I have to say the more I think about it the more unlikely I believe Ulysses is working for Legion. If he actually was why did he not take the platinum chip himself in the delivery and then give it Caesar. At the very least during this time he no longer works for Legion if he ever did. There is no way he would not have taken the package had he actually been. Nor no way Caesar would forgive him. The likelihood of him when letting Courier 6 carry the package actually working for Legion is very very slim.

Did Ulysses actually know what the package was? I believe yes, yes he did. He must have heard somewhere about Benny's plot or House's plot for there is no other reason he would not take the package. He had to have known what it was. Couriers face danger all the time delivering packages why would Ulysses think this would be the one time that would "sort him out"?

Oddly enough both of these two ideas are contradicting. there is no reason Ulysses would hope the Mojave would sort out the Courier if he did not know what carrying the package entailed. But there is also no way that if he were working for Legion that he would not take the package if he knew what it was which would contradict with the idea he knew what the package was. So basically we come to the realization that Ulysses probably did know about the package or Benny's plot and is not working for Legion.

all the evidence we've seen points to a male courier working as a frumenatari. It never says that courier is Ulysses though. There are 4 other couriers unaccounted for. maybe graham was talking about one of the others?

there is also the fact that would House really hire a frumentari to deliver the platinum chip to him? I'm pretty sure he knows who most if not all of them are. To give Legion the chip knowingly does not seem in his character...same if he was NCR.

just a few things I noticed and decided to speculate on.

Your entire theory is that Ulysses's knew what the chip was and that's why he didn't take it.

However if he did wouldn't he have just refused the job from the get-go?

He only refuses the job after he sees your name, you are the most likely reason he refused the job, not becuase he knew what the chip was.

Also what Nash thinks Ulysses's intention was cant be taken as what Ulysses's true intention really was.

1. You're right of course. Ulysses could not have known what the chip was. I don't think he was Legion though because why would he refuse a job just to give the Courier one?
2. How would Ulysses have received the job? He would have actually gone into one of the Mojave Express buildings (the only 1 is in Primm) and he would have received the job when he actually went in. Hence the reason he did not refuse the job from the get go.
3. He refuses because of the name seen but his reasons for giving the job to you make no sense. How is giving someone else a job a bad thing?
4. If Nash was correct in Ulysses intent of the Mojave sorting the Courier out why would he think this time would be any different than any other?

The point of all of this could possibly be we can't believe Nash interpreted Ulysses intentions correctly.

What I meant is that, to me, the way Nash described it is that Ulysses had agreed to the job, then noticed your name on the list and was like "let him take the job instead". If he knew before hand that the job was bad when Nash offered it to him he would have denied it from the get go, but he didn't, he almost took it, then saw your name, THEN denied it.

Most people work under the assumption that Ulysses wants you dead which hasn't been stated.

What I think might be the case is that :

-As stated you did something in the past that affected Ulysses
-Ulysses tried to find you but couldn't and thinks your dead
-He almost takes the plat chip job but then notices your name on the list
-Not knowing weather to believe its really you or not he refuses the job and lets you take it to test to see if you really are the person he thinks you are.
-After hearing about your exploits in the Mojave he sends you message to come meet him starting lonesome road.

He didn't really want you dead, in fact he probably wanted you to live so that he could know its really you. Nash saying Ulysses seemed like he thought the job was gonna kill him was becuase Ulysses probably didn't think it was really YOU.

This is what I have been saying all along. He most likely knew and decided the best way to remedy your courier living is to let hit deliver the package. My guess is that Ulysses was going to give the package to Caesar so he took the job, but, when he saw that the courier who may or may not have wronged him but he just didnt like on the list of courier's. He decided that it would be best to let the courier get the package and die. He would have likely failed Caesar and and so he decided to leave it at the hands of fate and fled the Mojave. My guess is that when we meet him or see him in OWB he will be very surprised to see you still alive probably thinking. You are the toughest SOB he has ever tried to kill. He would be right :ahhh:

This is exactly what I think. I think we're going to find that Ulysses has been following us very closly in our time in the Mojave and that he's probly a relative or something. We may find out that he'd been looking for some piece of his family ( or just specifically you) for years and that he finds you in the Mojave. The Lonesome Road is your journey with him to meet the rest of your family.

Maybe, it's as good as everyone elses theories so far. There must be a reason we know VERY little of the Courier's history.

Brilliant really but one flaw.

If he did in fact write on the scribbles in various places throughout the Mojave, then why did he write Go Home Courier 6? Now we do not know if he actually is the one who did so but the only other people that know you are Courier 6 is the list of couriers including Ulysses. I suppose someone else could have a vendetta against the Courier but it is likely Ulysses that wrote the messages. This conflicts with the theory as Ulysses if he were following the Courier probably would not leave the Courier's sight.

The fact Ulysses also calls the PC Courier 6 means that Ulysses does not know the Courier personally. Otherwise a name would have been scrawled instead of a simple "courier 6".

Yet Ulysses apparently recognizes the couriers name on the list which conflicts itself with the "go home courier 6".

If one were to look at it a different way we can see how Ulysses could simply have waited until the Courier arrived in Primm saw that he picked up the package (or checked back later) and then went on his merry way. The only way he could be sure of the courier seeing the message he left is to follow him but he would have no time to write the message as he must stalk the courier and can't risk losing him/her.

We can also assume by the message that it was written sometime during the character picking up the package.

The other question to ask yourselves is why was the Courier north of Goodsprings when the easier routes are all elsewhere. This probably means that the Courier was able to tackle Cazadores, Giant Radscorpions, and Deathclaws perfectly fine before he set out to deliver the package since House would probably not give the platinum chip to a courier who could not have survive those. Unless the Courier was picked up by Benny and dragged the courier all that way to bury the body (graves people rarely look at but who is going to play P.I. in the Mojave?) If the graphic novel/short story is legit then it probably gives the location of where the Courier was grabbed which would clear up a few things.If Ulysses had been following the Courier since the package was picked up the very fact he did nothing after seeing the khans and Benny drag the body or hit over the head in a grave or something means that Ulysses does not care if the Courier dies. He also does not know about the package since you would think he would interfere if he saw the chip being stolen.

too many questions but we can find small details of Ulysses by looking over different scenarios.

I don't get how Ulysses leaves when he sees the PC's name, but has a change of heart and searches for him across the wasteland. What changed? Or did news of the courier reach Ulysses, proving the courier did not die as Ulysses expected, so after hearing news, Ulysses tracks down the courier.

I don't really think we cant count that graffiti and being anything more then a dlc tease.

Also him putting down Courier 6 is becuase you choose your name at the beginning. If he wrote down Go home John Smith no one would get it becuase they have made their character's name something else. Ulysses DOES know your name but since you can choose any name at the beginning of the game they have to make it to where the graffiti applies to everyone. Its just a game limitation since there is no canon name for any of the main characters of the Fallout series.

It fairly obvious that Ulysses works or did work for the legion at one point given Graham's comment, its also pretty assured the Ulysses knew about the platinum chip to at degree at least about the ambush otherwise there'd be no way of knowing that the mojave would sort us out, the courier 6 is because you can pick your own name and referring to you by that title works for everyone. As to why Ulysses let you take the package the biggest clue is off of his CE card the quote is "the day I set my flag down it'll be over my body or over a nation I believe in" and he's a legion card, maybe he used to work for the legion hence Graham's comment but saw it would never build the nation he dreamed of so he left them. Graham's comment is almost assuredly referring to Ulysses otherwise why specify a courier the only one we know of being Ulysses. I think we'll get a few more hints in OWB that'll hopefully flesh out some of Ulysses motives.

Graham says he heard that one of Caesar's spies MIGHT wander the Mojave, MIGHT =/= does.

The playing card deck can't be taken as Ulysses's true personality, since he was cut from the game and is going to be readded later we dont know what part of his personality did or didn't change, also the playing cards aren't consistent to lore on many occasions.

There's a simple explanation for this: simple game design mechanics. It's straightforward to create a static image to place on the canyon wall. To dynamically create an image based on the user-entered name would be overly complicated.

Anyway, Nash says "when he saw your name on the list", so obviously he knows your name. Otherwise, if the list just said "Courier Six", how would it know it was you?

This is the same reason (although simpler to solve) as why NPCs never refer to you by name and instead call you "Courier".

But we can look at this honestly....we are building it up way more than obsidian can provide , all problembility is idk u can go home courer 6 grafetti written where LR is gonna be , prob implies something lame like the big empty being the courer's home and ulysses is prob at ur house there rdy to agro bc back int he day u stole a spork instead of the cleaver from his house and the game gliched to were he dosent drop agro after 3 days..idk...but i do have a sinking feeling that at the end of it this game, its gonna be something cool but in now way as awesome as we was expecting. problemly like the burned man, he was cool in the dlc but cmon was a big letdown as to how awesoem he coulda been but wasnt protrayed.

I'm excited to talk to Ulysses with the chip in my inventory. I hope it gives me unique dialog options!