The ruins of Shady Sands
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The Fall of Shady Sands was a chain of events that began in 2277 and culminated in 2283, shortly after the Second Battle of Hoover Dam,[Supplementary 1] with the destruction of NCR's capital city with a nuclear weapon.[1][2]
Shady Sands was destroyed by a nuclear bomb on the orders of Hank MacLean, a pre-War Vault-Tec employee and overseer of Vault 33, who wanted to erase all factionalism and ensure the world would be remade according to his and Vault-Tec's ideals. This would also hide the truth of the surface world from Vault 32 and 33's inhabitants (after Vault 33's water was discovered to have been partially siphoned).[3] The Fall of Shady Sands occurred in the same year Lucy MacLean claims a plague hit Vault 33 and killed her mother Rose MacLean, indicating Hank MacLean used the plague to cover up Rose's disappearance from Vault 33 if she did escape this year, then immediately pursued Rose to retrieve his children.[4]
A remnant force of the New California Republic eventually took shelter in Griffith Observatory.[3] Other survivors found refuge in nearby settlements, Vaults, and even the Brotherhood of Steel.[5][2]
Behind the scenes[]
The nature of events that occurred in 2277 and preceded the nuclear destruction remains unclear, but align with the dates for the First Battle of Hoover Dam and the intensification of the Mojave Campaign.
Many viewers assumed that the "Fall of Shady Sands" being dated to 2277 on a blackboard in Vault 4 in episode "The Trap", followed by an image of a nuclear explosion, meant that the city was completely destroyed 4 years before the events of Fallout: New Vegas, where it is mentioned as still existing. Todd Howard later clarified in an interview that the nuclear destruction of Shady Sands happened shortly after New Vegas.[Supplementary 1]
But for anyone confused about how the city could be blown up by the time the show takes place, Howard explains all the details of the timeline should line up. “We’re careful about the timeline,” he says. “There might be a little bit of confusion in some places. But everything that happened in the previous games, including New Vegas, happened. We’re very careful about that.”
“All I can say is we’re threading it tighter there, but the bombs fall just after the events of New Vegas.””— IGNThe precise dates only became available when the script for the pilot episode was released to the public, as part of the Emmy nominations. The script included precise ages for the characters, including Maximus: He is stated to be 19 when the episode turns to him (meaning he was born in 2277), and in flashbacks he's identified as six year old, giving the year of Shady Sands' destruction as 2283.[1]
The idea of Shady Sands being destroyed by a nuclear bomb was a vital background event created in the early 2000s by Chris Avellone, during the development of Van Buren, Black Isle Studios' canceled Fallout 3.[Supplementary 2] It persisted and remained a part of the lore after Avellone's departure, with an explicit mention in the Boulder design document.[6]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The End script: "MAXIMUS (19) is getting the shit beaten out of him, encircled by other ASPIRANTS. They wear dirty white t-shirts and khaki fatigues. [...] FLASH (102-C): A barely-conscious YOUNG MAXIMUS (6) opens the door of a fridge, half-buried in rubble."
Note: Maximus is stated to be 19 in the script, placing his date of birth in 2277. The script also identifies that the fridge scene, which is set shortly after Shady Sands was nuked, took place when he was six. This gives the year of Shady Sands' destruction as 2283. - ↑ 2.0 2.1 Fallout TV series, Season 1, Episode 6: "The Trap"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Fallout TV series, Season 1, Episode 8: "The Beginning"
- ↑ Fallout TV series, Season 1, Episode 4: "The Ghouls"
- ↑ Fallout TV series, Season 1, Episode 5: "The Past"
- ↑ Boulder Dome design document: "Four years ago, when things start to fall apart out in NCR, Presper sent out his last team of scientists and grad students. Agnes, a fellow NCR scientist and frequent diplomat from the scientific community to the government, is the leader of the expedition. Using her skills and a "diplomatic immunity" pass she carried, she makes her way to Hoover Dam. Two days later, the NCR Congress building is destroyed, presumably in a conflict with the BOS."
- Supplementary
