The world of Fallout continues to hide mysteries of both an informative and downright terrifying kind. While many may immediately think of the terrible experiments done in the Vaults, some theories also allude to topics such as the Great War and a Lovecraftian reason for it happening in the first place.
The Great War Was Started to Save Humanity From the Dark Gods
When factoring in all of the moving parts in the world before the Great War, it’s hard to know how or what caused the bombs to start dropping. Some could argue it was a global conflict that reached a fever pitch, while other outlets, like the Fallout TV show, showed that the secret cause was Vault-Tec and other companies starting the war to protect their assets. However, the real cause may be more supernatural than anticipated.
According to a Reddit theory, the Great War was meant to save Earth from enslavement by the Dark Gods. While these beings may seem foreign to you, they actually have quite a history in the Fallout lore that can be found by exploring side quests from as early as the first two Fallout games. Being that the theory is somewhat barebones, it opens up the opportunity to explore which Dark God was the culprit of a world made so irradiated that it wasn’t worth enslaving.
Different Factions Expand on the Dark Gods’ Lore
The Dark God was initially mentioned by the Children of the Cathedral, a religious cult deeply connected to the Fallout villain, The Master. However, this cult was more or less just that. While it may have referred to a Dark God, its actions were nothing compared to those of Dunwich Borers LLC, a company that drilled in one place before taking company resources for its own drilling projects.
Inspired by the H.P. Lovecraft story, The Dunwich Horror, the Dunwich Borers LLC was a pre-war company that drilled into four levels of Earth before things went horribly wrong. In Fallout 4, as you fight your way to the lower levels, the terminal entries descend deeper into madness. The scariest entry had one of the employees simply stating, “I’m safe in the light,” over and over, like a scene from The Shining.
Before entering an underwater chamber, you are treated to a couple of flashbacks of a man in a sacrificial chamber holding a knife to his wrist while others sat on their knees before him. It was believed that these rituals were done to communicate with the Dark God Ug-Qualtoth. According to Fallout 3, the artifacts tied to the company would turn sacrifices into feral ghouls, raising the question of whether ghouls were solely the result of radiation or if there’s a supernatural twist to these terrifying beings.
Does the Fallout Dark God Theory Make Sense?
When it comes to the Great War, it’s hard to know the true reason why it happened. However, I believe the theory that it was started to save humanity from the Dark Gods isn’t entirely true. From the statue in the Dunwich Borers quarry to the idea that ancient artifacts could create feral ghouls, it’s clear that those in charge of the cult were very committed to bringing Ug-Qualtoth to life. As the theory continues, it’s also posited that the Dark Gods could be tied to radiation as well, meaning that the Wasteland is primed for the arrival of the Dark Gods. The only catch is that there are now knowledgable humans to call forth Ug-Qualtoth to do his dark bidding.
Conversely, it’s also possible that those in power saw how close Ug-Qualtoth’s followers were to achieving their goal, and the nuclear option was the only one, creating a world that was perfect for the Dark God but no one willing to call him forth, save for the heads of Dunwich Borers LLC, who have since become feral ghouls and were killed. Like all things, those who meddled in what they didn’t understand failed to realize that any world perfect for Dark Gods wouldn’t be perfect for humanity. As a result, it’s possible the Great War was meant to stave off something worse, but, more accurately, I think the Great War was started to bring about a Dark God, and no human was left to complete the mission.
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