Griffon

“	I always regretted what happened on your daddy's farm, Red. I should have been there... to make sure you joined them.	„
	—Griffon

Governor Griffon (sometimes misspelled as Griffen^[1]) is a central character and the main antagonist of Red Dead Revolver.

After completing the mission "Fall from Grace" with an Excellent rating, Griffon becomes available as a playable character in Showdown Mode. He can also be unlocked if the player purchases the Deed to Mine from the bank right before the Battle Royale. His special ability has him rolling on the ground and shooting his revolver while he can also pick up an opponent and throw him.

History[]

Background[]

Griffon was the partner of Nate Harlow and co-owner of the Bear Mountain gold claim. When the player witnesses a flashback in the form of a mission via Sheriff Bartlett, it is revealed that Griff was caught trying to cross a river at which General Javier Diego was engaged with the United States Army. Griff was brought before Diego and was to be executed until he offered gold for his life. He offered half the gold and explained that his partner had the other half of the claim and that him and Javier could become business partners should Nate be put out of the picture. This betrayal cost Nate his life and essentially set the plot of the game in motion. Over time, Griffon would use the gold to fund his campaign to become the governor.

Griffon and Diego became partners and ran the Bear Mountain mines with slave labor. Griffon was the face of operations and had half of the gold delivered to him from Diego. In return, Griffon would use his position as the Governor to make the US army leave Diego alone.

Meanwhile, Griffon became obsessed with owning Annie Stoakes' ranch. When she refused to sell it, Griffon would have his men try to bribe and intimidate Stokes into selling the ranch, but still failed. He would also refuse to have the Brimstone Saloon shut down, despite its bad reputation as it was the hangout of Dan and Sam, much to Abigail Peppercorn's dismay.

Events of Red Dead Revolver[]

An ally of Red Harlow named Buffalo Soldier attempts to warn Griffon of Diego's plans, but the governor reveals to him that he and Diego had worked together the entire time, before ordering Mr. Kelley and the Cornets to imprison the soldier for interfering in their plans.

He is met during an annual Battle Royale. On the day of the semi-finals, Griffon has Sheriff Bartlett whisked away by Oswald Cornet and disqualifies Jack Swift and Annie Stoakes so as to determine who would stand victorious in the Battle Royale between only Mr. Kelley and Red. After Mr. Kelley is injured, Griff, Oswald and Jason Cornet aim their weapons at Red and Red Harlow recognizes the now Governor Griffon as his father's former partner by the matching Scorpion Revolver he has in his possession and Griffon revealing himself to Red. Griffon attempts to get Mr. Kelley to kill Red, but Red manages to kill Kelley.

Red wins and hunts Governor Griffin down to his mansion. Annie Stoakes and Jack Swift assist him in entering the mansion after killing all of Griffon's hired soldiers outside the palace. They find the locked up Buffalo Soldier, who joins them. Red and Buffalo Soldier follow a separate path to Griffon through his office where Red kills Jason Cornet in a duel. On the rooftops of his mansion, Griffon taunts for Red to quit while he still can since there is no shame in retreating while he still could. Griffon manages to wound the soldier with dynamite, and Red is forced to carry on by himself. Red fights Griffon and his men. When his men are down, Griffon tells Red he regrets not being at his father's farm, to make sure Red joined his father in death, but claims that now he has been given another chance. Red finally kills Griffon in a quick-draw showdown and his body falls off the mansion's roof. Jack is later revealed as a casualty of the assault.

The curtain closes on the game and Red tosses the bag of money that was to be the prize for the Battle Royale to the sheriff. He declares "It was never about the money." and walks off after holstering the companion to his father's revolver. The money is presumably used to buy back Annie's ranch although the presence of the Buffalo Soldier hints that he may have received some of the reward as well. The sheriff tells Red as he walks out "I'd hate to see you hang, after all you did."

Redemption Saga[]

Note: The events of Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption 2 are not considered part of the same canon as Red Dead Revolver. The following description is therefore not contiguous with the preceding section on Red Dead Revolver.

Griffon is often mentioned in a campfire segments in Red Dead Redemption, with story-tellers recounting how he betrayed Nate Harlow and his mansion being assaulted by Red Harlow, Annie Stoakes, and Jack Swift.^[2]^[3] Another storyteller will also mention how corrupt Griffon was akin to New Austin's own politicians and that Red was right in hunting him down.

Character[]

Personality[]

Griffon is shown to be a very unsympathetic and remorseless man. After betraying his former partner Nate Harlow, he showed no remorse and later mocked his son Red Harlow for the former's demise, even adding that he should have died alongside him as well. Although he was held at gunpoint and would have been killed had he not convinced Javier Diego to spare him, the fact that he instantly gave up Nate without a second thought and even smiled slightly while doing so displays his personality as very apathetic and uncaring. It is also apparent that Griff seems to care very little for his men, as he made Kelley fight Red alone even though the former was injured while he and the Cornets escaped back to the mansion. When fighting him on his rooftops, he will also yell at his soldiers that he'll kill them all if they don't kill Red first. However, when on low health bar, Griffon will try to justify his treacherous actions, saying how it was either him or Nate back when he was at Diego's mercy and will even start bad-mouthing him, saying this was all his fault. However, despite this, Griffon is capable of standing his own to some extent. When Red killed most of his men, instead of begging for his life like Diego did, Griff challenged Red to a duel and was confident enough that he would win it, showing that he had a lot more hubris than Diego did and would not accept defeat at any cost.

Missions appearances[]

Red Dead Revolver

Sheriff Bartlett's Journal[]

Griffon is listed in Sheriff Bartlett's Journal under the Protectors of Brimstone section, ironically. His page is unlocked once the player has unlocked him in the Showdown Mode via the mentioned methods above.

Trivia[]

Griffon undergoes the most significant change in appearance after the flashbacks and looks almost unrecognizable once he starts exploiting the gold from the mine and living sumptuously. He gained a lot of weight, became clean-shaven, wore a ton of makeup powder (which can be seen as his skin is a lot whither than the rest of the characters and in his first appearance he had a fairly human skin, like the rest of the Caucasian characters), and started wearing expensive fancy clothing.
His psychical appearance as a politician seems to be based upon ex-President William McKinley.
- He also bares resemblance to the former Governor of Georgia, Marvin Griffin.
His recolored models in Showdown Mode have him wearing either brown, silver or blue outfit with different-coloured ties and gloves.
Griffon can be heard cowardly begging for his life in "Fall from Grace" when his health is low only for him to seemingly regain his confidence seconds later when he taunts Red about the death of his family right before they duel when the thought of his reputation gets the better of him.
According to the letter read by Annie Stoakes during the intro sequence in "Range War", Griffon might have some connections to Sam.
According to Sheriff Bartlett's Journal, Abigail Peppercorn tried to have Griffon shut the Brimstone saloon down many times before to no avail, which further suggests he might be affiliated with Sam.
In the game's intro, a beta leftover can be seen where Griffon is either giving a speech or (more likely) taunting Red from his mansion's balcony, flanked by beta Bryan and Jerome Cornet where they originally wore hats.
Despite being the main antagonist of the game and one of the main characters, his first name is never revealed in the game nor mentioned.