When Fallout started back in 2024, origin stories were just as important as the post-apocalyptic events. When we met Lucy McLean, we soon learned what vault life was like and how it started. When we met the Ghoul, it wasn’t long before we learned about Cooper Howard’s past life before everything happened. But the third main character, Maximus, a squire for the Brotherhood of Steel, was introduced without much context. While we learned about what the Brotherhood was in general, the origins of Maximus — and the Brotherhood itself — had to wait until Season 2.
In Season 2 Episode 2, we finally saw a flashback to Maximus’ youth and how he survived the massacre of Shady Springs, but in Episode 3, we learn more about the origin of the Brotherhood itself, including its founder, Roger Maxson. But for fans of the games, this name is very familiar. But who is Roger Maxson, and what does his being made Fallout canon mean for the future of the show?
In Fallout Season 2 Episode 3, the Brotherhood is on the verge of a monumental decision: with the aid of the cold fusion reactors, the San Fernando chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel could stage an uprising against the powerful Commonwealth faction of the Brotherhood. However, everything changed when Xander Harkness, liaison for the Commonwealth, arrived and instantly quashed any rebellion.
After that, Elder Cleric Quintus is stuck with a dilemma: if he murders Harkness, as Maximus suggests, then he’ll definitely start a huge conflict. But if he doesn’t, then the other factions are sure to abandon the cause. In a last-ditch effort, he mentions the foundation of the Brotherhood itself. “An ordinary captain was sent to a research center in California. Roger Maxson. And when he saw what they were doing there, depraved experiments on human subjects, well then, Roger Maxson had to ask himself who he served: his God or his government? He chose his god.”
This is more or less exactly what happened in the world of the Fallout games, too. Faced with what the military was doing, Maxson staged a mutiny and founded what would later be called the Brotherhood of Steel. He doesn’t really appear in the Fallout games, but his voice can be heard in holotapes throughout Fallout, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, and especially Fallout 76. “I declared ourselves seceded from the union,” he says in one holotape in Fallout. “They remember Jefferson Davis. What will history say about me?”
Apparently, he’s going down in history with a better reputation than that guy, at least. But now that Maxson is canon, what comes next? Unlike the games, the series has the ability to flash back to whenever is applicable, so this mention could actually lead to a major appearance in the future.
