Lucy MacLean is the primary protagonist of Fallout. She was a resident of Vault 33, one of the three interconnected vaults that were home to humans who had taken shelter after the surface of the planet was riddled with nuclear bombs. She lived with her father, Overseer Hank, and her brother, Norm. Her mother, Rose, had apparently died at a very young age. Lucy had lived a pretty protected life, and she was under the impression that the people in the vaults were preparing for a future where they’d repopulate the planet and make things normal again. But her worldview changed when Moldaver and her team of Raiders attacked the vaults and abducted her father. This prompted her to leave the comfort of her vault and venture out into the wastelands to rescue Hank. Of course, various kinds of mutated humans and animals were waiting for her. However, those paled in comparison to the truth of Hank MacLean.
Spoiler Alert
Was Lucy MacLean nice to a fault?
Lucy hadn’t faced any kind of conflict in Fallout until Moldaver arrived. That’s why she believed that anything could be solved by talking nicely. She came across a thirsty man living in an abandoned house and offered him water, assuming that he’d just have a sip and give back the bottle to her. But the man drank it all, thereby leaving Lucy to have access to no water (because everything on the surface was irradiated) for 80 percent of her journey. She started to desensitize herself when she had to behead Dr. Siggi Wilzig. When she came across Cooper Howard (The Ghoul), she tried to reason with him. And she was almost forced to part ways with her organs for that. Still, she didn’t let Cooper die and gave him the potion that he needed so as to avoid becoming a feral zombie. I think it was her companionship with Maximus and the way the people of Vault 4 treated her that caused her to see things from a nuanced perspective. She learned that even though people can look freaky, they’re probably striving towards a better future, and even though somebody has lied, if it’s not a harmful one, it’s okay to give them a pass.
What Did Lucy MacLean Learn About Hank MacLean and Shady Sands?
As mentioned before, Lucy faced her hardest battle when it was revealed that her father wasn’t a vault-dweller. He was one of the capitalist orchestrators of the nuclear wipeout of 2077 in Fallout. He was technically 200 years old. Apparently, when Lucy was a kid, her mother figured out that the Vault-Tec were lying to them about Earth not being habitable. She discovered Shady Sands and the people living there peacefully. So, she took her kids and went there to live freely. However, since that went against Hank’s agenda, he obliterated Shady Sands, left Rose to her fate (she became a Ghoul), and then raised Lucy and Norm in the vaults. This went against everything that Lucy knew about her own father. Technically, she wasn’t supposed to trust this information since it was coming from the woman who was painted as “the enemy,” i.e., Moldaver. So she completely froze at that moment. I think that whole revelation finally motivated her to never categorize things into black and white and then hope for the best outcome. Thanks to her own father, she learned that the truth can be distorted and reaching a conclusion can be difficult because of the emotions at play.
How Did Lucy MacLean Evolve as a Character?
Lucy’s naivete and innocence stemmed from her privilege. It was something she was born into. But the good thing about it was that she wasn’t arrogant about it or discriminatory in nature (unlike most people who are born into privilege), and that’s something that nepo-kids and folks with generational wealth can learn. When she heard that Vault 4 was accepting outsiders, she was happy because she didn’t like the fact that Vaults 31, 32, and 33 were closed to surface dwellers. It’s easy for a privileged person to appear kind when they are in their comfort zone (there’s a line in Parasite that addresses this aspect). However, when you are thrown into the deep end, and you can still offer kindness to the worst of the worst, that’s what makes or breaks a character. In my opinion, Lucy passed with flying colors in that aspect. Of course, it remains to be seen whether she’ll be able to hold onto her core values when she reunites with her genocidal father in Fallout Season 2.
