Fallout: New Vegas/Characters/Lonesome Road: Difference between revisions

''"America sleeps. And until it's dead, I carry it. Just like I carried you. More than hope. Belief."'' }}

By far the most mysterious character in ''New Vegas''. A courier who "wears an Old World flag on his back", Ulysses was a Frumentarius and was originally intended as a Legion-aligned companion, but was cut from the game during development. His role is foreshadowed in ''Dead Money'' and ''Honest Hearts'', heard in holotapes in ''Old World Blues'' and is the central figure of'' Lonesome Road''.

* [[The Atoner]]: If talked down, {{spoiler|Ulysses will remain in the Divide, to keep the Marked Men and Tunnelers from invading the Mojave, and to try and help them if he can. He'll also provide a little support to you, in the form of items he's salvaged, general wisdom, and advice on how to deal with Lanius.}}.

** [[Badass Longcoat]]: Wears a customized duster.

** [[Heartbroken Badass]]: {{spoiler|He had considered leaving the Legion to start a new life at the Divide. That is, until the Courier brought that package from Navarro}}...}}

* [[Being Watched]]: Observent players have noticed that Ulysses is following the player, being one step ahead along the ''Lonesome Road''. Behold! [http://forums.bethsoft.com/index.php?/topic/1233074-ulysses-stalking-us-during-lr/\]

* [[Berserk Button]]: Just ''listen'' to him talking about how the {{spoiler|White Legs}} copied his dreadlocks with no heed for the meaning...

* [[Big Bad]]: In the ''Lonesome Road''.

* [[Big Damn Heroes]]: {{spoiler|In the Big Empty, he saved Christine from becoming a Lobotomite in the Y-17 Medical Facility.}}.

* [[Call Forward]]/[[Call Back]]: {{spoiler|Ulysses mentions that Elijah will probably be killed in the Sierra Madre by someone smarter and tougher than he is... [[Player Character|guess who?]]}}? Since the event in question happens in ''Dead Money'', whether it is a reference to a future or a past event is up to the player.

** Another one is the fact that Ulysses {{spoiler|basically created the events of ''Honest Hearts'' by teaching the White Legs how to use modern weapons and kill off New Canaan's allies in Utah by starving out their communities. The White Legs then honored Ulysses by taking his dreadlocks and making it part of the tribe.}}. He was not happy about that.

* [[The Chessmaster]]: {{spoiler|He manipulates the Courier into coming to meet him in the Divide, bringing along the Eyebot that contains the codes he'll need to launch the nuclear missiles. And just in case the Courier managed to defeat them, he arranged for the Marked Men to come in and finish the job.}}.

* [[Defeat Means Friendship]]: If you manage to talk him down at the DLC's climax, post-LR''Lonesome Road'', he'll wander around the passage to Hopeville and give you anything of interest that he's scavenged from the Divide. He'll also have rather mellow conversations with you, and teach you how to make Bitter Drink.

** As noted above, {{spoiler|he turned the White Legs into this. He was furious and sickened, as they came to represent what had happened to his own tribe, dreadlocks under the thumb and control of Caesar, setting him down the path he's on now.}}.

* [[Everythings Better With X|Everything's Better With Explosions]]: He's responsible for blowing up the top half of the medical facility where Christine was imprisoned. Also, it is {{spoiler|part of his philosophy with how to deal with the NCR and Legion. Destroying the Long 15 will stave off the NCR, leaving those in stuck in the Mojave to face the Legion without support. He also destroys the Legion outpost of Dry Wells, his old home and where his tribe was destroyed and absorbed into the Legion.}}.

* [[Flunky Boss]]: If you choose to fight Ulysses, {{spoiler|you also have to deal with respawning eyebots and waves of Marked Men.}}.

** [[Justified Trope|Justified,]] after all. The Courier survived a [[Double Tap]] then went on a crusade across the Mojave to get his/her package back. Along the way, s/he may have already killed scores of Legion/NCR soldiers, Fiends, Deathclaws, [[Big Bad|Caesar]] himself, Mr. House, Benny, [[Omnicidal Maniac|Elijah]], [[Badass Preacher|Joshua Graham]], [[Mad Scientist|the Think Tank]], the Brotherhood of Steel, the Great Khans, the Boomers and anyone else who crosses his/her path. S/he also trekked his/her way through the Divide, killing even more Deathclaws, Tunnelers, and Marked Men. Ulysses ''knows'' this. With the Courier, [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|the ''only'' kill is [[Theres No Kill Like Overkill|overkill]].

* [[Gas Mask Longcoat]]: Wears a breathing mask and a sleeveless duster.

* [[He Who Must Not Be Seen]]: Is only once given a passing mention in the main story, and even then he's never referred to by name. Only in the ''Lonesome Road'' does he finally make his appearance, and even then only at the very end do you meet him in person.

* [[Honor Before Reason]]: Why didn't he ever kill the Courier? {{spoiler|Because Caesar left specific orders not to kill any Couriers.}}.

* [[Hypocrite]]: He's disdainful of explosives in general, viewing them as a cowardly tactic of the NCR, and especially does not like Hanlon in how he used them to defeat the Legion at the first battle for Hoover Dam. {{spoiler|Thing is, Ulysses uses explosives extensively himself, first in blowing up the medical facility at Big MT, and in deciding to use nukes to destroy NCR, the Legion, and Mojave.}}.

** He calls the Courier out for causing so much damage through careless actions, most notably for destroying the Divide. However, he indirectly caused the crises of ''Honest Hearts'' and ''Dead Money'', teaching the White Legs to use firearms and telling Father Elijah about the Sierra Madre. He also came close to breaking the logic loop of the Think Tank with his [[Armor-Piercing Question]], which would have resulted in them leaving the Big Empty, {{spoiler|precisely what the player ends up averting due to the disaster it would be in ''Old World Blues''.}}.

** If Ulysses knows the Courier cares about ED-E, {{spoiler|when he takes control of the robot, he'll not only say he'll strip it down to basic components, but he'll do while while it's activated, [[And I Must Scream|just enough to be fully aware of it]]. However, ED-E is unharmed if you find it; Ulysses may have been trying to psyche the Courier out.}}.

** And, for those not up on their history, Grant was a great general, but in his later life as a politician (i.e. - US President), he was mediocre by comparison, and Ulysses is alluding to how Grant ''willingly'' chose to leave a path he was good at walking for one he couldn't.

* [[Not So Different]]: He calls out Christine of being this compared to Elijah, as like him, she was incapable of letting go of the past. Thing is, neither is he. He even admits to it. {{spoiler|And he even has a similar motivation to "wipe the slate clean."}}.

* {{spoiler|[[Omnicidal Maniac]]: He intends to start a series of events that will ultimately destroy civilization in the NCR, Legion, or the Mojave. [[Start of Darkness|All due to one package and an unsuspecting Courier.]]}}.

* [[Patriotic Fervor]]: Or so you'd think at first, given all his talk about flags and how America only sleeps. {{spoiler|He actually wants to destroy the NCR and the Legion because they appropriate "Old World symbols" (America, in the case of NCR) without any real understanding of the history or meaning behind those symbols.}}.

** Close examination of his character reveals him to be a rather weird case -: he ''is'' a fervent patriot, but has no nation to which he wants to pledge his loyalty. He was going to try it with the Divide settlement, but that didn't end the way he'd hoped.

** [[Unknown Rival]]: Prior to the events of ''Lonesome Road'', the Courier has never met him before.

* {{spoiler|[[Screw the Rules, I Have a Nuke]]: Or several.}}.

* [[True Final Boss]]: Technically, he is this to the ''New Vegas'' DLC. Almost all of the DLC is [[Foreshadowing]] towards the confrontation between him and The Courier, which finally happens in the ''Lonesome Road''.

* [[Walking the Earth]]: He's spent much of his life doing this, both for the Legion and alone.

* [[You Bastard]]: The entirety of the ''Lonesome Road'' is pretty much him hammering this onto you.

''"At least I've got you to talk to, huh, ED-E?"'' }}

* [[Fatherly Scientist]]: A father figure for his eyebots.

* [[Posthumous Character]]: Whitley was most likely killed by the Lone Wanderer by the end of ''Broken Steel''.