I think his self-sanctimony and "Bull-Bear-Bull-Bear" talk do take away from the fact he's blaming the Courier as a form of cope because he's not over the senseless destruction of his home and this is the only way he can get closure, by trying to give meaning to its destruction whilst also confronting the person he irrationally holds responsible for it - The Courier. And given that he's also a courier, he also blames himself for it, which is as equally irrational.
Like many people do IRL, he's trying to pin all the blame of an event/situation on 1 man rather than try to factor in every single variable and actor involved in causing it. For one, it offers an easy avenue for justice, but also acknowledging the full scope of the situation would give him no way to achieve catharsis because he already knows what ultimately destroyed The Divide.
The wars of past and present are what ultimately destroyed The Divide, The NCR's attempt to annex it brought the Legion to try and assert themselves there instead and from the NCR territory Courier 6 brought ED-E, which activated several dormant nukes which wiped near enough everyone out. Ulysses recognises this in some part, hence denouncing both the Legion and NCR. It also feeds into why he hates ED=E, because aside from dislike of ED-E's part in it all, ED-E also represents the old world, the same old world who left behind all those nukes and caused the war that brought the present situation in the first place. And wrapped up in all 3 of them is some link to the past, be it as a living relic from the pre-war era (ED-E) or as living imitation of it (Legion & NCR).
However Ulysses had a not-so-insubstantial part in the Legion/NCR war himself, meaning he has to acknowledge that he, in some indirect way, helped to destroy The Divide too. I don't think he ignores this, I think it's what ultimately drives him. Factor in how he reduces everything down to symbols in lieu of names, and the "Courier" doesn't just denote the player character. "The Courier" can also describe Ulysses. It
does get used to describe Ulysses.
Christine surviving Dead Money ending:
Christine, her mission complete, found new purpose as the Sierra Madre's warden. She watched over it silently - by choice. Over time, the ghost people came to see her as one of the Holograms. They would watch, silently, as she walked among them. At times, Christine thought of the Courier, who had kept Elijah's hand from her throat. The Courier reminded her of the other courier she had met in the Big Empty, and wondered if the two had found each other at last. She did not think of them again until she heard the legends of the Divide. The Divide, where the two messengers, the two couriers, fought beneath an ancient flag, at the edge of the world
Ulysses (unused?) dialogue:
{Smile/sneer}What kind of world would this be if Courier killed Courier.{No sound file}
To Ulysses, "The Courier" only symbolises one thing: The Divide's destruction. It's on whom the most blame is placed, and so the most guilt. Courier 6 (i.e. confused and potentially pissed off player) has this guilt forced upon them even though most players would feel nothing for a location they had no active participation in destroying, which is basically the point. It's not your guilt, it's Ulysses' guilt. Everything he says to you is as much to himself. The player trying to defend themselves is clashing with a dude who doesn't want to accept he's blameless for what happened, even though both he and the player are in the same position of having 0-blame for what happened. He still believes the player was responsible, but his certainty starts declining further and further in you get and the blatant role of the player Courier to Ulysses is made clear:
Ulysses: {trying to convince himself} {emph} ...can't have been just a job. {Accusing} Was something more to you. Don't feel for a place that hard unless it's home.
He's trying to force feelings upon the player that
he felt. He's trying to distance himself from sentiment by reducing The Divide, his home, to a symbol. So you get this bizarre situation where you have someone who has been grieving for more than a decade now trying to give himself peace by what what I can only describe as the world's most elaborate suicide.
Ulysses: It was always my intention - in case I could not kill you, the Marked Men would flood this place, cut off your escape.
If he killed you, his own death wouldn't be long after.
He's also confused/angered by your lack of feeling because
he was affected by it. He tries to keep a cool face but it does break from time to time, and his temper flares when your prod him about his blatant emotion or try to to assert it was an accident.
Ulysses: [FAILED] {Disgust}When I speak in anger, {emph}Courier, you'll know it. {Dismissive, trying to play this down}Your machine? Worth no more hate than any {emph}other machine.
It's slowly unravelled to Ulysses that the player has absolutely zero emotional attachment or guilt about The Divide. It's all just Ulysses projecting his feelings onto you, and he wants you to affirm them because he his irrational view of the situation to be supported.
He wants you to launch the nuke(s) at the end to vindicate his view of the "Courier"-symbol and effectively kill what's left of his reason.
Courier: So you blame me for this? An accident?
Ulysses: {Anger, sneer}Blame? Accident? The names you hang on this... Courier... you carry death wherever you go, Mojave knows - or will.
After the nukes are launched and his idea of the "Courier" is cemented and his irrational assignment of blame is rationalised, His rigid viewpoint on the symbology of things, his interpretations of what they mean, and his otherwise blackpilled attitude, only manage to lessen if you talk him down at the end. He then stops trying to define
you and let
you define yourself.
Ulysses isn't special in his mindset despite his presentation. He basically has textbook survivor's guilt and is stuck in a loop of irrationally trying to make sense of why/how this happened.
Symbols, obsessions with symbols and pursuing them for what they represent. He gained this obsession when he went to Big MT during his melancholic wanderings post-Divide, learning the origin of the nuke explosions and a crash course on American history got him obsessed with symbols because of the American flag. He sees the world and its factions as being driven by a pursuit of symbols and McGuffins for what they represent more than what they actually offer, which also helped him to realise why he hates the NCR, The Legion, and EDI - they're all relics or imitations of the old world, and in trying to imitate the past you also threaten to imitate its cycles, chief of which: war. War bad, never changes, and got The Divide blew up.
Broken down, Ulysses' philosophy is this:
1. Symbols create momentum that individuals stop questioning.
2. Nations use symbols to justify destruction.
3. Symbols are only as dangerous as the people who refuse to take responsibility.
4. The chain of inherited meaning must be broken. (Only if he survives)
Ulysses isn't (necessarily) right in his perspective btw, even if you get the impression Avellone thinks so. He can't stop masturbating over meta-dialogue, lampshading a setting or specific tropes, or having his characters wax philosophy instead of more interesting stuff - this is all true; however, he's still good at writing characters (occasionally). Ulysses
genuinely believes what he's saying and the player can either vindicate him or prove him wrong. Evil karma actions/endings + Faction dialogue options do vindicate Ulysses but a good karma Courier proves him wrong. In all the DLCs up to Lonesome Road emphasise how melancholy about the past can push toward a hopeful future, where holding onto past angers, regrets, and methods, can direct a path to ruin and suffering. But looking into the past can be a means for people to change in the present to attain a better future. Ulysses is effectively embodying the aspects of the NCR and Legion he hates without realising, given his clinging to the past is what's stopping him from changing. He can recognise the issue but still falls victim to it.
The whole idea of changing symbols was already emphasised in the ending of Old World Blues before Ulysses says it outright with the, "People change" addendum to "War never changes."
Good Ending Karma OWB endings:
− Doctor Mobius: In the times following the
Second Battle of Hoover Dam, however, Old World Blues took on a new meaning.
− Doctor Klein: Where once it was viewed as a form of sadness, nostalgia, it became an expression describing the potential for the future.
− Doctor Dala: It can be easy to see Science as evil, technology unchecked as the source of all ills, all misfortunes.
− The Courier's Brain: With the Courier at the helm, Science became a beacon for the future. There was Old World Blues, and New World Hope. And hope ruled the day at Big MT
And the necessity of "letting go" of old symbols was in Dead Money
Elijah: You've heard of the Sierra Madre Casino.
Christine: We all have, the legend, the curses.
Dean: Some foolishness about it lying in the middle of a City of Dead.
Dog: A city of ghosts.
God: Beneath a blood-red cloud...
Dean: ...a bright, shining monument, reaching out, luring treasure hunters to their doom. An illusion.
Christine: A promise that you can change your fortunes. Begin again.
Elijah: Finding it, though, that's not the hard part. It's letting go.
Dean: It's letting go.
Christine: It's letting go.
Dog: It's letting go.
God: It's letting go.
The Sierra Madre and The Divide similarities actually.
The Courier: "What's at the Divide?"
Joshua Graham: "I don't know for certain, and I don't think NCR knows, either. Whatever happened at the Divide was too much for them to handle. Our frumentarii told us what they saw. Only fools and madmen would march into a place like that. All roads wind down to the same spot, the grave. They said all that's left there is a gaping wound cut into the Earth, cursed and damned. No place for God-fearing folk."
Ulysses: {To himself} Chance for a new nation, new beginning. New way of thinking.
Courier: You want the robot? Why?
Ulysses: {Taunt, edged}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...
(
Ulysses seems himself in the Courier, but they're not reflections of each other, Ulysses is basically placing attributes onto the player character die to the diatribe above about him using the player as a proxy for his own sense of guilt)
The DLC locations all more or less share a trend of being some larger than life paradise, too good to be true paradise that'll make all your dreams come true. Zion is the closest to being one, probably because it's not tethered to the pre-war times and deciphered new symbols from the old.
Lonesome Road ending:
As for the Courier... he/she turned his/her back on his/her home for the second time and made his/her way back, navigating the treachery of the Divide.
Tunnelers and the
Marked Men... avoided the lone figure,
as if recognizing the Courier's right to passage... or out of fear.
Christine alive Dead Money:
Christine, her mission complete, found new purpose as the Sierra Madre's warden. She watched over it silently - by choice. Over time, the ghost people came to see her as one of the Holograms. They would watch, silently, as she walked among them.
Dean Domino alive:
Dean Domino, entertainer, singer... thief... explored the Sierra Madre not long after he was rescued by the Courier. Once he left the theater, the Sierra Madre recognized him as a guest, and many doors opened to him.
Dog and God survive:
The battle between the two couriers, beneath the torn skies and the Old World flag... each bearing a message for the other. And the mutant prayed the Courier that had saved him... had been saved in return
(There's a possible parallel between Dog and God and Ulysses and the Courier. There's a curious idea about how
exactly the Courier would be saved and whether this would entail a similar merging of thought ala Dog and God. God was obviously the better of the two and in the ending where he alone survives he doesn't go on to do evil shit, he still appreciates the Courier for what he did and so on. So Dog (Ulysses/evil karma) dying is still better than God (Courier/good karma) dying, achieving true peace through coming to peace with one another is still best.)
Ulysses: If we cannot prevent what comes, then let us make our stand here. {Beat, final, somber}Two Couriers, together, at the Divide.
Ulysses is actually a pretty fucking decent character but the overlong focus and overuse of "bear, bull, bear" detracted a lot of points from him. When Avellone isn't stuck writing masturbatory dialogue about how fucking rad symbols are, Ulysses can have a good moment here or there. It reminds me of how much I dislike Kreia but her confronting the Jedi Council was the fucking shit.
TLDR:
I disagree
@Fathomless Eminence
Ulysses would shit on both Derek Chauvin and George Floyd but then pin ultimate blame on the guy who called the police because of the counterfeit $20 acting like he wouldn't do the same exact thing but definitely would.
