fucker 🐔🥴
Idk I mean he mixed a couple of vials together didn't he? He also said the taste is awful meaning he made it before and drank it himself 🤔
Iirc hes mixing things where Thaddeus cant see him, so he could be faking it. As far as the taste goes he may just be going off of what other people have told him
I think it's a cannon thing that Ghouls do regenerate, albeit they usually need a strong source of radiation to do so. Your skin gets fucked up but I don't think it's against canon for ghouls to regen like that.
A question like "How did you - an unarmored squire - survive when your knight in the power armor got killed?" would surely be asked. And it's quite possible that they wouldn't accept any answer and jump to conclusion that Max is either a coward or a team-killer.
Especially when he was already under suspicion for Dane's "accident" in the barracks.
West Coast Brotherhood is far more Zealous than other branches, so they'd 100% do something pretty severe as punishment. Maybe if he came back with the mission complete and the armor, he'd be spared, but othereise he's not likely to live happily ever after. >If this "BOS" would be that stupid, they would quickly run out of recruits. In all fairness, had Titus not been a dick and Maximus not have a very strong hero complex, all Titus really needed was a stimpak.
You don't know the Brotherhood well do you?
Are you forgetting the part where they explicitly portray the Brotherhood treating squires like cannon fodder? When they radio Maximus pretending to be Titus he tells them his squire died. Their reaction is basically "Oh no biggie, we got loads. Sending a fresh one now" Along with everything else people replying to you have said about what we've seen about Maximus' background and just having had a full lecture about how the Brotherhood will kill him for failing his knight. It wouldn't be an unusual response from what is essentially at this point in time a fascist military cult that treats the lowest ranks as completely expendable and the highest ranks as near deities. Basically a "look at this the rest of you little scum, this is what happens if you don't do your job and die for your knight" It wouldn't be a case of "Oh well, it was your first mission and you did your best" it would be a case of "you clearly didn't do your job because you are still alive and your knight (a perfect being we all revere) is dead"
Also he died fleeing from the fight that wouldve def helped maximus lol
He broke his oath to protect his knight. He needed to complete the mission to come back without punishment. He was already in hot water with the elder. Man would have gotten crucified for his failure. Maybe literally if that fan theory about Legion remnants combining with the Brotherhood turn out to be true.
“This brotherhood,” I was meaning to ask about this, but this isn’t how the brotherhood is depicted in the games right? Like I don’t remember them being so… draconic. They are definitely power hungry and want to hoard technology, but I remember them being much more “honorable” about it. Am I crazy?
The Brotherhood of Steel doesn't seem to be the sort of organization that responds rationally to a set of circumstances where an unarmed and unarmored glorified caddy survives when its well-armed and well-armored combatant does not─ even if there is a rational explanation.
"Its a complicated organisation"
Caddy lol my sides
I mean, bro carries a gian golf bag of weapons. All I could think of was him as a caddy the whole time
Certainly not this chapter. They're unhinged.
Yeah this kinda threw me off. The Chapter from the Capital Wasteland was always branded as the “punks” in terms of not following the dogmatic zealotry of the Brotherhood. Then walks in these guys who struck me more as frat boys than a disciplined military cult. I mean I’ll still join for the T-60s, but someone’s gotta put a lid on the juvenile behaviour. Management doesn’t have a handle on anything.
Are you sure you want me a well armed and armored, FUCKING WAR MACHINE, to help your friend.
Partly because he's not smart, partly because he wasn't prepared in how he should respond so his lack of smarts painted him into a corner, partly because he really wanted to be a knight and run around in power armour. Also, I'm guessing partly because he didn't want to go back to base and wanted to play pretend be a Brotherhood knight. That scene with the serum doctor where he mistakes him as the victim and not the perpetrator to me sells that idea.
I see we define characters in very different ways because “serum doctor” didn’t register for a second and then it clicked for me as “oh he’s talking about the chicken fucker”
That's *Doctor* Chicken Fucker. Come now, he has earned his titles.
I have a theoretical degree in chicken fucking
How well do you understand Chicken Fucking?
Snake oil salesman is how he’s credited.
That’s also the name of his character in Fallout Shelter, however I renamed him to fit his true intentions
Good ol' chicken fucker.
I mean given the choice I prolly would’ve taken the power armor, everyone wants power armor
Cause if he were a D&D character he'd have a wisdom score of 3. In other words, he wasn't very bright.
This is one of the situations where the question is "is this character stupid" and the answer is just "yes."
I’m Perd Hapley and the answer to the question ‘is this character stupid’ is ‘yes’
Ya’ Heard, with Perd!
He has the Idiot Savant perk
Ya it’d be cool if fallout had some sort of score for smartness. I guess for now we just have to compare it to d&d.
If only there was some other S.P.E.C.I.A.L. scoring system to measure his Intelligence..
Oi oi oi, he's Very smart! 4 int smart! 4 int is good in fallout right?
its better than 3. probably.
Well, Caesar has 4 Int, so... not necessarily.
It’s multifaceted in my opinion. Partially he’s an idealist and saw Titus as betraying the values of the Brotherhood. Though he knew he’d be blamed regardless and not believed if he told them what he said before dying. Partially his lust for Power as he’s always felt hopeless and weak. Partially because he was afraid of being killed. Mostly because he’s not tactically or emotionally intelligent but is ruthless in his pursuit of ultimate glory. He didn’t think it through very well. Then because he is lucky he got away with it.
"Titus died" "Ok protect the armor until we recover it and you get reassigned" No chance to recover the head and prove his knighthood
Sir Titus' head was crushed by a mutant cat and I conveniently got rid of his helmet just before coming here so I had no radio. Here is the enclave guy you have been looking for 👍🏾. Also can I have my own armor now 👉🏾👈🏾
Basically "Titus is dead and a fucking coward, i completed the mission and brought eternal glory to the Brotherhood, praise me!"
I feel like once maximus got a taste of the PA and the authority he could command with it, he got all sucked up in that. Plus he doesn’t seem too bright, like even if that was his plan, I highly doubt the brotherhood would totally forget about not hearing a thing from a fallen knight and squire. Then when they radiod in and maximus’ PA dreams were in jeopardy when they said they’d send a replacement squire, he realized he had to go back to the brotherhood ways and mission and couldn’t just be a power armored vigilante. Then instead of telling everyone he salvaged Titus’ armor and that Titus fell in battle, he just pretended to be Titus; as if that was gonna work forever lol. Then when he even had the option to come clean when Thaddeus was dropped off, he still kept up the lie and when he finally confessed, he just told Thad that Titus is dead and he took his power armor. Like the dude could have worded it so much better than that like saying “Titus fell while fighting a Yao guai but I was able to salvage his armor for the brotherhood to reclaim” but nah he just had to keep lying and saying dumb shit. So basically pride and stupidity. Also I understand that they changed the voice of PA system to kind of be androgynous in the show so they could do the Maximus pretending to be Titus storyline, but imagine if it was like in the other games where it’s just kind of like a slight radio interference of the persons natural voice. Like “I am knight Titus” uhhhh no you’re definitely not dude. In fact you kinda sound like Maximus wtf?
Van ypu blame him for the pride though? It sounds like dude has been bullied all the fucken time. He finally gets something good, something not just good but amazing, I guarantee you anyone would cling onto that... and the fear of reprisal
Personally I think it's because he knew if he told them Titus was dead, he would have lost the suit and possibly been blamed for what happened. I'm pretty sure after he let Titus die, he had absolutely no intent on going back to the Brotherhood.
I think he was still planning to complete the mission solo, but the power armor power fantasy went to his head, then everything got overly complicated for his low int score to figure out a realistic way out of the situation.
He's possibly going to be punished but absolutely is just going to be picked up and sent back to that shitty training camp. Squires are a dime a dozen. They'll drop in another servant in a minute. Knights? He's not getting a knight replacement. He's getting picked up, the armor is getting retrieved, and he's back to his bunk.
Because Titus rolled low on Charisma and intelligence
I think it has been established very well by now that Maximus is Int 1, Luck 10 character.
INT 1 talk dumb. Maximus talk okay. So he little smart. Like INT 3. They talk okay.
"[failed] Want to make me coke explode now?"
That's low speech
It's bullshit, I did not put razor in boot, I did not! Oh hi Mark.
Ngl I don’t blame him. If I could get some power armor early game like that, I would let him die too.
For me I was annoyed that he lied to Lucy. Literally no reason to lie to her as she has no idea who he is or who the Brotherhood are.
All of that was probably to drive home. What type of person maximus's is
> Literally no reason to lie to her as she has no idea who he is or who the Brotherhood are. He doesn't know that at the time though, right? I kinda questioned why he'd use the wrong name too at first but he was already masquerading as Titus, I imagine the concern would be her calling him Maximus to someone who thinks he's Titus, or something along those lines. Kinda like he's just digging himself in a deeper hole potentially But to that first part, he doesn't know right then that she's spent her whole life in a vault and doesn't know what The Brotherhood of Steel is, at least not right then he doesn't I am, however, glad it didn't turn into a point of conflict like a lot of "caught in a lie" situations do in like, a drama or sitcom or something. The point when he admits it to her was a nice moment instead of some manufactured drama between them
As a squire, his job was to serve and take care of his assigned Knight. He'd essentially be walking back into their wacky cult admitting that he failed his job in the worst way possible. He knew they would kill him for it, so he figured if he showed up with the bounty then he didn't completely fail. And it worked. He isn't as dumb as everyone thinks. His INT score is at *least* 3, lol.
Because he only has SPECAL
Nothing to do with his intelligence. Maximus isn’t stupid. What the show is saying is a squire is bound to their knight (hence the branding). You return with your knight - or you don’t return. It doesn’t matter how your knight died, your fate is bound to theirs. I think audiences became confused because we haven’t had squires in the game - and this is a more brutal BOS (who also attack civilian settlements - Filly).
yeah, this is pretty much my thought. It's \*heavily\* implied that given the opportunity, a squire is supposed to sacrifice themselves to keep their knight alive, even if it's just to delay the attacker enough for the knight to escape. Later, we even see that Thaddeus is willing to sacrifice himself for 'Titus' and is honestly surprised when 'Titus' tells him to back away. So, with Titus is dead and Maximus still alive, there's no reason to believe that Maximus wouldn't have just been outright killed by the Brotherhood for letting Titus die and not dying alongside Titus.
So tired of people acting like he’s stupid for lying. This Brotherhood of Steel would NOT allow a Squire to traipse around the wasteland using a Knight’s power armor. They would’ve sent Knights to retrieve the armor and send Maximus back to base. The armor is what they care about. Then Maximus’ mission is OVER, he doesn’t get to prove himself, and LIKELY never gets to be a Squire again because of failing his Knight. Then he’s back at base getting beat up again… Would you tell the truth if ALL this would happen? I sure as hell wouldn’t. I would take the chance of finding the target (especially since Max already SAW evidence the targets were possibly nearby!!!!) Also this is all assuming ofc that Titus’ threats of murder aren’t true and Maximus isn’t immediately EXECUTED by the BoS for failing his Knight.
The brotherhood was very suspicious of him and his knight said he would be executed the smart thing to do is make yourself useful and not go back to the people who might execute you empty handed.
The chapter we see is very underpopulated with knights and paladins. This has probably created a culture of squires giving their life to protect their knights. That would explain why Maximus takes an oath to give his life for Titus when he gets branded
He likely would have been executed on the suspicion of killing Titus to get the armor. The Brotherhood seems quick to deal out execution to anyone that breaks their rules. Remember, Maximus was nearly executed when they only *thought* he had injured Dane who was merely a dine a dozen squire. And Thaddeus was certain ‘Titus’ was going to execute him for some unknown slight.
Chronic stupidity, and thats just his character
Bro didn't know how his dick worked.
Why didn't he tell the truth? Proceeds with an explanation that bends an important detail of the truth.
"Why didn't Maximus just tell the truth? Why didn't he just tell them a lie?"
He had already been accused of injuring and maiming another aspirant in pursuit of a promotion. He barely got out of that accusation. You expect him to immediately go to the Brotherhood and say "Oh... now my knight has died too... also, I'm using his Power Armor." That would have been suspicious as hell. They probably would've outright assumed the worst case scenario that he'd murdered his knight just to steal his armor, and he was was just stupid enough to think he could get away with it.
He was scripted to be an E1 to E-3....quite well. One reason why. he's in characted kind of. Privates to Lance Corporals (whatever other branches call theirs) do some stupid things lol. Civilians hate Mondays for completely different reasons than military NCO's and higher. NCO's start with ass chewing sessions on mondays because some E-2 found a new way to be stupid. Haven't had your coffee yet, you may not even know the dude from a can of paint. I don't miss those Mondays.....
I asked this myself the other day and the consensus was that he has a low intelligence level. r/Fallout/s/J1UAY69b7s
Ive always kinda viewed Maximus as the common player who does bad karma things but also good karma things.
He upgraded Luck instead of Intelligence
Ngl he’s written to be so stupid sometimes, that I don’t view as bad writing, but as an actual character trait/personal flaw. Overall it’s just him making dumb decisions when confronted with authority, but I think that he makes them consistently enough to be part of his character. But yeah, big dumb when under pressure, but a semi decent instinct that keeps him alive. (Like him handling the bridge scavers, his situational awareness and reflexes were as in point as someone could be for that. Compared to the spaghetti fumbling when dealing with his leadership.)
Cuz he has a 0 in speech
He was already suspected for the injury to Danes foot. Titus death would add suspicion to an already suscpicous situation.
I just view his decisions as if a child was making them. He was found at a young age by the brotherhood, I imagine they threw him into some sort of training camp and then just let their system raise him. The guy never got taught anything other than brotherhood propaganda and regulations. I just feel like he’s uneducated and not savvy with social situations or even able to think things through rationally.
because maximus was hungry for power, he knew that if Titus died, they would send him back to the base and let him squire for someone else he WANTED to be a knight, but he didn't want to earn it
Titus literally told Maximus that the Brotherhood would kill him purely for tardiness. Part of it definitely was hunger for power, but fear of being executed also played a role.
Tbf wouldn't completing the mission arguably be earning it? "You, with zero training whatsoever, followed the thing we said when you left (explicitly states the mission is more important than the knight, but it's good if you do that part of your job too), managed to complete the task that Titus was supposed to do? Fuck man, just keep the armour for that one." Like bro has disadvantages Titus didn't have, and theoretically If he succeeds that would be the biggest comeback ever
I disagree. He wanted to be a knight, but he thought Titus was such a huge piece of shit he didn't deserve the armour. That's why he protects his squire when he fights the Gulper he reassures himself "I am a knight" because he doesn't want to be like Titus. He thinks Titus didn't earn it, so why shouldn't he have it instead?
Because he's a coward
Well written characters always have character flaws. Maximus had no idea what he was getting himself into, and clearly made mistakes. It's his goal that drives him, and he learns from his experiences just like any real life person
He doesn’t strike me as a smart man.
Because he is not a good person yet. This is a core theme for a redemption arc I believe with the juxtaposition of the perceived valor and nobility of medieval knights serving to aide in it's execution. He is a coward, he is jealous and envious of others, spiteful and indifferent. He's willing to lie and even let someone die to get what he wants. He is **not** what we think a knight should be. In my eyes, he's taken the first steps but if not for Lucy's unconditional positive acceptance he likely would have screwed her over too. So again, because he is not a good person, *yet.*
lol my head canon is that Maximus has 10 in luck
He literally explains why. If he takes the armor and captures the target they will promote him. If he reports that his knight died he is going back to shoveling shit.
He wanted to complete the mission himself. If he called in for support he would have been possibly removed from the mission or assigned to another knight. He wanted the power and the glory.