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This page is about the package courier. For the AI overseer of the Big Empty, see ODYSSEUS.
Ulysses
Flag-Bearer[5]
UlyssesFINAL
Biography and appearance
RaceHuman, African American
GenderMale
Height1.00
AffiliationTwisted Hairs (formerly)
Caesar's Legion (formerly)[1]
Mojave Express (formerly)[2]
RolePackage courier (formerly)
Frumentarius (formerly)[3][4]
Lonesome Road antagonist
3 of Clubs
LocationUlysses' Temple
Dialogue FileUlysses' dialogue
Gameplay
Mentioned inFallout: New Vegas
Dead Money
Honest Hearts
Old World Blues
Statistics
AlignmentNeutral
SPECIALStrength: 10
Perception: 10
Endurance: 10
Charisma: 10
Intelligence: 10
Agility: 10
Luck: 10
Derived StatsHit Points: 880 → 1030
DT: 18
Tag SkillsExplosives: 100
Melee Weapons: 100
Guns: 100
PerksFinesse
Toughness
Level20 → 50 (Player level x 1.2)
Technical
Base IDxx003e40Ref IDxx003e43
ActorRoger Cross
 
Gametitle-FNVGametitle-FNV DMGametitle-FNV HHGametitle-FNV OWBGametitle-FNV LR
Gametitle-FNVGametitle-FNV DMGametitle-FNV HHGametitle-FNV OWBGametitle-FNV LR

The day I set my flag down, it'll be over my body or over a nation I believe in.

— Ulysses, 3 of Clubs

Ulysses is a courier and former Frumentarius of Caesar's Legion. In 2281, he was one of seven couriers hired by Victor[6] to carry strange packages to the New Vegas Strip, but his delivery was left to the Courier after Ulysses' mysterious disappearance.

Background[]

An experienced warrior and scout, Ulysses is a crafty, resourceful, and dangerously intelligent man, who is capable of surviving even in the most hostile and inhospitable of terrains. His worldview has mainly been formed by two traumatic events in his past; the loss of his old home to Caesar's Legion and the loss of his new home to the Courier and the New California Republic. These events have made Ulysses obsessed with history and symbols and especially how individuals can impact the former and effectively become the latter. Now, he longs for crippling both the Legion and the NCR's war efforts, seeing both their ideals and campaigns of expansion as the wrong answers to mankind's future,[7][8] and to finally settle his old score with the Courier.

The Twisted Hairs[]

Ulysses was once a member of the Twisted Hairs, a powerful tribe in Arizona that forged an alliance with the fledgling Caesar's Legion in 2247, and became its main scouting force during the conquest of Arizona. Ulysses was one of the most successful scouts in the Twisted Hairs, traveling vast distances in search of the enemies of both his and Caesar's tribes. His scouting ability was supplemented by his ability to live off the land, having acute knowledge of herbal remedies and medicines.[9] However, once the Legion's campaign ended in Arizona, Caesar promptly rewarded their aid by breaking the alliance and betraying them; the Twisted Hairs were conquered and enslaved just as he had done to all the other tribes of Arizona. Their tribal identity was erased and those who resisted were crucified along the sides of Interstate 40.

Vulpes Inculta's pacification of Dry Wells was a particularly painful moment for Ulysses, though his dedication to Caesar and the flag of the Bull prevented his desertion.[10] This is when he took his moniker of "Ulysses," alluding to the man who fought during a time of two flags, and he had to make them one.[11] Thanks to his ability and his forceful personality, he quickly became an important, indispensable frumentarius of the Caesar's Legion, walking the wastes as a nondescript and unnoticeable courier. Caesar told him to kill no other member of this profession since, in fact, many couriers were spies for the Legion as well. In 2274 after the NCR reached Hoover Dam, Ulysses crossed the Colorado and was the first among the Legion to see both the Dam and the NCR - a nation great enough to challenge Caesar himself. Returning across the Colorado, Ulysses went back to Caesar and spoke with him about Hoover Dam and the impeding republic. This Old World symbol became an object of obsession for Caesar, a great symbol to focus his people on. Ulysses however, believed Hoover Dam might kill Caesar, regardless of whether he won or lost. Ulysses even witnessed Caesar's punishment of Joshua Graham following the Legion defeat at the First Battle of Hoover Dam, cementing that Caesar would have this dam at any cost.[12][13]

The Divide[]

Ulysses continued to walk the wastes, exploring the wastelands for Caesar.[14] Between 2274 and 2277, he discovered a community called "The Divide" which was, in his own words, "a nation taking its first breath", surrounded and shaped by the symbols of the Old World, with the potential to become a real homeland for Ulysses, beyond the lies and everything else, and a second chance, a new way of thinking out of the Legion.[15][16][17] To Ulysses' dismay, the prosperous community was discovered and annexed by the NCR, which in turn drew the attention of Caesar, who sent in a small army to take it over. Ulysses had tentative plans to save the community, but before he could act, the Courier, hired by the NCR, unintentionally brought a package from Navarro[18] containing the activated ICBM launch codes.[19][20]

Ulysses was fascinated by the package, bearing the sigil of pre-War America, but also one he had never seen before. This device turned out to be a messenger of destruction: someone activated the device, which began "speaking". This in turn activated several of the still-active nuclear warheads left in underground silos since the Great War.[21] The results were immediate and devastating; buried deep beneath Hopeville and Ashton, the warheads answered the call in the only way they could: by detonating. The land trembled as underground detonations split the earth, killing the settlers and burying NCR companies holding the area and Caesar's Legion guerrillas dispatched to cut the supply lines running through the Divide to Hoover Dam.

This disaster nearly killed Ulysses, but he was saved by several medical eyebots, that had been constructed by the Divide's computers copying ED-E. They recognized the flag of America on his back and saved him, figuring he was a U.S. soldier.[22] Ulysses' life was changed that day, showing him how a single individual could change history, or erase it. As the sole sane survivor of the Divide, he held the Courier responsible for the destruction of the place that could have been his true home; of something "larger than the Bear, greater than the Bull." At the same time, it inspired him, showing just how great of an impact a single man can have on history. In 2277, he returned to Caesar, learning that the First Battle of Hoover Dam ended in the defeat of Caesar's Legion. There, he was assigned a new duty.

Meeting the White Legs[]

In the same year, Caesar sent Ulysses to the Great Salt Lake as his eye and to rally the White Legs against New Canaan and watch over them, as they undertake Caesar's test: cut off the NCR supply lines running through Utah and to destroy New Canaan, killing Joshua Graham with it (who had miraculously survived his fiery baptism).[23] He became their mentor, called the "Flag-Bearer" for the flag staff he carried. He taught them the values of the Legion, showed them numerous supply caches and bunkers hidden across Utah like Spanish Fork that gave them the weapons that they became known for, all the while lying about Caesar's pride in those that used such weapons. The act of deceit posed some problems in his mind, expressing himself to use the same method as Vulpes Inculta, the man who had betrayed his former tribe.[24] He became an inspiring presence to the tribe, but not in the way he wanted to be. He was particularly affected when they tried to honor him instead of the Legion. After the sacking of New Canaan, he observed that the White Legs began to braid their hair into dreadlocks, just like his hair. For them, it was a sign of respect for their mentor; for Ulysses, it was a hollow mockery of the ways of his destroyed tribe, the Twisted Hairs, because the significance of his twisted dreadlocks was completely unknown to the White Legs.[25]

Shortly after the destruction of New Canaan, Ulysses considered his duties to Caesar finished and left the White Legs to their own devices. Wanting to break his ties to the Legion once and for all, he set out looking for ways to change history himself and find a way to reawaken America, seeing it as having peaceful yet strong places like the Divide before its destruction, and thinking the NCR and the Caesar's Legion having no long-term answer for the future of humanity, considering both of them ridden with "disease." He retired to Wolfhorn Ranch for a time, to collect his thoughts. Appearing to be a successful bighorner rancher for a time[26] and roaming, sometimes as a courier.

The Big Empty[]

Some time later, during his mission to reawaken America, he found Big MT by tracking the irregular weather patterns, knowing the Divide's storms were caused by man and not nature. He followed this inclement weather like following a river current, leaving painted emblems matching the flag on his back in case he lost his way, or as a trail for any who might follow, like the Courier. Ulysses finally came to the crater, where he found the Old World facility and the X-17 meteorological station, still active.[27]

While there he was caught up in the conflict between Knight Royce of the Circle of Steel and Father Elijah. Ulysses would rescue Royce from the Y-17 medical facility, nursing her back to health in a nearby cave.[28] At some point after Elijah spoke with the Think Tank, Ulysses and Elijah made contact. He directed the rogue elder to the Sierra Madre, apparently knowing it would eventually become Elijah's grave.[29][30] From Christine he learned more about the Brotherhood of Steel, enough to decide the Brotherhood was not able to forge the future he wanted to live in.

Ulysses spoke with the Think Tank, specifically Doctor Klein, who recalls him as a melancholy fellow who asked a lot about history. Ulysses also spoke with Doctor Mobius.[31] While at the Big Empty, he questioned the Think Tank: "Who are you, that do not know your history?" This question awakened them and they briefly remembered America, the flag on Ulysses' back – not just a flag, but a place, an idea they had cared for once before. After this awakening, the Think Tank told him what "still carries America's voice", deep in the heart of the Divide: the "Divide giants" – nuclear missile silos scattered across the ravaged landscape and the device still there to activate them.[32] Whether by their own hand or Mobius', the Think Tank's memory of the Ulysses' question was later erased to perpetuate their stay in the Big Empty. Ulysses departed, deciding to reshape the post-apocalyptic world single-handedly, much like the Courier reshaped the Divide.

The reunion[]

In 2281, Ulysses was hired by Victor to carry the platinum chip to the Strip's North Gate. He walked the I-15 to Primm and the Mojave Express office, just as the Courier would,[33] to receive the delivery order, and was about to accept the job until he saw the Courier's name on the list. He asked Johnson Nash if the Courier's name was genuine since he thought the Courier had died at the Divide. Nash informed him the Courier was still alive. In his desire to see the Courier dead and by respect of the old order of Caesar, Ulysses said, "No, let Courier Six carry the package", expecting the Mojave Wasteland to kill the Courier without having to intervene[34] and after then, left without another word.[35][36]

Years of tracking the Courier proved to be fruitless, and Ulysses determined the Courier would have to come to him.[37]On October 19, Ulysses broadcasts a simple message intended for the Courier: the coordinates for the canyon wreckage west of Primm, and the words "Courier Six. -Ulysses", wanting to destroy their new home in his reshaping of America before their eyes, as the Courier did for him with the Divide. He made sure to host the Courier personally; the message itself is not importable, but the meaning is. Ulysses had to be sure his words would not be lost in paper, ink, or the voices of others.[38] Resolute the Courier would walk roads no other courier would, Ulysses lured them to the Divide to walk the road ahead and see what they truly brought to the Divide.[39]

Philosophies[]

When he returned to the Mojave from Big MT, he recorded several entries on his philosophies, including his stances on Big MT, Caesar's Legion, the White Legs and history itself. He never intended for the Courier to find them, casting them out into the Divide, letting the storms spread them; he needed to get his thoughts together in one place so history might be able to hear what he thought.[40] He was also quite vocal about his ideas and shares them with the Courier without invitation.

Ulysses does not hold as much respect for Caesar's Legion as one would expect him to. He understands that Caesar is the only thing holding the Legion together; once he is gone, the Legion will regress and fall back into warring tribes.[41][42] However, he still respects the Legion more than the New California Republic: In his opinion, the Legion is far better than the NCR at maintaining an empire and is not at war in itself.[43]

Ulysses harbors a lot of hate for the New California Republic. He implies that their spirit is similar to their flag: they are split like a two-headed bear, trying to go in different directions but getting nowhere. He feels the NCR is too busy carving up the Mojave with how civilization should be to see how things truly are. They rely too heavily on laws that do not hold water in the Mojave and are stretched too thin to protect their borders. In the sharpest of irony, the NCR kills people by trying to protect them,[44] and are too blind to see what it is they are creating.[45][46] All things considered, the NCR and the Legion both carry Old World ideals into a new world that cannot foster them and does not need them.[42]

Being in between Caesar's Legion and the New California Republic, New Vegas is also of importance to Ulysses. Despite his disloyalty to the Bull and the Bear, he does not think an independent New Vegas is the solution either; there is no future allying with Mr. House or Yes-Man, and by extension, the Courier ruling New Vegas themselves.[47] The insides of New Vegas' walls could be considered one of the safest places in the Mojave, but it is what is inside the walls of Vegas that worries Ulysses. Mr. House selfishly let the entire world burn while he protected his Las Vegas from the Great War, and given another chance, he would do it again.[48] If anything, New Vegas is proof enough that House cannot let go of the Old World; he propped up what was and what should have been left behind and Ulysses does not want to be a part of that world.[49] Should House remain independent of foreign influence, it is only a matter of time before his walls spread and the Mojave becomes New Vegas entirely.[50] The lights of Vegas blind House and anyone who comes to the city, making them forget themselves and what they sought to do, but Ulysses is not going to be bothered to make the blind see.[51]

Relationships[]

Ulysses' dual obsessions with the Courier and the Divide are motivated by several factors. He is the only unmutated survivor of the disaster at the Divide, and because it was - from Ulysses' point of view, that is - the Courier who caused the destruction of the community, Ulysses came to believe in the power that a single man can have on history. The Courier is not even aware of having been involved in the event, as was hinted at by Chris Avellone before the release of Lonesome Road. He stated, cryptically:

I also have a lot of love for Ulysses in Fallout, only because I like the idea of someone hunting my player for reasons of his own, and then hearing the reasons why… and realizing how important even the smallest of my actions are for the people of the wasteland – living or dead.

— Chris Avellone[52]

Furthermore, Ulysses demonstrates this notion to the Courier several times, and can be seen as the tertiary antagonist of Fallout: New Vegas. By turning down the platinum chip delivery, Ulysses inadvertently caused the Courier's brush with Benny and nearly ended their life; he was the one who told Father Elijah of the Sierra Madre, and is therefore technically responsible for the Courier being kidnapped and kept hostage; he was the frumentarius Caesar sent to teach the White Legs how to be stronger and helped equip them with more effective weapons, leading directly to the Destruction of New Canaan and the War for Zion. He finally appears in the Divide to reveal his unknown role in the Courier's recent life.

Interactions with the player character[]

Interactions overview[]

FriendlyFoe
This character is a temporary party member.
GoodNatured
This character starts quests.
Perk empathy synthesizer
This character is involved in quests.

Quests[]

  • The Job: After having completed The Silo, Ulysses will contact you through ED-E and tell you to come find him. He instructs you to transverse the dangers ahead, and have an ending to things with him, provided you can handle the Divide.
  • The Courier: At long last, the Courier confronts Ulysses inside his temple, beneath the flag of the Old World, as he is about to trigger a second nuclear apocalypse.

Effects of player actions[]

  • If Ulysses is killed by the Courier, the Courier tears down his Old World flag and uses it as his shroud, although whether out of respect or anger is an interpretation "best left to history".
  • If Ulysses is convinced not to fight the Courier, by means of two speech checks at 90 and 100 or by talking to him about his logs, he can be found sitting vigil above the Hopeville ruins, just at the entrance to the Divide.

Other interactions[]

  • If the player chooses to spare him, after the quest The End, Ulysses will set up camp and sit on a nearby cliff near the entrance to the canyon wreckage. Ulysses will then help the Courier make camp fire recipes and also present new dialogue options, such as giving hints at how to deal with Legate Lanius and commenting on possible previous player actions in the Mojave (e.g. killing House).
  • Ulysses will also supply the Courier with miscellaneous items he found in Hopeville (The Courier's Mile), including rockets, Rad-X, RadAway, MRE, and pre-War books.
  • If he is alive at the conclusion of Lonesome Road, he will offer both the history and recipes of bitter drink and the Snakebite tourniquet.

Inventory[]

FNV Ulysses Paperdoll
Icon armored vault suit
Apparel
Ulysses' duster
Ulysses's mask
Assault carbine icon
Weapon
Old Glory
12.7mm submachine gun
Anti-materiel rifle
6x frag grenade
Flash bang
Icon briefcase
Carried items
6x stimpaks
2x Stealth Boys
3x Med-X
Icon male severed head
Drops on death
empty

Notes[]

  • Even though Ulysses is no longer a member of the Caesar's Legion, he thinks the Legion has taken the wrong path, still considers Legion members to be brothers, and says Caesar in the classical Latin pronunciation favored by the Legion, unlike Joshua Graham, who uses the general Anglicized pronunciation.
  • Ulysses has unique depictions of dialogue options based on the Courier's reputation with the New California Republic, Caesar's Legion, Robert House, and New Vegas.
  • Intentional or not, Ulysses shares many traits with Joshua Graham. Both are affable, erudite men, who are fond of quoting others. They use their deep voices to speak in a bookish manner with a philosophical bent. Both were skilled members of Caesar's Legion and mentors of a tribe.
  • Ulysses' red, white or blue spray-painted flags can be found in many locations in Big MT and the Divide and were left by Ulysses while tracking storms, in hopes that the marks might be followed and someone else could discern a pattern. Within the Divide, red flags indicate hostile areas, white flags mark the proper pathways, and blue flags denotes hidden caches.
  • Ulysses created holodisk logs and left them along the road to the Divide. These can be found by the Courier and were apparently a gift from Christine Royce for saving her.
  • His face is a unique model linked to his unique breathing mask and differing greatly from other human character models (i.e. he doesn't blink, he has a unique hairstyle, and his texture is more detailed).
    • It is explained that the unique face is actually a mask worn by Ulysses which is unobtainable.[53]
  • Since his face is fully textured beneath his breathing mask, you can only view it via external manipulation. His lips don't move when he speaks, and no part of his face is animated.
  • Ulysses is one of only three characters in the game to have 10 in all the SPECIAL stats (the other two are Colonel Royez and Gaius Magnus, from the Lonesome Road add-on). The only other non-player character in the Fallout series known to have 10 in all SPECIAL attributes is Frank Horrigan. Also Like Colonel Royez and Gaius Magnus, Ulysses is impervious to knockdown attacks, such as the Ranger Takedown move or the special attack of the bumper sword. Because he cannot be knocked down, he simply freezes in place when he suffers a critical hit from the Compliance Regulator.
  • Ulysses is 15% faster than a normal human character and the game's only human character with more than 1000 health points.
  • Ulysses can be seen in various places in Lonesome Road, briefly watching the player and then walking away.[54]
  • Ulysses is one of the two non-hostile NPC's in the Divide. The other being ED-E.

Notable quotes[]

  • "Who are you, that you do not know your history?"
  • "If war doesn't change, men must change, and so must their symbols. Even if it's nothing at all, know what you follow, Courier..."
  • "Burn away the flags. Begin again."
  • "You've already answered for what you've done. Now the flag you follow will answer for it."
  • "My history isn't revenge, or hate. The road that brought us both here - isn't about that. It's about the message you carried. The one in that package whether you knew it or not."
  • "There is nothing more to be dug from these cracks in the earth, no more fury to be torn from its sky."
  • "No need for bombs, when hate will do."
  • "The Old World died long ago. Anyone who believes they can make it return and everything will be as it was..."
  • "No... the paths we've walked. The roads, and the flags above them, carry equal blame."
  • "Home isn't where you're born into this world. You taught me that. Part of your message, whether you meant it or not. Can be a place of mind, a moment where you know who you are, the history of it. And they can be places you breathe life into."
  • "Questions have a habit of making others."
  • "The Divide winds have torn the skin from many of them - may be the radiation is the only thing keeping them walking." (Marked men)
  • "My name for it. If you have a better one, you grant it - my choice in names won't carry past you and I. Lies along the road, running from the Hopeville silo... straight on to where the ground burns, and wind howls even stronger than here." (The Courier's Mile)
[read more...]

Appearances[]

Ulysses was originally supposed to appear in Fallout: New Vegas, but was cut from the final version of the game. He is mentioned indirectly in Dead Money and Honest Hearts, appears in voice in Old World Blues, and makes a full appearance in Lonesome Road.

Behind the scenes[]

Dialogue references[]

  • During the first dialog with the ED-E clone, you learn that Ulysses was given his name later in life. It was meant to refer to Ulysses S. Grant, a Union general during the U.S. Civil War who Ulysses says, "...fought to unite two tribes under one flag." The Courier can even comment that Ulysses' namesake was the historical general as opposed to the figure of Greco-Roman mythology.
  • If siding with NCR (or killing Caesar and not failing Don't Tread on the Bear!), when talking to Ulysses through ED-E the first time, he'll refer to the Two-headed bear not being the first historic American symbol. He explains that the "Old World" symbol had one head. This is reference to the current real-world Flag of California, from the Bear Flag Revolt in 1846, which is the same of the NCR flag but the bear has one head and the inscription is "CALIFORNIA REPUBLIC" instead of "NEW CALIFORNIA REPUBLIC".

Development[]

  • Ulysses' appearances throughout the Divide, stalking the player, were an idea of and implemented by level designer Charles Staples.[55]
  • Ulysses, called Odysseus by the Greeks, is a figure from Roman and Greek folklore. He is the central character in the epic poem The Odyssey, chronicling his ten year journey, after fighting in the Trojan War, to reach home. This is echoed in Ulysses' own references to home and journeying.
  • Ulysses was originally supposed to be a companion in Fallout: New Vegas,[56] but was cut from the final version of the game and now only appears in the add-on Lonesome Road and playing cards that came with the Collector's Edition. According to Chris Avellone, "he [...] was a complicated character in terms of some of the hooks into the storyline".
  • In the original version of Fallout: New Vegas, Ulysses-as-companion was designed with a number of goals in mind:[57]
    • He had to reinforce the faction reputation mechanic, which Avellone thought was one of the key mechanics in the game.
    • He had to react strongly to NCR/Legion conflict and the player's role in it, acting as a sounding board when possible.
    • He had to be a Legion sympathetic character and explain Legion backstory elements since there wasn't much Legion support in the companions.
    • He had to continually remind the player of Hoover Dam as the focus, and his backstory incorporated that (he was the frumentarius who discovered the Dam and NCR long ago).
    • Showcase myth elements. Ulysses was big about symbols, and his take on the NCR flag, the Legion flag was also reflected in their champions (he viewed Legate Lanius as an Eastern myth in the making, and he felt the player could achieve that same mythological status for the West or for the Mojave).
    • He was to complement the cool visual design changes that Joshua Sawyer had included for other companions (similar to Raul Tejada and Arcade Gannon, Ulysses would have the vest/flag changes, except it would depend on player's end faction allegiance when they completed Ulysses' vision quest).
  • Ulysses portrays Chris Avellone's opinion on the direction the Fallout setting should take.[58]

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. The Courier: "Brothers? So - you're Legion, too."
    Ulysses: "I hold Legion to be my brothers... even as misguided as they are. And you... more so than most."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  2. Dialogue with Johnson Nash and Christine Royce in the Executive Suites
  3. Joshua Graham: "We should have given you a better welcome on your first visit to Zion, but from what I hear, the White Legs beat us to it. White Legs seem to be the only visitors we have these days, and I wouldn't have expected anyone from the Mojave to come looking for us. And you're a courier, no less. Not the one I was expecting, but I suppose he wouldn't have come with a caravan. I don't know if you were close to the other members of your group, but you have my sympathy. I pray for the safety of all good people who come to Zion, even Gentiles, but we can't expect God to do all the work."
    The Courier: "What did you say about a courier? Who were you expecting?"
    Joshua Graham: "Caesar would never admit this openly, but he knows that I'm alive. I've killed enough of his frumentarii and assassins that have come looking. I've heard one of them travels the Mojave as a courier. Most of Caesar's agents meet a fitting end in NCR territory, but maybe this one survived."
    (Joshua Graham's dialogue)
  4. The Courier: "He said he knew you."
    Christine Royce: "He saw me, before the scars, at a place far from here. It's where he found some of the technology he uses now. It's a place called the Big Empty. The name's deceptive - if you know where to look. Almost got trapped there. There was someone else, though, who came along. Knew about Elijah."
    The Courier: "He knew Elijah? How?"
    Christine Royce: "No idea. A courier. Wore an Old World flag on his back. He was the one who pulled me out there, told me where Elijah had gone. Helped me heal up, listened to my story. He... sympathized."
    The Courier: "Sympathized? Why?"
    Christine Royce: "He said he understood what it meant to track someone who had such a... impact on his past life. He said people were like couriers, sometimes never understanding the messages they brought. That's who he was hunting for... some courier."
    (Christine Royce's dialogue)
  5. Ulysses log Y-17.21
  6. The Courier: "What do you know about the courier Benny shot?"
    Yes Man: "I knew he/she was carrying the Platinum Chip! And I knew right where Benny should wait for him/her! That's why Benny put me here! To monitor Mr. House's data transmissions. They're all encrypted, of course - but I'm quite a decrypter! Did you know that Mr. House spent 812,545 caps hiring salvage teams to find the Platinum Chip- just in the last year alone? Of course you didn't! Or that there were seven couriers, but six of them were carrying junk? How about their exact routes, and the mercenary teams that screened them? I knew all that. Pretty smart, huh?"
    (Yes Man's dialogue)
  7. The Courier: "Ulysses. Not the myth. You're honoring history, not stories."
    Ulysses: "[SUCCEEDED] History. Yes. Ulysses walked a hard road. A general, like Caesar and Oliver. He was Brahmin-stubborn, gave him strength on the battlefield. He led his side to victory, turned two flags into one. That's when he lost - when the fighting was done, the sickness took hold. Lesson there, if history's to be believed. One you should heed."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  8. The Courier: "You chose Ulysses because of the "two flags" reference - is that tied to the war in the Mojave?"
    Ulysses: "[SUCCEEDED] War. Call it that. Our part in it. Ulysses wasn't made for the flag he followed. He wasn't made for peace. That's the lesson. If you follow a symbol to the end, ask yourself what that means. More important, ask what happens after the end."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  9. The Courier: "Any recipes you can teach?"
    Ulysses: "Depends what history has to say about them. There's a lot the land can provide... if you know the road that led to it. Mojave's got ways of healing most ills - if not, some tribe's usually found a way you didn't expect. Like Healing Powders. Tribes back West only use Xander and Broc flower. There's a way the Twin Mothers in the East used to brew it, though. Called it Bitter Drink, mixed up the Xander and Broc in a bottle, added some kick to it so your head doesn't get all clouded."
    The Courier: "What's the history of it?"
    Ulysses: "History? Cures a wound, leaves the bitterness that caused it. The Twin Mothers were always about lessons. Caesar taught them the last one, though, so that's it for them. Recipe still exists, Legion uses it on forced marches with wounded soldiers. Wouldn't have made it through Crimson River Trail a few years back without it - losing so much blood early on, was a Cazador feast. Enough Xander root and Broc flower along the trail though, the Legion was able to keep pace and get where they were going."
    The Courier: "Can you share the recipe with me?"
    Ulysses: "Can do that and one better... just enough around to mix some. Here - might make the Twin Mothers' history live a little longer, you carrying it. When you drink it, down it all in one shot, or your stomach's not going to want to keep going after the second drink."
    The Courier: "Any more recipes.. or histories... you can teach?"
    Ulysses: "Antivenom's helpful around the Mojave with the Bark Scorpions. Even one sting can kill you. Tunneler bite can be just as bad. My tribe, Twisted Hairs, had a better way than Antivenom, if you act fast. Snakebite Tourniquet - cuts off the venom, no need to scavenge glands and blood. Or drink that mess. Part of the reason we wore our hair like we did, like I do now. Here's some for the road - trick to making it's not hard. Get bit, hook and twist it. Fast as blinking, doesn't give poison time to sink in."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  10. The Courier: "Dry Wells is destroyed - that was your birthplace?"
    Ulysses: "No, opposite of that. It's where my tribe was taken. Where another history was put to the blade, lesson taught. It is where we realized Vulpes did not approach us as equals. Where we realized the wolf had come, and we watched our history die. Now it belongs to Legion... and all the death there now belongs to them as well. Not revenge... just the way of things when you own them."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  11. The Courier: "So you're the one who sent the radio message - Ulysses."
    Ulysses: "Not my given name, close enough. Took it from history, found it in a book. It's an Old World name. Ulysses lived a long time ago, long before the Old World set fire to itself. He made a mark without being myth. Had to fight during a time when his world had two flags, and he had to make them one."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  12. The Courier: "Other Legates? You mean Graham."
    Ulysses: "Yes. Graham was broken on the wall of the Dam. Caesar had him burned and cast into the earth, into the largest canyon you've ever seen. Watched the flames trail all the way to the bottom."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  13. The Courier: "What do you mean?"
    Ulysses: "There are other Legates, and the one before Lanius couldn't take Hoover Dam for Caesar. That Legate's mistake is he didn't die trying. His name was Joshua - Joshua Graham. Answered for his failure - twice, some say. Caesar had him burned and cast into the earth, into the largest canyon you've ever seen. Watched the flames trail all the way to the bottom."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  14. The Courier: "What's our history? How do you know me?"
    Ulysses: "I knew of you, your name. Your road, to and from the Divide, what that meant for the Legion. We never spoke, knew you through your actions. Knew you'd walked the West as I'd walked the East. Learned different lessons. And I would never have discovered the Divide without you."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  15. The Courier: "This road leads nowhere. There's nothing in the Divide."
    Ulysses: "Many in the Mojave think the Divide's nothing but canyon and storm. Wasn't always. There was life, a town, farther West... not talking about an Old World town like Hopeville... more recent. Something you saw in your lifetime. It had the name "the Divide," too. But rather than cracks in the earth, it was a road from the West into the Mojave, a supply line. Took a Courier to make that road. You. Back then, you saw the road with eyes facing East. This time... the Divide's in the other direction. And if your eyes try to make sense of it when you reach it... home's not what it was."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  16. The Courier: "If you blame me for what happened here at the Divide - why do you care?"
    Ulysses: "The community that was once here... and the package you brought... both had markings of the Divide. Markings of America. You've seen the marks, the symbol. As early as the Hopeville silo, maybe. Carried it etched on your weapons. The Divide, its buildings, its people, were built around those same markings, surrounded them here... ...markings like the flag on my back. When I followed your road to the Divide those years ago, I saw the symbol I wore all around me. An Old World symbol. Strong, to survive here - its people, strong. Outlast the Bear, outlast the Bull. Promise of something better. Caesar was right to want it dead. NCR was right to want to rake their claws in it. Seeing it... changed me, just as seeing Hoover Dam changed Caesar and the NCR. Seeing it end changed me, too."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  17. The Courier: "So you believed in this place. What it once was."
    Ulysses: "There was hope here, another chance. A new nation, stirring to life. A place I could have set my flag. Not the America of old. But something larger than the tribes of the East, something larger than the houses of the West. Something better. The Divide... could have bridged both, like Hoover Dam. Now like the Dam, it's too covered in blood to see what it could have been. You gave life to this place. I followed your road here, saw the Divide. You led me here, so that I could see. Then, you brought it to an end."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  18. The Courier: "What happened here?"
    Ulysses: "You delivered a package. Had markings that matched those in the Divide. Not all... but enough. Military markings, from some place the Bear had savaged in the West. Maybe seeing those markings on it reminded you of home... made you carry it."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  19. Chris Avellone on Twitter
  20. The Courier: "You said I brought it from the West?"
    Ulysses: "It was a device, a detonator. One I'd never seen before - or heard before. You carried that thing to the Divide. I know because I followed you as you walked the road, watched you do it. You brought it here, to the community you built. And you are responsible for what happened after - when the device opened, started to speak. When it did, the Divide answered back. Those missiles you've seen, buried in their silos. They exploded beneath the ground, cracked the landscape. Sand, ash... the dead... the Divide skies became a graveyard."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  21. The Courier: "Area looks like it was hit with earthquakes... or underground detonations."
    Ulysses: "[SUCCEEDED] America sleeps in the Divide - giants, beneath the earth. You saw one locked in the silo beneath you. There's more Only takes a few of them, locked below ground, to tear apart the earth... and cast dust, sand... ash... into the skies above. You'll see the extent - the miles of it, soon enough. You need to see it... walk it."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  22. The Courier: "If you saw this happen, then how did you survive?"
    Ulysses: "Should've died there... but now that I know you live... the machines here... saved me. I was the only survivor, or thought I was. Your package, the message inside, awoke medical machines... close to the one that shadows you... began to build themselves, then others. They only take what parts they find in the Divide, never roam beyond it - can't even leave the silos without a human to shadow, like hounds. Maybe they saw the flag on my jacket, thought I was of America. If so, history saved me. A sign."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  23. Ulysses Log Y-17.21
  24. Ulysses Log Y-17.22
  25. Ulysses log Y-17.23
  26. Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide Game of the Year Edition p.420: "What was once a profitable Bighorner ranch has recently been abandoned, and its owner-a man named Ulysses-is nowhere to be found. Scour the place, especially the farmhouse itself (which has most of the items you want). Down at the bottom of the garden is a well and a tank with irradiated water (only sip if you're desperate). and an allotment with a few plants to pick."
  27. Ulysses log Y-17.16
  28. Torn journal page
  29. Patient log: Y-17.9
  30. Ulysses log Y-17.15
  31. The Courier: "I heard one of the previous visitors to the Dome spoke to you, asked you some questions."
    Dr. Klein: "HMM? OH YES, THE LAST VISITOR... WELL, THE ONE JUST BEFORE YOU. HAD AN INTERESTING NAME FROM SOME LANGUAGE THAT'S ALMOST UNPOSSIBLE TO SPEAK. WHAT DID WE SPEAK ABOUT...? MELANCHOLY FELLOW, HAD QUESTIONS ABOUT... HISTORY? BUT... OUR CONVERSATION GOT INTERRUPTED... TWICE, I BELIEVE? ONCE WHEN THE TRAINS GOT DERAILED, AND THEN A SECOND TIME... ...ODDLY ENOUGH, NOW THAT I'M ACCESSING MY DATABANKS, I DON'T RECALL WHAT THE SECOND TIME WAS. MOBIUS' INCESSANT TRANSMISSIONS KEEP DISTRACTING ME. ALSO, WE DIDN'T BRAIN-SCRUB THE VISITOR. HE MAY HAVE LEFT WITH SOME KNOWLEDGE HE SHOULDN'T'VE. I BELIEVE. MAYBE. OH WELL, I'M SURE IT'S OF NO CONSEQUENCE. I DON'T MAKE MANY MISTAKES IN CALCULATION OR PERCEPTION, SO PROBABILITY FAVORS ME."
    (Klein's dialogue)
  32. Ulysses log Y-17.17
  33. The Courier: "We've never spoken before - I'd remember your voice."
    Ulysses: "[SUCCEEDED] Words aren't the only way couriers meet... sometimes it's the paths we walk. But no... we've never spoken before now. You may not know my voice, but we've walked the same places. The Long 15 to Primm... that wasn't the only road you ever walked. I've been to your home, the place you kept returning to... may not be the place you were born, was the place you gave life to, same thing. People forget couriers can keep communities alive... until the day they're gone, and their breath catches in their throat."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  34. The Courier: "You brought me here to talk. If you wanted to kill me, you'd have waited until I came for the Chip."
    Ulysses: "[SUCCEEDED] No... no, I couldn't. And I'm thinking you can't kill me, either. If you did, you'd answer for it, just as I would. Let the land do the killing for you, that's one of the things you taught me. Killing is personal - so's vows, promises. Last bit's more important to me than the first."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  35. The Courier: "What can you tell me about this job? <Show Delivery Order>"
    Johnson Nash: "Oh, so you're talking about one of them packages. That job had strange written all over it. But we couldn't turn down the caps."
    The Courier: "What was strange about it?"
    Johnson Nash: "That cowboy robot had us hire six couriers. Each was carrying something a little different. A pair of dice, a chess piece, that kind of stuff. Last word I had from the office, it looked like payment had been received for the other five jobs. Guess it was just your chip that didn't make it. First deadbeat we hired to do the job canceled. Hope a storm from the Divide skins him alive. Well, that's where you came in."
    The Courier: "He canceled?"
    Johnson Nash: "Yeah, got this look when he saw you next down on the Courier list. His expression turned right around, asked me if your name was for real. I said, sure as lack of rain, you were still kicking. Then he turned down the job, just like that. I asked if he was sure, it was good money. No, let "Courier Six" carry the package, that's what he said - like the Mojave'd sort you out or something. Then he just up and walked out."
    The Courier: "Do you know who he was? Where he went?"
    Johnson Nash: "No idea. Sounds like you two had a history for him to act like that. And turn down the money, too. Hope he didn't see any trouble in that package of yours. Maybe he thought your name was bad luck. Not for me to say."
    The Courier: "Cowboy robot? You mean Primm Slim?"
    Johnson Nash: "Nope. Different fella. Bigger. Had himself a face on a screen, and he talked more like you or me."
    (Johnson Nash's dialogue)
  36. The Courier: "You were supposed to carry the Chip?"
    Ulysses: "Meant to? No. Never. Your burden. Weigh you down long enough to let death catch up to you... but you survived. There was death in that package, and while the Chip is important to Old World ghosts... no, you are more dangerous than that Chip ever could be. Maybe why you found each other, little piece of the Old World, speaking to you, waiting for you to wake something else up with it."
    The Courier: "If you wanted me dead, why did you wait?"
    Ulysses: "Promises to keep. To others. And the Mojave's dangerous enough - left to the land, the land has its way. If I wanted you dead, we would have met sooner. Not sure that's the way this ends. Might be that history needs to have its say. If not, then messages will do."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  37. The Courier: "Maybe you better tell me who you are, and what you want."
    Ulysses: "I'm a courier. Courier Six... was Courier Six. Like you - and not like you, in all the ways that matter. Spent too many years looking for you - now, letting you come to me. Thought carrying that Chip would end you, no... you got lives in you, hard to kill. Storms, bullets... sand and wind, yet still you walk. For now."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  38. The Courier: "I got your final message."
    Ulysses: "Didn’t think I’d be breathing to hear you say that. Message isn’t important, meaning is. Had to speak of it, in case the words got lost in paper, ink, or other's voices. Maybe even yours, in time. Still, meant for you. Courier to Courier. Belongs to you now, or history. Doesn't matter."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  39. The Courier: "I'm not planning to go into the Divide after you."
    Ulysses: "No Courier would go to the Divide... but you will. And that's what sets us apart - we walk roads no other Courier will walk. And for you... you'll want to see your home one last time, see what happened. You're curious. You walk, leave ruin in your path... you can't leave alone. Still, the choice is yours... what I offer, it's the last I offer you. I don't care if you walk the Divide. Turn, walk the Mojave, fight beneath the flags... but you'll wonder. If you don't, the Divide will come to you, and the Mojave. That will be my message to you, like the message you had for me."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  40. The Courier: "You wouldn't have recorded those messages if they didn't matter to you."
    Ulysses: "[SUCCEEDED] Maybe not. Who's to say. You, perhaps. Found them, heard them after I cast them aside - maybe there was purpose in that. If they matter... if history matters... we'll see at the end of the road."
    The Courier: "I haven't listened to them all. If there's time, I will."
    Ulysses: "As I said before... it's of no consequence. Never intended you to find them, never intended you to hear them. Questions in those tapes I still haven't found answers to. You won't be the one to give them."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  41. The Courier: "Caesar is dead, I killed him."
    The Courier: "Caesar is dead, died on the operating table."
    Ulysses: "Name's died twice to history. If the West thanks you... the East won't, in time. Fall apart, back to the tribes, maybe."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  42. 42.0 42.1 The Courier: "I need to know why you're doing this - not for my sake, for history's sake."
    Ulysses: "[SUCCEEDED] The why of it... you taught me the why of it. If you believe in something enough, you must be willing to let it burn, lest it claim you. These governments of the two-headed bear... the Legion... they carry Old World ideas into an age that no longer needs them, where they cannot live."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  43. The Courier: "Denver hounds? Denver's far to the East - Legion territory."
    Ulysses: "[SUCCEEDED] Mojave and the Divide aren't the only places I've walked. Walked the East, too, before the Bull came. Then... much like the Mojave before the Bear... tribes, towns, clutching to life. Bull did a better job."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  44. The Courier: "You have a lot of hate for NCR. That kind of hate isn't new in the Mojave."
    Ulysses: "No... not new. And not new among all those in the shadow of the Bear. You know their flag, a bear with two heads. Symbol's an Old World one, had one head then, better off for it. Their flag speaks to their spirit. They're split like any two-headed animal, trying to go in different directions, ending up nowhere. In the Mojave, that'll only get you sand between your fingers - or over your grave."
    The Courier: "You've got a better way?"
    Ulysses: "Yes. And any Courier could tell you the same, see it everywhere. The Bear... ...Bear's too busy carving up the Mojave with knives, roads, borders, and how things should be to see how it is. They're stretched thin, can't protect their frontlines, their towns, think paper's power, radio means control - all of it, useless."
    The Courier: "At least they're trying to help the Mojave."
    Ulysses: "Trying doesn't hold much weight with me. Legion doesn't try to kill people, they do it. The Bear kills people trying to protect them. Irony's sharp. And Legion... their flag may be old, but it's not at war with itself. "
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  45. The Courier: "I'm not interested in your politics."
    Ulysses: "Maybe not. Maybe that's why you fell in with the Bear in the first place - can't see what you're following. Not going to convince a deaf man with words. Shown strength coming in here - if strength's what you respect, then you belong East of the Colorado."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  46. The Courier: "I reached Vegas, and I dealt with House."
    Ulysses: "House spoke, acted through machines. Sometimes can judge a man by his messengers. Sometimes the messengers judge him. Wonder what happens to Vegas now. The tribes - families. We'll see."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  47. The Courier: "As obsessed as you are about history, the future's what I prefer."
    Ulysses: "Your future with House has two roads. The road the tribals in Vegas walked... their spirits crushed... ...or your face on a robot servant, smiling forever in a dead casino. There's future in neither."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  48. The Courier: "Vegas is one of the safest places in the Mojave, and that gives me hope."
    Ulysses: "You've been, you've seen the Wall. Safe? No... what's inside - that's what worries me. Inside, Old World's waking up. No facts or history I've heard tells me that city ever went to sleep, and that makes me think. The blue of the Mojave skies - isn't like the rest of the world. Don't hear a Geiger ticking there, more to fear from predators than rads. The city - the whole Mojave, wasn't hit by bombs. Been my call, Vegas would be one of the first pieces of the Old World to burn. Someone protected it. Wasn't chance, wasn't luck. Something larger - yet they let the rest of the world suffer. And they'll do it again."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  49. The Courier: "I doubt you've ever met House."
    Ulysses: "No... only seen his works. Those he's broken with light and gold. His messengers. But everything in Vegas speaks of someone who can't let go. House takes a shovel to history's graves, props up the dead, then puts words in their mouths. The tribes don't even know how they were broken. Not a world I want to be part of, going through motions until we're all smiling faces on some robot's screen."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  50. The Courier: "Is New Vegas's power a threat to you?"
    Ulysses: "Power isn't strength. Power can wall off someone, when they believe it's freed them. House's power... you've seen the wall around Vegas. He gains more power, that wall will grow. The Mojave'll become Vegas. But it's more lights than strength. You'll see the way of it soon enough."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  51. The Courier: "We're too far from Vegas to argue perspective on it."
    Ulysses: "Maybe that's why you chose Vegas... the lights can blind, make people forget themselves. Their convictions - vows. Not going to waste time trying to make the blind see. {Beat}Took a chance coming here - same as I did. Now we'll see how it plays out."
    (Ulysses' dialogue)
  52. Will Ooi » Blog Archive » Unmasking the Gamers: Chris Avellone – game designer, writer, and former ‘unlucky schlep’ – Part 1
  53. the cutting room floor
  54. Ulysses stalking us during LR?
  55. Twitter
  56. Feature Interview: Chris Avellone, Game Designer, Fallout: New Vegas by Matt London | Lightspeed Magazine
  57. Gamasutra: Will Ooi's Blog - An Interview with Chris Avellone - game designer, writer, and former 'unlucky schlep' - Part 3
  58. Twitter
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