Made up of six chapters and two epilogues, Red Dead Redemption II’s story is over twice as long as the first game’s. Arthur Morgan’s storyline simply dwarfs John Marston’s in terms of raw content. Is is better, though? When it comes down to it, probably not. For as amazing as the plot actually is, juggling sophisticated themes right up to the very end, the original Red Dead Redemption simply꧑ tells the tighter story. Due to being shorter, there is next to no fluff and every moment counts. The same cannot be said for Arthur’s odyssey across the Wild West.
More ground to cover leaves room for more mistakes. While the untrained eye will reach the credits without much to complain about, savvier gamers will see the flaws right away. Red Dead Redemption II often does not make sense. For a game that tells such a detailed character study in regards to🀅 Arthur Morgan, a lot of the key beats genuinely do not make sense. Whether they be narrative or simply character related, thinking too hard helps the cracks show far more than Rockstar perhaps ever intended. This is not to say the story is bad, far from it, but that it is undeniably flawed.
Needless to say, this article will have some SPOILERS about the game's plot.
25 Du⛎tch Flees A Snowstorm By Going Up A Mountain ౠ
Red Dead Redemption II’s opening is truly incredible. In the burst of a blizzard, Arthur Morgan rides through uncharted territory with his face, braving the weather at every turn. When morale should be at its absolute lowest, the gang is pulled to♚gether by their valiant leader Dutch. He makes an impassioned speech and players immediately know they’re in capable hands.
Your first sign that Dutch isn't quite right.
Except the very premise of this ꦍopening makes absolutely no sense. Dialogue strongly suggests that the main characters are fleeing the snowstorm, but their trajectory on the mountain has them going up it rather than down. Naturally, going up a mounta🐓in during a snowstorm will only result in heavier winds. What was Dutch thinking?
24 ♋ 🉐 It’s “Dutch’s Gang,” Not “Dutch And Hosea’s Gang”
Speaking of Dutch, isn’t it a bit odd that everyone in the game calls the gang “Dutch’s Gang?” On a surface level, it makes perfect sense. Dutch is the figurehead. He is the m🐼an who makes all the big speeches and he is the man who rides with the gang time and time again. He isn’t the only leader, though.
Hosea is Dutch’s better half. He is the brains behind the brawn🃏s, but he never gets any of the credit. Not𝓀 that Hosea cares, mind you, but that doesn’t change the fact that Dutch’s Gang mostly due to Hosea’s leadership abilities. Once he’s gone after Chapter 4, it’s no wonder everything falls apart.
23 🍒 Arthur Letting Kieran Go Would Hav♛e Been Foolish
Kieran’s role in the gang is𓃲 a strange one from start to finish. Where he begins as a hostage nobody likes, he ends as a hostage nobody likes. Upon saving Arthur’s life in Chapter 2, Arthur decides to do Kieran the courtesy of letting him go. In giving him his freedom, Kieran gets a second chance but ultimately chooses to stay with Dutch’s Gang.
Kieran wouldn't have ratted Dutch out, but still.
Although Kieran does choose to stay, the very prospect of Arthur letting him go at all is r🌱idiculous. Not only is Arthur potentially putting an envoy of Dutch’s worse enemy back in the open, Kieran could have very easily ran back to Colm to rat out Horseshoe Overlook. Arthur’s brief kindness was bred from a stupidity he shouldn’t possess.
22 Why Doesn't John ဣMention Arthur In RDR1?
Arthur Morgan doe𒀰s so much for the Marston family. He rescues John in Chapter 1, takes Jack fishing in Chapter 2, gets Jack back in Chapter 4, helps save John’s life at ꦿthe start of Chapter 6, rescues Abigail from Milton in the final mission, and gives his life so that John Marston can inherit his legacy in the Epilogue.
The problem is, Red Dead Redemption came out before Red Dead Redemption II and John never mentions Arthur. In♌ fact, John actively says that the gang betrayed him and the very notion of family was a fallacy. We see this to be false, but it doesn’t reflect on Jౠohn’s opinions- it’s just a plot error.
21 RDR2 Proves John Wrong🅷 About The Gang 𒐪
Let’s actually dig a bit deeper into this continuity error. In the first gang, John’s biggest complaint about the gang was that they were no a🔯 family. Every piece of affection was superficial. The end of the second game tries to imply this was indeed the case all along by having most characters abandon Dutch, but…
A dysfunctional family, but a family nonetheless.
Chapters 1 ♚through 4 show that Dutch’s Gang WAS indeed a family. They throw parties, they work together, and they actively help cheer each other up. It’s only when Dutch falls apart that the gang falls apart. John’s interpretation of the gang simply doesn’t make s⭕ense with context from everything leading up to Chapter 6.
20 🌳 John And Abigail Are Already Married Before Getting Married
In the West Elizabeth arc during the first game, Dutch 🥃mentions plain and clear that John was legally married to Abigail. John fell in loꦯve with her and the two were wed while they were in the gang. There is nothing to dispute this. Come the second game, they are indeed married, except not really.
While the two are married in their own sense and call each other husbaꦉnd and wife, they are not common law married. Nobody in the gang recognizes them as married overtly so there’s nothing to contradict Dutch’s claim, but it’s quite clear Dutch is referring to a real marriage in the first game. The bigger problem is they get married AFTER the last mission meaning Dutch would never have known.
19 𒁏 Micah Should Not Have Been Able To Maniuplate Anyone
Micah is an utterly pathetic loserඣ. From the start of the game up until the very end, Micah never grows or changes, only devolves. He is a mess who needs to rely on others to thrive and any moment he spends with Dutch i🥀nvolves him kissing butt like it’s his job. He is the ultimate yes man.
It makes for a good twist, but how realistic is it?
Which might explain why Dutch is so swayed by him, but keep in mind that Dutch is an intelligent man. There is no real way he would let Micah manipulate him the way he does. Micah basically orchestrates the entirety of Chapter 6 with Dutch acting as a playing piece. Dutch, the most charismatic man alive, has no influence on Micah and is inꦏstead influenced.
18 🔯 💙The Molly Reveal
It almost seems obvious that Micah would end up being the gang’s rat in hindsig𝄹ht. He spends all his time with Dutch, constantly attracts lawmen, and accuses Arthur of being the real traitor. It’s quite obvious that the audience should be skeptical of Micah which Rockstar knew and remedied with Molly.
In a rage, Molly arrives at the camp only to reveal that she ratted out Dutch to Agent Milton. Miss Grimshaw shoots her and the gang is left to recoup. The problem is, Molly lied. Micah was the real rat which Mil൲ton confirms. So why did she admit to ratting them out? Honestly, the꧅re’s no fully acceptable reason other than narrative intervention.
17 Karen’s Fate Is Left Open-Ended ꦫ
Whether you actually care about most of the cast or not, the half-hour long title crawl dedicates a fair chunk of its time to not only the names of those who worked on the game, but the fates of the many gang members who took part in Arthur’s journey. Pearson runs a general store, Mary-Beth enters high ꦓsociety, and Tilly finds a nice suitor.
Who cares about Karen?
Everyone is accounted for. Everyone save for Karen. The most Karen gets near the finale is a mention in Arthur’s notebook that she turned to drink. Meeting Mary-Beth in Saint Denis reiterates this idea and that’s as far as it goes. Does it make sense? Perhaps, but everyone else got their little epilogue. It seems strange Karen didn’t appear even in the form of a graဣve.
16 Ar🔜thur Going Back For The Money Makes No Sense
During the final mission of Chapter 6, Arthur Morgan can make one of two choices: help John Marston escape thus bringing the arc he has been following all game to a close and en🔯suring that the Marston family someone finds a better life or… go back to steal money that Arthur hasn’t cared about all game.
This shouldn’t even be a choice. Realistically, Arthur would have stayed with John up to the very end. Not every game needs some kind of cut off for alternate endings, especially when the story strongly favors one option over the other. There is no way Arthur wo🐟uld have gotten John so far only to aban🃏don him for money he will never use.