John Marston

"I rode in a gang. We robbed trains, banks, held people for ransom- we killed people we didn't like. Bill Williamson was in that gang."

- 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 himself was born on a boat to New York City. John's mother was a prostitute who died during childbirth. When John was only 8 years old, his father died during a bar fight whilst in Chicago. John was then sent to an orphanage, which he promptly ran away from. He later joined Dutch's gang, which took care of him, and taught him how to read.

Early career
John Marston is a former outlaw and bandit. He ran with Dutch Van Der Linde, Bill Williamson, Javier Escuella, and oter men, commiting 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 elict 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 is still a masterful gunman, rider, rancher and hunter. Marston is a rugged survivalist and knows life as a fight to survive; he lives in old-fashioned in a world rapidly experiencing the encroachment of technology.

Red Dead Redemption
As the old Wild West is tamed by encroaching techological advances, such as railroads and telegram offices, 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 major, 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, kidnapping his wife and son to force him to comply. After leaving the region for unknown reasons, John is escorted by ferry by Edgar Ross and Archer Fordham to the town of Blackwater, then sent off by train to Armadillo. Once there, John was escorted 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 him left for dead on the side of the road, which the two pick him up, treats his wounds, and provide lodging with the condition of helping them in the ranch.

John helps them, majority to Bonnie (as well some tutorial missions and gameplay mechanics) but after Bill found out that John survived and was staying at the MacFarlane ranch, the gang burned it while the two attempted to find Bonnie's dad, who was presumably killed by rustlers.

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 maxim gun, Seth's distraction and Johnson's assistance) but only to find out that Bill fled along with Javier Escuella.

Irish takes John to Nuevo Paraiso and was forced to work with Colonel Allende as well as Abraham Reyes and Luisa Fortuna. However, Allende betrayed John and attempts to kill him causing him to join Reyes' rebellion and successfully captures or kill Escuella and leads an attack to Allende's villa. John managed to kill 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 need to kill Dutch Van Der Linde, leader of John's old gang or he cannot meet his family again. Dutch and the US army had wars during that time and John had a hard time encountering Dutch's gang in process, the army thinks he is one of them but John escapes capture from them.

Eventually, he joins the army in an ambush in Dutch's hideout and confronts Dutch on a cliff. Dutch eventually decides to commit suicide by falling off the cliff. After the confrontation, he was eventually released by the government and reunites with his family, but Ross launches an attack on the Marston ranch, with Uncle 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. Jack returned and buried her body up on the hill next to John's. From then on, he is playable throughout 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.

Trivia

 * Marston resembles Red Harlow with his similar scars. Both Marston and Harlow's scars are though 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.


 * Also, John is injured easily from jumping from low heights, like a low roof.


 * 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 talk to people by pressing O on the PS3/ B on the 360 controller and according to his character, will comment nicely and *tip his hat* if GOOD, or insult the person he's talking to if BAD.When talking to people in Mexico he will usually say a simple "Hola" (hello), as John can only speak very basic Spanish.