Fallout on Prime post-release thread

[gbaji]

Given the portrayal, withdrawal happens in a matter of days, and as he is The Ghoul, who clearly has existed in roughly the same state for those entire 200 years, the drug'd basically need to be there when the bombs drop.

That could be a thing, I guess. Just...it implies a lot more intentionality to the setting than is normally the case. Ghouls are generally portrayed as a not particularly desired consequence of radiation, not as part of some grand plan.

Yeah. If we assume that ghoulism has existed the whole time, and that The Ghoul is the first, and that this drug is needed to avoid going feral, then we kinda have to assume that he's been on this drug the whole time. Which somewhat begs the question as to where it's all coming from?

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I'm assuming this is part of his backstory that we wont learn until season 2. If I were to speculate, I'd assume that after the first round of bombs fall, folks start scrambling for the shelters. He must somehow find a way to protect his daughter *and* probably knows something about the Vaults and their long term plans (else why ask about his family, if it's been 200 years and they should be long dead no matter what happened to them?). He, on the other hand, somehow gets stuck "outside", but also has contact/access to folks who have some other resources (early Enclave maybe?). Maybe in the process he gets irradiated, and is told that the only way to surrive is to take this drug, which will make him "immune to radiation", but it has the side effect of turning him into The Ghoul.

Regardless of specifics, he's somehow the test subject for the drug, and that's why he's The Ghoul. Everything else is what he's done since then, presumably trying to find whomever took his daughter (presumably his wife), and where they were taken. There's also large gaps (specifically involving the Enclave). Vault-Tec certainly assumed that everyone outside the Vaults would die, and they'd stay inside until the radiation subsided, and then return to repoulate the Earth or something, but clearly theirs was not the "only plan". It's quite clear that at least one other group also had plans, and were prepared for the bombs dropping, but didn't restrict themselve to just "stay locked in a Vault". And at least one of these groups must have had their "make people immune to harm, aging, and radiation" serum pretty much ready to go right when the bombs first dropped (and perhap were on board with that plan specifically thinking "we'll make billions selling our serum to the survivors").

There are other gaps as well (how does Moldaver fit in?). Again though, I'm hopeful that at least some/most of this stuff will be cleared up in the next season.

Except the point is that there is water available. It's irradiated, but its present. He can drink it without harm (ghoul), she can't. He is in no danger of dehydration.

Yeah. But that still makes the move silly/dumb. We have to assume that he's only keeping her alive because he needs her, right (else why keep her, if she's just going to slow him down)? So.... he needs her, but he's also in a hurry (trying to catch up to the head, right?). So it is absolutely in his best interest to keep her healthy and able to travel as fast as possible. So instead of him drinking the irradiated water and letting her drink the non-irradiated stuff, ensuring that both of them are maximally able to do exactly that which he wants/needs, he instead effectively sabotages himself with his silly bit with the water.

I get it. It makes for great TV drama, and showcases his "I'm a mean ol cowpoke" persona, I guess. But it's incredibly dumb and not something I'd expect a 200+ year old person with massive experience operating in the wastelands to actually do.

[ecarden]

Yeah. But that still makes the move silly/dumb. We have to assume that he's only keeping her alive because he needs her, right (else why keep her, if she's just going to slow him down)? So.... he needs her, but he's also in a hurry (trying to catch up to the head, right?). So it is absolutely in his best interest to keep her healthy and able to travel as fast as possible. So instead of him drinking the irradiated water and letting her drink the non-irradiated stuff, ensuring that both of them are maximally able to do exactly that which he wants/needs, he instead effectively sabotages himself with his silly bit with the water.

I get it. It makes for great TV drama, and showcases his "I'm a mean ol cowpoke" persona, I guess. But it's incredibly dumb and not something I'd expect a 200+ year old person with massive experience operating in the wastelands to actually do.

I don't think this is correct, as I believe at this point, he isn't after the head, he's after the drugs. He needs her alive, but his plan is to literally sell her to be chopped up for spare parts. He does not care about her condition (except that it is sufficient to get him the amount of drugs he needs, which it transparently is even after her treatment).

He is quite deliberately brutalizing her, if you want to be nice because he's seeking to toughen her up, if not, because he's trying to prove that everyone is as messed up as he has become. Alternatively, he is brutalizing her because he knows he's about to do something horrifying, sell someone to be murdered (when, to be clear, he absolutely has alternatives, as is made clear, he could go in there and do exactly what she did and get all the drugs he needs/wants) and is either, to be nice, attempting to get her to hate him as much as he hates himself. To be not so nice, to try to provoke a reaction which he can use to justify what he's doing.

But again, I'm not sure what about his behavior makes you think he's particularly smart? He's an extremely skilled combatant and a smooth talker, but...essentially none of his plans actually work, we meet him when he's buried alive and he would have gone feral but for our protagonist's mercy. He's survived a long time, but that, in itself, doesn't mean much.

[Errorname]

Yeah. If we assume that ghoulism has existed the whole time, and that The Ghoul is the first, and that this drug is needed to avoid going feral, then we kinda have to assume that he's been on this drug the whole time. Which somewhat begs the question as to where it's all coming from?

Do we? The rules of how ghouls work are inconsistent as hell but I think it's easy to imagine that whatever causes 'ferals' becomes more of a problem over time. Coop's like 200 years old, that's a lot of time for him to develop a degenerative condition that needs increasingly strong amounts of treatment. Possible he had decades where he just never needed this sort of treatment.

[Tyndmyr]

Do we? The rules of how ghouls work are inconsistent as hell but I think it's easy to imagine that whatever causes 'ferals' becomes more of a problem over time. Coop's like 200 years old, that's a lot of time for him to develop a degenerative condition that needs increasingly strong amounts of treatment. Possible he had decades where he just never needed this sort of treatment.

Well, another ghoul made it what, a dozen years before he ran dry on the meds and the feralness took him, and he considered that a really good run. So, whatever the timeline is for going feral, it definitely isn't a significant part of 200 years.

[ecarden]

Well, another ghoul made it what, a dozen years before he ran dry on the meds and the feralness took him, and he considered that a really good run. So, whatever the timeline is for going feral, it definitely isn't a significant part of 200 years.

I think the intent (assuming its just not a retcon) is that it's pretty widely variable. Coop made it a long time before he started to degenerate, others degenerate almost instantly. Once you do, you need the drugs and if you fail to get them degeneration is presumably permanent.

[t209]

Some people wonder if Coop was a Marked Man from Lonesome Road, BUT
- so far not sure if he got radiation exposure from dust storm, which ghoul transformation and dust storm strong enough to flay his skin that meant that he should be in constant pain.
Plus Marked Man seems to retain their sapience better despite their feral status (enough to hold weapons and organized into groups) in Lonesome Road.

[Phobia]

I mean did yall miss the part where the Ghoul filled up his canteen with just a random puddle of radioactive water later on? The reason he didn’t give her his canteen to drink is because the Ghoul had no purified water whatsoever and was just mocking her.