Strange Man

The Strange Man is a minor character and stranger featured in Red Dead Redemption.

A mysterious and metaphysical character, there are several interpretations of the character's strange behavior and apparent supernatural abilities. None have been confirmed.

Background
The Strange Man reveals a detailed knowledge of John Marston's history. He is impeccably dressed in a three piece suit with a large top hat. The man appears to be calm and collected, even in the arid wilderness. When questioned, he claims to be "an accountant... in a way", but apparently claims he cannot remember his own name.

He also, in passing, mentions that he "had a son".

Interactions
The Strange Man is the focus of the stranger side mission I Know You, which is only available for John Marston. Marston encounters the strange man three times while in the wilderness: once in New Austin, once in Nuevo Paraiso and once in West Elizabeth. This ensures that the players interactions with the man are spread throughout the story narrative.

In the final confrontation, Marston fires three rounds in a fit of anger. The man continues to walk away, unwounded and unconcerned with the attempted assault. Marston looks at his handgun, then looks to the man who has disappeared. This confrontation notably occurs on the ridge at the Marston Ranch where John would eventually be buried alongside Abigail and Uncle.

Interpretations
No formal explanation is given for the strange man, leaving players to form their own conclusions about his nature. The Strange Man's apparent invulnerability to bullets, his bizarre calm in the wilderness, and his unusual knowledge of both Marston's own criminal past and the nature of Marston's victims seem out of place. Additionally, the Strange Man seems to foreshadow the location of their final encounter as a "nice spot", where John would eventually be buried.

Supernatural

 * Several popular interpretations include the strange man being a moral or religious deity, or powerful supernatural agent. In this interpretation, the strange man is testing Marston's supposed redemption from his crimes.
 * Some players have insisted that the when he claims to have had a son, it is a reference to the Abrahamic Deity, and specifically the Christian interpretation of Jesus Christ.
 * When the Strange Man responds to John's curse of "Damn you!" with the retort of "Yes, many have", this could allude to a number of colloquial blasphemous profanities involving the damnation of deities throughout numerous religions.
 * It has also been suggested that the Strange Man is a personification of Death; as only John interacts with him during the crucial events leading up to his death, and is neutral in his requests as opposed to a good or evil deity.
 * The Strange Man has also been be said to possibly be an incorporeal manifestation of John's deceased father; once again citing the Strange Man having a son, and his ambiguous profession.
 * In the final encounter with the Strange Man, Marston attempts to shoot him as he walks away. However, the bullets do not harm him, and Marston looks at his gun as if something was wrong. This suggests that the bullets went right through him.
 * Some players theorize that the man is actually John Marston from another timeline, had he never been involved in Dutch's gang.
 * In Roman Catholicism, the archangel Michael is viewed as the good Angel of Death (as opposed to Samael, the evil Angel of Death), carrying the souls of the deceased to Heaven. There, he balances them in his scales (one of his symbols). This would give reason to the Strange Man's comment of being an accountant; as in he is weighing John's soul in relation to the deeds he has performed for him. He is said to give the dying souls the chance to redeem themselves before passing as well. In Mexico, a popular folk-Catholic belief regards the Angel of Death as a saint, known as Santa Muerte, but this local cult is not acknowledged by the Catholic Church of Mexico.
 * Death is also mentioned in the "Revelation of John" which is a book of Christian origin and writings, the connection is obvious the protagonist's name is John and death visits him in visions. However there are four differing interpretations of the Book of Revelation, so no clear connection can be made to John Marston and the Strange Man.

Personal

 * Another explanation posits the strange man as a hallucination or manifestation of John's own conscience. This explanation seems to conflict with the fact that when the Strange Man issues John a task, he has intimate knowledge of this situation; knowledge that Marston alone could not posses.
 * Some players insist that he is not a supernatural being and instead a skilled illusionist who has taken an interest in the increasingly famous John Marston.

Themes

 * Supernatural intervention has been a theme in several classic western films including 1973 High Plains Drifter.
 * The Strange Man bears a thematic resemblance to the satanic character Judge Holden from Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian; a novel about genocide in the Western part of the continent during the mid-19th century. Like Holden, the Strange Man imparts crucial information about the character as an antagonist and makes claims regarding the judgment of morality.
 * The Strange Man may be a homage to Randall Flagg, a prominent character from Stephen King's Dark Tower novel series.
 * The Strange Man's ambiguous intentions and apparent supernatural abilities are theme mirrored by the G-Man from the Half-Life video game series.
 * The character may be a reference to the Mysterious Stranger by Mark Twain.

Trivia

 * An early rumor circulated just after the games release, suggested that the Strange Man is present in the mob that during the mission The Last Enemy That Shall Be Destroyed. This has since proven to be false.
 * It is actually possible to kill the Strange Man. Just shoot him before triggering the cut scene. Doing so, however, will fail the mission.
 * If you point a gun at him, he can pull out a Cattleman Revolver and shoot and kill the player.
 * He looks similar to Clark Gable.
 * He can be hogtied but only killed via train tracks

Quotes
"Damn you!"

- John Marston

"Yes, many have"

- The Strange Man