There’s only one thing that has been keeping Cooper Howard/The Ghoul going during his last 200 years in the Wasteland. And that’s the thought that somewhere out there, his family was still alive. Of course, in Fallout season two, we learn that Cooper Howard/The Ghoul actually had no idea whether his family was really alive at all. Instead, he’s been wandering from Vault-Tec Management Vault to Vault-Tec Management Vault searching for any sign of them. Finally, in the last episodes of Fallout season two, The Ghoul learned from Hank MacLean that his family’s cryogenic chambers were in the Vault-Tec Management Vault in New Vegas. But did Cooper Howard/The Ghoul actually find his family in Fallout season two? Did The Ghoul get to reunite with his wife and daughter in the finale of Fallout‘s second chapter? We break it all down.
Does The Ghoul Find His Family in Fallout Season 2?
So, did Cooper Howard/The Ghoul find his family in Fallout’s season two finale episode? The answer is, yes, he did, but he did not get to reunite with his family… yet.
With the help of Mr. House, to whom The Ghoul finally gave the Cold Fusion diode, The Ghoul was able to find the cryogenic pods his family was kept in inside of Vault-Tec’s New Vegas Vault. At his behest, Mr. House opened the cryogenic chambers that contained Cooper Howard/The Ghoul’s wife, Barb, and daughter, Janey. But, alas, Barb and Janey’s cryogenic pods are empty. Barb herself is not inside her pod when Mr. House opens it, and neither is Janey.
Are The Ghoul’s Family Alive in Fallout Season 2?
Although Barb’s cryogenic chamber was empty in Fallout season 2’s finale, it would appear that Barb Howard did indeed survive into the Wasteland. She was at least alive long enough to wake up on the other side of the Great War. Is she alive, though? That’s the million-dollar question, but at least The Ghoul has hope that she could be. And it’s very much the same story with The Ghoul’s daughter, Janey.
Where is Barbara Howard in the Present Timeline of Fallout?
Barb Howard left Coop/The Ghoul a sign of life in her now-empty pod. At the bottom of the chamber, The Ghoul finds a postcard that says “Greetings from Colorado” on one side, and on the other side, Barb has written “Colorado was a good idea.” Barb and Coop had discussed going to Colorado back in the past timeline before the war began and the bombs dropped. And now, it would appear she’s sent Coop/The Ghoul a message about the location his family is heading to in Fallout—Colorado, here we come.
Of course, we don’t know when Barb Howard woke up on the Fallout series. The Ghoul has been alive for 200 years, after all. What are the odds she just woke up recently? If she woke up too early, she might be dead or pretty old by now, and that wouldn’t be the best news for The Ghoul.
But even if she only woke up a week or so ago, we don’t know whether she remained alive since writing that note. The Wasteland is a cruel place. But we’re cheering for the idea that she has. Otherwise, giving The Ghoul hope that he’ll reunite with his family like this would be incredibly cruel of the Fallout series.
Where Is Cooper Howard/The Ghoul’s Daughter, Janey Howard, in the Present Timeline of Fallout?
The fate of Janey Howard, Cooper Howard’s daughter, is also unknown to us. As mentioned, in Fallout season two’s finale, Mr. House opens Janey’s cryogenic chamber, only to reveal that it is empty as well. The Ghoul seems to think that if Barb is gone, Janey must be with her, and that seems right to us. But again, we can’t know when Janey awoke from her cryogenic sleep into the Wasteland. And that means we have no idea how old she is or if she’s alive. But, most likely, she’s in Colorado with her mother.
Cooper Howard/The Ghoul Is Heading to Colorado to Find His Family on Fallout Season 2
What we can confirm is that Cooper Howard/The Ghoul is feeling like he finally has something to hold onto at the end of Fallout season two’s finale. He has the hope and proof that his family could still be alive, and he’s never had that before. When we last see The Ghoul on Fallout season two, he’s heading out to Colorado to try and find his family, Barb and Janey. And we’re happy for him.
What Will Barb Howard Be Like as a Wastelander on Fallout Season 2?
Now that we know that season two has officially confirmed that Barb Howard is somewhere out in the Wasteland of Fallout (unless she’s dead), we have to wonder what Barb looks like in the post-Great War world and how will she fit into the story of the series in the present. To help paint a picture, Barb Howard’s actress Frances Turner gave her opinion on what Barb might be like when next we see her on Fallout. She shared, “I think Barb, I think she’d be very resourceful, for sure. She’d know how to keep herself going to the next point, and then figure out from that point how to get to the next point. Yeah, she’s very resourceful.” So what we’re hearing is, Barb might be running things in Colorado.
What Will Happen When The Ghoul Finally Reunites with His Family?
Earlier in Fallout season two, Lucy asked The Ghoul, essentially, what he thought his family would think of him if they ever did reunite. And that’s a good question, Coop has sure changed a lot since the last time we, and presumably, his family, saw him before the war.
We also asked Turner what she imagines Barb might think of Cooper Howard’s transformation into The Ghoul, and she offered, “It’s been 219 years, we don’t know what’s happened to her in the interim, and what state she’s in. My hope is that she would see him in there. The eyes being the window to the soul, I’d like to think she’d see him in there. How she would react or respond to the rest of him, I don’t know. I don’t know if that would be a gradual process. Has she seen Ghouls before? We don’t know.”
We at Nerdist pointed out that she, too, could be a Ghoul. Hey, you never know.
The Ghoul’s Family Will Continue to Figure Into His Fallout Story
What we do know is that The Ghoul’s family will continue to feature in his story. Now that Cooper Howard knows that Barb and Janey are out there, somewhere in Fallout‘s world, we bet there’s no stopping him. Colorado, here we come.
Fallout season two is now streaming on Prime Video.
Rotem Rusak is the Editor-in-Chief of Nerdist. Like Mr. House, she will be happy if The Ghoul finds his family on Fallout.