There are many evil groups and factions in the Fallout show, but the series has given eight hints that the Enclave is the worst of the bunch. The different factions of Fallout are usually used to highlight something wrong with the Wasteland, and illustrate how morally gray the world of Fallout really is. While all of them are flawed, there’s one faction that has been far more evil than all the rest throughout the entire franchise: the Enclave. It’s been the antagonist of several games in the series, and there’s a fair bit of evidence suggesting the Enclave will also be the antagonist of the Fallout show.
The Enclave was essentially a group of powerful people – politicians, military officials, and corporate executives – who were part of a deep state organization before the apocalypse. They wanted to keep their power over the United States even after the bombs fell, and they did quite a few horrendous things to stay in control. The group terrorized Fallout for decades, and it even reappeared in the show, albeit briefly. While the Enclave’s cameo in Fallout season 1 was short, there are eight hints that the group will play a much bigger, and more antagonistic, role in Fallout season 2.
The Fallout Franchise Loves To Use The Enclave As Its Main Antagonist
One of the biggest hints that the Enclave will be a major villain of the Fallout show comes not from the show itself, but rather from the franchise as a whole. The Enclave has been the main antagonist of both Fallout 2 and Fallout 3, and the group earned its designation as villains handily. One of the main goals of the Enclave was to carry out a genocide against anyone with mutated DNA, which amounted to everyone after Fallout‘s nuclear apocalypse and the radiation from it. On top of that, the Enclave has been one of the most consistent villains in the entire franchise.
Fallout’s penchant for using the Enclave as its main antagonist is one of the biggest hints that they’ll play the same role in the Fallout show.
The Enclave has been very overtly villainous in the past, but its handiwork has also indirectly caused quite a bit of chaos and misery on its behalf in other installments. The Enclave used the Forced Evolutionary Virus to create many of the monsters in Fallout, such as scorch beasts and super mutants. The effects of its inhumane experimentation were everywhere, and the franchise loves to use them as a villain whenever it gets the chance. Fallout‘s penchant for using the Enclave as its main antagonist is one of the biggest hints that they’ll play the same role in the Fallout show.
The Fallout Show Revived The Enclave – After Fallout 3 Destroyed It
Fallout loves to use the Enclave as a stand-in for a purely evil group, but there was one big reason many viewers thought they couldn’t return for the Fallout show. As the antagonists of both Fallout 2 and Fallout 3, the Enclave suffered massive losses at the hands of the Chosen One and the Lone Wanderer, respectively. After Fallout 3, the Enclave had all but been destroyed, and only a few surviving remnants were thought to still be roaming the wasteland. The Fallout show, however, brought the group back, which opened the door to it becoming the villain once more.
The creators of the Fallout show have repeatedly noted that they have the utmost respect for the games’ canon. Everything in the show was meant to fit in with existing lore, but their decision to bring back the Enclave seemingly contradicted that. It undid the ending of Fallout 3 just to explain Siggi Wilzig’s backstory, even though he could have easily been part of another faction. The only reason such a massive change would make sense is if the Enclave is going to play a major role in the future of the Fallout show, like by being its main antagonist.
More Of The Enclave’s Experiments Could Show Up In Fallout Season 2
The Enclave is mostly known for its attempted genocide, but it also excelled in another villainous area: inhumane scientific experimentation. During the Sino-American War, before the apocalypse, Enclave scientists helped develop organic weapons, which were essentially animals that were engineered to kill. The most notable example was the super mutant, which was created by infecting a person with a bioweapon known as the Forced Evolutionary Virus. The Enclave did, however, work on several other genetically engineered monsters like centaurs, scorch beasts, and more. The group’s handiwork terrorized the wasteland for decades, and it will likely terrorize Fallout season 2 as well.
The Fallout show has already teased a few appearances of some notable Enclave creations. One shot of Siggi Wilzig’s escape showed a super mutant hand poking out of a tarp, which is evidence that the Enclave has continued its research into FEV. The show also explained Dogmeat’s origin, which could introduce cyberdogs. Fallout season 2 will see Lucy and the Ghoul travel deep into the Mojave wasteland as well, which should mean that they’ll encounter even more of the Enclave’s worst monsters. If its creations are going to be a problem in the upcoming season, it isn’t a stretch to think the Enclave itself will be too.
The Brotherhood Of Steel Is A Fierce Enemy Of The Enclave
The Brotherhood of Steel has always been a major faction in Fallout, but the show took it to a new level via Maximus. As a newly named Knight and one of the show’s main characters, Maximus makes it likely that Fallout season 2 will continue focusing on the Brotherhood. There’s a problem with that, though, as the Brotherhood no longer has any major enemies in the wasteland. It defeated the NCR at the end of Fallout season 1, and Maximus secured the cold fusion chip. If Fallout keeps the Brotherhood as a major player in the wasteland, it will need a new enemy for season 2.
Luckily, Fallout already has the perfect replacement enemy to face off against the NCR: the Enclave. The Brotherhood wiped out the Enclave on both coasts, and the two factions were mortal enemies. In the West, the Brotherhood was actively hunting down Enclave remnants as late as Fallout: New Vegas. The Fallout show has also already set up a confrontation between them, as the Brotherhood has the cold fusion chip, and the Enclave will surely want it back. If the two factions were to have their conflict in the Mojave it would be the perfect way to let Maximus interact with Lucy and the Ghoul again.
The Ghoul Knows Somebody Is Controlling The Wasteland
One of the Fallout show’s most overt bits of foreshadowing came in the finale of season 1, just after Hank MacLean had fled from the Ghoul and Lucy. As he prepared to go after him, the Ghoul told Lucy, “You look out at this wasteland, looks like chaos. But there’s always somebody behind the wheel.” The Ghoul’s line could be referencing Vault-Tec or another pre-war company, but there’s also a very good chance the Enclave is the true power of the wasteland. Hank did blow up Shady Sands on Vault-Tec’s behalf, which indicated the company had quite a bit of power, but the Enclave had more.
Hank Is Looking For Help In The Wasteland & Could Find The Enclave
The last part of the Ghoul’s quote about the ruler of the wasteland, “And that’s who I want to talk to. That’s where your daddy is headed,” also serves as a hint that the Enclave is the group behind the wheel. At the end of Fallout season 1, Hank arrived at New Vegas, but he found that it had been destroyed and seemingly abandoned. Like the Ghoul said, he was looking for somebody in charge. If that somebody was Mr. House, he’s likely no longer in much of a position to help Hank, even if he did somehow survive New Vegas’ destruction.
It’s Still Not Clear Who Actually Dropped The Bombs In Fallout
One of the biggest reveals of Fallout season 1 came during the Vault-Tec meeting, when Barb said the company would be willing to drop a bomb and start nuclear war. Barb only said Vault-Tec was willing to do that, though, and Fallout never showed who actually did drop start the apocalypse. It was actually heavily implied that Vault-Tec didn’t drop the bombs. One of the biggest pieces of evidence was that if Barb had known about the bombs, she would have had Janey ready and in a Vault when the bombs dropped, and the fact that she didn’t indicates that she was surprised by it.
If Vault-Tec didn’t start the apocalypse, that means another group who was active before the war had to. It’s possible China really did start the apocalypse, but it’s just as likely that the Enclave could have been behind it all. Fallout 4 revealed that the president and members of the Enclave had hidden themselves in bunkers months prior to the apocalypse, meaning the group knew what was coming. It’s not clear exactly how the Enclave fits into Fallout‘s apocalypse, but the start of the apocalypse was a major part of Fallout season 1’s pre-war story. The show will almost certainly reveal who was responsible in an upcoming season.
There Could Have Been An Enclave Representative At The Vault-Tec Meeting
The Vault-Tec meeting also potentially had an even bigger connection to the Enclave. At one point during the meeting, Barb looked up to a person who was watching the meeting from the shadows for approval before she revealed the vault experiments. This person that Barb looked to, seemingly for approval, could have been a representative of the Enclave. If Fallout does confirm the Enclave was at the Vault-Tec meeting, it would be proof of their collaboration, and a sign that the Enclave is involved in all of Vault-Tec’s shady dealings in the wasteland. That would even fit with the original inspiration for Fallout.
With such an overt connection between the Enclave and Vault-Tec, there’s quite a bit of evidence that the Enclave will at least show up in Fallout season 2. If it does appear, the Enclave would fit perfectly with Fallout‘s tone and themes. The franchise has always offered a critique of the powers that be, the ones that ruined the world, and the Enclave is a group that was designed to be exactly those powers. It will be interesting to see what the Enclave could have in store, and what their involvement could mean for the future of Fallout.