What Is Thaddeus Turning Into In Fallout Season 2? We Have Some Thoughts

Fallout season 2 is picking up the pace as it nears its finale. Quite a bit happened in episode 7, "The Handoff," but even among Cooper delivering "infinite power" to the President of the United States and Lucy's discovery of Diana's severed head in the basement of Hank's lab, Thaddeus' arm falling off might be one of the episode's most notable developments.

Up to this point, Thaddeus has largely functioned as a point of levity and comic relief, from stumbling around in Power Armor to delivering hilarious lines like "most kids are dead by this age!" But the reveals in "The Handoff" suggest that he may be turning into something we haven't yet seen on the TV series. If that's true, Thaddeus is facing a very dark future.

What's Happening To Thaddeus In Fallout Season 2, Episode 7

Throughout much of "The Handoff," Thaddeus attempted to bond with the disinterested Ghoul over their shared fate. At one point, he pulls his shirt aside to reveal some sort of mutation on his shoulder that looks like a functioning mouth. Thaddeus didn't seem too worried about it, and because so much is possible in the Wasteland, it's unclear at first how significant this really is.

But in hindsight, the Ghoul's reaction is certainly an indicator that Thaddeus is not what he seems. This is confirmed moments before the trio's confrontation with the Deathclaw nest on the New Vegas Strip, as Thaddeus is forced to sit out the fight when his arm falls off entirely.

Thaddeus' Transformation Could Tie Back To The FEV

There's really no telling what the Snake Oil Salesman gave Thaddeus back in season 1. Given the show's focus on FEV (Forced Evolutionary Virus), it's likely that Thaddeus, who has long seemed like a tangential character, is experiencing something that will end up being an important piece of lore for the show's world.

FEV holistically alters a being's DNA, allowing it to be modified. It's a pre-war technology that effectively weaponized evolution. Known for being responsible for the creation of Super Mutants, its a major reason that signs are pointing towards the Enclave as Fallout's "big bad".

Is Thaddeus Turning Into A Centaur?

This outcome would quickly turn Thaddeus' story into a tragedy, but there are a few pieces of evidence that support this idea. Fallout's centaurs are an FEV concoction resulting from the combination of several different creatures. At first glance, this may sound like an unlikely fate for Thaddeus — but again, who's to say that the Snake Oil Salesman didn't give him an FEV cocktail that included the genetic information of other animals?

Centaurs are very strange, pink four-legged creatures with no normal arms. Thaddeus' shoulder mouth, aesthetically, is in keeping with the look of a centaur, as is the loss of his arms altogether. In the Fallout games, centaurs are completely feral and often seen alongside Super Mutants — who have just been introduced in Fallout season 2.

However, there are other possibilities. Harold, a character in the early Fallout games, was exposed to FEV and experienced ghoul-like mutations rather than turning into a Super Mutant. He also lost an arm, made peace with his appearance, befriended children and his fellow deformed, and was often a source of levity — until a tree grew out of his head and ultimately took over his entire body.

A tree probably won't grow out of Thaddeus' head, but Harold goes to show that FEV is unpredictable. Thaddeus might be turning into a Centaur, but he may also be transforming into something that Fallout has never seen before. Let's hope the season 2 finale brings some answers.