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Fallout Season 1 gave fans plenty to talk about, but no character stood out more than The Ghoul. Underneath the cracked skin and cold-blooded bounty hunter is Cooper Howard, a former Hollywood actor from the pre-war days, portrayed by Walter Goggins.
His journey from being a loved film star to The Ghoul is one of the most interesting character arcs of the entire show. Let's break down how The Ghoul became the face of Fallout Season 1's haunting post-apocalyptic world.
The Ghoul in Fallout Season 1: From silver screen cowboy to wasteland gunslinger
Before the bombs could even drop, Cooper Howard was truly living the dream. As a charming superstar of Western films, he literally radiated cowboy energy, just like the heroes he would play and act on screen.
Fallout Season 1 even gives us small looks at his family life, showing us his wife, Barb, and his young daughter, as they were the most important people to him.
Cooper wasn't just a star and an actor; he cared deeply about his family and his values. At one point, he even argued with a director over how a scene portrayed justice, insisting that what he did on screen mattered to him and his values out in the real world.
However, all of his life that he had built came crashing down during the Great War. The nuclear blasts tore the world apart, and Cooper, like a few unlucky survivors, was exposed to a huge amount of radiation that was enough for him to transform into...something else entirely.
His flesh literally melted away but his mind? His mind remained intact. That is how Cooper Howard came to be known as The Ghoul. Unlike feral ghouls who lost all of their sanity, Cooper did not, all thanks in part to a mysterious yellow serum he injects to slow his decay.
By the time Fallout Season 1 picks up in 2296, The Ghoul has been roaming the wasteland for over two entire centuries now. He's now famous as a ruthless and scary bounty hunter. He is also respected and feared for his sharpshooting skills and his merciless reputation.
But even through centuries of bloodshed, his original motive and his original self never truly died. Deep down, the man who once tucked his daughter into bed is still searching for answers about what happened to his family that he loved. This survivalist and grieving father makes The Ghoul one of the most layered characters in Fallout Season 1.
Fallout Season 1: A story that bridges the old world and the new
What makes The Ghoul's arc so compelling to watch in Fallout Season 1 is how the show uses him as a character to connect the pre-apocalypse with the wasteland we know of today. Through the flashbacks, we get to see his ties to Vault-Tec.
His wife, Barb, was a high-ranking executive, and her comments about getting "one of the good vaults" planted a few seeds of suspicion in him. Eventually, he found out through eavesdropping that Barb may have even supported Vault-Tec's hand in dropping the bombs, ensuring that the vaults had a purpose. This is what completely broke apart the last of his faith in the world he once knew and loved.
Fast forward to the present wasteland, and The Ghoul is a man who has outlived almost everyone. At nearly 270 years old, he's seen many civilizations rise and fall, people turn on each other, and countless ghouls lose themselves to feral madness. He learns that survival is not just physical but it's also psychological.
Unlike many other ghouls, Cooper, however, never lost his grip on reality. He keeps moving, keeps killing, and keeps hunting. Walton Goggins, who plays The Ghoul, told Digital Spy that he didn't overanalyze the part when it first came his way.
Instead, he said, "The Ghoul is just a super cool character," and it was that feeling that drew him in to play the character. Watching Goggins switch between Cooper's humanity in the flashbacks and his skeletal menace self in the wasteland, it's hard to argue anyone else could have carried the role with the same grit.
Fallout Season 1 doesn't just use The Ghoul as a scary and dangerous-looking bounty hunter; it uses him as a living memory. Every time he is on screen, you're reminded of what was lost, what humanity has now turned to, and how thin the line is between clinging to values and giving in to survival at any cost.
The Ghoul in Fallout Season 1 is far more than a gunslinger with a decayed and melted face. His story as Cooper Howard, a man who went from Hollywood fame to post-apocalyptic Ghoul, gives the series the backbone it needed.
He embodies both the tragedy of the old world and the brutality of the new. With his journey still unresolved, The Ghoul remains one of the most fascinating figures heading into Fallout's future seasons.
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