Summary
Riding into Strawberry from the east for the first time,Red Dead Redemption 2players might encounter a lost tourist. This tourist tells them they are visiting from out east and staying in Strawberry. As Arthur slowly accompanies the man back to town, he tells him that he saw Strawberry being heavily advertised to tourists and heard that it was lovely, but upon his arrival, he feels as if he was duped. He remarks that, despite this, he respects the mayor of Strawberry as a salesman for convincing visitors to come. He also remarks that Arthur should look into the mayor because something isn’t right about him. From here, it’s up to the player to uncover the mystery ofRed Dead Redemption 2’s mayor of Strawberry.
As the player arrives inthe town of Strawberry, they too will see that the town is not a bustling tourist destination but rather a normal village not unlike any other in the world ofRed Dead Redemption 2; its location is nice, and the town is pretty, but there is little to make it a destination. Spending time around town, players will hear the townspeople speak of the mayor. Some are concerned for the well-being of his wife, and few seem to like him. Upon going past the visitor center, the player will confront the man himself, Nicholas Timmins.
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Timmins is seen giving a speech on the porch of the visitor center. Timmins' speech is, at first, innocuous, though a little misguided. He describes Strawberry first as a city and then as a simple mountain town before calling it a haven for civilized culture in the West. In spite of the contradictions, Timmins' speech seems well-meaning as he says he wants Strawberry to be a wise and kind town and repeatedly instructs citizens to be kind. Next to some of thecreepy encounters inRed Dead Redemption 2, Timmins seems harmless, but as players spend more time around the town, his ideas grow more concerning. This, alongside rumors about his wife, works to make him off-putting.
Encountering the mayor again will cause him to tell Arthur that he wantsStrawberryto be Tolstoyan and sophisticated. He will also express that he is willing to exile townspeople who do not conform to his ideals. Timmins is bent on making the town of Strawberry into a sophisticated and kind metropolis like those in the East. He also expresses distaste for his family for being cruel to his wife. The player, at this point, will have heard that Timmins is an outsider from back East. Why he would leave a place that already lives up to his ideals and attempt to transform a town in the remote mountains of the West becomes questionable.
If the player hogties and loots Mayor Timmins, they will acquire a letter sent to him by his sister. Reading the letter will inform the player that Timmins fled his university with a fellow professor after rumors began to circulate about them. She says that she wishes to hear back from him and that she doesn’t hold any of her parents' ill will towards him. She mentions financial difficulties due to her husband and remarks that she wishes she had not married, much like Nicholas had not; Timmins' wife is a lie. While there is no concrete conclusion, the story of Strawberry’s mayor is not one ofRed Dead Redemption 2’s unsolved mysteries.
Timmins' story, at this point, is revealed to be sad rather than dark. In the visitor center, there is a college professor from back east who says Timmins asked him to come out there. It appears that the two men were rumored to be having an affair and, due to the scrutiny and homophobia of others, fled far from their home. Whether the two are actually romantically entwined or not, the story of Mayor Timmins is one that depicts the cruelty of intolerance, and his story is tragic. This story is not dissimilar to that ofBill Williamson, who is also implied to be a closeted gay or bisexual man who was wrongly discharged from the military for his sexuality and forced into a life of crime.
Red Dead Redemption 2is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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