Joshua Graham

Joshua Graham (known formerly as the Malpais Legate, and in folk legends as the Burned Man) is a Mormon missionary, co-founder of Caesar's Legion, and its first Legate.

Graham led Caesar's troops to a humiliating defeat in the First Battle of Hoover Dam. Afterwards, Caesar, showing that failure was unacceptable regardless of rank, ordered him coated in pitch, lit on fire, and tossed into the Grand Canyon. He survived, however, and left Caesar's Legion behind him. He is currently the acting leader of the Dead Horses.

Mormon missionary
Joshua Graham was born in Ogden, Utah and spent his formative years learning to do the work of a missionary. In 2246, he left to spread the word of God across the wastes. He traveled across the I-15 and Route 89 south to Arizona. It was there, in the Grand Canyon, that he would have his fateful encounter with two Followers of the Apocalypse, Bill Calhoun and Edward Sallow, who had been dispatched to study the tribal dialects that had begun to emerge in the post-apocalyptic world. Graham, who was fluent in many of these languages, decided to help them on their task and joined their nine-person expedition.

In 2247, the group visited the Blackfoot tribe. Whether they were tricked or whether Graham made an error with translation is not clear. What is known is that the small group of Followers soon realized that they would not be allowed to leave. At the time, the Blackfoots were at war with seven other tribes, a war they were clearly losing. Unwilling to be destroyed along with them, and against the wishes of Calhoun, Sallow chose to use his knowledge to train the Blackfoot tribe in the art of warfare after witnessing their lack of knowledge firsthand. He showed them how to clean and maintain guns, operate with small unit tactics, create their own explosives, and to strike at their weakest enemies first: divide et impera - divide and conquer. He quickly impressed them enough to the point where he was made their leader and took the name "Caesar". Joshua Graham remained with Caesar as a translator, but soon enough translation became giving orders and giving orders became leading in battle, training and terrorizing. Calhoun, for his part, was sent back to the Followers to inform them of Caesar's actions. Eventually, all seven tribes were either destroyed or incorporated into Caesar's army, and at this time, Caesar, together with Graham, formed Caesar's Legion out of the tribes that had either been conquered or had chosen to capitulate to avoid extermination, and Graham became Caesar's first Legate.

Malpais Legate
Though he was neither a particularly brilliant strategist nor tactically flexible, his menace and brutality were infamous. The atrocities he committed made him feared by friend and foe alike. He was dangerous, unpredictable, and above all else legendary for being impossible to kill, even by NCR Rangers. His death at the hands of 1st Recon sharpshooters was reported no less than five times. Such was Caesar's trust in him that he was tasked with leading The Legion at the First Battle of Hoover Dam, so that they could use it as a power source and a staging point from where they could eventually take the city of New Vegas. The Legion was initially successful, and the NCR initiated a tactical retreat to Boulder City, laying explosives and sniping Legion officers as they approached. Graham, unable to adapt his tactics, and intoxicated with his own victory, did not know of the C4 until it was too late, and the Legion were dealt a crushing blow, as the city exploded around them. Caesar, infuriated with this loss, held Graham personally responsible and ordered his execution. The Legate was coated in pitch, set on fire and thrown into the Grand Canyon by the Praetorian Guard as an example to the rest of the Legion that Caesar wouldn't accept failure from even the highest ranked members.

Burned Man
Even years after what is generally assumed to be his death, Caesar's Legion still does not speak of him by his true name under penalty of death, on the orders of Caesar. Any rumors of his survival are played down by the higher ranks of the Legion, but lower ranking legionaries, tribals and slaves speak of the Burned Man as if he was a vengeful spirit, waiting to return. Caesar is very much aware of his survival, sending scouts and assassins to patrol the territory east of the Colorado River for any sign of him, fearing that the Burned Man may seek revenge.

His second baptism at the hands of the Legion and subsequent survival transformed him, rekindled his faith and removed his pride and vanity. After an agonizing three-month journey, he returned to New Canaan, where he was welcomed as if he had never done anything to shame them. His return would inevitably mean doom for the Mormon city, as Caesar desperately wished to see him dead. In 2281, the White Legs, on orders from Caesar, wiped out the majority of the city's residents. The remaining thirty or so refugees scattered, and Daniel, a Mormon missionary, and Graham made their way towards Zion Canyon, where they settled together with the native tribes. Still pursued by the tribe, Graham invested his efforts defending the valley, becoming the War Chief of the Dead Horses and attempting to rally them against the White Legs as Caesar had rallied the Blackfoots against their enemies years ago. In the hopes of breaking the spine of the enemy tribe and taking vengeance for New Canaan, as well as finding redemption for his past crimes.

Despite his former allegiance to Caesar's Legion, the Burned Man does not hold any ill will towards any allies of the NCR. To him, the NCR is still redeemable in his eyes, stating that the greed of man is what led to the Great War and that only through faith in God and prayer and genuine acts of kindness can humanity hope to prevent history from repeating itself.

He also has a dim opinion of Mr. House, seeing him as another Caesar; a man who rallied together his own set of tribes using his own methods to assume domination over others.

His hatred towards the Legion stems not just from the fact he was made an example by Caesar, but also Caesar's belief that his will alone will unite the wasteland under the Legion's banner and his refusal to let anything stop him. Ultimately his greatest enmity is for himself - for letting himself get swept up in Caesar's rise to power, for falling in line as his Legate and for perpetrating the innumerable atrocities that helped establish his rule. What he believed may have been the start of a society of equals under one banner has become a totalitarian culture dominated by one man.

Van Buren
Joshua Graham (then referred to as the "Hanged Man") was to be a CNPC in Van Buren, the canceled Fallout 3 by Black Isle Studios. He was to be the first, and statistically best, CNPC that the player encountered, but was also very evil and in some ways made the game extremely difficult for players with poor negotiating skills. He was intended to be a "jinxed" non-player character, like the pariah dog.
 * The Prisoner was to encounter somebody hanged by the neck from a pole at Fort Abandon, obviously still alive and enraged. If cut down, the Hanged Man would tag along with the Prisoner. He was wrapped from head to toe in bandages as he had been burned all over his entire body. Save for the fact that he had a connection to Caesar's Legion and was particularly ticked off at them, he would not provide many details about himself.
 * Rescuing the Hanged Man would cause all the tribals in the region to be angry with the Prisoner as the tribals would blame him for future crimes committed by the Hanged Man. In addition, the Hanged Man may anger any tribals he encounters and try to butcher any Twin Mothers tribals he could find. Having him in the party would make dealing with tribals and some towns extremely difficult.
 * The Hanged Man would not enter New Canaan. Upon arrival, he would initiate dialogue with the Prisoner and tell him/her that he had something to take care of, offering to meet at Burham Springs later on. Bishop Mordecai would be able to reveal some details about him.
 * Upon entering Burham Springs, the Hanged Man might quote 2 Chronicles 28. The Hanged Man would laughingly refuse to drop his weapons if commanded to by Phil, possibly even inciting Phil to open fire on the party. It would be very difficult for the Prisoner to defuse the situation.

Quests

 * Arrival at Zion: The player must speak with Graham to complete the quest.
 * Chaos in Zion: Killing Joshua Graham (or another storyline-essential character) will start this quest.
 * Civilized Man's Burden: Joshua may be asked of his opinion on Follow's-Chalk leaving the tribe and exploring the civilized lands.
 * Flight from Zion, Crush the White Legs: During the final quests in Honest Hearts, Graham will become a temporary companion to the Courier.
 * Gone Fishin', Roadside Attraction, Tourist Trap: After speaking to him, he will instruct you to collect items to supply to the Sorrows.
 * The Grand Staircase: After having obtained the map of the Grand Staircase, you may give it to either Joshua or Daniel.

Appearances
Joshua Graham appears in the Fallout: New Vegas add-on Honest Hearts. He is mentioned frequently, for example: in a loading screen in Dead Money and by Ulysses in Lonesome Road.

He was also to appear in Van Buren, the canceled Fallout 3 by Black Isle Studios.

Behind the scenes

 * A malpaís is a landform characterized by eroded rocks of volcanic origin in an arid environment. This describes many areas, but is strongly connected to the southwestern United States because of the Spanish settlers that gave the landform its name (malpais means "badland" in Spanish).
 * Within the G.E.C.K. there exist references to a map above the western cliffs of the Colorado river designated "MalpaisLegionCamp", indicating that such a location once existed in an earlier version of New Vegas but was later removed. Notably, a reference for Benny is found there, should he survive the events that took place at the Fort.
 * Both in Van Buren and in Honest Hearts, Joshua Graham was written by J.E. Sawyer.
 * His calm, collected incarnation in Honest Hearts is vastly different from the angry, uncontrollable Van Buren version.
 * Graham's relapse is based upon the parable of the Lost Son.
 * Graham's self-described "baptism by flame" seems to be a dual reference to both his "death" at the hands of Caesar, and his symbolic rebirth by way of the Mormon laying of hands, which is also known as "baptism by fire".
 * The inspiration for Graham came from a lot of sources, such as Paul the Apostle, Rodrigo Mendoza from The Mission, and Lawrence of Arabia. Also, the tribal markings on his armor were a reference to Rodrigo Mendoza as well.