History NightmareFuel / RedDeadRedemption2

** The church is also the only one in the game without a cross. The cabins have "ill with sin" and "unclean sinners" painted on them. The inhabitants died ''violently'' on the same month or even ''day.'' There's the aforementioned snake nearby. [[ReligionOfEvil We'll let you put two]] [[{{Satan}} and two together.]]

** The church is also the only one in the game without a cross. The cabins have "ill with sin" and "unclean sinners" painted on them. The inhabitants died ''violently'' on the same month or even ''day.'' There's the aforementioned snake nearby. [[ReligionOfEvil We'll let you put two and two together.]]

* Clawson's Rest is even worse. Upon breaking down the locked door you find the heavily decayed bodies of two children. Looting the nightstand reveals a note from their mother stating that she was leaving the cabin to get some money back that was stolen from them, and that they were not to answer the door for anyone. The boys would have enough food and water for four days until she came back. [[{{TearJerker}} She didn't come back.]]

** A chilling question comes to mind, considering what's inside -- if you had to kick the door to get inside, then ''why was the door locked?''
* Clawson's Rest is even worse. Upon breaking down the locked door you find the heavily decayed bodies of two children. Looting the nightstand reveals a note from their mother stating that she was leaving the cabin, giving them enough food and water for four days until she came back. [[{{TearJerker}} She didn't come back.]]
** The letter says that she went to get back money that was stolen from them and that the boys were not to answer the door for anyone. After reading that, it's easy to infer what became of their mother and why the boys died the way they did.

* In Osman Grove, just east of Emerald Ranch, you’ll come upon an abandoned shack with a locked door. Kicking down the door will present you with a gruesomely horrific sight: an ''entire family dead'' in poses that suggest asphyxiation and considering the state they’re in — they’ve been dead for a long while. If you investigate the flue to the wood stove, you'll find it leaking smoke back into the cabin. One can then only imagine the horror of being the last one left alive, still coughing and wheezing up a storm...

** Right before the gator makes its first attack, Dutch informs Arthur to "just don't look behind you." Naturally, most players immediately did and got a face full of teeth. Cementing it is that even ''Dutch'' sounds absolutely terrified, which really drives home how dangerous the situation is.

[[folder: Banking, The Old American Art]]

[[folder:He's British, Of Course]]

* Out in the Grizzles, you can find a herd of frozen cattle. In a cave by Lake Isabella, you can find an abandoned wagon and several human bones. How are these two sorry sights related? According to both a local camper and a newspaper article, you will learn that they were a wagon train that got stranded in a snow drift after their oxen froze to death. After their rations ran dry, the families hid in a cave where they were forced [[ImAHumanitarian to eat each other to survive.]]
** [[SarcasmMode Best of all?]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_Party This is inspired by true events.]]

** The church is also the only one in the game without a cross. The cabins have "ill with sin" and "unclean sinners" painted on them. The inhabitants died ''violently'' on the same month or even ''day.'' There's the aforementioned snake nearby. [[ReligionOfEvi We'll let you put two and two together.]]

* The failed Saint Denis heist is one of the most heart breaking events in the entire game, ending with Hosea and Lenny shot dead, John arrested and the other remnants of the gang hitching a ride on a boat to escape the law. But the moment after Hosea gets shot, the mission quickly becomes one of the most ''stressful'' encounters the player will ever experience. Right after Milton kills Hosea and Dutch whispers out his name, an unsettling chord will play, seeming to signal Dutch’s mind shattering and then the frantic DroneOfDread and adrenaline pumping drums of [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FYVKYgMDbac&t=335s The Firefight Score]] kick in as Dutch and the gang go on a carnage filled RoaringRampageOfRevenge against the Pinkertons. Not only are you fearful for the gang’s safety throughout the fight, the barrage of bullets are seemingly endless, no matter how many Pinkertons you kill, more keep coming in to replace them and close in on the gang; at the same time, it’s rather frightening how ''bloodthirsty'', understandable though it may be, everyone, perhaps including the player, becomes once Hosea is shot. No matter how many Pinkertons keep charging in, the gang seems to be determined to kill as ''many of them as possible'' in a way that’s never seen before or after this event, You’d be forgiven for never wanting to replay this mission again after the first time through.

* After grieving in Chapters 1 & 2, Sadie adapts frighteningly well to the outlaw life, and is even colder to death than most of the men. If the gang remained stable a little longer and Arthur and the Marstons weren’t there to keep her grounded, Sadie would likely have turned out as bad as Micah.

* In the final mission, Sadie, Charles and John track down Cleet up in Strawberry. After beating him up, they drag him to the gallows and put a noose around his neck. Even after he tells them Micah’s location, Sadie [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness orders John to hang him]], and if he refuses, shoots him himself. After seemingly being a ReasonableAuthorityFigure

* After grieving in Chapters 1 & 2, Sadie adapts frighteningly well to the outlaw life. If the gang remained stable a little longer and Arthur and the Marstons weren’t there to keep her grounded, Sadie would likely have turned out as bad as Micah.

* Sadie’s battle cries.

* Without Arthur and the Marstons, [[AxCrazy Sadie]] would likely have turned out as bad as Micah.
* In the final mission, Sadie, Charles and John track down Cleet up in Strawberry. After beating him up, they drag him to the gallows and put a noose around his neck. Even after he tells them, Sadie [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness orders John to hang him]], and if he refuses, shoots him himself.

* Some of the cops in Saint Denis aren’t as merciful as others. [[https://youtu.be/WYP0nKSDttc In this clip]], a cop manages to tackle [[spoiler:John]] to the ground and [[PoliceBrutality ruthlessly stab him fifteen times with a knife!]] Although it somewhat crosses into BlackComedy, it’s pretty unsettling how a man of the law can engage in acts of sadism when pushed too far, as he draws out the murder quite a while before finishing him off. [[DisproportionateRetribution To make it even worse, all the player did was punch him.]]

** What the ten gravestones near the church say add some horrifying detail: All ten were murdered in various ways the year the town was founded, [[FromBadtoWorse all within the same month, possibly on the same]] ''[[FromBadToWorse day]]''. Makes you wonder just what kind of "plague" they were able to keep the source of locked in the barn.
* Just south of Pleasance you can find the corpse of a giant snake stretched across the branches of a tree. Scary enough on its own, but it's made more so by how unexplained it is. Why is it there? How did it die? Are there more of them? Considering how close it is to Pleasance, did it have anything to do with whatever happened there? If so, was it really only [[AnimalisticAbomination ''just'']] a giant snake? Neither Arthur nor John [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight remark on it]] and it never comes up anywhere else, meaning that it remains a singularly unsolved, and creepy, mystery.
** The church is also the only one in the game without a cross. The cabins have "ill with sin" and "unclean sinners" painted on them. The inhabitants died ''violently'' on the same month or even ''day.'' There's the aforementioned snake nearby. [[{{ReligionOfEvil}} We'll let you put two and two together.]]

** [[{{SarcasmMode}} Best of all?]] [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_Party This is inspired by true events.]]

* Just south of Pleasance you can find the corpse of a giant, dead snake stretched across the branches of a tree. The snake is scary enough, but it's made more so by how unexplained it is. Why is it there? How did it die? Are there more of them? Considering how close it is to Pleasance, did it have anything to do with whatever happened there? If so, was it really only [[AnimalisticAbomination ''just'' a giant snake?]] Neither Arthur nor John [[UnusuallyUninterestingSight remark on it]] and it never comes up anywhere else, meaning that it remains a singularly unsolved, and creepy, mystery.

* ''Every single aspect'' about the Skinner Brothers is NightmareFuel [[UpToEleven dialed way past eleven]]. Their favorite hobby is torturing and mutilating any enemy or innocent person that crosses their path. They also like to scalping them or roasting them to death over an open fire, ''ForTheEvulz''. They are basically Mufree Brood 2.0.

* One of the characters you meet at random is a crazed preacher who seems to be talking to God, ranting and raving and soaking himself in various rivers across the map. At one point though, he will ask you if you've spoken to "him", and reveal that "he" hates the preacher. After the revelation of the Strange Man's shack, the thought slowly dawns on you that the madman [[ParanoiaFuel might not be talking about the almighty.]]

** Late in the game, Jack can tell Arthur that Micah offered to take him fishing, and Arthur tells him to stay away from Micah no matter what. [[AdultFear The idea]] of a little boy spending time alone with someone like Micah is just chilling, especially since we find out in the epilogue that he killed a little girl and is more than willing to find Abigail and Jack and "pay them a visit" once he's through with John.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rdr2_video2_01711_768x348.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"It's a nasty world out there, and it's catching up with us..."]]

* '''Major sexual assault trigger warning for the following entry!''' Just southeast under the N in Bayou Nwa is a cabin you can run across, where a stranger who calls himself Sonny asks if you want to be [[TermsOfEndangerment 'friends']] and offers to feed you. If you go in the cabin, it's... bad. Knocked out and violated bad. If you accept the man's invitation and follow him inside, Sonny knocks you out with a plank of wood immediately, [[CutsceneIncompetence without any option from the game to fight back]]. You hear a [[HellIsThatNoise clanging of metal and what is most likely the sound of clothes hitting the floor]], before Arthur wakes back up for a brief moment, now on the bed. Sonny tells you that you fought him hard but he still won (as he calls you [[TermsOfEndangerment his 'pet']]), and as your consciousness fades he says, "See? Friendship isn't so tough. And neither is you...", his voice getting more and more distorted before you [[RapeDiscretionShot pass out again]]. After more metallic sounds you hear the sound of crickets chirping and Arthur getting tossed off a horse onto the ground. Arthur wakes up a good distance away from the cabin with no indication of how much time has passed, completely disoriented with all of his cores drained and some money missing- and when you get back up he is very clearly [[FridgeHorror walking bow-legged]] for a little while. '''Rockstar straight up put in a random encounter where it's [[ImpliedTrope all but outright stated]] ''Arthur gets raped''.''' Fortunately you can go back to the cabin and kill Sonny (in whatever [[AssholeVictim fitting]] and [[PayEvilUntoEvil creative]] way you can imagine, such as [[NeverSmileAtACrocodile feeding him to the swamp gators]]), but the latter has even more disgusting lines for you, such as "I don't want you no more!" Plus closer examination of the bed reveals [[ChainedToABed chains and shackles]] attached to the head and foot of the bed frame- and what appears to be a large [[{{Squick}} blood stain]] on the sheets. To add further insult to injury, some have reported Bill coming up to them in camp and saying, "I met an interesting feller in the swamp. ... He seemed to know all about you. I mean... ''all'' about you..." and Arthur responding with a ''very'' angry "Get outta here...!" Needless to say it [[RapeAsDrama viciously defies]] the DoubleStandardRapeMaleOnMale trope, with several players having felt violated ''themselves'' for what happened and reloading their saves. Long story short, '''don't go in the cabin'''.

** There is a possible encounter at night where Arthur can meet a cart driven by two Murfrees and a woman screaming her lungs out in the back of the cart. If you save her she'll pretty much tell you DontAskJustRun before doing so herself.
** If you venture into Roanoke Ridge before the main story directs you there, then your very first encounter with them will likely happen when you set up camp outdoors and two visibly deformed men appear out of nowhere to threaten you. Up to that point in the game, there have been no perils associated with sleeping outdoors, so seeing these weirdos sneak up on you at a moment when you assume you're safe is a big shock.
*** Although it's a bit of NightmareRetardant if you choose to shoot them as they leave [[note]]Which, based on Youtube videos and comments, the vast majority of players choose to do[[/note]], with Arthur calmly stating:

** Their hideout, Beaver Hollow, is a cave filled with stolen goods, campsites and [[BreadMilkEggsSquick the horrifically mutilated bodies of their victims.]] It's less of a headquarters and more of a vision of ''Hell itself.''
** To top all that listed above, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_Rf3VT-dzM the music]] that plays during "That's Murfree's Country" is absolutely horrifying. That dissonant-sounding saxophone played by Colin Stetson, combined with the ominous ambience just sends chills through you, especially if you take the stealth option. Then once the action kicks in, it takes on a more desperate, almost frightened tone that lets you know that you've truly angered the Murfree, and that failure to end them is ''not'' an option.

** One particularly disturbing story involves a player running after their scared horse, only to find a Nite Folk holding the reins before their hidden pals ambush the player. ''[[ItCanThink They can plan.]]''
** In another encounter you can hear a woman sobbing a little way off the path in the swamp. Approach her and she'll continue to cry, until you're right next to her; then she [[HellIsThatNoise shrieks like a demon]] and stabs Arthur so hard [[HPToOne it almost kills him outright]] and five more of the Nite Folk pop out of nowhere to finish the job.
** There are [[https://www.reddit.com/r/reddeadmysteries/comments/9wwqzo/new_nite_folk_encounter_rake_like_creature_shown/ some reports]][[note]]Links in the post contain epilogue spoilers[[/note]] of Nite Folk having some kind of unseen attack animal with an inhuman scream, and has been compared to a rake. Worse yet, it may be invisible on the minimap. Fortunately, there's a good chance that the sightings of a humanoid monster are merely just Nite Folk themselves, but if it actually exists...

--> "...but I can't fight my own nature either, John. That's the paradox, you see?" - '''Dutch, in some of his last words before his death in RDR1.'''\\

** This is very open to interpretive bias, however, since there is no direct relationship between the trolley station incident and any alleged 'sudden' change in personality, especially since an accumulation of factors building up since before the player's directly involved in the game's story are what contribute towards Dutch's ''gradual'' evolution over time in the story, making this a significant YMMV entry. A lot of the traits highlighted in his personality are foreshadowed well within the first chapter, and by the third chapter, a pattern of his poor decision making (as well as its predictable eventual outcome) had already been established, meaning that with all other factors in play, Dutch's regression was already assured with or without the concussive injury. Before the trolley station mission the following traits have already been highlighted; paranoia, possessiveness, hypocrisy, narcissism, impulsiveness, a tendency to patronise/neglect/gaslight gang members, a chronic tendency to underestimate the risks of his gang's predicament, and (as evidenced by his growing trust in Micah) a very poor judge of character. As it is, this particular interpretation of Dutch's injury suggests that the trolley station mission marks the turning point in his personality, which not only dismisses three and a half chapters' worth of character development and foreshadowing, but also overshadows reasons arguably more pertinent to Dutch's already apparent personality flaws, i.e (the reason) he becomes incredibly violent against a target he had no respect for to begin with is because the same target had gone on to betray his trust and humiliate his judgement in front of his gang, and for a man of Dutch's pride, that is a cardinal sin. He's also reacting to stressors which include the inevitable fallout of his shortsightedness resulting in multiple ambushes in as many days, and under the constant threat of more to follow. He loses key members of the gang in what was meant to be the final bank job, which included the only gang member who could ''occasionally'' make him see some sense beyond many of his wild plans, and all these are far more important factors which contribute towards what we see of him in the last two chapters. It must be noted that the complexity of Dutch's characterisation and the myriad ways in which his motives can be interpreted is what allows him to form the backbone of the series, and the 'headbang' argument is easily the most tenuous, and least imaginative assessment of what's otherwise a remarkable example of a tragic villain.

--> '''Dutch (RDR1): ...but I can't fight my own nature, John. That's the paradox, you see?\\

* It's heavily implied that Dutch suffers a concussion or other head injury when the trolley he, Arthur, and Lenny tried to steal derails. The first time you play through, it isn't that upsetting. Then as you replay the game, you realize Dutch becomes much, much more violent after the crash, and you just witnessed his [[StartOfDarkness first few steps into insanity]] before the botched bank heist cements his fate. This realization makes these lines much, much more ominous.
-->'''Dutch''': I don't feel so good.
-->'''Arthur''': Aw, you just got a bash on the head. [[TemptingFate You'll be fine.]]

** Assuming that Dutch incurred a significant concussion, and ''further'' assuming that the effect of said concussion was long-lasting, the worst that the event would have done to him was to exacerbate his worst traits - in other words, traits which were ''already'' part of his personality... and even then, this is a far more speculative take compared for example with losing Hosea, or even the simple realisation that he was running out of options to continue his valued lifestyle.