Micah Bell

“	Sons of Dutch. Makes us brothers. Sometimes... brothers make mistakes.	„
	—Micah Bell to Arthur Morgan

Micah Bell is a central character and the main antagonist of Red Dead Redemption 2. He is also mentioned in Red Dead Online.

History

“	A career criminal and hitman. Wild and unpredictable but he lives for the action.	„
	—Rockstar Games.

MicahBellBio — Biography in RDR 2 (click to enlarge)

Micah was born in 1860 to Micah Bell Jr., a ruthless petty outlaw. When Micah was 17 in 1877, he and his dad were on the run for the brutal double homicide of Roscoe and Jean Briggs, where they were hung from the rafters and had their throats slit. Other than this, not much is known of Micah's past, but it can be assumed that he was his father's partner-in-crime throughout his upbringing.

In 1898, Micah apparently met Dutch van der Linde in a bar where he saved his life when a gold deal went sour. Micah ran with the Van der Linde gang for five months until he set his sights on a ferry in Blackwater. The heist was supposed to be a big score, but it was a disaster and the gang was forced to flee from the heat into Ambarino.

Events of Red Dead Redemption 2

Colter Chapter

Micah is first mentioned by Dutch when he and Arthur venture out to find some food for the camp, as he sent Bell out ahead to look for John. Micah is first physically seen riding with a lantern, as Dutch and Arthur ride out of Colter. He says that he found a homestead up north that appears to be throwing a party. After riding a ways, Dutch, Micah, and Arthur come across the homestead and he and Arthur take cover while Dutch tries to persuade the "owners" to help them. Whilst in cover, Micah discovers a body in the wagon and alerts Arthur before a shoot out occurs when the "owners" are revealed to be O'Driscolls who attempt to kill them.

After killing the enemy gang members, they loot the home, but whilst checking the barn, Arthur hears a scream and investigates the house. He finds Dutch yelling at Micah who is harassing a distressed woman. Before finding out she isn't an O'Driscoll, Micah flips the table, knocking down the lantern and setting the house ablaze. After realizing the woman is not the enemy, they grab her and leave the now burning ranch. After returning to camp, Micah finds out he is bunked with Bill Williamson, Javier Escuella and Lenny Summers which prompts him to make racist remarks about his bunk mates.

Micah later helps in the assault against the O'Driscoll camp, and helps rob the Cornwall train.

Horseshoe Overlook Chapter

Not long after arriving at the new camp location, Micah and Lenny go out scouting near Strawberry, but get drawn into a bar fight which leads to Micah killing two people, and lands him in the local jail. Arthur comes to the jailhouse a few days later on Dutch's orders and rescues Bell. The pair clear off the guards in the immediate area, and Arthur says they should leave, but Micah instead fights his way through town to go and try to get his guns back. The reckless charge almost cost both of them their lives, and afterwards Arthur scolds Micah for his recklessness.

Micah, who doesn't want to return to Dutch empty-handed, contacts Arthur and asks him to help him rob a stagecoach. After a brief gunfight, they take the stagecoach, before a gang of O'Driscolls attempt to rob them. Micah and Arthur camp one side of the river, and after a long fight annihilate the enemy gang.

Clemens's Point Chapter

Micah does little in this chapter, although he does help in the Battle for Braithwaite Manor, which is initiated in the hopes of rescuing Jack.

Saint Denis Chapter

Along with Bill and Arthur, Micah robs a heavily guarded stagecoach that is going past Shady Belle. Using dynamite, they stop the stagecoach before descending upon it. After a bloody fight with the well-armed guards, the stagecoach is taken by the gang who divide the spoils.

Micah later takes part in the robbery of the Saint Denis bank, and after it fails he, along with the rest of the gang, board a ship destined for the South Pacific.

Guarma Chapter

After the boat sinks, Bell washes up on the shores of Guarma with everyone besides Arthur. Not long after Arthur is found, they are attacked by Guarman troops, and are captured. After they manage to escape with the help of Hercule Fortaine, they go and rest at the rebel outpost of La Capilla. Micah eventually goes to Cinco Torres along with the rest of the gang, right before federal troops descend upon it. After fighting off the enemy attack, they learn that Colonel Fussar has positioned artillery batteries on the beaches to prevent them from leaving. Micah and the gang then storm the batteries, where he places dynamite in order to blow them up. He then takes part in the charge against Aguasdulces, which results in the death of the Fussar, Levi Simon, and the taking of the port and the rescuing of the ship's captain. He, along with the rest of the gang, then set sail out of Guarma.

Beaver Hollow Chapter

Micah makes a plan with Dutch to confront Leviticus Cornwall, after his yacht comes into Annesburg. The two bring along Arthur, and the three wait for him at the docks. Micah goes and searches for information relating to the Cornwall company, while Dutch and Arthur confront him. After Dutch gets into an argument and kills Cornwall, Micah rendezvous with the two other men, and the three fight their way out of the town. Micah will then tell Arthur and Bill to go steal some dynamite, and that he can't because he has planning to do

He will later show up with two goons named Cleet and Joe, who wish to join the gang. Dutch happily accepts them, due to him seeing a collapse in loyalty from the rest of the gang.

Micah will organize the robbing of the Saint Denis train, and takes part in the robbery. After the robbery ends, and they return to camp, the gang learns that Abigail has been captured. Micah convinces Dutch not to go after her, saying "she is just a girl." This action prompts Arthur and Sadie to go rescue her alone. During the operation to rescue Sadie, Arthur learns from Agent Milton that Micah has been the mole since Guarma. Upon learning this, Arthur will confront Micah about it in front of the rest of the gang. Micah kills Susan Grimshaw after she points a shotgun at him, and the majority of the gang will sides with Micah. After Pinkertons show up, he and those who sided with him will flee the scene.

If Arthur goes with John, Micah finds Arthur holding off the Pinkertons so that John can escape, and attacks. The two roll off of a cliff, and start fist-fighting. Arthur, weak from tuberculosis is knocked to the ground, nearly dead, while Micah is barely able to walk from the beating he received from Arthur. Arthur then starts crawling over to a gun to shoot Micah with, but Dutch steps on the gun so he cant shoot him. After pleading from Arthur, Dutch will leave the sene and abandon Arthur. If Arthur has high honor, Micah will stalk away as The Pinkerton's close in, leaving him to die from tuberculosis. If he has low honor, Micah will scream at Arthur that he isn't better then him and shoot Arthur in the head killing him and spit on his corpse.

Alternatively, if Arthur goes back to camp for the money, Micah will ambush Arthur at the camp. After a long knife fight, Dutch steps in and breaks it up. After pleading from Arthur, Dutch will leave the scene and abandon Arthur. If Arthur has high honor, he will be able to cut a scar across Micah's face during their fight, and Micah will leave Arthur to die from tuberculosis. If Arthur has low honor, Micah wins the fight and stabs Arthur in the chest and back, killing him.

Beecher's Hope Chapter

Micah went on to create his own gang, taking Cleet and Joe with him. Throughout the years they committed various crimes which resulted in several vicious murders and other crimes, such as dismemberment. Micah even murdered a young girl, an act which Cleet tried to stop and eventually left the gang over. Micah once found himself in the custody of a sheriff, but managed to escape. While hiding out on Mount Hagen, Micah managed to slip back into Blackwater and grab a portion of the money hidden there from the ferry job. Sadie catches wind of Micah's activities, and rounds up John and Charles to assist in killing him.

After a trek up the mountain, during which Joe is killed, John confronts him and the two exchange fire. A wounded Sadie intervenes and manages to catch him off guard, but after the surprise appearance of Dutch momentarily distracts her, she is subdued by Micah and taken hostage. A 2 on 1 stand off ensues between John against Micah and Dutch. John, knowing he is a little outgunned in the situation, is able to convince Dutch to turn on Micah and shot im in the chest. Micah attempts to shoot John and Dutch, but John proves to be faster on the draw and shots Micah several times before Micah can shot John or Dutch. Micah, now mortally wounded, walks a few steps and falls over, dying before he hits the ground.

During the credits, Edgar Ross and Archer Fordham are seen discovering his body in the mountains. While never explicitly stated, further scenes imply that the discovery of his murder and the ensuing backtrack is what lead the Bureau of Investigation to John's whereabouts, thus leading to the events of Red Dead Redemption. Micah's corpse will remain atop the mountain, now frozen, for the player to return to and claim Micah's Revolver for themselves.

Character

Personality

Micah is considered to be wild and unpredictable even by the Van der Linde gang's standards, and is said to enjoy the action in his life, even going as far as shooting half the town of Strawberry in order to reclaim his prized revolvers. In spite of his wild nature, Micah is an experienced criminal and hitman, earning him the favor of Dutch himself. Micah has a poor relationship with most of the gang members, as he frequently antagonizes them. Besides Dutch, Micah also tries to get Arthur's trust and approval, even though Arthur's opinion of Micah isn't very high, as he doesn't trust Micah's wild and opportunistic nature. Arthur's fears are proven true later in the game, when Micah starts working as a mole for the Pinkerton Detective Agency, ultimately causing the downfall of the original Van der Linde gang by the end of Red Dead Redemption II. When called out on his disloyalty, Micah simply labels himself a survivor, showing no loyalty to anyone but himself. Over the course of the game, Micah's relationship with Arthur turns into a rivalry, as Dutch and Arthur begin to distrust each other.

He often flaunts his new position as Dutch's right-hand man in Arthur's face and ridicules his tuberculosis, calling him Black Lung. Micah seems to have always been jealous of Arthur, as at the end of the game, if the player's honor is low and Arthur didn't go after the money, he will scream that Arthur is not better than him, before shooting Morgan in the head and then spitting on his corpse. Micah treats everyone he meets with sadistic and psychotic contempt, holding absolutely no standards whatsoever. He creepily and forcibly flirts with almost every woman at the camp, and is implied to have sexually harassed Sadie when they first met. He violently teases Jack when he's four years old and is accused of killing an entire family, including a little girl. Micah is also an unrepentant racist, treating Lenny, Charles, and Javier with open disgust solely because they're not white. He calls Lenny and Charles "darkies", Charles a "redskin", and tells Javier to "fuck off back to Mexico". He's purposely vague and mysterious about his past, though he does mention that his father taught him that "sympathy is for the weak" and that the United States is a survival of the fitness-centric, dog-eat-dog world.

Appearance

Micah has shoulder-length, dirty-blond hair, as well as a mustache and side-whiskers. By 1907, he has aged considerably, his hair having mostly gone grey. He wears a black coat, a red shirt, beige trousers and a white hat. He is also armed with a pair of engraved (ironically named "Vengence is hereby mine") custom Double-action Revolvers, both painted red and black. Depending on the previous ending, Micah might have a huge scar on his eye (due to Arthur slashing his face with his knife during "Go after the money" ending with high Honor).

While not as fleshy as Williamson, Micah has a rather large beer gut. By the time of 1907 Micah has lost a considerable amount of weight and is very slim.

Mission Appearances

Red Dead Redemption 2

Quotes

"How about you and me go and redistribute some property?" – Micah Bell to Arthur Morgan.
Play sound
RDR2 Micah Bell RedistributeProp…

Trivia

Despite being the most immoral member of the Van der Linde gang and the main antagonist of Red Dead Redemption 2, Micah is almost never seen without a white hat on his head, which is traditionally associated with protagonists or "good guys" in classical Westerns. It's possible this distinction foreshadows Micah's traitorous nature, as Micah outwardly presents himself as a loyal member of the gang when in actuality he is the main antagonist.
If Arthur or John visit Micah's temporary Strawberry camp at any point after An American Pastoral Scene, they will find two newspaper clippings and a torn wanted poster of indeterminate age for Dutch Van Der Linde, listing a bounty of $1000 for his capture or death. One of the articles, from 1877, mentions Micah and his father as the primary suspects in the gruesome murder of an Ohio rancher and his wife; the other details the so-called "Blackwater Massacre", and mentions that local authorities are still searching for the $150,000 stolen from the steamboat by the gang.
- It is unknown why Micah is carrying the wanted poster, but given his mercenary nature and his later betrayal of his fellow gang members, it's not hard to imagine that Micah may well have intended to turn Dutch in—or perhaps kill him—and collect on the reward once the Blackwater money had been recovered.
In game, Micah is seen dual-wielding a pair of custom double-action revolvers. However, in concept art he uses a pair of Schofield revolvers instead. Additionally, only one can be looted from his corpse.
If one looks closely, they will notice a small match in the band of his hat.