Mama Murphy is a chem-addicted fortune teller, traveling with Preston Garvey and his group of settlers in the Commonwealth in 2287.
Background[]
Mama Murphy is an elderly psychic seer specializing in "The Sight," a supernatural power that she claims is sourced from chems. She uses the chems to induce a trance-like state in which she claims to see fragments of the past and the future, and even nearby events in the present.[1][2] Mama Murphy has had her power ever since she was young, and she has gotten into all sorts of adventures because of it. She uses her power out of a desire to protect the people she cares for, providing warnings of danger and advice on which courses of action to take.[3] She knows that her chem use takes a toll on her health, but she believes that the help she can provide to her friends is far more important. She was convinced once to stop, in her youth, by a "handsome young boy" she met who believed her power caused her to be a "slave to something evil[.]" However, that caused them to become vulnerable without her power in an unspecified situation when they "need[ed] it most." This convinced her to never stop using her power, and especially now that she is old, she believes her health is not important compared to the lives of others.[4][5]
Mama Murphy claims that she was once a strong and ruthless fighter, specialized in unarmed combat. She claims that she once ripped the head off of a raider using just her bare hands, earning her the nickname "Murphy the Madwoman."[6][7] She also claims to have killed a deathclaw with just one bullet, and to have once had a bounty on her head in her youth from a raider she had double-crossed.[8][9]
Hailing from Quincy, her precognitive powers (and her related chem usage) were well-known to the townspeople, with Sturges and Mayor Jackson taking care of her and confiscating her chems to try and prevent her from overuse. Though not everyone believed she was sane, her visions came true enough of the time for her to be taken seriously. As such, when she predicted the town would come under siege, Sturges and Mayor Jackson took it seriously enough to call for help from the Commonwealth Minutemen. Mama Murphy hoped that alerting the mayor would change the outcome of the disaster she saw in her vision, but ultimately this did not change the future.[10][11][3] In the resulting Quincy Massacre, the Gunners overwhelmed the town and the garrisonned Minutemen (with help from a defector,) and Mama Murphy was forced to flee the town alongside Preston Garvey and the few remaining survivors.[12]
The survivors traveled the wastes looking for sanctuary, but one disaster after another kept pushing them further northwest until they ended up in Concord. They found no respite there, either, attacked by raiders who tracked them from Lexington. Now trapped and besieged inside the Museum of Freedom, Mama Murphy is one of the last five survivors, alongside Preston, Sturges, and Jun and Marcy Long.[12] She continues to hold out hope, having seen in a vision that Sanctuary Hills would be a safe place for them to finally settle down and rest.[13]
Mama Murphy was actually the reason for the attack by the raiders from Lexington. She had spent time with their leader, Jared, when he was young, and foresaw with the Sight that he would be kidnapped by raiders and become a "monster." When this came true, Jared became convinced of Mama Murphy's powers and tried to gain them for himself using chems, to no success. When he was told that a woman matching her description was in Lexington, he was determined to capture her so that he could discover her secrets, and sent his lieutenant Gristle to assault the settlers and bring her to him.[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 starts quests. | |
Quests[]
- Jewel of the Commonwealth: After helping her group to escape Concord during the quest When Freedom Calls, Mama Murphy will suggest that the player character go to Diamond City to find more information about Shaun.
- The Sight: In exchange for drugs, Mama Murphy will use her gift to reveal some parts of the Sole Survivor's future, which can be done a total of five times. Giving her the final chem, Psycho, causes her to die.
- Giving Mama Murphy chems during the quest Unlikely Valentine will reveal the password to get past Skinny Malone and Darla without violence. Without it, one will have to pass a speech check or fight their way past.
- Giving Mama Murphy chems during the quest Getting a Clue will reveal the location of Kellogg's keys. Without it, one will need to pick the lock or steal the key from a safe in McDonough's desk. Giving her chems a second time will reveal the location of the switch to enter Kellogg's stash.
- Giving Mama Murphy chems during the quest Reunions will grant the perk "Foreknowledge" which causes Kellogg to deal 25% less damage to the player character. The perk does not have an icon and will remain even after Kellogg's death. The perk has a slight misspelling in its description, spelling Kellogg's name with only one "g."
- Giving Mama Murphy chems during the quest Hunter/Hunted will give the player character the deactivation code for the courser encountered and provides a new interaction with him.
Other interactions[]
- During When Freedom Calls, if talked to she will be the one to reveal Dogmeat's name.
- After passing a speech check during When Freedom Calls, she will foresee a deathclaw attack. Upon completion of the quest, she may comment on how back in her youth, she killed a deathclaw with a single shot without any "fancy power armor or minigun."
- Upon completing When Freedom Calls, Mama Murphy commends the Sole Survivor's success and reports the player character's son is alive somewhere in the Commonwealth.
- After the main quest is completed, Mama Murphy can be given chems to provide insight into the ending the player character chose, provided she hasn't been convinced to give up chems.
- If the Sole Survivor persuades her to quit chems, Mama Murphy will say "Mama Murphy is as good as her word kid. No more chems, and no more Sight either."
Inventory[]
| Apparel | Weapon | Other items |
|---|---|---|
| Beaded blazer |
Notes[]
- Preston Garvey, Piper, Danse, Curie, Strong, Codsworth, Nick Valentine, and post-rehab Cait disapprove of giving or agreeing to find drugs for Mama Murphy. Convincing her to quit will conversely result in major approval risings.
- Hancock and pre-rehab Cait approve of giving Mama Murphy drugs.
- Jun and Marcy Long will mourn the loss of Mama Murphy should she die from the Psycho overdose, with Marcy often berating the Sole Survivor and, by extension, Preston Garvey for not stopping her. Jun will seem even more depressed, bemoaning the losses the settlers have felt from their journeys.
- After quitting drugs, Mama Murphy will be like any other settler and work in Sanctuary. If the player character tries to change her apparel, her standard clothes and unique turban (which is part of the suit) will remain hidden and unobtainable in her inventory and cannot be worn again by conventional means. Her clothes are unique to her and cannot be seen being worn by any other character in the game.
- According to Fallout Shelter, Mama Murphy is a psychic.
- Mama Murphy's old apartment, which contains Mama Murphy's note and chem stash, can be found on the top floor of the Quincy apartments.
- Mama Murphy appears in the Fallout Shelter Online mission "Mysterious Granny." During this mission's events, she meets the Commonwealth Minutemen while being held hostage by a group of raiders who view her as a reincarnation of a god, but also want to sacrifice her to a "bread machine" god who they viewed as their true god. During this time, she is also held hostage at the Drumlin Diner with a ghoul named Tommy. She is rescued by the Minutemen and joins them.
Appearances[]
Mama Murphy appears in Fallout 4, Fallout: Wasteland Warfare, Fallout Shelter Online, and in the Fallout: The Roleplaying Game supplement book Settler's Guide Book. She is also mentioned in Game Show Gauntlet in Fallout Shelter.
Behind the scenes[]
- Some concept art of Mama Murphy features her as African American. In-game, she is Caucasian.
- Mama Murphy would originally have used a wheelchair. This character element went through several changes once developers realized she would need to travel on stairs, and the wheelchair was changed to a hovering Mr. Handy which she would ride. This was later decided to be too distracting, so she was made to be able to walk normally (albeit needing to sit and rest more often.)[Non-game 1]
- Ray Lederer, an artist on Fallout 4 who created the visual concepts for many characters, notes that in his mental design backstory, Mama Murphy knitted the green scarves on the outfits worn by Piper Wright, Preston Garvey, and other characters associated with them.[Non-game 2]
- In localized versions of the game, Mama Murphy's voice is dubbed by Silvana Fantini (Italian).
Bugs[]
If Mama Murphy's chair is not crafted properly, she will be stuck sitting in the chair in the ceiling of the house in Sanctuary that has the main workbench attached. She will be above the kitchen with (usually) only her feet showing. Shooting her feet should lead to her falling out of the chair; this will allow the use of "edit" mode to bring the chair out of the ceiling and on the floor. She will then spawn back in normally and sit in her chair as normal. If the player character fails to shoot her feet, they will need to find a way to press the action button to talk to her and convince her off drugs. [verified]- She may become non-assignable, like Sturges. On PC, a similar fix to solve the problem with Sturges can be used on her: Use the console command setpv bcommandable 1 on her, fast travel far away, and after a while go back to Sanctuary. The "Command" option should be available on her after that in Workshop Mode. [verified]
- She might refuse to get in her chair just standing next to it. When the player tries to speak to her she will tell the player that she needs to sit down, no other interactions can be made with her. There are two possible ways to fix this:[verified]
- Scrapping and rebuilding the chair may fix this bug. Once scrapped, the chair will become available to rebuild after waiting or sleeping for an hour.[verified]
- By opening the console, selecting Murphy and typing setpqv ebe71 var_MamaInChair 1.[verified]
- Sometimes the vision the player character gets from her is not about the current quest, but refers to some older one. For example, during Hunter/Hunted, she might give them a clue to get the key for Kellogg's Diamond City house which corresponds to the already finished Reunions.[verified]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ The Sole Survivor: "That's incredible."
Mama Murphy: "I can see a bit of what was, and what will be. And even what is, right now. And right now I can see there's something coming. Drawn by the noise, and the chaos."
(Mama Murphy's dialogue) - ↑ Game Show Gauntlet - "Who is the old psychic with the Minutemen?"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Mama Murphy's note
- ↑ The Sole Survivor: "Isn't there any way you can use the Sight without chems?"
Mama Murphy: "Let me tell you a story, kid. Once, there was beautiful young girl, with a special power. Used to get in all kinds of crazy adventures. She meets a handsome young boy, but he doesn't like her power. Thinks it makes her a slave to something evil. And so the power goes away, and it's not there when the girl and the boy need it most. Now the boy's gone, and the girl's old. But she has friends. And her power keeps them safe. That's all that matters."
(Mama Murphy's dialogue) - ↑ The Sole Survivor: "No. You're an addict. You need help."
Mama Murphy: "Oh not this again. Kid. Listen to me. I'm old. Even older than you'd think. If the chems are gonna kill me, then I say I've had a good run. We'd have never made it this far without the Sight. We need it. You need it. It's part of who I am."
(Mama Murphy's dialogue) - ↑ Mama Murphy: "I'm afraid I'm not much use in a fight anymore, but back in the day, folks used call me Murphy the Madwoman."
(Mama Murphy's dialogue) - ↑ The Sole Survivor: "Buffout now?"
Mama Murphy: "Surprised a frail thing like me wants a muscle chem? What if I told you I used to pack a pair of arms thicker than both your fists put together? Ripped a Raider's head clean off once, I'll tell you. He he he. Buffout doesn't do much for me now, except help the Sight do its thing."
(Mama Murphy's dialogue) - ↑ Sturges: "That Deathclaw in Concord was bad news huh Mama? You ever seen one of those suckers before?"
Mama Murphy: "Oh sure, plenty. One time I killed a Deathclaw all by myself, no power armor and fancy minigun, just a pipe pistol...and one bullet."
Sturges: "You're telling me you killed a Deathclaw? With one bullet? Come on, who do you take me for?"
Mama Murphy: "It's true. I might not look it, but back in the day I had quite the shot."
Sturges: "Yeah or quite the imagination..."
(Sturges' and Mama Murphy's dialogue) - ↑ Marcy Long: "Hey Mama, how are you getting along?"
Mama Murphy: "Just fine. It's nice to finally settle down after spending so much time moving around."
Marcy Long: "Oh yeah? You spent a little time on the run when you were younger? Oh yes, you have to when there's a bounty on your head. A little elderly advice, don't double cross a raider. They hold long grudges."
Marcy Long: "Yeah, that's good advice...Sounds like quite the adventure."
Mama Murphy: "It was. Some day I'll tell you all about it."
(Marcy Long's and Mama Murphy's dialogue) - ↑ Quincy ruins terminal entries; Long's terminal, Mama Murphy
- ↑ Quincy ruins terminal entries; Sturges's terminal, Mama Murphy's vision
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 The Sole Survivor: "What was the Quincy Massacre?"
Preston Garvey: "I thought everyone in the Commonwealth knew about that by now. Where the Minutemen betrayed each other, and the people they were supposed to protect. I was with Colonel Hollis's group. A mercenary group called the Gunners was attacking Quincy; the people there called for the Minutemen to help. We were the only ones that came. The other groups... they just turned their backs. On us, and the folks in Quincy. Only a few of us got out alive. Colonel Hollis was dead. So I ended up in charge of the survivors. We never found a safe place to settle. One disaster after another... you saw how it ended, in Concord."
(Preston Garvey's dialogue) - ↑ The Sole Survivor: "What happens now?"
Preston Garvey: "For the longest time, Mama Murphy's had a vision of a place called "Sanctuary." Some old neighborhood... but one we can make new again. Why don't you come with us? I could really use your help."
(Preston Garvey's dialogue) - ↑ Corvega assembly plant terminal entries; Jared's terminal, Stumped
- ↑ Corvega assembly plant terminal entries; Jared's terminal, She's Here!
Non-game
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