Vault-Tec has always been a quiet villain in the Fallout universe, but the Fallout show really drives home how evil the company is.
Vault-Tec not only orchestrated the Great War that ended the world but also created the vaults as a means of trapping people inside generations-long experiments. The show calls out some of the worst vaults from the Fallout lore, and it shows us the strange relationship the people of the wasteland have with the vaults. Even though Vault-Tec created its main product for nefarious purposes, some people really have found lasting peace inside the vaults.
Spoilers for the Fallout TV show follow.
Vault 33
Lucy’s father Hank is the overseer of Vault 33, which is located near Los Angeles. The people of Vault 33 actually have a lot in common with those of Vault 76 in Fallout 76, they’ve just been living their lives underground for much longer. Life in 33 is all about preparing for Reclamation Day, when everyone will be able to go above ground and begin rebuilding America.
What really sets Vault 33 apart is that it’s connected to two other Vaults, 32 and 31. Every three years, the Vault populations reconnect and trade members in a marriage ceremony that’s meant to prevent inbreeding. Vault-Tec really thought things through, but even though life in 33 is peaceful and safe, it’s part of a darker story.
Vault 32
The people in Vault 32 presumably lived similar lives to everyone in 33. They farmed, maintained the Vault, and learned new skills to get ready for Reclamation Day. Somewhere along the line, the people in Vault 32 figured out what Vault 31 was using them for, and they rebelled against the experiment. That clearly didn’t work out because by the time we see the inside of the vault, everyone in it is already dead.
Vault 31
Vault 31 is where Hank’s from, but it’s actually just a secret cryo-storage facility for Vault-Tec executives. For over 200 years, Vault-Tec’s top brass have been thawing themselves out one-at-a-time and ruling over Vaults 32 and 33, which are basically just breeding pools for the Vault-Tec execs. We know that, before the war, Vault-Tec planned for its leaders to outlive all of their competition, but the finer details of that plan are still something of a mystery.
Vault 4
The experiment in Vault 4 involved scientists using genetic modifications to transform the human body – though it looks like they only made it as far as adding ears and noses to places they shouldn’t be and creating a man with one eye. Compared to the other vaults, Vault 4 had way more contact with the outside world. It was so well acquainted with the wasteland that it took in refugees from Shady Sands when they needed a new home. By the time the show begins, the people of Shady Sands and the residents of Vault 4 have formed one community that provides some peace to everyone, educates children, and offers medical assistance to wasteland wanderers.
Vault-Tec easter eggs
We don’t see any other vaults in the show, but the season finale reveals that Vault-Tec sold vaults to other powerful companies that wanted to run their own experiments. A representative from Big MT suggests a vault that’s purposefully overcrowded to force residents to compete for survival. REPCONN wants to have a vault governed by a robot. West-Tek has plans for a vault that works to create “a super mutant soldier.” We also hear about a vault with psychedelic drugs in the air and another designed to run tests on children.
Those experiments sound an awful lot like Vault 27, Vault 51, Vault 87, Vault 106, and Vault 75, some of which we’ve actually gotten to visit in the games. The horror of the faults has always been a key part of the series, and the show calls out some of the worst vaults there ever were.
