The document summarizes the redemption arcs of Arthur Morgan and John Marston in Red Dead Redemption 2. Arthur's arc begins after a botched robbery leaves the gang on the run, and contracting tuberculosis leads him to push for the gang to change their ways. His efforts help John Marston escape with his family. John later buys a ranch to start a new life, but is forced by the government to hunt down the remaining gang members in the first Red Dead Redemption game. The document argues Red Dead Redemption 2 works well as a prequel by providing context and callbacks that complement the story of the first game.

1. Video Game Story
Telling
How Red Dead Redemption 2 is a perfect redemption arc
(and prequel)

2. • Red Dead Redemption 2 is a 2018 western third person
shooter that is heavily story driven with themes of
redemption, mortality, and morality.
• It centers around the Van Der Linde gang in the year of
1899, and their dissolution after a string of bad luck.
• The central protagonists are Arthur Morgan and John
Marston
• The central antagonists are the Pinkerton Detective
agency, the O’Driscoll gang, Micah Bell, and Dutch Van
Der Linde himself

3. Arthur Morgan: Redemption Arc
• Arthur’s redemption arc begins after the gang has seen a string of bad
luck, specifically a botched robbery that resulted in the gang being on
the run
• Arthur contracts tuberculosis after beating a man to death to collect a
debt
• With his new found perspective on mortality, Arthur pushes for the
gang to give up their life
• Realizing this task is unobtainable, Arthur puts his efforts towards
making a better life for John Marston, a younger member of the gang
with a family

4. John Marston: the beginning of redemption
• John Marston escapes from the Van Der Linde gang with the help of Arthur Morgan, who
succumbed to his disease shortly after.
• John, his wife Abigail, and son, Jack, flee towards the north and try many times to start
new lives.
• John struggles with fatherhood and married life, but pushes to be a better man.
• The redemption arc begins when John buys his family a ranch to start a fresh life
• John is then approached by the federal government, leading to the events of Red Dead
Redemption

5. Brief timeline synopsis
• 1899 – Van Der Linde gang’s dissolution after a bloody gunfight, death of
Arthur Morgan
• 1907 – John Marston and his family buy a ranch to begin a new life
• 1907 – Death of Micah Bell, the gang member responsible for the majority
of failed robberies as well as a turncoat who betrayed the gang
• 1911 – The events of Red Dead Redemption, John Marston hunts down the
remaining members of the Van Der Linde gang to redeem himself in the
eyes of the law, but is gunned down by the same federal agents who sent
him on this mission.
• 1914 – Jack, John’s son, hunts down and kills the federal agent responsible
for John’s death

6. • Red Dead Redemption 2’s redemption arc revolving around Arthur
worked so well because of how rapidly Arthur’s motivations change
once his perspective on life is ruined/altered, with the knowledge that
his time is limited, he seeks to redeem himself and his friends after
understanding the gravity of losing a life and the precious nature of
life. Arthur goes from the most trusted and loyal gun in the gang to
the one who urges John to leave, and eventually turn against the gang
himself. Arthur does what he can to make amends with the people he
hurt and in the end, finds solace in knowing that there is hope in John
and his family.

7. • The reason Red Dead Redemption 2 worked so well as a prequel was
because it not only gives an insight into a time before the events of the first
game, but provides context to every single plot thread in the first game,
complete with call backs, or, call forwards rather, to the events of Red Dead
2. Arthur’s journey not only parallels John’s but compliments it by
propelling it forward and doing a lot of the redemption work for John early
on, so that Red Dead Redemption has more time to focus on the outcome
of John’s redemption. The purpose of a prequel may be debated but the
one cardinal rule is that it must compliment the original story, and in this
case, red dead 2 not only compliments it, but actively improves it, and after
playing both games, it is impossible for me to distinguish them as separate
stories, they are one story told over two games, and 15 years of story
telling.

8. • All of these pictures and stills are the sole property
of Rockstar Games, I make no attempt to claim these
images as my own.