Come one, come all! Welcome to the final blurb in my Red Dead Redemption 2 trilogy of articles. As you could tell if you have checked out the last two articles, I am a bit obsessed with this game. In order to feed this obsession, I have decided on creating a gallery just for you: The victims and survivors of the Dutch Van Der Linde reign. Just a few rules and guidelines I used to help for the organization:

1. There will be SPOILERS regarding each character’s outcome/demise. You have been warned.
2. These characters are not in order of importance, as well as when they died.
3. Character status is based on when the character was last seen or spoken about.
4. This list includes both the events of Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption 2.
5. These are the primary members of the Dutch Van Der Linde gang that we come to know in Red Dead Redemption 2. Dutch’s Gang in Red Dead Redemption has been excluded.

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#25 Jenny Kirk                                                            STATUS: DEAD

Let’s start off with an easy one, Jenny Kirk. Jenny does not play a major role (not even a minor one at that) in the story, but she was the first member to die in Red Dead Redemption 2‘s prologue. A budding thief, Jenny joined the Dutch Van Der Linde gang prior to 1899 and was proving to be somewhat of an asset. However, after the botched ferry heist in Blackwater (the event that occurs right before the player takes control) Jenny is injured during the gang’s escape. She dies shortly after arriving at their first safe house in the mountains. Her grave can be visited by John Marston in the epilogue and is 1 of 9 graves for the “Paying Respects” trophy.

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#24 Callander Brothers                                              STATUS: DEAD

Now I know I am cheating a bit here, but they are both such minor characters that I didn’t see the point in breaking them into two separate blurbs. Anyway, the Callander Brothers, Mac and Davey, joined the Dutch Van Der Linde gang at some point prior to the Blackwater ferry heist. There isn’t much information regarding the two before the events of Blackwater, just multiple gang members remarking about how vicious outlaws the pair were. After the heist turned sour, both Mac and Davey are injured in the escape. However, Davey is rescued (only to shortly die just a few days into the gang’s escape) but Mac has to fend for himself. Mac is mentioned later by the Pinkerton detectives who confront Arthur Morgan and Jack Marston while fishing, stating that they found Mac and killed him. Davey Callander is the 2 of 9 graves for the “Paying Respects” trophy.

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#23 Orville Swanson                                                    STATUS: ALIVE

Oh Swanson, how well you have fared from gang discord. Orville Swanson is the perfect example of how I would perceive a gang would corrupt a man of faith. Joining the Dutch Van Der Linde gang after saving Dutch’s life (no details are given), Swanson strayed away from the path of the enlightened and fell into the welcoming arms of loose women and bottomless bottles. A relative constant thorn in the side of Arthur Morgan and other members of the gang, throughout most of the game Swanson can be found wandering drunk around camp. As seeds of discord begin to reach their limits, however, Swanson becomes sober and tries to regrow his flame of faith that had dimmed long ago. Swanson’s parting words are ones of hope and redemption as he sees Arthur for the last time.

Now that he has left the Dutch Van Der Linde gang, Swanson is revealed in the epilogue that he has gone back to start a new following of fellow worshipers in New York. Preacher of the First Congressional Church, quite the upgrade Swanson.

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#22 Tilly Jackson                                                           STATUS: ALIVE

You don’t mess with Miss Tilly Jackson. Tilly is one of the Dutch Van Der Linde gang’s charming thieves, able to work almost any mark for plenty of their cash. Tilly has been sporting the outlaw life since the mere age of 12, running with the abusive Foreman Brothers gang prior to joining up with Dutch. Tilly ran after she murdered the cousin of gang leader Anthony Foreman, lauded as a traitor despite having a completely valid reason to do so. Once the Pinkertons finally catch up to our beloved outlaws, Tilly runs to safety and hides John Marston’s son Jack. Tilly later leaves with Sadie, Jack, and Abigail to start their new lives.
While not a major moment in the epilogue, you can find Tilly waiting for the tram in Saint-Denis. Tilly is delighted to see John, as she has since left the outlaw life and married a lawyer, about to give birth to her first child. While Tilly runs off in a hurry, she does later write and gives her best wishes to John and his family.

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#21 Mary-Beth Gaskill                                                 STATUS: ALIVE

Mary-Beth, the manipulative vixen of the Dutch Van Der Linde gang. Mary-Beth joined Dutch on his journey for riches sometime before 1899 and quickly made her name known as a heartbreaker. Throughout the course of the game, Mary-Beth is often recruited whenever distractions need to be made but is often underestimated in other outlaw skill sets. Mary-Beth can be spoken to by Arthur once his illness has been discovered, and she will offer her condolences as well as give uplifting remarks to make his last moments the best they can be. Along with two other members, Mary-Beth leaves the gang once Dutch starts to embrace the madness.

Mary-Beth can be found by John at the Valentine train station during the epilogue of Red Dead Redemption 2. She has become a successful romance author and gives John one of her books as she says her goodbyes, departing forever.

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#20 Abigail Marston                                                    STATUS: DEAD

Abigail, you may nag John to death, but you were definitely the moral compass of your family. Wife of Red Dead Redemption‘s protagonist John Marston, Abigail was once a prostitute who was introduced to the original Dutch Van Der Linde gang by Uncle. Due to her profession, Abigail had relations with almost all of the men in the gang and eventually falls in love with that dolt John Marston. After giving birth to their son Jack and their unnamed daughter, Abigail became the motherly guardian of the Dutch Van Der Linde gang and the Marston clan. Throughout the events of Red Dead Redemption 2, the player is able to learn more about Abigail and her motherly instincts to keep the Marstons safe. Abigail grows rather close to RDR2 protagonist Arthur Morgan, who eventually believes they are among the few who are able to make it out of the gang alive.  With Morgan and Sadie Adler’s help, the Marstons are able to go into hiding.

In RDR2‘s epilogue, John and his family settled on a plot of land they purchased (legitimately) out at Beecher’s Hope outside of Blackwater. She finally marries John and finally turns Beecher’s Hope into a home.

However, once we reach the events of Red Dead Redemption life isn’t looking too pretty. Abigail and Jack are kidnapped by representatives of the Pinkerton Detective Agency in order to force John to hunt down his surviving gang members. Once this has been completed and the family is reunited, the reunion is short-lived as Beecher’s Hope is raided. In Red Dead Redemption‘s epilogue, it is revealed the Abigail passed away at the age of 37 due to unknown causes.

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#19 Karen Jones                                                           STATUS: DEAD?

Now that we have finally reached Karen Jones, we can finally round out the trifecta of the female thieves of the Dutch Van Der Linde gang. Karen joined the gang before 1899, gaining notoriety as an established scam artist and a notable alcoholic. Karen begins to have a lustful and hate-filled relationship with fellow gang member Sean MacGuire, which quickly spirals out of control. Despite Karen’s alcoholism worsening as she moves from camp to camp, Karen actually contributes to the gang early on. Once safely away from Horseshoe Overlook, Karen rounds up the posse to rob the bank in Valentine. This gives the player their first major score. Karen’s whereabouts are unknown once we reach the epilogue, but Tilly Jackson assumes she is dead in a ditch with a bottle in her hand.

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#18 Lenny Summers                                                   STATUS: DEAD

LENNY! Why did you have to leave us so soon!? A rather young outlaw from an educated slave family, Lenny joins up with Dutch and Co sometime before the botched ferry robbery in Blackwater. Lenny found himself on the run at the tender age of 15 after murdering drunk men in a fit of revenge against them murdering his father. We first meet Lenny in grief after the death of his lover Jenny Kirk (#25), but he works through it and gives us some of the best missions in the game. One of these missions is to blow off some steam before saving Micah Bell, where Arthur and Lenny have an odd experience drinking WAY TOO MUCH at the Valentine tavern. Arthur and Lenny’s relationship feels one of the most comically genuine relationships in Red Dead Redemption 2, so this leaves quite the impact once he makes his exit.

Always a loyal soldier to Arthur, Hosea, Dutch, and the cause, Lenny helps out with a majority of important missions throughout the game. However, Lenny finally meets his end as he is shot to death while escaping Saint-Denis on a rather messy heist. What makes matters worse? Lenny’s body is left behind by the core group as they run to escape the country. “Tahiti,” Dutch once told us, “Is where we will find paradise.”

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#17 Kieran Duffy                                                          STATUS: DEAD

Kieran…you may have been runnin’ with them O’Driscoll boys, but you definitely earned your keep. Originally kidnapped by Arthur Morgan and interrogated about the whereabouts of rival gang leader Colm O’Driscoll, Kieran was eventually accepted as a member of the Dutch Van Der Linde gang after he kills an O’Driscoll attempting to end Arthur’s life. It only took a castration threat from Bill Williamson to convince Kieran to jump the O’Driscoll ship. After his antics at Horseshoe Overlook, Kieran actually doesn’t participate much in the overall main story. Don’t fret! You can take a nice camper side mission where you can go fishing.
In my personal opinion, Kieran has the most visually gruesome death of all of the gang members. Once the gang transfers their camp over to Shady Belle in chapter 3, Kieran is re-kidnapped by his former compadres. Kieran is then made an example of as a traitor by the O’Driscolls, as he is last seen riding his horse into Shady Belle, holding his own head cupped in his hands.

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#16 Uncle                                                                        STATUS: DEAD

Uncle, I don’t care if you have “Lumbago”, you need to get off your ass and do some work around here. I’d tell you to edit this index, but I believe it is a bit out of your league. One of the oldest members of the Dutch Van Der Linde gang, Uncle is the prime example of a thief who barely commits petty crimes and just drowns in between the legs of the nearest lady of the night. Uncle, besides being the lovable drunken oaf that everyone tolerates, does little to contribute to the overall vision of the gang. He does discover intel about a Leviticus Cornwall train that is traveling outside of Rhodes, which fails in a bright blaze of glory just like the other major gang robberies.  After Uncle leaves the gang as Dutch loses his sanity, we hope we lose him forever…then here comes the epilogue.

In the Red Dead Redemption 2 epilogue, Uncle runs into John in Blackwater and decides to redeem himself. Between Uncle, Charles, and John they are able to build the Beecher’s Hope home that Abigail would absolutely love…without Uncle sticking around. Even though he has no blood ties with the Marstons, he does become the de facto uncle to Jack. Uncle sticks around all the way to the Red Dead Redemption final act, where he sacrifices himself to fight off U.S. Army soldiers as they raid the Marston’s slice of paradise in order to save Abigail and Jack.

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#15 Charles Smith                                                       STATUS: ALIVE

Charles Smith is one of the few Native Americans in Red Dead Redemption 2 that doesn’t hate the Dutch Van Der Linde gang. Charles joined the gang relatively recently, as he had only been running with them for about half a year before the events of the game. Charles honestly does not receive the attention he deserves, as many quests throughout the game Arthur is paired up with Charles to get the job done/make the problem go away. Yet another positive? Charles’s AI is actually pretty damn good and he easily can hold his own on the battlefield. Charles is one of the few surviving members of the Saint-Denis bank heist, besides being presumed dead after distracting guards so the core group can make their escape.

Charles, along with Uncle, plays major parts in the game’s epilogue. John and Uncle find him alive after many years, street fighting in Saint-Denis of all places. Charles joins John and Uncle in building out Beecher’s Hope, creating the new life the Marstons well deserve. Charles stays until Abigail and John marry, then leaves to Canada with hopes of a family of his own.

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#14 Simon Pearson                                                    STATUS: ALIVE

While he doesn’t fight, Pearson has to be one of the most useful characters in the entire Dutch Van Der Linde gang. Originally serving in the United States Navy, after a series of ordeals he became the cook and ornery butcher of the Dutch van Der Linde gang.  While serving as a side-quest giver early on the in the game, Pearsons’s main purpose is to set up each camp when moving locations as well as serving as a small trader and crafting vendor. While Pearson normally will talk a big game and occasionally bust your balls like any other degenerate, Pearson always wanted what is best for the family. When given the option due to Dutch’s insanity, Pearson leaves the gang in shambles.

In the Red Dead Redemption 2 epilogue, Pearson is one of the only survivors who actually isn’t given a small cutscene upon discovery. Pearson has now married into a happy life and has taken over the general store in Rhodes. Each time John visits the store, Pearson greets him and asks about his family.

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#13 Javier Escuella                                                    STATUS: DEAD

Javier is a prime example of what being loyal to a revolutionary truly means. Growing up in Mexico, Javier witnessed the tragic castration of his father and his cohorts for trying to make life easier for the common folk. This stroked the gentle flame of revolution inside Javier, who garnered a reputation as the revolutionary of the people. After murdering an esteemed member of the military, Javier fled to America and ran into Dutch stealing chickens of all things. Javier quickly becomes a loyal gun for the Dutch Van Der Linde gang, participating in most missions that need a few extra hands. Despite his belief in Arthur, Javier sides with Micah and Dutch in the game’s final standoff, fleeing the incoming Pinkertons.

Since Javier’s story doesn’t end in Red Dead Redemption 2, Javier becomes the central antagonist for the Mexico arc of Red Dead Redemption. Hiding out from John under the protection of the Mexican government, Javier’s fate is entirely up to the player. You can either stain your hands with Javier’s blood, or capture him and let the government hang his lifeless body for the masses.

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#12 Susan Grimshaw                                                STATUS: DEAD

I know I have said this about most of the women on this list, but Ms. Grimshaw is a force to be reckoned with. Grimshaw was one of the original members and first woman of the Dutch Van Der Linde gang, back when it was only Dutch, Hosea Matthews, and Arthur Morgan. Grimshaw was originally involved with Dutch on an intimate level, but it was later broken off as Dutch moved on to his wife Annabelle. Despite this, Dutch acknowledges the usefulness of Grimshaw and respects her deeply. Once we reach the events of Red Dead Redemption 2, Grimshaw has become essentially the office manager of the gang. Along with Pearson, Grimshaw is tasked with the general operation of the camp, including moving it from place to place. The only major event that Grimshaw impacts is in late chapter 6, when fellow gang member Molly O’Shea stumbles into camp drunk. This isn’t normally a surprise, but she is raving on how she ratted the gang out to the Pinkertons. In response, Grimshaw shoots her dead. In a rather similar scene even later on, Grimshaw meets her end while facing down Micah after Arthur discovers he is the rat. That snake in the grass is too fast for you Grimshaw.

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#11 Josiah Trelawny                                                 STATUS: ALIVE

Josiah, at least we are only writing about you and not having to break you out of anywhere. A conman immigrant from England, Josiah Trelawny is a smooth-talking and conniving trickster that can convince many of the best of men. I refer to Trelawny as an occasional friend of the Dutch Van Der Linde gang, as he has the tendency to disappear for weeks to months on end. For example, we don’t even encounter Trelawny until we reach Rhodes, and it seems like he is just out for his own interests. Here’s the catch, despite his fickleness, Trelawny actually shows results. Not only is Trelawny responsible for the initial rescue of our next entry, he also organizes a large ferry score in Saint-Denis that actually goes well.  Once the gang has finally reached their final camp at Beaver Hollow, tensions immediately increase. Due to having a family and not wanting to be involved, Trelawny is one of the first members to leave. Arthur gives him his best wishes to escape the outlaw life for good. Now buckle in fellas, this is going to be the last survivor for a while.

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#10 Sean MacGuire                                                   STATUS: DEAD

Now I am putting my foot down, you can’t be a legitimate gang without having a wise-cracking and vulgar Irish man. Coming from a long line of rebels back in his homeland, Sean MacGuire emigrated to the United States and somehow joined up with the Dutch Van Der Linde gang at some point before the main story of Red Dead Redemption 2. After the botched Blackwater ferry heist, Sean had to escape on his own but was later captured by bounty hunters. In swings Trelawney to the rescue, as Arthur and Co. recover him and boost morale for the entire camp. Sean plays a large role in the events surrounding the dueling Braithwaite and Gray families. Often paired up with Arthur to cause plenty of mayhem, the player is able to develop a connection with Sean pretty quickly. While there was still plenty of Sean’s story to be told, it is tragically cut short on a surprise ambush by the Gray family. While walking through Rhodes for a security job, Sean is shot directly through the skull by Gray’s men.

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#9 Molly O’Shea                                                         STATUS: DEAD

Miss Molly O’Shea is nothing but “high society” now. Coming from a wealthy family in Ireland, Molly joins the Dutch Van Der Linde gang after catching the eye of the head honcho himself, Dutch. While early on it is clear that Dutch and Molly had a romantic relationship, Molly was often pushed aside for bigger and more important plans. Molly and Ms. Grimshaw joined the gang in similar ways, yet ended up with drastically different outcomes. On one hand, Grimshaw was able to grow through the heartbreak and still become an asset to the gang. On the other hand, Molly found her solace down at the bottom of the bottle. I guess there were no other addictions Rockstar could have gave these people? Molly’s only contribution to the story is that she drunkenly announces that she is a possible leak of information to the Pinkerton Detective Agency. This results in Molly being shot dead by Grimshaw as she “knew the rules.” Molly’s death would have come sooner or later, but she actually wasn’t the poisoned flower, twas Micah.

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#8 Leopold Strauss                                                   STATUS: DEAD

While I dislike Micah and can’t trust him as far as I can throw him, I hate Leopold Strauss. Arriving in New York during the New York City draft riots, Herr Strauss was left all alone due to the recent passing of his uncle due to a fatal heart attack. Strauss didn’t have to wallow for long, as shortly thereafter he met Dutch and was quickly drafted into the Dutch Van Der Linde gang as their accountant.  Completely unemotional and with a lack of morals, Strauss easily became the perfect puzzle piece Dutch was missing for his loan sharking operations. Strauss primarily acts as a quest giver, drafting Arthur into chasing down citizens who are trying to skip out on their bill. His mission “Money Lending and Other Sins” features the fatal encounter with Thomas Downes. It was in that moment where Arthur knew he had Tuberculosis.

Once Arthur receives his diagnosis, he begins to directly oppose Strauss’s methods. Once the gang finally settles into Beaver’s Hollow, Arthur has had enough and throws Stauss out of the camp.  Once the player finds Charles in Saint-Denis during the epilogue, Charles reveals that Strauss was eventually rounded up by the Pinkertons and died in custody without saying a word.

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#7 Bill Williamson                                                    STATUS: DEAD

Now, Bill is one of the more interesting characters on this list. Coming from a hardcore alcoholic broken home, Marion “Bill” Williamson joined the U.S. army and committed relatively unknown atrocities (at least attempted murder). This led to Bill’s dishonorable discharge, which threw him into a dark pit of depression fueled by wicker baskets filled with moonshine gently lowered in. Bill encountered Dutch Van Der Linde after trying to rob him, where Dutch simply responded with laughter. Since that moment and during the events of Red Dead Redemption 2, Bill Williamson becomes the loyal gun that will not hesitate to fulfill Dutch’s dream. In the final standoff, Bill joins Micah and Dutch in an effort to save what is left. However, this is not where Bill’s story ends.

Reluctant to join Micah’s new gang with some of his old pals, Bill forms his own gang and takes over Fort Mercer. Once John Marston has recruited his own group of naive good-doers to raid the fort, it is revealed that Williamson retreated to Mexico for protection. Bill finally meets his end after Mexican Colonel Allende tries to trade Bill’s life instead of his own, where he quickly meets his demise by either John’s or rebel leader Reyes’s hand.

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#6 Hosea Matthews                                                  STATUS: DEAD

Alright everyone, we need to take a step back all the way to the 1870s for this one. While we don’t know much about Hosea’s past, we know that he grew up as a decent robber and met Dutch Van Der Linde many years prior to the events of Red Dead Redemption 2. How did they meet, you ask? Well in typical deviant fashion, these two decided to rob each other and became best friends in the process. Once the Dutch Van Der Linde gang was founded, Hosea immediately stepped in as Dutch’s advisor and second-in-command. Hosea is a key player in the dynamic of the gang and his relationship between Dutch and Arthur is core to the main story. Since Arthur was the first recruit into the gang at a young age, both Hosea and Dutch began to step in and be surrogate fathers to the young Morgan.

Hosea’s death was a complete shock to many other members of the gang, as Hosea is the other poor soul to lose their life during the botched bank robbery in Saint-Denis. While Lenny dies during the gang’s escape, Hosea is publicly executed by Pinkerton agents after Dutch fails to surrender. As Hosea continued to push back against Dutch’s more radical ideals all the way until the end, we aren’t surprised Hosea was taken out.

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#5  John Marston                                                      STATUS: DEAD

John Marston, the only character that we know better than Arthur Morgan in the Red Dead Redemption franchise. Having committed his first murder at the meager age of 11, John would be considered a bad seed by many people in modern society. Just a mere one year later, John was caught robbing an innocent couple’s home, where Dutch Van Der Linde stepped in to save him from the noose. John serves as the original Red Dead Redemption protagonist, as well as becoming the new protagonist after Arthur’s death in Red Dead Redemption 2. The journey of John and his family are core concepts of the Red Dead Redemption franchise. While John is initially a major pain in the ass in RDR2, consistently getting himself in trouble, John’s growth as a character throughout both core games is one of the best Rockstar has ever written, except for Arthur Morgan of course. John Marston finally meets his maker at the end of Red Dead Redemption, when the Pinkertons and U.S. Army completely betray the Marstons, raiding their ranch. John is able to take out many of the incoming enemies before he is filled with lead.

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#4 Sadie Adler                                                           STATUS: ALIVE

Now if you have been following this little mini-series I have been crafting, you would probably argue that there is enough evidence that Arthur is my favorite character in the franchise. This isn’t true, as Miss Sadie Adler takes that crown. One of the last members to join the Dutch Van Der Linde gang, Sadie Adler was “recruited” by Dutch and Arthur after O’Driscolls murder her husband and set her home on fire while the gang is on the run. Originally suffering from guilt due to her life being completely turned upside down, Sadie quickly transforms into a vengeful and driven woman. Once her 180 arc is complete, Sadie became a major gun and a huge asset to the gang, often taking charge when no one else would. When the core members of the gang are stranded on Guarma, Sadie takes charge and protects everyone. While she can come across as naive and rash, sometimes the situation calls for just that mindset.

Sadie also plays a major part in the Red Dead Redemption 2 epilogue, serving as the pleasant interruption from Rockstar’s version of Farming Simulator. After many years had passed, Sadie is now a bounty hunter and reconnects with John. Sadie’s purpose is to remind John of his past and skills, disrupting the life that John has created with his family. Sadie helps uncover Micah’s location and joins John to casually end Micah’s life. Once that minor inconvenience has wrapped up, Sadie joins everyone for John’s wedding then disappears without a trace. Probably ended up in South America.

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#3 Micah Bell                                                             STATUS: DEAD

Even a snake in the grass needs to be included sometimes. An outlaw all the way through his childhood, Micah was his father’s partner in crime while committing various counts of robbery and murder. When Micah finally met Dutch in 1898, Micah saved him from a sour deal and joined the Dutch Van Der Linde gang. After less than a year, Micah pointed the gang in the direction of a ferry boat robbery in Blackwater. The main robbery failure that kicks off the events of Red Dead Redemption 2, it is unclear if Micah had any involvement in that particular failure. A consistent annoyance and rift throughout the entire game, Micah’s quick rise to power leads to many fractures among the gang. After the core characters return from being stranded on Guarma, Micah strikes a deal with the Pinkerton Detective Agency and becomes an informant for the federal government. While this seems to leave Dutch confused yet relatively unphased, this breaks the remaining gang members apart. The main story can end with a fight between Micah and Arthur, which can end in Arthur’s death. Damn you Micah!

Micah remains the primary antagonist of Red Dead Redemption 2‘s epilogue. While Micah has gone into hiding to rebuild his own gang, his whereabouts are discovered from rumors and his former henchmen by Sadie. Against Abigail’s wishes, John, Charles, and Sadie raid the mountain camp and have a final duel. Micah is finally put down like the rabid dog he is by John, Sadie, and Dutch. Dutch leaves without saying anything, leaving plenty of gold for those who remain.

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#2. Arthur Morgan                                                  STATUS: DEAD

Phew, five thousand words later and we finally reached the protagonist of the damn game. While I have already talked about Arthur Morgan plenty, (see the main review for Red Dead Redemption 2 and our Arthur Morgan deep dive) I will provide a quick rundown.

Arthur Morgan comes from a broken home of outlaws and absent parents, causing Arthur to move onto the streets at a young age. Arthur is the first member to join the newly formed Dutch Van Der Linde gang, being mentored in the ways of the outlaw by stand-in father figures Dutch Van Der Linde and Hosea Matthews. Arthur quickly became one of the best gunslingers in the west and strictly loyal to the success of the gang. As the player takes control of Arthur, we begin to learn that underneath the stubborn, yet surprisingly naive exterior there is a soldier who longs for a better future where outlaws don’t need to exist. As for Arthur’s fate, he contracts tuberculosis after strong-arming an infected debtor to death, being coughed on with infected blood in the process. Instead of a quick and painful death, the player is forced to watch as he slowly falls apart and succumbs to his illness alone on the mountaintop. Arthur, you were one of the best…while it lasted.

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#1 Dutch Van Der Linde                                        STATUS: DEAD

El Jefe, the charismatic leader, the wolf among the pack, Dutch Van Der Linde. While not much is known about Dutch’s early years, we know that he was not fond of his mother and left home at an early age. After Dutch became friends with Hosea Matthews, they founded the Dutch Van Der Linde gang and began to quickly fill their roster with “promising young talent.” Dutch’s philosophy is all about living independently and without control of your own actions by others, which explains why he has the layer of charisma that makes him convincing to other people. While this is more evident later on in the game, Dutch’s philosophy eventually gives him quite the savior complex.

While Dutch’s story begins as an upcoming skillful ruffian with lofty ideals, Dutch has trouble accepting that his way of life is quickly becoming extinct. You can see Dutch’s mind descend into madness as he elevates his levels of manipulation and violence, even feeding a man who wronged him to alligators with his bare hands. Dutch and many of his remaining guns leave the remnants of the Dutch Van Der Linde gang after a standoff with series protagonists Arthur Morgan and John Marston.

While he disappears for many years, Dutch returns in both the epilogue of Red Dead Redemption 2 and as the primary antagonist in Red Dead Redemption. During the epilogue, it is revealed that Dutch has rejoined (or never left) Micah as they begin a new gang. However, once confronted by John and Sadie he has a momentary change of heart and turns on Micah. This change of heart is short-lived, as he walks off the snowy mountain into a world of mystery. Towards the end of Red Dead Redemption Dutch has many encounters with John until finally ending in a standoff of dueling philosophies in the mountains. Dutch later predicts John’s betrayal by the government and chooses to commit suicide, falling to his death.

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That is everybody! Wow, I feel like I could finally metaphorically put up the towel for a bit. However, I will not stop. This may be the final Red Dead Redemption 2 article from me, but that doesn’t mean you can’t check out everything else I have written. If you would like another major deep dive of the characters in your favorite franchise, leave a comment.