John Marston is the secondary player character ofRed Dead Redemption 2, but for the large number of fans who joined the series with the successful prequel, his story ends with him escaping his past with the Van der Linde gang and finally getting a chance to settle down with his family. As fans of the original know, however, the past can’t be escaped so easily.
Red Dead Redemption 2is a game about running from the past, the looming shadow of death, and the inability of its main characters to adapt to the future. John’s story in the firstRed Dead Redemptionreflects all of those themes, and understanding John’s fate is vital to understanding the grim dramatic irony which hangs overRed Dead Redemption 2’s happier moments.
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No matter whatArthur’s honor level is inRed Dead Redemption 2, John and his family manage to escape from the Van der Linde gang before it collapses and many of the members, including Arthur, are killed in the ensuing violence. Originally, the Marstons travel north to Canada, attempting to take part in the gold rush in Yukon. This get-rich-quick scheme didn’t work out for them, however, and John and his family found themselves returning to America with little to show for the hardship they endured.
After an incident in which John shot a man at Roanoke Ridge, the Marston family found themselves hiding out inStrawberrywhile John lays low under the less-than-subtle pseudonym Jim Milton. John eventually found work as a ranch hand after driving the Laramie Gang from Pronghorn Ranch. The family had its ups and downs, and after leaving him for a time Jack and Abigail eventually reunited with John after he built them a house and killed Micah Bell with the help of Sadie Adler, Charles Smith, and Dutch.
However, killing Micah put Bureau of Investigation agentsEdgar Rossand Archer Fordham on John Marston’s trail, despite the fact the Van der Linde gang had disbanded years before. The Bureau kept an eye on John for four years, waiting for a good opportunity to use him as an asset.
That opportunity came in 1911, the starting year of the events ofRed Dead Redemption. The Bureau kidnapped Jack and Abigail, holding them hostage to force John to hunt down Bill Williamson and Dutch van der Linde, two of the most prominent and activeformer Van der Linde gang members. Initially sent to Fort Mercer to take Williamson dead or alive, John was shot from the ramparts by one of the members of Bill’s new gang. He was nursed back to health by Bonnie MacFarlane, but when wind of John’s survival reached Bill’s gang, her farm was burned down and Bonnie was kidnapped.
John was able to storm Fort Mercer and rescue Bonnie, but it is revealed that Bill Williamson has escaped across the border into Mexico with the help ofJavier Escuella. John pursues Bill south, meeting old gunslinger Landon Ricketts and helping both the Mexican Army and eventually a revolution spearheaded by Abraham Reyes. John is able to track down Javier, and can either kill him or bring him in alive, which is also implied to result in his execution. When the rebels lead an attack to take over Nuevo Paraiso, Bill Williamson attempts to escape with the oppressive Colonel Allende, but John and Abraham gun them down.
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Despite the hardship he’s already been through, Ross and Fordham will not let John’s family go untilDutch van der Lindeis dead. He travels north, back to Blackwater. It turns out that Dutch has aligned himself with a group of Native Americans, who like Dutch oppose the steady westward spread of US federal power. After tracking Dutch down to his lair, the two have their final confrontation, with Dutch’s back against a cliff.
“We can’t always fight nature, John. We can’t fight change. Can’t fight gravity. We can’t fight nothing. My whole life all I ever did was fight […] but I can’t give up neither. I can’t fight my own nature. That’s a paradox John. You see? […] when I’m gone they’ll just find another monster. They have to, because they have to justify their wages […] Our time has passed, John.”
Dutch lets himself fall to his death, but he still gets the last laugh, and his warning proves correct. Although Ross and Fordham promise that Jack and Abigail have been sent home and they’ll find somebody else they can “annoy,” it isn’t long before the Bureau arrives at the Marston ranch with the US Army and US Marshals in toe. John stays behind, and in a scene reminiscent ofButch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’s famous Bolivian Army ending, walks out to face his death.
Three years after John’s death, Jack Marston hunts down and kills Edgar Ross in revenge. Just asJohn Marstonseems to get away at the end ofRed Dead Redemption 2, Jack survives until the end ofRed Dead Redemption. If John’s fate in the first game is anything to go by, however, it is likely that by killing Ross, Jack Marston sealed his own fate as well. By 1914, the day of the outlaw is firmly over. As sad as it seems, in light of John’s story acrossRed Dead 1and2, Jack’s revenge likely leads to his own death, and the final legacy of John Marston’s short, violent life. Either way, in the greater scheme of things Dutch’s declaration that the story’s characters can’t find change holds true. Despite Jack’s final act of defiance, it’s clear who the winners and losers ofRed Dead Redemptionreally are.
Red Dead Redemption 2is now available on PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.
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