John Marston

"People don't forget. Nothing gets forgiven."

- John Marston

John Marston is the main character and protagonist of Red Dead Redemption.

Early Life
John Marston was born in 1873. His father was an illiterate Scottish immigrant who was born on a boat to New York City. John's mother was a prostitute who died during childbirth. John's father was blinded in both eyes during a bar fight in Chicago.

In 1881, John's father died of unknown causes. John was only 8 years old at the time and was sent to an orphanage where he met his later wife Abigail, from which he promptly ran away. He later joined Dutch's gang, who took care of him, taught him how to read, shoot, and the ways of the west.

Early Career
John Marston is a former outlaw and bandit. He ran with Dutch Van Der Linde, Bill Williamson, Javier Escuella, and other men, committing bank robberies, train raids, and other various crimes across the country. According to Marston, the gang stole and fought for a reason. In stealing from the rich and those who were given too much to give to the poor, they wanted to elicit change in the people of the West, although this might just be his own justification for their actions.

After being seriously wounded in a bank robbery, and left to die by Bill Williamson and his other former brothers in arms, Marston sought to retire from the outlaw lifestyle. Putting his past deeds behind him, he disappeared along with his wife Abigail Marston and young son Jack and purchased himself a ranch. Between his abandonment of the gang and the beginning of the game, Marston had a daughter, but she died of unknown causes.

Despite Marston's apparent reformation, he remains a masterful gunman, rider and hunter. Marston is a rugged survivalist and knows life as a fight to survive; he adheres to the old-fashioned West, in a world rapidly experiencing the encroachment of technology.

Red Dead Redemption
As the old Wild West is tamed by encroaching technological advances, such as railroads, telegram offices, and stricter law enforcement, the federal government creates the Bureau of Investigation to aid in the process, headed by Edgar Ross. One of their major goals is to rid the region of all of the violent gangs running wild and unchallenged, especially that of Bill Williamson's. Edgar decides to use an ex-associate of Williamson's to hunt him down: John Marston. By kidnapping John's wife and son, Edgar forces him to comply.

After leaving the region for unknown reasons, John arrives by ferry and is escorted by Edgar Ross and Archer Fordham through the town of Blackwater, then sent off by train to Armadillo. Once there, John is led to the gates of Fort Mercer by a man named Jake. In confronting his old friend, Marston tries to reason with Williamson in giving up peacefully, but this alone results in a rifle bullet to the ribs.

Bonnie MacFarlane and her ranch hand Amos find John left-for-dead on the side of the road, which the two pick him up. After treating his wounds, Bonnie provides John lodging with the condition of helping her on her ranch.



John helps them, majority to Bonnie (as well some tutorial missions and game-play mechanics) but after Bill found out that John survived and was staying at the MacFarlane Ranch, the gang burnt the barn down.

John also worked and helped US Marshal Leigh Johnson, merchant Nigel West Dickens, dysfunctional alcoholic Irish and psychotic treasure hunter Seth Briars. After the burning of the ranch, John recruited them and plans a "Trojan Horse" strategy to attack Fort Mercer, which was Bill's main hideout. They successfully raid the fort (with Dickens' armored stagecoach, Irish's gatling gun, Seth's distraction and Johnson's assistance) but only to find out that Bill had fled to Nuevo Paraiso, with the help of Javier Escuella, a member of Marston and Dutch's former gang.

Irish takes John to Nuevo Paraiso and John is forced to work with Colonel Allende, the corrupt military general of the area, to gain information on Williamson and Escuella. John also aids Abraham Reyes and Luisa Fortuna, two revolutionaries, working to overthrow Allende. John ultimately works for both sides in their fight against each other. However, Allende betrays John and attempts to kill him causing John to join Reyes' rebellion and successfully captures or kill Escuella and leads an attack to Allende's villa. John manages to kill both Allende and Williamson, but Fortuna was killed by the Federales in attempt to save Reyes. Reyes then take over the villa and John heads back to Blackwater to meet Ross again.

Though he killed Williamson, Ross tells him that he needs to kill Dutch Van Der Linde, leader of John's old gang or he cannot meet his family again. John, along with Ross, his lackey Archer Fordham, meet in several fights across West Elizabeth against Van Der Linde and his gang, but he escapes capture or death every-time. Eventually, he joined the Army in ambushing Dutch's hideout and confronted Dutch himself, who warns John that the government will always find a "monster" to justify their pay. Rather than dying by John's hand, Dutch chooses to commit suicide by falling from a cliff.

After the confrontation, John was released by the government and reunited with his family, but Ross double-crosses John by launching an attack on the Marston ranch, and Uncle is killed during the fight. John continued fighting the army, telling Abigail and Jack to run while he planned to stay behind and hold them off from the barn. But in reality he realized this would be the last time he would see them, as his plan was to lay down his life so they would be free.

John then sacrifices himself in a desperate last stand against Ross and his men, realizing it was the only way to truly save Abigail and Jack. He was shot to death in front of the barn after exiting it calmly, drawing his pistol and shooting as many men as he could, a testament to his warrior spirit. He breathes vigorously, hinting that his lungs were hit in the process. He drops his revolver, falls to his knees and then eventually falls to the ground. Ross and his army left the ranch after John was killed, Ross happy with the fact that the final member of Dutch's gang was murdered. Abigail and Jack, upon hearing the gun fire, returned to find John's body. They then proceeded to bury it up on the hill to the north of the ranch, alongside Uncle.

His death at the hands of Ross was a poetic end to his life. He sacrificed himself to save his family so they could lead a better life, the reason he sought forgiveness in the first place. Knowing John was dead, Ross wouldn't follow Abigail or Jack so desperately any more, allowing them, and more importantly Jack, to start life fresh; finally gaining Redemption.

In 1914, three years after John was killed, Abigail dies from unknown causes. An older Jack, now a mirror image of his father, returned and buried her body up on the hill next to John's. From then on, he is playable throughout the remainder of the game; maintaining all his father's weapons, clothes, money, horses, and fame/honor.

Eventually, Jack finds Ross, who was responsible for killing his father. The two duel on the Mexican side of the San Luis River, with Jack defeating Ross, and causing Ross' body to fall back into the river - ironically, taking a life and heading on a path his father fought to save him from.

Collateral

 * Leander Holland - Killed during A Frenchman, a Welshman and an Irishman, for threatening John.
 * Alwyn Lloyd - Killed during A Frenchman, a Welshman and an Irishman, for threatening John.
 * Andreas Müller - Killed during Lucky in Love, for accusing John of being a cheat.
 * The Stranger - Killed during Lucky in Love, for threatening a girl.
 * Captain Espinoza - Killed during Cowards Die Many Times, for betraying him.
 * Raul Zubieta - Killed in retaliation for the murder of Luisa Fortuna.
 * Harold Thornton - Killed in a duel in The Wronged Woman.
 * Mario Alcalde - Killed in retaliation for the murder of Eva Cortes in Eva in Peril.

Optional

 * Walton Lowe - Can be Killed during Political Realities in Armadillo, or can be captured.
 * Norman Deek - Can be killed during Spare the Rod, Spoil the Bandit, if John shoots him before the enemy gang does.
 * Manolo Santador- Can be killed during Lucky in Love, if Ricketts doesn't kill him first.
 * Sanchez - Can be killed during Lucky in Love
 * Vincente de Santa - Can be killed during Captain De Santa's Downfall, if John chooses to kill him himself, or shoot him with the other men.
 * Javier Escuella - Can be killed during The Gates of El Presidio, or captured.
 * Agustin Allende - Can be killed during An Appointed Time, if John chooses.
 * Bill Williamson - Can be killed during An Appointed Time, if Abraham doesn't kill him first.
 * Randall Forrester - Can be killed during American Appetites.
 * Abner Forsyth - Can be killed during The Prohibitionist.
 * Clyde Evans - Can be killed during Water and Honesty.
 * Uriah Tollets - Can be killed during Poppycock.

Quotes

 * Main article: John Marston Quotations

Trivia

 * Marston resembles Red Harlow with his similar scars. Both Marston and Harlow's scars are thought to be drawn from the protagonist of the acclaimed 1976 western film The Outlaw Josey Wales.
 * John cannot swim, and will drown in deep waters, similar to many of the protagonists of Rockstar's earlier Grand Theft Auto games.
 * John is often associated with the city, even though he isn't from the city. This may be because he was seen with Ross and Fordham in Blackwater.
 * John's parents' relationship with each other is left ambiguous; John himself struggled with what to label them as. It is insinuated that John's father may have been his mother's pimp.
 * John's grave marker reads "Blessed are the peacemakers" signifying his long road to redemption and peace for his family in a lawless land.
 * John can only speak very basic Spanish. While in Mexico he will usually only remark "hola" to NPCs, with some uncertainty, and occasionally shouts in broken Spanish during combat.
 * John is seen smoking cigarettes during cut-scenes, after missions and while watching a film in the cinema.
 * John is extremely polite when it comes to women, always referring them to their last name .e.g. calling Bonnie MacFarlane "Miss MacFarlane" even after she asks him to call her just Bonnie.
 * In contrast to his politeness to women, John is unafraid to show his disgust of less than reputable characters e.g. Irish with his alcoholism and Nigel West Dickens with his swindling of gullible people.
 * It is left unexplained why John arrives in Blackwater aboard a steamboat if he resides in Beecher's Hope. One idea is that Ross temporarily relocated him out of the West Elizabeth region, to brief John about his "mission" in a more secure location away from potential eavesdroppers.
 * John makes mention of his deceased daughter a few times when discussing his family. Her name and the cause of her death is unknown.
 * If you look closely at John's hat it closely resembles Red Harlow with a close match of the hat and they both seem to have a notch in the hat
 * John dislikes the use of the word fuck as does his son, Jack.
 * John has repeatedly made wise comments toward various characters. If his Honor is low enough, John can insult people by pressing B (Xbox 360) or O (PS3). These insults are a clear example of John's sharp tongue.
 * In early trailers of Red Dead Redemption John Marston looks much younger and skinnier.