Red Dead Redemption analysis part 3: All in the Family

According to John Truby, in Anatomy of story the single biggest mistake writers make is to think of their characters as alone in a vacuum unconnected to others. The result is something that feels 1 dimensional and a story that never really captures the attention of the audience because if the protagonist is 1 dimensional then so is the antagonist and everyone else in the story.  A character, John says, is defined by what he is not and so he is only defined in comparison to other characters in the story. For that reason we will be taking a step back from looking just at Dutch and look at the central characters of the Van Der Linde gang as a whole and how they relate to one another through the character web. 

CHARACTER WEB

Everytime you compare the hero to another character you get the chance to add a dimension to the character and it also helps define the other secondary characters. We can define and connect characters in four major ways: story function, archetype, theme and opposition. In this article I'll be listing out the first two.  

FUNCTION

Heroes: Arthur, John

Main Opponent: Dutch

Second Opponent: Micah 

Third Opponent: Pinkertons

Ally: Hosea

fake ally opponent: Micah

Fake opponent ally: None

Subplot characters: The secondary cast of the gang

ARCHETYPE:

The second way in which we organize the characters is through the archetype they represent and here we will also look at how the archetype they play into gives us material to write from for the character. Notice that the arc becomes implied for each character.

King/ father:

Dutch is the fatherly figure that pulls in all of the outlaws from the world that threw them away into a world where they had pride, ownership of themselves in a world that was quickly changing around them. Dutch is charismatic and this trait is something that pulls people, especially the wounded and lost to him. The inherent weakness though is that he can force  people into doing things against their own good while he removes himself emotionally from the realities of the gang itself. This is represented in how he dresses compared to everyone else in the gang. 

Queen/Mother

Molly is considered the queen because she much like Dutch removes herself from the chores of the gang. She is Dutch's queen afterall and sees herself as above the other members, later on she starts to realize Dutch never really loved her and this sends her into a downward spiral as she realizes that Dutch was only ever interested in Sex and not her. 

Wise old man

Hosea is the mentor of the group and even Arthur mentions in his notebook that he loves hosea more than Dutch. Hosea has real regret for the things hes done and the people he has hurt along the way, he is seen as a fatherly figure by everyone in the group and is universally loved by everyone except Micah. Hosea is to Dutch what Abigail is to John. He was able to keep him in line with his mentoring and when he dies during the bank robbery it is a sign of the downward trajectory of the crew as his devil on the shoulder, Micah, becomes the only counsel around him. Although he is a mentor figure his weakness is is that he himself is unable to remove himself from the fate he has created by being involved in the gang.

Warrior

Arhur could be said to be the warrior in this story, he is the protagonist and he is the enforcer of whatever Dutch commands although he is becoming a worldly warrior with the counsel of Hosea and his increasing doubt of Dutch's ability to lead. He doesnt consider himself to be a good man, he knows he does wrong but he feels he does them for the right reason. 

Magician/ Shaman

Charles is the closest thing to a shaman in the gang as he is someone who sees through the gang and sees their acts as empty. He is reluctant to kill and at the end leaves to Canada to raise a family. He is the kindest member of the gang.

Trickster

Micah is obviously the trickster, with Micah we see a sycophant who gets close to Dutch and eventually replaces Hosea and Arthur in the pecking order of the group and becomes second in command. When Hosea dies he is the only voice Dutch hears. Hes a complete liar and is a foil to characterize the other characters by. 

Artist

Mary Beth could be seen to be the artist of the group as she is a bookworm throughout the game and we know that she ends up becoming an author herself.

Lover

Abigail although is not the queen to dutchs king, she is the wife of our other protagonist John Marston. She is motherly and protective and is like the angel on Johns shoulder pulling him in the right direction while the gang tends to pull him in the opposite direction. This protectiveness gets put onto her child Jack Marston, who becomes literate at a young age and does not adopt any skills from the gang until he gets older. This could be seen as a weakness on her part as she is too overprotective and holds Jack too close to her that it could harm him.

Rebel

John could be said to be the rebel of the group he is from early on questioning the actions of the group and as he matures he realizes how much he has endangered his own family. He rebels against Dutch and questions him and Micah.