A common theme of all Westerns, Red Dead Redemption 2 included, is a resistance to the changing world. This can be seen in nearly every aspect of the game, as the group itself resists the changing world while many of its members such as Hosea and John cannot integrate into a traditional society. This forces the Van Der Linde Gang into the makeshift role of a family, but it’s a bit more than makeshift, truth be told.
Father roles have always been important in the franchise, with perhaps Red Dead Redemption 2 highlighting this more eloquently. In the first game, John struggles to relate to Jack somewhat but manages to teach him valuable lessons. John’s entire adventure in the first game is to save his family after all, with Jack’s storyline about avenger his father and past life. Chronologically, though, this was explored far sooner.
Arthur Morgan was effectively adopted by Hosea Matthews and Dutch Van Der Linde as a teenager, with the two operating as his parents. Indeed, Hosea and Dutch were both suitable father figures for Arthur Morgan in-game, making Dutch’s descent into madness all the more disheartening. The same man who will send his gang to locate Arthur and make sure he’s safe in Red Dead Redemption 2 eventually betrays everyone he loved; the question becomes a simple one: why?
It’s worth looking at the role of fatherhood in each of these character’s lives. Hosea’s father lived a life of “sin and debauchery,” with Hosea recalling that he loved the man but hardly knew him. On the other hand, Dutch’s father died in the Civil War, and he left his mother around the age of 15. The two would meet, having this same sort of better-than-thou mentality about their fathers. This, in turns, leads to their effective adoption and parentage of Arthur Morgan, as well as the gang’s early days of robbing and giving to the needy. But it’s worth mentioning that this goodwill comes from a broken place: this need to help and nurture could arguably be derived from their flawed relationship with their fathers.
Although Morgans’ biological parents are never explained, Morgan himself would eventually father a child named Isaac. Priors to the events of RDR2, Morgan’s son and his son’s mother were killed in a robbery-turned-south. Morgan was never around them much, but enough that’s it clear that their deaths, accentuated by the fact that it happened over $10, impacted him deeply. It likely led to his more morose, reflective nature that can make him hard to relate with for some. But in turn, Morgan himself became a good father figure to Jack, John’s son, and an honest-to-goodness brother to John himself.
John eventually marries Abigail and focuses on his role as Jack’s father, but it’s clear that the entire time John is teetering on the same mistakes as his patriarchs. And that’s where it becomes more interesting: for all intents and purposes, RDR2 has a lot of Abrahamic religion-based references and developments. Indeed, Dutch, Hosea, and Arthur are all patriarchs for the Van Der Linde Gang, and the name’s Hosea and Isaac are important names.
For example, Isaac means “he will laugh.” This would literally infer that Isaac’s death is where Arthur lost his happiness, becoming the more sullen character he can be at times. It’s from this broken place that perhaps Arthur Morgan’s most evil actions become justifiable to him. On the other hand, Hosea can be translated to mean “to help.” In this way, it can be seen that Hosea reflects the better nature of the Van Der Linde Gang. He questions when they turn from helping others to serving their own needs, and he serves as a temper to Dutch’s worse nature.
With this in mind, Hosea’s death and the relative downfall of the gang come RDR2‘s strange Guarma chapter puts Dutch in an even more broken place. His goodwill and role as a father came from a broken place, one that Hosea’s death shattered and one where the events that followed served not Dutch’s better nature, but his worst.
Micah is a snake, nothing more and nothing less, who puts the final nail in the gang’s coffin in Red Dead Redemption 2. But just like Hosea and Isaac, there’s meaning to his name: Micah was an Old Testament prophet who prophesized that one’s worst enemies are within their family. This is why he constantly refers to Arthur Morgan as his brother and cuddles up to Dutch following Hosea’s death. In so many ways, Micah becomes the devil on Dutch’s shoulder, dialing his worst traits to 11.
In the end, it is Micah’s fault (though, arguably, Dutch’s responsibility) that the gang falls apart. It’s clear that Dutch is never the same thereafter; his commentary about being the last enemy to be destroy in the original game comes far after the realization that he has constantly been in a viper’s nest. His father, Micah, and more warped Dutch’s world view. Perhaps player see this moment of realization where he has to choose between shooting Micah and shooting John, with the events that led to the death of Arthur in RDR2 clearly still potent.
It’s strange that, come RDR1, Arthur Morgan is never mentioned. This is simply because he didn’t exist at the time, but from a narrative standpoint, it also highlights something more. Arthur Morgan is the result of histories of bad relationships and broken fathers that created Dutch, and it’s this pattern and cycle of violence that few escape. Charles Smith and Sadie Adler, for example, are really the only ones to get out alive, as eventually John succumbs to it, and the ending of RDR1 would suggest that Jack does too.
Somewhere and somehow along the way, Dutch had to realize that he created the broken atmosphere that the death of his father, the death of Hosea’s father did too. He had to realize he was the source of this cycle, guilty of the sins of his father by the end of Red Dead Redemption 2.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is out now for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.
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