Fallout Season 1: Who Are the Raiders?

Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Fallout Season 1.

Raiders are a mainstay of the Fallout canon – so who are they? And do they show up in Season 1 of Prime Video’s Fallout adaptation?

Related: When Does Fallout Season 1 Come Out?

Fallout’s Raiders, Explained

The Raiders are one of Fallout‘s major factions – although, technically, they’re not one group but many. What’s more, these groups differ from the likes of the Brotherhood of Steel by taking a decidedly less disciplined approach to their activities and structure. Heck, some Raiders even fly solo! That said, all Raiders share an ethos of stealing to survive. The Raider lifestyle also tends to attract psychotic personality types, giving Raiders a well-deserved reputation for excessive violence and torture throughout the Wasteland. Even so, more than one Raider outfit has emerged from within the supposedly civilized confines of Fallout‘s Vaults. Examples include the Jackals, Vipers, and Khans – all of whom got their start in Vault 15.

Related: Fallout Season 1: What Is the Brotherhood of Steel?

Speaking of the Khans, they are one of several Raider sub-factions to transcend the Raiders’ typical “post-apocalyptic street gang” M.O. They effectively ruled New California in the first Fallout game, and even after their destruction, reorganized as the imaginatively named New Khans (and later, the Great Khans). Other notable Raider operations include the Nuka-World Raiders introduced in Fallout 4‘s sixth DLC pack, Nuka-World. An alliance of Raider gangs, the Nuka-World Raiders (as their name suggests) use fortified amusement park Nuka-World as their HQ. From here, they plan to expand their control over Nuka-World into a full-blown Raider empire spread throughout Fallout 4‘s Commonwealth setting.

Are the Raiders in Fallout Season 1?

The above barely scratches the surface of Raider lore – like we said earlier: these miscreants are iconic, in their own, twisted way. But are they iconic enough to make the cut for Fallout Season 1? Yep. The first season’s (apparent) antagonist Moldaver leads a band of Raiders in an assault on Vault 33 in Episode 1, “The End.” The group gains access to the Vault by posing as residents of Vault 32, which is connected to Vault 33.

Related: Fallout Season 1: Vaults, Explained

This twist won’t come as a shock to some fans, given Fallout put out a casting call for extras to fill Raider roles back in 2022. A listing for “Hondo” (Fallout‘s working title) outlined vacancies for “people to play raiders of underground bunkers in a future post-apocalyptic world.” It added that applicants should be in their 20s-50s, “sinewy or … or very muscular,” and “heights “5’11 and below.” Extras who are “amputees [or] people with tattoos and/or scars” were encouraged to apply, as well.

Fallout Season 1 is streaming now on Prime Video.

The above article was updated on 4/11/2024 by Leon Miller to add information about the Raiders in Fallout Season 1.