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For other characters named Jack, see Jack. |
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Jack Cabot is a member of the Cabot family, residing at their urban estate in the Commonwealth in 2287. He appears in Fallout 4.
Background[]
Early life[]
Despite his youthful appearance when encountered in 23rd century Boston, Jack was actually born sometime in the 19th century as the son of archaeologist Lorenzo Cabot and his wife Wilhelmina, along with a younger sister, Emogene. When he reached adulthood, Jack pursued a career in medicine and rose through the ranks to serve as superintendent for the Parsons State Insane Asylum.
In 1894,[2] Jack's father led an expedition to the Rub' al Khali desert in the Middle East in search of Ubar, a mythical civilization said to predate early humans by thousands of years.[3][4] During the expedition, Lorenzo came into contact with an artifact of extraterrestrial origin that he became permanently fused with; although the crown granted Lorenzo supernatural abilities, its influence also caused him to turn insane, violent, and homicidal, especially towards attempts to remove it.[5] Once it became clear that Lorenzo could not be easily coaxed back to normal, for the safety of both his father and those around him, in 1898 Jack used his position at Parsons to construct a massive subterranean facility below the asylum,[Non-game 1] then had his father officially committed to cover up his permanent imprisonment.[6]
The Cabot family secret[]
Once he began to study the crown attached to his father, Jack's life became devoted to trying to discern its secrets, ostensibly to find a way to remove it without harming Lorenzo. His studies eventually unearthed an astonishing discovery: the crown's complex fusion with Lorenzo's biological functions resulted in his blood gaining extraordinary regenerative qualities to the extent of completely defying the aging process, halting and even reversing it. With his knowledge of medicine, Jack was eventually able to produce the formula for a serum that could temporarily transfer these effects to others, requiring regular doses to stay effective. Through their exclusive access to Lorenzo locked in Parsons, Jack, Emogene, and Wilhelmina have used the serum to extend their lifespans for more than four hundred years.[4][7]
With the benefit of staving off old age with the serum, Jack has devoted his seemingly unlimited free time to researching his father's condition, protecting his family and their secrets from the outside world, and maintaining a stable stream of trusted servants to help carry out his work.[8] He claims that a tried-and-true tactic for maintaining his social position without drawing attention to his agelessness consisted of faking his death and then "inheriting" the family property while passing off as a distant relative.[9]
Life in the wasteland[]
On October 23, 2077, as the Great War struck, Jack and his then-newly hired helper Edward Deegan left Cabot House to secure Lorenzo's containment in Parsons. This extended period of exposure to the intense radiation subsequently led to Deegan's ghoulification; once he cured the radiation poisoning, Jack realized the benefit of having a long-lived servant, as he would no longer need to find replacement helpers. Once post-War conditions around the Commonwealth stabilized, and now freed from previous social obligations and risks of discovery, Jack buried himself in his research while sending Deegan as his envoy to handle the family's external affairs.[10][11]
While he initially disagreed with his father's theory of an extraterrestrial precursor civilization, Jack has now grown to believe in the idea, and he hopes to one day mount a similar expedition as his father did with Ubar to uncover more evidence of these precursors. He genuinely believes that learning from the mistakes of the precursors will allow humanity to recover from the nuclear devastation and regain its former glory.[12][13] Conversely, Emogene has developed a more negative view of Jack's efforts, seeing him as controlling for trying to curb her trips to the outside world and even suspecting that the serum's youth-granting power has twisted Jack's motives so that he no longer truly cares about curing their father.[14][15]
Interactions with the player character[]
Interactions overview[]
| Interactions | ||
|---|---|---|
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This character is essential. Essential characters cannot be killed. | |
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This character is involved in quests. | |
Effects of player's actions[]
- If the player character sides with Jack and kills Lorenzo during The Secret of Cabot House, Jack will initially provide a reward of caps while promising to develop some new technology to give to them as well. Once 7 in-game days have passed, one can return to Jack where he will gift the unique gamma gun, Lorenzo's Artifact.
- Siding with Jack will cause him to permanently stay in the Parsons State Insane Asylum basement unless the player character first freed Lorenzo from his cell, then killed him before returning to Cabot House.
- After 72 in-game hours have passed, Jack's appearance will change and he will appear older, as with Emogene. Wilhelmina will also die, disappearing from the game; Jack will also comment on his mother's death, saying she could not survive long without the serum.[16]
Other interactions[]
- If the player character immediately leaves after speaking with Edward in Cabot House during Special Delivery, Jack may start following them, outside Cabot House and around the Commonwealth. He will return to the house once spoken to.
- If Jack is still alive after The Secret of Cabot House, one may randomly encounter him in the Commonwealth traveling with Edward. If asked about his presence there, he will explain his desire to explore the world around him. Subsequently, he will offer to buy fiber optics from the player character, although he only has a small amount of caps on him. If asked why he needs them, he will only state that he is not ready to talk about it publicly.
Inventory[]
| Apparel | Weapon | Other items |
|---|---|---|
| Cabot's lab coat | Laser pistol | Stimpak |
Notes[]
- If he is still alive after completing the Cabot family questline and gives the unique weapon, Jack then states he will eventually organize an expedition to find more precursor locations, including one that his father had suspected was located in the Mojave Desert.[17]
- During the start of The Secret of Cabot House, if the player character comments that Jack's extended age means he was born before the Great War, he responds by guessing their age as well, placing them around at least 200 years old and that they were born mid-21st century. Dialogue options are to say he's correct, denying it, evading the question, or asking how he came to that conclusion; in the latter case, he states that their demeanor, appearance, physical health and manners are a dead giveaway. Jack's rough estimation would put the Sole Survivor's birth date in a reasonable period of between the early 2040s to the mid-2050s.[18]
- Jack's terminal in the Cabot House has a glitch in which it displays his last name as "Cab0t" rather than "Cabot." This has apparently persisted ever since Jack first installed the terminal in 1968, and even RobCo technicians could not fix the glitch, much to his annoyance.[19] Secretly, this "glitch" was a prank played on Jack by Emogene via a bat file placed in the root directory of the database server.[20][21]
Appearances[]
Jack Cabot appears in Fallout 4 and Fallout Shelter Online.
Behind the scenes[]
- Jack Cabot's name, mannerisms, beliefs in supernatural concepts, and association with the name "Parsons" are references to real-life scientist Jack Parsons, known for his experimental work with rocket propulsion in the 1940s and for being a leader of the OTO, a religious group which practices magic and rituals.
- His physical appearance is seemingly based on Grady Louis McMurtry, a friend of Jack Parsons.
- His surname is also a reference to the real-world Cabot family, one of the Boston Brahmin also known as the "first families of Boston." High Priestess Laurie Cabot, a Salem-based occultist born in 1933, claims to be related to the historic Cabot family.
- When first meeting Jack, dialogue with him can include him using the phrases "but that's a story for another time," and "hidden histories." These are a nod from the game developers to the Shoddycast YouTube channel, which prominently features Bethesda games among other assorted franchises.
- One of the dialogue options when accepting the unique weapon from Jack is a reference to GLaDOS from the Portal series and the "Still Alive" end-credits song, specifically the line "You made a neat gun!"
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ The Sole Survivor: "I don't know why I had to find out what the serum was for from Emogene."
Jack Cabot: "I'm sorry if you feel that I've been keeping you in the dark. The serum that the raiders stole confers a host of benefits. The main one being to halt aging; my family and I are all over 400 years old. But it also confers other... side effects, especially in the undiluted form that the raiders stole."
(Jack Cabot's dialogue) - ↑ Lorenzo Cabot's journal
- ↑ Jack Cabot: "My father excavated a city in the Rub'al Khali in Arabia which he dated to more than 4,000 years before the rise of any known human civilization. The structures and artifacts were... strange. Disturbing, even. Clearly not constructed for or by humans. I've spent my life trying to decipher what he uncovered."
(Jack Cabot's dialogue) - ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Sole Survivor: "Wow. Your father must be pretty old, then."
Jack Cabot: "Well, yes. He is. Most people don't really grasp how long ago the war really was. One of the effects of my father's illness was a slowing or arresting of the aging process. So, yes... he is well over 200 years old, as you suspected."
(Jack Cabot's dialogue) - ↑ The Sole Survivor: "You really are insane, aren't you?"
Lorenzo Cabot: "Perhaps by the old definitions. But things have changed while I've been locked away. The old rules no longer apply."
(Lorenzo Cabot's dialogue) - ↑ Jack Cabot: "My father is... confined in Parsons. For his own safety and everyone else's. He became dangerously unstable after handling an ancient artifact he found in Arabia. I've spent my life trying to figure out how to cure him."
(Jack Cabot's dialogue) - ↑ The Sole Survivor: "I want to know why no one in your family seems to age, and I want to know now."
Emogene Cabot: "So either Jack blabbed or you're smarter than the thugs he usually has working for him. He must have told you about the strange artifact my father found? Jack's been studying it for years. Early on he figured out a way to transfer the beneficial side effects to the rest of us. He developed a serum that we all take. It pretty much halts aging, although you can see what happens if you stop taking it for too long. Don't worry, I'll be my usual stunning self as soon as I get some more serum."
(Emogene Cabot's dialogue) - ↑ Cabot House terminal entries; terminal, 11/22/2058
- ↑ Cabot House terminal entries; terminal, 01/05/1996
- ↑ Cabot House terminal entries; terminal, 12/01/2077
- ↑ Cabot House terminal entries; terminal, 06/20/2080
- ↑ The Sole Survivor: "Probably for the best if it was all wiped away. So whoever comes next can start fresh."
Jack Cabot: "I don't share your pessimistic view. I still believe that human civilization has a chance to regain its lost glories. This is one reason I'm so passionate about my work. If I can learn the secrets of the ancients, perhaps we can avoid their fate."
(Jack Cabot's dialogue) - ↑ Cabot House terminal entries; terminal, 05/07/2115
- ↑ The Sole Survivor: "Jack has a serum that reverses aging?"
Emogene Cabot: "It really isn't any of your business. But you don't care about any of that, do you? I'm sure Jack sent you to fetch me home. He's always trying to control me."
(Emogene Cabot's dialogue) - ↑ Cabot House terminal entries; terminal, 03/13/2251
- ↑ Jack Cabot: "Mother has... passed. She just couldn't survive for long without the serum."
(Jack Cabot's dialogue) - ↑ The Sole Survivor: "You made a neat gun. Thanks."
Jack Cabot: "I hope you find some use for it. As for myself... I don't know. Maybe I'll finally travel to the Southwest. My father was always convinced that there was another alien city buried somewhere in the Mojave Desert."
(Jack Cabot's dialogue) - ↑ The Sole Survivor: "If you're 400 years old, then you were born before the Great War."
Jack Cabot: "Yes. I think you were, too. I'd say... mid 21st century?"
The Sole Survivor: "What makes you think that?"
Jack Cabot: "Hmm. Patterns of speech. General demeanor. Physical health. You reminded me of the old days the moment I laid eyes on you. I just didn't put my finger on it until now. Is there anything else before we get going?"
(Jack Cabot's dialogue) - ↑ Cabot House terminal entries; terminal, 04/15/2075
- ↑ Cabot House terminal entries; terminal, 04/01/1968
- ↑ Cabot House terminal entries; terminal, 04/15/2075
Non-game
- ↑ Fallout 4 Vault Dweller's Survival Guide Collector's Edition p. 276-277: "[2.07] Parsons State Insane Asylum"
"You cannot enter this location unless the specified quest is active.
Before the Great War, this asylum was built to house the addled, weak of brain, and terminally confused folk of the Commonwealth. Old records state that additional subterranean rooms were created to house particularly difficult guests. The location appears to have been built by the Cabot family of the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston. Armed mercenary guards currently patrol the facility.
There’s bloodleaf in the pond to the east. The only entrance is the ominous but grand doorway to the south, which is only accessed with a key, given to you during the specified quest.
Once inside this facility, navigate through the administration and asylum areas with the quest active. Notice that one of the Raiders is carrying a mysterious serum. The lowest area basement contains a special living quarters."