Did Vault-Tec drop the first bomb?
That’s what the TV adaptation of Fallout suggested in the season 1 finale “The Beginning”. Vault-Tec executives discuss starting a nuclear war themselves so they can profit from the aftermath and reshape society under their control.
For longtime fans, the implication that Vault-Tec caused the Great War sounds like a retcon of the most important part of Fallout’s lore. However, the truth is messier than it seems.
What the Show Says About Vault-Tec’s Role in the Great War
The TV series never outright states that Vault-Tec dropped the first bombs.
In a pre-war boardroom meeting, Barb Howard tells investors that if nuclear war doesn’t happen on its own, Vault-Tec can “guarantee” it by dropping a bomb themselves.
The first scene of the entire series shows the start of the destruction of Los Angeles in 2077. Yet the show never makes it clear those bombs were the ones to start the war or if they’re retaliatory. We never see an official order to drop the bombs.
Why This Felt Like a Retcon to Fans
In the games, the Great War is seen as the result of escalating tensions between the United States and China. Terminal entries, background lore, and developer commentary all leaned toward a conventional superpower exchange, with China often cited as the one to launch the first strike.
Vault-Tec was monstrous but reactive. It exploited the apocalypse rather than causing it. Its vault experiments were built on opportunism and cruelty, not a desire to remake the world in their image.
When the show implied that Vault-Tec was willing to start the war, it felt like the writers were ignoring decades of what they believed is established lore.
Intent Is Not the Same as Action
What the show confirms is Vault-Tec’s intent. The company was willing to end the world if it thought they would benefit from the aftermath. That alone is horrifying, but having the intention to do something is different from actually taking action.
The games are still canon, which means it’s possible that the Great War was a battle between nations, not a single corporate strike. It doesn’t erase the US–China conflict. It layers something new on top of it.
So Did Vault-Tec Start the War or Not?
Right now, nobody knows who started the Great War and why. With season 2 of Fallout premiering on December 16, we’ll probably learn more about how big of a role Vault-Tec played.
We do know that in a way, Vault-Tec is morally responsible for the apocalypse, regardless of whether it fired the first nuke or not. At the end of the day, corporate greed was willing to end the world.
Fallout has always been about how the wealthy values profit and power over human life. Whether Vault-Tec started the Great War doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things.
The company doesn’t need to have dropped the first bomb to be guilty. The fact that it wanted to is bad enough.
