The Blackwater Massacre, 1899. Heidi McCourt and Cole McFarlane

[BelleStarr]

As highlighted in a section of this video, they suggest that we could find out about the Blackwater Massacre and what happened.

Considering it happened in 1899, I get the feeling R* wanted to make RDR2 and include this massacre in it, whilst making RDR1. Reading the wiki, it sounds like a revolt against the police department, so possibly Dutch's gang attack the lawmen directly at some point in Blackwater? It is believed that one of Bonnie's brothers may have died during the massacre which she attributes to 'foolish choices' - was he part of a choice (likely by Dutch) to take down lawmen?

Landon Ricketts is assumed to be on the side of the lawmen at the time of RDR2 and he moved to Mexico after the massacre. It was said in the paper "another piece of the Old West was lost." which suggests Landon's importance to the west, so it seems logical to have him return.

We may eventually (and likely briefly) meet Heidi McCourt as she was shot by Dutch during a ferry robbery, when John was left for dead. She was mentioned in the Strange Man side quest. Not much is known about her so she provides a good character for R* to work with that previous players will have some idea of who she is. We may end up bumping into Cole McFarlane, one of Bonnie's deceased brothers, so there are a couple of names we can look out for. In this video, it is suggested that the blonde, unknown man in one of the trailers could be Cole.

The story in RDR1 seems full and well rounded but as you look at each character, there are many 'unknowns' that leave a lot for R* to work with and weave into RDR2, which could lead us to learn a lot more about the characters we met and heard of.

Edit: I'd also like to remind people of the Strange Man who was basically a ghost and people have referred to him as either God or Satan. I feel like he may be a man that John has met in the past, who maybe wasn't an integral part to his story but witnessed what happened in the gang or kept tabs on their activities. It would be nice to have some sort of answer to this in RDR2 somewhere.

 

This is a cross post of my own thread made on the RDR subreddit.

[RON]

On 5/20/2018 at 6:07 PM, BelleStarr said:

so possibly Dutch's gang attack the lawmen directly at some point in Blackwater?

I can see this being the case. I am sure they will touch a lot on historical events but make them their own. They like doing that. From what I gathered in the first game though is that Dutch had ties with the bad side of the law. Maybe we will see his influence be portrayed in this game. 

[BelleStarr]

9 hours ago, RON said:

I can see this being the case. I am sure they will touch a lot on historical events but make them their own. They like doing that. From what I gathered in the first game though is that Dutch had ties with the bad side of the law. Maybe we will see his influence be portrayed in this game. 

I can't remember exactly, but doesn't Dutch believe that there should be no law, that men should be able to live how they wish? That would make one part of a motive to attack the lawmen. The gang seem to follow whatever Dutch says to do or he manipulates their beliefs (some of them aren't the brightest). 

[ChrisCr0ss]

10 hours ago, BelleStarr said:

I can't remember exactly, but doesn't Dutch believe that there should be no law, that men should be able to live how they wish? That would make one part of a motive to attack the lawmen. The gang seem to follow whatever Dutch says to do or he manipulates their beliefs (some of them aren't the brightest). 

I think it was something like men should take the law into their own hands and govern the land. Not word for word but something like that. 

[Archbell]

I would not be surprised if Red Dead Redemption II opened with the Blackwater Massacre as the description given by Rockstar for Trailer 3 states, "After a robbery goes badly wrong in the western town of Blackwater, Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde gang are forced to flee. With federal agents and the best bounty hunters in the nation massing on their heels, the gang must rob, steal and fight their way across the rugged heartland of America in order to survive."

Whether we'll see Heidi McCourt is still up for debate as that would mean the game's story would have to span from 1899 to 1906 when John Marston got shot and left for dead, if the game's story does indeed take place over several years I think it would be amazing and unless I'm mistaken it would be a first for Rockstar.

The blonde man in the trailers is Micah Bell, one of Dutch's favoured gunmen. His name as well as the names of many other unnamed characters from the trailers was revealed to various journalists when Rockstar gave previews of the game.

[Benjo]

Micah Bell looks cool AF.

[YodaMan 3D]

You can read about Dutch in this link.

 http://reddead.wikia.com/wiki/Dutch_van_der_Linde

[BelleStarr]

On 5/22/2018 at 9:49 PM, ChrisCr0ss said:

I think it was something like men should take the law into their own hands and govern the land. Not word for word but something like that. 

That sounds about right.

On 5/23/2018 at 6:50 AM, Archbell said:

I would not be surprised if Red Dead Redemption II opened with the Blackwater Massacre as the description given by Rockstar for Trailer 3 states, "After a robbery goes badly wrong in the western town of Blackwater, Arthur Morgan and the Van der Linde gang are forced to flee. With federal agents and the best bounty hunters in the nation massing on their heels, the gang must rob, steal and fight their way across the rugged heartland of America in order to survive."

Whether we'll see Heidi McCourt is still up for debate as that would mean the game's story would have to span from 1899 to 1906 when John Marston got shot and left for dead, if the game's story does indeed take place over several years I think it would be amazing and unless I'm mistaken it would be a first for Rockstar.

The blonde man in the trailers is Micah Bell, one of Dutch's favoured gunmen. His name as well as the names of many other unnamed characters from the trailers was revealed to various journalists when Rockstar gave previews of the game.

Ooh, it does sound like it then! I feel like it may span - it would be nice to combine the two games fluidly into one another, but I'll be happy with whatever they choose. 

Well now I know! Micah Bell is a cool name - he seems cool too. It looks like he's on the same level as Arthur in terms of intelligence and importance to Dutch.

[Archbell]

6 minutes ago, BelleStarr said:

Well now I know! Micah Bell is a cool name - he seems cool too. It looks like he's on the same level as Arthur in terms of intelligence and importance to Dutch.

Yeah I'm looking forward to learning more about him, from first impressions he doesn't seem very trustworthy and I wouldn't be surprised if he betrays Arthur or the Van der Linde Gang at some point but that's speculation based purely on his demeanour and quote from Trailer 3.

"Sons of Dutch. Makes us brothers. Sometimes... brothers make mistakes."

[BelleStarr]

1 hour ago, Archbell said:

Yeah I'm looking forward to learning more about him, from first impressions he doesn't seem very trustworthy and I wouldn't be surprised if he betrays Arthur or the Van der Linde Gang at some point but that's speculation based purely on his demeanour and quote from Trailer 3.

"Sons of Dutch. Makes us brothers. Sometimes... brothers make mistakes."

That's an interesting thought, I think you're right.

[Benjo]

9 hours ago, Archbell said:

Yeah I'm looking forward to learning more about him, from first impressions he doesn't seem very trustworthy and I wouldn't be surprised if he betrays Arthur or the Van der Linde Gang at some point but that's speculation based purely on his demeanour and quote from Trailer 3.

"Sons of Dutch. Makes us brothers. Sometimes... brothers make mistakes."

Maybe he was talking about JM, leading up to the reason they left him for dead. 

[CrabApples]

I would actually like this a lot. Like if they opened with it and really hit us hard with the history of it all.

I didn't think much about Bell and now that I watched the trailer again, I have a feeling he does something to John or to Arthur. It is hard to tell but he is a shady character.