Fallout Season One Ending Explained
‘Fallout’ is an adaptation of Bethesda Game Studios’ well-known game franchise. The first season ended with several surprising reveals that will no doubt have ripple affects across the ‘Fallout’ universe. It was a great conclusion to the season, bringing in two well-known factions and pitting them against each other.
There is a lot to unpack with the finale, with a lot happening. Here’s a guide to explain the state of the Wasteland after the final episode has ended.
Spoilers to follow.
What’s next for Lucy MacLean?
Lucy had a tough end to the first season. Across all of the episodes, she encounters just how brutal the Wasteland can be, with her being kidnapped by Cooper Howard, nearly dying of radiation poisoning, and almost having her organs harvested. Despite this, she tried her best to stick to the morals she learned in the Vault.
After confronting Moldaver at the observatory – later revealed to be the new stronghold of the New California Republic (NCR) – she learned the truth about her father Hank MacLean – that he’s actually part of the Enclave, he was alive before the bombs dropped on America, and bombed the NCR capital in a bid to kneecap one of the most powerful factions in the Wasteland.
After Hank escaped, Lucy agreed to go with Cooper Howard, now a Ghoul bounty hunter, to go after Hank. The pair make an unlikely duo, but Howard will likely give Lucy more of an edge, and Lucy might soften Howard up a bit. Lucy is now looking for more answers about what her father is involved in, and Howard is looking for his family and to take down those who burned down America, now known as the Enclave.
A resurgent Enclave in the Wasteland
The final episode showed Hank managed to escape his confinement with the help of Maximus, and stole a suit of T-60 Power Armor to make his way back to the Enclave hideout. The group is now holed up at New Vegas, a key location in ‘Fallout: New Vegas.’
It’s a big reveal, and teases that the Enclave will be operating more openly in the Wasteland now they have a key leader back in their ranks. They’ve now managed to complete the of the NCR, one of their biggest opponents in the Wasteland. And with the Brotherhood of Steel likely reeling from their attack on the NCR and scrambling to figure out the secrets of cold fusion, the Enclave will be on the attack.
The Enclave might have serious military hardware to back this up. The faction is a key one in the ‘Fallout’ universe, they’re made up of high-ranking officials from the pre-war military, political elite, and corporate elite. So they would know where all the weapons from before the war were.
Will the Brotherhood of Steel be unstoppable?
The final episode ends with the Brotherhood of Steel defeating the NCR and obtaining cold fusion. They might be able to harness the technology. In that case, they’d be able to start amassing and using pre-war machinery in even bigger numbers to secure the Wasteland, killing any non-human creature, and beat down any competition. It’s a terrifying future.
It’s a future that Maximus is unsure if he wants to be part of. His time in Vault 4 convinced him that he liked being in the Vaults, where he was given nice food and was cared for. It’s a scenario very far from where he ends the season. The Brotherhood thinks he is the one to kill Moldaver and secure cold fusion, so they now laud him as a hero. This will likely prevent him from leaving any time soon.
Maximus has two choices while in the Brotherhood. Lucy revealed to him that Hank was the one who destroyed Shady Sands, his former home. If Maximus is set on revenge, he now knows Hank is part of the Enclave, he would have the support of the Brotherhood to go after him. Maximus would have to fully commit to the Brotherhood for this. Or, Maximus could try to destroy cold fusion so no one gets its power and leave. ‘Fallout’ is all about moral choices, and this one without an easy answer.
Vault-Tec unmasked
Another big reveal in the season was the true intentions of Vault-Tec. Before the bombs dropped, Howard eavesdropped on a meeting the company held with other powerful private-sector corporations that decided on the future of humanity. This is where Vault-Tec revealed that because the threat of nuclear war was lessening, their profits selling vaults were falling.
To remedy this, the company sold their vaults to other corporations, and let them perform inhumane experiments on the occupants. Vault-Tec would get in on this action too, testing on citizens to find the limits of humanity.
To make sure that people went to the vaults, Vault-Tec themselves would drop nuclear bombs on America. They put profits extremely far ahead of humanity. The elite would be safely frozen in proper vaults, ready to be thawed when they could take full control.
This process has already begun, which is why the Enclave faction exists. Lucy found this out from Moldaver, and her brother Norm also found this out back in Vault 31 which seems to be one of these storage vaults, though he’s now trapped there until he can be rescued. A possible season two could see all of the inhabitants of Vault 33 and 32 learning the truth of what’s in Vault 31.
