It has recently came to my attention that The Institute had synths that where basically human with a vats like ability (FV 3 sytle) even child models.

So Courier six was shot in the head and survived. It's possible that doc Mitchell might have noticed BUT these synths are very human like, and doc Mitchell is a basic doctor. Somehow placed to come into possession of a parcel with nuke codes. Has the formentioned ability.

The lone wonderer was in close contact with Dr. Li whom has child synth information on her terminal. The lone wonderer had a mother but she died? Has the formentioned ability.

The evidence just stacks the more you think about it.

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/The_Institute_terminal_entries

Is it just me or does anyone else smell what I'm stepping in.

woah, i never found those entries in the Institute when playing about synths having that vats thing, thanks for the link to all the terminal entries!!! personally i love the lore with synths and FO3/FNV/FO4 are some of my fav games of all time, so this gives me a lot to think about for new characters or backstories

spoilers from FO4, unless completed all BOS quests don't click!:

maybe Doc Mitchell noticing tech in the courier's head is what got Mr. House so interested, too, since i never really bought the whole idea of the courier being ~so special~ just for doing his/her job lol. when talking to Mr. House he's basically all "aw don't be shy bro you're a legend!" of course this could be disproven by countless things, but your theory gives the player more of a choice in the character's backstory (see: Far Harbor DLC and what DiMA asks you)

...and maybe maybe in the Old World Blues DLC the auto-doc didn't really notice or care if finding tech in the courier's head. there's that Adamantium Skeleton perk and no NPC says anything about that either, right? if the courier was a synth that would make a LOT more sense science-wise, since i get it..the Think Tank has some seriously advanced shit, but anyone walking around without their brain is going to be like the NPC lobotomites at best

You literally see your character be born in fallout 3. The courier is whoever you want him/her to be, that's the beauty of it

But Dr. Li has no connections with the institute during the events of Fallout 3 and as pointed above, you see your character grow up inside the vault.

The notes on Dr. Li's terminal was data gathered during her time with the synth child project which was after Fallout 3.

However, there is a possibility of a the Courier being a synth(although I find it highly unlikely). It is really up to the player if they are playing a synth courier.

with memories being reprogrammed and false memories being potentially put in with synths with mem-wipes/restores(?) anything could be possible for a synth to think or "remember", though! not saying its a 100% definite that all-player-characters-are-synths but it's pretty cool IMO to think about

Sonichu_fanboy wrote:

You literally see your character be born in fallout 3. The courier is whoever you want him/her to be, that's the beauty of it

ahyuser001 wrote:

However, there is a possibility of a the Courier being a synth(although I find it highly unlikely). It is really up to the player if they are playing a synth courier.

i don't really have any theories about how the LW might be a synth but if the player wanted their LW to be one that memory could be false, maybe the LW died and in his grief James somehow struck a deal with the Institute or..something? it's unlikely, but sometimes with characters going out of what's canon is fun when creating your own story

Dextrose wrote:

i don't really have any theories about how the LW might be a synth but if the player wanted their LW to be one that memory could be false, maybe the LW died and in his grief James somehow struck a deal with the Institute or..something? it's unlikely, but sometimes with characters going out of what's canon is fun when creating your own story

It's a bit of a stretch really but you could role-play that you were real Shaun until your dad left the vault.

The problem that I see with that is the Institute is not really an expansionist force like the NCR so replacing a person outside the Commonwealth is unlikely.

There is also no record of any Institute activity outside the Commonwealth with the exception of Dr. Zimmer who was on a mission to retrieve the run away synth, A3-21/Harkness.

Nah, I have to debunk the fact that the Courier is definitely human mainly because he had his brain, heart, and spine removed and they're all bioligical organs proven by Mobius and speaking to your own brain instead of your brain being a synth component, plus, why or how would Synths even come to the west coast anyway? Sure, going through Legion territory is safe but imagine what other parts of the country must be irradiated shitholes or packed with raiders and savaged tribals, so I'd have to say that the Courier is human, well a cyborg now thanks to Big MT. And for the Lone Wanderer I'd say that remembering and seeing your life go on is more likely to tell that you're human, I'd also like to point out that since Doctor Zimmer is looking for a synth that being Harkness, wouldn't he come looking for you too? So I'd have to say that anyone most likely to be a sent is the random pre war soldier who can handle the wasteland so easily. Unless you consider Hardmode canon with the diseases and requiring food and water canon then yes the SS would also be human. But hey, who knows, SS could be a synth, but I highly doubt that the Courier and the Lone Wanderer are synths

I actually remembered something that would really debunk that the Courier is not a synth. Gen 3 synths do not require nourishment to survive.

In Fallout: New Vegas, the Courier will die if he/she reaches 1000 levels of either Food/H2O/Sleep.

If the Courier was a synth then hunger/thirst/sleep deprivation should not be an issue.

I don't think any of them is a synth...
The Courier could have been, but we have evidence he's not, as noted above. As for the Lone Wanderer, yeah... We saw his/her birth so no.

tl;dr version: this is honestly refreshing to read, i feel like Suvi in Mass Effect: Andromeda when or if you have a debate with her, it's nice reading other people's opinions with 0 drama being involved

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in the Institute terminal entries it's stated that gen-3 synths do need nourishment, actually (one entry states gen-3 synths love Fancy Lad Snack Cakes LOL), plus multiple synths are seen eating and drinking throughout FO4. also the whole memory-wipe thing and artificial memories being placed could explain seeing the birth of your character (how would the character even remember that?)

either way i love talking about this stuff and reading everyone's input so thanks OP and everyone else; what we've all said gives me ideas for old and new characters and corrections of the lore makes me feel less silly, because while i do love breaking lore sometimes the idea of any of MY courier characters (mine, not anyone else's, do your own thing if you wanna) being a synth seems too far-fetched after reading all of this* xD

mind blown thinking about a LW (Lone Wanderer) being a synth though since i just thought: how did that railroad agent even find them in FO3 so quickly during the Harkness quest? if someone's character was a synth, maybe the backstory would be that she helped with the mem-wipe/restore and facial reconstruction..there's gotta be someone other than that dude in the lower part of Rivet City that can do facial surgeries right? of course, what i'm saying is if and only if your character isn't canon and you use your own backstory, since the lore seems to equally support and dismiss the idea of any character being a synth in multiple areas

*unless, of course, for your character you use the one TV-Trope of "it was all a dream actually" PLUS them being a synth??

@theplaguedoctr
That's a pretty good point.
But I must insist on playing Devil's Advocate
That procedure never worked on anybody before, basically lobotomized them so maybe because he had Synth parts they were easily interchangeable.
But I still think your points pretty solid.

@ Dextrose
Yeah it really gets your head spinning and is a interesting topic of conversation

1 major thing discredits the Lone Wanderer. There are no child synths that are able to grow. Synths are either made as adults or children. The synth of Shaun at the end of Fallout 4 is the only example of this in game. Father's terminal mentions this creepy little side effect that no matter what, he will always remain a child.

There are a few major things that discredit the Courier, namely the male courier's ability to reproduce. No synths seem to have that ability, and it's implied through dialogue that the Courier may have had a child in Montana. That would be impossible were he a synth. Next, all gen 3 synths have component within their brains, a synth component, which would immediately differentiate it from a regular human brain. This would almost certainly have been noted during the Courier's time in the Big empty when they're lobotomised. Third, gen 3 synths are a fairly recent development, only coming about sometime in the past 60 years, and only became refined to their current form in the very recent years of Fallout, considering Harkness in 2277 is considered a recent and advanced model, and is very much a prime example of a gen 3 synth. The Courier has lived far too long in the West for them to have been born in an institute lab at some time in the 2260s-70s, then make their way to the west and travel as widely as the Courier (they have travelled all across the West Coast, Southwest, Northwest and even Northern America, up near Canada). Courier simply has way too much history to be a gen 3 synth.

That said, VATS or Vault assisted targeting system is just the newer games take on the classic Fallout turn based play style, nothing more. If anything this is just some easter eggs as opposed to anything more.

@IRONIEH some pretty soild logic.

Just out of curiosity where do I find the dialogue where the Courier has a child. That's a pretty neat piece of dialogue I messed.

No one Goodsprings, Freesdide, Westside, etc seems to know the Courier. The courier makes no attempt to contact _anyone_ implying that there is no one to know. No friends, no contacts, no family, no nothing.
The Courier had never been to the strip before (because you only have to pass a credit check once.) This seems unlikely for an experienced Mojave courier.
The Courier can ask questions implying having never heard of the NCR or the Legion. That should be almost impossible.
So the Courier is not from Arizona, not from California, and not from the Mojave, and knows nothing about the politics or towns or people of any of these places. The courier must have arrived very recently, or he/she would have heard of the NCR and the battle of Hoover Dam, almost certainly.
Even amnesia doesn't do all this. Besides, the Courier makes no attempt to find lost relatives/friends/homeland, which is highly unlikely for an amnesiac to never even bring it up or try to cure it. Amnesia would have been brought up for sure in Goodsprings, at least given a small mention... a "Do you know who I am? Can you cure it?" But nothing.
Ulysses clearly mistook the courier for someone else, because anyone who built up the towns of the Divide from nothing over years of work absolutely would have had a local history, and would have known about the factions of the world and yada yada.
The courier was a person with no friends or family or history or experience in the area, and knew it. Nothing else fits. The courier was from somewhere very, very far away. Or was born yesterday.
Not to mention being shot twice in the head at close range, on top of whatever injury caused the courier to be captured in the first place, and then buried! Might also explain why the courier could argue with his/her own brain.