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Nuevo ParaÃso
Escalera
Allende
Col. Agustin Allende
"We'll make a patriot out of you yet!"
- Voiced by: Gary Carlos Cervantes
The provincial governor of Nuevo Paradiso. A brutal tyrant with a love of sexual violence.
- Ambiguous Situation: Just why he gave Bill Williamson, a violent outlaw with nothing to offer him shelter remains a mystery - though it's implied it might be because Javier Escuella has connections to his government.
- And Show It to You: Allende has his soldiers kill Luisa's father by cutting out his heart and feeding it to the dogs.
- Arc Villain: Of the Nuevo ParaÃso arc.
- Bad Boss: He's often seen berating or belittling his men. Even John thinks it's a bit much.
- Bullying a Dragon: Betrays John, an incredibly versatile fighter who had already gotten his men several major victories, and permanently putting him on Reyes' side, instead of just letting Marston's betrayals slide and focusing on actually winning the war. This is one of the few ways he contrasts from Reyes, who also knows Marston has been Playing Both Sides, but never turns on him.
- The Caligula: Known for kidnapping young women to serve in his personal harem.
- Cool Sword: Never uses it though.
- Colonel Kilgore: His general policy towards rebels is to kill everyone.
- Dirty Coward: Offers Williamson in return for his own life.
- Evil Counterpart: Is this to Reyes. Allende used to be a poor peasant once, eventually becoming a powerful figure in the Mexican army and living in a luxurious villa. This is a reflection of Reyes, who was born wealthy and is now leading the peasants in the revolution. On the other hand, when Marston finally meets Reyes the player quickly learns that, for all Reyes's trappings and pretensions towards being a man-of-the-people rebel leader, the two are actually not that different. The comparison is even more poignant when it's revealed that by 1914, a mere three years later, Reyes has become pretty much the same vicious dictator Allende was.
- Expy : Whether this is deliberate or not, he has a fair resemblance to José Ferrer's Turkish Bey, both in looks and his predilection for rape.
- Faux Affably Evil: He acts charming when interacting with John and his own inner circle, portraying himself as a reasonable man who is simply trying to maintain law and order in a chaotic region. Both John and the audience can see right through his act, and he's quick to drop the act and show how much of a psychopath he is when he's displeased.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Started out as an idealist of peasant stock, before becoming a vicious despot, intentionally hurting people that are in the same situation he once was.
- Feudal Overlord: For the part of Mexico that John is in, at least.
- The Generalissimo: He only controls a single province instead of an entire country, but otherwise fits the description of this trope.
- Hate Sink: An absolutely depraved man without any positive traits.
- The Heavy: To Ignacio Sanchez. Sanchez is the actual leader of the Mexican Army, but he never gets directly involved in the story and is never seen in the game, while Allende personally leads the army and handles Sanchez's operations. He's also Reyes's main target instead of Sanchez.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: His hobby is kidnapping and raping young women, and he's one of the most evil characters in the game.
- Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: He uses his position of power to fulfill his twisted desires.
- Serial Rapist: He's infamous for having his men provide him with young women to brutalize.
- The Sociopath: He's an utter sociopath: remorseless, brutal, sadistic and self-centered.
- Treacherous Quest Giver: Had Bill Williamson under his protection the entire time, but instead of just turning him over, he tries to manipulate John into helping him out against the rebels. He later outright betrays John and tries to have him killed, though to be fair, this was after he discovered that John had been Playing Both Sides.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: So long ago, but he decided he preferred the easy life. In this way, he and Reyes are similar.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Tries to get John executed, but Reyes pulls a Big Damn Heroes.
de Santa
Capt. Vincente de Santa
"You come to my country - my poor, little country - and you think you can be friends with the president?"
Voiced by: Hector Luis Bustamente
One of Allende's two closest aides (allegedly). He openly supports the Colonel's methods.
- Affably Evil: Despite strongly supporting Allende's brutal, harsh methods, he appears to be a somewhat jovial, friendly guy. At least before turning on John in his last couple of missions.
- Depraved Homosexual: Subverted; while his enemies claims that he is this trope, his style of villainy and general behaviour state otherwise.
- Depraved Bisexual: What he does to women, on the other hand...
- It is, however implied by the Rebels that he preys on young boys, though given that it's his mortal enemies, that claim remains dubious.
- Dirty Coward: Espinoza is certainly dismissive of his willingness to throw himself into danger, and he does appear to try and keep towards the back of the crowd whenever we see him go into action.
- Do with Him as You Will: A possible fate for him. If John decides not to personally kill him, he'll walk away and tell the rebels that he's all theirs, after which they'll proceed to perforate him with bullets.
- Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: When de Santa first meets John, he acts extremely hostile, to the point of having his soldiers aim their weapons at him. A few seconds later he bursts out laughing and explains that he was joking. John is less than amused.
- Expy : Whether this is deliberate or not, he really looks and acts rather similar to Tony Montana.
- The Dragon: To Allende. Well, not if you ask Espinoza....
- Right Hand Versus Left Hand: He hates Captain Espinoza, and attempts to get him killed along with John by sending them against a large group of rebels equipped only with unskilled new recruits.
- Straight Gay: While his homosexuality is strongly hinted at in his interactions with the drink pourer and openly mocked by his enemies, he fits this trope.
- Sycophantic Servant: He basically grovels towards Allende every opportunity he gets.
- Villain Has a Point: In his first appearance, Espinoza discusses with John about Reyes and how he doesn't care about anyone but himself. Sure enough, Reyes doesn't remember Luisa's name and and ended up becoming a tyrant as bad (if not worst than) Allende.
Espinoza
Capt. Espinoza
"We have men's work to do."
One of Colonel Allende's two right-hand men in the war against the rebels.
- The Captain: It's his title.
- Co-Dragons: He is this to Allende with De Santa, although they are frequently at odds.
- Eyepatch of Power: He has an eyepatch and is far more hands-on than De Santa.
- Face Death with Dignity: When the rebels take Chuparosa, he refuses to flee and continues fighting from the town hall until Marston finally kills him.
- Psycho for Hire: After defeating a rebel platoon in Tesoro Azul, he orders the village burnt and the deceased rebels' wives kidnapped and (most likely) raped to send a message to surviving rebels.
- Right Hand Versus Left Hand: He severely dislikes De Santa and constantly competes with him for Allende's favor.
- Villain Respect: He appears to hold some degree of respect for Marston, most likely due to his prowess in combat. Not that this stops him from helping Allende execute him.
- Villainous Valor: In contrast to de Santa, Espinoza is almost always on the frontlines, facing the enemy alongside his men, and even goes down fighting in the end. He may not be a good person, but he's definitely brave.
Chuparosa
Ricketts
Landon Ricketts
"I was the fastest in my time. I must've been - I'm the only one left."
- Voiced by: Ross Hagen
A retired American gunslinger, now residing in Mexico protecting the local townsfolk.
- A Good Way to Die: The epilogue reveals that he eventually passed away peacefully in his sleep. That he was able to avoid being murdered like most other gunslinging legends is equal parts awesome and heartwarming.
- A Lighter Shade of Grey: Ricketts is probably the closest to an actual hero the series has ever seen. He may be past his prime but he still tries to help people.
- Always Someone Better: To John. John might be an incredible gunslinger in his own right, but Rickets pretty much has him beat.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: He protects the people of Chuparosa from bandits, soldiers and revolutionaries, throwing himself into danger and dragging John right along. All he asks in return is a little hospitality and whiskey.
- Cool Old Guy: Despite his age, he is one of the best allies and one of the best fighters John has while in Mexico.
- Expy:
- His resemblance to Sam Elliot has been noted.
- He's also very similar to Colonel Douglas Mortimer.
- Knight in Sour Armor: He's a tired old man with blood on his hands and a cynical view of governments and revolutions alike, but damn if he's not determined to do what he can for the common folk of Chuparosa.
- Living Legend: He was a famous gunslinger whose exploits are the stuff of legends.
- The Mentor: Helps John further improve his Dead Eye skills.
- Mighty Whitey: A retired American gunslinger who singlehandedly defends the citizenry of a quaint Mexican village from bandits and the local government.
- One-Man Army: In Undead Nightmare, most survivor settlements are under perpetual threat of being overrun by zombies, and even with several defenders taking up arms at each outpost, there are only three locations that will hold their ground forever. Fort Mercer and El Presidio both have reasonably strong fortifications, heavy weaponry, and organized military presences keeping the undead out; all Casa Madrugada has is Ricketts.
- Papa Wolf: To the citizens of Chuparosa.
- Retired Gunslinger: Partially; While his days as a legend of the west are over, he also acts as the local protector of Chuparosa from bandits or Allende's men.
- Wouldn't Hit a Girl: He's livid about having to kill undead women, especially to rescue idiots who may or may not have been attempting to get laid by one.
Reyes' Rebels
Reyes
Abraham Reyes
"I owe it to the future of Mexico to breed, my brother. If I can get noble blood flowing through the veins of peasants, can you imagine how great this country can be? An army of Reyes! Of Kings!"
Voiced by: Josh Segarra
The leader of the rebels. A charismatic son of nobles who proves to be not nearly as great as he says.
- Affably Evil: He may be a power hungry wannabe-hero who manipulates civilians into helping him just so that he can take over Mexico, but he's very charismatic and polite. He even treats John as if he was his best friend, and unlike Allende, actually keeps his end of the bargain.
- Bad Boss: A different kind compared to Allende. While he talks a big game about revolution and equality, he makes it clear to John that he looks down on the peasants and regards them as gullible idiots. However, he's never shown abusing them and fights alongside them rather than using them as disposable Cannon Fodder.
- Big Bad: Technically this for Undead Nightmare. He's the one who starts the Zombie Apocalypse after taking an Aztec mask he thought would make him invincible.
- Big Damn Heroes: Saves John from being executed by de Santa, returning the favor from earlier.
- Establishing Character Moment: For all of Luisa's starry-eyed declarations about how Reyes is the savior of Mexico, his true character quickly becomes apparent mere moments after Marston rescues him; he's completely forgotten Luisa's name despite having led her into thinking he wants to marry her, announces he'll write a poem about his 'daring escape' that exaggerates both how many men were killed (he claims it was a hundred, when it couldn't have been more than a dozen or so at most) and his role in events (it was Marston who did the killing, and he was tied up all throughout), and when Luisa effusively thanks Marston for what he's done he makes a point of pushing Marston aside in a slightly jealous manner before beginning to serenade her as they escape. He has a superficial charm but is self-aggrandizing, self-centered, treats women like garbage while expecting their unquestioned devotion in return, and for all his heroic rebel man-of-the-people posturing is basically full of shit.
- Evil All Along: Newspapers from 1914 reveal that he wasn't much different from Allende, having become a brutal despot in his place, something that makes a lot of sense for his character.
- Evil Virtues:
- Bravery. For all his many, many flaws, Reyes is not a coward. He leads from the front and puts himself at just as much risk as his men in all the missions that involve him. He also takes being nearly executed twice without any fear whatsoever. John even notes this in a conversation with De Santa and compares him to Allende, who is never seen fighting and tries to run rather than fight or Face Death with Dignity. He's even the only one to be right next to John when they gun down Allende and Bill.
- He actually does keep his word to John. While he milks John's skills like the other people of New Austin and Mexico, he's not lying when he says that he's having his spies track Javier's location. When they find him at El Presidio, he even encourages John multiple times to leave the fighting to him and his men while he looks for Javier.
- Full-Circle Revolution: It's revealed in the epilogue that after leading the rebellion to victory and becoming Presidente, Reyes becomes just another tyrannical dictator.
- Glory Hound: The only thing he cares about is personal power and the women that come with it.
- I Gave My Word: At the least, he doesn't try to screw John over and does end up helping him take down Escuella and Williamson.
- Hypocrite:
- In a private conversation with John, he states that he looks down on Allende for tyrannizing the Mexican people when he's supposed to be their protector. He does the exact same thing once he's put into power.
- Reyes makes comments against Americans about how they treat his people and look down on them as an inferior race. When John brings up how Mexico doesn't exactly treat their Chinese migrant workers much better, he states that it's different because they actually are an inferior race. John dryly points out that Reyes has the makings of a great leader with logic like that.
- He claims that spreading his seed (read:fucking any woman he can) is his sworn duty since it disseminates noble blood among the populace. Undead Nightmare reveals that he sends any woman that he impregnates to the convent.
- Jerkass:
- It's pretty clear to John that Reyes is a man obsessed with power more than he is with actually doing any good. He also regularly cheats on Luisa, won't marry her because she's a peasant and insults her frequently, and keeps forgetting her name even after she dies trying to save his life.
- Undead Nightmare reveals that he abandons all of the girls that he has sex with once they get pregnant. And his selfish, greedy personality ends up causing the Zombie Apocalypse as well as his own demise when he steals an Aztec mask because he thought it would make him invincible.
- Karma Houdini:
- Though he's an Affably Evil ally to you during the story, he still ultimately becomes a tyrannical dictator by the epilogue and doesn't get any comeuppance. There's also the matter of how he led Luisa to an early grave without any remorse or concern.
- Averted in Undead Nightmare, where him stealing the Aztec Mask causes him to turn into a zombie, and he is killed by John near the end of the game.
- Large Ham: An absolutely DELICIOUS one.
- Meaningful Name: Named after the biblical patriarch Abraham, to whose descendants God promises the land of Canaan, and, as he points out in the quote above, his surname "Reyes" means "royalty". Not only does this fit his extremely entitled worldview and classist attitude, but he later becomes the dictator of Mexico and rules it like a tyrant king. note
- Politically Incorrect Villain: As well as being a classist with barely-hidden contempt for peasants, he hates the Chinese laborers and sees them as pests. He's also unbearably sexist towards women, treating various female supporters of his as disposable sexual playthings and child-bearers to be later discarded and gleefully offering to whore Luisa off to John despite him promising to marrying her.
- Really Gets Around: Claims that it's his duty to spread his seed amongst his citizens as future Presidente. In Undead Nightmares it's mentioned that pregnant girls tend to be tossed to the nuns, however.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Goes from heroic-ish rebel to tyrannical dictator in the epilogue.
Luisa
Luisa Fortuna
"Don't worry about me, Mr. Marston. I am living in history. I am not afraid to die."
- Voiced by: Francesca Galeas
A young schoolteacher and a member of Reyes' rebels, who she sees as a great hero.
- Big Sister Instinct: She's very protective of her little sister and asks John to help transport her somewhere safe rather than let her fall into Allende's clutches.
- Good Is Dumb: A considerably dark version. She's well-meaning lady who has lost much of her family and only wants her country to be free of tyrants and her people to live freely. Unfortunately she pines after and serves a power-hungry perverted rebel leader who's just as morally bankrupt as the tyrant she wants to fight, strong arms John into an unneeded killing spree when her father is killed to give his death meaning, and gets herself killed trying to attack a bunch of Allende's armed guards with a knife.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Inadvertently. She's ultimately Too Dumb to Live, but her attempt at attacking the soldiers holding John at gunpoint distracts them long enough for John to retaliate and escape their trap.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Despite being an otherwise bright person, Luisa actually believes Reyes' lies and thinks that he honestly loves her when in actuality he can't even remember her name.
- Love Martyr She gives her life for Abraham and his cause. He doesn't particularly care and forgets about her shortly after.
- Morality Pet: For John. He helps her out not just to forward his own goals but because she's one of the few characters to not earn his contempt. He's also somewhat offended by the fact that Reyes can't even remember her name despite telling her that she will be his wife.
- Nonstandard Character Design: Whereas most of the RDR cast look realistic, Luisa looks like she came off a Mexican wall mural - her eyes in particular.
- Too Dumb to Live: Attacking a group of armed government soldiers with just a knife was a stupid move.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: To the point of being blind to any of Reyes' faults no matter how blatant. She also has trouble understanding that John doesn't care about the revolution as much as she does.
- You Killed My Father: She's always dedicated to overthrowing Allende, but she becomes even more determined after Allende had his men cut out her father's heart and feed it to dogs.
