It’s kind of wild to me how my Red Dead/McCarthy comparisons basically started at “heehee cowboy hats” and ballooned to “No Country and RD are both about the futility of fighting change”, “Death rides with the Van der Linde gang and the Devil rides with the Glanton gang”, “both BM and the RDs are technically anti-Westerns since they showcase the brutality of the Old West without giving closure via a happy ending; John gets eviscerated trying to save his family-meanwhile Uncle dies, disease gets Abigail just a couple years after, and Jack is left alone, consumed by bitterness and the desire for revenge. There’s a ‘Kid’ in Red Dead too, and that’s Jack Marston. In Blood Meridian, the outhouse represents a grappling of opposing ideals, Judge vs. Kid, the desire for war vs. the desire for peace. In the end, the Judge ideal kills the Kid ideal, and all that’s left is another corrupted soul, destined for eternal damnation. In Red Dead the player, as Jack, is forced to kill Edgar Ross in order to end the game. Jack has no choice. The outlaw life has its hooks in him too deep…”, in no specific order. And they wear cowboy hats. Supposedly.
Ironically the pinkertons durring the 1800s relied on the lack of civilization in the west because that the pinkerton agency went west because of the homestead strike where the agency in real life fought against worker rights for money. Causing them to be banned from being involved with u.s government say for a few loop holes. (yes they were real and they genuinely were an evil orginization they basically lost a lawsuit to rockstar over their potrayal in the game for being accurate). Not that its a plothole since dutch is unable to see why change isnt necesarily bad. It in a way personifys it. While dutch criticizes civilizations greed he also himself isnt much better and neither are the pinkertons. If anything despite the fact the u.s is known for consumerism its civilization that allows change to happen so the door for civil rights, worker rights, and womens rights eventually came.
This video popped up on my feed and i wouldnt have guessed that this video would've come from a channel with less than 100k subs, shows how great this vid is
I always had the thought that we never directly see the strange man as Arthur because Arthur knew he was dying from pretty early on in his narrative. For the first half of the game, he's too busy running from the law to pay attention to little things like that, and after he contracts TB, well every moment of his life after that(assuming you play high honor, and ignoring out-of-mission encounters) is spent trying to atone for past sins. The Strange Man appears for John because his death came quickly, and without warning, the strange man acted _as_ that warning, in the absence of a creeping illness. Arthur found his road to redemption on his own through the life he lived and his own impending death staring him in the face. John by contrast just wanted to live a simple life... perhaps even fooling himself into believing he deserved such a life, for a short time. The Strange Man appears in the second half of John's story, much in the same way Arthur contracts TB in chapter 3 out of his 6 chapter story, and meets most of the people who he most impacted _after_ he was already dying. The Strange Man in my mind is doing to John what TB did for Arthur - he's letting him know that his time is coming, and the time has already come for him to make his decision, whether he wants to die as an honourable man, or a dishonourable one. The Strange Man, assuming he's some form of spirit representing death or afterlife, probably didn't feel the need to make contact with Arthur directly, because Arthur already knew exactly what to do as soon as he left that doctor's office in Saint Denis. So instead he just kind of... watches him, from afar... still testing him the same way he tested John, but without the need to explicitly explain out loud that it was a test. (there's probably a joke there about John being too dumb for subtlety)
"I know you" its a comom frase that a lot of npc's say starnge man sister mary, jimmu brooks the guys on the fence's the guys in the gun store's i think this just means that sooner or later you will have to come back to people in your past in order to keep surviving amd you cant really run away its lile a big trap were everyone "knows you" even when suposably covering your face and commit a crime you still get a bounty because people "know you"
I have also heard a theory that he is a representation of the creators of the game and how they have the knowledge of what is to become of John and Arthur! Kind of interesting to think about too .
I love how a character that appears in such a small amount of time amongst these two games has captured our imaginations so much :D whenever I encountered the strange man it was always a sobering reminder that John is no saint, regardless at how morally 'good' you try to be you'll always create death wherever you go - death brings death for as long as the cycle continues, be it John or Ross and possibly now Jack
It’s always fascinating to see other people’s perspectives on who the strange man is but in my opinion I think the strange men is more of a character that represents not only the concept of death but also the implications of what morality can be
*Arthur was a good man that was influenced by bad people* *John was a bad man that was forced to do good because of Bad People* *Red Dead Redemption is about how Tragedy brings out the best of us in bad times*
@@enthusiasticallydry *he was a terrible father, at least Arthur took Jack on fishing trips, even hosea played a role in Jack's life, plus John abandoned the gang for a YEAR including his wife and son when Jack was real young, and on top of that even with Arthur being against revenge John and Sadie still went after Micah for what he did putting his wife and son at stake for the sake of revenge and ego...everything he did in Rdr1 was soley because the Government forced him to take down infamous Gang Leaders, Desperados and Rebel warfare and the menace Dutch vanderlinde who was basically the King Von of the Wild West...* 🤦
@@enigma7310 Early on in rdr2 he was a bad father, but in the later chapters you Can see him slowly becoming a better man and father. + Plus the Reason he did all that in rdr1 was for the safety of the his family. Hence the name Red Dead Redemption.
@@enigma7310 for the four years of jacks life he was inattentive john was a scared punk kid. he left jack and the gang for that year cause he wasn’t ready for fatherhood. he was too immature and cowardly. he never hated jack. “i wish no harm upon the boy,” but he was too scared to admit that jack was his. in the end, when jack is kidnapped by the braithwates and angelo bronte, johns paternal instinct kicks in. he’s pissed. he tries to pretends he just doesn’t want to upset abigail but we all know he cared deeply about jack. he spends less time making money for the gang and more time being with jack. he apologises to jack. at one point, dutch says something along the lines of “remember who your family is” when john is playing with jack. in the interaction he’s basically saying “stop sending time with your child, i want you to go out and fight.” but john refuses. jacks kidnapping is what allows john to see that the gang is falling apart before anybody else, besides hosea and abigail maybe (but those three all were suspicious even in chapter 1.) his whole life and world of the gang; he instantly disregards it for his son. jack has enough faith in him in “Horsemen: Apocalypses” to run out of cover to him, in which john runs out of his own cover, picks him up and places him back in cover with abigail, defending them from the o’driscolls. in former moments when jack calls john ‘pa,’ he tells him that he’s not jacks father or just ignores him, but here when jack calls “pa!” he responds with “jack!” same as when jack gets out of bronte’s mansion. he runs up to him and john acknowledges him as his son, and hugs him. he would hardly go near jack before. he plays with jack, teaches him stuff. one interaction i really love is him and jack using a knife. i don’t remember all of it, but i know at the end john tells him to be very careful with them, even if jack is brave. his father would/had NEVER say anything like that to him. another one is in chapter three. jack wants john to play knights, in which john says “maybe some other time kid.” (paraphrasing) jack says to himself and john how it’s always ‘another time.’ however, in chapter 6, john is actually playing knights with jack, and they both have big grins on their faces. micah of course comes along to ruin that but that’s almost irrelevant (although john standing up for jack with such passion is notable.) also, arthur stops thinking of john as an idiot and stops hating him (maybe hates a strong word) after “blood feuds, ancient and modern” because john shows that love and care for his child, like arthur wishes he had for his own child. in epilogue 1, john tries his best to go out with jack, have fun with him and take him around. he also works these shitty jobs on a ranch instead of just robbing people for money (which he was doing for most of his life.) also, he went to the yukon at the END of the gold rush, desperately trying to help his family. unfortunately, john cant seem to shake his old life. he kills someone in roanoke ridge to protect his family. this causes the dead guys cousin to come over and attack john and his kid. john tries to get jack to not look at what he unfortunately had to do… but come on of course jacks gonna look. but he does his best to console him (unless you’re a monster and you choose to reprimand him.) gets him to think about beechers hope, an idea john thought was a load of shit but now he realises that may be the way to a free life, a holy life for his family at least. he becomes friends with the geddies and tom dickens, out of the kindness they showed him when he came begging at their doorstep, but also just because he ending up bonding with them for all the time he spent on the farm. he puts his life on the line at hanging dog ranch. when jack asks if john killed the laramies, he says he did what he had to do to protect him. he tries to give it to him easy, while saying it how it was his head. he did do that to help the ranch and protect his friends and family in the end. i hope this is enough because i can’t be bothered to explain all of rdr1 and epilogue 2.
THE character in other media that most reminds me of "The Strange Man"' is Dustin Hoffman's character in Luc Besson's 1999 "Joan of Arc". Not sure if many of you "youngsters" watched that movie, but the way his character "confronts" Joan all throughout the movie is somehow similar to the way the strange man talks to John in RDR1... And yes, he's credited as "conscience" in the movie credits (I read someone below mentioning John's conscience), but it's always been speculated if he's a messenger from God, or even God himself... kinda interesting.
Strange Man is the Devil. I mean look at his mustache. In the wild west, the handlebar was commonly associated with the villain. He definitely looks like the guy that hogties the damsel in distress to the railroad tracks. Herbert Moon making a deal with the Devil makes sense because why else would he have his picture on the shelf?
With over 5000 hours of experience on red dead 2 and 1000 on red dead 1 I could see the theory making sense, but also I couldn’t see it making sense but you took your time to make a video about the red dead redemption series you should be proud no matter how it does the video does
1. This is super underrated and you are too 2. I imagined the strange man as the devil personally when I first played rdr1 just how he talks and how he acts seems almost other worldly. I love the idea that the Nun could be another for of him and the strange man’s cabin in the Bayou, Herbert having a picture of him just adds to the mystery. After watching this I’m leaning twords him either being Death or Neutral with his own motivations on why he’s toying with John or maybe to see if he’s worthy of a redemption? RED DEAD REDMPT-
I don’t think the strange man is good or evil, but an indifferent figure who tests the morality of the people he comes across who he knows are going to die soon. He never encourages anyone to make the right decision; he just tells them what their options are.
They may be able to go well back of this and have the time where Bill joined the gang with another person and we watch their arcs break, or we see Dutch pick his ark and drag Hosiah and everyone else go as well. Anyhow, this is great content! I sort of forgot about the 'mysterious man' from RDR, but then again, I haven't played it in a dog's age.
imagine if they went the WW1 route and jack got to fight against pancho villa's raids and then go on the offensive and because horses were still widely used it might still feel like a western
This was a great video, I though you were a bigger creator I can see this theory being real.I also think for rdr3 rockstar could start with the origins of the gang or continue into the mafia era with jack there are many opportunities but they are spending lots of time with GTA 6.
This was a hella random recommendation hahah but I liked the theory about sister calderon, never heard that before. I’ve only every played RDR2 but I LOVE the strange man lore. He’s for sure death incarnate, it annoys me so much when ppl think he’s the ‘devil’ when the devil is inherently evil and would be telling you to commit evil acts. This guy tells you to make your own choice. Such an awesome little addition to the story though. Also dope vid idk why it came up but it was a good watch hahaga
That makes a lot of sense. They both appear when the Main Characters are going through a lot of development. Progressive or regression. I kinda see the strange man as a warning to John. And the nun as the peace that Arther so desperately fought for and needed. Classic good and evil
Believe that he is the Devil himself, offering up temptation and Moon “making a deal the devil”… The nun would be an angel in human form to give Arthur a piece of my saying basically that “the Lord knows you” as well! Just a theory
Great video and love the theory,the strange man is by far one of my favourite characters even with very little scenes he is a big role in the red dead redemption universe
7:37 the next game could follow the journey of mac callander as he too gets his redemption by sacrificing himself to save Arthur during the blackwater ferry job
I believe the Strange Man is a combination of both the Grim Reaper and Satan. His deal with Herbert Moon seems far too insidious for him to *only* be the personification of Death. Furthermore, the Skinner Brothers of Tall Trees say that they worship a 'Prince of Darkness,' who is also referred to as a 'Gentleman.' Why would Death of all apparitions, one who is firmly set in the moral gray area, inspire people to commit such heinous acts? I'm not saying that the Strange Man isn't Death, but there's a lot more going on beneath the surface than people think.
I believe he's possibly st.pietar angels are usually described as tricky and some what annoying and also he guards gates of heaven so he would propably get "damned" by people since they would go to hell and when he says accountant i mean both deal with people and consult them atleast id like to say so
I wouldn’t say angels are described as “annoying” but yeah he could be St. Peter, albeit with a more ominous flair that Rockstar added for mystery. Cool theory. :)
Red dead could be no different than gta red dead being the main series name and they could do anything with the Wild West. Hell they could split it into different story types with revolver being about bounty hunters and redemption being about getting revenge. There’s lots of story elements they could play with.
I once came to the same conclusion but for a whole different reason. In Undead Nightmare John is literally followed by a mesoamerican goddess named Ayauhtéotl that allows passage between the world of the living and dead if I remember right. She seemingly trusts John as she tells him about the mask that caused the apocalypse and helps him return it even though he could've just taken it for himself. And its not like John's dedication to stopping the apocalypse draws her attention because She's there the moment his journey begins. Also she gives him a horse so he can ride back home. The horse is Death. Its all non canon but John is still John. And it wouldn't be the first time he encountered a supernatural being cause strange man Also I discovered regardless of if the painting in the shack is complete and you see him in the mirror, John will still call the picture of the Strange Man in Herbert Moon's shop familiar. Meaning either he just is universally familiar because he's a force everyone faces or John is so surrounded by death the strange man has appeared to him before (I like to think he saw him as a kid, either during his attempted hanging or when he first killed someone)
Woah, that’s cool! I wish Rockstar would show a flashback of kid John seeing the Strange Man, maybe as just a face in the crowd or something, during one of his near-death experiences. He could sense something is ‘off’ about the man, and the encounter could subliminally stamp itself onto his memory, to be dredged up all these years later. Rockstar probably wouldn’t do that, because they like being cryptic about stuff. But it’d be a fun concept to play around with.
Loved the video and theories but I gotta hand it to you, that thumbnail is TREMENDOUS! Were you the one who made it or did you have someone else make it for you?
I made this one myself. I was gonna do a half-and-half of the Strange Man and Sister Calderón, him being red and her being blue, but partways into the attempt it looked awful, so I scrapped that idea and just kinda winged it. This was the result lol. (My boyfriend helped navigate me to (some of) the site/sites I used to make it though. So credit where it’s due. He also showed me how to do some things I was wanting to do.)
a lot of people have theories on who he is but i just like believing he’s ’the strange man.’ some guy with mysterious and mystical abilities. he doesn’t have to be death, nor cain and certainly not God or Satan. he can take many forms but i think, in the end, he is just ‘the strange man’
It's definitely more plausible that he's god than a random ass guy with superpowers. I quote verbatim "Damn you!" "yes, many have". He the typical modern interpretation of God perfectly. Witty remarks about John's past that resound with hidden wisdom, hidden meanings like the guns being fired by John being the exact number of people who are gonna die in his family, with the 4th jamming signifying jack surviving, his elegant appearance as it's represented in many other forms of modern media. As I said, it fits the description perfectly.
He is definitely the one judging whether they're worth of Redemption. I sometimes wonder if the film Purgatory had any influence on Red Dead Redemption. Being it's also a film about old outlaws living in Purgatory seeking Redemption.
@@owliiie it's a late 90s made for TV Western. It's not bad for a TV style budget. Billy the Kid, Doc Holiday, Wild Bill, Jesse James, they weaved into the film a lot of wild west legends living in a town which served as cowboy purgatory. They got a lot of notable actors involved from the time as well which is surprising. But who doesn't want to dress like a cowboy now and then? What I find funny is, it's historic accuracy of course doesn't exist yet they still have Wild Bill Colt Navy Cap and Ball Revolvers. So at least they tried a little bit.
For me, it all personally started with trying to find a way to save Gertrude, trying to understand the world they created to do so. So much, is in this game, people are only scratching the surface on whats hidden.
Hey, I am so sorry this is out of the blue, but would you think I was insane if I told you we have terrifyingly similar voices? I know nothing about RD but a friend of mine sent me this saying they thought you sounded just like me Again, sorry this is so random, this is not a spam comment, but this is a super crazy coincidence that I found somebody with such a similar voice
Idk why the Internet sound so different. I have never meet a chick that sounds like this but its common on the Internet. I guess i don't meet many who do anything with games though either.
Hopefully not. GTA has always been more ‘social satire’, and RD is more serious and literary. Hopefully GTA won’t get too ham-fisted or preachy or anything, but instead keep its subtly-unsubtle edge.
I am 50% sure the voice is just a voice changer. Might be a redditor mindset, but a girl somehow getting interested in a videogame even though she doesn't play them and then making a particularly well researched video on the topic sounds less probable than a guy using a voice changer to get more views on a video of a subject that many MANY others have covered
The Strange Man and Sister Calderón are the same entity, basically. Sorry if that didn’t come across. I probably could’ve framed it more clearly, but I appreciate you giving the vid a chance anyway.
@@Juan_deepThe Strange Man could very well be the Devil, and the Sister could very well be an opposing force, maybe an Angel or just an earthly servant of God. That’s a good theory too. What I talked about is just a theory-a possibility-it’s nothing concrete. Theories are just unconfirmed ideas that are interesting to consider.
I just finished rdr2 yesterday for the 3rd time replaying rdr1 now for the 2nd time in a year. These games are to damn good man, also great video i dont really watch small channels but you know how to make a video 🫡
It’s kind of wild to me how my Red Dead/McCarthy comparisons basically started at “heehee cowboy hats” and ballooned to “No Country and RD are both about the futility of fighting change”, “Death rides with the Van der Linde gang and the Devil rides with the Glanton gang”, “both BM and the RDs are technically anti-Westerns since they showcase the brutality of the Old West without giving closure via a happy ending; John gets eviscerated trying to save his family-meanwhile Uncle dies, disease gets Abigail just a couple years after, and Jack is left alone, consumed by bitterness and the desire for revenge. There’s a ‘Kid’ in Red Dead too, and that’s Jack Marston. In Blood Meridian, the outhouse represents a grappling of opposing ideals, Judge vs. Kid, the desire for war vs. the desire for peace. In the end, the Judge ideal kills the Kid ideal, and all that’s left is another corrupted soul, destined for eternal damnation. In Red Dead the player, as Jack, is forced to kill Edgar Ross in order to end the game. Jack has no choice. The outlaw life has its hooks in him too deep…”, in no specific order.
And they wear cowboy hats.
Supposedly.
The people who we see in our dreams are all people we've seen before. Does John have a guilty conscience, because he remembers death?
@@sussyslurp Probably. That’s a very interesting way of looking at it.
@@owliiie You should check out the rock carving guy, it's pretty chilling
Ironically the pinkertons durring the 1800s relied on the lack of civilization in the west because that the pinkerton agency went west because of the homestead strike where the agency in real life fought against worker rights for money. Causing them to be banned from being involved with u.s government say for a few loop holes. (yes they were real and they genuinely were an evil orginization they basically lost a lawsuit to rockstar over their potrayal in the game for being accurate).
Not that its a plothole since dutch is unable to see why change isnt necesarily bad. It in a way personifys it. While dutch criticizes civilizations greed he also himself isnt much better and neither are the pinkertons. If anything despite the fact the u.s is known for consumerism its civilization that allows change to happen so the door for civil rights, worker rights, and womens rights eventually came.
5:57 Death is behind him in the mirror
*me seeing a professional thumbnail*
*me also noticing the subscriber count at 16* wtf..
It's funny how many people can do really good professional looking thumbnails as of recently
This video popped up on my feed and i wouldnt have guessed that this video would've come from a channel with less than 100k subs, shows how great this vid is
The channel has 16 subs. So a lot less than 100k currently lmao.
Yes I noticed the same thing, good video
5:55 Death is behind him in the mirror
I always had the thought that we never directly see the strange man as Arthur because Arthur knew he was dying from pretty early on in his narrative.
For the first half of the game, he's too busy running from the law to pay attention to little things like that, and after he contracts TB, well every moment of his life after that(assuming you play high honor, and ignoring out-of-mission encounters) is spent trying to atone for past sins.
The Strange Man appears for John because his death came quickly, and without warning, the strange man acted _as_ that warning, in the absence of a creeping illness.
Arthur found his road to redemption on his own through the life he lived and his own impending death staring him in the face.
John by contrast just wanted to live a simple life... perhaps even fooling himself into believing he deserved such a life, for a short time.
The Strange Man appears in the second half of John's story, much in the same way Arthur contracts TB in chapter 3 out of his 6 chapter story, and meets most of the people who he most impacted _after_ he was already dying.
The Strange Man in my mind is doing to John what TB did for Arthur - he's letting him know that his time is coming, and the time has already come for him to make his decision, whether he wants to die as an honourable man, or a dishonourable one.
The Strange Man, assuming he's some form of spirit representing death or afterlife, probably didn't feel the need to make contact with Arthur directly, because Arthur already knew exactly what to do as soon as he left that doctor's office in Saint Denis. So instead he just kind of... watches him, from afar... still testing him the same way he tested John, but without the need to explicitly explain out loud that it was a test. (there's probably a joke there about John being too dumb for subtlety)
"I know you" its a comom frase that a lot of npc's say starnge man sister mary, jimmu brooks the guys on the fence's the guys in the gun store's i think this just means that sooner or later you will have to come back to people in your past in order to keep surviving amd you cant really run away its lile a big trap were everyone "knows you" even when suposably covering your face and commit a crime you still get a bounty because people "know you"
I have also heard a theory that he is a representation of the creators of the game and how they have the knowledge of what is to become of John and Arthur! Kind of interesting to think about too .
I love that! It’s possible! :)
This is the best video about the strange man I've seen
Woah, thank you! :)
Blessed are the peacemakers
I love how a character that appears in such a small amount of time amongst these two games has captured our imaginations so much :D whenever I encountered the strange man it was always a sobering reminder that John is no saint, regardless at how morally 'good' you try to be you'll always create death wherever you go - death brings death for as long as the cycle continues, be it John or Ross and possibly now Jack
It’s always fascinating to see other people’s perspectives on who the strange man is but in my opinion I think the strange men is more of a character that represents not only the concept of death but also the implications of what morality can be
Agreed
*Arthur was a good man that was influenced by bad people*
*John was a bad man that was forced to do good because of Bad People*
*Red Dead Redemption is about how Tragedy brings out the best of us in bad times*
Well said
i wouldn’t say john was a bad man. i wouldn’t say he’s good either. he’s true neutral, willing to do bad things but obliged to do good ones.
@@enthusiasticallydry *he was a terrible father, at least Arthur took Jack on fishing trips, even hosea played a role in Jack's life, plus John abandoned the gang for a YEAR including his wife and son when Jack was real young, and on top of that even with Arthur being against revenge John and Sadie still went after Micah for what he did putting his wife and son at stake for the sake of revenge and ego...everything he did in Rdr1 was soley because the Government forced him to take down infamous Gang Leaders, Desperados and Rebel warfare and the menace Dutch vanderlinde who was basically the King Von of the Wild West...* 🤦
@@enigma7310 Early on in rdr2 he was a bad father, but in the later chapters you Can see him slowly becoming a better man and father. + Plus the Reason he did all that in rdr1 was for the safety of the his family. Hence the name Red Dead Redemption.
@@enigma7310 for the four years of jacks life he was inattentive john was a scared punk kid. he left jack and the gang for that year cause he wasn’t ready for fatherhood. he was too immature and cowardly. he never hated jack. “i wish no harm upon the boy,” but he was too scared to admit that jack was his. in the end, when jack is kidnapped by the braithwates and angelo bronte, johns paternal instinct kicks in. he’s pissed. he tries to pretends he just doesn’t want to upset abigail but we all know he cared deeply about jack. he spends less time making money for the gang and more time being with jack. he apologises to jack. at one point, dutch says something along the lines of “remember who your family is” when john is playing with jack. in the interaction he’s basically saying “stop sending time with your child, i want you to go out and fight.” but john refuses. jacks kidnapping is what allows john to see that the gang is falling apart before anybody else, besides hosea and abigail maybe (but those three all were suspicious even in chapter 1.) his whole life and world of the gang; he instantly disregards it for his son. jack has enough faith in him in “Horsemen: Apocalypses” to run out of cover to him, in which john runs out of his own cover, picks him up and places him back in cover with abigail, defending them from the o’driscolls. in former moments when jack calls john ‘pa,’ he tells him that he’s not jacks father or just ignores him, but here when jack calls “pa!” he responds with “jack!” same as when jack gets out of bronte’s mansion. he runs up to him and john acknowledges him as his son, and hugs him. he would hardly go near jack before. he plays with jack, teaches him stuff. one interaction i really love is him and jack using a knife. i don’t remember all of it, but i know at the end john tells him to be very careful with them, even if jack is brave. his father would/had NEVER say anything like that to him. another one is in chapter three. jack wants john to play knights, in which john says “maybe some other time kid.” (paraphrasing) jack says to himself and john how it’s always ‘another time.’ however, in chapter 6, john is actually playing knights with jack, and they both have big grins on their faces. micah of course comes along to ruin that but that’s almost irrelevant (although john standing up for jack with such passion is notable.) also, arthur stops thinking of john as an idiot and stops hating him (maybe hates a strong word) after “blood feuds, ancient and modern” because john shows that love and care for his child, like arthur wishes he had for his own child. in epilogue 1, john tries his best to go out with jack, have fun with him and take him around. he also works these shitty jobs on a ranch instead of just robbing people for money (which he was doing for most of his life.) also, he went to the yukon at the END of the gold rush, desperately trying to help his family. unfortunately, john cant seem to shake his old life. he kills someone in roanoke ridge to protect his family. this causes the dead guys cousin to come over and attack john and his kid. john tries to get jack to not look at what he unfortunately had to do… but come on of course jacks gonna look. but he does his best to console him (unless you’re a monster and you choose to reprimand him.) gets him to think about beechers hope, an idea john thought was a load of shit but now he realises that may be the way to a free life, a holy life for his family at least. he becomes friends with the geddies and tom dickens, out of the kindness they showed him when he came begging at their doorstep, but also just because he ending up bonding with them for all the time he spent on the farm. he puts his life on the line at hanging dog ranch. when jack asks if john killed the laramies, he says he did what he had to do to protect him. he tries to give it to him easy, while saying it how it was his head. he did do that to help the ranch and protect his friends and family in the end. i hope this is enough because i can’t be bothered to explain all of rdr1 and epilogue 2.
THE character in other media that most reminds me of "The Strange Man"' is Dustin Hoffman's character in Luc Besson's 1999 "Joan of Arc". Not sure if many of you "youngsters" watched that movie, but the way his character "confronts" Joan all throughout the movie is somehow similar to the way the strange man talks to John in RDR1... And yes, he's credited as "conscience" in the movie credits (I read someone below mentioning John's conscience), but it's always been speculated if he's a messenger from God, or even God himself... kinda interesting.
I don’t think I’ve ever watched that movie, but that is interesting!
@@owliiie You should watch it!
"Death With Rides You" ☠️
Came to comment this as well
Don't Dead Open Inside
IM NOT THE ONLY ONE
Strange Man is the Devil. I mean look at his mustache. In the wild west, the handlebar was commonly associated with the villain. He definitely looks like the guy that hogties the damsel in distress to the railroad tracks. Herbert Moon making a deal with the Devil makes sense because why else would he have his picture on the shelf?
I don’t know why but I read the thumbnail clockwise “death rides you with”
i read death with rides you
you may be accoustic
i didnt think youtube's algorithm actually supported small creators
Good video, keep it up, it's perfect (good mix of seriousness and humour/satire), good subject.
Subscriber and comment from France
Maybe, the real redemption was the friends we made along the way.
Arthur says he recognizes the strange man when he see's a picture of him, food for thought.
With over 5000 hours of experience on red dead 2 and 1000 on red dead 1 I could see the theory making sense, but also I couldn’t see it making sense but you took your time to make a video about the red dead redemption series you should be proud no matter how it does the video does
Ok cool video (I subbed) but I read the thumbnail with “Death With Rides You”
Grrl you blew this theory out of the grave. I thought the Strange Man was a dead and done deal, but the SISTER being the Strange Man is 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
1. This is super underrated and you are too
2. I imagined the strange man as the devil personally when I first played rdr1 just how he talks and how he acts seems almost other worldly. I love the idea that the Nun could be another for of him and the strange man’s cabin in the Bayou, Herbert having a picture of him just adds to the mystery. After watching this I’m leaning twords him either being Death or Neutral with his own motivations on why he’s toying with John or maybe to see if he’s worthy of a redemption? RED DEAD REDMPT-
I don’t think the strange man is good or evil, but an indifferent figure who tests the morality of the people he comes across who he knows are going to die soon. He never encourages anyone to make the right decision; he just tells them what their options are.
algorithm has blessed me with another unelaborately interesting video from an extremely small creator.
They may be able to go well back of this and have the time where Bill joined the gang with another person and we watch their arcs break, or we see Dutch pick his ark and drag Hosiah and everyone else go as well.
Anyhow, this is great content! I sort of forgot about the 'mysterious man' from RDR, but then again, I haven't played it in a dog's age.
What a name for a red dead theory
Bruh that thumbnail is fire and the VIDEO is fire too. Gonna stick around for more Rdr stuff
imagine if they went the WW1 route and jack got to fight against pancho villa's raids and then go on the offensive and because horses were still widely used it might still feel like a western
This was a great video, I though you were a bigger creator I can see this theory being real.I also think for rdr3 rockstar could start with the origins of the gang or continue into the mafia era with jack there are many opportunities but they are spending lots of time with GTA 6.
I never made the connection with Sister Calderón and the Strange Man, brilliant. Thank you for this video!
This was a hella random recommendation hahah but I liked the theory about sister calderon, never heard that before. I’ve only every played RDR2 but I LOVE the strange man lore. He’s for sure death incarnate, it annoys me so much when ppl think he’s the ‘devil’ when the devil is inherently evil and would be telling you to commit evil acts. This guy tells you to make your own choice. Such an awesome little addition to the story though. Also dope vid idk why it came up but it was a good watch hahaga
Love the thumbnail, "Death with, Rides you". Hell yeah!
I read the thumbnail as “Death with rides you” 💀
Lol
Don't open, dead inside
That makes a lot of sense. They both appear when the Main Characters are going through a lot of development. Progressive or regression. I kinda see the strange man as a warning to John. And the nun as the peace that Arther so desperately fought for and needed. Classic good and evil
Yeah I always assumed he’s Death. I think it’s very possible that Sister Calderon was an apparition of the Strange Man.
The algorithm has blessed this video and your channel
Maybe because this is an interesting topic with a good title and thumbnail
Believe that he is the Devil himself, offering up temptation and Moon “making a deal the devil”… The nun would be an angel in human form to give Arthur a piece of my saying basically that “the Lord knows you” as well! Just a theory
YOU EARNED A SUB!!
Thank you! :)
you deserve way more subs fr
Great video and love the theory,the strange man is by far one of my favourite characters even with very little scenes he is a big role in the red dead redemption universe
It's probably just a jinn or something like that.
7:37 the next game could follow the journey of mac callander as he too gets his redemption by sacrificing himself to save Arthur during the blackwater ferry job
I looked Mac up and yeah, he sounds like a good candidate for an RD3 MC. :)
I believe the Strange Man is a combination of both the Grim Reaper and Satan. His deal with Herbert Moon seems far too insidious for him to *only* be the personification of Death.
Furthermore, the Skinner Brothers of Tall Trees say that they worship a 'Prince of Darkness,' who is also referred to as a 'Gentleman.' Why would Death of all apparitions, one who is firmly set in the moral gray area, inspire people to commit such heinous acts?
I'm not saying that the Strange Man isn't Death, but there's a lot more going on beneath the surface than people think.
cormac macarthy mentioned
2:52 Didn't realized it was the same nun until you pointed that out.
God bless everyone.
I believe he's possibly st.pietar angels are usually described as tricky and some what annoying and also he guards gates of heaven so he would propably get "damned" by people since they would go to hell and when he says accountant i mean both deal with people and consult them atleast id like to say so
I wouldn’t say angels are described as “annoying” but yeah he could be St. Peter, albeit with a more ominous flair that Rockstar added for mystery. Cool theory. :)
@@owliiie ye ominous i forgot The word
Subscriber 201 reporting in!
They could make a game where the main character gets redemption and still lives
Red Alive Redemption
This video is underrated nice theory
Red dead could be no different than gta red dead being the main series name and they could do anything with the Wild West. Hell they could split it into different story types with revolver being about bounty hunters and redemption being about getting revenge. There’s lots of story elements they could play with.
i have a theory....maybe dutch was micah all along
I once came to the same conclusion but for a whole different reason. In Undead Nightmare John is literally followed by a mesoamerican goddess named Ayauhtéotl that allows passage between the world of the living and dead if I remember right. She seemingly trusts John as she tells him about the mask that caused the apocalypse and helps him return it even though he could've just taken it for himself. And its not like John's dedication to stopping the apocalypse draws her attention because She's there the moment his journey begins.
Also she gives him a horse so he can ride back home. The horse is Death.
Its all non canon but John is still John. And it wouldn't be the first time he encountered a supernatural being cause strange man
Also I discovered regardless of if the painting in the shack is complete and you see him in the mirror, John will still call the picture of the Strange Man in Herbert Moon's shop familiar. Meaning either he just is universally familiar because he's a force everyone faces or John is so surrounded by death the strange man has appeared to him before (I like to think he saw him as a kid, either during his attempted hanging or when he first killed someone)
Woah, that’s cool! I wish Rockstar would show a flashback of kid John seeing the Strange Man, maybe as just a face in the crowd or something, during one of his near-death experiences. He could sense something is ‘off’ about the man, and the encounter could subliminally stamp itself onto his memory, to be dredged up all these years later. Rockstar probably wouldn’t do that, because they like being cryptic about stuff. But it’d be a fun concept to play around with.
You have a nice voice
Thank you!
Great thumbnail, great video. praying on your rise 🙏
Thank you! I appreciate it!
Loved the video and theories but I gotta hand it to you, that thumbnail is TREMENDOUS! Were you the one who made it or did you have someone else make it for you?
I made this one myself. I was gonna do a half-and-half of the Strange Man and Sister Calderón, him being red and her being blue, but partways into the attempt it looked awful, so I scrapped that idea and just kinda winged it. This was the result lol.
(My boyfriend helped navigate me to (some of) the site/sites I used to make it though. So credit where it’s due. He also showed me how to do some things I was wanting to do.)
@@owliiie awesome! 👍👍
I know you
You are doing great
Subbed. Great vid
I'm a man of wealth and taste...pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name. Cause what's puzzling you in the nature of my game.
a lot of people have theories on who he is but i just like believing he’s ’the strange man.’ some guy with mysterious and mystical abilities. he doesn’t have to be death, nor cain and certainly not God or Satan. he can take many forms but i think, in the end, he is just ‘the strange man’
It's definitely more plausible that he's god than a random ass guy with superpowers. I quote verbatim "Damn you!" "yes, many have". He the typical modern interpretation of God perfectly. Witty remarks about John's past that resound with hidden wisdom, hidden meanings like the guns being fired by John being the exact number of people who are gonna die in his family, with the 4th jamming signifying jack surviving, his elegant appearance as it's represented in many other forms of modern media. As I said, it fits the description perfectly.
What a cute sounding voice
Im your 372 subscriber a good video
Good analysis
Dont know how the hell i found you, but i like you. Heres to future success 🍻
Death with Rides you!
He is definitely the one judging whether they're worth of Redemption.
I sometimes wonder if the film Purgatory had any influence on Red Dead Redemption. Being it's also a film about old outlaws living in Purgatory seeking Redemption.
Never seen it, but it sounds cool! Them being in Purgatory and having to redeem themselves to leave is a really awesome theory too!
@@owliiie it's a late 90s made for TV Western. It's not bad for a TV style budget. Billy the Kid, Doc Holiday, Wild Bill, Jesse James, they weaved into the film a lot of wild west legends living in a town which served as cowboy purgatory. They got a lot of notable actors involved from the time as well which is surprising. But who doesn't want to dress like a cowboy now and then?
What I find funny is, it's historic accuracy of course doesn't exist yet they still have Wild Bill Colt Navy Cap and Ball Revolvers. So at least they tried a little bit.
@@Alte.Kameraden Nice!
Great vid.
I personally think the Strange Man is Cain. Or at least Red Dead's version of him.
amazing video
Well done, I like it.
This video is 🔥
Thank you so much! :)
subbed, have a good day
i love your narrative 🙂
HUH HUH BLACK LUNG AGH I GOT FLIPPING TB HELL ME
Here from the algorithm
That’s the thing, it operates under historically accurate, you can look up anything, in fact…
It’s the moment, it’s the moment you realize.
For me, it all personally started with trying to find a way to save Gertrude, trying to understand the world they created to do so. So much, is in this game, people are only scratching the surface on whats hidden.
Hey, I am so sorry this is out of the blue, but would you think I was insane if I told you we have terrifyingly similar voices? I know nothing about RD but a friend of mine sent me this saying they thought you sounded just like me
Again, sorry this is so random, this is not a spam comment, but this is a super crazy coincidence that I found somebody with such a similar voice
It genuinely threw me so hard when I started the video 😭😂
Maybe I’m you from a parallel universe. :)
Seriously though, that’s cool lol.
@@owliiie parallel universe pals
Nice video
“death with rides you”
rdr3 is confirmed to be in development
Seriously?! That’s awesome!
@@owliiie Don't expect to see it until probably 2027 or later though. I hope they add everything they can like they weren't able to with rdr2
Who rides what?!
The strange man is booker Dewitt
Robert E.
death rides u
"Curious to johns morality" ... i think hes Curious to johns morality 🤔
Idk why the Internet sound so different. I have never meet a chick that sounds like this but its common on the Internet. I guess i don't meet many who do anything with games though either.
GTA is Garbage compared to RDR. Im not sure, but I suspect that GTA6 is going to suffer from politics and hurt the company.
Hopefully not. GTA has always been more ‘social satire’, and RD is more serious and literary. Hopefully GTA won’t get too ham-fisted or preachy or anything, but instead keep its subtly-unsubtle edge.
comparing gta to rdr is like comparing apples to oranges
Yo how do you get views like this
I am 50% sure the voice is just a voice changer. Might be a redditor mindset, but a girl somehow getting interested in a videogame even though she doesn't play them and then making a particularly well researched video on the topic sounds less probable than a guy using a voice changer to get more views on a video of a subject that many MANY others have covered
Only 18 subs?
70 now
I hope you and your boyfriend stay together.
It’s crazy to me that I have more subscribers than you. You deserve way more.
Ahh! I just realized that emote doesn’t mean smiling, it means something else. Here’s a smile one. C:
Point is, thank you. That’s very nice.
Just take credit for what your bf does. It gets weird
Iqbol
So what was theory? This is nothing more than a filibuster blah blah blah blah get to the point already
Unnecessary
The Strange Man and Sister Calderón are the same entity, basically. Sorry if that didn’t come across. I probably could’ve framed it more clearly, but I appreciate you giving the vid a chance anyway.
@@owliiie uhhh no strange man is the devil and sister Calderon is a child of God. But ofcourse y’all Yt people lost nowadays not surprised
@@daa5865 she already has a bf SIMP
@@Juan_deepThe Strange Man could very well be the Devil, and the Sister could very well be an opposing force, maybe an Angel or just an earthly servant of God. That’s a good theory too. What I talked about is just a theory-a possibility-it’s nothing concrete. Theories are just unconfirmed ideas that are interesting to consider.
It's a good theory that will nevee truly be answered.
I just finished rdr2 yesterday for the 3rd time replaying rdr1 now for the 2nd time in a year. These games are to damn good man, also great video i dont really watch small channels but you know how to make a video 🫡