John Marston's journey throughout the first Red Dead Redemption may have a set destination, but several of the choices he makes along the way are left up to the player. As John hunts down the former members of the Van der Linde gang, there isn't a single one that the player has to personally kill in order to progress the story.
In fact, the only former member of the Van der Linde gang that John Marston always ends up killing across both games is Micah Bell, the antagonist of Red Dead Redemption 2. There are some interesting reasons that Rockstar may have let John escape killing his former friends in Red Dead Redemption, why that never truly changes their fates, and why Micah is the only one who John always shoots.
Red Dead Redemption
If the player chooses to, John can avoid being directly responsible for the deaths of each Van der Linde gang member he has to hunt down over the course of the first Red Dead Redemption. Javier Escuella can be killed, but John can also tie him up and deliver him to Edgar Ross and Archer Fordham. It was always clear that John was delivering Javier to his execution, however, and later in the game John confirms that Javier is dead in a conversation with Abigail.
John can also avoid personally killing Bill Williamson while down in Nuevo Paraiso. If the player doesn't react when Bill reached for Colonel Allende's revolver, Bill Williamson will be shot dead by Mexican revolutionary Abraham Reyes instead. Unlike Javier, Bill always dies on-screen, but once again John can avoid pulling the trigger himself, and the story goes on.
Dutch is the only Van der Linde gang member in Red Dead Redemption that John never has the option of killing. When backed up against a cliff, Dutch will always have the chance to deliver his final speech: "We can't fight nature John. We can't fight change. We can't fight gravity. We can't fight nothing. My whole life, all I ever did was fight [...] But I can't give up neither. I can't fight my own nature. That's the paradox John, you see?" When John tells Dutch he'll have to shoot him, Dutch replies, "when I'm gone they'll just find another monster. They have to, because they have to justify their wages [...] Our time is passed." Dutch then allows himself to fall backward over the cliff to his death.
Dutch's Death
Dutch's suicide is his final "fight," despite how hopeless he knows it is. Even though the act itself takes his life, Dutch's speech implies that choosing to fall to his own death instead of being shot like Bill, or executed like Javier, is his last attempt to reclaim the agency he's sought his entire life, even at the end. Just as it was when Dutch was supposedly fighting for freedom in Red Dead Redemption 2, his philosophy rings hollow.
The difference between Dutch Van der Linde being shot and allowing himself to fall when backed against a cliff is miniscule, especially since a bullet would have almost certainly caused him to tumble backward anyway. All Dutch is able to etch out in his final moments is an illusion of choice. As he says, you can't fight change. When death was always the final destination, all Dutch could ever hope for in his life was to attempt to claim some sort of illusory agency despite that fact.
This puts Javier and Bill's deaths in a new light. When first playing through Red Dead Redemption's Mexico chapter, the fact that John's choices always lead to the same ultimate outcome for Javier and Bill could risk feeling cheap. Like Dutch, John is making an entirely illusory choice. He doesn't have to shoot the other former members of the Van der Linde gang himself, but their deaths are inevitable.
Dutch's final speech sums up the philosophy of both Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Redemption — everything eventually changes, and ends. The games explore this in different ways — Arthur's tuberculosis diagnosis also makes him face inevitable death, but the second game asks if his actions before his death can redeem him anyway.
Micah Bell's Death
Micah Bell's death is the opposite of Dutch's in some senses. Cornered at the end of "American Venom" and holding Sadie Adler hostage, Micah ends up in a Mexican standoff with Dutch and John Marston. Like Dutch's death, the player ultimately has no control over how it all plays out. Dutch shoots Micah once, surprising him and allowing John to fire the killing shot.
Like every member of the Van der Linde gang, Micah's road ends in death. Unlike the first game, Red Dead Redemption 2 ends with its main antagonist attempting to survive until the very end. Dutch continues to "fight" at the end of Red Dead Redemption, but in a new, fatalistic way that accepts his inevitable death. Micah Bell reclaims no agency in his death, not even the illusory agency Dutch holds onto as he falls over the cliff edge.
There are two different ways that the final encounters with Bill and Javier can go down in Red Dead Redemption, even though all options end in death. While there's only one way for the final encounter with Dutch to play out, Micah's death in Red Dead Redemption 2 offers the only alternative — being shot to death by John Marston. There's ultimately very little difference between how it all ends for Dutch and Micah, and even John. It can even be argued that Micah's hostage-taking attempt is his version of the same fighting in the face of the inevitable that Dutch describes on the edge of the cliff.
Nobody in Red Dead Redemption has the freedom to conquer death. The point the games seem to make, however, is that life can only truly be lived once death is fully accepted. A High Honor Arthur begins to understand this, as he tries to do good in the world despite his impending death, instead of trying to conquer or escape it like Javier, Bill, Dutch, Micah, and even John. Like all the other characters, Arthur's death is inevitable. In truly accepting that, however, Arthur has the potential to experience true freedom.
Red Dead Redemption is available now on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
