History Headscratchers / RedDeadRedemption

** ...And then either one of two things will happen: The general populace won't believe a disgruntled and bitter son of a ruthless outlaw over that of a 'heroic' agent of the government, or worst case scenario, Jack is caught by federal agents and executed for murdering Ross. [[DownerEnding Face it, there's no happy ending to this story.]][[/folder]]

* What do you expect? Ross is a Knight Templar, he believes that the outlaws of the Old West are scum, and thus tries to modernise the West. Even if that means kidnapping a retired Outlaw's family and threatening them to get him to do their dirty work. Gotta break a few eggs to make an omelette. So what if John is reformed? He doesn't care. In his eyes he's an outlaw and always will be. Might as well get him to off his old comrades then kill him and take all the glory.

What do you expect? Ross is a Knight Templar, he believes that the outlaws of the Old West are scum, and thus tries to modernise the West. Even if that means kidnapping a retired Outlaw's family and threatening them to get him to do their dirty work. Gotta break a few eggs to make an omelette. So what if John is reformed? He doesn't care. In his eyes he's an outlaw and always will be. Might as well get him to off his old comrades then kill him and take all the glory.

[[folder:Ross]]

* Jack can always write a book about his father's life, detailing how the man tried to change but was ruthlessly killed in the process.[[/folder]]

*** So she tried to get home by riding in the complete opposite direction to her ranch? [[ThisIsSPARTA THAT. DOESN'T. MAKE. SENSE.]][[/folder]]

*** I understand that Ross isn't supposed to be a trustworthy character, the fact that he kidnaps John's family is proof enough of that, I just found it despicable that he condemns the Wild West and the kind of men like John Marston that it produced and preaching that civilization is the only viable alternative to the hell that is the Wild West when he commits actions that you would expect out of an outlaw. Surely Ross sees the hypocrisy of committing criminal deeds as an ends justifies the needs method of achieving civilization, gunning down bandits, or generally just people that refuse to listen to the government, and blackmailing all to produce civilization. It's the hypocrisy of Edgar Ross's character that sickens me, "Everyone pays for what they have done in time, even you John.", the irony of the situation is that John would never have taken up the gun ever again had Ross not blackmailed him and [[spoiler: faced down an entire company of U.S soldiers before being gunned down by them]] had Ross not forced his hand, so John's crimes are Ross's by extension. [[spoiler: Jack Marston rightfully puts an end to Ross and his hypocrisy when he guns him down and makes him pay for the crimes committed against the Marston family, but it still leaves a bitter taste because at the end of the day his death won't bring John back and Ross won because John will be remembered in official history as an outlaw.]] [[/folder]]

*** I understand that Ross isn't supposed to be a trustworthy character, the fact that he kidnaps John's family is proof enough of that, I just found it despicable that he condemns the Wild West and the kind of men like John Marston that it produced and preaching that civilization is the only viable alternative to the hell that is the Wild West when he commits actions that you would expect out of an outlaw. Surely Ross sees the hypocrisy of committing criminal deeds as an ends justifies the needs method of achieving civilization, gunning down bandits, or generally just people that refuse to listen to the government, and blackmailing all to produce civilization. It's the hypocrisy of Edgar Ross's character that sickens me, "Everyone pays for what they have done in time, even you John.", the irony of the situation is that John would never have taken up the gun ever again had Ross not blackmailed him and [[Spoiler: faced down an entire company of U.S soldiers before being gunned down by them]] had Ross not forced his hand, so John's crimes are Ross's by extension. [[Spoiler: Jack Marston rightfully puts an end to Ross and his hypocrisy when he guns him down and makes him pay for the crimes committed against the Marston family, but it still leaves a bitter taste because at the end of the day his death won't bring John back and Ross won because John will be remembered in official history as an outlaw.]] [[/folder]]

*** [[spoiler: The problem I had with Ross was the fact that he went back on his word of letting John live his life with his family in peace and sent an entire company of U.S soldiers to kill him. Sure Ross says that the ways of the Wild West and all the chaos it produced needs to be removed and anyone who once caused such chaos needs to go too but John by the time Ross comes after him is totally reformed and is now a peaceful rancher who only needs his family and hard work to live a meaningful life, John's gunslinging days are behind him. Also Ross using the argument that everyone eventually pays for what they have done and John needs to pay for what he did during his criminal past is contradicted by him promising John a pardon from his crimes. Ross is a lying, cheating, glory-hogging, degenerate son of bitch.]]
*** [[CompletelyMissingThePoint Which is the entire point of his character.]] Ross believes that John is nothing more than a no good outlaw, no matter what he does or says. And that all his past actions makes him irredeemable. [[/folder]]

*** So she tried to get home by riding in the complete opposite direction to her ranch.[[/folder]]

*** However, since the train she was on stopped at Armadillo, it's possible that she was just on her way back home until she saw (in her eyes) a man lying on the ground, perhaps close to death at Fort Mercer and she decided she wasn't going to leave without at least doing ''something'' for this man. Thankfully, he just so happened to be our guy.[[/folder]]

*** [[CompletelyMissingThePoint...Which is the entire point of his character.]] Ross believes that John is nothing more than a no good outlaw, no matter what he does or says. And that all his past actions makes him irredeemable. [[/folder]]

*** [[spoiler: The problem I had with Ross was the fact that he went back on his word of letting John live his life with his family in peace and sent an entire company of U.S soldiers to kill him. Sure Ross says that the ways of the Wild West and all the chaos it produced needs to be removed and anyone who once caused such chaos needs to go too but John by the time Ross comes after him is totally reformed and is now a peaceful rancher who only needs his family and hard work to live a meaningful life, John's gunslinging days are behind him. Also Ross using the argument that everyone eventually pays for what they have done and John needs to pay for what he did during his criminal past is contradicted by him promising John a pardon from his crimes. Ross is a lying, cheating, glory-hogging, degenerate son of bitch.]][[/folder]]

*** [[[[MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T BEATEN THE GAME]]] The problem I had with Ross was the fact that he went back on his word of letting John live his life with his family in peace and sent an entire company of U.S soldiers to kill him. Sure Ross says that the ways of the Wild West and all the chaos it produced needs to be removed and anyone who once caused such chaos needs to go too but John by the time Ross comes after him is totally reformed and is now a peaceful rancher who only needs his family and hard work to live a meaningful life, John's gunslinging days are behind him. Also Ross using the argument that everyone eventually pays for what they have done and John needs to pay for what he did during his criminal past is contradicted by him promising John a pardon from his crimes. Ross is a lying, cheating, glory-hogging, degenerate son of bitch.[[/folder]]

** They don't actually ''do'' anything in Mexico besides pick up Escuella and Williamson's corpse(s). John does all the out-of-jurisdiction work for them and I doubt they'd be too concerned if he was arrested.[[/folder]]

* Okay, why is Ross and Fordham in Mexico when the jurisdiction of the US Bureau does not reach Mexico?[[/folder]]

[[/folder]]

** But it still doesn't make sense. She only gets feelings for John AFTER she's rescued him and he's done good things for her. At the beginning of the game, he's just a stupid guy that managed to get himself shot at Fort Mercer. However, since the train she was on stopped at Armadillo, it's possible that she was just on her way back home until she saw him again and went, "Hey, didn't I see this man on the train?"[[/folder]]

** Actually, this is a really good point. Fort Mercer is nowhere near the McFarlane Ranch or Blackwater. She wouldn't really have any reason to go that way. But, [[spoiler: it's implied in the game that Bonnie really cares for John. The mission where she meets your wife, she stands in the road and watches the Marstons leave. John's wife also comments about Ms. McFarlane looking at him. Maybe Bonnie fell for John when she first saw him on the train, like love at first sight. Then she followed him because she couldn't stand knowing she would never see him again. Playing it cool, she doesn't stop where he stopped at Mercer and travels past it, returning later with random character #2 to see if he survived an encounter with a known bandit hideout. Noone gets that lucky, and it sure doesn't seem like the west for a random person to be so kind.]] Or does it?[[/folder]]

** What I find annoying about combat is that I can shoot the guns out of my adversaries hands or generally injure them to the point where they are staggering and all of a sudden they will bring out their rifle/shotgun they had strapped to their back. It got so bad at one point that I was in Thieves Landing and pointed my gun at a guy (granted my reason was petty given that I raised my gun as a result of him insulting me, but whatever) and when he fired upon me I shot his gun out of his hand, only for him to bring out a double barreled shotgun and kill me in two quick shots in a like two seconds flat. How in the hell can these guys shoot so accurately and switch their weapons so fast when they should realistically be in blinding pain? This is just DemonicSpiders and GoddamnedBats territory.[[/folder]]

** One of her surviving brothers lives in Blackwater (he's a banker or somesuch). Perhaps she was visiting?[[/folder]]

* Okay, so in the opening scene, we can see Bonnie McFarlane on the train from Blackwater. Ten minutes of plot later, when John first meets Bill at Fort Mercer, the former gets shot and rescued by...Bonnie McFarlane! Now, I'd know it'd make for a sucky game if it ended ten minutes after it began, but can someone tell me how and why Bonnie was there when she was, presumably, going back home to her ranch? I'm gonna have to pull an IronicEcho on her and ask: "Well, what were ''you'' doing out there, Miss McFarlane?"[[/folder]]

** "what kind of lawman has a "shoot first, ask questions later" mentality?" Well, lawmen in the Old West for one. They weren't all noble crusaders for justice. A fair number of them were little more than thugs who got into the lawman gig for the prestige and the power more than the desire to help people.

** It's game-play mechanics. Just about every NPC with a gun are programmed to defend themselves should you be inclined to aim a gun at them. Plus, you deserved it. lol.[[/folder]]

* (Original Poster) Just beat the game and saw the seen with John and Abigail. However, this scene raises another question. If Abigail Marston can't read, how does she know the letter was from a woman? Did Bonnie Macfarlane scent her letter with perfume or something?