Royce is a member of the Circle of Steel, the internal affairs of the Brotherhood of Steel. She was a scribe in the Brotherhood of Steel before joining the Circle of Steel at the rank of knight. During her life in California, she was in love with Veronica Santangelo. However, due to then-ElderElijah's intervention, the two were separated: Santangelo stayed in the Mojave chapter, while Royce joined the Circle.
When Elijah abandoned the Brotherhood after the disastrous defense of HELIOS One from the New California Republic Army, he left a trail of crimes across the wasteland. As word of these crimes reached the Circle, Christine was dispatched to track him down. She managed to locate him at Big MT. However, once she confronted her mark at Little Yangtze, they were interrupted by security robots. The Elder escaped using the ghoulified Chinese prisoners as walking bombs while Royce was wounded and taken to the Y-17 medical facility for processing.[1] During the course of experiments at the facility (involving jamming electrodes into the skull, and, in her own words: "Making a flashlight out of [her] head."), her brain was damaged to the point of her losing the ability to read and write words properly (although she can still do equations and mathematical sums).[2][3]
It was there that she was rescued by Ulysses, who blew up part of the facility just to get her out. She recovered with him for several days in a nearby cave, where they discussed philosophy and the failure of modern civilizations like the New California Republic or Caesar's Legion to forge a new future. Once Ulysses met the Think Tank and received his answers, the two separated.[4] Christine left Big Mountain with the Mark I stealth suit and resumed her quest to find Elijah. Her original armor and rifle were left behind.
She eventually tracked him to the Sierra Madre, where she was captured by his slave, Dog, and forced to work for him in breaking into the Sierra Madre while fitted with an explosive collar. At some point, she was also locked in an Auto-Doc in the Villa's Medical District by Dean Domino, where her vocal cords were torn out.[5] She later regains use of her voice when the operation is completed by the Auto-Doc in Vera Keyes' hotel room. It is there that it is revealed that her capture and replacement of her voice was part of Domino's plan to break into the Sierra Madre Casino Vault, as the elevator could only be activated by the voice of the long-dead Keyes.[6]
Interactions with the player character[]
Interactions overview[]
This character is essential. Essential characters cannot be killed.
Find Collar 12: Christine: The Courier has to travel to the Villa clinic to find her. Once inside, the Courier has to release her and take her to the fountain in front of the Sierra Madre Casino.
The Courier must have a high Perception or Intelligence in order to understand her properly. Various skill checks require: PER 6, 8; INT 6, 7; Speech 50; Science 60, 75; Medicine 60, 75; Explosives 60. (Note: Explosives 60 and Science 60 are both options in the same conversation and give the same result.) The Math Wrath, Cherchez La Femme and Confirmed Bachelor perks, as well as Power Armor Training and Brotherhood of Steel reputation, give additional conversation options.
She knows how to counterfeit Sierra Madre chips, and can give the Courier the Coin Operator perk with the right dialogue options.
If the Courier has the Cherchez La Femme or Confirmed Bachelor perk, they get an additional dialogue option when discussing Christine's love interest ("Oh, girlfriend."), and can easily calm her down, stating that the Courier understands her situation; as well as an additional interaction with Christine when they leave her at her post before the Gala Opening. If you accept to hold Christine's hand you can promise that you will return for her.
Christine, scarred by her hunt for Elijah and unable to let him go, perished in the Sierra Madre Casino. She never completed her mission, nor did she stop to consider what had driven her to accept the mission in the first place. Obsession is another form of greed, a lesson that Christine never learned.
Christine dead.
2
Christine, her mission complete, found new purpose as the Sierra Madre's warden. She watched over it silently - by choice. Over time, the ghost people came to see her as one of the Holograms. They would watch, silently, as she walked among them. At times, Christine thought of the Courier, who had kept Elijah's hand from her throat. The Courier reminded her of the other courier she had met in the Big Empty, and wondered if the two had found each other at last. She did not think of them again until she heard the legends of the Divide. The Divide, where the two messengers, the two couriers, fought beneath an ancient flag, at the edge of the world.
When the Courier travels with Christine, she will be able to block out radio signals for a short time. She will also increase the amount of time taken for the collar to detonate.
As a result of her imprisonment in the Auto-Doc, Christine has developed claustrophobia.
From dialogue with her it comes across that she may have gained some kind of alexia and aphasia from what happened to her in Big MT.
Christine is the only character in all the Fallout games to be dubbed by a different voice actor each time she is encountered. She is voiced by Laura Bailey (Vera Keyes voice) in Dead Money, and by Veronica Belmont (original voice) in Old World Blues.
In Old World Blues, when speaking to Dala, you are given the option to say "The quick scribe jumps over the lazy paladin" for observational purposes, which Christine also says. The above line is also a play on the well-known phrase, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog," which itself is an English pangram - a sentence that uses every letter of the alphabet.
She is the shortest adult character in game; her height, below of the normal size.
Notable quotes[]
"The quick... the quick scribe... jumped over the lazy paladin."
"Love makes people do strange things.Won't argue that. It can drive you crazy sometimes if you can't... connect.If they loved each other, and they were together... I suppose that's all that mattered. But she's in that side room, dead, because the casino wouldn't let her leave. And who knows where he is."(discussing Vera Keyes' and Frederick Sinclair's relationship)
Xbox 360 It is possible to initiate the first conversation with Christine without opening the Auto-Doc. The player may open it afterward, but they will be stuck in place and you will need to load a previous saved game to continue. Using third person view, you are able to peek into the Auto-Doc and initiate dialog with Christine before opening the door. Once the door is finally opened, the bug occurs.
↑The Courier: "You said you got off lucky?" Christine Royce: "Yeah... I saw records of other "patients," and what had been done to them. Some couldn't hear anything but static. Others, just... gibbering wrecks. Never going back... and Elijah was on his way here, so I couldn't stop to see if it was something I could fix... ...if you can even fix what happened to me when they jabbed the electrodes into my skull and turned my head into a flashlight. Then I got here, and my voice got severed... now I have a new one. Another thing Elijah has to answer for." (Christine Royce's dialogue)
↑The Courier: "Can the Auto-Doc heal your scars?" Christine Royce: "No... they run a lot deeper than that.While I was hunting Elijah in the Big Empty, he trapped me in one of those medical research centers buried there.It... did something to my head... and I got off lucky. It's difficult enough to read now, and somehow the leap between what's in my head and words... ...it just ends up being a mish-mash of symbols, not letters. Can still do math, formulas, equations... writing poetry's out." (Christine Royce's dialogue)
↑The Courier: "Those facial scars weren't done by the Auto-Doc - the throat scar was." Christine Royce: [SUCCEEDED] [She nods... slowly, then puts her hand in front her throat, closes it slowly, then points at you.] (Christine Royce's dialogue)
↑The Courier: "Elijah didn't put you in the Auto-Doc... Dean did." Christine Royce: "Dean?DeanDomino? Why would he want to torture me? If he wanted to do that, he could keep his singing career going... or keep staring at me." The Courier: "He wasn't trying to torture you, he needed to alter your voice to use an audio-lock." Christine Royce: "An audio-lock to where? To the Sierra Madre vault. It's voice-activated. And he wanted in.That makes sense. So... those bodies in the Clinic... all right. Dean always felt like the odd one out, and he kept... studying me. He was trying to figure out if I recognized him... and see if my throat healed. I'll deal with you first, then I'll deal with him." (Christine Royce's dialogue)
It is possible to initiate the first conversation with Christine without opening the Auto-Doc. The player may open it afterward, but they will be stuck in place and you will need to load a previous saved game to continue. Using third person view, you are able to peek into the Auto-Doc and initiate dialog with Christine before opening the door. Once the door is finally opened, the bug occurs.
