Blind Betrayal is a Brotherhood of Steel main quest and achievement/trophy in Fallout 4.
Background
As the Brotherhood of Steel finds itself on the verge of success in their Commonwealth invasion, a startling discovery is made of one of their own. A paladin that was considered one of their best, has a secret, and now a hard decision needs to made for their future.
Quick walkthrough
| Brotherhood of Steel main quest: Blind Betrayal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Speak to Elder Maxson. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Speak to Proctor Quinlan. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Follow and speak to Scribe Haylen. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Find Paladin Danse in Listening Post Bravo. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Execute Danse. | Convince Danse to leave the Commonwealth. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leave Listening Post Bravo. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Confront Elder Maxson. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Let Maxson execute Danse. | Execute Danse. | Convince Maxson to spare Danse. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Speak to Danse. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Report back to the Prydwen. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reward: 350+ XP Rank of Paladin Power armor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leads to: Tactical Thinking | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Detailed walkthrough
After Liberty Reprimed is completed, the Sole Survivor is ordered to report to the Prydwen. There, a furious Elder Maxson confronts the Sole Survivor, demanding to know if they were aware Paladin Danse was a synth. He reveals that the network hack of the Institute's mainframe yielded indisputable proof Danse is not human, but is actually a missing synth unit with the designation M7-97. The Sole Survivor is then given a choice of medium-difficulty persuasion checks to convince Maxson they did not know Danse's true nature. Alternatively they can suggest that Danse himself may not have known he was a synth.
The Sole Survivor is then ordered to find Danse, who has gone AWOL, and execute him. They meet with Proctor Quinlan to figure out a way to track Danse down, but their deliberations are interrupted by Scribe Haylen. Haylen pulls the Survivor aside and makes a plea for mercy on Danse's behalf, desperate to save him even if he is a synth. She then directs the Sole Survivor to the recon team's previously declared fallback location: Listening Post Bravo.
After dispatching the security measures (two exterior turrets, one exterior Protectron, and three additional Protectrons down the elevator), the Sole Survivor will locate Danse inside the bunker. There they must decide how to proceed.
Plan A: Carry Out the Execution
The Survivor may execute Danse with or without speaking to him. Alternatively one can let him commit suicide. On his body they will find a synth component and Danse's holotags. Collect the tags, return to the Prydwen, and inform Elder Maxson the deed is done.
If the Sole Survivor enters the bunker and is seen by Danse, then leaves the bunker, Danse will commit suicide.
Plan B: Allow Danse to Live
The Sole Survivor may refuse to execute Danse. He will protest, stating synths are abominations and that he must be made an example of. Passing a medium-level persuasion check will convince him he is no threat to humanity and should flee the Commonwealth. Danse hands over his holotags to appease Maxson, then asks the Sole Survivor to meet him on the surface to say their farewells.
Outside the bunker Danse and the Sole Survivor are met with an unwelcome surprise: Elder Maxson, having suspected the Sole Survivor would prove insubordinate, has followed them to the bunker. Outraged, he reiterates his orders and demands the synth's death. From here the Survivor has three options:
- Concede to Maxson and kill Danse. Danse will submit peacefully.
- Fail to convince Maxson to spare Danse OR request he perform the execution himself. Maxson will kill Danse.
- Persuade Maxson to let Danse live. Maxson will reluctantly agree, but will exile Danse from the Brotherhood. As a known synth Danse will be fired upon by Brotherhood soldiers.
Whatever decision is made, return to the Prydwen. Maxson will promote the Sole Survivor to the rank of paladin in addition to granting them all of Paladin Danse's belongings, including his living quarters (the room marked "Prydwen Quarters" which is locked before this quest) and his personal set of T-60 power armor.
Quest stages
Companion reactions
Notes
- The quest can be avoided, retaining Danse's good standing with the Brotherhood, by one of these means:
- Not giving the network scanner tape (nor a copy) to Proctor Ingram.
- Not completing (or failing) Liberty Reprimed.
- However avoiding this quest prevents ever reaching maximum affinity with Danse.
- Completing this quest will automatically start Tactical Thinking, causing P.A.M. to go into "lockdown" and stopping the player character from speaking to her to receive or hand in quests, preventing them from completing Railroad side quest chains. This can be fixed by becoming an enemy of the Brotherhood of Steel.
- Choosing Danse as a companion will still not allow the player character to talk to P.A.M., despite being told that the player character is now enemies with the Brotherhood of Steel.
- Danse's affinity level will be capped at 999 until this quest is completed. If he survives the quest, the next time the Sole Survivor meets Danse, he will be using X-01 power armor pieces instead of T-60 power armor pieces. Once Danse idolizes the Sole Survivor, the Know Your Enemy perk will be unlocked.
- It is fine if one fails the speech-check with Maxson at the beginning of the quest as he will just give the player character another chance to try again. Even if that fails, the conversation will lead to "Has it ever occurred to you that Danse might not be aware of his identity?" to which a somewhat surprised Maxson replies "No, it had not" and then proceeds to grant the player character the quest as usual.
- If one attempts to finish the quest by speaking to Elder Maxson aboard the Prydwen while the 'Inform the Brotherhood' objective of The Battle of Bunker Hill is active, they will warn him of the Institute's plan instead.
- It appears that the death of Paladin Danse is a scripted event at certain points in this quest. For instance, when meeting Elder Maxson outside the bunker, if the player character elects to kill Maxson before Danse is executed, Danse will automatically die. This will still occur even if Elder Maxson is out of melee range. Danse will also automatically die if one completes the Defend the Castle quest without completing Blind Betrayal first.
- If the Sole Survivor spares Danse, traveling with him will cause the Brotherhood of Steel to be hostile to the Sole Survivor. When Danse is dismissed, the Brotherhood will return to neutral status afterwards.
- Sparing Danse and sending him to the Boston Airport will cause all of the Brotherhood soldiers to be hostile. Sending him to a settlement and then calling a Brotherhood Vertibird to the settlement may result in a battle between Danse and the settlers and the Vertibird.
- Sparing Danse and sending him to the Boston Airport after the Brotherhood of Steel ending results in both Danse and Liberty Prime ending up in an endless battle, due to Prime unable to be harmed and Danse unkillable, resulting in the deaths of the unnamed Brotherhood soldiers guarding the tarmac, who either get killed by Danse or Prime's Mark 28 nukes.
- If one accepts Spoils of War before handing the Institute holotape over to Proctor Ingram, she will speak only of Spoils of War and heading to Mass Fusion, preventing the player character from handing over the holotape and beginning Blind Betrayal until after Spoils of War has been completed. This will prevent the player character from saving the synths in the quest Underground Undercover as they must become an enemy of the Institute and blow their cover. Alternatively, completing Mass Fusion in this scenario will enable the synths to be saved but prevent the player character from obtaining Danse's perk, Know Your Enemy.
 | The following is based on Fallout 4 cut content. |
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- It seems that there was an alternative route to this quest that was scrapped from the final version of the game that would have allowed Danse to stay in the Brotherhood. According to the game files, there were unused voice clips suggesting that the Sole Survivor would convince Danse to challenge Maxson's authority as Elder, which is settled in combat as was written in a litany in the Brotherhood Codex. This would lead to the Sole Survivor becoming the new leader of the Brotherhood of Steel as Elder, while Danse gives a speech to the troops that he will not hesitate to destroy his own kind if it means destroying the Institute. In the final game, killing Elder Maxson will result in the Sole Survivor being declared an enemy to the Brotherhood of Steel, and Danse goes hostile as if he was still allied with the Brotherhood.
- The player character could also convince Danse that he should become the new elder of The Brotherhood of Steel by passing a red speech check.
| End of information based on Fallout 4 cut content |
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Bugs
Once Elder Maxson arrives in the Vertibird after exiting the listening post, he starts walking off into the distance making it very difficult to enter dialogue with him. One potential fix is to continually step in front of him and prevent him from moving too far away from Danse, allowing Danse to be spared or executed by Maxson. If he does get away, the quest can be completed by executing Danse personally and finding Maxson to the north and briefly talking to him to return him to his quarters. Alternatively, on PC, select Maxson in the console and use the tc command to take control of him to stop him walking away and complete the dialogue. Use the tc command again to return him back to AI control. You may need to use player.tc to return control to the player character if one uses this method. Another method is to use 0001cc18.moveto player to forcibly set Maxson directly in front of the player character. If one stands close to Danse, Maxson will be hemmed in between, and the scene will play out to the end.[verified]- If the Defend the Castle quest is in progress, pending an attack from the Institute, you can still complete this quest but there can be some bugs. First, the quest marker will be tracking Danse as opposed to directing the player character to Listening Post Bravo. However, console commands (PRID for Danse and then moveto.player) can be used to summon Danse to the bunker at Listening Post Bravo. One will need to summon him again upon coming up again before the final confrontation with Maxson. When Maxson speaks to the player character, Danse will start running in what looks like the direction of Sanctuary. Unfortunately, this can easily trigger Maxson to give up on the conversation and 'execute' Danse (he moves forward and makes an execution motion where Danse should be standing). The only way found to fix this is to rapidly click through dialogue. Upon completion, one must talk with Danse before returning to Defend the Castle, otherwise the request will fail. This is difficult because Danse is running away, and the console command to bring him to the player character no longer works. A tracking mod can be used to catch up with Danse, or alternatively one could try manually heading east in the hopes of catching up to him at Sanctuary. One can complete the quest by talking to him and if the player character invite him to stay with them, he will show up at whichever settlement he was last sent to.[verified]
- If the Institute is destroyed by the Minutemen, Elder Maxson will say he is busy and will refuse to speak to the player character, therefore he cannot give the quest. Also in the police station, Scribe Haylen's dialogue will suggest one has completed the quest even if this is not the case. Danse will remain in any settlement the player character has left him in and he will continue his normal dialogue and will stay in his power armor.[verified]
- Upon exiting Listening Post Bravo with Danse (having refused to kill him), the dialogue in which one has the option to either execute Danse or persuade Elder Maxson to let him live may be skipped altogether, resulting in the immediate execution of Danse by Maxson.[verified]
- If one already has a set of power armor on the rack Danse's suit defaults to, his will not appear (although the inventory screen will flicker upon looking at it). However, if the player character enters the suit they will enter Danse's - leaving the old one behind.[verified]
- If Paladin Danse was one's companion when starting Blind Betrayal, he may still be invincible upon encountering him in the bunker. One potential fix is to convince him to live, then hand the execution order to Elder Maxson, which will result in the quest progressing.[verified]
- Upon arrival at the bunker, Danse may be wearing no clothes, which may be due to upgrading Danse's power armor. Any upgraded components will not be available on the suit of power armor retrieved from the bay in the Prydwen.[verified]
- This can also occur if Danse's BOS Uniform was unequipped while trading gear with him. The uniform cannot be re-equipped after removing, resulting in Danse wearing just his underwear under his power armor and, thus, just underwear during Blind Betrayal.
- If Elder Maxson is killed after the interaction with Paladin Danse and before he enters the Vertibird, Elder Maxson will appear dead upon exiting the Prydwen during Rocket's Red Glare. Using this method it is possible to duplicate his battlecoat.[verified]
- If Danse is assigned to a trade route prior to relocating to Listening Post Bravo, then whichever trade route he was provisioning will remain permanently active for the rest of the game. If Danse is then spared he can be assigned to another route and both will remain active.
