Shady Sands in Fallout 4 and New Vegas, Is TV Show Accurate
In the Fallout TV series we can see what happened to Shady Sands. From here, you'll learn how it affects canon and the differences between the show and the games.
The Fallout TV series takes place after the events of the games, so it introduces new lore to the canon. Some of the novelties made fans worried. The biggest inconsistency concerns the city of Shady Sands, the capital of the New California Republic. Unfortunately, the full story is not entirely clear.
State of Shady Sands in Fallout Lore
After the TV series, Fallout canon is drastically different. Shady Sands was a very important place on the post-atomic West Coast of USA. In this town, in year 2189, New California Republic was born. At the same time, it became the capital of this newly formed country. You can see the development of this city in Fallout (the period before the rise of the NCR) and Fallout 2 (the early beginnings of the NCR).
In Fallout 3 and 4 Shady Sands doesn’t appear. This is due to the fact that the action of both games takes place on the East Coast of the US.
Through the next years Shady Sands evolved to a big city. Unfortunately, the capital of New California Republic suffered a sad end – it was destroyed in a nuclear explosion by the overseer of Vault 33. It’s unknown in what year the explosion happened. However, the story presented in the TV series causes some inaccuracies in the canon.
Timeline
In the Vault 4 (place from the TV series), we can see a history of Shady Sands. It shows that the city fell in year 2077. This may suggest that the settlement was destroyed at that time. However, this is inaccurate with the plot of Fallout New Vegas. Action of this game is set in 2281. The protagonist is in contact with citizens of the New California Republic and Shady Sands still exists.
The board from Vault 4, however, can be interpreted differently. After all, there is an arrow between the date of the fall and the drawing depicting the explosion. This may indicate that the destruction of the city by the nuclear bomb took place later.
Fall of the city, on the other hand, can refer to other events. If we look at the state of NCR in the Fallout New Vegas we can see many problems. First is the corruption which is spreading among the caravans. Second is the long wars against Brotherhood of Steel and Caesar's Legion.
Localization of Shady Sands
Action of the Fallout TV series takes place in the territory of former Los Angeles. Characters reach the ruins of Shady Sands during the story. This clearly shows that this city was located in the area. However, there are discrepancies between this and what we know from the games.
When we look at the map from the first Fallout game we find out that Shady Sands was located northeast of Los Angeles near Death Valley. So, city was situated between Vaults 13 and 15. The location from the TV series, however, is another area known from the game called Boneyard.
To sum up, the show fits mostly quite well in the world of Fallout games. However, in the case of Shady Sands, there are many inconsistencies. It is probably best to accept that some details are different between two medias, and we have to accept that.
