(Some spoilers)
By Sam Coles:
Red Dead Redemption had a lot of mystery surrounding the leader of
John’s old gang Dutch, he was just presented as this nutty hermit that lived in
the middle of the woods with the natives. When Red Dead Redemption II was
announced and we saw a younger Dutch, I was excited to see the downfall of the
character how went from this Robin Hood like leader to complete madman. I’m
going to discuss the interesting aspects of Dutch Van Der Linde, which by the
way there will be some spoilers for both Red Dead Redemption 1 and 2, so click
off if you don’t want to know.
When we first see Dutch in Red Dead Redemption II, he is a man with
passion and sees the world in a different light compared to normal society. He
wants to take care of his fellow gang members, he comes across as more of a
father figure instead of a bandit who wants to rob people. He sees that the
modern government is no better than them, as he and to quote him "I rob, you
rob. The difference is I choose who I rob". He has a Robin Hood mentality,
where he only steals from the rich in order to help the poor but as the story
goes on he slowly drops that moniker and only thinks for himself.
Dutch is not an inherently evil person to begin with, he is a caring
person as all he wants to see from his brothers and sisters is food on the
table for them each night as the embers of the campfire light and warm their
faces. He genuinely get’s up set when his fellow gang members get hurt, or if
they are gunned down you can see him withhold his tears whenever they are in
dire situation. However this personality slow dwindles when he gains more
money.
This all starts to take shape when a robbery goes horribly wrong, where
one of his fellow gang members (not going to say who) is gunned down by the
Pinkertons and he and the rest of the gang have to flee from the country. When
they get caught in a storm and wash up on an island, something snaps in Dutch’s
mind where he starts to kill indiscriminately and greed starts to grip his
mind.
When they return back to the United States, Dutch’s plans (make your
jokes here) start to lack focus, where Arthur starts to doubt him and loses
faith due to his new outlook. This new mindset of greed, starts to tear the
gang apart because Dutch becomes extremely paranoid and starts blaming his most
loyal brothers and sisters. Arthur by this point has had enough and helps John
escape his wrath, so he can lead a normal life with his family.
Fast forward a few years Dutch has become a hermit, where he lives in the mountains with his new gang of oppressed Native Americans as he still tries to live outside of society. However the modern era of the 20th century is closing in on him, and his old and senile mind can't quite comprehend this so he still tries to fight back. Even
John Marston his once most loyal follower speaks of him in a fond light when
discussing his past to others, realises that you can’t stay stuck in the past
and act in such a savage way. Dutch with no escape of this reality can only do
one thing; he takes the easy way out.
Like John Marston Dutch goes through a deep character
transition, but it is the complete opposite. He doesn’t learn from his
mistakes, he just ends up going further and further down the pit of despair
isolating himself from others until his ultimate demise.
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