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| “ | It ain't a question of guilt, justice is a question of shame. You gotta understand you was born deeply wrong. Some half-formed monstrosity, brainless with the heart on the outside. The Law is medicine for the shame. | „ |
| ~ Leland Coyle |
| “ | IF YOU AIN'T GUILTY, THEN WHY ARE YOU RUNNING?! | „ |
| ~ Sergeant Coyle upon spotting a reagent. |
| “ | I wish your mama was here to see you die. | „ |
| ~ Sergeant Coyle while electrocuting a reagent. |
Sergeant Leland Coyle is one of the three secondary antagonists (alongside Mother Gooseberry and Franco Barbi) in the 2023 survival horror video game The Outlast Trials, a prequel to Outlast.
He is a corrupt and delusional Southern police officer with a distorted notion of the law and a psychosexual obsession for punishing the "undesirable" or the helpless. After the Murkoff Corporation takes him in as one of the Prime Assets, Sergeant Coyle takes to enjoy electrocuting and sexually assaulting test subjects with his electric baton.
He is voiced by Julian Bailey.
Personality[]
Leland's behavior and personality can only be described as completely psychopathic. He is a self-important, violent and sadistic maniac, whose mannerisms, accent and preferred jargon are those of an old-fashioned Wild West sheriff combined with his cruelty and depravity. Leland takes great pleasure in his job as a Prime Asset, often directing unnerving sexual innuendos towards his victims, some of which suggest that he routinely rapes the reagents, both male and female, seemingly gratified by the sense of power it gives him as well as their pain and fear. This is further supported by the positions that he left certain mannequins in, with their crotches and rears burned with his baton, and by his dialogue related to the snitch.
He is paranoid and borderline delusional, being on alert at all times over the fear of persecution, seeing the reagents as communists, malefactors and rioters who are out to destroy him and his country, though it is left up to the player to decide whether most of these labels are used facetiously for the sake of his twisted roleplay as a police officer or if he genuinely believes every word that comes out of his mouth, however, both could be true simultaneously, as observed by his reaction to the interference with his torture of the snitch and the latter's subsequent demise at the hands of the reagents; at first, he is upset that the "investigation" was interrupted and is left utterly furious when the snitch dies. Then again, his claims of caring for a "man under his watch and guard" are most likely sarcastic, seeing how his dialogue makes it sound like Leland treats the captive man as his personal plaything and how nonsensical the questions are during the torture sessions. As a matter of fact, it's hinted that the line between the reality of the situation and a parodized role as a twisted cop could have been blurred in Coyle's mind as a result of all the time he's spent as a Prime Asset taking a toll on his sanity.
He is heard calling the reagents "anarchists" and "pinkos", displaying extreme opinions on what it means to be an American and white supremacist views, harboring a strong disdain for the natives and the people of mixed race, anything even remotely left-wing and anyone who defies the "law", which he has an exceptionally warped view of, believing that all, including himself, are born guilty, explaining why, despite all of his achievements in life, deep down he's still utterly miserable, as evident from some of his lines. Perhaps, Leland's monologue on the "half-formed monstrosity" was actually him describing himself rather than the reagents, using the law and the legal authority he had as a "medicine for shame", i.e. a coping mechanism for his own inadequacies and insecurities. Similarly, his xenophobia could be a by-product of his fear of his idyllic, small town being infiltrated by the outsiders, threatening to disrupt his comfortable and familiar way of life.
Leland is known for being fascinated and aroused by electricity, no matter if it's harnessed by man or naturally occurring. During Murkoff's surveillance of him, Leland was observed watching the lightning storms in a field on multiple occasions, which he later references in his dialogue, perceiving the lightning as God delivering "justice" upon the people. He revels in the "godly power" provided to him by his baton, gleefully electrocuting the reagents, the mannequins and even his own groin for pleasure.
As some of his dialogue implies, Coyle's fixation on electricity and lightning could stem from the traumas he's suffered as a child, particularly the time he witnessed a cow being struck by a lightning and the abuse at the hands of his mother, rambling on about how he feared being cooked alive by the electricity "sneaking up the pipes" while his mentally ill parent was drowning him in a bathtub. This abuse could result in deep-seated hatred for women, explaining why his every marriage concluded with the murder of his spouse. Moreover, he claims that he "knew from birth he was marked to die by lightning", possibly meaning that the scarring on his face is actually a birth mark that facilitated his phobia of electricity, which later turned into morbid fascination. Unsurprisingly, Coyle is a sadomasochist through and through, considering the documents detailing his background mentioning him partaking in the "Nuts on the Table" - a drinking game that involves the players inflicting pain on each other's testicles.
Leland's other notable features are his vast ego and sense of superiority to others. He treats the reagents with contempt and disgust, seeing them as literally less than human, and is often heard boasting about how he's been "blessed by the power and the glory", imagining himself as a noble law enforcer protecting the country from "reds" and "gold-brickers". This psychopathic trait has manifested itself well before his participation in the trials, since his background documents mention him keeping obsessive notes about himself prior to his recruitment by Murkoff, even going as far as to consider himself "vital to history".
Befitting of a typical psychopath, Coyle has managed to get away with a plethora of crimes before joining Murkoff, at first through sheer audacity, then via his raw charisma and exploitation of the law. He was well-respected by the regular citizens of his town and his fellow police members alike, despite having a short fuse that has led to him to murdering numerous individuals and the shoddy cover-ups of their deaths as accidents and suicides. His brutish and barbaric nature belies a certain level of intelligence and insightfulness, as he was easily able to see through the lies of Clyde Perry, a Murkoff agent sent to interview Coyle under the pretense of bribery, who was then severely beaten by the enraged cop. The experience, however, did not alter the agent's opinion on Coyle's unbridled charisma, proving that even his proneness to wrath and violent tendencies were not enough to nullify it.
Appearance[]
Leland Coyle wears a black military jacket with a sergeant symbol on the side. Beneath this is a white formal shirt and a red tie. Leland wears black sunglasses and a police cap. Leland's face has a severe burn mark on it. It is unknown if this burn mark was from his time in the army, misuse of his stun baton, or an unknown incident. Strewn across his body is a number of wires which link to a car battery on his back, which powers his electric stun baton. Leland is often seen smoking, occasionally lighting his cigarettes with his stun baton.
Biography[]
Background[]
A young Coyle before being taken in by Murkoff.
Leland Coyle's life is not well documented. It is known that he was a troubled youth, often abusing animals and sexually harassing others. For this, he was sent to military academy. After getting out as a teen, he eventually joined his local Ku Klux Clan chapter.
Leland married at the age of 19. Six months into the marriage however, his wife died by "falling down the stairs" as he put it. To avoid investigation, Coyle joined the marines. He served two years in the pacific fighting the Japanese and had three confirmed kills as well as two suspicious American casualties that occurred in his company, though it is unclear if his implied victims were the fellow servicemen or civilians. He was honorably discharged, and then returned home, resuming his work as a Klansman. In due time, he was enrolled as an officer for Blackwell Oklahoma's police force, becoming quite popular and effective in the police force thanks to his charisma and the extremely profitable exploitation of prison labor, extortion, and civil forfeiture.
Leland eventually married again, but for sinister purposes. He extorted his wife's family, and when they refused to pay him, he had them all killed in an electrical fire. Although authorities claimed his wife died from 'natural causes' she was found dead on a local street. Leland was undeterred by this, and married once more. His third wife was shot multiple times in the head by Leland, which was chalked up as a suicide and her family was soon wiped out by him, their deaths also labeled as suicides despite the "increasingly violent and convoluted methodologies".
These activates did not go unnoticed, and he was recruited by the Murkoff Corporation. They offered him the position of a Prime Asset in PROJECT LATHE, allowing him to partake in trials to torture test subjects sent by Murkoff. Leland happily accepted this job.
The Outlast Trials[]
Kill the Snitch[]
Leland serves as the Prime Asset for the police station. He is first seen in the level "Kill the snitch" where he can first be seen torturing the snitch via electrocution. After the reagents arrive in the security room, Leland proceeds to violently electrocute a person until their head explodes. Upon seeing the reagents inside the security room, he electrocutes the bars once before walking away. As the reagents attempt to push the snitch, Leland switches off the power, forcing the reagents to go into the basement and switch it back on. As the reagents do so, Leland awaits in the basement and pursues them. The reagents manage to turn the power back on and escape. Once the reagents start electrocuting the snitch Leland intervenes in order to prevent the loss of his torture victim. The reagents ultimately succeed in killing the snitch and escape.
Cancel the Autopsy[]
This trial forces the reagents to lower the dead bodies of the three agents into a large grinder they're suspended above. Each agent's body is connected to a device requiring a specific key to activate. The keys are hidden within the corpses of the "police officers" strewn throughout the three sectors of the police station. Once all three bodies have been grinded, Coyle is released upon the reagents to impede their escape.
Sabotage the Lockdown[]
As the title implies, the reagents are tasked with canceling the simulated "lockdown" by fueling a generator located somewhere within the police station and activating it. Coyle is present throughout the trial from its very beginning, diligently patrolling the halls in search for any intruders.
Farewell Mansion[]
The last time he may be seen is towards the very end of the final trial of the game situated in Farewell Mansion. Depending on certain variables, the deserving reagent is chased out of the facility either by Sergeant Coyle, Mother Gooseberry or Franco Barbi, releasing her/him into the outside world.
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 Villains
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Murkoff Corporation The Variants Testament of the New Ezekiel The Scalled Experimental Population Central Intelligence Agency Others | ||