I Had ‘Fallout 3’’s Tranquility Lane Dream Sequence Interpreted by a Holistic Therapist

The desolate and barren wasteland of post-apocalyptic Washington, D.C. is the second most harrowing locale in Fallout 3. The first? Tranquility Lane.

Against the death, destruction and irradiated monstrosities that roam the unforgiving wilderness, Tranquility Lane marks an entirely different, yet no less terrifying, warped reality. It's a dream sequence, but behind its prim and proper facade lurks the deceit, lies, and evilness of the abhorrent Betty character.

For me, it's the most chilling dream sequence of any video game, which is why I decided to have it analysed. I had Christine, a holistic therapist and dream analysis specialist, believe that the Tranquility Lane segment was, in fact, a recurring dream of my own. I described the minutiae of the dream, before asking her professional opinion as to its possible meaning.

Apparently, my failings at high school French are somehow linked with Bethesda's multi-award-winning sandbox RPG of 2008.

VICE: So, the dream begins with me standing in a cul-de-sac lined with lovely, old-fashioned houses. It's like a scene from Pleasantville or The Stepford Wives, complete with white picket fences, shiny red fire hydrants, and meticulously groomed gardens. I'm searching for my father but instead happen upon a troublesome girl named Betty.

Very quickly it's clear she's up to no good, but everyone else around the square is welcoming and friendly. I get the impression Betty has an issue with this – a thought cemented by her asking me to "play a game" and make local kid Timmy cry. I find it difficult to refuse and oblige her request.

She doesn't stop there, however, and goes on to issue a series of malicious orders that I'm able to entertain or reject at will. These include breaking up the marriage of a local couple, and murdering a resident by virtue of setting deadly traps around her home. There's part of me that knows I could oblige Betty's evil desires, yet I am also aware that I can refuse. And as if it wasn't strange enough already to have someone so seemingly innocent dictate plans for murder, her voice switches between that of a young American girl and an old German scientist.

Instead of carrying out her dirty work, I can enter the only abandoned house on the street. Here, I'm able to locate a computer console whereby pushing some buttons welcomes a troop of Asian soldiers into the cul-de-sac who slaughter and chase away the good people, leaving only Betty, who is now furious with me.

This is where the dream ends.

The Tranquility Lane dream sequence from 'Fallout 3'

CHRISTINE: Right. Okay. When you're in the cul-de-sac, would you say it's the present day?
VICE: No, I'd say it's in the past. It feels like I've come from another world, one that on the face of things might not be as nice as this one.

What sort of clothes are the people there wearing?
Smart clothes. The men wear checked shirts and pressed trousers, while the women wear floating, floral dresses and have big hair.

So you could say the 1950s, or 1960s?
Perhaps.

I think there could be a number of reasons behind this particular dream. I obviously don't know your personality, I don't know your background – so we can explore a few options. First of all: the cul-de-sac. A cul-de-sac is somewhere you can escape from, just the very shape of a cul-de-sac denotes this. The fact that you're surrounded by residential housing, and the fact that it's reasonably affluent, would suggest that it's not somewhere you're scared to be – it's somewhere that you'd be quite comfortable in. The fact that you have this female here could mean that there is a female energy around you, whether that be a mother, grandmother…

(Both of my grandmothers are long passed away, and I have a good relationship with my mother – I sense that Christine feels she's losing me.)

…Or a neighbour, a teacher even, that you had some sort of bad feeling towards. Perhaps you're a bit scared of them, or you don't or didn't particularly like that person. Maybe you didn't have a connection that you feel you should've had. Is there anybody that you can pinpoint that could be that person?
Hmm, I wouldn't say anyone in my immediate family.

No, not in your immediate family. Because you're looking for your father, that would suggest that this isn't a family situation. So we're now looking at teachers, maybe a boss at work, or somebody that you felt was maybe asking you to do things that you weren't comfortable with. Is there anybody like that you can think of?
Actually, I did have some pretty awful teachers, who were particularly difficult to get on with.

It could be something around that. You certainly can carry that forward. I know people in their 50s who still suffer stress, sweats and palpitations over maths exams, honestly. And it took us a long, long time to actually discover what the problem was.

Your dream could be something around the relationship with a female energy that you weren't comfortable with. The setting outlines something that you're able to remove yourself from but the thing is you keep returning to it. Whatever the situation with that is then that's not closed.

That's one option to consider: maybe you have to reconcile those feeling that have rubbed you up the wrong way.

Option two: because you don't recognise the people around you, could suggest that it's a past life flashback. Probably in that life, the fact that you're looking for your dad means that your dad would've been in that life with you, which is likely the clue behind why you keep looking for him. The female would have been there as well. What you need to be doing the next time you have the dream is not look at the people as they are, but look at their eyes. Try to concentrate on their eyes. The eyes are the person you're taking with you. For example, I could be in a past life with you, but in the dream you appear as my mother. Your eyes will be your eyes, though, and that's how I know it's you.

Have you looked at the female closely enough that if you took away the rest of her face, you'd still recognise her eyes?
She's so nasty and evil. I think I'm scared to look into her eyes…

You need to look into her eyes. That's the clue. If it's a past life situation with that person, it might not even be a female, it's the eyes that matter. If you recognise those eyes, more than likely, you'll have a past life relation with that person. Have a look next time. You may not recognise them, but I think you will recognise that person. Even have a look at the other people significant in this little story, you might recognise them too, and you might be able to make a connection in this life.

So the teacher in real life, do you remember anything in particular about her – any redeemable features?
Mrs Fullerton? She was a nightmare. Old school. A bitch, basically. But I was pretty shit at French generally, so that probably didn't help our relationship.

French you say! That explains the German accent. When you started high school, do you recall if you were asked which language you would prefer to study?
Yes, we had the choice of French or German.

As did my daughter when she started a couple of years back – both of those and Italian. You've said learning French didn't come naturally to you – you clearly would've preferred to study German. Or perhaps you resent the fact you opted for French when you might've enjoyed German better. The profession – a scientist – is one that requires much knowledge. Teaching is similar. This idea of French versus German can be explored deeper still and could be representative of your own life, how you may have made the wrong choices or wished for different outcomes at certain stages in your life.
Speaking of choices, what do you make of Betty asking me to commit murder? Although I don't kill the neighbour (I know Mabel Henderson can be murdered in Fallout 3 at the expense of karma, but given this was the first time Christine had met me, I didn't want to end the session with the police waiting in the car park), there's the suggestion that I could trip her cooker's pilot light, or leave a roller skate at the top of her stairs for her to slip over.

Murder in dreams normally suggests putting an end to something unfavourable. It could be an addiction or, as is most likely in this case, an old relationship. Also, killing someone or something in a dream can also signify repressed anger – either at yourself or someone or something else.
Oh, I almost forgot, there's always a dog in the dream. I suspect at times that he may in fact be my father.

What kind of dog?
Erm, a black German Shepherd with white patches around its nose and middle?

Hmm. Dogs tend to represent things you might expect: loyalty, companionship, protection. These could be traits similar to your father, but giving that you're searching, unsuccessfully at this point, for him this interpretation is likely incorrect. Black dogs tend to represent duplicity in people, that they may have an as yet undiscovered agenda or that their true intentions can or will be uncovered. I'm not saying you don't trust your dad – perhaps you don't, I couldn't say – but these are general symbolisations.

(Given the fact that the Lone Wanderer's father abandons him at a young age, this might not be too far off the mark.)

What about the Asian soldiers' intervention?
This likely represents good over bad. If you're a decent living fellow and you don't like injustice, if that sort of thing upsets you, then your injustice hat might kick in. I would think that if you've going with the first scenario about the female energy and how you were treated by females that were in authority then that'd definitely make sense.

Does the fact that they're Asian have any significance? (They're actually Chinese.)
The Korean War, maybe? If it looks like 1950s America, that'd be right. War equals one side versus the other, the perception of good against bad within each side. Your angst against this teacher figure manifests in the young girl. It could be considered obscure, yes, but most dreams are. Unless you deal with that situation this is going to keep coming back because it obviously had an emotional impact on you. You might not realise how emotionally hurt you were – if you were traumatised in any way, then your subconscious sinks it to the back. You can pull it forward with hypnotherapy.

- - -

Sacrébleu. Who'd have guessed my fourth-year French class would've had such a profound effect on my later life. Mrs Fullerton did remind me a little of a Super Mutant, but I'm fairly certain that's just a coincidence.

I am willing to see a hypnotherapist on the pretence that a video game dream sequence is actually one of my own? Watch this space.

@deaco2000