Eagle-eyed fans think non-binary character Dane has a secret agenda in the Fallout TV series
People think there’s more to non-binary character Dane (played by trans actor Xelia Mendes-Jones) than meets the eye (Amazon Prime)
People think there's more to non-binary character Dane (played by trans actor Xelia Mendes-Jones) than meets the eye (Amazon Prime)
Amazon Prime’s hit post-apocalyptic TV series Fallout is back for season two, and so far it’s been a hugely satisfying experience for fans of the original video game series, as well as fans of trans actor Xelia Mendes-Jones, who has reprised their role of non-binary character Dane.
Fallout season two takes its inspiration, though not its entire plot, from the 2010 Bethesda game Fallout: New Vegas, and the showrunners have hidden multiple intriguing clues, plot mysteries and video-game-style Easter eggs in each episode, giving fans plenty to speculate about after each one airs.
Season two dives deeper into the past of one of the show’s favourite characters, Cooper Howard/The Ghoul (Walton Goggins) whose monstrous, radiation-scarred features haven’t stopped fans thirsting after him.
The season also follows wide-eyed but progressively less innocent Vault-Dweller Lucy MacLean (Ella Purnell), who is on a mission to find her father Hank (Kyle Maclaughlan), as well as Brotherhood of Steel knight Maximus (Aaron Moten) who served as an ally to Lucy in season one, but is now back with his Brotherhood faction, and has been reunited with his friend Dane (Xelia Mendes-Jones), who has been promoted to the rank of Scribe.
What is the Brotherhood of Steel in Fallout?
The Brotherhood of Steel is a militaristic group with several self-governing offshoots. Maximus and Dane belong to a West Coast chapter known as the Knights of San Fernando. Another notable faction is The Commonwealth, specifically the New England Commonwealth, which includes Boston: the setting for the video game Fallout 4,
We’re first introduced to Dane in season one – Dane is the third non-binary character in Fallout‘s history.
We learn they are a member of the Knights of San Fernando and, like Maximus, they are an Aspirant, but Maximus is chosen to serve the Knight Titus and promoted to Squire, after Dane injures their foot in what’s later revealed to be a self inflicted “accident.”
In season two, Dane works as a Scribe, a sort of specialist within the Brotherhood of Steel, responsible for researching, recovering, cataloging, and maintaining lost pre-war technology.
One piece of pre-war technology simply everyone wants to get their hands on is the Cold Fusion relic: a powerful, compact energy source that can power whole cities. It fell into the hands of Maximus and Dane’s Brotherhood faction at the end of season one, giving the Knights of San Fernando a definite advantage over the other factions, and in season two the leader of the San Fernando chapter, Quintus, plans to leverage that.
He invites other factions to discuss the power shift, but he doesn’t invite the Commonwealth, which is considered to be a particularly powerful chapter. Elder Cleric Quintus plans to unite the other factions behind him, with the promise of unlimited energy, and challenge – and hopefully overthrow- The Commonwealth.
That doesn’t stop the charismatic representative of the Commonwealth, Paladin Xander Harkness (Kumal Nanjani), showing up anyway; he tries to charm Maximus, and invites him to take a trip in his Vertibird to track down rogue robots – the Wasteland’s equivalent of a bros hunting trip.
Things don’t exactly go according to plan, and Maximus ends up killing Xander, then forcing his former squire Thaddeus to dress up in Xander’s power armour in an attempt to hide the fact that he’s dead.
Why do fans think that Dane (Xelia Mendes-Jones) is a Commonwealth spy?
So here’s where the “eagle-eyed fans” bit comes in. Dane does two major things in season two, episode four “The Demon in the Snow”: First of all, he notices immediately that the person in the power armour isn’t Xander.
Second of all, he goes to great lengths to steal that all-important cold fusion artifact and give it to Maximus, as well as helping him escape at the end of the episode.
Fans have added these actions to the fact Dane purposefully injured himself in season one, theorising that Dane is actually a Commonwealth spy, who has secretly infiltrated the Knights of San Fernando.
A Reddit thread discusses the theory. One person notes that “they (Dane) were the first one to bring up that the Commonwealth would start a civil war over Quintus’ meeting. Plus, how else would the Commonwealth have caught wind unless they had a mole somewhere?”
Another added: “It would also make sense as another reason why Dane injured themselves to avoid going to the front line.”
Redditors aren’t the only people who think there’s more to Dane than meets the eye, and that they have a secret agenda. One TikTok video goes into detail about a couple of different theories:
@celebinsider8 Do you know why Dane stole the cold fusion relic to help Maximus escape#usa #us #celebrity #foryou #fyp #fallout #fallout2 #maximus ♬ original sound – celebinsider8
The video’s creator points out that Dane immediately notices that the person in the power armour isn’t Xander: How would they notice this so quickly if they weren’t very familiar with Xander’s stance and body language?
The video goes on to speculate that Dane is secretly plotting to overthrow the entire Brotherhood of Steel. If so, he’s definitely on the right track as the end of that episode saw the ships of various Brotherhood factions turn on each other in a truly spectacular firefight.
Whether there really is more behind Dane’s actions than just simple loyalty to Maximus and general disillusionment with the militaristic and restrictive way of life in the Brotherhood remains to be seen, but it’s certainly a fascinating theory.
Also, if it’s true it means we might hopefully be seeing more of trailblazing trans star Xelia Mendes-Jones, who has had limited screen time in season two so far.
