Nigel West Dickens

"This is America, where a lying, cheating degenerate can prosper."

- Nigel West Dickens

 is a Major character in Red Dead Redemption.

Background
West Dickens poses as a traveling salesman, when he is really a con man, and is purported to have unique miracle cures for many medical and psychological problems, which he calls Nigel West Dickens' Elixir. He is an impeccable dresser and travels in an opulent emblazoned stagecoach.

Red Dead Redemption
John Marston, after having worked with Marshal Leigh Johnson to clear Pike's Basin, is tipped off by deputy Eli that West Dickens has gone missing. He states that West Dickens is missed by his repeat customers in Armadillo. Marshal Johnson equates West Dickens with a drug dealer.

Marston finds West Dickens having been shot and exposed to the elements not far from his stagecoach south of Coot's Chapel, and returns him to the doctor in Armadillo while fighting off bandits who want to finish the job.

Despite Marston's personal dislike of him, West Dickens becomes the central networker and orchestrator of Marston's plan to assault Fort Mercer. West Dickens puts Marston in contact with Seth Briars and Irish, as well as supplying his newly armored stagecoach as a Trojan horse to deceive the outlaws.

After the assault on Fort Mercer, West Dickens suggests that he intends to travel abroad, having exhausted customers in the New Austin region.

He is later seen in Blackwater, being arrested for possession of narcotics. John recognizes him and tells the officers to release him, stating he helped him catch Bill Williamson.

One of the first newspapers that can be bought in 1911 has an article about Dickens' "miracle tonic," stating it possesses extraordinary healing powers, saying a woman with one leg grew back her lost limb, and a man on his deathbed got up and went to the nearest brothel with the vigor of a 14 year old boy. It can be assumed that Dickens has greatly exaggerated, if not outright fabricated, these feats.

Undead Nightmare


In the DLC Undead Nightmare, He is first seen at Fort Mercer trying to sell his Elixir claming it cures the Zombie plague, and repels zombies. He sees John and tries him to play along with his act but John ends up saying 100 coins is too much for a drink, and threatens him with his revolver to give people a free sample of the Elixir. So Dickens has no choice but to give the customers free samples. He and John go to watch a man try to go out to see if it works. He is then killed and eaten by a horde of zombies, who have been attracted by the elixir. Nigel gives John a bottle of elixir. Then John has to find plants to make more so he can get Zombie Bait. He then finds Nigel not far from Fort Mercer on his stagecoach trying to kick a Zombie away from him. John finds it amusing but eventually kills him. Then he gives West his plants and in return Nigel says he now needs Metal scraps and rides off. After you get the scraps, John Marston would see Nigel hiding under his stagecoach saying that people threw him out of town, calling him a fraud and so on. He then gives John a Blunderbuss and says he is going to attempt to go to Mexico because he heard it was Zombie free. After a few days you then find him sitting by a fireplace in a wrecked house, with his stage coach destroyed. He says all the bridges are closed and that some deserters from the army is leaving to go to Mexico soon but he cannot go with them due to his age. Nigel then bids Marston a farewell and states that he will probably go to Baghdad, he then grabs his bag and walks off. John doesn't see West Dickens again after this.

Mission Appearances

 * &quot;Old Swindler Blues&quot;
 * &quot;You Shall Not Give False Testimony, Except for Profit&quot;
 * &quot;Liars, Cheats and Other Proud Americans&quot;
 * &quot;Can a Swindler Change His Spots?&quot;
 * &quot;The Sport of Kings, and Liars&quot;
 * &quot;The Assault on Fort Mercer&quot;
 * &quot;We Shall Be Together in Paradise&quot;
 * &quot;Bear One Another's Burdens&quot;
 * &quot;A Cure for Most of What Ails You&quot; (Undead Nightmare)
 * &quot;American Imperialism&quot; (Undead Nightmare)

Trivia

 * His appearance might be a reference to the Monopoly Man, from the board game, Monopoly.
 * Despite his outward opulence, West Dickens seems to know several shady characters, such as Seth and Irish. This may just go with him being a con artist.
 * When West Dickens is being arrested in Blackwater, he is arrested on the charges of narcotics.
 * At the end of &quot;Can a Swindler Change His Spots?&quot;, he can be seen urinating on the ground.
 * West Dickens' voice actor, Don Creech, played the infamous Mr. Sweeney from the Nickelodeon show "Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide." Both characters are men of science, as Mr. Sweeney was a science teacher and West Dickens pretended his elixir was a new scientific discovery.
 * Although Marston initially hated Dickens, he calls him a "harmless old fraud" when he frees Dickens of his arrest in Blackwater. Marston most likely, despite disliking Dickens' lifestyle, probably sees him as an ally, if not friend, due to his help on the assault on Fort Mercer.
 * He is one of new playable multiplayer characters in the Liars and Cheats DLC.
 * At the Cinema in Armadillo you watch a film about a doctor which is clearly based on West Dickens. Not only is there a strong physical resemblance between Dickens and the fictional character present in the film, but their business practices are similar. Also, after the doctor fails several attempts to sell his elixir, he gets out some "Mexican Cigars" which have the marijuana leaf on the box, which later foreshadows his arrest by police, as he was caught with "Weed", the most common nickname for Marijuana.
 * He appears in the DLC Undead Nightmare and has added new "ingredients" to his elixir which makes the undead more atrracted to it instead of it being used to repel them.

Quotes
"I know a cure for all ailments, Mr. Marston."

- Nigel West Dickens

"Bugger fuck! Goddamnit! Good heavens!"

- Nigel West Dickens

"Rednecks!"

- Nigel West Dickens

"I have a soft spot for life's flotsam and jetsam."

- Nigel West Dickens

Nigel West Dickens