| “ | Everyone will eventually pay for what they have done. | „ |
| —Edgar Ross |
Edgar Ross is a recurring character in the Red Dead series, appearing as a central character and the main antagonist of Red Dead Redemption, and as a supporting character and a secondary antagonist in Red Dead Redemption 2.
In Redemption, with the addition of the Liars and Cheats DLC pack, Edgar Ross is also a multiplayer character model that may be selected in the 'Damnation' section of the Outfitter.
History
Background
| “ | Edgar is the 50-year-old leader of the local, fledgling government agency. He is a man whose faded physical prowess has been supplanted by his mental acuteness - a cynic who sees the worst in everyone, and who loves the power that the government has recently granted him. He sees himself as an individual who is completely above any law. | „ |
| —Description of Ross in the GOTY Edition guide of Red Dead Redemption. |
Born in 1861, Ross is a former member of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency and, in 1907, he was appointed as the director of the early federal law enforcement body, the Bureau of Investigation - BOI - which would later become known as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI.
Ross is a purveyor of modernism, and plays a strong role in both the narratives and themes of Red Dead Redemption. Although older than Marston, Ross chooses to ride in automobiles and use modern weapons.
In 1911, prior to the events of Red Dead Redemption, Ross takes John Marston's family away from him in order to strong arm him into hunting down some of his former comrades from the Van der Linde gang.
Events of Red Dead Redemption 2
Horseshoe Overlook chapter
Ross and his superior, Andrew Milton approach Arthur Morgan as he was fishing with little Jack Marston at a river near Horseshoe Overlook. Milton tries to make a deal with Arthur; if he hands over Dutch to the Pinkertons he will not be hanged for his crimes. Arthur angrily turns down the offer and the agents leave, with the Ross mockingly telling Jack to enjoy fishing while he still can.
Clemens Point chapter
Ross and Milton approach Dutch and his gang at their camp in Clemens Point. Milton tries to get the gang to turn on Dutch in exchange for being allowed to flee for a short time. This fails however, and the agents leave empty handed.
Beaver Hollow chapter
Edgar Ross is seen in Annesburg with his superior, Agent Milton, while leaving a business meeting with Leviticus Cornwall. After Cornwall berates them for their lack of progress, Milton tells Ross that the pair have work to do.
Following Milton's death, Ross leads a large group of Pinkertons up to Beaver Hollow. While not physically seen, he can be heard yelling orders to his men and telling the gang to surrender.
Beecher's Hope chapter
In 1907, Ross and his new associate agent Archer Fordham, find the corpse of Micah Bell in his hideout at Mount Hagen, and this puts them on a manhunt for the killer. The two agents are seen going to various towns and locations, interviewing a number of people. After going through Valentine and Rhodes, they manage to trace the culprit to John Marston at his ranch in Beecher's Hope, where they see him teaching Jack how to groom a horse. Just before the end credits roll, Ross and Fordham look on the ranch and leave, plotting their next move.
Events of Red Dead Redemption
New Austin
Following the abduction of Abigail and Jack Marston, Ross and Fordham are seen escorting John Marston to the train station in Blackwater, during the opening credits of Red Dead Redemption. Ross is juxtaposed to Marston as wearing an unusually immodest three-piece suit.
Ross is only partially explained through early gameplay references to government agents in Blackwater and is obscured through Marston's reluctance to explicitly state his situation to his various allies.
Nuevo Paraiso
After the player captures or kills Javier Escuella, Ross is seen to converse and exert his unique brand of self-righteous condescension on Marston. The player is required to meet Ross and Fordham at a bridge crossing between New Austin and Nuevo Paraiso. There, Ross leaves the player with instructions to further pursue Bill Williamson and return to Blackwater upon completion, before Javier is taken away in the automobile.
Marston and Abraham Reyes later kill both Williamson and Colonel Allende during the battle in Escalera, and John quickly returns to Blackwater as instructed.
West Elizabeth
With Williamson and Escuella dealt with, Ross and his partner in the Bureau, Archer Fordham, are still unsatisfied. They then directly work with Marston in the Blackwater area to help him track down his former gang leader and mentor, Dutch van der Linde. After rescuing their informant, Nastas, from the Wreck of the Serendipity and attempting to prevent Dutch and his gang from robbing the Blackwater bank, Ross decides to launch a final dramatic assault on Van der Linde's camp with the assistance of the U.S. Army. During the assault, Marston eventually corners Dutch. Dutch chooses to commit suicide by throwing himself from a cliff, declaring to Marston that their time is up, a reference to the federal government's manipulation and the pursuit of them, and foreshadowing Ross's betrayal of Marston.
After Van der Linde's death, Ross is unimpressed with Marston's inability to have shot Dutch himself. Taking Marston's pistol and shooting Van Der Linde's mangled corpse, Ross states that it "looks better in the report that way". Ross and Fordham finally and unceremoniously relinquish their custody of Abigail and Jack, telling Marston they can be found at the Marston ranch on Beecher's Hope. Marston reunites with his family, living in peace with them and enjoying the life he had worked and killed for.
Though John lives peacefully for a time, Ross later violates the agreement in order to wipe out the Van der Linde gang. With the help of the U.S. Army and the U.S. Marshals, Ross launches an all-out assault on the ranch in Beecher's Hope. Marston holds off waves of the attackers, fighting mercilessly to defend his family. Eventually, the Marston family retreats to a barn, and John sends his wife Abigail and his son Jack away from the ranch on a horse. Ross and his agents surround the barn, fully armed with their guns pointed at the door.
Deciding to sacrifice himself in order to secure his family's future, and accepting that he is not leaving the ranch alive, Marston exits the barn slowly and faces the attackers. Pulling out his gun, Marston takes down as many soldiers as he can but is quickly gunned down by the firing squad, of which Ross himself is a member. Ross is seen in the crowd lighting a cigar as Marston falls to his knees. Marston does not acknowledge Ross or say a word. After drawing his last breath, Marston collapses. Ross, the lawmen, and the soldiers then leave the ranch, leaving John's dead body to be found by Jack and Abigail.
Epilogue
Three years pass, and Ross continues working in Blackwater under the Federal Bureau, until retiring in 1913. During this time, Abigail dies of unspecified causes and Jack grows into a nineteen-year-old man. His change in appearance and talent with a gun suggests that he has been training extensively to be more like his father and to avenge his death.
After paying respects and mourning at the graves of John, Abigail, and Uncle, Jack returns to Blackwater. At the train station, he runs into Harold Sawicki, a younger Bureau agent, and inquires about Edgar Ross. He learns that Ross had received a "chest full of medals", and that he retired to a small cabin with his wife on Lake Don Julio, in Cholla Springs, New Austin. Despite his retirement, however, it is apparent that the Bureau still hounds Ross for work due to his level of fame within their organization.
Jack Marston visits Ross' retirement home in Lake Don Julio, where he meets Edgar's wife, Emily Ross. She tells him that he is hunting with his brother Phillip Ross on the south side of the San Luis River, in Mexico. Jack then crosses into Mexico and finds his brother hunting along Rio del Toro. Phillip tells Jack that Edgar is hunting ducks downstream. Proceeding west along the river, Jack Marston discovers Edgar shooting at a flock of ducks and confronts him about the death of his father.
Ross shows no remorse for having betrayed and killed John, correctly stating the one ultimately responsible was John himself and the life John lived. Ross declares that he would similarly have no hesitation to kill Jack, then tells him to leave before he kills him. Jack refuses to leave, resulting in a climactic duel. Ross is gunned down, a long-running theme of hypocrisy in the actions of Ross are ironically concluded, recalling the statement that "...Everyone will eventually pay for what they have done".
Character
Personality
Throughout the events of Red Dead Redemption, Ross is portrayed to epitomize the unfair and detestable nature of the corruption in the federal government during its time. He is indifferent, snide, amoral, disloyal, unscrupulous and inequitable to a fault. Demonstrated when he abducted John Marston's family in order to strong arm him into hunting the former members of the Van der Linde Gang, changing the terms of their agreement in order to suit his needs, and subsequently betraying Marston even after his deeds.
Ross advocates federalism and acknowledges the hypocrisy of his methods as necessary, displaying an 'end justifies the means' attitude to law enforcement. Ross views himself as someone who enforces the rules and explains to John that the alternative outcome to having rules in civilization is simply "hell." But even though Ross admits the potential corruption of law enforcement, he still views himself and the agency as more justified than the outlaws they hunt, namely Dutch van der Linde. While Ross places the agency on a higher moral high ground than outlaws. Ross himself doesn't seem to be motivated by any morally justifiable reasons. Throughout the game Ross is only concerned with achieving personal glory and even mocks the citizens of Blackwater by calling them "scum" while berating John Marston.
In several instances throughout the game, Ross displays a rather dark, dry, morbid sense of humor. Joking that Abigail was "killed in a prison riot last week" and at one point threatened John with execution by electric chair instead of allowing him to see his family, if John did not co-operate with them.
He may have also held some prejudicial views, like calling Nastas a savage after first encountering him, and assuming that he might not speak English even after being told Nastas was an informant.
Mission Appearances
- Red Dead Redemption
- "Exodus in America"
- "The Gates of El Presidio"
- "Bear One Another's Burdens"
- "Great Men Are Not Always Wise"
- "And You Will Know The Truth"
- "And The Truth Will Set You Free"
- "The Last Enemy That Shall Be Destroyed"
- "Remember My Family"
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- "A Fisher of Men"
- "The Battle of Shady Belle"
- "Banking, The Old American Art"
- "Just a Social Call"
- "Red Dead Redemption" (voice only)
- "American Venom" (credits)
Quotes
| “ | You see we, me and Archer, we're the bad guys. We enforce the rules. Now, while the rules may not be perfect, they're really not so bad. I'll tell you what the alternative is; it's about one man and his gun versus another man. Sure I know its difficult. Civilization may be dull, but the alternative, Mr. Marston, is hell. | „ |
| —Edgar Ross |
| “ | Nobody is playing games with you Mr. Marston, but if we were to play some games there would be some very interesting ones we could play. Like hanging you for murder, or confiscating all your property like that little farm of yours, or putting you in an electric chair. Those are the sorts of games we could play. | „ |
| —Edgar Ross |
| “ | Actions have consequences, Mr. Marston! You can't just buy a few chickens and expect it to go away. You can't erase the past, John...But we can. | „ |
| —Edgar Ross |
| “ | Come on Mr. Marston, moral degeneracy waits for no man. | „ |
| —Edgar Ross |
| “ | Mr. Marston, I have never insulted your meager intelligence, do not insult mine! | „ |
| —Edgar Ross |
| “ | Come on Archer, let's go find somebody else we can annoy. | „ |
| —Edgar Ross |
| “ | The metaphysical leap from admiring a flower to shooting a man in the head because he doesn't like a flower is a leap too far. | „ |
| —Edgar Ross |
| “ | You can't escape the past, Marston. Everyone eventually pays for what they've done. | „ |
| —Edgar Ross |
| “ | Your wife was killed in a prison riot last week. | „ |
| —Edgar Ross to John Marston |
| “ | I see, I remember your father. Your father killed himself with the life he had. | „ |
| —Edgar Ross to Jack Marston |
| “ | And I'll shoot you like one too, you little piece of trash! Now get out of here before I kill you as well! | „ |
| —Edgar Ross's last words |
Trivia
- Character
- Edgar is an English name meaning "fortunate and powerful".
- Ross is a Scottish surname referring to a region in northern Scotland; it is derived from Gaelic ros, meaning "promontory" or "headland".
- Ross' relationship with Agent Milton is fairly ambiguous. While they do share similar views on society, it is unknown whether they cared for each other as comrades or whether Ross saw Milton’s death as an opportunity to advance his own career.
- The character of Ross shares numerous traits and thematic elements with Frank Tenpenny, the main antagonist of Rockstar Games' 2004 title Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Both are presented as corrupted law enforcers who abuse their power and connections to force the protagonist into working under their guidance, all while being portrayed as highly hypocritical individuals.
- Ross' retirement from the Bureau of Investigation in 1913 mirrors Stanley Finch's, the first director of the Bureau's real-life counterpart.
- Edgar Ross and Jack Marston are the only two major characters which appear in all four years of time in which the story takes place: 1899, 1907, 1911 and 1914.
- Ross and Jack Marston only appear to directly meet on two occasions - at the beginning and end of the Redemption saga. On both occasions one of them is on the bank of a river.
- Weaponry & Apparel
- Despite being a "man of modernism" he is seen using the Winchester Repeater as his weapon of choice, a model introduced in 1892 and was almost two decades in production by the time the events of Red Dead Redemption occurred.
- Similarly, his favored handgun, the High Power Pistol, was already about 8 years into production as of 1911.
- If the player loses in the duel on the Stranger side-mission "Remember My Family", Ross will use both a different shotgun and a low-tier handgun each time he is confronted by Jack.
- In the very same mission he wears a similar outfit to Uncle.
- Epilogue
- If he is aimed at during "The Last Enemy That Shall Be Destroyed", the player can see he has a "friendly" cursor. This is merely a failsafe to stop the player from shooting and killing him.
- Ross seems to have received all of the credit for killing John Marston, because in the 1914 newspaper, it does not mention anyone else in the assault on Beecher's Hope.
- He also appears to have taken the sole credit for the deaths of Javier Escuella, Bill Williamson and Dutch van der Linde.
- Ross' corpse can be looted for $400 after the duel.
- If a powerful handgun is used, Ross' corpse might fall into the river, not allowing players to loot him unless pushed out of the river by walking slowly into the corpse.
Gallery
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