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, thought to be by drink. 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 with and both 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, and Javier Escuella, 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 in 1908, 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 advancement of technology.

Red Dead Redemption
As the old American Wild West is being 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: former outlaw 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 by a man named Jake to the gates of Fort Mercer, Bill and his gang's main hideout. 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 by one of Bill's men.

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



John works off his debt to Bonnie and her father Drew MacFarlane, but after Bill finds out that John survived and is staying at the MacFarlane Ranch, he has his gang burn the barn down.

John also works with and helps US Marshal Leigh Johnson, elixer merchant Nigel West Dickens, dysfunctional alcoholic Irish and psychotic treasure hunter Seth Briars. After the burning of the ranch, John recruits them in planning a "Trojan Horse" strategy to attack Fort Mercer. They successfully raid the fort (with Dickens' armored stagecoach, Irish's gatling gun, Seth's distraction and Johnson's assistance), only to find out that Bill has fled to the Mexican province Nuevo Paraiso with the help of Javier Escuella, a member of Marston's former gang.

Irish escorts John south of the border to Nuevo Paraiso, where he meets the region's corrupt military general Colonel Allende and his ruthless subordinate Captain Vincente de Santa. He is forced to work for them to gain information on Williamson and Escuella. At the same time, John runs into the aging gunslinger Landon Ricketts who teaches him new gunfighting skills. Marston also aids Abraham Reyes and Luisa Fortuna, two revolutionaries working to overthrow Allende. He attempts to extract any information possible from both Allende and Reyes regarding Bill and Javier's wherabouts.

Allende however, aware of John's loyalties, betrays him and has his men attempt to kill him. Reyes and his rebels arrive in time and rescue John before he is executed. John then sides with Reyes and joins the rebellion. After killing Captain de Santa, Marston and the rebels lead an attack on Allende's villa. Luisa is gunned down by Allende's men. John and Reyes manage to kill Allende and Williamson, who was seeking shelter and protection from the Mexican Army. John also successfully captures (or kills) Escuella. Reyes and his rebels take over the villa and plan on marching to Mexico's capitol, fighting for revolution. John heads back to Blackwater to meet with Edgar Ross again.

Though his business with Williamson and Escuella is over, Ross tells him that he needs to kill Dutch Van Der Linde, former leader of John's old gang, or he will never see his family again. John, along with Ross, Archer Fordham and other Bureau Agents meet in several fights across West Elizabeth against Van Der Linde and his gang of Natives, but he escapes capture or death every time. Marston also works with incompetent Yale Professor Harold MacDougal and Native-American informant Nastas in tracking Dutch down. Eventually, John and the Bureau join the US Army in ambushing Dutch's hideout. He confronts Dutch himself, who warns John that the government will always find a new "monster" to justify their pay. Rather than dying by John's hand, Dutch chooses to commit suicide by falling from a cliff.

After the raid, John is released by the government and finally reunites with his family at their ranch in Beecher's Hope. He settles down with his wife Abigail and teen son Jack, along with old family-friend Uncle, and attempts to return to a crime-free life as a farmer with his family.

However, as per Dutch's warning, Edgar double-crosses John. He, along with the Bureau and US Army, launches an attack on the Marston ranch. Uncle is killed during the gunfight, while John and son continue holding off the attack. John tells Abigal and Jack to run while he stays behind in the barn to defend them. But in reality, he realizes that the only way to save his family from the governments's crosshairs is to lay down his life so they can be free.

John sacrifices himself in a desperate last-stand against Ross and his men. After exiting the barn calmly and standing before a large firing-squad, he draws his pistol and takes out as many men as he can until they open fire on him. Still standing, with multiple bullet wounds on his bloody body, he breathes vigorously and drops his revolver, falls to his knees and then eventually collapses to the ground. As Ross watches Marston dying, he is clearly satisfied with knowing that the final member of Dutch's gang is dead. Ross and his men leave the ranch. Abigail and Jack, upon hearing the cease-fire, return to find John's body in a pool of blood. They then proceed to bury him up on top of the hill overlooking the ranch, alongside Uncle.

John's 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, returns and buries her body up on the hill next to John's grave. From then on, he is playable throughout the remainder of the game; retaining all of his father's weapons, clothes, money, horses, and fame/honor.

Eventually, Jack finds Ross, who has retired from the Bureau a glorified hero, and announces he has come to avenge his father. The two duel on the Mexican side of the San Luis River, with Jack defeating Ross and causing his 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 Hanging Bonnie MacFarlane, 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.
 * Marolo Santander - 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.
 * If you look closely at John's hat, it appears very similar to Red Harlow's, with certain aesthetic differences.
 * John cannot swim, and will drown in deep waters, similar to many of the protagonists of Rockstar's earlier Grand Theft Auto games. Although this could be considered a plothole because John mentions he once had to swim away from a steamboat in Mexico.
 * 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. He will also do anything possible to keep a women safe e.g. punching Irish clean out when he tried to hold up a couple of nuns for money.
 * In contrast to his politeness to women, John is unafraid to take the moral high-ground when dealing with 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.
 * 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.