it’s so absurdly funny but i kinda feel like i have to believe it?
i went on a kinda deep dive of the series of events and i’m trying to figure out at what point the original vulpes would have switched over to in game vulpes? because the established timeline only leaves a pretty narrow window:
2247-twisted hairs were murdered/assimilated, ulysses joins legion. vulpes allegedly orchestrated this.
2274 to 2277- ulysses learns of courier six through their repeated visits to the divide.
2277- the divide is destroyed by the courier 6’s delivery that triggered the nuclear missiles. shortly after, the battle of the hoover dam occurs and joshua graham becomes the burned man.
2277 to 2281- we know ulysses is still in the legion through this period because of the events in early 2281. some important things to note: ulysses is in fact still a frumentarius, and working as a courier so possibly is not spending as much time in the actual legion territory/interacting with other high-ranking members of the legion.
an additional fact worth noting is that the camp searchlight incident occurred at some point between the first battle of the hoover dam (2277) and pre-game (late 2281), which we know was perpetrated by the current vulpes inculta.
a. (early) ulysses goes on to recruit the white legs and assault the new canaanites. totally unrelated to the rumors that joshua graham is still alive btw /s
b. (sometime??? 2281) ulysses leaves the legion entirely, works as a rancher a bit, eventually turns back to working as a courier.
c. october 11th, 2281- platinum chip debacle. ulysses would have been the one to carry the platinum chip but backs out of the job. thus, courier 6 gets shot by benny.
the interpretations below are both under the assumption that vulpes inculta is a title, not one guy.
first option: at some point between 2277 and 2281-b, the vulpes inculta that orchestrated the demise of the twisted hairs vanishes and is replaced by the current one. somehow in all that time, ulysses (a frumentarius) never notices that the leader is a different guy.
second option: very generously interpreting ulysses’ activities between leaving the legion and going to the divide again, let’s say he leaves in february at the earliest. spends some months as a rancher, some months as a courier which brings us up to the opening cutscene (oct 11, 2281). at some point within those seven months, OG vulpes dies, in-game vulpes is promoted. he does the camp searchlight trickery, which leads to the taking of nelson and the establishment of cottonwood cove. also at some point, orchestrating the plot between the legion and the omertas, AND laying the trap for nipton. which is a lot, even though 7 months is a decent chunk of time, i’m not sure how realistic it is for a new commander to get all that done.
although the second option seems more realistic than ulysses conveniently failing to notice the fact that vulpes isn’t the same guy as before, the thing that is most damning to me is that in all this time, the NCR realized that mr. fox was a different guy and replaced the posters? or started printing them for the first time? idk, considering the fact that the vexillarius helmet is also used by non-vulpes characters, i’m more inclined to believe that it was vulpes’ specific brand of infamy that led him to being put on the posters. which again seems like a tough thing to achieve in just seven months, especially because he doesn’t even have that much direct contact with the NCR due to his tactics.
in writing this, i did realize something. perhaps, in the same way that ulysses maintains a senseless grudge against courier 6 for the destruction of the divide- imo, something that six didn’t even do (like how is it possibly their fault)- he maintains a grudge against the title of vulpes inculta, not the actual guy.
but i actually find that even more senseless than the grudge against six. because for ulysses, the murder of his tribe was a personal offense, unlike the divide, which represented his ideals (and was *technically* destroyed by six even though it was accidental). like, i’m not sure if that makes sense, because why hold a personal grudge against six for an impersonal slight (ie. something they didn’t even actually do) but also hold an impersonal grudge against what the bearer of the title “vulpes inculta” represents, when the slight itself was personal?
the fact of the matter is that it doesn’t make any sense which is so funny 😭 because what do you mean you’re mad at courier six for something they didn’t even do, and you’re also mad at another guy who didn’t actually do anything 😭 like the guy who did the twisted hairs thing is definitely dead already and thats not good enough?
i think the only reasonable conclusion is that vulpes inculta is a title, ulysses is well aware that in-game vulpes isn’t the same guy who killed the twisted hairs, and he just refuses to engage with the cognitive dissonance of his respective bones to pick with the courier and him. because if it is even 1% rational to blame six for the divide, then it must be less rational to blame current vulpes for the twisted hairs.
maybe he’s actually just mad that despite being a legionary/frumentarius for 30ish years he didn’t get the promotion and this creepy 20something did after max 10 years as a legionary and even fewer as a frumentarius.
that could be an angle for writing about their interactions actually!
anyways my apologies for the giant rant, fnv is my current obsession. if you think this is long you should see my fanfic i wrote 16k for in 2 weeks
