@@banned2911 Also Richard kinda became fused to machinery while Harold became fused to a tree so they kinda took opposite paths in that regard too. If there's an afterlife in Fallout I hope they meet up again and share their stories with each other
@@onlyworstgamers696yes. I will say this when I played the first one as a kid I always liked Harold because of his humor. When I played 3 the first time and found him and completed the quest, I had to put him down, to me he was a friend that was suffering. Silly as it may be
If it was an option, I would gather up every scientist in the wasteland and have them modify the VR technology of Vault 112 to a form that Harold could use to allow him to spend the rest of his life in a virtual paradise of his own design.
I was about to say the same. Has to be one of the most extraordinary, tragic and beautiful stories in the whole Fallout verse. Whoever wrote that story is kind of a genius writer I think. Harold's story over time is epic. From a relatively humble civilian trader to a shunned mutant, then kind of accepted, that held the job of getting and maintaining clean water to an entire city. To a wanderer who then became stuck to the spot, becoming a reluctant demi God. With genuine demi God terraforming power. His life is a strange and tragic and beautiful story overall. Stories like that , are the best of Fallout I think. Just wish I'd actually seen this lore vid before I played through that quest years ago. I would of appreciated the quest a lot more I think. My decision was to give Harold the peace he wanted. No fire, a quick merciful death at his very heart. Is it me, or would this storyline alone make for a stand out ,quirky if not epic instalment of the verse, worthy of a great Fallout movie??.
@@colddaze6680 A movie, or a short mini-series perhaps. Especially if it covered ALL of his backstory, as having it in mini-series form could allow for the production crew and actors/actresses to do some justice to Harolds tale (As an aside "Harolds Tale" could work for a mini-series title perhaps.) It would also be interesting seeing his interactions with the "Vault Dweller" (Canonically Male), "The Chosen One" (Canonically hinted at as being Male, due to his interactions with the Bishop Family in New Reno), and finally "The Lone Wanderer".
Honestly. If the trees don't produce their own seeds then at the very list they'll encourage the growth of plants and such that do, and help make a purer (even if still tainted because radiation be hard to get rid of completely) ecosystem. They could transplant muttfruit trees and see how they do with a healthier environment than they've evolved for.
@@melodioussweetthecute5553 Now I want to revisit the capital wasteland but a few decades after 3 was set. It would be interesting to see how places like rivet city and megaton have changed (maybe with an option to say you nuked megaton in 3 so its gone/being rebuilt in the future)
*Paladin:* Hey, what's this mutant tree doing here? *Harold:* Don't mind me, boss. I'm just a normal tree. *Paladin:* Well, okay then. I guess I'll be-- (Beat) *Paladin:* Wait a minute... *Harold:* I'm waiting *Paladin:* You're not a normal tree at all! *Harold:* What gave it away? *Paladin:* Based on your size, you'd need a significantly higher proportion of leaves in order to capture enough solar energy to fuel photosynthesis! *Harold:* You're having a conversation with a talking tree, and that's the first thing you notice? I guess even power armor can't account for low perception. *Paladin:* Mutant filth! You must be eradicated! *Harold:* How about no? *Paladin:* No? But you're an unnatural organism blighting the wastes with your degeneracy! *Harold:* I also produce a vast majority of the fruit and produce used to fuel the local population and ensure the continued balance of the ecosystem. Without my vegetation, the surrounding wildlife will die out due to insufficient resources to sustain a class of herbivores. *Paladin:* ...yeah, but-- *Harold:* I also produce all of your alcoholic beverages *Paladin:* ...nothing to see here, move along *Scribe:* Did you lose an argument against a tree? *Paladin:* ...shut up
I chose to keep him alive in 3 as he truly was a force of change for the Wasteland, he really could bring it back to what it once was. At least you can talk him into not being depressed about it :(
I find it cool that no matter the life time, Harold in some way is improving the Wasteland. At first he becomes an amazing caravaneer, helping a town procure goods it needs to survive and even fearlessly goes to strike at its source. He helps end the segregation of Ghouls, makes a town a lot more friendlier with Ghouls and even helps both settlements and even while unintentionally, makes a decent chunk of the Capital Wasteland a lush and green paradise as well as a safe haven for people to live. All in all, Harold was a net positive to the American Wasteland and definitely deserves peace and happiness.
Hardest choice in fallout for me. If I accelerate his growth he could spread tress and vegetation all throughout the wasteland but his mind would be stationary while his organs spread slowly and painfully throughout the world helpless to do anything without people watching him. Or killing him fulfilling his wish for rest after a long life.
Fallout 3 was my first time experiencing the world of Fallout, so I didn’t know anything about Harold apart from what you learn from him in the game, and so I figured that keeping him alive to benefit the wasteland was a fairly easy decision to make. Once I learned his full story, and all of the hardships he had endured, I could never help but grant his wish to die so he could finally be at peace.
That's the thing tho if we assume that those trees Bob made/spread can spread on their own then mercy killing him has alot fewer negatives to it sure the plant life and vegetation etc would spread slower but it would still do it
@@cyriell I think they do probably reproduce but not as fast as they don’t seem to produce the bulbs of the original makes it a choice of if you want a normalish world in probably around 100 years or do you want it in likely thousands of years.
Trees have a finite lifespan, too. Only because he was once human can Harold articulate the pain of being a really old, really big tree. He's got the right to die, collapse and get eaten by beavers and beetles, just like the rest of us.
same, Harold and Bob are my all time favorite characters, it feels so hard and heart breaking to let him go, but I couldn't let Harold suffer any longer, it almost feels like Bob has betrayed him by planting Harold to the earth and rearranging him indefinitely, after all Harold did for Bob carrying him around the wasteland allowing him to grow, I just had to let him go, it legitimately made me cry
Fallout 3 was lackluster in many ways but damn did it give a fitting situation and end for Harold to be in. Honestly one of the better quests in the game, if not the best. The cultists for the most part are believable characters for the series as well. The only criticism I have is why would harold walk all the way across the country until he eventually gets to the capitol wasteland? He can obviously do it, but, was he just wandering?
Actually no. The fruit has been around since fallout 1. Bonsai is a reference to Harold, but he's not actually a true ghoul, so it's weird that it can be applied to anyone else but Tactics is weird (yet wonderful).
@@FRAAANKYSUUUPER I made the argument specifically for those two games for a reason. I do think that the fruits from the earliest games ARE also apples, but in Tactics, if you eat enough you get bonuses. In 4, they can be planted and grown. I personally think that Harold / Bob make special apples.
Maybe in a future game the next generation of Harold's cult could become antagonists, misunderstanding their ancestors' goals, kidnapping people and trying to replicate Harold's gift in an effort to "help" the wasteland.
Ah yes the quest that makes you question if you did the right thing regardless of what you do. And makes you feel like a monster if you set him on fire.
I've always gone for what I believe to be the least bad scenario in that instance, which is to accelerate Harold's growth to further greenify the Capital Wasteland. One man's suffering is worth the making of a sustainable land.
@@jakekaywell5972 Especially because.. Being what Harold is and has seen? There is a chance that being regarded as the giver of life to a once desolate wasteland might bring him some level of peace in of itself. To be a figure in a community however large or small that can tell the families of families how their ancestors might have responded to a plight, or that this son is just like his great grandfather. There's also, always, of course.. the option that his roots could one day spread to a certain vault which could allow him to hook to a simulation that would let him see a world of his own design or- perhaps, even interface with another machine and use that to again wander the wastes while his primary form is rooted in place
@@jakekaywell5972 That's not how biology works, the only reason this is a problem is because the cult members are too busy tripping on drugs to see beyond their tree god bullshit and the player character is the only sheltered one for miles who hasn't reverted to stone age tribalism and doesn't know the basics of farming. The offspring of a plant are not reliant on it's parent to reproduce, killing the source does not prevent it's children from reproducing on their own. And it's even worse if they're sterile and completely rely on bob for growth. It's just the plant version of super mutants at that point, a useless waste of resources that can't sustain itself or grow without the limited production capacity of it's master, only serving to impede the actually useful non mutated variant of itself which can sustain and grow in size on their own
Ah! Iconic Fallout Duo! Can't forget one (or two) of the most important Fallout characters, and one of the few that crossed not one, but TWO games~ 🧟♂️🌳
3 games? I'm actually sad he (probably) got killed off as it was great finding him in all the games, would have loved to see him in 4... I guess Herbert is 2 games... I mean Bob!
The quest for Harold always makes me so sad 😭 I understand both views of the Treeminders but Harold seems so exhausted and regardless of how my playthrough is going I always honor his wishes.
That slow zoom out at the end with the monologue was hella chilling. Great video, Harold was always the most interesting character to me, or at least he always stuck out prominently.
I’ve always wondered what it would look like if the spore carriers from NV were combined with Harrold and Bob. It would also be terrifying like could Harrold control and/or see through the spore carrier/zombies?
Someone should do a mod called Fallout: Mark. Where you play a traveler picked up by a caravan in the wastes heading north. You gradually turn into either a Harold-like mutant, or a super mutant, and come across others that are suffering the same fate - but who have no knowledge or what's happening down south. You forge ahead gathering together survivors of the masters raids, while continually being forced north by the narrative.
Fallout 3 was my first in the series. When I met harold, I was like whatever, you wanna die here's some fire! I didn't know. I didn't know... I'm so sorry harold 😭
I've only met Harold and Bob in Oasis, in Fallout 3. I thought the game designers must've been on acid or something, to create something as insanely funny as a literal talking tree, that's worshipped by people
The quest with him in FO3 made me sad. I'm pretty sure I killed him cause thats what he wanted but i might've reloaded it and let him live cause I felt bad.
No matter what way you put if, if they can intelligently expand the community then the forest is bound to grow with or without Harold and Bob. Whether or not the trees can reproduce without them they have started a new cycle of life that will expand and accelerate the healing of the capitol wasteland. Harold deserves his rest.
@@jeremieh5009 I think this person meant at the beginning, when they were knocked off the platform. Richard stopped Harold from falling in the F.E.V. Or maybe I misinterpreted the og comment
This is so well written. I haven't played Fallout 1 or 2 but this is so informative and delivered in such a digestive way that any newbie like me can take it in. I loved New Vegas and I'm hype to finally encounter Harold in Fallout 3.
Harold was probably one of my favorite characters from Fallout 1, then I was so happy to find him in Fallout 2, his story is definitely a favorite of mine, so sad.
Thank you so much for the uploads. Whenever I get burnt out on online-multiplayers games I'm reminded to return to the good ol' Fallout series and do a fun and different character build.
Yep, Harold has been through a lot (recurring character in several of the games). Human, mutant and tree with Bob. I hope he's still alive though, he's a kind soul one the wasteland could use more of. (also what he and Bob are doing is a great thing, returning plants to the wasteland, a great gift).
Great video, may I suggest a video for the future , a theory video one where you go over all the vaults and Vault-tec and try and find a connection between them all and how they the results of the vaults, alongside all other tech (using a more high tech version of Mr House life support system to ensure the higher ups of the company life into a post F04 world) in the wasteland could be used to allow Vault-Tec to return as a big bad of a future game.
Harold was one of those 'wtf' moments for me since FO3 was the first game I was exposed to. Always liked the character, very sad story. But who knows, maybe just like baby Groot, Harold lives on in the saplings he put out into the world and with a little engineering here and there, we get baby Harold. ;)
Everything Harold did was for others after becoming a mutant So forcing him to be a living Geck, And him being ok only after being forced to accept it is basically what he is used to.
I always thought it was likely Richard dragged harold to the entrance of mariposa. But he was probably disfigured and changing mentally. His psychic powers manifesting so he ran off before harold could wake up and see what became of his friend. Then after years of going crazy and mutation he became the master.
Amazing character and hands down the best part of fallout 3. A weird reminder of how cool/weird the ghouls looked in 1/2 compared to bethesda fallouts tho.
Its crazy that he was in Fallout 1,2,and 3. And even was good friends with the super mutant master before he bacame a mutant monstrosity. And he becme. Ghoul...then a tree
Now that I know Harold full story I feel sad. I only finished f3 as I was not able to handle graphics and form of previous parts(Even when I know that they are masterpieces). It was great dilema for me to decide over Harolds fate and I think I never finished the mission in the end. Thanks for completing my knowledge. Knowing so much now, it would be even harder to decide.
I like to think Harold acquired Bob the same day he and Richard were battered around in Mariposa. Since the supermutants were just kind of throwing whatever in and taking whatever else out, mayhaps a seed from a FEV dunked plant was displaced as it was being taken out. If this was the case it would have sat there dormant until one day Harold was knocked off the railing, falling head first onto the seed which became lodged in his skull. Over the years it would slowly root itself into his brain, only once it truely became a part of his system did it start sprouting. This is how I believe Harlod and Bob became one.
Does the possible rebirth of a dead world justify the endless suffering of one being? I don’t think that’s something we can definitively answer which is what makes Harold’s story so interesting.
I like to think Harold died but his forest lives on, the trees are mutated but otherwise normal trees with incredible survivability. Maybe a section of DC is covered in lush forests and at its center is the corpse of Harold, finally at peace
Forget the philosophy, there are only two outcomes of this if you break this down logically; 1: Bob's offspring are fertile, which means they can continue to reproduce irrespective of anything that happens to Bob/Harold. In this case Harold's existence has no effect on the spread of the tree's, so there is no reason to let him suffer. 2: Bob's offspring are sterile, which means they are a genetic failure that only serve to take up precious space, water, and nutrients for the little actually useful plants that inhabit the D.C. Wasteland. In this case there is no reason to lit him live as he is actively harming the environment for other plants and ultimately dooming the Biosphere. Either way killing Harold is the only correct option morally and ethically
What if Mark was caught and turned into Marcus the Supermutant. I'm torn between putting him out of his misery and letting his seeds continue to spread. I know he's suffering but it'd help the wasteland and Yew would still have her friend. Though you're killing Harold not Bob so why wouldn't the seeds still spread?
It’s a pity that they made him immobile in FO3; I feel like he should’ve become a character that shows up in all the mainline games as an injoke/series mascot.
Fallout 5 wish: (assuming it’s in a region in relative proximity to the capital wasteland and Commonwealth) Oasis and the treeminders expand (you could say “branch out” lol) but you come to find that while Harold still perished one way or another, a new being entirely has taken his place: Bob/Herbert. The intelligence within the tree growing out of Harold‘s head. He could be a near invulnerable companion that resembles a Ghoul but with thick, bark like skin and many small branches (or maybe leaves) protruding from his head. he could occasionally be killed from large gun fire or explosives /energy weapons, but after a period of time could be recovered back in the oasis settlement with a new body. I imagine this character having a sort of psychic connection to every tree, just like harold did. I also like to think this companion would be a part of a quest that officially introduces the S’lanter, albeit a modified version to fit the East Coast lore.
I always keep Harold alive, so his trees can spread across the wasteland. Let's face facts here, He was being selfish in what he wanted, he has a gift that although will make him suffer for his entire life, will give hope to the future of humanity. And besides, it isn't all bad, he still has Yew to keep him company.
I used to end his life for him(humanely). But as I got older and started looking at the big picture I also chose laurels way. It helps that he appears to have a change of heart after enhancing his growth. Definitely one of the more engaging quests in the game.
@@NewVegasNoob33 It's kind of like real life with would-be suicide attempts. People want to die in the moment, but if/when they are stopped or saved they get a sense of relief and change their minds, because most don't really want to die. I don't Harold does either, deep down. I think he's just tired and in pain and want's some form of relief after all his life has thrown at him, and that he doesn't see any other way to get it, until the player offers him one. Folks seem to forget one of the reasons he feels so depressed is because most of the treeminders don't treat him like a human being, but like a god. So he feels alone despite being around them so much, the only one who treats him like a person is Yew. Bonus theoretical goody points. Since Yew is the youngest treeminder, i think its safe to say she will eventually grow up to become its leader, and this in turn will lead to new treeminders treating Harold how she does, so he will (eventually) have a large community of people who treat him like a human being again, and hopefully find some peace in that.
I always felt like 3 was giving us the option to *be* God. Like the whole thing was an allegory. Ya know. Let there be life and all that. Harold was just part of it. We're restoring life to a dead world by fixing the water supply (if you're not some enclave bastard). Why *not* assist in bringing plants back to the Captial Wastes as well? Bob is the perfect plant to do this. Being infected with just a small amount of FEV and then living through countless decades of death, Harold helped ensure that Bob would have the needed time and conditions to gestate and be immune to radiation. They sped up thousands upon thousands of years of evolution in under 200 years. He had suffered immensely just to become the very thing that could bring earth back to life. I imagine Bob could maybe do a trick similar to the Master, wherein Bob can absorb plants of different kinds and basically reform their seeds so long as their dead remains exist someplace! Bob could potentially, literally bring extinct species back from the brink! Harold could be one of the single most important person in the Fallout games and its so insane to me that he's just... *some guy* who doesn't realize how important he is.
Oh man I remember first playing fallout 3 around 2009 or so and coming across him, then I learned he was from the earlier games, shit was cool lmao rip my man Harold and bob
I'm sure you're probably sick of comparisons to others, but I just wanna say, you're the first loremaster that has been able to maintain my interest and satisfaction across all videos since TheNthApple, and the only one that I think has quality content on par with him. I'll be honest, I just jumped on your bandwagon recently (Yay algorithms) but I've binged over half your videos so far and I have yet to not enjoy any of them. It's gotten to the point where I load the next one and automatically click the Like button because I know it's gonna be great, and I've yet to be wrong! He that should not be spoken of (which I'm sure everyone will know I'm speaking of Oxhorn) really left a bad taste in my mouth with regards to Fallout Lore and I resented him for essentially driving Nth out, and it made me stay away from these types of videos for a long time. But with your own unique style and presentation in the videos, you've managed to make my depressed brain release the happy chemicals again which it struggles to do, so I thank you for bringing an old Lore fan some thrills. I'll continue to watch your content for as long as you make it. Ok, speech over. Cheers!
One must wonder, however, if the "Bob" is actually the result of exposure to spores that are related to the ones that overrun Vault 22, and by extension created in the Big Empty. Chances are, Harold passed by the Mojave and contracted the spores, or some of it got migrated further west. Maybe the spores are actually a key component in the GECK, and Harold just happened to unwittingly get exposed to it
Mark probably got eaten alive by mutant sentries, since they keep spawning more. I bet Harrold and his team had to sneak in...so when Mark went to go get help, he bumped into sentries at the entrance outside and was never seen again as a result.
It’s a shame that he isn’t mentioned in Fallout 4 whatsoever let alone makes an appearance. He had been a recurring character in the ones before so it’s weird that they’d exposed to end his story in 3 with the up in the air fate.
I do wonder that if Harold wasn’t used in Fallout 3 where he would have appeared or done in NV. I think having him tied to Vault 22 could have been a potentially cool idea if he was in NV instead.
I never played the game before. I feel like whoever created the Tree version of Harold loves Iron Maiden's "Fear Of The Dark" album and took inspiration from the cover. Only Fallout game I played was 4, I didn't play much of it because a mission was bugged that I couldn't progress any further, so I stopped playing it.
my first run of Fallout 3 i decided to do the "evil" path, since i normally play as "good". this quest was the first thing to stop my role playing and had me think about my actions. few games have made me think so hard about a choice before Bob and Harold. I RPed it as the turning point for my characters "evil" ways and started down the path of not so evil. More good enough....
Do you plan on finishing the Sierra Madre characters? Dean, Vera, and the unique quirks of the Big MT? I've heard that Dean's blackmail tape is cut from consoles. But I've heard it. Can't get the whole creepy conversation i out of my mind... "Pretty as a picture..." *Shivers* I can't let go ..
See this is CONTENT! No thumbnails looking like you're gearing up for multiple partners, no bs merch drop, no long drawn out trash just to make a longer video. Do moar pls.
It would be really cool if we got Fallout 5 in San Francisco but a DLC like Mothership Zeta where we went off world and saw the east coast COVERED in green as a subtle hint that Harold and Bob are alive and thriving. It would also make for a super cool return to the east coast now covered in green with potentially radioactive mutant PLANTS. Mother nature's revenge sort of thing.
Hello there
General Synonymous!
👀
General Herold-ee
I have the highground
Ps: your mother is a battledroid
Always a treat to see a new video from you.
Yo
Harold and Richard not knowing they’re both alive is the saddest thing I’ve heard all day
Fr
Also they both became immobile and stuff like their stories are sorta similar
@@banned2911 Also Richard kinda became fused to machinery while Harold became fused to a tree so they kinda took opposite paths in that regard too. If there's an afterlife in Fallout I hope they meet up again and share their stories with each other
I think if Richard knew his friend was alive Harold would have been a voice in the masters hive
@@onlyworstgamers696yes. I will say this when I played the first one as a kid I always liked Harold because of his humor.
When I played 3 the first time and found him and completed the quest, I had to put him down, to me he was a friend that was suffering. Silly as it may be
Harold and the master have a similar fate since they both become mutants and have their own kind of cult. Great video as always synonymous.
One was evil while the other was just misunderstood though
@@Murack1 the master wanted peace. He wanted unity where fighting wasn't there
@@ggp-ok2eo That is all well and good, but _how_ that goal was achieved is far more important than the goal itself. The road to hell and all that.
Notice how one was mashed together with technology while the other became one with nature
@@ggp-ok2eo The master wanted a "master race"... killing people for unity isnt unity, its fear
If it was an option, I would gather up every scientist in the wasteland and have them modify the VR technology of Vault 112 to a form that Harold could use to allow him to spend the rest of his life in a virtual paradise of his own design.
Smart and very righteous.
Or create a synth harold and upload his brain. Then murdulate him into a nice picbic table.
Sometimes a beautiful illusion is better than a horrible reality
He's lived long enough and granting him the peace of death would be a merciful act
@@justnoel4088 looks like you're taking the blue pill
Harold is a really tragic and interesting character. I'm glad you covered him!
I also covered Harold.
in flames.
you lost karma for that irl
@@esliademaj3686 hey man
nothing a quicksave/quickload cannot fix
I was about to say the same. Has to be one of the most extraordinary, tragic and beautiful stories in the whole Fallout verse. Whoever wrote that story is kind of a genius writer I think. Harold's story over time is epic. From a relatively humble civilian trader to a shunned mutant, then kind of accepted, that held the job of getting and maintaining clean water to an entire city. To a wanderer who then became stuck to the spot, becoming a reluctant demi God. With genuine demi God terraforming power. His life is a strange and tragic and beautiful story overall. Stories like that , are the best of Fallout I think.
Just wish I'd actually seen this lore vid before I played through that quest years ago. I would of appreciated the quest a lot more I think. My decision was to give Harold the peace he wanted. No fire, a quick merciful death at his very heart.
Is it me, or would this storyline alone make for a stand out ,quirky if not epic instalment of the verse, worthy of a great Fallout movie??.
@@colddaze6680 A movie, or a short mini-series perhaps.
Especially if it covered ALL of his backstory, as having it in mini-series form could allow for the production crew and actors/actresses to do some justice to Harolds tale (As an aside "Harolds Tale" could work for a mini-series title perhaps.)
It would also be interesting seeing his interactions with the "Vault Dweller" (Canonically Male), "The Chosen One" (Canonically hinted at as being Male, due to his interactions with the Bishop Family in New Reno), and finally "The Lone Wanderer".
My head-cannon is that Harold's trees overtook most, if not all, of the capital wasteland and thrived due to the now pure water
Honestly. If the trees don't produce their own seeds then at the very list they'll encourage the growth of plants and such that do, and help make a purer (even if still tainted because radiation be hard to get rid of completely) ecosystem. They could transplant muttfruit trees and see how they do with a healthier environment than they've evolved for.
@@melodioussweetthecute5553 Now I want to revisit the capital wasteland but a few decades after 3 was set. It would be interesting to see how places like rivet city and megaton have changed (maybe with an option to say you nuked megaton in 3 so its gone/being rebuilt in the future)
@@legend7951 while that would be cool, it'd be really messy for keeping a canonical straight timeline 😅
*Paladin:* Hey, what's this mutant tree doing here?
*Harold:* Don't mind me, boss. I'm just a normal tree.
*Paladin:* Well, okay then. I guess I'll be--
(Beat)
*Paladin:* Wait a minute...
*Harold:* I'm waiting
*Paladin:* You're not a normal tree at all!
*Harold:* What gave it away?
*Paladin:* Based on your size, you'd need a significantly higher proportion of leaves in order to capture enough solar energy to fuel photosynthesis!
*Harold:* You're having a conversation with a talking tree, and that's the first thing you notice? I guess even power armor can't account for low perception.
*Paladin:* Mutant filth! You must be eradicated!
*Harold:* How about no?
*Paladin:* No? But you're an unnatural organism blighting the wastes with your degeneracy!
*Harold:* I also produce a vast majority of the fruit and produce used to fuel the local population and ensure the continued balance of the ecosystem. Without my vegetation, the surrounding wildlife will die out due to insufficient resources to sustain a class of herbivores.
*Paladin:* ...yeah, but--
*Harold:* I also produce all of your alcoholic beverages
*Paladin:* ...nothing to see here, move along
*Scribe:* Did you lose an argument against a tree?
*Paladin:* ...shut up
@@legend7951 i got fallout 3 and xbox 360 rn im in my 2nd run
I love harold, I always make sure to honour his wishes throughout the games
I chose to keep him alive in 3 as he truly was a force of change for the Wasteland, he really could bring it back to what it once was.
At least you can talk him into not being depressed about it :(
@@sopadumacacoumadelicia5 that quest is literally the most morally difficult one in the games for me
@@daddycool7316 how
@@Breeze45-s4h How is it not
I spare Harolds life in 3. Death is not the answear
I find it cool that no matter the life time, Harold in some way is improving the Wasteland. At first he becomes an amazing caravaneer, helping a town procure goods it needs to survive and even fearlessly goes to strike at its source. He helps end the segregation of Ghouls, makes a town a lot more friendlier with Ghouls and even helps both settlements and even while unintentionally, makes a decent chunk of the Capital Wasteland a lush and green paradise as well as a safe haven for people to live. All in all, Harold was a net positive to the American Wasteland and definitely deserves peace and happiness.
This is such a beautiful comment.
Hardest choice in fallout for me. If I accelerate his growth he could spread tress and vegetation all throughout the wasteland but his mind would be stationary while his organs spread slowly and painfully throughout the world helpless to do anything without people watching him. Or killing him fulfilling his wish for rest after a long life.
Fallout 3 was my first time experiencing the world of Fallout, so I didn’t know anything about Harold apart from what you learn from him in the game, and so I figured that keeping him alive to benefit the wasteland was a fairly easy decision to make. Once I learned his full story, and all of the hardships he had endured, I could never help but grant his wish to die so he could finally be at peace.
That's the thing tho if we assume that those trees Bob made/spread can spread on their own then mercy killing him has alot fewer negatives to it sure the plant life and vegetation etc would spread slower but it would still do it
@@cyriell I think they do probably reproduce but not as fast as they don’t seem to produce the bulbs of the original makes it a choice of if you want a normalish world in probably around 100 years or do you want it in likely thousands of years.
Trees have a finite lifespan, too. Only because he was once human can Harold articulate the pain of being a really old, really big tree. He's got the right to die, collapse and get eaten by beavers and beetles, just like the rest of us.
Keep him alive until the forest had spread enough to sustain itself
I really struggled with the decision to kill Harold in Fallout 3. It was honestly one of the best parts of the game too.
Games really tug at my emotions way more then any movie or book. Love Fallout for doing this so well!
I just had to put him out of his misery. He’s endured enough pain and the cult that worships him wouldn’t offer him that mercy.
If you don't kill him, he sees how selfish he was in asking so, and he becomes happy for the first time in years.
same, Harold and Bob are my all time favorite characters, it feels so hard and heart breaking to let him go, but I couldn't let Harold suffer any longer, it almost feels like Bob has betrayed him by planting Harold to the earth and rearranging him indefinitely, after all Harold did for Bob carrying him around the wasteland allowing him to grow, I just had to let him go, it legitimately made me cry
Fallout 3 was lackluster in many ways but damn did it give a fitting situation and end for Harold to be in. Honestly one of the better quests in the game, if not the best.
The cultists for the most part are believable characters for the series as well. The only criticism I have is why would harold walk all the way across the country until he eventually gets to the capitol wasteland? He can obviously do it, but, was he just wandering?
Harold / Bob is literally Fallout's Johnny Appleseed. The fruit in Fallout Tactics and the mutfruit in 4 are apples from Harold and Bob.
Actually no. The fruit has been around since fallout 1. Bonsai is a reference to Harold, but he's not actually a true ghoul, so it's weird that it can be applied to anyone else but Tactics is weird (yet wonderful).
@@FRAAANKYSUUUPER I made the argument specifically for those two games for a reason. I do think that the fruits from the earliest games ARE also apples, but in Tactics, if you eat enough you get bonuses. In 4, they can be planted and grown. I personally think that Harold / Bob make special apples.
@@NemFX Tactics is my fav fallout.
@@szymonbollin5074 microscopical minority
Mutfruit is in new vegas and also crunchy mutfruit.
I believe at some point even Harold's mind was stretched throughout the wasteland in his roots and he became a true god
I love harold, may he finally rest easy.
( *Ring of fire intensifies* )
@@Cheesecake_666 ring of fire... more like BoRe RaGnoRok
A weaker man would’ve become spiteful and miserable, but Harold preserved through his struggles. He managed to find joy even through his pain.
I could never kill him. Always convinced him to keep on going, and used Laurels Liniment to help him grow.
Maybe in a future game the next generation of Harold's cult could become antagonists, misunderstanding their ancestors' goals, kidnapping people and trying to replicate Harold's gift in an effort to "help" the wasteland.
Ah yes the quest that makes you question if you did the right thing regardless of what you do. And makes you feel like a monster if you set him on fire.
I've always gone for what I believe to be the least bad scenario in that instance, which is to accelerate Harold's growth to further greenify the Capital Wasteland. One man's suffering is worth the making of a sustainable land.
@@jakekaywell5972 Especially because.. Being what Harold is and has seen? There is a chance that being regarded as the giver of life to a once desolate wasteland might bring him some level of peace in of itself. To be a figure in a community however large or small that can tell the families of families how their ancestors might have responded to a plight, or that this son is just like his great grandfather.
There's also, always, of course.. the option that his roots could one day spread to a certain vault which could allow him to hook to a simulation that would let him see a world of his own design or- perhaps, even interface with another machine and use that to again wander the wastes while his primary form is rooted in place
@@jakekaywell5972 That's not how biology works, the only reason this is a problem is because the cult members are too busy tripping on drugs to see beyond their tree god bullshit and the player character is the only sheltered one for miles who hasn't reverted to stone age tribalism and doesn't know the basics of farming. The offspring of a plant are not reliant on it's parent to reproduce, killing the source does not prevent it's children from reproducing on their own. And it's even worse if they're sterile and completely rely on bob for growth. It's just the plant version of super mutants at that point, a useless waste of resources that can't sustain itself or grow without the limited production capacity of it's master, only serving to impede the actually useful non mutated variant of itself which can sustain and grow in size on their own
@@krel7160 interface with a machine and reunite with an old friend…
@@banjomanperson No!
No!
Not THAT machine!
Ah!
Iconic Fallout Duo!
Can't forget one (or two) of the most important Fallout characters, and one of the few that crossed not one, but TWO games~ 🧟♂️🌳
3 games?
I'm actually sad he (probably) got killed off as it was great finding him in all the games, would have loved to see him in 4...
I guess Herbert is 2 games...
I mean Bob!
@@FRAAANKYSUUUPER Maybe... In a future game we can see 'im either in Oasis or a prequel game
Harold also can be found in Fallout Tactics.
Four, if you'll include BOS. 1, 2, Brotherhood of Steel, and 3.
@@keihze25 No one does 🫠
The way you do lore videos is on another level!
So many hidden treasures in the fallout universe.
Thanks Syn!
this is one of the reason why you explore the map in fallout 3 if you always follow the main quest you won't see him at all
I hope Harold surviving is canon 🌲. Even if he died I hope his seeds spread across the Capital Wasteland.
Harold honeyseed
This is crazy. I had the urge to look up Bob on the wiki just this morning.
Harold has one of the most tragic stories I've seen in Fallout
The quest for Harold always makes me so sad 😭 I understand both views of the Treeminders but Harold seems so exhausted and regardless of how my playthrough is going I always honor his wishes.
That slow zoom out at the end with the monologue was hella chilling. Great video, Harold was always the most interesting character to me, or at least he always stuck out prominently.
I’ve always wondered what it would look like if the spore carriers from NV were combined with Harrold and Bob. It would also be terrifying like could Harrold control and/or see through the spore carrier/zombies?
Sounds like a biological Mr. House.
My head cannon is that Harold lived, and over time found peace and freedomd being able to see the world threw his connection to bon and all the trees
Someone should do a mod called Fallout: Mark. Where you play a traveler picked up by a caravan in the wastes heading north. You gradually turn into either a Harold-like mutant, or a super mutant, and come across others that are suffering the same fate - but who have no knowledge or what's happening down south. You forge ahead gathering together survivors of the masters raids, while continually being forced north by the narrative.
The notification didn't work, but I smelled lore and came running.
I like the idea that Mark became the mysterious stranger
Fallout 3 was my first in the series. When I met harold, I was like whatever, you wanna die here's some fire!
I didn't know. I didn't know... I'm so sorry harold 😭
How could you
I bet that was traumatic
Good job smoothskin.
Yay new Synonymous video lol I remember finding Harold for the first time haha dude kinda scared me back in the day
I've only met Harold and Bob in Oasis, in Fallout 3. I thought the game designers must've been on acid or something, to create something as insanely funny as a literal talking tree, that's worshipped by people
The quest with him in FO3 made me sad. I'm pretty sure I killed him cause thats what he wanted but i might've reloaded it and let him live cause I felt bad.
No matter what way you put if, if they can intelligently expand the community then the forest is bound to grow with or without Harold and Bob. Whether or not the trees can reproduce without them they have started a new cycle of life that will expand and accelerate the healing of the capitol wasteland. Harold deserves his rest.
Since Bob managed to create a forest, that means some plants and a bit of F.E.V could essentially save the wasteland.
Or you get vault 22
or ya know....project purity would
Maybe Bob lives on even after Harold's death and keep growing seeds every year.
you are such a good story teller
i love every second of this!
thank you man
I like to think that the Master saved Harold using his last bit of his fleeting humanity
Unfortunately Richard did not know Harold was still alive
@@jeremieh5009 I think this person meant at the beginning, when they were knocked off the platform. Richard stopped Harold from falling in the F.E.V.
Or maybe I misinterpreted the og comment
@@banjomanperson ah
I love how much lore there is in fallout, and pretty much every game has easter eggs from the past games
Harold and bob are basically an organic version of the G.E.C.K
This is so well written. I haven't played Fallout 1 or 2 but this is so informative and delivered in such a digestive way that any newbie like me can take it in.
I loved New Vegas and I'm hype to finally encounter Harold in Fallout 3.
*primes flamer*
“I’ll give you in death the peace you never had in life”
*swooosh*
Harold was probably one of my favorite characters from Fallout 1, then I was so happy to find him in Fallout 2, his story is definitely a favorite of mine, so sad.
I love this stuff man, gonna be honest- I just play these lore videos on repeat to help me fall asleep.
Your lore videos keep on getting better, absolutely love 'em!
Thank you so much for the uploads. Whenever I get burnt out on online-multiplayers games I'm reminded to return to the good ol' Fallout series and do a fun and different character build.
The absolute best continuation of a storyline from the original games.
Yep, Harold has been through a lot (recurring character in several of the games).
Human, mutant and tree with Bob.
I hope he's still alive though, he's a kind soul one the wasteland could use more of.
(also what he and Bob are doing is a great thing, returning plants to the wasteland, a great gift).
Great video, may I suggest a video for the future , a theory video one where you go over all the vaults and Vault-tec and try and find a connection between them all and how they the results of the vaults, alongside all other tech (using a more high tech version of Mr House life support system to ensure the higher ups of the company life into a post F04 world) in the wasteland could be used to allow Vault-Tec to return as a big bad of a future game.
I had no idea Harold's history was so lush outside of FO3!
Harold was one of those 'wtf' moments for me since FO3 was the first game I was exposed to. Always liked the character, very sad story.
But who knows, maybe just like baby Groot, Harold lives on in the saplings he put out into the world and with a little engineering here and there, we get baby Harold. ;)
I love your lore video, they are always intresting and your calm voice help me to sleep, thanks you :)
Great lore video's I wish they were longer.
Saw this was uploaded while I was at work and accidentally squealed with joy 😍🥴❤️!!
Amazing video!! I love it so much! Very informative too !
It's a shame that harold and Richard couldn't reunite
As always very interesting, and a great Lore video.
I love how everithing interconnects in the first two fallout games...
Everything Harold did was for others after becoming a mutant So forcing him to be a living Geck, And him being ok only after being forced to accept it is basically what he is used to.
I always thought it was likely Richard dragged harold to the entrance of mariposa. But he was probably disfigured and changing mentally. His psychic powers manifesting so he ran off before harold could wake up and see what became of his friend. Then after years of going crazy and mutation he became the master.
Amazing character and hands down the best part of fallout 3. A weird reminder of how cool/weird the ghouls looked in 1/2 compared to bethesda fallouts tho.
Its crazy that he was in Fallout 1,2,and 3. And even was good friends with the super mutant master before he bacame a mutant monstrosity. And he becme. Ghoul...then a tree
Now that I know Harold full story I feel sad. I only finished f3 as I was not able to handle graphics and form of previous parts(Even when I know that they are masterpieces). It was great dilema for me to decide over Harolds fate and I think I never finished the mission in the end. Thanks for completing my knowledge. Knowing so much now, it would be even harder to decide.
I kinda hope he did actually die but Bob lives on and will restore the wasteland somewhat.
I like to think Harold acquired Bob the same day he and Richard were battered around in Mariposa. Since the supermutants were just kind of throwing whatever in and taking whatever else out, mayhaps a seed from a FEV dunked plant was displaced as it was being taken out. If this was the case it would have sat there dormant until one day Harold was knocked off the railing, falling head first onto the seed which became lodged in his skull. Over the years it would slowly root itself into his brain, only once it truely became a part of his system did it start sprouting. This is how I believe Harlod and Bob became one.
I like your think harold agreed that hik spreading would be good for everyone. And eventually harold and Bob would spread across all of North America
Does the possible rebirth of a dead world justify the endless suffering of one being? I don’t think that’s something we can definitively answer which is what makes Harold’s story so interesting.
I like to think Harold died but his forest lives on, the trees are mutated but otherwise normal trees with incredible survivability. Maybe a section of DC is covered in lush forests and at its center is the corpse of Harold, finally at peace
Forget the philosophy, there are only two outcomes of this if you break this down logically;
1: Bob's offspring are fertile, which means they can continue to reproduce irrespective of anything that happens to Bob/Harold. In this case Harold's existence has no effect on the spread of the tree's, so there is no reason to let him suffer.
2: Bob's offspring are sterile, which means they are a genetic failure that only serve to take up precious space, water, and nutrients for the little actually useful plants that inhabit the D.C. Wasteland. In this case there is no reason to lit him live as he is actively harming the environment for other plants and ultimately dooming the Biosphere.
Either way killing Harold is the only correct option morally and ethically
I'm not surprised that you did a video about this but it turned out really well
What if Mark was caught and turned into Marcus the Supermutant.
I'm torn between putting him out of his misery and letting his seeds continue to spread. I know he's suffering but it'd help the wasteland and Yew would still have her friend. Though you're killing Harold not Bob so why wouldn't the seeds still spread?
It’s a pity that they made him immobile in FO3; I feel like he should’ve become a character that shows up in all the mainline games as an injoke/series mascot.
Apparently from what I’ve heard Vault 29 is in Boulder, Colorado just outside Denver
I’ll never forget the noice he makes when you set him on fire
Allowing Harold and Bob to terraform Capital Wasteland is the best option.
Fallout 5 wish: (assuming it’s in a region in relative proximity to the capital wasteland and Commonwealth)
Oasis and the treeminders expand (you could say “branch out” lol) but you come to find that while Harold still perished one way or another, a new being entirely has taken his place: Bob/Herbert. The intelligence within the tree growing out of Harold‘s head. He could be a near invulnerable companion that resembles a Ghoul but with thick, bark like skin and many small branches (or maybe leaves) protruding from his head. he could occasionally be killed from large gun fire or explosives /energy weapons, but after a period of time could be recovered back in the oasis settlement with a new body. I imagine this character having a sort of psychic connection to every tree, just like harold did.
I also like to think this companion would be a part of a quest that officially introduces the S’lanter, albeit a modified version to fit the East Coast lore.
Yes I see the enclave setting up shop in tree houses
I've only played Fallout 1, 2 and jumped to New Vegas. I missed Harold and now I think I'll get 3 to see him again.
honestly, it's one of the only good parts of three
I like to think that after richard died he used his telikenisis to be with his friend again as the sapling in his head
I always keep Harold alive, so his trees can spread across the wasteland.
Let's face facts here, He was being selfish in what he wanted, he has a gift that although will make him suffer for his entire life, will give hope to the future of humanity.
And besides, it isn't all bad, he still has Yew to keep him company.
I used to end his life for him(humanely). But as I got older and started looking at the big picture I also chose laurels way. It helps that he appears to have a change of heart after enhancing his growth. Definitely one of the more engaging quests in the game.
@@NewVegasNoob33
It's kind of like real life with would-be suicide attempts.
People want to die in the moment, but if/when they are stopped or saved they get a sense of relief and change their minds, because most don't really want to die.
I don't Harold does either, deep down. I think he's just tired and in pain and want's some form of relief after all his life has thrown at him, and that he doesn't see any other way to get it, until the player offers him one.
Folks seem to forget one of the reasons he feels so depressed is because most of the treeminders don't treat him like a human being, but like a god.
So he feels alone despite being around them so much, the only one who treats him like a person is Yew.
Bonus theoretical goody points. Since Yew is the youngest treeminder, i think its safe to say she will eventually grow up to become its leader, and this in turn will lead to new treeminders treating Harold how she does, so he will (eventually) have a large community of people who treat him like a human being again, and hopefully find some peace in that.
I always felt like 3 was giving us the option to *be* God. Like the whole thing was an allegory. Ya know. Let there be life and all that. Harold was just part of it.
We're restoring life to a dead world by fixing the water supply (if you're not some enclave bastard). Why *not* assist in bringing plants back to the Captial Wastes as well? Bob is the perfect plant to do this. Being infected with just a small amount of FEV and then living through countless decades of death, Harold helped ensure that Bob would have the needed time and conditions to gestate and be immune to radiation. They sped up thousands upon thousands of years of evolution in under 200 years. He had suffered immensely just to become the very thing that could bring earth back to life. I imagine Bob could maybe do a trick similar to the Master, wherein Bob can absorb plants of different kinds and basically reform their seeds so long as their dead remains exist someplace! Bob could potentially, literally bring extinct species back from the brink!
Harold could be one of the single most important person in the Fallout games and its so insane to me that he's just... *some guy* who doesn't realize how important he is.
I'd forgotten about this.... I stumbled across them while exploring, one of many great experiences just venturing through the wasteland.
Oh man I remember first playing fallout 3 around 2009 or so and coming across him, then I learned he was from the earlier games, shit was cool lmao rip my man Harold and bob
I'm sure you're probably sick of comparisons to others, but I just wanna say, you're the first loremaster that has been able to maintain my interest and satisfaction across all videos since TheNthApple, and the only one that I think has quality content on par with him. I'll be honest, I just jumped on your bandwagon recently (Yay algorithms) but I've binged over half your videos so far and I have yet to not enjoy any of them. It's gotten to the point where I load the next one and automatically click the Like button because I know it's gonna be great, and I've yet to be wrong! He that should not be spoken of (which I'm sure everyone will know I'm speaking of Oxhorn) really left a bad taste in my mouth with regards to Fallout Lore and I resented him for essentially driving Nth out, and it made me stay away from these types of videos for a long time. But with your own unique style and presentation in the videos, you've managed to make my depressed brain release the happy chemicals again which it struggles to do, so I thank you for bringing an old Lore fan some thrills. I'll continue to watch your content for as long as you make it. Ok, speech over. Cheers!
Thank you, Vincent. Your comment has made my day!
Ahh yes the goat has finally gave us another goated vid
I accelerated his growth
It was a tough choice but it was necessary
One must wonder, however, if the "Bob" is actually the result of exposure to spores that are related to the ones that overrun Vault 22, and by extension created in the Big Empty. Chances are, Harold passed by the Mojave and contracted the spores, or some of it got migrated further west. Maybe the spores are actually a key component in the GECK, and Harold just happened to unwittingly get exposed to it
Mark probably got eaten alive by mutant sentries, since they keep spawning more. I bet Harrold and his team had to sneak in...so when Mark went to go get help, he bumped into sentries at the entrance outside and was never seen again as a result.
It’s a shame that he isn’t mentioned in Fallout 4 whatsoever let alone makes an appearance. He had been a recurring character in the ones before so it’s weird that they’d exposed to end his story in 3 with the up in the air fate.
I do wonder that if Harold wasn’t used in Fallout 3 where he would have appeared or done in NV.
I think having him tied to Vault 22 could have been a potentially cool idea if he was in NV instead.
Another great video from my favorite Fallout lore UA-camr! 😄
I let him rest, nobody deserves to be stuck like that regardless of how many benefit from it.
Harold was a plant manager in more ways than one.
Badum-tsssh
I know you dont post much but you do well at in depth fallout lore
Harold is my favorite character in the series. His is such an interesting story
Exactly the 4 hour mark, saw it change with my own two eyes. Happy time
I never played the game before. I feel like whoever created the Tree version of Harold loves Iron Maiden's "Fear Of The Dark" album and took inspiration from the cover. Only Fallout game I played was 4, I didn't play much of it because a mission was bugged that I couldn't progress any further, so I stopped playing it.
Yep I actually played fallout before seeing the album cover, but once I did I immediately thought back to Harold.
Although totally non-canon, woulda loved some kinda rumor or such of his time in the BoS in Fallout:Tactics 😜 Thanks again, can't wair for more!
my first run of Fallout 3 i decided to do the "evil" path, since i normally play as "good". this quest was the first thing to stop my role playing and had me think about my actions. few games have made me think so hard about a choice before Bob and Harold. I RPed it as the turning point for my characters "evil" ways and started down the path of not so evil. More good enough....
I feel like if I were Harold I’d just be chill with living as a tree god
Getting that dang hydroelectric magnetosphere regulator the first time through was strange to say the least.
Do you plan on finishing the Sierra Madre characters? Dean, Vera, and the unique quirks of the Big MT?
I've heard that Dean's blackmail tape is cut from consoles. But I've heard it. Can't get the whole creepy conversation i out of my mind... "Pretty as a picture..." *Shivers* I can't let go ..
See this is CONTENT! No thumbnails looking like you're gearing up for multiple partners, no bs merch drop, no long drawn out trash just to make a longer video. Do moar pls.
It would be really cool if we got Fallout 5 in San Francisco but a DLC like Mothership Zeta where we went off world and saw the east coast COVERED in green as a subtle hint that Harold and Bob are alive and thriving. It would also make for a super cool return to the east coast now covered in green with potentially radioactive mutant PLANTS. Mother nature's revenge sort of thing.