What is your head canon on what happens to Jack after killing Ross?

Leprechaunlauch·2/4/2023 in Redemption

Jack’s fate after killing Agent Ross is unknown, and there are many theories, which is why I want to know what you think happened.

I, personally, think that Jack Marston fled the law (possibly into Mexico) after killing Ross, and he would be known as one of the last gunslingers of the west, especially since the era actually known as the old west ended twenty years prior. Knowing Jack didn’t follow his father’s (or Arthur’s) advice to live a normal life, which seems like a curse, he probably won’t get a good ending. I speculate that Jack is caught by the United States Government and hung by the end of the decade. Optimistically, Jack could lay low and maybe flee the continent, but I think thats unlikely. Others think he may have joined WWI, which idrk about. What do y’all think?

Jack Marston

H. Roosevelt·2/5/2023

Given the fact that killing a former high-ranking government intelligence official is unlikely to go unnoticed, I believe Jack Marston became a lone wolf outlaw.

While it's uncertain if he'd ever return "home" as he claims he will while under guise as a messenger "as soon as delivering the message" while speaking to Phillip Ross. However, I personally don't believe he'd return to being a rancher since he didn't seem very fond of the idea of taking up that as a trade.

In my completed RDR save, I have him holding an ever-increasing bounty on the United States side of the map while maintaining a clean record in Nuevo Paraíso.

JyeBro·2/6/2023

I always assumed Jack settled down at beecher's hope

Russell Mays·2/8/2023

I think he could’ve written the book in GTAV in the 1920’s while he was on the run. However, given the new west’s extreme intolerance for outlaws, I don’t believe he lived longer than that.

Riggedmint·2/8/2023

I would think that Jack would've been given a pardon from the government IF Archie was the leader of BOI after Ross retired. Because Ross' assault on beecher's hope was probably not ordered by the higher-ranking officials of the BOI (Since they gave JM a pardon after killing his fellow gang members back in 1911). Archie respected John in the Endgame, so him pardoning his son for killing a fairly corrupt guy is understandable with his right of mind. If not then he'd probably move to Mexico.

H. Roosevelt·2/9/2023

@Riggedmint

Edgar Ross was the Director of the BOI from 1907 to 1914, so it was essentially sanctioned by himself. His act of leading an assault on Beecher's Hope also more or less revealed he had not committed to having a pardon officiated for John Marston, as actually doing so wouldn't have allowed him to continue as head of the bureau the 3-years he continued to serve as its director.

Even if Archer Fordham was the new head of the BOI, I find it unlikely he would extend any form of clemency to Jack if he discovered he was responsible for killing his mentor. The amount of respect he had toward John most certainly wasn't enough for him to view Ross as corrupt since he otherwise parroted him in every other interaction they shared together.

Based on the additional context provided by the conclusion of the Epilogue of RDR 2 as well, Archer was what Ross was to Milton. As such, there's really nothing to suggest he wouldn't more or less end up similarly taking after him.

What do you think?