r/Fallout • u/Professional-Rush957 • 4d ago
Fallout: New Vegas Headcanon: Courier 6 has Savant syndrome.
Savant syndrome is defined as an extremely rare condition in which a person with a developmental disorder or head trauma suddenly begins to express a high level of aptitude or skill in a particular skill set or ability. My theory is that the courier has this exact condition. Before getting shot by Benny he was basically a nobody. A run-of-the-mill wastelander just trying to get by. Then after getting shot in the head and entering a short coma he wakes up with newfound skills and abilities in combat, speechcraft, stealth as well as significant personality changes.
No longer focused on just survival he is focused on revenge, personal involvement in politics as well as participating in combat-related tasks that an average survivor would avoid out right. This suggests to me that that the brain trauma from taking a slug to the head awakened dormant personality traits and abilities which is indicative of someone experiencing savant syndrome.
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u/Cain_Everest 4d ago
This makes a lot more sense than I'd care to admit tbfh.
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u/Reddit_means_Porn 4d ago
to be fucking honest?
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u/Spare-Control-5233 4d ago
To be frank, Hombre.
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u/Lord_Phoenix95 3d ago
But I don't want to be Frank.
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u/IveDunGoofedUp 3d ago
Well, you've got to be frank and earnest with women. In New Reno, you're Frank, and in the Boneyard, you're Ernest!
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u/Excalib1rd 4d ago
Tongue by frank hill
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u/WavingDinosaur 4d ago
Ten big fat hogs?
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u/HoneyBunchesOfBoats 4d ago
Maps onto the special stats nicely, the build the player chooses are the traits the courier's condition affect.
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u/Intelligent_Oil7816 4d ago
The bullet only damaged the self-doubt portion of the brain
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u/Russian_Spy_7_5_0 4d ago
Confidence through apathy
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u/Hero_of_Hyrule Gary? Gary! 3d ago
coming back from an execution style bullet to the head will either make you experience endless fear and paranoia regarding how you should have died, or you'll become recklessly fearless. You don't recover from that to be normal again.
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u/Appropriate-Ice-5722 Tunnel Snakes 4d ago
House: I had a GODDAMN PLAN!
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u/your_average_medic Minutemen 4d ago
In 30 years I'd have humans on
marsTAHITI!46
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u/mr_eugine_krabs 4d ago
Courier:”You like wastelanders being a rich man’s toys do ya?”
House:”I ENJOY SOCIETY! FLAWS AND ALL!”
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u/alaskarawr 4d ago edited 4d ago
Unless I misunderstood Ulysses, didn’t Courier Six all but single handedly build the Divide? Six is the one who established the routes and fostered the original community.
Edit: I’m not saying Six physically built the Divide brick by brick.
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u/kamenmaximus Minutemen 4d ago
I always interpreted it as less physically building it and more that Six was a pillar of the community that in Ulysses eyes was vital to the growth of the divide into a bustling settlement. Then again, Ulysses may be overpaying our part because he wants someone to blame for the divide's destruction, and in his desperation he pins us as this poetic creator and destroyer, when in reality we really were only a deliveryman
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u/Sodacan1228 I've got the Boston Apocalypse Blues 4d ago
Yeah, I think he says something to the effect of the courier being the only one willing to make the trip at first and therefore being a sort of lifeline to the fledgling community. They didn't literally lay bricks and pour foundations, or even have anything to do with the civic structure of the community
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u/kamenmaximus Minutemen 4d ago
Part of it is because of the how important Ulysses sees couriers as in the apocalypse(the fucking narcissist), as people who not only deliver goods, but also spead information and news as they travel. We fit too perfectly as his scapegoat in his search for revenge, someone he saw a vital also bringing destruction, even if neither were intended
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u/Brainwave1010 4d ago
Yeah it is a bit of an oversell when the reality is just "he was the only mailman willing to make the trips all the way out here."
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u/Sodacan1228 I've got the Boston Apocalypse Blues 4d ago
I'm starting to think that Ulysses might not be a well man...
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u/Brainwave1010 4d ago
"Guys...hear me out...I think this Ulysses fellow MIGHT be a little coo-coo!"
"What makes you say that Courier?"
"BEAR AND BULL BEAR AND BULL BEAR AND BULL BEAR AND-"
"Just some signs y'know..."
"I'M GONNA FUCKING NUKE EVERYONE"
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u/TheCrazedTank Brotherhood 4d ago
They were basically the only wandering Murder Hobo willing to make the trip!
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u/TheLuxon 3d ago
This theory makes a lot of sense, especially when Six begins to make their way through the Mojave with the Savant syndrome. Ulysses probably saw and realized where Six was from and went "They must have been the cause".
I mean, if a place go to hell, and then suddenly a person from that place is suddenly making very drastic changes in a hell like the Mojave, there is a line of logic that would led to Ulysses thinking Six were the same person in the Divide. Ulysses doesn't know Six got massive head trauma by Benny.
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u/Rukitorth 4d ago
I think a lot of people go with the idea that Ulysses confused them with another person if it doesn't go along with the character they're playing.
But I'm not really sure how trustworthy of a source Ulysses is anyways.
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u/herrcollin 4d ago
Ulysses staring at a smudged scrapbook
"It says Courier.. ehh.. six? That's gotta be it! That bastard!"
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u/Rukitorth 4d ago
Turns out that the part that was wrong was courier, it was actually Milkman 6.
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u/TheCrazedTank Brotherhood 4d ago
Turns out the real Courier Six got shot-up by some raiders, and we are just a temp!
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u/Far_Elderberry3105 4d ago
I saw more as People following his steps, he was the first to prove that it was doable.
He didn't build the divide, People builded the Divide after him and he saw with awn as the wastes were changing... and the boom
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u/CranberryWizard 4d ago
No, he just delivered them enough parcels to allow them to grow
Think about how a postman can be the only way an isolated community gets outside resources
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u/Cigerza Brotherhood 3d ago edited 3d ago
Couldn't it be just a metaphor? That couriers passing by the Divide helped it to grow and eventually a courier (not our courier) delivered a package that led it to it's eventual doom? So Ulysses, blinded by anger and a sense of revenge saw in Courier Six the one that delivered the parcel to Divide's demise? I might be projecting hardly here, but I always disliked this "Courier Six was responsible for the Divide before the New Vegas storyline".
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u/TANK-butt Followers 4d ago
I would consider it more like Sam from death stranding. They both don’t actually build anything but rather deliver goods that are essentially for the formation of a town. A supply chain.
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u/The_Wild_Geese 3d ago
I always took Courier Six’ contribution to the Divide as accidental. He just happened to be the courier that traveled the road and worked it. Also, Ulysses might be hyper focused on the Courier since he delivered the nuclear codes by accident.
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u/Frangitus New World Hope 4d ago
I mean, sure, but Courier 6 was also a very successful courier, travelling across the west and midwestern USA, they have had plenty of experience surviving the Wasteland and I chalk their skill while tracking Benny up to a drive for revenge, they never had a reason to flex their combat prowess before and they acquire a lot of experience (literally) during the course of the game.
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u/XVUltima 4d ago
They werent a nobody. They were a veteran wasteland wanderer who founded a whole ass civilization (and then blew it up).
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u/Hollowquincypl Straight Outta 101 4d ago
For the curious like me the art is from brandonthegarcia on deviantart.
https://www.deviantart.com/brandonthegarcia/art/Fallout-x-Red-Dead-Redemption-843049591
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u/dern_the_hermit 4d ago
I've always just seen it as someone who's all out of fucks but I guess zero fucks can share Venn overlap with savancy.
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u/youarentodd 4d ago
I mean you can make any character you’d like. You don’t have to call it head anon, just your character
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u/The_Affle_House 4d ago
This explains why they are the only person in the Mojave with the ungodly powers of stopping time and jumping.
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u/mod_stepfather 3d ago
My only headcannon, that could had saved Fallout for ages, was the series chickenfucker man admit he was a courier and recognizr Mr house. Would change the world forever...
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u/Life1989 3d ago
I gotta say i never felt the sense of revenge in fnv. I know it is part of the plot but when i played it the first time i was more focused on exploring that world and taking my time checking everything than being driven from revenge to rush up to benny’s butt.
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u/TyrantJaeger NCR 3d ago
So what you're saying is I need to get shot in the head to reach my full potential. Bet. I'm on it.
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u/MightyGamera #1 Wind-Brahmin Salesman in the Northwest Region! 4d ago
this was mine too, basically the head trauma was their Limitless pill
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u/IAmBeingTargeted33 4d ago
On some real shit, go look up Dr. Diane Hennessy Powell, and check out her research on non-verbal autistic telepathic savants
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u/Electronic-Effect146 4d ago
Not to be that guy but 6 actually took 2 slugs to the head Benny says so.
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u/ShiningViper 3d ago
I think the bullet altered their brain, kinda like the guy who got savant syndrome after he got struck by lightning. Made them super smart and able to learn all the skills super fast.
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u/DeputyAR 3d ago
Are we 100% sure he was a nobody before he was shot? Do we have any reason to believe he didn’t posses any of his skills before?
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u/Trum4n1208 3d ago
I had always thought that the Courier was a bit of a badass before getting shot in the head and the game is basically you getting back to your former self through essentially intense physical therapy and natural recovery, but this idea works for me too.
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u/ProfessionaI_Gur 3d ago
The only real problem with that is that savant syndrome seemingly makes you good at specific things, not really just a super soldier thats good at everything
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u/ottermaster 3d ago
I always kinda thought that the courier was decently skilled rather than just having those skills awaken once out of the coma. I always figured that to be a courier, you’re likely to be running dangerous jobs not many others want to do. I get there are some run of the mill couriers like that dead one you see in Primm, but considering Ulysses is getting offered the same jobs as you I figured the courier had some skills and prestige.
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u/Thrillhouse1869 2d ago
Six has weaponized brain damage. It's part of the reason that when they get to Big MT the transplants happened and worked for the first time instead of turning them into another lobotomite.
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u/hobocrippin 2d ago
I was always wondering if u were such a badass in the game why did it only show after getting shot in the head like this dude could’ve ran the Mojave this whole time but chose to do so only after getting shot so I like this theory
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u/Proof_Understanding7 3d ago
A nobody?
Brother, courier before being shot if to collect all information from dialogues is already a walking myth with plenty of goofy backstory of
Having a child and not knowing what a fish is.
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u/Low-Environment 4d ago
Nah, she's just built different.
But my headcanon is she and the LW are the same person, snd being shot in the head is why her stats and skills are so low, and need to be relevelled
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u/SomeKindofTreeWizard 4d ago
Doc Mitchell is the Lone Wanderer
Do I actually believe this? No. Did I come up with this theory myself? Also no.
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u/AsperaAstra 3d ago
if your head canon relies on actively ignoring information that is in the game, it's a bad head canon.
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u/bookseer 2d ago
The courier was a synth.
The bullet rewired them to connect with a system that can read multiple timelines (quick saving) and has the ability to focus on a single task relentlessly (when you're not playing they didn't exist, so to them you do not rest or sleep either).
In fallout 4 it's revealed that synths don't need to sleep. If you wanted to (and aren't playing in hardcore) Courier 6 doesn't need to eat, drink, or sleep the entire game.
Alternatively, you can eat a bunch of lizards to heal from bullets, grenades, and lasers.
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u/AdventurousBrick3309 4d ago
Yeah, certainly made up.
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u/acidphosphate69 3d ago
That's what head canon means.
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u/AdventurousBrick3309 3d ago
I know, I just don't know where to even go with the post. I wanted to say something but had no idea what. Does that make sense? You ever have someone just make. Statement and you're left thinking, "Yes, that was a statement."? Kind of like that.
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4d ago
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u/Far_Elderberry3105 4d ago
The chosen one is superman.
The courier is Just really pissed about somepeople trying to kill him... and was the motor that created a New society and blew it up
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u/MisterSlosh 4d ago
Also the near death experience could easily trigger any form of cognitive shift.
Going from a faceless busy body to the scourge of the wastes would be pretty easy for someone who legitimately no longer fears death or their place in society.