I Know You

"Damn you!"

- John Marston.

"Yes, many have."

- Strange Man.

 is a 3-part Stranger side-mission in Red Dead Redemption.

Story
Marston encounters a strange man south of Mescalero, who seems to know a lot about Marston's past and claims to know him from his days running with Dutch's Gang. However, the strange man is very coy and never reveals how he knows Marston.

He then asks Marston to complete a couple of tasks, both of which turn out to be moral dilemmas. And the Strange Man's tone hints at what course of action he believes Marston will take in each case.

Mission Segment Prerequisites
Before the first segment of this mission becomes available, the player must complete:
 * Bonnie MacFarlane mission: "A Tempest Looms".

Mission Segment Objectives
To complete the first segment this mission, the player must:
 * Speak with the Strange Man about his friend.
 * Ride to Thieves' Landing and locate the Strange Man's friend.
 * Either encourage or discourage his activities.

Mission Segment Details
After meeting the Strange Man, head to Thieves' Landing and go to the saloon. The drunk friend should be on the porch. The strange man does not explicitly say to stop him, just to advise him on how to best proceed. Players can either dissuade the drunk friend from cheating on his wife, or give him $15 to persuade him to cheat on his wife. Giving him the money will cause the player to lose Honor, unless the bandana is equipped.

Mission Segment Prerequisites
Before the second segment of this mission becomes available, the player must complete:
 * Irish mission: &quot;We Shall Be Together in Paradise&quot;; and
 * Stranger side-mission: "" Part 1

Mission Segment Objectives
To complete the second segment of this mission, the player must:
 * Speak with the Strange Man about Mother Superior, who has a dilemma.
 * Ride to Las Hermanas.
 * Either aid or rob Mother Superior.

Mission Segment Details
This time the Strange Man can be found in Mexico. Specifically, travel south on the road just west of El Matadero and you should see the question mark on your minimap at the top of where the elevation lines form a J. This time the Strange Man gives the player the choice of donating $10 to a nun or robbing her. If the player chooses to donate to the nun, the player will have random encounters with other nuns asking Marston for a donation in the future (similar to other random encounters such as stand offs and wagon rescues). Choosing not to donate money will result in a loss of honor.

Mission Segment Prerequisites
Before the final segment of this mission becomes available, the player must complete:
 * Abraham Reyes mission: &quot;An Appointed Time&quot;; and
 * Stranger side-mission: "" Part 2

Mission Segment Objectives
To complete the final segment of this mission, the player must:
 * Speak with the Strange Man one final time.

Mission Segment Details
The third and final confrontation with the Strange Man takes place outside Beecher's Hope. We hear more enigmatic dialogue, such as him not knowing his own name, collecting accounts of a sort, and being damned by many people. John loses his temper after asking the Strange Man for his name and fires on him, but the man is not affected by the bullets and walks away.

Note: If this final encounter is not completed prior to the mission &quot;The Last Enemy That Shall Be Destroyed&quot;, players cannot complete this Stranger side-mission. However, this does not prevent the player from achieving 100% Completion.

Interpretations
For more information on the popular explanations and thematic interpretations of this stranger mission, please visit the Strange Man character page.

Trivia
For more Trivia on this strange mission, please visit the Strange Man character page.
 * After speaking to the man for the second mission, he can be pushed onto the fire. The results are quite humorous.
 * Giving the nun $10, then killing her after the second mission, rewards the player with over $300.
 * Despite the man being unharmed by John shooting at him in the final cutscene, it is still possible to kill him outside of cutscenes by simply shooting at him. This will cause the player to fail the mission and to lose honor.
 * This is the only Stranger mission that Jack cannot perform.
 * The nun who John can either donate to or rob is Mother Superior Calderón, who plays a supportive role in the Undead Nightmare expansion pack.
 * The Stranger has a strong resemblance to Hoodoo Brown, a character in GUN, another western video game.

Speculation

 * There are many theories regarding who or what the Strange Man represents. The evidence most heavily suggests God, Satan or Death (aka the Grim Reaper), as bullets do not harm him, his tasks for John are basic morality tests, and he seems to know everything about John, stating "this is a fine spot" while standing on what will be the exact location of John's grave.
 * It has also been suggested that the Strange Man is John Marston's Guardian Angel.
 * One of the reasons to suggest he is "God" apart from him knowing everything about John is when he says he's sort of an accountant (which makes sense if you think of "people" instead of "money").
 * Another reason is that during the second encounter in Mexico, a donkey can be seen in the background, which is one of many symbols referring to Jesus.
 * Another theory suggest the man could be John Marston's father, or a close relative. If the player goes to Beecher's Hope and look at the pictures on the wall in the house, s/he will see a picture of a man in a black suit. This is the only similarity between the two characters, however.
 * This might be totally random, but if you draw lines between the three spots where the Strange Man was met on the map, it will create an equilateral triangle, or in this case, the Holy Trinity; the symbol of The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit, or the all seing eye referring to the illuminati. Yet another evidence suggesting the Strange Man is God. This is also a very weak clue, but when adding together the Strange Man saying he is a sort of accountant and other mysterious quotes (God), he speaks about his son and there is a donkey at the second encounter (Jesus) and the fact that he is invincible during the last encounter (Spirit?) makes it even more obvious, and mysterious at the same time.
 * The Man states "I hope my son turns out like you". In the sense the man is God, then this would refer to Jesus.
 * Another reason that the strange man may be God is that John Marston at the very begin says "Do I know you?" and the strange man responds: "I hope so".
 * The man states "I'm an accountant...of sorts", which could mean that he is the Grim Reaper. Also, bullets don't affect him, as Death cannot die.
 * The final encounter with the Strange Man occurs where John Marston is eventually buried. The Strange Man says it is a beautiful spot showing foreknowledge of John's death which lends credence to the views of him being Death or God.
 * Another reason the strange man could be god is that if you chose to donate money to the nun, when John is talking to her, he says "Ain't it the lord's responsibility to look over his flock, not mine?" and the nun replies, "yes but the lord has brought you to me so you could help me."
 * The Strange man could be a repressed memory from Marston's past that allows him to "soul search", as all of the tasks are related to a question of morality, or Marston's redemption from his previous life.
 * After the Strange man angers John by refusing to tell his identity, John says he would "not be responsible for his actions" if the Strange man did not tell him who he was. Directly after, the Strange man tells John, "Oh, but you will. You will." This could be interpreted as an allusion to the belief that after one's death, a person is "held responsible" for his actions in the form of judgement, and another reason to believe that the man is God, Death, or some supernatural figure.
 * The Strange Man may just be a "Spirit" of a lost one (Ex: Father/Mother) that crossed over to try to help John with his moral problems. For example, the first task he gives him is to talk a man out of cheating on his wife, maintaining the other man's morals of marriage and sacred bondage (May also be a reason for being God). The second task of either helping or robbing the nun is also on moral grounds (If the Strange Man was to be God, then this would give the second task more sense because he is trying to see if John will help him and support his followers or not). The last task/meeting is a big reason that the Strange Man is a spirit of a lost loved one or God. The quote "This is a fine spot" may either refer to John's ranch where he looks to build a new life with his family (Could be the dead relative congratulating Marston on making so much progress and effort to making a new life for himself. Could also be God's reward to him for helping all of the people John helped out on his way there like the MacFarlenes or Reyes) or John's future grave spot (Reason for Strange Man being Death/Grim Reaper for knowing the spot where John dies in advance).
 * John fires 3 bullets at the Strange man in part 3 at Beechers Hope, this could have lead to the death of Uncle, John and his wife Abigail. On the fourth the gun jams and this maybe allowes Jack to live, another sign showing that the strange man is "Satan" or "God".

Achievements/Trophies
Aiding Strangers will contribute toward the following Trophies/Achievements:

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