Say it ain’t so. We know that the fact of the matter in Fallout‘s world is that all ghouls go feral eventually. It’s just a part of the deal. Even though Ghoulification gives ghouls extended lifespans and super-healing properties that help them survive in the radiation-filled Wasteland, it does not make Ghouls immortal, and it renders them exposed to the greatest threat to being a Ghoul, as mentioned, going feral. But, we kind of, somehow, just imagined that by virtue of being THE Ghoul and not just A Ghoul, Walton Goggins’ Fallout character, The Ghoul, was the exception to this rule. Not in that he didn’t face the threat of going feral, the series has shown us that he does, but just in that, he, you know, wouldn’t. Since the fanbase would collectively riot if THE Ghoul went feral and lost all his cognitive abilities, his snarky personality, and his incredible charm on Fallout. But Fallout season two, episode six, is here to remind us just how full of hubris we are. Walton Goggins’ The Ghoul is much closer to going feral on Fallout season two than we thought. And we do NOT say “okey dokey” or give a thumbs-up to that.
Fallout Season 2 Reveals Just How Close Walton Goggins’ The Ghoul Is to Going Feral
I’m going to need a wellness check, on, well, me, please. And on everyone else who was moved to tears watching Walton Goggins’ The Ghoul struggle to hold onto his conception of himself during Fallout season two, episode six. It was just too painful for words. And also immensely shocking. We have seen The Ghoul go some time without the series’ anti-feral ghoul medication vials on Fallout before. And the inability to get the medication had some adverse impacts on him in the past. But mostly, the consequences of being unable to obtain the vials of medication had been physical in previous and not mental.
In Fallout season one, episode four, we see the Ghoul sapped of all his strength, drooling, and panting on the floor when he is unable to take his medication. And in Fallout season two, episode three, we see The Ghoul hacking and coughing violently until the remnants of the NCR generously offer him a few more vials of anti-feral medication. But Fallout season two, episode six, is the first time we see how close the Ghoul is to losing his mind and sense of self to going feral.
The Ghoul Couldn’t Reach His Anti-Medication Vials
After The Ghoul attempts to betray Lucy and bring her back to her vault on the orders of her father, Hank MacLean, Lucy knocks him out of the window with one of Fallout‘s most powerful tools, the Power Fist. Of course, Hank MacLean was threatening to kill The Ghoul’s wife and daughter, so we can see why he did what he had to do. We assume Lucy didn’t intend to kill The Ghoul, but she almost caused him to suffer a fate even worse.
When The Ghoul fell out of the window in the New Vegas hotel room, he became impaled on a pole, and his bag fell out of his reach. Stuck as he was, he couldn’t move to reach it, and no one, not even Dogmeat, bless her heart, would bring The Ghoul the vials of anti-feral medication he so needed to survive on Fallout. And as the hours passed, not taking his medication began to take its toll.
What Happens to The Ghoul as He Goes Feral on Fallout Season 2?
Even before night falls on The Ghoul and many hours pass without his consuming the contents of his anti-feral medication vials, The Ghoul begins to lose himself to ferality.
At first, we see The Ghoul begin to hiss and snarl as he lies trapped and impaled on the pole, animalistic noises that he did not mean to make erupting out of him. Then his body starts to move without his instruction or intention, twitching and spasming erratically. The Ghoul’s fingers and arms then distort into something that more closely resembles a claw, a movement he can’t seem to stop. The Ghoul is beginning to go feral on Fallout season two, and only a few hours have passed; something we know because it is still daylight during this sequence, and it was daylight when he was first impaled on the pole. And it only gets worse from there.
By the time night falls in Fallout season two, episode six, The Ghoul is snarling and spasming uncontrollably in fits that come quicker and more intensely than before. The noises ripping from The Ghoul’s throat are positively primal, fully animalistic, and he can barely stop them to breathe. But the saddest part of all is the exercise that The Ghoul starts to perform to himself, the very one we saw the first feral ghoul we met in Fallout (the one The Ghoul essentially euthanized) enact.
The Ghoul’s Affirmations to Himself Destroy Us
Walton Goggins’ The Ghoul begins to chant affirmations of his humanity to himself. He mutters between ferality fits. “I am a human being. My name is Cooper. My name is Cooper Howard. I have a daughter. Her name is Janey. She’s alive. My daughter is alive.” This mental focus and the reminder of The Ghoul’s purpose are enough to stave off the consequences of not taking anti-feral medication to some degree, but not completely.
Thankfully, though, The Ghoul is saved before he goes fully feral on Fallout season 2.
The Ghoul Is Maybe a Day Away From Going Fully Feral on Fallout Season 2
We don’t know exactly how long The Ghoul is stuck on that pole in Fallout season two, episode six, but it was daylight when he first got impaled and nighttime when he was eventually saved. We estimate The Ghoul spent somewhere between six to twelve hours on the pole, but it didn’t take that long for him to start to go feral.
Walton Goggins’ The Ghoul began to show overt signs of going feral pretty fast. And from this sequence as a whole, we feel that ultimately, without his vials, The Ghoul is no more than a day away from going feral as of Fallout season two. And hoo boy, does that scare us. We really didn’t think The Ghoul, with his snark, and his devil-may-care attitude, and his ability to handle basically any situation that came his way, was really that close to going feral. But we guess after 200 years in the Wasteland, the majority of them spent as a ghoul, it’s not really a surprise.
What Does It Mean for a Ghoul to Go Feral on Fallout?
Just in case you need a refresher, what does it mean for The Ghoul to go feral on Fallout? Well, when a human becomes a ghoul, they don’t lose their cognitive function. They may lose their nose and sense of taste, but they remain, for all intents and purposes, human. But when ghouls go feral, they lose that humanity. As we’ve written before, “When a ghoul ‘goes feral’ in the Fallout franchise, they lose all of their cognitive abilities and humanity. They instead become violent, vicious, animalistic creatures who attack other living things. They’re essentially monsters of the wasteland, with some versions being more ferocious, dangerous, and harder to stop than others. Fallout‘s first season showed ghouls on the verge of finally turning completely, and it wasn’t a pretty sight.”
The idea of going feral is something Fallout‘s The Ghoul thinks about a lot, unsurprisingly. Walton Goggins told Nerdist, “I think it’s an existential crisis every single day… People will rob, and they will kill, and steal, and lie to get access to this medicine to stay on this earth in a form of consciousness that is normal for as long as they possibly can.”
The Fallout TV Series Introduces Medication Vials to Stave Off a Ghoul Going Feral, But It’s Not a Permanent Solution
Of course, the Fallout TV series offered The Ghoul and all ghouls something they never had before in the games, an anti-feral medication vial that can either be drunk or inhaled via an inhaler. This anti-feral medication appears to stave off the effects of ferality and keeps ghouls in their right minds. It’s unclear whether the medication becomes less effective over time as ghouls age and become more prone to ferality, but it is clear that taking it really helps ghouls maintain their humanity and rational thinking.
Once again, as we wrote in previous, on the Fallout series, “There is a highly valuable, hard-to-get medicine ghouls can take to stop them from going feral. If taken regularly, this chemical mixture can help a ghoul, even as old as Cooper Howard, remain a fully functional, rational being rather than a mindless monster. At the moment, this anti-feral ghoul medication does not appear to be able to cure a ghoul who is already feral, nor does it seem to have any impact on any other aspect of ghoulification. This Fallout series medicine is not a ghoul cure.”
Since the anti-feral ghoul medication vials are series creations and do not have lore or counterpart items in the Fallout games, there is a lot we don’t yet know about them.
Could We Ever See a Ghoul Cure or a Cure for Ferality on Fallout?
The idea that there are medication vials that can fight ghoul ferality in the Fallout series raises a series of important questions. Firstly, if a medication exists that prevents ghouls from becoming feral, could there be a medication that undoes ferality if ghouls fully lose their cognitive abilities? Could this medication, in the right hands, transform into a cure for ferality and not just a measure to prevent it?
Additionally, currently, there is no known ghoul cure in Fallout‘s world. We believe we see Thaddeus turn into a ghoul in Fallout season one, although he might have been infected with the FEV, or Forced Evolutionary Virus, instead. But if Thaddeus was indeed turned into a ghoul, as the character of John Hancock was on Fallout 4, could there be a chance that ghoulism could also be reversed? Personally, we’d take either a cure for going feral or a ghoul cure on Fallout, whatever means The Ghoul will be safe.
Will Walton Goggins’ The Ghoul Go Feral on the Fallout Series?
And that brings us back the feeling of trepidation in our stomachs. Will Walton Goggins’ The Ghoul go feral on Fallout? We hate to say it, but after Fallout season two, episode six, it feels like fighting ferality is going to be a MAJOR part of The Ghoul’s storyline in the Fallout series. The fact that The Ghoul can’t even go a few hours without his anti-feral medication vials means that he is seriously vulnerable. All anyone has to do to remove him from the picture is ensure he can’t get to his vials for no more than a day. And even if no villain emerges to do this, the Wasteland is just a hugely unreliable place. What if The Ghoul can’t find any vials anywhere around him?
Will Walton Goggins’ The Ghoul go feral on Fallout? Probably not in season two. But we’re kind of afraid, “eventually, yes,” is the answer to that question. But ferality will have to get through us first!
Fallout season two is now airing on Prime Video.
Rotem Rusak is the Editor-in-Chief at Nerdist. She is a (The) Ghoul gal, but she’s afraid that Fallout’s Mr. House has taken his place as her favorite character. Don’t make me regret it, Rob! Follow her on IG for more fandom flails.