In the world of Twisted Metal, where there are quirky characters and wacky storylines, Harold, aka Crazy Harold the Wacky Lunch Sack, is distinct in a very quirky way. He is not a human or driver, or fighter in the tournament. Harold is a brown paper lunch bag who became the unlikely buddy of Twisted Metal's most infamous clown, Sweet Tooth. Yes, and even the simple paper bag can be converted into a character with a story to tell in Twisted Metal!
Harold's look is goofy but also creepy. To all but Sweet Tooth, he looks like a discarded bag along for the ride in the passenger seat of an ice cream truck. But to Sweet Tooth, Harold is a good friend, living and breathing. This quirky factoid can seem absurd at first, but it adds a touch of surreal whimsy to the already macabre atmosphere of Twisted Metal.
By venerating Harold as an individual, the franchise gives fans a strange yet striking example of where fantasy intersects with madness in this world.
Harold's appearance in Twisted Metal
Harold's appearance is more mundane than it appears: he's a plain, brown-bag lunch sack, at times in shreds and charred from the violent hurry of the series. After the Midtown Raceway fight, Harold is subjected to partial burns, but Sweet Tooth still keeps him tied to the truck as though he were alive.
In his fantasy, however, Harold is not merely a sack; Harold is a middle-aged white male with a short haircut. This idealized image illustrates how deeply Sweet Tooth imbues human qualities into his inanimate friend. The juxtaposition of Harold's elegant, innocent appearance and the gritty, violent setting of Twisted Metal is part of the reason he is so unique.
With heavy artillery on all sides of him, smash-ups, and tough-fisted fighters, Harold looks hilariously out of place. And yet, in the Sweet Tooth universe, Harold belongs!
Personality and role
It is how Sweet Tooth employs Harold that makes him unique in Twisted Metal. Harold is spoken to as if he can respond, being assigned to tasks like driving, and even relied on during tense moments. Sweet Tooth talks to him as if Harold is capable of thinking and making choices.
This creates moments of dark humor, like when Harold fails to help in a fight at the asylum or when Sweet Tooth is adamant that Harold can weld the back of their truck. To our surprise, two scenes indicate that Harold may have more power than a being simply figment of imagination.
For example, an alcoholic drink placed beside Harold is found empty later, and in Season 2, he can be seen intentionally throwing a grenade at enemies. Whether this is really Harold or merely Sweet Tooth attributing actions to him is not made clear.
It's this gray area that makes Harold so fascinating; he toes the line between innocent prop and willing accomplice to the chaos of Twisted Metal.
Relationship with Sweet Tooth
Harold's friendship with Sweet Tooth is central to his personality in Twisted Metal. Sweet Tooth is probably the most hostile and most frightening character in the franchise, but his relationship with Harold offers a kinder aspect of him. In Sweet Tooth's shattered universe, people are normally presented as paper bags, and Harold is the one whom he refers to as his friend.
Loyalty and reliance form the basis of their relationship. Sweet Tooth brings Harold everywhere, straps him into the seat, and even risks his life to come pick him up after brawls. Their bond is creepy and oddly touching, and it highlights how Sweet Tooth clings to Harold as a way of finding some form of friendship in a world otherwise so vicious.
Harold is, in a way, more than just a sidekick and more of an embodiment of Sweet Tooth's loneliness and madness.
Story arc throughout the series
Harold's background is highly interrelated with that of Sweet Tooth. After Sweet Tooth escaped, Harold remained loyal to him throughout the years he had spent in Lost Vegas. This long background makes Harold a reliable character in Sweet Tooth's life.
Season 1
When Sweet Tooth leaves Lost Vegas with Quiet and John Doe, Harold is already burned but still intact. Despite the chaos of battling with the Lawmen and Agent Stone, Harold is still glued to Sweet Tooth, which speaks of his faithful nature, even if he's a paper bag.
Season 2
In Season 2, Harold appears to be even busier. He throws a grenade at the Holy Men's car, welds a truck door, and even joins Sweet Tooth in performing a Wintertide Solstice ritual. His story comes to be one of heightened drama when Mr. Grimm douses a section of ground with gasoline and then sets it ablaze, engulfing Harold in flames.
The scene leaves the future of Harold in doubt, wondering if he will be able to survive the devastation, or if Sweet Tooth will manage to save him once more.
Origins in the games
Harold's existence is more than a coincidental creation on the show; it has roots in the source Twisted Metal games. Harold's appearance in the TV show is a simple Easter egg, bringing the series back to its video game origins. The fans immediately knew the nod was on the way, as it made one of the series' weirdest bits fresh.
Harold serves to link the randomness and hyperbole from the games to the show's darker, character-driven tone.
Trivia and fun details
Harold's contents are never displayed in the original Twisted Metal games, which adds to the mystery of why Sweet Tooth respects him so much.
In the TV series, Harold is seen holding lighter fluid, which Sweet Tooth would later use to set himself on fire.
Harold is one of the few non-human characters in the show to be regarded as a full-fledged companion.
His survival of a few wars is usually taken lightly, given how thin a paper bag really is.
In the warped universe of Twisted Metal, Harold is a paper bag and a lot of other things; he's a symbol of Sweet Tooth's insanity, fantasy, and innermost desire for friendship. Ever since his debut in the original video game, Harold has been a strange but permanent part of the franchise's mythology.
His own personality is absurd on its face, yet as a personality in the universe of Twisted Metal, Harold is both comic relief and emotionally poignant. Burned, welded, or even set on fire, Harold is the best friend of Sweet Tooth, proving that within this world, even a brown paper bag lunch can make an impression.
Also read: Twisted Metal Season 2 Episode 10, 11, and 12: Release date, time, streaming details, cast, and more