The Brotherhood of Steel Needs a Reforging

Why RJ Writing Ink is Fed up With the Brotherhood of Steel

Everyone, I am officially done with the Brotherhood of Steel. They need to be born anew.

Two years ago, I wrote a piece on the history of the knightly order of the Fallout universe. I said how they started out as a group trying to preserve mankind’s knowledge and look out for the little guy. But over time, they started to forget about that latter part, caring more about gathering tech and hoarding it for themselves. And after one of the latest episodes of the tv series, I hit my breaking point along with Maximus. I was happy to see him leave with the cold fusion diode while the Brotherhood began to tear itself apart. Because the Brotherhood has lost its way, and it’s time for it to be reborn anew.

In one of the latest episodes of the Fallout TV series, Maximus hit his breaking point and turned his back on the Brotherhood of Steel, presumably for good. He was tired of the hypocrisy and racist elitism of the order, and when Dane chose to give him the cold fusion diode, he and Thaddeus ran and didn’t look back while the Brotherhood started tearing itself apart. And I doubt that I’m alone when I say that this might be the smartest decision Max has made so far. Because, let’s face it, the Brotherhood of Steel of the present day sucks!

I’m RJ Writing Ink, and if you’ll indulge me, I want to discuss why the Brotherhood Civil War might end up being a good thing for everyone. I know it contradicts what I said in my review of “Profligate,” but hear me out.

The Brotherhood has Forgotten its Other Purpose

To understand why the Brotherhood as we see in the show sucks, we need to understand its founder, Roger Maxson. He loyally served the USA as part of its army, and likely had to do things he wasn’t proud of in the wars that led up to the end of the world. But he did them because he thought he fighting for something good. But then he and his unit learned what the government was doing with the FEV, to POWs, and to their own people, and that loyalty dried up. He rightfully saw this as the government betraying the trust the people had placed in them, one of the ideals that America was built upon, so he and his group bailed. And when the Great War almost destroyed everything, he knew that the people who survived could tear themselves apart. He created the Brotherhood of Steel to do to save mankind’s knowledge so that, when the time came, it could be used to rebuild America as something better, and help people do so. But sometime after Maxson died, the Brotherhood forgot about the idea of helping others.

I made it no secret how the Brotherhood having cold fusion technology is a bad thing. They have something that could provide unlimited energy to the world, something that could have stopped the Resource Wars that led to nuclear armageddon, and what do they do with it? Try to turn it into a weapon that Quintus all but says they can use to rule the Wastelands. Max knew this, but stayed on in the hopes of effecting change from within. But then he saw how Xander was willing to kill those Ghoul children and stepped in to do the right thing, only for Quintus to brand him a heretic.

No Racism Should be Allowed!

The Brotherhood Codex considers anything like Ghouls and Super Mutants abominations because they know how dangerous they can be. Ghouls risk becoming feral over time, and anyone who’s played the games knows how violent Super Mutants can be. But neither outcomes are universal; there are plenty of friendly Ghouls and Super Mutants like there are humans. In that case, it’s more important to follow the spirit of the law rather than the letter. But the Brotherhood as an organization is so dead set in its ways, its not willing to be flexible. The steel has become brittle, and, if Roger Maxson were alive today, I think he would be disgusted seeing his brothers willing to kill kids.

And that’s why I think Maximus and Dane should be the ones to reform the Brotherhood into something better.

Max and Dane are the Leaders the Brotherhood Needs

In my eyes, Maximus is what the Brotherhood of Steel should be striving to be like. He’s compassionate, possesses a strong moral compass, and tries to do the right thing. The reason he never truly fit in with the Brotherhood is because the order had lost sight of its morals and became a group of self-serving brutes. His first knight was a coward who got himself mauled and tried to blame it on him even though he saved his life. Thaddeus left him for dead. And it’s clear that Quintus was emotionally manipulating him to do what he wanted. Except for Dane and the younger members, the Brotherhood of Steel sucked. But it doesn’t have to be like that anymore.

I doubt that the Brotherhood will fully collapse as a result of the civil war, as there will be survivors. Those survivors will either walk away from everything, or they can build the Brotherhood to be better than what it once was. I’m genuinely hoping that it’s the latter, and if that’s the case, then Max or Dane would be ideal candidates to lead them. They are willing to go against the rules in place if those rules go against their own morals, and while they make mistakes, the show makes it clear it wants us to take their side. Max is already more of a knight than anyone else in the Brotherhood, and Dane is pragmatic enough to make the hard choices for the good of everyone. If Dane makes it through the civil war, they can can Max and start a new brotherhood without the vices of the old. And like it or not, the Wasteland still has plenty of need for heroes and knights, including Max.

This just my honest opinion, though. What do you guys think?