Yes, yes, a topic discussed numerous times. Yet, there are still questions I have and I've never really seen any discussions about it. (yup, did a search and almost necroed an ancient thread, but though I just create a new one lol). Most LR topics center around what was in the package, how could the courier do this, what are Ulysses real motivations, why does Ulysses blame the courier etc.

However, I'm playing through LR for the 2nd time now and I actually dreamed about the Divide last night, yea it's affecting me that much LOL Best DLC ever.

Anyway, I am wondering HOW could the courier totally forget about that place? She acts as if she's never been there, even when Ulysses tells her that she's traveled the road a lot. (she, since my courier is female lol). I mean, wouldn't such a disaster make HUGE news and wouldn't the courier have heard about it and put two and two together, since she was the last person there, delivering a package?

And I know, any answers are pure speculations, but I am interested in what you all think.

I agree with you, I had the same thoughts (and still have them). To satisfy my backstory, I explain the fact that the Courier didn't hear about the disaster at the Divide in a following way:

-either was he/she very young when the disaster happened and later didn't live close to Divide, but ventured to other places, so the news didn't reach him. I also think that when the Courier brought the package, the settlement was called Hopeville.

About not remembering anything from the area - I really don't have any good explanation. At least some details should be known the Courier if he was there before, I think that at least some buildings should look familiar. Or we can assume that the disaster really completely changed the landscape OR that the Divide is a very large place (larger than the part featured in LR) and that showdown between the Courier and Ulysses takes place somewhere where Courier hasn't walked before, so he doesn't recognize the place. I mean, he was in Hopeville before, but perhaps in some other part of it...That's how I explain some things to satisfy my backstory.

Oh, yea that would make sense, Lopov. In one of the exchanges, Ulysses mentioned that the Courier walked the Divide coming from the West, while now she's walking West, towards Home. So, maybe LR is actually huge and "home" is at the other end. Therefore, nothing seems familiar to the Courier right now. Hmmm I guess I could RP that LOL

I chalk it down roleplay-wise to Ulysses being a raving lunatic and that my character has never been in the Divide before.

Who said the Courier forgot about it? The Courier delivered the package and left. The devs have said the Courier doesn't have amnesia.

This. All we ever hear is,rarely, that SOMETHING happened at the Divide, but no one knows WHAT. It's not that the Courier doesn't remember, it's that it happened long after the Courier left, so he wasn't there as it happened.

The Courier didn't forget.

If you home was nuked, would you recognize it? Probably not.

The Courier was probably ignorant to the whole subject and he/she didn't even know that he/she was responsible until Ulysses accuses him/her.

I think the explanation that makes most sense is that the Courier has complete amnesia, and doesn't remember anything when he/she woke up. I mean, if the Courier remembered Hopeville and the DIvide, wouldn't he/she have gone there right away when it was nuked? I'm not living in my hometown right now, but if I heard that something cataclysmic happened back home, I'd go home, or at least try to find out what happened.

Honestly, I didn't like that Lonesome Road made the Courier such a pivotal part of events before taking the Platinum Chip job. I kinda liked that you're just this random not-awesome courier until you stumbled right in the middle of things. But that's me.

the divide/hopesville wasn't the courier's home as i understood it, just some town that sprung up along one of the roads he forged through the wastes. It was just some stop on the road for him most likely. Then it exploded...kinda ripped the ground apart, rearranged the landscape into something completely different.

Also everyone probably assumes that the divide was destroyed in some freak weather/earthquake don't they?

A couple things:

1) We know the Courier does not have amnesia. This is developer confirmed, they answered this when asked directly.
2) We know the Courier travels. A LOT. Ulysses says the Courier walked particularly difficult roads, and we know he's been all over California, Reno, and other dialog implies he's been to Utah and Montana as well. So yeah, this is a guy who is, well....a Courier. He's -THE- Courier, there's a reason it's spelled with a 'the.' He does this for a living and he's probably seen more of the wastes than 99% of the population.

Lastly, I attribute it to his personality. I think of it sort of as a coming-of-age story (not saying he's young since dialog tends to make him sound more like he's in his 20s or 30s) where he stops just doing and starts thinking. Before the Mojave he probably just preferred a simpler outlook on life, living day-to-day and just worrying about surviving to see another day. The Mojave changes that. Ulysses changes that. That's that moment where he realizes that perhaps there should be more to life than just worrying about survival, where perhaps there should be a greater purpose, and realizes he's a part of all this and takes responsibility for his actions.

The Courier travels all over the West to deliver packages, meaning that they travel a lot of roads, and they deliver a lot of packages. There's absolutely no reason for the Courier to remember the Divide because he never placed the same importance on it that Ulysses did, it was just another settlement to him, and the package that destroyed it was just another delivery that he probably never thought about again until Lonesome Road. He had no reason to make a connection between his package and the destruction of the Divide because it happened quite a while after he left, and no one outside of the Divide knew exactly what took place there.

Thank you all for your replies! Talonfire and Longknife, you two make a lot of sense! Same as Colonel Martyr and Styles, it was JUST a simple delivery for the courier, although Ulysses makes it sound as if the Courier had been to that place often.

I know right, Tranquillus? I guess I would have felt less guilty if my courier had full blown amnesia LOL

True Gingy, I guess I wouldn't recognize my home, if it were nuked! lol

Whiteguy - another piece of the puzzle, yea, I guess for the Courier it was just a "thoroughfare", nothing special. Well, at first I think they thought it was earthquakes, because the nukes ripped the earth apart. The freak storms were caused by Big MT experiments though.

For the Courier, Hopeville was just a town, but for Ulysses it was much, much more. That makes a whole lot of sense.

And yea, I didn't mean to imply that the Courier actually had amnesia. I was just wondering how in the blazes could something so huge go on and not be noticed, IF THE Courier had placed as much value on the place as Ulysses. The Courier probably heard about it, shrugged and went his merry way.

OK, I'll go with that then! I just love to talk about the Divide. I don't know, it captures my imagination like nothing else (same with Ulysses!)

Thank you all for sharing your interesting thoughts!