17 December 2025

“Who…?” Fallout Season 2 is Tackling the Biggest Question in the Fandom

By newsgame

Fallout‘s Great War began and ended on October 23, 2077, and as the franchise’s title suggests, everything since then has followed what came after. Each Fallout game follows events set after The Great War, up to 200+ years later, with Fallout 76 being the first full game on the timeline. It is set in 2012, just 25 years after the Great War, and the Fallout show is at the other end of the timeline. Fallout season 1 and season 2 take place in 2296, 219 years after The Great War, minus the flashbacks.

The flashbacks, notably, are set before The Great War. This gives the show the chance to address one of the biggest questions in the fandom: who dropped the first bomb? Who initiated the end of the world? Thus far, Fallout season 1 has seemingly suggested that Vault-Tec itself could have been involved, and while they are not cleared from suspicion, one scene in Fallout season 2 potentially casts blame elsewhere.

SPOILERS for Fallout Season 2 Episode 1 AHEAD

Who Does Hank Call? It’s Not the Ghostbusters

As viewers learn in Fallout season 1, Hank MacLean is not the good guy Vault Overseer he seems to be. This leads to Lucy and The Ghoul’s pursuit of Hank, leading them all the way from California to the badlands around New Vegas. Fans have yet to see it in all its glory, but Hank is ahead. In Season 2, Episode 1, Hank appears to be in some kind of Vault-Tec facility, studying the slightly terrifying control chip.

Vault 24, earlier in the episode, gives fans a look at the capabilities of this control chip.

While there, he makes a bit of a covert call where it is clear Hank MacLean is checking in and following someone else’s orders. The first thought would be Vault-Tec, but his tone and approach wouldn’t make sense if he were a complete Vault-Tec loyalist. Fallout fans know to expect Mr. House’s appearance in the flashbacks (and perhaps after), too, and there may be a connection there. However, it does feel somewhat unlikely. Instead, it seems there’s some shadow figure in the background pulling the strings, not just in the pre-Great War Fallout timeline, but even afterward, too. The Fallout show’s two timelines make the most sense if the true antagonist beforehand is the same afterward, and the tone of Episode 1 makes it seem like we’re dealing with whoever started The Great War in earnest.

Who Started The Great War?

While there are a few details about that fateful day, the exact cause and first bomb are largely unknown. Not only did The Great War involve most of the world, after all, but the Fallout series has largely focused on the United States. In that regard, Fallout lore says that there appeared to be some US vs. China conflicts in the early hours of October 23, 2077. Hours later, a nuclear exchange went forth and devastated both China and the United States.

9:13 EST – The United States went to DEFCON 2 after the IONDS detected four inbound missiles.
9:26 EST – The U.S. President ordered a retaliatory strike against China
The West Coast, Pennsylvania, and New York were all hit by Nuclear bombs before 9:42 EST.
9: 47 EST – Washington, D.C. was hit, and most American facilities went offline.
China and the United States would continue this nuclear exchange for two hours, blanketing the entire world with strikes and bringing about its end.

No doubt, China and the United States are at fault for the destruction of the world, but the early hour exchange, the nuclear strikes and retaliation, and the involvement of others in the Great War all mean that who truly caused it remains one of the biggest mysteries in the franchise. It could even be argued that this mystery should remain as such, but playing with the idea of who started the Great War, as well as this shadowy figure in the background of Episode 1, adds a lot of intriguing plot threads to Fallout season 2. For now, fans will just have to wait and see who Hank called.