Red Dead Redemption 2 is a prequel. As a prequel, the game massively expands the story of the Van der Linde gang that Red Dead Redemption only hinted at, so it's no surprise that a few inconsistencies appear here and there. Some of the holes, however, are bigger than others.
Red Dead Redemption 2 creates a noticeable narrative flaw in the first game that many fans have noticed. Despite that, there may be ways that this apparent flaw still ties in with some of the main themes found across both games. Here's the problem Red Dead Redemption 2 causes for Red Dead Redemption, and what Rockstar's attempt to solve that problem might mean in the context of the series' deeper themes.
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The fact that Arthur Morgan isn't mentioned once in Red Dead Redemption isn't just noted by many fans, but enabled several to accurately predict Arthur's death in advance of Red Dead Redemption 2's release. Arthur's death alone, however, doesn't exactly explain why he's never even mentioned after his death, despite being a key part of John Marston's life up until that point, and the reason for his family's escape from the Van der Linde gang before its total dissolution.
Red Dead Redemption 2's epilogue makes an attempt to explain Arthur Morgan's total absence from the first game, even in conversation. In an interaction in the Marston family home, Jack Marston asks Abigail about Arthur. "Arthur… he saved us didn't he?" Abigail responds, "he did save us, yeah. None of us would be here today if it weren't for Arthur. But your pa don't like talking about him."
At first this might seem like a slightly cheap way to explain why there isn't a single mention of Arthur in Red Dead Redemption. It makes sense in some ways — Arthur's death was likely hard for John, and Abigail and Jack are in the custody of the Bureau for much of the first game anyway. What makes less sense is why Bureau men like Edgar Ross — who both investigates the Van der Linde gang and constantly antagonizes John to the point of jokingly suggesting his wife died in prison — would never mention Arthur either.
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Taking the events of the two games in order, Arthur isn't just erased from John's world, but the world of Red Dead Redemption at large. It isn't just that he isn't talked about – characters also seem to be slowly forgetting him, willingly or not. Even Jack suggests his memory of Arthur is fading as he gets older. Arthur isn't the only Van der Linde gang member who doesn't seem to exist by the time Red Dead Redemption takes place.
Almost all of the gang members that John doesn't hunt in the game — outside of Bill Williamson, Javier Escuella, and Dutch van der Linde himself — aren't mentioned in the first game. Most of the gang is totally lost to the past. When considering Red Dead's major themes, this goes a long way to reconciling the total absence of the prequel's protagonist from the original game.
Red Dead Redemption sees the Van der Linde gang swallowed up by time. They're already anachronisms, living the frontier outlaw lifestyle long after its heyday. Even the prequel never shows the gang's supposed golden years; it begins following the Blackwater job, a robbery attempt gone so wrong that it kills several members and sets the gang on a path of destruction.
Even their minor victories like successfully robbing Cornwall's train impound their problems later on. The same can be said in the gang's final death rattle, the reunion of John, Sadie Adler, and Charles to hunt down Micah Bell in the mission American Venom. They get their man, but his frozen corpse leads the Bureau to John Marston and to the tragic events of the first game.
Dutch sums it up best in a speech he makes across the series. Cornered against a cliff in Red Dead Redemption, he says "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 the paradox, John." Dutch's nature drives the Van der Linde gang to destruction. He's always looking for one last bank or one last train. His dreams of retirement in Tahiti directly reference Butch Cassidy's plan to escape to Bolivia. Those familiar with the first game or the fate of the heroes in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid know Dutch's plan is doomed to failure.
It's clear the Van der Linde gang will eventually be completely forgotten in the Red Dead universe, whether it takes until the death of Jack, or whether their memory somehow lingers for centuries after their deaths. Dutch van der Linde talks about nature, change, and gravity, each word euphemistically alluding to the forward march of time, a concept Dutch seems unable to bare facing directly.
Arthur Morgan's tuberculosis diagnosis gives him no such luxury. He sees the world in sepia following his doctor's visit, already feeling himself fading into the past. The true possibility for his redemption comes in the potential for him to do good deeds while facing his own total erasure, and acting in spite of the nihilistic knowledge that everyone he helps will one day die themselves. Dutch tries to fight against the march of time and causes chaos around him. Arthur can accept it, and in fighting within that acceptance can do more good in his final moments.
Arthur's absence from Red Dead Redemption reflects that acceptance of the inevitable that Dutch can never have without giving in to total despair and, in the end, suicide. John Marston's dislike of people mentioning Arthur may seem like a clunky solution, but it also ties into Arthur's story quite well. The total disappearance of so many Van der Linde gang members by the time of Red Dead 1 doesn't have to be interpreted as a flaw in the storytelling. Instead, their erasure can be read as the true fate Dutch is running from in the first game, and part of the cause of the destruction he leaves in his wake.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is out now for PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.
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