‘Fallout’ Season 2 isn’t just taking viewers to New Vegas, it’s stepping directly into one of the most hotly debated crossroads in the entire franchise. For over 15 years, ‘Fallout: New Vegas’ fans have been engaged in a heated debate over which ending was the true ending.
The game is known to allow the player to mold the Mojave’s fate in strikingly different ways, whether it is democratic idealism, authoritarian rule, or outright chaos.
‘Fallout’ Season 2 Sets Out To Rewrite New Vegas History
The ‘Fallout’ TV series is now doing what the games never had the opportunity to do: pick one ending, make it canon, and permanently alter the future of the Wasteland. It is a very audacious step. Moreover, judging by what Season 1 showed and what the Season 2 trailer promises, the answer is more evident than ever. But the mystery isn’t the only thing that makes this decision significant. It is about what type of future the show hopes to see in a world that is already broken and is trying to put itself back together.
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Each of the endings in ‘Fallout: New Vegas’ has its own consequences, and none of them leave the Mojave untouched. Mr. House turns Vegas into a machine-state, cold and immaculate. And the wildcard Courier ending leaves a precarious, uncertain future between hope and disaster. The genius of New Vegas is that all the choices are wrong, since the whole world is wrong.
However, ‘Fallout’ Season 2 must pick one reality, and the direction it goes will not only shape New Vegas but also the philosophy of the show. And by the breadcrumbs of the show itself, there is one ending that soars high above the rest. Moreover, ‘Fallout’ is not going down the easiest path by selecting the Mr. House ending; it is going down the most thrilling path.
Only One Canon Ending Makes Sense For Amazon’s ‘Fallout’
In Season 1, we learn that Shady Sands, the capital of the NCR, has been destroyed, and Maximus survived the bombing as a child. Lucy later learns that Hank, her father, was the culprit. Given Maximus’ age, this devastation likely occurred shortly after the events of New Vegas. This detail is enormous because it immediately weakens two potential canon endings. Had the NCR won the Battle of Hoover Dam, Shady Sands would have been defended and politically secure.
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Instead, the NCR is scattered. Their banners in the trailer are battered and sunbleached, a dying remnant, not a ruling power. To go with Caesar’s Legion ending is also nearly impossible. To win the Legion, the Courier has to kill Mr. House. However, in the trailer of the second season of the show, Mr. House is alive. That in itself eliminates a Legion triumph.
So, the Mr. House Ending is the only one that makes sense. The trailer’s near-perfect recreation of House’s penthouse in the Lucky 38 is not subtle. He’s active. He’s powerful. And he’s still in charge. This is the only ending in which House survives. The NCR and Legion are driven back, but not completely destroyed.
Vegas remains stable enough for Lucy and the Ghoul to walk into without being enslaved or conscripted. The world remains ethically ambiguous, not either good or evil. And more to the point, it preconditions Season 2 with the most lucrative character conflicts. All this is enough to explain why the show decided to use the Mr. House timeline.
