Francis Sinclair

Francis Sinclair shares several similarities with Ernest Keigel, a fictional time traveler who stars in the GTA: Vice City Stories radio program, The Time Ranger; they both have transatlantic accents, they use the 1920s and 1930s slang, they're fast talkers, they're only seen physically a few times in their respective stories, they don't directly interfere with timelines, and lastly, they're both from the 1930s.

In my previous theory, I mentioned at the end that I would explain how and why Francis Sinclair, Red Dead Redemption 2's time traveler, was never intended to be a reference to the Epsilon Program's descendants of Kraff, the famous Emperor of the 4th Paradigm and also the GTA equivalent of Jesus.

Beta (IKZ):

During the beta, the Princess' side quest was indeed going to be a bounty-hunt type of mission; the player needed to search for specific clues to unlock the secret encounter at Van Horn's fence, and then Arthur/John took her to Annesburg's sheriff's office to complete the mission.

The Princess:

Isabeau Katharina Zinsmeister disappeared in 1884 from a remote hunting lodge (The Loft?) while on a private family excursion to North America. There are numerous theories on what happened to her: some believed she was murdered, some that she was abducted and kidnapped, although no ransom note has ever been received, while others suggest that she was eaten by wild animals.

References to Epsilon:

Her birthmark heavily resembles the birthmark identifying descendants of Kraff, a deity worshiped by the Epsilon cult in the Grand Theft Auto series. The date 1884 is also a nod to the Epsilon Program; Chris Formage visited Luxembourg in 1994. These are just references to Kraff's descendants as there is no actual proof that links one with the other. And it is not the first time that Rockstar has added characters with such birthmarks: Curtis Weaver and "flaptickler" being primordial examples. Besides, she also has a star-shaped mark on her right hand, which may be a small nod to Rockstar Games, further proving that IKZ only served as a big easter egg, which could explain why she was deleted in the first place.

Beta (FS):

Francis Sinclair's design was different in the beta; he sported a long coat, a half-buttoned shirt, and what appear to be a pair of boat shoes, but lacks any characteristic birthmark. His initial design could have been inspired by Back to the Future's Doc Brown, judging by these similarities.

Conclusion:

Rockstar Games probably changed the character's design to an Epsilon-themed one so they could still include a nod to the Epsilon Program seen in Grand Theft Auto: V. The Princess wasn't that important to the world of Red Dead, so Rockstar removed most of IKZ's presence in the game, reducing her entire story arc to a wanted poster on a wall and a few mentions.

The mural that Francis Sinclair put together seems to have been inspired by Diego Rivera’s painting, Man, Controller of the Universe, which illustrates the aspects of contemporary social and scientific culture of the 1930s. But the similarities end there; both works depict different themes.

I'm not going to explain in full depth Diego Rivera's mural, this is not what my theory is about, but what I am going to clarify is the interesting similarities between the story of "Man, Controller of the Universe" and Francis Sinclair's mural.

Similarities:

Diego Rivera painted an unfinished "Man at the Crossroads" in 1933 for the 30 Rockefeller Plaza, in New York City. But he then ran into problems with John D. Rockefeller Jr. (politics). After that John D. Rockefeller Jr. ordered the mural to be removed/destroyed. Then in 1934, Diego Rivera repainted his original vision under the new name of "Man, Controller of the Universe" in Mexico City.

Francis Sinclair completed the mural in 1899/1907. When he went to Strawberry to reveal his discovery and theory, he was then dismissed by Church officials because they believed that his work could spread heretical beliefs into their community, similar to how John D. Rockefeller Jr. did not authorize Diego Rivera's painting because of his beliefs. The man depicted at the center of the mural bears some resemblance to Francis Sinclair. And the fact that there are 2 versions of RDR2's mural may also be a nod to Diego Rivera's original mural. Additionally, Francis Sinclair's hair color is supposed to be blond, not ginger, just like the man depicted in the painting, and both characters also share the same eye color (blue).

Shared Elements:

1. Machinery (Clock wheels).

2. Enormous figure at the center that divides the mural in half.

3. Atoms.

4. The cosmos.

5. Microcosm (Double helix).

6. War (Soldiers and plane).

7. New York City.

8. Technological advances

Conclusion:

Even though all of this seems to line up flawlessly, this is only a theory, not confirmed facts. I am currently working on a theory that explains why Francis Sinclair's design was changed to an Epsilon-themed one. And it is also tied to Isabeau Katherina Zinsmeister.

Francis Sinclair's journey fully depends on meeting the player. To accidentally travel to the past, Francis needed every rock carving so he could understand who he is and who those beings are, after that Francis would leave the "map" by mistake in his younger self's home, and then his younger self learns about the carvings, thus making him fascinated by the backstory of said carvings, eventually resulting in his travel to 1899/1907. The loop must repeat itself infinitely so that the events seen in Red Dead Redemption 2 occur.

Center:

Eye - This isn't a reference to the Illuminati Cult, it actually means that he's able to watch the past, the present, and the future, that's why the eye is in the middle of everything.

Small Heads - Represent his ability to be dead, old, young, a baby, and an adult at the same time, because of time travel.

Left Side:

Clock Wheels - Represent the internal mechanism of a clock, obviously a reference to time.

Airplane & Angel - This could be a reference to the conversation that Jenny was having with the preacher in RDR1, about how "soon people would be able to fly", but then the preacher corrects her by saying "No, only angels can fly, Jenny". In other words, the introduction of airplanes.

Soldiers - Represent the First World War, you can tell that those are soldiers by looking at the silhouettes of their uniforms.

New York City - We can appreciate a 1930s version of New York City, the first recognizable landmark is the Chrysler Building, completed in 1930.

Blimp - A normal blimp, probably one from the 1920s or 1930s.

Factory Chimneys - A clear reference to the huge amount of contamination created by big cities like Saint Denis.

Boat - It represents the introduction of luxurious Cruise Ships from the 1970s-1980s for vacationing travelers, back when airlines were taking over the travelling industry.

Nuclear Explosion & Symbols - The nuclear mushroom and the symbol to the left represent the upcoming Atomic War, while the DNA symbol represents the important genetic discoveries that were made in the 1910s-Actuality.

Nuclear Weapon: There's a drawing of a rocket flying above some small houses, most likely a military camp, this is connected with the previous point.

Space - Represents another upcoming conflict, the one between USA and the Soviet Union, in which both countries were basically fighting about who had better rockets lol.

Right Side:

Cowboy On Wagon - An obvious representation of the Old West (RDR's timeline).

Portals - This part of the mural shows us what type of time traveling abilities he uses to jump from one period in time to another.

Ship - This is a Viking ship, a reference to the first Viking explorers that made trips to American territories, some of them tried to colonize said territories.

Meteor - It's safe to say that this is a reference to the crater that we can find near Doverhill, Ambarino.

Star - It might be a Biblical reference to the Star of Bethlehem.

Egypt - This entire section is dedicated to Egyptian history, we can even notice some slaves lifting a structure at the bottom.

Flying UFO - I can't figure out what that thing is yet.

Conclusion:

The right side of the mural is a prediction of what's coming in like 70 years or more, while the left side is a compilation of important historical events. It is unknown to me why ancient people (or time travelers) chose to left warnings about the future in the form of rock carvings, but Francis Sinclair's plan probably heads towards alerting people from his time.

Side Note:

Redheads in RDR can be descendants of Kraff or whatever that is in that universe, while in GTA we haven't seen redheads with special abilities, only Chris Formage.

This makes my theory on Geology for Beginners more plausible.

When we first meet Francis near Strawberry, he seems to be very enthusiastic about the rock carvings, stating that those carvings are "sort of important" to him. He also mentions that he's lost and that it's a long story. My theory is that he had only time traveled once and by accident.

Collecting:

Francis Sinclair's card says that his occupation is collecting, in his case, he collects rock carvings and their information about the past. Since he appears to be obsessed with history, he probably travelled to the 1890s after discovering 2 of the mural's carvings. A newspaper article about Francis' work mentions that he's a local resident in Strawberry, this means that he has been living there for months or even a year using a fake name (Frank Sinclair).

Epsilon Program?:

No, he's not Kraff, the first argument of my theory already disproves that speculation. But he's probably one of the founders of that religion in the HD universe of Redemption. Dan Houser stated that the Epsilon Program can exist in different places and times, using this information we can say that this could be the case. The rock carvings he tries to find were probably made by ancient people like him. Kraff descendants? It's a high possibility because those beings left messages in the shape of rock carvings. To end this argument, Francis Sinclair's mural indicates that he has convinced himself of being a demigod, and intends to solve this mystery by going to different times or universes (we don't know if time travel is the only limitation to his powers) in search of more information about his own race of "special humans".

1. Francis traveled to the 3D universe, in 1986 (GTA: Vice City).

2. He traveled to the HD, but when the French gave the statue of happiness to the Americans in 1886 (GTA IV).

Most of us know about Francis Sinclair, right? He’s a time traveller in RDR2 (We know that because of his clothes and accent, plus the rock carvings and his business card)

He has a weird birthmark on his face, and in GTA, the Epsilon Program (Parody of Scientology) has a website which shows what a descendant of Kraff (their God) might look like. The most prominent part of this image is a birthmark that is the same as Francis’s in RDR2.

Furthermore, the Program claims that the world is actually 157 years old (Which would mean that the world started in 1856, if we are talking about GTAV’s story.) Francis looks to be in his 40s. Francis might actually be born in 1856 and be the founder of the Epsilon Program, which would mean that they are part of the same universe...

Is it possible that Hamish Sinclair (the veteran) and Francis Sinclair (the possible time traveler) could be related?