Rocks𓆉tar loves their long games, so it goes without sayingℱ that was always destined to be quite the juggernaut. A🎉ll the same, the original Red Dead Redemption was not a particularly lengthy game, usually 𒁏capping out at a reasonable 2ไ0-30 hours, which did make RDR II’s whopping 50+ hour campaign quite a shock.
To say nothing of the two epilogue chapters on top of it, adding a soli♍d 5-10 hours to an already lengthy campaign. That said, it’s ultimately for the better. While a lengthy epilogue might seem like much for a game as long as Red Dead Redemption II, it’s the ribbon that ties the story together.
10 The End Of Arthur’s Arc
Arthur’s arc ends with his death, but we don’t truly see the value or scope of i💯ts ending until the epilogue. Arthur is the old west, a man trapped in an🐟other era. Unlike John who could adapt in the first game, however,🦹 Arthur can’t. Not only because he’s so ingrained in the only life he’s known, but because he’s dying.
Arthur is locked out of seeing any future for America, any change. At the sಌame time, this isn’t what he wants. All Arthur needs is the comfort of knowing he did right by John and the Marston family. The epilogue shows an Arthurless world, but it shows Arthur didn’t d🌱ie for nothing.
9 The Beginning Of John’s Arc
In the same breath that the epilogue ends Arthur’s arc, allowing the tortured soul to finally rest, John begins his character arc in earnest. All game, Arthur tried to show John the importance of family, and the epilogue forces John to♑ prove that he learned his lesson. Unfortun🃏ately, he didn’t, but this in itself is important.
John takes his family for granted in a way Arthur never did– to the point where Abigail leaves him with Jack. John is forced to recognize his failings and be a better man in the process, modeling himself after Arthur. This is reflected💝 through the player quite literally inheriting Arthur’s clothes and weapons.
8 How The West Has Changed Since Arthur’s Passing
Both Red Dead Redemption I and II are ultimately about the end of the American Frontier, and the romanticized notion of the “Wild West.” In the same way John was a relic of an era 🤡on its way out by the first game, Arthur’s life & death symbolized the shifting of the west. The sun sets not just on Arthur, but America as he knew it.
Taking control of John a 💟few years later, the epilogue is an opportunity to show us how the west is changing and why it becomes what it does by the events of the first game. Technology is improving, and the country is moving towards something “greater” entirely. It’s important RDR II showcase this as it better connec𓄧ts it to its predecessor.
7 Sadie Adler’s Fate
Sadie is one of the most important characters in Red Dead Redemption II, introduced in the very first mission. Her arc spans all eight chapters– Arthur’s main six, and John’s two epilogue chapters. Come the end of chapter 6, however, Sadie’s fate is left in the air and her arc hasn’t exactly come to its natꦉural end.
All the same, it doesn’t in the epilogue either. Instead, Sadie just fully adapts to life as a bounty hunter, something that narratively suits her better than finding peace. Her relationship with John ends up being an important driving force in the epilogue, giving John the financial means to start his ranch and explaining wh༺y Ross didn’t come after Sadie in RDR1.
6 Charles Smith’s Fate
Like with Sadie Adler, Charles’ fate is left rather uncertain following the end of c▨hapter 6. Arthur’s story🥃 ends up disconnecting from everyone else’s but John’s hard, so there’s no real room to peek in on what Charles is up to– which is especially a shame considering how much focus he gets near the end of the game.
Charles smoothly transitions from Arthur’s right hand man, to one of John’s– the two building a very close relationship through the epilogue. More importantly, we’re given assurance that Charles is not only fine, ꦛbut that he’ll likely be safe from Ross’ radar in Canada.
5 John Building His Ranch
Spending time at John’s ranch and serving as a proper rancher i❀s one of the𒊎 highlights of the original Red Dead Redemption. It’s John’s return to normalcy and opportunity for the audience to decompress before everything falls apart in t🌳he finale. Given how often John mentions his ranch over the course of the game, it’s fitting this serves as the story’s final setting.
Red Dead Redemption 2 echoes this in its epilogue. In𒀰stead of serving as a rancher, however, John spends most of his time actually building his ranch and establishing the foundation for which he’ll live the rest of his life on. The sequence where John, Uncle, and Charles all help bu𒅌ild the ranch is one of the strongest across both games.
4 Why John Keeps Uncle Around
One of the most perpꦫlexin🔯g fixtures of the Marston Ranch in the first Red Dead Redemption is Uncle. John me🥂ntions in passing that Uncle was a drinking buddy who he ཧhired as help (a fact he’s very much come to regret,) but RDR1 🌠never tries to give Uncle more worth than he seemingly has– existing as a side character who dies in the final miss🧸ion.
Granted, his death does have weight, but RDR2 really puℱts into perspective why John would keep someone like Uncle around. Although he gradually becomes less pleasant with time, Uncle was there for John when no one else was. Uncle helped John reunite with his family and start over. Uncle is as foundational to John’s arc as Arthur.
3 Ross Catching Onto John
Although it doesn’t make much sense why Ross would just let John Marston peacefully live his life for what must have been years, the epilogue does help put into perspecܫtive why Ross manages to catch onto John in the first place. In deciding to hunt down Micah, in turn confronting Dutch one last time, John puts himself on Ross’ radar.
The post-epilogue credits show Ross and Archer investigating the site of Micah’s murder, seemingly tracking it all the way back to John. Ross is able to piece together who John is, and for wha🌟tever reason saves that information– setting up the events of the first game.
2 The Scope Of John’s Love For Abigail
The first Red Dead Redemption made it very clear that John had a loving relationship with his wife, Abigail. He🍨 constantly talks about her during the game’s first three acts, and their relationship when he returns home for the finale is probably the best relationship writing in a Rockstar game period. These two have a genuine partnership.
But Abigail is still only in a bit of RDR, so Red Dead Redemption II’s epilogue gives audiences an opportunity to see the scope of their relation🌼ship. Now that they’ve mended things, John and Abigail are much stronger. All the same, John has to earn Abigail's trust & love, truly proving to her that he can be a family man worth loving. His proposal to her might very well be the𒊎 best scene in the game.
1 The Depth Of John’s Relationship With Jack
In spite of how good of a job the original Red Dead Redemption does📖 in fleshing out John and 🦋Jack’s relationship over a handful of missions, their dynamic could have benefited from more fleshing out. Much in the same way Abigail’s presence in RDR2 was n♚ecessary to give the Marston family greater h🧸istory, Jack’s role in the epilogue helps in fleshing out the depth between John & his son while also highlighting the tragedy of Jack’s fate.
More importantly, the epilogue contrasts Jack’s relationship with his actual father with Arthur. The fact of the matter is that John simply was not a good ⛦father for most of Jack’s life, so the epilogue is him quite literally ꧃trying to fulfill the role Arthur left void– that direct control shifts from Arthur to John only adds weight to this.