After their botched job at Blackwater, the Van der Linde gang is on the run, a group of outlaws who are bound together by a dream of freedom. With the Pinkerton detectives hot on their tail, they take off up north into the snowy mountain range where a blizzard shelters them from getting caught. Ranks of the gang led by the charismatic Dutch van der Linde, are battered, with missing members and dead members. Shelter is the immediate need and so Arthur Morgan (Dutch’s right hand man) goes ahead to scout. He finds solace in Colter, a town abandoned by miners. The gang has little time to regroup with the pinkertons on their trail. Dutch allocates assignments as follows, Arthur, John Marston and Micah Bell are to scavenge for supplies while Susan Grimshaw rebuilds the ruin-don town into an operational camp. Tensions run high beneath the surface as the gang comes under pressure to work together to survive.
The Van der Linde Family: Drama in the Ranks
The gang operates like a family, and everyone brings a unique skill to the outlaws way of life. The visionary Dutch relies on the wise Hosea Matthews for counsel. Susan Grimshaw handles the camp’s everyday operations, while Simon Pearson feeds the group only with whatever the group can scavenge. Using their skills as thieves and scouts, Karen Jones, Mary-Beth Gaskill and Tilly Jackson will follow the money. With his ruthless money-lending operation, Leopold Strauss handles the gang’s finances, while muscle comes from the likes of Bill Williamson, Javier Escuella, Charles Smith, and Lenny Summers. While Uncle and Reverend Swanson fight their own battles, they are still part of the family. The brand-new tacky addition, Micah Bell, saved Dutch’s life during a bar fight. His reckless actions make other criminals uneasy. The gang tested their group bonding when they arrived at a homestead occupied by the O’Driscolls. They are a rival gang headed by Colm O’Driscoll, who is the sworn enemy of Dutch. The unruly scuffle unveils the widow Sadie who lost her husband at the hands of the O’Driscolls. Dutch welcomes her into the fold, strengthening their broken family.
A Trail of Blood and Betrayal
Arthur and Javier, both searching for John Marston, leave to prevent him from dying in the storm. Meanwhile, they learn Blackwater was more than just a misunderstanding. Arthur is bothered by how Dutch ordered an innocent girl killed on the job; it shows that he is not so noble at all. While the gang is out gathering supplies, they learn of Colm O’Driscoll’s plan to rob a train belonging to Leviticus Cornwall. Taking the chance, they raid an O’Driscoll camp for dynamite and plans to rob the train and capture Kieran Duffy and O’Driscoll low-ranking. In a state of desperation, Dutch seeks vengeance against Colm. As a result, he led the gang to steal bonds from Cornwall’s train. The robbery takes place successfully, but it ignites the anger of Cornwall’s empire.
As the snow melts away, the gang moves to Horseshoe Overlook, a short ride away from the town of Valentine, to stay out of trouble. Dutch still believes their dream of buying some land and escaping is possible. Their wealth, locked up in Blackwater, cannot be touched. They require cash to live on. Every member has something to contribute: Strauss’s loans exploit desperate locals, whose debts Arthur collects; Hosea gets parties who can fence the valuables, and the women sniff out leads on a train robbery and bank job. During the events of Valentine in Red Dead Redemption 2, Arthur will take on the local strongman Tommy. This fight will begin when Bill Williamson picks a fight provoking Tommy to thrown punches at him. An ill debtor named Thomas Downes intervenes, and this makes Arthur nervous about his harm.
The Cost of Loyalty
Agents Milton and Ross of the Pinkertons confronted Arthur and offered him his freedom in return for Dutch. Arthur stays true to the gang, but they’re feeling more pressure than ever. Dutch is so obsessed with the O’Driscoll’s, especially Colm, that he raids an O’Driscoll hideout at Six Point Cabin. Kieran saves Arthur’s life and earns his place. Micah gets a little too reckless and gets thrown in jail in Strawberry for murder. Arthur then breaks him out. Arthur and Micah’s rift deepens as Arthur feels Micah’s influence on Dutch is growing.
The gang goes to Clemens Point near Rhodes, where two rich families – the Grays and the Braithwaites – are at war over tobacco and moonshining. Dutch figures there may be a chance to play the two sides against each other and rob both. He’s also heard some trippy rumours of Confederate gold buried around the area. Arthur looks into the Grays led by Sheriff Leigh Gray, while Hosea goes after the Braithwaites. Sadie Adler emerges from her grief and joins Arthur on a job in Rhodes, where she demonstrates her worth when they are ambushed by a local gang. The gang is two-timing. They are stealing Braithwaite’s horses and torching Gray’s tobacco fields while making both families trust them. Yet their plan backfires when the Grays turn on them, killing Sean McGuire, while the Braithwaites kidnap Jack Marston, John’s small son, in retaliation for the gang’s plans.
Saint Denis: A Place of Opportunity and Deceit
The gang follow Jack to Saint Denis, a busy city ruled by the crime boss Angelo Bronte. Bronte agrees to return Jack for a job the gang does, but his hold over the city’s law and elite makes him a dangerous ally. The gang tries to get some information on where the money is, at the mayor’s high-society ball. They look at a casino, trolley station, and bank. The Leviticus Cornell and Hobart Crawley are members of the military-industrial complex. Moreover, the Wapiti Indian Tribe is experiencing the repercussions of broken treaties. Thus, as a whole the event showcases the tensions caused by the changing world.
Bronte double-crosses the gang, laying a trap at the trolley station where the lawmen ambush them. The very angry Dutch attacks Bronte’s mansion and brutally murders him. Arthur questions this action. The gang eyes the Saint Denis bank for one final score to finance their escape abroad. While Hosea and Karen make a diversion, the Pinkertons ambush the gang after getting tipped. Hosea is killed, Lenny is shot, and John is captured. The survivors escape by hiding on a ship heading to Cuba, but it ends up being wrecked on Guarma.
Guarma: A Land of Oppression
The gang is captured by a brutal overseer of a sugar plantation working for the puppet of Cornwall’s empire, Alberto Fussar. They team up with some local rebels in order to rescue Javier, who had been shot and captured, and get a boat. Arthur is increasingly suspicious of Dutch after witnessing him kill a bunch of people he doesn’t have to. The gang escapes from Guarma and returns to America, where they reconnect a Lakay before another Pinkerton attack. Sadie’s desire for revenge against the O’Driscolls, after her husband was murdered, makes her a serious force as an outlaw. Nevertheless, the gang suffers another loss as Kieran is killed by the rival gang.
Arthur’s Fall and Redemption
The gang’s final camp is at Beaver Hollow; meanwhile, Arthur succumbs to tuberculosis, the disease he catches while collecting debt from Thomas Downes. Diagnosed with mere weeks left to live, he begins to question himself and blind loyalty to Dutch as his decisions start to go awry under Micah’s influence. Dutch tries to stir up trouble between the Wapiti tribe and Colonel Favours’ army to rob a train. Arthur ends up trapped at an oil plant, as this backfires on him. Eagle Flies, a young Wapiti, saves him but dies. Dutch underestimates Arthur’s feelings when he says he left him behind.
With the gang falling apart, Arthur begins to save those he loves. Disobeying Dutch, he and Sadie free John from Sisika Penitentiary; Arthur also seeks to make amends for how the Downes family is becoming impoverished. In a last train robbery, Dutch and Micah leave behind John. Furthermore, Arthur finds out that Micah has been snitching on the Pinkertons. Arthur tries to get through to Dutch but to no avail. However, Dutch is adamant about not wanting to fix anything, as chaos is the ultimate goal. Arthur fights off the Pinkertons as they close in. He sacrifices himself to let John, Abigail, and Jack go. When the new day arrives, Arthur dies a man who chose redemption over loyalty.
John’s Pursuit of a New Life
After Arthur’s death, many years later in 1910, John Marston, alias Jim Milton, wants to settle down with Abigail and Jack at Beecher’s Hope ranch. Agent Ross is now with the FBI and forces John to hunt down his former gang members Bill Williamson, Javier Escuella, and Dutch to free his family. In Armadillo, John makes allies such as Bonnie McFarlane, who treats his wounds after an attack by Bill’s new gang and Marshal Leigh Johnson. To keep tabs on Bill, John renders assistance to the locals, whether by intervening against cattle rustlers or breaking up saloon brawls. However, he soon learns that Bill has taken a trip south of the border to Mexico.
In Nuevo Paraíso, John tries to survive a revolution between oppressive Colonel Allende and rebel leader Reyes. After getting caught playing both sides to get information, he almost gets executed by Allende himself, but Reyes saves him. John kills Bill and Javier and delivers their bodies to Ross. He goes back to Blackwater and finds Dutch and a gang of native Indians. While robbing the bank John sees Dutch who would rather die than be captured saying the world has no place for outlaws.
A Final Act of Sacrifice
Hopeful that Ross’ Service has ended his family’s problems, John reunites with them. He’s working to build a future at Beecher’s Hope when he finds himself betrayed by Ross, who sends marshals and the army to kill the last of Dutch’s gang. John sends Abigail and Jack to safety while facing the onslaught on his own. Because of him they are free, and he is buried with the inscription ‘Blessed are the Peacemakers’ for trying to make a better life.
Three years later, Jack buries Abigail and gets revenge on Ross, who is retired now. Jack tracks and kills Ross, becoming the outlaw his father tried to run away from. The Van der Linde saga ends with Jack’s story, a young man made by loss and revenge. Are we capable of redemption, or does the world demand our vengeance? The final fate of other survivors—Charles, Sadie, and Tilly—is unknown which made gamers curious to their story in the Wild West.