From The Vault

Canon, not cannon!

Fallout canon are the things considered to be an official part of the Fallout universe.

Canon disputes

Because each game of the Fallout series was created by a different development team and the plot and dialogues were created by mostly different people each time around, there are numerous inconsistencies between them and the canonicity of each game is a point of contention between various Fallout fans. For example, in case of inconsistency between games, some fans might consider newer entries in the series to override the older ones, while others might consider the original lore to still be "true" and inconsistencies to be mistakes on the part of the later titles' developers. Even various developers of one game might disagree on what holds true in the games' setting: for example, Tim Cain and Chris Taylor have different views on the origins of ghouls.

Bethesda canon

Since the acquisition of the Fallout franchise by Bethesda Softworks and their development of Fallout 3, it is Bethesda that defines the official canon. However, many Fallout fans prefer the Fallout canon as it was defined by various developers working on previous Fallout games, even if they also contradicted each other at times.

It should be noted, that thus far Bethesda has not officially ruled on what is canon and what is not. Most of the information on their take is from Fallout 3 in-game material.

Canon works

• Fallout and Fallout 2 are canon according to Bethesda, as Fallout 3 incorporates the majority of the back story of Fallout and Fallout 2.
• Fallout 3 is Bethesda's production, therefore part of Bethesda's Fallout canon, as are all other games and supplementary materials released by Bethesda, unless stated otherwise.

Semi-canon and non-canon works

• Fallout Tactics is considered semi-canon: major events are canon, but some details are not. As part of the Fallout Tactics release, Fallout: Warfare has the same level of canonicity.
• Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel is not considered canon in any way.
• While Van Buren is not officially canon, some elements were incorporated in Fallout 3 and its add-ons.