Today's Theory: The Tunnelers are the mutant descendents of humans who sought shelter underground.
This week we're looking at a minor theory that the Tunnelers in the Divide were formerly humans before life underground and radiation morphed them into the reptilian forms they have now. Many people here might actually believe that this is not a theory due to how widespread the idea is. The Tunnelers, as anyone who has played Lonesome Road knows, are a race of creatures that live underneath the former towns of Ashton and Hopeville. They were first seen when the Divide was ripped open by missiles exploding, allowing the Tunnelers to pour out from the caverns below the region. But what they once were is unknown, leading many fans to speculate they are post-humans who tried to escape the Great War by hiding beneath the surface.
Evidence For:
•Ulysses states that what he knows of the Tunnelers does not contradict the possibility they are mutants from the Great War.
•There are several other types of mutants in the Fallout series descended from humans using makeshift shelters and mutating and/or adapting from the imperfect conditions (the Slags for instance).
•Chris Avellone stated that the inspiration for the Tunnelers came from the movie "The Mole Men", in which a group encounters mutant humans that have been isolated underground for centuries.
Evidence Against:
•Though Ulysses states that he has seen worse things mutated by radiation, there has yet to be a mutant solely caused by radiation with as much difference from its proposed "original state" than Tunnelers and humans. Most mutations that result in dramatic changes to physical shape are generally the result of FEV infection, rather than solely radiation.
•A humanoid shape is not exclusive to human-based mutants in the Fallout universe, as mutated frogs and turtles have also developed human-like bodies.
So what do you all believe Tunnelers came from? Are they former humans or did they mutate from another species into what they are now? Is it possible they're even a species that had always been hidden from humanity?