Usually the Ghoul(Cooper Howard) is calm and confident in any situation but when he sees Hank again in the final episode(asks about his family) you can see his hands shaking in rage. A great piece of acting and an awesome detail for the character.

Hank Maclean: The whole world must learn our peaceful ways by force

Actually the NCR (Shady Sands) is founded by people who originated from Vault 15, so Hank nuked decedents of a vault, which he may not have known.

he’s the complete opposite of James in Fallout 3, imagine going out of the vault and find out that your dad blew up Megaton

Remember, Betty stated they "buried" their mom. But when they are taking the dead when they are cleaning up, it's to the compost room... If Rose had "died in the plague" they would have sent her body to be composted, not buried.

I love how Lucy and Coop ended up together at the end of the season as traveling companions, cause really Coop taught Lucy what the waste land is all about in the short time they were together, and I think Lucy showed him that maybe there is still good in the waste land.

Every time I see that guy get his gashed open face dunked into pickle juice, I cant help but think how much that would sting, holy moly

I do think that Hank loves his daughter more than Vault Tec considering he was going to let Steph die to save Lucy which would’ve cost VT an entire generation’s Overseer.

Note that Mr. House is the only one who doesn't dismiss surface dwellers, with his "Rats in a cage" quip.

Notice how Hank kills Monty....whacks him on the head with a shovel, then shoves Montys face (with a large open wound) into a pickle barrel ensuring the Raider suffered as he drowned. You know Hank had killed before. Especially when compared to when Lucy kills her first ghoul in the Super Duper Mart.

If there's a redemption arc, it's for the Ghoul. I just get the feeling that's what they're leaning towards, especially with the old Mexican eulogy: "Feo, fuerte y formal'. Ugly, strong, and dignified.

Hank: THE WORLD MUST BE MANAGED BY VAULT-TEC! Also Hank: *Nukes a city founded by Vault Dwellers using Vault-Tec technology that Vault-Tec provided them with.* Edit: What in God's name is this thread?

Oh yeah. They didn't have apples in Vault 33. But young Lucy was holding an apple

He doesn't get a lot of screen time but I did like his character a lot honestly. Blowing up Shady Sands just because it was proof that life could survive after the apocalypse without the involvement of Vault Tec. Wonder if he is going to do the same to Vegas XD

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS VIDEO!!!! I hadn't put together the famine/cover up yet- Brilliant! Also, what do you think about the ANGER Hank embodies when Rose chooses to leave and stay *with Moldover*? I find it fascinating. Like, Hank could have just taken the kids, he probably could have convinced Betty that total obliteration wasn't necessary. He likely would even have realized, with time, that Shady Sands was at least partly founded by Vault Dwellers. But the fact that HIS Rose would choose to stay - to abandon her children - when ultimately her purpose is to Be A Mother appears to be simply a bridge too far for him. (After all, they are Breeding Stock. Susan's treatment of Barry and Chet illustrate that well enough.) I'm so impressed with Kyle Mclaughlin's ability to communicate SO MUCH with so little performance time 🥰🥰🥰

I first got suspicious about Hank when Lucy said they should return the core to Vault 4 because her dad would be horrified if she hurt others to save him. But that's exactly what he did with Lucy - he chose her over the vault dwellers during the raid. Combined with the "there's what people say they did, and what they actually did", it put some red flags up for me. I'd thought it was going to be a thing where Lucy had to realize the morals her dad actually has don't match the ones he taught her. Technically I was right, but I thought it was going to be something like that he had hurt Vault 32 to help his family or something, nothing like the level that it was. I haven't seen anybody talk about that line from Lucy yet, but I thought it was great writing and excellent foreshadowing.

Even terrible people can have a few good aspects to them. I loved how they did that with Hank. Some villains with a heart like this, it's like the good parts are tacked on or the bad parts amplified beyond reason just to justify fighting them. Hank, it actually feels believable and very much like a corporate leader.

I don't play the game but I loved this series. This made me understand Hank more, and I'm so excited to see what happens in the next season!

That moment when you realize that changing the name of something was successful in changing someone's impression of that something. Executive Assistant is not some kind of high up management position... heck, it's not even middle management. It is what secretaries started calling themselves so that people wouldn't think of them as being... well, secretaries. And executive assistant is literally the assistant to an executive, or multiple of such. Bud's Buds were literally the gophers of the business world.

Once I saw this show come out, I just knew we were going to get more of your content! And I’m so glad this community is growing back. Used to watch your old vids- good to be back

You can really tell that, like he said, the Creators favorite Fallout game is Fallout 3, as despite taking place in California, the Show draws inspiration from story events in Fallout 3 more than anything: A functioning Vault society, a prominent Vault Dweller with a Child having a mysterious past outside the Vault and being forced to leave, their child has to track them down, the Enclave is involved (although in the show they have a much smaller role), the Show expands on the “Vault Tek dropped the Bombs” theory which started with Fallout 3 after players noticed a symbol resembling Vault Tek on Megatons Bomb, the Brotherhood is after a piece of technology which will grant them supremacy in the region, the Great Game first mentioned in Point Lookout is elaborated…any else I missed?

Why I agree with you that Hank did not know if Moldaver would or would not kill the vault dwellers but he knew she was better than him at least at one point in her life. This could make saving his daughter a risk that would not result in the death of a vault dweller from 31. I will say that not killing them is smart , it changes how certain vault dwellers will see Hank. I would love to see if the vault rumor mill going flying cause I know a certain vault dweller will not keep quiet about Hank.

On the chalk board the arrow did not stop at the year 2277, but continued to the nuclear explosion image. 2277 was just when Shady Sands started it’s downfall, the NCR’s costly victory in defending Hoover Dam against the Legion likely was very much related. Also let’s not forget about Vault-Tec’s master, the Enclave (who is likely behind everything evil Vault-Tec did).

I do believe that Hank loves his daughter in some fashion but I don't think there's any redemption for him. He knew what Vault Tec was doing and went along with it and when he realized they were wrong he nuked Shady Sands. A person with any shred of morality would never nuke an entire city like that. Plus when his daughter finally shows up and realizes the truth he starts trying to justify his insane actions instead of thinking that hey maybe I was wrong and hey maybe I shouldn't have nuked an entire city because I was mad at my wife.

Seeing this pop up on youtube just made my weekend a whole lot better. TY

Theres no redemption arc for hank… he went to new Vegas for a reason and hes gunna come back to raise hell imo

Oxhorn, this is your most well written profile so far. The others have been excellent. However, your exploration of radicalization via Hank and Vaultec is fantastic. Well done sir. 👏

I feel the real reason why Hank chose to save Lucy was his pride and vanity because he believed that she would go to save him. If she did it would heavily inflate his ego as his own flesh and blood who he also taught was the one who saved him. In addition her saving him works really well with the vault belief of trying to breed a group of very good resourceful people and that is has been successful

Hank Maclean, living proof that the pre-war world was not a kinder place. If it was, then why is the world a wasteland?

I'd put his Intelligence a bit higher. If he did destroy Shady Sands in the way that left that crater, then he probably tinkered with a Fusion Core or two to make that happen (Unless Shady Sands had a nuke in the basement I don't know about), and that would put his Science stat quite high.

Can you imagine finding out that your whole life's work, all the sacrifices you made, all the terrible things you maybe done in the name of something greater was all BS? It's gotta break your brain.

I’d argue that being subject to radicalization has nothing to do with intelligence. Many very intelligent scientists were part of some very horrible groups throughout history. In universe, some super mutants are highly intelligent but were still radicalized by The Master. I’d say that Hank had a very high intelligence stat. I think the closest to wisdom that fallout gets to is perception, which I agree that he probably didn’t score too high on

What do I think of Hank McClean? Monster. Plain and simple. You don't just reverse radicalisation. Something like that is drilled into you over time. It would take a lot to de-radicalise someone. A process that takes TIME. Something that Vault-Tec had plenty of before the war. I just don't see Hank McClean as being redeemed at all. Leopards after all don't change their spots. No matter how hard they try.

That last ep had me in tears. Lucy finding out the truth and realizing the ghoul that was sitting at the table was her mother broke my heart. What a plot twist and tbh I can't wait for the next season so we can find out what happened with The Ghoul's family

BTW, your "Character Profile" videos are INCREDIBLE and I think they are poor golden-pieces for this TV show I hope Todd Howard watches all of them!.. He obviously knows you... You just search "Fallout" and its you... That's why he was so nervous at Filly (: Its just that 3% bias I mentioned in a first comment. But this format of videos are incredible and should be canon pieces for the TV show They show how you are really good at this. Cheers!!

I still think it is possible that we will see Moldaver again in the form of a clone. Moldaver did not strike me as someone who would put all her eggs in one basket, and she was Killed off too quickly for someone that the waisteland revered like a god. The fact that the residents of vault 4 practically worship her tells me she will make another appearance in the series. Like there are multiple copies of her. I think it is possible that a copy died at Shadysands and when she resurfaced the survivors thought of her as being god like. Anyway its just a theory of mine. I don't think she survived through cryo because she was against Vaultec. Cryo was a Vaultec technology.

Civilization did return to the wasteland and it _WAS_ thanks to Vault-Tec. The original people of Shady Sands were the people who had left Vault 15, and made a life for themselves after generations of living in that Vault-Tec Vault. Of course it didn't go smoothly. As part of the social experiment conducted by Vault-Tec, the vault population was ensured to be a mix of radically diverse ideologies in order to gain data on their interactions and potential failure over the 50 years the vault was planned to stay sealed. As the years went by, the conditions within the Vault deteriorated. Population control was not implemented properly and by 2097, the Vault was overcrowded, with correspondingly bad living conditions. Conflict was imminent, and in spring, the situation exploded. The dwellers that left the Vault would eventually form distinct communities. The most significant of these was the village of Shady Sands, created with Vault 15's GECK. The rest banded into raider tribes (the Khans, Jackals and Vipers). So, Hank destroyed a successful example of Vault-Tec civilizing the wastelands because it happened _earlier_ than his vault did it, and because _he_ wasn't the one responsible._ This shows the inherent flaw in management, (both in game and in the real world.) Management has to believe that they are always right, _especially_ if they are very, very wrong, because if they ever believed they weren't "always right" they wouldn't stay managers and the work they managed would become of a higher quality, hold a higher value, and not cause harm to either their employees, customers or the environment.

20:14 Damn! Ox spitting the damn truth on what's going on the world right now.

I don't care what the show says, they kidnapped Hank to deal with stand worms.

Finding out what Hank did at the end broke my heart. He lied to his own daughter, thinking what he was doing was right but only in the name of Vault-Tec. Poor Rose 😢

Been trying to find this background music! Can you tell me the name/artist at around 25:50 please!

Have a great weekend everyone!

I think the “Plague of 77” is less referring to when Hank destroyed Shady Sands but more when Rose left with Lucy and Norm and subsequently Hank and Betty left to go look for her, they likely spent years looking all over the Californian wasteland as they didn’t know she was in Shady Sands until they actually went there so possibly the reason that so many people starved wasn’t because there was an actual plague but because they were locked in their rooms and couldn’t leave and some people ran out of food as it’d be pretty hard to fake people starving when everyone knows everyone else.

Oh Ox I so love watching your videos. Your soothing voice. Just great brother. Keep on keep on

Damn, how did Dale Cooper become an overseer?

Great Video my guy! Cooper Howard video when?

Vault-Tec would see Shady Sands as a legitimate target. It was created using stolen Vault-Tec equipment with a Cold Fusion reactor, the G.E.C.K., it's the entire plot of Fallout 2.

Dudes been making fallout videos since I was 11. I’m now nearly 20, getting a computer science degree to hopefully work on these games. You’re legend dude, keep it up.

I think you do Hank a lot of favors by saying he's radicalized. To me, his actions and motivations read as selfish, controlling and abusive. He must have control over what is his, he must have power. It lines up with the terrible things he does to shady sands, his wife, and his vault, and even allows the wiggle room he has shown his daughter so far: she comes from him, so she is an extention of him. I also don't see him being as charismatic as he comes off in the start. He looks like a good leader, of course he does. He and Buds buds have full control over whatever threats occur in the vault (which is how they all tend to 'vote 31,' as misfortune seems to strike in ways that allow someone from 31 to lead with confidence). But when something happens out of his control? He fails. Fails to read Muldaver and the raiders. Fails to convince his wife. Fails to sway Lucy. Buds buds are an absolute joke. A group of middle managers who believe they know best, when they are empty suits with puffed up titles. Vaults 32 and 33 are the accurate end result of their perfect management: a bunch of passive yes men who come up with ideas like 'what if we teach the raiders about Shakespeare.'

Watching this makes me realise how much your voice reminds me of Tale Foundry. Quite pleasant to listen to while working

Your narration is always immaculate

oxhorn should be a teacher the way he speaks i feel like im learning

Dude definitely sticks to his guns. 😂 Also, what kind of psychopaths would leave Rose in that state? Bound, feral, and likely in indescribable pain. Psychopaths.

Calling it now. Hank McLean is redeemed by the second last episode of season 2, but it’s not due to him being de-radicalised. I think there will be a situation where he has to choose between Vault-Tec, and ultimately he will decide to choose his family this time, unfortunately he dies in the process. I think the most likely end point will be a confrontation between Hank, Lucy, The Ghoul and Barb/Daughter. I think Barb/Daughter tries to kill Lucy, The Ghoul is unable to act due to his familial ties, and ultimately Hank ends up killing Barb/Daughter and The Ghoul kills Hank in revenge. Yeah, it’s cliche. But it would give Hank a solid redemption, it would end The Ghouls search for his family as well as adding potential tension to Lucy and The Ghouls friendship. It ties up multiple season 1 storyline’s while opening up potential new ones, which is exactly what you want from a season 2 finale.

I was really shocked that Lucy and the others knew what a raider was. Most Vault-Dwellers aren't aware of any part of the surface.

I hope he meets Mr. and Mrs. Deathclaw in season 2. Also he is the perfect evil character for recent Fallout entries. Yeah not all of us liked NCR but you got to admit what happened to Shady Sands was evil.

This is a little off topic but if Bud's Experiment is to breed the best managers, why does he pair Stephanie up with loser Bert? He doesn't look like he has award-winning genes for her to produce superior manager spawn. Am I wrong? It is just an accident that she ends up with Chet but he seems more likely to produce a strong offspring.

soooo...in a way, Hank MacLean is an example of the term, 'banality of evil'. He is not "evil" because he was "doing his job" according to Vault-Tec's values and expectation. Hence why he loves his family but sees people on the surface, especially Shady Sand as competition to eliminate.

Hank is what I’d call a _Techno-Fascist_ - meaning he was a corporate fascist. The main pillar of fascism is upmost loyalty to the state (Vault-Tec in this instance). He literally was so loyal to this 200 year old idea from an extinct company. Though he didn’t age, he’s smart enough to know the world around him did. He was just _that_ loyal to the company.

I don’t see any possible way they could even attempt a redemption arch after all that he is done. Maybe I’m wrong though, if so that would be truly interesting.

Hawk time oh boy was dreading this but also excited lol

9:43 holy fucking shit! So I was worried through the entire show they’d bean us across the forehead with a curve ball at some point, but my worries were drastically proven wrong!!! Regardless of how much Bethesda tries to fuck up their own lore, I’m confident these show makers can do some pretty kick ass things man!!!!

As a dad to a baby girl, I too would choose my daughter over the rest of the community. Like, I’d pick her before even pretending to rationalize the decision. That’s being a parent. So despite his _very evil karma,_ I sympathize with his decision at the beginning of the show.

It doesn't make sense Lucy would not know the truth regarding Vault-Tec. In order for the management breeding program to work, the descendants need to know they will be future Vault-Tec managers. Otherwise the project will fail when the original Vault-Tec employees die off, and breeding in pointless.

What's it it's like to be a father? Regardless of who's at fault in a family matter. The man takes all the blame. Happy father's day everyone.

Love these videos. It's like the old oxhorn is back

Good analysis, the Fallout series on Amazon is storytelling at it's finest, and illuminates issues we are facing IRL. Thanks for adding your voice. As for Hank, it's the system that's evil - the perfect representation of pure unbridled capitalism: strive to monopolize and justify it after the fact. One could argue that individuals within the system could still be good - but there are always those who resist that system, so those who perpetuate it have no excuse. There is no such thing as plausible deniability.

I disagree, I think Hank's motivation to destroy Shady Sands was because Rose ran off with Moldavor, he even said "she stopped being your mother" when she left with the kids, and he shows no emotion toward feral ghoul Rose. Bud said 33 and 32 were just "breading stock" for his buds, so Hank was enraged by his breading stock leaving him. When Betty told Norm when "clever boys" get angry "you're lucky not to have seen where that can lead"; I don't think she was talking about the Great War, I think she was talking about what Hank did. Even though she later kills the raiders, I still got the sense she was hoping there was another way, but realized the raiders were exactly what Vault-Tec was concerned would be on the surface. Shady Sands was founded by the residents of Vault 15, so even if they weren't meant to be the ones to repopulate the surface, they were still, in a way, Vault-Tec. Hank also didn't target the other cities of the NCR or look for any other civilizations. I also find it hard to believe Hank and Bud had no idea what was happening on the surface in the more than a century since Shady Sands was founded, so according to Bud's plan they should have just waited for the NCR to die out on it's own.

I kind of wonder if hank is going to new vegas just because he's just trying to leave NCR territory, or perhaps just heading to the east coast, or if there is something in the Mojave that he is looking for. Vault-tec didn't have a whole lot of important vaults in the wasteland that weren't failures or blocked off. I think you should really do a video on the end credits scene showing off new vegas, and what that might mean for the canon ending of new vegas. I think that might give us a little more information of what might happen next season.

It's amazing to believe all the vaults in the show survived the master and the enclave.

When Hank is giving his speech at the wedding the other 2 guys vying for vault leadership were standing next to him on the podium giving the impression they were his assistants or advisors, which is likely why when he was gone they tried to claim leadership themselves leading to them and Betty all vying for power until the election happened. I don't think it was disorganized at all as they clearly had a system of elections in place to replace overseers. Great video, always love Ox's lore videos.

It's weird there's so much cannibalism in the show when there's vegetation, water, and living animals. Referring to Cooper and Ox alluding to Hank not having proper food.

This is why very well round antagonists are so important or good stpry telling

Shady Sands had a population of a little under 35,000. Not 100s of thousands. That doesn't make what Hank did any less awful but when we're doing hyper nerdy deep dives on a character details matter.

Lined it up with fathers day nice one

I’m really interested to see who the show makes into the “face” of Vault Tec : the mastermind and leader of the company since that has not been addressed in the games. It’s possible that it’s just the government/enclave but maybe they’ll come up with something new.

I'm loving this series of character studies from the show, keep up the great work!

24:34. Now THATS WISDOM! “It’s easier to track a stuck pig than to ask him where he’s off to.” Yup.

I kinda like that my mags stick when I cant the rifle. When I'm training, I'm usually training for SHTF, in which case I would want to retain my mags in a dump pouch. Never know where/when you'll be able to get hands on more mags, and you can only carry so many extra mags in a backpack. My planned setup (just need a plate carrier,) is 6 30rd mags on my chest, 2 40rd mags on my belt, a 40rd mag in my rifle, and 5 40rd mags in my backpack. That's already a lot of weight, and not a whole lot of magazines.

I think the key to Hank is that he "knows" he's right. Unlike our main trio, who dnt always know what the right thing to do is, he always certain of what the right thing is.

I kind of see Hank as a Post-Game player character from an Evil Playthrough

I have a theory that Betty is the one who dropped the bomb on Shady Sands. I think Hank was upset and told her she set the bomb to fire and he decided to go get his wife, she followed and when Lucy's mom tried to warn everyone Betty killed her and convinced Hank to go along with the lie.

I feel like Hank won't get anything. What he did was so brutal and horrific that i don't think a man should get a redemption for something so selfish. The ghoul however i feel will get a red dead redemption like ending. Dying after finding his family, possibly killing the final big bad of the show, and possibly saving Lucy while getting killed in the process. Showing how far his character got from his brutal ways during his time in filly. Fulfilling his words. Dying strong, ugly, and with dignity.

The biggest passive Buff Hank has, is that he looks just like Paul Atreides

Mr. House is "behind the wheel" at the Lucky 38.

Hey, started playing Fallout 4 after watching the show. Watch all your videos now!

Every violent dictator in modern history shared Hank's logic and reasoning.

Hank can redeem himself if he tells/shows The Ghoul where his family is...but why New Vegas? Are they in Vault 21? I've binged almost all of your Fallout videos, they've been not only helpful but also entertaining. Kudos to Bethesda for the heartbreaking and heartwarming stories in the games, well written

History is full of examples of zealous cults. Bud's buds is simply one more example of it.

Now for what the son has found out.

Weird that Kyle McLean keeps getting type cast as genocidal maniacs

Let's not forget that the NCR had to deal with the enclave too. They had 1 bad hand after another dealt but they did try.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Hank doubled down in season two and joined the enclave

This wasnt the Character profile i was expecting yet but it was very well done i enjoyed every minute of it

Has anyone brought up that the child fusion code is the release date of fallout 1?

Hank is a zealot and will never allow anything or person interfere with the beliefs he has. He's not capable of doing any actions that doesn't align with his world view, even if it is to protect someone he has confused trying to control them with loving them.

This video definitely helped me contextualise things, thanks!

The internet's collective reaction to Hank is disproportionate to the level of his actions considering his circumstances

He’s gonna become the new leader of what’s ever left of the enclave

In the last scenes of Season 1, the script makes the character non-credible, since he doesn't properly explain himself or say anything sensical. The "corporates" are cartoony villains. I accept it is the tone of the show ; it is not meant as realistic or credible ; it is its own universe. I presume the idea is that we will learn his motivations or plans in the next season, which are predictably elitist or evil, but will partly explain the twist. Or not: maybe what you describe is his whole motivation, which does not make sense to me.