Is Thaddeus really a Ghoul, or did the show just pull a fast one on us?

Amazon Prime Video’s Fallout has been met with rave reviews. With hardcore gamers and newcomers alike itching for a second season soon, a lot is left unanswered by the end of Season 1. Did Vault-Tec really start the nuclear war? Is Shady Sands due for a second reckoning? Why is Hank going to, what looks like, New Vegas? Is Thaddeus a Ghoul? And what was in the serum that the Chicken…ahem… “Lover” gave him?

“Why am I not dead?”- Thaddeus | Fallout
While the show did establish that years of radiation can make you a Ghoul, Thaddeus wasn’t necessarily the right fit for this criteria. Trading the snake oil salesman Maximus’ fusion core has quite clearly done a number on this Brotherhood factioneer. So, if he’s not a Ghoul, what really is he?

The fate of Thaddeus in Fallout

In episode 7 of the series, Thaddeus, with a mangled foot, manages to find the snake oil salesman. If the series established anything, it was that this guy was the Wile E. Coyote of the wastelands and would do anything to sell his wares. A desperate Thaddeus even traded Maximus’ armor fusion core for a “cure”.
The Snake Oil Salesman
So, what was in the mystery concoction that he gave to “heal” Thaddeus’ out-of-sorts foot? While the end of his storyline in the season has viewers believing he’s now a Ghoul, the truth maybe far from it. If anything, our favorite Brother might just be a Super Mutant. To be a Ghoul, there’s certain prerequisites to be met. And what Thaddeus was sold was labeled a “serum”.

Serums play a major role in the games. These can give you insane abilities, but at a cost. And what our dear squire may have consumed is The Forced Evolutionary Virus, or FEV— Created by none other than your friendly neighborhood West Tek.

“The purpose of the virus is to correct its host’s DNA, creating a theoretically better specimen.” Ironic that a Brother should be dosed with this, since in the games, the Brotherhood restricts technological knowledge owing to how easily FEV could be synthesized and create forced mutations.

Thaddeus turning into a Super Mutant in season 2 seems the very likely answer. However, it also depends on the DNA sequence of the individual, their radiation exposure, and more such key factors that affect how the serum works on them. Not to mention, it also depends on what the serum was designed to do.

Frank Horrigan
With him being left with Maximus’ (Aaron Moten) T-60 power armor, he is now a likely candidate to mirror Frank Horrigan from Fallout 2. Players remember him as the final boss of the game, and for newbies? Well… Let’s just say he’s scary big, scary strong, has a scary voice, carries one of the best in-game weapons, and was continually experimented on resulting in his stature. His armor is pretty much what keeps him going since it injects him with stabilizing agents.

The ramifications of Thaddeus’ trade

“One fusion core to rule them all”. Well, that’s the bottom line. And with the Chicken Lover departing with this all-powerful item, it remains to be seen who he next trades with. If West Tek is still around and is still in pursuit of creating “super soldiers”, the quack doctor might just be holding the key.
New Vegas in the Fallout series
Given that the last shot of the finale established Hank MacLean looking over New Vegas, it’s a likely assumption that this is Vault-Tec’s base of operations, or at least has a head honcho that Hank will run to, since he too has a fusion core, and a power armor. Could this mean there’s a larger political battle to come, and could New Vegas be the backdrop for an all-out war? Todd Howard did confirm in an interview with IGN–

“…we’re careful about the timeline. There might be a little bit of confusion at some places, but everything that happened in the previous games, including New Vegas, happened. We’re very careful about that.”

If Shady Sands is indeed due for another mushroom cloud sighting, it could be the result of a power battle between West Tek and Vault-Tec. Only time and Season 2 will tell.

Stream Fallout on Amazon Prime Video.