“She was a girl Dutch van der Linde shot in the head on that raid on the ferry a few years back. Same one you got shot on. Pretty girl... until her eye was hanging out by a thread of tendon, and her brain was plastered over a wall.”
–The Strange Man
Heidi McCourt is an unseen, deceased character mentioned in Red Dead Redemption and Red Dead Redemption 2.
Background[]
Heidi McCourt was a young woman who was shot and killed by outlaw Dutch van der Linde during the Blackwater Massacre. She has been described as an innocent civilian, and mother[1], who happened to be present on the ferry at Blackwater during the heist that was carried out by the Van der Linde gang. John Marston and Javier Escuella both witnessed her death. Javier later told Arthur Morgan that Dutch killed her in a "bad way", but reasoned that it was a "bad situation".[2] The Strange Man's account is notably graphic, appearing to echo Escuella's sentiment that her death was perturbing.
The exact timing and motivations behind McCourt's murder are unknown. During the gang's stay at Shady Belle, John discusses the incident, his inability to get the image of Dutch killing her out of his head and his growing concerns about Dutch's behaviour over a campfire. He mentions that Micah Bell encouraged Dutch to kill her, and that Dutch later justified it by saying that it was what they had to do to survive.[3]
Years later in 1911, John seemed to have forgotten about Heidi and her death when she was mentioned by the Strange Man who seemed to know Marston, showing that he somehow managed to get the image out of his head, though it is unknown how.
Interactions[]
Heidi is mentioned by the Strange Man while speaking to John Marston during the Stranger side-mission "I Know You".
In Red Dead Redemption 2, Heidi McCourt is mentioned several times during discussions about the botched ferry heist.
Trivia[]
- Some players mistake Heidi for Muriel Scranton, since they were both killed by Dutch with a shot to the head. This isn't so as Heidi was killed on a ferry prior to the story in 1899, while Muriel was killed in the Bank of Blackwater in 1911.
- Although plausible given various characters' narratives of the event, it is technically ambiguous as to whether McCourt's death was what caused the robbery to spiral into disaster. However, the Strange Man claims that John had "forgotten far more important people than [him]", perhaps implying the significance of McCourt's death in causing the heist to fail and the eventual impact this would have on the gang, so John by extension. If so, her death would be a key factor behind the entire storyline of Red Dead Redemption 2, and thereby the entire Redemption series.
References[]
- ↑ By Josiah Trelawny in "The First Shall Be Last"
- ↑ In the mission "Enter, Pursued by a Memory".
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwSheuhL43E
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