Nick Valentine

Nick Valentine is a detective and potential companion of the Sole Survivor, living in Diamond City in 2287.

Background
A private eye plying his trade in Diamond City, Nick makes a living tracking down secrets and revealing them. As careful as he tries to be, it's not surprising that this gumshoe runs into his fair share of altercation. His latest job involved finding a daughter of someone wealthy from Diamond City - except the job took a turn for the worse, when it turned out she joined Skinny Malone, becoming a lover of the mob boss from Goodneighbor. The Triggermen didn't take too kindly to the old synth, and imprisoned him in the overseer's office. His residence is the Valentine Detective Agency, and has a multitude of signs around Diamond City advertising the office.

Nick doesn't remember anything from the time before he was a synth, awakening in a trash heap in Cambridge one day. His past is known to his "brother," DiMA, who also orchestrated his escape. The two were the first synths capable of independent thinking and judgment. One of the Institute's experiments had to do with how synthetic brains could process personality, and so they adapted two synths for their experimentation. DiMA was allowed to develop his based on experience, while Nick was an attempt to copy a personality matrix into a synth brain - the original Nick Valentine's. The two underwent the same kind of lengthy experimentation, every day for months, strapped down to a workshop table. Immobile and operated on as the Institute rooted around in his artificial brain. Eventually, though, he managed to orchestrate an escape, taking Nick with him. The failsafes stripped their memories of the Institute, but the two were finally free. Unfortunately, Nick did not recognize his brother and attacked him on the spot, still thinking he was the pre-War Nick Valentine. Beaten and damaged, Nick was abandoned...but survived.

As a result of the experiment, Nick is a copy of a pre-War BADTFL officer, Nick Valentine, involved in Operation: Winter's End. His memories, personality, and even skills come from the detective. The synthetic Nick was stuck in a test chamber for years, monitored by Institute researchers - then suddenly, he was disposed of, waking up in a trash heap in Cambridge. The memories of the late detective were still alive and fresh, leading to a confusing couple of weeks. He wandered through the wastelands and received a cautious welcome from wastelanders. The first settlement he entered, he was grilled for an hour before he was cleared for contact with others. They warmed up to the old robot, showing him kindness he never experienced before - kindness he tries to show to others ever since. The town would later be wiped off the map by raiders, its inhabitants fate is a mystery.

Eventually, he moved to Diamond City, shortly after the Broken Mask incident in 2229, when a third generation synth malfunctioned and killed the patrons of Power Noodles before Diamond City security could put it down. Normally, he would be refused, perhaps even shot on sight, but Nick had an argument - he rescued the then-Mayor's daughter. He stumbled by accident on a crying girl and four thugs - after disposing of them, he took her home and earned himself a place in the City. Mayor Henry Roberts did so against the protests of DC citizens, but eventually they all warmed up to Nick, in no small part due to the fact that he never concealed his synthetic nature.

At first, he did odd jobs nobody else wanted to do, becoming DC's handyman, a fixer. Eventually, however, he started doing jobs of a slightly different nature. He was a neutral party, helping people with their problems. when the wife runs off with a new paramour and takes the rent money with her? Talk to the Synth. An upset father decides moving him and the kids to Goodneighbor in the dead of night's not the worst damn idea since the bomb? Go get Nick. After a while, the jobs came by so often that he hung up the handyman's clothes and put on a hat and trenchcoat instead, becoming a hard-boiled noir detective of the Jewel of the Commonwealth. Life was finally normal for the synth. And though he paid for it in parts and coolant, he gradually became known not just as the Synth, but as Nick the detective.

However, there remains a shadow in his life, unfinished business tied to the ancient Nick Valentine...

Personality
Nick's personality is an evolution of the pre-War Nick Valentine's: A hard boiled detective with nerves of steel and a strong moral sense. Valentine believes in being kind to your fellow man, in giving second chances, but is also unyielding in his pursuit of vengeance against those who wronged him or people he cared about. Nick doesn't quite know how to interpret the original Valentine's memories. Although he believes in pursuing his vendetta against Eddie Winter, to put things to rights, he also wants to be his own man, rather than merely a ghost of the past brought back from the dead by the Institute's machinations. Until he figures out what to do with himself, he remains a staunch, loyal ally to his friends, an implacable foe to his enemies, and a charming artificial detective to all prospective clients.

Quests

 * Long Time Coming: Nick has a centuries old case that remains unsolved: the whereabouts of crimeboss Edward Winter's doomsday bunker.
 * Unlikely Valentine: Nick needs to be rescued from Vault 114 before he can help the Sole Survivor find their child.
 * Getting a Clue: Nick continues to assist the Sole Survivor in finding their child, tracking down Kellogg's house in Diamond City.
 * Dangerous Minds: With Kellogg dead, Nick acts as the "interpreter" of Kellogg's memories through his artificial brain.

Other interactions

 * Nick Valentine is a companion that can hack terminals.
 * Profuse Thanks

Appearances
Nick Valentine appears only in Fallout 4, and plays a large role in the Far Harbor add-on.