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You can’t have nice things in Fallout, and while ghouls are practically immortal, just as the Amazon Fallout series has portrayed, they are also practically zombies. The Amazon Fallout series has shed more light on these mutated creatures in the Fallout universe and even made one of the main characters a ghoul (who’s aptly named The Ghoul). It’s high time we dissect and unearth the inner workings of ghouls in Fallout… figuratively.
But What are Ghouls in Fallout?
They’re more or less the resident zombies (no pun intended, I swear) of the Fallout universe, but with more nuance and deeper lore behind them. Ghouls have varying degrees of decay and transformation in the Fallout games and in the Fallout show.
Some of them have mutations that have progressed to the point where they have lost their human sensibilities and minds and have turned into ravenous, flesh-eating creatures. These are the more zombified feral ghouls. Meanwhile, some ghouls have managed to keep the mutation at bay and retain their humanity and sentience.
However, despite ghoul variations, all ghouls in Fallout have a distinct appearance. They look like living decayed corpses. Some have their skins burned and singed by radiation. The level of radiation they absorb generally determines how bad they look.
Some ghouls who have absorbed too much radiation can glow and irradiate everyone around them.
The Positives of Being a Ghoul
Still, ghouls do have a long list of benefits as a trade-off for their decayed appearance:
- Ghouls can regenerate wounds and injuries almost instantly– the ones they obtain after their ghoul transformation.
- This gives ghouls an indefinite lifespan and functional immortality.
- Ghouls also don’t need as much food, water, and medicine as regular humans.
- Most ghouls have a high tolerance to drugs and require at least a double dose.
- They either have higher resistance to radiation or are completely immune.
- They were able to rebuild civilization right after the Great War.
- Centuries of experience and knowledge (the ones they retain, of course).
Some ghouls even set up their own exclusive community for non-feral Ghouls, such as the Necropolis in Vault 12 or Underworld in Capital Wasteland (Fallout 3), to escape human discrimination (due to fear of turning feral). However, these communities are just glorified social groups and are stagnant since ghouls cannot reproduce.
How are Ghouls Made?
Amazon’s Fallout show laid some hard retcons about ghoul lore and the ‘ghoulification’ process, unlike the games. In Season 1, a normal human could just drink some kind of suspicious serum and turn into a ghoul. But this isn’t the only way to turn into a ghoul.
Ghoulification, as per the game’s lore, is mainly caused by Gamma radiation exposure. That means there’s typically no need for a serum.
All a person has to do to get a chance to turn into a ghoul is to either constantly bask in radiation or instantly expose themselves to a heavy amount. Thus, the serum that Squire Thaddeus drank in the show is likely a concentrated dose of irradiated liquid.
But not everyone can turn into a ghoul, of course. The plot appears to determine the selectiveness. Most humans will simply die and melt from the inside out after being exposed to radiation. Otherwise, Fallout players and other wasteland survivors could just turn into ghouls.
Moreover, not all ghouls who undergo the process can retain their minds– some unfortunate ones instantly turn feral. Feralization appears to occur randomly in some cases. Certain theories point to feralization as the result of a lack of socialization or human company.
The Fallout show also sheds some light on feralization where ghouls who failed to take some kind of medicine will turn feral. The Ghoul, one of the show’s main characters, managed to stave off feralization by consuming at least one vial of the aforementioned medicine for 200 years.
How Long Do Ghouls Live in Fallout?
Since the Fallout show is the latest in the Fallout timeline and it takes place 219 years after the Great War, the oldest ghoul has a current upper limit of 219+ years of age (added to their pre-war age).
The Ghoul, formerly Cooper Howard, is one of the oldest among them. He’s a pre-war actor and war veteran who failed to hide in a Vault during the nuclear blasts and thus became a ghoul.
Since Cooper appears to be at least in his 40s or 50s before the Great War bombs dropped, he could easily be around 260-270 years old by the Fallout show’s timeline (2296).
There are others like him, though– pre-war humans who have managed to live well into the Fallout games’ timeline through voluntary and willing ghoulification such as:
- Desmond Lockheart (Fallout 3) is more or less 250 years old and worked as a spy pre-war.
- Eddie Winter (Fallout 4) is a pre-war crime boss who now lives in Boston and is probably older than The Ghoul.
- Perhaps some of the feral or glowing ghouls are just as old or slightly older.
It’s not clear if Cooper Howard voluntarily became a ghoul like Desmond Lockheart or Eddie Winter, but seeing as Cooper had the goal of locating his family in mind, it’s a possibility.
Regardless of how the Amazon Fallout series further tweaks the ghoul lore canon, expect to see more of them in Fallout Season 2 and future Fallout games. They are a staple of the Fallout mythos, and the malleability of their lore paves the way for interesting characters and memorable stories.
