How The Fallout TV Show’s Vault 32 and Vault 33 Are Connected

Everyone’s favorite post-apocalyptic video game series is finally on television, and it didn’t disappoint. Fans have eagerly anticipated Prime’s adaptation of Bethesda’s Fallout video game series since its announcement. Ten years ago, there would be some cause for concern, since video game adaptations weren’t previously known for their successful translations in cinema. However, Super Mario Bros. and The Last of Us, among others, changed all of that.

Vaults are a big part of the Fallout games, with nearly every protagonist originating from one. Fallout: New Vegas broke the mold, making the main character a simple courier who was already living above ground. But even New Vegas had players venture into vaults, where they learned about sinister experiments conducted deep under the wasteland that didn’t paint Vault-Tec in the greatest light. While there was a lot to be excited about in the premiere of Prime Video’s Fallout series, seeing the vaults brought to life was one of the most anticipated aspects. The show introduced a few vaults, including Vault 4 right outside downtown Los Angeles. However, the most explored were Vaults 31, 32, and 33.

This article contains spoilers for Fallout season 1

Vaults 32 and 33 are Connected

Viewers of Prime’s Fallout series became most familiar with Vault 33, Lucy MacLean’s home before she ventured into the wasteland to rescue her father. It seems to be a normal vault where residents live out their lives. They grow corn, eat jello cake, and fulfill specific roles within the vault. However, unlike other vaults introduced in the Fallout franchise, Vault 33 is connected to Vault 32. 32 is another vault where residents have roles to fill, such as teachers, engineers, and gatekeepers, and they all live their lives like normal.

Vaults 32 and 33 regularly trade goods and marry off residents. One resident from Vault 32 will marry somebody from Vault 33 or vice versa, and the new couple will settle into one of the two vaults together. This practice keeps residents from reproducing with their relatives. Occasionally, a member of Vault 31 will join one of the other two vaults and marry a resident as well. They also always end up becoming Overseer without exception. Residents of 32 and 33 view dwellers from 31 as superior, almost as if it is bred into them.

That’s because it is bred into them. From a catchy campaign slogan to their preference for jello cake, everything is by design to serve Vault 31.

When things look glum, vote 31.

What About Vault 31?

Vaults 32 and 33 are only two-thirds of the triumvirate of vaults featured in Prime’s Fallout series. The third side of the triangle is Vault 31, where Betty, Stephanie, and Lucy’s dad come from. Norm and Cousin Chet eventually pick up on a pattern that’s been right in front of the vault-dwellers in 33 since its inception: Every Overseer of the Vault has come from Vault 31. Despite holding an open election for a new Overseer after Hank was kidnapped, Vault 33 still ended up with a dweller from 31 as their Overseer.

After the dwellers cleaned up the mess in Vault 32 and were sent to live in it, Betty assigned Stephanie, another Vault 31 native, as their Overseer. While Chet chickens out and chooses not to follow Norm down the rabbit hole he discovered, Norm opts to follow through with the investigation. As the adage goes: “If I had a nickel for every time this happened, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice.” Norm knew something was afoot when he realized every Overseer had been a former resident of Vault 31.

While everyone is saying their goodbyes to the departing dwellers, Norm sneaks off to the Overseer’s office to make contact with Vault 31. He uses his hacking skills, a nice reference to the Fallout games, to break into the computer and speak with whom he believes is Vault 31’s Overseer. Pretending to be Betty and claiming to be compromised, Norm receives an invitation to the mysterious Vault 31. However, it’s nothing like what he imagined.

Come to find out, the residents of Vault 31 are cryogenically frozen (similar to the main character of Fallout 4). To make matters weirder, the vault’s “Overseer” is a glass-encased brain attached to a Roomba, who is more than willing to divulge all the secrets of the three vaults. The brain, as it turns out, is what remains of Bud Askins, a senior junior vice president of the Vault-Tec Corporation.

The three vaults, as Bud explains to Norm, are part of an experiment devised by Bud. While each vault throughout the United States was also part of an experiment, Vaults 31, 32, and 33, were specifically designed to breed residents loyal to Vault-Tec. Bud’s-Buds is what he calls them. Bud handpicked the residents of Vault 31, who were all junior-level Vault-Tec executives from before the bombs dropped. He also filled Vaults 32 and 33 with residents who displayed favorable genetic markers.

The plan was to send these Vault-Tec loyalists to the surface when surface-dwellers died off, allowing Vault-Tec to shape the world in its image. Hank Maclean had Shady Sands bombed because it presented too much competition for Vault-Tec.