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"Mature Content Warning!" |
| “ | I'm not offering you an incentive as crude as money - though there'll be plenty of that. What I'm offering you is a ground-floor opportunity in the most important enterprise on Earth. What I'm offering is a future - for you, and for what remains of the human race. | „ |
| ~ Mr. House to The Courier about his plans for the future. |
Robert Edwin House, simply better known as Mr. House, is the self-styled President, CEO, and Sole Proprietor of the New Vegas Strip in the Mojave Wasteland in the year 2281 and one of the two main antagonists (alongside Caesar) of Fallout: New Vegas unless the player chooses to side with him. He's the founder of Robco Industries, a corporation with a large influence over the Fallout series as a whole, and is responsible for the civilization of three tribes that'd become the Three Families.
What Makes Him Magnificent?[]
- At almost all times, he is a very calm, collected, and formally speaking person who even when annoyed or frustrated, remains this way. Even if The Courier completely screws over his plans by destroying the Securitron Vault or tells him they're going to kill him while talking to one of his screens, he still manages to be this way, showing just how stable he really is. The only time this falls is if The Courier refuses to give him the Platinum Chip repeatedly, but not only is this justified considering the circumstances, but he calms down immediately afterwards regardless of whether or not The Courier listens to him forcefully demanding them for the Platinum Chip.
- Sometimes his formal manner of speaking can lead to him having comically serious moments, making him have several hilarious lines when faced with stupid situations or when asked certain questions.
- He's an Anti-Villain who genuinely wants the best for the Mojave. Practically everything he does, even his more morally questionable actions, are to ensure that humanity has a great future where they can have security and accomplish many things, such as going to another planet not affected by the Great War. Furthermore, when asked by The Courier what would prevent him from abusing his power, he says that his judgement is what would prevent him, showing that he doesn't want to be a tyrannical monster and mostly just wants to be in power in order to advance humanity.
- If The Courier works for him all the way to Mr. House's ending, he shows himself to be very grateful and respectful towards them, as he talks about how they not only met his expectations but surpassed them, and gives them a home in the Lucky 38 out of gratitude (though if The Courier has evil karma it's also out of fear).
- He has standards against slavery, as he considers the Legion to be horrible for humanity due to this, and if The Courier tells him they killed him for Caesar, he expresses horror at the idea of slavery being the future of mankind.
- He is very honorable, as he never goes against what he says he'll do in his contracts and does as he promises, plus he also does reward The Courier for helping him as promised if they get Mr. House's ending.
- He's very charismatic, as he got three tribes to willingly work for him to become The Three Families, and knows how to make solutions that makes others happy, such as allowing Sarah and Sheldon to keep part of Vault 21 for them to make a hotel, and giving The Courier extra caps if they have a high enough barter skill.
- He's extremely good when it comes to technology, as he manages to build a vast Securitron army, made a life support machine that made him unable to die through aging, anti missile systems which detect and destroy incoming nukes before they hit New Vegas, the Platinum Chip which allows him to control the Securitrons and anti missile systems, and his technology is very stable, as if The Courier bugs his terminals to get information, he's immediately notified and is able to fix it in under a minute.
- He predicts that the Great War would happen 15 years before it did, with his prediction only being off by a single day. Even with his prediction being slightly off though, he still manages to make anti missile systems which prevent New Vegas from being damaged as badly as it could, only facing minor damage compared to the rest of the world.
- He plays the NCR so well that they're unable to do anything about him unless The Courier assists them in stopping him. He manages to get them to sign contracts for them to be able to use resources, such as a monorail, and taxes them and their citizens at higher rates than other people in New Vegas in order to both make profit and weaken their money supply that they need to fight the Legion. Furthermore, he never really tries destroying them due to knowing how much he's currently profiting off them and how much he can in the future, and the best possible ending for them has The Courier work for Mr. House.
- It's also worth noting how when President Kimball comes over to rally the NCR troops, Mr. House is aware of how dumb it is for him to come considering it makes him a target for Legion assassins, and has the Courier protect him in order to ensure that he would be blamed for the NCR's defeat when Mr. House takes Hoover Dam rather than Mr. House.
- He was rather smart when it came to delivering the Platinum Chip to him. He paid the Courier only 250 caps for the delivery (though this changes to 1000 after Benny causes problems) to ensure they wouldn't know how valuable it is unless they go the extra mile for him, didn't have the caravan armed as he knew that'd attract the attention of raiders or the Brotherhood of Steel, and had other Couriers who delivered junk just in case someone figured out about his delivery. The only reason this delivery failed was due to Benny sabotaging one of the Securitrons (which became Yes Man in the process), who told him about the Platinum Chip and all the specific details about it, but there was no way for Mr. House to know about Benny's plan until after he already seen it happen. Furthermore, he even planned for if something did happen to them, as he had Victor follow The Courier around, and had him take them taken to Doc Mitchell to save their life when Benny and the other thugs left the scene.
- Furthermore, he knows how bad of an idea it would be to have the Securitrons come in The Tops (Benny's base) and attack Benny, as he knows that would be horrible for the business there, and he knows that he has an advantage over Benny as he has no idea that Mr. House is aware of his plans.
- He manages to take Vault 21 by beating everyone there through a series of Blackjack games with some calculated moves, allowing him to get the outcomes he wants in a random game to get the advantage and win.
- He's perfectly aware of how much of a threat the Brotherhood of Steel can be, as he knows they tend to want to steal all technology for themselves, something obviously bad for Mr. House considering he rules with technology, and feels they're too dangerous to be reasoned with, which although not technically true considering they can be convinced to work with the NCR, he has good reason to feel this way considering how they'd probably want all his technology.
- When asked what his problem with democracy is, he had good logic behind it, as he says how democracy has led to slow decision making, and that the majority of the countries that caused the Great War were democratic.
- He ends up figuring that The Omertas were working against him, as they usually cause problems for him, and then out of nowhere they suddenly stop causing problems for him, which turns out to be correct considering they had allied with the Legion to attack The Strip when the second battle of Hoover Dam happens again. Plus, if the Courier decides to help them with their plans, when they tell Mr. House that's what they did, he spends a moment thinking about where that puts their alliance, before realizing that they're still useful considering that although they did help The Omertas, he wouldn't have figured out their plans if they didn't, which allows him to deal with them in the future.
- If The Courier decides to kill or disable Mr. House, though he initially will belittle them or whoever they're working for, in the end, he accepts his fate by saying how he has nothing left to say and just waits for The Courier to decide his fate.
- Although highly egotistical and somewhat arrogant, this doesn't detract from his magnificence, as he says he has no desire to be worshipped as a god or messiah, still cares about humanity, is capable of admitting when he's wrong or that someone else has a point, and when he fails this is never what causes his failure.
What Makes Him a Baddie?[]
- He extorts lot's of money off the NCR and it's citizens.
- Upon taking Vault 21, he kicks out the majority of it's people, leaving them exposed to the many dangers of the wasteland and indirectly leading to the death of Doc Mitchell's wife.
- If The Courier goes against his plans, he will have his Securitrons try to kill them.
- He has The Courier destroy the entire Brotherhood of Steel if they work for him, and is unwilling to resort to reasoning with them. Although they can be dangerous and are one of the more antagonistic organizations, this is still portrayed as a heinous action, given how ruthless he is in dealing with them and it was intentionally made by the developers to be a reason as to why someone would not work for Mr. House.
- If the Kings decide to be peaceful with the NCR, he tries to forcefully remove them from New Vegas due to them having worked with an enemy, and when they refuse to leave, he has them completely eradicated by his Securitrons.
Trivia[]
- So far, he is the only Fallout character to be a Magnificent Baddie.
- In cut content, when the Courier enters his room, he begs for his life and stupidly tries telling the Courier that The Console doesn't do anything when it obviously does. If this stayed in the final game, Mr. House would not be a Magnificent Baddie due to showing both cowardice and stupidity. However, considering this was cut from the final game, his status as a Magnificent Baddie is not affected.