It is no surprise to anyone that, after the acclaimed release of Amazon Prime’s Fallout, the streaming service quickly renewed the series for a second season. The hit first season ended on a cliffhanger. Little is known about the second season other than the prominent location, New Vegas, as seen in the Fallout game of the same name.
Yet there are still lingering questions left over from the first season, leading to speculation about specific creatures, places, or people who could appear in the second season. One such mystery is the character Moldaver and how she survived the post-apocalypse. An enemy of Vault-Tec, she managed to survive into the present day of the show. Could this be because she is a Synth?
What's Your Current Fallout Build?
The Fallout series got a second life with the release of the Amazon show, with players flocking back to the title to fine tune their build. What stats do you favor, and what weapons are you rocking?
Institute Synths were one of Fallout 4’s most significant additions to the lore of the universe. These robotic, synthezoid machines were created by the Institute, a group of scientists running unlimited experiments in the aftermath of the bombs falling. The synths range from the Gen-1 and Gen-2 models that look robotic, to the Gen-3 models that look, act, and talk like any other human being. These models became the central point of contention among the many factions of Fallout 4. While their fate was up to the player’s choices in the game, they still exist in the wasteland. Could Season 2 of Fallout introduce the Institute Synths?
Synths and the Institute, Explained
The Institute was one of the primary factions players faced in Fallout 4. Becoming the boogeymen of the Commonwealth, the Institute was an organization of scientists who wanted to further their experiments in various fields. Building their facilities underneath the ruins of the old CIT building, the player discovers them in their journey to find their missing son, who had been taken from the Vault where they were cryogenically frozen. The player would find that more time had passed for them than expected, and the head of the Institute in the game was now their elderly son, known only as Father.
One of the Institute’s greatest inventions and most concerning pieces of technology is Synths, which were modeled to look humanoid in appearance. The first and second lines of synths were used as foot soldiers, programmed to follow orders and go into the wasteland to secure technology, assets, and resources for the Institute. However, the Gen 3 synths were the true pinnacle of the Institute’s power. These models had human-like experiences and looks. They were able to replace and infiltrate human populations, and take on positions of power for the Institute to keep tabs on. The technology was built to imprint actual people’s memories and lives onto a synth modeled to look just like them, to the point they wouldn’t even know they were a synth. This caused mass panic among the citizens of the Commonwealth, leading to widespread panic and mistrust.
The game also followed the Railroad, a group of escaped Synths and synth sympathizers who worked to free the Gen 3 synths from the bonds of the Institute so that they would be free to be their people. The player would have to choose to serve the Institute or the Railroad’s interests. Either way, the game would see the spread of the Synths throughout the Commonwealth and beyond. Thanks to the DLC that the game provided, fans would also see synths appear in other locations, including Far Harbor.
Synths in Fallout
The question remains: how might Synths appear in the Amazon Prime series Fallout? If some fan theories are true, they may already be here. Season 1 introduced Moldaver, first seen as a ruthless leader of a group of raiders. She became a prominent leader of free thinkers working against Vault-Tec and other powerful corporations before the bombs fell, and somehow survived looking the same in the wasteland. After Moldaver took Lucy’s father and Lucy set out to find him, she eventually discovered that Moldaver also knew and cared for her mother. The shocking revelations in the season 1 finale showed the tragic circumstances of Lucy’s mother and her demise.
How is it that Moldaver survived into the time at which Fallout takes place? Considering how opposed she was to the all-powerful company Vault-Tec, it would be surprising if she survived like the other company members did, by cryogenically freezing themselves. But what if Moldaver —at least, the original Moldaver — didn’t survive the apocalypse? What if she was a Synth, whose memories were downloaded sometime before the bombs fell and used by the Institute years later to embed in a Gen-3 synth? It would add another element of mystery to the Fallout series. The question of who is a person and who is a synth makes it challenging to know who to trust.
Before the end of the Fallout 4 storyline, the Institute’s goals were to free itself from the need for the surface altogether, hoping to create a self-sufficient energy source to power its facilities. Their efforts were in vain (depending on the player’s choices). However, their end goals were similar to what Moldaver was working towards in the first season of Fallout: working to start a cold fusion reactor to bring power back to the wasteland using clean energy. It's possible that Moldaver was using knowledge gained from her time in the Institute before escaping through the Railroad and moving on to her fight against the remnants of Vault-Tec. She could have used her experience in her quest to use cold fusion in season 1.
With Season 2 drawing upon the setting and likely the factions established in Fallout: New Vegas, it isn’t out of the realm of possibility that elements of Fallout 4 and the aftermath of that game’s story could be used for season 2. Could Moldaver survive the events of the season 1 finale thanks to her being a Synth? Perhaps elements of the New Vegas hierarchy will include hidden Synths or remnants of the fallen Institute altogether. Fans will have to wait until more information comes out from season 2 of Fallout, but there is no doubt the Synths will make a formidable new addition to the show’s lore.
Todd Howard Discusses Remakes For Fallout 1 and 2
In a recent interview with Youtuber MrMattyPlays, Todd Howard discusses the possibility of recreating Fallout 1 and Fallout 2 for a new generation.
f
Fallout
- Release Date
- April 10, 2024
- Cast
- Walton Goggins , Ella Purnell , Kyle MacLachlan , Xelia Mendes-Jones , Aaron Moten
- Main Genre
- Sci-Fi
- Streaming Service(s)
- Prime Video
