Characters / Red Dead Redemption 2 – Van der Linde Gang

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

A list of characters from the Van der Linde Gang who debuted in Red Dead Redemption II.

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In General

• Adaptation Origin Connection: In I, the Blackwater massacre was just a bit of worldbuilding; neither John or his former gang were even implied to have been part of it (though the Strange Man says that John got shot during 'the raid on the ferry'). The sequel/prequel establishes Dutch's gang caused it.
• Affably Evil: All of the gang's members are either violent, brutal criminals or willing associates of said criminals. That said, excluding certain figures such as Micah, they are cordial and friendly towards Arthur, and others, as well as try to avoid civilian casualties.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: They are not good guys, but other gangs such as the O'Driscolls, Murfree Brood and Skinner Brothers are much, much worse.
• A House Divided: By the time the gang reaches Beaver Hollow, everybody is at each other's throats. Any friendly banter, festivities and general civility has been replaced with arguments, with those that aren't outwardly aggressive either spending their time crying, suffering silently, or giving in to whatever addictions they have.
• Anyone Can Die: Out of all the members (and out of all the gang's combatants) found in the photograph, only two of them (Sadie and Charles) aren't confirmed to have died by the end of I.
• Arch-Enemy: The O'Driscolls — All the way.
• Army of Thieves and Whores: The gang is made out of disaffected and disillusioned outcasts from society.
• Ascended Extra: Dutch, Javier, Bill and Uncle were characters with very limited screentime in the first game whose characters were massively expanded in the prequel.
• Badass Crew: Individually, most of them are veteran outlaws and experienced gunslingers. Riding together, they're truly a force to be reckoned with, even when heavily outnumbered. Prime examples are the assaults on the Braithwaite and Bronte estates, not to mention the entire Guarma arc.
  • Badass Family of Choice: Dutch and Hosea either saved its members from poverty and the rope or actually raised them for most of their lives. The gang has a very familial structure, the gunslingers tend to act like bickering children and Dutch has a clearly paternal influence over them.
• Bandit Clan: They're clearly more than a gang in II, acting more like an isolationist community set apart from the rest of the United States. At their peak they're around twenty-strong, including women and children. They also display a familial loyalty to each other, more than just the professional respect or appreciation.
  • They also turn their hand to whatever criminal enterprise makes money, not just limiting themselves to armed robbery. Livestock rustling, burglary, prostitution, guns-for-hire, fraud, even loansharking are all familiar to them.
• Breaking the Fellowship: II reveals that after several botched heists, and Dutch becoming insane, several members begin to leave the gang for their own safety, leaving only Micah, Javier and Bill on Dutch's side. Eventually, the once almighty Van der Linde Gang is no more, each member moving on with their lives.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: They may be an odd bunch, but almost all of them are capable of putting up a fight. When the Pinkertons come to arrest Dutch, the whole camp picks up guns and tell them to piss off.
• Chronic Villainy: Even without Dutch losing his edge the gang can't help themselves into causing problems to the point the nearby town will try to get rid of them. They won't join civilization either as they are pretty much all marginalized so they are set to rob and murder until they can't.
• Conveniently an Orphan: Many members of the gang are orphans, including Dutch, Hosea, Arthur, John, Tilly, Lenny, Abigail, Charles, and Strauss. Arthur and John being orphans led to Dutch and Hosea being parental substitutes for them, leading to Arthur and John in II starting out as Dutch's most loyal followers.
• Criminal Found Family: The van der Linde gang starts as this, most of the group being outlaws of some sort and several of them (Arthur, John, Lenny, Tilly and Jenny) joining at young age, only to fall apart during the events of the game.
• Cult of Personality: And that personality is Dutch. Arthur privately describes him as "something else", in comparison to the relatable Hosea. Various characters, especially Bill and Javier, express almost religious devotion to him. Dutch repeatedly invites this by stressing the importance of faith and calling out Arthur, Hosea and John for doubting him, constantly complaining about "doubters". This almost cult-like belief in Dutch is what keeps the gang together. In the end, they fall apart because he proves himself to be an undeniably human, selfish and fallible man.
• Doomed by Canon: Much of the cast in II are fated to meet their end by lieu of being characters in a prequel. However, several of them manage to move on to peaceful and successful lives, presumably getting out of Ross' reach or simply not worth his time and effort to deal with.
• Dwindling Party: II starts with several gang members having been killed or lost due to the botched Blackwater Ferry job. It only gets worse as the game progresses.
  • By the end of the Beaver Hollow chapter, the gang only consists of Dutch, Micah, Bill, Javier and hired guns Cleet and Joe, with Arthur, John, Sadie, Charles, Grimshaw, Tilly and Abigail openly siding against Dutch.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: This gang of outlaws includes several people of color and women, which for 1899 is impressive. Taking on the latter does serve a useful purpose, as these women are often used to infiltrate local towns and sniff out any promising targets for robbery.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • The Van der Linde Gang will perform bank robberies, train jobs, and even steal cattle and lend money at usurious rates, but they have an official policy of not robbing people who're just trying to get by, like the local grocer. However, they're considered legitimate targets for robbery if they're secretly involved in a criminal enterprise, and thus are in "the life". It's implied that the main reason Strauss is ejected from the gang by Morgan is because he's breaking this rule, specifically targeting people with little to nothing with which to pay back the loans.
  • They also have a disgust for the actions of the O'Driscolls, who gleefully commit Rape, Pillage, and Burn. In the early chapters, Dutch and Grimshaw will confront and berate Arthur if he goes on murderous rampages.
  • For all the people the Van der Linde gang harms or robs for the sake of money, they draw the line at endangering children. When Catherine Braithwaite goes out of her way to kidnap a four-year old Jack Marston to spite Hosea, the entire friggin gang attacks Braithwaite Manor, murders everyone there and burns the mansion to the ground out of pure rage and desperation to find Jack.
• Evil Parents Want Good Kids: The gang serve as surrogate parents to Jack and often make remarks pitying his circumstances and telling him not to end up like them.
• Fallen Hero: To a loose definition of “hero”, but the gang apparently used to be a lot more magnanimous and generous to ordinary folk and even generally avoided killing. In the game itself, they do nothing but steal, rob and kill for themselves, due to being low on funds and constantly on the run due to their failed Blackwater robbery.
• Family of Choice: Most everyone, especially the members who have been in the gang for a while, consider each other family. Tragically, this doesn't last throughout entire game of II with everyone souring immensely, abandoning it, or dying.
• Forgotten Fallen Friend: Much of them end up being this in I due to being made for a prequel, so they were never mentioned despite their close bonds.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: Take a look at the gang in 1899. Then play Red Dead Redemption.
• Karma Houdini: Averted and played with. Almost all the active members of the gang get their comeuppance in I and II. Their inability to escape the consequences of their actions as the West becomes more civilized is actually the central theme of both games. Even several members not actively involved in violent crimes suffer the consequences of being associated with the gang.
• Legacy Character: Dutch tried to form another gang in 1911. Emphasis on tried.
• Let's Split Up, Gang!: The gang members usually split up after a job to keep a low profile afterward and ensure no one follows them to their camp.
• Moral Myopia: The gang murder, rob and kidnap throughout the story, but are outraged whenever they themselves suffer a loss such as their colleagues dying or Jack being kidnapped.
• Motive Decay: Slowly goes from idealistic Robin Hood-wannabes robbing to help the poor and to feed their camp to bloodthirsty killers robbing increasingly large targets in increasingly destructive ways in pursuit of money.
  • Dialogue in-game imply the gang used to make their money through scams and trickery, like Hosea does, and that armed robbery used to be a rare occasion, or perhaps a last resort.
  • At the start of the game, most of the gang sympathizes with the plight of the Native Americans and somewhat identify with their struggles, but by the end, Dutch is yet another white man exploiting the Wapiti, this time leading them to their deaths in order to make the "noise" needed for the gang to evade capture.
• One-Man Army: Every gunslinger in the gang can take out legions of other gunslingers on their own, which means that almost every gunfight the gang gets into is a Curb-Stomp Battle.
• Outlaw: Red Dead Redemption's prequel charts the story about a gang full of them, led by a charismatic leader who sought to idealise the concept of being one in a setting that's rapidly phasing them out.
• Papa Wolf: When Jack was kidnapped at the end of the third chapter in II, almost every man (including Bill) rides to the kidnapper's mansion and burns it to the ground until they know where Jack is.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The original group was this. The group is made of a variety of people: idealists, professional robbers, orphans raised into criminals, normal former farmsteaders turned crooks, soldiers, trappers....
• Remember the New Guy?: Much of the gang members introduced in II were never mentioned by any of the characters in I and it was assumed that the gang consisted primarily of Dutch, John, Bill and Javier. Even Uncle was never hinted to be associated with the gang. Though John does make a comment in l that suggests that there were more members that are currently still alive.
  John: First it was Bill, now it's Dutch. After Dutch, it will be somebody else.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: As Dutch gets more member of the gang killed with his poor decisions, the remaining members one-by-one leave the gang, fearing for their own safety.
• Trademark Favourite Food: Kentucky bourbon whiskey. Barring that, the gang members can often be seen drinking a cup of coffee.
• True Companions: The gang was one big family back in 1899.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Even though the gang bicker and insult each other, they're still a family who would save their own from rival gangs or lawmen. Sadly subverted in Beaver Hollow.
• Younger Than They Look: Hosea, Grimshaw, Strauss and Uncle are only in their 50s in 1899, but look and are treated as a lot older. Justified in that they are among the gang's most senior members in a period setting when the mean life expectancy value was lower than fifty years, before even taking to account the rigors of outlaw living. In essence, it can be argued that they're only younger than they look by present-day standards.
• Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: Dutch and the gang see themselves as revolutionaries pushing back against civilization, but once Dutch decides "noise" is the way to go, they degenerate into bona-fide terrorists. Blowing up an entire bridge comes to mind.

Leadership

Hosea Matthews

"I wish I had acquired wisdom at less of a price."

Voiced by: Curzon Dobell

"Don't take Dutch's patter about redemption too seriously. We're doomed, just like every other creature on this rock. But unlike them, we'll go out fighting."

The most senior member of Dutch's gang, who served as his partner in crime for most of his life. They first met when they tried to rob each other before deciding to team up together. Nowadays, Hosea provides a voice of reason to the camp, preferring smooth-talking and conning to gunning people.

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• A Lighter Shade of Black: Hosea's a career criminal, no doubt, but even compared to Dutch at his best, Hosea is a far "nicer" type of criminal, being a conman that would rather rob rich folks, and shows disdain for unnecessary killing. Though that doesn't stop him from participating in some of Dutch's plans.
• Ambiguously Bi: While Hosea was happily married to his wife Bessie until her death, the exact nature of his relationship with Dutch can be speculated. Hosea literally refers to himself and Dutch as a “curious couple” and as parents to Arthur, which Dutch doesn’t seem to mind. Many of their interactions with one another are intimate in a way not seen with any other male characters in the gang. During a party celebrating Sean’s return to the gang, Hosea and Dutch at one point can be found sitting away from most of the gang, occasionally holding hands◊ while talking. If Dutch notices Arthur near them during this, he will tell Arthur to go away. The gang is implied to at least suspect something, as, if the player makes Arthur antagonize Dutch around camp, a line he can say is "Everyone sees you and Hosea ‘reading’.”
• The Alcoholic: Admitted to being one for a full year after his wife Bessie's death, but isn't one by II.
• Ambiguously Evil: Played with, in that this relates mostly to his past actions rather than how he is by II. While it's no doubt that Hosea is a better person than Dutch, there are darker implications for his personality if one subscribes to the idea of Dutch being Evil All Along. If Dutch indeed manipulated and brainwashed Arthur and John, it's fully possible that Hosea did so as well, though to what extent would be unknown.
  • Also considering Hosea in his youth. Just how much worse of a person was he in the past? In one conversation he describes himself as having been worse than many of the others currently in the gang, but he never specifies what he means by this.
• Badass Bookworm: Is the co-leader of an infamous gang of outlaws as well as a con-man, and more often than not can be seen around camp reading something. He has a penchant for crime novels.
• Being Evil Sucks: While he accepts the choices he's made in his life in being a criminal, he has no love for most of them, and seems to resent himself for making these choices. He even left the gang at one point with his wife in an attempt to go straight, only to rejoin them a short time later.
  • He hold this opinion of his actions and himself strongly enough to where he tries to convince Lenny several times of leaving his life of crime and getting an education.
• Berserk Button: He is a much more reasonable character than Dutch, but he obviously doesn't take kindly to his position in the gang being threatened, nor will he tolerate members slacking off in camp, or on guard duty - all for the understandable rationalisation that undermining gang hierarchy (like Bill attempts to do in one camp interaction) or failing to be an effective look-out would compromise the group's security and ability to function.
  • He'll often castigate Bill Williamson for his laziness in camp, and at one point is forced to threaten Bill at gunpoint after Bill in his drunken belligerence challenges the older man's authority in an effort to start a random physical altercation, basically trying to bully Hosea like he does with the more junior members of the gang. Naturally, Hosea would sooner kill the idiot than have that level of insubordination go unanswered.
  • He also will occasionally kick Sean Maguire awake while he's slouching off in camp and berate him for not doing any work or for falling asleep on guard duty - and as these interactions continue his attitude toward Sean warms considerably after the junior gun begins to take his post more seriously, which suggests that Hosea only takes issue with members who fail to take the gang seriously as a collective, but will happily forgive and acknowledge anyone who learns from their mistakes.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He may generally be a nice guy, but he's still a con-man and hardened outlaw. He's on one occasion threatened Bill Williamson after the latter drunkenly insulted him, kicks and threatens Sean for sleeping on the job and he gladly fights the Braithwaites and assists in burning down their manor after they abduct Jack.
• Con Man: Hosea's primary role is as the gang's con artist and grifter.
• Conveniently an Orphan: Became orphaned in his late teens, and is implied to have become a criminal due to this.
• Cool Old Guy: Hosea is getting on in years but he's smart as a whip, caring and compassionate to the gang, and pretty damn funny.
• The Cynic: Simply put, Hosea is one of the gang members most grounded in reality. In contrast to the Wide-Eyed Idealist Dutch, Hosea understands and accepts the gravity of the situation the gang is in after the failed Blackwater robbery. His idealistic beliefs about preserving the West and opposing civilization and government also died long before the events of II, along with the belief that the gang's actions were justifiable in any way. It's implied he only remains in the gang out of loyalty to the other members, in addition to him already being notorious for his association with Dutch. He’s one of the first members of the gang to suggest that something hasn’t quite been right with Dutch since Blackwater. He’s also likely the first member to accept the inevitability of the government catching up to them and killing them, and tells Abigail and Lenny several times to consider possibly leaving before that happens.
• Deadpan Snarker: Occasionally.
  Hosea (While setting fire to the Braithwaite mansion): That's the end of the goddamned cribbage games.
  
  Arthur: Maybe there are a hundred Trelawnys.
  Hosea: What a terrible thought.
• Decomposite Character: In I, Dutch is described as both smart and charismatic. However, while Dutch's not dumb per se, II shows that his decision-making is often questionable, and Hosea comes off as the real brains of the gang. As such, Hosea seems to have been given Dutch's intelligence while the latter kept his charisma.
• Did Not Think This Through: His plan of Playing Both Sides with the Grays and Braithwaites has one fatal flaw, that both families are actually smart enough to notice that Arthur Morgan is involved in their schemes to undermine the other. This makes them realize that they were being played by the gang.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Is emphatic about this to the others concerning his Incurable Cough of Death, telling them that he's overall at peace with himself and his life and that they should envy him rather than pity him.
• The Dragon: While Hosea is one of the most personable and kind people in the gang, he's still a prolific criminal and the second-in-command of an outlaw group.
• Due to the Dead: It is later revealed in the Guarma chapter that Sadie and her gang recovered his body from the Saint Denis morgue along with that of Lenny and buried them close to each other in Bluewater Marsh.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He might be an outlaw but he still has lines he won't cross. He disgustedly tells Catherine Braithwaite that "boys are off limits" after she targets one as part of a revenge scheme. This notably is one of the few times Hosea is entirely willing to go on the offensive on the front lines with everyone else.
  • While he is perfectly fine with stealing and conning (once saying that "the whole country is about thieving"), he's disdainful of killing, and tries to avoid getting into conflicts that could result in such.
  • Like Dutch, he notably doesn't have the prejudiced attitudes towards minorities that were common in the late 19th century, and at one point calls out Bill for making racist remarks.
  • In one camp encounter, he tells a story of how he tried to rob a house only to walk in on a wake for the owner. He decided against robbing the house or the mourning family after posing as the deceased's old friend, and even calls Uncle a "heartless bastard" when he asked if he did, saying that he robbed the priest instead.
  • After settling in on Horseshoe Overlook, he notifies Arthur about how Strauss had already loaned cash to unfortunate people, implying that he dislikes Strauss' loan sharking business as much as anyone else.
    Hosea: And Strauss came back with that creepy little smile on his face. I’m sure there’s a whole list of unfortunates he’s forced money upon.
• Face Death with Dignity: Right before Agent Milton shoots him in the street, Hosea, who before that had seemingly been afraid, realizes what's going to happen and turns to face Milton before being shot.
• Fatal Flaw: Lack of forethought. Hosea's plans have great rewards should they be pulled off successfully, but he forgets to check if there are any factors that could ruin them or what could happen should those plans fail. As such, while the plans have a high promise of rewards should they be pulled off properly, failure will result in a disaster that can permanently damage the gang. This is best seen by the two grand plans he pulls off in the game:
  • His attempt to play both the Grays and the Braithwaites ends up in catastrophe because he keeps sending Arthur in every assault towards each property. Eventually both sides catch up to what they’re planning and plan a separate attack on them. It ends with Sean getting killed in a sudden gunfight initiated by the Grays and Jack getting kidnapped by two men working for the Braithwaites. Afterwards, their revenge plans on both sides end up getting the Pinkerton’s back in their trail.
  • His bank robbery plan could have given the gang a passage to Tahiti if it wasn’t for the massive amount of attention the gang attracted in Saint Denis. A list of these examples include robbing a trolley station, robbing and having a shootout in a yacht, and raiding and murdering Angelo Bronte. This ends up with him and Lenny getting shot and killed by the Pinkertons. They could have pulled this off if they knew that what they did could have attracted the attention of the Pinkertons and planned countermeasures for it.
• Foil: To Arthur. While Hosea is capable of making bad calls (such as playing the Braithwaites and Grays off each other, which he later comes to regret), just like Arthur, both of them are among the wisest members of the gang, and both are steadfast in their quiet determination to continue with the outlaw life despite their similar misgivings and pessisism. After Hosea's death, Arthur becomes terminally ill with a persistent cough of his own, but while Hosea, the trusted senior leader, was at least sometimes able to get a word in edgewise or reason with Dutch, all Arthur gets are accusations of treachery and disloyalty.
• Friend to All Children: Essentially raised several members of the gang along with Dutch, and is also shown to be the one who taught Jack to read.
• Guns Akimbo: His main sidearms are two black Cattleman Revolvers.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Was naturally blonde before his hair went grey, as seen in a photo Arthur has from the early days of the gang, and is a Nice Guy and Gentleman Thief who's arguably one of the most moral of the original members of the gang.
• Happily Married: Used to be with a woman named Bessie for about thirty years, but she passed away at the time the game takes place. You can find a photo frame of her and Hosea together at camp.
• The Heart: While Dutch is the undisputed leader of the gang, Hosea is the one tempering his worst tendencies and is generally well liked within the gang. It's telling that his death is the point where Dutch loses control and the gang falls apart.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Dutch, if you interpret their relationship as platonic.
• Hidden Depths: He was, at least at one point in time, Catholic, as he states that he wanted to be a priest once. He still seems to have Christian beliefs by some of his dialogue.
  • He was a comedian for a short time in his youth, and also tried to take up acting until he snuck onto a stage and got booed when he forgot his lines.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: He masterminded the robbery he's eventually captured and killed in.
• Hypocritical Heartwarming: Hosea doesn't think much of Arthur's intelligence and mocks him in front of Charles, but defends him as "not that dumb" when Catherine Braithwaite questions him.
• Gayngster/Gay Cowboy: Well, Ambiguously Bi, but still.
• Gentleman Thief: A textbook definition of this trope. He's a con man and thief who admits he enjoys conning people, but is charismatic and for the most part a Nice Guy who took up with Dutch after finding they shared a similar ideology of "ripping off people they thought deserved it the most" to give to the poor.
• Incurable Cough of Death: He's always coughing and wheezing, and isn't afraid of death because he knows he'll soon succumb to whatever sickness he has regardless.
• Ink-Suit Actor: While most of the major characters facially resemble their voice actors to some degree, Hosea is almost the spitting image of his portrayer, Curzon Dobell.
• Intergenerational Friendship: He's Dutch's closest friend, and is approximately 11 years older than him.
  • He also has a close friendship with 19-year old Lenny, since they're both well-read and very intelligent.
• The Lancer: The more pragmatic and nonviolent man to Dutch's more inspiring and hot-blooded leadership.
  • Probably the best demonstration of their contrasting personalities is the methods they use to break Arthur out of jail. While Hosea will sweet-talk lawmen and bribe them with alcohol to release him and discretely leave afterwards, Dutch will break Arthur out using dynamite and as a result have to flee the town's law enforcement.
• Like a Son to Me: How he views John and Arthur. He raised both of them since they were in their early teens and helped Dutch teach them to read, write, and shoot a gun. He even dotes on John's son Jack as if he was his grandson.
• The Lost Lenore: His wife, Bessie, who died prior to the events of the game. Apparently, they were able to make their marriage work despite his outlaw lifestyle. In one campfire conversation, he states that he grieves for her every day, even long after her death.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: He figures his dad, who was a bigamist, had a total of roughly 100 children.
• Meaningful Name: Shares his name with a prophet in the Hebrew Bible (a.k.a. the Christian Old Testament), specifically a "prophet of doom". Hosea is the only "voice of reason" Dutch with listen to, and keeps Dutch's more ambitious/risky plans in check. When discussing the plan to kill Angelo Bronte, Hosea will try to talk Dutch out of it, saying that "it doesn't feel right". He's absolutely right, as killing Bronte brings enough attention to the gang to the point where local law enforcement and the Pinkerton Detective Agency were well prepared for the robbery of the Saint Denis bank.
• The Mentor: Towards Arthur Morgan and John Marston in particular, also serving as their Parental Substitute.
• Mentor Occupational Hazard: He's a fatherly mentor-figure to Arthur and John, and he gets murdered in cold-blood by Agent Milton during the failed Saint Denis bank heist.
• Morality Chain: He's one to Dutch as he is the one to keep Dutch in line, and his death was what marked the start of Dutch's Sanity Slippage.
• Mountain Man: He's stated that he grew up in the mountains, and is thus especially suited for hunting in mountainous areas. Arthur's trip with him up north to O'Creagh's Run nearly ends in disaster when they have to fend off Bharati.
• Nice Guy: Respectful, kind, and trustworthy. The other members in the camp are quick to gather around when he tells his stories.
• Noble Demon: There are lines he won't cross as a con-man and outlaw, and is not happy if he's forced to cross them.
• Noble Top Enforcer: Sort of. Hosea isn't literally an 'enforcer', being a Non-Action Guy instead. However, he has this type of dynamic with Dutch, being a considerably wiser man who makes a conscious effort to avoid unnecessary violence, and he is overall more reliable, personable and selfless than Dutch. As the Number Two in Dutch's gang, he fits this trope.
• Non-Action Guy: He may have been more active as a member of the gang in his earlier years, but not so much as of late, presumably thanks to his age. He still prefers to do things cleanly though, but is not above defending himself if he needs to. Subverted when he partakes in the attack on Braithwaite Manor. So therefore his insistence for remaining inactive may be more of a response to whatever sickness he's currently suffering from.
• Not Afraid to Die: Notably so. When the others at camp show concern to his increasing illness, he refuses to take any pity and is content with his life, even if he made some regrettable decisions over the course of it. Even when he is mercilessly executed by the Pinkertons, the last thing he does is give his murderer a Death Glare before getting shot.
• Not The Illness That Killed Them: He dies by getting shot in the chest by Milton instead of succumbing to whatever illness he has.
• Older Than They Look: Is only 55, but is already noticeably greying, presumably due to the stress of his outlaw life.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Implies that he once had a family along with his wife Bessie, but lost them long before the events of II.
• Parental Neglect: Is himself a victim of this. Though he's fond of his father, he admits that he was "debauched", a polygamist, and a drunkard who Hosea only ever saw a total of "three months" in his entire life. When Arthur expresses a wish to have met him, Hosea says that if he ever does in the afterlife, to "remind him that he has a son."
• Parental Substitute: To all of the gang really but especially to Arthur, John, and Abigail. He raised Arthur and John as his own from the time they were both very young (14 and 12, respectively) and while Abigail didn't join the gang until she was around 17, she is still shown to be close to Hosea. At one point she even tells him that he's like a father to her. He often gives her advice about Jack and John. Arthur even calls Hosea his true father figure in his journal, writing that while he loves Dutch, that he in many ways loves Hosea more.
• Positive Friend Influence: His position as Dutch's best friend and co-leader of the gang is the key factor keeping Dutch sane. Notably, Hosea's murder at the hands of Agent Milton is (along with his head wound) what causes Dutch already fragile sanity to completely unravel.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Dutch's red.
• Sacrificial Lion: He is the brains of the Van der Linde gang, part of the original trio with Dutch and Arthur, and is the only voice of reason Dutch will listen to. When he is gunned down by Agent Milton during the botched Saint Denis heist, it signals the beginning of the end for the gang. Several other members die or are captured in short order, the survivors escape in a ship but are shipwrecked in Guarma, and even when they get back to the US, the gang is in much worse shape. His death also allows Micah to become the gang's second-in-command, and fully exert his dangerous influence on Dutch.
• Shipper on Deck: Downplayed. He spends a lot of time coaching John into forming a steady, proper relationship with Abigail and most importantly being an actual father to Jack.
• Shotguns Are Just Better: He's often seen with a shotgun on his back, whether it be a double-barrel shotgun or a semi-automatic one.
• The Smart Guy: He's the one who comes up with plans for the gang. He would count as an Evil Genius except he's just too nice for that.
• Team Dad: Everyone in the gang is fond of him, and he is quick to worry about the other gang members when he thinks they are in trouble.
  • In a more literal example, he practically raised Arthur and John alongside Dutch. Arthur even calls him his "pa" in his journal.
  • In addition, he has a relationship with Lenny that's somewhat like that of a father and son, and Abigail views him as a paternal figure to her.
• Too Dumb to Live: Is insistent on performing the Saint Denis bank robbery despite all the attention the gang has stirred up from committing a robbery that led to them hijacking a trolley and then kidnapping and killing Angelo Bronte. He pays with his life due to the Pinkertons being well prepared for them.
• Took a Level in Kindness: According to him, he was a much worse person in his youth than anyone presently in the gang (implying that he, too, regularly murdered people in addition to being a con-artist), but changed as he grew older due to Dutch and Bessie's influence.
• Undying Loyalty: To Dutch. He's been his partner in crime and best friend (though their relationship could be seen as deeper than just friendship) for twenty years, and acts as Dutch's Morality Chain and voice of reason through much of II.
  Hosea (on Dutch): He's crazy, and I'm a fool, but I trust him.
• Vague Age: His specific age is never revealed. The newspaper article detailing his and Lenny's deaths in the Saint Denis robbery gives him an approximate age of 55.
• Villainous Cheekbones: While not a villain per se, he's still in an outlaw associated with an infamous gang, and has notably high cheekbones. This trait is pretty apparent in the photos you can find of him around camp.
• Villainous Friendship: He's best friends with Dutch.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Dutch. While they frequently argue and Dutch often ignores his advice, they are best friends.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: By his own admission, he used to be one before the events of II, using the ideals he and Dutch shared as an excuse to rob and con people. If this trait hadn't already died years before, it died because of the events of the failed Blackwater robbery that takes place immediately before the start of II.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: After Catherine Braithwaite kidnaps four-year-old Jack Marston in revenge against the gang, Hosea flat-out tells her "boys are off limits," when she says there are no rules in war. This is also one of the few times he's seen in action in the game.
• Younger Than They Look: He's only 55, but due to the shorter life expectancy rates in the Wild West and living most of his life as an outlaw he looks about a decade or two older than his actual age.

Arthur Morgan

Has his own page here.

Primary Members

Charles Smith

Voiced by: Noshir Dalal

"The amount of hell we've raised, we're owed some back."

A half-black Native American hunter, Charles spent most of his life on the run until he came across the Van der Linde gang. Finding some affinity with the gang's code of freedom and loyalty, he joined up with them as one of their newest recruits. Skilled with a bow and an expert tracker, Charles is invaluable to the groups' ability to survive out in the wilds.

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• The Ace: A mild example, as he doesn't tend to take the spotlight, but Charles is the best hunter, tracker and strongest man in the gang, easily one of their top fighters, and is incredibly sharp and deceptively intelligent. If you choose to antagonize him at camp, Arthur will ask him why a super human deigns to associate with mere mortals, much to his chagrin.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: He's part of the Van Der Linde gang, and participates in many of their more criminal endeavors, but holds very little love for the criminal lifestyle.
• Ambiguously Brown: In-universe example: at one point Marston is asked whether Charles is black or Native to which Marston says he's both. A racist enemy even expresses confusion as to what slur he should use given Charles' heritage.
• Badass Native: Charles is one of the best trackers in the group, has a mean knife throw (even ending up saving Arthur by throwing a knife into an assailant's face) and is handy with a gun.
• Barbarian Longhair: Averted. His hair is around shoulder blade length, but he's far from being a wild brute.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He's usually a Nice Guy when you're around him, but when he discovers the massacre of several bison, he's pissed to the point he shoots one of the poachers dead without batting an eye and will complain to Arthur if he doesn't kill the other one. Micah, unsurprisingly, spends a lot of time hassling Charles, until The Big Guy throws him to the ground like a sack of potatoes and warns him to step off. Wisely, he does.
• But Now I Must Go: He leaves the gang to help the Wapiti Lakotas resettle, after Dutch's deranged scheming gets them caught up in a war with the U.S. Army. He pulls it again in the Epilogue after he, Sadie, and John track down Micah, deciding to head for Canada and start a family.
• Broken Ace: Despite all his physical strength, intelligence and moral decency listed above, a conversation around the campfire reveals that Charles feels he doesn't have a place in the world around him or any purpose in life other than to suffer.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Downplayed. While he is one of the gang's most moral and compassionate members, Charles does not believe that he or his colleagues are anything more than low-life criminals.
• The Confidant: Arthur is noticeably more candid with his inner turmoil around Charles than the other gang members, especially after chapter 4.
• Deadpan Snarker: Emphasis on the deadpan. He might be quiet and reserved, but he's able to go toe-to-toe with some of the snarkiest.
  Uncle: Charles! Would I ever lie to you?
  Charles: I hardly know you.
  
  Uncle: [Scoffing] Silence! Silence, I got enough time for silence — it's called eternity.
  Charles: I'm startin' to understand eternity a little better, [if] it'll be a lot like this conversation.
  
  Sean: Come on, big feller — tell us a joke.
  Charles: [After some consideration] Bill Williamson.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: As mentioned under Broken Ace, Charles feels like he has no real place in the world. In the epilogue Charles is worst-off of all the surviving gang members John encounters, bare-knuckle boxing in the slums of Saint Denis. Sadie even mentions that he took losing the whole gang the hardest. John offers him a place at the ranch and Charles admits that helping build Beecher's Hope was 'good for me'. After the death of Micah, Charles leaves for Canada to escape the law and start a family of his own.
• Due to the Dead: He’s mourned and buried most of the members who died in the game. He buries Kieran and even admits to Arthur that he was starting to like him too, takes a few seconds to mourn Lenny when he’s gunned down and buries him alongside Hosea, and he’s the one who buries Arthur and Susan on top of beautiful sceneries by the end of Chapter 6. By the Epilogue, he buries Mr. Wayne, a gun he hired, after he's killed by the Skinners. If anything, he’s essentially the gang's gravedigger.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: He is one of the few members of the Van der Linde gang to get a relatively happy ending. He says he plans on moving to Canada and settle down with a family of his own. The epilogue implies he does just that when he leaves.
• Even Evil Has Standards: During a companion activity where Arthur and him investigate who have been massacring bison across New Hanover, Charles makes it clear that he only kills when necessary, killing wastefully and for fun appals him.
• Fire-Forged Friends: As the Van Der Linde gang goes off the rails, and both him and Arthur get heavily involved with helping the local Wapiti population, the two probably end up being about as close as friends can be.
• Fight Clubbing: In the epilogue, Charles has took up street fighting in Saint Denis ran by the local mafia, under the moniker "Lone Wolf". After reuniting with John and Uncle, he pull off one last victory before leaving the city with his friends.
• Foil:
  • To Lenny, another gang member who lived a troubled life as a result of his color and race and are close friends with Arthur. But in contrast to the more amicable and optimistic Lenny, Charles comes off more as an stoic introvert. This is highlighted in a random camp event, where Lenny tries and fails to get Charles to open up due to the differences in their personalities.
  • He's also one to Bill. Both of them are tough and ruthless fighters who are heavily involved in the Van der Linde gang in 1899, but while Bill is a less-than-bright loudmouth who enjoys killing and stealing, Charles is a quiet and and morally introspective gang member who only does horrible things to try and survive.
• Generic Name: For reference, he is half Native American. "Charles Smith" sounds rather generic even outside of that context. However by 1899 many Native Americans had very generic names, especially mixed race ones.
• Gentle Giant: He's built like a brick wall, but is one of the purest members of the gang.
• Hunk: Very tall, muscular, manly, and quite handsome.
• Hero of Another Story: By all accounts, Charles has quite a number of tales to tell, and could possibly warrant his own game.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: He's Arthur's best friend. He's also close friends with John, as seen in the epilogue.
• Important Haircut: After the botched bank robbery in Saint Denis, he cuts his hair into a braided mohawk.
• I Will Only Slow You Down: Takes a bullet during the epilogue, forcing John and Sadie to leave him behind. Thankfully, it's not a serious wound so after they're done, they go pick him up and he survives.
• Karma Houdini: At the end of the game, he moves to Canada and avoids any punishment from rolling with Dutch. Though out of the gang's combatants, he arguably most deserved a happy ending.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: As the gang's situation become more and more dire, he simply opts to leave, focusing all his efforts on the Wapiti people instead.
• The Lancer: He shares this status alongside Sadie Adler. Often the voice of reason, cautious without being cowardly and offers a stabilizing counterpoint to more impulsive, fiery personalities. John, at one point, describes him as a 'pillar of strength'.
• Memetic Badass: A rare in-universe example, played sarcastically. If Arthur antagonizes Charles at camp, he asks what a master hunter and tracker who is as strong as ten men is doing among "mere mortals", and predicts that Charles will soon claim he can fly and breathe fire.
• Nerves of Steel: Keeps his cool under fire and looks over gruesome carnage without so much as a hitch in his voice. Unlike Micah, this is less a case of being cruel and more a case of Good Is Not Soft.
• Nice Guy: Charles is a true bro. Arthur actually admires him for his goodhearted nature, noting that Charles doesn't need to think about or be prodded towards the right decision, like he does. Charles knows what's right.
• Not So Above It All:
  • While he often appears serious and no-nonsense, that doesn't mean he has no sense of humour. He even engages in drunken antics with John and Uncle in the epilogue.
  • Before that, he and Javier chat up and get drinks with two women in Valentine. During the following Bar Brawl, he joins Javier in attacking random patrons uninvolved in the inciting confrontation between Bill and a local with a chair.
• Not So Stoic:
  • While sitting around the campfire, Charles opens up a little about his perspective on life; unlike his calm demeanor on the field and confidence among the other gang members, here he shows a more vulnerable and somewhat nervous side. As he bares his soul he mumbles and shrugs. Arthur's following commentary:
    Charles: "Life's always confused me. I don't... feel I understand it very much. Other human beings seem to understand why they were born, but for me... it seems like I was born to hurt and suffer myself. That doesn't always seem like a really good reason. I wish there was another way, but here in this land... I feel very stuck. I'm sorry to complain. It's just... it's just so..."
    Arthur: "Listen, Charles... you're about the best man I know."
  • He's also visibly very elated when he reunited with John in 1907 whom he thought was dead.
• Oh, Crap!: A subdued one. His response to Arthur telling him they're heading into Murfree Brood territory is to pause, then put away his revolver and grab a shotgun and a stick of dynamite instead.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Since he grew up on tribal land where he was taught the value of the bison's parts and their precious nature as a vanishing species, he becomes absolutely furious to see multiple unskinned, spoiled carcasses rotting on the trail while taking Arthur along on a hunt. After confronting the men responsible in a rage and learning they did it maliciously (to "make it look like it was Indians", no less), he shoots one in the head without warning and growls at Arthur to choke the other.
• Put on a Bus: After the Wapiti crisis, which means he misses the train heist. Out of story, this is to give Micah a fighting chance in the finale — if he can barely keep up with a dying Arthur, there's no chance he could match a healthy Charles, and if he faced the both of them, it'd be a very quick fight.
• The Quiet One: Unless there's something he thinks is worth raising his voice over, he doesn't say much and remains somewhat inscrutable. A camp interaction with Uncle suggesting he's unintelligent for not saying anything reveals that he prefers to just let the moment speak for itself.
  Charles: If the choice is folks thinkin' I'm dumb but not knowin' for sure, and folks knowin' I'm dumb, because I sound like you — [Uncle scoffs] — I think I'd rather keep 'em wonderin'.
  Uncle: [Chuckling, but a little annoyed] I see what you did there — mighty clever. You know... maybe you ain't so dumb. In that case, you'll say somethin'.
  Charles: Say what?
  Uncle: I don't know... if I knew, I'd say it.
  Charles: Maybe it just don't need to be said. Ever think of that? Maybe... maybe silence is okay.
• The Reliable One: Do you need someone to follow you into the jaws of hell? Get Charles.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After Sadie gets a tip about Micah, he joins her on one with John.
• Scary Black Man: He might be a Gentle Giant, but he can certainly be menacing when sufficiently angered.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: A mild case of this earlier in the game, particularly during the mission 'A Strange Kindness', where Charles and Arthur seek out a new place for the Van der Lindes to settle down. While they respect one another's abilities and get along relatively well, it's clear they're still testing the waters of a new friendship. Charles' independent lifestyle and more selfless personality clash with Arthur's authoritative and self-centered approach.
  Arthur: "Any issues...shoot first, debate second."
  Charles: "I'm not going to shoot for the sake of it."
  Arthur: "Survival's for the sake of it. Quit talking."
  Charles: "You started it."
  • Then again as they're trying to figure out what happened to the previous occupants of a camp:
    Arthur: "Be careful."
    Charles: "I am being careful."
• Those Two Guys: He is often seen with John either fixing coaches or just hanging around together. This is more notable in chapter 6, where they can be seen talking about Dutch's decend into madness and in one of the prison cutscenes where the two breaks Arthur out.
• This Is Gonna Suck: In Chapter 6, Arthur asks him to ride out on a mission, and Charles agrees and grabs his revolver. Upon being told that they're riding into Murfree Brood country, he pauses and silently swaps out the revolver for a sawed-off shotgun, and grabs a stick of dynamite for good measure.
• Token Good Teammate: A downplayed example as he has no real issue being a part in violent crimes, but he insists against Arthur's objections on helping the German settler family and voices a general preference to avoiding bloodshed.
• Took a Level in Cheerfulness: By the time he reunited with some of the remaining gang members (John, Uncle, Jack, Sadie, and Abigail), he’s much more cheerful and less introverted. He even goes as far as to engage in drunken shenanigans with John and Uncle.
• Tranquil Fury: Charles minds his own business in camp when Micah orders him to fetch him something to eat. He responds to this by throwing him into the ground.
  (points) Eat that.
• Twofer Token Minority: Half black, half Native American. This is a case of Reality Is Unrealistic, as a fair few tribes such as the Seminole welcomed escaped and free black slaves, and someone with Charles' ethnic makeup would not be particularly exceptional in 1899.
• Walking Armory: Not to the extent of Arthur, but more so than the rest of the gang: he can usually be seen carrying at least one knife, a tomahawk, a sidearm (frequently a sawed-off shotgun), and either a long rifle or a bow.
• Workaholic: It is mentioned by several characters that he is constantly doing chores around the camp. He states he likes to keep busy.

Josiah Trelawny

Voiced by: Stephen Gevedon

"How can romance ever be silly? It's all we have."

A flamboyant conman and trickster, Trelawny is one of the few people who Dutch allows to leave the camp from time to time. A hard man to pin down, he is able to get his nooks and crannies that the rest of the gang can't.

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• Abusive Parents: Implied in a piece of dialog in "The First Shall Be the Last", stating his parents would have sold him for alcohol if they could. He himself is a loving father, however.
• Ambiguously Evil: Arthur doesn't seem to like Trelawny because he doubts that Trelawny is loyal to the gang due to his frequent disappearances for long stretches when trouble comes up. Trelawny is actually Good All Along and is genuinely loyal to the gang, only leaving when Dutch has become too dangerous to stay around.
• Ambiguous Situation: Arthur mentions in his journal of hearing talk of a man resembling Trelawney in Blackwater prior to the fateful robbery, but doubts it considering Trelawney rarely shows up at camp. Was he really at Blackwater, or was it someone else that happens to look like him? Like a certain Strange Man who happens to know how the events at Blackwater played out?
• Bait-and-Switch:
  • He bears a strong resemblance to the Strange Man and is a Stage Magician, potentially explaining the weird tricks the Strange Man performed in the first game. Both happen to be complete coincidences.
  • There's everything to suggest that he's a traitor, or at least disloyal to the gang; he disappears often and is very genteel for an ostensible ally of hard-knocks outlaws attempting to resist the urbanization and industrialization of the American West. However, he's a trusted source of information for the gang and in the end, he's entirely innocuous, never betrays it, and only abandons it out of concern about Dutch's mental stability, without recourse to slinking away instead of actually declaring his intention to leave.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer:
  • It's hard to say if he actually is part of the gang or just a guy who helps them out from time to time. He spends very little time on the camp, but his missions also tend to be well thought out and properly planned.
  • Arthur actually calls out this last part, noting that while Josiah's schemes are very well planned and creative, they leave a lot to be lacking when it comes to seamless execution and accounting for the use of force if necessary. But when they work, they really work.
  • It's possible the reason he is seldom at the camp is because he's off researching for his next plot, which is why they're so well planned out. Also, he has a family, so he of course he wants to be able to spend time with them.
• The Cameo: He appears in Red Dead Online as a contractor.
• Camp Straight: He is flamboyant as hell, and has a wife that he is happy with.
• City Slicker: Is the only member (or associate) of the gang who mostly resides in the city, being more comfortable conning in places like Saint Denis. Arthur can comment about how ridiculous his clothing is given that he's living outside with the gang during most of Chapter Three.
• Con Man: His main role in the gang, to sweet talk people into providing good leads for the gang.
• The Dandy: He's always seen wearing immaculate clothing even at camp and prefers to avoid confrontation in his grifts whenever possible.
• Distressed Dude: He is captured twice in Rhodes, once by the law and once by bounty hunters, and has to be saved by Arthur.
• Fair-Weather Friend: As opposed to most of the gang, which Arthur considers like family, he isn't sure about Trelawny's ultimate loyalty, since he disappears for long stretches when the gang's in trouble. In the end, while Trelawny does leave the gang, it's not because he's a traitor but because Dutch's increasing instability makes him too dangerous to be around. He does stay to say goodbye to Arthur before going, unlike other characters who sneak away over the course of Chapter 6.
• Foil: To Hosea Matthews, in a way. Both are smooth-talking con artists who prefer words to bullets, are good friends with Dutch, became married at some point in their lives, and regularly come up with plans for the gang to profit off of. However, while Hosea usually dresses in a practical manner, Trelawny is never seen without a fancy suit. While Hosea is a constant presence in the gang’s camp, Trelawny tends to leave the camp often, sometimes even for months on end. There’s also the contrasting nature of their respective marriages. Hosea temporarily left the gang for the sake of his wife, Bessie, who he he never had any known children with and who passed away prior to the events of II. Trelawny, meanwhile, has successfully managed to keep his line of work separate from his wife, which hasn’t stopped him from fathering two boys with her, and she is alive and well during the events of II. On a minor note, even their first names sound similar.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Appears to be generally disliked by much of the gang due to his flamboyance, being absent for long periods of time, as well as apparently never shutting up. He only remains associated with the gang because, while sometimes faltering on some of his plans, they generally work very well.
• Good All Along: Downplayed, as the gang doesn't think he's openly antagonistic to them. Instead, they don't seem to trust him that much due to his constant dissapearences. He never betrays the gang and is shown to care about them when he turns up at Beaver Hollow at the gang's lowest point. He only leaves them when he realizes staying will only lead to his death.
• Happily Married: Surprisingly so! He has a wife and two boys in Saint Denis, all of whom he dotes on.
• Hahvahd Yahd In My Cah: Is the only member of the gang who speaks with an upper-crust New England accent.
• Hidden Depths: Is happily married and a caring father to two sons. He's also Good All Along, being loyal to the gang and only leaving before things really start to go south by the end of chapter six.
• High-Class Gloves: He's as inseparable from his pair of classy white gloves as he is his sharp business suit.
• Identical Stranger: Appearance-wise he's almost identical to the Strange Man from the "I Know You" side missions of the first game, but the similarities end there. Considering that the Strange Man is heavily implied to be either Death, an Angel, God, or the Devil, this is a given.
• Knows a Guy Who Knows a Guy: Part of his success as a conman derives from how well connected he is across several areas such as Saint Denis and Rhodes.
• Knowledge Broker: He serves as the gang's eyes and ears, especially in situations where the law is concerned, such as when tracking Sean's whereabouts after being captured by bounty hunters.
• Last-Name Basis: Almost always referred simply as Trelawny. Arthur addresses him as Josiah when the former leaves the gang for good by chapter six.
• Motor Mouth: Apparently talks incessantly, much to Javier and Charles' annoyance. Arthur even calls it his "special talent."
• Nice Guy: Is generally pleasant and kind to the members of the gang, in addition to being a loving husband and father. He also stays to bid farewell to Arthur before he cuts ties with the gang in chapter six, even telling Arthur that he'll miss him.
• Non-Action Guy: Maybe with some Dirty Coward thrown in for good measure. In any case, he doesn't stick his head out when bullets fly and prefers to talk his way into and out of trouble.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Cuts ties with the gang after seeing how much they are falling apart. Arthur gave him his blessing to leave the camp before Dutch was able to find out.
• Sharp-Dressed Man: Never rarely seen without an immaculate suit.
• Stage Magician: A hobby of his.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Downplayed, but he bears some noticeable similarities to Nigel West Dickens from the first game. Primarily his being a Con Man who aids the Player Character by coming up with schemes that benefit them, as well as regularly wearing an immaculate suit and top hat.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Like Karen, Trelawny is one of the only members of the Van der Linde gang whose fate isn't revealed during the epilogue. It’s implied that he left with his family.
• What the Hell Is That Accent?: He has a vaguely British-sounding accent, a sort of faux-Mid Atlantic accent, which was how many people who took elocution lessons as children in that time would've spoken (the exceedingly well off). The fact that it's not quite right would be a tip off that he is in fact, a con man.

Karen Jones

Voiced by: Jo Armeniox

"Running scams, robbing banks, screwing over the rich and horrible."

A consummate scam-artist and heavy drinker, Karen fell in love with life as an outlaw. She doesn't hesitate to speak her mind but is especially big-hearted and looks out for everyone, especially the rest of her fellow girls.

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• The Alcoholic: After the botched Saint Denis robbery and the gang being in more dire straits, Karen's drinking habits become a lot worse. The epilogue has Tilly suspect that Karen's alcoholism ended up in her death.
• Action Girl:
  • She can often be seen guarding the camp with a repeater in hand.
  • During the bank robbery, Karen can go toe-to-toe against the lawmen and fires the first shot after catching them off guard.
• Ambiguous Situation: She disappears at some point before the final mission and isn't seen again, not even in the epilogue. The most of an explanation we get is Tilly speculating she drank herself to death at some point between the main game and then.
• Badass Decay: In Chapter 3, she (alongside Bill and Lenny) masterminded the Valentine bank heist and as one of the gang's most clinical marksmen, she even actively participates in the shooting. Later on in chapter 4, she defended Shady Belle from the O'Driscoll ambush, and across the early chapters, she (and possibly Sadie from chapter 3 onwards) is the only woman in camp who performs guard duties owing to her proficiency with a rifle. In contrast, by Chapter 6, her increased dependency on alcohol from the stress of the deaths of key members of the gang (particularly Sean and Molly) and the gang's gradual collapse descends her into full-blown alcoholism and a state of clinical depression, both of which are heavily implied to have killed her off post-time skip.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Once Sean returns, he and Karen exchange drunken barbs and flirtations before engaging in a hook-up.
• Big Beautiful Woman: She is the heaviest of the other female members and seems to be seen as the most attractive.
• Break the Cutie: She starts the game off as the most rambunctious and active of the gang's women, persuading Arthur to bring them on the Valentine trip and later even holding up Valentine's bank. By Beaver Hollow's chapter, Karen has fallen into the bottle and has lost all hope, spending most of her time drunkenly screaming at Grimshaw and ambling about aimlessly in camp. She's never seen to recover for the rest of the game.
• Buxom Beauty Standard: Noticeably has the largest breasts of all the girls in the gang, and does not hesitate to use them to her advantage.
• The Confidant: At some points Arthur can sit down with her and express his guilt over his actions, Karen is willing to listen while also pushing him to be a better person because deep down she really believes Arthur is a good man.
• Cool Big Sis: Tilly describes her this way in her letter to John, presumably posthumously.
• Deadpan Snarker: Unlike Mary-Beth and Tilly, she is happy to snap back at Grimshaw when she harasses her.
• Distracted by the Sexy: In the private demo, she distracts some guards by opening a few buttons in her shirt.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She can be very petty and abrasive at times, likely due to the alcohol, but she has plenty of Pet the Dog moments that show she really does view the gang as her family.
• Kick the Dog: While Kieran is tied up by a tree, she mocks him as a "baby" and throws a lit cigarette at his face when he begs for water.
• Lady Drunk: She can be occasionally be found drunk in camp; unlike Swanson or Uncle Arthur gently tells her that she's better than that, trying to ease her away from drinking so much.
• Pet the Dog:
  • She has an ambient conversation with Kieran where she reassures him that he's one of the gang now and he doesn't have to worry about getting hurt. Given that it's can happen as early as Horseshoe Overlook, when most of the gang is still openly hostile to Kieran, it's very kind of her.
  • Despite her and Molly having a poor relationship while the latter was alive, Karen does (make a failed) attempt to reach out to Molly in chapter 4 regarding the latter's emotional strife from Dutch's neglectfulness, and is subsequently heartbroken about Molly's death later on, defending her actions afterward in ambient dialogue.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: Drunkenly argues with Sean before the two proceed to have sex in poor John's tent.
• Vasquez Always Dies: Out of the three "camp girls" she is the most active and she's the only one implied to have died.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: While the credits have a very nice "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue for all the surviving gang members, she is the only one aside from Trelawny that is not shown whatsoever. A letter from Tilly has her speculating that Karen's love of drinking ended up killing her.

Kieran Duffy

Voiced by: Pico Alexander

"So I'm one of you now."

A young man riding with the O'Driscolls. Arthur captures him in the beginning of the game, and he slowly becomes another follower of Dutch.

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• Ambiguously Evil: Once he is captured, most of his on-screen moments consist of people trying to figure out if he is still loyal to Colm O'Driscoll and is just spying on Dutch for him. He wasn't, which makes his death rather unfortunate.
• Badass Longcoat: Despite not being very badass himself, he still wears a nice black leather duster similar to the rest of the O'Driscolls. Apparently they're standard issue.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Kieran’s feelings for Mary-Beth partially stem from the fact that she was one of only two people who were kind to him when he was kept as a prisoner by the Van der Linde gang.
• Body Horror: His eyes are gouged out, he gets decapitated, and all of this in put on a grotesque display and sent to Dutch on horseback.
• Born Unlucky: Kieran's life is a mess ever since he was a kid. He was orphaned at a young age, was kicked out from his first job not long after, joined the army but left because "it didn't work out", he's the sole survivor of the first gang he joined and was later forced at gun point to join the O'Driscolls. After being captured by the Van Der Linde Gang, he was tortured for days and even after joining them, he was often ridiculed by almost everyone including Jack.
• Butt-Monkey: Nothing goes well with this poor guy. During the course of the game, he is kidnapped, tied to a tree and denied food and water, Dutch threatens to have Bill castrate him, gets headbutted by Sean, and nobody trusts him. Just as he is starting to get in good terms with the gang, he is kidnapped again, only this time he is brutally tortured and killed.
• Catchphrase: I ain't no O'Driscoll.
• Cowardly Lion: Despite being rather cowardly and meek, a Freeze-Frame Bonus shows him among the gang members who drew their guns in an act of defiance against the Pinkerton agents when they came for Dutch.
  • In the same vain, he can be seen falling in with the gang to rescue Jack before Dutch tells him to stay and guard the camp.
  • Earlier on in the story, he can also lay claim to saving Arthur's life in Chapter 2, which Arthur dutifully acknowledges on several occasions to his credit.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: He gets the most brutal death in the game. He loses his eyes, his head, and the mutilated corpse is then used to taunt Dutch's gang.
• Deadpan Snarker: At first he's too nervous to show much sass but you have the option to go fishing with him at one point and he calls Arthur, of all people, out for hassling him so much. Arthur can only irritably tell him to shut up.
• Decapitation Presentation: Colm O'Driscoll cuts off his head, then positions Kieran's body on a horse, has the corpse "hold" the head, then sends him riding back into camp to demoralize Dutch's gang before having his men attack.
• Due to the Dead: In the aftermath of his death, Dutch orders Reverend Swanson and Charles to bury Kieran's body somewhere "close, but not too close". His grave can be visited for the "Paying Respects" achievement.
• Establishing Character Moment: If Arthur robs Kieran while capturing him when they first meet, one of the few items he has is horse reviver, hinting at his affinity for horses.
• Eye Scream: When his corpse is found, his eyes have been gouged out of his decapitated head. Hopefully it happened after he was killed, but given how psychotic Colm is...
• Foil: He's one to Sadie Adler. Both are the latest additions to the Van der Linde gang during their time in the mountains. But unlike Sadie who is fiery and partakes in the action, Kieran is extremely mild-mannered around the gang and mainly does work at the camp. While Sadie was quickly accepted into the gang as one of their own, Kieran was distrusted by practically everyone due to working with the O'Driscolls and takes a significantly longer time to warm up to. Perhaps the most obvious difference between the two is that Sadie is a victim of the O'Driscolls who is taken in by Dutch's gang, whereas Kieran is a member of the O'Driscolls who is captured by Dutch's gang.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Mostly because nobody trusts him. Eventually subverted as the gang gradually warms to his presence, with actual threats on his life becoming playful, non-serious ones. When he's murdered by the O'Driscolls, many of the gang members were saddened by his death.
• Friend to All Living Things: Well, horses mainly. He becomes something of the stable master of the gang, regularly seen caring for the horses and even mentions to Sean that he worked in a stable for awhile and that liking horses is one of the few things he knows anymore.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Arthur privately laments that he could not save Kieran, and during his talk with Sadie, he's among the list of people that he believes died needlessly.
• I Owe You My Life: He talks his way into a permanent place in Dutch's gang by saving Arthur's life. After Kieran's death, Arthur laments that he could not return the favor.
• Insistent Terminology: Always insists that he's not an O'Driscoll.
• The Insomniac: Doesn't sleep much in camp, and is usually found doing chores, even in the dead of night. When he does sleep, he sleeps with his back up against something, far away from the others.
• Mistaken for Spies: The gang presumes he is loyal to the O'Driscolls. In the end, he was just a kid who ended up with the wrong company and got killed for it.
• Morton's Fork: As he points out on a fishing trip with Arthur, he's stuck in one. If he tries to pledge loyalty to Dutch, Dutch retorts that he wasn't loyal to the O'Driscolls. If he tries to stay neutral instead, Dutch just believes he'll turn on them.
  • This also seems to be the case for him on why he stays with the gang. Either he stays with a group of outlaws that hate him but let him live, he goes back to Colm and gets killed for his betrayal, or he tries to strike it out on his own and, even assuming Colm doesn't hunt him down, probably dies to whatever else is out there. He stays with the Van der Linde gang pretty much solely because it's the only option that doesn't result in instant death.
• Nervous Wreck: Arthur even calls him a "nervy little feller". Understandable, given that he's surrounded by people who vocally dislike him for most of the game.
• Never Learned to Read: A conversation Arthur can overhear between Kieran and Mary-Beth ends in Kieran implying that he can't read, and Mary-Beth offering to teach him.
• New Meat: The latest addition to the gang, albeit unwillingly.
• Nice Guy: Kieran is quite friendly to the other gang members once he becomes an official member, and he shies away from violent and criminal acts. It’s saying something when someone as stoic as Charles and someone as morose as Bill admit that they started liking him after his untimely death.
• Non-Action Guy: One of the very few men in the gang who don't contribute to heists or violence.
• Odd Friendship: Despite the constant bullying he suffers, he surprisingly gets along with the loud-mouthed Sean - partly out of their shared Irish heritage in Sean's case, and out of dogged necessity in Kieran's.
• The Pig-Pen: His official biography describes his personal hygiene as dubious, but this fact isn't really commented on in-game.
• Properly Paranoid: One of the reason Kieran rarely leaves camp is because he is afraid that his former gang will catch him. Sure enough, the moment he let his guard down, he is captured by them.
• Punch-Clock Villain: While he was a member of the O'Driscolls, it's clear that he was forced into the gang and sadly paid the price for it.
• Sacrificial Lamb: He works to integrate himself into the gang, but is then captured and killed offscreen near the end of chapter 4.
• Sheep in Sheep's Clothing: Despite the gang's suspicion of him being an O'Driscoll member, he never actually betrays them and actually develops a loyalty for them, despite their distrust of him. They actually take his death hard, and the gang mourn and bury him to make up for their constant mistreatment and distrust of him.
• Ship Tease: Kieran is seen interacting with Mary-Beth on a few occasions. They both act like nervous high schoolers around each other. She even offers to read to him. After his grisly death, she admits that she always had a soft spot for him.
• Shoot the Shaggy Dog: After being treated with hostility and suspicion by the rest of the gang, he finally starts to get on their good graces. The O’Driscolls made sure that it doesn’t last.
• Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: He never received his own pre-release artwork, and went unmentioned until release.
• Tempting Fate: Early on in Chapter 4, Kieran tells Arthur that staying with the Van Der Linde gang is the best descision he ever made and for once in his life, he is happy. It is also around this moment that he starts to let his guard down and lossen up. Not long afterwards, he is killed by the O'Driscolls.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: After years of being alone for most of his life, Kieran seems to finally found his place among the gang. All this came to an end shortly after when Colm's men found and kill him gruesomely.

Leonard "Lenny" Summers

Voiced by: Harron Atkins

"Living free out here, like this... I wouldn't have it any other way."

A 19 year-old fugitive and son of freed slaves who joined the Van Der Linde gang after being on the run for three years for the murder of his father's killers. The youngest gunman of the gang, he seeks to prove himself to the rest as a competent outlaw despite his age.

---

• Affably Evil: Like the rest of the gang, Lenny’s no stranger to violence, and crime in general, whether on the giving or receiving end. But he’s otherwise quite an outgoing young man, friendly to most of his companions, and always tries to befriend others, even outside camp.
• The Baby of the Bunch: By the time the game is following their story, Lenny is currently the second youngest of Dutch's Gang (after little Jack, of course), and definitely the youngest active member at only 19 years.
• Badass Bookworm: An avid reader, often found with his nose in a book around the camp. That doesn't make him any less dangerous. Arthur can comment on how clever he is in a few conversations. At one point Lenny offers to teach Sean how to read, with mixed results.
  Lenny: "I'm not giving up on you."
  Sean: "Oh, please...give up on me."
  • He can also talk circles around Dutch - in one conversation, he criticizes Evelyn Miller and his writings, to which Dutch can only offer some slight patronizing.
• Black and Nerdy: As noted above. Almost in defiance to the discredited Jim Crow-esque stereotype popularly disseminated (at the time) that blacks were somehow unintelligent, Lenny is very cunning and perceptive. His skill with literacy in particular is Justified by his father lucking out big-time with some semblance of an education in spite of being a slave; one letter sent from the old man reveals that he himself had a large vocabulary and excellent penmanship, and even advises Lenny to say "is not", not the substitution "ain't", when reading the letter aloud to his presumably illiterate mother, showing just how important learning was for Lenny growing up. However, the canny attitude (for example, it's all but stated that he and Karen are largely responsible for the investigative legwork taken to solidify Bill's plan to hit the bank in Valentine), circumstantial awareness and ability to outwit Dutch in philosophical rhetoric is all Lenny, books or no books.
• Black Dude Dies First: Averted. He dies during the massively botched Lemoyne Bank Heist at the end of Chapter 4, which is comfortably into the median stage of the story's progression.
• Boom, Headshot!: Arthur writes in his journal that Lenny was killed by a shot to the head during the botched bank robbery in Saint Denis.
• Book Smart: While he's far from incompetent and has seen more than his fair share of blood, Lenny's youthful inexperience means that his intelligence is his greatest asset. Arthur affectionately jokes at the beginning that Lenny may be many things, but he's not much of a hunter.
  Arthur: Well, Lenny's more into book-learnin' than huntin'... [and] Bill's a fool. Unless those mountains are full of game that wanna read, ain't no wonder they found [nothing.]
• Can't Hold His Liquor: An early mission involves him and Arthur heading to the local bar to relax; unfortunately, the two are ridiculous lightweights and when they quickly end up drunk, Hilarity Ensues.
• Cutscene Incompetence: The game forces this on the player during his death scene. While it's not a cutscene, the men who kill him are plainly visible for a few moments before they take the shot, but moving the crosshairs over them turns it gray and shooting is disabled.
• Dark and Troubled Past: His father was killed by a pair of racists, who later met their end at Lenny's hands. Before that, his family were slaves and suffered horribly under their master.
• Due to the Dead: It is later revealed in the Guarma chapter that Sadie recovered his body from the Saint Denis morgue along with that of Hosea and buried them close to each other in Bluewater Marsh.
• Foil:
  • To Charles, another gang member who lived a troubled life as a result of their color and race and are close friends to Arthur. But in contrast to the more serious and introverted Charles, Lenny is more sociable and optimistic. This is highlighted in a random camp event, where Lenny tries and fails to get Charles to open up, due to the differences in personalities.
  • He's also one to Sean. Both of them are among the younger members of the gang, like to enjoy themselves while not trying to pull off heists, and end up being unceremoniously killed due to circumstances beyond their control. However, while Sean is a Book Dumb illiterate who tends to rely on his street smarts to survive in the world, Lenny is a well-educated man who often questions the morality and logic of what the gang is doing. Lenny does try to teach Sean to read while at Horseshoe Overlook, but unfortunately doesn't get very far due to Sean refusing to put effort into it.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: As mentioned under Cutscene Incompetence, Lenny's killers can be seen for a brief moment before he is shot, but the player cannot harm them until Lenny is already dead.
• Good Is Not Dumb: Good-humored, amicable and fun to be around. He's also extremely clever, often taken on missions for his quick thinking.
• Morality Pet: Lenny's one of the few people to bring out Arthur's softer side. Arthur’s always friendly, patient and fatherly towards him and even outright says that he enjoys hanging out with him. Even when he’s not with him, Arthur speaks kindly of him. He warns Micah to not tell Lenny that he slept with Jenny and tells Dutch that he bring Lenny along in their plan to rob the trolley station. Seeing him gunned down by government agents devastates him and he takes a few seconds to mourn and hold him before running away.
• Nice Guy: Lenny is well mannered and kind, yet can fight alongside Arthur and his gang with ease.
• Not So Above It All: Even though Lenny tries to present himself as well-mannered, he is shown to be as much of a wild drunk as Arthur.
• N-Word Privileges: He's the only character that actually outright says the n-word in the game, everyone else uses "darkie". He tells Arthur when they get to Lemoyne that he might get called a "nigger lover" for being seen with him. He also has a camp dialogue telling everyone at the campfire about how his father who was a slave got lucky to get a good enough of an education to be the teacher for the family that owned him's kids and calls him a "real house nigger".
• Plucky Comic Relief: His missions are usually light in tone and fairly easy, and Arthur tends to ease up and relax around him. This makes his sudden death all the more tragic.
• Sacrificial Lamb: Lenny gets a decent amount of characterization to make the player invest in him, only for him to be gunned down without warning.
• Say My Name: A drunken Arthur calling out "LENNY! LENNNNY! LENNUH!" during the now infamous "A Quiet Time" story mission.
• Surprisingly Sudden Death: During the botched Saint Denis bank heist, Lenny and Arthur try to scope out an escape route on the rooftops, only for Lenny to be immediately gunned down without warning by Pinkertons. He's the only one in the gang whose death is not even dignified with a cutscene.
• You Killed My Father: He's on the run for killing the men who murdered his dad.
• Young Gun: Not even twenty years old, but he's already been on the run from the law for years after killing the men who murdered his father.

Leopold Strauss

Voiced by: Howard Pinhasik

"It's a nasty world out there, and it's catching up with us..."

The gang's bookkeeper/accountant, he runs a loan shark business as part of the gang's many "low profile" criminal activities.

---

• Affably Evil: While he is polite to his own gang members, he also makes a living out of lending desperate people money and having Arthur come and collect at increased rates.
• Ambiguously Jewish: Strauss is usually a Jewish last name, he's an immigrant from Austria (which had a large Jewish population at the time), and his role in the gang certainly fits with negative Jewish stereotypes, however there don't seem to be any other hints. Intentional or not he certainly doesn't practice Judaism seriously.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He's genuinely confused on why someone would have qualms with what he does, and is genuinely shocked when Arthur throws him out, saying that he thought Arthur was his friend.
• Evil Debt Collector: Dutch allows him to lend money to desperate people but even he admits he's uncomfortable with it. Arthur especially dislikes Strauss and his business, since he's the one sent out as muscle to collect the debt from desperate people.
• Freudian Excuse: As he tells it, his family grew up in poverty, with his 12-year-old brother assaulting night watchmen to steal food for the rest, his father selling his sister into "servitude" at the age of nine (which could've been anything from a workhouse to prostitution), and Leopold himself — a weak, sickly teenager — having to depart for the Americas with his uncle because he wouldn't have survived otherwise. They arrived in July 1863, during the draft riots, and the sight of seeing Manhattan blazing like it was Hell terrified his uncle so much that he suffered a fatal heart attack, leaving Strauss alone in a hostile, unfamiliar country and forcing him into a ruthless business in order to survive. Interestingly, Strauss shows no sympathy for poor families in debt, and instead conducts himself with a cold, dispassionate air.
• Get Out!: He gets this treatment after Arthur learns about his tuberculosis and decides to throw Strauss away from the camp, disgusted by him.
• Hidden Depths:
  • According to Charles, Strauss never gave away any of the gang's secrets even while facing death after the Pinkertons caught him, despite being forcibly removed from the gang by Arthur with none of the other gang members defending him or inviting him back.
  • While far from a combatant, he is able to free himself from the Cornwall goon and helps knock out a guard during the riverboat heist.
• Ink-Suit Actor: He's kind of a bit older than his voice actor himself, glasses and all.
• Kick the Dog: He very specifically demands Arthur be violent with Thomas Downes. When Arthur follows his advice, Downes is killed and Arthur gets infected with tuberculosis.
• Killed Offscreen: According to the epilogue, he was captured by the Pinkertons and was killed by them.
• Lack of Empathy: Despite being in a similar situation to his debtors when he was young, Strauss shows no sympathy for them, and doesn’t seem to understand why others do. Immediately after finding out that Thomas Downes has died, he tells Arthur that his wife and child will resume the debt. Even when Arthur is diagnosed with tuberculosis, Strauss doesn’t seem to care much, and still asks him to rough people up despite his poor health.
• Loan Shark: Downplayed, but Strauss lends money to rather desperate people and when they don't pay up, he sends Arthur, who won't be too shy about roughing up those people. Arthur despises him for targeting decent folks, and eventually throws him out of the gang.
• Non-Action Guy: Which contrasts heavily with every other member of the gang. Strauss freaks out frequently, especially during the shootout in Valentine.
• Obliviously Evil: Honestly and genuinely doesn't understand why Arthur and others (Even Micah) are so sickened with his usury business. His guiding principle seems to be that since he doesn't force people to make the loans, and his business is technically legal, there are no other moral concerns he should worry about. He's utterly baffled when Arthur kicks him out of the campsite after targeting one penniless mark too many, blaming it on how "the sick delude themselves" rather than any moral imperative. If anything, Strauss deludes himself about the ignobility of his work, saying that he prefers to call it "banking" rather than the much more accurate "sharking".
• Pragmatic Villainy: Strauss requests that Arthur avoid killing his debtors as it drives away business.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Despite being a loyal member of the gang, no one really likes Strauss and are disgusted by his loan sharking practices. Even Dutch thinks he's a bore. Arthur finally has enough of him after getting TB as a result of his loansharking as well as seeing the desperation of the people he loans to and throws him out.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Arthur delivers one to him when he is disgusted with the way Strauss handles the loaning business, forcing it on many people who are in bad situations and unable to pay loans. If Arthur has High Honor, then it will follow up with a Patrick Stewart Speech about how the people whom Strauss has lent money to are the very same people who are truly good at heart in spite of themselves and in spite of the fact that one of them accidentally passed TB on to Arthur himself.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: If Arthur takes too long to perform the final debt collection missions, Strauss will eventually just run away.
• Stupid Evil: Most of the people Herr Strauss lends money to are in such bad situations that it would be impossible for them to pay him back anyway (i.e. a dying man, a Polish immigrant who can barely speak English, a jobless vagrant). Arthur calls him out on this. He seems to specifically target this kind of desperate people who would have something to pay with anyway. Strauss explains that desperate people are pretty much the only type of people that would ask a group of gunblazing outlaws for a loan.
• Undying Loyalty: Surprisingly, even after being kicked out of the gang by Arthur, when the Pinkertons capture Strauss and torture him for information, Strauss never tells them anything, ultimately dying rather than betraying his friends.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Strauss' requests for debt-collection — namely, sending Arthur to shake down Thomas Downes — is what leads to Arthur's death a couple months later from tuberculosis.
• Villainous Breakdown: Downplayed. By the time the gang relocates to Beaver Hollow, Strauss is constantly stressed and panicking, venting to everyone both willing and unwilling to listen.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: In the fourth mission he gives Arthur, he takes umbrage when Arthur suggests he's insulated himself from the true nature of his profession by having Arthur do the dirty work ("you ain't the one handin' out the beatings"); Strauss, in response, indignantly says that his usury feeds the women and children in camp. Arthur, who's been threatening and hunting down debtors exactly as vulnerable as the folks that Strauss claims to be helping, isn't exactly convinced, but he does drop the matter. Come Beaver Hollow, after the moral awakening of his diagnosis, Arthur gets fed up with the man's excuses and kicks him out.

Mary-Beth Gaskill

Voiced by: Samantha Strelitz

"Gentlemen, I think I've got something good."

Put in an orphanage after her mother died of typhoid, Mary-Beth ran away to fend for herself. Kind, good-natured and smarter than she puts on, she quickly became a skilled pickpocket using her wiles and lady-like nature before she joined Dutch's gang.

---

• Affectionate Pickpocket: Before joining the gang, she used to make a living by charming her targets before robbing them blind.
• All Love Is Unrequited: She's implied to carry a torch for Arthur, though unfortunately Arthur doesn't reciprocate due to himself being in love with Mary Linton.
• Brainy Brunette: Has reddish-brown hair, and can often be seen reading a book. She ends up becoming a writer in the epilogue.
• The Confidant: Arthur can interact with her and he does seem to trust her well enough for him to confide his uncertainties, worries and all the demons that haunt him.
• Contrived Coincidence: In the epilogue, John can find her waiting for a train in Valentine.
• Dude Magnet: Her looks catch the attention of Arthur, Kieran, Dutch and Micah.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: In the epilogue, she's revealed to have survived her time with the gang and is now living her dream of writing romance novels.
• Hidden Depths: In the epilogue, she has become a successful writer, even if she dismisses her own writings as bad.
• Ink-Suit Actor: She's essentially Samantha Strelitz but brunette and a different hairstyle.
• Nice Girl: She gives some water to a dehydrated Kieran while he’s being kept captive by the gang, and is probably the only person who actually treated him nicely throughout his time with them. She even tries to teach him to read. She's saddened by Molly's demise and doesn't buy that she's The Mole.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Following Kieran's death at the hands of the O'Driscoll Boys, a grieving Mary-Beth (who's normally averse to violence and bloodlust) vengefully urges Arthur to "make the bastards pay!"
• One-Steve Limit: Shares her first name with Mary Linton, Arthur's Old Flame.
• Romance Novel: She becomes a writer of these by 1907.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Leaves the gang with Uncle and Pearson.
• Self-Deprecation: When she meets John in the epilogue and reveals she's become a writer, she mocks the quality of her books, but is clearly thrilled to be living her dream.
• Ship Tease:
  • She has various moments with Arthur, and even shares a dance with him when the gang celebrates Sean's return. She outright states that Mary Linton is a fool for having left Arthur.
  • With Kieran as well, with the two acting pretty awkward around each other. She was the one who took his gruesome death the hardest, and urges Arthur to make the O'Driscolls pay.
• Southern Belle: Has a southern accent, and is even described as such by Arthur.

Micah Bell III

Has his own page here.

Molly O'Shea

Voiced by: Penny O'Brien

"You're playing a dangerous game."

A native Dubliner, Molly is Dutch's current lover but a life on the run is taking a toll on her.

---

• Age-Gap Romance: She's visibly much younger than Dutch and is implied to be around John Marston's age.
• Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: Drunken Molly thinks claiming to a group of dangerous outlaws about betraying them to the Pinkertons is a good idea, despite knowing of Dutch's policy on traitors. It's not even In Vino Veritas; she was loyal all along and the true rat was Micah.
• Alpha Bitch: She thinks that as Dutch's mistress that doing work like the rest of the women is beneath her.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Downplayed, since 'brilliant' may be something of an exaggeration here, although judging by the quality of the poetry penned by her that the protagonist can find in camp, she's indicated to be at least as gifted as Arthur and Mary-Beth are at scribing. She is also perceptive enough to see through much of Dutch's sophistic bluster and becomes one of the first characters (alongside Hosea) to note a change in Dutch's behaviour and demeanour. Unfortunately, she’s also more of a slacker than Uncle and does nothing to use her smarts to help the camp, which contributes towards others refusing to take her concerns about Dutch seriously.
• Bullying a Dragon:
  • One camp interaction has her confront one of the girls in a huff, knowing that everyone hates her and demanding to know why; when told it's "nothing but the obvious", she loses her temper and slaps the other woman. Unfortunately, she does it to Karen, who's bigger and stronger than her, least inclined to take that lying down, frequently drunk, and (depending on when the event is triggered) mourning the death of Sean. She returns it with a punch square in the face, and Molly runs off clasping her bleeding mouth.
    Karen: And you be careful 'fore you hit me again, you goddamn moron! Dutch or no Dutch, you'll be up there with the angels, playin' harp before sunset! Y' hear me?!
  • Invoked when she claims to be the rat at Beaver Hollow — a terrible idea and desperate cry for attention to begin with, but doing it with the knowledge that Dutch was already losing his mind to paranoia and rage was akin to attempted suicide. The only reason Dutch didn't pull his gun and kill her right then is because Arthur distracted him long enough for Susan to do it instead.
• Cassandra Truth: She was one of the first people to notice Dutch was behaving different. Unfortunately due to her status as the Load and The Friend Nobody Likes no one listens to her. Even when Arthur tries to listen to her they get interrupted by Uncle.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: She's possessive of Dutch, and suspects him of pursuing something with Karen.
• Dishonored Dead: Since she's branded a traitor, her corpse is cremated and she is the only deceased member of the gang to not get buried in a grave.
• Flat Character: Outside of being Irish and Dutch's latest mistress, we hardly know anything about her compared to the rest of the crew. Even when talking to her appears to start a key mission, she's immediately interrupted by Uncle and pushed to the side.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Arthur can potentially be nice to her, but if he does (and he might not) he's the only one. She isn't liked by the rest of the women, from a combination of being Dutch's latest flame and acting like she's above having to pull her own weight around camp. Few people mourn her death, though that's mostly because they think she's a traitor.
• Hidden Depths: You can find a poem by her in the camp. At least part of her frustration comes from Dutch refusing to take her seriously, even though she's clearly intelligent.
• In Vino Veritas: Subverted. She drunkenly claims to have ratted out the gang before the Saint Denis heist, and the gang doesn't have much reason to doubt her. Some time later, Agent Milton reveals that Molly never actually talked despite their attempts to intimidate her - her drunken "confession" was just a cry for attention.
• Lazy Bum: As she puts it, she’s no one's serving girl. Uncle actually works a lot harder than her and the gang likes him even more than her.
• The Load: She refuses to do any work at camp and exists solely as Dutch's mistress, and becomes angry at him when she thinks he's not paying enough attention to her.
• Love Makes You Crazy: She drunkenly declares to the gang that she ratted them out before the Saint Denis bank robbery, out of spite for Dutch ignoring her. She didn't actually do it, but the claim alone is pretty crazy and ultimately gets her killed.
• Meaningful Name: A 'moll' is a gangster's girlfriend, and Molly is the girlfriend of Dutch, a gang boss.
• The Mistress: She's Dutch's latest lover.
• Oireland: If the name wasn't enough, she has a thick Irish accent and her profile in the hardcover version of the official guide says she came to America straight from Dublin.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: While not really a hero, her confession to being the rat ends up protecting Micah, the true rat.
• Properly Paranoid: Thinks that Dutch is being unfaithful to her, resulting in hostilities between her and the other girls. But considering that Dutch tries to flirt with Mary-Beth, Molly isn't entirely wrong of Dutch's unfaithfulness even if said flirting amounted to nothing.
• Red Herring: Because Molly was outed as the one who tipped Milton and Ross off back in Saint Denis, the player thinks the traitor's been dealt with once and for all, right? Wrong. Right before he's shot, Milton tells Arthur that Molly never talked - their speedy intervention in the Saint Denis heist was pure luck. Micah, however...
• Replacement Goldfish: Despite being Dutch's mistress, he holds less affection for her than he does for Annabelle. She doesn't take that well, to say the least.
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Is shot in the chest by Miss Grimshaw with a shotgun for her alleged betrayal. Sadly, it turns out that she wasn't the traitor at all.
• Rich Bitch: Allegedly comes from a wealthy Dublin family. In a camp interaction with Sean she comments that she didn't come to America to see local men like him who would've cleaned her families chimneys back home.
• Satellite Love Interest: Her entire character revolves around her love for Dutch.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Despite her limited screentime, Molly's death scene establishes two things that end up sealing the fate of the Van der Linde gang. First, Arthur asking Dutch to spare her despite the gang's harsh rule against traitors convinces Dutch to isolate himself from his adopted son. Second, her drunken lie that she was Milton's informant keeps Micah, the actual rat, safe.
• Surprisingly Sudden Death: While she's ranting about how she loved Dutch and sold the gang out to the Pinkertons (turns out she didn't), she abruptly gets shot and killed by Miss Grimshaw.
• Woman Scorned: She claims that Dutch ignoring her is what caused her to leak information to the Pinkertons. Subverted when it turns out she lied and the claim was just a drunken cry for attention.

Orville Swanson

Voiced by: Sean Haberle

"You got to love yourself a fire. It's one of the blessings. Sure we can have fire... and you can have the knowledge of fire, but with that comes the knowledge of everything."

A former clergyman who lost his way in life. After saving Dutch's life during some untold incident in the past, Dutch decided to return the favor and asked him to ride with the gang.

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• The Alcoholic: Even among the gang's standards, Swanson is a loud, obnoxious drunk.
• Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: One of his drunken antics almost got him and Arthur run over by a train.
• Berserk Button: Do not laugh at him. Even thinking someone might be poking fun at him is enough to get him angry.
• Dark and Troubled Past: He lost his job, his family and his faith because of his addiction.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After years of addiction, losing his original family and seeing his surrogate family fall apart, Swanson gets clean and ends up working as a successful priest in New York.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: He slicks back his unkempt, messy hairstyle near the end of Chapter 3 to show that he has begun cleaning up his act.
• Functional Addict: Kinda. Before joining the gang, he fell into a morphine addiction after trying to relive some back pain. Morphine led to him adding opium to the mix. Both led him to losing his family, his livelihood, and his faith. By 1899, he's apparently kicked both morphine and opium, but replaced those with alcohol so he can forget those days.
  • However, his Bible is hollowed out and hides a syringe. He falls off the wagon at least once during a party in Shady Belle, held when Jack is rescued.
• The Fundamentalist: A bit downplayed — like many frontier Protestants of the time period, he has a distaste for Catholics (proudly calling himself "Rome-hating" in one camp interaction and saying that Brother Dorkins is a good man even in spite of his denomination), but he rarely prosyletizes to others for their wickedness, instead mostly shaming himself for falling so far from grace. The closest he comes is in another interaction when he approaches a genuflecting Javier and tells him "it's not too late to repent, my Mexican friend." Javier, being a practicing Catholic, replies that "I'm sure there's priests who will happily take your confession," before making the Sign of the Cross; since Javier doesn't stick to the Reverend's Protestant ways, the latter tells him that he's "doomed" (as in, condemned to hell unless he repents).
  Swanson: (turns to Arthur) He's doomed.
  Arthur: We're all doomed, Reverend.
  (Swanson rolls his eyes and walks away with an "I don't get it" look on his face)
• Good Shepherd: Shows shades of this in Chapter 1, reading from the Old Testament (specifically the latter half of Isaiah chapter 40, which talks about how God will support the weary and weak) to try and give some hope to the camp. In the epilogue, Swanson has become a respected priest in New York.
• Hidden Depths:
  • He actually sobers up, changes his life and is smart enough to leave the gang before they all die. As of the epilogue, he is a respected priest in NY.
  • He is also a decent pickpocket and can give Arthur a watch he lifted from one of the gamblers.
• I Owe You My Life: Swanson earned his place in the gang after he saved Dutch's life at some point.
• Large Ham: While he's an alcoholic, no one in camp hams it up the way he does. It's a totally different story when he sobers up, as he becomes much more thoughtful and realizes just how bad his behavior has been.
• The Load: Swanson spends most of the game as a drunken burden on the group, only tolerated because he saved Dutch's life in the past. That all changes when Dutch and half the gang die or go missing following the failed Saint Denis bank robbery. Swanson cleans up his act and is said to have taken a temporary leadership role along with Sadie Adler, keeping the gang alive until their leaders returned.
• Noodle Incident: He saved Dutch's life, which is why he's allowed to stick around despite being about as useless as Uncle, but when, where and how this happened is left undescribed.
• Nun Too Holy: Being a minister doesn't stop him from abusing alcohol and other substances, bigoted statements, gambling, and traveling around with a group of outlaws. He gets better in the latter parts of the game, and the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue reveals he became a respected preacher.
• Oops! I Forgot I Was Married: In a chat with Hosea, he reveals that he was once married, but didn’t know that his wife was already married. He still counts bigamy among his many sins.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After sobering up, he realizes that Dutch is too dangerous to be around with, and sneaks away from the camp. Arthur coincidentally meets him waiting for a train, and gives his approval.

Sadie Adler

"Nobody's taking nothing from me ever again."

Voiced by: Alex McKenna

"I was a married woman. You know what they did to me, and to my husband..."

Once a homesteader near the Grizzly Mountains, Sadie lost everything when the O'Driscoll gang killed her husband and razed her ranch to the ground - and were it not for Arthur and Dutch's intervention, she would've lost her life, too. With nothing left to lose, she picked up her guns and joined the gang in search of vengeance.

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• Action Girl: After taking a level in badass in Chapter III, Sadie becomes a more proactive member for the Gang, in and out of gunfights.
• Ambiguously Evil:
  • While Sadie is a civilian when the gang first find her, her harsh and paranoid demeanour, acceptance of an outlaw life and exceptional gunslinging skills suggest that she may have had a few skeletons in her closet even before joining the gang.
  • In the epilogue, she’s gone straight as a bounty hunter, but admits she’s doing “both good and bad” work. Whether said bad work is illegal is unknown.
• Ambiguously Jewish: At least married to a man who was ambiguously Jewish. His name was Jacob Adler which is a very Jewish sounding name. “Jacob” is an Old Testament name and that Jacob was the father of the twelve tribes of Israel. “Adler” is a very common Ashkenazi Jewish surname. Her maiden name is unknown so it’s impossible to gauge if she’s Jewish too or not but interfaith marriage wasn’t as prevalent in the 1890s as it is today. Lastly, Sadie is a Hebrew name that translates to "ladylike" or "princess".
• Anti-Villain: What stops her from being a distaff Micah is while she can be reckless, violent and rather gruff in her demeanour, she actually values the members of Dutch's gang, and in her own way isn't shy to express her gratitude to them for saving her life. In fact, she proves to be loyal and protective of what she considers to be her newfound family, going as far as organising an escape route from Shady Bell alongside Charles, once the plot turns sour after chapter 4. Another noteworthy distinction she has from Micah is that in spite of their shared propensity for extreme violence, Sadie is driven by grief-fuelled vengeance as opposed to Micah's sadistic hedonism - and as her siege of Hanging Dog ranch reveals, she utterly despises what her suffering has turned her into.
• Ax-Crazy:
  • Downplayed, and she does get better, but for a while Sadie is not someone you want to cross. As time goes on and she learns to both control her rage and mourn her husband, this goes away almost completely. She's still remarkably skilled with violence, but it's professional.
    • It's important to note that her 'craziness' is not 'unpredictable'. Don't demean or push her around, and she'll leave you alone. Even then, the worst she'll do is slap or threaten you. Assault her or be an O'Driscoll (that isn't Kieran), and she's liable to run at you and tear your eyes out with her bare hands. She's mad with pain, but she's not totally unreasonable.
  • This is ultimately Deconstructed by the conclusion. Despite her adherence to violence come the middle of Chapter 3 potentially being seen as liberating, it's made very clear that Sadie is mentally unwell following her husband's gory demise and her awful treatment at the hands of the O'Driscolls. Her desire to commit violent acts is clearly her lashing out at the world for taking away a husband she loved and a life she was genuinely happy with, and her failures to make more positive interpretations of her trauma (as well as the gang's failure to help her get over it) lead her to committing violence just to cope. When you meet her following the Time Skip, while she's more collected than when she covered herself with the blood of her husband's murderer, she admits that she only hunts bounties for the fun of it; following the collapse of the gang, she has nothing left to live for. After getting revenge for Arthur, she seems to improve and moves to South America to start an apparently more purposeful life.
• Badass Longcoat: Sports a black, leather duster coat (in the desert) after the Time Skip.
• Benevolent Boss: Zig-Zagged. As John's boss, she often pokes fun at him being her employee, gets him to do most of the heavy lifting (both metaphorically requiring him to do most of the fighting and literally making him or his horse carry the bounties), gets him into dangerous and ethically dubious situations and scolds him when he disobeys or mocks her. However, she pays him his fair share, is generally cordial and sympathetic towards him and even decides against bringing him on future bounties after he is almost killed by a bear.
• Berserk Button: The only reason she stops hunting down O'Driscolls is after there aren't any more of them left to find.
• Blood Is the New Black: Sadie gets splattered with blood on two occasions; the first is during the O'Driscolls' raid after Kieran's death, killing three of them. The second is when she and Arthur kill the remnants of the O'Driscolls, as her means of getting revenge.
• Blood Knight: Once she decides to join the gang in their criminal activities, it's clear that she really enjoys fighting and killing, especially if her opponents are O'Driscolls.
• Bounty Hunter: After the Time Skip, she spends most of her time chasing criminals, and she's oddly by-the-book about it, too.
• Braids of Action: After becoming a more active member in the gang, Sadie ties up her blonde hair into a single braid for the rest of the story.
• Brief Accent Imitation: When she and Arthur are taking the wagon to Rhodes, she starts reading Pearson's mail with a pretty good mocking impression of him, giving Arthur a chuckle. She trails off as she reads the part where he inquires about his aunt's health, not finding that a funny subject, and stops doing the voice after she skips ahead.
• But Now I Must Go: After finally tracking down Micah with John and Charles, she decides to leave the country for a somewhat quieter life in South America.
• Cool Big Sis: what she evolves into towards the main story's final chapters. She (alongside Charles) is the one responsible for relocating the gang to Lakay after the Chapter Four bank job goes tits up, and from then on she really steps up not only as a segment of the gang's muscle, but also as vital moral support for the physically ailing Arthur as well as a safeguard to John's family; she's the one who organises the Marstons' escape route offscreen during Chapter Six's final mission after paying party to Abigail's rescue with Arthur, and she even masterminds the plan to break John out of Sisika Penitentiary earlier in the chapter. She never completely sheds her gruffness, which makes her an unconventional example, but even then this entry displays how far she's willing to go to protect the people who earn her loyalty, and it's probably not an exaggeration to claim that the Marstons owe so much to her contribution for their survival through the Beaver Hollow chapter.
  • This development becomes more prominent in the Epilogue with John, where she reaches out to make contact with him specifically in order to grant him payroll as a bounty hunter (which demonstrates the faith she has in him as a gun), and during their missions together she extolls the virtues of family life and even questions the risk of contracting John as potential collateral in light of his obligations as a family man, along with what turns out to be the ominously prescient cautionary advice she offers regarding the hazardry John may expose himself to in his pursuit of revenge against Micah (all of which shows her support for his newfound civilian lifestyle, and concern over how much he has to lose as a result). Even her final dialogue in the main story has her reminding John to collect the gang's leftover stash after Dutch's departure before telling him to "hurry up" and disembark from Mount Hagen - not because she's grievously injured with a nasty stab wound at the time - but because "[she] has [John's] wedding to attend!"
• Crusading Widow: Her homestead was attacked and her husband killed by the O'Driscoll gang, and she only survived because the Van der Linde gang saved her and took her in. Over the course of the story, Sadie becomes a badass gunslinger in her own right who seeks violent retribution against the O'Driscolls, though other characters note how much the violence has changed her, calling her a "ghost" at one point. By the epilogue, Sadie has become a well-regarded bounty hunter, but has become so hollow that she casually tells another character she "wants to die".
• Dark Action Girl: Once she becomes determined to take part in the gang's actions, Sadie becomes a badass fighter, and also worryingly bloodthirsty.
• Deadpan Snarker: When not violently lashing out, Sadie has shades of this, especially when questioning the Van der Linde's gangs supposed double-standards - for example, when she and Arthur make what is effectively a shopping trip during her first mission, she sarcastically asks if the "shopping trip" is just going to be another robbery, before jokingly (well, hopefully jokingly) asking Arthur if she can help by killing the shopkeeper for him. In the final battle with Micah, she tells him to come out from hiding, telling him he should "At least DIE like a man!"
• Death Seeker: She matter-of-factly admits that the reason she's so hotheaded and reckless is because she wants to die and has had nothing to live for since her husband's death. It's never really confirmed if this is gone by the time she leaves the country, but she seems in a better mental place after John and Abigail's marriage.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: After she and Arthur go shopping in Rhodes, she makes it clear on their conversation back to camp that she doesn't want to be pitied for having lost her husband and home, only that she's treated equal to the other members of the gang.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: The epilogue has her attaining some relative measure of peace following Micah's death and John and Abigail's marriage. She says her intentions afterwards are to move to South America for a (comparatively) less violent life.
• Everyone Has Standards: As a bounty hunter in the epilogue, she refuses to betray her clients when her bounties offer her more money. Mostly because her business requires her employers to have a certain level of faith in her integrity.
  • While she and Arthur get a good laugh out of mocking Pearson's lying about his achievements in his letter to his aunt, she skims through the parts where he starts going in to his concern over his aunt's health, recognizing that it's getting too personal to make light of.
• Expy: Sadie is one of Hannie Caulder, right down to their origin story, having lost their husband and becoming a Crusading Widow to hunt down her husband's killers.
• Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: Sadie is quite good-looking, but is also one of the more temperamental and vicious members of the gang.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: From an unassuming farmer's wife to a fearsome gunslinger.
• Giver of Lame Names: The other gang members have horses with cool, creative names like Boadicea (Arthur), Silver Dollar (Hosea), and The Count (Dutch). Sadie's horse is named Bob. Subverted with her second horse, who she named Hera.
• Good Counterpart: Sadie is this to Micah. They share almost equal levels of bloodthirst, but their core values is what separates them apart. Both share similar levels of recklessness, and tend to not listen to orders and instead gun anyone in their way. However, unlike Micah, who only gives a damn only about himself, Sadie is loyal to those who trust and respect her and is quite moral whenever she's in a good head-space. And her psychotic breaks are mostly reserved for the O'Driscolls, who killed her husband and likely raped her, while Micah is introduced shooting up an entire town of civilians to get his guns back.
• Heel–Face Turn: In the epilogue, she had turned from a Van der Linde gunwoman to a respected bounty hunter.
• He Who Fights Monsters: After the O'Driscolls (most likely) rape her and murder her husband, Sadie's desire for vengeance takes her to some dark places which she never fully recovers from. Her bloody crusade against them causes a lot of destruction and endangers herself, the gang, and costs at least one innocent man his life. She seems aware of this, as her fight against the O'Driscolls has her screaming that she used to be a good person and they "ruined" her. Even after she ensures Colm's death and eliminates the last remnants of his gang, she's still fairly ruthless.
• Hysterical Woman: She spends most of Chapter I in tears from the trauma of her husband's death and the O'Driscolls' treatment of her, and spends Chapter II alternating between cold indifference and outright hostility towards the gang - not unjustly, considering that they basically kidnapped her. She grows out of it by Chapter III, though by then she's developed some other issues.
• I Am a Monster: After wiping out the last of the O'Driscolls, Sadie finds herself coming to grips with the fact that she had turned from a happily married woman into a gun-toting murderer.
  They turned me into a monster, Arthur...
• Implied Rape: She never tells Arthur exactly what the O'Driscolls did to her in between them seizing control of her farmstead and her being rescued by the Van der Linde gang, but whatever it is was extremely traumatising.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Bears a good resemblance to her voice actress Alex McKenna, albeit with short hair.
• Ironic Name: Her first name translates to ladylike, yet she’s clearly the most tomboyish of the girls in camp.
• It's Personal: Against the O'Driscolls, for obvious reasons. Unlike Dutch watching Colm hang wasn't enough for her and she enlists Arthur to help her take out the rest of the gang. During the attack on Hanging Dog Ranch, she tells Arthur there's one O'Driscoll in particular she wants to handle personally a 'fat one with a beard' who she kills with a knife. Later on, against Micah - both for his betrayal of the gang, and for Arthur.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Sadie's default disposition is sour, to say the least, treating the rest of the gang with either disdain or outright hostility during the first few chapters following her rescue. However, she grows to respect and genuinely care for the gang. Justified in that she's clearly grieving and suffering from PTSD, which were even more difficult to grapple with in a time before therapy.
  • She does genuinely take a level in kindness following the botched Saint Denis bank robbery, and if you solely viewed her interactions with Arthur, John, Abigail and Charles you would think she's a Nice Girl.
• Karma Houdini: At the end of the game, she leaves for South America and avoids arrest and execution for her past crimes. Of course, her husband is still dead and she's spent all that time as a Death Seeker unable to truly resolve her trauma, so not facing legal consequences doesn't mean she wasn't punished.
• The Lancer: Shares this role with Charles. She trusts Arthur with her life, encourages him to fight for himself, honors the promise to keep the Marstons safe and ends up going with him to save Abigail in the final mission..
• The Leader: After the botched bank job in Saint Denis leaves Dutch and all the gang's senior guns either dead, stranded abroad, or in prison, she takes charge of the gang, quickly moving camp to a secluded spot in the swamp and setting a trail of clues in case Dutch and the others return. It's openly stated they survived primarily because her and Swanson stepped up.
  • In the epilogue, she's the one giving orders to John on their bounty hunts, and later together with Charles during their assault on Micah's base.
• The Lost Lenore: A rare male example in the form of her deceased husband, Jake. No matter what she does and who she becomes in the years to follow, she never speaks about him with anything less than unconditional love and respect. She still wears her wedding ring post-Time Skip.
• Made of Iron: If you can survive being impaled by a Bowie knife (which is practically a machete, by the way) through the stomach, still fight your way halfway up a mountain, then all the way back down, then heal up without any disability at all, you are every inch of this trope.
• Meaningful Name: Her main mount is a huge and ill-tempered horse called HERA, who is the Greek goddess of marriage. Players have noted that weirdly enough, Hera is a stallion instead of a mare, though as Sadie never gets over Jake's death and takes on a very masculine role, Hera and Sadie are well-matched to each other.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Seems to have one after finishing off the O’Driscolls; see I Am a Monster.
• New Meat: She joins the gang during the introductory missions and spends a lot of the game's first two chapters grieving and learning the ropes.
• The Not-Love Interest: The story starts with Arthur rescuing her from the O’Driscolls and over the rest of the game, they form a strong bond. It never goes beyond platonic friendship.
• One of the Boys: Once she's done grieving, she insists on joining the men in their work rather than helping around camp with the other women, saying that she and her husband shared all the work on their farm and that she intends to do the same with the gang. Initially her insistence on becoming this annoys the male members, even Arthur tries to dissuade her. Eventually she proves her worth and becomes one of the most respected members of the gang and a close friend of Arthur and John.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Subtly done towards the end of A Really Big Bastard, when her attempt at dissuading John from directly seeking revenge is conducted with an uncharacteristically high level of tact and diplomacy. She even offers to go on his behalf with the reminder that she has less to lose than he does, all with the understanding of how much avenging Arthur means to John, as well as how much he could risk of his new life in trying. She still honours his wish to keep him updated in spite of her misgivings when he remains insistent, but it's a moment which appears to highlight how deeply protective she still is of the Marston family.
• Opposites Attract: As seen by their mission in the online story, she and her husband were pretty much polar opposites. Jake is a lot more easy going and trusting than she is.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Even if Arthur shoots down her O'Driscoll revenge plan, she gladly agrees to help him with the Marstons.
  • When she reunites with John in the Epilogue, she gives him a hug, is sympathetic to him losing Abigail and expresses her condolences over Mr Wayne's death. She also makes it clear how risky it is to hunt Micah before John badgers her into letting him in anyway.
• Platonic Life-Partners: She and Arthur are this by the end of the story. They develop a close friendship, especially when taking into account that the story takes place over just a year, at most. Near the end of the story, Sadie refers to Arthur as, "the best friend I've got", "the only one" among the gang that she can trust, and "the best man" she's met since her husband.
• Psycho Knife Nut: She knows how to shoot as well as the other gang members, but has a special penchant for blades. It's pretty badass, but also an indicator that this visceral, intimate method of killing belongs to a person who is... not dealing with her anger issues well.
• Psychopathic Womanchild: In her early missions, she is trigger-happy and reckless and often scolded by Arthur for putting them at risk, which she only pouts, grumbles and glares in response. She gets more mature in the sixth chapter and in the Epilogue.
• Quest Giver: The Player Character of Red Dead Online (which takes place one year prior the events of the game) can visit the Adler ranch. Sadie will be living there with her husband Jake and offer various radiant quests to the player.
• Rape and Revenge / Rape as Backstory: It's heavily implied that the O'Driscolls who killed her husband also raped her, especially since they were camped by her homestead for three days, triggering her Roaring Rampage of Revenge against the gang.
• Rape Portrayed as Redemption: Inverted. Seemingly being raped by O'Driscolls is her Start of Darkness and makes her a wrathful, bloodthirsty madwoman who wanted nothing but to fill every O'Driscoll with lead. She never completely recovers.
• Real Women Don't Wear Dresses: She invokes this after Chapter 2, ditching her dress for a shirt and pants to prove herself to the men in the gang. She doesn't abhor dresses, but wears them out of practicality.
  • During the game's credits, however, Sadie is shown wearing a dress during and after the Marstons' wedding. She wears her fancier bounty clothes again when she departs following that.
• Revenge Before Reason: After Sadie is hardened enough to voluntarily ride out with the gang, her hatred for the O'Driscolls often gets the better of her and she ends up bringing trouble upon herself and those around her. It should be noted she can be reasonable and even level-headed enough to help direct people, but it all goes out the window when an O'Driscoll is near.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: She eventually lapses into one against the O'Driscolls, as vengeance for her husband's murder. In the Epilogue, she goes on another against Micah, with John and Charles at her side.
• Sanity Slippage: The trauma of losing everything to the O'Driscolls and living with a gang of outlaws drives her to a dark place. This is most notable in her first mission, where in an argument with Pearson about him forcing her to help him cook just because she's a woman, she threatens to rip his guts out with a carving knife. During the O'Driscolls' assault on the Shady Belle camp, she butchers several of the attackers with a knife before charging into danger with her rifle, intent on slaughtering as many as possible. During Colm O'Driscoll's hanging, she coldly tells the O'Driscoll she's holding at knife-point that he now knows what it's like to see someone they love die, before she starts screaming in anguish while stabbing him through the throat, shooting the O'Driscoll Dutch was holding at gunpoint in the head, and starting a bloody firefight with several members of O'Driscoll's gang then and there, just so she could satisfy her Roaring Rampage of Revenge. After hunting down Micah in the epilogue, she has mellowed out somewhat.
• Ship Tease: Notably this doesn't begin to appear with Arthur until very late into the story. The two get along quickly by the time she makes herself an active gun for the gang, and by the 11th hour of the story, Sadie even refers to Arthur as "Honey," and "Dear". After finishing off the last O'Driscoll holdout, Sadie privately tells the terminally ill (high honor) Arthur that he is the best man she has met since her late husband.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: She sheds her dress for a shirt and pants during her first mission, to prove she's equal to the other men in the gang. After Dutch's gang collapses after the final mission, she's shown sporting an all-black duster coat, showing she's become a bounty hunter hunting down criminals, ESPECIALLY Micah and his men.
• Tomboyish Voice: Out of all the women in the gang, Sadie has a noticeably scratchy and coarse voice.
• Took a Level in Badass: She spends the first two chapters mourning her husband's death and recovering from the trauma of the O'Driscolls' raid on her farm. Once she recovers, she decides to prove her worth by helping the men with their work, and by Chapter IV is an active gunfighter. As mentioned above in Ax-Crazy, this is likely not meant to be seen as a good thing.
  • By the epilogue, she's become a very successful bounty hunter. She works mostly solo, but when John joins her as backup, she makes it clear that she's in charge. She's also seemed to have let go of her hate now that her former tormentors are all dead.
• Took a Level in Kindness: After spending the first few acts of the game wallowing in hatred and grief, Sadie comes to love and respect the gang and even temporarily leads them in the aftermath of the failed Saint Denis bank robbery. Eventually she sides with Arthur and the Marstons against Dutch and Micah. By the epilogue, she's one of the most understanding and level-headed of the former gang members. God forbid your last name or gang affiliation is "O'Driscoll," though...
• Trauma Button: If an O'Driscoll even looks in her direction, she will likely start killing them in a blind rage and not stop until she's coated in their blood.
• Undying Loyalty: To Arthur. He's the only one she truly trusts and has his back, and in the final mission she even tries her damnedest to get Arthur alive out of the whole mess. Notably, even if Arthur refuses to go with her to hunt O'Driscolls, she still agrees to his request to get John, Abigail, and Jack to safety and possibly steal the money from Dutch.
• Ungrateful Bitch: Despite them rescuing her from the O’Driscolls and letting her live with them, Sadie is initially contemptuous of the gang, stating that Jake was worth a hundred of them “thieves and murderers” (an assertion Arthur can’t dispute) and pretty much being standoffish to everyone except Abigail. This is however subverted by the justification that she was freshly grief-stricken, angry, and simply lashing out at the circumstances which had cruelly conspired to rip her away from the life and man she was deeply in love with, and not necessarily angry with Dutch's gang for intervening - apart maybe from Micah, who cast an extremely bad first impression of the gang by antagonising her before recklessly (accidentally or otherwise) burning her house down. This is eventually defied by Chapter Three, when she's emotionally recovered enough to establish herself within the gang on her terms, from whence she steadily contributes towards menial labour (the player can spot her feeding the chickens in the mornings) and guard duty. Defied further from the end of Chapter Four onwards when she repays their kindness and then some by keeping them together and looking after them once the proverbial shit hits the fan. Honestly, it's far less that she's ungrateful so much as really angry at injustice, and considering what she has gone through, who could blame her?
  • Arturo Bullard helps her and Arthur scout the prison John was imprisoned in. She shows zero sadness or remorse when he is killed later on. Arturo himself doesn't really help his case by dismissing her as a 'Fragile Flower', so it's likely that she never took him seriously to begin with and only tolerated him for the sake of his hot-air balloon.
• Unknown Rival: While she's consumed with vengeance against Colm O'Driscoll and his gang, there's little evidence to suggest that Colm has any idea who she is or why she's after him. The only time they encounter one another personally is when he's about to be hanged and he sees that she, Dutch and Arthur have ensured his men won't save him.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: If she hadn't found Micah's location, or didn't tell John about it (she herself said that John's family and home were more important than vengeance), Edgar Ross wouldn't have tracked John down after Micah's death, and began the events of the first game. Downplayed on two counts, however: her warning to John over the potential implications of pursuing Micah strongly suggest that she wasn't "unwitting" so much as reluctant, since she openly acknowledges the risk - and the instigation isn't necessarily her responsibility to take since the warning itself was made in an effort to *stop* John from pursuing Micah. Keep in mind that John is the one who asked Sadie to report back on anything regarding Micah's whereabouts, to which Sadie obliges out of loyalty to their friendship so the trope still does apply.
• Vengeance Feels Empty: After Colm O'Driscoll is killed, she pretty much wipes out the remnants of his gang to the last man. Rather than feeling any sort of triumph, she realizes that she now has nothing to live for.
• Villainous Rescue: The recipient of one - Arthur, Dutch, and Micah came to her homestead with the intention of robbing it, only to find the O'Driscolls ransacking the place, and decided to step in and help instead.
  Arthur: Miss, it's okay, alright? We're bad men, but... we ain't them.
• Weak, but Skilled: She's physically weaker than most of the gunslingers in the gang, but can make up for it with great proficiency in weaponry, even more so than the other gunslingers.
  • This is best emphasized by how the other gang members bring in bounties. While guys like Arthur and John lift bounties over their shoulders, she has to drag them by their feet.
  • Also, while members like Lenny and John knock Arthur out in one punch if antagonized too much, she slaps him but doesn’t knock him out like they do.

Sean MacGuire

Voiced by: Michael Mellamphy

"Just leave it to me. I can talk a dog off a meat wagon."

Coming from a long line of criminals and stick-up men from Ireland, Sean and his father fled to America but lost his father after the latter was killed in his sleep. He met Dutch after unsuccessfully trying to rob his pocket watch in an alleyway. He is one of the two who managed to get separated from the group following the Blackwater heist.

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• Annoying Younger Sibling: Though they're not related by blood, he has this relationship with Arthur, which Arthur at high honor admits following Sean's death.
• Badass in Distress: He gets taken captive following the failed Blackwater heist, resulting in the gang needing to save him from bounty hunters.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Karen. The two constantly bicker with each other, but they also have an on-off relationship at the same time.
• Bomb Throwing Anarchist: He boasts about getting a kick out of destroying rich people's property, and is clearly enjoying himself during one mission in which he and Arthur burn down a tobacco plantation with molotovs.
• Book Dumb: Sean is a talented thief and killer, using his skills to help Arthur burn the Braithwaite's fields and rob a train at one point. But the poor guy is completely illiterate and shows contempt for learning how to do so in spite of Lenny's encouragement.
• Boom, Headshot!: Is killed by a surprise shot to the head by the Grays.
• The Cameo: Appears in Red Dead Online as a mission giver.
• Due to the Dead: After his death, Arthur expresses his affection and orders Bill to bury Sean's body in a grave slightly north of Clemens Point.
• Dumbass Has a Point: Before Sean and Arthur infiltrate the Grays' household to burn their tobacco fields, Sean expresses concern that the Grays would recognise Arthur, considering that Arthur had previously done business with them. This is what ends up biting the whole gang in the ass later on, and Sean ends up being the first victim.
• Fiery Redhead: He has ginger hair and is an excitable Irishman who loves getting into fights.
• Fighting Irish: An Irish member of an outlaw gang.
• For Want Of A Nail: When he meets his end, he is accompanied by Arthur, Bill and Micah; had the Greys sniped any one of the other 3 instead of him, the events of the first game would never have happened.
• Friend to All Children: At one point while at Dewberry Creek, Sean can be found discovering a dead white rabbit alongside Jack. He boosts the kid's spirits by claiming white rabbits are magical, and that it's a sign of something good, even if he doesn't know what it is. He also encourages Jack to keep dreaming after Arthur insults him for not skinning it immediately.
  Sean: Jackie boy...that's the age of reason right there. No room for dreams...
• Hidden Depths: Despite being a loud drunk and less of a gunslinger than the other members, he's actually quite a competent planner and surprisingly careful thief.
• It Works Better with Bullets: According to his backstory, Sean's first meeting with Dutch and Hosea had him trying to mug Dutch at gunpoint for his pocket watch. Dutch refused to hand it over and goaded him into shooting, so Sean pulled the trigger... and was told that Dutch and Hosea had clocked him as a potential threat and taken the bullets from his revolver with sleight-of-hand a few minutes earlier.
• Karmic Death: Considering his below kill, being killed in a surprise attack by the Grays is tragically fitting.
• Kick the Dog:
  • After bonding with a Caliga Hall guard over their Celtic backgrounds, sharing a drink with him and saying that they are practically brothers, Sean will either have Arthur kill him or stab him to death himself, showing no remorse or hesitation while doing so. Arthur even remarks that he's glad he's "not your brother".
  • He will also harass and headbutts Kieran in a camp encounter.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: Gets sniped by the Grays in the middle of his response to Arthur saying this doesn't feel right.
  Sean: Now it don't feel right? I could'a tol-
• The Load: He was considered as such by the gang, which is why John and Arthur didn't want him partake in the train robbery until he insisted. He ends up having to be saved by Arthur from the train guards. However, he does pick up the slack in the gang's other jobs, and eventually ends up proving himself not only as a decent gunman, but as a competent ally. This makes his sudden and brutal death a major gut punch.
• Manchild: He is definitely the least mature of the active members of the gang.
• Motor Mouth: If there's one thing Sean's good at, it's talking. Even when everyone would like him to stop.
• Never Learned to Read: Unlike the majority of the gang, led by the cultured and well-read, Dutch, Sean is one of the few who's illiterate. Lenny tries to help him learn to read, but the lessons fall on deaf ears.
• Nice Guy: Quite the lively and easy-going guy, and generally nice to most of the gang even though he annoys the hell out of them. Conversely, while most everyone gets annoyed with him, there isn't a single person in the camp who doesn't like him, even Micah.
• Odd Friendship: With Micah of all people. Sean’s mocking of him is always well received, and very uncharacteristically of Micah, never makes any insults in response. Before the Rhodes shootout, they both sneer about Arthur from a distance before he arrives.
• Oireland: Some previews have described him as this, and has a pronounced Irish accent.
• Pet the Dog: During his homestead robbery, Sean will instruct the surviving gang member to run away and will scold Arthur if he kills the gang member instead.
• Patriotic Fervor: Downplayed. Sean nags "King" Arthur about his supposed English ancestry (Arthur is in fact of Welsh descent, and therefore a fellow Celt), but it's always in jest and it in itself is never a problem in their relationship so much as him generally being annoying.
• Sacrificial Lamb: Sean spends most of the first two chapters in custody before the gang frees him. His Lovable Rogue nature makes an impression in Chapter 3, but then he is unceremoniously killed in the final mission of Chapter 3. While shocking, his death lacks a major impact on the story overall.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: Sean abruptly bites it near the end of Chapter 3, marking a shift from the lighthearted cowboy adventure to something grimmer.
• Slap-Slap-Kiss: Has one with Karen immediately after his return to the gang. He drunkenly flirts with her, which results in an argument, before the two go to a nearby tent for some lovemaking.
• Small Name, Big Ego: While a competent gunman and criminal, he thinks himself as way better than he actually is.
• Surprisingly Sudden Death: Sean's death comes out of nowhere when he's sniped mid-sentence by the Grays.
• Took a Level in Badass: In the second chapter, he’s pretty much useless in the train heist, taking too long to find the baggage car, being easily overpowered and disoriented by a guard and underestimating the amount of lawmen responding. In the third chapter, not only does he pull off the Gray family arson well, he masterminds two robberies of his own, which Arthur can join.
• Tempting Fate: In Online when meeting the player for the first time, he says he "don't like getting surprised". He does get surprised, alright...
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Despite being openly irritated by his incessant talking and bragging, Arthur does show he cares about Sean in his own way. He's quite visibly upset at his death, insists Bill take his body to bury him properly, and (with high honor) remarks on him fondly as a younger brother figure while mourning him in his journal.

Simon Pearson

Voiced by: Jim Santangeli

"The people are happy and well fed. I think perhaps we'll be okay."

The camp cook and butcher of the Van der Linde gang, Pearson did a short stint at sea before moving to the West. Getting himself into trouble, he was saved by Dutch who took him under his wing. He is a loud and jolly degenerate who puts on a brave face, but is somewhat in denial about the turn his life has taken.

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• Big Fun: Fat and jovial, and always willing to join in on a song or a game of cards or dominoes.
• Camp Cook: His role in the gang, he is pretty insistent that the gang bring him meat every once in a while.
• Drowning My Sorrows: In Chapter 1, Arthur notes that he always seems to have a bottle in hand, in spite of claiming to have been unable to take any food with him when the gang went on the run, suggesting that he prioritized liquor over other provisions when packing. When he's not trying to keep morale up in Chapter 6, he can frequently be found drunk around camp, lamenting the gang's downward spiral.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He seems to love his aunt Cathy enough to send her regular letters.
• Exposed to the Elements: Inverted. In the epilogue, he sometimes spawns with his thick winter coat despite his store being in Lemoyne, one of the warmest areas in the game.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Ends up being the owner of the Rhodes general story. He also got married. It's not a glamorous life, but he seems quite happy.
• Father Neptune: Pearson would very much like to be seen as this and constantly whines about not being a land creature. However, the gang is aware his stint at sea was shorter and less eventful than he likes to tell.
• Fat Bastard: Downplayed. He's fat and officially a criminal due to his allegiance to Dutch, but he's not so much a "bastard" as he is just a bit cantankerous and is actually a Nice Guy in person, allegiances aside, once you get to knowing him.
• Happily Married: By the time he's taken over the Rhodes General Store, he's married a woman named Edith who he says has changed his life.
• The Heart: Tries to keep morale up in Chapter 6 alongside Grimshaw.
• Hidden Depths:
  • He's a skilled concertina player, and has a decent singing voice.
  • He comes off as a Non-Action Guy because he almost never leaves the camp, but he is practically the exact opposite. When Milton shows up at the camp, Pearson grabs a weapon just in case. When Colm O'Driscoll offers peace, he wants to join Arthur and co. just in case something goes wrong and they need an extra gun, and Arthur denying his request is the only reason why he doesn't go with them. When he's finally taken to hunt in Chapter 4, he proudly shoves his hands down muddy holes to grab crayfish, and volunteers to act as bait for a group of alligators without showing any fear.
• Hypocritical Humor: At one point, he accuses Bill of being all-talk. This is coming from a guy who constantly exaggerates and falsifies about his experience in the navy.
• Last-Name Basis: Even moreso than Grimshaw — nobody ever calls him "Simon", it's always "Pearson", or, as he seems to prefer, the more nautical "Mr. Pearson".
• Lethal Chef: Ironic, given his role in the gang. A lot of people joke of how bad his cooking really is, though John thinks that at least it’s not as bad as Abigail’s. Likely a downplayed example, if Miss Grimshaw tasking Arthur with obtaining some herbs is any evidence. The biggest sin of his cooking seems to be that it's bland, rather than being dangerous to the eater's health - and given where and when the game takes place, that's an accomplishment in its' own right.
• Miles Gloriosus: Probably his worst character trait is that he embellishes EVERYTHING about his life. His stint in the Navy is implied to have been a short one, yet he reminisces as if he were an old salt. It also comes up when he inadvertently helps the O'Driscoll's spring a trap on the gang as well as in the letter he writes home that Sadie reads aloud.
• Nice Guy: He's jovial, friendly, and just trying to help the gang out.
• Non-Action Guy: He's no coward (he grabs a gun whenever the camp is threatened), but he's no gunslinger either. The most active thing he does in the entire game is help Arthur gather some crayfish and gator eggs. Best seen in a camp interaction: like many members of the gang, Pearson may at one point get into an altercation with a drunken Bill. Unlike Charles, Lenny, Hosea, or Javier, however— who all handle or defuse the confrontation with ease— Pearson gets floored with one punch.
• Out of Focus: Pearson spends most of his time cooking, and is only involved in one mission when the gang is at Shady Belle (to collect crayfish near camp while avoiding alligators.) As such, most of the interactions between him and the player are crafting upgrades and the occasional discussion they might have.
• Precious Photo: In the credits, he can be seen looking fondly at an old photo of the gang that he hung up in his store at Rhodes.
• Phony Veteran: Downplayed. From Pearson's stories and reminiscing you would think he's a career sailor with at least a decade of experience at sea. When Arthur asks how long he actually served in the Navy, he sheepishly admits it was "close to a year."
• Reformed Criminal: Although he wasn't exactly a criminal, by the epilogue he's purchased and runs the Rhodes General Store.
• Refused by the Call: In a way. His father and grandfather were both sperm whale hunters and he wanted to continue the family legacy, but by the time his schooling was done whaling had become a dead career choice, so he ended up joining the Navy for a while.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Fearing for his life, he escapes with Uncle and Mary-Beth.
• Stay in the Kitchen: Has this attitude towards Sadie in the early chapters of the game, which angers her greatly.
• Team Chef: He handles provisions for the gang.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: Sadie mocks him for his struggle to find a woman in his life as written in his letter to his aunt. He ends up getting married in the epilogue.
• Unreliable Narrator: Arthur and Sadie take a letter to the post office for him and snoop through it, they find the contents to be this and rather amusing.

Susan Grimshaw

Voiced by: Kaili Vernoff

"I swear half of you would just rot in your own filth if nobody kept you in check."

One of the most senior members of the gang, Susan Grimshaw was a former lover of Dutch but nonetheless remained friends and partners in crime. Tenacious and iron-willed despite losing her edge, she is a stern, mature woman who stands for no nonsense.

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• Abusive Parents: Though she does seem to genuinely care about them, Susan still seems to be pretty fond of yelling at her surrogate children and smacking them in the face when they piss her off. One of the first things we see her do upon arriving at the new camp in Chapter 2 is yell at Tilly for fucking something up. She also hits Tilly for not doing work when sick, slaps Arthur if he comes back to camp filthy, slaps Mary-Beth for not doing her chores and it’s implied she’s physically abusive to the other girls as well considering the sheer disdain they all have for her.
• Amicable Exes: Used to be in a relationship with Dutch during the gang's early days. Even after the relationship ended, they still remained friends.
• Beware the Nice Ones: She's a generally stern, but loving woman, taking care of the camp. However, when the Foreman Brothers kidnap Tilly, she's terrifying.
• Death by Irony: She dies in the same spot where Molly was standing at when she killed her, and was shot in the abdomen like her too. Not only that, but the reason she killed Molly was because she thought Molly was a traitor, before being killed herself by the gang's real traitor, Micah.
• Due to the Dead: Charles returns to the camp to bury Arthur and Grimshaw.
• Dropped a Bridge on Her: In Arthur's last mission she is unceremoniously gunned down by Micah.
• Female Misogynist: Grimshaw often rants about the camp’s girls having ideas above their stations, refers to them as “whores” and “wretches”, attempts to force Abigail into prostitution again and beats the girls if she finds them slacking or talking back to her.
• Hypocritical Heartwarming: Despite the above, she will berate Arthur if he antagonizes the girls.
• I Did What I Had to Do: She said this to Arthur after Karen angrily called her out for killing Molly, justifying it by stating Molly broke the rules of (presumably) ratting out the gang to the Pinkertons.
• I Was Quite a Looker: A photo of her in her youth can be found in the camp: beautiful, not scarred, and light haired.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She may be strict and no-nonsense, but she deeply cares for the well-being of her fellow gang members, especially the girls.
  • Jerkass: Though an argument in camp has her attempting to pressure Abigail into prostituting herself again.
• Kick the Dog: She regularly beats Tilly, Mary-Beth and Karen for slacking or talking back to her.
  • Early on, she will slap Mary-Beth for reading, yelling that they are not in a "holiday camp".
  • When she catches Tilly not working, she will belittle her as useless, drag her by the ear and demand she work despite not feeling well.
  • When Karen fully spirals into alcoholism, Grimshaw still slaps her when she insults her, ordering her to watch her mouth.
  • Later in the game, she will resentfully shout at Mary-Beth, claiming one day her youthful looks will fade and she will look old and ugly.
• Last-Name Basis: It's rare to hear her called anything but "Miss Grimshaw" by the gang, though Arthur and Dutch occasionally call her Susan.
• Mama Bear:
  • For all her bad words, when any member of the group is in jeopardy, she will kill in cold blood whoever is a danger to them herself if the men can't do it. Tilly's aggressors and Molly O'Shea would know about that.
  • During the Mexican Standoff with John and Arthur on one side, and Dutch's loyalists on the other, Grimshaw quickly takes her shotgun and sides with her surrogate sons.
• Miss Kitty: She was a prostitute in her younger days and while she is never seen pimping the girls, she is seen pressuring Abigail into prostituting herself again and refers to the girls as "whores", suggesting that she went from prostitute to madame.
• Never Mess with Granny: Is one of the oldest members of the gang, with wrinkles on her face and greys in her hair, and holding a more passive role in the gang as the one who oversees the chores in camp. Underestimate her because of this, however, and it will be your last mistake. As she will gladly stab you in the throat, or cut you in half with her shotgun without a moment's hesitation if she decides you're a danger to her "family". The Foreman Brothers, and Molly learned that the hard way; though she only kills one of the Foreman boys personally, she pointedly asked Arthur to come with her, sics him on the ones in the house, joins him in chasing down the ones who ran, and tells him that she'd slit Anthony Foreman's throat instead of letting him go if she was the one holding him instead of Arthur.
• Not So Above It All: Despite being one of the most uptight members of the gang, she joins in when Uncle and Karen sing the incredibly raunchy "One-Eyed Riley" around the campfire, in particular gleefully yelling the line "SHIT, PISS, AND CORRUPTION!"
• Old Flame: Heavily implied to still have feelings for Dutch long after their relationship has ended, even while he has moved on to several other partners. This appears to be a source of insecurity she has, as Arthur can antagonize her by saying Dutch has long lost favor in her. A camp encounter in Chapter 3 has them dancing together at Dutch's suggestion, with her apparently swooning as he walks away when they conclude the dance.
• Parental Favouritism: While she's not biologically related to any of the girls and she's pretty horrible to all of them, she seems to have a soft spot for Tilly compared to Mary-Beth and Karen. While most of her interactions with Mary-Beth and Karen are of her beating or yelling at them, she has more Pet the Dog moments where she comforts Tilly over the fall of the gang and saves her from the Foreman brothers.
• Pet the Dog:
  • She will tolerate Karen's backtalk early in the game and not hit her over it, though she does make veiled threats towards her.
  • She berates Lenny and Mary-Beth for mocking Pearson’s cooking, saying that Pearson put effort in cooking it for them. Ironically, she asks Arthur for herbs herself so she can secretly spice up his stew, although she specifically tells Arthur not to let him know.
  • During the party at Shady Belle, she spends most of it hanging around drinking and singing with Karen, who needs cheering up after her on-and-off lover Sean is killed.
  • When Tilly starts having serious doubts about Dutch near the end of the game, when the camp is all but falling apart, Susan takes her aside and comforts her.
  • If Arthur is away from camp for several days, she will sometimes walk up to him when he's returned and warmly greet him, saying she was beginning to worry about where he might have gone.
  • She also shows her softer side towards Jack. When Jack is looking for his disappeared dog Cain and asks if she's seen him, she tells him no and tries to playfully assure him that he will come back.
  • If the player has Arthur kill scores of NPCs, when he returns to camp she will sometimes confront him for killing innocent people.
• Predatory Prostitute: Camp conversations reveal that Grimshaw was a "painted woman" before shacking up with Dutch and the gang.
• The Resenter: In a late camp encounter, Grimshaw seethes at Mary-Beth, accusing her and the other girls of laughing at her behind her back for being old and ugly and warns her that one day their looks will too fade.
• Retired Badass: Implied. After the mission to rescue Tilly, Arthur will comment that fighting alongside her felt 'like the old days'. It's possible Susan had more of a combat role during the gang's early years.
• Team Mom: A more strict example than most but she oversees the camp activities, always reminding its member that there is work to do. Also, her actions during the final standoff could be a case of this, because she knew Arthur and John since they were teenagers, so they're her surrogate 'sons'.
• Shotguns Are Just Better: Her weapon of choice is a pump action shotgun, and though she doesn't take an active role in fights compared to others in the camp, she is certainly not afraid to use it when she feels she needs to.

Tilly Jackson

"I used to dream a lot. Now, well..."

Voiced by: Meeya Davis

"Most of us grew up hungry and scared and alone, one way or another."

Raised as a criminal by a gang who kidnapped her at a young age, Tilly fled from her former gang after enduring years of abuse and was taken in by Dutch. Savvy, resilient and dependable, she can handle herself and doesn't hesitate to speak her mind.

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• Babies Ever After: During the credits, Tilly is shown in Saint Denis pushing a baby carriage alongside her doting husband, Mr. Pierre.
• Band of Brothers: Has been in the Van der Linde gang for years, though it's left ambiguous when exactly she joined up.
• Beware the Nice Ones: One of the nicest members of the gang, often polite and always down for a game of dominoes. She also killed a man when she was a child and knows how to use a rifle.
• Children Forced to Kill: The specifics are unknown but she was kidnapped from her mother by the Foreman Brothers when she was twelve years old. At some unknown point she killed leader Anthony Foreman's cousin, Malcom, when he tried to make advances on her; and when Anthony comes looking for revenge, she tells him that Malcom had it coming. She subsequently fled and was adopted into the Van der Linde gang.
  Arthur: "We all loved you, Miss Tilly. Even them of us with cold hearts. You was the sweetest little thing we ever saw... and the saddest."
• Dark and Troubled Past: Implied when she's kidnapped by her former gang, wanting revenge for a member she killed. Foreshadowed early on when she's harassed in Valentine by a man who knows her full name and evidently has a past with her.
• Deadpan Snarker:
  • Gets a few good lines in, particularly around Arthur.
    Tilly: "If the Pinkertons could see you now; killer, bank robber, dominoes player."
    Arthur: "Gotta keep them on their toes."
    Tilly: "Not the way you wanna get arrested, though. Imagine the newspaper headlines."
  • Tilly takes pity on Kieran as he is tied up and lets him drink some water, but snips at him when he pushes his luck:
    Kieran: "Listen, you couldn't get me a blanket o-or a dry pair of boots, could ya?"
    Tilly: "Sure, you want a bottle of champagne with that too? Coming right up."
• Earn Your Happy Ending: She ends up marrying a lawyer in Saint Denis some years after the gang breaks up, a man she describes as 'wonderful'. She lives in a beautiful house with him and their daughter and their family is even well-off enough to have their own servants, an aspect of her life she finds very surreal as stated in a letter to the Marstons.
• The Fashionista: Always wears a brooch in her hair and sports a variety of colorful, feminine outfits. Often seen sewing in the camp.
• Happily Adopted: After fleeing her former gang she was picked up by Dutch.
  Tilly: "Dutch, he... found me, saved me, raised me, treated me right, taught me to read. He ain't perfect, but he's the closest I've met in this world."
• Irony: A random camp conversation can occur when the gang is in Saint Denis, where Tilly tells Arthur that she's scared to be so far down South because she's Black. She ends up having one of the happiest endings, settling down in Saint Denis with a kind, wealthy man.
• Leave Him to Me!: When she's kidnapped by her former gang leader, Anthony Foreman, she orders Arthur to bring him back alive so she can deal with him personally. As it turns out, she plans on sparing him, if only so he can tell his men to leave her alone. Arthur can either abide by her wishes (and if he does so you can bring Foreman to justice as John in an optional bounty mission during the epilogue) or gut him like a fish, as Grimshaw urges him to do.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: In an argument with Bill on their stagecoach robbery, she calls him a "half-man", likely a reference to his implied homosexuality.
• Ship Tease: With Arthur. The two have multiple tender interactions throughout the game. Arthur regularly refers to her as 'Miss Tilly', is always happy to see her and goes out of his way to hold and console her after she's kidnapped by her former gang members. She's also one of two gang members Arthur chooses to confide in when things start to take a turn for the worse near the end of the game. The most potent might be during the climax, when Tilly takes Jack to safety while Arthur tracks down Abigail.
  Arthur: "You're a good girl. You live a good life now, you hear?"
  Tilly: "All right, Arthur. I'll...I'll miss-"
  Arthur: "Me too, sweetheart. Me too."
• Silk Hiding Steel: Generally soft-spoken, feminine and affable. She's also running with a gang of notorious outlaws, has a Dark and Troubled Past with another gang, and won't hesitate to casually discuss poisoning the cup of someone who ticks her off.
• Team Killer: She killed a member of her old gang before being adopted by Dutch as a child. According to her, he had it coming.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: A very minor one, but she is quite snappy and cynical in Chapter 6 and unlike Mary-Beth and Karen, she fully believes that Molly was the rat and that she got what she deserved. She sweetens up again in the Epilogue.
• Undying Loyalty: She's one of the few who remained with the gang up until the very end. She only leaves to take care of Jack after Abigail is kidnapped by the Pinkertons and John is presumed dead.

Temporary members

Cleet

Voiced by: P.J. Sosko

Micah's old friend he brings in to assist the slowly dying gang on a robbery.

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• Alas, Poor Villain: Possibly. Cleet claims that Micah tried to kill him after Cleet tried to stop him from murdering a little girl. While Sadie urges John to hang him anyway, the player can opt to spare him, only for Sadie to gun him down regardless.
• Blatant Lies: Once confronted by John in 1907, he claims that he has no idea where Micah is. Once his neck is literally on the line, he breaks and tells exactly where he is, before claiming that because he tried to stop a murder of a girl, he is a good person. So not only does he lie about Micah, he was also covering up a girls death, and still has the guts to claim he is one of the good guys.
• Dirty Coward: Once he realizes that the remains of Dutch's gang have found him, he bolts.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He's friends with Micah and joins up with a gang of murderous outlaws, but he tried to stop Micah from murdering a little girl.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Micah brings him in to help the gang for their final train robbery.
• Lean and Mean: Very lanky and tall, and not exactly the most pleasant guy out there.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted. He shares the name with a street urchin in Saint Denis that robs Arthur.
• Public Execution: In the epilogue, Sadie, Charles and John drag him to the gallows in Strawberry to interrogate him. Once he spills the beans the player can choose whether to hang him or not, though if John doesn't go through with it Sadie will just shoot him.
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: He has black hair and pale skin.
• Token Good Teammate: The only guy (that we know of) that left Micah's gang over moral issues. He's still a repulsive human being, but slightly less awful than the rest.
• Tattooed Crook: He and Joe are the only characters seen with tattooos (other than Pearson).
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Given the state of the gang, and that it's Micah that brought him in, he's not exactly well liked by anybody.
• We Used to Be Friends: By the time of the epilogue, he and Micah had a falling out over moral issues. Namely, Cleet had morals and Micah didn't, which caused the latter to try to kill him.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: According to him, the reason Micah tried to kill him is because Cleet tried to stop Micah from murdering a little girl.

Joe

Voiced by: Ian Bedford

Another one of Micah's old friends brought to assist the gang on their last robbery.

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• Affably Evil: Surprisingly enough, he’s actually quite genial for an outlaw. His Online mission actually has him talk to the Heroic Mime in a friendly manner before asking him a favor. When Arthur greets him for the first time in camp, he actually introduces himself in a sociable manner.
• Ascended Extra: Barely makes much of an impact in the story mode, but becomes a mission giver in Online.
• Bilingual Bonus: He has a tattoo on his chest which reads "tout me fait rire," which in French means "Everything makes me laugh."
• Body Horror: His face, neck and chest appear to be covered in red, scarred skin, he almost looks like a burn victim.
• Defiant to the End: He is faced as an regular enemy in he final mission of the game. He doesn't stop Marston from reaching Micah.
• The Dragon: In the epilogue, following the Time Skip, he's become this to Micah. Not that this makes him any tougher for John to gun down.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He hates liars and is honest on who he kills, he actually gets upset when he is accused of murdering someone, because if he actually had killed them he would have admitted it.
• Evil Virtues: Honesty, Loyalty, and Bravery. He doesn't like liars, he stands by Micah despite everything, and he's brave enough to try to take on a very vengeful John Marston, he fails miserably, but props for having the balls to try.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Given the state of the gang, and that it's Micah that brought him in, he's not exactly well liked by anybody.
• Guest-Star Party Member: Micah brings him in to help the gang for their final train robbery, although Cleet does most of the work due to the plan not going as anticipated.
• Mook Lieutenant: He's Micah's second-in-command once the latter started his own gang. He's just about as easy to kill as any other of his mooks.
• Real Men Wear Pink: He has a rocking horse in his cabin in Online.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Seems to think him and a couple of friends will stop Marston where all others have failed. John goes through all three like they're outhouse paper.

Posthumous members

Annabelle

Dutch's former lover who was murdered by Colm O'Driscoll, contributing to the cycle of revenge between the two men.

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• Cruel and Unusual Death: Implied to be the case, as Dutch simply states that he can never forgive Colm O'Driscoll for what he did to her, in addition to it being very much in the O'Driscoll gang's character to brutally kill people (especially if they're associated with the Van der Linde gang).
• The Lost Lenore: When Colm confesses that he never really liked his brother, Dutch makes it clear, in no uncertain terms, that he truly loved Annabelle. This causes Dutch's current lover, Molly O'Shea some angst that she's essentially her Replacement Goldfish.
• Posthumous Character: She was killed long before the events of the game.
• Targeted to Hurt the Hero: She was murdered by Colm purely to spite Dutch.

Bessie Matthews

Hosea's deceased wife.

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• Happily Married: From what Hosea says, the two were happy together and managed to make their relationship work, even if he was an outlaw.
• Nice Girl: From what Hosea and the other members of the gang say about her, she's nothing but a kindhearted and loving person.
• Posthumous Character: She's long dead prior to events of the game.

Davey and Mac Callander

Davey and Mac Callander were a pair of brothers who were part of the Van der Linde gang. According to Charles, they were a "pair of vicious bastards." Both died in the aftermath of the failed Blackwater heist.

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• Blood Knight: Based off in-game dialogue, they seem to have been muscle for the gang, and particularly vicious ones at that, according to Charles. It's perhaps for this reason that Micah, oddly enough, speaks fondly of them.
• Evil Old Folks: Their exact age is unknown, but from the glimpse of Davey's corpse that we get, he appears to have white-ish hair, and looks at least middle-aged.
• Distracted from Death: Davey is clinging to life at the start of the game, but the characters trying to save him are too distracted to realize when he passes on until Abigail checks for a heartbeat.
• Due to the Dead: Davey is buried by the gang after his death and the player can visit his grave. Arthur also places two coins on his eyes, an Ancient Greek way of wishing a soul safe passage to the afterlife.
• Killed Offscreen: Mac is tortured to death by Agent Milton and the Pinkertons, though we don't find this out until well after the fact in the second chapter.
• Posthumous Character: Both of them. Davey clings to life at the very beginning of the story but doesn't make it past the introductory cutscene. Mac actually survived the heist, injured though he was, only to be caught and killed by Pinkertons shortly thereafter in what Milton called a mercy killing.
• Siblings in Crime: They were a pair of outlaw brothers who served as muscle in the same gang.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Davey dies in the very first scene with nary a line uttered.
• Would You Like to Hear How They Died?: Agent Milton mocks Arthur by mentioning that he and his men killed Mac slowly.

Jenny Kirk

Another member of the gang who died in the Blackwater disaster.

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• Ambiguously Brown: Possibly inverted. She's been dead for a while before the game actually starts, so we never see her. However, judging from Arthur's drawing of her and (YMMV) Arthur's and a few of Hosea's comments on how Lenny & Jenny probably wouldn't have worked, it's implied she was white. However, Hosea's commentary may also more likely be interpreted as a rhyming joke he makes for sake of levity ("Jenny & Lenny, Arthur and Martha, Bill & Phil!"), rather than as a statement on interracial relationships, since the gang itself on the whole is depicted as socially progressive (particularly for that era.)
• Ambiguous Situation: As explained in the Micah section, it’s not clear if she actually slept with him and how willing she was if she did. She’s not around to tell her side of the story.
• Due to the Dead: Despite the fact that she died prior to the events of the game, the player can visit where the gang buried her.
• The Lost Lenore: Downplayed but it's mentioned a few times that Lenny had a crush on her.
• Posthumous Character: Died before even the opening cutscene, but you can visit her grave in Spider Gorge, Grizzlies West.
• Two First Names: Her last name is also applicable as a first name.

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