 |
This Article Contains Spoilers -
WARNING: This article contains major spoilers. If you do not wish to know vital information on plot / character elements in a story, you may not wish to read beyond this warning: We hold no responsibility for any negative effects these facts may have on your enjoyment of said media should you continue. That is all. |
  |
This article's content is marked as Mature The page contains mature content that may include coarse language, sexual references, strong drug use, extremely traumatic themes, and/or graphic violent images which may be disturbing to some. Mature pages are recommended for those who are 18 years of age and older. If you are 18 years or older or are comfortable with graphic material, you are free to view this page. Otherwise, you should close this page and view another page. |
| “ | Oh, I'm you, sweetie. You just give it a little time. | „ |
| ~ The Ghoul to Lucy MacLean. |
| “ | Wasteland's got its own golden rule. ‘Thou shalt get sidetracked by bullshit every god damn time.’ | „ |
| ~ The Ghoul. |
| “ | Oh, you want another autograph, Young Henry? Feo, fuerte y formal. When your daughter said her last name was MacLean, well, I just couldn't believe it was the MacLean. Hell, this kid used to pick up my wife's dry cleaning. Now, I've waited over 200 years to ask somebody one question. Where's my fucking family? | „ |
| ~ The Ghoul meets Henry MacLean after two centuries and demands that he reveal to him where his wife and daughter are. |
Cooper Howard, also known as The Ghoul, is the tritagonist of Amazon Prime's 2024 post-apocalyptic sci-fi television series Fallout, based on the video game franchise by Bethesda of the same name. He is also set to appear in Fallout 76 as a supporting character in an upcoming update.
He was a Hollywood actor and Vault-Tec representative before the Apocalypse, but was mutated into an immortal creature known as a "Ghoul", and who attempts to find Siggi Wilizig and to reunite with his family.
He is portrayed and voiced by Walton Goggins, who also played Shane Vendrell in The Shield, Boyd Crowder in Justified and Justified: City Primeval, Walter Stans in Predators, Billy Crash in Django Unchained, El Cameleón in Machete Kills, Laugher in American Ultra, Rick Hatchett in The White Lotus, Lee Russell in Vice Principals, Mathias Vogel in Tomb Raider, Sonny Birch in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Hendricks in Spirit Untamed.
History[]
Before the Great War/World War III, Cooper was in the United States Marine Corps, who served as a representative for Vault-Tec in-between his other profession as an actor who portrayed a cowboy in his performances. His wife Barb Howard was one of the higher-ranked members of Vault-Tec, much to Coop's displeasure. Eventually Cooper became suspicious of his wife, owing to conversations had with his old acting friends Charles Whiteknife. One of them invited him to a meeting run by a woman named Miss Williams. While Cooper was dismissive of Miss Williams' claims, she explained to him that Vault-Tec bought out the companies she worked for, and gives him a listening device. Though initially reluctant, Coop later syncs the device up to his wife's Pip-Boy, and overhears her plan during a meeting between Vault-Tec, RobCo, West Tek, Big MT, and REPCONN, to have Vault-Tec personally drop a nuke to ignite nuclear war between the United States and China and solidify the safety of all mankind.
On October 23rd, 2077, he and his daughter were attending a birthday party on the outskirts of Los Angeles, when the Great War began. His daughter noticed the flash of a nuclear detonation in the distance, and remembering what he told her about sizing the cloud with your thumb, checked it, and became very terrified of the results. When she told him, Cooper saw the cloud himself and thought it initially to be just smoke from a fire. As the mushroom cloud appeared, his face went slack and wide-eyed in muted horror, realizing that it was really happening, the End of the World. As the shockwave from the detonation reached the house and blew out the window glass, panic ensued as the homeowners rushed to their fallout shelter, decking one neighbor that pleaded to get in with them alongside his own family, guests rushed to their cars to try and drive away, and Cooper grabbed his daughter and fled on his horse, galloping down the hillside road as more nukes struck and leveled Los Angeles before them.
Nearly 220 years later, Cooper, having been turned into a Ghoul by the radiation from the nuclear fallout, has etched out a living in the post-apocalyptic Wasteland of what was once Los Angeles and its surrounding communities, now a part of the NCR (New California Republic). He now works as a gunslinger and bounty hunter, thanks to his extended lifespan and longevity brought about from becoming a Ghoul thanks to the radiation, but still needs to take medication/chems to prevent going feral and becoming a mindless beast that attacks anything it sees.
One day, Cooper is freed from his coffin by a trio of bounty hunters, who ask him to join them for "one last job": Finding a member of the Enclave and his dog. Cooper kills the bounty hunters, but sets out to find said member, Siggi Wilzig. He eventually arrives in the town of Filly, and finds Siggi, shooting him in the leg to prevent escape. Cooper manages to defeat all the bounty hunters in the area, and kills Siggi's dog. Before he can kill Lucy, who is attempting to protect Siggi, Cooper is confronted by Maximus in a power armor. Though Cooper defeats Maximus, Lucy and Siggi escape.
Cooper continues to track down Lucy, and discovers that Siggi has died, and Lucy has taken his head with her. He eventually finds Lucy in a drowned area, where Siggi's head has been swallowed by a gulper. Cooper uses Lucy as bait to attempt to lure out the gulper, which momentarily succeeds, only for his medication to be destroyed in the attempt. With Lucy as his prisoner, he leaves the gulper to sell Lucy to a group of organ harvesters for medication. At one point, he cuts her finger off after she cuts one of his off, saying he is what she will eventually become if she is exposed to too much radiation from the lingering fallout. However, after selling Lucy, he collapses before he can take the medicine. Lucy later exits the building, the organ harvesters killed by feral ghouls, and gives Cooper his medication back. He goes into the organ harvesters hideout, and gorges himself on drugs, while watching one of his old movies.
A group of wannabe sheriffs arrest Cooper, with their leader revealed to have been an old associate of Cooper. There, Cooper sews his finger back on, kills two of the sheriffs, but sees a wanted picture of Lee Moldaver, the women desiring Siggi's head, and recognizes her as Miss Williams. After gaining information by interrogating the family of one of Moldaver's associates, Cooper reunited with Siggi's dog, which reminded him of his old dog Roosevelt. He eventually arrived at a war between Moldaver's people and the Brotherhood of Steel, managing to murder multiple members of the latter, having remembered a fatal flaw in the power armor that he exploited. At the top, he encountered Hank MacLean, Lucy's father, who Cooper recognizes as a Vault-Tec employee from before the blast. Cooper lets him live to follow him to the location of his wife, and invites Lucy to join him.
Design[]
When he was still human, Cooper was a white, Caucasian male with a tall build, slender figure, with blue eyes, and graying hair that was originally brown or brunette.
As a Ghoul, he is bald, his skin has shriveled somewhat and turned red, his nose has fallen off, exposing his inner nasal cavity, and he is much skinnier. Due to the effects of radiation on his mind, he has to take chems to prevent losing his cognitive functions and turning feral like many of the other victims of the Great War's nuclear holocaust that became Ghouls from the radiation. However, becoming a Ghoul also extended his lifespan considerably, living for over 200 years after the Great War and seeing how much the world had changed in that time as a result of the nuclear Armageddon and decay that followed as civilization tried to rebuild in the ashes of the nuclear holocaust.
Personality[]
Before the bombs fell, Cooper was a fairly kind and caring individual. He had a great sense of humor, and was very close with his wife and daughter. Despite this, he was also very aware and critical of other people, and frequently quarreled with his wife on various topics. As the Ghoul, Cooper became extremely cruel and sadistic. He showed no remorse for the countless lives he took, and often took pleasure in said killings. He had an overtly cruel and misanthropic sense of humor. Despite this, he still retained his memories of the old world, as when he encounters a robot, he remembers a conversation with the robot's voice actor, and is able to recognize an older Hank Maclean. He is extremely skilled with guns, and has become somewhat jaded in the future. However, he is still committed to finding his family.
Trivia[]
- Walton Goggins, the Ghoul's actor stated that he never played any of the Fallout games.
External Links[]
[]
 Villains
| ||
|
Background Recurring Groups and Creatures Creatures  Vault Dweller | The Master | Lieutenant | Morpheus | Gizmo | Doc Morbid | Iguana Bob | Gretch | Decker | Vault 13 Overseer  Chosen One (Fallout) | Dick Richardson | Frank Horrigan | Dr. Charles Curling | Doctor Schreber | Myron | Big Jesus Mordino | John Bishop | Louis Salvatore | Orville Wright | Keeng Ra'at | Vortis | Metzger | Slaver's Guild  Lone Wanderer | Colonel Autumn | John Henry Eden | Alphonse Almodovar | Allen Mack | Mr. Burke | Stanislaus Braun | Roy Phillips | Allistair Tenpenny | Eulogy Jones | Sister | Leroy Walker | Dr. Zimmer | Ahzrukhal | Mr. Crowley | Talon Company | Weston Lesko | AntAgonizer | Daniel Littlehorn | Anna Holt | Colin Moriarty | Slavers | Sudden-Death Overtime | Andale (Jack Smith, Bill Wilson) | Pint-Sized Slasher Operation: Anchorage General Jingwei | Defender Sibley | Brotherhood Outcasts The Pitt Ishmael Ashur | Wernher | Pitt Raiders Point Lookout Professor Calvert | Tobar the Ferryman | Point Lookout Tribals | Rip Smithy  Courier | Mr. House | Caesar's Legion (Caesar | Legate Lanius | Vulpes Inculta | Lucius | Ronald Curtis | Dead Sea | Aurelius of Phoenix) | New California Republic (Aaron Kimball | Colonel Cassandra Moore | General Lee Oliver) | Benny | Powder Gangers (Joe Cobb | Eddie | Samuel Cooke | Scrambler) | White Glove Society (Mortimer | Phillipe) | Omertas (Nero and Big Sal | Clanden | Cachino) | Fiends (Motor Runner | Cook-Cook | Violet | Driver Nephi) | Enclave (Orion Moreno) | State of Utobitha (Tabitha) | Norton | Leo | Jeannie May Crawford | Pacer | Dixon | Orris | Allen Marks | Barton Thorn | Jessup | McMurphy | Dermot | St. James | Roy Gottlieb | Vikki & Vance | Sammy & Pauline Wins | Jackal Gang | Scorpion Gang | Viper Gang | Maud's Muggers Dead Money Father Elijah | Dog/God | Dean Domino | Frederick Sinclair | Ghost People Honest Hearts Joshua Graham | Salt-Upon-Wounds | White Legs | Vault 22 Survivors Old World Blues Think-Tanks (Dr. Klein, Dr. Mobius, Dr. Borous, Dr. Dala, Dr. 0, Dr. 8) | Father Elijah | Ulysses Lonesome Road Ulysses | Marked Men | Gaius Magnus | Colonel Autumn  Sole Survivor | Institute (Shaun | Conrad Kellogg | Justin Ayo | X6-88 | Mayor McDonough | Swan) | Arthur Maxson | Gunners (Captain Wes | Clint | Baker | Tessa | Bullet | Winlock and Barnes) | Eddie Winter | The Forged (Slag) | Lorenzo Cabot | Ack-Ack | Tower Tom | Red Tourette | James Wire | Sinjin | Wayne Delancy | AJ | Kendra | Dr. Chambers | Triggermen (Skinny Malone | Marowski) | Alien | Bobbi No-Nose | Judge Zeller | Fens Phantom Automatron The Mechanist | Ivey | Rust Devils Far Harbor DiMA | High Confessor Tektus | Allen Lee | Ezra Parker | Malcolm Nuka World Nuka World Raiders (Overboss Colter, Porter Gage, Shank, The Operators, Mags Black, William Black, The Disciples, Nisha, Dixie, The Pack, Mason) | Oswald the Outrageous  Scorchbeast Queen | Thomas Eckhart | Scorchbeasts | Scorched Wildlife | MODUS | Appalachia Raiders (Rose | David Thorpe | Freddie Lang | Morris Stevens | New Appalachia Raiders (Meg | Lev | Surge | Fisher | Rocco) | Blood Eagles (The Blood | The Eye | The Claw | Dagger) | Free Radicals | Cult of the Mothman | Camp Counselor Nia | Mad Dog Malone | Earle Williams | Doctor Blackburn | Zetans | Rust Eagles | The Fanatics | Ultracite Titan Scott Conroy | The Nightstalker | ZAX 1.3c | Strangler Hearts | Strangler Wildlife | SODUS | Hellcat Company  Calculator | Simon Barnaky | Withers  Attis | Jane | Mayor Richard | Church of the Lost (Blake) TV Series Others | ||