Both Red Dead Redemption and its sequel/prequel Red Dead Redemption 2 are immense games. There is a plethora of content and lore in each. There’s a reason why so many gamers lose themselves in this most awesome of cowboy simulators for hours on end. The amount of stuff to do and lore to learn is just humongous.
However, even the most ardent of Red Dead fans might have missed a thing or two regarding the story behind Red Dead Redemption. Read on if you want to know the coolest things that happened in between the events of Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption 2.
10 Bill Williamson Took Over Del Lobo Territory
Bill Williamson is not the sharpest spur on a cowboy’s boot. In fact, his intelligence, or lack thereof, is ridiculed by characters in both Red Dead Redemption games. Yet somehow, in the time that passed between the two games, good ole Bill found himself the leader of a gang.
This gang later takes over the territory that is controlled by the Del Lobo Gang in Red Dead Redemption 2. So all those outlaws you struggle to contend with as young John Marston in the prequel were apparently wiped out by Bill prior to the original game.
9 Gus Got Into That Fatal Bar Fight
Bonnie MacFarlane is a major character in the first Red Dead Redemption game. Even though she does not directly appear in Red Dead Redemption 2, her ranch and person are mentioned in passing.
The deaths of her many brothers are referenced throughout the first game. If you pay attention to the timeline, you will know that poor Gus MacFarlane reached his untimely end in the span of years between the two games. While we weren’t playing, he got into that bar fight that ultimately killed him.
8 The Bureau Of Investigation Was Founded
Well, this isn’t actually a super cool thing that happened in between the two Red Dead games, but it is an important one. Agents Andrew Milton and Edgar Ross were initially Pinkertons when John Marston and Arthur Morgan met them. (That was in Red Dead Redemption 2.)
After Milton’s death, Edgar Ross must have become one of the founders of the Bureau of Investigation. (He’s the director in the first game.) This is the organization that ultimately tasks Marston with bringing in his former compatriots and then betrays him.
7 Basilio Aguirre Olmos De La Vargas Began His Fool’s Quest
One tragic side mission in the first Red Dead Redemption was the one to find some Aztec Gold. A man named Basilio Aguirre Olmos de la Vargas left his family in search of some lost treasure.
As John Marston, you collect some missing pieces of the map for him, only for poor Basilio to find out that there is no treasure. He then goes home in disgrace. If you can recall, Basilio was on the hunt for treasure for ten whole years. That means he started his fruitless journey sometime between Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption 2.
6 Sadie Adler’s Awesome Outlaw Life
Sadie Adler was a fantastic addition to the cast of Red Dead Redemption characters. Her story arc in Red Dead Redemption 2 was one of the more interesting ones. While she lingers on the Marston ranch for a bit during the concluding chapters of the game, she eventually departs.
She mentions going off to South America, and we can only imagine the antics she got up to while there. She is not referenced in the original game, so we can only assume (hope) she’s living it up in a rain forest somewhere.
5 Blackwater’s Growth As A Town
One of the most delightful aspects of Red Dead Redemption 2 is how the environments change in order to show the passage of time. Between Arthur Morgan’s chapters and John Marston’s, the world begins to become more civilized. (Which, now that we think about it, isn’t necessarily a good thing.)
No town exhibits such development as the town of Blackwater. We get to see it in both games, and its burgeoning growth as an outpost of civilization in the West is fascinating, if not a tad depressing.
4 Dutch Van Der Linde Finally Lost It
By the time we seen Dutch van der Linde in Red Dead Redemption, he’s a broken man. His romantic notions of the outlaw’s life have failed to live up to his expectations. He can’t seem to reconcile fantasy with hard reality.
We can see the beginning of Dutch’s downfall in Red Dead Redemption 2. His paranoia and callous cruelty to loyal friends was just the start. Some time between the first and second game, Dutch truly started to lose his moral high ground. He used people just as much as the government he despised so much.
3 Landon Ricketts Moved To Mexico
Landon Ricketts is a legendary outlaw if there ever was one. He is a major character John Marston meets in the first game, and he is referenced a few times in the prequel. John first meets Ricketts in Mexico, but the man was originally based in the U.S.
After participating in the Blackwater Massacre, the law came down hard on Ricketts. This caused him to make the move south about two years later after yet another shootout. This sets the stage for Marston and Ricketts meeting in Red Dead Redemption.
2 The Strange Man Took An Interest In John
To this day, gamers do not know much about the Strange Man that approached John Marston several times in Red Dead Redemption. No answers were provided in Red Dead Redemption 2 either.
However, at some point in between the two games, the Strange Man, whoever or whatever he is, must have taken an interest in John. But hey, who knows. Maybe the answer to who the Strange Man is will be revealed in Red Dead Redemption 3 when it’s released a decade from now.
1 Ethan Tried Milking That Bull
Another one of Bonnie MacFarlane’s brothers met his end in between Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Redemption. Ethan’s demise is probably one of the more hilarious deaths of the MacFarlane brothers.
At the too-young age of nineteen, Ethan attempted to milk a bull, i.e. a male cow. This terrible decision led to his early death. There is no chance of witnessing this, as it did take place in between the two games.
NEXT: 5 Things That Are Historically Accurate In Red Dead Redemption 2 (& 5 Things That Aren’t)
