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FO76 publicteam xpd.pngFor the 18th president of the United States, see Ulysses S. Grant.

No need for bombs, when hate will do.

Ulysses is a courier and former Frumentarii of Caesar's Legion in the Fallout: New Vegas DLC Lonesome Road.

Background

Ulysses was once a member of the Twisted Hairs, a tribe in Arizona that forged an alliance with Caesar's Legion. He served as a scout for the Legion, during which time he used his knowledge of medicine to cure those he traveled with. His tribe's name came from the distinctive hairstyle members had, which was based on their medicinal knowledge and tied in knots to communicate messages to other tribe members.[1][2] Caesar betrayed the Twisted Hairs and sent Vulpes Inculta to enslave and murder the group at Dry Wells.[3]

Ulysses worked as a courier, living in the Hopeville area before it was destroyed.[4][5] The cities were destroyed by the detonation of underground nuclear missiles, triggered by a package delivered by the Courier.[6][7][8] Ulysses survived the detonations and angered by the loss of his home, he seeks revenge, blaming the Courier for the events that took place.[9]

Storyline

Old World Blues

Ulysses traveled to Big MT, caring for an injured member of the Brotherhood Circle, Knight Royce, who was hunting the rogue former elder, Father Elijah.[10][11] He discovered the Think Tank, who recalled him as being a "melancholy fellow" who had questions about history.[12] It was the Think Tank that explained to him what happened in the Divide, and how the nuclear missiles were activated.[13][14]

Honest Hearts

Caesar ordered Ulysses to lead the White Legs to New Canaan in an attempt to kill Joshua Graham, the former legate, along with the rest of the New Canaanites.[15] The effort was to gain entry into the Legion, and also included murdering caravans and cutting off NCR supply lines to and from the Mojave.[16] Ulysses helped the White Legs dig out bunkers and supply caches, acquiring powerful weaponry and teaching the tribe how to use them.[17][18] After these events, Ulysses still describes members of the Legion as his brothers, "even as misguided as they are."[19]

Lonesome Road

He was one of seven couriers hired by Mr. House to carry packages to the New Vegas Strip, but he turned down the job, resulting in the Courier carrying the Platinum Chip.[20][21]

Ulysses attempted to lure the Courier back to the Divide, leaving messages for them in the form of graffiti near the Canyon Wreckage and transmitting a radio signal.[22] Ulysses watches the Courier's progress from various locations in the Divide, including the top floor of the still-standing base of The Crow's Nest and in the building south of the Sunstone Tower Roof. He leaves decals throughout the Divide and Big MT that appear as red, white, and blue flags. The red color indicates hostile areas, white marks the way forward, and blue denotes hidden caches.

Interactions overview

Interactions
FO3 Trophy Strictly Business.webp
This character is a temporary companion.
FO76 ui icon quest.png
This character is involved in quests.
  • The Courier: Ulysses is finally confronted by the Courier inside Ulysses' Temple, beneath the flag of the Old World, as he is about to trigger a second nuclear apocalypse. Ulysses can either be fought by the Courier or convinced to stand down and fight by the Courier's side against the Marked Men invading the temple.
    • This can be done by means of two Speech checks of 90 and 100, the latter of which can be skipped if an earlier reputation check with the NCR, Legion or New Vegas was passed, listening to all his logs and countering his logic, or by obtaining all ED-E upgrades in the Divide and talking to him about ED-E's logs.

Effects of player's actions

  • If Ulysses is killed, the Courier tears down his Old World flag and uses it as a shroud.
  • If Ulysses is convinced not to fight the Courier, he can be found sitting vigil above the Hopeville ruins, just at the entrance to the Divide.
  • Ulysses will also help the Courier make campfire recipes and teaches the recipe for Bitter Drink. He supplies the Courier with miscellaneous items he found in Hopeville including Rockets, Rad-X, RadAway, MREs, and Pre-War Books.

Inventory

Notes

  • Ulysses is 15% faster than a normal human character and the game's only human character with more than 1000 health points.
  • He cannot be knocked down or pickpocketed.
  • In his temple, Ulysses is escorted by a Medical Eyebot and a Repair Eyebot. The former will regenerate Ulysses's health throughout the fight.
  • The reason why Ulysses never blinks is due to his head, hair, and mask all being one unique model on top of his real head, and if the mask or outfit is looted, Ulysses' model will still appear to be wearing them.
  • The Ulysses that stalks the Courier has a separate ref ID and cannot take damage or be killed via console commands.
  • Ulysses is one of only three characters in the game to have 10 points in all the SPECIAL stats. The other two are Colonel Royez and Gaius Magnus. The only other non-player character in the Fallout series with ten points in all SPECIAL attributes is Frank Horrigan in Fallout 2.
  • The Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide describes Wolfhorn Ranch as Ulysses' former home.[Pub 1]

Bugs

  • PCPC Playstation 3Playstation 3 Xbox 360Xbox 360 Ulysses has several combat barks, but due to them being improperly set up, only one of each type will play.
    • Repair This is fixed in version 1 of YUP.

Quotes

  • "You got lives in you, hard to kill. Storm, bullets, sand and wind, yet still you walk. For now."
  • "If you feel its loss... remember you could have turned away at any time. Gone back home, and none of this would have happened. But you had to make one last delivery, and that's why I knew you'd come, Courier. Couldn't stay away, it's who you are."
  • "The day I set my flag down, it'll be over my body or over a nation I believe in."
  • "All these roads, you walked. These packages you carried. Think it wasn't your choice? Of course it was your choice. You could have stayed in the Mojave. But you chose to come, couldn't let be - not in you to let go."
  • "You don't see, listen - even when it's all around you, no matter if I nailed it into your head like a gift from Caesar."

Appearances

Ulysses appears in the Fallout: New Vegas DLC Lonesome Road. He was mentioned in Old World Blues and Honest Hearts.

Behind the Scenes

  • Chris Avellone stated that he has "a lot of love for Ulysses in Fallout" because he "likes 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."[Dev 1]
  • Avellone explained that the writing for Ulysses changed as soon as he heard Roger Cross' voice, and he "kept his audition playing in the background while I was writing, and it helped me give direction for the character."[Dev 2]
  • Ulysses was intended to be a companion and had to be unused in the base game due to lack of space.[Dev 3][Dev 4][Dev 5][Dev 6]
  • Avellone discussed Ulysses in part three of the Unmasking the Gamers interview. He stated that he was cut from the base game, and wasn't intended to be part of the DLC's narrative arc until the end of Dead Money's production, although he is very different in Lonesome Road than his original design for the base game. He also mentioned his goals for the character as a companion: he had to "reinforce the faction reputation mechanic," had to react strongly to the NCR/Legion conflict, he was intended to be the Legion-aligned companion who would provide Legion backstory, continually remind the player of Hoover Dam as the focus (additionally, he was a Frumentarii who discovered the dam and the NCR), showcase myths and symbolism, and had a companion vision quest which changed his appearance similar to Raul's Vaquero outfit, though it was based on the player's end faction allegiance.[Dev 7]
  • Ulysses describes Ulysses S. Grant, as the inspiration for his name.[23]

Gallery

References

  1. Courier: "Any recipes you can teach?"
    Ulysses: "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)
  2. "They... had taken my braids, the way of the Twisted Hairs, as if it showed they were like me, of me... ...while every knot in their braids spoke of --, violence - and ignorance of what the knots meant. They thought to show respect... defiled it. Lost myself in trying to read the braids they wove, when I remembered they had put no meaning in it. They had no history of what it meant. They didn't even know the insult in the twists, knots... and Dry Wells came rushing back, the White Legs circled like that..."
    (Ulysses' holotape (White Legs 3))
  3. 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)
  4. 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)
  5. 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)
  6. 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)
  7. 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)
  8. 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)
  9. 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)
  10. Torn journal page
  11. Patient Log: Y-17
  12. Courier: "I heard one of the previous visitors to the Dome spoke to you, asked you some questions."
    Doctor 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)
  13. Ulysses: "Got an answer, more than I expected. Answer told me what happened here at the Divide, the how of it, and that was enough. The tape has the telling of it, don't need me adding to the questions already there."
    (Ulysses/Dialogue)
  14. Ulysses log Y-17.17
  15. Ulysses: "I... asked the White Legs to destroy a people with ancestry, going back thousands of years - another death of history, lost to time. The New Canaanites... they supplied medicine. Food, traded with others. Civilization, a hand from the past, not history... but maybe a past deeper, farther than that to a place where this... God really exists. If so, his handiwork and people belong elsewhere, not in this place. Another symbol, like Bear and Bull, with no meaning in the present."
    (Ulysses' holotape (White Legs 2))
  16. Courier: "On the High Road, you mentioned NCR and Legion fought here... before and after the Divide?"
    Ulysses: "The two-headed Bear made its claim, dug its claws into the trail you made. For once, it seemed like it might succeed - cut a route to the Mojave. Couldn't let NCR stay in the Divide. Trade route, road the military could use... can't have two roads into the Mojave. Not after the work we'd done to cut off New Canaan, other routes, killing caravans... all we'd done to make the West bleed."
    (Ulysses/Dialogue)
  17. "Helped them dig out Canaan supply caches, and other secrets the sands hid - bunkers, filled with powered weapons even the Brotherhood might desire. They called these new weapons "storm drums" in the firing of shells. Taught them the power in the casings... to channel the spirits in their guns."
    (Ulysses' holotape (White Legs 1))
  18. "If New Canaan burns, Caesar might see them. 'Might.' Even the chance was a lie. To honor Caesar - destroy the history of New Canaan, and the way they carry it - in their generations and family. Caesar respects such strength, I told them. That - that was truth, even if 'strength' wasn't the word. Obedience. You must be willing to kill anyone, children, mothers, the weak, elders... if these New Canaanites value the generations, that is what you must kill. It was like Vulpes was speaking through me. Use the night, silence, and fire to change their words to pleas, to screams. No need for bombs when hate will do."
    (Ulysses' holotape (White Legs 2))
  19. 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)
  20. Courier: "What can you tell me about this job?"
    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."
    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."
    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."
    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."
    (Johnson Nash's dialogue)
  21. 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."
    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)
  22. 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)
  23. Courier: "Ulysses. Not the myth. You're honoring history, not stories."
    Ulysses: "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. {Frowns} That's when {emph} 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)
Publications
  1. Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide Game of the Year Edition p.420: "Wolfhorn ranch: 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."
Developer Statements
  1. (Fallout: New Vegas Developer Statements; Unmasking the Gamers Chris Avellone - Part 2)
  2. (Fallout: New Vegas Developer Statements; Unmasking the Gamers Chris Avellone - Part 1)
  3. Matt London: "Have you ever written a quest or character that you loved but for whatever reason could not implement in the final game?"
    Chris Avellone: "Yep, it happened in Fallout: New Vegas. There’s a character on one of the trading cards, Ulysses, who was supposed to be a companion. Oddly enough, tearing him out of the game was almost as hard as putting him in because companion scripts touch almost everything (and he also was a complicated character in terms of some of the hooks into the storyline). Maybe he’ll come back at some point. I miss him."
    (Fallout: New Vegas Developer Statements; Chris Avellone, Game Designer, Fallout New Vegas)
  4. Fallout: New Vegas 10th Anniversary Charity Stream (reference starts at 2:19:16)
    Joshua Sawyer: "'What was the issue with Ulysses as a companion?' His dialogue was... his recorded dialogue was so big it literally wouldn't fit on the disk. [laughter] I don't remember how many lines it was, it was like... Cass was our second-biggest companion after Ulysses, and then Ulysses, was like, much, much, much more than her and literally just wouldn't fit. He was too big - too powerful. [...] 'Couldn't you cut a lot of his dialogue?' It happened so late in development that that didn't seem practical. Yes, if we had realized that earlier in development then probably, yes."
  5. Joshua Sawyer: "Ulysses was cut because his character VO literally would not fit on the disc. His dialogue node count was something like 2x or 3x higher than any other companion, including Cass, who had the second highest (hers was ~615 IIRC and I think Ulysses was... ~1500??). I genuinely consider "original" Ulysses being cut as a big loss for F:NV overall because Avellone's original critique was right: we needed a Legion-sympathetic companion."
    (Fallout: New Vegas Developer Statements/Characters; Joshua Sawyer: Ulysses being cut, 2020 September 27)
  6. Fallout: New Vegas 10th Anniversary Charity Stream (reference starts at 3:40:51)
    Joshua Sawyer: "Basically the only character that was meant to be a companion that didn't become a companion was Ulysses. That's it. Any other character that you can think of was never meant to be a companion. [laughter]"
  7. (Fallout: New Vegas Developer Statements; Unmasking the Gamers Chris Avellone - Part 3)