Cobel & Hampton's Child Labor History In Severance Explained: What They Had To Do For Lumon As Kids

WARNING! This article contains SPOILERS for Severance season 2, episode 8!Revealing a dark and tragic backstory for Patricia Arquette’s character, Severance season 2, episode 8 sheds some light on Cobel’s upbringing in Salt’s Neck, where she was employed in child labor for Lumon Industries. Though Cobel had typically been one of the most devout followers of Kier and Eagan supporters throughout Severance, it wasn’t exactly clear where her dedication stemmed from and how Lumon’s influence extended to her family members. Now, after fleeing Kier and turning against the company, the tragic truth about Cobel's childhood and indoctrination into the Lumon system is finally revealed.

When Cobel returns to her impoverished hometown of Salt’s Neck in Severance season 2, episode 8, it’s revealed that Lumon has abandoned the desolate area with many residents being addicted to ether. While there, Cobel reunites with Hampton, an old friend who she worked with at the local Lumon factory as a child. Though Cobel left Salt’s Neck and rose through Lumon’s corporate ranks, Hampton never left, having to witness the town wither away while his resentments against Lumon festered. Given Miss Huang’s role in Severance, Lumon’s use of child labor tragically still hasn’t ended since Cobel and Hampton’s youth.

Cobel & Hampton Worked In Lumon's Ether Factory As Children

Cobel & Hampton Were Forced Into Child Labor In Salt's Neck

Cobel’s work with Lumon dates back to a much earlier time than originally expected. As it turns out, Cobel had been working at Lumon’s diethyl ether factory in Salt’s Neck with Hampton when she was just a child. Lumon founder Kier Eagan himself grew up working at his family’s ether factory, so the company tries to justify its history of child labor when it comes to making ether and pharmaceuticals by suggesting it makes the employees closer to Kier.

Diethyl ether is a colorless, sweet-smelling, flammable liquid often used as a lab solvent and formerly used as an anesthetic and in pharmaceutical formulas.

Though Sissy reveals that the Eagan family saw Harmony as one of the best workers there, it’s not clear exactly what jobs Cobel and Hampton did while they worked at the ether factory as kids. Kier and Imogen Eagan are said to have respectively worked as a stew-man and a swab girl at an ether factory in their own youth, which could be the positions also assigned to Hampton and Harmony. With Harmony also being very scientifically minded, Lumon’s factory may have eventually tasked her with working more directly on the chemistry side of making ether.

It’s unclear why it shut down, but the ether factory is a huge reason why many current residents in Salt’s Neck are still addicted to ether today, as Lumon got the town hooked on the substance back when the plant was functioning. Since Severance’s Lumon Industries began as a pharmaceutical company, it can be assumed there are plenty of now-defunct child labor-using factories like that in Salt’s Neck almost everywhere. Of course, Lumon is likely hoping to replace those with severance chip factories after their work with Gemma is complete.

Why Cobel Was Able To Leave Salt's Neck (But Not Hampton)

Cobel Was A Top Child Employee While Hampton Suffered From The Factory Shutdown

The sign to Salt's Neck in Severance season 2

Though Cobel and Hampton were both forced into child labor in Salt’s Neck, only one of them was able to escape the town. Cobel was able to leave the ether factory and Salt’s Neck as a teenager when she was sent to Myrtle Eagan’s School for Girls. It’s implied that the Eagans funded her attendance at the school based on the promise that she showed at the ether factory, her devotion to Kier’s Nine Core Principles, and the fierce loyalty shown by Sissy Cobel.

Cobel yelling and Helena Eagan looking nervous in Severance season 2

Why Cobel Rejects Helena Eagan's Job Offer In Severance Season 2

Helena Eagan gave Harmony Cobel a "generous" job offer in Severance season 2, episode 2, but Patricia Arquette's character isn't eager to accept.

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While also being valedictorian at Myrtle Eagan’s School for Girls, which took her away from Salt’s Neck for an extended period in her adolescence, Cobel rose up the ranks of the company even further when she was awarded Lumon’s Wintertide Fellowship. After showing continued dedication to Lumon, the Eagans, and the company’s future, Cobel was awarded higher positions and a way out of Salt’s Neck, allowing her a more comfortable living in the town of Kier instead.

Severance Season 2's Remaining Episode Schedule
Episode #	Release Date
9	March 14
10	March 21

Meanwhile, Hampton, presumably like so many others in Salt’s Neck and towns like it, was left behind. When the ether factory shut down, he lost his livelihood, with plenty of those in his community being unable to prosper due to the ether addictions they received at the factory and the lack of jobs around them. Hampton wasn’t sent to a prestigious school or given any other opportunities to leave Salt’s Neck, instead remaining in town as the proprietor of a café and an ether dealer.

Miss Huang Highlights How Lumon’s Child Labor Employment Has Changed Throughout History

Child Labor Is Still Alive At Lumon

Ether is no longer Lumon’s primary product, so the company has another use for child labor as they mold and manipulate the next generation of Kier followers. Now, child labor is used to enhance Lumon’s new biggest product: the severance procedure and chip. Rather than performing intensive labor at a factory, kids like Miss Huang work at Lumon in supervisory roles above Innies, helping to refine severance in the workplace while enforcing Lumon’s mission and values. It may not necessarily seem as dangerous as an ether factory, but Severance’s child labor today causes significant damage to kids’ humanity and morals.