Keeping Up With Mr. House — Fallout’s Newest Player
Somehow, the House always wins.
The introduction of Mr. Robert House in Fallout Season 2 perfectly sets the tone for the Wasteland’s newest power player. After purposely angering three working-class patrons at a watering hole far below his tax bracket, House lures the trio outside, manipulating them into becoming expendable subjects for his latest scientific breakthrough in progress. It all ends brutally, fitting of the Fallout universe, establishing how this tech genius and business mogul sees the world and operates within it.
Since the end of Fallout’s first season, we knew that our heroes (and rogues) would be passing through the city of New Vegas. What we didn’t know was how the show would handle everything that could have happened in the City of Sin since we last explored it. Luckily, the show wastes no time establishing the very man responsible for the glitzy crown jewel of the Mojave, giving us ample time to piece it all together.
Who Is Mr. House?
Mr. House, as he appears in 2010’s Fallout: New Vegas.
Mr. House was first introduced in 2010’s Fallout: New Vegas. Just a few short hours into the game’s main quest, players meet him in the flesh (well, sort of, as he’s presented as a supercomputer with a consciousness).
It’s established that he’s the founder of RobCo Industries and the all-seeing ruler of the great city, one who’s managed to be there since the very beginning. Players learn all of this by happenstance, as what starts out as a simple quest for revenge quickly spins out into a factional free-for-all between House and the ruling parties of the Mojave Wasteland for the titular city.
The main plot of Fallout: New Vegas puts players in the middle of this power struggle. Players decide if they’d like to side with the fascist Caesar’s Legion, the idealistic New California Republic, a rogue AI in the Yes Man in favor of independence, or leave House in power to maintain the delicate balance he’s kept through the centuries.
While I’ll avoid spoiling some of the freakiest reveals of the game, players can converse with House and uncover the truth behind how he amassed power and maintained it after all this time. House grew up in Vegas during the early 21st century. Losing his parents at a young age, the prodigious orphan overcame tragedy, earning top marks in college before becoming the mind behind the largest and most influential tech corporation in human history.
The resume made him a villain to the working class whose jobs were replaced by House’s wondrous automatons. But it also earned him influence and favor with the rich and powerful, as well as a seat at Vault-Tec’s Illuminati-like table. While we don’t know the details leading up to it, we learn in New Vegas that House managed to predict when the bombs would drop by a small enough margin to give him a head start on the desperate, post-apocalyptic times to come.
What Happens To Mr. House In Fallout: New Vegas?
Lucy Maclean heads to New Vegas.
The player’s potential final encounter with House represents some of the creepiest, most out-there twists in the series, one that I implore fans to experience for themselves. That being said, the character’s fate is placed in the hands of the player.
By the end of the game, players can decide to side with one of the four previously mentioned factions. For players who side with the New California Republic, you’re ordered to eliminate House from the picture, clearing the way for the faction to seize control of the city at the expense of the city’s independent glamor.
Players who decide to callously side with the Legion are also ordered to eliminate House, though their motivations are less political and more about their anti-technology ideology. If you’re someone who exploits the Yes Man AI to reject both of these factions, players eliminate House and essentially take House’s place in the process.
In fact, the only way House survives the ending of New Vegas is if players side with him. This ending sees players upgrading their security, eliminating the other factions, and maintaining control of this precious city.
Obviously, this choose-your-own-adventure style outcome isn’t an ideal jumping-off point for a serialized slice of media set 15 years after these lore-altering events. But Fallout Season 2 manages to continue the series' overarching narrative without making any of these endings the definitive canon.
Where Does That Leave Us In The Show?
When we see Mr. House in the first episode of Season 2, the scene takes place pre-war. We’re introduced to a brilliant and maniacal power player who was as instrumental in shaping the political landscape that leads up to the bombs dropping by Hank McLean and Barbara Howard. It’s clear that we’ll get a front-row look at how House set himself up for success, seemingly better than anyone else who was in on Vault-Tec’s devious plan for reshaping the world.
Which leaves the other big question up in the air: is Mr. House still alive? This early on in the season, it hasn’t been revealed. But while his potential appearance in the post-war timeline suggests that the ending that sees House retaining control is canon, I’m hesitant to do so. Of all the characters in the Fallout universe, House is one of the few crafty enough to pull off a Palpatine-level swerve, subverting the demise we all thought we facilitated.
Mr. House is one of the most compelling parts of Fallout’s second season, one that we can’t wait to learn more about as the show’s sophomore run continues.
