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Villains in Fallout are particularly interesting, taking inspiration from past events or history to influence the wasteland in a way most would find inexcusable. These characters range from comically evil to morally grey, which makes defeating them all the more satisfying. From wannabe mob bosses to mutant psychos, here are the 10 best villains in the Fallout franchise.
10 Kellogg (Fallout 4)
Kellogg is one of the first antagonists players will encounter in Fallout 4. He is set up to be the main villain of the story, but it is quickly revealed he is a pawn in a much larger game.
He kills your significant other and steals your kid while you are stuck in a cryopod. Kellogg then taunts you for most of the first act once you find him. He seems purely evil until you realize that he is filled with Institute augments and is being used as a hired gun. Few villains in Fallout have caused so much intensely personal anguish for the main antagonist so quickly.
9 Gizmo (Fallout)
Gizmo is arguably the least powerful villain on this list, but he is one of the most twisted individuals in Fallout history. This wannabe mob boss owns a casino in Junktown, one of the game’s earlier hub areas.
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All Gizmo wants is for his business to prosper. Exploiting people is what Gizmo loves to do, but the mayor is having none of it. Instead of making compromises with the town’s mayor, however, Gizmo wants you to kill him. He has no hesitation asking you to do so, and Gizmo becomes hostile if the player declines. Funnily enough, siding with Gizmo in the retail version results in Junktown prospering. Fans were so mad with this design choice that Black Isle changed this to give the bad ending in a post-launch patch.
8 Allistair Tenpenny (Fallout 3)
Some of the best villains in video games get players to sympathize with their actions, making them rethink their previous actions. Not Allistair Tenpenny. Sometimes, having a comically evil villain is just as fun to experience.
Allistair is a powerful man that owns Tenpenny Tower, a large hotel at the edges of the Capital Wasteland. He wants the scrapyard town of Megaton to be destroyed by having the town’s bomb detonate, killing every inhabitant and permanently scarring the landscape. Why? Because he wants a better view of the wasteland from his balcony. It’s as fun to actually work for this delusional old man as it is to kill him.
7 Dick Richardson (Fallout 2)
Vault-Tec is one of the largest antagonists in the Fallout franchise. This company is responsible for experimenting on millions of people residing in fallout shelters called Vaults. These experiments ranged from malfunctioning parts to sacrificial rituals.
President Richardson is the President of the United States and one of the antagonists in Fallout 2. This man is responsible for much more cruelty than even Vault-Tec could dish out, creating and spreading the F.E.V. virus across America. This virus kills any person that has not been inoculated to the virus, effectively killing every human across the globe. He thinks it’ll let true humans take back the world, but it will result in the death of everything.
6 John Henry Eden (Fallout 3)
Everyone who has played Fallout 3 will know of John Henry Eden. His EYE bots roam the wasteland endlessly, preaching of core American values and how Eden will bring that back. His plan? To infect the water supply that Project Purity is meant to purify.
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This will result in all heavily-irradiated humans and mutants dying after consuming the water, leaving only “pure” humans alive to rebuild the nation. Unlike Dick Richardson, John Henry Eden is interested in keeping humanity alive as long as they haven’t been exposed to extensive radiation. Taking his advice and infecting the water results in an altered ending to Fallout 3 and alters the post-game with Broken Steel. It turns out infecting the water supply in a wasteland filled with irradiated humans kills almost everyone.
5 Elijah (New Vegas)
Intelligent and sadistic in equal measure, Father Elijah is an ex-Brotherhood of Steel member and the main antagonist of the Dead Money DLC for Fallout: New Vegas.
Elijah’s fascination with the Sierre Madre and its hidden vault drives his cruel intentions. He plants explosive collars on victims, makes them fight through the toxic cloud that looms over the region, all while Elijah insults those that he controls. Few things are as satisfying as locking this deranged villain in the vault he so desperately wanted access to.
4 Frank Horrigan (Fallout 2)
Most wouldn’t assume that the Enclave would work with mutant super-soldiers, but that is exactly what Frank Horrigan is. This terrifying villain stumbles across the player throughout Fallout 2, killing anything that moves with ruthless efficiency.
Horrigan is the best example of brawn over brain. He never questions his orders and does anything the Enclave or President wants without any hesitation. He might not persuade you to work with the Enclave using a silver tongue, but he doesn’t need to. His hands are enough to rip even Deathclaws in half. This makes for a tough final boss in Fallout 2, and a memorable one at that.
3 Doctor Mobius (New Vegas)
Old World Blues is one of the best DLCs ever created for Fallout. As Fallout: New Vegas’s third DLC, it introduced the memorable setting of Big MT and the Think Tank scientists that inhabit it.
Doctor Mobius is portrayed as the main antagonist of this DLC. His frustration with the other scientists results in Mobius releasing hundreds of Robo-scorpions while rambling on the intercom about his Mentat addiction. It turns out he is the main reason the other scientists haven’t abducted more people in the Mojave and experimented on them. He seems comically evil on the surface, but he’s a nice scientist once you get past his army of Robo-scorpions.
2 Caesar (New Vegas)
You can’t talk about Fallout villains without mentioning Caesar. As the leader Caesar’s Legion in New Vegas, Caesar’s pragmatic yet harsh approach to rebuilding society has converted many players into fighting for his cause.
On the surface, Caesar’s Legion is a brutal Roman-themed ripoff that is entirely masochistic. In reality, they imitate Rome’s culture to keep the wasteland safe. Regions controlled by the Legion are safer than anywhere else in America. He lacks the muscle to lead his men into battle, but the sheer intelligence of Caesar is enough to inspire his army and players alike.
1 The Master (Fallout)
It couldn’t have been anyone else. The Master is the main antagonist of the original Fallout that is obsessed with creating the “master” race. This involves “dipping” humans into an F.E.V vat to turn them into mutants.
The Master’s obsession with science and preserving humanity makes his bizarre and cruel methods even more intriguing. Fighting him head-on is tough for virtually every build except those with high speech. The Master can actually be convinced that what he’s doing is wrong—something every subsequent Fallout game has practically abandoned. If you prove to him that his “master” race of mutants won’t last, he’ll kill himself after realizing how insane he’s become. That’s a commitment to morals that no villain on this list can match.
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