Characters / Red Dead Redemption 2 - Antagonists

This is a partial character sheet for Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption II. Visit here for the main character index.

Characters opposing the Van der Linde Gang who first appeared in Red Dead Redemption II, set in 1899-1907.

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Overarching villains

Andrew Milton

Andrew Milton

"You people venerate savagery, and you will die savagely! All of you!"

Voiced by: John Hickok

A Pinkerton agent tasked with apprehending the Van Der Linde gang.

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• Asshole Victim: With how unnecessarily vindictive he is towards the Van der Linde gang it's satisfying when Abigail headshots him when he's about one second away from killing Arthur.
• Anti-Villain: Unlike Ross, a phony self-righteous Glory Hound, Milton would be a straight-up Hero Antagonist if he wasn't so vindictive.
• Bad Boss: Implied. Not one of his underlings seem fond of him.
• Big Bad Ensemble: With Micah Bell. He's the most visible overarching threat to the Van der Linde gang, hounding them at every turn.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: Fails to kill members of the gang on more than one occasion, and it's mostly due to his like of gloating and pointless negotiating. It's at its worst at the end of chapter six, where, as he's holding an already dying Arthur Morgan at gunpoint, he takes a moment to reveal that Micah was the rat all along. This gives Abigail all the time she needs to free herself and shoot him.
• Boom, Headshot!: He's shot in the head by Abigail during his struggle with Arthur.
• Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: He looks an awful lot like Pete Postlethwaite.
• Composite Character: He seems to be one of both Agents Edgar Ross and Archer Fordham. He shares the former's Jerkass and Holier Than Thou mentality, but genuinely desires what's best for society like the latter.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: He's a Pinkerton agent, just like Ross, but is much more reasonable and honest, only acting on his threats once his offers of clemency are ignored or rejected instead of treacherously reneging on them like Ross did in RDR1. He still shares Ross' smug sense of superiority, and is all-too-willing to coldly murder those he does consider to be a lost cause.
• Dastardly Dapper Derby: Well-dressed, with a nice suit and bowler hat, and a rather nasty man.
• Death by Irony: Near the end of the main story, he kidnaps Abigail since she runs with the Van der Linde gang and falsely accuses her of murder. This leads to her murdering the very agent who accused her of it.
• Disc-One Final Boss: He's the most prominent and persistent threat the Van der Linde gang faces throughout Red Dead Redemption II, but there's still several hours worth of story to complete once he's dead. The ultimate villain and Final Boss is Micah Bell.
• The Dragon: Employed by Leviticus Cornwall, although the two have different reasons for going after the gang.
  • Dragon Ascendant: He officially takes the reigns as main villain once Cornwall is killed. His own dragon, Edgar Ross, becomes this following Milton's death, becoming the Big Bad of the original Red Dead Redemption.
  • Dragon-in-Chief: Though under Cornwall's employ, he's still the greater threat as he has the weapons and Pinkerton agents needed to pose a consistent threat to the Van der Linde gang.
  • Dragon Their Feet: Dutch kills Cornwall without going through Milton first. Interestingly, Milton had just met with Cornwall, and Dutch only attacked after Milton had left. Had he done so sooner, he and Arthur probably would've been able to do away with him, though killing Cornwall was not part of the plan, at least as Arthur knew it.
  • Dragon with an Agenda: Cornwall's the one signing Milton's paycheck and ordering him to take down the Van der Linde gang, but Cornwall's only interested in protecting his own interests. Milton, on the other hand, is trying to bring civilization to the entire United States by hunting down people he sees as "savages" like Dutch and his crew.
  • It's Personal with the Dragon: Cornwall may be signing his paychecks, but he's only someone the Van der Linde gang is ripping off through their heists. Milton is the one with a personal connection to the gang, since he's been pursuing them throughout the game, personally murdered Hosea Matthews and had his men murder Lenny Summers, turned Micah into the rat, and abducted Abigail Roberts to lure the gang to him.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • When Milton first tracks down the Van der Linde gang at Clemens Point, even though they have him outgunned and outnumbered, he walks into their camp and offers to let all other members of the gang go free with a three day head-start if Dutch surrenders. When Dutch asks why Milton would do such a thing, Milton says he "[doesn't] want to kill all these people, Dutch. Just you." He becomes more petty and spiteful in later dealings with the gang, but that's only because his original offer of mercy was rejected.
  • Leviticus Cornwall is employing him to hunt down the Van der Linde gang, but when Cornwall demands results, Milton responds by saying they're doing everything the law allows them to do. Though he's working for someone else, the exchange confirms Milton does believe in law and order, unlike Cornwall who believes he can do whatever he wants because he's rich.
• Faux Affably Evil: He's professionally cordial with the Van Der Linde gang most of the time, but in the end he is still willing to go to extreme lengths to take down the gang.
• Foil: Milton is basically a Low-to-Mid Honor Arthur if Arthur was a Pinkerton agent. Arthur believes in freedom while Milton believes in society and advancement, and they both do horrible things in the name of their beliefs. Milton would become more unhinged and violent as the game progresses, while Arthur can either go the same route or attempt to abandon the criminal life and do good. They even have the same initials and die in the same mission.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: Similar to John, Milton's face is littered with scars.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Much like Edgar Ross, Milton is a classical example of a man trying to destroy criminals who becomes just as cruel and ruthless as the criminals he's pursuing.
• The Heavy: Several antagonists cause problems for the Van der Linde gang throughout the game, but Milton is the most visible and his actions have the most effect on the plot.
• Hero Antagonist: If it wasn't for his increasingly vicious actions, such as executing a defenseless and pacified Hosea and indiscriminately shooting up the gang's hideout while women and children are still inside, Milton would be a straight example. He started out as just a passionate detective doing his job of hunting down one of the biggest terrorists in the west. He even gave the gang multiple chances to surrender peacefully without anyone aside from Dutch getting hurt or even arrested, only losing his cool when those offers were refused. Certainly a contrast from Ross, a treacherous backstabbing Villain with Good Publicity who did get everything he wanted.
• Hero Killer: Shoots Hosea right in front of the whole gang. His men kill Lenny shortly afterwards. In his first appearance, he also mentions capturing and killing Mac Callander when he was wounded and found outside Blackwater.
• Hired Guns: Even though he has his own motivation for hunting the Van der Linde gang, he's ultimately a gun for hire working for Cornwall.
• Holier Than Thou: Milton sees himself as someone accepting civilization flaws and all and try to uphold order, while he does act on this belief he is actually part of a private army hired by a tycoon to crush people that stole from him.
• Irony: Considers the Van der Linde gang immoral and savage, yet his mole Micah is the embodiment of the very kind of savagery that Milton hates.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: At first, while he is uptight and arrogant, he attempts to be reasonable and offer deals to Dutch's gang members, and during his confrontation with Dutch, promises to let the rest of the gang go if Dutch comes with him peacefully. When his offer is rejected, he goes on increasingly hammier rants and ultimately unleashes an army of Pinkertons on the gang.
• Kick the Dog:
  • After he captures Hosea, he murders him right in front of Dutch out of spite. He doesn't even give him the courtesy of a quick death either, he shoots him in the chest so he can writhe and suffer.
  • When Milton finds the gang hiding out at Lakay he attacks them with a Maxim gun, even though non-combatants and a three-year-old boy are present (though whether he knew they were in the house is unknown). After saying he'll give them to the count of five, Milton decides to screw it and just opens fire immediately.
• Knight Templar: Seems to regard himself as this, believing he's safeguarding civilization from the chaotic likes of the Van Der Linde Gang. He passes on this mentality to Ross. However, given his subservience to an industrialist rather than the government and his clear enjoyment in humiliating and killing the Van der Linde gang, this is very much in doubt. Nonetheless, he's at least somewhat more honest in comparison to the Glory Hound that his partner is.
• Large Ham: He's usually quite reserved, but when he tracks down Dutch's gang in the swamps and corners them, he all of a sudden screams a self-righteous speech like some theatrical maniac. It's enough a spectacle to piss Arthur off and make him go on a rampage.
• Last-Name Basis: Barely (if not never) do we ever hear what his first name is.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: When cornering the gang in the swamps, he forgoes his attempts at negotiation and instead proceeds to unleash a gatling gun on them.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: By revealing that Micah and not Molly was the rat, it allowed Arthur to expose Micah's treachery and for John to hunt him down years later.
• Pet the Dog:
  • At some point in between Chapter 4 and 5, Molly was interrogated by the Pinkertons but never reveal anything about her gang. With nothing to gain for her, Milton allowed her to leave unharmed, a far cry to what he did to Mac and Hosea.
  • When confronting Arthur in his final scene, Milton appears to pity Arthur for his tuberculosis and admits that it took scruples to refuse his deal.
• Pinkerton Detective: He's the head of the group of them pursuing the Van der Linde gang.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Milton displays a racist streak during his parley at Clemens Cove. He tells the Van der Linde gang that "savages" like the Native Americans need to be killed off for civilization to progress, then calls Lenny "boy", in reference to the latter's race.
• Posthumous Villain Victory: Despite Abigail killing him so that Arthur could persuade Dutch that Micah is the real traitor, it's to no avail as Dutch doesn't believe him and the Pinkertons and the US Army end up destroying the gang afterwards anyway.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Milton initially attempts to negotiate with the gang peacefully and only wants to arrest Dutch, even offering to let the rest of the gang, including Hosea and the gunmen, go free. While this may, it is also much easier and less dangerous than taking on the gang violently. True enough, the Pinkertons suffer heavy casualties when they do attempt to wipe out the gang.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: Dresses in a black and red suit. His entire face is solid red too since it's just scar tissue at this point.
• Smug Snake: He boasts about how Arthur will die while he'll get to live a long life mere seconds before Abigail blows the idiot's brains out.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Milton serves as one to Edgar Ross. Both are Holier Than Thou men working for the government who are trying to destroy the Van der Linde gang in the name of civilization. In game, Ross actually appears as Milton's right-hand man. Whether Ross always possessed this mentality or picked it up from Milton is unknown given how much Ross remains Out of Focus in game.
• Surprisingly Sudden Death: He's suddenly shot in the head by Abigail using Sadie's revolver while scuffling with Arthur.
• Sympathy for the Hero: Milton, however briefly, appears to pity Arthur when he realises he's sick, comments that he should have taken his deal at the beginning and admits that he has more scruples than Micah.
• Took a Level in Badass: After he and his agents have tried multiple times to take down the Van Der Linde gang and its members, and failed every single time, Milton succeeds in laying a trap for them during the bank heist in Saint Denis. Milton's men manage to kill two of Dutch's gang and capture a third, and put the survivors on the run. The gang bleeds members in the final chapter and completely collapses after Milton's death, granting him a posthumous victory.
• Two First Names: Both "Andrew" and "Milton" can be used as first names.
• Villain Has a Point:
  • If Arthur had taken Milton's offer to turn in Dutch, many of the tragic events of the game could have been prevented. He says this directly to Arthur shortly before his own death, and Arthur even agrees.
  • Overall, despite being a pretty despicable human being, he has an incredibly valid reason to go after the gang so doggedly; not only are they incredibly prolific criminals, responsible for countless deaths, their extreme anti-government views, combined with how destructive their actions are later on in the game, particularly in the final chapter bring the gang closer to a domestic terrorist group, than a simple gang of thieves.
  • Milton is ultimately correct in his characterization of Dutch as a duplicitous, manipulative hypocrite who doesn't care about his men.
  • As condescending as he was, his assessment of how Dutch took Arthur in as an orphan street urchin and groomed him to be a mass murdering monster is not incorrect.
• Would Harm a Senior: He shoots Hosea, an unarmed and sickly old man, to death in front of Dutch's gang solely to spite them.
• Would Hurt a Child: Implied. Despite previously seeing Arthur take Jack fishing, he has his agents fire a Maxim gun on their hideout where Jack could very well be present.
• Would You Like to Hear How They Died?: He taunts Arthur by telling him how he and his men found Mac Callander then tortured him to death.

Colm O'Driscoll

Colm O'Driscoll

"Oh, I like that. It's like I said, this is a charismatic leader."

Voiced by: Andrew Berg

A sociopathic outlaw who used to be a partner of Dutch.

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• Arch-Enemy: To Dutch. They've been enemies for a long time ever since Dutch killed Colm's brother and Colm killed a woman Dutch loved in revenge.
• Angst? What Angst?: In-universe. Despite his brother's death seeming to have started his and Dutch's rivalry, he admits that, in contrast to Dutch's love for Annabelle, he never really liked his brother, nor was that torn up about his death, implying he used "vengeance" as an excuse to kill the woman Dutch loved most.
• Animal Motifs: Snakes, befitting his slimy and treacherous nature. Tellingly, his hat has a band made of snakeskin.
• Asshole Victim: It's hard not to be grinning when his smug, sleazy, psycho exterior is shattered by the impending realization that he is going to hang, and you're the reason why.
• Ax-Crazy: A psychopathic outlaw who gleefully commits Rape, Pillage, and Burn. He also killed Kieran in an extremely brutal way. Even when we know him, he sounds pretty manic.
• Bad Boss: In contrast to Dutch, Colm sees his men as expendable Cannon Fodder, and when he loses a bunch, he just hires on more scum from somewhere else. Kieran defects to the Van Der Linde Gang because he knows that coerced or not, Colm will brutally kill him for failing regardless. Sadly, he's proven right.
• Big Bad Ensemble: With Andrew Milton, Leviticus Cornwall and Micah Bell.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Even though he's the Van der Linde gang's main rival, he barely makes a footnote in the story. He gets captured offscreen to hang, and isn't even dignified with a standoff with his rival gang.
• Bound and Gagged: During the hanging, Colm, already bound with ropes, starts giving off some last words that he has been a bad man and is starting to say something else about the charges when he is silenced with a gag by the hangman. Arthur and his team have made sure that Colm won't be rescued this time.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Unlike most of the other antagonists Dutch's gang face, Colm doesn't pretend to be anything other than a remorseless killer. He has a very matter-of-fact way of confronting his crimes during his hanging, knowing that he has an escape plan. His defiance immediately crumbles when he realizes said plan has been thwarted.
• Dirty Coward: Unlike Dutch, who occasionally participates in shootouts with his gang, Colm prefers to leave the problem to his men and never participate in a shootout. In fact, on one occasion he let his men die in Six Point Cabin while he escaped. He also acts cocky when he thinks his men will rescue him from his execution, only to panic when Dutch, Arthur and Sadie kill them all to make sure he is executed.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
  • Subverted. His feud with Dutch may have started with the death of his brother, but it's obvious that he did not care for his brother, going so far as to admit that he never liked him very much.
  • Played straighter with his second-in-command Tom, whom he regards as a brother-in-arms. He writes him a very personal letter confiding in him about his personal mistakes and regrets, and overall is the only person with whom we've seen him allow himself to be vulnerable.
• Evil Gloating: Indulges in a good bit of this when he takes Arthur prisoner, in between beating him for fun.
• Evil Old Folks: His exact age is never given, but his grey hair and wrinkles would place him in his fifties at youngest.
• Face Death with Despair: Upon seeing that his escape plan from the gallows has been foiled by Dutch and his gang, Colm spends his last few moments quietly panicking about his immediate demise.
• Foil: In terms of characterization, Colm serves as a early antagonist foreshadowing Micah's evolution into the Big Bad of the entire story. Basically, he's everything Micah wants to achieve and aspires to become as a leader, since both are terrible leaders and chaotic maniacs. In the epilogue, however, Micah has become as bad, if not worse than Colm.
• Hate Sink: Nothing is pleasant about the guy except the sight of what was coming to him.
• Hidden Depths: His letter to his second-in-command Tom shows that his time in prison had allowed him to think about his life decisions, some of which he allegedly regrets, some of which he doesn't.
• It's Personal:
  • While the feud is primarily between Dutch and Colm, Kieran's cruel death earns Colm Arthur's hatred.
  • Sadie Adler also has business with Colm, since his gang was responsible for the death of her husband, even thought the two never personally met.
  • Dutch and Colm's feud is an odd one. Despite starting over something reasonable (Dutch got Colm's brother killed), Colm doesn't appear torn up about it, killing Dutch's lover Annabelle, not out of spite, but simply because he's a sadist - so from Dutch's end, it's incredibly personal, but for Colm, it's not really an emotional matter at all.
• Jerkass: Even if he wasn't a wanton, merciless murderer with a penchant for torture and mutilation, his generally smug, insulting attitude makes him utterly unlikable.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: He was sentenced to hang twice in the past, but managed to escape the noose each time. The third time proves to be the charm, especially when Arthur, Dutch and Sadie are around to ensure his boys won't be able to help him get free.
• Mood Whiplash: Once he realizes that no one is coming to save him, he turns from confident and self-assured to outright panicking at his imminent death.
• Oh, Crap!: Gets an absolutely epic dose of this when he realizes that his plot to have his underlings bust him out from his hanging has been foiled by Dutch, Sadie, and Arthur. Bonus points for doing so completely silently (he's already been gagged by the hangman). His bearing goes from cocky and unconcerned to terrified in less than a minute.
• Out of Focus: Despite the O'Driscolls being prominent thorns in the Van der Linde's sides, Colm doesn't appear much. Somewhat justified - Arthur mentions that it was always Dutch's fight and while he enjoyed easing the son of a bitch's passage to hell, he ultimately didn't care that much.
• Pretentious Pronunciation: Inverted. Sean MacGuire and a few of his own gang with thicker accents pronounce his name the old Irish way ("Colom", said as "/ˈkæləm/"), but everyone else says it in the flat one-syllable American style ("/kɒlm/"), and Kieran confirms that Colm himself prefers it that way.^note Irish-raised Roger Clark, who himself has a strong accent, has revealed that he tried to suggest Arthur pronounce it traditionally, but was turned down because it didn't fit Morgan's character. The discrepancy would later be referenced in a camp interaction where Sean threatens Kieran for saying it out of fear, and Arthur scoffs, "Col-om? What're you talkin' about?"
• Rape, Pillage, and Burn: His favorite hobby. There doesn't even need to be a profit at stake, he just enjoys being an out-and-out bastard.
• Sadist: He is ruthless, violent, and tends to commit brutal acts for pure enjoyment.
• Shadow Archetype: Colm O'Driscoll is ultimately the embodiment of what Dutch outwardly expresses hatred of becoming; ruthless, prone to violence and ultimately looks out for himself over his own men. By Chapter 6, Dutch's Sanity Slippage makes him act very much like Colm in almost every aspect.
• Smug Snake: Right before his hanging, he laughs and mocks the charges against them, convinced that his gang members will save him. Once he realises that no one will come to save him, his smugness turns to horror.
• The Sociopath: He's completely incapable of feeling any kind of remorse and only cares about satisfying his own twisted desires.
• Undignified Death: As he's shoved onto the scaffold, he jeers at the charges against him, not knowing he's just wasted his last words, and is forcibly gagged by the attendants. He looks down into the crowd to see Sadie and Dutch holding his men back at weapon-point; realizing something's wrong, he looks up, only to see Arthur mockingly waving at him in place of the sniper he installed to shoot down the noose. He begins hyperventilating in silent panic as the reality of the situation sets in, just before he's dropped — and although his spine breaks, it takes a few moments for him to asphyxiate. Contrary to the daring rescue he'd planned to fit his legend, Colm O'Driscoll was humiliated and hung by the neck until dead like a common horse-thief.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: It appears that Thomas Downes isn't the only one with his spread of tuberculosis to Arthur. Although his TB has a latency period that would have stayed for years, it's during Chapter 3 that Colm must have picked an opportunity to hasten the TB progression into active infection by having his boys knock out and shoot Arthur, and then kidnap and torture him and deny him food and water for days, which, when combined with his smoking and alcoholism, are high risk factors for TB progression; which (unbeknownst to Colm and his boys) could eventually end up sending the high-honor Arthur to the big ranch in the sky. As Austin Hourigan of Game Theory puts it:
  Austin Hourigan: "Being shot with a gun and not being properly fed for days means [Arthur's] going to be suffering from physical trauma and malnutrition, both of which increase the likelihood that his tuberculosis will progress. [...] It's here, at this moment, that Arthur Morgan's fate is solidified; and it's telling that the first real cough that you see from him is after this point in the game. [...] If he wasn't living a risky life of constant violence with no time to rest at all, it's possible he could have recovered from his infection, or possibly not even progressed into active tuberculosis at all."
• Villainous Breakdown: When he realizes that his plan to escape his execution has failed, he is left panicking until his death.
• We Used to Be Friends: He and Dutch used to ride together, until their partnership was dissolved by Dutch killing Colm's brother. Colm responded by murdering Dutch's lover, Annabelle. Afterwards, not a trace of any old friendship is visible, both men consumed with hatred for the other.

Leviticus Cornwall

Leviticus Cornwall

"You don't know me but you keep robbing me!"

Voiced by: John Rue

A rich businessman and industrialist whose many businesses are constantly targeted by the Van Der Linde gang. He hires the Pinkerton National Detective Agency to either capture or kill the outlaws.

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• 0% Approval Rating: A truly loathsome, narcissistic man who only cares for continuous profit and expansion over human life, Cornwall has a absymal reputation among his employees and the American public, in spite of what the newspapers say. No one mourns when Dutch guns him down; the only disappointment is that his wealth continues to be used after his death to fund the Pinkertons pursuing the Gang. His businesses are even renamed after their acquisition, denying him a lasting monument.
• Asshole Victim: He gets gunned down by Dutch without a second thought. Despite the obvious repercussions his death brings to the gang, nobody ever argues that he didn't deserve what he got.
• Bald of Evil: An evil old man who's losing his hair.
• Bad Boss: Cornwall only cares for himself and gaining wealth, while the rights of his workers come dead last. This is best shown when arguing with Didsbury, a union rep, about the strikers' terms — in no uncertain language, he not only lays out his contempt for those in his employ, but implies that he thinks paying them better and treating them properly will be detrimental to their work ethic.
  Didsbury: It's the wages. Folk feel that you-
  Cornwall: "Folk feel"?! Business doesn't give two figs about feelings, sir! Not two figs! It's a nonsense that will bring a plague on both of our houses...
• Big Bad Ensemble: With Colm O'Driscoll, Andrew Milton and Micah Bell.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: When Dutch shows himself in Cornwall's final mission. Instead of having him shot on sight, Cornwall simply stands there and listens to his speech rather than trying to find cover and order his men to kill him. Then when Dutch tells him to either hand his boat over or die, he simply stands there and laughs at him while gloating.
• Corrupt Corporate Executive: A classic Robber Baron of The Gilded Age, concerned solely with his own power and profit, more than willing to intimidate, blackmail, and murder to achieve both.
• Disc-One Final Boss: He's a major threat to the Van Der Linde gang for most of the game, but he's quickly killed near the beginning of Chapter 6 with other, more dangerous opponents to take on.
• Evil Old Folks: An elderly businessman whose sugar business is destroying the people of Guarma and who's forcing Native Americans off their land so he can drill for oil.
• Fatal Flaw: Wrath, greed, and contemptuous pride. Cornwall's personal will to see the Van der Linde Gang wiped off the face of the earth — not just for robbing his train and killing his armed guards, but also stealing an oil wagon ("you don't know me but you keep robbing me!") — drives the outlaws across three states, setting in motion a chain of events that worsen Dutch's mental state and turn him into a chaotic madman. Seeking prospective oil reserves under tribal lands makes him an enemy of the Wapiti people, and gives Dutch a guerrilla force of angry young braves to help him wage war. Most damning, Cornwall is so certain of his own superiority and righteousness that he has an inability to take Dutch's threats seriously despite knowing how dangerous he is; when his own assassin confronts him, he listens to the man's ravings and insults him to his face.
• Faux Affably Evil: He's a horrible piece of trash, but when he finally meets the man he's been hunting for months, Cornwall feigns being unwaveringly well-mannered to his nemesis. It's clear, however, that he has nothing but contempt for Dutch.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Cornwall is a looming threat throughout much of the game. Dutch targets a lot of his businesses and, in return, Cornwall gives financial backing to the Pinkertons to eliminate the Van der Linde gang. As a very powerful businessman, he presides over a massive influence that comprises most of the major antagonists, including Agent Milton and Edgar Ross. In other words, it's the Pinkertons and the people working for him that cause trouble for the Van der Linde gang. However, Agent Milton is a much more active threat, and Dutch guns Cornwall down without fanfare during their only face-to-face encounter.
• Hates Everyone Equally: Arguably, it's probably the only positive trait he has on him. While the idea of him being a Politically Incorrect Villain is not far-fetched given the time period - he made a deal with Colonel Favours to drive the Wapiti people off their tribal lands in order to dig for prospective oil reserves - at his core, Cornwall cares for no one other than himself and serving his own interests and is a complete Jerkass to even those working under him. According to Dutch, however, who makes a "Not So Different" Remark, this somehow makes Cornwall Eviler than Thou since "[Dutch] at least choose whom [he] kill and rob" while "[Cornwall] destroy everything in [his] path". Of course, this claim rings hollow due to Dutch, whose also equally narcissistic and at that point, undergoing a SanitySlippage who would ultimately do the same thing he vilify Cornwall for.
• Hate Sink: In both of his appearances, he is seen as a despicable human being who sees himself as above the law due to his immense wealth. When Dutch guns him down, nobody sheds any tears for him.
• Hypocrite: Cornwall chastises Dutch for robbing his businesses and thinking that he can do whatever he wants behind the law. Dutch calls him out on this when he states that he robs his workers and kills people as well in favor of getting progress done and thinking he can do whatever he wants just because he's rich. When getting called out on the latter part, he has the gall to claim that he did no such thing.
  • Even before their confrontation, Cornwall states that "business doesn't give two figs about feelings and how it's a nonsense that would bring a plague", yet his entire beef with the Van der Linde Gang, and anyone who crosses him, are pretty much a logical fallacy and unsurprisingly, led to his downfall.
• Hypocrite Has a Point: As detailed under Villain Has a Point below, he's not wrong in that Dutch robbed him first. However, given what a robber baron Cornwall consistently proves himself to be, he has absolutely no moral high ground on the matter.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Greatly resembles his voice actor, albeit with facial hair.
• Jerkass: He treats his hired gun, Agent Milton, like trash for failing to deal with the Van Der Linde gang, acts like he's above the law because of his wealth, dismisses the needs of his workers, and treats Dutch with contempt when they meet face-to-face.
• Lack of Empathy: "Folk feel? Business doesn't give two figs about feelings, sir. Not two figs. It's a nonsense that would bring a plague on both our houses..."
• Narcissist: Narcissism is his main characteristic as he doesn't care about anyone or their well-being just as long as he gets progress done. This caused him to earn a 0% Approval Rating and have his businesses easily taken over by other people after his death.
• No Historical Figures Were Harmed: Though Cornwall's general demeanor is an amalgam of multiple robber barons of the Gilded Age — Rockefeller, Carnegie, Vanderbilt, and Frick, to name a few — his vendetta against the Van der Linde Gang for robbing his train, and using the Pinkertons as his own private army to hunt them down, is directly inspired by railway monopolist E.H. Harriman. Harriman, though more philanthropic, was a ruthless businessman in his own right (once quoted as saying, "cooperation means 'do as I say and do it damned quick'"); after Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch robbed a Union Pacific passenger train going through Wyoming in 1899, the then-executive chair of UP independently financed Pinkerton investigators like Charlie Siringo to aid the manhunt.
• Posthumous Villain Victory: Dutch killing him does nothing to stop the Pinkertons. Instead they become more aggressive and end up causing the disbandment of the gang, which Cornwall wanted (although he wanted to get Dutch punished, so he doesn't get that).
• Railroad Baron: Cornwall is a robber baron with businesses connected to railroads, oil, and sugar.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: His moral outlook seems to be "wealth equals right", and since he's the richest man around, everything he does is therefore above reproach.
  Cornwall: The law? I think we both know what you can do with your LAWS! Find me Dutch Van Der Linde! Bring him here, and leave the laws to them as need them!
• Smug Snake: He's a greedy, callous, arrogant man who believes that his wealth and connections make him untouchable. When Dutch offers him mercy in exchange for money and safe passage for his gang, Cornwall laughs in his face. He's immediately killed for his trouble.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • Although Dutch shot him, his death doesn't immediately stop all of the other threats that the main characters are all still facing. Not to mention, as much of a Jerkass he was and as much as he definitely had it coming, he was nevertheless still a well-known businessman with very good PR, and killing him just makes the Pinkertons even more determined to hunt the gang down, especially since Cornwall provided much of their funding. Never mind the fact of Cornwall being such a high-profile person in the corporate world would definitely make any form of government take the perpetrator with the utmost seriousness and have them on a nation-level watchlist.
  • Similarly, giant conglomerates don't rest on the shoulders of a single man alone, and killing Cornwall ultimately doesn't stop the damage that his empire has caused; by 1907, many of his worldly holdings, such as his freight and rail companies, have been purchased and restructured, and continue as usual with the oversight of his former subordinates and the banker/industrialist J.D. McKnight. At the very least, the only business that does remain shuttered is the Kerosene & Tar oil refinery in the Heartlands, which was destroyed beyond salvage in 1899.
• Too Dumb to Live: Despite the fact he was backed up by a handful of armed guards, he really should have known better than to laugh at Dutch's offer to let him live.
• The Unfettered: As Dutch puts it best, Cornwall destroys everything in his path if it means progress and accumulating wealth.
• Villain Has a Point: As much as Cornwall had it coming to him for his cutthroat business practices, he's not "technically" wrong that Dutch robbed him first, which is why he hired the Pinkertons to arrest him in the first place.
• Villain with Good Publicity: No one who's actually met the man could possibly think he's a good person, he's ruthless, abusive, greedy, and rude to almost everyone, but as one of the wealthiest tycoons of the Gilded Age, the government and media portray him as a great philanthropist and a bastion of (Western) civilization. His death is portrayed as a great tragedy and loss for America by the newspapers.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: He only appears in two cutscenes before his untimely death at the hands of Dutch.

Chapter 3 villains

Catherine Braithwaite

Catherine Braithwaite

"I ain't in the market for what's already mine."

Voiced by: Ellen Harvey

Matriarch of the Braithwaite family.

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• Arc Villainess: She is the main villain of Chapter 3 during the gang's time in Rhodes.
• Asshole Victim: Dutch views her as such given she's a former slaver. Jerkass Has a Point and she continues to menace the town with her criminal activities.
• By the Hair: Dutch grabs her by the hair and drags her out of her burning manor.
• Cool Old Lady: Comes off as this when you first meet her, being sassy, sharp and dominating her sons. It doesn't last.
• The Con: Dutch and Hosea plan on Playing Both Sides of her family's conflict with the Gray family, in order to rob them blind. Unfortunately for the Van der Linde gang, both she and the Gray family end up seeing through the ruse.
• Dead Person On Display: After completing "Blood Feuds, Ancient and Modern", Arthur can return to her mansion and loot her charred corpse. Apparently, nobody in the estate thought of burying her, even the guards and farmers outside the burnt manor.
• Driven to Suicide: She would rather stagger back into her family's burning mansion and burn with it, rather than live with the disgrace.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Nasty piece of work that she is, she genuinely loves her sons. After Arthur kills them both, her demeanor changes from haughty defiance to hysteria.
• Evil Is Petty: Why did she kidnap a toddler and traffic him off to The Mafia? Because the Van der Lindes stole her Moonshine and horses.
• Evil Matriarch: The queen of the Braithwraite Manor, and is shown to be extremely petty and ruthless.
• Evil Old Folks: Looks to be in her 60's, which means she was in her prime back when slavery was a thing.
• Feuding Families: The Braithwaites and the Gray Families have been enemies for generations, the feud originally starting over gold or women supposedly. Hosea's plan to con them involves playing them both against each other. Unfortunately, both families are observant enough to connect the recent tragedies befalling them to the new outlaws in their lives.
• Hysterical Woman: When she's cornered by Dutch and sees her dead sons, she's left shrieking and sobbing at the top of her lungs as Dutch drags her out of the mansion by her hair.
• Impoverished Patrician: The family used to be local nobility, but are now reduced to running a moonshine ring and horse breeding to keep the lights on. Justified because of the Civil War.^note Even old slaveholding families like the Braithwaites and Grays that didn't have their acreage redistributed were still wiped out financially in Reconstruction because most failed to diversify their holdings beyond slavery-dependent businesses, and the exploitative sharecropping industry still failed to recoup many families' losses.
• Kick the Dog: It's revealed that she had her own daughter, Gertrude, locked up in a wooden shack not far from the manor because she's severely mentally unstable and physically deformed. Revisiting the shack in the epilogue shows that Gertrude was left to die, presumably of dehydration or starvation.
• Kissing Cousins: Considering she is the mother of inbred sons and a daughter, it's possible her husband was also her cousin, though nothing is ever mentioned on her husband.
• Leave Behind a Pistol: A variation. After taking everything away from her in a blaze, Dutch's gang leaves her at the steps of her burning mansion and let her run back into the inferno to kill herself.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: She sells moonshine to the Lemoyne Raiders, and it's heavily implied that her relationship is a bit more than just business. For one, one of the Grays says that the Braithwaite family used to be rich until "a change in the labor laws", and when the Van der Linde gang is burning down her mansion, she's cursing out the "Yankees" as part of her Villainous Breakdown.
• Too Dumb to Live: Despite the Van der Linde gang stealing her families moonshine and horses, she thought it was a good idea to kidnap Jack as retribution who had nothing to do with the gangs actions which led to not only her death but her entire family, except for Penelope.
• Underestimating Badassery: Kidnapping Jack was a stupid, stupid idea; her attempt at petty revenge leads Dutch's gang to storm her home, kill all her sons, and burn her mansion to the ground.
• Villainous Breakdown: After Arthur kills both of her bastard sons, she starts sobbing uncontrollably. Then when Dutch and his gang set her house on fire, and drag her limp old body out of it, she's reduced to shrieking intermittently between Angrish and pathetic attempts at ordering Dutch to put her down.
• Would Hurt a Child: A variation, in that she'd happily kidnap one and pass him along to Angelo Bronte, all to get back at Dutch's gang for stealing her moonshine and horses. She defends her actions by saying there are no rules in war.

Leigh Gray

Leigh Gray

Voiced by: Tim McGeever

A member of the Gray Family and the Sheriff of Rhodes.

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• The Alcoholic: Leigh spends most of his screen-time drunk off his ass.
• Ambiguously Evil: While grossly incompetent and sort of a dick, whether he is corrupt is unknown, as is whether he had any involvement in or knowledge of Tavish's Braithwaite horse heist. And he is technically in the right to attack and kill members of a dangerous gang.
• Boom, Headshot!: Arthur kills him this way in Dead Eye after Leigh takes Bill Williamson hostage.
• Combat Pragmatist: Luring the gang's top gunmen out with promise for work and then ambushing and killing one of them is not fair play, but considering that they have manipulated him and killed his men and that they aren't likely to surrender if confronted, isn't too unreasonable.
• The Con: Leigh and Catherine Braithwaite are targeted by the Van der Linde gang, who intend on Playing Both Sides. Unfortunately, both sides end up seeing through the ruse before it can come to fruition, making both sides enemies of the gang.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: At first he just seems like a drunken, oafish buffoon who's an easy mark for the Van der Linde gang. However, he's the one who arranges the ambush that results in Sean's death, and he even manages to take Bill Williamson hostage before Arthur kills him.
• The Dragon: He acts as one to his father, Tavish Gray.
• Feuding Families: His family, the Grays, have been feuding with the Braithwaites, for generations.
• Underestimating Badassery: Both ways. The Van der Linde gang doesn't think he'll pick up on the fact that they've attacked his family's tobacco fields and caused trouble at their saloon. Leigh stages an ambush against what is a group of four of the most deadly killers in the Wild West. He still gets Sean.
• Villainy-Free Villain: A dimwitted Sheriff who probably couldn’t care less about doing his job, he doesn’t appear to abuse his power or do anything a Sheriff wouldn’t, and his worst deed is having a gang member shot.

Tavish Gray

Tavish Gray

The leader of the Gray family.

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• Asshole Victim: Dutch views him as such given he's a former slaver. Jerkass Has a Point as he's continuing to live like one on criminal activities.
• Driven to Suicide: His body is found next to a letter which claims that the Gray family isn't nearly as honorable as Tavish had thought it was. The implication is that Gray learned of his family's dishonor and shot himself.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: The discovery that his ancestor Ross Gray was a British loyalist and not a Jacobite was the straw that broke the camel's back; even more shameful, the Braithwaites themselves were once of wealthy English stock, making Ross not just a traitor to Scotland in Tavish's eyes, but no better than his most hated rivals.
• History Repeats: Possibly what happened with his "Jacobite" ancestor, if scuttlebutt about Tavish's past spying for the Union is to be believed.
• Hypocrite: Talks a big game about honor, but says you'll get $5000 dollars for stealing the Braithwaite's horses when you don't even get a thousand.
• Impoverished Patrician: Downplayed. He mentions that the family still "[hasn't] recovered as much as I'd hoped from the War", but they're still in a better place financially than the Braithwaites — controlling the "Rhodes Parlour House" saloon means that he profits off every vistor to town that wants to gamble, drink or stay the night, and having Leigh as Sheriff means that he's able to restrict the Lemoyne Raiders' moonshine runs a bit, if not outright oppose them.
• Life's Work Ruined: By the time he receives his note about his family history, one son has already fled with the daughter of his traditional enemies, his tobacco crop is burned to ashes, and most of his men are dead along with his other son. This is after surviving the destruction of the Confederacy.
• Playing Both Sides: If you believe a local veteran, he fed information to the Union during the Civil War.
• Small-Town Tyrant: The head of the Gray family that is as crooked as the Braithwaites.

Chapter 4 villains

Angelo Bronte

Angelo Bronte

"You twist words. You lie shamelessly. You think you are better than everyone else... [In Italian] I love you. GIVE THESE MEN DRINKS!"

Voiced by: Jim Pirri

A wealthy Italian businessman and mob boss who has a large influence in Saint Denis.

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• Arc Villain: The main antagonist of Chapter 4, where the gang goes to Saint Denis.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: After the gang massacres his men, he's reduced to pathetically attempting to apologize and bribe John before getting knocked out.
• Bait the Dog: Zigzagged in his first appearance. He's a mafioso who took Jack hostage as a favor to a business associate and when he meets Dutch, Arthur and John he acts needlessly hostile to them. Then he laughs at something Dutch says, tells them he likes them and returns his hostage, who he treated quite well. It looks like he might be at least Affably Evil, but not long after he reveals his true colors as a bigoted Jerkass who sets up Dutch's gang to die for no real reason.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Two at the party, showing just how different his value system is as a mob boss.
  • He sniffs at Hobart Crawley, a Confederate war major, showing up with his younger wife, as if this alone means that Saint Denis shouldn't treat him as "a big hero". He goes on to explain that it's "the natural order of things" for an old man to have a wife his own age instead, and to keep a young mistress.
  • Upon spotting Hector Fellowes, "the self-righteous newspaperman", in the crowd, he casually remarks, "maybe you will kill him for me one day, eh?" Dutch is shown to be uncomfortable with the idea, which Bronte takes as him questioning their partnership, not understanding that maybe a hired gun would still object to murdering an innocent man.
    Dutch: Well, we're not paid killers as such — not in cold blood, anyway.
    Bronte: I did not know you were so particular that, eh, you wouldn't help a friend.
    Dutch: Oh, I'm willin' to help in any way I can, uh... within reason.
    Bronte: [Nonplussed] I'm... going to pretend I understand what that means.
• Broken Pedestal: During their first encounter, Dutch seems to respect Bronte because he's the sort of person Dutch aspires to be. But his opinion of Bronte quickly sours upon seeing the man's snobbish attitude at the mayor's ball, especially towards Dutch himself, and even more so when Bronte threw the gang under the bus.
• Bullying a Dragon: Even as he's chartered away by Dutch, he still has the audacity to mock him. Too bad it gets him killed.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Seems to be fully aware of how much of a slimy, arrogant piece of shit he is and loves it.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Dutch drowns Bronte in the swamp before proceeding to feed his corpse to a nearby alligator.
• Defiant to the End: Subverted. While he has some very harsh words for Dutch right before he dies, his insults are clearly an attempt to maintain his usual bravado rather than admit he's beaten and helpless, and he keeps trying to bribe the rest of the gang into setting him free. Moments before, when he's cornered and out of ammo, he offers to pay John and pleads "I surrender!" just as he's knocked out. After his attempt to turn the rest to his side fails, he stammers "they are even bigger fools than you!" with genuine fear in his voice, knowing now that he's completely screwed.
• The Don: The word "mafia" is never said outright and Bronte doesn't have the traditional structure of a Mafia family working under him, but his characterization is spot on. Truth in Television, since in 1899 the criminal secret societies of the Italian peninsula hadn't really gained a solid foothold in America.^note Despite Bronte being a traditionally Sicilian name, it's also possible that Angelo might not be leader of a Cosa Nostra mob; since the 'Ndrangheta only formed in the 1890s in Calabria, it would likely be a Camorra clan, which has a centralized power structure dependent on a single boss.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Despite his attitude and behavior to Dutch and the gang, his connections with the Mafia and the Braithwaite family, when he finds himself caring for Jack Marston, he dotes on the boy as if he were his own son — teaching him Italian and introducing him to Italian cuisine. Bronte is also disgusted by the behaviors of the immoral political figures he rubs shoulders with, repeatedly calling them scum and outright admitting they only work with him out of fear or for his money.
  • He seems to treat children well in general, as several of the street urchins in Saint Denis remark on how he's helped them out.
  • It’s also implied that he despises grave robbers, which is one of the possible reasons why he sends John and Arthur to get rid of them so they can have Jack back.
  • He’s disgusted by Hobert Crawley’s marital relationship with a very young woman — though, in his view, an older man having a younger woman as a mistress is the natural thing to do, while a young wife is just unseemly.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good:
  • After he suggests killing Hector Fellowes to Dutch, he's surprised to see him balk, not expecting that an outlaw would have a code beyond just protecting his own interests.
  • When he's captured by Dutch's gang, he tries to bribe them into killing Dutch and setting him free. It never occurs to him that Dutch's men care more about loyalty than money.
• Evil Is Petty: Obviously, there was definite conflict between him and Dutch's gang over Jack and the fact that the gang destroyed his liquor business by burying the Braithwaites six feet under, but generally, if he'd just set aside his pettiness, and not betrayed them, he'd probably come out on top, keeping both his life, as well as a gang full of the best gunmen to do his dirty work for him.
• Faux Affably Evil: Bronte is initially hostile to Dutch on their first meeting before shortly becoming friendly with him. He even took care of Jack Marston and taught him some Italian. However, even when he's being polite, his voice carries a sense of haughtiness and condescension when in Dutch's company.
• Fed to the Beast: Dutch throws Bronte's body into the swamp to be eaten by an alligator.
• For the Evulz: At least Braithwaite had a (pathetically petty) reason to betray the Van der Lindes. Bronte had literally zero reason whatsoever.
• Foil: Bronte is pretty much what Dutch imagined himself becoming after he finally got enough money to become rich and powerful. However, actually meeting Bronte disgusts Dutch as he treats his men like trash and lords over people like a petty king. According to his voice actor, Dutch starts his Sanity Slippage here.
• Frame-Up: Tells Dutch and the gang that they can rob the cash-filled trolley station with his blessing, but the station is actually almost empty of money and Bronte ordered the Police Chief to have men waiting for them.
• Hate Sink: While a tad nicer than most of the nasty pieces of work the game has to offer, he's still an obnoxious snob who's nothing but demeaning to practically everyone around him.
• Hiding Behind the Language Barrier: Since Saint Denis is a city where every wealthy citizen speaks either English or French, and the majority of Italian speakers are dirt-poor immigrants or his own associates, Bronte is able to toss off insulting asides and still appear a genial, cultured host. He gets in some excellent slimy one-liners in "A Gilded Cage".
  Bronte: "Ah! The angry cowboys, you arrive! And you've washed!" [To his goons] "<For the first time this month, no doubt.>"
  [Looking down on his party guests] "All these vulgar people... they hate me." [Joyously, waving from the balcony] "<I look forward to watching you die!>"
  [Bidding the Gang goodbye] "Good day, gentlemen! <Okay, boys, bring out the good wine.>"
• I Own This Town: He really does, as does his successor in the epilogue. The Mayor, the police, the courts, most of the major businesses, they all answer to him. He either bribes them into cooperation or, as the newspapers reveal, has troublesome officials assassinated. Unfortunately, this leaves him at a loss when dealing with criminals who operate outside civilized society, such as the Van Der Lindes.
• Jerkass: Spends most of his time insulting and demeaning Dutch and the others as primitive bumpkins, switching to Italian when he wants to really mock them to his men. His general attitude means he comes off as obnoxious, condescending, arrogant to the extreme and just plain annoying no matter what.
• Out Of Context Villain: Serves as this in-universe for the Van Der Linde gang, especially Dutch, as Bronte is a precursor to the mobster families that will go on to dominate the criminal world for most of the 20th century, while the Old West outlaw that Dutch represents is quickly going extinct.
• Pet the Dog: When four-year-old Jack Marston was his hostage, Bronte treated him very well, teaching him Italian words and introducing him to Italian cuisine.
  • He also keeps his word that he’d return Jack after Arthur and John did him a favor.
• Politically Incorrect Villain:
  • Bronte is shown repeatedly to be bigoted against working class Irish and Anglo-Saxon Americans. It's part of what contributes to his betrayal of Dutch's gang as they're just street trash to him.
  • During the party, he calls the Native Americans attending 'redskins' as a racial slur and explicitly states he feels no sympathy for their plight.
    Bronte: "I have no sympathy for them, because whoever is stupid enough to be tricked by the Americans — they get what they deserve, huh?"
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: After being captured by Dutch, Bronte scornfully derides him and his gang as "nothing" compare to him running all of Saint Denis. However, his words only infuriate Dutch further, leading him to drown Bronte and throw his corpse overboard into the swamp as a meal for a nearby alligator.
  Bronte: You are nothing. You do nothing. You mean nothing. You stand for nothing. Me? I run a city...and when the law catches up you...you will die like nothing. I am this country. You... you... you are what people are running from.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Bronte has many connections to highly ranked officials in Saint Denis which pretty much makes him the de facto ruler of the city.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: His wealth enables Bronte to control the city, but unfortunately for him, it can't save his life when he fails miserably to bribe Dutch's gang to free him and kill their leader because Bronte assumed that the gang are no different from any common, greedy criminal, and didn't take into account the possibility that the Van Der Linde gang members are very loyal to their leader.
• Smug Snake: He thinks high-and-mighty of himself, yet when he's cornered by Arthur and John, he folds like a wet paper towel.
• Stupid Evil: What ultimately screwed Bronte over was betraying Dutch, because simply in Arthur's words, "he thinks he's the king around here". He could have let Dutch and his gang be, as the Van der Lindes weren't causing him any trouble, but sold them out For the Evulz.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • Much like Devin Weston, he believes his vast wealth means he can get people to do anything he wants; all he has to do is name the right figure. Also similar to Weston, he finds out that all the money in the world is worthless when offered to men who are devoted to ideals other than money.
  • Beforehand, his men also discover that intimidating local businessmen and murdering the odd policeman does not mean you're capable of going toe-to-toe with seasoned, skilled, heavily-armed outlaws who have survived dozens of gunfights over the years.
  • His death is another case. Murdering an influential man such as Bronte by storming his mansion, guns blazing, is bound to bring the law down on the gang. When the bank heist goes south, John points out that they shouldn't have gone after Bronte.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: To make sure that Bronte isn’t playing dead after being drowned, Dutch dumps him into a gator-infested swamp for good measure.
• Throw-Away Guns: A variation. When cornered by Arthur and Marston, Bronte tries to fire a pistol but forgot to load it. He then chucks it at Marston, hitting him in the head. Naturally, this just makes Marston angrier.
• Too Dumb to Live: Despite knowing that screwing over the Van der Lindes was what got his business partner killed and pretty much ended her bloodline, he still opts to betray Dutch.
  • Then, when he’s finally cornered by the gang and realises his gun's jammed, he decides to throw his gun at John Marston and this results in him getting knocked out. Maybe his attempts at surrender would have been accepted if he had just put his gun down.
  • Then, after the gang have killed his men and kidnapped him, he decides it's a great idea to mouth off en route to his death. It takes Dutch snapping and drowning him as a result to get Bronte to finally shut up.
• Underestimating Badassery: Bronte's thugs are not hardened killers who have been living on the trails and acting as guerilla fighters for decades. His inability to comprehend that the gang's members individually have body counts in the dozens (at the very least) leads to his death.
• Villain Has a Point: Just before Dutch drowns him, Bronte rants about how people like Dutch^note Outlaws mean nothing in the grand scheme of things, as society's fear of their violence and lawlessness is driving the world into civilization and industrialization; people like Bronte^note Organized crime will inherit the future, leaving the remaining Gangs to be rounded up and left in the dirt. This is especially true for Dutch, as the Law will catch up to him in only a few years and he will be forgotten.
• Villains Want Mercy: When confronted by Morgan and Marston, Bronte tries to bribe them before begging, saying that he surrenders. He then gets knocked out by Marston and is taken to Dutch.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: He acts like a villain from a Godfather movie expecting everyone to follow the rules he sets. Too bad Dutch's gang doesn't give a damn about the rules and kill him as soon as he betrays them.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Is a slimy, scheming, cruel man, who openly despises Americans and isn't above casually expressing desire to murder someone just because he finds them annoying. Despite this, however, even though Jack was given to him under implications of ransom, he didn't touch a hair on Jack's head, and effectively treated the kidnapped boy like a guest of honor in his house. Keeping him well fed, letting him stay in a nice room, giving him toys and books, and even teaching him Italian. And rather than attempt at lying, he even willingly told the boy his father would be coming for him.

Chapter 5 villains

Alberto Fussar

Alberto Fussar

"<Men... I was just in America... do you know how they deal with striking workers there? Do you know? They shoot them! That is civilization. That is future. That is law and order and that is what we must bring to this place.>"

Voiced by: Alfredo Narciso

Governor of the Caribbean island of Guarma, and owner of a large sugar plantation.

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• Antagonistic Governor: He's the evil governor of Guarma, which he runs like his own personal fiefdom.
• Arc Villain: Of the Guarma Chapter, where he's the main obstacle to the gang escaping the island.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Fussar may be a piece of garbage but he joins in the battle against the protagonists and dies manning a maxim gun.
• Banana Republic: Fussar's reign is heavily supported (and, presumably, financed) by international sugar barons, explaining in part how an independent island nation with limited industrialization can afford such a strong military. After his death, the barons take over the nation entirely.
• Blood Knight: Fussar is driven by a brutality and relentlesslness that rivals Colonel Kurtz.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Fussar first appears as a guest at Angelo Bronte's party. After Dutch's gang becomes stranded on Guarma, Dutch and Morgan remembered Fussar from the party.
• Expy: To Colonel Allende from the first game, they are both sadistic colonels who are the governors of a Spanish speaking region and Fussar even dresses very similar to Allende when he's at the Mayor's house party.
• Feudal Overlord: Effectively runs his sugar plantation this way. He uses his vast income to hire a private army of mercenaries, and regularly enslaves the local populace (when he doesn't flat out import slaves from Haiti or even the United States).
• The Generalissimo: He's a colonel instead of a general, but otherwise fits this trope to a T.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: He is killed by one his very own cannons when Arthur turns it on him.
• Kick the Dog: His Establishing Character Moment is having Javier dragged behind a donkey by the leg he was shot in.
• Lesser of Two Evils: Incredible given the sheer depths of his cruelty and depravity, but true. After Fussar's death, J.D. McKnight and other American banking interests completely took over the island — as well as several others across the Caribbean and Pacific — by 1907, and seized the land Fussar allocated for workers to grow their own food crops, using it for further sugar cane production. As a result, not only are the locals still being worked like slaves, but total reliance on high-priced foreign imports has led to mass starvation and further poverty.
• Mexican Standoff: He and his dragon Levi Simon engage in one with Arthur and Dutch. He barely escapes while Simon is shot dead by the captain.
• Plot-Irrelevant Villain: Fussar's impact on the overall plot is negligible, with the events on Guarma being an isolated story that just serves to break up the gang temporarily, something that already happened when half the gang needed to escape Saint Denis by boat.
• Sadist: It's mentioned from his men that he relishes in the pain and suffering of his slaves.
• Slavery Is a Special Kind of Evil: He uses slave labor on his sugar plantation, either enslaving the local populace or importing them from Haiti and the United States.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Arthur kills him by firing a cannon at the tower he's hiding in. Not that he had much of a choice, mind.
• Too Dumb to Live: He should have known that Dutch and his gang weren't on Guarma willingly and were looking for a way off the island. He could have just let them go seeing as how they had no interest in getting involved in the worker rebellion, but kept trying to trap them on the island forcing the gang to go directly after him.
• Villain with Good Publicity: He's a disgusting bigot, murderer, slaver, and, thanks to his wealth and America's demand for sugar, hailed as a "friend of America" in the newspapers.
• We Have Reserves: He sends an entire Cuban warship to go after the rebels and Dutch's gang. Even as they slaughter through Fussar's forces, Hercule says it won't matter as Fussar could simply deploy more men.

Levi Simon

Levi Simon

Voiced by: Jeff Gurner

Senior Overseer for Alberto Fussar.

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• Bullying a Dragon: Doesn't seem to realize Dutch and his gang of half-drowned outlaws are incredibly dangerous killers.
• The Dragon: As stated, he's the main overseer of Fussar's operations.
• The Heavy: You see a lot more of him than you do of actual Arc Villain Alberto Fussar.
• Faux Affably Evil: He's pretty affable when he meets Dutch and his gang when they're stranded on Guarma. But that doesn't make him any more pleasant.
• Mexican Standoff: He and Fussar engage in one with Arthur and Dutch. Too bad he didn't count on the sea captain.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: His abuse of Dutch and his gang results in them fighting back and causing massive damage to the Fussar operation, to the point of collapsing it.
• Not Quite the Right Thing: Is correct that Dutch and company are criminals. Is wrong that they have anything to do with the revolutionaries-at least until they're driven to join them by Levi's abuse.

Chapter 6 villains

Henry Favours

Henry Favours

Voiced by: Malachy Cleary

A corrupt U.S. Army colonel and liaison to the Wapiti Indian Reservation.

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• 0% Approval Rating: The soldiers under Favours have no love for him, even the ones who had their own prejudice against the Wapiti tribe. Several eavesdropped conversations make it clear that they find him an ineffectual moron and many of the soldiers find the entire conflict with the Wapiti shameful. They follow his orders, but it's obviously out of fear of governmental retaliation rather than any genuine loyalty to Favours.
• Arc Villain: Of Chapter 6, where Dutch decides to get the gang involved in the conflict between the U.S. Army and the Wapiti.
• All for Nothing:
  • All of his attempts to drive the Wapiti into a war are so he could make up for his alleged cowardice in the Civil War. However, judging by the words of one of his soldiers in the mission, "The King's Son", it's very heavily implied that even if he were to drive the Wapiti into a war and managed to win it, the stigma of him being a coward would never be erased. Which is confirmed in the epilogue as Favours doesn't even get the courtesy of having a Historical Hero Upgrade given that there's no mention of him in the newspapers.
  • Favours was being paid by Leviticus Cornwall to start a war to seize the Wapiti's land in order to drill for oil. Not only is Cornwall already dead by the time that he finally gets it but there's actually no oil under the reservation.
• Asshole Victim: He's shot and killed by Arthur right after mortally wounding Eagle Flies, making him one of the handful of villains in the game that the player actually gets to personally kill as opposed to being killed by someone else in a cutscene. To say he had it coming is a planet-sized understatement.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: All his actions are dedicated to pushing the Wapiti to war so he has a chance to gain glory for himself. When the war finally does come, he's one of its casualties.
• Bad Boss: At least two of his soldiers are driven from his service out of disgust and hunted down like animals.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Ultimately subverted. Even he though succeeded in driving the Wapiti tribe out of their tribal lands as part of the deal with Cornwall (though he's also dead by that time), he ends up as a casualty in the war he wanted and doesn't even get the Historical Hero Upgrade treatment.
• Big Bad Wannabe: He's introduced as the Arc Villain of Chapter 6, as Dutch decides to assist the Wapiti who is being abused by his regiment. The conflict between the Wapiti and Favours is quickly included in Dutch's plan to create a diversion and leave the country undetected while the government is busy putting down the Wapiti's rebellion, with Dutch being apathetic about the Wapiti's situation. As soon as Favours is dealt with, Micah and Dutch ultimately turn out to be much bigger issues for Arthur and the rest of the gang to face.
• Dirty Coward: He's seen as this by the American military for allegedly missing or running from a battle in the Civil War, leading to him gaining the Embarrassing Nickname of "High-tail Favours". While it's unknown which part of the rumor is true, it is consistent with Favours being a coward as seen throughout chapter 6; committing many underhanded tactics against the Wapiti tribe, along with the possibility of allowing the more prejudiced members of his regiment free rein to terrorize them, in order to start a war for him to regain his glory, and even when he managed to light the fire, Favours notably never shows up in the battle till Arthur and Dutch were about to leave with the stolen oil bonds. When he does, he sends his men to search for them first and only coming in out of nowhere to shoot Eagle Flies after the latter saves Arthur from being killed by one of his men.
• Embarrassing Nickname: He earned the poor nickname of "High-tail Favours" for allegedly missing or running from a battle in the Civil War.
• Evil Is Petty:
  • His actions to force the Wapiti to war are just ludicrously petty, such as stealing their horses so they can't hunt and withholding vaccines so their children and elders die. While it's ambiguous if he explicitly had their women assaulted (with obvious implications), had some of their people kidnapped and tortured, burned down their sacred places, and stolen their sacred items due to Monroe stating that other soldiers of Favours' regiment having their own prejudice against the Wapiti, it's likely that Favours' wouldn't have cared what those soldiers did if it helps adds fuel to the fire.
  • While trying to court-martial Monroe, the excuse he gives for it is "impudence from a junior officer in public." That's his pretext for trying to execute him for treason.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Implied and subverted. According to Monroe, he doesn't believe that Favours' is callous and there is a culture of scorn for the Wapiti Tribe within the latter's regiment. So while Favours' did give the order to have the Wapiti starved and die from illnesses by stealing their horses and withholding the vaccines, he might've not been responsible for the soldiers who went on their way to terrorize the Wapiti by assaulting (and possibly raping) their women, kidnapping and torture some of their people, burning down their sacred places, and stolen their sacred items. Of course, given Favours' attempts to drive the Wapiti in a war, he would likely not give a damn if it helps add fuel to the fire.
• Evil Old Folks: He's an elderly, glory-seeking warmonger. This actually factors into his character, as he is nearing retirement and, since he has a very undistinguished career and an Embarrassing Nickname, decides to do something to win glory.
• Faux Affably Evil: During his peace talk, he mentions how he "prides himself on being a gentleman", when in reality, he's just a petty racist warmonger.
• Frame-Up: He used the excuse of the "stolen" vaccines (which he withheld from the Wapiti) to try and hang Captain Monroe for treason. Unfortunately for Favours, Morgan overhears his plot and saves Monroe.
• General Failure: He's infamous among the soldiers as a cowardly commander who fled from battle after battle.
• General Ripper: He plotted to wage war against the weakened and destitute Wapiti Lakota in an attempt to erase his humiliating reputation as an incompetent coward. He opposed Captain Monroe's humanitarian efforts for the Wapiti and did everything he could to hinder him before deciding to execute him on trumped-up charges of treason.
• Glory Hound: Favours was branded a coward during the Civil War. Seeking to regain his "honor," he plans to instigate a war with the Wapiti.
• Hate Sink: Easily one of the most repugnant characters in the storyline. All we see of Favours is a smug, racist asshole without likable traits.
• Hero Killer: Fatally wounds Eagle Flies. Morgan kills him in turn.
• Informed Flaw: Downplayed - Favours is stated to be incompetent several times throughout chapter 6, you wouldn't know it from the horrific crimes he commits. Then again, it's the history of a nondescript career which drives him to his repugnant actions, compounded by the fact that he's targeting a group of people who are no longer in any state to fight back. Any 'victories' he can lay claim to are due to the overwhelming number of men he is supplied with, which doesn't even include the mission whereupon he is finally killed.
• Ironic Name: A man named "Favours" who constantly snuffs out any opportunity for the Wapiti Tribe to make peace with the U.S. Army. Justified as he was never interested in making peace with them and instead, wanted to push them into a war to regain his glory and be remembered as a war hero.
• No Historical Figures Were Harmed:
  • He's based on popular portrayals of General George Custer, being an inept and glory-seeking commander willing to commit genocide for the sake of prestige. There is also quite a bit of truth in the similarities of their Bad Boss tendencies. Custer was famously out of favor with the military for carrying out extrajudicial killings of his own men.
  • And possibly Colonel John Chivington who was also a racist glory-seeking warmonger against Native Americans and was responsible for the Sand Creek Massacre. As an extra bonus one of his own men Captain Silas Soule turned against him, and is presumed to have had a hand in his murder to prevent getting a court martial.
• Hidden Depths: If Monroe's assessment of Favours is of any indication:
  Monroe: [To Arthur Morgan about Favours] You know, Favours has many flaws, but I don't believe he's callous. More an insecure man at the end of his career trying to cling onto something that's already gone.
• Lack of Empathy: Discussed, and possibly subverted. Despite his racist views and lack of regard for the well-being of the Wapiti tribe and committing underhanded tactics to drive them into a war, Monroe believes that Favours isn't truly callous and instead, lets his own insecurities drive him into making up his alleged cowardice in the civil war. It could also be a case of selective bias on Monroe's part, whom as an analogous parallel to Dutch's clan (especially those who refuse to acknowledge the change in his behaviour) still sees a vestige of the (presumably much more virtuous) man that Favours used to be.
• Laser-Guided Karma: He does everything in his power to provoke a war with the Wapiti in order to regain his lost honor. He gets his war but ends up K.I.A. and a forgotten statistic.
• Legacy Seeker: His ultimate goal is to be remembered as a war hero.
• Playing the Victim Card: He's violated many a peace treaty with the Wapiti people but acts like they're the ones responsible in a feeble attempt to justify stealing their land.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: He's openly racist against Indigenous Americans. In fact, not long after meeting with Rains Fall for their peace talk, he refuses to call him by his non-English name, which he refers to as "silly." He also refers to Rains Fall's people as little more than criminals.
• Shadow Archetype: He's presented as an obvious reflection of Dutch's personality and motivational premise by the chapter in which he's introduced, from his exploitation of the Wapiti to achieve his own selfish ends, to the way in which the ploy itself is regarded as an act of desperation that is borne out of insecurity and abject denial of the inevitable. And just as toying with the natives' livelihoods to rouse them into a futile uprising wasn't going to repair Henry Favours' career profile, it was similarly never going to help Dutch to distract lawmen and bounty hunters from relentlessly pursuing his gang wherever they attempted to escape.
• Smug Snake: Favours' entire "peace talk" with Rains Fall is dripping with arrogance and contempt as he uses his platform to bully an old man who just wants to protect his people, spouts Blatant Lies about the Wapiti violating the existing treaty while Favours has broken it multiple times, and set the entire meeting as a pretext to frame his Good Counterpart for treason, which he defines as "impudence from a junior officer in public."
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: His heinous crimes and position of colonel are reminiscent of Agustin Allende, the corrupt Mexican governor from the first game.
• War Hawk: With his career almost over and his chances for recognition gone, Favours decides to pressure the Wapiti into a war so he can get the glory he missed out on during the Civil War.
• Would Hurt a Child: Indirectly. He purposefully prevents the federally mandated vaccines from reaching the Wapiti, causing their children to die, so that they'll rise up and give him a reason to go to war.

Epilogue villains

Abel Atherton

Abel Atherton

A rich rancher who is trying to force other ranchers off their property so he can obtain more land. The main enemy of the epilogue's first chapter.

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• An Offer You Can't Refuse: He keeps trying to pressure Geddes into selling his ranch, first using the Laramie Gang to bully the workers there, then just sending them out to release Geddes' cattle, burn his buildings and kill his employees.
• Arc Villain: He's the main enemy of the epilogue's first chapter. Even though he's never directly encountered, he's responsible for sending the Laramie Gang to harass David Geddes.
• Cattle Baron: It's implied that he's a villainous example of these. He's trying to intimidate David Geddes into selling Pronghorn Ranch to him.
• The Ghost: Abel is never actually seen, though his influence is certainly felt.
• Karma Houdini: Though he fails to acquire Pronghorn Ranch, Abel never faces any consequences for the property he destroyed or the men whose deaths he is responsible for.
• Orcus on His Throne: Abel relies on the Laramie Gang to do his dirty work for him and never personally comes down to Pronghorn.
• The Unfought: The player never fights him, just his hired thugs.

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