Preston Garvey of Fallout 4 is one of the most infamous characters in the game, but not because of his personality or history. It’s because of how obsessed he is with helping the settlements of the Commonwealth. The way he dishes out radiant quests that populate the Sole Survivor’s quest log drives players insane, especially when they have other matters to attend to. However, there’s a reason why Preston is so hellbent on saving settlements, and it’s tied to his backstory. Though it doesn’t make him less annoying, it certainly provides some important context.

Preston is one of the earliest companions the Sole Survivor meets when playing Fallout 4. To unlock him as a companion, the player must escort Preston and his group to Sanctuary, then complete the quest “The First Step.”

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Preston’s Early Life

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Little is known about Preston’s childhood except that, even back then, the Minutemen of Fallout 4 were his heroes. So, when he turned 17, Preston joined them, enlisting under Colonel Ezra Hollis. For a few years, Preston and his team fought for the Minutemen’s cause, protecting the people of the Commonwealth. However, when their leader General Joe Becker was killed, things went south.

Minutemen began fighting among each other, causing some groups to abandon the cause altogether. One group, headed by former Minuteman James Wire, headed to the Libertalia and took refuge there. At first, they tried to make a living by helping other settlements, but this wasn’t sustainable. So, Wire’s group turned to raiding. Preston didn’t succumb to this kind of life. Instead, he stuck with Fallout's Minutemen, even to its bitter end.

The Quincy Massacre

Despite the Minutemen’s reduced numbers, Preston and his group under Colonel Hollis continued to assist settlements in the wasteland of Fallout 4. They managed to help, but even they couldn’t deny that their dwindling ranks were a problem. They’d lost plenty of people, including veterans to the cause like Ronnie Shaw. Much later, they’d suffer the consequences of this. In 2287, the Minutemen received a request from the settlement in Quincy, a bustling trading hub.

Sturges, who was a settler there, had overheard Mama Murphy as she was having one of her visions. She had apparently isolated herself in her room with a stash of Fallout 4 chems, and “the Sight” had shown her Quincy being overrun. Learning this, Sturges went to Jackson, leader of the settlement, to ask that they call for help. Even though many of the other settlers were hesitant to believe Mama Murphy’s “drug-crazed hallucination,” Jackson called on the Minutemen anyway.

Mama Murphy’s visions in Fallout 4 turned out to be true, and Quincy was besieged by Gunners before the Minutemen could even arrive to provide support. By the time Preston and his group got to the settlement, the attack was ongoing. Luckily, they got the Gunners to retreat, but not for long. After driving the Gunners away, Preston helped the settlers build proper defenses around Quincy.

Not long after, a man named Clint and his group arrived at Quincy. Colonel Hollis thought that they were Minutemen troops as he’d recognized them, but Clint revealed that they were now Gunners — one of the most notorious factions in Fallout. This infuriated Colonel Hollis, and when Clint tried to establish terms for the surrender of Quincy, the colonel rejected them outright. Despite being outnumbered, the Minutemen and the settlers of Quincy fought back.

As the fighting went on, Colonel Hollis requested for more backup from other Minutemen groups, but none arrived to help them. Soon, the Gunners overpowered them, murdering nearly all of the Quincy settlers and, eventually, Colonel Hollis himself. The Gunners then took over Quincy, with Preston and the remaining settlers either escaping or being driven out. Thus ended the Quincy Massacre.

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The Radiant Quest Dispenser of Fallout 4

Screenshot from Fallout 4 showing a close up of Preston Garvey.

With the rest of the Minutemen gone or dead, Preston took it upon himself to escort the former Quincy settlers to a safer location. First, Preston’s group headed for Jamaica Plain in Fallout 4. Clint, however, sent some Gunners after them, who killed off a few settlers before they arrived at their destination. When Preston got to Jamaica Plain, there were only ten of them left. After, they moved to Lexington, but were attacked by feral ghouls, further reducing their numbers to eight. By the time the Sole Survivor finds them in the Museum of Freedom in Concord, only five of them were left.

This is where things turn around for Preston, as the player can escort his group to Sanctuary and give them a proper Fallout 4 settlement. The Sole Survivor also becomes the newest general of the Minutemen (albeit somewhat unwillingly). Should the player take Preston along on their adventures and raise affinity with him, they’ll get a deeper look into his psyche. Contrary to popular belief, Preston’s head isn’t always filled with thoughts of saving settlements and helping wastelanders.

In one of his affinity dialogue trees, Preston admits that while the recent tragedies weren’t all his fault, he still feels guilty about what he put Mama Murphy and the others through. He even says that he was very close to giving up. The only reason why he kept going was because Fallout 4’s Sole Survivor helped them out of their situation and turned things around. So, now that they have a good thing going, Preston doesn’t want another Quincy Massacre.

While it’s easy to hate Preston for his admittedly flawed programming and all the Fallout 4 radiant quests, there’s a lore-friendly reason as to why his character is so obsessed with making the Commonwealth a safer place. The man has gone through a lot — more than most. He lost his friends and saw his heroes die before him. Though in spite of it all, he still believes in the Minutemen and their cause. So, the next time he says that another settlement is in need of help, maybe it’s worth getting to it.

Fallout 4 is available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

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