To say that the post-nuclear world of Fallout is steeped in lore would be an understatement of near criminal proportions. From the isometric view of Shady Sands to the vast expanse of the diplomatic Capital Wasteland, as well as from the sin-filled strip of New Vegas to the hustle and bustle lifestyles of the Commonwealth. These puzzle pieces fit together to create one of the most enjoyable and captivating worlds in all of gaming.
Across the numerous adventures that you will undergo, you will meet tons of people and be faced with a ton of challenges. With such a deep and engrossing universe and some of the most gripping stories in the gaming world you would expect to be treated to a certain level of closure with each encounter. As a whole, this is pretty well accomplished in one way or another and in a lot of ways it may just require you do some research in the games terminals or by reading a random diary page.
Unfortunately, when it comes to certain aspects of the Wasteland and its inhabitants there are quite a few unanswered questions and loose ends that give us no resolution. There are also things in the Wasteland that just don’t have enough backstory and give the player enough information to their existence or just plain leave the player scratching their head wondering how or why? So, let’s take a look at some of the biggest unanswered questions that have no doubt left us scratching our heads.
15 Colonel Autumn: He Lives?!?!?
I don’t know about you guys, but there are few other characters in games I hate more than the Enclave and its second-in-command Col. Augustus Autumn. He is such a douche and is less than friendly right off the bat. This jerk not only shows up and expects your Dad and his co-workers to just hand over the Wasteland-saving “Project Purity” to them and help them use it.
Needless to say, it’s an incredibly bittersweet moment when your father chooses to overload the reactor to kill Col. Autumn and protect the project in exchange for his own live. But his sacrifice is proven fruitless when Col. Autumn shows up later in the story, OUT OF NOWHERE, to kidnap you. It is never explained how he survived the disgusting amount of radiation within the chamber. You could assume it’s Rad-X but I don’t buy it. I want a definitive answer!
14 Harold: What The Hell Is Bob?
As it is well known among Fallout fans, there are few other characters with an unhappier existence then the Ghoul down on his luck, Harold. Harold appears in every game in the series up to Fallout 3, where his unluckiness reaches new heights. The little plant that somehow latched on to his head grew to surround him and root him to the ground AND even rearrange his organs.
Now, I’m not a botanist by any means, but I don’t know any plant that can just “latch” onto a person’s head, whether they’re a Ghoul or not, and dig roots into his head. There is no way that the plant (referred to as both Bob and Herbert by Harold) is just a normal plant or even a member of any of the Wasteland plant families that appear throughout the series. These are the exact things I am trying to avoid in the world of Fallout.
13 Ghouls: Do They Ever Die?
Aside from human race, one will encounter one other species integrated to what remains of civilization. Ghouls are former-humans who have been irreversibly mutated by the harmful radioactive glow of the wasteland. As a result, they are decaying and rotting away constantly and at a rapid pace, yet somehow, ghouls live far longer than humans do; with most ghouls existing in the current time of the games having turned as a result of the initial fallout from the war.
While their longevity is unquestionably real, it still begs one large question: how long is the lifespan of a ghoul, provided they don’t turn feral? It’s not something that is never really addressed in the games. It is only really stated that they live for a very long time with little else to go on without speculation. For example, Raul Tejada refers to himself as an old man at the age of 234, which kind of allows you a little room to form a hypothesis for yourself but it would be nice to actually know the average life expectancy of the 2nd largest population in the new world.
12 Rockopolis: The Forgotten Man Servant
When traversing the cruel and unforgiving Capital Wasteland, the one thing that could always keep me company on my travels (aside from Dogmeat) was Galaxy News Radio and its radio show, “The Adventures of Herbert “Daring” Dashwood”. So, as you can imagine I was pretty freakin’ excited when I met the man, the myth, the legend himself at Tenpenny Tower.
However, I couldn’t help but notice the absence of his best friend and man servant Argyle, upon searching one of the locations spoken of in their adventures, a place known as Rockopolis, Argyle can be found dead in the cave. It is unknown how he died and its more than annoying and a little underwhelming to be honest. Even after breaking the news to Dashwood, there is still no closure to be found. It’s just a painful sting that never gets to heal.
11 Virgil: His Selfishness Knows No Bounds
Over the course of the story of Fallout 4, you will meet many influential figures with grand plans for both the Commonwealth as well as the world. Virgil is unfortunately not one of these people. This former Institute scientist was the lead on studying the FEV and when he began to feel the guilt of what the Institute was doing he ran from them and used the FEV on himself and becomes a surprisingly aware Super Mutant.
He helps you gain access to the Institute in exchange for grabbing the cure he was working on before he escaped. After grabbing the cure for him, he miraculously cures himself of the FEV, but never thinks about using it to cure all the Super Mutants of the Wasteland. After “Project Purity” in Fallout 3, this could have been the next giant leap to fix the world but for some reason he doesn’t put any thought into this.
10 Nick Valentine: The Imperfect Melding
One of the more peculiar and interesting companions is the Gen. 1 Synth Detective, Nick Valentine. We run into Nick during our travels through the ruined commonwealth of Boston and he is likeable and enjoyable from the moment you rescue him from Skinny Malone’s gang. He eventually offers to undergo an incredibly dangerous procedure to help you find your son that involves him tapping into the mind of your son’s kidnapper, Kellogg.
During the process though something crazy happens and the late Kellogg begins to speak through Nick seemingly having taken control of Nick’s mind. However, this is quickly shaken off and Nick regains consciousness and once he does it will never happen again. It seems incredibly strange that now with Nick having Kellogg’s memories, it never has an outward effect on him moving forward. And you know what, while we’re on the topic of Kellogg...
9 Kellogg: Un-Aging Scourge
Without Kellogg, the game wouldn’t really have a story or premise to follow. However, his importance doesn’t change the fact the there is one very big question that requires an answer in regard to Kellogg’s longevity.
When he arrives to kidnap Shaun, he looks slightly middle aged, with his male pattern balding taking center stage. Then when we run into Kellogg again down the line, he looks exactly the same, which would be fine, IF IT WEREN’T 60 YEARS LATER! The timeline of the game does create some oddities but it’s Kellogg that creates the most issues.
It is one of those instances where you could potentially draw your own conclusion that since he has had so much cybernetic enhancements, it’s possible that they could also prolong his life. But it would just be speculation since there is no evidence actually given how he survives so long without looking a day older.
8 The Burned Man: The Undying?
When you think of guys who don’t accept failure, the first person that comes to mind in the Fallout universe is Caesar, the unchallenged leader of the Legion. The Legion is currently led by Legate Lanius, but it was led previously by the Malpais Legate, Joshua Graham.
However, when Graham failed to take Hoover Dam, Caesar had him covered in pitch, lit on fire, and thrown into the canyon below. That’s a pretty badass way to go, except somehow, he manages to survive all of that and make his way to Zion Valley in Utah. It is never stated though how Graham, known now as the legendary Burned Man, survived all of that and returned to perfect health aside from his obvious burn scars.
7 The Courier: Also Undying?
While we’re on the subject of character surviving the impossible, how is it that the player character in Fallout: New Vegas, known as the Courier survives the almost point-blank bullet to the head by Chairmen head honcho Benny in the beginning cinematic of the game. There is nothing special about the Courier and there is no reason he should have survived.
Doc Mitchell even said that the Courier was dug up by Victor and he had to go rootin’ around in his head to try and put him back together. How the hell are you able to do something that extensive without even so much as an auto-doc in the house. There is little sense to be made here.
6 Kid In A Fridge: Something Doesn't Add Up
While some mysteries in the game just don’t seem to have a conclusion, there is one thing that just doesn’t make any freaking sense. While Playing Fallout 4, you may come across Billy. Billy is a ghoulified child who got separated from his parents when the bombs went off and he hid inside of a fridge to escape the explosions and has been there ever since. THIS MAKES NO SENSE!!!
Not only am I supposed to buy that the kid hid inside a locked fridge for over 200 years but that he did so without any food, water, or anywhere to go to the bathroom. While ghouls can live much longer than humans, they still require the basic needs of survival. How is it even possible for Billy to still be alive.
5 Little Lamplight: Forever Young?
Since it's impossible to complete the story of the game without running into them, the children of Little Lamplight have managed to keep an entire town running successfully for decades all by themselves, and without adult supervision.
It is well understood, that the kids remain in Little Lamplight until their 16th birthday and then they must leave the cave and make their way to Big Town where all the adults live. What doesn’t make sense is that the cave is somehow remaining populated throughout the years despite the fact that there are no adults around to have kids. Where are they coming from!
4 Zetans: General Existance
While you would think that you had seen everything walking the nuclear wastes of the ruined United States. Between mutated animals, giant man-shredding lizards, and drug addicts so messed up that they think it’s okay to walk around in spiky armor, but there is still one thing that will keep you on your toes: Aliens.
Aside from a single random appearance in the base games and the DLC Mothership Zeta for Fallout 3, they are rarely brought up in general discussion and there is little to learn about them. This is kind of general but I would just like to know anything about them at all. There is literally a universe of possibilities and I want to know about them!
3 Super Mutants: Why Not The Walking Dead?
The Wasteland is bountiful with things looking kill you (almost like a post-nuclear Australia). And while you can’t travel more than 5 minutes without running across something that wants to eat you or kill you just because, there is one threat that is more dominant that most: The Super Mutants. They are created by the application of the Forced Evolutionary Virus to the human captives that the Super Mutants are constantly capturing.
What doesn’t make sense is that the Super Mutants only capture Humans. They choose to leave Ghouls alone which seems strange given the much longer lifespan and inherent immunity from radiation. Adding the FEV to Ghouls to combine the positives of the Super Mutants with the Ghouls seems like a no brainer.
The only explanation I can think of is that perhaps the FEV is not compatible with the heavily mutated DNA of Ghouls, but that is just my speculation based off of my knowledge.
2 The Great War: Who's To Blame?
One of the greatest questions in the Fallout world: who cast the first stone (or nuke in this case)? It is no secret that the biggest contributors to the aesthetic of the new world were the United States, China, and Russia; however, it is never explained who actually started it all.
Again, one can hypothesize that it was likely either the U.S. or China as they were locked in a direct conflict in the Alaskan front as seen in the first DLC of Fallout 3, Operation: Anchorage. But speculation takes center stage again in that idea since there is no concrete answer in place. It is likely that we will never have a true answer as it adds to the mystery of the new world and will always leave you with something to ponder.
1 The Sole Survivor: A Ghost In The Machine?
This one almost gave me an existential crisis when I realized it. When playing through Fallout 4’s Far Harbor DLC, you will encounter a group of escaped Synths in a settlement called Arcadia. Led by their peace-loving leader DiMA, they seek out and help synths trying to escape the Institute, and when you help them DiMA poses one powerful question that really makes you think about the life your living in the apocalypse.
He says to you: “Tell me: Are you a Synth?” and in that moment your mind blows. Even if you state that you are in fact human which is what most of us would think, he asks you what your first memory is and that’s where you have to stop for a second. Obviously, your first memory is of you and your spouse before the war which could seem like just where the game starts you out, or it is the beginning of the memories the institute has placed inside your head. There is no clear-cut answer but it is perhaps the greatest question in all of Fallout’s lore.