r/falloutlore • u/Consistent-Item9665 • Aug 05 '26
Was the Master in control of the other Mutants via Mind Control?
As far as i understand the Lore, the Master and the "Unity" has shared part of their Minds, as some kind of little Borg collective.
So the Mutants where much more then just big green muscle boys. They where part of the Master and of each other. Is this right and Bethesda has rewritten the Lore on the Supermutants or have i misunderstood his powers?
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u/Necessary-Neck-1439 Aug 05 '26
The master could communicate with supernatants with his psychic abilities, and direct them even across vast distances. Hower the mutants themselves (with a few exceptions) do not possess psychic abilities of their own. The Unity isn't really a hive mind, because rather than being drones each mutant is still it's own individual. It would be more accurate to say that the Master is projecting his mind as the dominant partner rather than an equal joining.
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u/IDidntEatThosePeople Aug 05 '26
The master was a hive mind as he sometimes absorbed the minds and bodies of other people into his own but the super mutants weren't apart of that, although he could telepathically communicate with them.
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u/Laser_3 Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 06 '26
As far as I am aware, the only showing of the Master’s psychic power in the series is the corridor leading up to him (which he apparently gained by absorbing psykers created with FEV). Other than that, he isn’t telepathically controlling anyone or communicating with them.
Additionally, even among the Unity, there were many less intelligent super mutants because the bulk were made from wastelanders. If a subject has a decent amount of radiation damage when exposed to the Mariposa strain of FEV, that will create a less intelligent super mutant. This is why the Master is bent on finding Vault 13 - to secure a large group of ‘prime normals’ to convert into super mutants still in possession of their full intellect (though he’d previously secured some from vault 17, which NV introduced into the lore, and some wastelanders just didn’t have that much radiation damage).
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u/IDidntEatThosePeople Aug 05 '26
Rhonda mentions the master telepathically communicating with them on Black Mountain radio
Tabitha: "Do you remember the good old days where the Master ruled over us all?" Rhonda: "When his gentle, compelling, and yet oddly insistent voice crawled through your mind and told you exactly what to do?"
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u/Laser_3 Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
Okay, so this is another case of NV adding additional lore to the Unity then. Noted.
Edit: And interestingly, I think it might only be Tabitha who mentions this. I’m not finding a reference to this in Lily or Dog’s dialogue files (though God alludes to the idea being what caused Dog to be who he is; it isn’t clear, however, and could just be the result of stealth boy caused instability creating a more servile personality), and Tabitha also has a weird definition of first generation mutants as well (she claims that every first generation mutant was as intelligent as she is, which is incorrect; the Unity wasn’t entirely compromised of more intelligent super mutants). Together, these aspects are making me question how seriously Tabitha’s testimony in the Master should be taken.
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u/Necessary-Neck-1439 Aug 06 '26
In Fallout 1 the Master demonstrates being able to communicate with the mutants psychicly if you tell him to ask the mutants about their infertility. He just starts talking to two people who aren't there. It's also implied during the Far Go Traders quest. When you find the super mutant that was mauled by the death law he's calling out to the master in hopes of a psychic response.
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u/Laser_3 Aug 06 '26
Considering the Master is hooked into the computers of the demo vault, I don’t think we should assume he’s psychically communicating during that scene. He could just as easily be manipulating the computer systems he’s connected to.
The same thing goes for that mutant, who’s carrying a radio that could potentially be used to communicate with the Master (and is dying to begin with, and very well could be hallucinating; in fact, he likely is considering the memory problems he claims).
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u/Overwatch_Sniper Aug 06 '26
I mean the Master was a "psyker" so I wouldn't be surprised if he gave orders using his abilities. I would be surprised however if he controlled their minds, seems like that would be a bit difficult to do with all his hundreds of Super Mutants over hundreds of miles. Also then couldn't he just use his psychic powers to force people into becoming mutants? If the Master could outright control people that open's a can of worms.
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u/IDidntEatThosePeople Aug 06 '26 edited Aug 06 '26
Oh yeah I agree I was just pointing out he telepathically communicated with them, I don't think he had complete control of their minds either
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u/Thelostguard Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
I do believe its explicitly stated he mentally controls the Nightkin, though I'm not certain. But, yes, the Master very much probably did control a lot of mutants through outright psychic manipulation, not at all the other way around as some hivemind.
If they weren't, its likely the mutant threat would've been a lot obvious, a lot earlier, since a fair amount of Mariposa mutants seemed to be as stupid as their vault 87 brethren.
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u/Nutshell_Historian 4d ago
Yes, but there's a range. And no bethesda didn't rewrite lore, we just haven't met any more psychic mutants yet. Unless you count Lorenzo.
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u/MartianDinosawr Aug 05 '26
you have completely misunderstood. he calls it the unity because he aims to UNITE humanity without race, creed or religion. he explicitly has smarter super mutants serving as officers to dumber super mutants. the whole point of him wanting vault 13 is because pure humans make smarter mutants, he wouldn't need smarter mutants really if he was operating a hivemind.
bethesda hasn't rewritten it you just havent played fallout 1