Leland Coyle

ALIAS Sergeant Coyle The Cop (by Reagents) Fucking Psycho Hillbilly (by Reagents) The Pig (by Reagents) CAREER U.S. Marine (formerly) (presumably former) Police sergeant (presumably former) Prime Asset AFFILIATION Irene Coyle (Wife; Deceased) June Coyle (Wife; Deceased) United States Marine Corps (formerly) (presumably former) Blackwell Police Department, Kay County (presumably former) Ex-Pop The Warden (Sex Slave; Deceased) STATUS Alive ATTRIBUTES BORN Blackwell, Oklahoma GENDER Male HAIR Black (graying) EYES Gray APPEARANCES The Outlast Trials [notes 1] Police Station Courthouse Prison Farm Mansion Waste Tunnel Outlast: The Murkoff Collections Issue 1 GAME INFORMATION EQUIPMENT Electrified baton Modified car battery VOICED BY Julian Bailey GALLERY • DIALOGUES MORE

I used to stand in a storm and watch the lightning strike the plains and I would think, 'well there you go'. That's justice. Sometimes the finger of God reaches down and touches you. But you never know which finger it is you're gonna get.

LELAND COYLE

Sergeant Leland Coyle is a Prime Asset and one of the antagonists in The Outlast Trials. He is a corrupt and delusional police officer obsessed with maintaining his own distorted notion of the law, who enjoys electrocuting and sexually assaulting people with his shock baton.

Background

Leland Coyle was born in the year 1923, in Blackwell, Oklahoma, a small yet well-known sundown town. There are anecdotal accounts of abuse of animals and sexual assault during his childhood, which led to him being enrolled in a military academy education. As a teenager he had criminal tendencies, but this was curbed by his involvement with the local Ku Klux Klan chapter.

At the age of nineteen, he entered into his first marriage. Coyle murdered her 6 months later. The circumstances of her murder are unknown, but he told police she had "fallen down the stairs". To avoid further investigation, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps. Serving honorably for two years in the Pacific theatre during World War II, he earned three confirmed enemy kills and his record notes two additional "suspicious" American deaths in his company.

Following his return to Oklahoma post-war, he resumed his involvement with the KKK, which naturally transitioned to a career as a police officer starting in 1947. Coyle proved exceptionally adept in his role as a police officer, accumulating numerous commendations for his service. However, his achievements and success were tainted by allegations of profiting from the exploitation of prison labor, extortion, and civil forfeiture, implying corruption on his part. Additionally, he held esteemed positions within the Elks Club and the VFW.

After marrying for the second time, Coyle promptly extorted his new family. Following their deaths in a fatal electrical fire, his wife fled to Chicago. Coyle murdered her as well, but her death was officially labeled as 'natural causes'. It is implied he was responsible for her family's death as well, though it has never been confirmed.

Sometime later, Coyle was promoted to Sergeant and entered into another marriage. He shot his third wife multiple times in the head, but her death was ruled a suicide. Within a year, her family members also passed away under mysterious circumstances, purportedly by suicide, though it was again implied he was involved as the methodologies became increasingly violent and complex.

In February of 1956, Coyle encountered Murkoff's Clyde Perry at a bar on Route 177. While chatting, Coyle drank alcohol heavily and casually ate nuts (possibly pistachios) from the table. Perry's pretext was bribery, but Coyle quickly discerned his deception and stated he was aware Perry had been following him. The interaction turned physical, resulting in Perry sustaining two broken fingers, extensive bruising, and urinary complications. Despite Perry's survival, he believed Coyle toyed with him akin to a cat with its prey, surmising Coyle's restraint from killing him as evidence of this. Nevertheless, or perhaps due to this incident, Perry vehemently endorsed Coyle for PROJECT LATHE.

The specifics of Coyle's recruitment into PROJECT LATHE remain unknown, although it seems very unlikely that he was recruited from a prison or asylum, unlike Mother Gooseberry and Franco Barbi. Characteristics

In spite of his obviously psychopathic tendencies, Leland was very well-liked among the residents of Blackwell; in the comics introducing him to the greater story of Trials, a waitress and a few other locals are seen having friendly conversation with Leland before his meeting with Clyde; perhaps even more telling is their apparent lack of concern over Leland's sudden violent outburst at Clyde's insinuation that Coyle is in the habit of accepting bribes. A truer example of dark charisma may be difficult to find, as even after his history of repeated spousal abuse and murder crossed from suspicious into ludicrousness, Leland's fellow deputies always stuck by his side. Clyde Perry himself notes after having been nearly murdered by Coyle that his charisma was "undeniable". After his experiences with LATHE 1.0, Leland's mind has only become darker, but his zeal for upholding the law with maximum force only grew until "innocent" became synonymous with "guilty, with an excuse"; now, he roams his assigned Trial environments, dispensing his brutally effective form of justice to any caught up in his twisted and sadistic gaze.

Coyle roams the Trial environment, scouring for Reagents to attack. Once he locates a target, he relentlessly pursues them until either losing visual contact or subduing them. During the Kill the Snitch trial, he ceases pursuit if he's close enough to hear the snitch being electrocuted. Furthermore, Coyle frequently checks nearby hiding spots and forcefully bashes open locked doors and barricades with his stun rod, doing so at a faster rate than normal Grunts.

In Vindicate the Guilty, he prioritizes chasing the nearest player to him at any given time; however, given the theme of the Trial, he spends the majority of his time not actively chasing down Reagents trying to reassure the False Judge, or interrupt the Reagents' progress once they begin to activate the Hammers of Justice. His presence is easily discernible in darkness due to the blue light and audible crackling emanating from his electrified stun rod, which reveal his position. Coyle is notably more vocal than Mother Gooseberry and other Ex-Pop members, often ranting his interpretation of the law while patrolling; not only does he speak much more frequently than the other two Primes, he is much louder on average than either as well, which makes staying aware of his location at-range much easier in comparison. The electrical emissions from his stun rod also extend his detection range in the dark slightly, facilitating easier tracking and pursuit of nearby Reagents. Additionally, he exhibits higher stun resistance compared to normal grunts, enabling a faster recovery rate from getting hit by thrown projectiles like bottles and bricks, but he is still vulnerable to the effects of Stun Rig and Blind Rig.

Upon encountering a Reagent directly, Coyle seizes them and administers a powerful electric shock, inflicting significantly more damage than a mere strike and temporarily disabling their rigs for 30 seconds. If he incapacitates a player or comes across an incapacitated one, he attempts to execute them by electrocution. Although fatal to solitary Reagents, his execution can be thwarted by another Reagent intervening and knocking him off. Compared to Mother Gooseberry, Coyle's attacks have a much slower and telegraphed windup rate, and he only grabs a Reagent when they run directly into him. The amount of damage that Coyle can inflict varies depending on the variators in the trial, with the "Deadly Prime Asset" variator allowing him to instantly strike down a Reagent with a single hit (unless they have extra health bar from consuming Health Booster item or equipped the Last Chance amp). In addition, Coyle also has electric grid traps scattered throughout his trial environments, which activate periodically under a timer and deal constant damage to any Reagents stepping into their range. These grids can be jumped through and disabled by throwing a bottle or brick at them. Story

The Murkoff Collection

Leland first appears in a prequel comic series detailing how both he and Mother Gooseberry were "inducted" into the first iteration of LATHE; an employee with Murkoff's Collections Department named Clyde Perry has been assigned with tracking down and recruiting through any means necessary individuals Dr. Easterman believes have potential to "control" the Trial environments. Deducing that he needs people with more charisma than average with a propensity for brutal violence, Easterman directs Perry to travel the country following up on leads about these potentially highly dangerous individuals.

At some point after his dealings with Phyllis Futterman at Holmesburg Prison in Philadelphia, Clyde made his way down South to the rural town of Blackwell, Oklahoma; he had been reading several reports of a seemingly rogue lawman in the region, and armed with a name, he swiftly tracked his mark to a nearby diner to set up a meeting. Initially, Clyde's only real goal for the meeting was to sniff Leland out and assess his suitability as a potential candidate for his superior's next phase of the LATHE project; however, after Clyde perhaps accidentally insinuated at Leland's history of taking illicit bribes, Leland became enraged and brutally beat him after breaking some of his fingers. Despite his wounded state and the terrible turn of the day's events, Clyde considered the meeting such a resounding success that he immediately recommended Leland for the project, completely forgoing any of the pre-planned assessments to secure Murkoff's new quarry.

The Outlast Trials

Police Station

Leland makes his appearance in Kill the Snitch. He is first seen torturing The Snitch on the monitor. After the Reagents arrive to the Police Station's security room, Leland leaves the cell to confront them and then violently electrocutes an Ex-Pop to death with his stun rod by beating him up and bursting his head. He then heads down to the underground parking garage after spotting the Reagents in the security room. Once the Reagents start pushing the Snitch out of his cell, Leland cuts the power to prevent them from progressing. Forcing the Reagents to head to the underground parking to reactivate the generators, Leland begins hunting them in the dark.

After the Reagents activate the generators and leave the garage, he calls through the intercom, ordering the Ex-Pop in the Police Station to kill the Reagents. Once the Reagents push the Snitch into the execution room, Coyle storms into the room to stop them. After the Reagents successfully execute the Snitch, he becomes enraged and despaired, immediately rushing to patrol through the streets outside the Police Station to find the Reagents before they escape through the shuttle.

In Cancel the Autopsy, Leland will occasionally emerge from the Ex-Pop insertion gates to patrol the basement. In Sabotage the Lockdown, Leland will emerge from the Ex-Pop insertion gate by the entrance stairs and will go immediately towards the generator. Once it has been activated, he will go to the escape shuttle to prevent the Reagents from escaping. In Release the Prisoners, Leland will always patrol the security room area and once the mannequin prisoners have been released from the cells he will rush to the street to confront the Reagents. In Teach the Police Officer, Leland will always patrol the first floor of the Police Station. In Eliminate the Past, Leland will occasionally emerge from the Ex-Pop insertion gates to patrol the basement.

Courthouse

Later, he makes his second grand appearance in Vindicate the Guilty. When Reagents are about to enter the main courtroom, the rolling gate blocks their path while Coyle from the other side takes his shock baton from a deceased Reagent, stating that he sentenced Avellanos to court and ensuring no one can take his own justice away from him before leaving as he is the only one allowed to mutilate others. Once Reagents start searching for more evidence and acid, he will patrol around the evidence rooms and if the alarm rings he will immediately rush to the room with the evidence box.

When the Reagents destroyed the evidence and mannequin lawyer states lack of it, he appears on the courtroom balcony on second floor to assure the mannequin prosecutor that there are still witnesses to back it up before leaving. When The Judge is asked by the mannequin lawyer to drop the charges after the witnesses are killed by the Reagents, he appears again on the balcony being furious, refusing the call for a mistrial before storming into the courtroom to stop the Reagents from executing the Judge. After the Reagents executed the Judge, he becomes vindictive and enraged, hunting down the Reagents on the streets outside the Courtroom before they could escape through the shuttle.

In Escape the Courthouse, Leland will wait for the Reagents outside the Courthouse building after they kill the last witness. In Destroy the Evidence, Leland will patrol the main courtroom as well as witness room and jury room. In Tilt the Scales of Justice, after the first head is delivered to the Lady of Justice, he will patrol all of the second floor often going to evidence boxes. If the Reagents placed three heads on the scales, he will run towards the main lobby to patrol it. In Fuel the Release, Leland will patrol the back rooms of the main courtroom, then the evidence rooms and finally the main lobby of the Courthouse right where the last generator is the security room. In Sentence the Prosecuted, Leland will always patrol the courtyard with the gallows often switching between first and second floor.

Prison Farm

In Locksock the Warden, Leland Coyle is first seen in his debut scene receiving oral pleasure and praise from The Warden. The Reagents will interrupt them by turning on the surrounding showers, causing The Warden to accidentally bite Coyle and receive a swift reprimand as Coyle threatens the Reagents with meeting the same fate. After the Reagents reach the Panopticon, Coyle will patrol there and throughout the Blocks; Block B as Reagents try to destroy the food source, and Block A as Reagents try to redirect steam flow, specifically the basement. Coyle is seen wearing a new hat in this trial, one of the only instances of trial-specific appearances; the hat appears to be a Sergeant hat, a callback to his pre-Sinyala life just as well as the rest of the trial. Throughout the trial, Coyle frequently contradicts himself as he will make sexual remarks about the Warden and yet also vehemently deny ever being with a man, pretending to detest it, suggesting a large case of internalized homophobia. Coyle also denies loneliness but states he was seeking comfort and release with The Warden.

A classified document can be found using a detonator in Block B, past the second Biter inside the prison, and requiring the lever near the first prison Biter to be flipped to one (1), which will contain a note written directly by Coyle called "In the Walls." A very drugged up Coyle is out of his mind, misspelling almost everything and rambling. He speaks of hearing a woman's voice in the walls getting louder; very likely Amelia Collier, but only confirmed to not be Gooseberry or Liliya by Coyle. He also describes that he cannot easily discern what is real or not, is losing time, and unable to focus due to a furious arousal. He also reveals two of his former wives' names, previously unknown: Irene and June (interestingly, the second Irene, the first being Easterman's ex-wife), and repeatedly implies they in some way haunt him as well. Coyle also recalls unpleasant interactions with Murkoff scientists who he claims seem anxious. Outside of the note, Coyle is constantly torn between saving The Warden and being fine with replacing him in the trial, which is made apparent as the Reagents begin to locksock the Warden; Coyle only shows up about halfway through, then appearing again at the shuttle. Overall, Coyle's mind and lucidity seem to be especially deteriorating in this trial.

Various

In the documents, Leland Coyle was attacked by a specific Heavy Ex-Pop named Henrietta Grubbs. Despite his size, he was able to inflict severe injuries on his attacker, who was presumed dead from the damage until being repurposed into the specialist Ex-Pop, The Jaeger. In The Snitch document, Easterman found a transcript of an early interview with Leland Coyle, stating that he prefers authority over control.

Personality

Leland Coyle behaves akin to an exceptionally cruel police officer, exhibiting extreme brutality in his pursuits and showing no reluctance in hurling insults and making sexual remarks and threats at his victims. He often takes pleasure in tormenting individuals who are disadvantaged or unable to defend themselves. A former member of the Ku Klux Klan, Coyle is deeply bigoted and patriotic in his convictions. He frequently indulges in ranting about ideologies that differ from his traditionalist beliefs, such as Communism, which he believes undermines his ideal vision of America, and he regularly expresses racist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic views.

Aligned with his weapon of choice, an electrified cattle prod/baton, Coyle holds a fascination for electricity. During surveillance conducted by Murkoff, he was observed standing in a field amidst a lightning storm on five seperate occasions. He is also shown to be sexually aroused by electricity, pressing his weapon to his groin or bare hand out of pleasure, and many of the mannequins and corpses seem to have been sexually assaulted with his weapon or electric wires.

He has been shown in both Trials and Documents to be incredibly rash and will not hesitate to resort to physical violence such as when he attacked an Ex-Pop trying to avoid him. He happens to have his own view in laws, even if it's technically wrong as he thinks the true laws are the one that fits his ideology. This can be shown during his interruption of the "lawyers" in Vindicate the Guilty and his belief that anyone on trial is a criminal regardless of the court's decision.

Prior to Project LATHE, he maintained excessively detailed notes, considering himself an indispensable figure in history and believing himself to be of significant interest to future generations, indicating a possible struggle with narcissistic personality disorder. However, this disposition sometimes veers into sheer paranoia, particularly when contemplating the consequences of being caught off guard. He frequently projects his cruelty onto those he harbors resentment towards. It can be assumed that even after abduction Leland Coyle still holds some sense of awareness to outside world events, though this is somewhat skeptical from his remarks on events that are years before the events of Outlast Trials.

He was an extremely popular and well-liked person on the job as well as privately. He very much enjoyed being social as both a member of the Elk Club and VFW, having a high standing in both. Coyle being evidently a power-obsessed person and considering the speed at which he rose the ranks to Sergeant, it can be speculated that he actively made efforts to curry favors with those around him to further his own social standing and influence. Money also played a big role for him in that regard, as he actively extorted his in-laws and took bribes, furthering his social standing and lifestyle even more to cement his position of power in society.

When patrolling, Coyle sometimes comment about women and seems to be only value them when it comes to his own benefit, like The Judge and Lady Justice from the Courthouse trials. He also shows concern when they held power tools such as Mother Gooseberry, who has unstable mental health condition and armed with the drill. He mentioned that a woman shouldn't given any weapon (or power), reflecting his classic 1950s era sexist view. While the reasons are unknown, he also killed all his wives under one year of marriage, shows no remorse and cracks a joke about their death, such as the telling the Snitch that he looked like his second wife. With how he remarks on how Mother Gooseberry reminded him why he killed his wife, there's a possibility that all his wives turned against him at some point, perhaps to the point of fighting him.

Though he frequently shown interest in women, Coyle had also shown that he enjoyed tormenting men sexually, as evidenced by The Snitch and The Warden. With the Snitch, Coyle frequently makes sexual remarks about him whilst shocking his own hand during the interrogation. With the Warden, Coyle explicitly keeps the Warden around as a lust object, sexually abusing and humiliating with impunity. A number of male mannequins also had burn marks on their thighs, butt and crotch, and they had lost their pants. Regardless of gender, every mannequin in his trials is depicted as being used in a sexual manner; examples include a woman mannequin being shattered into pieces with sperm spilled on it and a scorched male mannequin bent over the table. This suggested that, despite his homophobic beliefs, Coyle might lean more towards bisexuality in terms of his sexual preferences. However, this also could be taken as his form of power abuse and showing his dominance regardless his victims's gender. Physical description

Leland is a man of average build and tall height, adorned in a "standard" police uniform, along with a police force hat and black sunglasses. Irrespective of average build, Leland demonstrates peak-human strength and durability: he is strong enough to lift a full-grown man using one arm and is fully capable of brutal violence. His face is shown to be disfigured, with the right side of his face being blistered and scabbed over, likely due to either electrocution burns or the experiments that Murkoff conducted on him. Coyle's hair is black, shown by his eyebrows and the short, trimmed beard on his face, but appears to have begun prematurely graying. Between his blistered lips is a constantly burning cigarette, which holds a large number of burned/melted mannequins.

His outfit is a white button-up and red tie covered in a black leather jacket, with his rank shown by two metallic badges on the left of his jacket (one on the breast, the other on the bicep of the sleeve.) The right sleeve of his jacket is covered in tubes or wires that are connected to the car battery in a cross-body wrap. His uniform also includes a navy leather belt with a silver buckle looped through grey work pants covered up to the knees in leather boots. During Trials taking place in the Prison Farm, Coyle wears a broad-brimmed campaign hat with his police badge pinned on the front instead of his standard police cap, to fit with the environment's rural prison aesthetic.