I just recently finished my fourth playthrough of New Vegas, and now that I’ve gotten all the main faction endings I end up thinking less about which faction won Hoover Dam and more about how most of the characters in the story are trapped by their own history. Looking at the main game alongside DLCs like Dead Money, Honest Hearts, and Lonesome Road, the writing keeps pushing back against the idea of restoring what used to be and chasing the past:
• The NCR looks to the past of the USA to form their government, but unfortunately due to their shortsightedness they fall into the same problems of the past through corruption and greed. The pain the troopers put the locals through in the Mojave shows pretty clearly what the future for Vegas holds, every local either subjugated or kicked out. Though it is admirable of them to try to fix things they simply haven’t tried hard enough to stop their corruption and imperialist ways from festering.
• The Legion looked to Rome and though they found some early success they ultimately became something abhorrent and backwards through their slavery and obsession with strength that at the end of the day means their nation won’t last long after the death of Caesar even if they win.
• House is the hardest for me to place but it seems he is stuck up on his former status and what he believes he could do for humanity. Instead of focusing on the here and now he day dreams about the future he plans to give to humanity among the stars. Again this criticism is probably my weakest of the characters and I would love to hear any better ones.
• In Dead Money, Elijah literally couldn't step away from technology and revenge, to the point of locking himself in a death trap. By the end you're forced to choose; you can overencumber yourself trying to drag out every bar, or you can actually heed the radio broadcast. “Begin again by letting go.”
• In Honest Hearts, Joshua Graham is absorbed by his hatred for the White Legs tribe after they killed his family and intends to use the Dead Horses tribe to wipe them out. At the end of the DLC you have to decide is Joshua right to wipe out the White Legs for his vengeance or should he seek peace.
• In Lonesome Road, Ulysses, completely consumed by what happened to the Divide, tried to force history to repeat itself via nuclear launch. He then forces you to launch the bomb on one or both factions. Of course you can also disarm it but still.
Based on the actions and consequences of the factions and characters in the game it seems that the story is trying to tell us to move on from the past and instead forge our own future. I just like how Obsidian built their post-apocalyptic RPG with so many interesting and unique characters who all suffer from a very similar but incredibly varied problem. Now I admit I’m nowhere near the first person to bring this up. I'm also a little late to the party overall, I mean the game’s over a decade and a half old. I'm not exactly breaking new ground here. All the same I still wanted to voice my opinion here.
Which companion or NPC do you think handled "letting go" the worst (or best)?