Nick Valentine

Nick Valentine was a prototype Institute synth and a private detective in the Commonwealth, as well as one of the main characters of Fallout 4 Novelization. Alongside his assistant Ellie, he runs the Valentine Detective Agency in Diamond City.

Background
Nick Valentine was a prototype synth built by the Institute, one that was supposed to be the first with a fully working personality. However he was soon discarded as a failed project, reset, and thrown out. After regaining consciousness in a pile of garbage an unknown amount of time later, Nick wandered the wasteland in a state of confusion for several weeks.

Due to unfamiliarity with the Institute and its technology, most wastelanders regarded Nick with equal parts fear and awe; however, he was eventually accepted into a small local community where a mechanic offered to repair the damage he had sustained in his travels. The community was the first time since his reawakening that anyone had treated Nick as a human being and not some mechanical monstrosity. Nick eventually left that settlement; upon visiting years later, he found that it had been pillaged by raiders. The fate of its population remains unclear.

Nick eventually found himself traveling to Diamond City. Although Diamond City holds no small amount of hatred for the Institute and their synths, Nick gained their respect by saving the daughter of the city's former mayor who had been kidnapped by Gunners. Nick stumbled upon the kidnappers purely by accident when he was wandering the Commonwealth, having been almost exclusively itinerant since his awakening. Finding himself held at gunpoint and likely the girl's only hope, Nick scared the Gunners away by claiming that he had a bomb inside him and beeping (Nick claims that he literally just said the word "beep" repeatedly).

When the mayor's daughter told Nick what had happened, he returned her to her father, who in turn gave him a house in Diamond City as compensation despite the citizens' dismay and objections; Nick gradually eased the citizens' fears by acting as Diamond City's handyman. In time, people stopped asking Nick to fix things when it became clear that he had found his true calling as Diamond City's private investigator.

While on a case to find a woman named Darla, who was believed to had been kidnapped but in fact had run away to join the gang of mafioso Skinny Malone, Nick was captured by the gang and imprisoned within their hideout in Vault 114. It was here that he met and was rescued by Nora. The two escaped the Vault after confronting Skinny Malone.

Appearance
Nick Valentine was a synth "and a very obvious one, at that" as Nora put it. He had a mechanical endoskeleton like the older model synths, but he had a synthetic skin similar to an organic human's on that. Due to many years of deterioration and damage, that skin was often torn or ragged, showing the mechanical parts underneath. Nick's eyes were very distinctive and robotic, their yellow color shining in darker settings.

Nick usually sported a worn brown trench coat atop a button-up shirt, suspenders, and necktie. He didn't have hair, but he covered that detail by always wearing a dark, bettered fedora on top of his head.

Nick was, as Piper put it, the ''"tallest person [she]'d seen in the Commonwealth". ''In an off-record note concerning character heights, the author stated that Valentine was supposed to be approximately 6'5" (195.58 cm).

Personality
Valentine's characteristic was his innate sense of humor, which included a fair share of sarcasm. Overall, Nick appeared as bitter and often tired with other people. Despite that, he was a rather optimistic person and often found himself in the role of someone bound to cheer others up. He was shown as exceptionally philosophical, often pondering on the nature of the world or society. Nick himself said that he was a "bit of a romantic", justifying his need to watch the night sky.

This contemplative nature could have been caused by Nick's being a synth and thus unable to sleep - which meant he was bound to spend most nights on his own. Even so, Nick never showed any sign of weariness or boredom with life - though it was nodded at that he was even older than he let on.

Being Diamond City's best, and only, private detective, Nick had a keen eye for detail and almost always could tell if someone was hiding something. He was also extremely persistent in his attempts to find out the truth, leading to a close friendship with Piper Wright. Unlike Piper, though, Nick knew when to back off and leave some matters unsaid.

Overall, Valentine acted as the "father" figure in the group, being most often the only reasonable voice in discussion and more than a few times having to keep the riling each other up Nora and Piper in check. He was the one who most often undertook guard duty or made the most important decisions before Paladin Danse took over that role.

Nora
Nick and Nora met in rather combat-similar circumstances, having to fight their way out of Vault 114, but even so Nick was very quick to trust Nora. From the beginning of their relationship, it was clear that he saw there was more to her than just a usual Wasteland wanderer. Out of gratitude, later friendship, he offered help in finding her son free of charge. Nora very quickly learned to trust Nick and his judgement, often letting him make the more important decisions. She also often asked him about the Wasteland and other things she didn't understand about how the world had changed.

After the two of them expeerienced Kellogg's memories, Nora beame more reserved and afraid of Nick and avoided meeting him altogether for almost a month. It wasn't until Piper pointed out that asking him was the only was the only way to move on with their investigation that Nora found the courage to face him again. Seeing that he didn't hold any grudges, she felt embarrassed and quickly mended their relationship.

Even after Valentine left their travelling party, Nora still highly regarded him as a friend and an important ally.

Piper
Piper Wright and Nick Valentine had known each other a long time before the events of the game (and thus, the novel), apparently having worked together on some case in the past. Piper didn't show any discomfort at the fact that Nick was a synth, even though she was wholeheartedly against the Institute and all their creations, implying that she had had the time to get used to both that fact and Nick's unusual appearance.

Nick and Piper were very close and knew how to cooperate in combat, as shown in the attack on Trinity Tower. They also shared many moral and philosophical views about life and the world. However, their opinions on more political matters, such as the existence of the Railroad (which Nick completely denied) or the Brotherhood of Steel (which caused more concern on Piper's side whilst Nick saw it as a lesser evil) were often very differing.

After "Dangerous Minds", Piper was very mindful and scared of Nick and, much like Nora, didn't want to travel with him anymore. However, she worked through those feelings and learned to trust him again much sooner than Nora did, and she was the one who convinced her to do so.

Ellie
Nick's relationship with Ellie was depicted as purely professional, but it was also clear that she had stronger feelings for him and treated him more as a friend than just her boss. Nora noticed the parallel between Scribe Haylen's attitude towards Paladin Danse, whom she had a crush on, and Ellie's attitude towards Nick, and realized that the girl is in love with him. Nick also spoke fondly of Ellie, signaling that he could potentially develop romantic feelings towards her.

Trivia

 * Although in the game, the relationship between Nick and Nat wasn't exploited at all, in the novel, they are clearly very close and it's hinted at that Nick takes care of Nat when Piper is out of town.
 * Valentine's character gives off a strong noir detective vibe. An interesting fact about is that he smokes cigarettes despite being a synth and thus unable to enjoy them.
 * In the game, there was no romantic tension between Nick and any other character, but in the novel, he's cleatly paired up with Ellie.