After decades of debates, the creator of the Fallout series has finally explained who started the apocalypse. While the Fallout streaming series officially declared that Vault-Tec dropped the first nuke, it’s never been quite as clear in the games. Fallout creator Tim Cain stated in 2023 that China acted first, and now, he’s released a video explaining the details of the situation.

In a video available on YouTube, Tim Cain explains that China dropped the first nuke in response to repeated US infractions of a UN treaty. After China discovered illegal US bioweapons research, the US simply moved the research to another site rather than discontinuing it. Once it became clear that diplomacy had failed, China dropped the first bomb in retaliation.

Why China Dropped The First Nuke In Fallout

The US Isn’t Free Of Blame

Interestingly, Tim Cain notes that he was surprised to learn that the first nuke was a subject of debate. Some details in the game suggest that China acted first, but without explicit confirmation, it’s always been possible to argue for either perspective. Even now, the question of who instigated the conflict remains up in the air, with Cain noting that both the Chinese nuke and American bioweapons research can be seen as valid inciting incidents.

He also clarifies that none of this is technically Fallout canon. While the team behind the original game wrote it with these ideas in mind, they were never recorded in a design document, and Bethesda now has stewardship of the franchise. Cain acknowledges that fans might not like that, but compares it to his perspective on white chocolate. “I don’t like that white chocolate exists, but it does.”

Fallout Still Has Other Interesting Secrets

Not Everything Is Revealed In-Game

Harold standing in the forest in Fallout

The explanation of who nuked first isn’t the only interesting tidbit in Cain’s new video, and he goes into other details of the unwritten lore behind the original game. Another revelation is that the characters chosen to leave the vault in the first game were chosen through a lottery that was likely rigged, with the intent of getting rid of disliked or problematic individuals rather than choosing intrepid explorers.

Not everything left vague in the original Fallout, however, has a specific explanation. Cain explains that the team didn’t have a consensus on what Harold was, just that he was “weird.” While Cain himself “kinda thought” Harold was a ghoul, there wasn’t any one right answer.

Most details in the original Fallout are revealed through dialogue or environmental details somewhere in the game, but it’s exciting to get some answers about ideas that were never clarified. It’s been 28 years since Fallout was released, and fans are still fascinated by its secrets today.