Father’s Day is not necessarily celebrated in the world of Red Dead Redemption. While men in the Van Der Linde gang made moves throughout history, the responsibility of fathering was often declared unimportant and fell to the background when compared to the constantly looming threat of danger, poverty, starvation, and homelessness.

However, father figures can be more influential on a character than an actual father. Many important father figures have made significant impacts on the lives of Red Dead Redemption’s heroes.

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Arthur Morgan had a strained relationship with his family. His mother died of unknown causes when he was very young, and his father was a petty criminal and outlaw. Arthur’s father was arrested for larceny when he was 11 years old, and he later witnessed his death. His father's influence is part of the reason Arthur Morgan shows villainous tendencies in Red Dead Redemption 2. Despite their strained relationship, Arthur kept his father's hat and a picture of him.

At the age of 14, Arthur was picked up and essentially adopted by Dutch Van Der Linde and Hosea Matthews as a wandering street orphan. Dutch and Hosea taught him to read, write, hunt, fight, shoot and ride and made him the third founding member of the Van Der Linde Gang.

Arthur fell madly in love and became engaged to a woman named Mary Gillis. Ultimately, Arthur’s love for the outlaw life, coupled with the fact that Mary’s father hated him, pushed Arthur away from Mary. Sometime later, Arthur slept with a young waitress named Eliza which resulted in the birth of their son Isaac. Again, Arthur Morgan can't shake his outlaw lifestyle but he told Eliza that he would make right by them. He supported them with a portion of his earnings and would periodically visit them to stay for a few days and help raise Isaac. One day, Arthur came to visit and found two graves sitting outside of Eliza’s home. He learned they had been murdered by robbers over ten dollars, and Arthur lost almost all of the joy in his life at that moment. Now, Arthur Morgan talks to himself more than he speaks to anyone else.

John Marston’s father was an illiterate Scottish immigrant who was born on the boat to New York, and his mother was a prostitute who died during his birth. John initially lived with his father until he died in a bar fight when John was eight years old. Both of these influences play heavily into the man who is currently the most featured player character in the Red Dead Redemption series.

John was sent to an orphanage but eventually left and tried to make a living on the streets similar to Arthur. He shot his first man when he was only 11 years old. The following year, John was in hot water with some Illinois homesteaders over a theft he committed and was saved by Hosea Matthews and Dutch Van Der Linde. They taught him how to read, shoot, hunt, gather, and instilled him with a love of nature and things other than power. Red Dead Redemption 2's John and Arthur soon became playful rivals, Dutch’s “favorite sons,” and a family bond was created.

When a prostitute named Abigail joined the Van Der Linde Gang, John fell in love with her immediately. The fact that his mother was a prostitute allowed John to see Abigail as something more than the sexual object that most of the gang designated her. Their union led to the birth of their child Jack, whose real father is widely debated. Some believe that Jack is actually Arthur’s child, though John is serving the most fatherly role for Jack. Regardless, at one point, John Marston abandons his fatherly duties, ashamed of himself, his life, and his past. Arthur pushes John to be a better family man and he eventually matures into an inspiring husband and father figure for Abigail and Jack.

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Hosea Matthews is Dutch Van Der Linde’s closest ally. The two men basically fostered Arthur Morgan and John Marston together. Hosea later married a woman named Bessie and left the gang to be with her for a short while. The couple did not have children and Hosea soon drifted back to a life of crime with the Van Der Linde Gang. Bessie was supportive of his decision until her death at some point before 1899. Hosea was “drunk for a year” after her death.

Hosea felt that Arthur was a ‘delinquent’ and initially did not want to foster him. However, Dutch’s soft spot for miscreants brought Arthur into their care and gave each of the characters something necessary for growth. Hosea grew to love Arthur, and the Van Der Linde Gang was better for it. Having a child to look after and teach was as beneficial to the two men as it was to the children in the gang.

Hosea maintained that his father lived a life of “sin and debauchery” but still loved him, despite Hosea only seeing him three times before his father's death at the age of 75. It’s possible that Hosea declined from fathering children with Bessie as a response to his own torn relationship with his father. Hosea’s drive to be a performer and comedian in his early life may have been caused by a deep-seated need to earn his father’s affection and attention.

Dutch Van Der Linde serves as the patriarch of the Van Der Linde Gang and arguably holds a father figure status for many of the gang members in Red Dead Redemption 2. Though he does not have any ‘real’ children, Dutch effectively serves as the adopted father for Arthur and John, claiming that they are his favorite sons.

Dutch rarely speaks of his own father who died fighting against the confederacy in the Civil War, sparking his deep hatred of Southerners. He grew to be a disobedient child who rarely got along with his mother and left her when he was 15. He, like Hosea, carries the burden of feeling better than his father while still being destined to make the same mistakes. Although Dutch turned to a life of crime to realize his freedom, he was considerably helpful to needy folks in his early days and truly cared about the safety and health of his people. Unfortunately, Red Dead Redemption 2's Dutch mirrors the dying west, and he is doomed to live just long enough to see himself become the villain.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is currently available for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Stadia.

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