The Wheel is the first epilogue mission in Red Dead Redemption 2. It is also the first mission that the player controls secondary protagonist, John Marston.
Mission Overview[]
Several years after fleeing Dutch and the gang, John, Abigail and Jack look for work in the town of Strawberry.
Story[]
The mission begins with the Marston family riding around Big Valley, fleeing from an incident where John supposedly shot a person. After some conversation with his family and riding, John decides to ride for Strawberry, where they can lay low. Upon arrival in town, John, using the alias “Jim Milton,” makes inquiries at Coopers General Store and agrees to deliver a wagonload of supplies to Pronghorn Ranch. Meanwhile, Abigail finds a job cleaning the local doctor’s surgery room. After John finishes the delivery, he asks for a job at the ranch to foreman Tom Dickens, who initially declines and informs John that the operation’s owner, David Geddes, prefers unmarried ranch hands. Then, two members of the Laramie Gang, known bullies of Pronghorn Ranch, arrive and steal the supply wagon.
Demonstrating his abilities, John chases them down, deftly taking back the wagon, and he returns it to the ranch. An impressed but ever-wary Dickens begrudgingly agrees to give John and his family a chance and to put in a word for them with Geddes. They give John and his family a small cabin to live in near the end of the ranch. John enters the cabin and the mission ends.
Gold Medal Objectives[]
- Reach Pronghorn Ranch without dropping any supplies.
- Reclaim the wagon within 1 minute.
Missable Items in the Mission[]
- Worn Flat Cap (You need to make your hat fall off during or after the mission)
Video Walkthroughs[]
Background Music Played in the Mission[]
- "The Wheel" - Played at the beginning of the mission.
Trivia[]
- The mission’s title is a reference to the Rota Fortunae (“Wheel of Fortune”), which in ancient and medieval philosophy served as a symbol of the mercurial nature of Destiny Fate. Many traditional tales of King Arthur such as Thomas Malory's famous Le Morte d'Arthur ("The Death of Arthur") also used the concept of the Wheel in such a way, with some stories and works of art making direct links between the Wheel and the Round Table of Arthur’s Knights.
- A common interpretation of Malory's usage of the Rota Fortunae in "The Death of Arthur" in particular is that the Wheel symbolizes the concept that even the greatest of human beings have flaws and make mistakes on their journeys toward their various fates. Thus, a man could be far from the ideal model of morality and yet still ultimately redeem himself and achieve his destiny of being a good knight or king.
- At the start of the mission, Jack rides in the back of a wagon (perhaps intended as a symbolic “cart”) when he has a conversation with his parents about the stories of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. His father John later gives Jack the alias "Lancelot," which is traditionally the name of King Arthur’s bravest and greatest knight. For centuries Lancelot has represented a key figure in biblical motifs associated with Arthurian legends. One of the first and most influential stories to feature Lancelot as a protagonist was the twelfth-century epic poem Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart, in which the hero's quest to save Guinevere has been compared by literary critics to Christ's quest to redeem the human soul.
- John Marston first uses the alias "Jim Milton" in this mission. The name may be a reference to English poet John Milton, whose epic poem Paradise Lost describes the fall of man and shares many themes with the Redemption games. Paradise Lost notably was originally intended to follow the legends of King Arthur before the author decided to make the poem directly biblical.
- John becomes a main playable character again in the series for the first time in eight years following the release of the original game, with his last playable appearance being "The Last Enemy That Shall Be Destroyed", which takes place chronologically long after the events of this mission.
- Even though the character of John is programmed to be unarmed during this mission, it is possible for the player to obtain a firearm for John during this mission if, after leaving Strawberry to take the grocery supplies to Pronghorn Ranch, they drive the wagon to Watson's Cabin before going to the ranch and pick up the shotgun in the basement of the cabin. If the player does this, they can shoot and kill the two Laramie Boys who steal the wagon, after arriving at the ranch.