Joanne Lynette

Joanne Lynette is the First Citizen of Vault City in Fallout 2.

Background
A stern-looking woman with thick glasses, Lynette's bearing makes it obvious to anyone that she is important. In her position as the First Citizen of Vault City, the pillar of society, as McClure puts it, she enforces the City's underlying elitist and racist policies. She carries a hatred of Outsiders unrivaled by most inhabitants of Vault City and firmly believes in the superiority of her fellow citizenry against outsiders, using that as justification of the near-feudal class system of the City.

However, contrary to what may seem, her beliefs and character flaws aren't the result of abuse, drugs, or failed relationships. Lynette has been brought up in an environment that instilled her with a privileged approach to life and a superiority complex matched by few other inhabitants. She knew she was the future leader of Vault City and once she attained that position, she's been power tripping ever since. Her managerial and economic acumen, coupled with high efficiency made her a powerful politician, though it also exposed her to the worst the wasteland came to offer.

This exposure only served to strengthen her beliefs in the innate superiority of Vault City citizens. If others cannot achieve the same as Vault City, that means they are not smart or strong enough to do so. The fact that Vault City had an extremely privileged position thanks to the area around Vault 8 and the G.E.C.K. doesn't even factor into the equation for her. The achievements of Vault City are, to Lynette, the result of hard work and resolve of her fellow citizens. That's not to say that Lynette abhors work. She works too hard, too much, dedicating all her waking moments to her job as a leader (unless it involves politicking, then she can take a "break" to socialize). As such, she has no relationships to speak of and very little patience for people wasting her time.Fallout Bible 0: "1. Here's a question that everyone would like to have answered. Why is Lynette such a bitch?  Is she a jet baby?  Was she abused as a youngster?  Did she have a series of sordid love affairs that all went horribly wrong and warped her into a domineering cynic?  Or she just acting like a typical Vault City citizen? - Albert." "Answer: Yes, Lynette is a bitch if you're not a Citizen. As the figurehead for Vault City, she was supposed to embody the worst arrogance and condescension that Vault City has to offer (traits that are not present in all the citizens, as McClure and others prove). Furthermore, I suspect that she was made a black character to add an additional edge to her hypocrisy over slavery, but I guess you'd have to ask the original designers about that - Mark O'Green and I wrote Lynette's dialogue, but we were working off of an older design that (I think) Jason Anderson had written. As for why Lynette's a bitch... well, Lynette does have an extreme managerial, economic, and efficient soul, and she's used to getting her way. She wasn't abused, tortured, or twisted in any way when she was young, she just got a certain privileged and superiority complex hardwired into her head around five or six years old, and she's never been the same. She's always known that she was destined to lead the Vault 8 Citizens, and that power has gone to her head. ''She's been the leader of Vault City for many, many years, and she's seen the worst that the wasteland has to offer - but rather than taking sympathy on the poor souls that have come to Vault City for protection, she has instead taken the view that these "outlanders" were simply not strong or smart enough to achieve what Vault City has, and thus, are inferior. She tends to work too much and too hard, and she sees all her time as precious, so she has little patience for socializing without a purpose (i.e., if it doesn't involve politicking, she's going to be working late at the office instead) or for people dropping in and wasting her time. ''As expected, Lynette has had no positive romantic relationships up until her potential relationship with Westin from NCR in the endgame of Fallout 2. She's had little time for anything other than her job, and that's her focus - if anyone throws her job or decisions into question, buckle up, because she takes it as the worst sort of personal attack. ''Lynette uses any negative situation involving outlanders to reinforce her beliefs and disregards or ignores any positive aspects - she's single-minded and set in her ways. The fact that she (and Vault City) had an "environmental welcome mat" stretched out for them (with the GECK) when they emerged from Vault 8 meant they suffered little hardship in comparison to other struggling communities, but this simply doesn't factor into her thinking. She believes that Vault City and the Vault citizens have survived and thrived because they are a superior breed of human - smarter, better, and more capable than the human trash that prowls the wasteland. Anyway, there you go.''"

In 2241, her primary concern is the town of Gecko, located north of Vault City. Radiation leaking from the damaged nuclear power plant is affecting the City's water supply, leading to an increased mutation rate, stunting births, and even killing citizens. Unlike fellow councilmen, she believes the groundwater contamination is the equivalent of an act of war and wants the power plant to be shut down, permanently. Her hatred for ghouls is just the cherry on top.

Quests

 * Solve the Gecko powerplant problem.: Lynette asks the Chosen One to fix the problem by destroying the plant.
 * Destroy the Raiders: The account book can be brought to Lynette alongside the Bishop holodisk to reveal NCR's complicity in raider attacks on Vault City.
 * Deliver Lynette's holodisk to Westin in NCR.: Lynette asks the player to act as a courier between her and Roger Westin, to orchestrate the end of NCR's campaign to annex Vault City.

Effects of player actions

 * The player should always be polite to Lynette, preferably by addressing her as First Citizen every time. Lynette has a short fuse and will revoke the player's day pass, citizenship, and kick them out of the city for a variety of reasons, including: Being rude, questioning Vault City's superiority, questioning Lynette's decision, calling servants slaves, commenting on slavery, suggesting cooperation between Gecko and Vault City, suggesting killing Thomas Moore, and more. She's basically a minefield.
 * However, if the player is always polite and called her First Citizen enough times, at the conclusion of the diplomatic exchange with Roger Westin, she will name the player the Captain of the Guard of Vault City.

Other interactions

 * Lynette will be skeptical of the player's claims of knowledge about the Vaults or G.E.C.K., but proving the authenticity of the jumpsuit and the flask (simply allowing her to inspect them in dialogue) will warm her up significantly. This also improves reputation with Vault City.
 * Like the rest of Vault City, Lynette will have different dialogue following the conclusion of the game, including breaking the fourth wall in dialogue: "I don't know what you intend to gain by clicking on me, but I won't tolerate it much longer.", "Perhaps you find clicking on me... amusing. Perhaps you will find the Corrections Center just as humorous." and, "Do you like my little dreadlocks? I think Scott Rodenhizer has a strange sense of humor.". She will also hug stupid characters.

Behind the scenes

 * Though Mentats are banned in Vault City, one can use the Steal skill and discover that she carries some. These are meant to convey to the player that she is a hypocrite about chem use.
 * In one of the first versions of Fallout 2, Lynette's talking head was supposed to be used for a spokesperson for a group of scientists living in the ruins of Area 51.

Appearances
Joanne Lynette appears only in Fallout 2.