What is an Angler? | Fallout Lore

i dont think it's as obvious as youd expect

[N_orte]

it's not as obvious as you'd expect. while the design is clearly based on the angler fish, it seems more like a frog type creature. its an odd one for sure

[ElValuador]

I always thought they were angler fish that had evolved due to radioactive mutations like the dolphins and other sea creatures washed up on shore.

[Replica_Forges]

Stargazers that evolved the same lure mimicry that angler fish did

[LaTortuga]

dont forget that death claws were experiments, so i dont doubt that these could be too

[CorvoFG]

Angler fish can be found in the English Channel and that’s quite shallow.

[TheChadmiral]

They also can be found in fallout 76 in the Appalachian mountains so that makes it even more complicated

[Stormeris]

You're overthinking it.
Bethesda doesn't put that much thought into it.
They just wanted a Lovecraftian fishman

[Minutemenedits-yv]

It’s possible it did get to the deep oceans but it still wouldn’t be a swamp land creature so its probably a frog

[shimo]

Is it possible a few warheads were defective and landed in the oceans?

[kaylaa]

This is actually a long standing trope of the post-nuclear apocalypse genre. There’s an old tabletop RPG from the 70s, Gamma World, which is arguably the grandfather of the entire genre, and there’s quite a few mutants which are intentionally vague in where they came from. An iconic Gamma World mutant from the very first edition is the Yexil, which is a big dragon like creature with a lion like head, talons, and feathers, that primarily subsists off of pre-nuclear synthetic fabrics like polyester, and are gourmet about it, preferring more stylish clothes over others.

And yeah no one knows what they could’ve mutated from. Maybe they were made rather than mutated.

I also want to propose the Angler could’ve mutated from the angler fish IF nuclear waste had been dumped into the deep ocean under some circumstance. Which wouldn’t be unheard of. There’s quite a few instances across the fallout games of not so ethical nuclear waste disposals

[ALovelyBunchOfDragonballz]

I think this is a question suited for Roanoke Gaming.

[walterthedog]

Thought it was a evolved frog fish, related the the angler and have a similar lure

[FGuilt]

Sometimes post apocalyptic life doesn't need to make sense.

[NemFX]

I would have to imagine they were made similar to how mirelurks were. Both anglers and mirelurks are a stable mutation, caused by humans dumping toxic waste. They both inexplicably skew towards a human shape (mirelurks from fallout 3 specifically) that would fit better with the campy 50s sci fi style the series has. They both could be portrayed by a guy in a costume, essentially.

If I were to speculate further, then I'd assume FEV was in the mix somewhere, cause radiation usually just makes things bigger in the early Fallout games. FEV is where you get different stuff able to mix together. But that's me trying to apply logic to the Bethesda games.

[youtubersdigest]

There’s many examples through history of 2 different animals evolving into similar designs. Crabs for instance. So I wouldn’t be surprised to see it happen in fallout. Especially with radiation involved.

[ThielVision]

Radio active fallout doesn't just rest on the surface of the water. of course it's gonna sink to the bottom.

[mudshrooze]

I love the Angler top 3 mutated aninals is my favorite. Im honestly convinced they are not frogs since we got mutated Frogs and Radtoads.
But Anglers are quite possibly simply a unique animal creature with no basis in reality and that's okay

[Norizzler-cu]

The fact normal fish 🎣 in fallout 4 are not mutated and you can’t interact with them is cool and shows how alpha they are but anglers live deep they get mutated also over 200 nuclear bombs drops radioactive can go anywhere I could hit the bottom of the ocean

[BigDeal]

Even if they evolved from deep sea residing angler fish, that doesn’t mean they had to be directly exposed to radioactive fallout, it could be second+ hand exposure, one possibility is maybe a whale exposed to extreme amounts sank to the bottom of the ocean and many sea creatures ate its carcass and angler fish ate them.

[DomesticEgg]

i reckon that the anglerfish were affected by the fallout and maybe somehow cross bred with frogs and other swamp residing animals, causing them to become amphibians and have a luring system similar to their pre-evolution counterparts