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You've gotten a lot farther than you should have, but then you haven't met Frank Horrigan either. Your ride's over, mutie. Time to die.— Frank to the Chosen One

Special Agent Frank Horrigan is a super mutant and an agent of the Enclave's Secret Service in 2241.[2][3] He serves as the final boss of Fallout 2.

Quick Answers

What caused Frank Horrigan's reassignment to wasteland patrol duty? toggle section
Frank Horrigan, originally a bodyguard for President Dick Richardson, was reassigned to wasteland patrol following an undisclosed psychotic incident. He was assigned to the Mariposa Excavation and was exposed to FEV, and then used as a guinea pig by the Enclave for further surgical and biochemical experiments, which damaged his mind further and greatly amplified his strength and size, effectively turning him into a living weapon.
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What role does Frank Horrigan play in the Enclave's Secret Service? toggle section
Special Agent Frank Horrigan is a giant mutated assassin encased in a custom suit of power armor, used to carrying out assassinations and purges on the mainland. He was originally a member of President Richardson's security detail.
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How does Frank Horrigan's super mutant status affect his abilities and role in Fallout 2? toggle section
Frank Horrigan, the final boss in Fallout 2, is a unique super mutant encased in a giant suit of power armor. Exposure to FEV, years of Enclave experiments, and a fanatical devotion to the Enclave turned him into a living weapon. In gameplay terms, Frank has 999 hit points, damage threshold and resistance comparable to regular power armor, and a large number of Action Points, on top of a high-end plasma gun and a large knife for use in case he's crippled or runs out of ammo.
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Background[]

Frank Horrigan was born in 2211.[Non-game 1] A huge brick of a man,[4] he used to serve as the personal bodyguard of President Dick Richardson until an undocumented psychotic blunder caused him to be reassigned to wasteland patrol duty.[5][Non-game 3] It was on one of those wasteland expeditions that he came into contact with the Forced Evolutionary Virus at the Mariposa Military Base and started mutating into a super mutant. The Enclave decided to send him to the Oil Rig for study.[Non-game 4]

For two years, Horrigan was operated upon, and studied by the Enclave scientists while he gradually mutated into a super mutant, both physically and mentally. Col. Dr. Charles Curling used him as a guinea pig for experiments with his modified strains of FEV, considering the result somewhat successful.[6] He was kept under heavy sedation and only allowed to be conscious for short periods of time, during which several violent incidents ocurred.[Non-game 5] Viewed as a "genetically engineered freak" by his own men, he had been experimented upon and underwent so many changes to his DNA and physiology that he could be described as a one of a kind mutant, becoming more machine than man.[5][Non-game 6]

When tests began to run dry in January 2239, the Enclave decided that it was time to redeploy him as a field operative. He was fitted with a custom-engineered set of power armor powered by a back-mounted supersized microfusion reactor,[Non-game 7] and after a few successful field tests, he was assigned to his new role.[Non-game 8][Non-game 9] Armed with a hardened composite blade for close combat and an experimental, prototype plasma gun,[Non-game 7] he was the single deadliest combatant in New California, save perhaps the Chosen One. The Enclave ensured his utter loyalty; they took advantage of his low intelligence, further damaged by the FEV, to reinforce his pre-existing loyalty to the presidency and the armed forces by running various conditioning programs on him, ordered under a presidential directive.[Non-game 10]

Exposure to FEV and subsequent experiments made him bigger, stronger and faster than any other super mutant. His armor continually injects him with drugs and other stablizing agents, and is the only thing keeping him alive.[Non-game 11] He was also fitted with several cybernetic enhancements, including arm control mechanisms, leg rotator mechanisms, and a bionic eye.[7] Despite his appearance, Horrigan didn't consider himself a mutant, referring to other wastelanders as "muties" instead.[8] He was a mutant only to the Enclave scientists, mostly referred to as an "experiment." Among soldiers, he was considered a curiosity built by the science team, a freak that few were willing to accompany on missions in the field.[Non-game 10]

Horrigan was extensively deployed to the wasteland, tasked with resolving any situations that may affect the Enclave. He indulged his sadistic streak, and the manner in which he killed "mutants" was brutal enough to give lasting nightmares to the Enclave troops supporting him.[9] None lasted more than 60 seconds, allegedly.[10]

One such assassination occurred on August 30, 2241,[11] he was tasked with hunting down and recruiting an elderly farmer whose knowledge could prove dangerous, killing him without a second thought when the man refused. The Chosen One had the dubious privilege of witnessing the execution. Horrigan spared him and merely left, a costly mistake in hindsight.[12] He also killed Matthew at the San Francisco Brotherhood bunker following his acquisition of Vertibird plans.[13]

However, he met his match in the fall of 2242,[Non-game 2] at the hands of the Chosen One. When they invaded Control Station Enclave and destroyed its computer, triggering a meltdown, Horrigan personally secured the exit to the PMV Valdez, to prevent them from leaving the oil rig.[14] In the ensuing fight, Horrigan was mortally wounded. Damage to his systems was too extensive and he was bisected at the waist.[15] However, this mortal wound didn't kill him instantly. Horrigan still managed to get up on his hands and taunt the Chosen One for the last time, telling them he had activated the self-destruct program and that they would all die in a "big ol' mushroom cloud sendoff."[16] After reciting his oath, he collapsed as the internal pressure blew his head clean off.[17]

Characteristics[]

Horrigan has 999 HP and is equipped with two unique weapons normally unobtainable: an End Boss plasma gun and an End Boss knife. He is also very fast, having a great amount of AP, and is able to attack several times per round. If his weapons are disabled (either due to running out of ammo or if his eyes or limbs are crippled by repeated aimed shots), Horrigan will engage in hand-to-hand combat with his enemies to the death. Normally, he continually fires his gun until he runs out of ammo, at which point he resorts to his knife.

Additionally, Horrigan's armor grants him high resistance against small arms fire, explosions and laser and plasma bolts, but is somewhat vulnerable to electricity. It's marginally better than the standard advanced power armor used by regular Enclave troopers.

This special cybernetic armor cannot be bypassed even by critical hits, which makes him extremely hard to kill, even relative to his high number of Hit Points.

Interactions with the player character[]

Interactions overview[]

Interactions
Icon talkinghead
This character has a talking head.
FO76 ui icon quest
This character is involved in quests.

Quests[]

  • Stop the Enclave: After disabling the reactor computer to destroy the Enclave Oil Rig, Horrigan will appear at the exit to the dock. The Chosen One must fight and kill him, as the exit door will not open and the exit grid will not appear until he's killed. Once defeated, he will engage in dialogue, without legs and crawling on his arms, before dying.
    • The mutagenic serum does not work on Horrigan.
    • Horrigan's personal weapons can be obtained either by killing him and positioning an NPC in the same hex he was standing in when he died (eg. Granite's squad), killing them, and then looting both. His armor is not obtainable in any way, as it is not a discrete item: The damage thresholds, resistances, and armor class are part of Horrigan's base proto.
  • Though he has placeholder graphics for both reactions, Horrigan is the only character with a talking head that cannot be impressed or made furious.
  • When killed, he appears as a new entry in the Pip-Boy 2000 kills section. His section is named "Big Bad Boss Kills" and within it, he is described as a "genetically engineered total homicidal maniac cyborg bodyguard."

Other interactions[]

  • After completing the game, Skeev will offer to buy pieces of Horrigan's corpse to resell them as memorabilia for $150 per piece, promising the Chosen One a 10% cut of the profits.[18]
  • While both New Reno townsfolk and prostitutes suggest to use the mutated toe on Frank Horrigan ("You score is 192 out of 208. You really should have used the mutated toe on Horrigan"), this is just a reference to Sierra's Quest series, not a mechanic.

Death animation[]

  • Killing Frank will trigger a unique and violent death animation:
Stage 1 Stage 2
Frank Horrigan death stage 1 Frank Death Stage 2

Inventory[]

Apparel Weapon Other items
Frank Horrigan's armor End Boss plasma gun
End Boss knife

Fallout: Wasteland Warfare[]

Frank Horrigan was included as a playable Enclave character in Wasteland Warfare.

Name S P E C I A L Normal Energy Rads Special
Frank Horrigan I 8 8 5 6 5 5 1 6 6 X UNNERVING: -2 penalty for all Skill Tests which are not attacks on Frank Horrigan I.

ENRAGED: When damage suffered, gain 1 /. Must be used on the next attack

Frank Horrigan II 10 8 6 6 4 4 2 4 4 X FERVID: Resistant to all conditions.

BOOM: When first activated, gain ! !. IMPAIR: Before shot, may replace 3 with 0 +

Frank Horrigan III 12 5 4 6 3 3 3 3 3 X UNYIELDING: Immune to all conditions.

VIOLENT: Melee attacks gain ? ?

UNPREDICTABLE: On activation:

Fallout: The Roleplaying Game[]

Horrigan is major character in Fallout: The Roleplaying Game.

Notes[]

  • Frank Horrigan, along with Colonel Royez, Gaius Magnus and Ulysses, are the only characters in the Fallout series that have the maximum level of 10 in all SPECIAL attributes. Frank is characterized as unintelligent, and his high intelligence is only for gameplay purposes. Rawr is close behind, with all stats at 10 except for Charisma at 7 and Intelligence at 5.
  • His unique power armor has been remade as a cosmetic skin in Fallout 76, as the Equalizer power armor paint.

Notable quotes[]

Appearances[]

Frank Horrigan is the final boss and antagonist of Fallout 2, who also appears in a special encounter early in the game killing some defiant "peasants." He is also seen killing Brotherhood of Steel agent Matt in a cutscene in the San Francisco Brotherhood outpost if the Chosen One accesses the ACE computer terminal and asks what happened to him. Analogously, another scene of Horrigan killing deathclaws can be seen in Vault 13 after the Enclave raids it a second time. He was a talking head voiced by Michael Dorn (who also voiced Marcus). In Fallout: Wasteland Warfare, Frank Horrigan appears as a unit in the Enclave faction.

Behind the scenes[]

Bugs[]

PCPC In the SFall 3.2a version of Fallout 2 (shipped with the game if purchased from Steam), Frank Horrigan may be completely impervious to damage dealt by the Chosen One during the final battle, only receiving damage from the turrets and Granite's squad if they are made friendly. It is unknown if this is an avoidable glitch, or a permanent glitch with the game's version. [verified]

Gallery[]

Fallout 2[]

Fallout: Wasteland Warfare[]

Magic: The Gathering[]

References[]

  1. QCFRANK.SSL: "Evil_Critter:=1;"
  2. The Chosen One: "Huh? Frank who?"
    Frank Horrigan: "Me, Frank Horrigan, that's who. United States Secret Service. You aren't going anywhere from here."
    (Frank Horrigan's dialogue)
  3. Frank Horrigan's character description: "You see Secret Service agent Frank Horrigan."
    (Frank Horrigan's dialogue)
  4. Frank Horrigan's character description: "You see a huge brick of a man"
    (Ecbdygrd.msg)
  5. 5.0 5.1 Granite: "He's some genetically engineered freak is what he is. Used to be the president's bodyguard. Secret Service agent Frank Horrigan. Now he's more than half machine."
    (Granite's dialogue)
  6. The Chosen One: "{201}{}{Okay, now I know where you found it, but what does it do?}"
    Charles Curling: "{202}{}{The F.E.V. was initially designed as a virus that was supposed to turn humans into super-soldiers. That experiment seems to have been an utter failure, although I did try a modification of the virus on one of our Secret Service agents with some success.}"
    (QCCURLNG.MSG)
  7. Frank Horrigan's critical hit messages: ", destroying his arm control mechanism"
    ", destroying his leg rotator mechanism"
    ", shattering his bionic eye"
    (COMBATAI.MSG (Fallout 2))
  8. Frank Horrigan: "You've gotten a lot farther than you should have, but then you haven't met Frank Horrigan either. Your ride's over, mutie. Time to die."
    (Frank Horrigan's dialogue)
  9. Sgt. Granite: "{141}{}{Oh, that he is, and worse. He's going to mop the floor with you. He's tough, fast, and just plain mean. I've seen what he likes to do to mutants and it ain't pretty.}"
    Chosen One: "{142}{}{I'm not a mutant and…uh, what did he do?}"
    Sgt. Granite: "{143}{}{I don't like to talk about it. It gives me nightmares. Let's just say that those walls aren't covered with *rust* exactly.}"
    (QCGRANIT.MSG)
  10. Sgt. Granite: "{155}{}{Don't you tell a pretty story. You make me laugh. Y'know, I think you might even last over the one-minute mark with Horrigan. That'd be a new record. Good luck, mutie.}"
    (QCGRANIT.MSG)
  11. Scripted encounter set to occur on this date.
  12. Frank Horrigan: "Old man, you WILL come with us."
    Farmer: "Leave us alone. I will never support the cause of your superiors."
    Frank Horrigan: "I will not ask you again. Come now, or you will be made an example of."
    Farmer: "I would rather what knowledge I have disappear with me into the grave."
    Frank Horrigan: "So be it. Kill them all."
    (Ecbdygrd.msg)
  13. The Chosen One: "What happened to Matt?"
    ACE: "Loading sequence..."
    Matthew: "You and your so-called President will not succeed."
    Frank Horrigan: "Is that so?"
    Matthew: "The Chosen One has come, and he will rid the world of your evil."
    Frank Horrigan: "I care nothing for your pathetic prophecies. Worse, you have become a nusiance In-game spelling, punctuation and/or grammar through your meddling. That ends today!"
    Matthew: "Killing me will stop nothing."
    Frank Horrigan: "That may be, but seeing your body rotting on the ground will bring a smile to my face."
    (ACE's information)
    Note: This is the transcript of a cutscene in the San Francisco Brotherhood outpost, at the conclusion of the vertibird plans quest.
  14. Frank Horrigan: "Making our reactor melt-down means things are going to be pretty hot in here soon. Pity you won't live long enough to see it. You're not a hero, you're just a walking corpse"
    (Frank Horrigan's dialogue)
  15. Frank Horrigan's death animation, stage 1
  16. Frank Horrigan: "You (cough), you haven't won here. You and your mutie-bastard friends are gonna join me in a big ol' mushroom cloud sendoff. I just triggered the self-destruct. (Heh, heh; cough, cough,…) The work will go on. You didn't do nothing here, 'cept seal your own death warrants. Duty, (cough) honor... courage... Semper Fiiiii…….."
    (Frank Horrigan's dialogue)
  17. Frank Horrigan's death animation, stage 2
  18. Skeev: "Hey, you got any pieces of Horrigan? I could sell 'em for fifty, hundred bucks a pop, give you 10% of the action."
    (Skeev's dialogue)

Non-game

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Fallout Bible 0: "2211 Frank Horrigan is born... unfortunately."
  2. 2.0 2.1 Fallout Bible 0: "2242 Fall Fallout 2 Ends: The Chosen One enters the Enclave using the damaged tanker and destroys the Poseidon oil platform, killing the President of the United States and ending the Enclave's plans for world domination."
  3. Fallout Bible 0: 2236 July–August "Enclave scientists and chemical corps scour the remains of Mariposa, while assault squads comb the desert for slaves they can use to mine the military base and get to the Vats. One of the squads includes soldier Frank Horrigan, 25 at the time, recently removed from duty on the President's secret service to take some RNR time in the wastes after some undocumented psychotic blunder or another."
  4. Fallout Bible 0: "2236 September Enclave construction crews and super mutant slaves begin excavations. They uncover the FEV virus,In-game spelling, punctuation and/or grammar and mutations begin to occur in the human workers. Frank Horrigan comes into contact with the FEV and is sent to the Enclave labs for study."
  5. Fallout Bible 0: "2236-2238 Horrigan gradually mutates from exposure to FEV, gaining the physique and slow, stupid, single-mindedness of a super mutant. He is kept heavily sedated, operated on, and studied. He is conscious for only brief periods at a time, then quickly sedated after the bloodshed is over."
  6. Fallout Bible 0: "7. What the heck was Frank Horrigan? A supermutant in powered armor? A cybernetically enhanced human? A robot? A cybernetically enhanced robotic super mutant in powered armor? Also, if he was mutated, why did the Enclave put up with him? Did they make a distinction between FEV induced mutation and radiation induced mutation? - Richard Grey"
    "Frank Horrigan is a munchkin's worse nightmare: as far as I can find in the documentation, he's a mutant in Power Armor (whether he's technically a super mutant is debatable, since the scientists operated on him so much and tweaked his DNA and physiology it's hard to tell what the final result would have been if he had been left to change on his own)." As for being a mutant, here's an excerpt from the last update:
    "It's important to note that Horrigan has never considered himself a mutant; only the scientists at the Enclave would consider him one, but they mostly referred to him as an "experiment," and even then, not to his face. Most soldiers considered Horrigan a walking nuke, something the tech boys built, and they were not generally aware of his mutant status. Most did consider him a freak, however, and there were few soldiers who wanted to accompany him on missions."
    "They didn't make a distinction as much as an exception. Not many people were aware of his mutant status or could recognize him as a mutant... and those people saw him as more of an altered human experiment than a mutant. It's all semantics. And selective bigotry."
  7. 7.0 7.1 Modiphius' blueprint
  8. Fallout Bible 0: "2239 January 23 Tests begin to run dry on Frank Horrigan. It is suggested that he be used as a field operative and be used in tests in the wasteland against local populations."
  9. Fallout Bible 0: "2239 March 27 Frank Horrigan is manufactured for his new role. A new version of Power Armor is built to accommodate his mass, and he is sealed inside. After a few horrifically successful field tests, Horrigan becomes the Enclave's solution to numerous sticky problems."
  10. 10.0 10.1 Fallout Bible 0: "Just to clarify..."
    "Horrigan is a mutant, but Horrigan was a monster before his exposure to FEV in the military base (he had many psychological problems which may be included in a Horrigan psychological profile in the future)."
    "It's important to note that Horrigan has never considered himself a mutant; only the scientists at the Enclave would consider him one, but they mostly referred to him as an "experiment," and even then, not to his face. Most soldiers considered Horrigan a walking nuke, something the tech boys built, and they were not generally aware of his mutant status. Most did consider him a freak, however, and there were few soldiers who wanted to accompany him on missions."
    "Horrigan has always been loyal to the Presidency, to the Enclave, and the armed forces - this loyalty was present before his exposure to FEV, and it was reinforced by Presidential Directive through various conditioning and testing programs developed by the Enclave. Horrigan's low Intelligence (which was further damaged by the FEV exposure) made these conditioning programs take root easily."
  11. 11.0 11.1 Fallout Bible 6: "Oh, I checked with the designer for Horrigan (Matt Norton, one of the lead designers for F2), and the deal is:
    1. He's a new model of super mutant, even bigger, stronger, and faster than other super mutants. He's like New, Improved Kleenex.
    2. Not only was he exposed to FEV, but he was also given controlled injections of a modified version of FEV to make him a complete muscle-bound jerkoff.
    3. He can't survive outside his armor. The armor continually injects him with drugs and other stabilizing agents. Ha ha ha, Frank.
    4. Frank Horrigan is also a reference to Clint Eastwood's character in "In the Line of Fire." Let the pop culture flaming begin.
    5. He is the secret service agent that the Chemical Corps officer in the Enclave mentions as having being experimented on."

Non-canon

  1. The Armageddon Rag, vol. 3: "Miller moved to look over Jenkins shoulder trying to find Vilars and see where he was looking. “SuperMutants? In powered armor? There was Horrigan, but he was a special case.” More for Elder Francis."
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Major antagonists
Enclave Symbol (FO3)
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