This ‘Plot Hole’ Ghoul’s Scene in Fallout Has a Perfect Lore Explanation

Summary:

• In Fallout, Cooper Howard’s flashbacks reveal that he knows about power armors’ crucial design flaw and blamed Bud for many boys’ deaths.
• During the Battle of Griffith Observatory, the Ghoul uses that flaw against the Brotherhood soldiers, raising the question why he hadn’t done that before.
• In Filly, Maximus’ clumsiness reminded Cooper of the boys who died alongside him in the war, so he spared the wannabe-Paladin.

Cooper Howard’s backstory is a red line that goes through the entirety of Fallout Season 1, and things we learn about his past explain a lot about him and the world in the present. But they also create what seems like plot holes or, at least, logical inconsistencies, and that’s especially easy to notice with the power armor subplot.

The Ghoul Knew About Power Armors’ Flaws

Over two centuries before the events of Prime Video ’s Fallout, Cooper Howard confronted Bud about his former company’s power armors. We learn that Coop was a soldier back in the day, and a catastrophic design flaw in pre-war power armors led many of his fellow troops to die despite seemingly being protected by mech suits.

Fast forward to the Battle of Griffith Observatory. The Ghoul brings up the design flaw and lazily wonders whether it’s still present in post-war models — and then proceeds to massacre an entire army of Brotherhood of Steel soldiers using said flaw. That was a great setup, but it also begs a question: if Cooper knew about this trick from the get-go, why didn’t he use it against Maximus in Filly?

The Ghoul Deliberately Left Maximus Alive

Indeed, the Ghoul could have just as easily dispatched Maximus during their Filly fight. One shot, and the wannabe-Paladin would have been dead — and it would have only made sense for Cooper to shoot him since he was actively losing his primary target while dancing around with Maximus. But that was not a plot hole!

If we return to the scene where Cooper confronts Bud about the power armors’ design flaw, we can clearly see just how bitter he is about many young boys dying in a war needlessly. He resents it. In Filly, Maximus was still very much unable to use his power armor properly, and his clumsiness reminded the Ghoul about those boys.

He could have killed Maximus easily but chose to just toy with him, instead. The bitter memory from over two centuries ago awakened Cooper Howard the ex-soldier in the feared bounty hunter Ghoul, and he — for once — chose mercy.