One thing in New Vegas that always mystified me was the comment Johnson Nash said to the Courier when asking him about the other courier that was originally hired to transport the platinum chip. He says that when the first courier saw the Courier's name on the list as the backup, he forfeited the job saying "Courier 6 can have it." Nash also states that he must have known the Courier personally.

Nash ends by saying he hopes the Divide will skin him alive or something to that end.

Interestingly enough,

Does anyone else think that the original Courier #6 is the same courier referenced by?

Also, what are everyone's thoughts on where the Divide and the Big Empty are?

In terms of the Divide, I was initially thinking it referenced the Grand Canyon, which is, in itself a great division of land, but seeing as how others in the Fallout universe call the Grand Canyon by its Old World name, I doubt that's what the Divide actually refers to.

Later, I considered that the Divide may refer to more than just a canyon, which brought me to think that it may reference a river instead. Immediately, my mind was drawn to the Rio Grande; first because of its size and the imposition it makes upon the landscape, next because of it's geographical proximity to Las Vegas.

This fits in remarkably well with the location of the Big Empty as well, which could easily refer to Albuquerque. As stated by What better place then to find tons of technology than Los Alamos National Labs, which is only about 90 miles from Albuquerque.

Well, the Vault's article said that The Divide was the Grand Canyon, because it was originally intended to be a location in Van Buren, also the Big Empty is a pre-war military facility.

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/The_Divide
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Big_Empty

Also, when Christine said she was rescued by a courier who wore a flag of the old world on his back, meaning it could be the cut companion Ulysses who was featured on the New Vegas Collector's Edition Playing Card Set.

This be a dupe thread if my thread.

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1152272-the-battle-of-the-divide/

I am interested in seeing what kind of history is between Ulysses and the courier, as Nash eludes to. I wonder if it is some sort of bad blood or not?

The Vault now has separate articles for the Divide and the Great Canyon - looks like they aren't actually the same place:

http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Divide

The Grand Canyon is 280 miles from Vegas. Its outside of walking distance travel to that location so if you were to travel to the grand canyon it would have to be done like how it was with the Pitt.

The Big Empty is a prison. the holograms were meant to keep the peace.

I'm guessing the great divide is the ocean between the US and Japan. That's just me spitballing though.

Or maybe the nuclear war had some kind of impact on the San Andreas Fault.