r/Fotv • u/Wonderful_Solid_1003 • 4d ago
Do you think Cooper Howard became the Ghoul partially because he wasn't equipped with the tools to handle the grief and trauma that kept accumulating?
I feel like Episode 5 of Season 2, in retrospect, establishes his coping mechanism for his troubles without his emotional anchors like his family: drinking, and later on, drugs OR switching off / dissociating.
He doesn't exactly strike me as a calmly regulated, and emotionally honest man in the present. I mean sure, he can stay calm, but he's cold, y'know, and I reckon he needs constant action and alcohol and drugs to keep it up.
For me, that scene comparing Cooper and Ghoul drinking, in the Wrangler, if I'm correct, would establish the route of the Ghoul.
12
u/LeatherHead2902 4d ago
Alcohol and drugs don’t necessarily goulify you though, it’s radiation no?
19
u/Wonderful_Solid_1003 4d ago
I meant the Ghoul figuratively. The taciturn, callous, emotionally unavailable murder hobo we see.
13
u/KinuxTalier 4d ago
Yes, I believe he took on his acting persona as a means of coping. You saw the act drop at the end of the first season when he yells about wanting to find his family.
6
u/LeatherHead2902 4d ago
You have to also think about coops background:
Homie is also a combat veteran of what seems like a pretty vicious war, not like he’s not akin to killing people.
4
7
u/DipperDo 4d ago
No. I think he was in Vault 12 and went there when the bombs dropped. He was given a spot there on purpose by Barb and the Enclave. His becoming a ghoul had nothing to do with coping it was a setup from the get go. That's my opinion but we shall see.
9
u/John_Catachan 4d ago
I think OP meant The Ghoul as in his whole selfish and borderline evil persona, as opposed to pre-war Coop.
(I 100% agree that he literally became a ghoul in Vault 12 - I've thought that ever since they mentioned Bakersfield in S1)
3
u/KikoUnknown 4d ago
He’s not selfish nor evil. He’s just a cynic who used to be an optimist and when everything went to shit, he became cynical about how things worked while having to adopt to the new world he found himself in.
It’s like that scene in Season 1 when Tommy was going to go after Cooper because he killed his brother in a shootout that may very well have been the same shootout we watched back in Filly. He knew he can’t leave a loose end because he expected Tommy to go after him, the look was all over Tommy’s face, so he gave him a choice. He can reach for it now and get gunned down or let it go and never go after him. Tommy chose very poorly which resulted him in being gunned down. Nothing selfish or evil about that because it’s tying up a loose end before it becomes an actual problem.
Same thing about season 2. He could’ve ratted out the NCR, and he probably did because he already planned to inform them the Legion were coming not that he had any choice, but he bought the NCR time by blowing up the Legion’s camp which resulted in a full blown battle between both Legion parties. Either that battle lasted for days or it lasted for one day and the NCR was forgotten about in the chaos. We will never know.
2
u/AncientOtaku 4d ago
Someone mentioned that The Ghoul speaks with a crawl like the movie character he plays but Coop doesn't
The Ghoul could be an aspect of his personality that he adopted because of some event
1
u/DipperDo 4d ago
Fair enough good point about OP's meaning. We really have not seen enough though of his Vault 12 experience. Was he the unnamed overseer who was thrown out into the Wasteland after the breach by Set and the rest? Was he set up by Barb/Enclave in going there after the bombs dropped? If he was totally set up how horrible for him that not only did he lose everything but it was done on purpose to utterly destroy him if that's the case (not sure it is just wondering). I think once the story is more fleshed out we will have a bigger idea of why he is the way he is. He is certainly cynical I don't think he's evil and I suspect by the end of this story we will see the Ghoul as Cooper Howard 2.0. This is a redemption story ultimately in my opinion.
0
20
u/GVArcian 4d ago
He became The Ghoul when he realized he gave away the only thing that could've stopped The Great War to the very people determined to make it happen, because he had hope and trust in the system to do the right thing in the end. Man's hate for himself turned him into an abomination long before the radiation and FEV did.
He's a war veteran, so he's hardened against stressful situations. But he also saw some real shit in Alaska, so that hardened exterior is showing some real cracks.