Fallout Fans Think The Show Is Misdirecting Us Over Who Dropped The Bombs First

23.04.2024 - 09:09 / thegamer.com / Tim Cain

The Fallout show answers the longest-running question in the series: who dropped the bombs first in the Great War? Or at least, it certainly seems to, but one fan thinks that this "reveal" is purposely misdirecting the audience.

Spoilers for the Fallout show ahead.

In the season one finale, we see a meeting between Vault-Tec and various other US-based corporations. Here, the Vault-Tec representative, Barb Howard, reveals that they plan to drop the drop the bombs themselves, to ensure that everyone involved with the Vault programme sees a return on their investments. The implication is that this is indeed what happened, and Vault-Tec started the war which destroyed the world.

However, over on the Fallout subreddit, one fan thinks this might not be the case. As set out by Reddit user Corpolentusmaximus2, the show might actually be setting up that Vault-Tec didn't get the chance to nuke the world, and was beaten to the punch by China.

Corpolentusmaximus2 goes over the theory in great detail here, but here's a quick rundown. Basically, China was losing the war against the United States and decided to bomb the US far sooner than expected. This catches Vault-Tec off guard, which explains why Cooper Howard has custody of his and Barb's daughter when the first bomb hits. Surely, if Vault-Tec had orchestrated it all, Barb would have made sure that she had their daughter that day. It's possible that Cooper would have been in the loop too since he snooped in on the Vault-Tec meeting, but he's clearly caught off guard when the war starts.

If true, this would also be in keeping with series creator Tim Cain's plan for how the Great War started .

The user also argues that this explains another inconsistency - Mr. House. In Fallout: New Vegas, he says he predicted when the bombs would drop, but was off by 20 hours. Corpolentusmaximus2 says that this means China hit the US just hours before Vault-Tec intended to drop the bombs, which would be pretty ironic. They spent so much time planning the end of the world, only to be blindsided by the very conflict they were profiting from.

Many other fans enjoy this theory and also believe that this season one plot twist will be undone with yet another twist in season two. Given the ending of the first season, it looks like we'll see Cooper's family again further down the line, which would shed more light on what exactly went down on the day the world ended.