Fallout Season Two's Simple Nod to Far Harbor DLC, Spurs Retcon Debate

A tiny little easter egg in the latest trailer for season two of Fallout has some folks concerned, because they think it goes against lore that was pre-established in Fallout 4’s Far Harbour DLC.

I think, for the most part, we can all agree that Amazon’s Fallout TV series is one of the best live-action video game adaptations of all time (if not outright the best).

There’s not exactly much good competition in that department (although, as of recent years, there is some), but that shouldn’t downplay exactly how good that first season of the show was.

Still, there was one element of the Fallout series that irked some folks. There were a couple of odd inconsistencies concerning the lore in the first season, but those final shots of Hank MacLean sauntering up to New Vegas (and Todd Howard’s subsequent comments that Bethesda view the series as canon) rubbed some fans the wrong way.

Well, the nitpicking hasn’t ended there it seems, because a brief shot of Lucy wielding a Radium Rifle, a weapon that was introduced in Fallout 4’s DLC Far Harbour, has got some fans riled up again… because they can’t justify an in-universe way for this weapon making its way from Maine to Vegas.

Official promo image for the first season of Amazon's Fallout TV series

“Where the Children of Atom got their hands on perfectly preserved volkssturmgewehrs, I'd love to know”, commented user ODST_Parker.

“I was about to be like “uhm ackshully” but it fully is the radium rifle that’s so weird”, replied user Dear-Truck6910.

“It's also been in 76 since launch, which means that they've somehow always been around”, commented user Father_Wendigo.

Now, I did some digging, and unfortunately, I couldn’t find much concrete lore regarding the Radium Rifle.

As the Fallout wiki correctly states, the weapon is pre-war (prior to its modifications, at least), and is seemingly based on a World War II German rifle called the “Volkssturmgewehr”.

Also, yes, while it was introduced in Fallout 4’s Far Harbour DLC, it has popped up in Fallout 76. For context, Fallout 76 is set roughly 185 years before the events of Fallout 4.

And for further context, the Fallout TV series is set roughly 13 years after Fallout 4 (which supposedly makes the TV series the latest point in the Fallout canon).

Personally, even if you ignore the existence of Fallout 76, I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to justify a specific weapon somehow making its way to a different part of the same country, 13 years later.

But hey, maybe they also explain this whole thing in the show, and we should, I dunno… actually watch it first? Just a thought.