{"id":519,"date":"2025-08-05T17:16:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T17:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tagaziel.net\/?p=519"},"modified":"2025-08-05T17:16:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T17:16:08","slug":"fallout-bethesda-and-broken-lore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tagaziel.net\/?p=519","title":{"rendered":"Fallout, Bethesda, and Broken Lore"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This will be a lengthy answer, as this question touches on several subjects. If you’re interested in a more nuanced look at the issue, rather than just Bethesda bashing, read on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opening questions makes a number of assumptions, namely:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. There exists a body of consistent *Fallout *lore.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Said lore is immutable.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. As such, Bethesda broke the lore!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Each of these assumptions warrants a separate answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Just what <\/strong>is<\/em><\/strong> lore?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    If we look at the Wiktionary (lore – Wiktionary<\/a>), we have two definitions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    1. all the facts and traditions about a particular subject that have been accumulated over time through education or experience,<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. the backstory created around a fictional universe.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      It seems straightforward, right? It\u2019s all the fluff that isn\u2019t the main plot, quests, or characters, the world beyond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Problems start when you try to figure out what this fluff is made of. The biggest problem with *Fallout *is that the backstory is not only defined in multiple sources – games, strategy guides, developer interviews, forum posts, blogs, you name it – but the sources are also inconsistent and occasionally contradictory. For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Fallout<\/em> cannot quite agree on whether super mutants have sexual organs or not. For instance, Vree’s autopsy report<\/a> states that the gender of the subject was \u201cindeterminate\u201d, which is at odds with the Master\u2019s direct statement<\/a> that \u201cthe FEV-2<\/a> virus doesn’t destroy the reproductive organs of those it mutates.\u201d Her statement that the lifespan of the super mutant is increased by 10% is also contradicted by ZAX, who st<\/a>a<\/a>tes<\/a> that \u201cthe FEV causes constant regenerative update to DNA [and] it would effectively render the subject largely immortal, as cell death would be offset by augmented growth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      It doesn\u2019t help that the developers couldn\u2019t agree on various core elements of the setting. For example, gho<\/a>u<\/a>l origins<\/a> were never defined with Tim Cain and Chris Taylor disagreeing on whether they were made by radiation, radiation mixed with FEV, or something else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The Fallout Bible<\/a> was one of the only attempts at organizing the lore and it was quickly derailed, turning into lengthy Q&A sessions where Chris Avellone shared fragments of design docs, quotes from fellow developers, or made lore up on the fly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Although Bethesda used it as reference while developing the series, Avellone later disowned it, further confusing the community (and leading one wiki to wage war on it). At the present, it is useful as a supplemental source, but takes a backseat to whatever game is released.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Finally, the problem is compounded by the fact that the community has very strong feelings about lore – but strength of feelings doesn\u2019t always correlate with strength of research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Fan ideas can circulate, repeated thousands of times until they become fact. Which brings me to the next point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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      Is lore immutable?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
      \"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

      The lore, in practice.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Some Fallout<\/em> players pretend that the lore of the series is not only consistent and clear, but also immutable -immune to change. It is, for a lack of a better analogy, the gospel and they are its keepers, proselytizing and recruiting new followers to spread the word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      However, in this series, lore always <\/em>took a backseat to story and gameplay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      When Fallout 2<\/em> was rushed into development to capitalize on the success of the game, it became necessary to recycle assets. Super mutants were made effectively immortal, picking ZAX over Vree. Ghouls, originally intended to be a form of mutant unique to New California, proliferated all over, as did the deathclaws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Black Isle also introduced a slew of other changes to the lore, such as introducing the Enclave as the shadow government and retrofitting social experiments to Vaults, adding new types of power armor, Vertibirds, recycling the G.E.C.K. as a MacGuffin driving the plot\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Many of these elements were introduced without an appropriate explanation. For instance, while there are fans who claim that the advanced power armor had rich lore in Fallout 2<\/em> and Bethesda messed it up, there was no actual lore in the game beyond item descriptions<\/a>. The Vertibirds had even less than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Perhaps the biggest change was the introduction of the Enclave and the Vault experiments. It fundamentally changed the lore, altering the relationship between the United States and its citizens, altering the Vaults and their lore, changing everything<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      That sweeping change was introduced in the form of a late-game conversation with the President, in just a few well-voiced lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      What passed for lore was speculation<\/em> that circulated between the fans and was eventually accepted as fact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      It wasn\u2019t until the Bible<\/em> was released in 2002 that we got a look at the design documents that elaborated on the subject, but, of course, it has its own problems. In summary, the lore was mutable from day one – and many aspects of the setting were not set in stone, subject to change as the story or gameplay dictated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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      Bethesda broke the lore!<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
      \"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

      Pictured: The evidently evil EXECUTIVE of BETHESDEVIL issues DEVIOUS DASTARDLY DIRECTIVES to fundamentally fuck Fallout lore.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Bethesda changed<\/em> the lore. Just as Black Isle did when it was necessary. The question is, was Bethesda changing it by building<\/em> on the foundations provided by the previous game or whether it changed<\/em> these foundations – and if either of these changes can be characterized as breaking it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The first step is figuring out whether these foundations actually exist. As stated above, there are instances where fan speculation have been repeated to the point it\u2019s accepted as fact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Take advanced power armor, for example. The constant references to rich lore<\/em> created the illusion that the armor actually had rich lore, which, again, is not corroborated by evidence<\/a>. As such, Bethesda was free to define the background as they saw fit. The same goes for other power armor models. The T-45 was introduced as a concrete example of a last-generation power armor type. The T-60 is its successor and the game\u2019s own lore still states that the T-51 is superior, maintaining its status in lore (see Bonus Stage for more details)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      There are other cases:<\/p>\n\n\n\n