The Last Enemy That Shall Be Destroyed

 is the final story mission in Red Dead Redemption.

To view the mission tree, see:

Scene 1
As the mission begins, John Marston walks into the workhouse to find his son working. He and Jack begin to speak optimistically of their future as ranchers and as a family, as well as an airplane demonstration due to come to the county next year. All seems well in Beecher's Hope until Uncle yells for John from outside. John knows what's coming (however, it is not revealed to the player at that point), so he immediately tells Jack to run into the house and lock all the doors and windows, and not to come out "no matter what".

Scene 2
After John and Uncle defeat the first wave of American soldiers attacking from the west, John runs into the house to check on his wife and son. He again tells Jack to stay in the house. This time Jack doesn't listen. Jack grabs a rifle and follows his father outside. The three men fight the onslaught, soldier by soldier. Uncle is gunned down, but John and Jack continue the fight.

Scene 3
Another wave held off, John gets Abigail and tells her and Jack to get to the barn. He will hold off the next imminent wave of soldiers. This time they will come from the plains to the south. You may choose to hold them off from the ground or on top of the silo.

Scene 4
The Marstons hold off yet another wave of soldiers attacking their land. John runs into the barn, where he knows Jack and Abigail will be waiting. They are panicking, confused and think they should all run away. John knows that's not possible. He knows he can't escape his past. John puts his wife and son on a horse and tells them they need to ride and don't stop. It's the only way they will have a chance. Reluctantly, Abigail kisses her husband goodbye. Jack and Abigail ride out the back of the barn, leaving John to face the fate from which he has tried so hard to escape.

John turns, peering between the barn doors at the last faces he will ever see. He stops, drops his head, and takes a long, deep breath. Then he looks up and pushes the doors wide open, revealing more than twenty soldiers all armed and aimed his direction. In cinematic fashion, the camera switches to the Dead-Eye Targeting mode, as the player takes control of John Marston's last stand. John takes a few down, but ultimately it just isn't enough. Be careful not to push the button for dead eye, this will disable the dead eye making it so you won't kill anyone. He is mowed down by bullet after bullet, as his clothes become drenched with his blood. He falls onto his knees, spitting out blood, taking several winded gasps of breath, staring at the remaining Army members and bureau men. John falls backwards onto his back, takes his last breath, and, staring up into the sky, dies. He has sacrificed himself for his family, knowing that after his death the government won't need to chase them and they'll be able to finally live peacefully. He has finally achieved his redemption.

Amidst the group of men is Edgar Ross, smoking a cigar as he coldly looks over Marston's body, a vague look of disquiet on his face. With a final shake of his head, he signals the accompanying army and bureau men and they slowly walk away in silence.

Scene 5
Abigail hears the shots coming from the ranch and tells her son to go back. The player takes control of sixteen year-old Jack as he rides back to the ranch, allowing him to spur the horse continuously without being bucked off. Jack and Abigail arrive to find John's body in a pool of blood. Abigail embraces her dead husband and weeps in bitter sadness for her fallen love and the life they never had.

Jack and Abigail bury John on the property alongside Uncle. The camera zooms in to John's grave, his epitaph reading "Blessed are the peacemakers". A quick fade reveals the same shot in a downpour, panning out from John's grave revealing Abigail's right beside it. She had died three years later. A man, with a striking resemblance to John, looks down at the burial site, thinking. The man puts Marston's hat on and turns, revealing himself as a nineteen year-old Jack Marston.

Mission Prerequisites
Before this mission becomes available, the player must complete:
 * Jack Marston mission: "Spare The Love, Spoil The Child";
 * Abigail Marston mission: "Old Friends, New Problems"; and
 * Uncle mission: "A Continual Feast".

Mission Objectives
To complete this mission, the player must:
 * Kill the first group of soldiers that attacks the ranch.
 * Defend the ranch house.
 * Protect his family as they run to the barn.
 * Join his family in the barn.

Mission Details
When the Mission begins, you must kill the first set of soldiers with Uncle. While the cart is the focal point when you first gain control, it is not very good cover as the Army can easily flank around and kill you. Instead, look to the right and take cover behind the cluster of boulders in front of the farmhouse. After killing the first squad, Uncle instructs you to go check on your family, and a cutscene will begin when you get to your house showing Jack coming out with you. Take cover behind the porch railing in front and kill the soldiers, taking cover and making sure your health is okay. Uncle will aid you, but Jack must only shoot their horses as he is too young to kill. Once Jack shoots one of their horses, that is a prime time to take them out as they are disoriented from the fall.

After killing a few soldiers, Uncle inevitably will get shot in the chest. Kill the rest of the soldiers. Some will begin to come from the north, but stay on the south porch to catch them by surprise, and a cutscene will begin where Uncle advises you to get Abigail and Jack evacuated. He then coughs and dies. There is now a big lull before Fordham can bring in more soldiers. Use it to gather ammo, which is convenient because the U.S. Army service rifle is also a Bolt-Action.

John will herd his remaining family out toward the barn, but as they cross the road, more soldiers will arrive. Stay close to your family and protect them by taking out every guard who comes near. Finally, you will get to a cutscene where you send them off and are left to face a firing squad of U.S. Army troops headed by Edgar Ross. After you fire out a few shots with Dead Eye, the mob will gun you down (note that this is a scripted event and entirely unavoidable). After this, you will be in control of Jack, and you must ride back to see your father.

Mission Failure
When playing as John Marston, the mission will fail if the player:
 * Assaults or kills Abigail, Jack, Uncle, or Rufus.
 * Allows Abigail or Jack to be killed.
 * Abandons his family.
 * Assaults or kills livestock.
 * Commits vandalism.
 * Dies.

When playing as Jack Marston, the mission will fail if the player:
 * Does not return to Beecher's Hope.
 * Assaults, kills or abandons Abigail.
 * Assaults or kills Jack's horse.
 * Strays too far from the mission location.
 * Breaks the law.
 * Kills a dog.
 * Commits vandalism.
 * Assaults or kills townsfolk.
 * Dies.

Casualties
For the sake of correctness, the following casualties are organized into two groups: confirmed casualties and potential casualties. Confirmed casualties are casualties that are required in order for the mission to continue, and occur before John is held at gunpoint in the barn (with the exception of John himself and his wife). Potential casualties are casualties that are not necessary in order to complete the mission and occur during the final Dead-Eye session of the game.

Confirmed casualties

 * Mr. John Marston - Killed during a betrayal by the Bureau of Investigation while protecting his family.
 * Mrs. Abigail Marston - Dies some time after the shootout, possibly in despair for the loss of her husband.
 * "Uncle" - Killed by a fatal gunshot to the heart while protecting the Marston family.
 * 41 American soldiers and marshals

Potential casualties

 * The captain in the U.S. Army - Can be killed during the last Dead-Eye session, although many report that his model (sometimes multiple models of him) can be seen fighting beforehand.
 * Up to six additional marshals during the last Dead-Eye session.

Mission Complete Unlockables

 * "Remember My Family" Stranger side-mission
 * Ability to play as Jack Marston
 * The final scrap of the U.S. Army Uniform
 * Discovery of the U.S. Marshal Outfit

Glitches

 * Main article: Glitches in Red Dead Redemption


 * Sometimes, after Jack and Abigail have ridden off, before the turn to the barn door, a second Jack can be seen hiding against the front wall of the barn.
 * When Jack and Abigail return to John's body, sometimes his body will still be animated causing John to still be alive (even with the bullet holes in him)! When the cutscene starts, John won't be on the floor when Abigail goes over to him; instead he will be about a foot off the ground. However, when the second cutscene climaxes, he is nowhere to be seen.
 * Sometimes, when Jack and Abigail are riding back to John's body, Abigail will be standing on top of the horse.
 * After Abigail has died and Jack has finished looking at his fallen family, a younger Jack will still be there as if he is still holding Abigail although his eyes follow the older Jack.
 * Also adding on to the last point, Abigail or Uncle may be standing on their graves, which means that they're actually underneath their graves.
 * If the player owns the Bandana, an older Jack will walk away from his family's graves, and will have the bandana equipped, even if it wasn't equipped before. If the bandana is taken off, then Jack will reveal a second bandana underneath. That bandana will be removed normally. This bug seems to have been patched in the Game Of The Year Edition.
 * Regardless of the console the game is being played on or the effect of any patches, when John hits the ground after being killed, his hat does not fall off his head, but when Jack and Abigail discover his body his hat will be on the ground about a foot away from his head.
 * Sometimes, Jack will not speak the scripted dialouge during gameplay, although the subtitles will appear on-screen.

Trivia

 * The mission's name is a reference to a line in the fifteenth chapter of the First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians: "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death."
 * Being that John Marston was the last surviving member of Dutch's Gang, he is symbolically the last enemy to be destroyed by the Bureau of Investigation in their goal of disbanding organized outlaw groups across West Elizabeth.
 * Illustrative of Edgar Ross's inherent corruption, his use of the U.S. Military to finish Marston is actually a direct violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, a Federal crime. Signed into law in 1878, the Act prohibits members of the Army and Air Force from exercising nominally state law enforcement, police, or peace officer powers that maintain "law and order" on non-federal property (states and their counties and municipal divisions) within the United States.
 * While returning in the final sequence of the mission, Jack's horse will not lose stamina.
 * The final location where you meet the Strange Man, who remarks "This is a nice spot", is the same spot John is buried in the final cut scene.
 * There's a glitch after Jack and Abigail leave on the horse where Jack will be standing next to the desk next to the table he started near in the beginning of the mission. All he does is watch John, though.
 * In the final sequence of the mission, the player takes control of Jack at age 16. The player is able to dismount their horse and walk around as him but if they stray too far they will fail the mission.
 * It is possible to kill the American Army Captain in this mission, but there may be more NPCs using his character model.
 * Although Jack will later seek revenge for his father, he seems much more distraught over Uncle's death then John's, likely being that seeing Uncle die had hardened him, and he had also expected John to die after choosing to stay behind.
 * During John's death scene, many of the soldiers look down while Ross leads them away, and remain completely quiet as if they feel guilty for killing John after he had led them to victory over Dutch's Gang.

Achievements/Trophies
Completion of this mission contributes toward acquisition of the following Trophies/Achievements:

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