José Ramse

José Ramse (pronounced "Ramsey") was James Cole's closest friend in the apocalyptic future. Before the plague, Ramse lived on Briar Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He and Cole grew up together as foster kids in the civil services program. They both survived the initial Kalavirus in 2017 and the mutations since then. In 2032 Cole and Ramse joined the West VII; they stayed with the group until 2035. They joined Katarina Jones's team at Project Splinter in 2043.

Season 1
Ramse is introduced as Cole's close friend in the apocalytic world of 2043. While Cole is considered a key part of Project Splinter's activities (because of Dr. Cassandra Railly's 2013 message and his compatability with the serum), Ramse's presence is merely tolerated by Katarina Jones, the facility's leader, as a necessary part of gaining Cole's cooperation.

He's very protective of Cole, whom he considers a brother, and openly questions Jones' and the scientists' competance whenever unexpected issues happen during Cole's trips to the past, much to their irritation.

Before Project Splinter
In flashbacks, it's revealed that he and Cole survived in the apocalyptic outside world as "scavengers," committing many killings and thefts in the name of survival. Both—but especially Ramse—harbor regret for their actions, and it's a driving force behind their cooperation with Project Splinter's mission.

In 2032, Ramse and Cole are starving, and they're ambushed by Theodore Deacon and his scav group, the West VII. Ramse is mistrustful of them, being aware of their reputation of killing whole quarantine zones, but Cole signs them on. From the start, Ramse butts heads with Deacon for his ruthless treatment of other survivor groups, and it comes to a head during one raid, with Ramse openly questioning and denouncing their activities.

In retaliation, Deacon tasks Cole with killing Ramse in order to stay in the West VII. When Cole is unable to follow through with killing his brother, he and Ramse flee the group, earning Deacon's enmity.

While on the run from West VII, Ramse and Cole attempt to raid a scav camp, which ends up being Marcus Whitley and a patrol from Project Splinter. They are taken as prisoners to the facility, where Jones—saying that "fate has brought them together"—recruits Cole to be a time traveler in their project. Ramse is freed as part of Cole's agreement to work with her.

At Project Splinter
Ramse joins Cole on several expeditions outside the facility, including retrieving Cassie's watch at the CDC and investigating the mental hospital (where Jennifer Goines was held). He also helps the team repel Deacon and the West VII when they attempt to takeover the facility.

When the Machine starts to fail, Jones sends Ramse and Marcus to Project Spearhead to ask the group's leader, Jonathan Foster, for a component. Even though they're unable to convince Foster to help, Ramse reconnects with Elena, a former scav that he'd been in love with and who was now living at Spearhead. She reveals that she left him after discovering she was pregnant and introduces him to his son, Sam.

When the core overloads during an attempt to bring Cole back after Operation Troy, Jones orders an attack on Spearhead to take their core by force. Ramse is able to get Elena out safely, but she furiously accuses Jones of lying to everyone about the possibility of a cure (what Spearhead was trying to find, and was using the core for), and convinces Ramse that the Splinter mission means erasing everything, including their son.

Ramse abandons the Splinter facility, but not before stealing the whole supply of serum injections and setting fire to the mission research. He's not there when Marcus and his team go to the refugee camp to retrieve the injections, when Elena is accidentally shot and killed during a tense confrontation.

WIP

1987—2017
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Season 2
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Season 3
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Season 4
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1987
Ramse splintered into Tokyo from 2043. He fought Cole in the White Dragon and stabbed him, apparently fatally. Ramse was arrested for the stabbing. As he did not have an American Social Security number or passport, the American consulate was unable to help him, and he was imprisoned.

1988-95
Ramse remained in prison, and was repeatedly beaten by a fellow inmate. He received letters and books from Olivia, who promised his son Sam would be safe if he joined them. One day, he killed his tormentor without lifting a finger using the principles he learned from The Art of War, by revealing to the rest of the prisoners that the man was a snitch. He was released in 1995 and brought to Olivia, who welcomed him. He was then initiated into the Army of the 12 Monkeys.

2011
Ramse met with Leland Goines, under the pseudonym of Ethan Seki. Goines recognized him from their encounter in 1987 Tokyo, but Ramse denied they had ever met. He invested funds in the Markridge Group towards the development of the Kalavirus and the time machine.

2015
As a child, Ramse met and befriended the five-year-old James Cole after Cole was dropped off at his foster home.

The adult Ramse went to Raritan National Laboratories to meet with Elliot Jones, who gave him unsupervised use of the prototype time machine so he could return to his own time. Cole and Railly confronted Ramse there; he declared that the time machine was his all along since he had provided the funds needed to develop it. Cole and Railly accused him of being the Witness, which he denied. During a tense standoff, Railly shot Ramse and was shot herself. Ramse gave Cole the dose of the time-travel drug he was intending to use on himself, and told Cole to send the dying Railly to 2043 so that Jones could treat her. Ramse nearly died himself, but was rescued by Cole.

2016
Ramse and Cole were together in Budapest, hiding from the Army of the 12 Monkeys. After narrowly escaping an ambush by an Army group led by Olivia, Ramse realized that the Army must have implanted him with a tracking device that allowed them to find him. He suggested asking his friend Benjamin Kalman to remove it. Kalman agreed, but during the procedure he injected Ramse with a paralytic drug and told Ramse that he would turn him over to the Army in exchange for shelter from the plague. He also informed Ramse that Jennifer would release the Kalavirus in New York during Chinese New Year. After Cole saved Ramse from Kalman, the two prepared to go their separate ways. Ramse changed his mind at the last minute and told Cole where Jennifer was, and they traveled together to New York to find her and stop the plague. While searching for Jennifer in the middle of a Chinese New Year parade, he was knocked out by Railly.

After Jennifer was persuaded not to release the Kalavirus, he witnessed Cole and Railly destroying the virus, saying he would not stop them, but would not participate, either. Cole stopped Railly from killing Ramse, after which she splintered him to 2044 instead.

In the original timeline that the 12 monkeys followed and predicted Ramse was meant to die. Cole saving Ramse resulted in a new unpredicted timeline that is highlighted in season 2.

2032
By this time, the adult Ramse and Cole had become scavengers, wandering the land and searching for food to survive. Ramse and Cole had a tense standoff with Deacon, the leader of the West VII. He asked them to join his group. Ramse was reluctant, but Cole agreed, and both men joined the West VII.

2035
Ramse grew increasingly rebellious against Deacon's cruelty and ruthlessness, and one day challenged Deacon openly. Deacon responded by asking Cole to kill Ramse. When Cole came to do it, a resigned Ramse told him he would not resist, that if the world was becoming a place where Deacon's way of thinking prevailed, he didn't want to live in it. This made Cole change his mind, and he and Ramse fled the West VII together.

2041
While in the woods, a starving Ramse and Cole tried to steal food from a group of Jones' subordinates. They were captured and tortured by Whitley, until Jones learned Cole's name. When Cole tried to escape, Ramse suggested he accept Jones' offer to join Project Splinter. Cole dismissed the idea, but Ramse alerted the guards, causing them to be recaptured and forcing Cole to join the project.

2043
Ramse went to Spearhead with Whitley to request the use of their stabilizer manifold for the time machine's energy core. While there, he met his former lover Elena, and rekindled his relationship with her. He learned he had a son with her, Sam.

While Jones was preparing to raid Spearhead, Ramse went to Spearhead to take Elena and Sam to safety. They were caught by Col. Foster, who imprisoned them. They managed to escape and found shelter. Elena told Ramse that Foster had cured the Kalavirus, causing him to become skeptical of Jones. When Cole returned from his mission, Ramse claimed Jones had been lying to them and said that Project Splinter had to stop. Cole retorted that his mission was the only thing that mattered, and their confrontation became physical.

Trying to stop Project Splinter, Ramse destroyed Jones's research on the history of the Kalavirus pandemic and stole the remaining supply of the drug that allowed Cole to splinter. He fled with Elena and Sam to a village located in a ruined amusement park. While there, he saw a group of Daughters traveling in a caravan. He met with their leader, an aged Jennifer, and had a cryptic conversation during which she claimed he would be a good friend to them and gave him the Amulet. When he came back to the village, he found that Elena had been killed by Jones's men. He returned to the Temporal Facility and used the time-travel drug as a bargaining chip to gain entry. He accidentally killed Max and tried to blow up the time machine, but was thwarted. In desperation, he injected himself with the time-travel drug and splintered to 1987.

2044
Ramse arrives in 2044 after being sent there by Railly from 2016, and is immediately taken prisoner by Whitley. Deacon interrogates him for information on the Messengers, and Ramse taunts him, saying that he encountered Deacon as a frightened child during his time in the early 2000s, and once called the police to prevent Deacon's father from killing his mother. Later, Railly brings Sam to see Ramse, and Ramse fears that she will harm him, but still repeats that he knows nothing about the Messengers.

Jones allows Ramse to see Sam, then announces she must let Deacon have Ramse in order to maintain the balance of power in the Temporal Facility. Deacon takes Ramse to a forest where the vegetation is turning red. As Deacon prepares to execute him, massive temporal anomalies suddenly occur, killing one of Deacon's men. Ramse runs away, taking Deacon with him.

Trivia

 * He's the first main character to become a parent. James Cole and Cassandra Railly are both second.