Red Dead Redemption 2’s huge world is dense with mysteries, including some that players are only just getting to the bottom of years after the game’s retail release. One Red Dead fan has figured out the mystery behind one of the game’s most disturbing points of interest.
The Manmade Mutant is a taxidermy mash-up of several creatures and can be found in a mysterious mansion in Red Dead Redemption 2’s wilderness. Here’s what the Manmade Mutant is doing in the game, and who its missing creator is based on.
The Manmade Mutant can be found inside of a mansion just to the west of the Van Horn Trading Post in the Roanoke Ridge region of New Hanover. Inside is what looks like a horrific work of taxidermy where the creator stitched together a boar, a vulture, a bear, and a human being, among other animals.
There are also other experiments and items of interest which can be found in the mansion, including a fish with the hind legs of a deer, a bird combined with a badger, and the skeleton of infant conjoined twins. There are four Experiments Notes which can be found throughout the building. The first shows a sketch of the Manmade Mutant and reads:
“August 13. The Creature is ready. Parts are currently on ice, prepped for surgery. Any day now… Immensa Creatura.”
The other notes detail each of the parts that went into the main creature, including vulture wings, a bear’s heart, and a drawing comparing the skulls of humans and boards. “Immensa Creatura” is Italian for immense creature. The use of Italian hints at the basis for the Manmade Mutant’s creator, though he doesn’t appear as a character in Red Dead 2. Luigi Galvani was an Italian polymath who lived from 1737 to 1798. Galvani discovered animal electricity in 1780 through a series of experiments where Galvani and his wife Lucia animated the legs of dead frogs using electric sparks.
Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein, mentioned Galvani and his work as one of the main influences for Victor Frankenstein, who experiments with the principles Galvani discovered in the story. Some have speculated that the Manmade Mutant is a reference to South Park’s “manbearpig” as well. While the choice of animals may have been influenced by this the use of vulture’s wings seems to go against the theory, at least as the point of interest’s main influence.
Primarily, the Manmade Mutant appears to be a reference to both Galvani’s work and the work it inspired, Frankenstein. The Frankenstein connection is confirmed in the Red Dead 2 files for the Manmade Mutant journal entry, which lists it as “JOURNAL DISC FRANKENSTEIN AR.” It’s clear in-game that whoever was making hybrids in the mansion west of the Van Horn Trading Post was attempting to bring their Manmade Mutant to life using electricity and likely abandoned their work when they failed.
The mystery of the Manmade Mutant may have some of the most uniquely disturbing visuals in Rockstar’s game, but at least unlike Marco Dragic’s automaton in the stranger side-mission “A Bright Bouncing Boy,” it appears that this attempt to breathe life into an inanimate object failed. Regardless, it’s certainly one of Red Dead 2’s grimmest references, and one sure to shock any player who wanders across the abandoned mansion without warning.
The location is also where Arthur meets Micah Bell on one of their last missions from Dutch before the Van Der Linde Gang dissolves. Considering what happens next, perhaps the point of interest is also a nod towards Micah as a monster of Dutch’s own creation.
Like Victor Frankenstein, Dutch also eventually seeks to destroy his “creation,” and just as the final confrontation with Victor’s creation takes place in the arctic, the final confrontation with Micah takes place in the freezing cold of Mount Hagen, which is also similar to the alpine mountains where the creature tells Victor its story in the novel.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is available now on PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.
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