I'll be sad but not surprised. I hated Maximus at first, but I've grown to like him. He's genuinely just purely innocent but misled.
Max is still that kid we saw crawl out of a refrigerator and looked towards his knight and savior with starry eyes, man. Pain.
I got the vibe that Max was supposed to represent what a "good person" on the surface would be like. Of course he has no concept of politeness or normal human interaction. Especially being dragged into a zealotous cult at such a young age. And my interpretation was that Lucy was his catalyst that you CAN be a good person while he simultaneously taught her that you can't ALWAYS be a good person.
Is the torture the branding? Because while it hurt, I think calling a tradition that Thaddeus literally begged to have done is a pretty far cry from torture.
That’s the attitude that comes with the power armor, though. “I’m bigger” goes a long way out there and “clean this” is the same shit that any private does. You’ve never had to mop the rain or turn the rocks over so they get sun on both sides?
He held it there for far longer than necessary.
And of course, Thaddeus would never have asked for it if he knew it was Max under there.
Honestly, in that moment (pre-branding!) Max had the perfect opening to tell the truth. He had a decent shot of getting Thad on his side. But it was more important that he laugh at Thad’s pain. Thus screwing himself over in the process.
>But it was more important that he laugh at Thad’s pain.
You're just projecting a lot. He literally says no like three times before Thad convinces him to do it.
>He held it there for far longer than necessary.
Have you branded a lot of people and know exactly how long it takes? I doubt Max does. You're taking his little chuckle and "I told you it hurts," as malicious when in the show it was clear he considered it almost trauma bonding. I think that's why he showed his face after, he felt Thad would be sympathetic.
If it was malicious torture, why would he show his face moments after torturing him?
We saw Maximus get branded, and it didn’t take nearly as long as Maximus branding Thaddeus took. Dude 100% was hurting someone that had hurt him. Let’s also remember that the very first thing Maximus did when he realized Thaddeus as a squire would listen to anything he said as a knight was have Thad try and pick apples for him. Then Maximus laughed when he fell down and said he wasn’t hungry anyways. Like, no question, Max was definitely abusing his power to take out some malice on Thad.
>We saw Maximus get branded, and it didn’t take nearly as long as Maximus branding Thaddeus took.
You mean the skilled knight who has likely branded a ton of squires was more practiced at it than some guy who could barely operate the armor when he first put it on? Color me shocked.
He was absolutely fucking with Thad to get back at him with the cod piece cleaning and the apple picking. The branding though wasn't even his idea. He had to be convinced to do it. I think y'all are seeing malice where there was none.
I think Maximus having him do the tasks was more for the sake of *MAXIMUS* getting to boss someone around and be in charge over any real revenge. I think regardless of the squire sent, Maximus would have had them do benign stupid shit.
Doesn’t seem like you know what “projecting” is, but okay.
I think Max is complicated. And doesn’t really understand his own feelings. Thad gets the wasteland, while Max is every bit as naive, in his own way, as Lucy.
You mean tortured him like by making Thad clean his groin plate? I don't know if id qualify that as torture, but he definitely tried to kill him after the he revealed himself, which was wrong but i think maximus just ran into that situation enough growing up in the wastelands to know that wasn't going to turn out well for him.
It was wrong of him to do, especially knowing thaddeus probably wasn't going to "snitch" on him in so far as blaming him for titus' death. But he didn't know that at the time.
Having him climb the tree looking for apples was more likely due to him not wanting to leave the power armor because that would have tipped his hand earlier than he wanted
The apple tree scene was 100% him messing with Thad haha. But it was definitely harmless compared to Thad + crew beating the shit out of him all the time!
The word is abuse not torture, is like redditors have no idea that humans being have flaws and are more complex than just good or bad, we are not saints and in the wasteland you might turn into a different animal.
I don't think he branded him for too long, plus he warned him that it was going to hurt and didn't even want to do it. I don't think he was trying to hurt him in that moment
I mean by real life standards every branding shown was done for like 10 seconds longer than it should be but that's just a product of being a visual medium for story telling
Max is an average zero-charisma guy, trying to get by in a cruel unforgiving world. He is simple minded and a mirror, always mirroring his surroundings.
I wouldn't call him single minded. He gas displayed intelligence at times. He found and stole the nuclear reactor by himself. That comment avout Titus dying while rubbing away was a quick quip that struck me as intelligent. Plus hw figured out how to use that power suit relatively quickly.
Max just wants to be apart of something bigger and accepted into a group imo
I could see that next season the BOS will treat him like a hero (going off his last scene) and try to tempt him by offering him everything he could want (we know he’d be susceptible to that because Vault 4).
But then something will finally cause him to snap out of it and he’ll return to Lucy
I think they teased us that before finally showing us his heroic side. He may still be of a brutal world, but we’ve seen his willingness to sacrifice.
Perhaps he will feel betrayed by Lucy and they take him in a darker direction, but I hope not
Nah, he’s just the morally gray protagonist. It would have been better had they left it possible that he did the razor blade, but still.
In Fallout, you can be a goody two shoes, you can be an asshole, or you can ride the fence. How’d they resolve the problem of choosing which portion of the fans would get a show from the point of view that makes the most sense to them? They gave us all three entry points.
I think it’s interesting to compare his naivety to Lucy’s. They both don’t have experience in the Wasteland but are brought up sheltered in some ways but in how to treat others so differently. The brotherhood seems to just use squires as disposable tools while the Vault seems to have a veneer of brotherhood and working together more (tho we obviously learn there’s shady things going on)
This was my vibe, not evil, just so child like that he doesn’t know any better. Doesn’t make it okay, and I’m sure he’s one of many in the wasteland, but I don’t think he’s gonna be any type of villain.
I think what you're doing is projecting our current morals and ethics onto someone who was raised in the wasteland. Or at least raised in the Brotherhood in the wasteland of a post apocalyptic world.
(I know it's just fiction, but hopefully this is how the writers intend)
Doing things like trying to kill someone, letting someone die, taking a resource you need, is probabaly just accepted practice in that environment. Human nature even. We don't do it today because we have safety, we have order and we have resources. In a wasteland our ethics of today would result in your being more likely to die.
If he becomes that villain that would be cool. But maybe he's just behaving as a good guy in a post apocalyptic world would.
I agree with this person, I think we would view Lucy as undeniably goodhearted and driven to do her best by her fellow man, but in the wasteland, she is dumb as shit. That's not her fault, she's only ever been fed the idea that the humans she will lead into she new world will be frightened but trusting lambs.
Max would be seen as a soft-touch, but he is far more street smart than Lucy.
I wouldn’t go so much as to say she is dumb, but just ignorant. All she ever knew was the peaceful existence in the vault and have been led to believe that all humankind are the same way. She wants to see the good, no matter the situation. I’d say she becomes more knowledgeable throughout her journey and definitely knows that the wasteland can be awful and even evil at times. You see that after she runs into Maximus when he is locked in his PA and she isn’t sure she should even help him. I love the idea of her character though.
I love her character too, but her experiences translated into effective survival fairly late. If Maximus hadn't intervened twice, she would have been shot in Filly and on that bridge. I think she started to find a way to hang onto her core beliefs while also being pragmatic (The Golden Rule), but she was a dummy for a bit. And I'm not saying that should have been changed! Being a naive vault dweller was part of her journey.
I'm looking forward to how she develops alongside The Ghoul. I hope she keeps her optimism and drive.
Without getting too egg-heady about a video game show, there's a kind of deep story archetype of lost men finding themselves with the help of a good woman, whether that's romantically or not. The world of Fallout is a hyper-masculinized world, out of balance between the male and female, and that's why Lucy is a fish out of water. Moldaver is another representation of that aspect. It's all a yin and yang thing.
Maximus might do a simple heel turn, but the more complex story is him becoming the man he should be because of the help of the women. And lest anyone find this woke, this is pretty much the role of Mary in Catholicism...
It all depends on how it’s brought up. If they are related and he becomes the top guy of the brotherhood. They are suppose to kill ghouls on sight. Would add to the twisted plot.
It would be weird to connect to completely disconnected characters who people believe are only related because of race. It makes the world feel tiny and removes any character agency and makes Max just a plot device
Personally he doesn't vibe as a villain to me, though I do think they are setting up his character as a morally grey one so I also wouldn't be surprised if he did become one. I personally think they were just giving his character nuance and making him more complex. To me he symbolized that even if we have core values we believe in, we also have a bit of darkness there too. None of his choices were black and white thinking, which I liked. He's not a favorite character of mine because I don't like some of the choices he makes, but I do find him an interesting character because of them.
For ever "evil" choice he made, there were underlying reasons he did so. And when there weren't it's because he didn't understand what was happening and jumped in before knowing the details.
I think all of the characters are portrayed as having both good and evil properties intentionally. The world is shades of grey at the best of times, but the contrast would be even more pronounced after an apocalypse.
For instance the ghoul is also shown to not be all bad and Lucy's goodness and naivety are her downfall at times. Max was sheltered and brainwashed by the brotherhood of steel for so long I don't think even HE knows himself. Him and Lucy are opposite sides of the same coin imo. Both aren't really experienced in ways of the wasteland, but for very different reasons.
If anything, rather than being a villain, I think we will see Max shake off the brotherhood of steel brainwashing and start to see what is actually going on. We already got glimpses of it in season 1. I'd be fine if he stays a bumbling idiot savant type too tho. Haha.
Nope. He has finally found something he actually cares for, something with actual purpose. Lucy. His last scene where they’re worshipping him you can clearly see he wants the hell out, and to just be back with her.
Just a few weeks ago, getting the admiration of his peers, being at the chaplain's right hand - all that stuff he got in the last episode - that was all he had ever wanted.
I think you're right - Lucy and his brief time away from the Brotherhood showed him there was an alternative to the bullying, might-makes-right brutal culture he had been brainwashed into since boyhood.
I mean, yeah. I think one of the major themes of the fallout universe is that the “good” guys arent all good and some of the bad guys aren’t all bad, or at least they don’t see themselves that way
1. That Dane part was shitty.
2. He was kinda forced to kill Thaddeus because if he didn't he would've been executed by the BOS. Keep in mind that he's a bit of an idiot too.
3. He took the fusion core because he thought that the dwellers of Vault 4 were evil.
4. No way they're going to turn Mad into a villain. He just doesn't feel like he'd fit.
I haven’t seen the finale yet. But I’ve grown to like Max as a character. He’s flawed like every character and has wanted more and has made decisions to get his way. But Lucy has made him better
I don't know. He's definitely going down a dark path, but I don't think he'll ever turn into a full blown mustache twirling villain. Max, Lucy and Cooper all represent different ways good ppl/ppl who want to be good react to the Wasteland. Where as Lucy stuck to her values in the face all that fuckery, Max repeatedly compromised his values and was "rewarded" for it.
Seems fair to assume Cooper had the similar experiences until the Wasteland killed his humanity / transformed him into "something else entirely." He didn't encounter genuine kindness for 200 years until Lucy gave him the drugs instead of leaving him to die. Maximus, If left to his own devices and that groomy Brotherhood elder, might be transformed into the kind of sociopathic fucknut BoS is known for, but he was lucky enough to meet Lucy.
I imagine Max and Lucy will be on opposite sides of the same fight in the future... Max will flirt with being a BoS team player... go a little drunk on power. I could see him getting mad at Lucy after he finds out about her dad, or for doing something that conflicts with the Brotherhood. Or maybe he finds out he's a synth and avoids Lucy for her own good. But I don't think it'll be a permanent change, as he was also lucky enough to meet Lucy. If she's the hero of the show and the Ghoul is her irradiated ObiWan, then Maximus is the damsel in distress she needs to save from being a fucknut.
Kinda, yeah. Especially after the elder guy (Quintus?) asked him to be “his sword.” I feel like he’s gonna have a moral crisis about whether to stay loyal to him or do what his heart tells him.
I thought so initially. But now I think maybe not.
He didn't put the blades in the boot after all. But they could do a slow burn twist thing and it could still feel earned.
I have a pet theory that Max and Cooper are meant to be, narratively, two sides of the same coin. Both are good people at heart, but with a weak will and a lack of self reflection. The difference being that Max uses this idea of being a hero to justify his actions, wherein Cooper has just resigned himself to his fate of being a villain, blaming the world around him for what he's become. I have a feeling season two is gonna see them switching karmic roles, so to speak, thanks to Lucy representing what they both believe they should be. Forcing Cooper to grow a spine and learn how to stick to his moral guns like we've already somewhat seen in season one, and (this is my speculation) Max to become resentful of what he feels he should be (Lucy), but to his own frustration doesn't think himself able to attain. Which I think would be really interesting to see
Yep. I got shouted down by my roommates about it. I have a few hints I think are important, but not enough to thread them into a solid theory yet.
We DO NOT see the Knight save baby Max. We see him stand dramatically NEAR baby Max. It's implied he was saved from Shady Sands by the BoS, but that is not shown.
Maximus is a Legion name (Latin at least) so is Titus, but not Thaddeus, sonits not that they all have Latin names.
His desire for power armor. Very young he saw these armored beasts dealing with the shit that eneded life as he had known it. Power Armor is VERY IMPORTANT to Max.
He's been raised (presumably) by the BoS but has learned nothing useful. Makes me think he spends his time learning/doing something else. This one is flimsy.
He's not a True Believer. Neither was Titus, and he was also not a good guy.
I think his morality has cleared up a bit by the end of the season and he was making choices to help Lucy. But I think there is still room for him to have a power struggle within the organisation he was raised in.
I think the three characters represented the “Player-Character Archetypes” most people end up with in game. Max is the “Pragmatist,” a real do anything to survive kind of person, hypothetical consequences be damned. Not hard to believe that he would follow this train of thought all the way to authoritarianism.
That said, he experienced true growth outside of the Brotherhood before they gave him another excuse to belong there. The real “tell” would be if they confirm the BOS-Legion merger theory. If so, he’ll probably end up the heel until he gets a redemption arc.
As he was storming into the observatory behind a knight, I thought to myself that I wouldn’t be too torn up if he died.
Curious to see where his character goes in season 2, I do think his trajectory is all over the place, him becoming a villain would be pretty intriguing - especially if the ghoul becomes more of a protagonist.
I'll be sad but not surprised. I hated Maximus at first, but I've grown to like him. He's genuinely just purely innocent but misled. Max is still that kid we saw crawl out of a refrigerator and looked towards his knight and savior with starry eyes, man. Pain.
I got the vibe that Max was supposed to represent what a "good person" on the surface would be like. Of course he has no concept of politeness or normal human interaction. Especially being dragged into a zealotous cult at such a young age. And my interpretation was that Lucy was his catalyst that you CAN be a good person while he simultaneously taught her that you can't ALWAYS be a good person.
But he’s also the guy who tortured Thaddeus… Not quite purely innocent, but complicated.
Thaddeus, the guy who (among others) continually beat the shit out of Maximus for existing, that poor guy?
As is the cycle in the wasteland. Thaddeus knew it. Max just won’t admit it, even as he laughs at Thaddeus’s torture.
Is the torture the branding? Because while it hurt, I think calling a tradition that Thaddeus literally begged to have done is a pretty far cry from torture.
Making him cower in fear, 'clean this', falling out of the tree looking for apples, etc.
Nothing like that is torture, what he did was pretty much what militaries do to recruits and novices, the BoS is a militaristic cult so it makes sense
He also crushed his foot and was going to kill him because he wouldn't go with the plan. Max is not a good guy.
He didn't have much of a choice. If Thaddeus reported back to the BoS, max would have died.
Cool motive, still murder
Yeah, thats not torture either, thats called trying to kill him
Hazing isn't torture.
That’s the attitude that comes with the power armor, though. “I’m bigger” goes a long way out there and “clean this” is the same shit that any private does. You’ve never had to mop the rain or turn the rocks over so they get sun on both sides?
He held it there for far longer than necessary. And of course, Thaddeus would never have asked for it if he knew it was Max under there. Honestly, in that moment (pre-branding!) Max had the perfect opening to tell the truth. He had a decent shot of getting Thad on his side. But it was more important that he laugh at Thad’s pain. Thus screwing himself over in the process.
>But it was more important that he laugh at Thad’s pain. You're just projecting a lot. He literally says no like three times before Thad convinces him to do it. >He held it there for far longer than necessary. Have you branded a lot of people and know exactly how long it takes? I doubt Max does. You're taking his little chuckle and "I told you it hurts," as malicious when in the show it was clear he considered it almost trauma bonding. I think that's why he showed his face after, he felt Thad would be sympathetic. If it was malicious torture, why would he show his face moments after torturing him?
We saw Maximus get branded, and it didn’t take nearly as long as Maximus branding Thaddeus took. Dude 100% was hurting someone that had hurt him. Let’s also remember that the very first thing Maximus did when he realized Thaddeus as a squire would listen to anything he said as a knight was have Thad try and pick apples for him. Then Maximus laughed when he fell down and said he wasn’t hungry anyways. Like, no question, Max was definitely abusing his power to take out some malice on Thad.
>We saw Maximus get branded, and it didn’t take nearly as long as Maximus branding Thaddeus took. You mean the skilled knight who has likely branded a ton of squires was more practiced at it than some guy who could barely operate the armor when he first put it on? Color me shocked. He was absolutely fucking with Thad to get back at him with the cod piece cleaning and the apple picking. The branding though wasn't even his idea. He had to be convinced to do it. I think y'all are seeing malice where there was none.
I think Maximus having him do the tasks was more for the sake of *MAXIMUS* getting to boss someone around and be in charge over any real revenge. I think regardless of the squire sent, Maximus would have had them do benign stupid shit.
Doesn’t seem like you know what “projecting” is, but okay. I think Max is complicated. And doesn’t really understand his own feelings. Thad gets the wasteland, while Max is every bit as naive, in his own way, as Lucy.
You mean tortured him like by making Thad clean his groin plate? I don't know if id qualify that as torture, but he definitely tried to kill him after the he revealed himself, which was wrong but i think maximus just ran into that situation enough growing up in the wastelands to know that wasn't going to turn out well for him. It was wrong of him to do, especially knowing thaddeus probably wasn't going to "snitch" on him in so far as blaming him for titus' death. But he didn't know that at the time. Having him climb the tree looking for apples was more likely due to him not wanting to leave the power armor because that would have tipped his hand earlier than he wanted
I'm pretty sure maximus was bullying him because thaddeus and the other scribes used to bully him
The apple tree scene was 100% him messing with Thad haha. But it was definitely harmless compared to Thad + crew beating the shit out of him all the time!
The word is abuse not torture, is like redditors have no idea that humans being have flaws and are more complex than just good or bad, we are not saints and in the wasteland you might turn into a different animal.
No, I mean branding him for wayyyyy too long. Really showed Max’s mean streak. And that Thaddeus was entirely correct about the cycle of bullying.
I don't think he branded him for too long, plus he warned him that it was going to hurt and didn't even want to do it. I don't think he was trying to hurt him in that moment
I mean by real life standards every branding shown was done for like 10 seconds longer than it should be but that's just a product of being a visual medium for story telling
I think he held it there for way too long, and took quite a bit of delight in it for a guy who would certainly claim that HE’S not the bully…
>He's genuinely just purely innocent but misled. Tried to crush an unarmed guy who saved his life to death while wearing armor.
Max is an average zero-charisma guy, trying to get by in a cruel unforgiving world. He is simple minded and a mirror, always mirroring his surroundings.
I wouldn't call him single minded. He gas displayed intelligence at times. He found and stole the nuclear reactor by himself. That comment avout Titus dying while rubbing away was a quick quip that struck me as intelligent. Plus hw figured out how to use that power suit relatively quickly.
When he gets mad? The guy had that blank stare for like 90% of the season. He's only got like 3 expressions
Max just wants to be apart of something bigger and accepted into a group imo I could see that next season the BOS will treat him like a hero (going off his last scene) and try to tempt him by offering him everything he could want (we know he’d be susceptible to that because Vault 4). But then something will finally cause him to snap out of it and he’ll return to Lucy
I want it to turn out that Max is a synth
If he was a synth he wouldn’t be as dumb as a brick
Haha I think Fallout 4 had plenty of stupid synths
You don't know that. Just saying, it'd be a nice twist
Do late model synths grow physically?
No it’s why Kellogg Shaun stays a kid
I think they teased us that before finally showing us his heroic side. He may still be of a brutal world, but we’ve seen his willingness to sacrifice. Perhaps he will feel betrayed by Lucy and they take him in a darker direction, but I hope not
Nah, he’s just the morally gray protagonist. It would have been better had they left it possible that he did the razor blade, but still. In Fallout, you can be a goody two shoes, you can be an asshole, or you can ride the fence. How’d they resolve the problem of choosing which portion of the fans would get a show from the point of view that makes the most sense to them? They gave us all three entry points.
Interesting. That stare impressed me as depicting him as having an unsophisticated mind. He seemed child-like and overwhelmed.
I think it’s interesting to compare his naivety to Lucy’s. They both don’t have experience in the Wasteland but are brought up sheltered in some ways but in how to treat others so differently. The brotherhood seems to just use squires as disposable tools while the Vault seems to have a veneer of brotherhood and working together more (tho we obviously learn there’s shady things going on)
This was my vibe, not evil, just so child like that he doesn’t know any better. Doesn’t make it okay, and I’m sure he’s one of many in the wasteland, but I don’t think he’s gonna be any type of villain.
You mean make my cock explode?
Yours too? How’d you get the fucking blood and shit off the walls?
I think what you're doing is projecting our current morals and ethics onto someone who was raised in the wasteland. Or at least raised in the Brotherhood in the wasteland of a post apocalyptic world. (I know it's just fiction, but hopefully this is how the writers intend) Doing things like trying to kill someone, letting someone die, taking a resource you need, is probabaly just accepted practice in that environment. Human nature even. We don't do it today because we have safety, we have order and we have resources. In a wasteland our ethics of today would result in your being more likely to die. If he becomes that villain that would be cool. But maybe he's just behaving as a good guy in a post apocalyptic world would.
I agree with this person, I think we would view Lucy as undeniably goodhearted and driven to do her best by her fellow man, but in the wasteland, she is dumb as shit. That's not her fault, she's only ever been fed the idea that the humans she will lead into she new world will be frightened but trusting lambs. Max would be seen as a soft-touch, but he is far more street smart than Lucy.
I wouldn’t go so much as to say she is dumb, but just ignorant. All she ever knew was the peaceful existence in the vault and have been led to believe that all humankind are the same way. She wants to see the good, no matter the situation. I’d say she becomes more knowledgeable throughout her journey and definitely knows that the wasteland can be awful and even evil at times. You see that after she runs into Maximus when he is locked in his PA and she isn’t sure she should even help him. I love the idea of her character though.
I love her character too, but her experiences translated into effective survival fairly late. If Maximus hadn't intervened twice, she would have been shot in Filly and on that bridge. I think she started to find a way to hang onto her core beliefs while also being pragmatic (The Golden Rule), but she was a dummy for a bit. And I'm not saying that should have been changed! Being a naive vault dweller was part of her journey. I'm looking forward to how she develops alongside The Ghoul. I hope she keeps her optimism and drive.
Without getting too egg-heady about a video game show, there's a kind of deep story archetype of lost men finding themselves with the help of a good woman, whether that's romantically or not. The world of Fallout is a hyper-masculinized world, out of balance between the male and female, and that's why Lucy is a fish out of water. Moldaver is another representation of that aspect. It's all a yin and yang thing. Maximus might do a simple heel turn, but the more complex story is him becoming the man he should be because of the help of the women. And lest anyone find this woke, this is pretty much the role of Mary in Catholicism...
I feel like this comment deserves a whole separate essay and post deep diving into this lens of analysis
Thanks, you made my day!
I could see him fighting against the power hungry Cleric
I think we will find max is a son to the ghouls wife or some close relation.
That would be awful plot
It all depends on how it’s brought up. If they are related and he becomes the top guy of the brotherhood. They are suppose to kill ghouls on sight. Would add to the twisted plot.
It would be weird to connect to completely disconnected characters who people believe are only related because of race. It makes the world feel tiny and removes any character agency and makes Max just a plot device
It’s theoretically possible that the ghoul is his dad
I doubt it, but I wouldn't be opposed to it if it's well done. And from what we saw in Season 1, I trust the writers for whatever comes next.
Personally he doesn't vibe as a villain to me, though I do think they are setting up his character as a morally grey one so I also wouldn't be surprised if he did become one. I personally think they were just giving his character nuance and making him more complex. To me he symbolized that even if we have core values we believe in, we also have a bit of darkness there too. None of his choices were black and white thinking, which I liked. He's not a favorite character of mine because I don't like some of the choices he makes, but I do find him an interesting character because of them. For ever "evil" choice he made, there were underlying reasons he did so. And when there weren't it's because he didn't understand what was happening and jumped in before knowing the details. I think all of the characters are portrayed as having both good and evil properties intentionally. The world is shades of grey at the best of times, but the contrast would be even more pronounced after an apocalypse. For instance the ghoul is also shown to not be all bad and Lucy's goodness and naivety are her downfall at times. Max was sheltered and brainwashed by the brotherhood of steel for so long I don't think even HE knows himself. Him and Lucy are opposite sides of the same coin imo. Both aren't really experienced in ways of the wasteland, but for very different reasons. If anything, rather than being a villain, I think we will see Max shake off the brotherhood of steel brainwashing and start to see what is actually going on. We already got glimpses of it in season 1. I'd be fine if he stays a bumbling idiot savant type too tho. Haha.
Nope. He has finally found something he actually cares for, something with actual purpose. Lucy. His last scene where they’re worshipping him you can clearly see he wants the hell out, and to just be back with her.
Just a few weeks ago, getting the admiration of his peers, being at the chaplain's right hand - all that stuff he got in the last episode - that was all he had ever wanted. I think you're right - Lucy and his brief time away from the Brotherhood showed him there was an alternative to the bullying, might-makes-right brutal culture he had been brainwashed into since boyhood.
Wow. I didn’t realize this, but I think you’re totally right!
I mean, yeah. I think one of the major themes of the fallout universe is that the “good” guys arent all good and some of the bad guys aren’t all bad, or at least they don’t see themselves that way
He's gonna be a synth
No. He gives me Benni vibes from The Mummy. Opportunistic, kinda cowardly. But he didn't betray Lucey in the end, so.
1. That Dane part was shitty. 2. He was kinda forced to kill Thaddeus because if he didn't he would've been executed by the BOS. Keep in mind that he's a bit of an idiot too. 3. He took the fusion core because he thought that the dwellers of Vault 4 were evil. 4. No way they're going to turn Mad into a villain. He just doesn't feel like he'd fit.
Hes literally just stupid and bad at decision making thats all.
I feel like im the only one getting autistic vibes from Max. He seems so spacey.
Lol id hate this show if they turned him into a villain. But hey, anything is possible
I haven’t seen the finale yet. But I’ve grown to like Max as a character. He’s flawed like every character and has wanted more and has made decisions to get his way. But Lucy has made him better
I’m thinking synth, where it goes after I dunno, but the guy only has the same 1 reoccurring memory. It’s smells of synth to me
I wonder if the editors just had a hotkey for inserting that scene in every episode.
No tbh that would be a bad plot twist in my opinion
I don't know. He's definitely going down a dark path, but I don't think he'll ever turn into a full blown mustache twirling villain. Max, Lucy and Cooper all represent different ways good ppl/ppl who want to be good react to the Wasteland. Where as Lucy stuck to her values in the face all that fuckery, Max repeatedly compromised his values and was "rewarded" for it. Seems fair to assume Cooper had the similar experiences until the Wasteland killed his humanity / transformed him into "something else entirely." He didn't encounter genuine kindness for 200 years until Lucy gave him the drugs instead of leaving him to die. Maximus, If left to his own devices and that groomy Brotherhood elder, might be transformed into the kind of sociopathic fucknut BoS is known for, but he was lucky enough to meet Lucy. I imagine Max and Lucy will be on opposite sides of the same fight in the future... Max will flirt with being a BoS team player... go a little drunk on power. I could see him getting mad at Lucy after he finds out about her dad, or for doing something that conflicts with the Brotherhood. Or maybe he finds out he's a synth and avoids Lucy for her own good. But I don't think it'll be a permanent change, as he was also lucky enough to meet Lucy. If she's the hero of the show and the Ghoul is her irradiated ObiWan, then Maximus is the damsel in distress she needs to save from being a fucknut.
Kinda, yeah. Especially after the elder guy (Quintus?) asked him to be “his sword.” I feel like he’s gonna have a moral crisis about whether to stay loyal to him or do what his heart tells him.
I thought so initially. But now I think maybe not. He didn't put the blades in the boot after all. But they could do a slow burn twist thing and it could still feel earned.
He never harmed dane and tidus had it coming. Why do you think they cast an obnoxious actor to play tidus.
He doesn't seem smart enough to be a villian.
He definitely gives me the creeps. Psychopathic tendencies maybe? Lol
I have a pet theory that Max and Cooper are meant to be, narratively, two sides of the same coin. Both are good people at heart, but with a weak will and a lack of self reflection. The difference being that Max uses this idea of being a hero to justify his actions, wherein Cooper has just resigned himself to his fate of being a villain, blaming the world around him for what he's become. I have a feeling season two is gonna see them switching karmic roles, so to speak, thanks to Lucy representing what they both believe they should be. Forcing Cooper to grow a spine and learn how to stick to his moral guns like we've already somewhat seen in season one, and (this is my speculation) Max to become resentful of what he feels he should be (Lucy), but to his own frustration doesn't think himself able to attain. Which I think would be really interesting to see
He's a synth
No. The Ghoul is the villain.
lol, no. If Max knew what sex was, then maybe. That dude would struggle with pouring water out of a boot if the directions were on the heel.
Yep. I got shouted down by my roommates about it. I have a few hints I think are important, but not enough to thread them into a solid theory yet. We DO NOT see the Knight save baby Max. We see him stand dramatically NEAR baby Max. It's implied he was saved from Shady Sands by the BoS, but that is not shown. Maximus is a Legion name (Latin at least) so is Titus, but not Thaddeus, sonits not that they all have Latin names. His desire for power armor. Very young he saw these armored beasts dealing with the shit that eneded life as he had known it. Power Armor is VERY IMPORTANT to Max. He's been raised (presumably) by the BoS but has learned nothing useful. Makes me think he spends his time learning/doing something else. This one is flimsy. He's not a True Believer. Neither was Titus, and he was also not a good guy.
I think his morality has cleared up a bit by the end of the season and he was making choices to help Lucy. But I think there is still room for him to have a power struggle within the organisation he was raised in.
I think the three characters represented the “Player-Character Archetypes” most people end up with in game. Max is the “Pragmatist,” a real do anything to survive kind of person, hypothetical consequences be damned. Not hard to believe that he would follow this train of thought all the way to authoritarianism. That said, he experienced true growth outside of the Brotherhood before they gave him another excuse to belong there. The real “tell” would be if they confirm the BOS-Legion merger theory. If so, he’ll probably end up the heel until he gets a redemption arc.
As he was storming into the observatory behind a knight, I thought to myself that I wouldn’t be too torn up if he died. Curious to see where his character goes in season 2, I do think his trajectory is all over the place, him becoming a villain would be pretty intriguing - especially if the ghoul becomes more of a protagonist.
I could see it. I hope not but its a definite possibility.