Burn away the flags. Begin again. Correction: The Courier doesn't have amnesia, but for some reason they don't remember fathering The Divide, maybe they just don't care or perhaps they repressed memories upon learning of it's destruction 🤔
I think the Courier nuked the Legion (Dry Wells included) after fighting alongside Ulysses against hordes of marked men, before coming back several times to visit him in the Divide.
I didnt know that wolforn ranch was ulysses' old home, I always thought it was weird to have a super detailed area that was completely abandoned for seemingly no reason
sadly it will always be the peak, because Todd only cares about money, while Obsidian had passion and they are apt at storytelling.@@rottingpotatoes2483
A fallout game with the storytelling of new Vegas with the settlement building of fallout 4 on a bigger scale(instead of one area, maybe you could forge a faction that spans across state lines) is my dream video game. Can even throw in an optional multiplayer mode for people who hate themselves.
Ulysses was not exiled from the Caesar's Legion, he just left it to forge his own path after he had been disgusted with himself for what he did to White Legs.
I think Ulysses is suppose to be like a player character in the world. He was a courier, picks a side, went through all the DLC’s, and even uses stimpacks in your fight with him.
His entire story adds a lot of introspection into the effects that Caesar had inflicted upon the "East" that hadn't really been touched on before - and probably won't be expanded upon in the future The one part, that randomly stuck out to me, is when he mentions his realization, that he finds himself standing exactly where Vulpes had stood; tricking and manipulating another tribe, and perpetuating the cycle of violence and destruction And then having the White Legs absolutely Idolize him and Caesar; being completely tricked into thinking assimilation into Caesar's Legion was something to be proud of. It must have been an absolutely sickening realization, that his carelessness/apathy was giving strength to the same terror that had completely decimated his own tribe/family. He knew exactly what future awaited the White Legs
@@SpartanK4102 I mean considering Ulysses’ plan is similar to the main villain from fallout van buren, who uses an ai called Odysseus to drop nukes on the wasteland, I can’t see that being just a coincidence
@@meowlentine3342 "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." "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." Late reply but lol, nope. Ulysses himself confirms he took his name from General Ulysses S. Grant. The skill check from the Courier has the Courier recognise that Ulysses took his name from the historical Civil War General rather than the myth or stories.
@@fun_police8011The problem wasn't the volume he talked, it was that most of it was nonsense. He rambles on, accusing the Courier of things the player didn't do (so doesn't remember) and things that, according to the dialog choices, the Courier doesn't even remember doing. Really leaves you, the player, with no way to connect with what's going on, having to listen to the mentally ill man yelling at him like some homeless dude on the corner.
@@RedStar441while I dislike Ulysses, I believe what he said. Neither bull nor bear is a satisfying end. It has to be a third faction, one that incorporates both. A stable leadership, akin to the republic, but a strong leader, similar to Caesar. Maybe his misread views on Hegelian dialectics was absorbed by more than he thought.
I appreciate why he monologues. He's explicitly trying to craft an epic mythos and deeper meaning out of everything that's happening because he honestly just can't accept that shit happens. He even starts the final encounter with his back to you, waiting for you to approach, fully confident that you'll meet him to joust with words before deciding the fate of the world. And absolutely nothing stops you from taking advantage of that by just shooting him in the back of the head. And the weaving of a grand tale of the bear and the bull ends by a dose of reality chambered in .50 caliber.
"New world colonizers sheathed in the cloth of the old word. A Hydra with a thousand heads eger to feast on it foes, that will turn on their own body without enemies to repel"
@@drekbleh7081 really good qoute, but I doubt the minutemen would ever turn on themselves, their a true militia, farmers and workers first, only taking up arms to defend themselves and their friends
@@iceheart1289 That's what happened. One of the raider gangs in fallout 4 are former minutemen, before you the group splintered into factionalism, as Ronnie put it everything was fine "Before the idgits took over"
I thought his weapon Old Glory was an American flag pole (bald eagle, him liking old American symbols) though I do see the imagery with the Legion’s eagles too
Yes, it's a repurposed flag pole that once flew The American flag (if the name is anything to go by) but his connection to The Legion could suggest it was taken from the old world and now represents The Legions courage, or that Ulysses is a big fan of birds, either way it suits his obsession with America quite well!
@@Synonymous101 As someone who was in the Navy's Honor Guard; all US flags on carry poles are supposed to be adorned with a Golden Eagle. All other flags are adorned with a Golden Battle Axe, or a Golden Spear Tip.
It would be nice if we knew more about what the community (originally) in the Divide was like. Personally I doubt they were that different from many settlements in the Mojave or even the NCR (which definitely deserves a long video, as it's one of the few factions that could be called a country).
This is just me seeing it from a different perspective, but I think that with how Ulyssys is tied with the DLCs, he is also tied with their themes. In Honest Hearts, we are told about what tribal life along the rivers and canyons is and how the assimilation into the Legion was. In a sense, Ulyssys wasn't able to find his peace. He couldn't come to terms with what happened to the Twisted Hairs and the shame of who he is. With Joshua, he was able to change thanks to the Canaanites and soon the courier. In Dead Money, all the characters had to let go of their obsessions. Dog and God with their wanting of freedom and subservience. Dean on the other hand is his greed and pride. Christian is her duty to kill Elijah. While Elijah is his obsession with the Sierra Madre. They change thanks to the Courier. One couldn't let go. Old World Blues is a continuation of obsession, literally using the term "Old World Blues". People who focus on the past, can't even see the future. The last slide in the ending pretty much encapsulates this idea. But that term changes to something with hope and potential. As for Lonesome Road, We know where that road ends and who Ulysses is. He couldn't find his peace, or let go of his obsession with history. Ending with Ulysses dying, or changing his views. Him living can only happen if you put in the effort to understand him. Either a 100 speech check or finding the holotapes of his past, or do ed-e dialogue with trial and error. Leading to him changing his perspective. (Depending on your choice) Nations should be given the chance to continue and let things "flow". Hitting him with "Who are you who does not know your own history." It's like if the ending slide quote "It's sad, war never changes, but men do through the roads they walk. And this road has met its end." was made when he got his answer from the Courier. History may seem like it repeats, or how conflict is hell, but people are the catalyst of it and can change.
Ulysses: "...what do you mean 'repeat all that again' I'm the only sentient presence here in the scar of this land, why does your attention span wane?" Courier: "I got that 'bullet in brain' condition. Didn't you claim to have a hand in that?" Ulysses: "..."
i’ll always think back to my first play through where i was just about to go to the battle of hoover dam and i went through the dlc and the build up to ulysses was done so well. you see the impact he’s left on people. this courier who’s made all the same journeys you have and then you finally meet this man taunting you while talking philosophy with you
One of my favourite characters in this series, I love to cap off a playthrough by meeting up with him for a chat. I find it really interesting that his idea of revenge isn't to kill you but to make you complicit in his plan. With mods on PC you can even recruit him as a companion after talking him down and take him to Hoover Dam for the final battle!
It's important to note the literature/mythological side of the name Ulysses, the Romans' name for Odysseus, the Greek general and king of Ithaca known for his strategic mind and quick thinking. Odysseus is the main character of the Odyssey, a myth about Odysseus on his return journey home from the Trojan war (which lasted 10 years) and, due to many, many things happening, is unable to return home for another 10 years.
You know, I would actually love to see some books based on the Fallout universe. And I think you've convinced me that the first one that should be published should be a book about Ulysses, but told in the first person, from his point of view.
I love how Ulysses ties into so much of the story and how him and the courier have a past that you the player are completely unaware of and you have to discover, Fallout new Vegas is so lore rich it’s amazing
I recently found your channel and i dont know anything about fallout. I only played the 3rd game a long time ago but your narration is so good it made me stay and i nearly watched every lore video of yours, great content !
Another tremendous video man, excellent work! Of course, having such a compelling character to write about helps, I'm sure. The Survivalist, Joshua Graham, Ulysses... I think even Tolstoy would be proud.
Ulysses is one of my favourite characters in Fallout and in video games in general. Nice work on this video, can't wait for the next one! Genuinely love your content.
I think I don’t like Ulysses because they put enough backstory into him to make him on par with Joshua Graham and then they give him a ridiculous motivation of “I’m mad at the UPS man for delivering a package”
He’s mad at you not for delivering the package but the destruction it caused to what he believed was a new beginning. He wants to kill you because you destroyed his home and hundreds were killed and he wants to make you pay.
@@the25thprime If you had everything torn away from you and found out it was because couriers literally do not care what they deliver you'd feel the same way The courier is no innocent delivery boy
@@souleater4242564kodd So if a postman delivers a knife to someone and that person uses it to stab someone should he be tried for being an accessory to a crime?
Fantastic video! There were little tidbits in here I never actually knew about. Very interesting stuff both in the story as well as the dev side of things. Keep it up! ^^
Wow after seeing the history of Ulysses and what he had done the courier doesn't seem to be that bad, like for what we know before being shot by Benny he was just some random guy with not so good luck
Didn't Ulysses have a shack atop a cliff near a rail tunnel with raiders nearby and a death claw den cave network a little way up the road? Also worth mentioning what happens if he survives the end fight with him. Volunteers to stay behind and keep the creatures there from getting out, teaches you some recipes for medicine and such.
@@alexrennison8070 I was thinking of Harper's shack, I believe it was called. I seem to recall that it as well as Victor's shack might at one point have meant to be Ulysses's shacks or safe houses he had set up but either way. Probably other places too. But still, no idea.
@@john_doe406 yes, but if you travel around enough you will find places with his flag painted on them and they tend to have different meanings based on the colors used. I am fairly sure that the shack I mentioned was such a place and that again, though it is specifically not his now, had the game gone the other direction and kept him as a companion, then perhaps they would have been tied to him further than a logo. Wolf horn ranch is indeed his actual at home property, but safe houses or whatever is just a really good idea. Considering how well traveled he is, harder to believe that he wouldn't have more. .
I’ve noticed that the courier’s amnesia isn’t really amnesia as much as it is minor memory loss, he’s made comments about his past in multiple dialogues.
I thought Ulysses was for the clever Greek Odysseus. I guess Ulysses S Grant is a better fit, all considered. Still, the idea of a cunning mind in a constant state of movement and survival was most compelling to me while I played LR. Glad I caught this video.
A general, sent to conquer and assimilate a foreign province. Who accidentally earned the loyalty of his new soldiers, more so than their loyalty to the republic or the ceasar. Then left it all to farm for a bit until he was needed again. He’s like an amalgamation of a lot of different Roman generals and politicians. Crazy I didn’t notice that.
@@Vaultboy-ke2jj I rarely see people rate it highly on any forum New Vegas discussion tends to happen on. Most people like Old World Blues, but recently Dead Money has been getting a bit of a resurgence of respect from people. Lonesome Road is often disliked for it being a "corridor shooter with an edgy character", and Honest Hearts is seen as tedious.
Im super late to this obviously - but for anyone wondering "Old Glory" is a reference to the American Flag, not anything legion-based. Although, the Imperial Aquila and the American Bald Eagle flagpole are closely related.
I mean he's literaly just like you and there are builds that can tank 3+ fatmen point-blank. I love his bossfight cuz it's the only truly challeging one endgame next to the Dr Robotnik wannabe in OWB.
I think ulysses' suffered some sort of mild ghoulification after ed-e blew up the divide since his voice is deep and slightly raspy and he wears a gas mask. That would likely give him some immunity to radiation
@@SleepingsGaming this! His in game dialogue might feel like a drag. But that’s some of the best parts of the DLC, it’s a moral fight against him and most of the endings can be won with words,and that’s his strong suit
Bro the best way to play fallout is to finish all the missions in the base game and play the add-ons to follow Ulysess and play lonesome road as the last🥶. It gives me goosebumps thinking about especially because he foreshadows the battle at hoover dam
Ain't just about everyone like that in Fallout? Literally Caesar built a whole empire based off of the Roman empire. On fallout 3 there's a cult who's ideology is based around a atom bomb. Fallout 4 baseball stadium and culture? The enclave obsession over America? What makes Ulysses different than any of the personalities or factions, other than the subject they're referring to? The only people in my opinion who express new ideas and change is Mr house and the institute.
It’s around the wrecked buildings where the death claw is when you first load in he’s watching you from a rooftop and will walk off if you go into vats it will pick him up
He is a really interesting person and cool to see how his actions impacted the rest of the world the white legs killed innocent people because of him and him finding hovering dam lead to so much death and destruction
Yeah and you can see that the moment he realized he stood atop the same hill as Vulpes sent him over the edge. And I think this built in to his philosophy of "Men can change, make and destroy history" because he did just that he just pulled a Caeser and got a bunch of savages to further idolize violence. It's was in that moment Ulysses completely left the legion and it's when he went on a path for redemption just like Joshua. The difference is that Joshua actualy had a home to go back to despite more or less being the very archetype of slavery and genocide never before seen in post war America after the great war and was a direct cause for a man such as Ulysses to even come about. He was given a chance to change and so he did, he became a good man with love in his heart but his past was very dark. But he moved on from that, he had a family and friends who loved and saved him Meanwhil Ulysses was chewed up and spat out and in his qoust for redemption turned in to a broken man whos forced to live his entire life knowing "I did all that didn't I and for What?". It's why he was so despret to rationalize that everything bad that had ever happens was simply human error including his very own actions. Because funny enough just like Joshua he fully blames himself for new caanan even though it wouldn't matter in the end. Caeser would have sent a nother one of his goons like Vulpes so the destruction of New Caanan was all but inevitable. It serves to further devalue his thought process of that we are all responsible for our own actions when most of us Arnt even making our choices consciously or let some one else make our choices for us. But the idea that everything that went wrong from the destruction of his family at dry wells, to the destruction of the Devide was simply done out of variables neither He, the Couriers or any one could control just...sent him over. Because it just proves that like many others in the wastelands he never had a chance, nobody did, from new caanan, to the fallen tribes of the east to the Devide itself. Blood will continue to be spilt and many will continue to live and due just as they did in the world world. There's no rational awnser to why stuff happens, it just happens and we all have to endure the after math. The moment he realizes life is just an absolute wild game of cards and that some people are just more screwed over than others gave him a weird sense of bitter acceptance. He realizes he was wrong and was wrong since the very moment his tribe sighned of its freedom to be used by the Legion. It's where the ephiny of *"War never changes but men do through the roads they walk"* because he realizes his dark road of crimes and mistakes stops at that cliff edge. And this is where his road led him and there. just like the courier most of it was out of his control and well he just chose to accept reality. In short Ullysses is a nihilistic idealist who just like Joshua believed there's a light in every tunnel and that we as men were given free Will for a reason, even if it was just a fluke with no devine intervention. And it was before his confrontation with the Courier was that ideal completely shatterd and he was just incapable of coping with it. But after his confrontation with the Courier did he realize this wasn't some epic mythos of 2 titans far from it He was just a deranged dude who desperately needed a girlfriend. And it was in that moment was Ulysses able to accept and see that using old world weapons to destroys 2 civioisatons even if they are doomed isn't going to bring his family or the devode back. It wasn't going to expel him of all his crimes and now he just has to keep moving, cross his fingers and let history play out instead of forcing it. In short in the end Ulysses just accepts that his life is just a set of tragic event's he just has to take responsibility for even if most of those events were out of his control and that he can at the very least change cause and begin again by letting go of the past. He changed his road led him to the runied landscape of the Devide, and that he just needs to make peace with his past and move on.
Could you do a video on the ghost people of the Sierra madre next? Or maybe the story that lies there involving Frederick Sinclair, Dean Domino and Vera Keyes?
Ulysses and Joshua are obviously a taste of the depth the Legion could have had, if the devs hadn’t stupidly asked for only a year of development time, resulting in most of the legion’s depth being scrapped in favor of them just being the obviously evil faction for role-playing purposes.
I swear this channel is Fallout flavored heroin straight into my veins. You've got Attenborough vibes and I hope you know how fresh your videos are in our content drought.
My fav thing to do in NV when attacked by legionnaire assassin's is to cut each body into five pieces and leave them all in a pile in the road, for the next group of Legion to see.
Fun Thing about the Twisted Hairs braids and the White Leg's mimicry of them, the Twisted Hair's braids somehow told stories, achievements and tales. So when the White Legs copied Ulysses's braids they were copying the look without any of the meaning. Kind of like how people get Chinese or Japanese words tattooed on to themselves with little regard as to what those words actually mean. So to Ulysses the White Legs had a bunch of gibberish growing out of their heads.
Except he really isn't Dude just spouts a bunch of shit you have no reason to care about as you have zero clue what he's talking about And then decides he's gonna nuke people just cause
Don't say that here, enjoying a character for different reasons and prioritising certain elements of there Character over others is illegal in the fallout Community.
Not really. Dudes cryptic. Wastelander: Why the hell did you kill my wife?!? Ulysses: Bull bear bull bear, do you actually love her? There are multiple ways to love someone. Do you love them as you would your mother, or sister, or the forbidden cousin love? Do you love her like a daughter, or a slave? Do you know what a " Wife" is? They cook. They clean. They make sure their man is always being pleasur... Wastelander: Shoots gun. Wastelander: Even if he told me, the way he is doing it, isn't worth the headache. I have to survive, being food to our children, and have a wife to bury. Keep your stupid riddle ass answers. That's essentially my take on him after the first time playing.
@@godking5201 tbh he is a tribal and like a lot of characters say most tribes haven’t spoke English in ages So they used other ways to talk (ie braids)
Would've been interesting if they made Ulysses surviving the canon ending and having him travel to the commonwealth and learning about vault 111 and him deciding to wake up to sole survivor as a way of waking America back up to see what would happen. There'd be no forced parent angle and I imagine more freedom in the story and maybe even the potential of Ulysses as a companion
Does he not survive the canon ending? I always thought the Courier ended up sparing Ulysses and launching the nukes on both (Independent type of ending) and Ulysses just kindve chills around after that
@@litbananakong6575 no one really knows what happens to Ulysses. Much like how no one can say for certain who really won the Second Battle for Hoover Dam
Burn away the flags. Begin again.
Correction: The Courier doesn't have amnesia, but for some reason they don't remember fathering The Divide, maybe they just don't care or perhaps they repressed memories upon learning of it's destruction 🤔
Welcome back sir! Also I started up New Vegas last week so perfect video topic
Man i had no idea about the base game fact for ulysses.
There’s you’re signal faint but there
No.
I think the Courier nuked the Legion (Dry Wells included) after fighting alongside Ulysses against hordes of marked men, before coming back several times to visit him in the Divide.
Ulysses had a positive view on Joshua Graham and respected his ability to survive. He remarks that, "Graham earned his life."
Both men are two sides of the same coin when it comes to Legion. They both have a love/hate relationship with Caesar.
@…….V? never played the DLC, but you literally pulled a " No you!"
Got any comebacks that a toddler didn't create?
@@Deadsea_1993 not sure if what joshua has can be called a love/hate its more along the lines of revere/hate
Mirroring Kratos's words. You can have your life when you've earned it
@@Deadsea_1993 should be just hate
I didnt know that wolforn ranch was ulysses' old home, I always thought it was weird to have a super detailed area that was completely abandoned for seemingly no reason
Tf I use it as my safehouse
On my first playthrough of the game I used the ranch as a base home. Not knowing of it's previous owner.
@@guns6103 wait, what?! can I store stuff in it without it disappearing??
@@everythingisland3170 I think u can store stuff practically anywhere without it disappearing lol
@@ConzyWonzy1 there are containers that respawn, those erase your items so be sure where you're putting it.
Love how the dlcs are intertwined and still have such depth to them, new Vegas sure was special
New Vegas is so rich with lore and storytelling, I really hope it doesn’t end up as the peak of the Fallout series.
@@rottingpotatoes2483 it deserves to tbh, great game
@@charliemiles6722sure it deserves it, but it shouldn't be. Fallout as a series deserves more games like new vegas
sadly it will always be the peak, because Todd only cares about money, while Obsidian had passion and they are apt at storytelling.@@rottingpotatoes2483
A fallout game with the storytelling of new Vegas with the settlement building of fallout 4 on a bigger scale(instead of one area, maybe you could forge a faction that spans across state lines) is my dream video game. Can even throw in an optional multiplayer mode for people who hate themselves.
Play Lonesome Road and take a shot each time you heard Bear and Bull.
Bear bull bear bull bear bull bear bull bear bull yes truly insightful dialouge
End result: alcohol addition and a permanent -250 Intelligence skill.
I died from alcohol poisoning 😅
Would it be better if he said NCR and Legion each time?
RIP Kidneys
Not even the New Vegas medical clinic could fix it
If I had a blue star bottle cap for every high ranking legionary that was exhiled from the legion only to appear as a boss in a DLC I'd have 2 caps.
Which isn't alot, but it's strange it happened twice.
Possibly 3 depending on if you piss off Caesar enough while serving
Malcolm Homes would like to inform you of something…
Ulysses was not exiled from the Caesar's Legion, he just left it to forge his own path after he had been disgusted with himself for what he did to White Legs.
Surely "courier" is not a high rank in the legion?
So basically this guy's backstory is that he completed all the DLCs...
He is tight with bethesda, got early access
I think Ulysses is suppose to be like a player character in the world. He was a courier, picks a side, went through all the DLC’s, and even uses stimpacks in your fight with him.
Except dead money tho
@@jacksonlucero1025even Ulysses didn’t wanna go through that bs lmao
I think a video exploring the back stories of each member of the think tank at big MT would be interesting
Seconding this!
Yes sir!!
Fourthing this
Yes please!
Include that wonderful jazz soundtrack, & I'll definitely watch it!
His entire story adds a lot of introspection into the effects that Caesar had inflicted upon the "East" that hadn't really been touched on before - and probably won't be expanded upon in the future
The one part, that randomly stuck out to me, is when he mentions his realization, that he finds himself standing exactly where Vulpes had stood; tricking and manipulating another tribe, and perpetuating the cycle of violence and destruction
And then having the White Legs absolutely Idolize him and Caesar; being completely tricked into thinking assimilation into Caesar's Legion was something to be proud of.
It must have been an absolutely sickening realization, that his carelessness/apathy was giving strength to the same terror that had completely decimated his own tribe/family. He knew exactly what future awaited the White Legs
FINALLY, a video on Ulysses longer than 40 seconds with him skitzing out
Bear bull bear bull bear bull bear bull bear bull yes truly insightful dialouge
@@Trazyn_Archives road flag road flag courier vegas lights road flag bear bear bull bear moment
@chrisestabrooks8197 looks like someone dumped wisdom
Ulysses is actually a Latin name for Greek hero Odysseus, whose long and eventful journey back home was described in Homer epic poem Odyssey
Yea but if you talk to him about his name it's clear that he actually gets it from Ulysses S. Grant
@@SpartanK4102 yeah but the fact that it has both meanings is really cool
@@SpartanK4102 I mean considering Ulysses’ plan is similar to the main villain from fallout van buren, who uses an ai called Odysseus to drop nukes on the wasteland, I can’t see that being just a coincidence
@@SpartanK4102no, it isn’t, lol it’s a reference to Odysseus by way of James Joyce’s novel.
@@meowlentine3342 "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."
"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."
Late reply but lol, nope. Ulysses himself confirms he took his name from General Ulysses S. Grant. The skill check from the Courier has the Courier recognise that Ulysses took his name from the historical Civil War General rather than the myth or stories.
"Bull, bull, bear, bear..."
I can't bear his bullshit anymore.
i see what you did there
Why? Is that really that unbearabull?
He had such a cool voice but bro could not stop yapping
@@fun_police8011The problem wasn't the volume he talked, it was that most of it was nonsense. He rambles on, accusing the Courier of things the player didn't do (so doesn't remember) and things that, according to the dialog choices, the Courier doesn't even remember doing.
Really leaves you, the player, with no way to connect with what's going on, having to listen to the mentally ill man yelling at him like some homeless dude on the corner.
@@davidhong1934im calling the police on u
Him and Joshua are easily my favorite Fallout characters. I hate how Ulysses gets hate for monologuing, despite the only one in his DLC who can talk
They hate the idea of actually thinking about what he has to say.
@@RedStar441while I dislike Ulysses, I believe what he said. Neither bull nor bear is a satisfying end. It has to be a third faction, one that incorporates both. A stable leadership, akin to the republic, but a strong leader, similar to Caesar.
Maybe his misread views on Hegelian dialectics was absorbed by more than he thought.
I appreciate why he monologues.
He's explicitly trying to craft an epic mythos and deeper meaning out of everything that's happening because he honestly just can't accept that shit happens.
He even starts the final encounter with his back to you, waiting for you to approach, fully confident that you'll meet him to joust with words before deciding the fate of the world.
And absolutely nothing stops you from taking advantage of that by just shooting him in the back of the head.
And the weaving of a grand tale of the bear and the bull ends by a dose of reality chambered in .50 caliber.
Elijah is my fav then ulysses then joshua
no one wants to hear the villian rant, and usually its pretty easy to dismiss a villian as a villain and not a person to even listen to.
I wonder what Ulysses would think of the Commonwealth Minutemen.
"the bolt and the musket" i would imagine he would call it
The idiots
"New world colonizers sheathed in the cloth of the old word. A Hydra with a thousand heads eger to feast on it foes, that will turn on their own body without enemies to repel"
@@drekbleh7081 really good qoute, but I doubt the minutemen would ever turn on themselves, their a true militia, farmers and workers first, only taking up arms to defend themselves and their friends
@@iceheart1289 That's what happened. One of the raider gangs in fallout 4 are former minutemen, before you the group splintered into factionalism, as Ronnie put it everything was fine "Before the idgits took over"
I thought his weapon Old Glory was an American flag pole (bald eagle, him liking old American symbols) though I do see the imagery with the Legion’s eagles too
Yes, it's a repurposed flag pole that once flew The American flag (if the name is anything to go by) but his connection to The Legion could suggest it was taken from the old world and now represents The Legions courage, or that Ulysses is a big fan of birds, either way it suits his obsession with America quite well!
Oh true, once an American flag, then repurposed for Legion banners sounds most likely. Great vids man!
@@Synonymous101 As someone who was in the Navy's Honor Guard; all US flags on carry poles are supposed to be adorned with a Golden Eagle. All other flags are adorned with a Golden Battle Axe, or a Golden Spear Tip.
@@IceNinja2007 thats interesting to know, thanks for sharing.
Because both Rome and America used eagle standards on flags.
"And now here we stand. Two couriers together at the end of the Lonesome Road"
This was our (fallout new vegas) lonesome road (2011)
And then they lonesome all over the road
In the wasteland. Straight up "loning it". and by "it", haha, well, let's jusr say.
My duraframe eyebot
Cass: "so you know this Ulysses guy?"
Courier: "yeah, we had a fall out in New Vegas"
It would be nice if we knew more about what the community (originally) in the Divide was like. Personally I doubt they were that different from many settlements in the Mojave or even the NCR (which definitely deserves a long video, as it's one of the few factions that could be called a country).
This is just me seeing it from a different perspective, but I think that with how Ulyssys is tied with the DLCs, he is also tied with their themes.
In Honest Hearts, we are told about what tribal life along the rivers and canyons is and how the assimilation into the Legion was. In a sense, Ulyssys wasn't able to find his peace. He couldn't come to terms with what happened to the Twisted Hairs and the shame of who he is. With Joshua, he was able to change thanks to the Canaanites and soon the courier.
In Dead Money, all the characters had to let go of their obsessions. Dog and God with their wanting of freedom and subservience. Dean on the other hand is his greed and pride. Christian is her duty to kill Elijah. While Elijah is his obsession with the Sierra Madre. They change thanks to the Courier. One couldn't let go.
Old World Blues is a continuation of obsession, literally using the term "Old World Blues". People who focus on the past, can't even see the future. The last slide in the ending pretty much encapsulates this idea. But that term changes to something with hope and potential.
As for Lonesome Road, We know where that road ends and who Ulysses is. He couldn't find his peace, or let go of his obsession with history. Ending with Ulysses dying, or changing his views. Him living can only happen if you put in the effort to understand him. Either a 100 speech check or finding the holotapes of his past, or do ed-e dialogue with trial and error. Leading to him changing his perspective. (Depending on your choice) Nations should be given the chance to continue and let things "flow". Hitting him with "Who are you who does not know your own history." It's like if the ending slide quote "It's sad, war never changes, but men do through the roads they walk. And this road has met its end." was made when he got his answer from the Courier. History may seem like it repeats, or how conflict is hell, but people are the catalyst of it and can change.
You could say “The Road to Hell is paved with good intentions”
Ulysses: "...what do you mean 'repeat all that again' I'm the only sentient presence here in the scar of this land, why does your attention span wane?"
Courier: "I got that 'bullet in brain' condition. Didn't you claim to have a hand in that?"
Ulysses: "..."
His attention span is literally shot to shit.
Almost makes me feel bad for decimating him with an anti-material rifle every playthrough
almost.....
'decimate' is a very apt term, knowing his links to the Legion
I always think it's cooler to ally with him and fight off the Marked Men.
Ugh, I only killed him once and felt terrible about it. I very much enjoy fighting along side him against those subhumans.
he is the one person in all 4 of the DLCs i didn't bother trying to save i saw him as irredeemable
i’ll always think back to my first play through where i was just about to go to the battle of hoover dam and i went through the dlc and the build up to ulysses was done so well. you see the impact he’s left on people. this courier who’s made all the same journeys you have and then you finally meet this man taunting you while talking philosophy with you
One of my favourite characters in this series, I love to cap off a playthrough by meeting up with him for a chat. I find it really interesting that his idea of revenge isn't to kill you but to make you complicit in his plan. With mods on PC you can even recruit him as a companion after talking him down and take him to Hoover Dam for the final battle!
It's important to note the literature/mythological side of the name Ulysses, the Romans' name for Odysseus, the Greek general and king of Ithaca known for his strategic mind and quick thinking. Odysseus is the main character of the Odyssey, a myth about Odysseus on his return journey home from the Trojan war (which lasted 10 years) and, due to many, many things happening, is unable to return home for another 10 years.
Bear this, bull that. now I can finally know what he’s talking about
You'd know what he'd mean anyway if you didn't skip all the dialogue and shoot him in the head
Oooohhh this one is going to be good. I’ve always been fascinated by Ulysses and his story. Thanks again for the great content Syn!
Ulysses in a nutshell:
.old world
.flags
.bear and bull
.looooong 15
.courier
.the divide
.THAT machine
You forgot
You blow things up and it's bad and I blow things up and it's good
You know, I would actually love to see some books based on the Fallout universe. And I think you've convinced me that the first one that should be published should be a book about Ulysses, but told in the first person, from his point of view.
I love how Ulysses ties into so much of the story and how him and the courier have a past that you the player are completely unaware of and you have to discover, Fallout new Vegas is so lore rich it’s amazing
I recently found your channel and i dont know anything about fallout. I only played the 3rd game a long time ago but your narration is so good it made me stay and i nearly watched every lore video of yours, great content !
Damn Ulysses had more dialogue if he was a companion than the one from Lonesome road!? Obsidian really went ball's deep with this game.
Him and Joshua Graham are easily the coolest characters in Fallout.
Another tremendous video man, excellent work! Of course, having such a compelling character to write about helps, I'm sure. The Survivalist, Joshua Graham, Ulysses... I think even Tolstoy would be proud.
I can't Begin Again... I can't Let Go
You know no matter how many roads we walk, my ❤️ will always be left in The Sierra Madre
Fantastic video! I loved how they built his legend throughout the other dlcs.
Well done as always, Sir. You have such a great way of bringing the Fallout lore to life. Thank you. o7
i love the story of the courier 6 and ulysses, just so badass and deep
Ya know what I wanna see? Ulysess and the Survivalist hang out for a while. I get the feeling that they'd get along fairly well.
Ulysses is one of my favourite characters in Fallout and in video games in general.
Nice work on this video, can't wait for the next one! Genuinely love your content.
YES!!!! I remember messaging you about doing a video on Ulysses.
the way uylysses speaks in vague metaphors makes him the lore ive been most interested in for a while now, glad we finally get a video like this
I think I don’t like Ulysses because they put enough backstory into him to make him on par with Joshua Graham and then they give him a ridiculous motivation of “I’m mad at the UPS man for delivering a package”
It’s kinda the same but opposite for me. I think his motivation is stupid but it motivated me to figure out why tf he was so obsessed with me🎉
He’s mad at you not for delivering the package but the destruction it caused to what he believed was a new beginning. He wants to kill you because you destroyed his home and hundreds were killed and he wants to make you pay.
@@Eggzboss That’s true, I wish it made sense to me.. So in the end I have to look at it in that way; like… lol what a drama queen. I love him
@@the25thprime If you had everything torn away from you and found out it was because couriers literally do not care what they deliver you'd feel the same way
The courier is no innocent delivery boy
@@souleater4242564kodd So if a postman delivers a knife to someone and that person uses it to stab someone should he be tried for being an accessory to a crime?
Ulysses has to have one of my favorite voices of any video game character
Fantastic video! There were little tidbits in here I never actually knew about. Very interesting stuff both in the story as well as the dev side of things. Keep it up! ^^
Watching this video alongside Father Elijah and Joshua Graham ones really blows my mind of how intertwined NV DLC's and main game are
Hey thanks for the vid. I was watching some of your older vids and seen this
Dude your lore videos are fucking incredible you write these so well and in such an easy to digest way keep it up brother
The Flag Bearer
The Flag BEAR-er
Damnit Sawyer, you did it again.
Just wanna say, I absolutely love your videos. Your voice and cadence is very soothing. Thank you for all that you do
Wow after seeing the history of Ulysses and what he had done the courier doesn't seem to be that bad, like for what we know before being shot by Benny he was just some random guy with not so good luck
This is going to be a gem. I can feel it!
Didn't Ulysses have a shack atop a cliff near a rail tunnel with raiders nearby and a death claw den cave network a little way up the road? Also worth mentioning what happens if he survives the end fight with him. Volunteers to stay behind and keep the creatures there from getting out, teaches you some recipes for medicine and such.
Wolfhorn Ranch. You find Chopper there I think.
@@alexrennison8070 I was thinking of Harper's shack, I believe it was called. I seem to recall that it as well as Victor's shack might at one point have meant to be Ulysses's shacks or safe houses he had set up but either way. Probably other places too. But still, no idea.
@@seanromine3932 wolfhound ranches is Ulysses house. It's called that in some non-English versions of the game
@@john_doe406 yes, but if you travel around enough you will find places with his flag painted on them and they tend to have different meanings based on the colors used. I am fairly sure that the shack I mentioned was such a place and that again, though it is specifically not his now, had the game gone the other direction and kept him as a companion, then perhaps they would have been tied to him further than a logo. Wolf horn ranch is indeed his actual at home property, but safe houses or whatever is just a really good idea. Considering how well traveled he is, harder to believe that he wouldn't have more.
.
I like how Ulysses talks, the how of it, the why of it
Heh
If you are playing a Bad Karma Courier, seeing their destruction of the Divide is just marveling at their artwork
I’ve noticed that the courier’s amnesia isn’t really amnesia as much as it is minor memory loss, he’s made comments about his past in multiple dialogues.
I thought Ulysses was for the clever Greek Odysseus. I guess Ulysses S Grant is a better fit, all considered. Still, the idea of a cunning mind in a constant state of movement and survival was most compelling to me while I played LR. Glad I caught this video.
A general, sent to conquer and assimilate a foreign province. Who accidentally earned the loyalty of his new soldiers, more so than their loyalty to the republic or the ceasar. Then left it all to farm for a bit until he was needed again.
He’s like an amalgamation of a lot of different Roman generals and politicians. Crazy I didn’t notice that.
Been waiting for this one for a LONG time,worth any wait
thanks man. life is tough these videos help
Thank you for giving Ulysses the attention he deserves. He and Lonesome Road get wayyy too much hate IMO
@@Vaultboy-ke2jj maybe it’s my fault for hanging out on Reddit too much, haha
@@Vaultboy-ke2jj I rarely see people rate it highly on any forum New Vegas discussion tends to happen on. Most people like Old World Blues, but recently Dead Money has been getting a bit of a resurgence of respect from people. Lonesome Road is often disliked for it being a "corridor shooter with an edgy character", and Honest Hearts is seen as tedious.
Im super late to this obviously - but for anyone wondering "Old Glory" is a reference to the American Flag, not anything legion-based. Although, the Imperial Aquila and the American Bald Eagle flagpole are closely related.
His boss fight was bloody annoying when a regular human can take multiple fat man shells there’s a problem
I mean he's literaly just like you and there are builds that can tank 3+ fatmen point-blank.
I love his bossfight cuz it's the only truly challeging one endgame next to the Dr Robotnik wannabe in OWB.
I think ulysses' suffered some sort of mild ghoulification after ed-e blew up the divide since his voice is deep and slightly raspy and he wears a gas mask. That would likely give him some immunity to radiation
@@zigfaust mobius isn't exactly what I'd call a boss
I just sneak attack him with an Anti-Material Rifle loaded with explosive rounds, dies in one hit.
@@zigfaust I just sneak kill him with an Anti-Matarial Rifle because i was like "fuck this"
Who knew Wolfhorn Ranch was Ulysses Home? Now I need to know more about Lone Wolf Radio.
I love these lore videos. I've been binge watching these every day now.
I always wonder if the NCR nuking the divide really was “accidental” or not.
He's the Bear Bull man but he really is a great character
Bear bull bear bull bear bull bear bull bear bull yes truly insightful dialouge
@@Trazyn_Archives yes yes we know his dialouge about the ncr is bland and gets old. but his backstory and his motives makes him a great character.
@@SleepingsGaming this! His in game dialogue might feel like a drag. But that’s some of the best parts of the DLC, it’s a moral fight against him and most of the endings can be won with words,and that’s his strong suit
@@Trazyn_Archivesthis but un ironically
How fitting, ive been doing a new run with the new california prequel mod, and i just hit halfway through lonesome road when this popped up
I forgot just how much of a... what's the villian version of a Mary Sue? How much of a that that Ulysses is 😆
Ulysses Ulysses souring though all the….! Wait a minute, wrong guy.
He walks a lonely road, the only road the couriers ever known
As someone getting into fallout again your content is soooooooooo on time immediate subscription
Bear. Bull. Bear. Bull. Bear. Bull. Old World. Courier. Bear. Bull. Bear. Bull. The Divide. Bear. Bear. Bull. Bull.
Probs the best explanation for Ulysses, Nice work 👍
Glad it helped! 😁👍
The voice of that Man sir is Just awesome, lonesome road is my favourite dlc thanks to that voice and the weaponiced philosophy of this dude.
Bro the best way to play fallout is to finish all the missions in the base game and play the add-ons to follow Ulysess and play lonesome road as the last🥶. It gives me goosebumps thinking about especially because he foreshadows the battle at hoover dam
Unlike many others, I like Ulysses. Always spared him and fought alongside him.
Ulysses is Fallout's version of a college student who was recently introduced to a couple new ideas and can't STFU about them
Lmao. Kreia from KOTOR 2 seems like they had just finished their first course in Philosophy.
Same annoying, preachy writer....
@@manz7860 Chris?
His grand plan is to nuke the ncr and legion to get something better, even though that’s exactly how those factions came to form in the first place
Bull and bear
Ain't just about everyone like that in Fallout? Literally Caesar built a whole empire based off of the Roman empire. On fallout 3 there's a cult who's ideology is based around a atom bomb. Fallout 4 baseball stadium and culture? The enclave obsession over America? What makes Ulysses different than any of the personalities or factions, other than the subject they're referring to?
The only people in my opinion who express new ideas and change is Mr house and the institute.
I always remember walking The Lonesome Road and seeing him watching me from a destroyed building window just standing there…menacingly.
Wait, that was a thing? I never noticed him anywhere.
It is a thing he also has a different character id tag then the other one you run into at the end
It’s around the wrecked buildings where the death claw is when you first load in he’s watching you from a rooftop and will walk off if you go into vats it will pick him up
@@n49ify1 Can you shoot him?
@@vetarlittorf1807 see my other 2 comments and if I remember correctly you can’t kill that one either
I'd love to see a video on the Raiders and Slavers of Paradise Falls!
He is a really interesting person and cool to see how his actions impacted the rest of the world the white legs killed innocent people because of him and him finding hovering dam lead to so much death and destruction
Yeah and you can see that the moment he realized he stood atop the same hill as Vulpes sent him over the edge. And I think this built in to his philosophy of "Men can change, make and destroy history" because he did just that he just pulled a Caeser and got a bunch of savages to further idolize violence.
It's was in that moment Ulysses completely left the legion and it's when he went on a path for redemption just like Joshua. The difference is that Joshua actualy had a home to go back to despite more or less being the very archetype of slavery and genocide never before seen in post war America after the great war and was a direct cause for a man such as Ulysses to even come about. He was given a chance to change and so he did, he became a good man with love in his heart but his past was very dark.
But he moved on from that, he had a family and friends who loved and saved him Meanwhil Ulysses was chewed up and spat out and in his qoust for redemption turned in to a broken man whos forced to live his entire life knowing "I did all that didn't I and for What?".
It's why he was so despret to rationalize that everything bad that had ever happens was simply human error including his very own actions. Because funny enough just like Joshua he fully blames himself for new caanan even though it wouldn't matter in the end. Caeser would have sent a nother one of his goons like Vulpes so the destruction of New Caanan was all but inevitable. It serves to further devalue his thought process of that we are all responsible for our own actions when most of us Arnt even making our choices consciously or let some one else make our choices for us.
But the idea that everything that went wrong from the destruction of his family at dry wells, to the destruction of the Devide was simply done out of variables neither He, the Couriers or any one could control just...sent him over. Because it just proves that like many others in the wastelands he never had a chance, nobody did, from new caanan, to the fallen tribes of the east to the Devide itself. Blood will continue to be spilt and many will continue to live and due just as they did in the world world. There's no rational awnser to why stuff happens, it just happens and we all have to endure the after math.
The moment he realizes life is just an absolute wild game of cards and that some people are just more screwed over than others gave him a weird sense of bitter acceptance. He realizes he was wrong and was wrong since the very moment his tribe sighned of its freedom to be used by the Legion.
It's where the ephiny of *"War never changes but men do through the roads they walk"* because he realizes his dark road of crimes and mistakes stops at that cliff edge. And this is where his road led him and there. just like the courier most of it was out of his control and well he just chose to accept reality.
In short Ullysses is a nihilistic idealist who just like Joshua believed there's a light in every tunnel and that we as men were given free Will for a reason, even if it was just a fluke with no devine intervention. And it was before his confrontation with the Courier was that ideal completely shatterd and he was just incapable of coping with it.
But after his confrontation with the Courier did he realize this wasn't some epic mythos of 2 titans far from it He was just a deranged dude who
desperately needed a girlfriend. And it was in that moment was Ulysses able to accept and see that using old world weapons to destroys 2 civioisatons even if they are doomed isn't going to bring his family or the devode back. It wasn't going to expel him of all his crimes and now he just has to keep moving, cross his fingers and let history play out instead of forcing it.
In short in the end Ulysses just accepts that his life is just a set of tragic event's he just has to take responsibility for even if most of those events were out of his control and that he can at the very least change cause and begin again by letting go of the past. He changed his road led him to the runied landscape of the Devide, and that he just needs to make peace with his past and move on.
I didn't play this dlc
Thanks for posting, I love lore
Could you do a video on the ghost people of the Sierra madre next? Or maybe the story that lies there involving Frederick Sinclair, Dean Domino and Vera Keyes?
I just played this DLC for the 1st time in 6 or 7 years I forgot how much he monologs
Ulysses and Joshua are obviously a taste of the depth the Legion could have had, if the devs hadn’t stupidly asked for only a year of development time, resulting in most of the legion’s depth being scrapped in favor of them just being the obviously evil faction for role-playing purposes.
Im pretty sure there is dialogue about Old Glory, and how it is the pole of the old flag that Ulysses has in his temple tho.
Unfortunately all things eventually come to an end.
i love how this single character connects the entire world of fallout new vegas
I swear this channel is Fallout flavored heroin straight into my veins. You've got Attenborough vibes and I hope you know how fresh your videos are in our content drought.
My fav thing to do in NV when attacked by legionnaire assassin's is to cut each body into five pieces and leave them all in a pile in the road, for the next group of Legion to see.
Fun Thing about the Twisted Hairs braids and the White Leg's mimicry of them, the Twisted Hair's braids somehow told stories, achievements and tales. So when the White Legs copied Ulysses's braids they were copying the look without any of the meaning. Kind of like how people get Chinese or Japanese words tattooed on to themselves with little regard as to what those words actually mean. So to Ulysses the White Legs had a bunch of gibberish growing out of their heads.
They didn't know about the meaning behind the hairstyle because Ulysses never explained it to them. He's a fucking idiot.
@@Tumbledweeb why the fuck would he explain it? Do you explain your hairstyle to everyone you meet? Are you autistic or smth?
excellent video, made me appreciate Ulysses a lot more!
Loved Ulysses. Such a great character
Except he really isn't
Dude just spouts a bunch of shit you have no reason to care about as you have zero clue what he's talking about
And then decides he's gonna nuke people just cause
Bear bull bear bull bear bull bear bull bear bull yes truly insightful dialouge
@@Trazyn_Archives bot?
I’m sorry all I’m hearing is little children whining. 100% didn’t ask anyones opinion. Made a statement, and y’all got your panties knotted up.
Don't say that here, enjoying a character for different reasons and prioritising certain elements of there Character over others is illegal in the fallout Community.
I would love to see and hear more about the circle of steel from the brotherhood of steel faction.
Ulysses is one of those people in fallout who really speaks his mind about the world they’re in.
Not really. Dudes cryptic.
Wastelander: Why the hell did you kill my wife?!?
Ulysses: Bull bear bull bear, do you actually love her? There are multiple ways to love someone.
Do you love them as you would your mother, or sister, or the forbidden cousin love? Do you love her like a daughter, or a slave?
Do you know what a " Wife" is? They cook. They clean. They make sure their man is always being pleasur...
Wastelander: Shoots gun.
Wastelander: Even if he told me, the way he is doing it, isn't worth the headache. I have to survive, being food to our children, and have a wife to bury. Keep your stupid riddle ass answers.
That's essentially my take on him after the first time playing.
@@godking5201 that’s his mind too me.
@@godking5201 tbh he is a tribal and like a lot of characters say most tribes haven’t spoke English in ages So they used other ways to talk (ie braids)
Great video, well worth the wait!
Would've been interesting if they made Ulysses surviving the canon ending and having him travel to the commonwealth and learning about vault 111 and him deciding to wake up to sole survivor as a way of waking America back up to see what would happen. There'd be no forced parent angle and I imagine more freedom in the story and maybe even the potential of Ulysses as a companion
Does he not survive the canon ending? I always thought the Courier ended up sparing Ulysses and launching the nukes on both (Independent type of ending) and Ulysses just kindve chills around after that
@@litbananakong6575 no one really knows what happens to Ulysses. Much like how no one can say for certain who really won the Second Battle for Hoover Dam
"Nooo don't launch the nuke, Ulysses. I wanna do it too."
Ah, I hope the cut dialogues resurface one day.
We need triangle city for this
He isn't even my favorite character from that game but he is the one I most identified with.
Says the dude with the pfp and name of "not your favorite character." 🤦
OK uylsses
It's been ages since I played Lonesome Road. It's such a good DLC for New Vegas.
They should have made him a companion after Lonesome Road and slowly you unlock whatever he knows like the others