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Otis Miller is a minor character referenced in Red Dead Redemption 2.

History[]

Otis Miller was a legendary gunslinger often associated with the Wild West. The leader of a gang of outlaws called the Otis Miller Boys, Miller reportedly performed the first robbery of a train in 1866, which turned him into an infamous figure[1] and made him the subject of many dime novels.

Another famous gang of the American frontier, the Jack Hall Gang, allegedly crossed paths with the Miller Boys while roaming through the prairies of Nebraska, according to the 'Jack Hall' song.

Otis Miller was eventually shot and killed by another member of his gang, Charlie Tatum, leaving behind three children, one of which being Otis Miller Jr., who was six-years-old at the time. The latter would later be arrested for being the leader of a gang who robbed a train after a confession deemed him guilty. After several months in prison, he was acquitted after the confession was found to have been fabricated.[1]

Song[]

There is a song about Otis Miller's death, which the Van der Linde gang often sings at the fire. Arthur will often sing some of the verses while drunk, also. It confirms that Charlie Tatum was the killer of Otis;


Otis Miller was a lad that killed many a man,
he robbed the Lannahechee train,
but that cowardly killer that shot Mr Miller,
has laid ol' Otis in his grave.


Poor Otis had a wife, to mourn for his life,
three children, They were brave.
But that cowardly killer that shot Mr. Miller,
has laid old Otis in his grave.


It was Charlie Tatum, that dirty little coward,
I wonder how he does feel,
for he ate of Otis' bread and he slept in Otis' bed,
then laid old Otis in his grave.

Otis was a man, a friend to the poor,
he'd never see a man suffer pain.
And with his brother Frank, he robbed the Blackwater Bank
and stopped the Glendale Train.

Poor Otis had a wife, to mourn for his life,
three children, they were brave.
But that cowardly killer that shot Mr. Miller,
has laid old Otis in his grave.

It's Saturday night and Otis wasn't home,
a-talking with his family brave.
And Charlie Tatum came along, like a thief in the night,
And lay poor Otis in his grave.

Now the people held their breath,
when they heard of Otis' death.
And wondered how he ever came to die.
It was one of the gang called little Charlie Tatum,
that shot old Otis on the sly.

Poor Otis had a wife, to mourn for his life,
three children, they were brave.
But that cowardly killer that shot Mr. Miller,
has laid old Otis in his grave.

Trivia[]

  • His revolver can be found in New Austin after the Epilogue.
    • However, Arthur can acquire the revolver through the use of a glitch or exploit.
  • His treasure can be recovered without finding both pieces of the map. Simply approach the spot and the rare weapon icon will appear on the map.
  • Miller's name appears on Register Rock, signed with the year 1879.
  • Otis Miller had a series of at least 186 penny dreadful novels dedicated to him, three of which can be found in-game.[2]
  • Otis Miller is a direct reference to the American best-selling novel from 1986, The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy. In this novel, the members of a poor family from South Carolina struggle with the youth trauma of being assaulted and raped at their own house by three criminals on the run. An event at the very heart of the novel. The leader of these three prison escapee is called Otis Miller. In the first part of The Prince of Tides, Otis Miller was referred as "Callanwold", and was portrayed as a mysterious sexual stalker. The erotic pictures found in Otis Miller's chest in Red Dead Redemption 2 can be a reference to this characteristic.
  • A number of details in the game indicate that the story of Jesse James can have been an inspiration for the character.
    • Both of them have a similar overall status as infamous, iconic outlaws of the Wild West.
    • Both have the same folk song dedicated to them, the real-life 19th-century ballad "Jesse James", with only minor variations in the lyrics to account for name differences in the Miller version.
    • Both had a brother by the name of Frank.
    • Both had a son named after them who was arrested for a train robbery and subsequently acquitted. Both were also six at the time of their father's death.
    • Both were shot and killed by members of their gangs, who were afterwards considered cowards.
    • Miller's surname is likely taken from real life outlaws Clell and Edward Miller, members of the James-Younger Gang, in which Jesse was a main member of the gang.
    • Miller and James are both made to look more heroic in their stories than they actually are.
    • Miller appears to favor the Schofield Revolver, a weapon said to have been favored by Jesse James, and in some depictions, being the weapon used to kill him.
  • The Otis Miller Boys cigarette card is an almost identical replica of a real-life Western vintage portrait nicknamed 'Three Armed Arizona Cowboys'.[3]
  • Jack Marston is shortly seen reading a novel about Otis Miller during the Epilogue.

References[]

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