This week's episode of Fallout gave diehard fans of the series something they've been clamoring for ever since the show was announced: a live-action depiction of the Deathclaw, one of the most well-known monsters from the video game series. Towering over humans, Deathclaws are are horrifyingly strong creatures with razor-sharp claws and teeth, and formidable horns that give them an almost devil-like aspect. Anyone who's played Fallout knows the terror of being caught flat-footed by a Deathclaw; now, television viewers do as well.
The Fallout TV show's inclusion of these monsters wasn't just for set dressing, either. Through a pair of scenes bookending the episode, "The Demon in the Snow" deepened and expanded not just the overall lore for the origin of the Deathclaw, but the way they've affected the city of New Vegas in the 15 years since the beloved Fallout: New Vegas video game.
Why was there a pre-war Deathclaw in Alaska in Fallout?
The opening scene of "The Demon in the Snow" shows Cooper Howard during the Great War, where he's piloting a suit of T-45 power armor during a clash with China over control of the state of Alaska. During this scene, a Deathclaw mysteriously rises from the wreckage of a nearby plane and tears the Chinese soldiers to shreds. Before it can do the same to Cooper, it's drawn off by gunfire.
Most monsters in the Fallout universe are a product of radiation altering their body chemistry, and as such they were only born after the bombs fell and changed the face of the Earth. This scene makes it clear that the Deathclaw is a different case. It was already around before the bombs, and was built to survive the harsh wasteland that came after. But where did these creatures come from? Who made them?
The answer to this question lies in the Fallout video games, where players can dig up obscure bits of lore that reveal Deathclaws were an experimental creature created by the United State Government to go on dangerous missions instead of humans. According to a conversation in Fallout 2, they were made by mutating the genes of several different animal species, with Jackson's chameleons as a base. Of course, controlling these massive monsters was never going to work very well, and after the bombs dropped and they escaped into the wild, their population grew drastically
.The fourth episode of Fallout season 2 confirms a new aspect of this lore by showing a Deathclaw that was seemingly deployed into the Alaskan conflict of the Great War. While it might feel stranger to see a monster like the Deathclaw around prior to the formation of the Wasteland, it matches up with the previously established canon from the games very well.
Why was there a Deathclaw in New Vegas in Fallout Episode 204?
That brings us to the other scene, where the Deathclaw confronted Lucy and The Ghoul on the main strip of New Vegas. This city was bustling with life during the Fallout: New Vegas video game, but now it's completely empty save for this Deathclaw. What happened?
The answer here isn't stated outright yet in the show, but there's an interesting clue in the New Vegas video game that could be relevant. Like all the rest of the Fallout games, New Vegas features Deathclaws; in particular, there's a quarry chock full of them near the city. A handful of quests see the player sent to that quarry to do things like exterminate the alpha male and female Deathclaws in hopes of driving them off, or sneaking in and retrieving a Deathclaw egg for a special omelette.
Quarry Junction is an extremely dangerous place, and clearing it out is a feat that only the most fearless wanderer of the Wasteland can accomplish. Given its proximity to New Vegas and the sheer number of Deathclaws roaming its rocky paths, the chances are very good that this location and its Deathclaws are relevant to the sudden appearance of one in the middle of New Vegas. Hopefully, Fallout will clarify this mystery even further as the season goes on.
Fallout season 2 is airing now on Prime Video. New episodes launch every Wednesday, until its season finale on February 4.