Nate the Rake

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you vs the guy she tells you not to worry about

Anonymous 04/13/24(Sat)23:46:56 No.673376786 1713044865037.jpg (9 KB, 250x306) google yandex iqdb wait >Slaughters hundreds of canadians, moose and maple trees to the point the government give him a free vault spot >No matter how serious the situation, literally always has a sarcastic dialogue choice that is often just unhinged >Wife gets shot in front of him. Is mad for a bit, starts ploughing other women barely a week later (possibly even a robot) >Sees his son now an old man, decides to kill him and level his organisation because the institute was originally the MIT and probably has the last few canadian scientists there Nate Fallout is absolutely cooked

Anonymous 04/14/24(Sun)00:28:45 No.673378845 >>673379256 1701272513760300.png (66 KB, 250x293) google yandex iqdb wait Just saw a Canadian family move into Sanctuary. It's over, America has fallen.

nate fighting raiders for the first time

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About

Nate the Rake is a nickname given to the male Fallout 4 player character, Nate. The nickname references Nate as a war criminal for his purported actions during the annexation of Canada, an event in Fallout lore where the U.S. took Canada for its resources and incorporated it into the U.S., which involved the execution of protestors and resistance members. The nickname was given to Nate in April 2024, when Bethesda Game Studios' design director Emil Pagliarulo made a post on X / Twitter claiming that a soldier shown next to another soldier executing a Canadian in the first Fallout game is Nate, inspiring memes about Nate being a war criminal over the following months. The "rake" in Nate's nickname refers to a leaf rake, as he was purportedly responsible for killing Canadians, or, "raking them up." Following the virality of the tweet, Pagliarulo backpedaled on the claim, claiming it is not canon.

Origin

On April 13th, 2024, X^[1] user @Dezinuh aka Emil Pagliarulo, the design director for Bethesda Game Studios, posted, "Given the great vibes recently, and the millions of amazing Fallout fans (that's you!) I feel like the time is right to finally share an unknown link between Fallout 1 and Fallout 4. Remember the Fallout 1 opening movie? Annexation of Canada? SAME. GUY. (No, NOT the shooter!) 🤓" garnering over 14,000 likes and 3,000 reposts in three months (shown below).

Nate is the default name for the playable male character in Fallout 4.^[2] The screenshot that Pagliarulo shares in the post is a cutscene from the first Fallout game that details the annexation of Canada, an even in Fallout lore where the U.S. took Canada for its resources and executed protestors and rebels.^[3]

Emil Pagliarulo @Dezinuh Given the great vibes recently, and the millions of amazing Fallout fans (that's you!) I feel like the time is right to finally share an unknown link between Fallout 1 and Fallout 4. Remember the Fallout 1 opening movie? Annexation of Canada? SAME. GUY. (No, NOT the shooter!) 12:03 PM - Apr 13, 2024 8.6M Views

That day, some people who read the post began making memes about Nate being a war criminal. The earliest known use of the nickname "Nate the Rake," a reference to a leaf rake due to the Canadian flag featuring a leaf, suggesting that Nate "raked" Canadians, was posted by X^[4] user @FiggerPick that day (shown below).

PickFigger @FiggerPick Nate the rake 10:55 PM - Apr 13, 2024 5,693 Views

Spread

Memes about Nate being a war criminal, along with the nickname Nate the Rake, were further popularized over the following months. Due to the response, about four hours after making his first post, Pagliarulo made another post to X^[5] backpedaling the claim, writing that Nate being the same person as the soldier in the first Fallout game is not canon and that it was only discussed internally but never made official (shown below).

Emil Pagliarulo @Dezinuh - Apr 13 (1/3) Oof. I wanted to share what I thought was a cool Fallout tidbit without realizing how divisive it might be. I should have. I get dumb when I get excited... and I get excited a lot. Not every bit of Fallout info I share is automatically canon. Nate is NOT a war criminal! 344 1 306 1.3K ill 435K Emil Pagliarulo @Dezinuh - Apr 13 (2/3) When you're world and character building, you have a LOT of head canon. You're always sorting ideas. Early on, we talked about that being Nate, in that video. He had been through hell as a soldier. Every day was another unknown horror. This was one of them. 21 1729 578 ılı 88K 1 1 Emil Pagliarulo @Dezinuh (3/3) So, internally, it was a cool nod to OG Fallout and a way to fictionally frame the character. It wasn't shared with the player because it was never meant to be who YOU think Nate is. For a player, Nate's soldier past is whatever you think it is. THAT is canon. 4:03 PM - Apr 13, 2024 - 86.8K Views ...

Despite the claims Nate being a war criminal is not canon, memes continued to reference him as such.

On April 13th, 2024, a forum thread was started on NMA-Fallout.com^[6] titled, "The Male Sole Survivor from Fallout 4 is Canonically a War Criminal," with user Aurelius Of Phoenix posting a meme to the thread on April 16th, writing, "Nate the Rake is canon in my mind" (shown below).

In 2075, United States Veteran Nate was asked what it felt like to take human life, "I wouldn't know, I've only ever killed canadians."

On April 14th, YouTuber^[7] Rat King posted a video compiling examples of the discourse and memes surrounding the claim, garnering over 154,000 views in three months (shown below, left). On April 20th, YouTuber^[8] Chad Nobark posted a meme edit about Nate being a war criminal that gained over 110,000 views in the same span of time (shown below, right).

Various Examples

DAY OF NATE THE DARKEST DAY OF HORROR THE LEAF HAS EVER KNOWN!

John Fallout

John Fallout or John Fallout Scam refers to a fake DM from a Fallout character named "John Fallout" as part of the Fake Celebrity Scam Messages meme. Following the virality of the fake DM in April 2024, TikTokers started to create more lore about the character that allegedly appears in Fallout 4.