Fallout Season 1's Ending Ressurects A Massive Villain Twist From 23 Years Ago

Summary Fallout season 1 reveals a major villain twist that sheds light on Vault-Tec's impactful decisions.

Vault 0 in Colorado finds its place in Fallout canon, hinting at future storytelling opportunities.

Vault-Tec's secret plans and ties to Vault 0 may shape the direction of Fallout season 2 and beyond.

Thanks to a big reveal in Fallout season 1, a huge villain twist from 23 years ago just became important again. Due to Cooper Howard's efforts to eavesdrop on a Vault-Tec meeting, Fallout season 1's ending was able to offer an eye-opening look at the thought process that led to some of Vault-Tec's most impactful decisions. In doing so, Prime Video's show unearthed some surprising reveals about their activities in Fallout's apocalypse. Among the highlights of the finale was the discovery that Vault-Tec was willing to drop the first bomb, and may have even done so.

The finale's significance notably extended well beyond that. There's also the secret purpose of the three interconnected vaults, which house Bud's Buds. Apparently, this was set up to allow Vault-Tec to preserve its "junior executives" for the future, allowing them to help Vault-Tec work toward its goal while the apocalypse plays out on the surface. Naturally, these details are sure to yield all sorts of storytelling opportunities for Fallout season 2. One in particular could restore relevance to a major villain story that hasn't mattered in years.

Vault 0 Is Canon In Fallout

Vault-Tec Built Vault 0 In Colorado

In the finale, Vault-Tec showed off a map of all the vaults in Fallout (at the time of the meeting). Based on its location, one of these dots can be identified as Vault 0, which was constructed on Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado. What makes the inclusion of Vault 0 on the map is its once-ambiguous place in Fallout canon. Vault 0 made its first and only appearance in Fallout Tactics, a 2001 spinoff from the main series. Partially because it's not a mainline installment, there's been a lot of questions regarding its place in Fallout's world, but those debates have since been settled.

In years past, Bethesda had been clear that Fallout Tactics, in fact, was not canon to the rest of the games. However, its position on that has wavered considerably, to the point where it was recently included on an official Fallout timeline. That, combined with the map tease in the finale, should erase any lingering doubts about where Tactics fits into the equation. Because of this, anything and everything that Tactics contributed to the lore is on the table in future Fallout installments. Arguably the most consequential of them all is Vault 0, especially in light of what was revealed in the finale about Vault-Tec's plans.

Why The Existence Of Vault 0 Is So Important After Fallout Season 1

The Premise Behind Vault 0 Is Suspiciously Similar To Bud's Buds

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Though the vault wasn't name-dropped at any point in Fallout's Vault-Tec meeting, Vault 0's primary function does share an interesting connection with the company's intentions. In Fallout Tactics, it's understood that Vault-Tec created Vault 0 to be the epicenter of their nation-wide operation. The biggest of all the vaults, Vault 0 secretly housed the top brains at Vault-Tec, which were all in cryogenic status. They were collectively overseen by Fallout Tactics' main villain, The Calculator, who was introduced as a highly advanced supercomputer designed by the company.

What went on in Vault 0 bears more than a passing resemblance to what Norm learned about Vault 31. They too had Vault-Tec employees in cryopods, with a robotic entity - in this case, Bud Askins' brain on a roomba - standing guard over them. From the looks of things, Vault 31 and Vault 0 are rooted in the same concept, but exist on different scales. The people being kept in Vault 31 is evidence of that; Betty was just a secretary, and Hank wasn't depicted as a high-ranking member either. And as Bud said, they were just "junior executives." Based on that, it's unlikely that people like Barb are in Vault 31.

Given what was established about their plans, it wouldn't make sense for Vault-Tec to set up a place to freeze its lower-level employees and not do the same for the people who actually run the company. With that in mind, it stands to reason that Barb and others are being kept in a secret vault somewhere (just not Vault 31). But because of Vault 0's existence in the canon, the franchise may not have to introduce a new vault when it finally unveils their current location in Fallout's universe. After all, what Vault 0 was built for lines up perfectly with what Vault-Tec would likely want for its senior executives.

Vault 0 Could Be A Future Setting For Fallout's Show

One of Fallout's later seasons could be set in Colorado

With the show seemingly drawing attention to Vault 0's existence and its clear connection to Vault-Tec's masterplan in the series, it doesn't feel like a stretch that this is where the show is headed. The fact that Fallout season 2 is poised to go to New Vegas - as opposed to Colorado - doesn't discount that. Hank MacLean may be going there, but that doesn't confirm that's where Vault-Tec's bosses are. That was the idea expressed by Walton Goggins' The Ghoul, and while he may not be necessarily wrong about Hank's intentions, there's a chance New Vegas is just where Hank expects to get the answer to this question.

New Vegas apparently has cryopods and therefore could lead to the characters finding more Vault-Tec employees, but the company's top brass could still be held elsewhere, specifically Vault 0. It could be that the trip to New Vegas is just a step toward the ultimate destination - Vault 0. Looking at how the show's story has been developing so far, it's easy to imagine it all culminating in the main protagonists coming face-to-face with the people responsible for all of Vault-Tec's nefarious activities, Barb included. But getting to that point could be a series-long journey instead of something that happens as early as season 2.

That would make sense, especially when considering how the concept behind Vault 0 has a "final boss" feel to it. As Vault-Tec's central headquarters and its biggest known vault, it comes across as the perfect antagonist for Fallout's final season, whenever that may come. Given the size and scope of its Cheyenne Mountain base, there's room for Prime Video's series to expand greatly on what Fallout Tactics established about Vault 0, showing off unseen defenses and all sorts of other secrets about what Vault-Tec was hiding down there.