Warning! This article contains spoilers for Fallout season 1.

Summary

• Fallout Season 1 on Amazon Prime introduces Dogmeat with a potential origin story for the various game versions, adding depth to the iconic video game companion.
• Various versions of Dogmeat across Fallout games are potentially explained in the show, with the Enclave mass breeding dogs maybe providing a reason for their recurring presence.
• The series includes Easter eggs like a reference to Fallout 4's Dogmeat, highlighting the interconnected universe of the franchise.

The Fallout's nuclear apocalypse story. Throughout the main games, and now Prime Video's Fallout season 1, the franchise has become filled with extensive lore, great stories, and a cast of fantastic characters.

By the time of Fallout's various factions. Aside from these, Fallout includes an iconic video game character, presenting them with an origin story 27 years after their franchise debut.

Fallout Season 1 Gives Dogmeat An Origin Story

The lovable canine companion from several Fallout games receives an origin story in Prime Video's show.

The character in question is Dogmeat, a canine companion that has featured in varying capacities in every single mainline Fallout video game. In Fallout season 1, another version of Dogmeat is included, initially beginning as the companion of Doctor Wilzig. Eventually, Dogmeat finds himself in the care of The Ghoul, emulating the player character's companion from games such as Fallout 3 and Fallout 4.

All episodes of Fallout season 1 are now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Interestingly, the various Fallout games take place in different periods and locations, throwing into question how Dogmeat can recur throughout the Wasteland. While some design choices indicate that not every version of Dogmeat is the same, some of them look incredibly similar to the point where the character has become an iconic returning inclusion in each game. As it turns out, Fallout season 1 may have provided a possible answer, or at least an Easter egg, as to how Dogmeat can constantly reappear across time and space.

These dogs are bred on a mass scale, which could provide reasoning as to why so many appear in the various Fallout games, sometimes thousands of miles and decades apart.

In Fallout episode 2, Doctor Wilzig's work with the Enclave is briefly shown. Wilzig is shown breeding puppies, branding them with numbers, and even raising one who goes on to become a companion of The Ghoul. As was made clear in Fallout episode 2, these dogs are bred on a mass scale, which could provide reasoning as to why so many appear in the various Fallout games, sometimes thousands of miles and decades apart. While this does not provide a definitive origin story for any individual version of Dogmeat, it could explain why dogs are recurring companions of Fallout characters.

Dogmeat’s Fallout Game History Explained

Dogmeat's role in the Fallout game franchise is extensive.

Concerning the Dogmeat character within the Fallout games, the first version appeared in 1997's Fallout. This dog can be recruited as a companion to the player character if the latter chooses to intervene when the former is terrorizing a local man. In 1998's Fallout 2, the same version of Dogmeat appears and can again be recruited by the player character, but only if they are wearing a jumpsuit from Vault 13. A different version of Dogmeat then appears in 2008's Fallout 3 and can again be recruited as a companion.

Fallout 4 included yet another variant of Dogmeat when the game was released in 2015. This version of Dogmeat is also a companion of the player character, only this time as an essential character, meaning they cannot be killed. Interestingly, the versions of Dogmeat in Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 are found in Washington D.C. and Massachusetts respectively. This proves they are different versions of Dogmeat from the one in Fallout and Fallout 2, as these games take place in California.

Fallout: New Vegas, released in 2010, does not include Dogmeat, but instead a canine companion called Rex. However, despite the lack of Dogmeat in the game, the possible origin story of the companion in the Fallout TV show may explain why. During Fallout: New Vegas' spot in the Fallout timeline, the Enclave has largely been driven out of the Mojave area. As such, it would make sense why dogs similar to Dogmeat are not found in this game but are in others of the Fallout franchise.

Fallout Season 1 Has An Easter Egg To Fallout 4’s Dogmeat

Fallout season 1, episode 7 repeats the player character's first interaction with Dogmeat from Fallout 4.

While Fallout season 1 could possibly outline an origin for versions of Dogmeat, it makes a more explicit reference to one specific variant. In Fallout episode 7, Dogmeat is shown briefly traveling with Thaddeus. Fed up with the dog following him, Thaddeus places Dogmeat in a container in a Red Rocket gas station. Later in the episode, The Ghoul finds Dogmeat and frees him, leading the latter to begin following the former.

This directly references Fallout 4. At the beginning of the game, the player character can find a Red Rocket gas station not far from Vault 111. This location is where the player encounters Dogmeat for the first time, meaning Fallout season 1 has directly referenced this. Despite the similarities, the two versions of Dogmeat are very different. The one from the Fallout TV show is found in California, set nine years after Fallout 4, rendering this scene nothing more than a neat Easter egg to an iconic video game companion.