Cole

* Child
* Adult

"*Never trust an atom. They make up everything. Yeah, I thought you'd like that one.*"
—Cole, demonstrating his sense of humor
**Cole** is a character on Prime Video series *Tales from the Loop*. He is portrayed by Duncan Joiner and is also portrayed at other ages by Dylan Bodner, Jamie Parcells, Shane Carruth and James Janssens. He is the younger son of Loretta and George Willard and has a grandfather named Russ Willard. He is the younger brother of Jakob. The family lives together in Mercer, Ohio, where their lives are altered in strange ways by the remnants of experiments conducted at the Mercer Center for Experimental Physics, known colloquially as "the Loop."

After growing up, he married a woman named Molly and had a son, Nate.

## History

### The girl looking for her mother

One day, he was playing in the woods, throwing rocks at a robot, when he encountered a young girl who was searching for her mother, Alma. She chastised him for throwing rocks at the robot, asking him how he would like to be picked on. He, however, didn't think it a big deal, as it was only a robot. He asked her if she had ever wondered where robots came from, saying that his brother had told him that it was part of what they did "underground." She told him to leave her alone, but he followed her anyway.

The two's journey eventually led them back to his house. He hoped to ask for his parents' help in finding the girl's mother. Both of them worked underground, at the Mercer Center for Experimental Physics, a.k.a. "the Loop," just as the girl's mother did. He thought that they could help, but his mother was very busy and brushed off his attempts to try to get her attention. He introduced the girl to his brother, who showed them both a book about black holes. The girl again tried to set off her own, but ended up showing Cole a piece of the Eclipse, a portion of a structure from the Eclipse. To both of their surprise, when Cole released it, it floated in mid-air. As she took it back, he told her that he was definitely coming with her.

The two headed for the Loop and, as they did, they talked. Cole asked the girl why she called her mother "Alma," and she replied that it was what her mother wanted. She didn't think that she really much wanted to be a mother. He said that his own mother was the same way. Outside of the entrance to the Loop, they spoke with the guard Gaddis at the guard station. The girl asked him to call her mother, Alma, but he told her that he was sorry, but there was nobody by that name working there. She shouted that he was lying and ran away and Cole apologized for her. He followed her to the Mercer Tavern and was shocked when she actually went inside to search. He then accompanied her back to his home, where she discovered something odd in his mother's papers - a test paper that exactly matched one that she had recently taken. What Cole did not know was that girl was actually a younger version of his own mother, Loretta Willard. After his mother met with the girl, who vanished back into the past, she returned home. There, she told Cole that she had lost her own mother when she was his age, but she would always be there for him.

### The Echo Sphere

He was very fond of his grandfather, Russ, and enjoyed spending time with him. He asked Russ what he did for living at the Loop and Russ told him that "When someone says something's impossible, I prove it's possible." One day, Russ took him out into a field, where he showed him an unusual object called the "Echo Sphere." The object had the power to give someone an estimate of how long they lived, based on the number of echoes that resounded when they shouted into it. At Russ's encouragement, Cole shouted into it and learned from this that he would live a very long life, having heard six echoes. He then asked Russ if he thought he could beat that number, but is grandfather replied that it wasn't a game. Cole told him try anyway. Russ then shouted into the Echo Sphere, but there was no echo in return. Cole asked if it was broken, but Russ told him sadly that it wasn't. Cole asked what was wrong and Russ replied that nothing was wrong. From this, Cole learned that his grandfather was dying.

Shortly after this, Russ's health condition began deteriorating. He sat down with his family and had a conversation with them explaining it. Cole did not react well and ran into his room. Afterwards, Russ met with him and they had a conversation about death. Cole asked about the idea of an afterlife, but Russ rejected the notion. However, later he took him out late at night and showed him the control switch for a lamp in a field, telling him that he could always find light in the dark.

One day, he collapsed at home, and ended up being hospitalized. Cole was confused and upset by what had happened to his grandfather. He visited the Eclipse within the Loop, hoping that it might somehow provide a cure for his grandfather. He was caught by his mother, who told him that what he wanted was impossible. He then shouted, asking what the point of what they were doing at the Loop was, echoing his grandfather's words and telling her and his father to make it possible. His mother, however, told him that while his grandfather had built the Loop to do many things, but what he wanted wasn't one of them.

When Cole came to visit Russ him in the hospital, he was sad to see that his grandfather was not who he once was. He did not recognize recognize his grandson and spent the hospital visit shouting for his wife, Klara, instead, causing George to send Cole outside to wait. Not long after this, Russ passed away. At the funeral, Cole spoke with a teenage girl named Zoe, who asked him whether he would rather be buried or cremated, like his grandfather was. Cole replied that he didn't know, and Zoe replied that she would rather be buried, like her mom. He asked if her mom had died and she said that she had. He apologized for her loss and then helped her in preparing refreshments for the funeral. After the funeral, he took to spending time with his grandmother, helping her in the garden. One day, he asked her what it was that his grandfather did, working on his computers, but she replied that he never told her. As he went home with his father, the two of them looked together at a photo of Russ. Later, Cole returned by himself to the Echo Sphere late one evening. He shouted into it and seemed to experience a vision of himself at various ages, with a wife and child and growing old. He then watched fireflies flying, lighting up the inside of the sphere.

### Finding his brother and the time stream

He was upset when his older brother, Jakob, moved out of the Willard family home, having taken a job at the Loop and moved into a flat above the barbershop of a man named Lenny. He was entirely unaware that the boy he thought was his brother was actually his brother's best friend, Danny Jannson, now living inside his brother's body. He called his brother, begging him to come back and visit the family home, but did not succeed. He ended up visiting the flat, where Danny revealed the truth to him. At first, Cole was disbelieving, but came around after Danny showed him a picture of a robot drawn by his brother, saying that his consciousness had been transferred into it.

He began searching for his brother and found the robot that had become his brother's body living in a forest. Observing the robot's movements and reactions to him, he quickly discerned the truth of the matter, that the robot was, in fact, his brother. He played kickball with the robot for a while, before promising to bring the robot back to his family, telling him that they would know what to do. He became sleepy and the two ended up sleeping together in the forest. When Danny woke up, the robot was still with him, but was attacked by another robot that had taken up residence in the forest. When the robot then made a threatening move towards Cole, the Jakob robot attacked it. Though he managed to incapacitate it, he lost a crucial component in the process, which Cole did not realize. He led his brother's robot out of the forest, unaware that it was breaking down. He ended up reaching the edge of the forest, only to turn around to find that his brother was not with him. He ran back and discovered the robot collapsed. He pleaded with his brother, asking him what he could do, but in the end could only watch as the life went out of his brother's eyes. He cried, begging him not to go. He then collected a number of pinecones and placed them in a ring around the broken robot's body as a memorial.

He wandered back into the woods and sat down for a rest by a stream. He then placed his ball into the water and watched it roll down the stream, only for it, to his surprise, to come back out on the other side. He looked around, confused, and then waded through the stream. He then heard a strange rumbling and crackling sound and when the turned around and looked back, the stream had turned to ice. He went back to the barbershop and shouted for Danny, but got no answer. He then went to the Loop and asked the guard on duty to call for his mother. While he waited for his mother to come out, he observed a futuristic vehicle flying overhead and landing on top of the Loop facility. His mother then came out to greet him, but something was very off - she appeared much older and there was a streak of gray in hair. As she reached him she said, "Told you: I'd always be here for you" and hugged him. He sobbed and said Jakob's name and she told him that she knew.

She explained that while he was gone, Danny had come and explain what had had happened, how he had been transferred into Jakob's body. The Willard family was left bereft, while Danny went to live with his true family. As for Cole, he had been essentially frozen in time. Having crossed the stream while it was thawed, he was gone from everyone else's life for decades. During that time, his father George had passed away, as well as his grandmother, Klara, and his mother, Loretta, became director of the Loop. Sitting together with him on a bench, she told him that she wished that his father and grandmother were still around to see him. He told her that it wasn't fair and that he wanted it to be like it was and she took his hand in silent commiseration.

### Blink of an eye

Sometime later, when he was outside kicking around his ball, he was paid a visit by Danny in Jakob's body. They talked and Danny asked him if he had ever found his brother. He told him that he had and that he didn't blame him for what had happened. Danny then introduced him to his daughter, Nora, as he was biologically Nora's uncle. The two then kicked the ball around together. Still later, Cole returned to school to attend classes again. There, he was surprised to find that his old teacher, Sarah, was still there and teaching classes. He gave her back a book that she had let him borrow, saying that the story within it was both sad and beautiful. She asked him how it felt to be back home and he replied that everything had changed, except for her. He asked why that was, and she revealed her secret: that she had even taught his parents when they were his age. She was an android, created by his grandfather, Russ Willard.

Back at home, he took a portrait of his mother, growing talented at photography. He asked her if she had missed him and she replied "more than anything." She sobbed, then composed herself for the photo. Afterwards, he visited a local tower and climbed to the top, where stared out upon the new landscape of the village in which he had grown up and would continue to.

In his 40s, he came back to Mercer to visit his old family home with his wife Molly and son Nate. He seemed a bit dazed by the experience and admitted to his wife that it didn't look quite like he remembered. His son asked him if it felt like a long time, but he replied "blink of an eye."

Cole would continue to live well into at least his 80s.

## References

1. ↑ IMDb - *Tales from the Loop* cast
2. ↑ What's On TV - Tales from the Loop on Amazon Prime...
3. ↑ "Loop"
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Echo Sphere"
5. ↑ "Home"