“Maybe not, but I am her son. And I made her a promise, to stand up to tyrants like you. Always!”
This scene is one of the many reasons Cole is one of my favorite fictional characters.
This struggle was probably repeated in DR since he thought the Earth Golem wasn’t his own creation & power, he’d believed the elemental form he uses to protect others in the LoLT wasn’t his own strength, he probably felt he wasn’t enough to keep them safe