#fallout theory

[charlesoberonn]

Theory: The croaky hoarse voice that most Ghouls in Fallout have isn't the direct result of their ghoulification, but a side effect of them screaming in agony during the process. Their vocal cords never heal afterwards, leaving them eternally hoarse.

[abraxo-official]

Yesterday I realized something kinda crazy about Robert House: He likes uncertainty.

He has the money to fully buy out General Atomics and Wilson Atomatoys, but instead prefers to keep them as competitors. He can easily force their hand, but chooses not to. If they get too dangerous, he can still feel them in, but he does like the danger to a certain extent.

He has a body double, but instead of using it as protection against threats, he was invites the would-be assassin to meet with the real him, alone, with little to no outside security. He lets the future of America, along with cold fusion, be someone else’s choice.

He owns all of Vegas, but still allows large parts of its future to fall into the hands of complete strangers, and sometimes even enemies, just for the sake of winning it back. He made the air deterrence system, but won't know if it will work until it's too late to change anything.

He could easily have had the chip be delivered to him by a whole army of securitrons, but chose a courier both times. He could have had the strip run by only those who were loyal to him, but let it instead be controlled by people he knew would betray him. He does the math and yet chooses to go against it.

All in all, he may be placing his money on the safe bet, but he’s still gambling either way. That's what makes him so interesting as a character.

[mayorofgoodneighbor]

“They’re just ghouls, right?”

My take about Lucy saying this is that while, yes, it’s the drugs talking, she also says it to reassure herself.

Because she hasn’t exactly processed any of the trauma she’s been through. Her world is turned upside down, her father isn’t who he claimed to be all these years, she had to leave Max lying unconscious on the ground even though she knew he wanted her to go with him, and more importantly, she shot her own mother in the head. Feral ghoul or not, that’s incredibly traumatizing.

But we don’t see her processing any of that. We see her doing what a good little vault dweller does, which is push it all down and gloss over it with an overly positive ‘okey dokey’ attitude.

And I think that’s significant, especially at the end of that sequence with the Kings, because her hands are shaking—from the adrenaline and the fighting—and what does she do? She pushes it all down again and jumps right back into it as if she didn’t just notice that.

Underneath it all, she hasn’t once stopped to think about how she actually feels about any of it. Because I know she feels bad for killing that feral Ghoul in the Super Duper Mart, she hates when Cooper kills Roger, and obviously she has feelings about killing her mother.

I also think it signifies that she doesn’t really see Cooper as a Ghoul at all, even if she said he’s a monster. But that’s definitely about his attitude rather than what he looks like.

Cooper’s brief expression of sadness(?) speaks volumes about it. Because he would have killed the Kings if he had to. He did kill Roger to put him out of his misery and then ate the damn man himself. So it isn’t so much about him objecting to her saying ‘they are only ghouls’ because yeah, they are feral. I think it’s closer to the fact that saying that so casually isn’t something Lucy would have done in the beginning.

She’s changing and adapting to the wasteland. And there’s a part of him that wants to corrupt her and prove her wrong about everything she believes in, but another part of him recognizes that she’s the same person he used to be in a lot of ways. I think that’s uncomfortable for him. That reminds him of everything he’s lost and how he became what he is today. I don’t think it’s something ‘Cooper’ enjoys watching unfold again, even if ‘The Ghoul’ thinks that’s what he wants and what’s good for her.

[mimir-anoshe]

Fuck ok I was driving and suddenly I had a thought - guys I had a lot of thoughts - and I was like do I need to pull over and write this down? I almost did then decided that's insane. ADHD moment.

Anyway so guys hear me out, what if Hank wasn't contacting House (the obvious red herring) or some unknown third party on the global communications in Season 2 Episode 1 "The Innovator?"

What if he was contacting Barb?

Potential spoilers below. Apologies if I'm parroting a theory that's already been discussed I haven't heard this one yet and I got excited just thinking about it.

What if she's at the Enclave? With Janey? And when Hank was saying:

"Your old stomping grounds actually..."

It's because it was Vault 38 where her and Janey were put into Cryo, and a vault where she helped to "manage" all the other vaults up to a point?

She's the one being named as the executive for putting certain vault experiments forward. She's the one House names as an "unknown" and is tied to FEV in the vaults and the creation of the deathclaws.

"You always spent so much time calculating how to survive all possible contingencies."

See the word used there would immediately point to House - as the human calculator - being the culprit. But who else was also planning for all contingencies so she could try and find a way for her family to survive? Specifically Janey? And not just that, but thrive? Barb.

Also I won't spoil it but I know something about House from the games that makes that comment seem redundant/incorrect. It never rang right in my head, some puzzle piece just wasn't fitting.

Guys I think it's Barb. I think it's all Barb. She's the other player.

She's already linked to Moldaver and the cold fusion, but what if she was Wilzigs boss? Wilzigs who knew everything about all the vaults, who was involved in FEV and the mind control devices in season 1. What if she's the head of the entire operation that both ended the world and is now mutating it forward?

I think those cryo pods are empty.

(The cryo pods seemed active when we saw them in episode 5, but it just feels so quick? Really? We find them already? I don't know guys somethings not adding up).

Hank was her assistant, if anyone's giving him a 219 years late promotion through puppeteering Vault-Tec it's her. She's his BOSS.

What if the mind control devices that House was trying to implement were taken by Barb in exchange for the cold fusion (which he never got) and furthered through the Vault 38 experiment which she oversaw. And Hank taking over it is carrying on her work.

But it's not just the mind control devices.

It's the 31, 32, 33 experiment too. It's the implementation of FEV. Hank isn't just carrying on with the 38 experiment, he's also put into motion what Barb created; phase 2 for Vaults 32 and 33. Her work, that's Hank's picked up, and wants to "bring it all home."

Mind control, and mutants, and the world without borders controlled by one entity... Vault-Tec? Or perhaps something else, something worse thats managing it all. Something Barb's affiliated with that even made House shit pant. Because War never changes, and Barb was pulling all the strings from the start. I think she still is.

If this is the case what a fucking insane character they've made. What a badass evil complex fucking goated spectacularly sadistic yet righteously sympathetic antagonist they've written. Who is connected to all our heroes in ways I can't even begin to write down. But especially Cooper like holy shit.

HOLY SHIT.

I think Ella said in an international interview something about her being "geographically lost" at the end of season 2. Take it with a big pinch of salt I need to find it. But what if that's because somehow by the end of the season she gets abducted and taken to the Enclave? What if that's where she meets Barb and Janey?

Barb kidnaps Lucy because Lucy is part of her experiment. What if the Enclave take Lucy because of something to do with 33 and the FEV and so Lucy is technically a specimen? Something they need to lock down and study.

And Cooper and Max end up having to go on a roadtrip of their own, one that leads them to the Enclave. To Lucy, Janey and Barb.

Oh the ANGST of it all, what will Cooper do huh? His ex-wife and his wasteland wife? And what will Lucy and Barbs conversation be like as two badass woman on the opposing ends of morality that blur through the middle. Oh god Lucy and Janey interacting my heart 🥺 I wonder if she's still a kid or all grown up if they are out of the pods.

I think I'm wrong, I'm probably wrong and it's gonna be so funny when I am.

Watch them just be in those pods and the reveal is something like "the other player was the friends me made along the way" lmao. But I would love it if I'm not. There was a shining glorious moment where all the dots connected in my head, and it's gone again.

I suppose we shall see.

Oh god what if Barbs tied to Cooper becoming a Ghoul? Usually it's just via radiation, but the US government were actively experimenting on humans and turning them into ghouls. This is crack at this point but it's fun thinking of all the potentialities. Guys I love Barb what the actual fuck of a character have they made she's so cool and I also agree with Goggins. If this is true, in many ways she is the devil.

Me creating my own Barbgate.

[bonkersbud]

Okay, since Max and Lucy likely aren’t really gonna be leaving the Las Vegas area I assume in Season 3, I have a tiny theory.

I’m really stretching it here, but it might end up a situation where Norman and Claudia end up in Colorado. Maybe to find out more vault secrets?

I know it’s unlikely, but maybe it’ll end up something like:

Norman: I’m Norman. Norman MacLean.

Cooper: FUCK THERES TWO OF THEM

[certainly-sydney]

okay so i dont think the ghoul could’ve actually taken lucy all the way back to 33 while she was sedated

im pretty sure the real plan hank had was taking lucy back to the management vault with him, for whatever sick shit he’s doing

and i think he was going to kill the ghoul too after that

why else would he come to the wrangler after dr. chickenfucker left 🤨

(and if lucy hadnt already impaled him, hank def would have killed him, so ig it’s good she power-fisted him out the window lmao)

[copdog1234]

War never changes. War never changes. WAR NEVER CHANGES.

That is the entire point of the series. That is especially the point of the show. War does not change.

Humanity was trying to rebuild, yes. But the entire point is literally that any one single selfish arrogant human can cause it to end it again. War can happen again. War will happen again. It is an endless cycle. And as people covet power, the whole thing will eventually topple.

That is why it is not a whole country that ended the world, it is a handful of heads from corporations.

That is why it is not a whole faction that "ended" the NCR, it is a single man from a bygone era who had a hand in ending the world the first time, that does it.

And I think that New Vegas showed us that the NCR was kinda crumbling already, too. The "fall of Shady Sands" wasn't the bomb itself, it was the beginning of the NCR's struggles. If I'm recalling New Vegas' plot correctly, the NCR was already struggling to hold the wasteland, to integrate people into it. There were resource shortages, it was getting too big, they had other factions battling them for power, and maybe your actions as a player had some pull either direction, but it's possible it wouldn't last.

If it wasn't a bomb, something else could've ended it at some point, too. Because war doesn't change.

As long as there's resource shortages, as long as there's mistrust, as long as people don't learn right from wrong, and as long as people muddy right from wrong.

That's the show, that's the games. Maybe the writing of that isn't always the best, but that's what it dwindles down to.

It is not a retcon, it is the main idea. It is not a "dumb take," it is how the world is.

Even in real life, there is sometimes hope and some things improve, but it doesn't stay improved, ever. Hope and despair comes in waves.

And war never changes.

[crossoveralthisttffan]

My theory regarding the Enclave’s plan in the TV show

Assuming that the Enclave will emerge as the main antagonists of the Fallout TV show, here’s what I predict their plan will be:

Step One: After emerging from the bunkers, the Enclave will use their advanced technology to conquer the Wasteland, eliminating all resistance.

Step Two: Use mind-control chips to wipe people’s memories and in some cases take control of them. Any evidence of post-War societies or cultures will be erased.

Step Three: Use strict eugenics programs to eliminate any mutations and breed the next generation of American. Mind control will be unnecessary as all possible influences save for the Enclave have been eliminated.

Step Four: American society can resume as normal…under Enclave “guidance” of course.

Step Five: Once America is rebuilt, cross the Pacific to eliminate any remnants of China (or any other non-Enclave culture) that could have survived the war, ending the Great War once and for all with an American (really Enclave) victory.

Thoughts?