Silo Season 2: Who Is Salvador Quinn (& What’s His Connection to the Safeguard)?

Warning: The following article contains major spoilers for Silo Season 2.

One of Silo Season 2’s most important characters, Salvador Quinn, never actually appears on screen! So, who is Salvador Quinn, and what’s his connection to Season 2’s most ominous addition to Silo lore, the Safeguard?

Who Is Salvador Quinn in Silo Season 2?

Salvador Quinn was the head of IT in Silo 18 140 years before the events of Silo Season 2. He played a big part in putting down the rebellion that kicked off in his time, and – just as importantly – in preventing future revolts, as well. He achieved the latter by banning books, locking down server access, and sneaking drugs into Silo 18’s water supply. Collectively, this caused the Silo’s residents to forget the history of the world that was (and their reasons for rising up).

Related: Silo Season 2’s Ending (& How It Sets Up Season 3), Explained

But it seems Salvador Quinn eventually soured on the status quo. Sometime before he died, the IT boss wrote a coded letter that rails against the Silo’s engineers for lying to its inhabitants. Quinn’s letter also confirms the existence of 50 Silos, the tunnel at the bottom of Silo 18 (which presumably connects them), and the Safeguard the engineers put in place (partly) to keep all of this hush-hush. He even hints at the presence of the Algorithm: an AI construct secretly in charge of the Silos.

How Is Salvador Quinn Connected to the Safeguard?

As noted above, Salvador Quinn’s main tie to Silo Season 2’s Safeguard is that he left a warning about it for future generations to decipher. He didn’t design this fail-safe – a poison-spewing pipe capable of wiping out the population of a Silo if it goes rogue – nor did he oversee its construction.

Related: Is Silo Getting a Season 3?

Indeed, Quinn’s hard-to-read heads-up strongly implies he was horrified when he learned of the Safeguard – not least because it’s managed by an AI. Fortunately, Silo Season 3 will likely involve Juliette Nichols and ex-IT shadow Lukas Kyle pooling their knowledge (including Quinn’s letter) to disable both!

All 10 episodes of Silo Season 2 are currently streaming on Apple TV+.