Bert Gunnarsson is a ghoul doctor at Aerotech Office Park in the Mojave Wasteland in 2281. He appears in Fallout: New Vegas.
Background[]
Having received medical training from the Followers of the Apocalypse,[1][3] Bert is a volunteer doctor working with Captain Parker and the NCR Army to care for the refugees at Aerotech Office Park. By his description, the camp's refugees are "poor lost souls" who sought to make a fortune on the New Vegas Strip but instead ended up destitute; a few are working to support themselves, but most have turned to vices like "crooked gambling and cheap liquor." Regardless of this, Bert seeks to minister to everyone as best as he can with his medical knowledge,[4] and is universally kind and welcoming to strangers,[5] even praying for the souls of people whom the community views as monsters.[6] He is willing to provide his care to anyone who has a need for it, limited only by his low daily supply.[7][8]
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Bert is a relatively new arrival to the Mojave as of October 2281, having arrived about six months earlier.[9] He comes from New Canaan, and is known there as an "elder" of "the Church."[2][Non-game 1]
Bert's reason for leaving Utah and coming to New Vegas was related to his church. He was following the trail of an old friend, Nephi, who had fallen in with a "bad crowd" of drug runners and raiders, if not worse. Bert followed Nephi's gang west, hoping to bring his friend back into the faith.[10] However, after arriving at New Vegas, Bert realized that his mission was a lost cause; he learned Nephi had fully given into drug abuse and hatred, becoming one of the most crazed and sadistic members of the Fiends terrorizing New Vegas.[11]
Even if Nephi is a lost cause, Bert has not given up on New Vegas yet. Bert saw an opportunity to assist others left destitute in the post-War city-state, working with the NCR at Aerotech Office Park using his medical training from the Followers. The Followers were displeased by Bert's cooperation with the NCR, but he sees his task as important enough that the factional issues do not matter.[9]
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Interactions with the player character[]
Interactions overview[]
| Interactions | ||
|---|---|---|
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This character is a doctor. |
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Effects of player's actions[]
Bert will have a unique comment when next spoken to after killing Driver Nephi, either independently or as part of Three-Card Bounty for Major Dhatri at Camp McCarran, remarking that he hopes Nephi found peace. However, there is no in-game explanation for how he knows Nephi, as his dialogue explaining their past ties is unused in the final game (see below).[6]
Other interactions[]
Bert is one of the few doctors in the game who will heal the Courier for free. There are some caveats: Bert's free healing is only available once per (in-game) day, and only if the player character is below 80% of their max Hit Points.[7] Finally, Bert cannot treat rads or cure addictions.
Inventory[]
| Apparel | Weapon | Other items |
|---|---|---|
| Wasteland doctor fatigues Bandana |
.357 Magnum revolver | 2 Fixer 2 maize 3 stimpaks |
Notes[]
- Bert and Private Kyle Edwards are two of the few non-feral ghouls in the Mojave that visibly retained their human eye color.
- Bert's bandana visibly does not fit on his head. This behavior is universal, as it will not fit on even a Courier with the biggest and widest head possible.
An unused dialogue topic would have had Bert introduce himself, mentioning that he is known as "Elder Gunnarsson" within "the Church," making Bert one of the few characters in base game Fallout: New Vegas to identify themselves as belonging to a specific religion, in this case, Mormonism.[2] Though Bert never mentions it in his own dialogue, this specifically refers to the New Canaanites' faith.[Non-game 1]
Notable quotes[]
- "I give what aid and comfort I can. I have medical knowledge thanks to my time with the Followers."
- "Poor lost souls, most of them. They thought to come to New Vegas and find their fortunes on its shining Strip. But the journey is often long, and the price to enter the city is steep. Those who could not pay ended up here, hoping to earn the caps they need. Some find honest labor, but more fritter away what little they've saved on crooked gambling and cheap liquor. Still, I minister to them as I can."
- "Following a lost cause, I'm afraid. My old friend Nephi fell in with a bad crowd. Drug runners, raiders, probably worse things it's better not to dwell on. When his gang headed west, I followed."
Appearances[]
Bert Gunnarsson appears only in Fallout: New Vegas.
Behind the scenes[]
- Bert was written by area designer Travis Stout.[Non-game 2]
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- Bert has four dialogue topics which expand on his backstory and explain his relationship to Driver Nephi, as summarized in the Background section above, but which are unused in the final release of Fallout: New Vegas. The four dialogue topics in question are BertIntro, BertFollowers, BertUtah, and BertNephi, and their text can be viewed on Bert's dialogue page. Their removal was most likely unintentional, as according to project director Joshua Sawyer, neither he nor Travis Stout were sure of why the dialogue was not accessible in the final game.[Non-game 2]
- All four of these unused dialogue topics have an "Add Topics" hierarchy in the G.E.C.K., as well as no explicit choices. What this means for Bert is that when one of the topics is selected, after finishing it will return to the main dialogue menu, with a new choice added. The hierarchy of the topics is as ordered above, i.e. after BertIntro finishes, the menu returns to the previous choices, and now BertFollowers is available -- and so on).
- Like many other NPCs in Fallout: New Vegas, Bert's main dialogue menu (his first set of dialogue topics after his greeting lines) is set up by checkmarking the "Top-level" box on the relevant dialogue topics which are expected to show up. This is opposed to other setups where the set of responses is explicitly added or defined in the information for the greeting topic.
- Given the two points above, in this setup, BertFollowers, BertUtah, and BertNephi all would not have any anchors to the rest of the dialogue tree by design, apart from their relationship to the previous topic. BertIntro is the only one of these four unused topics that would be connected to the rest of the dialogue tree, presumably by checkmarking its "Top-level" box to include in the set of default responses to Bert's greetings. However, BertIntro does not have this box checked, so the full set of topics that depends on it is inaccessible in the final game.
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- Although Bert's and Nephi's backstory dialogue was never fixed, Joshua Sawyer has confirmed that Nephi is from New Canaan;[Non-game 1] by extension, this implies that Bert also came from there.
- Driver Nephi also has several cut dialogue topics which were removed due to his normally being hostile to the player. In one of these topics, Nephi can be told that Bert asked the Courier to check on him; Nephi will instead curse Bert as a "scaly, corpse-looking fuck" and say that his reply to Bert is that he refuses to ever return to Bert's "little cult." This topic has one player response, "Okay, I'll tell him," which simply has Nephi threaten the Courier to leave.[12]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Courier: "Where are the Followers based around here?"
Ignacio Rivas: "Other than that, I know Dr. Usanagi set up a practice near the Crimson Caravan. And a man we trained is operating out of the Aerotech building."
(Ignacio Rivas' dialogue) - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Courier: "Who are you?"
Bert Gunnarsson: "Well, that's an interesting question. Among the Church, I'm called Elder Gunnarsson. The Followers call me 'Doc.' You can call me Bert, though."
(Bert Gunnarsson's dialogue)
- ↑ The Courier: "What do you do here?"
Bert Gunnarsson: "I give what aid and comfort I can. I have medical knowledge thanks to my time with the Followers."
The Courier: "That's noble of you."
Bert Gunnarsson: "I only do what I can to help."
(Bert Gunnarsson's dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "What's the deal with all these refugees?"
Bert Gunnarsson: "Poor lost souls, most of them. They thought to come to New Vegas and find their fortunes on its shining Strip. But the journey is often long, and the price to enter the city is steep. Those who could not pay ended up here, hoping to earn the caps they need. Some find honest labor, but more fritter away what little they've saved on crooked gambling and cheap liquor. Still, I minister to them as I can."
(Bert Gunnarsson's dialogue) - ↑ Bert Gunnarsson: "Welcome, brother/sister! How can I help you?"
(Bert Gunnarsson's dialogue) - ↑ 6.0 6.1 Bert Gunnarsson: "I've heard through the locals that Nephi has passed on. I truly hope his soul finds peace."
(Bert Gunnarsson's dialogue) - ↑ 7.0 7.1 The Courier: "Can you heal me?"
Bert Gunnarsson: "I would be happy to. What I can do isn't much, but I give it freely."
(Bert Gunnarsson's dialogue) Note: This is Bert's doctor dialogue for when he heals the player. This dialogue is only available once per in-game day and when the player is below 80% of their Hit Points. - ↑ The Courier: "Can you heal me?"
Bert Gunnarsson: "I'm afraid I have exhausted my supplies. If you come back in a day or two, I may be able to do more for you."
(Bert Gunnarsson's dialogue) Note: This is Bert's doctor dialogue if the player has already healed from him once earlier in the in-game day. - ↑ 9.0 9.1 The Courier: "You're one of the Followers of the Apocalypse?"
Bert Gunnarsson: "I surely am. Well, sort of. I came out from Utah about six months back, saw a need for my help here. The Followers weren't too happy about that, of course. They haven't been too fond of the NCR for a while, but I go where I'm needed."
(Bert Gunnarsson's dialogue)
- ↑ The Courier: "What was it that brought you out here from Utah?"
Bert Gunnarsson: "Following a lost cause, I'm afraid. My old friend Nephi fell in with a bad crowd. Drug runners, raiders, probably worse things it's better not to dwell on. When his gang headed west, I followed. I thought perhaps I could turn him back to the Church."
(Bert Gunnarsson's dialogue)
- ↑ The Courier: "What happened to your friend Nephi?"
Bert Gunnarsson: "I never was able to reach him. He has allowed drugs and hatred to consume him. He runs with the Fiends north of here, now. They call him Driver Nephi."
(Bert Gunnarsson's dialogue)
- ↑ The Courier: "I hear you came from Utah. A friend of yours asked me to check on you. Bert?"
Driver Nephi: "Bert? That scaly, corpse-looking fuck, you tell him I'm never going back to his little cult!"
The Courier: "Okay, I'll tell him."
Driver Nephi: "And get the fuck away from me before I cave in your skull!"
(Driver Nephi's dialogue)
Non-game
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Question: "Is Driver Nephi supposed to be a Mormon?"
Joshua Sawyer: "He was a New Canaanite, yes."
(Formspring reply from February 23, 2012) - ↑ 2.0 2.1 Question: "After reading this op-ed, I'm curious as to why the dialogue with Driver Nephi and Bert Gunnarsson regarding Mormonism was cut. Was it simply because Driver Nephi is openly hostile to the courier or some technical reason? http://kotaku.com/5988935/im-a-mormon-pop-culture-often-mocks-my-faith-but-fallout-treated-it-right"
Joshua Sawyer: "Unfortunately, I don't have any idea and Travis Stout (who wrote Bert's dialogue) doesn't either."
(Joshua Sawyer Formspring posts/2013)