Apollyon
It Wandered In From the Wastes

Hey everyone,
Legate Lanius gets a bad reputation in Fallout New Vegas, often being depicted as a leader who would destroy the Legion should he be left in charge. In this thread I will argue that this reputation is, at least in part, unjustified.
Firstly, before meeting Lanius in person, a consistent picture is being drawn of him as a barbarous brute, devoid of reason and filled with blood lust. However, when one finally comes eye to eye with him, this isn't exactly what we encounter. Lanius seems cruel and fanatical, but he is no dumb brute. He is very well-spoken, coherent and reasonable to a degree. Nothing like the image I had of him beforehand. As with many things in New Vegas, opinions that are expressed by characters in-game rarely line up with the game's reality. Critics of the Legion like to quote the vagueries and proze of Ulysses to no end, so they should give the Legate more credit in this regard for he is much more coherent than Ulysses.
Another argument often presented, is that Lanius is a military leader and lacks political skill or the capacity to run an empire rather than an army. This is a very shallow argument, because running a successful military is complicated and multidimensional. It requires a strategic mind, organizational skill and great charisma. In fact, many of history's greatest leaders were military generals. I will concede that when all one has is a hammer, every problem becomes a nail, but that brings me to my next point.
When resorting to the mentioned argument about a lack of political skill it is often left out why a leader of the Legion needs political skill in the first place. The Legion does not maintain complicated diplomatic ties with any faction. Its foreign policy is extremely straight-forward. I struggle to imagine any sort of complicated political landscape in the context of Fallout, where might makes right. Complicated political landscapes are something of the modern, internationally intertwined world and certainly the simple politics of the Wasteland are not beyond the comphrension of a military general.
Lastly, it deserves mentioning that Caesar himself calls Lanius's ability into question. However, his account of Lanius, like those of many others, hardly coincides with the actual Legate himself. The way Caesar describes Lanius as "not a great man" I found rather strange and struck me as a stab out of jealousy rather than sincerity. I find it likely that Caesar fears Lanius, since he is perhaps a more complete embodiement of what the Legion stands for than Caesar is.
Well, there's that. Please share your opinions.
Legate Lanius gets a bad reputation in Fallout New Vegas, often being depicted as a leader who would destroy the Legion should he be left in charge. In this thread I will argue that this reputation is, at least in part, unjustified.
Firstly, before meeting Lanius in person, a consistent picture is being drawn of him as a barbarous brute, devoid of reason and filled with blood lust. However, when one finally comes eye to eye with him, this isn't exactly what we encounter. Lanius seems cruel and fanatical, but he is no dumb brute. He is very well-spoken, coherent and reasonable to a degree. Nothing like the image I had of him beforehand. As with many things in New Vegas, opinions that are expressed by characters in-game rarely line up with the game's reality. Critics of the Legion like to quote the vagueries and proze of Ulysses to no end, so they should give the Legate more credit in this regard for he is much more coherent than Ulysses.
Another argument often presented, is that Lanius is a military leader and lacks political skill or the capacity to run an empire rather than an army. This is a very shallow argument, because running a successful military is complicated and multidimensional. It requires a strategic mind, organizational skill and great charisma. In fact, many of history's greatest leaders were military generals. I will concede that when all one has is a hammer, every problem becomes a nail, but that brings me to my next point.
When resorting to the mentioned argument about a lack of political skill it is often left out why a leader of the Legion needs political skill in the first place. The Legion does not maintain complicated diplomatic ties with any faction. Its foreign policy is extremely straight-forward. I struggle to imagine any sort of complicated political landscape in the context of Fallout, where might makes right. Complicated political landscapes are something of the modern, internationally intertwined world and certainly the simple politics of the Wasteland are not beyond the comphrension of a military general.
Lastly, it deserves mentioning that Caesar himself calls Lanius's ability into question. However, his account of Lanius, like those of many others, hardly coincides with the actual Legate himself. The way Caesar describes Lanius as "not a great man" I found rather strange and struck me as a stab out of jealousy rather than sincerity. I find it likely that Caesar fears Lanius, since he is perhaps a more complete embodiement of what the Legion stands for than Caesar is.
Well, there's that. Please share your opinions.
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