I always thought the Brotherhood of Steel were the good guys.

[Tuesday Night Fever]

Your very first interaction with the Brotherhood of Steel way back in Fallout involved them sending you on a suicide mission and laughing their asses off the moment you left. They are legitimately surprised when you actually return. Yeah. Real heroes.

From the Fallout Wiki's Brotherhood of Steel page:

"In 2162, the Vault-Dweller arrived at the Lost Hills bunker, seeking entry into the Brotherhood. His request was not taken seriously and he was tasked with retrieving the records of Sergeant Dennis Allen's expedition from the hazardous ruins of the Glow, a fool's errand commonly used to deter would-be Brotherhood members. To the Brotherhood's surprise, not only did the Vault-Dweller return from the West-Tek facility alive, but he had also succeeded in his fool's errand and recovered a holodisk recording of Allen's doomed expedition. As a result, the Vault-Dweller became the first outsider in decades to be accepted into the Brotherhood of Steel, despite the protests of a few members."

From the wiki's Glow page:

"The Brotherhood of Steel used to send unwanted applicants to the Glow on a "fool's quest", referring to it by the moniker the "Ancient Order", just to laugh about it later when they ended up dead because of the high amount of radiation in the area. They were quite surprised when one known as the Vault Dweller actually made it back, bringing with them a holodisk that recorded the fate of Allen's expedition, and earning them a place in the Brotherhood.

It is important to note that the Glow, true to its name, is one of the most highly irradiated locations in the Fallout universe. A few moments' exposure is enough to give a lethal dose of rads. Use of Rad-X to boost Radiation Resistance to 100% is widely considered absolutely necessary to survive a trip to the Glow."

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

The Brotherhood of Steel is mostly a pre-war military hold over, they spend a lot of time rediscovering lost technology, learning how to reproduce it, and trading it in the wastes for resources. This leads to misuse of their tech base, which causes them to start taking a dim view of those living in the wastes. When the master arises with an army of super mutants, this firmly shoves the BoS back into it's shell of isolationism. Along comes the Vault Dweller, who not only comes back from an impossible suicide mission, but also ends the master's plans. The Vault Dweller makes a huge impression on the wasteland, and the BoS in this quest.

Later they find themselves against the Enclave, who is technologically superior to them, larger, better trained, and fanatical about wiping mutant life off the wastes. The Chosen One, grandchild of the Vault Dweller, stands tall and emerges as the savior of the wastes, again restoring the BoS's faith in humanity. At this point NCR begins expanding, the BoS sees the NCR as a force for good, spurred on by the Chosen One the BoS contributes to the formation of the larger NCR, by offering to help with their technological advantage. This leads to them actually getting a city state in the NCR, named after the leading family of the BOS, Maxson, one of the founding states of the NCR federation. They also apparently take in some Enclave Remnants, bolstering their technological base, giving them greater capabilities.

During this time of prosperity they send an expedition east, but their past follows them. Their cautious elements and their idealistic elements end up splitting into two different factions, the Capital Wasteland BoS and the Outcasts. Due to this schism, neither group had the power to do anything worth while in the Capital Wasteland, forcing them both back into isolationism. This is compounded by the fact that a faction of the Enclave Remnant sets up in the Capital Wasteland, with plans to complete the original genocidal plan of the Enclave. Enter the Lone Wanderer who subsequently leads BoS to victory over the Enclave Remnants, while also securing a clean water source for the Capital Wasteland.

At some point between the expedition to the east and FO:NV, there's a schism between the government of the NCR and the BoS, most likely due to political corruption in the NCR. This results in the west coast BoS being smashed by the NCR's military, driving them into exile in the Mojave Wastes. Where it's up to the Courier to step up and unite the Mojave Wasteland and decide it's destiny...

Basically the Brotherhood of Steel is a neutral entity, with generally good intentions, but mired in a bone deep need to be cautious, isolated, and protected. They want to preserve and redevelop pre-war technology, while preventing another war that would devastate the entire world.. Their structure is militaristic, leaning heavily on discipline, they have a fortress mentality, and when things get bad they retreat into their bunkers. They're not the tech-hording murderers, or the pure altruistic good guys, as they're often portrayed as. They're a neutral power that's prone to suffering the same issues as all the other post-war wasteland powers, but their good intentions let them be kicked into doing the right thing, as most of the other powers. As the highest karma endings tend to be the canon in Fallout, it's always the actions of the player character that drive the results in game, which in turn drives most of the neutral-good parties into success, while the abjectly evil parties are driven to death and obscurity.

 

[Frankster]

For sure, the way the Fo3 Bos acted is not how the old BoS would have done things.
Working for the good of the wasteland and using tech to help people as first priority? What is this heresy D:
Good old BoS doctrine is to hoard all the tech and wait inside your bunker for everyone else to die out.

Of course this doctrine is flawed as isolation just leads to BoS getting surrounded and defeated by more expansionist powers. It's telling that two most successful (and actually still alive) BoS chapters as of Fo4 are the chapters from FO Tactics and Fo3/4 who greatly diverged from vanilla BoS doctrine.

 

[IamLEAM1983]

The Brotherhood of Steel aren't so much the "Good Guys" as they're one of the least-chaotic would-be policing instance in the wasteland. Does that make them personable or even morally defensible? Absolutely not. The BoS you interacted with in Fallout 3 drew some criticism from some of the fans of the first hour, who tend to expect a universe depicted in shades of gray. Bethesda doesn't really do super-involved narrative arcs, so they fell back onto their tried-and-true approach of having you encounter the Good Guys, the Victims and the Bad Guys.

Even so, there's a few things that excuse their approach and that tie things together with the west coast's Brotherhood contingent. The distance makes it plausible for cultural shifts to happen inside any given social structure, so I wasn't surprised by the way the Lyons' Pride diverged from the main group. The Outcasts are also divergent, but from the other end of the spectrum. At least, the core Brotherhood gives the sense that it tends to prefer isolationism over what the raider gangs go for.

Don't go poking the hornets' nest, and you won't get stung.

Then there's the way Maxson Junior grew up between the two games. Snoop around the Citadel in Fallout 3 and you'll find the kid's personal terminal. Parse through his entries and you'll realize this ten year-old is one sick puppy in the making. He acts docile around Elder Lyons, but he has a hard time hiding just how sociopathic he really is.

Fast-forward a couple decades and you've got the Brotherhood of Steel under his boot, with nothing left of Sarah Lyons and the Lone Wanderer's sociopolitical efforts. Ask around on the Prydwen or back at the College Square police station and you'll find that not everyone is equally glad to have a hardliner with him in charge... A lot of Danse's men mostly default to "I don't like it but eh, orders are orders, I guess."

Paladin Danse at least embodies the more practical aspects of the Brotherhood of Steel. He's a member of the group you can actually trust implicitly - his narrow-minded approach towards synths can and probably will change, in light of various actions you can undertake.

All I know is I was more than glad to side with the Railroad. I got Nick Valentine's approval and I also got to re-enact the Hindenburg's crash-landing. This wasteland don't need no racism!

 

[Laser Priest]

You remember the Brotherhood Outcasts in Fallout 3? You remember how they were total assholes? Because they left Lyon's Brotherhood for straying from the Brotherhood's "values". I feel like Fallout 4 went far off the rails the other way and made the Brotherhood closer to the power armored nazis that the Enclave was, but still they are closer to the original Brotherhood.

The Brotherhood of Steel was never an altruistic bunch of heroes. They were always isolationist and generally condescending to outsiders when not outright hostile. They weren't really very good or very evil before. They were just working towards their own ideals, with helpful and harmful things along the way.

Also, Fallout 1 is harsh to the point where I actually find it hard to recommend, but Fallout 2 is definitely worth playing through, if you can deal with it being somewhat dated in terms of design.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

I wonder why they are so isolated, in that they are unable to communicate with the other chapters. Are a few dozen sent to a specific area of America, and told to horde the tech they find and await further orders? It doesn't make much sense for them to head out without being able to maintain lines of communication. That just seems reckless to me.

I wonder if there are other chapters out there, that diverged from their doctrine, and became open protectors of the people?