“ | Now, I'm not going to lie... it's not going to be nice... and fun. I mean, it will be fun for me, but it won't be nice for you. | „ |
—Edmund Lowry Jr.
|
Edmund Lowry Jr. is a minor character featured in Red Dead Redemption 2. He is the main antagonist of the Stranger mission "American Dreams".
History[]
Background[]
Edmund Lowry Jr. is a serial killer who has been active for years. He brutally murders and strings up the desecrated and mutilated corpses of a few of his victims throughout New Hanover, Big Valley and Lemoyne, leaving clues that can be pieced together into a map to his hideout: the basement of a cabin southwest of Valentine.
Events of Red Dead Redemption 2[]
“ | My name is Edmund, Edmund Lowry Jr. And you'll remember that, my friend. | „ |
—Edmund Lowry Jr. to Curtis Malloy |
After finding all three clues from the crime scenes, the player can go to Edmund's basement, which is filled to the brim with murder weapons and the remains of various victims, some nothing but polished skulls while other fresh and stretched open carcasses. Also proudly strung up on the walls are newspaper clippings describing the many disappearances and serial murders he had commited.
After inspecting a knife at the back of the basement, Edmund sneaks up on the protagonist and knocks them out, taunting them with threats of torture as they lie dazed. However, the player manages to throw a severed head at him, and beats him into unconsciousness. The player then ties him up and takes him to the Valentine jail as a de facto bounty.
Upon waking, Edmund pretends to surrender as he is escorted into his cell, but suddenly attacks Sheriff Malloy, trying to bite him the second his restraints are undone.
- If the player decides to intervene: With the Sheriff on the ground desperately trying to defend himself, the player shoots Lowry Jr, killing him and saving Malloy. The Sheriff is shaken but grateful, and rewards the player with $20.
- If the player decides not to intervene: Malloy eventually manages to force Lowry Jr. off and shoots him in the chest when he's on the floor next to him. Angry that the player did not assist him, Malloy doesn't pay them and asks them to get out.
News of Lowry Jr.'s death is subsequently reported in the newspaper.
Character[]
Personality[]
Edmund is a very sick and twisted individual, stringing up the mutilated bodies of those he killed up for any passerby to see. Edmund seems to want recognition as a serial killer, wanting everyone to remember his name and even planting maps to his location at the locations of the mutilated bodies as some sort of jigsaw puzzle and going so far as to propose to a newspaper they move his story to the front page in a letter. He also lacks rationality, attacking Sheriff Malloy as soon as his cuffs were undone despite the fact that both Malloy and the protagonist were armed. He's very sadistic, preferring to toy and monologue with his victims before violently murdering them, evidence in the basement suggests he tortures people for an extended period of time. A missing poster for a woman, Eliza Bloom, present in his basement indicates that he enjoys "trophies" relating to or from his victims. Edmund is also narcissistic, describing himself in a Letter to the Editor of a newspaper as "a man of great intelligence, power, and no small amount of cunning."
Appearance[]
Edmund is a very fancy looking man. He wears a black vest, red bow-tie, and a white undershirt with the sleeves rolled up. Regarding physical appearance, he has very shortly trimmed brown hair, and a handlebar mustache,
Mission appearances[]
- Red Dead Redemption 2
Notable Murders Committed[]
- Eliza Bloom
- Edward Watson
- Leonard Atkins
- Mrs. Gilbert
Video Guide[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Though Lowry's appearance is likely based on H. H. Holmes and/or Stephen D. Richards, his MO is closest to Jack the Ripper among late-1800s serial killers. However, Jack the Ripper only killed female prostitutes, while Lowry is a generalist. His MO and attention-seeking letters may also be inspired by the modern BTK Killer, Dennis Rader.
- He could also be a reference to Eddie Low, another demented serial killer who appeared in Rockstar Games' earlier title Grand Theft Auto IV.
- The relationship he has with his mother (based on the letter found in his basement from said mother) makes him similar to real life serial killer Ed Gein, who operated in the 1950's, and the fictional killer Norman Bates from the book and movie Psycho, who was based on Gein. Ed Gein also had an extensive collection of various human remains in his basement, similar to Lowry, and they both share the same name.
- If the player refuses to throw the head at Edmund, a brief alternate scene will play where he will torture them to death with a sadistic grin on his face, as the protagonist screams in agony.
- If the player kills Edmund to save Sheriff Malloy, he will continue jabbering for a few moments even after being shot.
- An anonymous letter to a newspaper can be found in his lair, asking for the killings he had committed to have more coverage in the paper. There is also a letter from his mother, in which she expresses her concern for his recent lack of well-being and reminds him to take the laudanum he was prescribed. The complex vocabulary displayed in these letters suggest that they are from an affluent, well-to-do family.
- Edmund's body cannot be shot, blown up or destroyed by train impact. It will burn if it is caught on fire.
- A Navy Revolver called Lowry's Revolver can be obtained in Red Dead Online and Grand Theft Auto Online. However, Edmund Lowry Jr. is never seen with this weapon in-game.
- A letter - presumably from him - to the Saint Denis Tribune can be found in a abandoned US Postal Service wagon south of Fort Wallace.
- The newspaper scraps and lost-persons posters on the walls of the basement cover the disappearances of some of his victims. One of the posters depicts a woman named Eliza Bloom, leading to speculation that this may be a reference to Arthur's cut love interest who was also named Eliza but this is unconfirmed.
- The words at the third murder scene, "Look on my works", may be a reference to the phrase, "Look on My Works, ye Mighty, and despair!" from the poem Ozymandias, by Percy Bysshe Shelley, which exemplifies the arrogance and hubris of a leader who believed his dominion would endure indefinitely, much as Edmund believed he could continue on his killing spree indefinitely.
- It is very possible that Edmund is also the mass murderer of the Blackwater Athletics Team, because in his basement there is the letter "B", made by limbs of the athletes. A similar "B" appears near the site where the bodies of the athletes can be discovered in Tall Trees.
- In the game's end credits, he is listed as "An Anatomist", in a nod to his practice of mutilating and dismembering his victims.
- If the player shoots near Lowry when he has jumped on Sheriff Malloy, he will inexplicably die.