Ghouls are some of the most fascinating beings to come from the Fallout universe, as they can range from Pre-War to recent, feral to intelligent, and can be created in a number of ways. There is much to know about them from their biology to their different societies and even through the lens of discrimination. Ghouls are not limited to humans either, with affected species including whales, gorillas, and dogs.

Having appeared in every Fallout game to date, there have been a ton of ghoul characters in terms of companions, villains, and minor NPCs. Most ghouls emerged due to the Great War, as the radiation from the nuclear attack changed their bodies and made many feral while some became intelligent ghouls. In fact, ghouls were some of the first people to begin rebuilding civilization after the bombs fell.

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The Biology Of Ghouls

Ghoul outside.

One of the most notable differences between ghouls and humans is that they live far longer. The oldest of ghouls date back to before the Great War, making them over 200 years old. They are also sterile, so they do not typically produce offspring. There have been miracle cases such as with Monica, who is only mentioned by Father Clifford in Fallout 3 to have been born from ghoul parents.

Other traits ghouls can gain from their condition includes arthritis, glaucoma, and cataracts. Their rotting flesh can result in losing limbs, but they have radioactive regeneration abilities that can allow them to reattach whatever falls off. This ability can also let ghouls heal at a fast rate among radiation. In the mental capacity, dementia can also occur with ghoulification, but rarely. Most non-feral ghouls are very intelligent due to amassing knowledge in their many years of lived experience.

Ghouls have a loss of their smell, which can give them the strength to eat food that humans usually find disgusting. Like others, ghouls typically do need water and food to remain active and a certain form of healthy. However, their mutation has allowed their bodies to endure a very long time without sustenance. Coffin Willie from Fallout 2 survived for months without food or water in a coffin. One especially long-lived ghoul, Billy Peabody, survived in a refrigerator for 210 years. In addition to surviving a long time without food or water, ghouls are immune to many diseases, though not all. Drugs, such as Jet, take double doses to work on their senses.

How Ghouls Are Made

Vault Tec Rep ghoul.

Radiation poisoning typically kills people, but turning into a ghoul is possible in two ways. There is a quick way and the slow way, one in which one can be near ground zero and immediately be transformed from a strong radiation blast and another in which they are exposed to a smaller amount of radiation but for a longer period of time. Those with the fast transformation are known to have far more trauma and a more brutal appearance with unhealed wounds and deformations. Some ghouls have mental degeneration and can turn them into ferals. All generally lose hair and skin and gain raspy voices.

While most ghouls were created by the nuclear war, there are also ghouls in the wasteland created by non-war events. In Fallout: New Vegas, Camp Searchlight could be irradiated and turn NCR soldiers into ghouls. Of course, there is Hancock, who took a drug that turned him, as well as Eddie Winters, who became a ghoul purposefully before the bombs fell in order to live longer.

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Types Of Ghouls

Feral Ghoul Reaver attacking.

One of the most known ghoul types is the feral ghouls. This process is not fully understood, but it is common knowledge that they lost higher brain functions. They are close to zombies with no thoughts and simply attack anyone on sight. They are also purely food motivated, eating the flesh of anything to come in their path. While the exact cause of becoming feral is unknown, there has been evidence that ghouls who are anti-social and/or isolated are more likely to turn feral than others. Like intelligent ghouls, ferals can survive for centuries, but there is no known cure.

As for nonhuman ghouls, there are plenty of animals that have physically and mentally changed in the same manner. There are pre-war animals that mutated such as the circus bear Ruzka in Fallout 3 and the Beast of Beckley in Fallout 76. In the Nuka-World DLC, the Safari Adventure attraction houses gorillas that have been turned. A blue whale known as Ol'Peg is mentioned among caravan guards in Fallout 4 as an animal infected by radiation. Other ghoul animals include wolves, radrats, radgulls, radstags, and squirrels.

Intelligent ghouls are the same as humans in terms of knowledge and personality. Unlike ferals, they wear clothes, talk, and use weapons. While they are not feral, they can still be violent like any other human in the wasteland and be part of hostile groups and gangs.

Glowing ones are, as their name describes, bioluminescent ghouls. They are more difficult to fight than regular ferals, having more health and stronger attacks. They are the result of absorbing even more radiation than typical ghouls, which makes them all feral except for miraculous cases like with Jason Bright and Oswald the Outrageous.

Marked Men are a subtype of ghouls that are particular to The Divide. They were flayed alive but remained living as ghouls due to the high radiation. Due to this, they cannot leave The Divide, or else they will perish immediately from their wounds without the radiation to regenerate their bodies. They are ghouls with a unique culture due to their unique circumstances.

Lastly, there are Endless Walkers and those who are born as ghouls. Endless Walkers have had their brains cooked by the sun for so long that they are both feral and have hardened leather skin. As for born ghouls, there have been only three recorded and were the product of experimentation on humans.

Ghoul Discrimination

Ghoul with hair and sunglasses.

Due to their outward appearance and unfortunate relation to ferals, ghouls have been treated differently by humans across the wasteland. Due to this, many ghouls make/join isolated settlements and groups that are founded on being ghoul-friendly like the Necropolis, Underworld, the Bright Brotherhood, and Goodneighbor. Many human settlements just do not let ghouls in. For example, New Vegas will let ghouls into Freeside, but not into the New Vegas Strip unless they are supervised by a human or have special permissions. Raul in New Vegas even mentions that ghouls are in danger of lynch mobs. Organizations like the Brotherhood of Steel are known to be anti-ghoul, often shooting any ghouls they run into.

Much of the discrimination ghouls face is partly due to a lack of knowledge from humans. Many think ghouls carry disease or that all of them will eventually become feral. It was these ideas that got ghouls eventually evicted from places like Diamond City in Fallout 4. Sometimes ghouls have worsened the divide between ghouls and humans as well, like Roy Phillips in Fallout 3 when his band of ghouls took over Tenpenny Tower by killing all the humans, even if they had pro-ghoul sentiments.

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