Some Fallout fans are convinced the Season 2 finale showed the Courier, but there's one little detail that I think disproves it

(Image credit: Prime Video)

Warning: Spoilers for Fallout Season 2 Episode 8!

Reactions to the final episode of Fallout Season 2 have been a bit mixed. Some fans enjoyed it, some didn't, and others (myself included) liked it but wished it did a little less table-setting for Season 3 and resolved a bit more of the threads from Season 2.

Most fans agree on a few things, at least, such as the new location teased in the episode and the reveal in the post-credits sequence, which both promise some interesting things to come in Fallout Season 3. And one particular moment from the episode was pretty stirring: when an NCR sniper took the head off a deathclaw to save the day, a slow-motion sequence that pays homage to the opening cinematic of Fallout: New Vegas. Here are both sequences:

Fallout Season 2 Episode 8 NCR Sniper Intro Comparison | 2010 VS 2026 - YouTube

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But that moment has also given rise to discussion about exactly who that anonymous sniper actually is. Some think it's an extremely important character indeed: Courier 6, the actual character we all play in Fallout: New Vegas.

It's not a bad theory. One-shotting a deathclaw does feel way, way OP for some random-ass NPC, doesn't it? Ever see a soldier fight a dragon in Skyrim? They're useless, same as an unnamed NPC taking on a deathclaw (Fallout's version of a dragon) in the wasteland. The biggest monsters in the game are there for the player to kill, not the supporting cast, and games love to make you the hero. So, that perfectly fits the Courier theory.

Speaking of fits, that NCR helmet is still the coolest bit of headwear in the Fallout series (ok, maybe the Enclave power armor helmet is better, but that's it), so it makes sense for the player to still be wearing it all these years later, or at least putting it on for special occasions, such as saving New Vegas.

And, the sniper from the game intro has a number on their chest, 08, as does the similarly dressed soldier in the Fallout: New Vegas cover art. The sniper in that scene from the show has no number.

An NCR soldier from Fallout New Vegas — (Image credit: Bethesda)

Why? There's no particular reason to hide that sniper's identity. We've even got a known NCR member showing up in the episode a moment later, Captain Rodriguez (played by Barbara Eve Harris), who appeared earlier in the series. Why not make her the hero who took that amazing shot? Then she could have removed that helmet as she talked to Max, and we'd have seen it was her. Unless the creators of the show wanted to hide the identity of the sniper for some reason…

How you feel about this theory is probably going to depend on how you played Fallout: New Vegas. Did you side with the NCR? Did you even like the NCR? Were you the type of player who'd throw down toe-to-toe with a deathclaw or pick them off from as far away as possible? And in your own headcanon, would your Courier, a couple decades after the events of Fallout: New Vegas, still be taking quests from the New California Republic?

However, there's one bit of incontrovertible evidence that the sniper isn't Courier 6, as far as I'm concerned: that NCR sniper isn't wearing a Pip-Boy.

The Courier, the player, would definitely wear a Pip-Boy. How else would this sniper have even selected their weapon? How would they see where the quest marker was to "Save Max's Ass" and fast-travel to Vegas in time to make that shot without using their Pip-Boy's map? And that slow–motion shot: VATS, baby. Can't do that without your trusty Pip-Boy! We can clearly see they're not wearing it on either wrist, so my vote is, that's not the Courier. At least, it's not my Courier.

But seriously, there's no real answer to this other than whatever you personally think. If that feels like your Courier, go ahead and imprint yourself on them. If not, they can be just some other talented sniper. (Boone? Maybe it's Boone!) That's why some on Reddit have been calling this character "Schrödinger's Sniper," which I think is great.

Personally, I think this was just an homage to the opening cinematic of Fallout: New Vegas—and a bit of a heavy-handed one, if you ask me, coming on the heels of a Fallout theme needle drop in the previous episode. But hey, if I ever get the chance, I'll ask the creators of the show if they intended this to really be Courier 6 or not.

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Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.

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