Fallout season 3's weirdest twist is already hiding in plain sight

And it might not be all that super

Fallout season 2 ended by reuniting some fan-favorite characters, while sending others off on a new adventure away from New Vegas and the upcoming war to travel to other corners of the Wasteland. Like, perhaps, Utah?

However, not everyone got a clean ending in Fallout season 2, and we’re concerned about one fan-favorite character in particular: What the hell is going on with Thaddeus?

[Ed. note: Spoilers ahead for all Fallout season 2.]

Is Thaddeus really a ghoul in Fallout season 2?

Ever since Fallout began, Thaddeus (Johnny Pemberton) has had a rough go at it. He’s first introduced as a fellow aspirant of the Brotherhood of Steel alongside Maximus (Aaron Moten), but unlike Maximus’s more gentlehearted demeanor, Thaddeus is a relentless bully. When Maximus takes on the persona of Knight Titus, Thaddeus (believing Maximus to be dead) becomes his squire, and the two men bond along the way.

However, things take a turn for the worse for Thaddeus once he learns Maximus is impersonating a knight. He turns on his brother, but ends up getting his foot mangled in the process. Thankfully, a traveling merchant provides Thaddeus with an aerosol-like serum that cures him… only for Thaddeus to discover that it’s also causing him to mutate into what he and Maximus believe to be a ghoul. He no longer needs to eat, radiation doesn’t bother him, and getting shot in the neck doesn’t kill him. Strictly speaking, it sounds exactly like the beginnings of a ghoul transformation, and, considering the Brotherhood of Steel hunts ghouls down for sport, Thaddeus is forced to flee.

Jump to Fallout season 2, and Thaddeus’s fortunes do not look like they’re getting any better. After joining Maximus on his quest to head to the city of New Vegas to give the cold fusion device to Lucy MacClean (Ella Purnell), it’s revealed that Thaddeus’s mutations have gone beyond what one would expect for a ghoul. He’s grown an extra mouth just below his neck by the time of the Fallout season 2 finale, and he suddenly loses an arm. Though not given a definite answer by the Ghoul (Walton Goggins), the perturbed look he receives implies that whatever Thaddeus is mutating into, it’s likely not a ghoul.

What is the Forced Evolutionary Virus?

It hasn’t been confirmed what exactly Thaddeus is mutating into. That said, we do have some ideas, and it all leads back to the discovery Norm MacLean (Moisés Arias) makes while exploring the abandoned Vault-Tec headquarters.

While looking for answers about what “Future Enterprise Ventures” is and its connection to Vaults 32 and 33, Norm discovers Barbara Howard's (Frances Turner) terminal, who was in charge of Vault proposals. On the terminal, he uncovers an acronym that fans of the Fallout games will immediately recognize: FEV, which stands for Forced Evolutionary Virus. Before he can learn the higher-ups' plans for Vaults 31, 32, and 33, Norm is apprehended.

Even so, Fallout fans will know that the arrival of FEV spells trouble. The Forced Evolutionary Virus is intended for biological warfare against the humans left in the Wasteland and has appeared in most Fallout games, where it's usually wielded as a superweapon by various factions, including the Enclave. In the original Fallout, a cybernetic FEV mutant named Master uses the virus to create super mutants to bolster his army. In Fallout 4, the Institute uses its failing FEV project (which also turned humans into super mutants) to support its research into creating the next generation of synthetic humanoids. Any failed projects were then left to run loose on the Wasteland.

However, FEV doesn’t just mean transforming humans into super mutants — there are also other genetically modified creatures, such as centaurs (a combination of human, dog, and whatever else) and psykers (humans who have been mutated to have psychic powers).

What does FEV mean for Thaddeus in Fallout season 3?

While none of the aforementioned mutations sound particularly like what’s happening with Thaddeus — for one thing, he can’t move things with his mind — there’s a good chance that he’ll become a hybrid creature, rather than just becoming a ghoul. As we mentioned, the Ghoul doesn’t look like he recognizes any of the signs of ghoul mutation on Thaddeus, and he’s surprisingly tight-lipped when Thaddeus asks whether his mutations are normal for ghoulification.

Whether Fallout season 3 will address Thaddeus’ situation hasn’t been confirmed, but it appears likely considering the mention of FEV on Barbara Howard’s terminal, as well as the arrival of Ron Perlman’s super mutant.

The biggest indicator that we’ll get some answers on whether Thaddeus has contracted with some sort of FEV contagion comes from Steph Harper (Annabel O'Hagan), the overseer of Vault 32. Last we saw her in the second season, Steph had just finished reaching out to the Enclave to initiate the second phase of the Future Enterprise Ventures program for the three vaults. If residents of vaults 31, 32, and 33 start losing limbs and growing new mouths, we’ll know for sure what sort of road Thaddeus (and the poor suckers in those vaults) are heading down in Fallout season 3 — and it won’t be all that super.

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All episodes of Fallout season 2 are now streaming on Prime Video.