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Throughout your journey in the wastelands of America in the Fallout games, you meet no shortage of mutants and monsters. Fallout 2 already set the record straight decades before. One of the toughest and meanest among them was none other than the game’s final boss, Frank Horrigan. And while Frank Horrigan’s feats would fade into obscurity over newer generations of Fallout fans, only a handful in the current game lore could stand up to him. Here’s his story.
Who is Frank Horrigan in Fallout?
He’s certainly no god, but he came close to being one in the Fallout lore. Frank Horrigan, to put it briefly, is an Enclave soldier who became a big Super Mutant. As if the mutation wasn’t enough, the Enclave also gave Frank Horrigan a custom Super Mutant Power Armor.
Unlike other Super Mutants who have mostly lost their intelligence, Frank retained his articulacy and communication skills as well as some of what made him intellectually human. To put a reference on just how strong Frank Horrigan is, here are some of his feats.
- He’s bigger than a Deathclaw. Frank Horrigan stands at more than 12 feet tall. Deathclaws, on average stand at 9-10 feet tall. He’s also bigger than the average Super Mutant, but not as big as a Super Mutant Behemoth (20 ft.)
- He punched a Deathclaw, ripping it in half.
- He has 999 HP (Deathclaws only have 250-300) and 10 in each of his SPECIAL stats.
Apart from being the biggest organic Fallout final boss, he’s also technically the most physically powerful since most Fallout final bosses are human-sized and aren’t that brawny.
Frank Horrigan Origin
So where did this prime Super Mutant come from? Well, Frank Horrigan was born in 2211 and naturally grew into an imposing human soldier in the Enclave (the direct continuation of pre-war U.S.). He was already bigger and more dangerous compared to other Enclave operatives, which earned him a high rank.
However, Frank was demoted to wasteland patrol due to a classified incident involving a violent breakdown.
During one of his patrols, Frank came into contact with the pre-war experiment, Forced Evolutionary Virus (or FEV) which turned human beings and dogs into Super Mutants. Afterward, the Enclave had to sedate him and promptly turned him into a guinea pig for decades.
It was only in 2239 that the Enclave decided to bring out the mutated Frank Horrigan as an operative, taking advantage of his lowered intelligence (due to the FEV). To make him even more imposing, they equipped him with a custom-made Power Armor and some of the deadliest handheld weapons in the Fallout lore.
It’s not like he needed those weapons, however, since Frank could easily rip a Deathclaw in half. Perhaps if he had lived past Fallout 2, he could have given even Liberty Prime a run for its bottlecaps.
