Surprisingly, it has little to do with the anti-ghoulification serum he drinks like water.
Throughout all episodes of Fallout Season 1, we’re learning more about Cooper Howard and his life before the Great War through his flashbacks. Once a popular actor with a loving family, he lost everything after the bombs dropped — but even two centuries later, he still remained perfectly conscious, unlike all other ghouls.
What was the Ghoul’s secret? Why didn’t he lose his personality and forget his name like his less fortunate friends? How hasn’t he gone feral after well over 200 years?
Cooper Perfectly Adapted His Cowboy Persona
The apocalypse dramatically changed Cooper Howard’s career. From a famous (and infamous) actor, he turned into the most notorious and deranged bounty hunter in the Wasteland. Two centuries later, very few people remembered or knew his real name: for most, he was simply the Ghoul, the terrifying person that’s very good at killing.
When the bombs dropped, Cooper Howard largely stopped being himself — he became the person he portrayed in his latest movies. A revenge-obsessed gunslinger, he roamed the new Wild West with a selection of guns and little to no moral compass, chasing money, anti-ghoulification serums, violence, and truth.
The Ghoul Wasn’t Cooper Howard Anymore
The feared bounty hunter from the Wasteland had very little in common with the once-beloved movie star. The Ghoul was not an altered version of Cooper Howard: he was an entirely different persona, a mask that he adapted as a coping mechanism after losing his previous life and family in a series of nuclear blasts.
Not every ghoul can go feral, but all of them decline over time, their conscience slipping. We’ve seen these poor souls repeating their names, trying to keep control — but not the Ghoul. He didn’t lose himself to the ghoulification or sheer insanity, but not because he was the Chosen One or had the plot shield. It was… Psychology.
Cooper Howard shielded his real self with the persona of the Ghoul. Unlike others, he didn’t cling desperately to his previous life and embraced the new reality. The anti-ghoulification serums kept his physical body and brain from deteriorating, and his persona prevented his real self slipping away. Hidden deep inside of him and protected from the Wasteland’s madness, the real Cooper Howard is still alive.
And he’s only alive for as long as the Ghoul pointedly ignores him and pretends to be an entirely different person. If he changes his mind, we will likely see him slip, too.
