James Cottingham (Remake)

## James Cottingham

"*I knew your face...when I saw you atop the Wall. Echoes...dreams...**you betrayed me**. But now...I can forget. For soon, you will be **one of us**. But...**I can't forgive**, even if the Father can. So you will learn...what **pain and suffering** really means. You will be **cleansed**. Baptised in fire! As I was... [...] I should take your eyes...but I want you to **see**,*"
—"Nathan" reveals his true identity to Henry[src]

**James Cottingham**, later known as **Nathan**, **Brother Nathan** and **Father Crow**, is a main character, the former tritagonist and later an antagonist, as well as a survivor of the outbreak in *Strain Zero*. He is a British exchange student at Clarkson High School in the United States and a close friend of Henry, with whom he helps band together their fellow students to secure the school and clear out the dead. As the horrors of the apocalypse begin to take their toll on him, he forms a protective - and obsessive - bond with Emma and Daniel. After the events of Port Collier, James departed what was left of the group, leaving his fate unknown.

Seven years later, James reappeared in the wilds of Montana as a high-ranking member of the primitivist Frontiersmen, where he was now known as "Brother Nathan". Emma's attempts to bring James out of his new persona only resulted in the complete fracture of his mind, leading to him subduing and kidnapping Emma during the attack on Greencole. In the ensuing fight between him, Emma and Henry, James was stabbed through the eye and left for dead, only to be rescued and brought to the main Frontiersmen camp, Archangel, to face his punishment. Surviving unscathed, he won himself a position as an elder and chief of the Ram faction, giving him the chance to assassinate Lydia and rally the Frontiersmen to war as their new "Father". He serves as the primary antagonist of the second half of *Season 1: Remake* and the entire *Bloodlines* arc.

## Overview

### Personality & Traits

James is a single-minded, fearless and, at times, brutal man who is a determined survivor and a dedicated defender of his group. He is also noted for his intelligence, especially concerning language studies and the development of ciphers. However, James is not without his demons, possessing an obsessive drive to control the world around him through almost any measure. As the trauma of the apocalypse gets to him he becomes a largely morally unstable man, dedicated to keeping himself, Daniel and Emma safe at any cost. Four months into the apocalypse, this drive to keep them safe nears almost on the pathological.

Following Daniel's tragic death and the loss of the school, it becomes increasingly apparent that the apocalypse has forced a much more dramatic decline of James' mental state than previously thought, a downfall that is repeatedly hinted to not just be limited to the events of the apocalypse. In "*A Long Road Ahead*", James hints that he has struggled with dark thoughts his entire life, thoughts that have been rejuvenated following the collapse of society. Later, after being convinced to let go of his morality by Gregory, James attempts to assault Holly, leaves Henry to die, allows Jess to reanimate, and hoards essential supplies for himself, exposing him for what he has truly become: a depraved, morally compromised, possessive and cold-hearted monster who revels in the lawless world of the post-apocalypse.

Seven years later, James reemerges in the forests of western Montana as a member of the Frontiersmen, now completely delusional and detached from the person he used to be. No longer using his true name, "Nathan" has degenerated into a violent, fanatical psychopath that has dedicated himself to the teachings of Father Ajax, in regards to purging oneself of fear and punishing all "heretics". As a priest and soldier, Nathan is uncompromising, brutal and calculating, matching the haunting image of the crow mask he wears as a priest. His pathological obsession regarding Emma during the first year of the apocalypse has transformed into a fanatical devotion to the Frontiersmen and their beliefs; claiming to feel no fear, he is willing to endure pain and even risk death for his fellow cultists, all in the name of Ajax.

However, despite his supposed dedication to Ajax and his teachings , James snaps upon realizing that the woman he is fighting in "*Nightmares*" is Emma, his former ward, and breaks down crying, maniacally elated that she is alive and safe and forgetting that he tried to kill her just seconds before. It is therefore clear that the identity of "Nathan" is nothing more than another mask for James: a manifestation of his violent urges that allows him to detach himself from his atrocious actions. His final clash with Henry seems to destroy any remnant of his past self, leaving behind the vindictive, unstable and cruel persona known as Natha.

Upon taking the crown as the new Father of the Frontiersmen, Nathan quickly shows to be a strong leader. He appears to take great pride in his leadership abilities and enjoys the position of power, keeping his followers in line using fear (or, rather, the cleansing of it) and a ravenous thirst for victory. He demands loyalty and obedience from everyone who follows him, even going as far as killing two of his followers who try to help him in his fight against Henry.

Once he is defeated the true James finally breaks free, greeting Henry as his friend rather than his bitter enemy and thus allowing Henry to use his new axe for its true purpose: peace, instead of war. With that in mind, Henry allowed James to pass peacefully before removing his head, and from then on remembered him as his friend rather than as the monster he had gradually become.

### Skills & Abilities

At the start of the apocalypse, James possesses few survival skills and gets by mostly on his intelligence; aside from Ben, James is probably the most naturally intelligent member of the Clarkson Survivors. He has a deep interest in linguistics and ciphers, making him a logical and calculating thinker. Four months of scraping by in the ruins of the school greatly improves James' marksmanship, and he has grown into a competant defender and scavenger for the group. Aside from this, James is a physically weak and often struggles in fist fights, including with walkers.

Seven years after his disappearance, James, now known as Nathan, has become much more proficient in hand-to-hand, melee and ranged combat. While skilled with a bow, he prefers a spear, with which he is ruthlessly efficient. Completely indoctrinated by Frontiersmen beliefs, including cleansing oneself of all fear, Nathan is an unrelenting fighter and hunter characterised by his merciless ferocity; in many ways, his fighting style is similar to Henry's: fast, aggressive and relentless.

## Pre-Apocalypse

Little is known about James' early life. He grew up in England, where he eventually met and became best friends with classmate Henry. James spent a period of time in a psychiatric ward due to an unrevealed psychological disorder, likely psychopathy, that caused him to have violent thoughts that he eventually suppressed.

## Post-Apocalypse

### Season 1: Remake

#### "It Begins"

After his best friend Henry wakes up during math class, James passes him a cipher, asking him if he's okay and how much sleep he got last night. Henry looks at James weakly and asks what he thinks. Their attention is diverted by their teacher, Mr Dawid, who begins coughing heavily and struggles to give his lesson. Unbeknownst to his students, Mr Dawid secretly coughs up blood.

At lunch, Henry and James collect their food in the school's cafeteria and find their fellow exchange students: Holly, Aaron, Sarah, Ben, Jess and Alex. the latter two of which are in a relationship. Their discussion reveals that they have only been in the states for a few weeks and are due to leave within a matter of days. They are disturbed by the older students and teachers surrounding them that are coughing heavily and, in a few places, coughing up blood while the younger students appear fine. Henry watches the news and reads that a mysterious outbreak of a new disease is spreading all over the country, with cases reported across the world, and that it only appears to affect non-adults, with a threshold around the age of eighteen or nineteen. At the end of the school day, the group leave together and avoid the ill students and teachers, unaware that one of the teachers has vomited blood and apparently died.

At their student house, the group meet up with another exchange student, Justinas, who has been away on a week-long expedition with the army cadets. Justinas reports that the army sent him home early because of the disease spreading around, and that it indeed appears to affect those in their early twenties and over, but not those under that age. Jess expresses hope that the outbreak will not delay them returning home, while Alex comforts her, much to Henry's hidden displeasure.

The next morning, the entire group walks to school and are unsettled by the disruption throughout the streets and the presence of military vehicles both on the roads and in the sky. Arriving at the school, they find it in the midst of a military occupation; Jess urges the group to leave, but the others proceed anyway out of curiosity. As they enter the school searching for answers, a sudden and loud explosion rings out nearby; peering out of a window, the group see a military helicopter crash into a nearby supermarket, with another quickly following suite. All around them, sick adults begin vomiting blood and dropping to the ground; outside, more apparently dead adults begin reanimating and, without warning, begin brutally attacking and consuming the youngsters around them. Gunshots ring out as the military try to clear out the attackers, but the army personel begin dying and reanimating themselves, adding to the zombies' numbers.

The group agree to stay together and to return to their student house, but they are found in the hallways by Mrs Dawes, their exchange program supervisor, who rushes them into a supply closet. She tells the group to stay put and wait until someone comes to collect them, but is cut off by a zombie that shoves her to the ground and begins to devour her. Henry lets out a scream, slams and locks the door before standing up against it as the attacking zombie begins banging on the door, desperate to get in. The group are forced to stay put and cover their ears to block out the screaming and chaos outside, while Henry remains against the door, forced to listen to the carnage. Hours pass and one by one the group falls asleep.

The group slowly wake up and, upon realizing everything is silent, decide to open the door. Henry asks Justinas to help him as something is blocking the door; upon opening, Justinas vomits and Henry stands horrified as they discover that the half-eaten body of Mrs Dawes lying against the door. Once Justinas recovers, he, Henry and Alex throw themselves against the door to move Mrs Dawes' corpse away. As the group step outside, they find the hallways covered in dried blood and pieces of Mrs Dawes' body. Jess is unable to even bear to look at the carnage, but Holly is able to coax her out of the room by offering to cover Jess' eyes with a piece of torn cloth. Alex takes off his coat and lays it over Mrs Dawes' body.

The group make their way through the bloody hallways with Henry and James at the lead. They quickly realize that they is nobody else around, students or teachers, before they hear a series of grunts nearby. Unsure if it is another survivor or one of "those things", the group decide to investigate and turn a corner. As they pass by windows with a view of the sports field, they see a selection of army vehicles and more dead, half-eaten bodies.

At the end of the hallway they find the source of the noises: a hunched over zombie, feeding on the body of a student. The blindfolded Jess demands to know what is happening and works up the courage to remove the cloth from her eyes, but yelps when she sees the zombie. Her gasp draws its attention, revealing itself to be a zombified Mr Dawid, his face pale and mottled. Henry stands in front of the others and tries to talk to Mr Dawid, asking him if he recognises the group as his students. Instead of answering, Mr Dawid twitches and snarls before rushing them, his jaws open and arms outstretched. Alex steps in front to grapple Mr Dawid but he is quickly overwhelmed. Unsure of what else to do, Henry grabs a pipe hanging from the wall and beats Mr Dawid over the head with it. Despite him bleeding heavily, Mr Dawid does not stop, forcing Henry to continue hitting him with the pipe until he is finally still.

The group drag Mr Dawid's body into a nearby classroom and look him over; they quickly realize from both the smell and the colour of his skin that Mr Dawid had died when he began attacking them. Discovering the building still has electricity, Aaron switches on the TV inside the classroom and they discover that all channels are broadcasting an evacuation message, alongside footage from the previous few days of towns and cities across the country in chaos. A military warning claims that the disease spreading around causes mutations in the brain, causing the human body to digest its own tissues just before the point of death; those that survive this "reanimate" into violent, ravenous, slowly-decaying creatures that consume flesh. The broadcast then ends, replaced by white noise and a repeating evacuation message.

The group votes to continue moving through the school and clearing out whatever zombies they find. While the others split up to investigate the corridors, Holly asks Henry and James for their help in burying Mrs Dawes in the playground. James walks off to find something to wrap Mrs Dawes in and comes across a locked room. Deciding to search it, he breaks the lock by kicking the door and discovers two younger students, Emma and special needs student Daniel, inside, covered in blood. James comforts the two and tells them they are safe now.

A week passes. During that time, the group arm themselves with makeshift weapons such as knives from the cafeteria and broken furniture and clear out the school one by one. They find only two zombies in the entire building and burn their bodies out on the field. Ben, an engineering student, is able to start the school's backup generators and plumming, allowing the group to bottle and store water. The group agrees not to shower in order to save water. With their supplies already running low, Henry and Justinas decide to head out on a supply run and prepare by raiding the sports hall and workshop.

Back at the school, James, Alex, Sarah and Ben climb some scaffolding to try and access the roof; however, they discover a runner roaming the roof. As it charges Alex, Sarah reveals a gun and shoots the zombie dead after several attempts. When the boys ask her where she got a gun, Sarah shrugs and says "I'm American". The four of them laugh, but stop when they hears the snarls of zombies in the distance, attracted by the sound of the gunshot.

Exhausted and remorseful, Henry and Justinas head through the streets back to the school, which they find under attack by runners. The two of them climb the fence onto the sports field, where they are followed by agile runners, and sprint towards Alex holding open a door for them. Inside, Henry and Justinas offload the guns, ammo and knives that they found and distribute them to the group, informing them that only headshots seem capable of killing zombies. Jess cries out and demands they stop calling them "zombies"; after a brief debate, they are unable to come up with an alternative and assemble at the front of the school, preparing to fight back and protect their new home.

#### "Friend Or Foe"

Four months after the outbreak began, the group have continued to survived within Clarkson High School, but are succumbing to hunger, boredom, exhaustion and paranoia. Tensions are running high within the group, and the food is almost gone. Walkers, as they are now known, that reanimated months ago are now lumbering and aggressive.

While a team goes out on patrol for supplies, James stays behind to guard the school with Justinas. Once the group returns to the school empty handed, Alex begins yelling at Henry and demands that the group have a discussion about leaving the school and making their way to the origin of the emergency broadcast that has been playing on a loop for months. The argument eventually devolves into Alex and Sarah shouting at each other while Henry, overwhelmed by stress and lack of sleep, leaves the discussion and returns to his room. James watches his friend walk away before tending to Emma and Daniel.

Minutes later, Henry returns to the ground floor while Justinas keeps guard. After relaying the situation - two brothers, Matthew and Kyle, have turned up at the school offering supplies and their farm outside the city - Henry asks for the group to take a vote, claiming that this decision is too big for a single person to make. All bar Jess votes to accompany the brothers to their farm; still cautious, Henry decides to only bring himself, James and Sarah to scope out the farm and make sure its safe. As they prepare to head out, Daniel requests to accompany James, having become extremely attached to him.

Once they arrive, they are introduced to the farm's owner, Andre, who they are shocked to discover is an adult, possibly one of the last remaining on Earth. While there, Henry and Sarah decide to investigate Andre's claims that walkers have breached the fence in an attempt to make themselves useful, while James and Daniel decide to return to the school and report back.

In the evening, James brings Jess, Alex, Aaron, Ben, Holly and Emma to the farm, where they are reunited with Henry and Sarah. The pair reveal to the group that they discovered a group of bandits in the woods assaulting a young girl. Deciding to try and rescue the girl, Henry and Sarah recruit James, Alex, Matthew and Kyle to head into the forest. Deep inside, they discover the bandit's camp and try to negotiate for the girl's freedom. The bandits appear to know the brothers but Kyle kills their leader before they can divulge more information. The confrontation descends into a gunfight; still refusing to kill the living, Henry and his group decide to provide covering fire for the brothers. At the end, Henry confronts the brothers for what they have done but is attacked by the reanimated bandit leader. Matthew reveals that being bitten is not the only way one can become a walker; simply the act of dying can cause one to turn. Overwhelmed by this revelation, the group heads back to the farm.

While sleeping in the barn, Henry hears distant screaming and goes to investigate. Avoiding the brothers and the other farm resident, Lisa, Henry discovers a basement and descends. Meanwhile, the others are woken up by Lisa and the brothers, who tell them they are needed in the house. In the basement, Henry discovers several bags of meat, as well as dismembered human bodies, including several of the bandits and the girl that they went to rescue. Henry is confronted by Andre, armed with a cleaver, who easily incapacitates Henry.

In the house, the others are joined by Henry, at which point Andre reveals that the Family are cannibals who made a deal with the bandits to deliver living victims to serve as food; Holly realizes that the man they found that morning was one of their victims who escaped. Henry manages to free himself of his bounds and tries to attack, but Kyle easily grabs him and bites down on Henry's neck before hitting him over the head with his rifle. The others are also knocked unconscious by rifle blows to the head.

When Henry wakes up, the wound on his neck stinging, he finds himself and the others - excluding Holly, Sarah and Emma - locked in a freezing refrigerator filled with hanging, butchered bodies. With no weapons and no way out, the group quickly descends into arguing. Alex lashes out at Henry, blaming him for their situation and that the group should have left Upswitch months ago and headed for the origin of the emergency broadcast.

They are interrupted by Jess, who is violently sick and reveals to Alex that she is pregnant. She then yells at him for blaming Henry for everything and not taking on the burden of leadership despite all of his complaining. Alex is overcome with the news that he will be a father and comes up with the rational idea to lure the brothers to the fridge by faking an illness. With Jess only dry heaving, Henry chocks himself and vomits while Alex and James bash on the door, drawing Matthew to them. Just as Matthew deduces that Henry is not ill, Jess throws up on him, giving the boys the chance to wrestle Matthew and grab his gun. Escaping, the group grabs their weapons while Alex shoots Matthew in the hand, blowing off his fingers, before sealing him inside the fridge.

Meanwhile, in the house, Kyle becomes distracted by the sound of gunshots and decides to investigate; however, he is stopped by Lisa, who bashes him over the head with a shovel. She then lets Sarah, Holly and Emma go before killing Kyle by cracking his skull. As the girls run away, Holly sees Lisa kill herself via gunshot to the head.

The group are reunited but Henry refuses to leave just yet; believing that Andre will inevitably recruit a new group, he decides to kill him and end his reign of terror. While the others raid the farm house for food and supplies, Henry descends into the basement, where he confronts Andre with a rifle. Realizing he is out of ammo, he challenges Andre to a melee fight.

At first, the taller and stronger Andre is able to overwhelm Henry, forcing him back up the surface. While James and the others are distracted by walkers, Henry is shoved through a glass greenhouse, marking up his face. Relying on Justinas' combat training, Henry kicks Andre in the knees, weakening him, before beginning a rageful assault on him, using his hatchet to cut and lacerate Andre's torso. With Andre defeated, Henry finds himself unable to kill him until Holly silently grants him reassurance. Henry then axes Andre over the head, killing him, before he and James use gasoline to set the farm alight.

Finally home, the group reunites with Justinas and Daniel. Henry receives treatment for his wounds from Holly and they appear to connect while James watches jealously from a distance.

### Season 4: Remake

Over the next seven years, James gradually wandered west, becoming more and more delusional as his mind and morals continued to slip. He was reduced to a savage, merciless bandit that killed anyone he came across in order to steal their supplies. He eventually came across the Frontiersmen, a primitivist cult in western Montana, who subjected him to a bloodletting ritual in order to "cleanse" him of his fears. He took to the cult's teachings and beliefs, and was even granted an audience with Ajax before his demise. James subsequently left behind his past self, taking on the new persona of "Brother Nathan" as he ascended to the priesthood. As a leader and hunter among his new people, he would wear a wooden mask resembling a crow, which he was forbidden to remove when around his fellows.

### Season 5: Remake

#### "Blood"

A day or two after his fight with Henry, Nathan awakens in a straw bed, a bandage covering half his face. He suffers flashbacks of his fight with Henry and tears off the bandages, revealing his missing eye. He is calmed by a woman named Lydia, who welcomes him back to the Frontiersmen capital Archangel.

## Death

### Killed by:

* Henry Ward *(alive & zombified)*

In the midst of the Battle of AAFB, Henry marches into the Frontiersmen camp and challenges Nathan for control of the tribe. Nathan refuses and orders the Frontiersmen to charge, but Henry engages him anyway. Nathan nearly triumphs until he threatens Holly and Hope, giving Henry the rage needed to stab Nathan in the heart with his own knife. Nathan's personality switches back to James in his final moments before Henry decapitates him and presents his severed head to the tribe, causing them to stand down. Henry then burns James' head in a nearby fire.

## Killed Victims

* Daniel Miller *(out of mercy)*
* Justinas Garin - shot in the head with an arrow
* Lydia *(alive)* - shot in the neck
* 1 unnamed Hopeville soldier
* Numerous counts of zombies and unnamed people

## Relationships

### Henry Ward

"*When I was younger...**I'd hear things**. Do things I **didn't want to do**. They kept me in a **white place**...asked me questions, poked and prodded. **I hated it**. I would have done anything to get out. [...] Now? I don't know, man. I don't know what to do! Please help me. Cause I don't want to **enjoy it**. Just...**what if I do?***"
—James reveals his hidden issues to Henry[src]
James and Henry were once close friends and confidants with a brother-like friendship, especially once the apocalypse set in and drove them into brutality. Before the outbreak, the two created their own secret cipher to communicate silently and would talk via this cipher during class. As James continued to suffer further, however, the friendship between the two began to crumble, the first sign of which was James watching jealously as Henry and Holly chatted while the latter stitched up the former's wounds.

After Daniel's death at his hands and the loss of the school, James' mental state began to decline much more noticably, testing his friendship with Henry. The newfound tension between them even led to James briefly aiming his rifle at Henry, which erupted into a brief fight. Afterwards, James tearfully confessed that he spent time in a psychiatric ward as a child. Their relationship finally comes to an end when James leaves Henry to dangle over a walker-infested pool of water during the Battle of the Boathouse.

Seven years later, with Henry a captive of the Frontiersmen, the two were reunited, with James now a priest of the cult.

### Emma Goode

"*Emma...Emma! I found you! **I found you!***"
—James reunites with Emma[src]

Emma and James have a strong bond, one that is mired by James' obsessive protection over her. Although it is apparent that he cares deeply for her, James is extremely overprotective, almost pathologically so, to the point that he completely disregards her own wants and opinions if he believes it is for her own good.

### Daniel Miller

"*For your own good,*"
—James' final words to Daniel before killing him[src]

James cared deeply for Daniel and vowed to care for both him and Emma; in turn, Daniel developed a strong attachment to James and rarely left his side.

### Holly Parker

"*You think you're **built** for this world? That you **belong** in it? **You're fucking wrong**. You think you have what it takes, but you don't. All you want is **control**. Over Emma. Over **me**. [...] You're not in control. You're **fucking crazy**. But I'm not like you. I won't gun you down in cold blood. You're still one of us. But if you **ever** touch me again, I swear you won't just **walk away**,*"
—Holly holds **James** at gunpoint after he tries to assault her[src]
James holds an unrequieted affection for Holly and is shown to be incredibly jealous over her emotional bond with his best friend Henry. It is obvious that James wishes to exert his control over Holly in a similar way that he does to Emma.

During the group's infiltration of Hopeville, James attempts to sexually assault Holly, the culmination of his attempts to control her, only for Holly to fight back and threaten him at gunpoint. After this moment James keeps his distance from Holly, while also demonstrating a need to hurt her after she rejected him; this was shown when James locked eyes with Holly when he left Henry for dead inside the burning boathouse. Later, following the tragic deaths of Jess and AJ, James attempts to apologise to Holly, only for her to shun and ignore him.

## Appearances

### The Walking Dead: Strain Zero

#### Season 1: Remake

* "It Begins"
* "Friend Or Foe"
* "A Long Road Ahead"
* "Around Every Corner"
* "All That Remains"

#### Season 4: Remake

* "Divide"
* "Nightmares"

## Trivia

* Unlike in the original, James is not the sibling of either Emma or Daniel, and instead serves as their guardian.
* James is the first, and so far only, member of the Clarkson Survivors to become an antagonist, as well as the first member to kill another member of the group.
* James is one of two characters to serve as the primary antagonist of more than one season or miniseries, the other being Bart Rhodes. He is also the first primary antagonist to appear in more than one arc.
* James' name among the Frontiersmen, "Nathan", and the wooden crow mask he wears as a priest are both references to the character Nathan Carlson from the original series.
* James is the first character in the *Strain Zero* continuity to suffer from some form of amnesia, the other being Antony Eden.
	+ James' amnesia is retrograde, meaning he cannot recover memories from before whatever event caused his condition
	+ His amnesia originates from the brain damage he sustained at Henry's hands during their battle in "*Wolves*"; he also lost an eye in the fight

## References

1. ↑ *Strain Zero* begins in 2003
2. ↑ The Clarkson Survivors in *Strain Zero* are each seventeen instead of sixteen as in the original series
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 In "*A Long Road Ahead*", Henry mentions the cipher that they created together when he says that the two should use it to find each other if they ever get separated